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damn-stark · 3 years

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To new friends

Chapter 6 of Different Light

A/N- So I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I am going to have some events from the books in this series, just to add more angst and more fun. So if you read parts that don’t show up in the movie, it’s becaue it’s either what I wrote, or something that happened in the books 👍🏽 hope you guys like the chapter and don’t be afraid to leave your thoughts!

Warning- Angst, SLOWBURN.

Pairing- Harry Potter x Malfoy!reader, Fred Weasley x Malfoy!reader

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

————

As the blissful daze of the Yule ball night passed, the last few free days passed swiftly, taking the memory of Fred’s kiss on your lips with it. Leaving nothing behind but the mental memory of such a delightful moment.

Albeit it was also a moment that wasn’t talked about any day after, classes started again and days would get busier for both Fred and you. Of course you didn’t want to force him into talking about it, you wanted the topic to come out, just effortlessly. Fred treated you kinder; that’s something you noticed, he was way more touchy than before. Usually before when you would sit next to each other, there was no contact whatsoever—sure your arms, or thighs brushed against each other’s, but that was it.

Now when Fred sat next to you in the great hall, or really anywhere else, he would place his hand on top of yours, or hook his pinky fingers with yours; sometimes he would place his arm on top the seat you were sitting on, but that was about it. Fred didn’t try and repeat what happened that night, or try and gloat about it. He simply just didn’t talk about it.

Which led you to think; what did he intend with that kiss?

You want to ask him, but then again you fear the answer he could give.

It’s not like you could ask George. One, because he was Fred’s twin brother and two, you didn’t want to put George in that position. It’d be better if he wasn’t in the middle, things would just flow much easier that way.

You still wanted help, but from who? Narcissa? You could specifically leave Fred’s name out and just ask for advice, but as you further thought about it, asking your mother wasn’t the best option; yet.

That left you with the lingering question of, who then?

“Y/N.”

At the sound of the small, sweet voice calling to you, you’re thrown from your train of thought and left to look over your shoulder and notice, Hermione Granger, striding towards you. At first you don’t know what to do, you’re actually utterly confused on what to do and why she has called you. But realization hits you as she finally falls by your side and offers you a small sweet smile—you had helped her that night of the Yule ball. She said words you’d never forget.

Regardless you didn’t really think you helping her that night was enough for her to reach out to you now. Maybe just simple “hellos” when you passed by the halls, but you didn’t think she’d actually call your name and hurry to reach you. That gesture was still so unfamiliar and new to you.

You smile and greet her however, regardless of how your thoughts churn. “Hello.”

“I saw you pass just now and thought it’d be nice to walk with you to Arithmancy.” Hermione explained kindly. “Is that alright with you?”

Of course!

You smile shyly and nod. “Yeah that's alright.” You feel your cheeks burn and a need to just walk in silence, but you also were desperate to make friends who weren’t just Fred and George—“I never got the chance to ask, did you enjoy the Yule ball? Before everything went down I mean.”

Hermione smiles wider and nods. “Yes it was absolutely great. I had a lot of fun. What about you? Fred mentioned he was going with you, how was that?”

“Oh well,” you smile shyly at the memory of that night. “It was amazing, Fred was a good partner.”

A new thought then invades your mind—you could ask her for help. Even ask her if she heard anything Fred mentioned of that night. After all they were part of the same house. She’s got to know a thing or two, right?

“Do—”

“Fred said you were a great partner too,” Hermione mentions as if she has read your mind. “He said he enjoyed that night with you.”

At the sound of her comment, you feel your cheeks burn increasingly hotter. You’re left stunned for a moment, left giddy and speechless, left trying to collect your thoughts and like you could explode from the inside—you had heard him say he enjoyed that night, but hearing that he had said that to other people just made it seem even more special. The knowledge of what he said made you smile wider. It made you want to know more.“Did he say anything else?” You turn your head to look at her and you see her shake her head.

“No, I’m sorry. He and his friends moved away before I could hear more.”

You hum softly and assure her. “It’s okay, thank you for telling me what he said though.”

Hermione just smiles as response before she changes the subject, not giving you the chance to ask for her help in your still troubled dilema. “What are you reading?”

You look down to the Daily Prophet in your hand and shrug. With all your running thoughts, you didn’t have time to read what you had in your hand. “I don’t know, I haven’t had time to read what,” you lift the newspaper and scoff, “Rita Skeeter wrote it, probably just rubbish anyway.”

Just as you’re about to shove it in between your books, Hermione stops you before snatching the paper from your hand. “Wait, what does this evil witch have to say now.”

Out of new grown curiosity, you look over her shoulder as she begins to read the paper outloud; “DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE

Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.

Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.

An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening."

'I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Draco Malfoy, a fourth-year student. "We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything—”

Your eyes widen at the sound of your brother's name and anything else read after that just tunes out. The news of Hagrid being a half giant doesn’t even bug you, or register in your mind as someone dangerous (because he wasn’t). All you focused on was what lies your, weasel of a little brother had to say. It makes your furious, feel steam come out of your ears and feel your fists shake. The news on the paper even makes Hermione upset; albeit her reasons differed from yours.

Clearly—“how-how did she find out!” Before you could give your opinion, Hermione quietly seemed to ramble to herself, only raising her voice at specific points. “Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxine at the ball—but no, they would have seen her, she’s not even...” her voice goes quiet again and you’re left looking at her bewildered and still taken back yourself. As well as intrigued by what she had to say. Surprised by her suddenly asking you a probing question. “Did you see Rita Skeeter that day of the ball?”

You blink out of surprise, but manage to shake your head. “No, I didn’t. But maybe she was hiding in some bushes, like an odd-ball.”

Hermione bites her lip and shrugs before giving an opinion herself. “Maybe she has some type of invisibility cloak?”

You shrug, “maybe. I mean to get such a scoop on people, she’s got to have something up her sleeve.”

Hermione's eyes narrow and she seems to go into deep thinking before she comes up with a suggestion that surprised you even more. “We should try and figure it out. You’re smart, I’m sure if we got together, we’d figure it out.”

You scoff lightheartedly and stop before entering your intended class. “Why the need to get the scoop on her?”

“Because,” Hermione blurted passionately, “it’s not the first time she’s done something like this. Mysteriously getting news on people. She’s wicked and needs to be stopped.”

You smirk at her fiery spirit and can’t help but give in without much need of further convincing. “Alright, I’ll help. It sounds like fun.”

——

The day of the second game came and you couldn’t be dreading this one more. It was too cold and what was the point of having an audience? The players were going to be underwater and if they somehow have a way for you and the rest of the students to look in the depths of the lake without having to go in along with the players, then what was the point?

You were just going to unnecessarily freeze to basically watch players dive.

“ANY BETS! ANY BETS!”

“PLACE YOUR BETS!” George and Fred shouted in a booming voice to the passing students.

Yet with all you’re complaining, here you were, still teamed up with the twins trying to take bets from students.

“THREE LADS!”

“ONE LADY!”

“FOUR ARE GOING DOWN!”

You would’ve joined into their tactics, but you didn’t feel like screaming, so instead you held onto the box for them, watching them as you moved up and the students moved down towards the boats. Stopping only when their sister shoved past them and stopped to remark their rude persuading screams. “Don’t be so mean.”

The twins and you looked back to Ginny and you couldn’t help but agree, but the twins on the other hand turned back around and continued screaming to try and convince others to place bets. Stopping only minutes before the last boat could leave the dock.

“Finally,” you groan as you close the box and shove it in George’s hands. “I thought we’d never finish.”

Fred scoffs, “come on, you’ve got to admit that doing this makes the games more fun.”

“Hardly.” You retort as you shove your hands in your jackets pockets, “freezing to watch water is something I would hardly call fun.”

“You’re in luck then.” George assures you, “the game should be an hour long.”

You groan one last time before you reach the boats, looking to Fred as he pointed for you to get on first. “Ladies first.” He smirks before he follows after you, waiting lastly for George to go on before the person driving the boat began its short trip to the already packed and rowdy stands.

Luckily not having to wait too long for the game to start and beginning to watch with much more anticipation and stress than you intended after you watched Harry clumsily fall into the lake. While Draco, who was two people away from you laughed and pointed at Harry’s clumsy fall, causing you to shoot him a side glare. One he didn’t catch, but you meant with a burning dedication. He only shut up when Harry shot up after his worrying fall into the water, causing an uproar from the students rooting for his win. Albeit seconds after he splashed in, everyone, including yourself were filled with stomach twisting anticipation for anyone’s resurface from the water with their special lost thing.

You were also left with waiting, and endless waiting, growing colder as time ticked.

“Cold?” Fred asked you.

You looked to him and shivered slightly at the feeling of the bitter wind hitting your face. “what do you think?”

A half, smug smile tugged on his lips and he shrugs. “No, I don’t think you are.”

“Then there's your answer.” You cross your arms over your chest and look out to the lake, feeling your shoulders jump slightly moments later when Fred wrapped his arm around your shoulders and pulled you closer to him.

“Better?”

You feel your cheeks burn and your heart skip a beat. It’s hard to think of what to say at the flustered feeling you got at the interaction, but you somehow manage to respond. Albeit stammering and sounding like you were terrified. “Y-yes, much better.”

You didn’t see but Fred grinned at your response. Choosing to stay quiet for the remainder of the game until the first contestant surfaced from the water; Cedric Diggory and Cho—you clapped, but didn’t feel much excitement like others did. Instead you felt as if your stomach twisted tighter knowing that the game was close to over and Harry hadn’t surfaced yet.

Krum and...Hermione surfaced and you clapped excitedly for her, but you were still left with the increasing worrying, glancing repeatedly at the time and waiting as others did. Hearing whispers and the excitement for the game dwindled the more time passed and Harry showed no sign.

The worry now surrounding the crowd was replaced by short relief when Ron and a little girl surfaced, but that was short lived since Harry’s presence was lacking. It made you part from Fred’s side and grip onto the railing to look down into the water to watch and wait—and yes he was just a boy you hardly knew, hardly talked to and just thought of as cute and nice, a bit clumsy and dorky, but...you couldn’t help but worry and—

Before you could get deeper into your thoughts, Harry Potter shot up from the water and finally relieved the worry and stress that had grown increasingly higher those past few minutes. Making you push yourself off the railing to finally clap and cheer, turning to celebrate the win with the twins for a brief moment before you’re interrupted by Dumbledore's booming voice. “Attention! The winner is Mr. Diggory!”

The crowd for Cedric erupted with claps and cheering for him and his win. All them were forced to quiet down though as Dumbledore continued. “Who showed the need to command of the bubble head charm. However seeing as Mr.Potter would have finished first, should it not been for his determination to rescue not only Mr. Weasley, but the others as well, we’ve agreed to award him second place! For outstanding moral fiber!”

Again the crowd erupted into a roaring cheering, causing the twins to five each other and you in a form to celebrate. Ignoring as Draco, bitterly stormed off after the announcement of his rival's achievement. While the three didn’t waste a second for the twins and you to push through the crowd to walk down to where Harry, and the other contestants and the people they saved were.

The twins rushed first, greeting Harry with loud congratulating cheers and a tight hug that they backed from after feeling Harry all wet; letting them turn to their brother and in their own foolish way, worry over his well-being. Letting you be face to face with Harry and instantly feel a hotter heat crawl onto your face before and while you found the words to talk to him.

“That was amazing Harry! You did great!” You grinned, stepping into wrap your arms around him, but stopping as you took in his soaked figure.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, “I wouldn’t, I’m soaked.” A timid and wobbly smile tugged on his lips and he continued. “Thank you though, y/n.”

You offer him another warm smile and last lingering stare before you rip your eyes away and turn your attention to Herimone next to him.

——

“Right on, all that moral fiber, eh?” George teased Harry as he walked onto the deck.

“That’s great.” Fred chuckled.

You smirk and tag along with the teasing. “All that moral fiber.”

“Blimey, even if you go wrong it turns out right.” Ron voiced with a slight smile.

“Well done, moral fiber.” Fred teased before lightly pushing Harry and then walking off with his brothers, Hermione and you, leaving Harry behind.

You wanted to look back, but before you could Fred’s hand on your arm interrupted your attempts before you could accomplish them. “So, y/n, I was thinking,” he began to say in a soft voice that was rare for him to speak in and off putting for you to hear. “How about we go to Hogsmeade together?”

You blink and begin to fall behind from the group, parting your lips to speak, but coming out with nothing but a breath of air. Proceeding to instead gently rub your arm nervously and letting your eyes flicker from the ground to Fred before managing to speak just as nervously. “Like George, you and I?”

Fred chuckles and shakes his head. “No you goof, just you and I.”

Your cheeks burn again and you giggle and whisper, “oh,” before smiling warmly and nodding. “Sure I like the sound of that, when?”

Fred shrugged, trying to hide his cocky smile. “I’ll let you know, alright?”

You nod, “okay.” Before you both catch up to the group you had been with, picking up your pace smoothly, so you could catch up with a grinning Hermione that already knew by the smile on Fred and your faces what had gone on.

In that moment letting a thought begin to unroll in the back of your mind. Not one having to do with Fred, nor George or Harry. But about Hermione. Odd thing especially after getting asked out by Fred, but it was a thought that just grew; even if Hermione and you had just started talking and a friendship was beginning to develop. It still felt refreshing, assuring and exciting that you had someone else as a friend. Someone who could relate to you in other ways Fred, or George couldn’t. You felt happy that you were beginning to be her friend, that she viewed you like hers and not like the other girls would in Durmstrang. She viewed you like a friend now. She viewed you differently.

——

“HARRY POTTER IN A BURNING LOVE TRIANGLE

A boy like no other, perhaps - yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would suffer through a trouble bigger than any he has faced, choosing who to love and who to leave behind broken hearted.

In the recent events of the Triwizard tournament, Harry has been spotted in the arms of new transfer student to Hogwarts, Y/N Malfoy. At first it had seemed that it was nothing but platonic, but their affectionate embrace and caring and lovable words told us otherwise. Yet as loving as they are, Harry is still caught in the middle between Herimone Granger, who is not innocent as she portrays to be.

Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections. Krum, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."

However, it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.

"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."

Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potters well-wishers must hope that he opens his eyes and sets his heart upon his Slytherin lover.

No. No. No. This can’t be happening. No. Your father...your mother….your father. He’s going to kill you before disowning you. No. This isn’t what you wanted. Even if it was false information when it came to your part of the paper, it was still going to get to your parents before you had the chance to explain. You’ve done good to hide the truth of your friendships from them when Draco snitches, but this...this can ruin everything and take you back to Durmstrang.

“If that’s the best Rita can do, she’s losing her touch,” Herimone says, beginning to giggle and causing you to snap your head from the paper to look at her with a perplexed, widened gaze. “What a pile of old rubbish.” She proceeds to take the paper from your hands and throws the paper into an empty chair. The action leaving you shocked and speechless—wasn’t she worried to?

On how Rita Skeeter found out about the obvious private conversation that went on between her and Krum? Why wasn’t she worried like you?

“Why-why are you so calm?” You manage to ask with your perplexed and widened gaze.

Hermione looks over to a group of Slytherins to see if they’d be upset by the article. Hermione gave them a sarcastic smile and a wave, and turned back to pretend to focus on the parchment in front of the both of you to finally talk without giving your question an answer. “There’s something funny though, how could Rita Skeeter have known?” Her face went red and she pressed her quil to her chin. “How did she know Viktor asked me to visit him in the summer?”

You shrug and push your worry aside for now, “maybe someone’s her spy?”

Herimone shakes her head, “no, couldn’t be, he pulled me away from the judges after we got our blankets and we were in a spot surrounded by his friends. They’d never do anything to Viktor.” Her face grew increasingly more red and her eyebrows furrowed deeper as she mindlessly pressed her quil on the parchment now. “But how could Rita have heard. She wasn’t there...or was she? Maybe she’s got an invisibility cloak?”

“Perhaps,” you muse along with her, “but there were too many people on that platform, someone would have bumped into her and found her out.” You tap your fingers on the tabletop as you begin to brainstorm a possibility, muttering to Hermione as you did so. “What exactly happened after Krum and you got out of the water?”

Herimone began to explain every exact detail of the events after Krum got her out of the water. Every single detail from climbing onto the platform, to mentioning that Krum flicked a beetle off her wet hair and lastly the moment you had finally come along.

“Hmm,” you rest your elbow on the table and rest your head on your hand as you continue to think and throw out ideas that came to your mind. “Well there wasn’t much room for her to hide at all. She couldn’t be under the water, and it’s doubtful she used polyjuice.”

“You’re right.” Hermione agrees.

At a incoming thought you begin to snicker, “maybe she temporarily transformed into your towel.”

Suddenly Hermione shoots up and her eyes gleam with what seems to be excitement. She steps towards you and manages to pull you off your chair to hold your hands in hers and basically shout out. “I’ve got it!”

“Hermione Granger and Miss Malfoy, please be quiet unless you both want detention!” The professor scolds you, making Herimone quietly apologize before she pulls you back to your seat and continues quietly. Disregarding the warning you both had just gotten.

“She couldn’t have turned into a towel, or risked using polyjuice, but she could have transformed into something else. Something smaller and easy to blend in and be disregarded by any person.”

You blink in astonishment by her quick thinking and fast investigating skills. You don’t say anything, just listen completely mesmerized.

“Rita Skeeter was the beetle in my hair,” Herimone whispers in a loud excited whisper, “of course I thought nothing of it before because it was just a bug, but now it all makes sense; how she can catch all the scoop and hide without without being seen. She’s an animagus.”

You smirk and squeeze in your own thoughts. “Probably an unregistered one too, or else Dumblrdore would have taken extra precautions to keep her off the castle grounds.”

“Yes!” Hermione exclaims with a joyful and yet mischievous grin, “she kept her secret well until now. I’m going to make sure that she doesn’t have another chance to spread any more cruel, dishonest stories.”

“What do you mean?” You gasp with a deeply puzzled and slightly fearful face.

“I’m going to make sure she doesn’t write any more stories from here until the tournament ends. I’m going to catch Rita.” She explains in a loud whisper once again with a dangerous mischievous look still painted in her eyes. “Do you want to catch her with me?”

“I,” you pause to think before you have the chance to abruptly answer. Beginning to go over the fact in your head, that Rita didn’t also make a lie about Hermione, but one about you. One that could cost you heavily. And the days before Herimone asked about helping her, you were down to pair up with Hermione because you didn’t want to lose a friend. Now you were doing it because, well you didn’t want to lose a friend and two, you had motivation of your own.

A smirk creeps onto your face and you meet Herimone’s gaze to share that same dangerous mischievous gaze. “I’m going to catch Rita with you.”

Even if you knew you were still going to get hell from your parents….especially your father.

Tagged- @peter-laufeyson , @swiftlymoniquesblog , @spideyyypeter , @gsvshsjsbs, @accio-prozac , @cherriesanwine , @kokomaesadie , @april-14-blog , @prettypinkpeachh , @pest-ill-ence , @ilovespideyyy

#Harry Potter #harry potter and the goblet of fire #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter x malfoy!reader #fred weasley x malfoy!reader #fred weasley fanfiction #harry potter x reader #harry potter imagines #harry potter imagine #harry potter x you #harry potter x y/n #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley imagines #different light #Draco #Herimone granger #Malfoy!reader #angst #SLOWBURN

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sweeethinny · 3 years

Text

Grades

I love writing about James, and I've wanted to write this for a long time, and thanks to @startanewdream I had the idea of how to do it

thanks to @deadwoodpecker for helping me with this one shot and I'm sorry for any mistakes ahaha

tell me what you think!

AO3

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Summary: They are not at home when the bird arrives with James' OWL grades. or James Sirius is concerned about his future and the parents' reaction to his idea

read bellow the cut :)

They are not at home when the bird arrives with James' OWL grades.

On that vacation they decide to stay in England, but Harry and Ginny manage to take a short break so they can spend a day at their country house, enjoying the waterfall, fishing, relaxing in the silence far from the city and any other human besides them.

Teddy and Albus go out to study the birds that fly by, James and Ginny continue to do their morning training, but now, just running to the waterfall and coming back, and Lily and Harry are responsible for the meals - which has been pretty late almost every day, since everyone has taken the opportunity to sleep more than normal.

It’s been an amazing few days. Yesterday's fishing yielded a generous dinner, and today Harry thought he would risk having a barbecue; maybe Teddy would help him fetch firewood and they could chat about Teddy’s not-so-bright idea to move out of the apartment he shared with roommates and live alone.

Harry had all day planned in his head, but he wake up earlier than usual by some father's instinct and go to prepare breakfast for everyone, even baking a chocolate cake that Albus had asked him to make last night. Everything was normal, until the gray owl with a puffy chest, landed on top of his newspaper on the table.

It was the day, Harry thought, looking at the date on the newspaper and then at the owl again, watching that paper that was wrapped around her paw. That was why he was feeling worried and anxious, today the result of James' OWL was coming out. OWL’s that for the letters that Lily sent, James had dedicated himself entirely.

The boy was smart, much more than he let on, and neither he nor Ginny expected anything less from the boy, but James was still a 15-year-old who occasionally got involved with girls and spent his time trying to understand them. Harry felt a hint of concern deep in his heart. They never talked about the options that his son wanted to pursue as a career, but everyone always pointed out that he would always have the Ministry doors open for him; whether to be an Auror, or to work in another Department.

Harry didn't know if that thought pleased him, but if that was what James wanted, he could only accept it.

Facing the owl then, he gave her the finger to nip it a little before undoing the knot and taking the paper with shaking hands, anxious as if it were his notes. When free, the owl flew to the owlery that he and the boys had built, looking pleased to be able to rest and eat good food. Harry sighed.

Should he wake up James? Should he open and see it before everyone else? Should he expect everyone to be awake? Heavens, no one taught you about it.

Before he knew how to proceed, the oven beeped and the smell of baked cake made Harry wake up for now, dropping the paper along with the other letters that eventually reached them, and set the breakfast table up again

Everyone was still sleeping and outside the sky was still a little cloudy, but it didn't look like it would be cold or rain, which was great for today's plans, Harry thought, spilling the chocolate syrup over the cake and now and then looking at the letter. It was still sealed.

What if James had failed? He would not like to know that he failed in front of everyone, when the brothers looked at him with such expectation… Albus still looked at James as if he were a great superhero, even though the eldest did not realize how much his brother paid attention to what he said. And Lily was very attached to him, always wanting to be around, clamoring for his attention... No, if he failed, he would hate to know that in front of everyone.

But would James fail? Harry thought, dropping the dirty chocolate pot into the sink, returning to the fresh bread he and Lily had made yesterday afternoon, cutting the slices and preparing the toast. The boy was so smart, never having problems with his grades or because he messed up - too much - in class. Of course, he would not fail.

And even if he failed, Harry would still hug him and support him, because he was there regardless of the outcome.

Now if James got high marks they would have to celebrate in the best way. Maybe he would apparate in town and buy that ice cream that his son loved to eat.

‘’Cakes, pancake, bacon… any special reason for all this?’’ The arms covered in Harry’s gray robe encircled his waist, the long sleeves hiding Ginny’s delicate hands, the head resting on his back.

‘’I just sensed it was an important day.’’ He smiled, making the last toast and looking at her over his shoulder, meeting her with eyes closed. ‘‘James ’notes arrived.’’ And in the next instant, the woman was staring at him with big brown eyes.

''You opened? No, we shouldn't open... Or should we? We shouldn't.'’ Ginny denied, moving away from Harry and going over to where the mail was, taking the paper in her hand. ‘’Of course he did well, but do you think he’s nervous about the result?’’

‘’He doesn’t seem to be. In fact, I don't think he even remembers.’’ Harry admitted, also looking at the closed letter. ‘’Do you want to wake him up?’’ He sighed, anxious as he was, trying not to think too much about the future that James had ahead of him. He was great at Charms and Potions, in fact, even in Astronomy he was always keeping great grades and never seeming to have a hard time understanding. What the boy sometimes lacked was a little commitment, he preferred to spend hours flying and disappearing through the castle, rather than dedicating himself to his studies.

If he tried, he could work in the Department of Mysteries, or even in the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

‘’Yes, I think he’ll be less nervous if I go. You know how sometimes you end up scaring the kids.’’ Ginny laughed, dropping the letter and returning to her husband, who had just put everything under the table, and kissed him quickly.

‘’I was thinking,’’ He spoke in the middle of the kiss, then walked away and walked through the kitchen. ‘’Maybe I’ll give up the barbecue and we’ll have lunch at that restaurant he loves.’’

‘’Let the boy wake up first, love, and then we’ll see what to do.’’ She blinked and left the kitchen, leaving him alone there again.

Through the window, it was already possible to see the blue and almost cloudless sky, a good breeze swayed the trees surrounding the house, the song of the various birds echoing through the woods nearby, while Sir, their dog, chased a squirrel through the backyard, dirty with old leaves and mud, making Harry think that again the animal had tried to catch a fish in the river.

It was good that they were out of the house and away from everyone. Harry loved their family, the Weasleys were everything he ever wanted, but they were also too numerous and as much as James was a much more outgoing boy than he was at that age, Harry thought his son would want some privacy when the notes arrived, which he certainly wouldn't have, since Fred probably also received his notes, as did Dominique.

Everyone should have known that today was the delivery of the OWL results, and Harry thanked them that they had no way to call to see how James had done. At that time, all the children looked very much like him, reserved and preferring a moment alone first, before telling everyone how they had done.

While he waited, Harry sat at the table, looking at all that waiting food and all the cups and plates. How many times he made the Dursleys' breakfast and hated having to cook for three people he hated, and how he now happily cooked their meals, and waited anxiously for his children to praise him. It was kind of silly, but Harry thought the best part of the day was that, when everyone sat together to eat and talked about everything and nothing.

Last morning, Lily woke up with a series of questions about the most random things possible, and while she helped her father set the table, she made sure not to be quiet and ask everything; what were dreams? Could Sir be a human trapped in his animagus form? How were wizards born? Why weren't all humans doing magic? Was there an afterlife?

Harry did his best to answer each one, letting his daughter ask even more questions with each explanation, and then answer those questions as well. It was a unique moment, Lily was in her first year at Hogwarts, and Harry felt alone when he prepared coffee for only himself and Ginny for the rest of the months. He loved it when his children said everything that came to mind.

Albus also always had questions, but he preferred to just ask them and then answer with his own theories, and then digress about something he did that year. He didn't like to cook with his father, as Lily did, preferring to just sit next to him and talk nonstop, asking Harry about Auror's work, sometimes about his years at Hogwarts, and very rarely, about the War.

James, unlike the two, did not ask many crazy questions, just gossiped about the year, and about students in his class that Harry clearly did not know, but listened with the same pleasure as he do with Lily's questions and Albus's theories. James loved to know what everyone was doing, so now and then he would tell his father about some new couple that had formed that year, or something he had done with his friends. But as much as the older son looked a lot like Harry, less the eyes, the eyes belonged to Ginny, James got along much better with his mom.

Ginny knew how to read James like no one else. They had those hours where they trained together, and Harry suspected that James would tell her all his secrets, because it was not possible that she would always know what was going on with the boy.

Harry would never tell, but sometimes he envied that communication a little.

Albus always went to him to ask for help, Lily was very attached to he too, but as much as James always seemed to want Harry's opinion on things, he would always call his mother first, since he was little. If he had a nightmare, it was Mom who would help him. If he wanted the cookies that were hidden in the tallest cupboard, it was for mom he asked for. And sometimes Harry felt like a jerk for feeling jealous about it, and how they talked in silence several times, even at the table.

‘’Good morning,’’ James murmured, sighing as he followed his mother into the kitchen as if he were a ghost, and even with the early morning heat, the boy was hiding in a red sweatshirt. ‘’Hm, cake.’’ He smiled, going to sit in his usual place, but pausing when he realized that there was no one else there and that his parents looked at him with great expectation. ''What did I do? I barely woke up, it is not possible that I already got into trouble.’’ Ginny laughed, denying and taking off James' cap before standing next to Harry.

‘’You didn’t do anything, I promise.’’ The two smiled at each other, as they always did. ‘’Just something came for you.’’ She walked over to where the cards were, taking the one that would define a lot in that young man’s life, and handed it to him, then sat on the chair next to Harry. ''Your scores.''

''My... Oh, my.'' James's eyes widened, picking up the letter and seeming to shake slightly, before blinking and looking at his parents. ‘’I may have failed miserably.’’

‘’Or it may have gone very well.’’ Harry reminded him, smiling anxiously. ‘’You don’t know yet.’’

‘’I’ll only know when to open it ... But I may never open it, so we don’t have to deal with it.’’ James dropped the letter on the table, looking at his parents and shrugging. ‘’Let’s tell everyone that I took 12 OWL and no one will ever know.’’

‘’We’ll know.’’ Ginny warned, taking the letter and handing it back to him. ''Open it.''

‘’Why this pressure? Can't I do this later?’’

‘’James, aren’t you anxious? It's your future.’’ Harry smiled at his son, his eyes sparkling. ‘’You may have so many options depending on your grades... The ministry- ‘’

‘’ -The door is open for me, I know.’’ The boy looked down, his cheeks a little flushed as he shrugged. ‘’I know it’s important, I just thought I could eat a piece of cake before I thought if I’m going to be a successful man, or a failure.’’

‘’It’s not just what will define you,’’ Ginny said, calm down. ''You are much more than a grade, but now, that grade is important to help you know which way you want to go.'' They were silent, Harry almost starting to bite his nails with such anxiety, then, finally, James sighed and pick up the letter again.

‘’I don’t even know what I want to do.’’ He said.

‘’There’s a sea of options.’’

‘’A sea of options at the Ministry.’’ James countered Harry, still not looking at his parents, staring at the paper as if he wanted to burn it with the force of a look.

‘’Well.. yes.’’ Harry shrugged, not quite sure what his son was getting at with that. ‘’There are other places where you can work.’’

‘’You might want to be an auror,’’ Please don’t, Harry thought, his protective instinct burning in his chest just at the thought that his son would see half of what he had seen in all his career years. ‘’Working with alchemy, with spells, in the newspaper. There are many places to work, depending on your grades.’’

‘’Yeah… it might be.’’ James smiled, calmly opening the letter, as if he wanted to postpone it as long as he could.

‘’Jamie ... what’s wrong?’’ He asked, concerned as any parent would be to see his son so discouraged about his future.

‘’What if I don’t want to be any of this?’’

‘’Any of.. what?’’ Ginny raised her eyebrows, also looking concerned and curious.

‘’What if I don’t want to work at the Ministry? Or with spells, or... what if I don't want any of that?’’ He pointed to the semi-open letter, looking even a little desperate. His brown eyes were colder than Harry had ever seen them, almost as if James felt pain in admitting that. ‘’What if I don’t want to be anything that everyone says? Are you two going to be mad?’’ His eyes shone with tears that soon disappeared, making Harry’s heart break into a thousand pieces.

‘’What do you mean by that?’’ Ginny whispered, for the first time, also not seeming to understand James.

‘’Everyone always says that I should be an auror like dad, or work in some department, that the Ministry will always be open to me, but... what if I don’t want to? What if none of those notes are really important to what I want to do? ’’

‘’And what do you want to do?’’

''I want to... fly.'' James whispered, and this time a tear escaped his eyes. ‘’I don’t see myself in an office like you dad, sorry, I...’’ More tears came on and on, even when he tried to dry his eyes and seem to swallow his tears. ''I want to play, like mom, and I know that maybe it will disappoint you, but- '' Harry didn't hear the rest, his aching heart in his chest making him get up and go to James, hugging him tighter than he remembered to have done in the past few days.

‘’James, never say that again, please.’’ He murmured, holding the boy close to him, looking at Ginny who was sitting with wide eyes towards his son, before blinking and standing up to hug him too. James continued to cry in Harry's chest like a child who had fallen from the tree, squeezing his father's waist as if he was afraid he would disappear.

Harry wondered when he hinted that he would be disappointed if James wanted to pursue a Quidditch career or some other. He wondered where he went wrong to make his son think like that.

''I'm sorry if I made you think that, but it's not true James.'' Harry continued, stroking the boy's hair. '’Look at me.'' The son did, pulling his head away from his father's chest and staring at him, crying red brown eyes.

James was not a boy who hid feelings, Albus was, James was much more sentimental than Lily at times, but Harry hated to see him cry. He preferred to see the boy fighting with his siblings, or with them, and rolling his eyes, than to see him cry.

‘’I’m your mother’s fan number one, what made you think I wouldn’t be yours too?’’ The boy shrugged, lowering his gaze, then looking at his mother.

''I don't know... that time at the Ministry... that wizard said you should prefer to have two Albus, rather than a James, and so I thought... I thought you wouldn't want me to waste my intelligence.'' Harry was silent, the memory coming back to him like a punch in the stomach, remembering how Martin had joked and laughed, and how Harry just smiled politely and walked away from him, angry that anyone would think that. He didn't think James had paid attention, he had just returned from the cafeteria and was arguing with Albus about something they had seen there. Harry should have known that James would listen, should have paid better attention, than having been taken by the anger of someone daring to compare his children, even if only for fun. He should have defended James, but he was so tired of Martin that he just wanted to get out of there and take the two boys to buy Ginny's birthday gifts.

‘’James, Martin is a idiot who doesn’t deserve to be heard by us.’’ Harry took a deep breath, angry with himself. '’I'm sorry, I should have told him to fuck off, but I just couldn't take it anymore and I thought you guys hadn't heard. But I don’t believe what he said, even for a second.’’

‘’You don’t have to worry about that, Jamie,’’ Ginny finally spoke, her cheeks red as if she was trying very hard not to cry. ‘’Never, and I mean it, it will be true.’’ She blinked, her eyes suddenly moist. ‘’Martin knows nothing of what he talks about. Why do you think he is single?’’ The three laughed softly. ‘’You’re our boy, James, you always will be. We would not be happy with two Albus, two Teddy, two James or two Lily. We would not be happy without one of you existing.’’ She wiped the tears from her son’s cheeks, who continued to hug his father as if he were still a child.

‘’And it’s not a waste of intelligence.’’ Harry reminded him. ‘’Professional Quidditch is a lot more complicated than school, and you need to be smart to play. Look at your mom...She’s dumb?’’ James laughed, denying. ‘‘I’m sorry if we made you think that we wanted you to choose one career and that the others didn’t matter. We are kind of stupid sometimes too.’’ James nodded, laying his head on his father's chest again.

''Thank you I love you.''

‘’Hm... what? Can you speak louder? I didn't hear what my teenage son just said to me.’’ Harry smiled, feeling as silly as he heard James calling him dad the first time.

‘’I love you.’’ James said louder. ‘’Even if you’re an old grouch.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Ginny and James started laughing together, looking at Harry who kept his face serious. ‘’We’re going to have lunch, but I don’t think you want to go out with that old grouch.’’

‘’Nah, I don’t care.’’ He disengaged himself, drying his cheeks. ‘’At that restaurant near the mall?’’ James looked at his mom, which hugged him and kissed his cheek.

''Yea. But maybe we should stay at home ... you know how old people tend to get boring when they spend a lot of time outside.'' Harry teased, ruffling the hair of the boy who grimaced and ran his hands through the strands, trying in vain, tidy them up.

‘’I don’t care, I think I can handle the pain.’’ James shrugged, taking the letter again in his hands and finally finishing opening. ‘’If I fail, will we still go there?’’

‘’Yes.’’ Harry wanted to laugh, but he swallowed the laugh and looked at Ginny. ‘’Grades are important to teams, aren’t they?’’

''Yes. They don't like to hire dumb athletes.’’ She shrugged, looking at the letter. ‘’Open, let’s see how you did.’’ James took a deep breath, pulling the paper out of the envelope and they could read;

James Sirius Potter Arithmancy O Astronomy O Care for Magical Creatures O Charms O Defense Against Dark Arts O Divination A Herbology A History of Magic T Muggle Studies O Potions O Transfiguration O Study of Ancient Runes O

‘’You had 9 OWL.s.’’ Harry almost shouted, taking the letter from his son hand so he could read better. ‘’My son is a genius!’’ There was much happiness in his chest, as much as he knew James was smart, there was nothing that had prepared him for that. ‘’A genius!’’ Harry repeated, hugging James even tighter as if he were still a child.

‘’I knew you weren’t just getting into trouble,’’ Ginny hugged the boy too, almost seeming to jump in excitement. ‘’I know you very well, I know you love to do a scale of studies, just like Hermione.’’

‘’I ... I don’t expect that .. And I was getting into trouble, believe me. How is this possible? It's wrong. Dad, it's wrong, it's the wrong Potter.’’ James took the paper in his hands, his eyes big. ‘’Are you sure they didn’t exchange letters?’’

‘‘Of course not, James, you’re the smart one.’’ Ginny kissed her son on the cheek, a smile from ear to ear looking like she wanted to tear her face. ‘’Albus! Lily! Teddy!''

''My boy is a nerd.'' Dramatically, and very happy to be able to contain himself, Harry put his hand on his chest, remembering all the times he received letters from Lily saying that his brother seemed really committed to studying, and how he had thought that perhaps his daughter was being deceived and did not realize that her brother was preparing to do something else. ‘’Your godmother will be so proud.’’

‘’I’m not a nerd! Nerds are ugly.’’ James grimaced.

‘’There are exceptions. Besides, girls like smart guys.’’ Harry blinked, just to laugh at how his son had rolled his eyes and blushed. ''I'm proud of you.''

‘’Thank you.’’ His son smiled sincerely, looking very much like that boy who loved to jump in bed and escape bath time.

Harry realized then how James always seemed to look for his approval in small things, like grades and career, the owl he wanted to take to Hogwarts, among other details that he had never stopped to pay attention to. James was always wanting, in a way, for his father to say he was proud of what he did.

Suddenly, he felt his heart melt between his ribs, the same feeling as when he saw the boy for the first time, soiled with blood and all that white goo, crying loudly enough as if he was irritated that someone had ended his party inside Ginny's belly, so small that Harry even trembled for fear of knocking him over.

''I love you very much, James, very much.'' Harry took advantage of the fact that Ginny had gone to wake the other children, still jumping and talking that her son was a nerd, to be able to say that. ‘’And I’m very happy being your father, really, even when you’re a tough teenager who gets irritated by everything.’’ His son at least blushed in shame. ‘’I’m very proud to be your father, I’m sure you’ll be a great player.’’

‘’Better than mom?’’

‘’Hm... you don’t play in the same position to be a fair competition.’’

‘’Better than you, then?’’ Harry laughed, nodding.

''Without a doubt... But promise me that you will continue to study and dedicate yourself, and that you will at least try not to get into too much trouble.'' The two stared at each other, Ginny's brown eyes shining towards Harry, while James seemed to think about the proposal.

''I will try. Dedicate myself and not get into trouble. But you know how things are, problems find me.’’ The boy shrugged, that confident smile that made Harry get wrinkles and white hair, shining on the boy’s face.

‘’Always the wrong place and the wrong time, right?’’

‘’Yes, it’s impressive.’’ The two sat on the chairs opposite each other, and Harry cut a piece of the cake to serve James.

‘’I know how it is,’’ Harry smiled, remembering his teenage self.

‘‘It’s the Potter heritage.’’ James winked at his father, laughing softly as soon as Ginny entered the kitchen being followed by the other three. ‘’Teddy, you won’t believe... I’m smarter than you...’’

#hinny #hp next gen #harry potter next generation #next gen harry potter #next gen hp prompt #James Sirius Potter #Harry Potter #Harry and Ginny #harry x ginny #harry is just a good father

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fanfics4all · 4 years

Text

Just As Crazy

Request: Yes / No Hello Maybe you could do a Bellatrix X slytherin daughter reader who is just like her mother but is more insane.All she wants to do is to make her mother and Voldemort proud. She was the one who helped Tom open the Chamber of Secrets but nobody caught her. Then in 5th year she was the cause of Sirius death by betraying the DA when she shows up as a death eater. Tyyyyy 💕 Anon

Don’t be shy, request things! <3 Have a nice day/night

Bellatrix Lestrange x Daughter!Reader

Word count: 1248

Warnings: Sirius dying and that should be it

Y/N: Your Name

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK!

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you!

Masterlist

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

My Mother was locked up in Azkaban, so I was living with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin. My cousin Draco wasn’t really a huge fan of me, but I wasn’t really a fan of him either. He was weak, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. He was too emotional and wasn’t Death Eater material. However that wasn’t my decision to make. The two of us went to Hogwarts together, obviously getting placed in Slytherin. I ended up using the Malfoy name so no one knew who I really was. My Uncle was able to sneak letters into my Mother and she was delighted I was put in Slytherin. The first year was rather boring but that summer I got a job from Voldemort. I had to help the young Weasley girl open the Chamber of Secrets. My Uncle planted the book and then it was up to me to make sure the Chamber got opened. I was just the watcher to make sure Ginny wasn’t destered, but at the same time I couldn’t be caught. Lucky for me it was pretty simple, however Harry Potter ruined it and killed the basilisk!

I then had to gain Harry’s trust. It wasn’t easy to do, but I managed to do so by defending him and his disgusting friends against Draco. He hated it, but I assured him I hated it more. However it all paid off when I was invited to join their secret group in year five. Dumbledore’s Army was what they called themselves, how pathetic. Unbridge ended up catching us because of Cho Chang. Luckily they still trusted me and when Harry was going to the Ministry he asked me to join them. A small group of us made our way to London after a bit of trouble. When we made it to the Ministry we went straight to the Department of Mysteries. We walked down the hall, following Harry and he stopped just in front of a door at the end of the hall.

“This is it.” He said. We walked slowly to the door and walked in to see a dark room with shelves of orbs.

“Ninety-two, ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five.” Harry said and stopped in between the shelves.

“He should be here.” Harry said.

“Harry. It’s got your name on it.” Neville said looking at one of the orbs. everyone watched as Harry grabbed the orb.

“Harry.” Hermione said and looked down the hall. He pulled his gaze from the orb and looked down to see a Death Eater walking down towards us. I silently smirked and no one could see me since I was in the front. Harry moved in front of us and I quickly changed my expression to one of worry.

“Where’s Sirius?” Harry asked.

“You know, you really should learn to tell the difference between dreams…” Uncle Lucius said and removed his mask.

“And reality.” He finished.

“You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see. Now, hand me the prophecy.” He said.

“If you do anything to us, I’ll break it.” Harry said and I tried my hardest to not roll my eyes. I heard my Mother’s laugh and I suppressed my smile.

“He knows how to play. Itty, bitty, baby. Potter.” She said and shook her head at me. It wasn’t time.

“Bellatrix Lestrange.” said, stepping forward.

“Neville Longbottom, is it? How’s Mum and Dad?” Mum asked with a smirk.

“Better, now they're about to be avenged.” He replied and held up his wand. My Mother held her up and Uncle Lucius saw this could go bad quickly.

“Now, let’s everybody just calm down, shall we?” He said and they each lowered their wands.

“All we want is that prophecy.” He said.

“Why did Voldemort need me to come and get this?” Harry asked and I sneered slightly.

“You dare speak his name? You filthy half blood!” My mother shouted.

“It’s alright. He’s just a curious lad, aren’t you? Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. Which is lucky for you, really. Haven’t you always wondered the reason for the connection between you and the Dark Lord? Why he was unable to kill you when you were just an infant? Don’t you want to know the secret of your scar? All the answers are there, Potter, in your hand. All you have to do is give it to me. Then I can show you everything.” Uncle said, holding his hand out.

“I’ve waited fourteen years.” Harry said.

“I know.” Uncle said, looking as though he cared.

“I guess I can wait a little longer. Now! Stupefy!” Harry said. Everyone did the same and then ran. We ended up getting separated and my Mother found me. She grabbed me and pulled me along with her. Luckily no one saw.

“Where’s Y/N?” I heard Harry ask.

“They must have gotten her.” Neville said with a nervous tone. I smirked.

“Get back to the door!” Harry shouted and I heard them running.

“What do I do, Mother?” I asked.

“Just wait for the right moment.” She said and took me with her to follow them. We followed them into a new room and while the chaos was going on my Mother hid me in a doorway. I had to stay there until it was the right moment.

“Did you truly believe, or were you truly naive enough to think that children stood a chance against us?” Uncle asked and I stifled my laugh.

“I’ll make this simple for you, Potter. Give me the prophecy now, or watch your friends die.” He said.

“Don’t give it to him, Harry!” Neville shouted, but my Mother hushed him. I saw a white light appear and glanced around confused.

“Get away from my godson.” Sirius Black said punched my Uncle. Other white lights came and a fight started. I wanted to join, but my Mother gave me a sign to stay hidden. My Uncle was in trouble and my Mother had made it to me. I knew it was my time.

“Avada Kedavra!” I shouted and aimed it at Sirius. My Mother and I laughed as he fell back into the archway and disappeared.

“No! No!” Harry cried and I laughed harder. My Mother and I smirked at him as we ran off.

“I killed Sirius Black!” I laughed as I heard Harry running after us.

“You coming to get me?” I teased.

“Crucio!” Harry shouted and hit me. I screamed as I fell to the ground and Harry pointed his wand at me. My Mother escaped through the fireplace so I was alone. I looked at him with fake sadness.

“You’ve got to mean it, Harry. She killed him. She deserves it.” I heard the Dark Lord say and I looked up shocked and worried.

“You know the spell, Harry.” He said and he appeared behind Harry. I started laughing and smiling.

“Do it!” He said, but Harry turned around and knocked his wand from him.

“So weak.” He sneered. Dumbledore appeared and a fight started, giving me the perfect moment to escape. I made it to Malfoy Manor and my Mother greeted me with a wicked smile.

“Did I do well, Mother?” I asked with the same smirk.

“You did dear, the Dark Lord will be proud.” She said and my smile grew. The two of us gave an evil cackle and I knew the Dark Lord will rise to power once again.

Tag list: @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs @schisbro87 @lover-of-books-and-teas @nerdygaloresposts @teenwolfbitches2 @genius2050 @drw0301bieber @lady-of-lies @ravenmoore14 @ravenempress101 @cillianchamp @rowanthomasknapp @in-slytherin-we-trust @accio-rogers @sambucky8

#harry potter imagine #bellatrix x daughter!reader #bellatrix lestrange #bellatrix lestrange x daughter!reader #draco x cousin!reader #draco malfoy x cousin!reader #fanfic #request #sirius black #lucius malfoy

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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 years

Text

Written In The Stars CXL (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: This gif is huge but it’s the only one I could find with detective!Erick vibes and it excels at it so enjoy -Danny

Words: 2,936

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu’ (Acoustic) -by The Maine

Chapter Two: Just Friends.

HARRY POTTER: THE CHOSEN ONE?

Rumours continue to fly about the mysterious recent disturbance at the Ministry of Magic, during which He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was sighted once more...'

"Well, look at that," Mel threw the paper onto the backseat. "Looks like Harry's going to have a fun year."

"He'll enjoy it no doubt," Erick replied, his eyes fixed on the road. "Is it true, though?"

"You were there..."

"I mean the prophecy."

They'd been driving for two days and they still had no idea where Slughorn could be. Mel was starting to miss her bed and her hair was gross, she was more than grumpy.

"I can't talk about it."

"Yes or no would be fine..."

"If you want to believe it go ahead, I'm sure Harry'll appreciate one of his friends participating in the gossip."

Erick scoffed, she looked back at him with a frown.

"What?"

"I don't gossip about Potter," He grumbled. "And I don't think he'd cared if I did. We're not friends."

"After all you've done you think he would consider you a mere acquaintance?"

"You remember how he treated me last year at Grimmauld Place?"

"You remember how he treated everyone last year?" She raised a brow.

"I've spent lots of good moments with you — but him... you really think he considers me a friend?"

Mel opened her mouth but nothing came out of it, she had no idea.

"Lots of things can change in a year," She said at last.

"Maybe," Erick agreed, then he looked at her shortly and smiled. "You're still the same girl from six years ago, though."

Mel let out something that sounded like half a snort.

"Because I'm the only one that doesn't bully you?"

"You're the only one that bullies me," He laughed. "Listen, you might think that being sweet sucks, but that's not all you are. You're the best witch of our age..."

"Doubt that," She said bitterly, "if I were I'd be the one with a prophecy, don't you think?"

"So there is a prophecy?"

"I'm just saying," Mel responded promptly. "That if I were meant to do great things, the stars would've said something about it — I wouldn't be so incompetent..."

"The stars are balls of gas floating outside the planet, not deities," Erick rolled his eyes. "Don't you remember what I told you?"

"You've said many things to me, you have to be more specific."

"You can do anything, but you're afraid it won't end well. You're the only person who gets to decide your future," He glanced at her once more. "So what is it, Miss Dumbledore? Are you going to make history?"

"I'm going to have lunch," She concluded.

"You have the picture?"

"Of course I have the picture, I'm not you."

"I left it in the car once!" Mel scowled. "And we weren't close to finding him!"

"Quiet," He fixed his hat. "We can't attract attention to ourselves."

"In that case, you should stop acting like a fool," She snatched the hat out of his head. "You're ridiculous."

"No!" He pushed his hair back grumpily. "My hair looks weird today!"

"You look fine — let those poor curls breathe, they suffer under all the things you put on them..."

"I only use wax," He grumbled. "Wouldn't hurt you to brush your hair for a change..."

"I already cut it," She gestured vaguely to her bangs. "The hardest thing I've done in my life, by the way..."

"Hardest thing? The fight in the Ministry was a breeze for you?" Erick snorted.

"You know what —"

Mel froze; a small man was approaching the house across the street. Erick grabbed the photo from inside his pocket and stared at it, then nodded. They turned their backs on the man, both of them staring at the reflection of a window to keep an eye on Slughorn.

"We're eight hours away from home... what if he moves while we're driving back?"

"Don't think so," Mel watched as the man opened the door with a flick of his wand. "He stays at least four days in each place, he'll be there long enough for us to inform my uncle."

"Okay," The boy smiled. "We did it."

"This isn't over," Mel squeezed his arm, noticing the two figures ahead. "He's been followed."

"What?"

"Look..."

She discretely pointed to the other two reflections: men in dark robes were standing seven houses away from Slughorn's. Mel didn't recognize them, but no muggle would walk around wearing that kind of clothes.

"We have to get rid of them."

"You read my mind," She responded. "D'you think they know we're here?"

"They're following him, not us..." He tilted his head and eyed her up and down. "How do you feel about being the distraction?"

"You think you can take down two death eaters on your own?"

"If I can't and they kill me, I know you can."

"Fair enough," Mel grinned. "I'll lure them into the alley, wait for us there..."

The girl crossed the street, she didn't know if they would know who she was, but she was hoping her face was still unknown to most wizards. She crashed against one of them and dropped her wand on purpose.

Both men froze and quickly retrieved her wand; Mel gave them a panicky look over her shoulder that she hoped was convincing. The wizards had been taken by surprise, but they ran after her. She took a shard turn and ended up cornered in the alley.

"Bad luck for you, missy," said one. "We can't —"

A flash of blue hit him on the back, then a second one reached the other man and he fell forward too.

Erick walked into the alley. "We should obliviate them."

"Sharp aim you got there," Mel commented.

"Thanks," He replied casually, "are you all right?"

"Yeah, they were too busy giving a dramatic speech," She stared at the men and frowned. "Dumbledore said Slughorn was afraid like everyone else, but it looks like he's got a reason to be hiding, don't you think?"

Erick crouched down and inspected the men's pockets.

"Nothing," He sighed. "Can't blame Dumbledore for hiding stuff — The more we know the more the Death Eaters could get from us if they catch us."

"He told my mum I'd be safe," Mel scowled. "What does he value more than what's left of his own family?"

Erick raised a brow.

"Did you get hurt?"

"No."

"Listen, we're inexperienced, he's not going to trust us right away with all the information —"

"It's thanks to me and Harry that he's found out half of the things he knows! If that's not enough then I don't know what he wants!"

"I don't want to argue with you," Erick stood up. "He said he would tell you everything, I don't understand what's the problem..."

"I don't understand why you're okay with being his puppet —!"

"I'm not a puppet!" He replied fuming, then pointed his wand towards the men. "Obliviate!"

In less than a minute it was done. Erick fixed his robes and snatched his hat from Mel's head.

"Time to go home."

Mel threw a soft punch at him and Erick grunted, staring at her with confusion and holding the place she'd hit.

"I hate it when you act like that," She picked up the men's wands, "like a villain."

"Thought you were over fairytales," He muttered. "Villains aren't real..."

She walked past him and slammed the wands on his chest, Erick grunted again.

"You know I'm right!" He followed her out of the alley. "You would've done the same!"

"Shut up!"

They arrived at Privet Drive in the afternoon, she saw Harry move away from his window and knew he was going to ask them all about their adventure.

"Don't mention the Death Eaters to Harry."

The seatbelt snapped back into place and Erick hissed, shaking the hand he'd hurt.

"Why?"

"If he finds out I was chased down a street he'll go crazy, and I've been trying to convince him to... to stay out of my problems. Leave it to me, I can handle his tantrums way better than you."

They got out of the car, Mel opened the trunk and pulled out her bag as well as Erick's.

"Hi!" Harry greeted. "How was your mission?"

"Successful," Erick said shortly.

"How're you?"

"Brilliant!" She said. "I have to take our bags inside, so..."

"Let me help," He replied.

"Oh, I got it! Erick needs a hand in the kitchen, though..."

"I still don't know how the stove works," He put an arm around Harry's shoulders and guided him into the house. "I was thinking chicken soup, but I have no idea how to cook it!"

"Sure," Harry followed him cheerfully, Mel had the feeling he'd missed them.

"Did you find the man?"

Erick hummed.

"Cool," said Harry, grabbing three plates from the sink.

Mel was upstairs taking a shower, Erick begged for her to hurry.

"Did... er... Did all go well for real?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you really just found the man and came back?"

"We came back as soon as we finished, yes. She was safe at all times, I promise."

"I know," Harry put the dishes on the counter. "I would've felt something otherwise... you know about the lifeline, right?"

He knew about that, whatever made them feel each other's pain. Erick didn't understand how that worked, but he'd never asked.

"Right," He nodded. "Bet you must hate that..."

Harry stared at him.

"She didn't tell you? What Dumbledore said to us?"

"Why would she?"

"Well," Harry looked down again, drying the plates carefully. "You're the one she goes to when she has a problem."

"Only when I'm available," He said quickly. "It's just... lately everyone else is always preoccupied with... well, you."

Harry hadn't thought about it, but that was true. A few weeks ago half of the order had gone to King's cross just to talk to his uncle, everywhere he went the conversation would always end up being about him.

Mel had known Harry for nine years and she'd always looked after him, with or without the connection, he understood why she felt like they didn't need it. Harry, on the other hand, depended so much on their lifeline to make sure she was safe... but was it really necessary? Would it be equally helpful for both sides? They truly needed to give each other space to think.

"I'm glad you're here," He confessed. "Don't think I'm being helpful... all the things I've done... all she sees when she looks at me is Voldemort."

Erick didn't wince, which caught Harry's attention and made him curious.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You're from a pureblood family, but they weren't Death Eaters... How come you're not afraid of his name?"

"Oh," Erick tilted his head. " knew I wasn't supposed to say it, but I was used to hearing it. My Grandad would call him Voldemort all the time... I just never say it out loud because, you know..."

"I was really rude to you last year," He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"You had your reasons..."

"They weren't good enough."

"Listen, Harry, I know how it is... feeling like you're on your own, having one person that makes your life better and then having to walk away because you could hurt them more than you make them happy — I've been angry like that too. Actually, it also happened in my fifth year. Guess we do have things in common, huh?"

Harry had a funny look on his face. It was true, they did have a thing in common: They both wanted the best for Mel.

Right now, the best was Erick.

"You're a good bloke, Flint," He admitted. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to Mel before, we could've been good friends since the start."

"I wasn't likeable then, believe me," The Slytherin chuckled. "But she refused to take a no for an answer... She's something special, isn't she?"

"She is," Harry agreed.

"Yeah, she is," He sighed, perhaps a bit too dreamily.

This didn't go unnoticed by Harry.

"Listen," The boy began carefully. "Take care of her, alright?"

"I don't think she needs a man to look after her," Erick replied distractedly.

"No, listen, don't make the same mistakes I did — I don't want her to suffer, that's why I gave her up in the first place. You understand that?"

One thing Erick knew from talking with Hermione and the twins was that Harry never admitted that he'd dated Mel. He had no idea why he'd been chosen to be the first to hear it.

"I don't know if she — she doesn't want me that way," He'd never felt as embarrassed about anything in his life as he did now, standing in front of this sixteen-year-old who somehow made him feel like he was an idiot.

Harry stared at him carefully, he took his time to answer.

"If she says no, I know Mel will make you regret it if you bother her too much — But if she wants you... I don't mind it."

"Okay," Erick said hoarsely. "Thanks?"

"Excellent," Harry grabbed the plates and set them on the table.

Erick stared at the boy and couldn't help but wonder how much Harry had to suffer to stop fearing the little things in life like demanding stuff from an older, taller guy?

Or maybe, just maybe, Harry wasn't afraid of him because he was a friend.

Could that really be it? He'd been waiting for this quite some time, and yet he couldn't stop the thought of something else being the real reason behind Harry's serenity. He wasn't the same boy Erick could torment by pretending he was flirting with Mel, and for some reason, he found that disturbing.

"One last thing?" Erick turned off the stove.

"Yeah?" Harry looked at him over his shoulder, eyes attentive.

"My old friends used to call me Flint," He smiled a bit. "So please, call me Erick."

The boys were having lunch when she entered the kitchen.

"I hope the Dursleys didn't make you starve while we were gone," Mel said as she sat in front of them.

"Not much."

"That's not good," She raised a brow. "How long till Dumbledore comes for you?"

"He'll pick me up tonight, didn't he tell you?"

"Haven't seen him since we left..."

"You're still moody, then?" Erick raised a brow, noticing her pout. "Thought the shower would help, I genuinely believed your bad mood was thanks to the underwear you'd been wearing for —"

"We don't need to talk about that," She blushed.

The boys laughed and she stared at them, what was that about?

An owl flew in through the window and landed in front of Erick.

"Dumbledore," He raised his eyebrows. "He wants us to go with him and Harry... We must be ready at seven as well. I should pack..."

"No need — Mum took all our stuff, our trunks are waiting at the burrow. She took Grey too."

"Ah, so that's why my feet haven't been attacked today!" Erick folded the letter. "Okay then, looks like you won't get rid of us for the rest of the summer, Glasses."

"Pity," The boy replied.

"Hang on!" She pushed her plate away. "I left you alone for half an hour and now you're best mates? You can't call him Glasses — Only I get to call him that!"

"You're the only one that calls me that because it's a stupid name," Harry raised a brow. "I call you Mellow but everyone else does too! We never said my nickname was exclusive. If he wants to sound stupid then let him."

"You see? He doesn't mind," Erick smirked, then he understood Harry's words and frowned. "I do not sound stupid."

"I feel betrayed," Mel sulked. "I'm not sure I'm liking this friendship between you."

"You were the one who wanted us to get along!" Erick exclaimed. "You should be happy! Looks like your efforts finally paid off..."

"Only took us two years," Harry grinned.

"I finished with the laundry and it's your turn to wash the dishes —" She walked into Erick's room and gazed up from the basket. "Shit — You're naked!"

Mel looked away, feeling her cheeks burning at the sound of his hearty laugh.

"I just took off my shirt!"

"I came here to leave your clothes — Possibly a shirt you can wear right now..." She walked up to the bed, Erick did so at the same time.

He didn't mean to walk up to her half-naked, but he didn't step back either. He just stood there, his chest moving up and down with every breath.

Erick had freckles over his shoulders, he also had thin scars across his torso from the cuts that had almost killed him. Mel redirected her attention to his face only to meet his hazel eyes softened by the sunset, his lips were forming a tiny, yet noticeable smirk.

"I'll take that," He seized the clothes gently, "and I'll wash the dishes after my shower."

"Okay."

"And I'll lock my door from now on since no one taught you to knock first," Erick teased, she felt like he could tell how fast her heart was beating.

Mel looked up at him resolutely.

"A prince doesn't expose a lady," She said in a firm voice.

"I'm no longer a prince," He replied without breaking eye contact, "and you've never been a lady."

Mel stormed out of the room without even responding.

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @stardusthigh @mikariell95 @vernon-dursley @thesuitelifeofafangirl @tomshollandz @wlwmaximoff @reverse-hxlland @hamiltonwc @omiwashere @t-rexs-world @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @21bruhs @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @dielgonacoffee @thelastpyle

#twoidiots writing #hp fanfic #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter xoc #WITT fic

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malfoymanortings · 3 years

Text

bad child

SUMMARY: Gwendolyn Weasley was the only one of her family to be sorted into Slytherin, and she becomes the black sheep of the family. her morals get twisted as she fights for her place in Slytherin house, but will she lose them completely?

PAIRINGS: none, eventual Draco X OC if continued.

hello! really im not sure if this is worth continuing, but it’s been floating around my mind for awhile so I decided to start writing it out. possibly will become a mini series if anyone wants it? enjoy!

Ginerva and Gwendolyn Weasley were the second set of twins to be born to the Weasley family. Their parents had been ecstatic to finally receive the girls they had so desperately wanted (more so Molly than Arthur), that it temporarily overshadowed the sheer panic of them having been twins. Twin girls.

Their first set of twins, Fred and George, had been more than several handfuls to deal with. If they weren’t lighting something on fire, they were terrorizing their easiest target, their youngest brother Ron.

The girls had proved to be just as difficult in their own way.

From a very early age Gwendolyn was able to convince Ginerva to do just about anything she said. Stealing from muggle shops, their siblings, neighbors; setting out more vindictive traps for the muggles around their neighborhood. The girls were close, but there was always the understanding between them that Gwendolyn was the leader out of the two. In addition to that, she was also the more manipulative and cunning of the two.

That’s not to say that Ginerva wasn’t strong in herself. She just loved her twin dearly, and was willing to put her own morals aside for the sake of keeping the peace with her twin. Gwendolyn had always felt that as the only girls, and the second set of twins, they needed to work hard to stand out and not let opportunities for power pass them by. Even if that power was only enjoying stolen bubble gum while their siblings had none.

Regardless of her questionable morals, Gwendolyn fiercely loved her family and had a conscience, contrary to what her older brother Percy seemed to think. She just cared more about what would be best for her and in turn, her twin, than how her actions would affect others. Gwendolyn would go to the ends of the earth to ensure Ginerva was okay.

By the time the girls had turned nine, their parents had come to realize that although Ginerva was normally at the forefront of the trouble they got into, Gwendolyn was the orchestrator of the scheme. No matter how many times Molly berated the girls for their wrongdoings, they didn’t stop. She spoke with Ginerva and told her she did not always have to go along with her sisters plans, and she spoke with Gwendolyn, telling her just because Ginerva was willing to do things for her didn’t mean she should.

Ginerva had tearfully said she would do better. Gwendolyn had laughed.

When the girls had finally headed off to Hogwarts, their mother had fretted and worried and bitten her nails as she sent them off, giving their older brothers firm instruction to watch over them. Percy had taken the suggestion to heart and swore he would, the twins had saluted their mother and laughed as they nodded, Ron had just shrugged noncommittally. Molly even requested that Harry and Hermione do their best to watch out for them, and the second years promised they would.

Ginerva was sorted first. The hat sat on her head for a few moments before loudly proclaiming “GRYFFINDOR!”. The redhead made her way over to the rest of her redheaded family, who hooted and hollered and made a ruckus as she blushed.

Gwendolyn was next. The hat sat on her head for a few beats longer than her twin, before proclaiming “SLYTHERIN!” just as loudly as it had for Ginvera. The redhead’s eyes widened for a moment, before she quickly fixed her expression into an indifferent mask and walked stiffly towards the green and silver table. Her family at the Gryffindor table had hesitated before clapping; Percy with an expression of horror, the twins with a disappointed grimace, Ron with a mix of concern and fear, and Ginerva with a look of crushed devastation.

Gwendolyn didn’t spare a second glance towards her family as she set down tentatively at the Slytherin table, hearing murmured whispers coming from an already established friend group a few seats down from her. She had felt out of place without her twin next to her.

“I’m Astoria,” the brunette next to her greeted, holding out a hand for her to shake.

“Gwendolyn,” she replied, giving the other girl a firm shake. “You can call me Gwen.”

The brunette nodded and smiled, before turning her attention back to the sorting.

“Weasley, hm?” a voice drawled to her left, and she turned to see a boy with slicked back silver hair giving her a haughty once over. “I’ll have to let father know they let one of you in Slytherin. Surely the hat has made a mistake. A muggle loving blood traitor would never be allowed in Slytherin.”

Gwendolyn paused for a moment, her thoughts racing. She knew enough about Draco Malfoy to know his approval would make or break her acceptance into Slytherin house. She needed to earn his approval. She had to show him he wasn’t just another Weasley. She had to break free.

Her eyes narrowed. “The hat doesn’t make mistakes, Malfoy. But perhaps you do. I’m not like my family. I absolutely hate muggles. They disgust me.”

She said the words with force, her lip slightly curled up in a snarl. A rush went through her at the admission. Her family would never allow her to talk like that. Although she didn’t thoroughly hate muggles, she certainly didn’t like them. It was thrilling to finally say it out loud.

Draco looked taken aback. He lifted an eyebrow, eyeing her appraisingly. “Well, Weasley, maybe your family isn’t a complete blood traitor waste after all.”

“My name is Gwendolyn.”

“I don’t recall caring.”

The two glowered at each other for a moment, before Dumbledore gathered everyone's attention for his speech. The night went on rather quickly from that moment, and before long they had headed up to their dorms. Gwendolyn spent her first night in Slytherin tower staring at the ceiling and contemplating her future. Tears would be useless. She had to be strong to get through her Hogwarts career. Her sister would not be at her side. That night, she resolved to be strong, sly, and cunning. It was her best bet at getting through the year unscathed.

Gwendolyn proved during her years at Hogwarts that she was nothing like her family. It gained her the approval of Malfoy, which shot her up the social ladder of Slytherin house. Astoria Greengrass had become her closest friend, and the two girls were accepted into Malfoy’s prominent social circle by the end of their first year. Her growth and flourishing in Slytherin house had driven a large wedge between herself and her family. Her voiced distaste of muggles and her turned nose at muggleborns did not go unnoticed by her family.

In return for being accepted into Slytherin, she had lost her family relationships.

Summers were always the hardest. She no longer had Ginerva as a friend. The girls had grown cold and distant with each other as a result of Ginerva becoming more confident in herself without her sister constantly in her ear. Percy, before he too had abandoned their family for the ministry, had acted as though she didn’t exist. The twins were more and less the same, although they weren’t as sociable towards her as they were towards the others. Ron absolutely despised her for not only being Slytherin, but also being good friends with Malfoy. Charlie and Bill simply weren’t around.

Her mother was, to put it honestly, disappointed in how she had shunned everything she had been taught morally growing up. Her father resented the way she spoke of muggles, and endlessly attempted to change her mind. They didn’t understand that when she was sorted into Slytherin house as the only Weasley, she did what she needed to do to not only thrive, but survive.

A small part of her that grown bigger over the years couldn’t help but start to believe in what the Slytherin’s thought. Especially with the way her family shunned her and couldn’t understand that she had done what she needed to do as a scared, lonely eleven year old.

Things had gotten worse since Voldemort's return. At the end of her fourth year, Ron and Ginny had accompanied Harry to the Department of Mysteries where they had fought against Death Eaters and Voldemort himself had shown up. Apparently in protest of Umbridge, they had been involved in Dumbledore’s Army, something they had not invited her to be part of. The rest of her family that still attended Hogwarts had been in the club, aside from her.

She was used to not being included by now, of course.

Her parents were a part of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization founded to fight Voldemort and his followers. Her siblings were much more informed on what went on during the meetings than she was. It wasn’t from her lack of trying, of course. When they had spent the summer at Grimmauld Place, she had attempted to listen in on the Extendable Ears with the others. But they always managed to shift away slightly or crowd around the ears so there was no way for her to hear. They simply didn’t trust her.

She had heard the Golden Trio speaking on more than one occasion about how she shouldn’t even have been allowed there with them. None of her siblings ever stuck up for her. It stung, but she supposed it was only reasonable. After all, she was a Slytherin. As Ron had always voiced, normally paired with a biting glare towards her, there wasn’t a witch or wizard that was in Slytherin that hadn’t gone bad. Apparently he had adopted the phrase from Hagrid.

So she sat outside most of the summer, alone, lying under the large Sycamore tree a yard away from the house. She had been offered more than once to visit her housemates' places during the summer, but her parents had forbidden it. With the war gaining momentum, it was too much of a risk. The unspoken message was clear. They didn’t trust that she would keep quiet about any

“Hey, Gwen.”

Gwendolyn turned with a start, her thick red hair tumbling over her shoulder. Harry Potter stood a few feet away from her, looking awkward as he waited for her reply. She examined him for a moment. He was taller now, more filled out and sturdy, she supposed from an aesthetic standpoint she could understand why her sister liked him so much.

“Can I help you?” the words were sharp, her brow raised as she awaited an answer.

He rarely talked to her. None of them did really, except for when their mother forced them all too cheerily to interact ast family dinners and the more sparse family outings. But Harry had always treated her as though she were a bomb, one step too close and she might take him out.

“Well, erm,” Harry seemed to blanch at her boldness. He seemed to have been expecting her to be more like Ginny. “I was wondering… I know you’re friends with Malfoy,” the name fell from his lips in a twisted spit. “Have you heard much from him this summer? I saw him in Knockturn alley while we were shopping for school supplies, and he seemed off. I just was wondering if he had said anything to you that made you worried.”

Gwendolyn stared at him for a moment, listening to him ramble on. He was awful at being subtle. He wanted to know if she knew any of Draco’s secrets, and he thought if he asked her nicely she would willingly give them up. She had to scoff at that. Typical Gryffindor.

“You’re concerned for his well being?” she stood, her voice falsely sweet. “That’s so kind of you, Potter. But from what I recall, you and Draco don’t care much for each other,” she tapped a finger to her chin, pretending to ponder the thought for a moment. “Oh! You were just hoping I would gossip with you. Perhaps next time, try Veritaserum. Or have your little brainiac give you a more subtle approach.”

Harry stuttered for a moment, seeming at a loss for words. He glanced backwards, and she followed his gaze to see Ron and Hermione standing at the front door of the Burrow, watching them. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw clenching.

“Get lost, Potter,” she snarled, anger flashing through her like a hot branding iron. “Or I’ll give them something to watch.”

“Right, erm, sorry.” Harry managed to say, turning and walking swiftly to the house. He didn’t spare her a backwards glance, and the trio slipped into the Burrow the moment Harry came back.

Gwen tamped down on her anger, wishing desperately she were at Hogwarts already. Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.

#ginny weasley #draco malfoy #draco x oc #weasley #harry potter #harry potter series #harry potter x reader #weasley twins #fred weasley #george #george weasley #ron weasley #ronald weasley #hermione granger #death eater #death eater draco

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favefandomimagines · 3 years

Text

I Never Planned On You 1

AN: Chapter 1!!! I plan for this series to go all the way to Deathly Hallows and probably a few years after in an epilogue, so I have A LOT of things planned!

Kendra Black didn’t have a conventional childhood. She was just a child when her mother was killed and her father taken away. Imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

Her entire life was met with scrutiny. Being a Black didn’t come with the best reputation. A family full of pure bloods who would do anything to keep their bloodline pure.

Kendra thought it was the old generation but her generation was kinder, more accepting. With the exception of an occasional Malfoy.

She was sent to live with her aunt Narcissa and her cousin Draco. But the second Remus Lupin, her dad’s best friend from Hogwarts, caught wind of the news he informed Andromeda. She was quite aggressive with making sure Kendra went to a good home that wasn’t filled with her family’s blood supremacy motto.

It was the first time Andromeda and Narcissa spoke since Andromeda was cast out of the family.

Kendra was always meant for greatness. That’s the one thing she remembered about her father. He’d make sure to tell her that she was going to do amazing things. And blood purity wouldn’t change that.

Her first four years at Hogwarts were filled with two things: teasing and mocking for being the daughter of a convicted killer and keeping an eye on Harry when he arrived.

Remus made sure Kendra knew the stakes if any of the Dark Lord’s followers or sympathizers knew of Harry’s enrollment at Hogwarts.

She often thought back to the first time she met Harry. It was the first quidditch match of the term and she could tell he was beyond terrified. She did the best to ease his nerves but she was her father’s daughter after all.

Kendra found herself at the Leaky Cauldron the day she was set to go back to Hogwarts. She descended the staircase and noticed the Weasley’s plus Harry and Hermione.

“Kendra Black! Wonderful to see you again my dear!” Mrs. Weasley greeted the young girl. “Hello, Mrs. Weasley.” Kendra smiled at her. “Have you got all of your things? Extra robes, all of your textbooks?” She questioned. “Yes, they’re all in my trunk. Even a few extra in case I want to get head start on lessons.” Kendra said.

“Good girl, now go get some breakfast in you! You’ll need it for the train ride.” Mrs. Weasley instructed her.

Kendra happily obliged, knowing not to disobey Molly Weasley’s orders. She walked over to the long table and sat in between Fred and George Weasley.

“Hello, Weasley’s. How was Egypt?” She asked. “Ask Ron, he’s been going on and on about it. Telling every bloody person he’s seen.” Fred answered.

Kendra laughed lightly as she grabbed the paper from George’s hands and went to look at the picture. “Have you not seen the paper yet?” He asked. “No. I’ve been in America with Andromeda and Ted. I got back a couple days ago.” Kendra answered.

“Why?” She asked. “Take a look at the front page.” Fred said. Kendra furrowed her eyebrows and flipped over the newspaper and her face fell.

Fred and George saw the girl grow white as a sheet against her dark hair. Her father’s mugshot adorned the front page of the Daily Prophet.

“Escaped?” She questioned out loud. “I’m sorry, Kendra. Where do you think he’ll go?” George added. “I have no idea.” She answered quietly.

But she knew of her father’s plans. And she knew he was going to be coming to Hogwarts.

“Let’s not worry about my father. We’re starting our fifth year, we’ve come so far!” Kendra said, quickly changing the subject. “Considering you hated us first year.” Fred commented. “I did not hate you! You just weren’t my two favorite people that’s all.” She rebutted.

“Well, now you love us. Couldn’t survive a day without our charm.” George added. “In your dreams, Weasley.” Kendra teased. “You show up there quite often, Black.” The youngest twin teased back.

The dynamic between Kendra and George Weasley was quite complicated. At first, it was clearly just innocent teasing but once puberty became a factor, the tone became less innocent. It became murky what the meaning and intent behind the otherwise innocent teasing was. Kendra didn’t know how George felt but to her it was very confusing.

The rest of the Weasley clan plus their three strays, made their way to King’s Cross Station to board the Hogwarts Express. It was customary, almost tradition, for Kendra to sit with the twins and their other friends Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson.

Kendra didn’t have many friends but they were the small few who didn’t see her for her last name. House Black had a very grim reputation and most students couldn’t see past the rumors and its unfortunate history.

“Kendra! I can’t believe your father escaped Azkaban! He’s the first to ever do it!” Lee commented as the five got comfortable. George nudged Lee at his comment, not wanting Kendra to feel uncomfortable. “Well, us Blacks are quite ambitious.” She said with a breathy laugh.

“I’m sure he’s nowhere near Hogwarts. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” Angelina said, trying her best to make her friend feel at ease. But it was hard to feel at ease when Kendra knew of her father’s plans. Well at least she thought she did. She hadn’t seen her father since she was all but two years old. A lot can change in 12 years, people can change.

Kendra was afraid she would see her father and not recognize the man. George could sense something was wrong with the girl by the way she looked out the window. Her eyes moved with the rain drops that slide down the window of the train, head clearly anywhere but with them.

“Are you alright, Kendra?” George whispered to her. Kendra looked at the redhead but was unable to speak when the train came to a grinding halt, the lights flickering. “What was that?” Angelina asked. “Maybe it was a malfunction.” Lee answered.

The lights went out completely and the whole compartment became increasingly cold, the windows frosting. To them, nothing was going on but the windows getting cold and the lights going out. But to Harry Potter, he experienced something else. And it wasn’t long until words made its way to the cabin of five.

“Did you hear? Dementors were on board, Potter fainted. Apparently, they were looking for Sirius Black.” A second year told them. Kendra’s face fell before she stood. “I’ll be right back.” She announced. “Where are you going?” Fred asked. “Going to make sure Harry’s okay.” She answered, as if it were the most normal occurrence in the world.

Kendra made her way down the narrow passage to where she knew the trio would be sat. She noticed the compartment door open and peaked her head inside. “Harry, are you alright? Word travels fast.” She questioned.

Harry always found it quite strange that Kendra was always so worried about his well being and if he was okay. He asked her about it once and all she said was that she knew his mother and father. They were nice to her and she wanted to make sure that Harry would be out of harm's way.

“Yes, I’m okay. Just fainted is all.” Harry answered. Kendra’s glance moved from Harry to the man sitting next to him. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. We should be arriving at Hogwarts soon.” The girl said before making her exit.

She waited outside for a moment until Remus exited the compartment. “They think he’s coming to Hogwarts, don’t they?” She asked the man. “They have suspicion. His daughter and godson both in attendance. It wouldn’t be that far off.” Remus answered. “Do you think he will?” Kendra questioned.

“After your mother died, you were all he had. He’ll want to see you, innocent or not. The Ministry knows that.” The man answered. “And we can’t tell Harry?” She further questioned. “Tell him what?” Remus retorted. “The truth. That my father did not kill his parents.” Kendra answered. “He already knows that I knew Lily and James, he’s going to start asking questions.” She added. “And you will say you knew them through Andromeda and Ted. We cannot shift suspicion on to you, Kendra. Your father will not want you getting hurt.” Remus said.

“Now, I’m going to have a word with the driver. Make sure we do not stop for anymore Dementors.” He added before walking away. Kendra huffed before walking back in the opposite direction.

“Oi, Black! Heard your lunatic, blood traitor of a father escaped prison.” A voice called. The way Kendra could describe Draco Malfoy’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

And that was after his voice dropped. Living with the Malfoy’s for about a year made her hatred for youngest Malfoy grow even more.

“What’s it to you, Malfoy? I thought we were done with the whole ‘we’re family, let’s be civil’ thing?” Kendra questioned. “Aw come on, Kendra. There’s still time to accept your family.” Draco said. “I’d rather die than be a part of a legacy filled with hatred and ignorance.” She sneered before pushing past him roughly.

Kendra despised Draco Malfoy more than the entirety of Hogwarts. But the problem was she has also seen the way he was treated at home. Lucius Malfoy was the cause of Draco’s most loathed qualities. He was trapped in a family that didn’t see anything other than blood purity and that was ingrained in his head long before he started at Hogwarts.

And an ideology like that was very difficult to get rid of.

Kendra arrived back at the compartment with her friends and sat down with a huff. “Uh oh, someone does not look happy.” Fred said. “Just my usual run in with Malfoy.” Kendra said. “How you’re related to him is still a mystery to me.” Angelina said.

“I’d say the only relation is the family tree.” Kendra added. “Thank Merlin for Andromeda Black for falling in love with a muggle born.” George joked. Kendra sent him a grateful smile, as he was always able to make her feel better after any and all rough interactions.

The train stopped at the Hogwarts station and they quickly climbed in the carriages to make their way up to the castle.

Kendra thought of Hogwarts as more of a home than her actual home. She of course loved Andromeda and Ted for giving her the best life given the circumstances. But she felt a sense of comfort being at Hogwarts. It was her safe place.

All anyone could talk about, however, was the fact that Sirius Black was on the loose. She couldn’t blame them though. No one knew the truth, even Harry didn’t know so she felt she couldn't be upset with anyone.

She sat down at Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, making light conversation with her fellow housemates, as the choir gave their annual performance.

“How are you really feeling about the news of your father, Kendra?” George asked her quietly. “Honestly?” She questioned. George nodded his head with a soft smile before she answered.

“It feels strange. The staring has gotten worse but nothing I can’t handle.” She said. Their conversation was cut short by applause and Dumbledore beginning his usual start of term speech.

“Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now, I’d like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I’m pleased to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin who’s kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,” Dumbledore started.

Kendra overheard Hermione and Harry discussing their own interaction with Remus in regards to the Dementor attack. She wondered why Remus really took the position. Was it to protect both her and Harry? Or just Harry?

“Our Care of Magical Creatures professor has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid,” He continued.

Hagrid was always a favorite of Kendra’s. Mainly because he knew how it felt to get rumors spread about you that were so far from the truth.

“Finally, on a more disquieting note at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban until such a time as Sirius Black is captured,” The older man said.

Kendra physically and noticeably stiffened at the grand announcement of her father’s escape. She felt the eyes of everyone on her, teachers included. She just wished she could apparate away and never be seen again.

“The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities.” Dumbledore continued.

“A word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. Given the circumstances of Sirius Black’s own child here at Hogwarts, there will be no hexing or jinxing of any kind tolerated until he is apprehended. But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.” He finished before the feast commenced.

Kendra could hear the whispers from not only the other houses but those of her own housemates. It made her wish that Dumbledore wouldn’t have mentioned her in the first place. She could take care of herself and she doesn’t want to be seen as weak to anyone.

“I love being the center of attention but this is not what I had in mind.” Kendra muttered. “Ignore them. Like you said this is our fifth year, we’ve come so far let’s not impede our progress now.” George told her.

Kendra smiled at him before they continued with the feast.

When they had finished their food, some having bigger portions than others, Kendra and the twins made their way back to the Gryffindor common room. Of course the Fat Lady was more concerned about her voice than letting the students in but that was common at that point.

Kendra made it to her dorm, the one she shared with Angelina, Alicia and Katie and began unpacking her things.

“What do we all think about the Ministry sending Dementors to school?” Alicia asked. “I think it’s a terrible idea. What are our parents going to think?” Angelina answered. “I think it’s not safe. Especially for you, Kendra. They know you’re his daughter, what if they hurt you?” Katie questioned her friend.

“I hope they don’t. I didn’t do anything and I definitely do not know my father’s whereabouts. Though the entire school seems to think so.” Kendra answered. “We don’t think so. Your friends wouldn’t think that.” Angelina added. “I was hoping this was going to be a good term but with all of this going on, I can’t help but get the feeling something bad was going to happen.” Kendra muttered.

Of course her friends wished they could help her but given her situation, it was very difficult to make her feel any better.

Later that evening, Kendra was sitting next to George on the couch while Fred sat on the floor facing them. It was like any other evening with the Weasley twins despite their usual need to get into or cause trouble.

“Kendra, Professor Dumbledore would like to have a word with you.” Percy said entering the room. “Why?” She questioned. “He didn’t say. He just told me to send for you.” Percy answered. “Oooo Kendra’s in trouble.” Fred teased. “How can I be in trouble on the first night?” She asked. “You have a knack for getting into trouble, darling. Why do you think we’re such good friends?” George added.

Kendra rolled her eyes and exited the common room towards Dumbledore’s office.

It wasn’t every day you were summoned to the headmaster’s office but she had no doubt it had to do with her father.

She had only been to Dumbledore’s office once before and yet it was still just as magnificent as the last. She stepped inside carefully, not wanting to disturb any of the artifacts that were inside.

“You wished to see me, Professor?” Kendra asked. “Ah, yes, Ms. Black. I sincerely hope you do not take what I’m about to ask personally, but do you know of your father’s whereabouts?” Dumbledore questioned.

“With all due respect, Professor, I only found out about my father’s escape this morning. I don’t know anything about where my father is or how he escaped.” Kendra answered. “I figured as much. The Ministry has been very interested in your knowledge of his escape. I will write to the Minister and tell him there is no reason for his suspicion.” The man said.

“Thank you, Professor.” Kendra smiled at him. “Now, get some rest. I have taken a peek at our classes this term and you will need the sleep.” He instructed. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Goodnight, sir.” She said. “Goodnight, Ms. Black.” Dumbledore replied.

Kendra walked down the corridor back towards the Gryffindor common room, her mind reeling with thoughts and theories.

The Ministry thought she was behind her father’s escape? Now the teachers find her suspicious? If it wasn’t bad enough that her peers whispered about her in the halls, now so will her teachers.

She sighed as she slowly approached the portrait and sighed. She was already fearing that this was going to be a very long year.

#imagine #imagines #harry potter imagine #george weasley x reader #george weasley imagine #george weasley #fred weasley #ron weasley #hermione granger #ginny weasley #draco malfoy

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katherinewilliams221b · 3 years

Text

For A Greater Good Fun Facts and Self Assesment (spoilers)

Long Post

What worked and what didn’t:

I think the overall structure worked pretty well. The most difficult part was, with the plot and subplot already created, scattering all those ideas throughout the text in such a way that at least made some sense. I regret not writing more about Mer Yankelevich, I feel like the crumbs I left on the way were not enough; in my attempt to make it subtle it lacked information about her. The key piece was of course her sister, and I should have introduced her sooner.

MC’s evolution. I feel like Kate’s learnt a lot with this experience (I’m not only referring to the Deathly Hallows or Grindelwald) When it started, she was very discreet and kept a low profile, not knowing what to do really, not taking more risks than necessary. And then she ended poisoned and splinching just to protect a document she thought was important. I hope her evolution is noticeable for the reader.

Worldbuilding. Grabbing HP concepts that were forgotten and full of potential, plus a dash of original ideas from me and blending them with muggle features was my absolute favourite part of the process.

On that note, I dont own these concepts: Durmstrang, Igor Karkarov, Nerida Vulchanova, umbrella flowers, fanged geraniums, billywigs, Appare Vestigium, glow-worms, trick wand, chamaleon ghouls,

If you’ve read the fic and thought: “everything happened so fast” or got a general odd feeling about the timeline it's because I made a series of monumental mistakes: setting a chapter limit, telling you about it and then tried to stick to it. At first the idea sounded nice: this is my first “big” story with complicated components. I should (and I did) do an outline of what I want to happen in each chapter and stick to it methodically so I don't forget what's happening or lose track of the plot. Well...it kind of backfired. So I wrote the first 3 chapters and at that point I thought “okay everything is going as planned, I’m going to put it out there”, bam, instantly cursed. After that it got ridiculously difficult to make the story that I wanted. Why? I needed chapter space that I convinced myself I couldn’t add. Dumb.

The major consequence of this was the lack of character backgrounds. It started out good, but as I kept writing and publishing I realised that I missed some great opportunities to make amazing ocs. That’s Corentin’s fault in a way: he wasn't going to be a major character, really, just a piece to help Kate a bit. But we all fell in love with him so what was I supposed to do? Also, Sheyi Mawut owns my heart and he got just a bit of spotlight. A shame.

I wish I had written more about them, but I think I wasn’t ready just yet to make it even more complicated.I just wanted to prove I could concoct a mystery plot and now that I know I can manage a fair amount of information I think I can take it a step further and deepen new ocs a little bit more.

I’m thinking about the datura series and I know why I got blocked and tired of writing it; it wasnt going anywhere because I wasnt prepared, and I didn’t do the months of outlines and planning that I did with this one. I’ll come back to the datura story one day, subjecting it to a sever rewrite. The ideas are there, I just need to be organised.

Although the chapter limit was problematic it was also a good exercise of managing space and deciding which things were unnecessary for the story. I dont think there’s any filler chapters, perhaps the last ones, but there is important information there too so... However this sentence from the blog wordsandstuff reassured me (and I think I did a good job at that?)

If you set out to write 10 parts and you write a fantastic story in 8, you haven’t failed and it’s not too rushed. Concise writing is an underrated talent. Focus on how effectively you engage the reader, not for how long.

I spent more than year writing this! When I started, I had a lot of ideas, I wrote the last two chapters then the first 3 and I really thought it was going to be that way with the rest of the story... okay... lesson learnt. #humbled

Other thoughts:

I received a couple of comments on ao3 that said that they were pleasantly surprised. Maybe I should change the tags because they are misleading? Clearly this wasnt what people were looking for lol.

One particular comment stood out to me and quoting it said: “You did not choose the easy way with a fiction with so few characters from the fandom.” And I’ve been thinking about this since I read it. It didn’t occur to me that there were few mystery fics (maybe I should write more things like that? Maybe throwing some power couple detective work 👀 ) In any case, I’m glad I contributed with something different to the fandom, and the fact that the Charlie bits are very scarce but people who read it still liked it is really flattering.

I wanted to make sure that all the characters had strengths and flaws, I didnt want to severus-snape them so maybe I overdid it with that bit of introspection kate does at the end...

Also, I did the kiss and fade thing twice to mention sex. I know some people dont like that but since it wasnt the point of the story and I havent done research on how to write sex scenes I didnt include them. I have that on my “to learn” list.

Conclusions:

Writing the whole thing was incredible. It's my first ‘big’ project and its not a great work (there are some things I wish I did better, thats what you get when you are an agatha christie wannabe) and not writing more character backgrounds will haunt me to this day, but I think it's at least good for a first series and I’m proud of it. I loved spending hours doing research and trying to piece together this puzzle. And of course I’m not an expert and I dont want to sound pretentious (like this is my first story) but if you are planning to write this type of genre I can be another source of tips and tricks for you.

If I read the story after a while and I dont cringe, I would call that a success.

FUN? FACTS!

Bakunawa really belongs to Filippines mythology

Snapdragons have different meanings, one of them being: “grace under pressure or inner strength in trying circumstances”

The entrance to Grindelwald’s room was going to be in the duelling classroom, strangely shaped as a triangle. I had this system where one of the round candle lamps descended and lined up with a line on the floor (serving as separation for duels) it created the Deathly Hallows symbol. I couldn’t make that work because it wouldn't make any sense for Nerida Vulchanova to shape a room like that. Here are some sketches:

Lucius Malfoy was going to appear as the Ministry employee that goes to Durmstrang, but after revising the events of the OoP I realised it was impossible.

Kent Jorgensen was going to be around Kate’s age and the charms teacher and he would have a small crush on her. After seeing some pics of Pen Medina, I rewrote the character completely.

The series was going to be 6 chapters long (I’m glad I decided not to) one for each month. The chapter names were ridiculous: January of Beginnings, February of reputation, March of Students, April of Discoveries, May I? and June of Endings. #tragic

The Dolohov family was going to be a part of the plot but I had to erase that part because it was unlocking another layer of complexity that I just couldnt handle.

I dont remember exactly the chapter but I got really confused with the names Rhode and Hodges and there’s one chapter where I accidentally mixed them (I corrected it I think), but for a while I could stop calling Rhode, Hodges, and vice versa lmao

Here are some sketches that helped me describe and imagine things

Thank you for accompany me in this journey, especially if you endured the process with me lmao. You’ve been here for over A YEAR! <3 Mindblowing

Also I’d love to know your opinions about the way you read the story, I mean, I know some people read it as I published, and some other readers found the story already finished, what are the differences? Should I stop the updating system and drop a story all at once? I know it is difficult to keep up with a complex story if there’s a lot of weekly or monthly gaps between the chapters, so I wanted to know.

Sending you a virtual hug 💜💜

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gameofdrarry · 3 years

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Wizards Hearts Recs: Epistolary

Wizards Hearts was a four-month-long Drarry reading fest. Players were given a playing deck of 52 tropes, and were asked to find 52 different fics to read and comment on to fill their decks. To prevent the same few fics from being read, fics were restricted to only being used for the game three times before being considered ineligible for further points. The tropes and submissions list can be found here.

Check out the masterlist of fics for this trope below the cut!

📜 To My Enemy (Secretly Yours) by randoyoyo Rated: Teen Words: 9757 Tags: Epistolary, Eighth Year, Roommates, Fluff Summary: McGonagall has decided on some changes for those returning to Hogwarts for an 8th year. Not only will Houses be abolished, but there will be a shared commonroom and rooms will be assigned to pairs. On top of that, they're all randomly assigned a pen pal within the same year that they have to write to each week. Harry and Draco don't like the way any of this information sounds, but it doesn't set in until they get their room assignments...they're going to be roommates?? ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Re: Harry's Crush by lettersbyelise Rated: Teen Words: 3700 Tags: Epistolary, Bets & Wagers, Aurors, Getting Together, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Humor, Banter Summary: Ever get that feeling you're being talked about behind your back? Harry doesn't, he's too busy being stupidly, obviously besotted with the guy in the lab downstairs. A fic where the interdepartment betting war at the Ministry gets out of hand, Millicent and Hermione get scheming, Harry Potter ends up wearing black eyeliner, and everybody ends up getting more than they bargained for. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Misdirection by lea_anberlyn Rated: Teen and Up Words: 3764 Tags: Humor, Snarky!Malfoy, Epistolary Summary: Harry buys a new owl after the war – a bird he soon realises is cursed to send letters to the person he hates most. Draco Malfoy finds the whole thing hilarious. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Dear Enemy by GingerTodgers Rated: Teen and Up Words: 69130 Tags: Epistolary, Secret Identity, Orphanage, Harry Potter's School For Squibs, Slow Burn, Swearing, Politics, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend, Minor Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Minor Pansy Parkinson/Greg Goyle, Light Angst Summary: An anonymous benefactor makes a generous donation to Harry Potter's School for Squibs in exchange for a weekly letter from the Boy Who Lived. What begins as a chore soon becomes the only outlet Harry has to talk about the war, love, life, hope, redemption, his renewed obsession with a certain blonde nemesis and how he really, honestly, believes that this will be the year Puddlemere United reclaim the Quidditch League Cup. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Howlr by partialtopotter Rated: Explicit Words: 47634 Tags: Texting, text!fic, Sexting, Romance, dating app, Anal Sex, Rimming, they don't know they're falling for each other, Ginny has a personality, THIS IS NOT A NON-MAGICAL AU, Professor Harry, pansy x ginny, LGBTQ Themes, Smut, Mistaken Identity, Phone Sex, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Humor, Post-Hogwarts, Not Epilogue Compliant, Switching, Light BDSM, Bisexual Male Character, Spanking, Epistolary, Textfic Summary: Howlr is the new dating application enchanting Witches, Wizards and Everyone in between. Are you looking for the one or a one-night stand; it’s all here folks. Howlr is sponsored by Weasley Wizard Wheezes, the same team that brought us the Spellular just two years ago. Ginny Weasley, famed chaser for the Hollyhead Harpies, swears by the app, ‘guaranteed to make sparks fly,’ she says. The magic awaits you! ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Garden War by Cibee (Cibeeeee) Rated: Teen and Up Words: 4884 Tags: Fluff and Humor, Epistolary, Draco and Harry are neighbors, with a lake between them, and they keep trying to make their garden better than the other's, "one tree? fuck you I'll grow TWO trees", then omg quarantine, Frenemies to friends to lovers, Friends to Lovers, draco has a cat, harry has chickens, Mutual Pining, they both have no chills, Idiots in Love, Dramatic Draco Malfoy Summary: Harry and Draco are quarantined in their houses, a lake across from one another. What better ways to spend this time than to annoy each other with letters and attempts to prove that their garden is better ? ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 A Series of Neighbourly Epistles by slytherco Rated: Mature Words: 13671 Tags: Neighbors, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Anonymity, Letters, anonymous notes, Top Draco Malfoy, Bottom Harry Potter, Mutual Masturbation, Blind Date, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Resolved Sexual Tension, Curse Breaker Draco Malfoy, Auror Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Has Long Hair, and it's glorious, Draco Malfoy in a leather jacket, Brief Draco Malfoy/Other, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, some French food, Bisexual Harry Potter, Dirty Talk, the morning after, Pillow Talk, One Night Stands, that turn out to be possibly-not-so-one-night, Snark, Banter, Sexual Content, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, in general there's sex but it's not graphic ok?? Summary: Harry finds himself in a very awkward spot when he calls the Aurors on his neighbour… having very loud sex. As in not actually killing anyone. He writes him a disgruntled note and thus begins a very interesting exchange. When they finally decide to meet, Harry’s not quite prepared to find out who his mystery neighbour turns out to be. Or for everything that happens next, for that matter. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Texting You by ununquadius Rated: Teen and Up Words: 6005 Tags: Major Character Death, text fic, draco is dead, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, or maybe hurt/no comfort, Everyday Life, Pets, Asexual Harry Potter, Indian Harry Potter, one penis drawing, H/D Hurt!Fest 2020, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Loneliness, Drinking, Terminal Illnesses, blink and you missed them suicidal thoughts Summary: After Draco's death, Harry can't let go so he keeps texting their private chat, updating him on his life and rambling about everything and anything until it almost feels like there's a possibility that, one day, a reply will come. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 More Than Kisses, Letters Mingle Souls by Erin_Riwen, Kristinabird Rated: Mature Words: 21171 Tags: Epistolary, Professor Harry Potter, Professor Draco Malfoy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Fluff with feelings, Past Child Abuse, Past Suicide Thoughts, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore Summary: It's the beginning of the term at Hogwarts and Professor Harry Potter never seems to be able to get close enough to have an actual conversation with Professor Draco Malfoy. When he discovers it's because his colleagues have been intentionally keeping them apart for fear they might have issues, he bristles at the intrusion and decides to send a letter to a very confused Draco Malfoy. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Summer's Lease by GallifreyisBurning, xkingofgamesx Rated: Explicit Words: 74162 Tags: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Epistolary, Bisexual Harry Potter, Gay Draco Malfoy, Post-War, pre-eighth year, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, slowest of burns, First Kiss, First Time, Coming Out, Anal Sex, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, All of the jobs except employment, Gentlemen of Leisure, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, Home Renovation, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Nightmares, Mental Health Issues, Homophobia, Lots of drinking, Happy Ending, Fluff Summary: It was just a letter. And then another. And then another. And then it was something more. The summer after the war, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are both at loose ends, not sure how they fit into a world where both of their roles have been fulfilled, for better or for worse. As the learn to live with surviving, they find, together, an unexpected way forward. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Recompense & Reparo by sablier_bloque Rated: Explicit Words: 48981 Tags: Alternate Universe - Regency, Regency, Slow Burn, Pining, Gay Draco Malfoy, Bisexual Harry Potter, Alternate Universe - Historical, Masturbation, Anal Sex, Frottage, mention of suicide, mention of period-typical racism, Period-Typical Sexism, Mention of Child Abuse, Period-Typical Homophobia, Draco Malfoy tries to redeem himself in a very Slytherin way, Meddling mothers, Magic Rituals, Quidditch, Mention of Minor Character Death, Happy Ending, Letters, Epistolary, Indian Harry Potter, Desi Harry Potter, Austen-inspired, Mention of torture Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a pureblood wizard in possession of a slandered reputation will do absolutely anything to return to good graces. And Mr. Draco Malfoy, pureblood wizard whose reputation has certainly been slandered by The War (and perhaps even by his own actions in said war) has a plan. A list of five steps to restore the Malfoy family to its proper place in society. That is until Harry Potter comes along and mucks it all. A Regency AU, in which there are ungloved touches, letters, meddling mothers, and hope that love can somehow find a way. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Always and Forever by PurePeace Rated: Teen and Up Words: 35162 Tags: N/A Summary: An epistolary fic between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, taking place after the trials. It starts with irritation and relucant gratitude and ends - hopefully - with romance, always and forever. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 No Greater Victory by dicta_contrion Rated: Explicit Words: 26951 Tags: Hogwarts Eighth Year, Bets & Wagers, Diary/Journal, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Scheming, Blackmail, Recreational Drug Use, Casual Sex, Snark, Draco starts out as an angry defensive arse, Personal Growth, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Switching, First Time, Making Love, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Happy Ending Summary: Back at Hogwarts after the war, a defeated Draco Malfoy is prepared to settle for life's simpler pleasures: snark, sex, and Slytherin scheming. That is until Pansy, newly in possession of Malfoy Manor, offers to return his ancestral home. Just one condition: he has to win, and break, Harry Potter's heart to get it. That's no problem. Draco's got this situation completely under control. Completely. At least until he doesn't. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Help Is Always There For Those Who Ask by donnarafiki, orpheous87 Rated: Mature Words: 12873 Tags: Post-War, Mental Health Issues, Healer Draco Malfoy, Angst, Epistolary, Getting Together, No healer/patient, Depression, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Therapy, Friendship Summary: It's been years since the war, and Harry's been doing fine (Not!Auror). But after witnessing a violent incident in muggle London, he feels empty and angry. Eventually, he reaches a breaking point and has an outburst in public. The next day he finds a letter on his desk, the Ministry reaching out to connect him with a mind healer, saying they don’t even have to see each other, and everything can be done privately if Harry wants to keep it anonymous and confidential. He decides to write back. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 This feeling inside by Andithiel Rated: Mature Words: 8714 Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Epistolary, Diary/Journal, flatmates, omg they were roomates, lockdown - Freeform, Quarantine, bisexual awakening, Oblivious, As in ridiculously oblivious, Mentions of a fictional pandemic, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Cooking, Baking, learning to play the guitar, mentions of:, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Frottage, Kissing, I think it was in that order Summary: Harry Potter and his flatmate Draco are both straight as nails. But during a lockdown, things start to get a little desperate, and suddenly they’re giving each other friendly handjobs and blowjobs on the regular. But that’s okay. That’s just what friends do. Right? A story about two oblivious idiots, told through the diary of Harry James Potter. ❤️ Read on AO3

#epistolary #letters #pen pals #drarry #drarry recs #game of drarry #wizards hearts #wh masterlist

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bush-viper-cutie · 4 years

Text

Love Me Roughly: Letting Her In

Pairing: Snape x fem!reader

Word Count: 2,113

Rating: M for Mature

Plot: Severus can’t believe the state of his new life. In a matter of days all his troubles are able to melt away and stay forgotten, replaced by joy and happiness.

A/N: This is part 4 of 7 for the week 1 schedule for Snape Appreciation Month! @snapeloveposts

DISCLAIMER: I have edited (drawn over the original) the artwork (taken from a 80′s bodice ripper novel) for the purpose of this short series and will post more information about the original work here.

Posted: 6/4/20

Chapter List

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The sun was setting, and the bedroom was getting darker, like the windows were slowly shutting their eyes as night approached, the light grew feinter and less of it could be seen on the opposite wall. The birds were back in their nests and sang soft tunes that could put any insomniac straight to sleep. Softer yet were the slow breaths of the woman in Severus’ arms as she napped.

It had been an hour since they had decided to become intimate – each being each other’s stranger – which had lasted for a good two maybe three hours, he wasn’t sure, in its entirety – foreplay and all. He smiled remembering how it all went down, everything that led to him laying on his back, relaxed, with a beautiful woman in his arms.

The only regret he had was opening the window during the most heated moment because he knew he would eventually need to close it as it got colder. He wanted not to move and just stay in bed with her asleep, even if it was for just one night.

I doubt she’d ever want to see me again… Now that it’s all over and done… He had never allowed himself to go beyond one night with anyone, knowing it just wouldn’t work out with his missions and all the dangers of it… not that anyone had wanted to continue anything afterwards. They normally just got up and left, whether he was asleep or not.

His lids began to droop and he figured he’d give in and close his eyes. If he fell asleep she’d be gone by morning and his new life would simply continue. He was so tired he couldn’t hold on to the moment any longer. He tried turning but his arm was caught under her body, trapping him in an embrace with her as she snoozed with her hands to her cheeks by his ear.

He allowed himself to continue enjoying her company under the sheets and placed his trapped hand on her side and pulled himself closer, closing his eyes and going to sleep.

. . .

Severus turned and realized he was no longer trapped on his back. He turned back and saw the bed was empty and the spot where she had been was as cold as the dungeon floors. He shivered and realized the whole room felt cold. The window. He got up and ran to the window, but it was stuck and a gust of air was now blowing in, making him jump away.

WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES! He was still naked and the room was covered in complete darkness. He reached around the floor until he felt something soft and tugged it closer; it was his long coat. He slid it on and realized it didn’t cover anything below his waist. He growled and shrugged it back off.

He stepped closer to where he knew the bed was and reached out for the bed sheets, pulling them off and wrapping them around his body to shield him from the cold. “Lumos,” he whispered and looked around, hoping his wand would shine in his room. Still downstairs. She could have brought it up for me before she left. He made his way across the room and opened the door.

He could see light down in the kitchen, At least I know my wand’s still here. He gripped the sheets tighter and headed down the wood spiral stairs, but it wasn’t just his wand that was giving off light… it was also dozens of candles.

“Sorry – ”

Severus jumped and turned to the woman walking out of the joint laundry and bathroom behind the stairs, drying her hands. Is that my…?

“I hope you didn’t think I’d just bail after – after everything,” she smiled.

She’s wearing my shirt. That’s my undershirt.

“And as a thank you,” she laughed, “I got us some dinner… if you’d like to share it with me.”

Is she only wearing my undershirt?

She coughed and Severus tore his eyes away from the sheer white undershirt he normally wore under his waistcoat and nodded.

He looked down at himself, “I-er- the window was open and I couldn’t see…”

“Oh! Here,” she picked up several tall thin candles and placed them in his hand. “I summoned them from my basement. You should place them upstairs.”

He nodded a ‘thank you’ and picked up his wand, heading back upstairs into his bedroom. He closed the door and placed candles on the windowsill and nightstand and lit them. He pointed his wand and forced the window shut, stopping the cold breeze from invading, and looked around for his underpants and trousers.

She was wearing his shirt so he couldn’t wear the waistcoat which meant he’d have to settle for the muggle sweater in his trunk. After he was dressed, he made his way back down and noticed there was a small pot with stew in the center.

The woman dried two bowls and placed them on the table. Severus couldn’t help but watch her, eyes gleaming with approval after observing that she was indeed wearing something bright blue and lacey under his shirt. She winked at him as she headed up the stairs, giving him full view of it.

He bit his lip and turned away, paying attention instead to the stew and wondering where she had gotten it and the pot from, though he guessed she could have easily popped into her home and back for what she needed.

He heard a bark and noticed the little dog she carried with her everywhere was still around and by the looks of it happily relaxing in the other room. He waved at him awkwardly and sat down at the table.

She came down, though she had apparently not gotten dressed in her own clothes. Her hair was neater, and he realized she had gone to tidy up for him. He blushed and stood up from his chair until she had sat, and he took his chair again.

“Comfortable?” he smirked.

She gave him a teasing smile, “Very.”

She ladled soup into their bowls and they ate in comfortable silence. He looked around for any clocks in the kitchen, wondering what the time was.

“It’s passed ten if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Severus smiled, “I’m used to clocks everywhere and a schedule.”

“Oh?” She smiled and set down her spoon, “Hmm, what an interesting clue.”

He arched his brow, “What’s the point in guessing? It’s not like we can get to know each other…”

She dropped her eyes to her hands and fidgeted. She gave a quiet laugh and looked back up at him, “I suppose if you don’t want to, we don’t have to.”

If I don’t want to? He thought over her words and wondered if he was hearing her correctly. Could she want more than a night with him? The dinner afterwards would make more sense if that were the case… though there was a reason wizards weren’t supposed to give out their names to Relocators. The Ministry pays quite handsomely for runaways from Relocators, seeing as it’s illegal to feign death and disappear. Of course, the same applies for Relocators since the whole business is forbidden.

Though she doesn’t seem… He finished his soup and stood up, placing the bowl in the sink.

“I’m not asking for information, I’m sorry… I was joking about that. What I meant was…” she bit her lip and stepped around the table, playing with the collar of his shirt she wore as she walked towards him. “I’d like to find myself in your bed again,” she winked.

He smiled, “Is this how you treat every wizard you relocate?”

She scoffed and moved away, clearly offended.

He shook his head, “I-it came out wrong…” He touched her arm and pulled her back, “I guess I was just wondering if it was something about me or…”

Her face lifted and her eyes smiled once more, “Something about you… I’m not saying I’ve never – ” she laughed and looked away, “But I’ve never with a stranger until now.”

He felt a sort of flutter in his stomach at her words. “What did you have in mind?”

“Let me into your bed tonight?” She stood on her toes and kissed his lips, “And I’ll repay your kindness tomorrow morning.”

She winked again and he laughed. He kissed her back, enjoy the mysterious girl in his arms and her surprising charm. He wasn’t sure what could come of letting a stranger into his life and letting her stay a stranger, but he knew he didn’t have much to worry about at the moment.

The Dark Lord was gone, he was supposed dead, the Ministry would be worried about the school and the Deatheaters who had stayed on the Dark Lord’s side, and he knew he had packed nothing to even hint at his name or who he was.

And unless this girl was better at the dark arts than him, his trunk would remain sealed unless opened by him personally. The only thing he didn’t quite care for was the dog. He looked over at it as he ran around trying to bite at floating dust.

“I don’t see why not… But must your dog come with?”

“Yes.”

He rolled his eyes and led her towards the stairs by her hand. She grabbed her wand on the way and followed him up, giggling as he unbuttoned his pants while climbing the stairs. He opened the door and pulled her through roughly, grabbing her and hoisting her up, pinning her against the wall in one quick and needy motion.

She tangled her fingers in his hair and kissed him harder than before. He set her down and moved her towards the bed as he took out his wand and undid all his buttons at once.

“It’s a good thing the stew was fairly light,” she laughed and slid off his shirt.

He stepped out of his trousers and removed his sweater and threw it behind him, mindful of the candles, and pushed her down. He knelt by the bed and leaned over her, biting on the light blue fabric and pulled it down with his teeth.

She moaned as the fabric slid away and he climbed over her, kissing along her body until he reached her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down, running her hand along his neck and back, encouraging everything he did.

Severus found it hard not to smile while they kissed. He found it hard to keep composed, because all he wanted to do was laugh and smile at the situation he found himself in. Third day free and he could hardly believe this was his life already. All those years locked away, restricted, imprisoned, under strict orders and vigilance, all those years had just melted away in a matter of days. Everything was done and buried, and he didn’t have to talk about it or think about it. And she wouldn’t ask. His life could just… start.

“Are you ok?”

He realized there were tears rolling down his cheek and he tried pulling away, but she held him close to her. He turned away and cursed himself for just ruining everything with his frustrating emotions and feelings.

“Are you sad?”

He looked back at her, “No… I just…”

She smiled and kissed at a tear, “Let’s continue, then.”

She kissed more of his tears away and he continued enjoying her. She pulled the sheet up to cover their bodies better and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, moaning. He tucked his face in her neck and went slow, enjoying her body and letting his freedom truly sink in.

She held him close and he closed his eyes, glad for her company. He moaned and kissed her neck, biting at her skin, hoping she’d decide to stay the next night as well. He wouldn’t mind her help unpacking and especially not if the next night involved more of this. He felt her nails dig into his back and he let out a deep moan, picking up the pace as her moans got louder.

His tears were replaced by sweat and his strange emotions by sweet and sudden ecstasy. She pulled on his hair hard and the euphoria overtook his body like an enchantment. It crashed on him like a wave and the retreat was slow, and pleasant. He was unable to do anything more than pant and moan as it washed away.

She kissed his neck and wiped his hair from his sweaty face, “You really know how to treat a lady.”

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arrantsnowdrop · 4 years

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A Dangerous Game - Chapter 4 (Theseus Scamander x OC series)

Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

Summary: When Victoire McKinnon, one of the wizarding world's most proficient Curse-Breakers, is asked to assist and protect the Ministry of Magic's Auror Department in their crusade against Grindelwald, she finds herself stuck working with the extremely annoying, exceptionally good looking Theseus Scamander.

Warnings: swearing, violence, fighting, death, 2,823 words

..........

On Friday afternoon Victoire and Theseus had turned in their mission proposal to Travers and the rest of the Head Aurors. They had said it would take the weekend to review the plan and get back to them on Monday. To say Victoire was anxious about it was an understatement.

The plan was to, under Victoire’s leadership, return to the house on Chester Street, cast Homenum Revelio, and see if the presences of the three missing Aurors were still in the house. If they were, both her and Theseus would use the Summoning Charm to bring them back from nonbeing.

Victoire had included countless pages of research to show the credibility of their proposition. Theseus had spent all of Friday reassuring her that their plan would undoubtedly receive approval, but Victoire wasn’t so sure. It was definitely risky, and save for one case in 1763, there was no proof of such a plan actually working.

Victoire had tried to put all her stress in the back of her mind for the time being. It was Saturday afternoon, and in a few minutes she would be apparating to her parent’s home for the weekly McKinnon family dinner.

It had been many years since Victoire and her siblings had moved out of the house, but they all still looked forward to seeing each other face-to-face once a week.

Victoire looked in the mirror one more time, tousling her hair to give it more volume. She was wearing a dark grey shirt with chestnut colored trousers, something she hoped looked sophisticated enough to please her brother’s posh French girlfriend.

Thomas, who was a professional Quidditch player now, had been dating this girl named Juliette for a few weeks. She’d been to the last few family dinners and each time she’d criticized something about Victoire’s outfit. Naturally, Victoire was pissed and had finally decided to show up in something other than loungewear to put a stop to Juliette’s derogatory comments.

She walked out of her bathroom, slipping on a pair of black flats before calling Short-Snout from the kitchen. The light brown owl swooped in, perching on her shoulder before she grabbed her wand, slipping it in her back pocket, and apparated away.

Augustine Manor had been the McKinnon family home since it was built in the 1500s. Augustus McKinnon had built the rather impressive house on Dalkey Island, which was bewitched heavily to ensure muggles left the island alone.

Victoire landed in the middle of the living room, immediately taking in the smell of freshly baked bread and herbs wafting in from the kitchen. Short-Snout quickly flew off, probably in search of something to eat.

“Glad you finally showed up,” came a deep voice from behind her. She turned around, grinning at the sight of her eldest brother, Emrys.

“Sod off,” she joshed, walking over to hug him tightly. “I’m right on time.”

“I’m a little offended you’ve been working at the Ministry for a week now and still haven’t found time to visit me,” he chided. Victoire rolled her eyes.

“Seeing you once a week is more than enough,” she said sarcastically, “and I do believe the Department of Mysteries has too much security for me to break into.” Emrys chuckled.

“I’m sure if anyone could find a way in, it would be you,” he replied. Victoire laughed, pulling away and squinting at the navy suit her brother was wearing.

“You’re looking quite formal,” she noted.

“As are you,” Emrys shot back, gesturing to her outfit.

“I’m just trying to make sure Juliette doesn’t make a snarky comment about how casual my outfit looks,” Victoire said honestly, throwing her hands up in defense.

“Well then, you’ve managed to sum up my reasoning for dressing up tonight, as well,” he replied. Victoire grinned.

“And maybe mum will be so distracted by how good we look, she won’t talk about how Thomas is the only one of us in a real relationship,” Emrys added, walking past her and heading into the kitchen.

Victoire laughed and followed him, grinning at the sight of her aunt Maeve swatting her father with a newspaper.

“What did dad do, now?” Victoire asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“Victoire!” her aunt exclaimed, throwing the newspaper down on the island and rushing over to give her a hug.

“Hi, Aunt Maeve,” Victoire said, wrapping her arms around the older woman.

“Oh, you look so lovely,” Maeve gushed, pulling away and looking over her shoulder. “Adelis, look how lovely Victoire looks.”

Victoire’s mother looked up from the pot on the stove, a warm smile on her face.

“She does look quite beautiful, though I’m sure that’s a result of Juliette’s comments last week rather than her own accord,” she said with a wink. Victoire grinned and nodded, while Maeve rolled her eyes at the mention of Thomas’s girlfriend.

“I swear, if Thomas doesn’t break up with that entitled woman soon I’m going to go insane,” Maeve muttered under her breath. Victoire and Emrys stifled laughs while their mother hushed her sister-in-law.

“Maeve, they could apparate into this house any moment now, do keep your opinions to yourself,” Adelis scolded, turning back to the stew she was stirring.

“Oh, we know they’re gonna be fashionably late,” Emrys said sarcastically. “Might as well make fun of them before they’re here.”

Victoire laughed and walked over to the island, sitting down across from her father.

“And how are you doing, dad?” she asked, watching as he dramatically rubbed his forearm.

“Other than your aunt beating me up just now, I’m doing just fine,” he grinned.

“Kean, if you quit insulting me all the damn time I wouldn’t have a reason to beat you up,” Maeve replied, pouring herself a glass of wine. “All the newspaper onslaughts you endure you’ve brought upon yourself.”

Victoire laughed as she watched her father and aunt bicker relentlessly, her brother throwing on an apron over his suit to help their mum cook. For the first time in a week, she was completely distracted from the stresses of her job.

~~~~~

On Monday morning, Victoire walked into Theseus’s office five minutes late, two coffees in hand.

“Hey, I’m-”

“You’re late,” Theseus said coldly, cutting her off. Victoire frowned at him as she closed the door, a little startled by his tone.

“I, uh, got you coffee,” she mumbled, holding up the coffee cups she was carrying awkwardly. She could’ve sworn she saw his eyes soften a little before his expression hardened once more.

“Travers approved our proposal,” he said bluntly, gesturing to the manila folder on her desk.

“Oh,” she said, setting both coffee cups down. “That’s good, right?” she added, looking up at Theseus with a small smile. His gaze was fixed on a piece of parchment lying on his desk.

“Obviously,” he said. Victoire looked at him in confusion.

“Are you alright?” she asked softly. He nodded curtly, though she was unconvinced.

“They made a few changes to the plan, but the bulk of it is the exact same,” Theseus added.

Victoire flipped the folder open and began reading over the file, brows furrowing as she saw that Theseus would be leading the team of Aurors, not her.

“I thought we agreed it would be best for me to lead the rescue team,” Victoire said, looking up at him.

“Travers thinks otherwise,” Theseus said dryly, eyes fixed on the paper in front of him.

“You said it would be safer if-” Victoire started, but Theseus cut her off once again.

“Do you really want to go argue with Travers?” Theseus asked cooly, looking up at her. Victoire bit her lip nervously at the stern expression on his face.

“No,” she muttered, “but-”

“Come on, McKinnon, did you really think they were just going to let a Curse-Breaker lead a Ministry mission?” Theseus asked sarcastically.

His words stung, and Victoire felt her eyes tear up at his rather mean comment. She cursed herself internally for being so damn emotional and focused her gaze down at the folder, refusing to let Theseus see how he was affecting her.

She read over the file quickly, noting that Theseus’s leadership over the mission was the only thing Travers changed. She smiled slightly at that, proud her research had done its job.

“Should I go summon the rescue team, or are you still reading?” Theseus asked. Victoire flinched a little at his cold tone.

“No, I’m done,” she murmured, flipping the folder closed. Theseus nodded and walked out the door quickly.

Victoire exhaled shakily, a little shocked by his sudden hostility towards her. A week ago, she would’ve been less surprised by this behavior; she’d been on her guard around him in the beginning, not wanting to reveal anything about herself that he could make fun of. By Friday, however, they’d been joking around with each other and exchanging stories about themselves.

She felt stupid for opening up to him, for talking to him about Gringotts, about her family. She’d even written to her friend Anthea about how their contentious relationship had eased into something more friendly. Clearly, she’d been mistaken.

“Miss McKinnon?” came a small voice. Victoire looked up at a young man standing in the doorway.

“Yes?” she asked, standing up from her seat.

“Mister Scamander says we’re ready to leave,” he said nervously. “Just waiting on you, uh, whenever you’re ready, of course.”

She forced a smile and nodded, closing the folder on her desk and picking it up.

“Thank you very much, you can tell him I’ll be right there,” she replied.

She sighed as the Auror left the room. If Theseus wanted to be an asshole, so be it. She wouldn’t let his attitude distract her from the three lives that hung in the balance.

~~~~~

By the time they’d reviewed the game plan and apparated to the street outside 16 Chester Street, it was around two in the afternoon. It was overcast and rather windy, precursors to the rather large thunderstorm set to reach London that night.

Victoire could not help but feel like something was off. The seemingly empty street did not feel so empty, and she could not help but wonder if someone was watching them.

“I feel like we aren’t alone,” she muttered to Theseus, who was standing next to her. He rather obviously rolled his eyes.

“You and your spectacular Curse-Breaker intuition,” Theseus said sarcastically. He’d been bullying her relentlessly all day, and Victoire was honestly starting to feel rather dejected. She had no idea what she’d done to warrant this behavior from him, but she was also too afraid to ask.

“Should we just abandon the mission then? On account of your paranoia,” Theseus added. She shook her head, knowing her voice would come out shaky if she tried to speak. The last thing she wanted was to appear vulnerable.

“Let’s head in!” Theseus called, waving to the four Aurors standing behind them. Victoire quickly followed him up the walkway, not wanting to be the last one in the house.

When they reached the living room, Theseus began to order the rest of the team around, positioning them so one Aurors was standing in the doorway and the rest were lined up by the wall. Those three were tasked with apparating the missing Aurors back to the Ministry after they were un-vanished, practically speaking.

Theseus gestured to Victoire and leaned back against the wall.

“Go for it, Curse-Breaker.”

She gulped and nodded, grabbing her wand from her pocket and pointing it at the spot on the floor where the cursed vase had been,

“Homenum Revelio,” she spoke clearly, grinning as the translucent silhouettes of three people appeared on the floor.

She jumped as thunder boomed around them, heart pounding in her chest. Something was definitely wrong, the storm wasn’t supposed to be here for hours and the thunder sounded like it was right overhead.

“The Curse-Breaker’s afraid of thunder,” one of the Aurors mocked, but Theseus held up his finger to silence them. It seemed he too was concerned by the anomalous weather.

He slowly reached for his wand, looking at Victoire and nodding for her to keep going.

“Accio Pembroke Mallow,” Victoire said shakily, casting a Summoning Charm in the direction of the three silhouettes. She gasped as a man with dark colored hair appeared out of thin air, stumbling forward and falling to the ground.

Theseus gestured to the first Aurors, who quickly stepped forward and apparated away.

Suddenly, a loud boom echoed throughout the house. Victoire spun around, watching as the front door of the house flew through the hallway, crashing into the stairwell and breaking in two. The Auror at the doorway drew his wand, but it was too late.

“Avada Kedavra,” came a gravely voice, and in a flash of green light, the Auror had crumpled to the ground in a heap, dead.

With a flick of his wand, Theseus launched a chair across the room and into a tall man in a black trench coat. The man fell to the ground with a shout, several other similarly dressed people rushing into the room from behind him.

“Keep going!” Theseus shouted to Victoire, rushing forward with the other two Aurors to deflect the intruders’ spells.

“Accio Roger Grouse!” Victoire shouted, rushing to duck behind an already toppled desk as one of the attackers began to launch Killing Curses in her direction.

As a blonde bearded man appeared in the middle of the room, one of the Aurors rushed forward and grabbed him, quickly vanishing from sight.

Victoire looked over the desk warily, watching Theseus and the other remaining Auror hurl curses at their assailants. Spells of every color were whizzing through the air in both directions.

“Accio Louis Sullivan!” Victoire cried, jabbing her wand towards the middle of the room once more.

The remaining Auror launched himself backwards, grabbing onto the final man as he stumbled into existence and apparating away.

“Alarte Ascendare,” Victoire muttered, launching one of the attackers up into the ceiling, grinning as he fell face first onto the ground.

She jumped out from behind the desk, stunning two wizards who had begun to rush towards Theseus. He’d jumped behind another toppled piece of furniture, casting spells over the top of it while trying not to get himself killed.

“Descendo,” Victoire shouted, pointing her wand at the chandelier in the hallway and watching as it fell onto two wizards.

“Victoire!” Theseus called, using his wand to pull her towards him as a flash of green whizzed past her head.

Victoire ducked behind the couch Theseus had been using as cover. She poked her head out cautiously, launching a Stunning Spell at a wizard hiding behind the door frame. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, but his place was quickly filled by someone equally as intimidating, and equally as determined to kill them.

“How many of them are there?” Victoire asked.

“Too many,” Theseus replied through gritted teeth, jabbing his wand in the direction of the doorway. Victoire winced as she heard a loud explosion.

“We have to apparatus back to the Ministry, they won’t be able to follow us,” she shouted, grabbing a chipped mug from behind her and hurled it over the top of the couch. It collided with the head of a dark haired woman, who slumped backwards against the wall.

“We can’t just let these people go,” Theseus retorted, repeatedly jabbing his wand in the same direction until she heard a satisfying thud.

“They’re going to kill us if we don’t leave, Theseus,” she exclaimed. Theseus looked at her with wide eyes.

“Everte Statum!” she yelled, throwing one of their attackers backwards into the staircase. “Why in the name of Merlin are you staring at me like that?” she shouted, hitting him on the shoulder.

“That’s the first time you’ve said my first name,” he muttered, mirroring your last attack and sending a hooded wizard flying backwards.

“Oh, fuck you,” Victoire seethed. “You don’t get to treat me like shit all day and then get sappy when I say your fucking name.”

She jumped up, stepping out from behind the couch and hurling Stunning Spells at the remaining wizards.

“Kill the girl!” someone bellowed. “We need to kill the girl!”

“Fucking try!” Victoire shouted back, dodging a Killing Curse as she lunged towards the entrance of the room.

“Flipendo Tria,” she muttered, sending three wizards spiraling through the air.

“Stupefy, Stupefy, Stupefy,” she chanted, watching as each one fell to the ground. She whipped around, easily deflecting the spells of the last attacker.

“Who the fuck are you?” he hissed. “Incendio!”

“Protego!” Victoire shouted, the bright orange spell fizzling into nothing against her invisible shield.

“Stupefy,” Theseus muttered from behind her, the man toppling backwards as he lost consciousness.

Victoire turned to Theseus, panting heavily as he scanned the room for any more intruders.

“I think we got them all,” he muttered.

“I fucking told you,” Victoire seethed, glaring at him. “I told you we were being watched, and you fucking ignored me.”

“I’m sorry-”

“You don’t get to fucking apologize!” Victoire shouted. “My whole job relies on me having solid intuition and you didn’t even listen when I said something was wrong!”

“I didn’t think we had any reason to worry!” Theseus shouted back.

“Clearly we fucking did,” Victoire yelled, gesturing wildly at the unconscious bodies around them.

“I’m-”

“I know you think I’m an idiot, but your stupid grudge against Curse-Breakers almost got us killed,” Victoire said, laughing incredulously. “I almost just died because the idiot I got assigned to work with doesn’t want to listen to me.”

“I don’t have a grudge against Curse-Breakers!” Theseus shouted in defense.

“Oh, so it’s a grudge against just me, then?” Victoire asked. “Fantastic.”

“No!” Theseus shouted, rubbing his temples in frustration.

“Well then what the fuck is it, Theseus?” she questioned, saying his name with just as much malice as she could muster.

“It was Travers,” he muttered. Victoire tilted her head in confusion.

“Elaborate, please.”

“He’s the one with the aversion to Curse-Breakers, you know that,” he said. “He told me I had to stop being so cordial with you.” Victoire laughed again.

“You seriously let Torquil Travers tell you how to behave?” she asked incredulously.

“He’s my boss!” Theseus shouted.

“Ok, and?” Victoire asked. “My boss is a fucking Goblin, if I let him dictate my manners I’d become a hoarder.” Theseus sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

“Oh, shut up. You made me feel like shit, all day,” Victoire scoffed.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said softly, watching with concern as she accidentally knocked her shoulder against the wall behind her, wincing in pain.

“Are you alright?” he asked, walking towards her.

“I’m fine,” Victoire muttered.

“You sure?” he asked. She paused, looking down at her shoulder and sighing softly. She shook her head.

“No, no I’m not fine,” she admitted. “I think someone hit me when they first entered the room.”

Theseus nodded, continuing to walk towards her until he was standing right in front of her, effectively trapping her between himself and the wall. Victoire bit her lip, captivated by the delicate intimacy of the moment. Theseus brought his hand to the sleeve of her shirt and looked at her gently.

“May I?” he murmured. Victoire nodded quickly. He tugged her sleeve down, revealing a dark purple bruise covering her shoulder. Victoire hissed as he grazed the injury with his thumb.

“That hurts,” she whined.

“Sorry,” Theseus said softly, his gaze fixed on her shoulder. He gripped his wand with his spare hand and brought it up to the bruise, muttering ‘Episkey’ under his breath. Victoire watched as the bruise steadily faded, the skin on her shoulder returning to its typical tan color.

“Uh, thanks,” she muttered breathlessly, looking up into Theseus’s grey blue eyes. He looked down at her and bit his lip, eyes flickering down to her mouth momentarily before coughing and pulling away abruptly.

“We should be getting back to the Ministry,” he said, face flushing pink.

Victoire nodded slowly, pushing herself off the wall.

“What about all these people?” she asked, pointing to one of the unconscious wizards on the ground.

“Travers will send someone back to bring them all to Azkaban,” he replied, reaching his hand out to her. Victoire looked at his hand, then back up at him.

“For apparating,” he clarified, sensing her confusion. Now it was Victoire’s turn to blush.

“Oh,” she said, “yes, of course.” She grabbed his hand loosely, praying he wouldn’t notice how clammy her palms were as they apparated back to the Ministry.

[Tags: @littleyellowladybugg @missjockey101 @hearteyesmotherclucker @mrshazosterfield ]

A/N: I took several creative liberties with how spells work, so don't accept all this stuff as canon in the HP universe. Who knows if this is actually how someone would go about un-vanishing another person. This is now the THIRD Theseus Thursday (that's three "th"s, #alliteration). Hope y'all enjoy, remember to leave a like or comment or something, and ask me if you wanna be tagged in future parts. :D

#fantastic beasts and where to find them #fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald #theseus scamander fanfic #theseus scamander imagine #theseus scamander x oc #theseus scamander x reader #theseus x oc #theseus x reader #theseus imagine #fantastic beasts

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fanfics4all · 4 years

Text

Protector

Request: Yes / No Just imagine being the youngest Auror in history and being a Draco’s older sister who is also a Slytherin. She was disowned for dating a muggleborn girl instead of marrying a rich male pureblood and rebelling against the Malfoy’s beliefs. Maybe the golden trio finds out about her after she saves Sirius and Cedric somehow (cause they died too soon). She can just be an overall badass (maybe became an Auror at 15 and graduated early). She can be 7 or 6 years older than Draco maybe. Tyyyy 🥰 Anon

Requests are open <3 Have a nice day/night

Draco Malfoy x Sister!Reader

Word count: 923

Warnings: Death

Y/N: Your Name

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK!

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you!

Masterlist

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

I was able to graduate Hogwarts at the age of fifteen. Normally my parents would be extremely proud about that, but they were upset that I was dating a Muggle-Born. They were obsessed with keeping our bloodline pure and they wanted me to marry a Pureblood Slytherin man. I however, did not care about blood status nor was I attracted to men. They ended up disowning me, my brother and I still secretly talked. I know in public he had to act like he despised me, but he didn’t. He was actually proud of me.

During Draco’s school years he would tell me about everything. Especially if Father was planning something horrid. Such as when Draco was in fourth year. I received a letter from Draco telling me he overheard Father was meeting the dark lord in a cemetery. I knew I had to put a stop to whatever he was planning. I grabbed my wand and apparated to the cemetery. I found Harry Potter and another boy looking around confused.

“Who are you?” Harry asked.

“Y/N Malfoy. I got a tip that something was going to happen here, guess it was a good one.” I smirked.

“But how did you…” He trailed off.

“Get here? Apparated. I’m an Auror you see.” I said.

“But you’re so young.” The other boy said.

“I graduated early.” I shrugged.

“Kill the other two.” I heard someone say and I turned around to see Peter Petagrew and he was holding something? Someone? I wasn’t sure. He tried using the killing curse on us, but I quickly grabbed the other boy and apparated him to safety. There was cheering and clapping and I noticed we were surrounded by people. The Triwizard Tournament, that’s right. I forgot Draco told me about that. I looked around and noticed Draco looking at me. I gave him a smile, then apparated back to Harry. He was being forced to bow.

“Let him go!” I shouted. Everyone looked at me and I saw my Father glaring at me.

“What are you doing here?” He growled.

“My job.” I growled back.

“How did you even know about this?” He asked.

“I got a tip.” I answered.

“Draco.” He growled.

“Draco and I haven’t spoken since you disowned me!” I shouted and shot a spell at him. He was sent flying to the ground and I put all my attention on Voldemort. He was standing there with such a sickening smirk. I ran over to Harry and stood in front of him.

“You need to get to the cup.” I said.

“But what about you?” He asked.

“I’ll be fine, I’ll get you an opening and you go, alright?” I asked and he nodded.

“So you're the Malfoy child that doesn’t exist, why go against your destiny?” Voldemort asked me and I scoffed.

“I make my own destiny thank you.” I said.

“Then die.” He said and shot the killing curse at me, but I countered it. The two of us were fighting for power, but neither one was winning.

“Now!” I said to Harry and he ran. He made it to the cup.

“No!” Voldemort said and I managed to gain power. Harry was safe and Voldemort was stunned. I quickly apparated out of there and back to my office.

The next year Draco told me about how Aunt Bellatrix escaped, even though I knew that. He told me that her and Father were going to the Ministry and I just knew this wasn’t going to be good. I was looking everywhere for them and finally found them fighting in the Department of Mysteries. Harry and Siris Black were taking care of my Father and when everything seemed to be at the end I heard my aunt shout.

“Avada Kedavra!” She shouted and I saw it aimed at Siris. I quickly jumped in front of him and I knew there wasn’t going to be time to counter it.

“Harry! Tell Draco that I love him and I’m sorry we couldn’t spend more time together! Tell him to tell her I love her!” I called and he looked at me confused. I felt the curse hit me and I fell to the ground, my blood going cold as ice and blackness invading my vision.

Harry’s POV

When we got back to Hogwarts I knew I had to do as Y/N asked. Malfoy had a right to know. She was his sister after all. I walked up to him, followed by Hermione and Ron and he sneered at me.

“What do you want, Potter?” He asked.

“There’s something you need to know. Your sister Y/N, she saved us. S-She was killed by Bellatrix and she asked me to tell you that she loves you and that she’s sorry she couldn’t spend more time with you. S-”

“You’re lying!” He growled and shoved me against the wall.

“She also asked for you to tell her she loves her.” I said and his eyes widened slightly. He let go of me and backed away.

“N-No… No! S-She can’t be dead!” He growled and I saw tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, she seemed like a really great person.” I said.

“She’s dead because of you!” He shouted. He sent a jinx my way and then ran off. That afternoon everyone was called into the great hall and they were holding a funeral for Y/N. Malfoy couldn’t even look at the front. It was the first time I’ve seen honest emotion out of him.

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#harry potter imagine #harry potter and the goblet of fire #harry potter and the order of the phoenix #draco malfoy #draco x sister!reader #draco malfoy x sister!reader #harry potter #cedric diggory #sirius black #fanfic #request

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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 years

Text

Written In The Stars CXXXIII (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: Shit’s going down again -Danny

Words: 5,603

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Closure’ -by Vancouver Sleep Clinic ft. Drew Love

Chapter Thirty-One: A New Plan.

Mel was writing down the answers to her History of Magic exam, eager to go back to her tower and have a good nap for the rest of the day.

It was then that the feeling spread in her chest, a terrible dread that didn't belong to her. She looked up and around, and her eyes landed on Harry, who had his face hidden behind both hands and was squirming in his seat. Suddenly, her forehead stung and the boy screamed, his body falling limp on the ground.

She turned around with her eyes tearing up in pain, holding onto the edge of the table she tried to stand up, but Professor Tofty walked past and helped Harry up before she could even get on her feet.

Mel was sitting sideways on her chair, pondering whether to abandon her examination or forget about it until she was able to leave. She wanted to go, but she knew that Harry would get upset, probably arguing about ruining her good grades. So headache and all, she finished the last questions of her exam.

"Harry!" Hermione spotted the boy. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"

"Where have you been?" Ron asked.

Harry was just coming down from the staircase. "Come with me— Come on, I've got to tell you something..."

He took them to an empty classroom and closed the door as soon as they walked in. His back hit against it and he looked at them with wide eyes.

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

"What?"

"How d'you — ?"

"Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam."

"But — but where? How?" Hermione asked in shock.

"I dunno how— But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety-seven... He's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there... He's torturing him... Says he'll end by killing him..."

"Wait, hang on, you shouldn't be able to know all that! Harry, you promised you'd practice!"

"Yeah well, you see it was of use not to. Now, how're we going to get there?"

"G-get there?" Ron paled.

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!"

"But — Harry..."

"What? What?" said Harry.

"Harry," Hermione started, "er... how... how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"

"How do I know? The question is how we're going to get in there!"

"But... Harry, think about this, it's five o'clock in the afternoon... The Ministry of Magic must be full of workers... How would Voldemort and Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry... they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world... You think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"

"'Mione's right," Mel frowned. "Think about my mother, Sirius wouldn't leave her side just like that!"

"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something! And what if it was Emily the one who left the house? You know how stubborn she is, what if Sirius went after her and they got the two of them? Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been —"

"You've never been there, Harry," said Hermione. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."

"They're not normal dreams!" Harry took a step forward and faced Hermione with an angry stare, Mel immediately stood between them. "How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?"

"He's got a point..."

"But this is just — just so unlikely! Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"

"Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air," said Ron. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages — And with the baby coming... I don't blame him if he's looking for space."

"Mum said they got into a fight during the first weeks," Mel said, starting to feel worried. "She said Sirius wanted to get more involved now that she couldn't, said he wanted to make sure his kid would be safe... No, but this is the same woman that gave up on magic to raise us for a whole decade, she would know how to deal with Sirius' temper."

"And why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"

"I dunno, there could be loads of reasons! Maybe Sirius is just someone Voldemort doesn't care about seeing hurt —"

"You know what, I've just thought of something," said Ron. "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!"

"Yeah — and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!" said Harry.

"Look, I'm sorry," said Hermione, "but neither of you are making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there —"

"Hermione, Harry's seen them!"

"Okay, I've just got to say this..."

"What?"

"You... This isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do... sort of... I mean — don't you think you've got a bit of a — a — saving-people-thing?"

Mel grimaced and walked away, pushing the hair out of her face in frustration.

"And what's that supposed to mean, a 'saving-people-thing'?" Harry asked in a tense voice.

"Well... you... I mean... last year, for instance... in the lake... during the Tournament... you shouldn't have... I mean, you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl... You got a bit... carried away... I mean, it was really great of you and everything," She continued to hear Hermione as she paced around the room, trying to think. "Everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do —"

"That's funny," Harry replied, "because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero... Is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?"

"No, no, no! That's not what I mean at all!"

"Well, spit out what you've got to say, because we're wasting time here!"

"I'm trying to say — Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the — the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst — ?"

"Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not — they've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone left from the Order at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!"

"But Harry — what if your dream was — was just that, a dream?"

"If it had been just a dream then my scar wouldn't have hurt! Mel!" Harry called.

"What?"

"Did you feel it?"

"Feeling things only tells me that what happened to you was real, nothing else..." She said, eyes fixed on the window.

Harry growled loudly behind her, Mel kept didn't move.

Mel wanted to support him, she really did because she understood why he was scared, she was scared too, but there was no reason why Sirius would be outside... none at all...

"You don't get it! I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione — Sirius is trapped — I've seen him — Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving-people-thing when it was you I was saving from the dementors, or when it was your sister I was saving from the basilisk —"

"I never said I had a problem!" said Ron.

"But Harry, you've just said it," said Hermione. "Dumbledore wanted you to learn to shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen this —"

"IF YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN —"

"Sirius told you there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!"

"WELL, I EXPECT HE'D SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF HE KNEW WHAT I'D JUST —"

The squeaking sound of the door opening caused her to turn back, there stood Ginny and Luna.

"Hi," said Ginny. "We recognized Harry's voice — what are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," said Harry stiffly.

"There's no need to take that tone with me," She replied in a cold voice. "I was only wondering whether I could help."

"Well, you can't."

"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna.

He swore, his eyes landed on Mel, who had her back turned to them and was looking at the window with her arms crossed, deep in thought.

"Are you going to stand there all day? Sirius is practically your stepfather and you're not even worried!"

"Wow, Harry," She replied sarcastically, moving to look at him over her shoulder. "You can read minds now? I didn't know you could guess exactly how I'm feeling. Stop being a bloody prat! I'm trying to think!"

"And why is it taking so long? I thought you were smart," He asked angrily.

"Maybe because you can stop screaming, you utter—"

"Wait," said Hermione. "Wait... Harry, the girls can help."

Mel and Harry stopped arguing and stared at her.

"Listen, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters —"

"I've told you, I saw —"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please! Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London — if we find out he's not there then I swear I won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him —"

"Sirius is being tortured NOW! We haven't got time to waste —"

"But if this is a trick of V-Voldemort's — Harry, we've got to check, we've got to —"

"How? How're we going to check?"

"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," said Hermione. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

"Yeah, we'll do it," Ginny said immediately, though she still had no idea of what was happening.

"When you say 'Sirius,' are you talking about Stubby Boardman?"

"Not now, Luna," Mel said, the gears in her head finally starting to work. "I can send a message to Erick, he can help — he helped the twins last time..."

"Okay," Harry replied roughly, "Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now —"

"The Department of Mysteries?" said Luna. "But how are you going to get there?"

Harry ignored her, Mel did too, but only because she was busy writing down the message for Erick.

"Right," said Hermione. "Right... well... One of us has to go and find Umbridge and — and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her — I don't know — that Peeves is up to something awful as usual..."

"I'll do it," said Ron. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way..."

"No need, Erick could trash it and he'd just have to find a way to bring Peeves into the scene."

"Okay— Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off..."

"Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas. Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."

"Okay... well then, Harry, you, Mel and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak, and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius —"

"He's not there, Hermione!"

"I mean, you can — can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the window's a weak spot, sending those nifflers through it."

"I... okay, thanks."

"Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," said Hermione, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."

"Erick can keep that lot busy too, let me just..." She wrote on her watch another note saying 'keep the I.S. away' and sent it, hoping he'd gotten enough time to read the first before it vanished.

"Five minutes'll be enough," Harry nodded. "C'mon, let's go —"

"Now?" said Hermione.

"Of course now! What did you think, we're going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!"

"I — oh all right! You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?"

The watch on her hand warmed up and she opened it with shaky hands, his reply was simply: 'ON IT.'

"Okay, let's go..."

Mel stood next to the door, that way she could see Harry, but also hear what was happening outside the office.

"Sirius? Sirius, are you there?" The boy shouted. "Who's there?"

Mel heard a distant and low voice, for a moment she almost felt relieved, but then Harry asked another question.

"Where's Sirius, Kreacher? Where's he gone? ...Where's he gone, Kreacher? I'm warning you! What about Lupin? — Mad-Eye? Any of them, are any of them here?"

There was another long pause, Harry's shoulders tensed.

"Where has Sirius gone?" He yelled. "Kreacher, has he gone to the Department of Mysteries? Why did he leave Emily alone with the baby?"

She walked up to Harry, but then the door opened and a flash of red hit her, Hermione went next, they both fell sideways. Umbridge walked up to Harry and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him away from the fire harshly. Harry coughed and blinked, someone lifted Mel up.

"You think," She bent Harry's neck further and Mel felt the sting on the back of her head, "that after two nifflers I was going to let one more foul, scavenging little creature enter my office without my knowledge? I had Stealth Sensoring Spells placed all around my doorway after the last one got in, you foolish boy. Take his wand! Their wands too..."

Malfoy walked up to her and took her wand, he did the same with Hermione, who was now caged against the wall by Bulstrode. She looked over her shoulder and found Erick staring down at her with a scowl, his grip tight on her arms.

"I want to know why you are in my office," said Umbridge.

"I was — trying to get my Firebolt!" Harry choked.

"Liar. Your Firebolt is under strict guard in the dungeons, as you very well know, Potter. You had your head in my fire. With whom have you been communicating?"

"No one —" Harry tried to pull away, only inflicting more pain on himself. Mel yelped at the sensation.

"Liar!" Umbridge threw him to the desk.

"STOP!" Mel shouted, trying to get away from Erick.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," He warned her.

Mel fixed her gaze on Malfoy, who was having the time of his life. Several Slytherins entered the office, they had Ron, Ginny, Luna, and for some reason, Neville. They were all gagged. Mel felt a cold sense of outrage when she looked at her friends. This was no way to treat students!

"Got 'em all," said Warrington. "That one tried to stop me taking her," he pointed at Neville and Ginny, "so I brought him along too."

"Good, good," said Umbridge. "Well, it looks as though Hogwarts will shortly be a Weasley-free zone, doesn't it?" She looked at Mel with a smile. "And Dumbledore-free as well."

Mel growled, fighting against her captor.

"So, Potter. You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes, Mr Filch having just informed me so. Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone..."

"You bloody cow —!" Erick tightened the grip on her wrists to stop her from digging a deeper grave.

"It's none of your business who I talk to," Harry spat.

"Very well," Umbridge said sweetly. "Very well, Mr Potter... I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Draco — fetch Professor Snape."

Mel fell on the same realization as Harry at the same time. They had forgotten about Snape. He was a member of the Order!

She was pissed at the fact that all her friends presented terrible injuries, she could've gathered enough energy to cause one of her bursts of magic, but she knew that wasn't the best idea. What would she do afterwards? Nothing. She could do nothing.

"You wanted to see me, Headmistress?" Snape arrived five minutes later and looked around the group unimpressed.

"Ah, Professor Snape! Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."

"You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter and Dumbledore. Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient."

"You can make some more, can't you?"

"Certainly. It takes a full moon cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month."

"A month? A month? But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"

"Really? Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules."

Erick, taking advantage of the fact that everyone's was paying more attention to the adults in the middle of the room, pulled her closer and whispered in her ear.

"I was on my way to get Peeves when Umbridge sent for me... What's going on?"

Mel clenched her jaw and turned her head slightly to the right.

"He saw Sirius... he's in trouble."

"I wish to interrogate him!" Umbridge was shouting now. "I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth!"

"Define trouble," Erick requested.

"They got him," She groaned. "Could you move your hand? You're hurting me—"

"That's the point," He said.

"I have already told you," said Snape, "that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter — and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did — I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling..."

"You are on probation!" Professor Umbridge yelled. "You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!"

Snape turned to leave.

"He's got Padfoot!" Harry blurted out. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

"Padfoot?" Umbridge's eyes went wide. "What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?"

"I have no idea. Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little, if Longbottom suffocates it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork, and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your reference if ever you apply for a job."

He left, closing the door behind him.

"Very well... Very well... I am left with no alternative... This is more than a matter of school discipline... This is an issue of Ministry security... Yes... yes..."

Mel didn't like the madness on the woman's face. She stopped fighting and stared attentively, waiting to see what she'd do.

"You are forcing me, Potter... I do not want to, but sometimes circumstances justify the cause... I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice... The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue."

"What?" Mel spat.

"No! Professor Umbridge — it's illegal," Hermione started, but the woman had her wand up. "The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!"

"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him. He never knew I ordered dementors after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same..."

"It was you?" Harry asked in incredulity. "You sent the dementors after me?"

Mel's anger was eating her up, she wanted to rip things apart.

"Somebody had to act! They were all bleating about silencing you somehow — discrediting you — but I was the one who actually did something about it... Only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today, though, not now..."

"If you touch him I swear I'll kill you!" Mel yelled.

"Cruc —"

"NO!" Hermione yelled as well. "No — Harry — Mel, we'll have to tell her!"

"No way!" yelled Harry.

"We'll have to, Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's... what's the point..?"

"What are you on?" Mel growled. "Shut up!"

"Well, well, well!" said Umbridge. "Little Miss Question-All is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!"

Ron tried to speak through his gag, but it was useless. Ginny was staring at their friend in disbelief, Neville as well.

"I'm — I'm sorry everyone," said Hermione. "But — I can't stand it —"

Mel couldn't believe it, Hermione had never acted this way!

Hermione would never act this way...

"That's right, that's right, girl! Now then... with whom was Potter communicating just now?" She pulled Hermione away from the wall and sat her on a chair.

"Well," Hermione sobbed, but there were no real tears on her face. "He was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore..."

If any of the Slytherins there had known the group better, they would've noticed the sudden change in their behaviour once they realized she was lying.

"Dumbledore? You know where Dumbledore is, then?"

"Well... no! We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head —"

"Idiot girl, Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking for him!"

"But — but we needed to tell him something important!"

"Yes? What was it you wanted to tell him?"

"We... we wanted to tell him it's r-ready!"

Mel guessed she could help her friend by causing more noise and therefore keeping Umbridge's mind busy.

"You traitor!" She shrieked making everyone jump. "How dare you tell my uncle's secrets to her! He trusted you!"

"What's ready?" Umbridge pulled Hermione's gaze away from Mel's. "What's ready, girl?"

"The... the weapon."

"Weapon? Weapon? You have been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?"

"Y-y-yes, but he had to leave before it was finished and n-n-now we've finished it for him, and we c-c-can't find him t-t-to tell him! He was supposed to teach Mel how to use it!"

"Stop it!" Mel tried to move away from Erick, but she didn't actually pull that hard.

"What kind of weapon is it?" asked Umbridge with urgency.

"We don't r-r-really understand it... We j-j-just did what P-P-Professor Dumbledore told us t-t-to do..."

"Lead me to the weapon."

"I'm not showing... them," said Hermione right away, looking around the room.

"It is not for you to set conditions."

"Fine! Fine... let them see it, I hope they use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! Th-that would serve you right — oh, I'd love it if the wh-whole school knew where it was, and how to u-use it, and then if you annoy any of them they'll be able to s-sort you out! I bet Flint could learn to use it in less than a day!"

Most of the Slytherins stared at the boy who was holding Mel, they had the same hungry expression.

"All right, dear, let's make it just you and me... and we'll take Potter too, shall we? The Dumbledore girl can stay here. Get up, now —"

"Professor," said Malfoy promptly, "Professor Umbridge, I think some of the squad should come with you to look after —"

"I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two wandless teenagers alone? In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something that schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of these escape."

"All right," groaned Malfoy.

"And you two can go ahead of me and show me the way," said Umbridge at Harry and Hermione. "Lead on..."

They were left in the middle of thick, heavy silence. Malfoy walked around the room and started to make fun of her friends.

Ten minutes passed, Erick spoke to her in a barely audible whisper.

"What was that?"

"Gave us time," Mel replied, her gaze fixed on her shoes.

"You think they'll need help?"

"Dunno."

"I need a real answer," Erick urged her. "Yes or no."

"Why?"

"If Sirius is in trouble I don't want to sit and do nothing," He responded. "Yes or no?"

Mel looked around: Six against four, counting Erick on their side. However, if he were to help, they'd have a solid five-five situation, being far more skilled wizards and witches.

"Yes."

Erick gave her his wand without letting go.

"Let's do it."

"Oi! Ferret!" Mel called. "Why don't you come here so I can kick you properly? I'm the only one who hasn't beaten the shit out of you — I need to change that."

Malfoy's face twisted into a sneer.

"I wouldn't run my mouth if I were you, nutter. Especially now, wandless and all, with no Professor to watch over what we're doing... not that Umbridge cares about you..."

"Why don't you come here and hit me then? Scared you're not good enough? I mean, you have my wand — What, can't you beat a girl?"

"Shut her up, Flint," Malfoy said with disinterest.

"Just ignore her," He replied.

"You know plenty about ignoring people, don't you Malfoy?" She smirked. "Your father does that to you all year long —"

"I said shut up!"

The second he was close enough, Erick let go of her and she raised his wand yelling 'Depulso!'

Malfoy crashed against the desk. She flicked Erick's wand and her own came up flying, Erick snatched his and stunned Warrington. Ron pulled the gag out of his mouth and grabbed his own wand.

"You're supposed to be on our side!" Malfoy demanded angrily.

Erick tilted his head, "I got bored and I don't like you."

A string of stunning spells and fighting sounds surrounded them. In less than two minutes, every Slytherin (except for Erick) was unconscious, Malfoy had some disgusting slime covering his face.

"I reckon your reputation as Slytherin's prince is over," Mel commented.

"This is more important than a bloody title," He replied.

"Now you sound like a normal bloke!" Ron said, happily patting the boy's shoulder as he walked past. "I just saw Harry and Hermione enter the forest, we should move."

They were just reaching the edge when they heard Hermione's voice coming closer.

"Well, we can't do anything without wands... Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?"

"Yeah, we were just wondering that," said Ron.

Harry and Hermione came into view, covered in something that looked alarmingly similar to blood.

"So," Ron offered Harry his wand, which he took in shock, "had any ideas?"

"How did you get away?" asked Harry.

"Mel taunted Malfoy and he fell for it — Erick had given her his wand. After that a couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx — But Ginny was best, she finished Malfoy — Bat-Bogey Hex — it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you heading into the forest out of the window and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?"

"She got carried away...By a herd of centaurs."

"And they left you behind?" asked Ginny.

"No, they got chased off by Grawp," said Harry.

"Who's Grawp?" Luna and Erick asked.

"Hagrid's little brother," said Ron. "Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or — ?"

"Yes," said Harry, "and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him."

"What about my mum?"

"Kreacher said she couldn't go to the kitchen, the baby had been crying the whole night and she was sleeping," He replied. "Said that Sirius had left behind her back."

"The baby's born?" Mel felt someone squeezing her shoulder and looked up to meet Erick's sympathetic gaze.

"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" Luna replied matter-of-factly.

"Okay," Harry started, "first of all, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so —"

"I've got a broom!" said Ginny.

"Yeah, but you're not coming," said Ron.

"Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!"

"You're too —"

"I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Sorcerer's Stone, and it's because of me Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogeys attacking him —"

"Yeah, but —"

"We were all in the D.A. together," said Neville determinedly. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real — or was that all just a game or something?"

"No — of course it wasn't —"

"Then we should come too. We want to help."

"That's right," said Luna.

Harry looked back at Ron in exasperation.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway," He said at last, "because we still don't know how to get there —"

"I thought we'd settled that?" said Luna. "We're flying!"

"Look," Ron said harshly, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we —"

"There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks."

"I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?"

"The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly, but they can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for."

Mel looked back at the empty space Luna was staring at.

"I suppose there's a Thestral there," She said, swallowing a groan.

"Yes!" Harry approached the trees and started to pat the air.

"Is it those mad horse things?" asked Ron. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"

"You have such a way with words, Ronnie," Mel muttered.

"Yeah," Harry replied distractedly.

"How many?"

"Just two."

"Well, we need four," said Hermione.

"Five, Hermione," said Ginny.

"Excuse me?" Erick frowned. "We need six!"

"I think there are eight of us, actually," said Luna.

"Don't be stupid, we can't all go!" Harry exclaimed. "Look, you four, you're not involved in this, you're not — What are you doing here, Flint?"

"I blew my cover," The boy shrugged. "If I stay I'll be attacked by a bunch of angry Slytherins. If I go with you I might get killed, but at least it'll be worth it."

Neville, Ginny and Luna all talked at the same time, Harry raised a hand to stop them.

"Okay, fine, it's your choice," Harry said curtly. "But unless we can find more thestrals you're not going to be able —"

"Oh, more of them will come," said Ginny.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because in case you hadn't noticed, you and Hermione are both covered in blood, and we know Hagrid lures thestrals with raw meat, so that's probably why these two turned up in the first place..."

"That's blood?" Mel gawked. "What on earth happened back there?"

"Okay, then!" Harry said brightly. "Ron and I will take these two and go ahead, and Hermione can stay here with you three and she'll attract more thestrals —"

"I'm not staying behind!" said Hermione.

"There's no need," said Luna. "Look, here come more now... You two must really smell..."

"All right," Harry groaned, "pick one and get on, then."

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @stardusthigh @mikariell95 @vernon-dursley @thesuitelifeofafangirl @tomshollandz @kylosleftbuttcheek @reverse-hxlland @bloodorangemoonlight @omiwashere @t-rexs-world @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @21bruhs @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @dielgonacoffee

#twoidiots writing #hp fanfic #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter xoc #WITT fic

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dramioneasks · 4 years

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HP FESTS: DramioneFanfictionWriters (Part 3)

Never Apologising For Our Wild 2019:

Fractured by MrsRen - M, 3 chapters - She's writhing on the floor, spitting in a Bellatrix Lestrange's face, when it happens. Hermione Granger's mind fractures amidst the torture, and when she wakes, friends and family find that she is not who she used to be. In the middle of a war, Hermione thinks she's exactly who she needs to be.

Ninety-Three Percent Stardust by otterlyardent - G, one-shot - Often, when a person falls for someone, they can’t remember the exact moment it all changed. But that wasn’t the case for Draco Malfoy. The moment had forever been emblazoned in his memory.

Dear Shakespeare by msmerlin - M, 3 chapters - When the fates bring together two opposites, will the love they have be able to overcome the years of obstacles that follow? Seventeen years of relationships ups and downs told through a series of vignettes.

Coiled, Falling by bionically - not rated, one-shot - She's locked in a tower when he finds her, bewitched and imprisoned.

Absinthe by TheMourningMadam - E, one-shot - Hermione becomes ensnared by Draco Malfoy, despite the fact that he is a taken man.

Magical To You by fandomfairytales - T, one-shot - based on the Nikita Gill poem/prompt: she would rather be magical to you, than belong to you.Follows Draco coming to understand such a concept and how it applies to one Hermione Granger."Hermione was in his kitchen, her cheeks rosy, the heat of the ovens toasting the air, humming along with the house elves as they worked; Completely out of her element and making herself at home at the breakfast bar, she was an utter paradox, all Draco could do was stare. It would have been less surprising to find a unicorn or some other rare magical creature there… Later, he would wonder if perhaps she was one, in a class all her own."

My Poetry by mcal - T, one-shot - Draco has been looking forward to this quiet moment with Hermione all week. A short stand alone written for the DFW Nikita Poem Challenge. Dramione. EWE

The Way They Leave by tofadeawayagain - T, one-shot - After leaving an emotionally abusive long-term relationship with Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger struggles to remember how to be herself once again. An experiment/sketch of the state of mind caused by emotional abuse and the healing process.

Show Me Your Soul by Disenchantedglow - T, one-shot - Show me The most damaged Parts of your soul, And I will show you How it still shines like gold -Nikita Gill

Demons by sweetmusings - T, one-shot - Hermione is far from okay. Can she be saved before she slips under? Furthermore, does she want to be? Inspired by Nikita Gill's 'Monsters'.

Fixing Damaged Souls by LissaDream - G, one-shot - Response to the Never Apologizing For Our Wild challenge held by Dramione Fanfiction Writer's FB group.

Wildfire by In_Dreams - M, one-shot - They said she was fire incarnate. And the smallest sliver of hope was kept alive by the spark of a borrowed ember she had implanted in his soul. A Dramione one-shot inspired by "Wild Embers" by Nikita Gill.

Tough Love by BiscuitsForPotter - M, 4 chapters - Three bad relationships. Two times her heart is broken. One time it grows stronger. Hermione Granger always seems to choose the wrong men to date.

The Devourer by ravenslight - M, one-shot - Darkness breeds darkness. In the aftermath of the war and amidst Voldemort’s reign, two depraved souls find solace in the dance of their demons.

Burning Skies by PartyLines - T, one-shot - Sometimes a change of heart comes just a little too late. Or: Hermione's late night letters to someone.

When You Are Ashes Remember This by perilous_circumstance - M, one-shot - The Ministry has decreed therapy for the returning 8th years & it’s going just about as well as one would expect.

Under and of the Stars by Lilian_Silver - T, one-shot - Hermione is in her 8th Year, attending a party in the Ravenclaw common room. It would be a lovely night of letting loose for once in her life, if not for the presence of a certain Slytherin for whom she has been harboring some very confused feelings.

Majestic Lionesses, Vibrant Birds, and Eight Billion Human Beings by Felgia_Starr - M, one-shot - Draco tries to prove to Hermione that soulmates are real but ends up showing her the world instead.

Broken by CourtingInsanity - M, one-shot - She is a broken thing under the psychopathic torture of his crazy aunt. As he watches, Draco reflects on the things he has fixed in his young life, and wonders at the possibility of mending Granger.

Spark Hearts by Abroma - E, one-shot - He doesn't ask her to stay; he never does. She wouldn't, anyway.

Scars by LadyKenz347 - not rated, one-shot - For DFW'S: Never Apologizing For Our Wild ChallengeInspired by Nikita Gills "Scars

Pretty in White by MrsMast - G, one-shot - Today is Hermione and Draco’s wedding day. Will love bloom?

DFW Birthday GOGO Fest 2020:

A House in the Country by BoredRavenvlaw620 - T, WIP -“That’s it, just no. I’ve done my duty to the Wizarding world. I gave up my childhood, I gave up my dreams, and for what… a tiny cubicle in which I put the Ministry stamp on endless permits. No more. I quit. Effective immediately. I think you’ll find I have ample vacation saved up. I’ll owl human resources on where they can send my check.”She spent her childhood fighting a war she didn't start. Now life is passing her by. What will she find when she makes choices not based off expectation?

Love of My Life by MykEsprit - T, one-shot - A surprising revelation at their anniversary party sends Hermione reeling.

Opposites Attract by HollyBrianne - G, one-shot - Draco and Hermione share a hotel room and take turns having issues with the other's sleepwear.

Caught Red-Handed by ruthy4vrsmoaked - E, one-shot - During a special kind of school reunion, Draco Malfoy catches Hermione Granger while she's reading an erotic romance novel.

Between the Trees by NuclearNik - M, WIP - When the tides of war change quickly, Draco makes a split-second decision and steals the freedom of the only person he still cares about, desperate to protect them.Hermione Granger becomes prisoner to a reluctant captor, locked away in the ruins of the one place she'd ever truly felt at home.Trust does not come easy for either of them.

Better Late Than Never by niffizzle - M, one-shot - As if the anxiety leading up to his mother's trial wasn't already bad enough, it deepens once the Wizengamot denies Draco's request to temporarily leave Hogwarts to attend. His life only gets more frustrating when the aftermath of a Quidditch accident forces him to interact with the one witch he's been ignoring all year — stirring the question of why she was present at the match in the first place.

Simple Words by dreamsofdramione (Bugggghead) - M, one-shot - It was easy to figure him out all over again.

oh god, i think i'm falling in love with you again by Felgia_Starr - E, one-shot - Hermione and Draco are forced to share a bed when there's miscommunication within the hotel staff and the hotel is fully-booked. This is a terrible idea because they both blame each other for their breakup and have been throwing passive aggressive remarks towards the other ever since they arrived in the hotel. Not to mention, they're still kind of madly in love with each other.

To Return by Charlie9646 - T, one-shot - Returning to Hogwarts was the hardest thing that Hermione had ever done, but the only person it was harder for is Draco. Friendship or more can bloom in the darkest of hours. Forgiveness is not one action, but many.

Future Imperfect by LightofEvolution - T, one-shot - Weird things can happen in the Department of Mysteries. And Hermione and her partner are about to find out how weird exactly. Or maybe not weird - but foreshadowing?

Ten Months by grace_lou_freebush - T, one-shot - While Dumbledore may have appeared completely busy managing the Order of the Phoenix and hunting down Horcruxes with Harry, he managed to keep a sharp, concerned eye on Draco. When Draco was on the verge of fixing the Vanishing Cabinet before Dumbledore was prepared, the headmaster assigned Hermione a task. She was to go back in time and stall Draco, any means necessary."She was seriously considering doing something categorically insane. She wanted to reveal herself to him.Christmas break was upcoming, and she'd been essentially alone for three months. Knowing the holiday was near made her yearn for companionship. She felt like she knew a side of Draco that he kept hidden away while outside the Room. He was clever and noble and steadfast and scared and handsome and – and she wanted to reveal herself to him."

Fowl Games by Pureblood_Muggle - T, one-shot - Hermione never believed in Divination - and she wasn't going to start now, just because Luna *saw* something.

Journal Entries by TriDogMom - E, one-shot - Draco is in a meeting and gets a naughty message from Hermione.

Ocean Views by MrsMast - G, one-shot - Hermione had some time off work, and Draco so happened to be at the same beach. When they run into each other, will things go how they expect?

Research, Destruction, and Love by highlyintelligentblonde - G, one-shot - How Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger finally got together after knowing each other for 10 years, being friends for five, and being coworkers for 3. Told from an insider perspective ;)

The Orphan by rennaissance_woman - not rated, one-shot - A couple torn apart. A soldier at war. A lost child.

Revelations by LuxLouise - not rated, one-shot - Hermione makes a startling discovery.

20 Questions by savedprincess85 - T, one-shot - Hermione rescues Draco from a bad date. What happens during a game of 20 questions?

A Walk in the Park by IRisEaGLeS - G, one-shot - Hermione Granger is stressed, but then she meets a cute little cherub at her favorite park. And like every cherub in history, this little one decides to play matchmaker.

Stake Me Out Tonight, I Don't Want To Let You Go 'Til We Catch This Guy by fandomfairytales - E, WIP - Written for the DFW Birthday GOGO Fest 2020Based on the following prompt tags from HighlyIntelligentBlonde: Co-Workers to Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Fluff, HEATitle courtesy of Charles Boyle (NINE-NINE!!) because I accidentally gave this a slight B99 vibeoOoPartners for more than a few years, Draco and Hermione have captured more than just their fair share of criminals on behalf of the Auror Department, they've captured each other's hearts: taking each other down is another matter entirely...However, Hermione Granger never met a problem she couldn't solve; armed with a plan and a three-day stakeout, what's the best that could happen? Strap yourself in, I'm back for more; with plenty of fluff, soft smut, silliness, Dramione being idiots in love and giving the DMLE betting pool a constant source of fresh romance gossip and entertainment... Oh and a case/perp that has literally no bearing on the plot

Starling by floorcoaster - T, one-shot - Someone's been helping Hermione with her work and she's not sure what to think.

DFW Tropes Fest: Double Trouble 2020:

Felix Mal Felicis by Lostinthenightrain - T, one-shot - Hermione Granger came back to Hogwarts as Head Girl. Unfortunately, her counterpart - Head Boy - was Draco Malfoy. To make the year even more difficult, they've been partnered together to brew a rather difficult potion. Felix Mal Felicis - Bad Luck Potion. It's difficulty lies in the brewing process - bad lucks seems to always happens while it's being brewed. Hence why it's not often made. Hermione discovers just how much bad luck she can handle.

Finishing Lessons by Seakays - T, WIP - When Hermione Granger finds out she is the illegitimate pureblood daughter of two members of the Sacred Twenty Eight, she needs a tutor to help her navigate the old customs and expectations thrust upon her.Enter Draco Malfoy.

Somebody I used to Know by Charlie9646 - T, one-shot - Hermione didn’t know why she was even here. Why did Ginny always suggested things like this? But it was worth a shot, if the worst happened she could simply forget about and move on. She had a fairly happy life, but her love life left a lot to be desired.If Pansy could find someone for Harry why couldn’t she do the same for her?

Worth It by crochetaway - M, one-shot - Hermione is sent up to Hogwarts to investigate instances of Dark Magic. But digging to the bottom of this mystery isn't the only thing she finds up there.

riddle me this by megamegaturtle - G, one-shot - Their fingers touch when Draco hands her the paper and Hermione's heart almost jumps out of her chest.The note reads: How do you spell ‘cute boy’ with only two letters? -Riddle Me ThisHermione finds herself grinning. “Cutie. Q-T. That’s the answer to the riddle. You’re a cutie, Malfoy.”[the one where someone leaves Draco Malfoy riddles to solve from the local coffee shop's community board and he enlists Hermione Granger for help.](Written for 2020 DFW Trope Fest: Double Trouble)

The Holly and The Ivy by dirtymudblood - M, 3 chapters - “Actually,” Hermione interrupted, “I’m so glad because… because I’ve been seeing someone too and I was going to ask how you’d feel about me bringing them to the Burrow.” Ron’s jaw dropped and Hermione’s fingers tingled. Take that, Ron. “Who?” He shouted, bewildered. She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

The Soulmate Test by ThebeMoon - M, one-shot - Draco Malfoy’s life after the War has lapsed into a steamy round of indulgence between the Manor and Knockturn Alley. A highly eligible bachelor despite his dark past, Draco is used to scheming witches glamouring “DLM” on their arms and claiming to be his soulmate in accordance with ancient magic. But he never expected Hermione Granger to be one of them.

The Muggle's Wise Daughter by Mariana_Monteverde - G, 2 chapters - A Dramione Fairytale AU.Draco is a young King, one of his ministers has betrayed him, and the man's only salvation is the ability of his daughter solving the King's Riddle...

Reverse by kifiyathewriter - T, one-shot - When a number of his patients begin to die from a mysterious ailment, Draco Malfoy goes on a mission to seek out the source and unwittingly uncovers a dark truth.

You, Me, and all my other Figments by Shamione - T, one-shot - Hermione sighed dejectedly, glancing over a stone facade that had once plagued her nightmares: Malfoy Manor. A home that, at one point, had been her sole source of anguish. It was now a place that bore a new level of melancholy, though. A place that reminded Hermione Granger that Draco Malfoy was gone.He'd vanished and left no clues toward his whereabouts. Nothing, that is, until the Manor's wards were dropped. A rusty amulet is the single shred of evidence that could shed light on Hermione's once boyfriend.A new scar, an awful date, and an image of the man she'd desperately missed are the only clues to help her find her missing love.

How the Omega Was Won by Amebb42 - M, one-shot - When Hermione presents as an Omega, she is appalled to discover that the Alphas usually fight amongst themselves and whoever is strongest takes the Omega. The Weasley twins help her come up with a way to "try out" the local Alphas and choose for herself. They might have left out a few details of where she will find herself within this new product of theirs.

RX by Starryar - M, one-shot - STOP! Did you know this one shot was expanded into a multi-chap? Check out 'RX - The Full Story' for additional content! ------ Written for the Double Trouble Fest. Thank you Dramione Fanfiction Writers for hosting this! Assigned Tropes: Meet Ugly & Prison AU. Please mind the tags. ------ Draco Lucius Malfoy was stuck in-between enjoy life and rebuilding it. Should he throw his life away on the drugs, or should he create an honorable legacy for the Malfoy name? Perhaps he already knew the answer, but was putting off responsibility as long as he could. Hermione Jean Granger had been hit hard after the war. She didn't qualify for the order of Merlin and she had no family due to her memory charms being too great. The war veteran decided that Healer School was her best bet at undoing her own charms, but the price for education was never cheap. Two days in one cell and the two once enemies may find unexpected help in each other - if they don't get charged with murder first.

This fest is ongoing.

#dramionefanfictionwriters #Fests/Exchanges/Challenges

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anghraine · 4 years

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pro patria, chapters 1-7

I don’t actually expect people to read this, but I want it over here for completeness’s sake, so—the Guild Wars 2 fic!

This one is ... different, apart from being for a canon that I think maybe three of my friends are interested in, because instead of writing a one-shot in my format of seven sections of seven sentences each, I've written an entire 70k+ fic that way. Each chapter is precisely 49 sentences long, which makes for a lot of very short chapters, so I'm bunching them up into groups of (of course!) seven.

It’s business as usual, however, in having copious footnotes (these ones assume everyone’s unfamiliar with the canon story).

title: pro patria (1-7/?) stuff that happens: a young Ascalonian woman grows from a sheltered aristocrat, to a hero rushing into danger to help a nearby village, to the investigator of a series of mysterious abductions and thefts tied to the Ministry itself. verse: Ascalonian grudgefic characters/relationships: PC (mesmer / human / noble origin / missing sister [Ascalonian]), Lord Faren, Minister Ailoda, Deborah, Countess Anise, Logan Thackeray; PC & Ailoda, PC & Deborah, PC & Anise, PC & Faren

ONE 1 I always thought of myself as Ascalonian first, and Krytan second. Both of my parents were Ascalonian—my mother came from a family of Rurikton refugees fallen on good times, my father from Ebonhawke, and I was born there, myself. Mother had resigned from the Ministry over some quarrel with Minister Caudecus, and hammered in her protest by uprooting the entire family for an extended holiday with my aunt Elwin in Ebonhawke. This was long before the Rurikton gate got fixed on Ebonhawke, so in the off phases, people generally took “going to visit family in Ebonhawke” as a euphemism for something. But Mother being Mother, she headed through Lion’s Arch to the Black Citadel of all places, carved her way through only the gods knew what to the gates of Ebonhawke, turned herself over to the Vanguard, and waited for Aunt Elwin to show up and get them released. She was seven months pregnant with me by the time she arrived, Father and five-year-old Deborah in tow. And two months later, she delivered me there, Father and Aunt Elwin at her side, and Charr siege engines in her ears. 2 Father always wanted to go back to Kryta, for Deborah’s sake and mine. And during the times that the Rurikton gate got switched to Ebonhawke, when our kin in Divinity’s Reach rushed supplies through, requests for Mother’s return to the Ministry came with them. She only said, “We need soldiers, not supplies—yes, I know centaurs are attacking them, but —” “We need to go home,” said Father. A Charr attack shook her resolve more than he did: one that briefly broke through the walls while Deborah was out walking with Aunt Elwin. But it was Aunt Elwin who convinced Mother that she could do more to help our people in the Ministry than as one more staff against the Charr legions. She accepted the latest offer from the Ministry, this time to serve as representative of the Salma District itself, and we headed—home, to a place I’d never seen. 3 My father was a Fairchild, a descendant—if collateral—of Duke Barradin himself, while my mother was only a Langmar, and a Langmar of mixed heritage, no less. But Langmar meant nearly as much as Fairchild in Rurikton, where the family had owned a mansion for generations. When we first arrived, I’d never seen anything like it, for Aunt Elwin’s house in struggling Ebonhawke couldn’t begin to compare to the splendid gardens and shining marble of a mansion in Divinity’s Reach. Even Deborah, her eleven-year-old dignity often stronger than any other feeling, couldn’t help staring around with wide eyes. Mother, meanwhile, gained a still greater mansion in the Salma District upon receiving her appointment as representative, but she wanted us safe from the politicking and corruption of the Ministry. Deborah and I grew up quietly in Langmar Manor, educated with other Ascalonian nobles by Ascalonian tutors, familiar with every corner of Rurikton and very little beyond it. Deborah chafed at the confinement, but I was a little girl, content enough to spend my days playing and studying with Yolanda, Corone, and Faren, new and lifelong friends. 4 Deborah joined the Seraph the day she turned twenty. “I don’t understand,” I said blankly. “We call ourselves Ascalonians,” she told me, “and that means more than tracing our family trees. You don’t remember Ebonhawke, but those are real Ascalonians, fighting for what they love—like our ancestors fought for what they loved—but we’re happy to boast of their names without doing anything. Captain Thackeray could just sit back and enjoy everything he gets for being Gwen Thackeray’s heir, but he isn’t, and I won’t either. Ascalon is lost, even if Rurikton and the Settlement and Ebonhawke will never admit it, but as long as Kryta stands, we have something to fight for.” Deborah as a Seraph, solving crimes, keeping order, and skirmishing with the occasional bandit raid, wasn’t half so chilling a prospect as Deborah fighting legions of Charr, so I didn’t say what I thought—as long as Ebonhawke stands, we have Ascalon to fight for. 5 Deborah’s departure left the whole family scattered: my mother in Salma, my father dead, my aunt and cousins in Ebonhawke, my sister stationed all the way down in Claypool, and some remote relations and me in Rurikton. Mother, still grieving Father and anxious over Debs, decided that at fifteen, I was old enough to come live with her in her Ministry mansion. I’d felt lonely and restless in Langmar Manor, but I still received the news with very little short of horror. “You’re going the next district over, not across the world,” said Yolanda. “I’ll take a house in Manor Hill too,” Faren said recklessly, “and we’ll have amazing parties.” Faren being Faren, he actually did, aided by his father’s relief at him showing interest in something beyond Rurikton high society—even if that thing was only Salma high society. My mother kissed me when we arrived, and with a smile, told Faren, “It’s a pleasure to know you’ll be keeping my girl company, and of course, just to see you—you’re looking so well!” He preened. 6 We spent those early weeks exploring Salma, curious and cheerful despite ourselves, suppressing giggles as we followed a dour guide about the district. “Orr was destroyed,” the guide was saying, “Ascalon was ravaged by the Foefire; only Kryta is left, and that by a narrow margin.” “Ascalon was ravaged by the Searing,” I said sharply, all laughter gone. Nobody would call Faren a great wit, but when it came to conversation and society, his instincts were impeccable. “You must have gotten the order confused, good sir—the Searing came first, the Foefire when everything was already wrecked—but a simple mistake, I’m sure—you were saying something about Kryta?” Biting back the first words that came to my lips, I forced myself to smile and say, “Sorry, we’re Ascalonian.” “I guessed,” said the guide. 7 I suppose I was a callow, coddled creature in those days, spoiled if not malicious—and though three years of even more luxury in Salma didn’t change that, a single letter did. To Minister Ailoda Langmar, I regret to inform you of the loss of Falcon Company in a centaur raid. Your daughter, Sergeant Deborah Fairchild, died honourably in battle. With my deepest condolences to you and your family, Captain J. Tervelan of the Seraph (Queensdale) As Mother staggered backwards, I caught her, and somehow afterwards, that was always the clearest memory: her weight in my arms, the letter falling out of her hand, fluttering downwards until it reached the floor, nothing visible but the seal of the Seraph. Until then, I’d been little more than an irritable butterfly, but with Mother shattered, I found myself willingly shouldering the work of mourning: the formal letters and heartbroken notes, the refusal of Deborah’s pension, the visits from friends and allies and enemies—I was warm and grateful to the Mashewes and Baroness Jasmina; coldly civil to that ass Zamon, whose commiseration fell little short of gloating; brave and dignified to Corone and his friend Edmonds; grieved but composed with Faren and Yolanda. Like a creature of a thousand faces, I sometimes thought in exhausted moments: not at all a proper Ascalonian hero, more Anise than Deborah—but it was the only way I knew to be strong.

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1) Ascalonian first: the PC from the first game was a resident of the human kingdom of Ascalon when the Charr, a species of giant cat people who lived in Ascalon a thousand years earlier, orchestrated a massive magical attack that killed thousands of Ascalonian civilians and devastated the landscape. Surviving Ascalonians were afterwards mostly killed or enslaved, except a few groups that escaped. The king then went mad and turned himself and the last survivors into vengeful ghosts.

2) and Krytan second: in GW1, the PC helps Prince Rurik of Ascalon lead a group of Ascalonian refugees into the neighbouring kingdom of Kryta. Some Ascalonians establish a settlement there while others live in the cities; generations later, this has resulted in a minority population of Krytan Ascalonians within broader Krytan culture, which the GW2 PC can belong to (though it has no impact on gameplay, which is what inspired the fic). In-game, Ascalonians are fiercely proud of their heritage.

3) Rurikton refugees: Rurikton, named after the Rurik in #2 (who was killed in the journey to Kryta), is the Ascalonian district of the Krytan capital, Divinity’s Reach.

4) Ebonhawke: a stronghold in the furthest reaches Ascalon built by elite Ascalonian soldiers and the civilians they fought to protect. It fell just outside of the king’s curse and has managed to survive the onslaughts of the Charr for 250 years.

5) I was born there [Ebonhawke]: there is no evidence for the PC being born outside Divinity's Reach, so this is probably one of the creakiest elements as far as canon goes. DR is canonically the PC’s home, and they strongly suggest they’ve never seen anything else. I made her very young when she arrived to finagle it, but it’s mostly there because I’m interested in the dynamic between Ebonhawke Ascalonians and Kryta Ascalonians, so I wanted to give her a foot in both worlds.

6) Minister Caudecus: a deeply corrupt Krytan minister who shows up in various storylines.

7) my aunt Elwin: Elwin Fairchild is a noblewoman of Ebonhawke in the game, a proud Ascalonian ambivalent over Krytan involvement in Ebonhawke’s affairs.

8) Rurikton gate: Asura gates are magic/technological portals created by a species of small, floppy-eared, ethically questionable scientists and researchers. They have a gate in Rurikton that will instantly transport you to the one in Ebonhawke, but it seems that it’s only recently been permanently fixed on Ebonhawke.

9) Lion’s Arch: the former capital of Kryta; after a cataclysm caused by giant eldritch dragons, the original Lion’s Arch was sunk and the city rebuilt into an independent city-state, while Divinity’s Reach became the new capital.

10) The Black Citadel: the capital of Charr-controlled Ascalon, built on top of the former human capital (and human remains, according to one Charr).

11) turned herself over to the Vanguard: the Ebon Vanguard defends and seems to largely control Ebonhawke.

12) five-year-old Deborah: we don’t know the exact age gap between Deborah and the PC, but Deborah seems to be older.

13) the Salma District: the PC will always live in Salma, regardless of origin, even though the city has sharp class and ethnic divisions and you can belong to one of the minority populations.

14) Duke Barradin himself: Duke Barradin was the heir to the previous royal family in GW1, but loyal to the elected king, Adelbern. His daughter was engaged to Adelbern’s son Rurik, but both were killed, so he has no direct descendants. However, the PC’s friend Faren is explicitly descended from royalty, the noble PC is implied to be so, and the Duke of Ebonhawke is descended from Ascalonian kings in particular, so it seems likely that their progenitor was some relation of Barradin’s.

15) only a Langmar: Captain Langmar led the elite Ascalonian soldiers that ultimately founded Ebonhawke, though she died in the process. There’s no sign that she had anything like an aristocratic background, but we’re told that class hierarchy in Rurikton is rooted in descent from Searing-era heroes, as Langmar was.

16) mixed heritage: GW2 Ascalonians, especially in Kryta, are a lot less homogeneous than in GW1. We see NPCs of all sorts of RL ethnicities identifying as Ascalonian or strongly implied to be Ascalonian. OTOH, Ebonhawke Ascalonians are implied to regard Krytan Ascalonians as "less" Ascalonian than they are, and there's a remark about Logan Thackeray’s beige heartthrob status being partly because he’s pure Ascalonian. The NPC I appropriated as their mother is a minister with default Krytan design, but who is talking with a Krytan who tells her to get over the Searing.

17) safe from the politicking and corruption of the Ministry: per #13, Salma is canonically the PC’s home and I’m stretching canon. The game is pretty emphatic that Ascalonians live in Rurikton or the Ascalon Settlement, and since there are nobles and mansions in Rurikton, it can’t even be a matter of “but the noble ones are up on Manor Hill.” The real explanation is that the choice of ethnicity is purely cosmetic and not considered any further, but that’s boring, and we’re never told that the PC has always lived in Salma.

18) Yolanda, Corone, and Faren: Faren is a shallow flibbertigibbet, but he seems to genuinely care for the PC; Yolanda and Corone are two of the friendliest guests at the party he throws for you.

19) the Seraph: the Seraph are a cross between soldiers and police in Kryta, principally involved in fighting off centaur and bandit attacks.

20) Captain Thackeray: Logan Thackeray, the Seraph commander of Divinity’s Reach and ultimate mentor/friend to the PC. He’s the descendant of Gwen Thackeray from GW1/GW: Eye of the North, who was the BEST CHARACTER IN GUILD WARS enslaved by the Charr as a child, but escaped to fight them for the rest of her life between succeeding Captain Langmar, finding love, and establishing Ebonhawke. She’s an iconic hero to Ascalonians.

21) Ascalon was ravaged by the Foefire: you don’t get a chance to correct the Salma Guide, but otherwise these are his exact words. The Foefire was the mad king Adelbern’s final curse that turned him and the last survivors into ghosts; the game tends to emphasize this rather than the Searing + brutal invasion that led to it. (It’s particularly glaring in this case, as you personally see Ascalon ravaged by the Searing in GW1 and spend a good deal of time fighting there, years before the Foefire.)

22) Minister Ailoda Langmar: the Krytan-Ascalonian minister I mentioned above is simply "Minister Ailoda," with no other name given. There's no sign of any connection to the PC, but eh, game mechanics.

23) the Mashewes...Jasmina...that ass Zamon...Corone and his friend Edmonds: Lady Mashewe is a pleasant acquaintance who says her mother prayed for the PC; Jasmina's a noblewoman avoiding Faren; Zamon and the PC insult each other; Edmonds talks to the PC with Corone.

24) Anise: Anise is the charming, enigmatic, and powerful mesmer leader of the queen’s personal guard, the Shining Blade.

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TWO

1 My sister’s gravestone read: Deborah Fairchild Daughter of Kryta and Ascalon Died serving her country with honour, faith, and courage. No body rested beneath the stone; neither the Seraph nor Mother’s Ministry guards ever managed to recover the missing corpses. I never saw a ghost, never heard the merest whisper of her spirit. The grave was the nearest approximation we had, but I often felt drawn to it, dry-eyed and somber. A day rarely passed when I spoke her name, and a day rarely passed when I did not think of her, memories jumbled up with horror at what that missing body must mean. When Debs joined the Seraph, she spoke of Logan Thackeray, of Ebonhawke, of the ancestral heroes whose names brought us respect and luxury—not of Mother, Aunt Elwin, certainly not me. Yet I could not help feeling that somehow, had I done something different, been someone different, she would never have left us. 2 For a year, I played my part in what increasingly seemed a theatre of grief: three months’ withdrawal into mourning, gradual emergence into a solemn, reserved public life over the next six months, and another quarter-year to return to my old habits of gaiety and grudges—yet little altered for me, at court or during my weekly vigils at the grave. Not, at least, until one of the latter was interrupted by a familiar voice, saying: “Indulgence doesn’t suit you, darling.” “Anise?” I exclaimed, too surprised for offence; Countess Anise was a longtime friend of our family—only the Six knew how long—but I rarely saw her away from court, much less in the guarded seclusion of the Langmar cemetery. “All those faces of yours,” said Anise, her drawl indistinguishable from every other time I’d heard her, “and you’re squandering them on self-pity and an empty coffin.” “She wanted to be a real Ascalonian,” I blurted out—I, who hadn’t confided in my mother or my aunt or my friends, and somehow I couldn’t help but babble on, “a hero fighting for her home and her cause, and now—now she’s just like them, a martyr and a defiled corpse somewhere—” “You’re getting hysterical,” Anise said, not unkindly, and added, “Is martyrdom what it means to be Ascalonian, now?” I’d always liked Anise, a clever lady mesmer like my namesake, but alive and undefeated; I respected her uncharted skills and enjoyed her inscrutable charm, but until that moment, I never realized: she was Ascalonian, too. 3 Teach me, I found myself begging Anise, though I myself didn’t quite know what I meant—maneuvering in the court, or chaos magic, or defending another person, or outwitting potential threats, or generating clones, or simply surviving in prosperity—perhaps I did not mean anything in particular. I couldn’t be Deborah, and in my heart I didn’t want to be Deborah, a soldier locked into hierarchies and orders and thrown into small doomed skirmishes. In any case, I hadn’t Deborah’s resilience, or Captain Thackeray’s unwavering loyalty, or his foremother Gwen’s relentless courage—but if I did not envision myself as equal to Anise, hers were footsteps I could see myself following, regardless of the particulars. Even as I pleaded with her, I expected little from a woman at once detached and preoccupied—and thought little of what had driven her to intercede in the first place. But Anise, taking the request on its face, smiled. “Chaos for a devotee of Kormir? Delightful—I’ll expect you at moonrise.” 4 My life reformed itself over that next year. Mother, relieved to see me interested in something of substance, readily relinquished me to Anise’s patronage; Anise herself proved an exacting but gracious mentor, dispensing advice, demands, criticism, and praise in equal measure; and my friends found me more and more myself. Small concerns crept back into my mind: the superiority of silk over velvet, Barradin wine over Eldvin ale, Gwen Thackeray over Queen Salma. Greater ones, of course, drew my attention as well: the downfall of the Meades, one of the oldest Ascalonian houses in Kryta, and consequent disappearance of our childhood friend Kasmeer Meade; the desperation of the war in my birthplace and heightened Krytan aid; the murder of an Ascalonian minister. I miss Debs every day, I wrote to my aunt, but I know I have to make something of my own life, in my own way. I’ve been thinking of returning to Ebonhawke to help, since Anise says I am ‘highly proficient’ as an aetherist. I haven’t left Divinity’s Reach in years, though, so before I try myself against the Charr, I’m planning on making my way around Queensdale—at least Shaemoor. 5 To the world, my story began the day I stepped through Dwayna’s Gate into Shaemoor. The world is wrong, of course; my life didn’t begin with centaurs clubbing a frightened man the instant that I set foot in Shaemoor, with stalls and cottages roaring into flame, with a boy as blond as Debs huddled in a corner, with the blood and brains and screams of that day. It didn’t begin with the barely-heard orders from Corporal Beirne—with the indistinct impulse that had me running forward rather than back, urging strangers towards the inn, catching the boy up in my arms, consoling a woman over the slaughter of her dog as I dragged her with my free hand—with the furious spells tumbling from my mouth, focused through the weak wooden sceptre in my hand. I was someone before I became the hero of Shaemoor. I was myself, with my own history, my own concerns, my own people … the man, that man slaughtered before my eyes, was Ascalonian, and the boy too. If they had not been, perhaps the instinct of the moment would not have flung me into the horror as if I’d been tempered by the Searing, instead of sheltered in Divinity’s Reach. Or perhaps it ran deeper than that, and I would have turned onto that path had the man been Zamon, or an Asura, or even a Charr—but still, it was the turn, not the beginning. 6 Something did begin at Shaemoor, however: my association with Logan Thackeray. I’d met him before, socially, but only just—and in perfect honesty, knew him more as the butt of Anise’s wit than anything else. But I respected him from what I’d heard of his service to Divinity’s Reach, and for his determination to follow his ancestress’s footsteps and not just her name. In the midst of all that panic and death, it seemed only natural to rush to his aid when I heard that he was being overwhelmed. I had no sword, like Logan, or Deborah; I struck from among magical decoys, twisting chaos about our enemies from each direction—but it was something, and an hour from leaving the city for the first time, I was at Logan’s side, blasting aether at a massive earth elemental and the many smaller ones. He didn’t know me from Kormir, or at least from Kasmeer, but I knew we were a Langmar and a Thackeray again, thrown into another desperate fight, and there were worse ways to die. But we didn’t die; we lived and we triumphed, and by the time that I awoke in the care of a priestess of Dwayna, every Seraph from Logan on down knew who I was. 7 All my life, I had been Minister Ailoda’s other girl or the lady Elwin’s niece or Sergeant Fairchild’s sister or a Langmar, you know, on the mother’s side—or, now and then, merely my lady. I rarely heard my own name outside my little circle of Ascalonian nobles. I also rarely heard it in the immediate wake of Shaemoor. But now I wasn’t a satellite about greater relations, extensions of my mother or aunt or sister or heroic ancestors. I was the hero, myself, even as I wandered about Shaemoor in a daze. I didn’t do much: fought off little wyrms and harpies, found missing herds, gathered apples. Yet there was no my lady there, much less So-and-so’s relation: only the hero of Shaemoor.

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1) clever lady mesmer like my namesake: the PC's name isn't explicitly stated in this section, but those familiar with the original Guild Wars: Prophecies can probably figure it out from this reference.

2) Chaos for a devotee of Kormir?: all human characters choose a patron god/goddess, and the choice of god and the choice of profession are completely independent. But Kormir, goddess of order and truth, is a rather odd choice for a chaos magic-using mesmer.

3) the murder of an Ascalonian minister: Minister Brios, the representative for the Ascalonian Settlement, is poisoned in Divinity's Reach before a meeting with Anise. There are very few Ascalonian ministers, so the murder of one of them seems likely to be particularly troubling to Ascalonians.

4) before I try myself against the Charr: you can get to Ebonhawke straight from the starting zone of Divinity’s Reach, but Ebonhawke is in a level 30+ zone.

5) a boy as blond as Debs: Deborah will be blonde if you choose to be Ascalonian.

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THREE 1 These days, I knew better than to let myself get consumed by grief. Still, as I flung spells at spiders, giant worms, bandits, centaurs, anything, I couldn’t help but wish that Deborah could see me now. At the garrison, I snatched up a rusty sword and poured magic through it with every swing at a centaur; what would she think? Me, fighting with a sword? Maybe not the way she or the other Seraph did, but still! She wouldn’t believe it. She’d be proud, I thought—wouldn’t she? 2 I’d barely passed beyond Shaemoor when I heard from Faren: positively hasty, for him. His pet raven delivered a gushing note that, in the space of a few sentences, managed to tease me about my injuries, urge me to talk him up to my healer, and summon me to a party—at my own house. I could only laugh; ridiculous as he often was, I loved him dearly, and always had. Even as children, we’d been friends and companions, but after Kasmeer vanished and Deborah died, we found ourselves inseparable. We were among the last of that quiet, secure little Ascalonian world in which we’d grown up at Rurikton—certainly the closest. Deborah’s death had changed me, driven me beyond the walls of Rurikton and Manor Hill, beyond letters and parties and court gossip. But I remained Faren’s friend, as I would always be. 3 Many people, I think, assumed Faren and I were lovers; in fact, to our own bemusement, nothing could be further from the truth. When we were seventeen, he said, “I don’t understand it. You’re pretty—I’m gorgeous—but I really think I’d throw up.” I might have been offended had I not felt exactly the same. “Inbreeding, I expect,” I told him. Faren brightened. “Grandmama was a Fairchild.” 4 Faren waited ahead of the party—a sacrifice, in the world of Faren—to greet me with his most grandiose bow. “The hero of Shaemoor returns!” I shook my head, but I grinned despite myself. It turned out that my servants had gleefully conspired with him, and when I entered the courtyard, I found it full of strangers and friends alike, along with food, gossip, and a wizard. I’d enjoyed exploring Queensdale, pushing myself to further and further limits; it was good to know that I could enjoy simpler pleasures, too, although it didn’t extend to the dog fights and bear baiting that a cousin of Faren’s called for. “Not in my home,” I snapped, “and if you want to stay, don’t mention that again.” When I heard someone say my name, I seized the chance to turn away—only to find myself facing my mother’s most hated rival. 5 “Minister Zamon.” “You’ve done well for yourself,” Zamon said acidly. “All it takes for a noble to be a hero is a bit of swordplay, a few bottles of cheap brandy, and an inflated sense of self-importance.” He had said much the same of Deborah’s swift rise among the Seraph; she’d never responded, holding herself above partisan squabbles. “Then you’re almost a hero already, my lord,” I replied, smiling. “All you lack is the brandy and swordplay.” I was not Deborah. 6 Even my old friends seemed to see the hero of Shaemoor more than anything else. Corone, brought up with Faren and Kasmeer and me, and now a respected warrior, regarded me as if he’d never seen me before, and said he’d be honoured to fight beside me. Yolanda hailed me as a heroine—before chiding me for associating so much with Faren, “that rascal!” In his imagination, maybe. Fending off her interrogation about Logan Thackeray, I’d never been happier to see Faren bounce towards me. And the moment that I muttered something about being tired, he assured me that he was done with the party as well, and headed off to make our excuses to the servants. I was ignoring Yolanda’s meaningful stare when I heard him scream. 7 Corone got his wish sooner than either of us could have imagined. We easily trounced the bandits who swept into the party, but it didn’t matter: Faren was already gone. With Corone and Edmonds protecting the guests, I ran out of Manor Hill and into the district plaza, desperately trying to catch any sign of Faren, or even the bandits; they’d have to have some way to recognize each other, wouldn’t they? But there was nothing, just ordinary people carrying on with ordinary business, merchants calling out sales, the old tour guide talking to a woman with a red handkerchief about her neck … with that over her mouth, she’d look just like the bandits who had abducted Faren— “Madam?” said someone near us, and then “ma'am!” as I blasted the bandit with a bolt of aether. I fought at least half a dozen across the district, tracking them one by one to a house at the opposite end of Salma. At the sight of me, bandits poured out of the house, but I didn’t care: they’d learn what it meant to cross a daughter of Ascalon.

FOUR

1 After Shaemoor, the bandits were nothing. They kept jumping out of their safehouse one by one—idiocy—and flailed at my clones, even their supposed leader. “Soon, you’ll beg me for death!” he shouted. I laughed, and blew up the clones. He went down like a basket of eggs. But I never laughed for long. I’d yet to see Faren, and images of bandits beating him, tormenting him, cutting his throat, flickered before me, each as vivid as every spell I cast. 2 Inside the bandits’ safehouse, I raced upstairs, barely wasting attention on the few guards left inside. Fear and victory kept my blood rushing fast: I didn’t even think about Anise’s lessons, but my feet landed exactly as she’d taught me, my body slipped away from each attack, and every spell hit its mark. Beyond them, I could just see Faren. He seemed alive, thank the gods, but stretched out in magical chains that turned my anger and fear to raw fury. I fought through a haze of rage, but one that illuminated rather than blinded—everything seemed crisp and bright and clear, more than ever before. When the last of them collapsed, I scrambled the rest of the way up the stairs, and tried to clear my head. “Um,” said Faren, “a little help here?” 3 When I broke the chains, relief flooding through me, he gave a hoarse laugh. “Am I pleased to see you!” he exclaimed, then grinned and added, “though if you wanted me to leave the party, a simple ‘Begone, freeloader!’ would have sufficed.” Captivity or no, Faren clearly remained Faren. “I’ll make a note of that,” I said dryly, and asked after any information he might have picked up on what the devil was going on. But he knew only that they operated out of a house in Shaemoor, where they’d meant to lock him up, and that in recent months, they’d turned more brazen, bloodthirsty, and focused on rebellion against the crown. “I can't save you and leave the others to rot,” I decided, and managed to smile at him. “Bad form, you know.” 4 Faren, looking determined (for him), said, “Count me in—I may not be a centaur-killing berserker like you, but I can take care of myself.” I’d believe that when I saw it. On the way to the bandits' den, I said, “Glad to have you with me, but do me a favour? Stay close”—I poked him with my sceptre—“and that way, we can protect each other.” Faren shrugged that off, which didn’t comfort me, but he actually managed himself well enough; he didn’t even get blood on his clothes as we fought our way into the concealed and guarded caves, nor when we rescued all the prisoners caged inside, so it counted as a success as far as he was concerned. “If you know any fair maidens, be sure to tell them who rescued you,” he said, and added with a grin, “the dashing Lord Faren … and his friend!” 5 The mission did count as a success for me, too; one of the captives had filched papers about a plot in Divinity’s Reach. We escorted him and the others out, taking down the remaining bandits with impatience (me) and glee (Faren). “We showed them what Ascalonians are made of!” he said triumphantly, and I straightened right up. “That’s right.” When Logan Thackeray arrived to help, Faren swaggered up and said, “My friend and I defeated these delinquents with panache and aplomb; you're just in time to celebrate our victory.” “I’m … amazed,” said Captain Thackeray. I knew the feeling. 6 “Then again,” he said, favouring me with a respectful nod, “I should have known that the hero of Shaemoor wouldn’t let your kidnapping go unanswered.” I remembered Shaemoor, fighting alongside Captain Thackeray with my stick of a sceptre just like Gwen and Langmar once had, all those years ago, and tried not to think too much of it; we’d barely met, outside of a few social occasions he clearly didn’t remember. But I also thought of Faren struggling in his chains, and danger spreading to the home that was supposed to keep us safe, and that we were all Ascalonians together. “No one hurts my friends without answering to me,” I said firmly. I handed over the papers we’d acquired, but to my surprise, it was Faren(!) who proved most useful; he noticed the quality of the paper, and even knew of the papermaker I could track down to identify it. I promised, “I'll get the information you need, without anyone realizing the Seraph are aware of the traitor in the city.” “Be careful,” said Captain Thackeray. 7 Although he warned me, I didn’t realize so many skale existed in the world as I wiped out on that trip—luckily, I found a new sceptre on the way, so I managed to keep them at a distance, and my clothes remained as pristine as Faren’s. When I arrived, I found the paper maker he’d mentioned; Fursarai was a small, prissy man, an impression not helped by his quite beautiful waistcoat, but it didn’t stop him from shouting at a departing Norn about getting his supplies back to the city. “You there—you look like you can handle yourself in a fight!” he announced, gaze fixed on something in my direction; I glanced over my shoulder, but none of the Seraph seemed to be behind me, nor anyone else. He gabbled something about the garrison and cowardly guards at the empty air—unless—unless "you there" was supposed to mean me? What a boor: but unfortunately, a boor who could direct me to Faren’s attackers. Friendship had its sacrifices. I looked at my silk sleeves, and sighed. FIVE 1 “What do you cost?” Cin Fursarai demanded, and now I preferred to believe he wanted a replacement for that Norn. It was flattering, I suppose, that he looked at me—a young noblewoman in silk, wool, and fine leather, carrying only a sceptre and a small sword—and thought I looked like someone who could fight. “I’m not a mercenary,” I said, and added: “I'm here to ask for help identifying the craftsmanship of a piece of handmade paper.” Fursarai sniffed. “If you found quality paper in Divinity’s Reach, I can assure you, I made it.” By sheer force of will, I didn’t roll my eyes—I had a conspiracy to unearth, never mind how irritating this little prig was—and instead requested his help, only for him to sniff again and go on about how he had no loyalty to the crown, because he happened to live in Lion’s Arch. He had red hair and dressed in high Rurikton fashion; he had to be Ascalonian, descendant of refugees saved by Kryta’s rulers, yet—yet— 2 It didn’t matter. It didn’t, not right now—and anyway, our fashions had spread far and wide, Lion’s Arch had long ago drowned its history, and true Ascalonian identity meant more than ancestry, whatever they might say in Rurikton. Deborah had taught me that much; if he didn’t care about it, then I wouldn’t, either. Easier said than done, though. “I need this information as soon as possible,” I told him. “But why should I trust you?” he retorted. “Who are you, anyway?” 3 I lifted my chin, and for all I might tell myself, I felt as if the pride of generations clustered about me, even with my foremothers’ spirits hopefully at peace in the Hall of Echoes. I had not forgotten what I came from. All those Langmars, the children and children’s children of Gwen Thackeray’s great captain. The Krytans they’d married now and then, abandoning an easy heritage to transplant themselves into Rurikton, absorbed into Ascalonian life and identity. The Fairchilds in Ebonhawke, kin of the last kings, of the duke who still haunted Ascalon and his martyred daughter. They’d fought a long defeat, on and on, yet managed to keep a last corner of human Ascalon alive; my aunt still worked to keep Ebonhawke standing while this man sneered over paper. “I am Lady Althea Fairchild of Divinity’s Reach and Ebonhawke,” I said. 4 Fursarai eyed me suspiciously. “Well, which one?” Despite myself, my defiance flickered. I would always be Ascalonian above all else, yet I would always serve the queen, too, and set myself against the enemies of Kryta. I belonged to Ebonhawke, my father’s land, my birthplace and my pride; I belonged to Divinity’s Reach, the only home I knew, where my mother’s people had lived and fought for generations. Anise always called me a creature of two faces, and I supposed I was. “I don’t know,” I admitted. 5 He grunted. “Explains why you don’t stink like the rest, anyway.” “Thank you,” I replied dryly. After a minute of meditation (not helped by Fursarai’s string of complaints), we headed out. I was just about ready to kill him myself by the time we got to the Shaemoor garrison; he’d have easily died without me fighting skale and centaurs and one exceptionally large spider by sceptre and sword, but he made not the slightest attempt to defend himself, just cowering against his bull and yelping the entire way there. That was before I had to take down three centaur catapults and Lyssa knew how many centaurs, with maybe two Seraph backing me up. Naturally, his gratitude upon entering the garrison amounted to checking his supplies three times, turning to me, and pronouncing: “I feel like I was run over by a herd of marauding dolyaks!” 6 Irritation aside, he did supply the information I needed, admitting that he sold his paper to Minister Zamon. Zamon, the man who’d all but gloated at my mother when Deborah died, purely—I thought then—because of malice at the suffering of a rival. And then, not long ago: the man who’d sneered at my defense of Shaemoor. “He has excellent taste,” Fursarai said, his glance clearly implying that I didn’t. As if he’d know. I silently decided that I’d never buy anything from him, even if I had to go to Lion’s Arch myself to find another papermaker. I smiled and said, “Don’t leave Divinity’s Reach.” 7 I found Captain Thackeray in the Seraph Headquarters, deep in a discussion with Anise, of all people, but his head snapped up when he caught sight of me. “Do you have any news?” “Fursarai admitted he made the paper for Minister Zamon,” I said, suppressing any signs of satisfaction. Well, mostly; Anise cast an amused look in my direction. “Setting up citizens to be robbed and brutalized?” exclaimed Captain Thackeray. “That's out-and-out treason.” Why, so it was.

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1) The Fairchilds in Ebonhawke, kin of ... the duke who still haunted Ascalon and his martyred daughter: i.e., Duke Barradin, while his daughter, Lady Althea—this Althea’s namesake—was burned alive by the Charr.

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SIX 1 “But where are my manners?” said Captain Thackeray, whom I’d never seen with so much as a wrinkle in his surcoat or a hair out of place. “Allow me to introduce you to Countess Anise, Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade.” Bemused, I nodded at my mentor of years, while Anise bowed with a faint, ironic smile. Disregarding the matter of manners, she said smoothly, “Minister Wi’s hosting a party tonight; it’ll be a good opportunity to eavesdrop on ministers, their allies, and enemies.” Captain Thackeray couldn’t quite bring himself to disagree, but clearly wanted to; he proposed a (perfectly legal) raid on Zamon’s house instead, and worse still, left the choice to me, insisting that he couldn’t give me orders—even though he clearly had no idea who I was. In fact, I wasn’t even sure he’d realized I had a name. 2 Naturally, I consulted with Anise—Thackeray or no Thackeray, she was my guide and teacher. “Personally,” she said in her light voice, “I prefer convivial, face-to-face situations. Then again, cloak-and-dagger skulduggery is always fun.” I laughed. “The way you describe it, it all sounds so charming; I’ll have to think it over.” I didn’t, actually. Minister Wi lived in Rurikton, and Faren was my best friend; if I knew anything, it was Rurikton parties. 3 “Minister Wi’s party,” I announced. “I’ll see what I can learn.” “Are you sure?” said Captain Thackeray, though with a distinct note of resignation. “You can’t break into Zamon’s place if you attend Minister Wi’s party.” “I’m sure,” I told him. “Minister Wi’s party it is.” He sighed. 4 “Your fellow nobles seem to have a knack for making my life interesting,” Captain Thackeray told me, clearly putting the best face on it. “Let’s see if we can’t return the favour.” “We nobles, Captain Thackeray?” I said, amused; everyone knew about his relationship to Gwen—and his relationship to Queen Jennah, too. “A step down from royalty making your life interesting, I’m sure.” To my surprise, he flinched. Some lover’s spat, perhaps; I decided it was none of my business, and turned to Anise, who promised to meet me at the party—because it wouldn’t do to make us share the spotlight during our entrance. Of course. 5 I listened to a few complaints and registered some unsolved crimes after Anise left, then headed out. At least, I meant to, but on my way to the door out of Seraph Headquarters, I caught sight of an open book—a register. “That lists the names of all Seraph soldiers for the last two decades,” an officer told me proudly. I glanced over my shoulder, undoubtedly looking as suspect as a priest of Grenth on Wintersday, but nobody seemed to be paying attention; the officer had drifted over to settle a dispute over a farm, Captain Thackeray was talking to a lieutenant, and everybody else looked up to their ears in work. I opened the book, scolding myself for being foolish, giving into a pointless sentimentality that would achieve nothing, recover no corpse for a grave—but still, I turned the pages, searching for the name I would know. I felt like a spy, flipping through pages, for all that the registry was open to the public and I had every right to look—and then, there it was, near the head of its page. Sgt Deborah Fairchild; missing in action, assumed dead. 6 “Are you looking for someone?” said Captain Thackeray. I nearly jumped straight into the air; as it was, I flinched as violently as he had. “No, sir,” I said, and realized—Debs would have said no, sir in the exact same tone, would have stood in this very room as I did now, would know it all better than I did. What would she have thought, if she’d known that one day I would be investigating crimes for the Seraph, reporting to Captain Thackeray himself? She’d never pressed me to be anything I wasn’t, never seemed to love me less for being the thoughtless, frivolous creature I was then, but I couldn’t help but imagine she’d have been proud. Imagine how this whole thing might have gone if she’d been alive—maybe we’d be investigating Zamon together, or— “Good luck, Captain Thackeray,” I said, and walked out. 7 By happy coincidence, I already had an invitation, of sorts. My mother’s said Minister Ailoda Langmar and one other. “You want to go?” said Mother, looking startled. “I would have thought you’d be busy slaying monsters or saving people or whatever else you do these days.” I frowned, unsure how to take this; it might have been pride, if not for her studiously neutral tone—did she think all this unimportant, or regrettable, or beneath us? Or was it fear, with Deborah dead on Seraph business? For a wild moment, I longed to tell her, cling to her and admit that I was frightened and angry as well as resolved, to confide in someone who would always see Althea first and the hero of Shaemoor second. “I need to keep an eye on Faren,” I said.

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1) his relationship to Queen Jennah: Jennah is the Queen of Kryta, and a beautiful young woman; it’s widely rumoured that she and Logan are having an affair. The last time royalty made his life especially interesting was when he deserted his dragon-hunting guild, Destiny's Edge, out of love for Jennah.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- SEVEN 1 I headed back to Rurikton for the party, though a good while before it was set to begin. I hadn’t been home for a while—months, though it felt like longer—and I wanted to get my bearings. I strolled past the familiar stone gryphons, a light calm settling over me. It deepened as I made my way down the streets, passing refugees and servants who gave slight bows: respectful, no more. Clusters of nobles nodded familiarly at me. I stopped by local traders, most of whom I knew by name. One bookseller had a pair of rare books on Ascalonian history, one of which I’d wanted for ages; I purchased them on the spot, and after these weeks of fighting and investigating and rescuing, it was a pleasure to let it all slide for a moment, and decide that today was already a success. 2 I personally carried my books to Langmar Manor, since I’d forgotten to bring any servants, and didn’t feel very much inclined to send for one now. Oddly enough, I had gotten used to managing on my own. The walk from the district square was a short and easy one in any case; I strolled down the streets, encountering nothing worse than a few seditious posters I tore down, and a man complaining about Captain Thackeray to an unsympathetic friend. “You know, just because your wife’s taken a shine to Logan Thackeray doesn’t make him a bad guy—he’s cursed.” At the first man’s scoff, the friend added, “Cursed with good looks and true Ascalonian blood! It’s not his fault that every woman fawns over him.” Not every woman, I thought. 3 The people of Rurikton had always mingled at the Maiden’s Whisper as well as Rurikton at large, so I attracted no particular curiosity when I strolled into the tavern. Several other lords and ladies stood near the entrance, smiling and lifting their glasses towards me as I passed, while everyone else simply continued their own conversations—despite the Norn inexplicably towering at the side of the room. “I like that Minister Caudecus,” one girl announced. “To Queen Jennah!” someone just out of sight said, echoed by a dozen toasts to the queen, Divinity’s Reach, Captain Thackeray, and assorted ministers. Across the hall, a man bellowed drunkenly, “Show me a woman who can wrestle a bear, and I’ll show you a keeper!” “If the Charr think they can come here,” said a woman, her voice clear and pleasant, “me and my meat cleaver will tell them otherwise.” I smiled; despite everything, it really was good to be home. 4 I spent the last few hours before the party skulking around Rurikton, but found nothing beyond a particularly incompetent group of adventurers and ordinary conversation on the street. Returning to the inn, I searched for a relatively secluded place, found it in a library, and closed my eyes, peering through those of a near-invisible clone as she drifted through Minister Wi’s manor. She wasn’t caught, but turned up nothing except preparations for the party. I was sure there had to be something we’d missed, but apparently not. Well, Zamon might be acting in secrecy. Might. I resigned myself to the inevitable: I would only discover what I needed to know at the party, and I would have no preparation beyond what I already knew. 5 When I arrived at the manor in person, the place was positively oozing Ministry guards, for no particular reason. Anise slanted them a glance that betrayed nothing, then eyed my finery with nearly smug approval. “This will be delightful,” she said, apparently no more inclined than usual to bother with such minutia as greetings and farewells. “Having the hero of Shaemoor on my arm will make tongues wag.” Even though it was just Anise, I flushed. So much for separate entrances—but it was like Anise to enjoy disrupting plans, even her own. “Thank you for letting me join you this evening, Countess,” I said, because it was like me, too. 6 “Mingle,” she said. “Speak to everyone—you never know who’ll say something they regret later.” It was an encouraging thought. “Second,” said Anise, “don’t limit your conversation to nobility; servants and guards see everything.” “Understood,” I replied, adding, “I suppose it goes without saying that I should be discreet?” “You catch on fast,” she told me, and touched her finger to the end of my nose, eliciting a startled laugh. “Go and charm the masses.” 7 “You know where to find me if you need me, pet,” Anise concluded, while I still tried to wrap my mind and dignity around the fact that she’d bopped my nose. But at the moment, I found her at my side, setting my hand on her arm and marching forward in her tall boots. She actually smiled when I matched my steps to hers, even if I could hardly match the total assurance of her stride and her drawl—but she smiled more at the sudden hush that fell over the grand room when we entered. “The Countess Anise,” the servant at the door announced, and after a suitably dramatic pause, continued, “and the hero of Shaemoor!” Virtually everyone in this room had known me from childhood, but they all bowed anyway, as if my mother herself stood in my place, rather than the other way around; she’d abruptly developed a cold when she heard Zamon would be there. Zamon himself was nowhere to be seen. Interesting.

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1) Cursed with good looks and true Ascalonian blood: this (and much of the dialogue here) is part of the ambient dialogue near the inn.

#anghraine's gaming #anghraine's fic #ascalonian grudgefic #ascalonian grudgeblog #althea fairchild #ailoda langmar #countess anise #marius corone #deborah fairchild #edmund fairchild #elwin fairchild #lord faren #julius zamon #logan thackeray #captain tervelan #guild wars 2 #pro patria #footnotes ahoy!

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