#[ so she threw herself into her interests 100% because well. she already got bullied and had no one ]

[bubblcgumbaby]

   I think my favourite thing about Molly is how much of a stereotype she is just on the surface, and how much she completely throws that all out the window once you get to know her. She’s the rich bimbo, but because of her more abnormal upbringing, she really developed traits, hobbies, and interests that are quite against the grain. She loves video games, she ADORES reptiles. She has 3 snakes, and a chameleon! Her photographic memory is so trained and finely tuned she can recite a speech word for word from just reading it once, and was very good at school because of this (despite coming off as a ditzy airhead). She’s a polyglot and continues to learn new languages whenever she can!

[devinescribe]

With The Memories

Chapter 3 to '100 Promises'

Chapter 2 | Chapter 4

Warnings: Swearing, violence, weapons, bullying, blood.

"Haha, come on (Y/N)! You don't want to miss this, do you?" The boy shouted excitedly. You two had gotten permission to go off to a festival by yourselves. He had been on a trip with his parents for two weeks, and it would be the first time you two saw each other since then. You giggled, running down the stairs. "No, give me a second!" You shouted back, basically jumping into his arms. He laughed as you hugged him, burying your head into the crook of his neck. "I missed you! I'm so glad you're back," you said gleefully. He smiled, letting you go to push up his glasses. "Well, let's get going," he said. You nodded, grabbing his hand as you two walked through the crowded streets of Tokyo.

"And there was this really cool arcade with tons of games! I was really surprised that they even let me go, but it was more of a way for me to let them have alone time. Well, it was more mom's idea than dad's, but still, I want to take you there one day!" He excitedly rambled about his trip. Over the past year, Niragi's mother had noticed the way she treated you and her son was wrong on so many levels. So, she apologized to you, saying that she knew what she had done was wrong, and that it was ok if you didn't forgive her. Forgiveness wasn't something that came easy to you, especially when it was someone who had wronged you so much. But once you saw that she was trying to change and making an effort be better, you did. "Aww, that's so cool Gigi!" You shouted. "(Y/N) that nickname is so embarrassing..." he muttered, the tips of his ears turning pink. You laughed softly, apologizing.

You two had walked around, going on different rides, and trying different games. You had won a lot of games, and so had Niragi. "I'll trade you 5 ring pops for your sour patch kids," you said, holding them out to him. "Hmm... ok!" He said, switching the sweets with you.

The last game Niragi played, he had decided to give the prize to you. "Oh, is that your girlfriend?" The person tending to the game stall asked. You both shook your heads. "My apologies, well, you won so pick your prize young man," they said. Niragi, being more attentive than most, saw how you had looked at one of the stuffed animals on the wall. He pointed to it, and they got it down for him. They winked at him, whispering a 'good luck', before letting you two on your way. "Here you go, (N/N)," he said, giving it to you. Your eyes lit up with joy. "You're giving it to me? But you won the game," you asked, hugging it tightly. "Because you deserve it. I left you for two weeks," he smiled, patting your head. "Thank you!" You chirped, grabbing his hand, leading him to other places around the festival.

Niragi stood on the roof after Chishiya left, remembering the memory. It had only been a few years ago, when you were both 16. Could you really be here in the Borderlands? Or did Chishiya find out about you through someone, and now was using you as a way to piss him off? Or as a way to find a weakness in him? He looked out towards the people partying below. "All so pathetic. Having a party every day, every night as if none of them die. As if none of them could die right now," he scoffed out loud to himself. He tried to make his mind think of anything else, but he couldn't. She was the only thing on his mind. The girl who had been by his side for years.

"Niragi! Where are you? This isn't funny anymore, come out!" You yelled into the darkness of the empty park. You two had started a game of hide and seek, but it had gotten late, and yous still hadn't found him. You began to worry about what had happened to him, but pushed the thoughts aside, beginning to look more. "Niragi! Niragi Suguru, if you don't come out, I'm leaving and the next time I see you, I'll beat your dumbass!" You threatened, feeling frightened of the darkness. There were a few streetlamps, which only made it creepier to you. You heard boisterous laughter and yelling, and decided to go find what was causing it. Maybe it was Niragi? You sped walk over to the noise, it getting louder as you went. You tried to walk as fast, but as quiet as you could. You walked closer, seeing it was the guys from school. You looked up the tree they kept throwing things at, seeing Niragi up there. You gasped quietly, looking around, seeing what you could do. You saw one of them had left their baseball bat over where you were, and grabbed it. You put it over your shoulder, walking to where they could see you. "Don't you have anything better to do?" You asked, looking disgusted at them. Niragi's eyes widened with excitement. He knew you were not a delicate little flower, and as much as he hated to admit it, you were braver than he ever was.

"Aw, look it's his little girlfriend," one of them taunted. "What are you? Five? And if I was? At least he would have one," you laughed. One of the boys charged at you, going to grab you, but you quickly swung the baseball bat at his arm. You heard a cracking noise, and laughed, hearing him howl in pain, rolling on the floor. The noise wasn't sickening to you. It made you feel... in control. "Strike 1!" You shouted, looking at Niragi with a smile. He laughed as well, seeing the people who tortured you two feel pain. Another one of them had thrown a rock at you, which you easily dogged. "Do better!" You taunted. Another one of them had tried to hit you, getting to close. You swung your bat, hitting him in the head. "Strike 2!" Niragi shouted from the tree, watching to see if you needed his help. He saw you smile at him again. He would help if you asked him to. But, he also knew how much fun you had putting people in their place. Well, outside of your house anyways.

You laughed, seeing as they were scared now. "You bitch!" The second to last boy yelled, throwing another rock at you. You smiled, hitting it back with the bat. It hit his nose, and he yelped in pain. You watched as blood dripped from his nose, onto his lip, and on to the ground below. "Strike three, you're out!" Both you and Niragi taunted together. The leader of the group, or as you like to call him, the biggest idiot of the group, was the last one left. He pulled something out of his pocket. "People like you piss me off. You always think you're so good until someone else has the upper hand. You've spent the last 3 years of our lives tormenting us, and now we finally have the courage to stand up for ourselves. No more defenseless little girl. No more playing nice," you said. Niragi noticed him pull something from his pocket, and quietly jumped down from the tree. He walked behind, and you saw him. Watching his movements. "You think you know it all. But I bet you didn't see this coming!" The guy yelled, pulling the pocket knife out, charging at you. 'Child's play' you thought, waiting for him to get closer before you threw the bat towards Niragi. He caught it, and you smiled psychotically, crouching down quickly. Niragi threw the bat, and it fell just in front of the boy. He didn't have time to stop his attack, so he tripped over the bat. You heard a scream, and looked over, seeing the knife had gone through his hand. Both you and Niragi laughed watching him squirm in pain. You two watched as blood poured out onto the floor bellow him. "Karma's a sweet woman!" You shouted, walking over to Niragi. He high-fived you with a laugh. "Just to be nice, I'm going to give you advice, don't pull out that knife, and go to the hospital. And don't mention us, because you will live long enough to regret it," you smirked, walking off with Niragi.

Niragi found himself laughing at the memory. "I was so useless in that instance... but her? No way. She'll survive here, I know it," he said to himself. He remembered how he thought you looked like a goddess in that moment. A saving grace for him. Not an angel, because you were far from holy, but a goddess of... well, he liked to call it karma. "Maybe... maybe I don't have to wait for a game to see her. If I know her, I know where she is," he whispered to himself. If anyone could survive these games, it would be you.

Last Boss had come up besides him. "My patrol is over?" Niragi guessed, looking at the man besides him. He only nodded. "Alrighty, well, good luck, I might be out late tonight, but don't worry because I'll be back with someone who could be highly useful to us," Niragi said. "Who might that be?'' Last Boss asked, quite curious. "(L/N) (Y/N). The most badass and clever girl I've ever met," Niragi stated with a smirk. "Is she good with weapons?" He asked. Niragi nodded. He knew you were skilled with those things. The world had let you to be. "Well, you should be telling Aguni and Hatter, not me, but she sounds interesting," Last Boss commented.

Niragi walked to the room where he expected Aguni and Hatter to be. They were there, sitting at the table, drinking some kind of liquor. "Hey, I got word from Chishiya of a talented player. I know who she is, what she can do, and have an idea of where she might be. I'm going out to find her, and bring her back here," Niragi said as soon as he went into the room. Hatter smiled his usual charming smile. "Her name? What relation she has to you and how long you've known her, as well as the skills you say she has?" Aguni questioned, keeping the stoic look on his face. "(L/N) (Y/N), I've known her for 8 almost 9 years, she's skilled in weapons, reading people, and quite intelligent as well as clever. She doesn't get attached easily, and would sacrifice others to achieve her goals, so a potentially strong player for hearts and diamonds games," Niragi stated. "Ooh, how interesting! I like her already. If you can find her bring her back, I'm sure she'd be quite good for the militals, wouldn't she?" Hatter asked, looking over at Aguni, who nodded. Niragi smirked, nodding and heading out.

Oh wow, what's this? (Y/N) isn't a scared little baby who can't do anything for herself? That's right bitches! (Your all very lovely, don't worry^_^) I got tired of (Y/N) always being a crybaby and being to weak for her own good, so we are attempting to make her a Harley Quinn type character, with the confidence of the boys at my school who thought I'd say yes when they asked me out, and the badass attitude of... well... me? I don't know, all I'm saying is, she isn't going to all like "Help me! I can't do anything for myself and everything scares me!" Kind of character. It's totally ok if your (Y/N) is like that, it's just I didn't want mine to be like that. No hate to anyone who makes theirs like what I described, you guys are amazing nonetheless!

[haymaker-mva]

Chloé Bourgeois: HBIC

(Check it out on Ao3!)

Now, Chloé Bourgeois may be a “Queen Bitch”, but these students were her subjects. And Lila was on her turf, dammit.

----

Now, Chloe knew that she was a bit of a bitch, excuse her french. She had at least some self awareness. She had bullied Marinette for years, she was a jerk to about anyone possible, and tended to get in Adrien’s personal space. That last one… Chloe had recently realized a few things about Adrien. #1: He was interested in some mystery girl, and seemed to have something happening with Kagami. And #2: Chloe had never really liked him in the first place. Yeah, she had pulled out all the stops to be near him, but now that she thought about it, it felt more like her protecting him then her just wanting to be a thing with him. 

Chloe also realized that she had been a hair short of a villain after being deakumatized from being Queen Wasp.

She had spent a ton of time rethinking her actions and decisions and decided to try and change for the better. Chloe knew that if she went all-in immediately, she’d probably mess up, and no one would trust her suddenly being nice. So instead, she subtly changed. She stopped ordering Sabrina and started requesting. She went from picking on everyone to ignoring them most of the time, but of course adding in a sarcastic comment from time to time.

But then Lila arrived.

Chloe knew Lila was full of bs from the start. Ladybug? Being best friends with a civilian? Yeah. Sure. Chloe knew that she had claimed the same thing, but she knew now that she just wanted to feel closer to her idol, and everyone else knew that too. But because of the whole Queen Bee tobacle, Chloe knew that Ladybug would not risk such a thing. So this Rossi girl was lying.

And while Chloe was still trying to get better.... This was her turf. She was in charge. The class would figure out Lila’s damage in a week, tops. But still, Chloe had overestimated her idiotic classmates.

Seriously. Marinette. Their Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She would hate a girl for no reason? Adrien might’ve been a good explanation… except for the fact that Marinette’s jealousy spouts lasted about an hour, but then she would always be out of spite. So something was going on here. Another inconsistency.

Since Chloe knew the truth, she could see Lila’s predatory smirk, disguised as a sweet smile and Lila’s disgust at anything from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Now, Chloe hated Dupain-Cheng. But the bakery was the fucking bomb. Not that Choe would ever admit it.

The last nail in the coffin was when Chloe saw Marinette run to the bathroom, probably to cry. Chloe sighed and got up. Dupain-Cheng may be Chloe’s rival, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or something , Chloe thought.

Anyway, she was just getting up when Lila mentioned something about going to the nurse and went after Marinette instead. Chloe made sure to sneak ahead of Lila, and even Marinette. Chloe made a guess of where the two were heading, and hid in a bathroom stall.

She had just gotten her phone out and pressed record when Marinette walked into the room. The sounds of muffled crying started, and then Lila chose that moment to walk in.

“Marinette? Oh, are you crying?” Lila asked with faux concern.

“No I’m not!”

“I can sense that you don't like me, but I don't understand why. We barely know each other.” Lila wondered with that obnoxiously fake voice of hers.

“Don't tell me it's because of this new seating arrangement in class!” Chloe heard a very quiet rustle. “It is! Of course, you're jealous because I'm sitting next to Adrien, because you would've given anything to sit there yourself. You know what? It's really not worth fighting over a boy. You and I could be friends, and who knows, I might even be able to help you with Adrien.”

“You and I will only be friends the day you stop lying, Lila!” Lila gasped, and Chloe silently applauded Marinette on the comeback. “I can't prove it, but I know for a fact that you don't have tinnitus, that your wrist is just fine, that you don't know Prince Ali because you've never even stepped foot in Achu, and despite what you got Alya to write on her Ladyblog, Ladybug has never saved your life!” Chloe was a bit iffy on that last one. Ladybug didn’t know Lila personally for sure, but Ladybug may have saved her once. Chloe waved the thought away. It didn’t matter right then.

“I only tell people what they want to hear.” Lila said, facade dropping at Marin-- Dupain-Cheng’s bold declaration.

“It's called lying!”

“There's nothing you can do about it, anyway. People can't resist when they hear what they like to hear. If you don't want to be my friend, fine! But soon you won't have any friends left at all. And trust me, I'll make sure you never get close to Adrien in class or anywhere. You seem a little less dumb than the others, so I'll give you one last chance. You are either with me or against me. You don't have to answer right away. I'll give you 'till the end of class today.” A door opened and shut, and Chloe knew that the liar had left.

There were noises that Chloe recognized as Marinette stepping into a stall herself. Chloe stopped recording, but started another one when she heard Marinette start talking again.

“I thought Chloé was evil,” Wow, rude. Valid, but rude. “but Lila really takes the whole cake! She's like a supervillain who doesn't even need a costume!” Chloe wondered who the noirette was talking to, but her question was answered when someone responded to Marinette’s words.

“You mustn't let her get to you, Marinette.” The strangely high-pitched voice consoled the girl.

“If I don't manage to expose her lies, she'll ruin my life, Tikki. She'll turn my friends against me, including Adrien!” The normally kind and gentle girl let out a scream of frustration, and Chlow heard a loud noise, and deducted that Marinette had punched the inside of a stall. The blonde stopped her second recording and deleted it. None of the words spoken in it were important. The first one on the other hand…

Chloe noiselessly sighed. She really was gonna have to step down from her throne for a bit to deal with this lowly liar.

Now, Chloe may be a “Queen Bitch,” but these students were her subjects.

-

“Rossi.”

“What do you need, Chloe?” Lila asked, batting her eyes.

“I’d like to talk.” Chloe threw a glance at Alya. “Alone.”

Alya was about to get on Chloe’s case, probably about to spout something about intentions or whatever, but Lila reassured her. “I’ll be fine. If I need help, I’ll just yell.”

“Good.” Chloe walked into the bathrooms that she heard Dupain-Cheng being threatened in. Gotta get that aesthetic.

“So, let’s cut the crap.” Chloe stated, turning toward the italian. Chloe started recording on her phone that was hidden behind her back.

“I know you’re a liar, Lie-la.”

“What are you talking about?” Lila asked innocently. “Oh! Did Marinette tell you that? She’s just jealous of me having to sit next to Adrien is all--”

“Yeah, yeah, sure whatever. I don’t believe you.” Chloe cut her off. “I know you’re lying, drop the act."

After Chloe’s admission, Lila did in fact drop her act. The silver-tongued girl’s entire stance changed.

“I’m just going to tell you the same thing I did to that goody-goody-faker. You are either with me or against me.”

“Yeah, again for sure. I may be a bitch and a bully, but I pay my dues without the comfort of any hidden shadows. I’m no underhanded dunce.” Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Well fine, I’ll destroy your reputation too. I’ll take all your friends-”

“Yeah, you can’t use the same threat you used on Marinette. I only have Sabrina, and she already knows you're lying too.” Chloe interrupted her.

“You’ll see what I can do, bitch.” Lila growled and sashayed out of the room.

Chloe snickered. Lila had forgotten that she could’ve framed Chloe for something right there by just sitting on the ground and screaming.

Anyway, Chloe stopped her second recording and giggled. Time to take down a lying bitch.

-

A few minutes later, when she was going over her plans with Sabrina, Sabrina went silent for a second.

“I have an idea.”

-

Now, the old Chloe would've been offended that Sabrina dared to question her plans, even if mentioning an idea was hardly shooting down another. But I did tell you that Chloe was trying to get better, didn’t I? So the heiress listened to Sabrina’s idea, who beamed at being listened to.

-

“Do you believe Lila or Marinette?” Sabrina asked.

-

“I love Marinette, but I believe in Lila. Marinette can get nasty when she’s jealous; I see that first-hand a lot.” Alya responded, certain.

“I’ve known Nette’ for years, dude. I don’t think she would stay angry at Lila, even if she was jealous. I mean, she and Kagami go out for orange juice once a week.” Nino voiced his thoughts.

“Marinette? She’s awesome! Lila is too though. I’ve known Mari for years, but you never really know a person, you know?” Kim said, already bored from sitting still for that small amount of time.

“I sincerely doubt that Marinette is lying. I believe with almost 100% certainty that Marinette would not do such a thing. I do not know Lila enough to judge her yet. The napkin could have just been an accident on both sides.” Max theorized, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Well, Marinette can get jealous and do some petty things, but I don’t really believe that. She did help me and Marc after all.” Nathaniel said, smiling at the memory.

“Lila is really nice! Marinette is really nice too! I like them both. Marinette can get a bit jealous though. I’m sure she’ll get over it!” Rose gushed.

“I’m not sure… I’d want to talk to Rose and Luka about it first…” Juleka mumbled.

“I don’t really have an opinion, but I’ll bet my skates that Marinette doesn’t mean any harm. She is probably jealous though.” Alix shrugged.

“Well, I like both Lila and Marinette. Lila just needs a bit more help, with her injuries and all.” Mylene said thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. I’ll just agree with whatever Mylene said.” Ivan replied shortly.

-

Last one was Adrien.

Chloe was about to try and talk to him, but he was already talking to Dupain-Cheng. Chloe pressed record, just in case, and eavesdropped.

“Are you going to tell everyone?” Adrien was asking the noirette.

“'Course I am. Lila is--”

“A liar. Yes, I know.” Adrien responded, cutting her off. “But do you really think exposing her will make things better? If you humiliate her, she'll just be hurt more. Making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy.”

“So we just stand by and let her lie?” Marinette replied, unsure.

“As long as you and I both know the truth, does it really matter?”

Chloe saw Adrien give Marinette a warm smile and walk away.

Well, that answered her question.

-

That sheltered little boy. Chloe knew why that was bad advice, specifically for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. DC was a goody-two-shoes. It would absolutely kill her to see her friends being manipulated.

But Adrien had been homeschooled for years, and was never taught the ins and outs of social affairs not related to the brand.

So Chloe couldn’t entirely blame him.

But that advice he gave Dupain-Cheng was shit.

-

Chloe and Sabrina put it together that night, and managed to get Miss Bustier’s permission to do a small presentation about a “surprise” the next day. It was all falling into place.

Checkmate, Rossi.

----

Ao3!

[carewyncromwell]

[After her abridged reunion with Jacob, Carewyn had fully intended to spend some time by herself. Her heart was still twinging with raw frustration and hurt, and whenever she felt like her emotions could run away with her, she generally thought it safer to isolate herself so she could get a grip.

It seemed that Penny, however, had other plans. Not long at all after Carewyn returned to school, Penny caught up with her outside the Great Hall, looking very excited.

“Carewyn, there you are!” she’d said. “I was looking for you -- do you have time to come to the Courtyard with me? There’s someone you’ve just got to meet.”

Even though she truthfully wasn’t in much of a mood to meet anybody, Carewyn agreed, though she did convince Penny to let her change clothes first, since she’d gotten her Baby Blue Beauxbatons suit wet in her duel with Jacob. Once Carewyn had pulled on a comfier jumper, sweater, and jeans and fixed her hair and make-up, she headed out to the Courtyard.

As soon as Carewyn arrived, she spotted a large group of people already gathered at the back of the courtyard. Some of her friends -- Andre, Charlie, and Diego -- were among them. Penny was waiting just outside the circle. When she spotted Carewyn, her face brightened and she bustled over.]

Penny: “Hey, Carewyn!”

[When Penny reached her, she quickly looped an arm around Carewyn’s and pulled her along after her.]

Penny: “Come on -- I’ll introduce you -- ”

[Penny led Carewyn to join the large group of people, who all seemed to be circled around a single student -- a young boy, probably a first year, with tiny warm brown eyes and a handsome smile, dressed in a yellow jumper.]

[The boy, Cedric, smiled up at Carewyn. Despite his young age, he was already close to Carewyn’s modest height of 5′3″ -- it was clear he’s going to be very tall when he got older. When Cedric spoke, his voice was very unassuming, almost shy.]

[Carewyn crossed her arms loosely over her chest and gave him a small, wry smile.]

“Likewise. When I first met your father, he spoke very highly of you.”

Penny: “Oh, that’s right! Amos Diggory was at that surprise party we threw for Hagrid, back in second year...I’d forgotten!”

[Cedric blushed slightly around his smile.]

Cedric: “Well, ah...Dad does exaggerate a little. I like that he supports me so much, of course -- I’m really grateful...but he just gets really excited, you know?”

Charlie: “(with a grin) If it was about your flying, I reckon he’d have a good reason to be excited, mate.”

Andre: “Right! (to Carewyn) You should see Cedric on a broom, Carewyn -- he’s a Seeker in the making.”

[Carewyn raised her eyebrows. That was high praise, from Andre.

Cedric glanced away shyly.]

Cedric: “I’m not that great. I’ve got nothing on Charlie -- he’s the really great Seeker.”

[The other people in the crowd seemed not to agree at all, for several of them immediately talked over each other to argue the point.

“Oh come on, Ced -- ” “ -- that extreme dive you did -- ” “ -- grabbed that Snitch like it was nothing!” “Charlie’s great, yeah, but still -- ”

The only person who didn’t seem interested in praising Cedric, oddly enough, was Diego. His face was scrunched up in a muted scowl that Carewyn had never seen before: it made him look oddly surly.]

Diego: “(airily) I imagine all that time flying must not leave you much opportunity to practice your spellcasting.”

Cedric: “(uncomfortably) ...I could certainly stand to study more...”

[His eyes flickered to Carewyn again almost guiltily. Was he feeling self-conscious?]

Penny: “(to Carewyn) Don’t listen to him, Carewyn, he’s just being modest -- I overheard Professor Flitwick mention how promising of a duelist Cedric was to Professor Sprout this morning -- “

Well, that explains Diego’s attitude.

[Carewyn glanced at Diego out the side of her eye with some concern. She could swear she sees a vein popping in his jaw.]

Diego: “(sourly) Well, bully for Cedric.”

[Penny, however, seemed blissfully unaware of Diego’s irritation -- she was already rushing onward.]

Penny: “Speaking of bullying, I heard you stopped a Gryffindor from teasing a Ravenclaw this morning, right, Cedric?”

Cedric: “(lowly) I sit behind Aaron in my Charms class -- he’s had a rough time of it lately, he didn’t deserve getting teased because of that. Anyone else would’ve done the same thing...”

Penny: “That’s not true! It was good of you, Cedric, very noble of you! You’d be a brilliant Prefect, with that moral compass -- wouldn’t you say so, Carewyn?”

[Cedric brought up a hand to rub behind his neck uncomfortably.]

[Cedric shot a self-conscious, almost nervous glance at Carewyn. Did he think she felt like Diego, or...was he actually a bit intimidated by her?]

He must feel kind of like how I felt when I first approached Bill...

[Carewyn’s blue eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, not critically but with empathy.

While everyone had gone on, Carewyn had noticed the first year Hufflepuff’s posture had been pretty consistently shrinking and his gaze had become more prone to wander -- not unlike how Carewyn herself looked away when she was uncomfortable and trying not to show it. Even Cedric’s speaking cadence had become a bit rockier and tentative -- almost like he were passively trying to signal to everyone to stop.

It was very clear to Carewyn that all of this attention was overwhelming Cedric -- and the thought of him being intimidated by her made her feel even more for the poor kid.

She closed her eyes, her lips spreading into a wide smile.]

[She opened her eyes again and gave Cedric a broad, wry smile.]

“(dryly) As flattered as I am to be considered a hero...in the end, I’m just a girl with decent fashion sense who hasn’t really had a chance to breathe since first year.”

[Cedric couldn’t bite back a rather loud, dorky snort of laughter. He flushed a dark shade of red and covers his nose and mouth self-consciously.

Carewyn’s blue eyes softened visibly.]

“(kindly) I know this place can be overwhelming...but at least it seems like you’ve already seen how fun it can be too -- how many awesome, talented people you can meet.”

[She caught Diego’s eye and shot him a proud smile. The Dueling Champion, even if his expression was still oddly irritable, seemed to relax his shoulders slightly, seeing Carewyn’s reassuring expression.

Carewyn then turned back to Cedric.]

“...Just take things at your own pace and do your best, okay?”

[Cedric smiled more fully, his tiny brown eyes a bit brighter than before and his cheeks flushing a dark, happy shade of pink.]

[Carewyn’s attention, however, was commandeered by a familiar black blur dashing across the Courtyard.]

Sickleworth?

[Carewyn had quasi-adopted Rakepick’s Niffler after the ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher left him behind the previous year. She knew it hadn’t been safe to bring him home with her over the summer, given that the Cromwell home was in a well-populated Muggle neighborhood -- so before leaving for the summer, Carewyn had introduced Sickleworth to Wicket, her own trained Niffler in the Magical Creature Preserve, so that the two could sort of “room” in the same burrow while she was away.

Imagine Carewyn’s surprise, therefore, seeing the mischievous little Niffler dashing around on school grounds, not with a piece of shiny loot, but a single bright white feather in his teeth.]

Penny: “(startled) Is that Sickleworth?”

[Carewyn turned back to Cedric.]

“Sorry, Cedric -- I better go catch my Niffler before he gets himself into trouble -- ”

Andre: “(eyebrows raised) Your Niffler?”

[Noticing the piercing look on Charlie’s face, Carewyn shot her friends a rather huffy look.]

“Ben and I found him last year after Rakepick left him behind...and well, someone’s got to look after him -- he’s only a baby!”

[She dashed off, tossing as pleasant of a wave and smile as she could back to Cedric.]

“Catch you later, okay?”

[As she left, Carewyn could’ve sworn she heard Andre’s voice say,

“Something you’ll learn pretty quick about Carewyn, Cedric...she takes care of everybody.”]

((OOC: Oh gosh, I think wittle Ced might have a tiiiiiny crush on Carewyn. XDDD Adorable Puffle boy! I don’t really see the logic in the game’s characters gushing about him quite so much when he’s still only a bloody first year, but Carewyn at least will be 100% okay with him preoccupying her friends while she deals with the Vaults on her own. No jealousy anywhere to be seen from Carey-bear.

Unlike in the game, Carey won’t be seeking out any help in tracking down Sickleworth. She’s perfectly willing to do things on her own, and considering that Sickleworth was once Rakepick’s, Carewyn doesn’t want her friends to help her in case this newest development has something to do with R, which...yeah, it does!))

[chenziee]

The Second Kidnapping of Eren Jaeger

[read on AO3 || on ff.net] [read from the First one]

Summary: The 10 times Eren gets kidnapped, with varying degrees of severity to the crime and some repeated offenders. (Erwin didn’t sign up for this.) Pairing: Levi/Eren Additional tags: Canon Verse, Humor, Parody(?), Fluff Chapter Words: 2319

Captain Levi came to the mess hall for breakfast, as usual. He scanned the room quickly for the one head of messy brown hair, as usual. He didn’t find it immediately, as not-so-usual.

‘Where the hell is the brat?’ he thought irritably when he sat down with his food, scanning the room with his eyes again for good measure, before he started eating. With each bite, Levi got more and more nervous. It was suspicious. The brat had never missed any meals up until now. (If we didn’t count those that were directly after a particularly bad day outside the walls, in which case nobody didn’t miss a meal or two. Let’s face it. You just can’t stomach food with fresh images of severed limbs, heads, intestines, and blood in your head.)

Everyone else but Hanji, who’d told him yesterday she’d leave early to experiment on her new ‘beautiful titan children’ in the morning, was present. Did the brat just oversleep? Or did something happen?

He finished his breakfast, distracted to the point he even forgot to bully everyone around into cleaning after themselves until everything was spotless according to his standards, before he left hurriedly to check on his brat.

If he weren’t in such a hurry, he might have noticed the pair of eyes full of calm, quiet satisfaction that were following him out of the room.

By the time for morning training, Levi was thoroughly stressed. Eren wasn’t in his room but it looked like he did get up by himself alright as there were no signs of any fight or struggle.

And he wasn’t anywhere else either.

Levi hated to admit he was worried. Should he start a search? It didn’t look like anyone else had noticed so maybe he was just overreacting. It was a big place. It would start being a real problem if he didn’t show up for training.

Arriving at the training grounds, late as he was busy very casually searching the castle until then, Levi felt like ripping his hair out when he noticed the shitty brat really wasn’t there. He was maybe also starting to panic a little bit.

“Oi!” he shouted, so that everyone could hear him. “Does anyone know where the hell is Jaeger?”

Silence.

Silence was never good.

“Shit.”

Did Eren seriously get kidnapped? But without putting up a fight and destroying everything in sight in the process, when (very) destructive, (very) loud battles are the one thing he has immense talent for?

And this happens just days after he pulled that joke on Mikasa? How ironic.

‘Wait a minute there.’ Levi stopped in his tracks, his eyes darting back to the crowd of people who had already begun their warm-up while sneaking curious glances at their Captain every few seconds, watching him pace nervously.

Luckily, even in a state of near-panic, Levi still could keep his head kind of cool (he didn’t survive all these years of nearly suicidal acts purely on luck) and it downed on him at last that he really shouldn’t be the only one in this state right now. There was one more person who would, without fail, immediately know when Eren wasn’t within 100 meters radius. Definitely, with 113% accuracy.

“Ackerman,” he growled, stalking over to stand in front of her as she stretched.

“Yes sir?” Mikasa answered, her expression calm and cool.

“You know where Eren is.” It wasn’t a question. Levi was dead sure.

However, Mikasa only shook her head, tugging at her scarf. “No, sir. I’m sorry but I really don’t know where he is.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he hissed, “Don’t lie to me, Ackerman.”

“I’m not lying, Captain,” Mikasa defended herself quietly. “Why would you think so?”

“Because you’re not running around in a circle screaming your fucking head off.”

“Well, I think he’ll show up by himself by lunch, sir. But could it be he’s been kidnapped?!” Mikasa exclaimed in a mock panic tone. The mocking tilt was barely there but Levi just knew. They were through one too many verbal and physical battles to be able to read the other rather well. Not to mention she threw his own words from the week before at him to stress her point.

Levi took a deep breath to calm down, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Ackerman, you know what happens when it turns out you were lying?”

“Of course, sir, but I’m not lying.” Her voice was firm and confident. And definitely amused.

Levi was pissed. She knew something and he’d get her for it. But at least now he knew Eren was not in danger. Hopefully.

Meanwhile, Eren’s vision was slowly turning blurry, his body losing all feeling.

He needed to focus. If he lost control now, everything would be over. He’d be finished.

Piercing pain shot through him as something long and sharp went right through his right hand which was almost too firmly connected to the titan body. He wanted to scream. He couldn’t find the strength to do so.

He couldn’t concentrate. Just staying conscious was getting harder and harder by the second as he felt the titan slowly overpowering him, pushing his sense of self back.

Forcing himself to calm down, taking deep breaths, he focused on a single thought. He could get out of this. He could get out alive. He had to.

Lunch came and Levi was practically a bomb only waiting to blow up.

Lunch came and Mikasa was ready to start laughing sadistically at the mere sight of the man who looked like he was awfully close a mental breakdown.

Lunch came and everybody could feel the tension that descended on the Survey Corps headquarters.

And then came the cue for the decisive battle between the two mighty warriors to begin.

The door was thrown open and everything stopped moving.

The whole mess hall watched in anticipation when between the two wings of the unnecessarily giant door appeared Squad Leader Hanji, grinning in delight like the mad(wo)man she was. “Levi~! Just you all wait ‘till I tell you what an incredible progress we’ve made today! You’re gonna be blown off your feet! Haa, I should- no, I have to experiment on Eren more often!” she squealed, uncaring of both the murderous glare Levi was giving her and the atmosphere in the room as she practically oozed energy and enthusiasm.

In contrast, Eren, who dragged himself in behind her, looked like a zombie that had been through a good number of deaths in his undead life. He definitely felt quite ready to pass out the first chance he’d get.

“Eren!” came a shout from two different people at once, before two pairs of arms caught him just before he gave in to the temptation to actually collapse.

He smiled gratefully at the two he couldn’t even identify, oblivious to the lethal glares exchanged literally right under his nose. Eren was just glad to have something to put his weight on and he didn’t really care on what or whom or under what circumstances that was happening. The only thing that interested him right then and there was its existence.

Levi momentarily interrupted his silent deathmatch with Mikasa to glare at the happily glowing Hanji instead.

“What the fuck is the meaning of this Hanji?” he said in a deceivingly calm tone.

Hanji cocked her head a little, still smiling; she had always been immune to his intimidation attempts. A fact that pissed Levi off to no end. “What do you mean? Eren is just a tiny bit tired. Don’t worry; I checked on him and he’s fine. He’ll be as good as new in time for his private evening training.” She winked at him with a teasing gleam in her eyes, which only served to irritate Levi further.

He rolled his eyes. “I mean, why haven’t I heard about this? You should have fucking told me yesterday. I’m the one in charge of him and the one in charge here until Erwin and Mike come back,” Levi growled through gritted teeth. He was on the verge of ripping her crazy head off and ritually offering the remains to her pet titans.

Hanji shrugged and answered in a carefree voice, “Well, I didn’t want other people to know – for the sake of the safety of everyone involved and for the sake of the experiment, you see; I even told Eren only when I woke him up this morning. Like a surprise attack. Actually, I wanted to tell you after that but I also didn’t want to disturb your beauty-sleep so when I met Mikasa on her way to Eren’s room,” she grinned mischievously as she noticed Levi’s eyes narrowing, “I asked her to tell you later. It’s not like she’d ever put Eren in danger. She didn’t tell you?” Hanji sent a half questioning, half knowing look Mikasa’s way, while Levi sent the same way a look saying that if he weren’t holding Eren up, he’d beat her senseless before ritually offering her alive to the titans. For several reasons.

Mikasa returned them both an expressionless stare.

She locked eyes with enraged Levi shamelessly as she gave Hanji an answer that left everyone present gasping for air while Hanji had to muffle her laughter. “I wanted to but I never got the chance to do so. Captain left during breakfast before I could talk to him, then he was nowhere to be found. During training he asked me questions I was unable to answer and didn’t let me explain. After that I found it too dangerous to approach him.”

Levi was speechless. He stared at her for a long minute during which nobody dared to even breathe, before he spoke up slowly, his voice full of ice, “I fucking asked you where he was. How’s that a question you were unable to answer?” Everyone present shivered when he finished. Or, everyone except Eren, who was still out, barely hanging onto the edge of consciousness, Hanji, who was naturally immune (and still laughing), and Mikasa, who was simply not intimidated by any potential threats to Eren’s wellbeing.

“But sir, you know the location of the experiment grounds is a top-secret information after the last subjects were killed. Obviously I didn’t know where he was. Even now I still don’t know.” There was a faint hint of superiority in that statement. Mikasa knew she couldn’t lose this round.

And Levi knew that, too.

He wasn’t amused.

Some time later, Eren was lying on Levi’s bed, already almost fully recovered after some sleep. Nonetheless, Levi couldn’t help but still worry a bit, even though he hid that worry behind his once-again-perfect poker face.

“Are you feeling better now, brat?” he asked offhandedly, his tone not betraying how much he really cared about the answer.

“Yeah, a lot better. I was just exhausted by all those experiments Hanji had me do,” Eren answered in a steady but still tired voice as he shivered at the memory.

They were both silent for a while before Levi sighed, giving up any pretence, “Eren Jaeger, this is an order, do you understand?” he said in his authoritative Captain Voice.

“Yes sir?” Eren looked at him questioningly, awaiting his orders. He’d sit up to salute as well if Levi’s glare wasn’t pinning him to the bed at any sign of excessive movement.

Opening his mouth again, Levi stated clearly, “Next time you go somewhere, you come tell me directly. I’m fucking responsible for you. I need to know in case something happens. As your superior. Are we clear?”

Eren was a little surprised by the order but a moment later, a knowing grin split his face wide. ‘As your superior, huh?’

He chuckled quietly, happy Levi cared so much. Even if he was terrible at showing it. “Yes sir.”

The situation in the dining hall had calmed down considerably after a still noticeably pissed off Levi left to tend to the zombie Eren had become, practically dragging him along, and a somehow roughed up Mikasa left with a victorious, rare smirk on her face to start with her punishment consisting of extra super-hard-super-long training course and cleaning the whole castle from top to bottom strictly, absolutely alone.

Only a few people stayed behind, huddled together and quietly discussing something, all of them sporting very serious expressions.

“So…” Connie started saying into the silence, looking at the paper in his hands intently. “The score as of now is even, with 36 wins each and 2 draws,” he announced and several groans were heard in response.

“Whoa,” Sasha whistled between bites of the last leftover bread she had collected over the room earlier (after swiftly taking care of Eren’s portion of lunch). “This is getting to be really long and dramatic in-laws fight.”

“Yeah; don’t you think it’s getting kind of boring?” Jean muttered from where he was resting his chin in his hands, frowning a bit before continuing thoughtfully. “If they continue like this much longer, we’ll never get a winner. Maybe we should change it?”

Ymir, who had an arm casually thrown over Krista’s shoulders, raised an eyebrow at him. “Like how?”

“Like who will be the first one to get three wins in a row?” suggested Armin uncertainly.

There was a moment of silence before Hanji raised her hand full of excitement. “I’m betting on Levi!”

“You’re betting on the loser?” Jean scoffed but Hanji just shrugged.

“You can never know what that cute little thing might already be plotting. You just don’t know him well enough, yet. Moreover, betting on the one you expect to win is way less fun!” Her eyes sparkled with something none of them really bothered to analyse for the sake of their sanity.

A blur of voices trying to place their bets all at once followed. After today’s showdown, most of them bet on Mikasa.

[First || Next Kidnapping]

[thatonelucky]

The Unlikely Two

From the moment Jughead Jones stepped into Riverdale High, his chosen target was Betty Cooper. Teasing mercilessly and throwing insults, Betty doesn't know how much more she can take. From enemies to something entirely new.

Read on AO3

               Jughead Jones was a colossal asshole, Betty had decided. His whole time knowing Betty he had tormented her, purposely provoked her and attempted to ruin every good thing in her life. It was a pain in her ass, she hated him. With a fiery passion in her heart; she hoped that he would get what he deserved one day.

               Funnily enough, Jughead was the quarter back for the Riverdale Bulldogs. Meaning that every girl wanted him and every guy wanted to be him. The only person that could come above Jughead was his best friend, Archie Andrews, but he was strictly off limits. Caught in some love spell Betty’s best friend, Veronica Lodge threw onto him.

               They weren’t an unlikely pairing. Veronica was the co-head cheerleader of the Riverdale Vixens and Archie was the co-captain for the Riverdale Bulldogs. They were the most expected couple in the entire school. Everyone could see the chemistry between them from the moment that Archie and Jughead had transferred from New York City.

               The two boys had been best friends their entire life, ever since Fred had adopted Jughead off of his abusive parents. Though, no one ever knew that story. As far as anyone was concerned, Jughead just took Mary’s maiden name and the two were brothers. No one ever asked for the logic, which was helpful seeing as it was a completely blatant lie.

               It didn’t take long for Jughead to sweep in and choose Betty as his victim. Every day giving sly comments about how prude she looked or how her tight pony tail must be why she’s so uptight all of the time. It was silly things but it’s the fact that it was happening every single day. He sat with her at lunch to be with Archie, who was too busy canoodling with Veronica. Leaving the two sworn enemies to bicker and ignore each other for an hour at least every school day.

               It was hell for Betty, but not for Jughead. He found a sick comfort in teasing Betty Cooper. At first, he thought it was just because he didn’t like her but he did find himself caring about her from time to time. If anyone else gave Betty grief, Jughead was the first one to jump to her defence. The mixed signals drove Betty crazy, deciding that maybe he just wanted to be the only reason she was miserable.

               Nonetheless, he gave it a good go at being nice when people had given Betty a few choice words. He rubbed her back and told her that it was going to be okay. He never knew what to do when she cried, he’d of hated it if he ever pushed her to those limits. The 2 or 3 times he had drove her over the edge were the worst of times.

               It wasn’t necessarily Jughead Jones being the problem. He was merely the catalyst of Betty’s emotions. She was almost thankful at times that he would cause an outburst because she got to release her hefty built up frustration. It was some kind of twisted favour.

               Betty didn’t have it easy. Her father let his alcoholism get the best of him when her sister, Polly Cooper, had finally left town. She was pregnant and on the run from her mother who was trying to force her to abort the baby. She refused, claiming it was all she had left to live for. That’s where she wasn’t wrong; the Coopers had nothing to live for. Their reputation had been dragged through the mud and back. Redemption was useless.

               Jughead hadn’t meant to say it that day. But the words came spilling out and before he knew it Betty had punched him square in the nose and ran away crying. He had no idea what he had done wrong until Veronica decided to tell him a small fraction of what Betty has to go through in her day to day life.

               The words that Jughead had said stuck with Betty for a long time. She never forgot to venom in his voice as he deliberately said the words he knew would hurt her the most. She’d never expected that he’d hated her that much. To put someone through so much pain every single day just for a kick? Betty had enough of his baggage.

               “Hey, Coops. You’re looking very uptight, as usual.” Jughead caught up with Betty who, having already seen him, was walking at a faster pace than usual down the corridor. He slung his left arm around her shoulder loosely, attempting to take out her pony tail. She’d had enough. Grabbing him by his letterman jacket, Betty tossed him off of her. He fell into a nearby locker.

               “Fuck off, Jones.” Betty seethed, kicking his fallen backpack out of the way and walking away. Jughead wanted to be mad, but a part of him found it hot. Betty standing up for herself instead of letting him bully her was way better than actually bullying her. There were a few students stood by their lockers snickering but Jughead didn’t care. He was way too invested in how this would play out, a small smirk etching across his face.

               “Hey, B, you okay?” Veronica pulled Betty into a quick hug, taking a note of her tired features. She hadn’t looked like she slept well last night. Sadly, Veronica wasn’t surprised. Constant worrying about Polly often kept Betty up at night, not hearing from your sister for 5 months was tough. It’s still a sore subject.

               “I’m good. Just keep Jones away from me.” Betty grumbled, kicking her feet slightly. She couldn’t be around him right now. After everything he’d said yesterday she couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. Especially since things at home were getting worse and worse. Betty’s dad was starting to drunkenly hit her whilst her mother watched from afar. Alice never did have a backbone.

               It wasn’t brutal beatings, just slaps and tripping over. She had a few bruises but she’d cover them up for school so that no one could see, attempting to keep up the persona of everything being okay when everyone could see that she was far from okay. Being okay wasn’t a part of Betty’s day to day life. Veronica knew it all.

               “Did it happen again?” Veronica caressed Betty’s cheek, tears welling in her eyes as she takes a good look at her best friend. Betty was in pieces, she didn’t look like the same girl she was last year, or even a few months ago. She was losing weight much too fast, she was losing the pink in her skin. It was like watching someone die and still walk around.

               Jughead didn’t take this as a hint to stop. He carried on mercilessly making her life hell because he found it funny. He didn’t think that Betty was in danger or that she could ever hate herself. Jughead thinks that Betty has it all and that’s why he gives her shit.

               He’d found out about Polly as soon as it happened. Word travels fast when a junior gets pregnant and her boyfriend completely leaves her to fend for herself. Jason Blossom was what Brits would call ‘a bit of a dick’. Betty hated him with a burning passion, so that means that Jughead hated him too.

               “I’m fine, V.” Betty lightly pulled Veronica’s hand off of her face, shrugging off any remnants of the past few minutes happening and faking a smile for the audience. That being the students in the corridors, ears wide open ready to absorb any drop of information that they can. It’s how they survive.

               High school kids feed off of others misery. It’s like a shark getting their first taste of blood. They won’t stop until they destroy every single thing. Rumours are the most popular of that sort; many got spread after Polly had left. Polly Cooper is pregnant with Jason’s baby? Well who’d of expected that, she’s a slut? They all are, the Coopers are weak.

               “Psst! Cooper!” Jughead irritatingly whispered from the row behind Betty in Biology. Of course, she pretended not to hear him. She’s sticking to her word of having nothing to do with him anymore. And she hopes that he will get that hint. “Cooper!” Jughead tried again a little louder this time. Betty relentlessly ignored him, avoiding every single possibility of an encounter.

               “What!” Betty yelled whilst stood in front of her locker that was being blocked by none other than Jughead Jones. He clearly wasn’t happy with Betty’s fruitless attempts at avoiding him, so he took it one step further. Refusing to move from her locker until she talked to him, Betty finally budged.

               “I only wanted to say that I’m sorry.” Betty almost choked on the air she was breathing in. Not in any of the time Betty had known Jughead, had he ever apologised for anything he’d done. That’s exactly why, standing right there, Betty legitimately choked in shock as Jughead just rolled his eyes.

               That was the first time that Jughead had surprised Betty. After that day, he seemed to back off a lot. Whenever Betty walked in the corridor, he remained away from her and respected her wishes. He wanted to renew himself with her, show her that he’s not just an asshole.

               Jughead found it hard to talk to people; he usually comes off as arrogant and cocky. He doesn’t intend for that to happen, but it does get him exactly what he wants whenever he wants it. He has 100 girls fawning over his every move and even if he doesn’t want them, he still has them. He was unsure on why Betty didn’t have any guys genuinely interested in her. Jughead thought she was beautiful.

               “You look pretty today, Cooper.” Jughead appeared next to Betty, complimenting her with a genuine smile. At first, she wanted to laugh but she knew that his punchline was going to come soon enough. One didn’t come; instead he nudged her arm slightly and stalked off in the opposite direction still smiling. That day, Betty smiled too.

               Jughead’s change in behaviour hadn’t gone unnoticed by Archie. His red headed brother mercilessly teased him about his sudden feeling change for Betty who seemed to be warming up to him too. Jughead could only chuckle in response, not denying his quick change.

               Veronica was doing the same that night, painting Betty’s nails an electric blue and bringing up Jughead’s behaviour. At first, Betty didn’t have a response.  She truly had no idea what to think about the situation. Jughead had always hated her and now he’s calling her pretty and completely stopping with the rude remarks. She couldn’t lie, she was happy about it.

               “Hey, Betts! Wait up!” Betty was walking to school when she heard Jughead call behind her. He looked slightly ruffled but he caught up to her in a flash. Perks of being the quarter back she guessed. His genuine smile was plastered on his face again as he saw Betty beam at his offer, “Can I walk with you?”

               This became a regular occurrence for the two; walking to school early in the morning just so they could take their time walking. During the first few mornings, Archie had no idea why Jughead was leaving an hour earlier than usual and refusing a ride. Following him one day, he saw Jughead waiting outside the Cooper household and walking to Riverdale High with his arm around Betty Cooper. Only to quickly drop it if someone walked past or if they made it through the school gates.

               Even Veronica knew that something weird was going on. At lunch they weren’t doing their usual bickering. They were sat in silence, texting rapidly on their phones with goofy smirks on their faces. Archie caught Jughead staring at Betty like she was his whole world on more than one occasion.

               “Are you dating Jughead?” Veronica blurted out one day to Betty who was laid on Veronica’s couch, cuddled up in a bundle of blankets. Her eyes were glued to the screen for a moment, watching Leonardo DiCaprio intensely for a moment.

               “Yes.” Betty spoke slowly; weary of how Veronica would react. Anyone would’ve known that Betty and Jughead were the most unlikely pairing in the world. They used to hate each other with a burning passion. But something in Jughead changed that ended up changing something in Betty too. No one knew that what Jughead saw one night could’ve changed their whole perspective on Betty Cooper.

               After screwing up the past few paragraphs, Jughead set his laptop down and decided to take a walk. He found himself walking past the Cooper house, ready to see nothing at all. But what he saw was frightening. Hal Cooper, striking Betty down and screaming at her with his greasy face reddening with every word. Betty stood up, poked her rather in the chest roughly and seethed some words back at him. To which he just walked away.

               Jughead watching from afar was difficult. He’d wanted to go in and comfort her as he always did when someone hurt Betty. But seeing her home situation changed his perspective on Betty Cooper. She wasn’t uptight, she wasn’t prude, and she wasn’t a slut. Betty Cooper was a beautiful warrior.

               And with that, Jughead made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t save Betty Cooper but he would help her to find the strength to fight her own way out. Not everyone needs a man to save their life; Betty had proved her strength already.  But Jughead’s task was to let her know just how beautiful and just how strong she is.

                Betty Cooper is her own hero.

Remember that I accept prompts and any feedback you’d like to give me! Also if you want to discuss the latest episodes or anything else I’ll be happy to chat! Currently vexed about the last episode!         

[bigdickfartsapolka]

A Liveblog, because why not?

I, SCOTTICVS, being of stupid mind and tired body, have just atumbled upon the youtube that has "The Bravest Warriors, Season 1 (Every Episode)" and see that season 2 is in the suggested videos. I know nothing about it, and have only heard clips on tiktoks of catbug which is what made me search it, and so. I have come to the decision. That now, having seen 3 episodes. I will be live-blogging the rest of the episodes as I watch them, because this shit is too hilarious to not share with someone somewhere, so I am going to scream into the void until the void sends me suggestions that share whatever the fuck this sense of humor is back to me.

Episode 1, they are stuck in a timeloop and only learn about it at minute 3 of 5

How do they escape? They see their own corpses (2 sets) and decide "ain't no way I'm goin' in there". Episode over. BRILLIANT!

Episode 2, mystery dude called a FeelsLord or some biz shows up, talks all cryptically about the future and powers and then says psyche and makes puppies made of chocolate appear. Being as it is a sciency show, I bet they were all... Chocolate... LABS.

(I will not be apologizing for that, nor any other of my jokes. It was perfect and if you disagree then you’re wrong, and don’t click through to read more, because there will be a lot more that bad or worse... I’m sure of it already. I haven’t seen this show before at all, but I already love it.)

Episode 3! The holodeck is also the bathroom, which apprently they are all cool with just sharing as a crew because what are boundaries? I guess? And then the waterbuffalo dies by swarm of bees, which. Wow. That has such a D&D vibe to it. But even better, when Beth comes in, they're all just not sure if she saw or not, and then when she leaves she shows she totally did and locks them all in and loads up whatever the fuck BUTTER LETTUCE fantasy, Beth program 3 was, where the stripclub is all reverse-centaurs? And they all have a ..... Butter lettuce party in a spa? There's a hot tub? It's wild, but wonderful.

Episode 4. Here we go. First time viewing and fully new to me material from here on out. Weee. They're on a bus? Sorta? "SIGNS. THEY'RE EVERYWHERE IN THE FUTURE" Hahahahaha. And this kid. Can manifest toast. Alright, ... Oh. Too much toast. Dude. Memory loss episode. Fun? Wild. Everyone forgets everything. And the pilot decided to bail out and died in the vaccuum of space. Wow. what a bizarre show... JELLYKID, YES!... JELLYKID, NOOO! We assist peeps. Yeah. Hahaha. We're here to help. Jrllykid exclusively makes bread. And bad choices. I hope we see him again.

Memory Donk convention!?... Wooooow. Hahahahaha. President Memory Donk. Oh my. Oh, the best friend. But the kiss... But no. But okay. Pretty obvious where that is going to be going? Or not. Depends on whether they're gonna be trying to subvert or not and to what extent, etc.

...

Eposode 5! Buncheck. All about the booty this episode. Ooh. Avoiding the 100 years of baaad if they don't have things go well. Oh no. Poor little panic guy gets disappeared. Hahaha. Wooow. All about the butts and the dancing. Ooh! The guys butt said "Bully!" I love that when people say that. But oh no. Trouble. Ah! But the cut-in. Spark some jealousy. Yes, guy grows a spine, which is connnected to his enormous butt! And now they're doing buttstuff? Planet saved, by butt stuff. ... Moving on!

Episode 6! Ooh. We open on shooting and volcanos. Fun fun. A bomb. The EMOTION LORD! "I've been surviving alone on burritos for 8 long years." Let's quit spooning in the bouncy house and storm that hive! Hahahaha. More gunfire. Explosions. Emotion Lord claims to be Chris from the future. Woah, wait what? Denial, classic first response, good job Chris. I ain't your peppermaster. This show is so freakin' wild. The concierge, isn't he cute in his high chair. Ooh, no. Don't ask about the future. Temporal parasoxs, oh man. The concierge! "I'm not a bee, but Brother, I forgive you for that discrepancy" is such a Brennan Lee Mulligan NPC thing to say and has such an excellent energy to it. Aaawh, and he eats the B-12 and old dude gets more hair. Good ending.

Episode 7!

They have an invisible hideout? Wild. FIRST APPEARANCE OF CATBUG! Gas-powered stick? Weird. Ooh, Beth's friend makes me think of Marceline. Love the hair. All the guys want her and have 0 chill. No surprise, but still... Gas-powered Stick. Impossibear? Whata wild dude. Threw the stick, grew a tree, now a peach pit is giving Chris xray vision. Ooh, trouble, boyyo. Don't do that. Wha? A musical number?!? Nope. Got cut off. Too bad. Ooh, try something weird. It got weird alright. What the whaaa? So. That was a thing? Or, yah know, maybe it won't be. I dunno about continuity and this show yet. But hey! Catbug! Yaaay!

Episode 8!

Open on dramatic doors and then disco dance music. Time machine? Fun fun. Gonna get weird, I'd bet. New Miami? Whaaa? Wild. Hahaha. Ooh, memory goggles to show people in your brain stuff. Electric puke button? Whoa. That's terrible. Kill that awful character. But nooo, that's gonna make things worse somehow. "Hehehe. You're gonna punt children." "Sorry dude. Doesn't work out." Awh, too bad. No time machine thing this time.

Episode 9!

Everyone speaks gibberish? Seems that they understand each other though, so okay. Teleport to a portal or two and then angry laser dogs. Fire spirits make popcorn. I relate to them on a deep level. Apparently the ones on the planet are super sexist. No longer relate to them. Rude. Laserdogs meet other dog and things are good. First planet is good when gets plugged in with the power chord to the ship, so that's cool. Music puzzle on planet 3. Turns the whole world on its axis. Planetary alignment fixes speech problem. Wow. Weird. Hahahaha, but love it. Now who gets the big dude out of the pod?

Episode 10!

10 year anniversary of a jinx? Wow. Wild. Male female jive, and letting Beth sing I am the Walrus is just a wiiild addition. Cereal master fries her own face for dramatic effect. Wild. Ooh. His eyes glow. He has powers. Emotion lorded those seahorse dreams. Wiiild. "Run, fools. Run for your lives." "SOMEBODY GET GOD A MOJITO!" Woah. This is excellent and I love it. "IT'S THE DEVIL! SOMEBODY KILL HIM!" She remembers. Cereal lady goes home to talk to her Daddy instead of taking it out on customers and herself. And Beth does another jinx on Chris. This is such an enjoyable show.

Episode 11!

Wankershim leaves the holojohn and becomes his own independent individual. More carrots and breadcrumbs! ... Whaaa? Everyone becomes one with Wankershim. Their t shirts all change. CATBUG'S FRIENDS LINE! I love that CatBug sooo much. Ooh, mercy. Visions of the future. Always interesting, but also wiiild. The whole universe is Wankershim. Its always been Wankershim... That is rad.

I too have an interest in tacos.

The concierge!!!

Episode 12!

CATBUG! They're chilling in Beth's room. And then they get gifts from their parents! Catbug is an interdimensional jumper. Wild. I looove them. "SUGARPEAS! drop them! OKAY!" Makes much more sense now. Why would you make oatmeal cry? Good ask, Catbug. The presents grow into a horrible monster critter, a door, and then, naturally, as any D&D party. They immediately knock on it. They cannot open it. Paralyzed horse's log. Awh, poor thing. But wait. Who is Ralph Waldo Picklechips? What is there behind the door? Why does the old man miss Beth? What happened in the future?

Must find out more, next post, on BRAVEST WARRIORS. I will not liveblog that one unless there is any interest in this one though, because this actually took a lot of time and typing and also I am apparently 7 years behind or more on doing that, so. Oh well. Still, it was fun. GOTTA LOVE CATBUG!

[insidesanity]

More fanfic

N “You’re welcome Mr. Banderknott.”

“How-yawn- do you know my name, I haven’t-yawn- taken potions yet, Mom won’t let me till second year. Was pardoned.”

“If I didn’t know the names of all the students here I would be a dismal teacher indeed. Now go to sleep.” The boy yawned one more time before going into a deeper sleep. As Snape walked down the many winding corridors he had to resist the temptation to take the boy back to his own rooms, which were closer, to heal the boy, as well as have him close by for…sustenance. However, the boy’s already pale frame convinced him otherwise, and he kept walking.

Knocking on the door to the infirmary took more willpower than Snape expected, but he did it none the less. Opening the door Poppy gasped, eyes wide.

“Severus, what did you do? What have you done?” She cried trying to pull the boy away from Severus and back away at the same time.

“I have done nothing!” Snapped Severus, giving up the boy. “I found him on the floor near a suit of armor, bleeding to death after falling, or being pushed, onto a sword. I cleaned his wound and brought him here. Do not assume I would lose control of myself!” Poppy stared at the Professor disbelievingly, as Snape felt the smallest twinge of guilt at lying to the nurse.

“Your palor is better than yesterday” Poppy said flatly as she held the boy tightly.

“There was blood on the floor, it was insulting to stoop to that level, but I’d rather not kill anyone. Now goodnight, and ask the boy about bullying, I don’t want this to happen again” Severus’s cloak whisked around the corner seconds later, leaving a bewildered Poppy to care for the boy.

Only when he reached his quarters did Snape stop to relax and slide into a black leather chair in front of a quickly lit fire. Only then did he think about what happened. And only then did he curse his own stupidity as well as himself for feeding on the boy too long, and at all. Holding his head in his hands he muttered to himself.

“Why did I not keep some of that blood for later, I can’t expect a meal every night, let alone a full one.” Sighing, Snape shook his head and ran fingers through hair that was slightly oily. Getting up he undressed and prepared for a fitful night.

Next morning as Snape ate some bacon wishing for something more raw, McGonagal sat down next to him and pushed a large vial of red liquid at him. Looking at the vial Snape could tell it was blood. Turning his gaze at McGonagall he asked a silent question, she just pursed her lips. She was not going to say whose it was, if she had gotten it from Poppy, a fight in the halls, a donor, or herself.

“Make it last.” She said before going back to her food. Snape nodded and slid the vial into his robes, he didn’t need a meal every day, he’d have a drop later that night before bed, to see whose blood it was, and what condition it was in, but not now, when he had eaten last night. He went back to munching on his bacon waiting for his first class, as usual though he left before everyone else. On his way to the dungeons a familiar smell hit his large nose, blood, fresh.

“This will be the end of me.” He muttered to himself. He set off, cloak billowing behind him, to find the source. He heard the problem long before he saw it. Two students were dueling, loudly.

“Expelliarmus!”

“Protego!”

“Furnu-!”

“ENOUGH!” Snape said as he rounded the corner! Both boys were startled out of the duel. One was a Ravenclaw and the other Gryffindor, both second year students. One sported long yellow hair that grasped his ankles while the other had tattered robes and was smoking slightly. Snape pointed to the one with tentacled hair. “Finite incantatum!” The hair stopped struggling but remained ankle length. “Report to Filch at 9’o clock tonight for detention, both of you. You,” Snape said to the boy with tattered robes, “infirmary now, you’re bleeding from a vein, it needs to be stopped.”

The boy started. “What? Where? How can you tell?”

Snape pointed at the floor, which had a spattering of blood on it, and then to the boys neck which had a thin stream of blood flowing across it. “That kind of flow is created when a vein is cut directly, now go before you faint from blood loss, and minus 100 points from both your houses for fighting, and no, I am not interested in why this miserable excuse for a duel was started, now both of you Go!” The boys scrambled to comply. “And do something about that atrocious hair before class!” Growled Snape. “This will be the death of me, why is there so much blood now of all times?” Snape looked at the floor and saw the blood spattering, and sighed as he felt a small tinge of hunger hit him. He quickly looked around to confirm the emptiness of the hall.

“Accio blood.” He muttered and ushered the meager flow into a vial from his robes, before hurrying to his first class of the day.

The first half of the day was uneventful, if tiresome from fighting, incompetence, and unruliness. At midday Snape took lunch in his quarters, drinking the miniscule amount of blood from the skirmish he stopped earlier to relieve a pounding headache. Preparing for his Newt level class of Slytherins and Ravenclaws he sighed, this was going to be a long class. Many of the ingredients used in the potion they were going to be making needed to be sliced, diced, or cut into strips. Snape only hoped there would be no accidents, despite the rivalry to show off and see who was more knowledgeable, often by sabotage.

Everything was fine until the end of the class when a Slytherin boy threw a firecracker under the table of a Ravenclaw who was cleaning up. Snape saw it of course, but since most of the potions were already gone he deemed it not to be hazardous. Unfortunately, it did scare the Ravenclaw, and the boy’s knife got propelled into the table, along with the tiniest bit of the skin between two of his fingers. The boys hand was now sluggishly bleeding and stuck to the table.

Snape could, of course, smell it, but he was not hungry due to his dinner last night and today’s lunch. He walked up as the boy tried in vain to pull the knife out of the table and his hand. Getting up beside the boy Snape breathed deeply, to those looking on it would seem he was trying to calm down, when really he was just enjoying the smell. He sighed.

“You will never-” Snape’s words startled the student who got a burst of strength from it and pulled the knife out as he was turning toward his feared professor. Still holding the knife out it went straight into Snape’s stomach, two inches deep. As the professor’s black robes grew wet very quickly the students’ eyes grew wide with horror. Snape put his hand to the growing wet spot and tugged the knife out, more blood rushed out as the only thing that was stopping it came out. Snape could smell his own blood, and was now very aware of how much he was losing, just as he was aware of how much he would need to drink. Suddenly, he was very thirsty.

“Get out. Now. Get all of your things and leave immediately. Mr. Flory, Mr. Slazor, detention, see the Headmaster immediately. Leave, NOW!” The students were already gathering their things and banishing cauldrons before the sentence was completed. Not 5 seconds later the only thing left in the room was Snape, and the bloody knife. Pointing his wand at the still bleeding gash the tired wizard shot a healing spell at it. The wound closed mostly, but still bled sluggishly. Only time would help now.

Moving to his private rooms he waited for his abilities to heal the wound. The pain, such that would incapacitate any one else, merely annoyed the old Ex-Death Eater. Next he summoned bandages and wrapped his stomach until the wound could not be seen and no one would know that the wound had healed without healing potions, as they leave magical residue. Pointing his wand at the fireplace he lit a fire and summoned Dumbledore.

“Headmaster, I need to see you immediately.” Dumbledore did not even reply, he just came out of the fire.

“My dear boy, what happened?” Dumbledore said as he looked on in concern.

“I got a knife imbeded in my stomach by a dunderhead student who wasn’t paying attention, because another idiot student set a firecracker off near his knife. I’m sending them both up to you. That however, is the least of my concerns, I’ll heal. I did however lose a great deal of blood.” Dumbledore did look quite alarmed at this. “As such I’d like to take the rest of the day off, not only to keep up appearances of being human and needing rest, but because I am tired and …thirsty.”

Dumbledore looked at Snape and nodded. “Of course my boy. I could also donate some-”

“No. You know what blood of such high magical content does to some vampires, I could get addicted to it. I’d only ask before a fight Albus, or if one… I was dying. Kids, stuff off the ground from their fights, I don’t have to worry about. You, you’re…aged. ”

Dumbledore smiled. “Well I may look 90 but I am 140.” He chuckled to himself. “Take a couple days off, I’ll cover potions for you. Just be sure to walk around a bit.” Snape nodded, as he got up to go to his quarters. Dumbledore patted him on the back and went to look at the potion master’s lesson plans. Too tired to do anything else, Snape threw his robe in the pile of clothes that was picked up each Wednesday for washing and fell into bed, completely forgetting about the blood McGonagall gave him in the robe.

Chapter 7 addiction

Next morning Snape woke up tired and hungry, very hungry. The cyclical events of feeding and losing blood were becoming maddening, and droll. He rolled around in his sheets, trying to get untangled. Yawning he slowly went to the mirror. His beard had grown last night, and since Dumbledore was taking over his classes, regrettably, he had time to trim his beard for once. A quick spell and a half inch of hair fell into the sink before him. He groomed himself slowly that morning, taking a while in the shower and enjoying the fact that he had time, although that pleasant fact was marred by the gnawing in his gut. Soon however it was time for breakfast in the Great Hall and Dumbledore said he should walk about, and he should at least stop in for the announcement about Dumbledore taking over his classes for a couple days. Dressing quickly he left the room, nimbly stepping over the hamper of dirty clothes that would be picked up by the house elves later that day. Walking the halls he decided to head for

breakfast to see if he could get some sausages or rare bacon. Of course it couldn’t be a peacefull transit.

“Furnunculus!”

“Reita!”

“Rictumsempra!”

“Petrificus totalus”

“Once again, ENOUGH! Petrificus Totalus Multissimo!”

The two students froze in place as Snape walked slowly up toward them.

“Did I not make myself clear yesterday? There is to be no fighting in the halls! One hundred and Fifty Points! From each of you! And detention with Filch all week! Finite Incantatum!” The students stayed frozen in place, one’s arms ready to cast the next spell but seemingly unable to move the other feeling about aimlessly in front of them.

Well? Must I spell it out for you every time? To the Infirmary! And I told you to cut your hair!” The students still did not move, Snape furious stalked up to the boy with short hair and put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

“What? Who’s there? Bill? Go get a professor-“

“Too bad one has already found you.” The student turned his head slowly to look blankly behind him. “H-hello Proffessor.”

“Fifty points, infirmary, now!” Snape barked.

“Professor, I can’t see.”

Snape grumbled and walked toward the other boy, who was unable to move.

“Finite incantatum. Go take your fellow student to to infirmary. Now. And if I catch either of your dueling again you will be having detention with me.” The boy stood there for a moment before scrambling to get the other student and running off.

Snape glowered after them and continued his trek toward some form of sustenance and soon arrived at the main hall. As soon as he neared the open door he stopped. The sound was deafening, a cacophony of drumbeats and rushing rivers sang under the yells and chatter of the morning. He looked up to the head table at Dumbledore and met his eyes. Dumbledore nodded and with all the affirmation he needed Snape turned with a flourish and left, but not before he saw McGonagall's concerned eyes. A thought flashed through his mind that made him rush towards his chambers. The vial, the blood, Mcgonagall had given him yesterday was still in his old robes.

With as fast a walk he could muster without breaking into an unseemly run Snape made his way towards his rooms. He swung open the door so hard it squeaked as its hinges strained. There, his laundry basket, he rushed over and reached in, only to find nothing. It was Wednesday, faculty laundry day. The basket snapped in his hand. He took a deep breath and counted to ten. Everything was fine, he just needed to call the elf assigned to the chambers in the dungeon.

“Lintals!”

With a pop a small female house elf appeared.

“Yes, how can Lintals be helping-“ the words died on her lips when she saw Snape looming over her. All the elves were aware of Snape’s condition, just as they were aware of Remus’. They were fairly sure that they weren’t considered food, fairly sure.

“Lintals, there was a vial in the pocket of my robes last night which I forgot to remove in my injured state. You obtained my laundry this morning, did you see the vial?”

“I believe so Mr Snape sir.”

“You believe so?” Snape whispered icily. Lintals squeaked.

“Lintals saw a few vials this morning sir, Lintals is sure one was yours.”

“Could you please retrieve it for me?”

“Yes Mr Snape sir!” And with a pop the house elf was gone. Snape sat in his chair to wait. Five minutes went by. This was abnormally long for a house elf. Ten minutes. Snape had had enough.

“Brinnie!” There was a pop and another elf appeared. An old old male with a torn ear and wearing old ripped socks students had left behind as arm and leg warmers appeared.

“Yes master Snape?”

“I sent Lintals to get a vial from my clothes and she has not returned. Find out what is going on and get her and my vial!”

With a pop the elf was gone, wasting no time on replies. Less than a minute later there was another pop and both Brinnie and Lintals were back. Lintals was shaking, she was holding onto Brinnie as if for dear life, but Brinnie shook her off and pushed her forward.

“What is the meaning of this? Where is my vial?”

“Mr Snape sir, Lintals found vial sir, but was not sure if it was right vial because there were other vials like it in pile of items from dungeon clothes batch. So so. - so Lintals opened vial to smell but some spilled. Vial was not-not- not full like it was. Lintals needed to find more of liquid like in vial, to replace that what was missing, so she could return it like it was, but Lintals could not figure out what potion was in vial! Bad Lintals! Lintals is bad house elf!” Lintals began to pull her ears in shame.

Snape sighed and held out his hand. Lintals stopped pulling her ears and shakily dropped the vial into his hand and backed away. The vial was ¾ full, Snape sighed, every drop lost was a huge loss, but there was nothing to be done, Doubtless the spill had been cleaned by now and the house elf would just punish itself.

“I am not pleased with this but there is nothing to be done, so refrain from further self injury please. Also next time please bring the vial and ask me instead of opening it….” The potions master pauses, his curiousity coming to the fore. “You can tell which potion belongs to whom by smelling it?” Lintals nodded her head.

“Yessir, other professor has strawberry smelling potion, and another has one that smells like fire, they often forget them in their robes.” Lintals exclaimed proudly. Snape shook his head and as he did he realized he could hear fast drumbeats, and his hunger was gnawing again. Snape looked down at the two house elves, waiting to be dismissed, and had a wrenching realization.

They would do whatever was ordered of them. His stomach turned and growled, audibly. Lintals squeaked and took a step back.

“Would mister Snape sir like some food?”

Snape nodded, a plan forming.

“Yes please bring me some steak, raw. Brinnie, you are dismissed.” With a loud pop both elves were gone. Snape immediately put the reclaimed vial into his bed side table drawer and retrieved another empty vial and waited.

Moments later Lintals returned with a plate of raw steak which Snape indicated she should put on a nearby table, which the elf did shakily.

“May Lintals be going now sir?”

“Not quite yet.” The elf was practically on the verge of fainting. Snape held up the vial. “ I need a small bit of blood for a potion, it can’t very well be mine and I cannot ask a student, would you please provide me with some? About say, the amount you spilled from the other vial?”

“Is Lintals being punished sir?”

“No, you would know if you were.” The elf nodded and with a snap of her fingers there was a bit of red in the vial. “Thank you Lintals, you may go as you wish.” The elf popped out of there before the sentence had finished echoing off the dungeon walls. Snape marked the cork of the vial with a quill and put it next to the other vial, which he removed. He was hungry, it was not the time for finding out what house elf blood did to a vampire, he threw a stasis charm on the new vial and closed the drawer.

He looked between the vial and the raw steak, and sat down at the table. He drained the glass of pumpkin juice brought with the steak and poured a bit of blood from the vial into the cup. He then began to cut up the steak. He eagerly put a piece in his mouth and chewed, and scowled. It was good, and he would most definitely eat it, but there was not enough blood in this to even whet his appetite. He pushed the plate away and picked up the glass. He still did not know whose this was. He smiled, he’d know soon enough, and he sipped from the glass. It was, amazing, akin to a smoky wine. He swallowed, and His entire body tingled with magic. He knew whose this was. He sipped, and almost sighed. It tasted of magic, of mice, and scrolls. He finished the glass, fully sated after the small amount and set to work on the steak. He looked at the nearly full vial and smirked.

“What a generous cat you are, Mcgonagall.”

Over the next week Snape had another sip from the vial. Classes went on as normal, and there were luckily No fights in hallways. That weekend he took another sip after trying the vial from the house elf, which while filling tasted odd and made him mildly nauseous.

The next week was stressful, two Owl level courses had exams, and he had a sip from the vial for each day. That weekend he graded papers and served detention to two students, whom he happily watched scrub cauldrons while having another sip to celebrate and enjoy the tingling sensation of magic in his veins.

The week after he had four sips, because he had to deal with first years, and his senses and reactions were sharper after drinking from the vial. He caught two fire crackers, three almost explosive potions, two fights in the hall, where he deflected spells midway to their target, and one late night wanderer as they left their dorm. He had two sips that weekend so he’d be ready for more the next week.

By then end of the month the vial contained one sip, which he had at the start of the new month after drinking the rest of the house elf blood hungrily.

By the second week of November Snape was starving, more so than before. House Elf blood, student blood, it quelled his thirst, but he yearned for more. He ended up going to breakfast and having barely cooked bacon as he sat next to his donor. He heard the drum of her heart and pushed it out of his head.

“Mcgonagall, is there any way I could obtain another vial for my studies?” He said as nonchalantly as he could.

Mcgonagall looked at Snape surprised.

“Severus that vial should be barely half empty, a bit or two a week should not have depleted it.

“A house elf spilled some retrieving it from my robes after I was injured.”

“Ah, I can have some for you tomorrow morn-“

“This evening please.”

Mcgonagall started, it was unlike Severus to ask for things, let alone make his want apparent by interrupting.

“Are you quite alright Severus?” Severus twitched a bit and looked at Minerva briefly before staring ahead.

“I am fine, just a bit hungry.”

Mcgonagall sincerely doubted that,. So it was four days later at 11:30 pm as she got ready for bed that Mcgonagall was alerted by the measuring charm she had placed on the vial, that it was already over half empty.

Chapter 8 the lioness and the serpent

Snape found himself in his chambers staring at the vial. He had had a sip, he wasn’t hungry, but he needed more. He completely understood what was going on, Minerva was older, her magic aged, powerful, and he was addicted to it. He was trying to decide if he cared and what he was going to do about it. He took another sip. He nearly shuddered, and he frowned at his lack of control, it would not do. He stoppered the vial and looked at it. It had been two weeks, the vial was nearly empty. He sighed and sat down, listening to the heartbeats of the sleeping children nearby. They were peaceful, steady, almost lulling him to sleep, and that’s when he heard it, the louder heart beat. It was stronger, very strong, and it was moving. Snape grabbed his wand and bolted out the door looking for, hopefully, an intruder he could eat.

The changing staircases posed no challenge as he leaped between them, ignoring the gasps of three portraits that were awake. He dashed around a column and followed the heartbeat which was getting louder by the moment. He rounded a corner as the drum neared deafening levels and ran into Mcgonagall carrying an armful of books.

“Severus! What is the matter with you!? Dashing around in the dark like that?!”

“I could ask you the same.” The had drum quieted, but had gotten faster.

“I know the castle well enough to not need a light anymore. What are you doing dashing about like a frantic fox?”

“I thought I heard something, it was apparently, just a cat with some books.” Snape looked at the titles. “Bindals guide to vampires, hmmm doing some research on me? Are you scared perhaps?”

Severus held out his arm letting the professor pass and walked along side her to her quarters.

“Nonsense. I would just like to know how to help you better.” Severus could hear her heart beat hold steady at a fast pace when it should have been slowing, was she lying or just scared?

“Surely you could just ask me.”

“If every organism knew all there was to know about itself it would be a perfect world, alas that is almost never the case.”

“I must agree with you there.”

“Besides I already know what you’d ask of me.”

Mcgonagall waved her hand and opened the door to her quarters.

“What pray tell do you think I’d ask for?”

“More,” Mcgonagall paused as if unsure how to say what came next tactfully “….food.”

“I once again must agree. Good night Minerva and good luck with your research.”

“Good night to You as well Severus.” The professor went to close her door but found it being held open by a rather strong grip. “Severus?”

“You should be.”

“Excuse me?”

Severus blinked once as if coming out of a daze.

“You should be getting to bed soon. Do not stay up all night.”

Mcgonagall looked at Snape concernedly, she nodded and closed the door. Somehow she doubted that that’s what he was going to say.

Severus stood outside the door a for few minutes listening to the loud powerful drumbeat inside the room. He had made up his mind. He quickly stalked back down to his chambers, he was hungry.

Later that night Minerva got a second alert from the measuring charm, the vial was empty.

Severus spent his following nights in a meticulous order from then on. He graded papers. He drank half a vial of Lintals blood and Obliviated her. He followed Mcgonagall from the shadows. He practiced using his skills and read on vampire lore. And he waited.

He was genial and normal to Mcgonagall during the day, he could see her slowly relaxing as time passed, but always he could tell where she was, always hear the drumbeat when she was near.

Mcgonagall on the other hand was acutely aware that something was off. Snape had yet to ask for more blood and besides the occasional twitch when startled by her was acting normal, which

was decidedly not normal in such a predicament.

Minerva gave Severus another vial later that week and her concern was proven justified when her measuring charm told her the vial was half empty that very night, and empty the next. She began to have an idea of what was going on.

That night she paced her chambers undecided, if she went to Dumbledore, or anyone for that matter Snape would be mortified. If she did not alert someone she or Snape could get seriously hurt. She tapped her chin, and decided on a late night prowl to mull things over.

Meanwhile Snape was in the dungeon practicing the transfiguration professor’s craft, putting in one final night of practice of turning into mist and shadow.

Both went to bed that night with machinations and decisions being decided.

The next day Mcgonagall came to Snape with some papers.

“Hello Severus. There is a Gryffindor student who needs to be excused from potions until he can get his anti-allergy charms set up. There was a misunderstanding about appointments at st mungos and he will have to miss you class for a week or two. This needs your signature.”

“Very well Minerva. Give me a moment.” Snape scrawled his name quickly across the bottom and handed the parchment back. Before he could say anything else Mcgonagall had turned the proverbial tail and left. Snape stared and listened to a drum only he could hear.

Back in her quarters the professor lifted the illusion on the top part of the paper and nodded satisfied. After filing it away she went about the next part of her plan.

That evening Snape stalked the corridors as usual,

Passing slytherin dorms first, then up to ravenclaw, down to hufflepuff, and back toward the start toward griffindor, and Mcgonagall. Outside the door he breathed deeply and listened. The drumbeat inside was steady, his quarry slept. Another small beat pattered away in the room, perhaps ms Norris has chosen to sleep with a fellow cat tonight. He’d take care of the cat if it woke.

With another deep breath he relaxed and willed himself inside the door, turning into a fine mist and

wafting through the cracks. As he coalesced on the other side he could feel the slight tingle of a trapping charm, that wasn’t being activated due to his miasmic state. He mentally smiled, his quarry was smart, but not smart enough. He flowed forward and began to reform beside the bed from whence the drum beat came. Mcgonagall was completely under her covers, he carefully peeled back the top to reveal….nothing. A knot grew in his stomach as he pulled the blanket back farther still to reveal a drum, a beating charm causing it to reverberate rhythmically. He turned to flee but too late; a field of force surrounded him on all sides with no space for even mist to escape. He heard a rustling of blankets and turned.

In the corner a cat stretched and stepped out of a cat bed before taking a step into Mcgonagall’s form. She stood dressed in a night gown with wand at her side. She looked at Severus who returned her gaze with utter loathing tinged with respect. Minerva shook her head.

“I am truly sorry Severus, this is all my fault.” And with a quick stupefy that was all the potions master knew.

Chapter 9 chess

Snape awoke stiff and dazed. He sat completely still, moving his eyes underneath his lids instead of blinking and keeping his body relaxed as if he was still unconscious. He quickly began to take notes of his surroundings from his other senses.

He was tied to a chair, with chain. He didn’t know with what type of chain or what type of chair without flexing, Which might alert his….captor. He mentally snarled. Mcgonagall. The crafty cat.

He checked his possessions next. His locket,which contained a very specific poison that had three uses depending on how taken, was gone, as was his wand, the potions he carried with him in his robe at all times, the empty vials, and the syringe. Even the flat medallion he kept underneath the skin on his left arm, the one which gave his body a pulse and heartbeat, was gone. Its counterpart which gave him mild protection from the sun and allowed him to eat food was gone as well. In fact so was his robe. He was wearing his suit. He couldn’t hide any actions underneath it, not even knee movement or flexing he might have used to loosen his bonds. He cursed mentally. The cat was good. She was a member of the order after all, but he had never given her this much credit.

He began to take note of surroundings. He listened. Nothing. No Heartbeats. No noise of children. Nothing. No clues as to where he was, which in itself was a clue, but it also meant he was alone. He opened his eyes. The room was pitch black, which was fine with him. There was a chair across from him, a good 10 feet out of reach, with a side table covered in metal vials, and some potions he couldn’t make out inside their black opaque containers. There were two beds, one with chains and no covers, the other reeked of garlic with a smaller cat bed beside it as well as a bed side table with various amenities. There was a metal chest in the corner, with no key hole but most likely tightly locked. Above the chest was some type of oval, a mirror probably.

Against the far wall were two more sets of chain, above which hung various metal and wood rods at least 10 feet in length, some of the wooden ones had points.

The only area which was concealed was a small room, next to the wall of vampiric hell, which held a toilet and wash basin. There were chains in the washroom as well.

Every single piece of metal was either silver, or iron, or some combination there of.

Above the entrance hung a wreath of wolfsbane, Hawthorne, and various religious symbols, at which he sneered openly.

Snape strained. The chair was welded to the floor, and made of iron, as were the chains. There was a faint sound from the doorway, and Snape swung his gaze toward it. As he did wet hair hit his face. He had been washed. Without his special soaps or conditioners, he would not be protected from sunlight, nor would he shed a reflection. He quickly looked at the opaque bottles again, bottled sunlight. He cursed. The clear ones would probably contain spring water, from the spring blessed by Merlin.

The sound was turning into footsteps. Snape quickly let himself go limp as the door opened.

With a flick Mcgonagall lit up the torches in the room.

“Don’t even bother Severus. The chair has a weight charm on it, I was alerted when you moved.”

Snape cursed mentally again and sat up.

“And what, pray tell is this?”

“Detox, as the muggles call it.”

“That will take weeks, I am sure I will be missed.”

With a flick a paper appeared in Mcgonagalls hand. Snape peered at it and nodded, trying not to look impressed.

“And the child who needed his allergy charms from saint mungos?”

“Never existed, an excuse to obtain your signature for a leave of absence paper.”

“Which I’m sure you’re personally giving to Dumbledore?”

“Oh goodness no.” With a flick of her wand the paper vanished. “It is on his desk.”

Snape mentally cursed again. Dumbledore would know something was amiss if he didn’t deliver the paper himself, But it just appearing on his desk was something Dumbledore wouldn’t question. Of course, Dumbledore, the brilliant old manipulator, would probably not intervene if Minerva handed it to him, he’d guess in a moment what was going on. Snape sighed inwardly. He didn’t want that, want his friend to guess he had fallen so low. The fact that he did not sense the old cat’s duplicity when she handed him the paper was a testament to how distracted he had become, his legilimancy should have given him some slight alert. Still, he was grateful she did not alert Dumbledore, even if it deprived him of a chance for escape.

“Thank you.”

Minerva nodded and sat down across from him.

“So what were you going to do with my body?”

Severus mentally started. He had never seen the old witch so, bold.

“I…. had a number of options upon which I had not decided.” Minerva merely sat and waited for him to continue. He Decidedly did not wish to. Not only because it was awkward, but because there was still a very slight chance he could pull it off. “So I am in your chamber?”

“Yes, my Untraceable Chamber.” Only members of the order had access to this chamber, a counterpart to the room of requirement, it required a password, and each member had their own private password which opened a different room. multiple saferooms or interrogation chambers could be in use at once, and be kept secret and secure if there was betrayal. “I suppose this might have been where you would have taken me, had you decided to keep me alive?” Mcgonagall pursed her lips in distaste.