#ANYWAY Trelawny is fine

[gwidien]

i wonder how much of an act it was when trelawny alluded to—i assume it was, anyway—marital problems in rdo. like, in my head, there may have been problems with his constant disappearing act. and though i know some think that whenever trelawny is not with the gang, then he's with his family, i disagree. he mentions several times he has business elsewhere and he has numerous shady contacts throughout different cities and states. he clearly moves around a lot.

in the cutscene, he seems caught off-guard and not fully himself. he asks your player character, "did mrs. t send you?" then goes on this spiel about how he can't take it anymore, rescinding that to says he's a lost soul. i'm sure there's some put-on performance here, but i also wonder if this was self-awareness of his criminal compulsions, tendencies, and, perhaps, his inability to help himself from his temptations. that, maybe, there was some issue between trelawny and his wife because of his criminal lifestyle, and how they interfere with his marriage and his family.

it wouldn't be the first time trelawny mentions this, either. in the base game, he tells arthur that he knows arthur saw him with his wife in town, then says how he loves her, but how he can't sit still. trelawny says, "oh, she's fine... she knows who she married," but when arthur questions whether or not she truly does, trelawny seems to deflate and admits that, no, she probably doesn't.

trelawny is fully aware of the negative effect he has on his loved ones.

all of this is to say that, by the end, with all the infighting, deaths, and the downfall of the gang, and with him leaving camp for good knowing the law is hot on their tail, i want to say trelawny finally gets his wake up call and prioritizes his family above all else. i like to say that he goes back home after that goodbye and after having watched the gang, a once-family of their own, disintegrate. i like to think he learns what truly is the most important, family, and that they should be treated that way. post-game, i want to believe trelawny and his family leave saint denis, starting a new life elsewhere, and that he becomes the more-present father and husband he always should have been.

tl;dr: i think trelawny had a not-so-ideal (for his wife) but better-than-he-deserved marriage by always disappearing on his wife and young boys. after the events of the game, he finally treats his family the way he always should have.

[thewaterisblackwithvenom]

Rockstar might’ve killed like literally all my favs, except. We are never told that anything bad happens to Trelawny. So. At least I still have my magic man 😔✌🏽

[x-xenn]

❐ ▏ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐍 𝐱 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑.

❐ ▏ 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐈.

❐ ▏ 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 : @charliedakotariley.

❐ ▏ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 [ 𝐒 ] : 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨��.

❐ ▏ Could I request a one-shot / headcanons with male reader x Arthur Morgan where a reader was doing some work alone far far away from the gang (camp) and got really badly hurt (it doesn't really matter If he fought a bear, wolf, or some a*sholes)?

He lost his eye, his cheek is badly cut or ripped so his teeth are visible and it's unfixable, his throat is badly cut too, but not like he would bleed out. He has broken ribs, arm, and basically... he looks like a train ran him over.

And because he's a lucky mf, somebody on his way home helped him (they did a "decent" job), and when he got back he tries to hide his injuries from everybody, but mainly from Arthur. Most of the time when he's eating he's inside his tent, hiding, or away but near the camp, so he wouldn't be in sight of others. But one day, when he's trying to wash himself (suffers from pain like crazy), he doesn't notice Arthur and Arthur, already nervous bc he doesn't know why is reader avoiding him, starts to panic even more and take care of a reader with tears in his eyes because a reader really looks like 💩?

He's taller than Arthur so it would be funny to see Arthur take care of a reader, his big baby.

" ya sure you're going to be alright ?. "

" i'll be fine Arthur stop worrying, i've done this plenty of times. "

" sure, but i've got a bad feeling bout' this one, maybe i should go with you. "

you smiled at his answer, he's never been worried this much before, on you going out for a job. it's true that you would leave every few weeks or so to do jobs here and there, similar to Trelawny. but because of demands of a certain cowboy, you're trips are cut shorter than Trelawny's. guess he can't survive long without you, don't he ?.

you were talking in your tent that you shared together, he's helping you pack the things you needed. not much stuff you packed, but he still likes helping. he's been following you around all day around camp, watching you do things. but you would end up exposing him anyway, making him sit beside you and have evening tea together.

well maybe you missed each other a lot, it's been 2 months since you saw one another. you still write for each other sometimes, but letters don't get around that fast. and these past week you've been catching up again. you bring a lot with you when you return, money and gold bars for camp, gifts, hugs and kisses for Arthur.

Arthur was the first to greet you when you got back, it's a coincidence that he's at camp and not out in town. he was so happy about it, he hugged you for a good 30 seconds before letting go. this time your scent is different, you're wearing the perfume he gave you. sure it's not as expensive as the other perfumes you have, but you said you liked it a lot. it really makes him smile.

you bought this hat and scarf for Arthur, and it did cost a bit. but it'll look great on him. he always did wondered what you do out there to get this much money, sure you told him the big picture, but he wants details. no wonder you seem to have an endless supply of good quality perfume on you, you were earning this much.

but there's something you hate about bringing that much money. it's like Dutch is taking all of it, his tent always gets upgraded first, he wears fancy vests and has expensive guns. that's why you only gave 40 % to ' camp ', and save the rest for everybody else. split it even, and it's good that they're quiet about it. let's stop focusing on the leader and more to the people yeah ?.

" who would look after camp then ? who would save Dutch's ass when he angers someone ? or Reverend walking around town while drunk and making bad decisions ?. "

Arthur huffed at that. he always have to save someone's ass from getting beaten, it's tiring honestly. he's literally the camp's lifeline.

you kissed his temple, rubbing his back to assure him. " it's going to be alright Arthur, i promise you i'll return like always. "

" safely... safely right ?... "

you left around midnight, with a still sleepy Arthur saying goodbye with a kiss. he went back to sleep afterwards, he still has work to do in the morning, he needs all the rest he could take.

this is going to be another big job, but as usual it involves rich higher ups. they've got several weed farms, and they sell it all over the states. surely they've got few bucks to spare, it's far less compared to what they earned regularly.

you took your horse and made your way outside of camp, and saying goodbye to Sean because he was on guard duty. " [ name ], bring back strong alcohol this time f' me. "

" you and Karen drink too much, but i can't promise you anything Sean. "

" but you would bring anything f' Arthur ! how's dat fair ?. "

" calm down Sean, everyone's sleeping. and you know Arthur is kind of biased. " with a chuckle, you watch Sean laughed his ass off at that remark. damn, he's going to wake everyone up.

" hell yeah he is, by you at least. the man can't spend a day without at least day dreamin bout ya. "

Hosea and John would often say to you that Arthur often zone out a lot if you're away, for a good 30 minutes if not disturbed. Arthur would often zone out when he's alone or in his tent, but he can't escape they eyes of Hosea. he knows everything...

" alright Sean, see ya in a few weeks. "

" don't forget to stay alive, poor Arthur can't take it if he lost ya.. "

" i'll try my best. "

not much happened on the journey to get there, well you almost got robbed few times, but instead of getting robbed, you ended up robbing them. those guys really lack skill and stealth. they sounded like they're still in their teens, around 16 or 17, looks like they've only done this few times. their posture is not at all confident and they did too much talking.

this world is a wild west. everyone is just trying making a living.

some towns are worse than what you thought. no sheriffs, criminals every where, ordinary people are being swept. they're treated like maids and often got beaten up. they also don't treat visitors well, so you didn't bother to stay long.

though when you made it to your destination, people tend to look and whisper to one another, then coming up to you, offering some kind of product. you know it's a scam, either the product is shite or there's no product at all.

new comers are usually looked down upon by the rich in this specific town. mine owners, factory owners, oil miners, gown designers, inventors, professional makeup artist and so on. these people have high manners, high demeanor, really fancy people live here.

but alas, if there's up then there is down.

people in the lower section are smart in this town. they'll pull up every excuse they have for an opportunity to earn money, they offer products, services and other kind. they will pull up nasty tricks to one another even if they're blood related. it's everyone for themselves.

they see new comers as opportunity, to trick and grab all their money, sweep them off the ground and kick them off town. they don't really think about the consequences, it's only money they see. it's a pity really. but with you being a new comer in this town, they can't help but try their luck.

" good evening there kind gentleman, would you care for a look at my magnificent horse i have just in store ?. "

you looked at the man right beside your horse while you're still looking around town. he looked clean, freshly cleaned, maybe he just showered ? or is he just putting up clothes to look like a horse dealer ?.

" no thank you, my horse is just fine. "

with that you left him in his demise, your horse didn't seem to like him either. you're not here to dilly dally around, it's big town. full of rich people. and who are you to pass this chance up ?.

they didn't dare to try their luck on the rich. 90 % of their attempts are resulted in some very bad beating. the rich knows what their up to, so they eventually back off. and being a new comer has it's advantages. people here has never seen you, it's a big plus.

" now to find that farm... i'm sure it's around here. "

the plan was simple enough. learn their schedules, apply as one of the new workers, when break time came, sneak in the main house or mansion as they say it, and grab the prize.

you still have a week before you have to apply, so on day 1 you need a place to stay for the next month.

learning their schedule is not an easy task. guards are everywhere around the farm and is watching all the time, you ended up paying a few people for information. they didn't have much either, but you'll get to know their full schedule in a matter of time...

" your name ?. "

" Irving Graham. "

the person in front of you stopped writing and turned up to look at you. he examined you features and your clothing. " fancy name you have. "

first impression is everything they say, and right they are.

coming in to this town with ordinary commoner's look is a great idea, now you're blending in with the crowd just fine. dressing a bit fancy would give you too much attention, they would mistook you for some rich folk with money for shoes and would love some of your richness.

dressing like an outlaw would put you in everyone's blacklist. they're too fancy to deal with people who break laws all the time. and dressing poorly would gain a lot of bad attention.

" well what can i say... my ma sure have an interesting taste. " you heard his chuckle at your statement, this guy seem to be the chill type.

" she sure does, anyway... considering that we're currently low on workers, you're in. you can start in 3 days. "

" thank you, much appreciated. "

" alright, i think that's all i need... "

you put all the things you needed in to your bag and carried it with you. you're going to have to adapt to this life style for a few weeks, getting to know the area better, making a good impression and gaining their trust.

arriving early has it's advantages, you actually get to talk to one of the supervisors about this whole thing. he's surprisingly a friendly guy, though he still didn't spill anything. ' these people are very loyal... that's surprising... considering most of this town's populations are back stabbing folks... this is not going to be easy. '

first day was not bad, people were mostly minding their own business and just doing their job. most didn't bother you with asking questions but some did ask a little bit too much for a first meeting, much to your dismay. you're gonna have to make up a lot of story...

" you here all alone ?. "

" yeah.. didn't have much to offer back in my place, this is a new start. "

" well that's nice, don't shy away if ya lonely here, my place is not far from here. "

" thanks, i'll consider that. "

so far so good, 7 days in. people started talking with you more, seeing that you're a chill and approachable person. they like to joke a lot during breaks, very laid back people. 7 days in and it's time to start sneaking in. rounding the main house and locating the safes, locating where the keys are and slipping by without notice.

the safes are located in the basement and there's tons of them. the entrance is guarded with 2 people, but they take breaks every now and then. the keys are held by the owner of this farm, he comes by to check on the workers every 4 hours, not wanting them to slack even the littlest.

he's not a man with many words, and sweet talking him wont work in any way. so he's a lost cause. but you should be able to get in the basement without sweet talking him, you just have to be more prepared.

a month in and you're ready. people are not as tense with you, you know the round and turns of the main house, the schedules of the guards and where the needed keys are. if you did this right, the safes are all yours..

this is it.

it's already night and workers are sent home. the guards are rounding the main house and the owner is currently in panic. he had ' lost ' his key to the safes. well, more like you took it when he went to check on the workers. but he doesn't need to know that..

the workers are checked before they went home, and none found the key. you had store it somewhere inside the house, making it easier for you to slip by out the house easier. it's also isin't a hard place to get, they just didn't see it.

you sneak past the guards that was pointing their light at the farm, they're still looking for the key apparently. the door to the main house isin't locked, but you would be a fool to go through the main door, guards will pop up in your face less then a second.

the back door is your best bet, good thing you learned how to pick simple locks. the hallways are mostly empty, but people would walk by and you're forced to hide in one of the rooms. the main house is really big, but most of the rooms are useless and empty. ' they surely won with the looks, but they lack efficiency... '

you quietly went through the halls, spotting a big painting of a horse. " there you are... " walking close to the painting you pulled the painting a bit forward and grabbing the key that was about to fall. the key to the safe.. you continued your way down to the basement without notice, people must be tired at this hour, barely anyone here. when you got to the basement, the guards aren't there. " must be searching to the key as well, perfect timing... "

maybe it isin't a perfect timing afterall.

now you're hiding. up on a tree with a bag full of gold and your shotgun in hand. it didn't went well. you were caught right as you're about to escape to the back door, you were forced to kill 3 guards that was about to shoot you. but these guards are something else, maybe that's why they have high paychecks.

well, Arthur was feeling uneasy about this one, he was right.

you have to stop the blood flowing somehow, you don't want it to drip rapidly and lead them to your hiding. you removed your cloth mask and fold them, then putting it around your head. covering your left eye. that was a lucky shot they have. " shit... "

you're already feeling dizzy from the shot and the lost of blood, but you can't give up now. it'll be fucking funny to see a corpse dangling on a tree, and you can't leave Arthur all alone. poor boy's going to cry his eyes out. just, not yet. not now.

" they're clearing up a bit.... i should move.. "

you dropped down from the tree and began moving away. you can't really run, hitting a tree would be embarrassing. crouching isin't pleasant, but you can't risk getting caught now, your horse is close by.

you put all your stuff on your horse and mounted him. " come on boy, let's go.. "

trying to loose them is hard, because they started searching on a wider scale. but you're experienced in this, you can and will slip away. you have to find shelter soon, this bleeding eye is going to be the death of you. and you don't want to die. not yet at least, Arthur is waiting..

it's night time, and the trees are providing great cover. but you can see the light of the lanterns that they carry at a distance, they're still too close for your liking.

you feel like you're about to pass out, the cloth on your eye is completely soaked, you're doomed if you don't fix this. you started to look around, nothing other than trees are in your field of sight. no shelter. maybe it would've been better if you bring Arthur along...

slowly but surely you started to distance yourself from them, the light is no longer in sight, it's a relief. but with your condition like this, you can't travel far. not to mention the risk of getting attacked by wild animals.

speaking of wild animals, you heard rustling in front of you. you horse came to a halt, you can't clearly see what's ahead of you, but you could see the silhouette of a bear...

" now is not the time for this... "

you opened your eyes slowly, you feel bandages covering your left eye and mouth. another around your chest, stomach and left arm. you were lying on a bed in a simple shack. your whole body feels sore, and you're very tired. what happened exactly ?, last time you remembered was you're about to face a bear and... well, it looks like it didn't end well.

you tried sitting up but the door to the room you're in opened. revealing a casual dressed man holding a wooden tray with soup. " now now, your wound is still healing, don't move too much... "

you lied back down slowly, who is this guy ? did he save you during the fight ?. whoever he is, you can't ask him now, your cheek is still healing...

" you might be wondering who am i, my name is Gabriel. and i found ya barely surviving the bear that just attacked you, you were really roughed up. " Gabriel put down the tray beside you on the bedside table, he grabbed bandages from a cabinet and walked back to you.

" let me change the bandage around chest, before you eat. " he carefully helped you sit up and began undoing the bandage around your chest. it was a sight indeed, gashes are all over the place, it hurted a lot when you sit up so you've definitely broken some of your ribs. your left arm was not in a good shape too, your left wrist hurt a lot. that bear really did a lot.

" and you're still in a bad shape, i tried my best fixing you up, but i'm no doctor. " he finished bandaging your chest and unwrapped the bandage around your mouth, cheek and throat. your right arm moved to touch your left cheek, and it's way bad than you thought. it was ripped open, showing some of your teeth. your throat feels sore, the bear sure did leave a lot of love bites..

" i know you can't really chew, but you gotta eat. i made this soup for ya. your stuff is beside the bed if you're wondering, your horse is outside. what have you done ? you've got a load in your bag, don't worry i didn't take any, i want no part in this, also people have been looking for a man named Irving, is that you ?. "

you don't trust this man, but he's been helping you. or so it seems. and he said that he didn't mess with your stuff. you nodded your head at him, in which he replied with a smile. " alright then. "

you stayed under his care for the next month, your thoughts are at the fullest. thinking about how long it's going to take for your recovering, will those people found you eventually ?, what would camp think about this ?. what would Arthur think about this ?... he would be grossed out for sure, well... it's to be expected when you got back..

when you're able to talk properly again you told Gabriel a little about yourself, about the load in your bag. Gabriel is a rare one for sure, he helped you with all his might and he's true to his words. he didn't take any of the gold and he took care of your horse. he didn't tell anybody that you're here. not many like him in a place like this, and you are truly lucky to be in his care...

you helped him around on his daily chores when you're able to walk again, it's a small thank for his kindness. your last letter from Arthur was when you're about to execute the plan, which has been some time, and you haven't got the time to write for him again. what would you tell him anyway ?, everything's fine and you're okay ? you don't feel like lying to Arthur like that, you're literally half dead ? he'll be worried sick. adding more to his stress..

you're feeling better by the end of the month, most of your wounds have healed up, but the scars are still visible. the bullet in your eye is already out, but the nasty scar is still there. the gash on your left cheek are at least covered, the stitches did well for now...

" i'm gonna... pack up for tomorrow... "

Gabriel stopped wiping the table as he looked at you, sitting across from him holding a letter. " leaving already ? but you haven't fully healed yet... you've got someone waiting for ya, don't ya ?. "

you chuckled at his remark. " what gave it away ?. "

" you've been reading that letter over and over again these past weeks, surely it means a lot to ya. "

" well... it does mean a lot to me, and i have to get back to him. before he kills me himself... "

" leave it for him to decide your fate, you're gone for some time now. "

the next morning you started to get your things ready and putting your bag on your horse. Gabriel gave you food for the journey back home, he said that you started to grew on him... and you figured you'd give him something back.

" take it. " you gave him 2 bars of gold from your heist.

" but what for ? i said i want nothing to do with this. "

" just take it, as a token of appreciation from me. ya helped me get better and this is all i could give ya for the time being. there's another town a bit away from here to trade it with money if you want. "

Gabriel took a moment to look at you, you could tell he wanted to reject this, but this would help him a lot. " just take it Gabriel, i know you need it.. "

with that Gabriel took the bars, " thank you, really. " you pulled Gabriel to a hug, you patted him back as he laughs at the action. " see ya around partner.. "

" until next time.. "

" [ name ] ? son, is that you ?. "

Hosea was the first to notice your arrival, it was around noon when you got here. though you have bandages around your left arm, hat on and cloth covering your face, he still recognized you..

you tipped your hat downwards, signaling Hosea this is you. he sighed in relief and came closer towards you as you dismount your horse. there's not a lot people in camp, they're probably out and about. you're lucky that they're still staying here...

" what happened ? you've been gone longer than anticipated. " Hosea took a second to look properly at you up and down. your clothes are clean, but you have bandages all around your left arm and eye, though you have scratches all over you, some were deep that it's stitched... Hosea looked at you worriedly, what have you been up to ?.

" a lot happened old man... " your voice sounded hoarse, something Hosea is new at. Hosea didn't ask about the cloth mask that you're wearing, he has a hunch on what happened to your eye. you're in a hard position right now, he's going to let you recover for the time being. mentally...

" set yourself down for now, Arthur and the rest should be back in a minute. " Hosea softly patted your back and walked with you to your shared tent with Arthur, though as you walked by, other people in camp began noticing.

" woah [ name ]... what happen to ya man ?. " Sean who just left his tent looked at you, he looked like he just woken up.

" i'm all good Sean. "

" well ya surely don't look like it. "

you reached your tent and began rearranging all your stuff. while Dutch is out you can use this time to split the money to everyone here and gave the rest later on. so you started rounding around, giving people their share of the gold without saying much, they were thankful once again...

how are you going to tell Arthur about this ? your whole face almost being tore open by a bear... what if he's disgusted by you ? would he ?.

you're back in your tent, still not having the confidence to face everyone without your mask on. Hosea probably told them to leave you alone for now, because everyone didn't ask you anything about your mask and eye... they could tell how bad it is by your hoarse voice, they're also aren't brave enough to ask in case you get mad.

to add up more to your anxiety, you hear chatter and footsteps outside. they're back already. you exited your tent still with your mask on, but you bumped heads with Arthur who was just about to enter. he pushed you back in the tent and gave you a tight hug. " you didn't reply my last letter... "

" sorry... "

Arthur was taken aback by your voice, he looked up at you with concern in his eyes. " what happened to your voice... and eye ?. " Arthur's hand reached up to your face, about to take your mask off. but you grabbed his hand...

" just... not yet Arthur, i'm... still processing all of this... "

" r-right... of course.. "

you could tell that Arthur is disappointed, but you're still very self conscious of your whole face now that it's messed up. you're going to take some time to reveal you're face to Arthur, you can't imagine what his expression is going to be. how can't he be disgusted ?, even you didn't like it. can't wait until the whole gang find out, it's going to be one hell of a day.

you continued doing chores throughout the week, minus going to town. you hunted, feed the horses, and offered miss Grimshaw to help around with washing clothes and other chores, at least you're doing something than just lay around and do nothing. hunting is hard with only one eye, but you didn't disappoint anyone when you managed to catch 2 dears.

you tried avoiding people in camp as much as you can, especially Arthur. it's probably better this way for now.

little Jack has come up to you while you were fishing close to camp. he asked what happened to your eye, in which you didn't reply the specifics but you said " it's alright Jack, my eye just hurts. "

" wouldn't it better if mama take a look at it ? she's pretty good with bandaging wounds... "

" you don't have to worry Jack, i patched it up just fine. "

you went back to the river few days later, wanting to wash up a little bit, and change the bandage around your eye. you didn't know why but your eye decided to be a bitch and bleed today, the bleeding should've stopped by now. you were too busy to notice that Arthur was following you, he stopped a few feet away from you. but he went closer, he didn't want his lover to suffer alone...

" so it's ripped ?.... your cheek.. "

you flinched when Arthur put his hand on your shoulder, but relaxed right away. one thing disappoint you, he found out by himself, because you were such a coward to reveal it to him. " yeah... it's a long story... but this is what i look now. it's okay if you're disgusted by it, i am too... "

Arthur sat down beside you and grabbed the bandage on your hand, he helped bandage your left eye while you sit there, watching him work his magic. " don't be silly, you've seen me in my worst and you're still here with me till this day. don't think that this would would keep you away from me. "

you gave him a tiny smile, he really does know how to comfort you. you chuckled though when you found out that he was holding his tears in, his glossy eye can't lie. " don't cry Arthur, it's not very manly of you. "

Arthur chuckled and finish up the bandage around your eye, he wiped his eye with the sleeve of his coat and faced you again. taking in your still handsome features even if you're face is messed up. you're still the same person he loved and cared for all those years until now. and that's not about to change anytime soon.

" ya know you could've just told me... "

" i didn't know how you would react to it, it scared me t' death.. "

" don't be so scared, the most i would do is kill ya if you don't tell me anything.. "

" see ? exactly... "

" still, you're the same person i fell for all those years... and ya stayed with me when i'm at my lowest. it's only fair if i do the same to you, so please... don't avoid me on situations like this, i'll start to think that you're sick of me... "

" i would never do that to ya Arthur, you're to precious to let go. "

Arthur chuckled at that. " you big baby... " he grabbed your neck and pulled you closer him, bringing you to a kiss.

© x-xenn

ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʀᴇꜰʀᴀɪɴ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ꜱᴛᴇᴀʟɪɴɢ, ᴘʟᴀɢɪᴀʀɪᴢɪɴɢ / ᴜꜱɪɴɢ ᴀɴʏ ᴏꜰ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋꜱ. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪꜱʜ ᴛᴏ ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛᴇ ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ᴀꜱᴋ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ.

[ttuesday]

Okay. Hear me out.

How would Arthur who is so god damn clueless take to just not getting hints that f!Reader WANTS him like WANTS wants.

Someone asks if he’s clueless or plain not interested. “Interested in what?”

Y/n!!!!

Arthur: Oh.... well she’s awful.... ah...cute (he won’t say tempting). Hm.... she’s been pretty snuggly recently too but it’s gettin cold..... -thinks about it for a moment - why’d ya ask?

And finally that someone is just like DUMB ASS. SHE WANTS TO #squeaky toy sound# you!!!!!!

Smexy Arthur NSFW moment where it hits him like a ton of bricks and ALL THE SIGNALS are just flipping through his head like his damn life is flashing before his eyes and he has to find you RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.

I. LOVE. THIS. OMG. OK

It’s Obvious

word count: 975 approx.

(I was gonna do this NSFW but decided to keep it PG but I can always do a steamy part 2 lol)

The job went off without a hitch. You and Arthur rode back to camp with money in your satchels and smiles on your faces.

You both slowed as ye approached the hitching post on the outskirts of camp. Arthur dismounted his horse first but as you dismounted your trusty steed, your foot slipped. "Ah!" you tried to grab the horse's saddle but you failed to grasp it in time.

"Woah there" quick on his feet, Arthur caught you before you could fall into the dirt below. He wrapped his strong arm around your waist and steadied you.

"You alright?" he chuckled, amused by your clumsiness. You could feel your face go red "I, uh, yeah I'm fine". You planted your feet on the ground but Arthur kept his arm around you. "Y'sure?" he asked, a small smile still on his face. 

For a second, you stared at him, momentarily getting lost in his deep blue eyes. You glanced down at his lips before you forced yourself to look away. "Yeah I'm fine," you repeated, stepping away from him "I'll go put the gang's share in the donations box". You gave Arthur a tight smile before turning on your heels and walking away.

Christ, why did you always have to be so goddamn awkward around him? He's just so attractive, you can't help but get flustered whenever he’s near. You unfortunately reminded yourself of the time you got drunk at Sean's return party and tried to flirt with Arthur. You didn't speak to him for a week after that but luckily, you don't think he even realized you were trying to flirt with him.

Arthur sighed as he walked in the opposite direction. He walked through the middle of camp, only stopping when he heard Hosea call him over to a table. As Arthur approached, Hosea folded the newspaper he was reading and smiled at the younger outlaw. "How was your date?" he asked.

Arthur let out a small huff as he broke eye contact "That wasn't a date, we were robbing some fools Trelawny told us about". 

"You two have been off robbing a lot of fools lately," Hosea observed "you make quite the duo". 

Arthur sighed as he sat down at the table "Hosea, it ain't like that". 

"Maybe it's not like that for you..." Hosea trailed off. Arthur didn't reply immediately, instead he let the words sink in. He scrunched up his face, the answer seemed so obvious but he asked Hosea anyways "What's that supposed to mean?".

Hosea gave him a sympathetic smile "I know you like to pretend to be the big dumb cowboy but you ain't that dumb... she likes you and before you ask, yes I mean in a 'more than friends' way".

Arthur shook his head “Nah, she don’t think of me like that”. Hosea slowly stood, holding his newspaper in his hands “Just think about it Arthur, it’s obvious”. And with that, Hosea walked off to find a quiet place to continue his reading.

Arthur stayed seated at the table, deep in thought. He swivelled his head as he scanned camp to find you. You were by Dutch’s tent, nodding your head as Dutch recited a quote from the dearly cherished Evelyn Miller. 

Arthur didn’t believe what Hosea said. You were smart, witty, capable, had a good moral code and absolutely gorgeous. He was convinced you were out of his league.

Arthur adjusted the hat on his head as he thought back to all the robberies the two of you had been doing recently. Sure, sometimes there was some subtle touches and lingering gazes but Arthur thought that he was the only one that felt a spark between the two of you. He thought that maybe you liked him at Sean’s party but his hopes were dashed when you never mentioned it afterwards. 

He looked over at you again. You smiled at something Dutch said before bowing your head and walking away. As you walked away, Arthur thought that maybe you didn’t think he reciprocated your feelings. He felt a sudden surge of panic.

What if you thought he wasn’t interested and now you were moving on to someone else? Arthur stood and began to walk after you. What if he missed his chance to be with you? He picked up his pace as these thought swirled around his brain.

You turned your head at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Hey Arthur,” you smiled at him. Arthur didn’t say anything as he continued to move closer to you. Your smile momentarily faltered, curious if something was wrong.

In those precious moments, Arthur pushed all his doubt and self esteem issues out of his mind. There was only one thing he was focused on. He caught you off guard as he cupped your face and passionately kissed you. 

It took you a few seconds to comprehend what was happening before you slowly began to kiss him back, wrapping your arms around the back of his neck. Arthur moved forward, his lips still entangled with yours. You moaned softly as your back pressed against the trunk of a tree.

Just before you could deepen the kiss, Arthur pulled away to look at you. “I want you” he said in a husky voice. You wanted to melt under his touch. That was all you’ve ever wanted to hear him say and finally, he’s said it. You kissed him again, pulling him closer so he sandwiched your body against the tree. “I want you too” your voice was just above a whisper, still astonished by his actions. Arthur smiled before kissing you again, knowing that this was the start of something beautiful.

[rebullets]

Sledding!

Dutch wouldn't want to go down, telling you to go with Jack or to drag Molly off onto the sled. But, you would convince him. He would sit behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist as you go zooming down the hill, wind whipping through your hair... and crash right into a day dreaming Molly at the bottom. Dutch can't stop laughing his ass off, but you go and help her dust all the snow off. After that, Dutch definitely wants to go again. "Cmon y/n! Haha."

Trelawny is excited to go down, giving you a bright smile as he sits behind you on the sled, wrapping his arms around to hold onto your hands. He gets Sean to push the two of you, and off you go. It's fine for awhile until you don't stop going, and you get closer to the cliff that's nearby. You both scream and jump off, watching the sled as it goes flying off the cliff. "My dear, that could have been us." he chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I do think sledding is over for the day, at least for us, hm?" he pulls you off to watch everyone else from the sidelines, showing you cheesy magic tricks to make you laugh.

Micah didn't want to go sledding with you, or at all, but you made him get on anyways, sitting in his lap. He lets an oof out, grumbling and moving his hands to hold onto your thighs as you go down the hill. It's rather slow until the middle, when you hit a patch of ice. And BOOM! You go zooming, laughing happily as Micah moves to tighten his grip on your waist instead of your thighs, seeming a tad nervous. When you got to the bottom, he seems thankful you didn't crash and die. "Never again, cowpoke."

Sean is hyped to go with you, pulling you tight into his lap as you giggle excitedly. Both of you cheer as you start going, excited for the cold air to sting your face as you zoom. His grip tightens and his grin grows. Until you end up going super slow. His smile falls and he grumbles. "Aye! What a pile of horse shit yeah?" He scoffed and went to get off in the middle, but slipped and fell the second he stepped off of it, sliding slowly the rest of the way down the hill. He just lays there, grabbing you and pulling him down onto his chest when you walk down to him.

Kieran requests to sit in front of you, so you let him, holding onto him. You end up going SUPER fast, and he lets out a loud scream, quickly grabbing onto you and snuggling into you. You can't help but laugh about it, but you hold onto him, cheering as you zoom down the hill. When you get to the bottom, his grip tightens and he pouts, looking up at you. "N-Never again.." he said quietly, not getting up until you do. And even when you do, he still holds onto your arm tightly.

Javier doesn't want to, but you force him to, and Sean gives the two of you a rough shove down the hill. It's fine until you hear Karen and the other girls screaming as they zoom down at you, crash into you, and boom all of you are a pile in the snow. You kind of lay there, feeling Javier shaking. At first you assume he's cold or maybe crying, but you then hear him laughing. It's very contagious and soon all of you in the pile are laughing. Javier would love to go down again with you, but tells the ladies to perhaps wait until the coast is clear.

Hosea doesn't go sledding with you, but he watches you with a fond smile on his face, chuckling when you tip over at the bottom once or twice, shaking his head. You beg him to go down at least once, but he refuses. "I'm far too old for that, my dear. If I should go down that hill, I might just break one thing or another." you give up after awhile and plop beside him in the snow, watching everyone else have their fun while you lean against him, trying to keep some warmth between the two of you.

Arthur tells the entire time you two go down the hill, and once or twice you swerve the sled towards a tree to try and get him to shut up. But that makes him even louder and he tells you to stop. That if you two crash or go off the cliff he'll never forgive you. Ever. He's kind of a party pooper when it comes to sledding, maybe if he was drunk he wouldn't be such a party pooper about it.

[red-dead-daydreams]

Could you do some headcanons for Arthur, Dutch, and Trelawny with a male s/o who has a stutter? Like it takes him a bit longer to finish his sentences. I imagine a lot of people would get impatient or make fun of him for it :(

Hey anon! I actually have a stutter and I get so embarrassed by it, especially when I get super stuck on words in front of people. I took speech therapy for 5 years and it helped but I still have it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy anon! 💜

Arthur/Dutch/Trelawny and Male Reader Headcanons: Dealing with their partner’s stuttering

Arthur

Arthur is understanding of it and doesn’t get impatient when he’s talking to you. He loves you and accepts all the quirks that you have

Arthur has a lot of things about him that he doesn’t like but you constantly reassure him about it, so Arthur will do the same with you and your stutter

When you get caught up on a word he’ll reassure you that he’s in no rush and try to help you with it as best as he can

He’ll throw a punch or threaten to anyone in the gang that makes fun of you for it

He knows it can be hard for you to talk to others sometimes so if you need Arthur to deliver a message to someone he’s more than happy to do it

If he spots you upset at yourself for having a stutter he’ll give you the tightest warmest hug along with a few kisses

“Don’t stress on it darlin’, I still love you just as much as I did the day I met you”

Dutch

When Dutch notices that you have a stutter, he’ll be a little confused because he doesn’t understand why you’re stuck on words sometimes

But when he brings it up, you’ll explain it to him and he’ll be supportive of you now that he has a better understanding of it and knows that it’s hard to control

He doesn’t bring it up much because he doesn’t want to make it seem like a big deal to him, but he’ll do little things to help reassure you.

Like when you two are sitting down and talking and you begin to stutter, he’ll rest his hand on your knee and brush his finger over your clothing/skin to comfort you

Or he’ll rub your back and give you a kiss to help you relax

If he finds you super upset about it he’ll also comfort you as well. He’ll allow you to sit on his lap and snuggle up for him for comfort.

“You know, I still think as highly of you when I first laid eyes on you. Don’t think a little stutter will change that”

Trelawny

Trelawny actually finds your stutter an interesting quirk of yours. He always finds the beauty in strange and quirky things

When you get frustrated and choked up on a few words, he’ll always tell you “Don’t worry my dear boy, I’m still listening”

He wants you to be confident so he’ll always support you and even help you in public (if you need it).

He’ll try to help you with what he thinks helps with speech. He’ll do things with you to help you relax and not feel so frustrated with your speech

He’ll always tell you he’ll love you no matter what mental or physical differences you have. In fact, he’s actually amazed by those things.

It’s hard for you to be confident but he’s always there to make you gain confidence with the stutter

When he does fine you sad or frustrated about it he’ll always cheer you up by joking with you.

“You have a stutter and I can pull a pigeon from my sleeve. I think we’re made for each other”

[acciomalfoy]

fool’s gold (cedric diggory x reader)

summary: you’ve been best friends forever, and valentines hasn’t meant much until now

a/n: GO FOLLOW @fromashescomephoenixes THIS IS YET ANOTHER COLLAB WITH HER!!!!! FOLLOW NOW AND CHECK OUT HER FICS!!!

-

“I’m still not happy with you,” I said, and Cedric only laughed. “Stop laughing!” I scowled, and he swung an arm around me.

“The tournament is well and truly over, Y/n, and you never have to go in the Black Lake again.” He grinned at me, and I only scowled.

“You could’ve gotten killed, or worse, lost the tournament!” As a member of Slytherin, winning is absolutely everything. Maybe Ced dying was a tad worse.

“But I won.” His shit-eating grin said it all, and I whacked his shoulder. 

“Get off of your high horse.” I shook my head, and he stood up. For some reason he had taken to sitting at the Slytherin table during meals, not that I was about to complain. 

“Look’s like Sprout’s about to charge me, I’ll see you in potions?” He asked, and I nodded. Potions was definitely my favourite class, and it had nothing to do with a greasy haired git, but everything to do with the golden boy I sat next to.

“See you then.” Not a second after he left Eleanor Flint clutched my shoulder.

“You’re totally dating! When did he ask you out? Was it right after Chang dumped him, or did he wait a while? Waiting is totally more classy, but I can see Diggory not wanting to wait.” Eleanor babbled, and I stared at her.

“We aren’t dating, and nor does he want to.” I said, but as soon as the words left my mouth I knew I had made a mistake.

“But you want to.” El screeched, and I quickly covered her mouth with my hand.

“No! Cedric still likes Cho, I’m certain of it.” I said, and El pushed away my hand.

“Rumour has it she broke up with Diggory because you were in the lake and not her. If Diggory liked her more than you she would have been in the lake.” El was batshit crazy, I was positive.

“I was in the lake because I’ve been best friends with Ced since first year. I’m not listening to this, El.” I stood up quickly, and before she could continue arguing with me I speed walked my way out of the Great Hall. Good thing too, since I realised that I had left my advanced potions textbook in my dorm. 

The dungeons weren’t too far from the Great Hall, and I made it there in what I would consider record-timing. My textbook was on my desk, and it wasn’t until I was leaving did I see the note on my bed. 

I gingerly picked up the note, all too aware of how the Weasley twins had it out for the Slytherin house, and froze.

I’m like a crow on a wire, you’re the shining distraction that makes me fly.

I spun around the room, as if the writer of the notes would be standing in front of me, but the room was still, void of life aside Eleanor’s plant that was bordering death anyway.

I shook my head and stuffed the note in one of my robe pockets. I really didn’t have time to contemplate shit like this. With my potions book in my bag, I turned and left the dorm, soon entering the common room and eventually the hallways of the dungeons. I didn’t have to go far, since the potions room was only a couple corridors over. I slid into my seat seconds before Snape swept into the room, and I looked at Cedric who was already staring at me.

“What?” I whispered, and he looked at Snape before replying.

“Where were you?” He asked, and I pulled out my quill, ink pot, and finally some parchment.

My dorm, why?

You left the hall in a rush. Why’d you go to your dorm?

I forgot my potions book. Besides, El was killing me and I had to get out of there.

He nodded thoughtfully, and I decided to listen to Snape for once in my life. Anything to keep my mind occupied.

Later that afternoon, we were sat in the dark, stuffy tower for divination. The scent of lavender and peppermint was already overcoming my senses to cloud my mind and make me feel extremely sleepy. According to Trelawny peppermint was meant to sharpen seeing abilities, however I’m not sure anything can sharpen the non-existent...

Luckily, this was another class with Cedric. Merlin knows why we chose to continue it after OWLs, but I suppose that’s the Slytherin in me again: proving I can do it, and do it best.

Right as I’m preparing to drift into my sleepy daze, Ced nudges me. 

“Trelawny. Five o’clock,” he mouths, nodding his head in the direction of my left shoulder.

“Hello dears!” She springs up, slightly like a jack in a box. I entertain the thought of telling her so, but she cuts me off as I open my mouth.

“Have you seen anything in your teacups yet?” She questions, staring at us in a way that is a touch too dramatic for my taste. 

“Erm, yes.” I respond, trying to save Cedric’s skin since he just saved mine. Grabbing his emerald green tea cup, I grasp the golden yellow handle, and twist it three times. I’m not sure why... it just seemed right.

I glance at my book, but decide to wing it. 

“I see a knight- or er. Perhaps a hero?” Trelawny nods, her eyelids fluttering as she rests them close and furrows her brow. 

“No, it’s a knight in shining armour.” I nod, settling on this seeing. Cedric glances up slightly at the word ‘shining’ but shrugs it off quickly. He smirks at me,

“Oh, and what does that symbolise y/n?” His eyes flash slightly with mischief.

“It means you should keep your big mouth shut!” I glare at him, but can’t help cracking into a smile after a moment in his laughing gaze.

“Well dears,” Trelawny chirps at us, grabbing for the cup. “Indeed! I see...”

She gasps as I lazily flick my wand to float the cup off of the ground. I still wish I had remembered this trick when we were working with crystal balls...

“Oh Professor!” I groan miserably, despite the traces of thick sarcasm. “Please don’t say I’m due to die,” I throw myself back in my chair while Cedric tries to hold in a snort.

“I’m afraid you are my dear, in a most unfortunate incident involving a revolving door and a popsicle...”

—

“Charms is the worst.” Cedric groaned from beside me, and I nodded. Charms was fucking boring is what it was.

“Flitwick said it was a practical today.” I remembered, and Cedric brightened up considerably.

“About connecting minds?” He asked, and I nodded.

“I think so, partners?” I answered and asked, but I already knew what Cedric was going to say.

“Howdy.” He tipped an imaginary hat at me, and I sniggered.

“Attention seventh years! I’d like you all to get into pairs, and I will form the mind connecting spell. It will last for just one minute, and there may be minor discomfort as the minute comes to a close. Jordan and Berg, you’re first up.” Flitwick began the charm on the first Hufflepuff and Slytherin duo, and they laughed excitedly as the charm went into effect.

“Diggory and L/n, let’s get to it. Face one another and stare into each other’s eyes.” Flitwick instructed, and Ced beamed at me as we stared at each other.

“Now hold each other’s hands, please.” I felt myself growing sweaty at the thought, but Cedric took my hands with ease, and without breaking eye contact.

His grey eyes were more startling than ever, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell the pretty boy was thinking.

“Ut copulare,” Flitwick began murmuring until out of the corner of my eye I watched a flying wand hit the professor. “Oh!” Flitwick let out a startled cry, and Cedric and I nodded simultaneously as we broke eye contact to stare at him.

“Uh oh.” He tittered nervously, and I swallowed. The last time I heard a professor say uh oh was when Slughorn brewed a de-aging potion and it exploded on one of my classmates, rendering them to infancy for a good three weeks. Rumour had it she still used the pacifier from time to time.

“Do you feel okay?” Flitwick asked, and I nodded.

“I feel fine, Professor. In fact, I’ve never felt better.” This was a lie. I had woken up with a knot the size of a rats nest in my hair this morning, as well as having forgotten to do the potions homework last night. However, my teacher looked relieved, so I smiled at him.

“Same here.” Cedric added, and Flitwick sighed.

“Just in case the spell worked, I won’t be able to perform another one on you until at least a week from now.” Flitwick said, and with that he moved to another pair.

“Well I’d say that went well.” Cedric said, and I snickered.

“About as well as your date with Cho.” I was talking about his final date with Cho, which ended in her pouring a milkshake on his head. 

“You’re going to be the death of me.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, and I stuck my tongue out. 

—

“Salazar, what’s the reasoning for all these decorations?” I asked as we left charms. Pink and red decorations hung from ceiling to floor, and it was then that I realised it was Valentines next week.

“Every year the house elves go overboard. We should talk to them about it sometime.” Cedric wrinkled his nose, and I nodded. This was just too much.

“What’s going on over there?” I pointed to a circle that had formed, and it looked like two people were in the centre of it.

“Only one way to find out.” Cedric said, and we slowly approached it. Adrian, a fellow Slytherin, nodded at me.

“What’s going on?” I asked him, and he gestured to the pair inside the circle.

“They’re trapped until they kiss, because a rose fell from the ceiling right in front of them. It’s magically binding, so we could be here a while.” Adrian explained, and I tugged on Cedric’s arm.

“Did you hear that? It’s like mistletoe, they can’t leave til they kiss. It only happens when two people are in love.” I repeated, and Cedric nodded as we walked away from the circle.

“I barely survived the mistletoe.” Cedric said with a shiver, and I laughed as I remembered the girls that had chased Cedric down while waving mistletoe. It had been a sight for sore eyes.

“It’s okay, Ceddie. Time for lunch!”

—

“Could we maybe eat by the lake?” He asked, already having dodged three eager third years. The Great Hall was as busy as ever, and I noticed I myself was subject to several glares.

“I suppose.” I dramatically consented, grabbing two pumpkin pasties and some carrots with hummus from the nearest table. “Let’s go,” I led the charge. 

A particularly determined looking Goyle stood directly in my path, stationed by a suspicious rose. I debated how best to get around, when I felt my feet lift off of the floor altogether.

“Cedric!” I shouted as I was levitated a good ten feet across the hall towards the door. I could only hear Cedric’s laughter as he ran below me, and I ducked as I saw the doorway coming straight for my head.

“Mr. Diggory!” McGonagall was heard shouting across the hall, however we were already halfway to the lake.

Dissolving in a fit of laughter, we sank onto the bank of the lake. 

“Ah, back where it all began.” Cedric grinned towards me. I could think of a great deal of memories surrounding this lake, but I wasn’t entirely sure of any that had marked the beginning of something.

“What began?” I nudged him with my elbow and took a rather ‘unladylike’ bite of my pumpkin pasty.

Cerdric shrugged, and responded by taking a large mouthful of his own. He then grinned with a pumpkin paste covering his teeth.

“Ugh, you’re disgusting!” I threw a pebble at him gently. He simply transformed it into a golden finch. And so, another calm, sunny day was passed by the lake.

••••

After lunch, I took a quick trip to the dorms while Cedric was in quidditch practise. I needed to finish this potions essay, and only one person could save me.

“Come on, Y/n! You’re so slow.” Pansy teased as she speed-walked to the dorm, and I only huffed.

“These legs weren’t made for walking!” I shouted as she entered the portrait, and the only response was the faint echo of her laughter.

By the time I stepped through the portrait, the common-room was empty aside a few stray kids from the years below. I walked through the short hallway to our dorm, and Pansy was staring directly at me as I came in, a note in her hand. 

“I’m the first to admit that I’m reckless, I get lost in your beauty and I can’t see two feet in front of me.” Pansy read it aloud, and I froze.

“What the fuck is this?” She asked, and I shrugged.

“I don’t know. I got another one yesterday, I kinda forgot about it.” I explained, and Pansy raised an eyebrow.

“That’s sus, but whatever. Come on, let’s get to the library!”

—

“Holy Hippogriff!” I jumped as I felt a hard impact in my lower back. 

“You okay y/n?” Pansy frowned as I rubbed my back. I frowned back, puzzled by this unexplained pain.

“I think so? Something just hit me in the back,” I explained, glancing around for the remnants of a prank of some sort. None appeared. Pansy shrugged and returned to her potions work. I gathered my stuff, and debated where to head next. 

It was the end of the day, and I had completed all of my homework. So I was blessed with some nice free time. In a last second decision I veered towards the Quidditch pitch to meet Cedric after his practice. 

“Hey y/n!”  A sweet voice called out as I was about to duck out of the entrance hall.

“Hello Holly!” I spun on my heel. Holly was always quite nice to me, even though most of the Gryffindors avoided me. “How are you?” 

“Swell thanks,” she nodded. “Just wanted to say congrats to you and Diggory! You two are so cute together!” I blushed all the way up to my ears.

“No I-“ she was already speeding down the hall back towards the tower. I sighed and continued towards the pitch.

••••

“Y/n!” Cedric waved across the field towards me. I noticed him limping slightly, but didn’t think anything of it. 

“How was practice Ced?” I asked, and he only shrugged.

“Managed to take a bludger to the back, but it wasn’t too bad.” He said as he approached me. 

“Doesn’t look good if you’re limping. Want to go to Pomfrey’s?” I gestured towards the various windowsills side by side that was the infirmary, and Cedric shook his head.

“I’m fine, Hooch said it would be worn off by tomorrow. Did you get all your homework done?” He asked, and I saw his face flinch.

“That’s it. We’re going to the infirmary. Give me your arm. Besides, my back has been aching since the library. Maybe I can get it checked out.” He held his arm out curiously, and I wrapped it around my shoulder so I could help him put less pressure on his leg.

“Thanks, Y/n.” He said sheepishly, and I smiled at him.

“I got all my homework done, by the way. Pansy even helped me with the last part of the potions essay that we struggled to do, so I’ll explain it tonight or tomorrow.” I said, and Cedric nodded.

“Sounds good, let’s go.” 

—

“For some reason you’ve both bruised the exact same area in your lower back. Do you two have anything you’d like to share with me?” Pomfrey stared at us, and Cedric laughed.

“It's a complete coincidence!” He said, and I nodded, but I was mentally frowning.

There’s no such thing as coincidences.

—

“One day you’re going to spill the boiling water all over yourself.” I said as I watched Cedric in a feeble attempt to pour the water from 15 inches above into his teacup.

“I’m not the quidditch captain for nothing-ow!” Cedric yelped at the same time I hissed, and I quickly inspected my wrist.

“Some of it just landed on me!” I glared at him, and he stared blankly back.

“It landed on me, Y/n. You’re across the table it couldn’t have splashed you.” Cedric said slowly, and I realised my wrist was bone-dry.

“I swear to Godric I felt it hit me.” I said earnestly, and Cedric nodded.

“I don’t doubt it. Shall we go back to Pomfrey?” Cedric asked, and I shook my head.

“It’s probably nothing. Lighten up, Ced, we’re fine. We’ve got the lovely class of charms next, followed by Sprout’s endless herbology lectures.” I nudged Cedric with my elbow, but he still seemed upset.

“Hey, what’s up?” I leaned closer and murmured, and he leant his head on mine.

“What if it’s not nothing? What if we’ve been cursed somehow?” I wished I could erase the worry from his face.

“I highly doubt that. Hogwarts is one of the safest places ever, and if someone was going around cursing people we would definitely know about it.” I tried my best to reassure him, and he sighed.

“Okay, dipshit. I guess I trust you.”

— 

“Odds on you asking Sprout what the word sex means?” I asked, and Cedric laughed.

“Ten.” I looked at him in surprise. 

“You sure? That’s pretty low.” He nodded.

“Why wouldn’t I be sure?” He asked, and I snickered.

“No reason. Three, two, one!”

“Eight!” We both shouted, and I screeched with laughter. Ced was done for.

“No! Rematch!” He said desperately, and I tried to control my laughter.

“Nope! Go ask!” I put my hand over my mouth in an attempt to control my laughter again, and Cedric reluctantly raised his hand.

“Professor? I have a question.” Cedric called out, and Sprout turned around to face us.

“Yes dear?” She smiled at him, and I nudged Cedric’s leg.

“What’s sex?” The entirety of the Hufflepuff-Slytherin class erupted into screams, and Sprout gasped.

“Mr Diggory!” She exclaimed, and I genuinely thought I was going to piss myself.

“Well, as my head of house, I thought you would be the best teacher to ask.” He said, and I noticed his cheeks were bright red. He shot a glare at me before smiling innocently at Sprout. 

“If you stay after class I might be able to explain, however, we are currently in a herbology lesson!” She looked like she was about to cry, and I slapped Cedric’s arm as I laughed.

“You’re insane!” I said, and the smile he gave me made my breath get caught in my throat.

-

The next day I ran into Cedric just before potions. He was about to trip right over his own two feet, when I caught his hand. 

"Morning, clumsy!" I smirked slightly as he brushed off the imaginary dust he had acquired during his slip. 

"Morning, y/n," he mumbled, lacking his regular enthusiasm. After chatting for a minute or two he started to back away slowly. 

"Hey, I just have to run to the bathroom. I'll be back in time for class though!" He yelled over his shoulder now. He started to run down the stony corridor, however I realised after a moment that he was heading the wrong way. 

"Wait! Ced, you're heading towards the common rooms!" I tried to yell after him, but figured he'd learn it in a moment anyway. It's not like he hadn't learned this before either. He came to the Slytherin common room almost as much as I went to the Hufflepuff one. 

I followed his footsteps, figuring I would be able to talk to him on his way back. What I didn't expect was to see a single slip of parchment fluttering to the floor, and Cedric nowhere in sight. 

I bent down quickly to pick it up, crinkling the hard corners with my anxious movements. 

I’m like a boat on the water, you’re the raise on the waves that calm my mind.

It was in the same, scrawling writing as the other notes I had received, and the paper was exactly the same to all of the other's I had received. 

Was it Cedric? I flipped the paper over and looked at the blank back. He couldn't possibly love me. Could he? 

I smiled at the message, remembering when we met up over break once. We had taken his father’s boat sailing, and had somehow managed to capsize on three different occasions. I heard footsteps coming down the corridor, and I shoved the message in my pocket.

"Hey!" Cedric called out as he came near.

“Hi, Ced. Or should I say boat on the water?” I twirled the piece of paper around my fingers as he approached, and I watched as his face fell.

“That’s not mine.” He said quickly, and I raised my eyebrows.

“Hmm. If that’s true, then I better go search for my secret admirer.” I grinned as he took the bait and grabbed my hand, tugging me closer to him.

“How long have you known?” Ced asked, and I shrugged.

“I had my suspicions on Finch-Fletchley, but you proved me wrong with this note,” I laughed at Cedric’s reaction. “I’m joking of course, Ceddie. I had no idea who it was, but I’m glad it’s you.”

“Wait, really?” He seriously was the cutest. The way he was looking at me right now made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world; then again, I just might be.

“Of course I am. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been trying to drop hints for four years.” Cedric laughed at my confession, and I elbowed him.

“Oi! I was only laughing because I’ve been dropping hints for five. I figured in our last year at school I may as well confess that I’m in love with you.” My breath caught in my throat, and he raised his hand to my face only to brush a piece of hair out of my eyes.

“You’re in love with me?” I asked, and he nodded.

“It’s practically impossible not to be. Now that you know it’s me, I was wondering if you wanted to be my valentine?” Cedric asked, and a rustling from above made us look up.

A red rose had just bloomed.

-

It was valentine's day. Of course, just about everywhere was packed with starry eyed couples. We had opted to stay at Hogwarts, and have a sweet picnic together. Cedric had taken care of the setting, and I had found all of the food. 

It wasn't a bad effort. In my opinion he went slightly overboard with the pink, but I did appreciate the various hints of green he had added with the plates and napkins. Plus, I had brought plenty of food from the kitchens (which Cedric had shown me in my fourth year) 

We settled down on the edge of the lake, and I took a moment to appreciate the sunny day, and the time I could finally spend with Cedric not just as friends, but as a couple. I laid down, and gently rested my head of Cedric's lap.

"We should have done this a lot sooner," I joked, but I meant it as well. Knowing I could have been dating Cedric for months before now was a little bittersweet. I tried to remember that at least we were here now together. 

I wasn't exactly sure if I believed in soulmates, but I knew that if I had a soulmate, it would be Cedric. 

"Thank goodness you found the note I was going to hide the other day," Cedric smiled.

"That's true, you're no Gryffindor," I teased. "Thank goodness!" I stuck my tongue out in mock disgust. 

And that's when things took a turn. I watched as Cho came up to us, with a nasty frown on her face. Her frown darkened our picnic almost instantly.

“Fuck.” I breathed under my voice. What in Merlin’s name could she possibly want with me and Cedric? Obviously we were about to find out.

“Ceddie, honey!” She sang sweetly as she came closer to us. Cedric shot me a look and quickly set a reassuring, soft kiss on my lips before getting up.

“Cho. What are you doing here?” He asked, sounding incredibly confused. He rubbed his hand through his hair, anxious about her mission

“I came to rescue you!” She grinned innocently. As she reached for her hand I couldn’t help myself.

“Hey! Back off!” She shot me a burning glare, and sent a stinging spell at my wrist.

“Shit,” Cedric and I spoke in unison as we both grabbed our wrists. I muttered a healing spell or two as I glared towards Cho.

“Look, Cho, go away. Okay?” Cedric tried to kindly shoo her away. “I’m perfectly happy with y/n!” I smiled softly, glad to here Cedric say that.

“It’s okay Ceddie! I realised exactly why it was her in that lake and not me!” Cho chirrped. She sounded quite proud of herself, and I was curious what on earth she had come up with.

“Yeah, it’s because I love her!” Cedric explained. Cho let out a shrill laugh, and patted his arm.

“No silly!” She smiled sweetly, as if explaining to a young child. “You THINK you love her!” She shot another laser like look towards me.

“I’m pretty sure I know who I love Cho!” Cedric’s face began to harden as he realised this wasn’t going to be easy to brush off.

“She used a love potion on you!” Cho screeched, grabbing hold of Cedric.

“I said let go of him!” I got up off the blanket and walked over.

“She’s best in our potions class, she’s loved you since we were 13, and she’s a fucking Slytherin!” Cho explained desperately! She had small, glistening tears in her eyes now. I almost felt pity for her, but I couldn’t.

I walked over slowly, deciding exactly what I should say.

“Being a Slytherin doesn’t make me evil Cho, just like you being a Ravenclaw doesn’t make you smart!” I frowned. I hated how much the stereotypes of our houses defined us. “People aren’t able to be perfectly categorised between four groups!” Cho glared and jabbed her wand at me.

Before I realised what was happening, Cedric jumped between me and the flash of white light, but it couldn't stop the spell for some reason. I doubled over in excruciating pain that hit right around my belly button. It was as if my stomach had turned inside out and began to burn the surrounding flesh. I glanced over, and Cedric was in obvious pain as well. 

I couldn’t contain the whimper that escaped from my mouth, and Cedric met my eyes.

“How the hell did you hit Y/n with that?” He spat out, while Cho only stared at us in shock and what looked like panic. After Cedric let out what sounded like a painful groan, Cho waved her wand and relief flooded me.

“Tell me! How did you do it?” Now that he was able to stand up without pain, Cedric got incredibly close to her, towering over her. 

“I-I don’t know! You jumped in front, she must have been faking it!” I watched as Cedric lowered the manicured finger she had pointed at me, and whispered something in her ear. The effect in had on her was instantaneous; she slowly stepped away before turning tail and bolting away.

“We need to go to Pomfrey.” Cedric spoke without looking at me, though when I clasped his hand he squeezed mine tightly.

-

“I don’t know what to tell the pair of you. Have you been hit by an unknown spell in the past month or so?” Pomfrey looked tired, I noticed.

I wondered how often she slept.

“Not that I can think of.” Cedric said, and I nodded. 

“Unless someone’s hit us without us noticing, then no.” I added, and Pomfrey sighed.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with the two of you. I’ve only heard of cases like these, never seen one myself. I think there’s only been four or five documented.” She explained, causing Ced and I to exchange glances.

“Well, what happened to those people?” I asked the obvious question, since my lovely boyfriend clearly wasn’t going to. Pomfrey shifted slightly.

“One person in each pair died before a full analysis and case study could be completed.” I almost laughed at the look on Cedric’s face until I realised that one of us was totally going to die soon.

“Well, my darling, it was lovely knowing you.” I patted him on the back, and he wrapped his arms around me, encasing me with love.

“What can we do?” Cedric asked, and Pomfrey shook her head.

“Not a whole lot. Try and remember if the pair of you have been struck by a spell in the past though.” 

-

It took fourteen seconds after we left the infirmary to Cedric to slap his forehead.

“I think we’re stupid.” He said, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Speak for yourself. Personally, I’m the smartest person I know.” He snickered, and I frowned. Where was the joke?

“Flitwick hit us with that spell, remember? And the spell was interrupted halfway through, which created a new spell entirely.” Cedric explained, and I sighed.

“I think we’re stupid too.”

-

We'd spent another lovely 10 years being stupid together. Sure we'd had our ups and downs, but we always knew that we were soulmates.

 Since we had found out about the spell, we've helped Flitwick research whatever charm had put us in the situation of feeling each others pain. It was actually quite strange when I was pregnant with our son, Cedric had noticed the contractions first. 

 After spending a couple of years with Flitwick researching the spell, we'd moved to Scotland and gotten married. Life had been quite pleasant. We owned a small farm where we raised cows and hippogriffs alike. Our son was now 6 years old, and had already decided that he wanted to be in Slytherin 'Just like mummy!'  

Currently we were sitting in our favorite wizarding restaurant. I gazed over towards Cedric's kind face as he helped our son go through the maze on the children's menu. I grinned over at my two lovely boys, and nudged Cedric with my foot under the table.

"Hm?" He looked up, and our son copied him. I smiled towards them both, and silently thanked Merlin that I had these two lovely boys in my life.

"What do you want to eat?" I held up the menu, and raised my eyebrows. Cedric and our son looked at each other and then looked back towards be in sync. 

"PIZZA!" They said together. I giggled and they quickly joined in. 

Just as we share pain, Cedric and I share the multitude of joys that have bloomed in our lives. And that made the joy all the better.

[rxmanticdevil]

One-shot #2 Magicians for Sport, the Aftermath

Characters: Josiah Trelawny, Dutch Van der Linde, briefly: Susan Grimshaw, Charles Smith Rating: PG/PG-13 Spoilers: Through Ch. 3 Words: ~2336 Trigger warnings: Mentions of torture and injuries Shipping: Yes - minor Vanderlawny Summary: Trelawny has just been rescued from the bounty hunters who kidnapped him. Dutch takes it upon himself to clean up the mess that is Trelawny.  Explanation for this abomination: I wanted hurt/comfort. I wrote myself hurt/comfort. It’s here if you want to read it :D 

 ~*~*~

He knew he should have been paying closer attention to their path if he ever wanted to recreate it later. The ride had been more an easy trot, a slow lope, than anything quick. But his body ached, his mind empty of all save for one, ever present, thought: I’ve been saved.

There was a point in that whole ordeal that he was completely convinced he was going to die on the cold ground, at the mercy of some halfwit bounty hunters. And there would be people in his life who would be none the wiser: one day he was there, the next – he was not.

But for whatever reason, Arthur and Charles had been there. Whether they had been sent by Dutch to find him, or they had happened on the scene, or they had learned of his disappearance. It didn’t really matter why it happened. What did matter was that he was alive. In pain, entirely disheveled – looking like nothing more than a complete disaster – but he was alive.

“We’re here,” the voice brought him out of his head, and he looked out at the camp. People were walking from one point to another. Talking amongst each other. Enjoying their days. Josiah could only inhale sharp in an attempt to hold back his own emotions at a sight he had believed, if just for a moment, that he would never see again.

Oh, but he was being rather dramatic – wasn’t he? Didn’t half the folk here experience such a situation on the daily themselves? Who was he, who lived an all-things-considered blessed life, to bring attention to his situation?

“Mr. Trelawny?” The sharp, admonishing gasp caught his attention, “Whatever happened to you?”

“Just, ah, a spot of bother my dear Miss Grimshaw,” one by one, he noticed those at camp glancing over. At first a casual look, and then a second quick stare. He thought he noticed young Miss Mary-Beth with her hands over her mouth. He’d have to reassure her he was fine. His voice was low and gravelly, everything spent, “Not a worry, not a worry.”

“Some bounty hunters got a hold of him,” Charles had already dismounted his steed and come around to help Trelawny off his horse. It might be a bit embarrassing, accepting help off one’s horse. But it would be more embarrassing to fall on the ground, and with how weak he felt he was convinced a fall from the horse would certainly kill him. “Wanted him to talk. About Dutch. About us.”

“Did you?” and Trelawny found himself meeting the eyes of Mr. Dutch Van der Linde. The reason he had bit his tongue when his life was on the line.

“No,” he was able to answer with honesty, for once.

“They’re dead now anyway,” Charles was by Trelawny’s side, gingerly handing him and his care over to Susan. The woman giving him her own shoulder to lean on.

“You’re a good friend, Josiah,” Dutch looked over his face, and Trelawny could feel Dutch taking in each injury. The cuts on his nose and under his eye. The bruises on his cheeks. Dark eyes focused on the blood on his shirt and the markings on his neck where he was nearly strangled more than once. “Miss Grimshaw, can you escort Mr. Trelawny to my tent? I don’t want him sleeping on the ground like this. I’ll be by once I talk to Charles about a few things.”

“Of course, this way,” she steered him through the camp and for the first time since he had been in the Van der Linde gang, he avoided the eyes of the other people. Whether it be due to the shame for his appearance, feeling vulnerable being seen in such a state, or uncomfortable about the attention unintentionally bought upon himself, he found moving through camp to be a task in itself.

It was also a bit of a task physically, his legs still wobbly from the abuse and from being bound together for so long. It didn’t take long though until he was in the tent, being laid gently on a bed.

“I’ll be right back, Josiah. I just need to fetch some supplies,” she adjusted him so he was fully on the bed and removed his shoes for his comfort.

“Thank you, my dear,” he felt his body finally relaxing into the sheets on the small bed. His guard dropped – he was safe. However embarrassed he was for how he appeared; Dutch’s camp was a safe place. No one here was going to harm him. Hurt him. Demand answers. His eyelids felt so heavy, and in the next moment, they closed.

“Still with us, Josiah?”

He wasn’t sure how long he had been out when a voice and the sound of a chair being pulled up beside him brought him out of his slumber. He cracked his eyes open, realizing that the tent itself had been closed off from the outside. There was only one person inside with him, “Despite their best efforts, it seems I am, Dutch.”

A cool, wet cloth was pressed against the cut on his cheek, tenderly cleaning the wound. “It seems like they did quite a number on you. Charles said you’re planning on staying with us?” Another cloth was brought to his face as Dutch wiped away the dirt, the grime, the blood that had stained his skin. “I think that’s a good idea. I sent Charles back to your caravan to get your things. Until then….”

The wet cloth went onto to the small end table at the head of the bed, next to a small bowl that contained a couple of more clean rags and water. Dutch reached over to yet another small table and held up a pristine white nightgown, “Hosea volunteered one of his nightshirts. A man like yourself can’t be comfortable in, well, that.”

It was a blunt reminder of his disheveled and dirty clothes. His opulent vest once vibrant and unparalleled in beauty now dulled with dirt, stained with his blood, “No… I can’t say I am.”

“Can you sit up?” Dutch’s motions were similar to Arthur’s – large, careful hands decorated with rings made of valuable metals and jewels guided him up from where he laid. Josiah’s body screamed in pain as he helped to lift himself into a sitting position, and though he tried to hide it, Dutch’s eyes on him told him the man read him like one of Evelyn Miller’s books. “Those sons of bitches are lucky they’re dead.”

The comment caught him off-guard. There was a low anger rolling in Dutch’s voice. It was almost as though he was taking the harm that had befallen Josiah personally. “It appears they may be.”

Josiah could feel the rage in Dutch’s silence as the outlaw leader reached for Josiah’s forearm, picking it up with calculated calm. Dutch was using another wet cloth to wipe the blood and grime away in measured motions, looking over each bruise and remnant of the torture Josiah had endured. It was as though he were caught in a trance, placing one forearm down in exchange for the other.

The gang leader’s hand slid down Josiah’s arm, carefully supporting his wrist as his other hand went to hold his fingers. Dutch’s gaze went to the red chafing from the rope, the red knuckles from his attempts to fight back. Each mark, Josiah realized, was telling Dutch more of the story. His hand left Josiah’s in favor of taking the cloth over the wounded knuckles as he returned to ridding the body of filth. It was almost a marvel in itself. The hands that had ended so many lives were now treating his own life as though it were made of porcelain.

Fingertips brushed against Josiah’s collarbone as his filthy shirt was pulled away to expose more bruising. More cuts. More injuries. Another clean cloth was brought to his skin causing a small shiver.

“Dutch,” Josiah spoke and Dutch stopped his motions, as though awakened from deep meditation. His hand and the cloth were still resting on Josiah’s chest. “You’ve got more important things to tend to, I can handle this.”

“Nonsense. You protected me. I owe you at least this.” Once again, Trelawny found himself stunned into silence. It almost as though Dutch was taking responsibility for everything. Like he felt the cause of the entire ordeal fell on his shoulders. Sure, the bounty hunters had wanted Dutch. But it was Trelawny who spoke so vibrantly of the outlaw, had been so careless in his own poking around that provided the link between himself and the Dutch Van der Linde.

Before Trelawny could question him or alleviate the man’s concerns, however, Dutch stood up, guiding him to do the same. “You can’t lift your arms to get your shirt off, can you?”

Even though he knew the answer, he tried anyway. His arms made it half-way before refusing to move any further – and Josiah found himself looking away in what he could only describe as that same shame from earlier. The one that kept him from looking at those in camp.

“I thought so,” Dutch’s hands went to the opened placket on Trelawny’s ruined white shirt, “Forgive me, for my… uncouth,” his voice pitched up in its signature cracking, "behavior.” And in the next instant, he pulled the shirt apart – ripping down from where the last button had been undone to the bottom of the shirt. The fabric hung limp on Trelawny’s body, leaving him feeling more exposed and vulnerable than he would have had the shirt been removed in its traditional, rightful manner.

But this meant the shirt and the vest could slip right off. And despite the sudden ripping of what was left of his top, Dutch was treating him so carefully. It was though he saw Josiah as some fragile glass that would shatter should he move too quickly. The nightgown came on, fitting him decently and falling well below his knees. Dutch averted his gaze as Trelawny removed the last of his filthy clothes from under the gown.

Was it so obvious how uncomfortable Josiah was at this moment? Being so weak. So unable to perform a trick and vanish as he normally would. He had no control anymore over where he was – being at the mercy of those around him. He wasn’t even sure if it made things better or worse, how tenderly the leader of the Van der Linde gang was caring for him.

At least he felt clean now. The filth from the ordeal scrubbed from his body for the most part, his tattered clothes in a heap on the ground to be disposed of. Dutch’s attention was on him once more, helping to lower him onto the bed, laying him down while Dutch sat in the chair next to him.

“I’m very lucky,” Trelawny finally spoke after his long silence.

But Dutch was distracted again. This time by the bright red marking on Trelawny’s throat. The man’s calloused fingers went to Josiah’s jaw, holding it firm but with care, pushing his chin up with his thumb to get a better look. It was impossible to know what Dutch was thinking, the man’s poker face almost near as good as Josiah’s (when he hadn’t been near beaten to death earlier in the day).

He hadn’t realized how close Dutch’s face had gotten to his own. Almost tantalizing. The hand on his jaw moved to his neck. An act that hours ago had brought fear, but now the touch brought an inexplicable comfort. Perhaps he was foolish, trusting a man like Dutch so completely. Not perhaps. Josiah was plenty a fool. But not when it came to where he put his trust. Dutch’s thumb brushed over the part of his neck that was raw and red. The damaged skin bristled at the touch but Trelawny didn’t want to show that on his face.

And in the next moment he felt lips on his. The wanted man’s body leaned over the fallen magician, the kiss itself firm. Protective. Dominating. And for just this time in their charade together, Josiah let himself accept without competing. He was far too tired to offer anything more than a return of the kiss with approval and light appreciation.

Dutch pulled away in the next moment, “Thank you.”

Josiah wasn’t sure what he was being thanked for. For accepting the kiss? That hardly needed a ‘thank you.’ They had gone back and forth with their trysts before. For not revealing information about him to the bounty hunters? Perhaps. But Dutch should know, the man might not have Josiah’s honesty – but he had his loyalty.  

“Get some rest. There will be time for more later,” Dutch’s hand made a last trip up Trelawny’s neck, cupping his injured cheek before moving on to some light grooming of Trelawny’s hair – fixing stray strands that had drifted too far from their rightful place.

He then stood and made his way to the front of his tent.

“Dutch?”

The outlaw worth far more than Trelawny could even imagine stopped in his tracks, giving his full attention to Josiah.

“Please, let sweet Miss Mary-Beth know I will be right as rain in just a day or so. The dear seemed quite concerned. I’d hate for anyone to lose sleep over a fool like me.”

“I’ll let her and everyone know you’ll be okay,” and he reached for the flap at the tent’s entrance, “Glad you’re safe, Josiah. We’d miss you. I’d miss you.”

With that, he slipped out of the tent and Trelawny let himself breathe in deep once again. The breath caused his body to ache but it only served to prove what he had been telling himself since he had gotten to camp: everything may hurt, but he was alive.

His eyes shut and in barely a moment’s time, the cunning magician hobbled by the greed and desires of others had fallen into a deep sleep. As Dutch had said, there would be plenty time for more later.

[adenei]

Gryffindor Bonding Tales - Year 4

The Gryffindor 4th Years participate in a game of “Would You Rather” until things become a bit too personal for someone.

Harry, Ron and Hermione found themselves in the common room trying to take a break after their first full week of classes. Hermione was busily scratching away at her parchment, trying to stay on top of her coursework, while Harry and Ron were staring at theirs, pretending to be working to appease her.

Ron could see Lavender and Parvati talking to Seamus and Dean who nodded and collected their things as they all started heading their way.

“Who wants to play a fun, new game?” Lavender asked in a singsong voice.

“And here I thought we were getting out of a bonding activity this year,” Harry said sarcastically.

“Of course not! Hermione, do you think you can take a break and join us for a bit? Neville should be here in a mo’,” Parvati asked. 

The newcomers all sat around as Hermione begrudgingly put away her work. Neville came down the stairs and joined them as well.

“Okay, so I read about this one in a muggle magazine over the summer,” started Lavender. “It’s called ‘would you rather.” Basically we pick someone to ask a would you rather question to, and they have to answer.”

“Sounds easier than two truths and a lie,” Neville said.

“Okay, then, Neville, would you rather be thrown into Azkaban for a year or have a year taken off your life?” Parvati asked him.

Neville sat there and contemplated his decision. “A year off my life, I think. I’d rather avoid the dementors as much as possible.”

“Cool, now you choose someone to ask something to,” Parvati explained.

“Hmm.” Neville took his time thinking up a question. “Hermione, would you rather lose the ability to read or the ability to speak? Neville asked her.

“Well, that’s just ridiculous,” she started.

“Come on, Hermione, just answer the question,” Ron said. He leaned in and added, “Just play along and it’ll be easier on all of us.”

“Fine. I’d rather lose my ability to speak, assuming I could still write my thoughts down?” Hermione questioned.

“Sure,” agreed Neville.

“Ron, would you rather be deaf or blind?” Hermione turned the questioning to him.

“Deaf, no question,” Ron said as Hermione raised an eyebrow.

“You answered that awfully quick,” she reasoned.

Ron shrugged. “Seamus, would you rather give up quidditch or pyrotechnics.”

“Oi, mate that’s a hard one!” Seamus argued. The group waited expectantly. “My pyrotechnics, I guess,” he decided. “Lavender, would you rather be married to a ‘10’ with a horrible personality, or a ‘6’ with an amazing personality?” He used the air quotes around the numbers.

Lavender looked gobsmacked by his question. “How do you even know what a 6 and a 10 mean?” Ron and Neville looked to be the only ones hoping for an explanation while Harry and Dean laughed.

Seamus snorted, “We have a telly, and me Mam and sisters watch all that rubbish. Stop stalling and answer the question.” Everyone continued to laugh.

“Fine, I’d go with a 10.” Most of them gaped at her. “What? It’s not that vain..” Lavender tried to defend herself.

“Uh, it kind of is, Lav,” Dean said.

“Ugh, whatever. Dean, would you rather give up football or magic?” Lavender asked rather scathingly.

“Whoa, um, football, I guess.” He thought for a minute. “Harry, would you rather go back to age 5 knowing everything you know right now, or know everything about your future now?”

Harry didn’t even bat an eye when he said, “Know everything about my future, of course.” Everyone looked at him, expecting him to think about what he’d just said, but Harry paid them no mind. Knowing that he might die at the hands of Voldemort would still be better than having to go back and live with the Dursley’s for six years, knowing the Magical world existed.

Harry looked around the circle and decided on Neville. “Neville, if you had to switch around professors, would you rather have Snape or Trelawny as the Herbology professor?” Everyone laughed at the thought of both of those teachers teaching Neville’s favorite subject.

“Good one, Harry,” Neville said. “Though I think I’ll take my chances with Trelawney. Parvati, would you rather drop Astronomy or Divination if you were being forced to let one subject go?”

The pout on Parvati’s face clearly said she’d rather not choose, but reluctantly she chose Astronomy. “Dean, if soulmates do exist, would you rather meet yours tomorrow, or have to wait ten years with a bunch of failed relationships in between?”

“Ooh, tough one, but I think I’d go with meeting them tomorrow. Lavender, would you rather marry for fame or marry for stability,” Dean asked.

“Hmm, stability, I think. I like the way these questions are going!” Lavender said. “Let’s make it more interesting! Ron, would you rather date one of your siblings' former partners, or one of your Gryffindor classmates?”

Ron stared at her for a moment. “Classmate probably. It’d make holidays too weird if I went the other route,” he laughed at his own explanation as some of the group nodded in agreement. “Seamus, if you had the choice, would you rather date a younger Ravenclaw or older Slytherin?” 

Seamus curled his lip as he thought about the question. “Well, I suppose older is always better, even if it is a Slytherin,” as the rest of the group either gagged or giggled. 

Hermione had rolled her eyes at his answer. Honestly, she thought, clearly bored with the game and wanting to get back to her work organizing S.P.E.W.  Unfortunately for her, Seamus totally caught the eye roll and directed the next question towards her. “Okay, Hermione, since you seem bored, would you rather date Harry or Ron?”

Everyone turned to Hermione, waiting for her answer. The question caught everyone off guard and Hermione simply stared at Seamus with wide eyes and mouth agape, trying to quickly come up with some explanation that didn’t outright give anything away. “That’s- well- that’s not exactly a fair question, is it?”

Seamus sniggered at her attempt to stall. “How is it not a fair question? The three of you are always together. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it..in a completely hypothetical way of course!” Lavender and Parvati were looking at him incredulously.

Of course she’d thought about it, but no one else needed to know that! She had half a mind to ask him why he’d assumed she’d liked boys and not girls anyways, but didn’t really need to open that up for discussion because she most certainly did prefer men. 

“Are you gonna answer the question?” Seamus pressed again.

“Well, I still don’t think it’s exactly fair. Harry’s more like a brother to me. It’d be quite weird to even think about him in that context.” She looked over to him. “No offense, of course.”

Harry held his hands up and said, “None taken,” inaudibly agreeing with her on that front.

“So you choose Ron, then?” Parvati asked with interest. Ron was trying to look anywhere but around the circle as his ears became hot and showed bright red.

“I-” Hermione stopped, but then reminded herself that this game was all clearly hypothetical anyways and her answer didn’t matter, “Yes, I guess so.” Her face was beet red as she quickly gathered her things. “I’m going to bed, you all have fun with the rest of the game.”

As she walked up the staircase, everyone looked around awkwardly before Neville said, “I thought the game was supposed to be hypothetical?”

“Er, yeah, me too,” agreed Harry.

Lavender, who seemed completely nonplussed about what happened, broke up the gathering then. “Oh well, better luck next year I suppose!” She and Parvati got up and headed back over to their favorite corner of the common room.

Ron made to get up, and as he passed Harry, he said, “Can we forget that just happened?”

“What are you talking about?” Harry said with a grin.

[fedeipox]

The Way of Time (Rdr2 fanfic) - Chapter 9 (1/3)

I’m back with my sh*t!! I should definitely keep writing, but I’m so full of things to do... 

Chapter 9 (1/3) - Good morning, bad news

Words 3,3k

It took a little before he opened his eyes. First he regained consciousness, stretched his back on the hard ground covered by the old worn blanket, and then he tried to yawn. I say he tried because when he opened his mouth immediately a pain on his lower jaw forced him to close his mouth again and squeeze his eyes in a suffering expression. 

“Ahi, coño” he swore and brought a hand to cover the right cheek.

That beast, the day before, had almost broke his face with that huge punch he had given him, and if it wasn’t for Arthur, who had distracted him, he would have been a headless Mexican by now. He wondered how Arthur was doing after that fight. He was the one who had got worse, being beaten by that big man in the middle of the road. 

He finally decided to open his eyes and check if Charles was still asleep next to him or he had already woken up. He was already up of course, he didn’t expect otherwise. Sitting up, Javier also realized he had a terrible pain on his left ribs, but this time he had no idea of who among all those men inside the saloon had been the one to hurt him there. 

“Hey, you getting ready?” he asked to Charles when he reached him near the horses.

“Ah-ah. We must meet with Trelawny in one hour.”

“I know, I know. Give me a minute” he said turning around and slowly heading to the kitchen.

He needed coffee, and something to eat for the journey. He greeted Pearson, Miss Grimshaw, Abigail and the Adler widow on his way to the coffee pot and as soon as he kneeled down and put his hands on it, Emily showed up.

“Arthur told me about the bar fight. How are you?”

“Fine enough.”

“You have a bad bruise on your face. You should put something on it, like some ice.”

“Where do you think I can take ice?” he snorted pouring himself some coffee.

“Right. I better reach Charles. I want to check how is he and then we should go out for the lesson.”

“We’re leaving” he informed her standing up with a grimace of pain.

“Leaving? Why?”

“We found Sean. We’re going to rescue him.”

“Sean, really? Have you told Karen?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, I’m going to tell her now! Good luck Javier!”

As she said that, she run away with her skirt fluttering in all directions. Javier shook his head, finished his coffee in a few gulps, took a couple of bean cans from the supplies and went back to Charles. In fifteen minutes, they were already leaving. 

Karen had just woken up and she sat upright to stretch her back and rub her eyes. Abigail, who was already up, walked right in front of her, but she didn’t say anything, not even a ‘good morning’. Everybody in camp knew that they didn’t have to say a word to Karen in the morning, at least not until she had drunk her coffee and smoked her cigarette, especially her cigarette, or she would have summoned all the powers on earth and sky to make a lighting strike you exactly where you were, leaving only a pile of ashes on the ground. 

Everybody knew that, except Emily who came running with a big smile on her face, or as Karen described her in her mind, the most idiotic expression she had ever seen. The hell was she smiling for so early in the morning?

“I have to tell you something that will make you…”

“Fuck off.”

“But…”

“Fuck off!”

“It’s about Sean.”

Despite the fact that she wanted to kill her at that moment, Karen looked up at her and that was all Emily needed to start talking.

“Javier told me they found him. Charles told me the law took him captive, but they’re going to rescue him. Aren’t you happy?” she said clapping her hands and making some little jumps that made her look more stupid than usual.

“Delighted. Now, please, will you FUCK OFF!”

Emily jumped at those loud and rude words, and turned around with a scoff.

“Screw you, Karen” she replied running away.

Karen stood up and slowly headed to the kitchen and only when she took the first sip of coffee she actually thought about what Emily had told her. 

So, Sean was alive. Good. No, not just good, GREAT. She missed him, she was hoping so hard that he wasn’t dead, and she couldn’t wait for him to come back. 

Karen shook her head. The hell no. He was a pain in the ass. He was a little piece of shit with the biggest ego she had ever seen in a person. As soon as they had seen each other, he would have surely started with all that fantasy about her being in love with him.

But of course she loved him. He was an idiot sometimes, but she did love him, she just couldn’t tell him. And yes, she couldn’t wait to see him again, and sit with him by the fire and sing one of those beautiful songs he knew, with that terrible voice he had that made him sound like a dead cat.

Karen smiled to herself and then pushed away the feelings and the thoughts, taking another sip and preparing for a day of work with Miss Grimshaw.

...

Javier and Charles weren’t the only couple that was leaving that morning. Walking again next to the horses, Emily spotted Lenny and Micah loading the last things on their saddles and she walked closer both pushed by the curiosity to know where they were heading and to tell them Sean would soon be with them again. 

“Dutch told us to go to Strawberry. See how things are lying in West Elisabeth, find some opportunity. I guess Sean will be here by the time we come back, so we can have a party” said Lenny.

With most of the men gone, the camp soon became silent and at Emily’s eyes it appeared also extremely sad.  The empty tents and campfires made it look like an abandoned place and she hoped that moment wouldn’t last much and that soon everybody would have come back.  

Her mind went to Arthur and about how he was doing with the reverend. She had thought that rescuing him wouldn’t take much time, but she was wrong because she didn’t know Arthur was having a hard time at the Flatneck Station.

She decided to spend that time finishing the oil for John’s scars and when she was done, she went looking for him. 

He was seated at one of the tables and he was studying a piece of paper with a lot of lines and names on it.

“You people seem to have a thing for maps” she laughed sitting next to him.

“Excuse me?” he asked frowning.

“Never mind. I’m done. Here’s the oil” she said leaving the jar on the table, which John took to study.

“It’s still too soon. You have to wait for those cuts to heal completely, which will take a week more, I think, and then you can start using it” she added.

“Well, thank you, I guess.”

“What are you doing with that?” she asked pointing at the map.

“Looking for a place to rob. A town, a ranch, something in the surroundings that could make us gain some money.”

Emily didn’t like the fact that he wanted to rob some people in a town or in a ranch, but she asked anyway: “and, have you found something?”

“Hosea said Valentine is a live stock town, so they should sell, what? Cows and sheep in there?”

“I’ve seen sheep when I’ve been there” Emily informed him.

“And the nearest place to have sheep may be this “Emerald Ranch”. We could go and find out if they are preparing some for being sold.”

“We?”

“Well, yeah I guess…”

John turned his head from left to right and checked the place like he was looking for something.

“There’s no many folks left, so I guess… I can’t bring Bill, he’d ruin everything so… maybe I’ll go alone” he ended looking again at the map and shaking his head.

“If you need a hand, and you just have to check something, I can come with you” proposed Emily. 

“You?” asked John looking at her.

“Why? Because I’m a woman?”

“N-no…”

He wanted to say “because from what I heard you are as dumb as Bill” but her face made him understand that it was better if he didn’t utter that sentence.

“Yes, yes I think I can bring you with me” he said in the end. 

“Good. When?” she asked.

“Well, I still don’t know. I’ll let you know.”

“Okay. Remember: everyday, twice a day, and your face will look much better in a month” she added tapping on the jar before standing up to go away.

...

Arthur left the reverend under his tent just when Miss Grimshaw came closer to ask what had happened.

“Just… the usual” he replied with a shrug.

“Poor bastard.”

“He was lucky, this time. Real lucky” he said going away. 

He couldn’t believe the crazy chase that man had forced him to do that morning, and he was feeling already tired, but there was no time to rest.

He went looking for her. He wanted to tell her about his discovery, even if he already knew she would freak out at the news.

She was speaking with John. He waited until she stood up to go away and in the meantime he observed how the two of them looked so distinct from the distance: John so ugly, scarred and mean, Emily so pretty and neat. It must have been the same impression Arthur gave to the deputy when he walked inside the sheriff’s with her.

And how? How could Arthur walk beside her in the street and not feel diminished by her presence? And how couldn’t she notice that?

He took a deep breath and reached her.

“Hey.”

“Hey, you’re back. How’s the reverend?”

“Alive, for now. I found him. I found one of the men in the photographs. The pig farmer.”

“Emmet Granger?”

Emily already knew the people in those photos by heart. 

“Yeah, and… well, I asked him about Calloway, but uhm… he wasn’t very pleased and… well I had to shoot him.”

“YOU DID WHAT?” she exclaimed bringing her hands to her face and covering her mouth in shock.

“Hey, he kept threatening me, and humiliating me, so first I returned the favor. Then, I was going away but he engaged me in a duel. I couldn’t…”

“You returned the favor?” 

“I made pig shit rain on him.”

Her face changed immediately from shocked and disappointed to funny and goofy: she was trying to restrain the laughter. 

“You did what?”

“I-I put dynamite in a pile of pig shit and made it rain on him.”

She busted out laughing and Arthur smiled at her amusement. He expected another reproach for his behavior, not a laugh. 

“Anyway, I couldn’t leave without taking care of him” he said in the end.

“Jesus, Arthur” she whispered and brought a hand to hide her eyes, still smiling, but forcefully returning to a serious demeanor. 

“You didn’t have to kill him.”

“Yeah, well next time why don’t you try to convince a crazy old man to talk about his past as famous gunslinger.”

“I would have if you had brought me with you! You promised I could come.”

“Believe me, you haven’t missed much.”

“But next time I’ll come with you. Say it!”

“Okay, okay. Next time we’ll try to convince the asshole together.”

...

Emily sighed and looked at his face. She wanted to ask more details about how Granger had died, understand if Arthur was just defending himself or if he had started the thing, but at the same time she was afraid to know he had been the one who started it. She didn’t want to think about him as a murderer.

“At least you found something about Calloway?” she asked in the end.

“Nothing.”

Silence fell between them, an embarrassing silence. Emily couldn’t remove from her head the image of Arthur shooting someone in cold blood, and at the same time, that image reminded her of something similar she had done recently, and the weight of her actions was starting to be felt again on her shoulders. Arthur cleared his throat before finding an excuse to leave, breaking the silence and the tension. 

She couldn’t believe those people knew nothing but violence. It seemed they didn’t even try to find an alternative to killing, some way to convince people that wasn’t pointing a gun to their heads. She had created an idolized idea of them at the beginning, but that idea was starting to fade away. 

But she had to admit the shower of shit was funny. She smiled again thinking about it. It must have been like one of those scenes in kids cartoons, like Mickey Mouse or Duffy Duck, just more… dirty.

In a couple of hours, in addition to everybody leaving camp, Arthur and Hosea decided to leave too. They wanted to go looking for one of the legendary animals in Hosea’s map. They called her intentionally to tell her about it, and not only that. 

Arthur had already removed the saddle from his horse and he was tapping his hand on its back.

“I’ll leave Drover to you. Take good care of him, he’s a good horse” he said.

“You’re leaving it to me? And how… how will you travel?” she asked.

“I’m going to sell this one” he replied pointing at the big black horse next to him.

“And in the meantime, I’ll buy a new horse. Drover is good, but sometimes he gets scared easily, so be careful when you ride him.”

“I will” she said, but in her mind she was thinking she would have never tried to ride him on her own.

She looked at them mounting on the horses and disappear into the woods. And now, the camp really felt empty. However, Miss Grimshaw gave Emily no time to think about it, putting her to work after the days of laziness and boredom. 

She was assigned to the clothes washing and she took the chance to wear her “normal” clothes and wash the shirt and the skirt. 

“In the future is so much simple” she said to Abigail as they hanged the clean laundry.

“We have a thing called washing machine. You put the clothes inside and it washes them, so you don’t have to rub and ruin your hands with water and detergents.”

“Why don’t you build it, this way Miss Grimshaw will stop torturing us” she replied, but her tone was heavily sarcastic. Abigail was one of those who still didn’t believe in Emily’s story. 

Talking seriously, no-one believed in the possibility that Emily truly came from the future, but some of them, like Mary-Beth, Tilly, Hosea and Charles, believed in her conviction that she came from the future, so if it was real for her, it was real for them too, but they didn’t actually believe in a fact, they believed in a belief. 

“You all are too hard with her. She’s just doing what she thinks it’s better to make this camp work. Your hygienic situation it’s already unstable. Without her it would be disastrous” said Emily.

In those days she had thought a lot about the harsh reaction Miss Grimshaw had had with her, but also about how worried everybody said she was because of her disappearance, and so, Emily decided to forgive her and forget the fact that she had been slapped, and, on the contrary, she started to take her defense every time somebody silently attacked her for something she said or did in camp. 

Since the place was much more boring with most of its people gone, Emily also started to visit Kieran constantly, alway being careful not to touch him with a single finger, but she had also noticed that since she had loosened his ropes and made him sit on the ground, no-one had tightened them again, so that now he could stay seated and sleep correctly. 

Emily wondered if that had happened because she had somehow put some humanity in those people’s heart or just because no-one bothered to put him in the right place again. 

With Kieran, Emily talked mainly about horses. When the man found out she knew nothing about those animals he loved so much, he decided to make her some real lessons about them.

“What about that one? What breed is it?” she asked pointing at Dutch’s horse.

“That one is an albino Arab, which is different from a white Arab because of his eyes, you see them? They are clear.”

“What about Charles’s horse? Taima. She is so strange, with all those colors.”

“He has an Appaloosa. Quite common horse, sweet and calm, good for training.”

It also happened that she brought Drover near the spot Kieran was tied to, so that he could give her indications about how to groom him. How to use the brush correctly, how to touch him, all the things she used to do with Charles.

“You know so much. If you weren’t tied here I’d ask you to teach me something more about riding, now that everybody who could teach me is gone” she murmured with a long face.

“I wish I were free too.”

“You know what you should do? Prove yourself to them. Give them something that can make them understand you are not a bad guy.”

But that was a real issue for Kieran, because he was terrified that, if he spoke, Dutch would kill him after he had what he wanted. 

Emily didn’t want to hear it, she didn’t want to think Dutch or Hosea or somebody else could be so ruthless to kill poor Kieran as soon as they had what they wanted. She was aware that after what had happened she better didn’t stick her nose in that question, but she was taking it as something personal and wanted to do something: to prove to herself that those people weren’t as terrible as sometimes they seemed, to prove that Kieran wasn’t dangerous, to prove to everybody that kindness was the right way. 

“Emily!”

The kid’s voice distracted her from her thoughts.

“Hey, Jack!”

“Can we play?”

...

Emily didn’t stop making up new games. Every time Jack asked her she always came up with something new. Duck, Duck, Goose was one of his favorites because they played with his mom, Tilly, Mary-Beth and Karen, even if the latter wasn’t very pleased to play and they had to force her. Then, there was hide and seek, Simon Says, which was super fun because they played with Mr. Pearson - whose name was Simon - and he always found something hilarious to make, and then Hopscotch and the Explorers. If Jack was having a bad day or he was bored he knew he could always go to Emily and she would have found a way to cheer him up.

That day they played hide and seek and when they were tired enough, to rest, Emily chose a particular spot in camp and told him to lay on the ground and look at the sky.

“Why?” he asked.

“You’ll see” she replied.

It was the perfect day: there were enough clouds and not much wind so that the movements they made created many shapes and figures. Emily explained him how it worked and soon they started to see every kind on thing in the clouds.

“Look! That looks like a dog! I like dogs!” exclaimed Jack.

“And that looks like roasted chicken! God, I miss chicken” Emily said bringing a hand on her half empty stomach.

“How does it taste like?”

“It tastes like chicken.”

“I’ve never eaten chicken.”

“What does it mean, you never tried chicken?” she asked looking at him in shock.

“Mr. Pearson only makes his stew. I eat that.”

Their argument went on for a while, until Emily sweared she would have found a way to make Jack eat chicken.

[ttuesday]

Hey, how are you? I hope you’re fine.

It’s been a while LOL, but I never stopped following you, and I still love your writing.

So, how do you think the boys would react to the reader asking them to choke her?

I wake up a real horny today LOL.

- B

B! Hope life’s treating you well <3 luv u too

Arthur

When you ask Arthur, he chuckles and teases you a little bit. He has no idea how to do this, the only time Arthur chokes people is when he’s killing them but he's trying to look confident and as if he knows what he's doing.

Before he chokes you, he makes sure to go through your safe works and little gestures you can do to tell him to stop. As he begins to choke you, Arthur watches out for any signs that signal you're not enjoying it as much as you thought you would.

He practically breaths a sigh of relief when he sees you're enjoying it. Your moans encourage him to go a little tighter and he kisses behind your ear, teasingly nibbling at your skin.

Yeah he could get used to choking you, especially after he sees your reaction.

Dutch

Dutch raises an eyebrow when he hears your request. It's something he's thought of doing in the past but he wasn't too sure if choking was something you were into. But now that he knows it's something you want too, Dutch can't wait.

The next time y'all get frisky, Dutch wraps his hand around your neck and slowly begins to squeeze.

Dutch keeps his rings on when he chokes you, making sure you can feel them pressing into your skin.

He loves the power dynamic of it and often finds himself smirking as he chokes you. Sometimes he asks you questions while he does it even though he knows you won't be able to respond. Dutch likes to tease you a lot with it.

Charles

Charles is open to all kinds of things in the bedroom so he has no problem doing some choking. As long as he isn’t actually causing you any pain then Charles is chill to try it.

He's fairly confident that he knows what he's doing but Charles checks with you anyways to make sure he isn't squeezing too tight.

His hand fits perfectly around your neck and Charles knows exactly when to squeeze. He doesn't choke you every time ye have sex, mainly because it brings out a more feral side to him. 

When he sees his hand around your neck and the look on your face, there's just something about it that makes him go harder and faster.

John

John needs to know how the hell he's supposed to choke you without killing you. He needs a tutorial.

He's a bit timid at first when you're showing him how exactly you want to be choked but he understands how you can get pleasure from it.

While you're choking him to show him how to do it properly, John starts to choke you too just to make sure he's doing it right. Honestly, I hope Dutch or Arthur doesn't walk by while y'all are doing this cause idk what they’ll think is going on lol.

John gets the hang of it quick. The only thing he's worried about now is that he'll accidentally go too hard. That’s why he always waits for your permission to squeeze your neck that lil bit harder.

Micah

C'mon now, I think the real question is when does Micah not choke you as he fucks you?

He adores having his hand on your neck, having that power and control over you is all he needs to finish.

Sometimes Micah puts his hand on your neck but he waits before he starts to choke you. He wants to see if you'll beg for it. Yeah Micah absolutely loves that and of course he teases you about it afterwards.

Honestly though Micah loves to be choked too and that's when you get your payback and if you want some good ol' revenge then you can definitely get him to beg too.

Javier

Javier's a little hesitant at first. He's scared of doing it and accidentally squeezing too hard or hurting you in any way. Javier's also a little confused how you could find pleasure in being choked.

Javier carefully places his hand on your neck and looks to you for reassurance. It takes a while for Javier to get comfortable doing it but he can't deny how hot it looks with his hands around your neck.

Hearing your moans and whimpers turns Javier on so goddamn much. No matter what position y’all are in, Javier will keep his hand on your neck.

The more he does it, the more curious he becomes about it and eventually Javier asks you to choke him too.

Sean

When you mention it to Sean, he acts like it's nothing. You want a quick choke? Oh yeah, he can do that. He's Sean MacGuire, he can do anything he puts his mind to... most of the time. Does he know what he's doing? Nope but he'll figure it out.

Sean goes full throttle, wrapping both of his hands around your neck and squeezing. It's like he practically rings your neck.

Don't worry, Sean stops the second he sees panic flash across your eyes and he realises he may have gone over the top with it.

You take his hand and show him how to do it properly. It takes him a while to get the hang of it but soon starts to get it and now Sean gets very cocky when he hears you moan as he chokes you.

Trelawny

Trelawny doesn't understand it. You want him to choke you? But not in a murder kinda way? It's something he hasn't really thought of or considered before but if it's something you want to try, then Trelawny is willing to test it out.

This man is so goddamn gentle. He carefully hovers his hand around your next, delicately settling his hand by your throat and... that's as good as it'll get.

Choking you goes against every one of his instincts so he’s very soft and delicate with you.

Afterwards Trelawny asks if he went too hard and if you're ok. You're gonna have to go through it with Josiah over and over again, helping him understand that he's not hurting you per say and that you're getting pleasure from it.

[gingernastyy]

Matchups/headcanons rules

Howdy y’all! I realized I’ve never made official rule sheet for my matchups and headcanons but since I’ve been getting more of both I thought I better make one.

Rules for matchup requests

Please include:

Since these matchups are dealing with 18+ characters, please only send a matchup in if you are are 18+

 A very short physical description (Hair, eye color, freckles, scars etc.) I don’t use this information too much so brief statements are preferable.

Your gender and sexuality! I would much rather pair you up to who you are attracted to right away than have to edit or add the correct pairing. (If you would like one of each I’m willing to do so, all you have to do is ask.)

Don’t be shy to tell me your hobbies! I will try my best to pull from those that don’t necessarily work for the gang time period such as video games but go ahead and include them. Feel free to get specific with them too! Explain what kind of books you like to read, what draws you to music and as an animal lover what animals you like.

 Please give me some of your personality traits! This is the bread and butter for me to be able to pair you up. 

 These are to pair you up with in a romantically way so if you would like to include your love languages, what kind of partner you are, and what you look for in your relationships that would be helpful for your matchup. (I’ll also do platonic matchups but unless stated I will assume you want a romantic matchup.)

Go ahead and send me those OC descriptions too! I love seeing the type of people you’ve all created for this universe! 

Don’t worry about the length of your matchups! It’s you/ the OC you created, it’s okay to have a lot to say! Send multiple messages if you need to!

If there’s any characters you don’t want to be paired with let me know. (list below shows those I will and will not pair you up with)

Please don’t bother including:

1. Horoscopes/star signs, Harry Potter houses, any personality type( INFP, ENTJ, etc.) Honestly I just don’t know enough about these to be able to affectively include them in your matchup. 

2. Please don’t just put M or F. This tells me nothing other than your genitals and I’m fine not knowing about them. Please state your gender and put your pronouns instead! 

Characters I use for matchups

Arthur Morgan

John Marston

Dutch van der Linde

Hosea Matthews

Susan Grimsaw

Javier Escuella

Charles Smith

Lenny Summers

Molly O’Shea

Sean MacGuire

Josiah Trelawny

Abigail Roberts

Sadie Adler

Tilly Jackson

Mary-Beth Gaskill

Karen Jones

Kieran Duffy

Albert Mason

Eagle Flies

Hercule Fontaine

Beau Gray

Mary Linton

Hamish Sinclair

Francis Sinclair

Lyndon Monroe

Black Belle

Characters I won’t use for matchups

Bill Williamson

Micah Bell

Uncle, Pearson, Swanson, Strauss ( Unless y’all want me to add these four but Micah and Bill aren’t ever going to be added)

Rules for Headcanons

For Reader/Significant Others:  I will do mlm, wlw, and gender neutral reader and significant other situations. Based on my own sexuality and gender identity it is easier for me to do those headcanons. I’m not going to do any women reader/significant other with a guy character, I feel there’s plenty of that content already anyways. If you are looking for strictly straight women reader content I can direct you to some other writers more comfortable writing that. 

For in game characters: I will do just about any and every in game relationship both canonical or not! I’m more comfortable writing the in game men and women romantic relationships, so for example if you want headcanons about John and Abigail, I’ll definitely do that. I will not write anything about Micah or Bill, and this especially includes anything romantic. 

I don’t like writing/won’t write any content that involves homophobia, transphobia, jealousy, racism, rape or anything else similar. (This is why I won’t do anything about Micah or Bill, even if it’s just simple headcanons) 

I’m open to writing NSFW headcanons but please again be 18+ if you send in the request and I will most likely place the headcanon in a keep reading format. 

Please don’t take any offense if I don’t end out doing your headcanon request. It isn’t because I think it’s a dumb idea or anything like that but more that I might not have enough to say about that specific headcanon. To balance doing headcanons and matchups I have to pick and choose a little to make sure I’m able to complete both.

Often because of writers block, headcanons take me a while. I appreciate y’alls patience and never want to half ass any requests.

[halothenthehorns]

MAD-EYE MOODY

Sirius couldn't wait to get his chapter going, he was surprised how much he missed reading this.

Monday morning* dawned with another overcast sky, while below it eating breakfast sat the twins and Lee still discussing the Triwizard Tournament.

"I would expect nothing less of them," James smirked.

"I wonder who won all the previous tournaments," Remus' eyes sparked with interest, wishing he'd done more than just heard some passing stories about this.

"I know that Beauxbatons won 62 times, while Hogwarts 63," Harry prattled off, then gave a shrug and said, "don't tell me you're surprised Hermione knows random facts about this thing."

That gave them all a laugh as they agreed.

  Ron was looking over his schedule, saying at least they had all morning outside with Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures, but bemoans they were still taking the later with the Slytherins.

"They don't change that in between years," Lily sighed, "you're stuck with them until your fifth year ends at least."

For some reason this didn't seem to make Harry feel any better.

Harry was looking at it as well, and groaned about having a Double Divination in the afternoon.

Both Harry and Sirius felt a chill creep up their spine, their last experience with that class hadn't ended well.

Divination was his least favorite subject,

"Including-" Remus began in amazement but Sirius kept going loudly,

apart from Potions.

"Well alright then," he chuckled as he leaned back.

Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry's death, which he found extremely annoying.

"Especially since it doesn't even get you out of homework," James grumbled.

Hermione was saying how they should have dropped that class like she had, while buttering up some toast,

"Still wishing I had," Harry huffed, that prophecy had done him a lot more harm than good at the end.

Sirius though caught on something else as he yelped, "hey, she's eating again."

"Couldn't really see her holding out that no food grudge forever," Remus snorted.

that they could be doing something more useful like Arithmancy if they had.

"Is it still too late to do that?" Harry sighed.

"You'd have to take it up with McGonagall," Lily shrugged. "Have a valid reason for switching, which I suppose harassment by a teacher repetitively telling you you're going to die counts."

"Hermione had so many extra classes last year she wouldn't have had to give one," James added on thoughtfully.

Harry sighed, wishing he had done something about this, but still couldn't seem to shake that feeling that he may be grateful someday he kept up with Trelawny.

Ron noticed Hermione was eating again, to which she replied she'd thought up a better way to help elf's. Ron laughed that she was also hungry.

"Well that to," Remus agreed, knowing she wouldn't admit to that.

There was a distracting noise above as all the owls came in to deliver the morning paper, but amongst the colors Harry could not spot his own.

This time even Sirius couldn't keep up the bravado that everything was fine. Time had been hedging on so long, he really was starting to get a 'walk over your grave' type of feeling the longer he went without answering. Still, he was thankful he was the one reading, as his managing to keep going was a reminder to the others he was just fine now.

Harry was starting to get a very bad feeling, was it possible that something had happened to Hedwig, and Sirius hadn't even gotten his letter?

"No offense to Hedwig, but I like that answer better than something having happened to Sirius," Remus murmured under his breath, to which Lily couldn't help but agree with.

He couldn't think of anything else all the way to Herbology, but was soon thoroughly distracted by finding what the class had to do today. They resembled slugs coming out of the soil, each pulsing and with many large pustules.

"Gross," Sirius said extra loudly, catching everyone's eye with a hard glint telling them to drop it, no need to make a fuss until real evidence showed up.

James cracked first, nodding along and saying, "agreed, one of the worst Herbology classes, those thing should be classified as a punishment."

"Were great for a little surprise though," Remus added on more heavily than he meant to, but at least he'd tried. Sirius still gave him a winning smile and ignored how they still kept watching him a little too closely.

Professor Sprout explained they were Bubotubers, and the class today was to collect the pus, despite several students' protest of how gross this was. Apparently it was extremely valuable, and they were to wear their gloves while squeezing them into the glass jars, as the liquid could cause bad things to happen to exposed skin.

Popping the tubers was disgusting, yet oddly satisfying.

Lily snorted in surprise, flexing her hand in disgust at the thought, but upon contemplation she could see where Harry was coming from.

By the end of the lesson they had several pints to show for it, and Professor Sprout seemed very happy as she said Madam Pomfrey in particular would be thankful for this, it was a great remedy to get rid of stubborn acne.

"Oh, but it has so many more uses," Sirius sighed with an old smile the others knew far too well.

"None that need to be shared right now," Lily said pointedly to a very curious Harry who loved hearing their old stories.

James pouted at her, as he loved nothing more than sharing with his son all the mischief he'd gotten up to at school, but Sirius went back to his reading anyways.

Hannah did say that another girl named Eloise had tried to curse hers off.

"Ooh," Lily coed.

"Really would have been best if she'd tried asking for help with that first," Remus grimaced in agreement.

Sprout agreed that had been foolish, but Pomfrey had put her nose back on straight in the end.

Harry did a double take in surprise. He'd never seen her as far as he knew, but surely any acne couldn't have been that bad?

They were dismissed from class then, and headed down towards Hagrid's hut, where they found said man holding back his dog Fang who was straining to go have a sniff at several crates.

"Brilliant," James beamed, "he's clearly moved on from those worms."

"Glad to hear it," Sirius nodded on with high curiosity, "as we know he can do better."

The closer they got, they could hear odd miniature explosions coming from said boxes.

"This should be fun," Remus chuckled, his mind already spinning on what could be in there.

Harry's first instinct was to disagree, a feeling already rising in him saying he did not like whatever this was at once.

Hagrid greeted them cheerfully, telling them they should wait for the Slytherins to arrive as he knew they wouldn't want to miss these,

"I know one that doesn't give a rat's ass," Lily muttered.

Blast-Ended Skrewts!

Harry watched them all expectantly, but was surprised to find no one here recognized the name. This only managed to increase his unease, but still he asked in normal tones, "so, no fun facts about this?"

"I've no idea what they are," Remus shrugged, his brow wrinkling up showing his displeasure at that statement.

"Maybe something newly discovered," Sirius offered, sounding even more interested now.

Harry took a look inside the box and found hundreds of little odd creatures. Each were only a few inches long, and a grotesque pink, all climbing over each other with no discernable heads, but many legs that seemed to stick out in odd directions, each with a pincer on the end. The bang noise came whenever one randomly decided to take off by shooting fire out of its rear, propelling it forward.

"Well that was, fascinating," Lily got out, not really sure how else to put it. She certainly wasn't drawn to, whatever those were, and they hardly sounded like anything she wanted to be around.

"Those really do sound interesting," Remus agreed without the sarcasm. "For some odd reason though, they sound like a cross between manticores and fire crabs."

"Oh come on Remus," Sirius chuckled, "I'm sure it's just something newly discovered. Can you imagine those two things breeding?"

Remus agreed it was a laughable idea, those had just been the first two things he'd thought of that they resembled, but it must be something else.

"Plus, I like to think Hagrid's done enough illegal stuff for a while," James muttered.

Hagrid was proudly explaining that they'd only just hatched, and they were going to be this class's pet project.

"That sounds, fun," James said, trying his hardest for some enthusiasm, though he couldn't deny he would have enjoyed the thought more if any of them actually knew what those things were.

Malfoy arrived on the scene then, demanding to know why they'd want to do such a thing. Hagrid looked stumped at the question.

"That's encouraging," Lily snorted, unable to stop her mind spinning slightly why Hagrid would hesitate on this. Shouldn't he know that kind of answer before he started the class? She liked Hagrid of course, but she really was beginning to wonder how well adept at teaching he was.

Malfoy kept going, demanding to know what the point of these things were, but Hagrid said that was for the next lesson.

"In other words, he has no idea," Remus sighed.

"Please tell me I'm the only one getting a bad feeling about this," Sirius frowned. "Someone tell me they're not thinking what I am."

None of them could though, as the longer this carried on, they were starting to wonder just how new this discovered species was.

Today they were just to be fed, and Hagrid had collected several different things for them to try since he wasn't sure.

"And it's still getting worse," Lily grumbled.

Seamus was grumbling how terrible this morning was going,

"I'll take the pus, at least I know what it is" Lily sighed.

as they each began trying to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts into eating even though they weren't even sure where the mouth was.

"Least they can't bite Ron like that," Sirius happily offered.

The next shout of noise came from Dean, who screeched that one of them had got him.

"Guess they can still pinch though," James gave a weak smile.

Hagrid went over to him as Dean explained its back end had exploded on his hand, leaving him with a burn.

The boys really couldn't suppress some surprised laughter at his expense, anyone getting burned by a creatures butt would be laughed at.

Lavender called Hagrid over next, asking what a pointy thing on some of them were? Hagrid explained the ones with stingers were likely males, and the others that had suckers on their stomachs were probably female, and they'd use those to suck blood.

"Well this is just wonderful," Lily sighed, running her hand through her hair while her eyes continued narrowing in suspicion.

"They're getting better by the second," Sirius agreed mildly.

Malfoy drawled out with sarcasm how he could really see the use of these things, they could burn, sting and bite you all at once!

"I'd love to give you one," James snarked. "Let it loose in the Slytherin common room."

Hermione shot back that they didn't have to be cute to be useful! Dragon's blood had all sorts of magical properties, but no one wanted them for a pet.

"I don't find that a valid point," Sirius shivered.

"I do, though it saddens me Hermione had to make Hagrid's point," Lily shrugged.

"We know she needs to get her word in, she probably just beat him to the punch," James offered.

Harry and Ron almost laughed, as they knew Hagrid was the exception to that and would love a pet dragon,

"Again," all five of them muttered with unhappy remembrance.

or another one at least, as he'd once housed a baby Norwegian Ridgeback he'd deemed Norbert.

Class was dismissed then, and as they went back to the castle Ron offered that at least they were small.

"Dragons are fairly small when they first hatch," Remus sighed, "that doesn't mean how big they'll grow."

"You are not helping," Lily scolded.

Hermione corrected that they were now, but once Hagrid figured out how to feed them, they'd likely grow.

"Neither's Hermione," James snorted.

Ron shot back with a sly smirk that if they cured seasickness, it would be worth it.

"Well there's that," Sirius gave a laugh.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, saying they knew full well she'd just said that to shut up Malfoy. To be honest, she thought he was right in this instance, it would be better to get rid of them while they had the chance.

"Harsh," Remus said in surprise.

"This coming from the girl who's jumping to every conclusion possible about house-elves, you'd think she'd give these little things a chance," James agreed.

They made it to lunch then, but while Harry and Ron began piling up their plate, Hermione grabbed everything around her and began eating at top speed.

"Guess she was really hungry," Sirius raised a brow in surprise.

Harry was getting a feeling, like he knew there was a reason in particular Hermione would be in such a hurry to eat, but didn't press it and instead remained as confused as the rest of them.

Ron asked if this was her new goal, to make herself puke?

"That would be more insulting than helpful," James scoffed, "she must know that."

Hermione managed to get out a no around a mouthful of sprouts,

Sirius pretended to retch over the side of the sofa at having so many vile vegetables in your mouth at once.

saying she needed to get up to the library.

"Aw, I think she missed her real best friend," Remus snickered.

Ron demanded to know why, they hadn't even been given homework yet.

"Has that ever actually stopped her before?" Lily snorted.

Hermione didn't answer though, shoveling the rest of her food away before sprinting off.

Harry and Ron ate at their normal pace, then left for their Divination class.

"I don't suppose since she was so insanely wrong last year about you dying, she'll quit this year?" Sirius asked without any real hope.

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Harry sighed.

Once the class had all been seated, Trelawny entered as if from the shadows, making most of the students jump. She emerged right next to Harry, and told him she sensed he looked preoccupied.

"Every student in that school could be considered preoccupied about something," Lily scoffed.

She continued watching him with those wide eyes, telling him that the thing he feared most would soon come to pass.

"That was so vague, it wouldn't matter what happened, she'd claim credit for it," Remus rolled his eyes.

Then she turned away back to the rest of the class, explaining to them that this semester they'd be focusing on the stars. They would be focusing on the movement of the planets to ordain...

"Isn't this what the centaurs do?" James asked with only vague curiosity, just trying to get her talking to stop for a moment.

"I think it's more elaborate," Sirius shrugged, he really only had the faintest idea like the rest of them, "but yeah, something similar."

but Harry wasn't listening anymore.

All four of them couldn't help but laugh at that, none of them could blame him one bit as they'd been hoping her little speech would be cut off soon as well.

This room had always put Harry to sleep, though today in particular he couldn't help but chew on what she'd said to him.

Harry had an unhappy little frown on his face again at the thought of that. He knew that she was in fact a real Seer, and she'd made quite a few right predictions last year no matter her agitating personality. What if this was one of them? The thing he was most currently dreading happened to be something would happen to Sirius, but that couldn't be it, right?

He tried to shake his worry off, Hermione was right and Trelawny was a fraud, and Harry wasn't dreading anything...except that something might have happened to Sirius.

That caught them all up with Harry's line of thinking, and Sirius couldn't help but lose a few shades of color in shock. He had been the first to believe in this woman's real power, and he'd regretted it ever sense as she continued to somehow manage to make his life hell because of it. There was no way that she was right about this though, he was fine! He had to be, for Harry's sake as well as his own. He knew he'd never forgive himself if something did happen to him, and he'd be virtually leaving Harry on his own again. Until he had concrete proof from this stupid little text that something had happened to him, he smothered that terrible fear and put on a confident smile for the others, feeding the line, "ah, the old quack is just winding you up pup. You know she'd love nothing more than to see she'd gotten under your skin."

Harry gave him a brave smile, but none of that even began to erase their worry which would linger until the moment Sirius' name was cleared.

Trelawny couldn't know that though. Harry had long since put down her odd predictions to luck.

Lily longed for the days where she'd believed that.

Except for last year, where she'd made a true prophecy while in a trance, even Dumbledore had confirmed that.

Yeah, that was about where all of their suspicions were coming from as well.

Ron snapped Harry out of his musing, and he jerked around to see that Trelawny was watching him with resentment that he hadn't been hanging on her every word.

"He had much more important things to be thinking about," Sirius said with as much pompousness as he could put into his tone.

"You think you're more important than Merlin himself," Lily said halfheartedly with none of her usual ire.

Sirius gave her a winning smile which she couldn't help but roll her eyes at.

She repeated now that she did have Harry's attention that he was most certainly born under Saturn, it was there in his dark hair,

"That's genetics you beanbag," James snorted.

mean stature,

"I fault that to nutrition," Lily scathed under her breath, knowing that while James had been scrawny in his youth, he would have shot up by this age point, while Harry still seemed to be lacking due to his home life.

and the tragic losses of his young life.

"Which is always a loving reminder," Sirius got out through gritted teeth.

She predicted that he'd been born in midwinter.

All five of them began laughing without remorse at that. Considering all the right predictions she'd made, it was nice to see her be so utterly wrong about this when none of them could still take a lingering eye off of Sirius.

Harry corrected that he'd been born in July, which made Ron turn his laugh into a cough.

"He's more restraint than we do," James got out, still laughing so hard at least they were pretty sure that's what he'd said.

As the class continued, Trelawny gave them all star charts, and told them to map the planets at the time of their birth. It was boring work, as they mostly had to focus on calculations. When Harry was done, he found he had two Neptune's.

"Probably means you're going to visit the ocean or something," Remus snorted.

Ron began imitating Trelawney's voice, telling him that two Neptune's meant that a midget in glasses was being born.

Sirius was starting to list against the arm of the couch he was laughing so hard, still blinking as fast as he could to try and keep himself going even while doing so.

Across the room, Lavender had Trelawney's attention, asking her to come identify a planet for her. Trelawny said it was Uranus, and Ron whispered if he could have a look at Lavenders Uranus too.

At least Lily tried to suppress her humor at that one, juvenile as it was, but the joke had been so unexpected she wasn't doing too well.

Harry, Seamus, and Dean all began laughing loudly at that one, which sadly caught Trelawney's attention, and might have been the reason for their extra homework.

"Nah, I'll bet she'd have done that even if you did fawn over her," Remus rolled his eyes.

"She seems as strict as McGonagall, without the intentional fun side," James nodded in agreement.

She wanted a detailed account of the planetary movements for the next month and predictions on how they would affect them, her snappy tone now resembling McGonagall,

"There's James's proof to back it up," Sirius said without remorse. He'd been longing since the first book just to hear about something as mundane as Harry getting extra homework, so despite his pup's put out look, he was going to yuk this up as long as possible.

and she wanted it Monday!

Ron called her a few choice words as they left that day, complaining how that would take them all weekend to do! Hermione caught up with them and asked if they'd been given homework, because Vector hadn't given them any.

"Wishing more and more I'd taken Arithmancy," Harry grumbled.

They were on their way down to dinner and had almost made it to the Great Hall when they were hailed by Malfoy.

"Just keep walking," Lily said hopefully.

"And miss the opportunity to hear what he's got to say," James demanded, pretending to look faint at the idea. "Whatever would he do with himself then?"

Ron snapped what he wanted, and Malfoy shouted back loud enough for all around to hear that his dad had wound up in the papers again.

"Well this can't be good," Remus frowned.

"Hasn't always been bad," Sirius countered back with a small twist of his own lips.

He began reading from a copy of the Daily Prophet the headline that the Ministry was still making mistakes. Rita Skeeter was again the author of the piece as she explained that the Ministry was again in disgrace because of yesterday when Arnold Weasley,

"Now they're just being insulting," James sneered at the misuse of Arthur's name.

"It should hardly be considered credible if they can't even keep their own simple fact like a name straight," Lily nodded.

but Malfoy cut himself off there to look up and laugh at Ron that they hadn't even gotten his name right, he really was a nobody!

"Wish you were!" Harry seethed, tensing up more every line Sirius read.

Malfoy had the attention of every student around him as he kept reading that Weasley had come to the aid of one 'Mad-Eye' Moody, an ex-Auror who was known for making false phone calls of distress. The aged man could no longer tell the difference between a handshake and an attack on his life, and Mr. Weasley's coming to his aide was a disgrace on the Ministry's behalf.

"He was asked to come onto that scene!" Lily spat in outrage. "Who the bloody hell is this woman to be saying all of this horrid stuff, what's she have against Arthur?"

"It's not just him," Remus reminded with an ugly look in place, "she's had a go at Bill, remember? They said the whole of the Curse Breakers, but the fact that he was specifically mentioned pops."

"So what's she have against the Weasleys," Sirius sighed.

"Nothing as far as I know," Harry grumbled, "at least Ron's never said anything, so maybe even he doesn't know."

"Maybe Arthur turned her down in school or something, and she's getting revenge," James offered with an almost amused smirk.

"If she's that petty then she's being sad, and you're depressing me," Lily rolled her eyes, flicking her fingers at Sirius to convince him to keep going.

Malfoy flipped the paper over when he was done, which showed a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in front of their house. Malfoy commented first on the patheticness of the house, then demanded to know if Mrs. Weasley was really that fat, or did the camera do a small bit of it?

Sirius did not look remotely pleased to have said such a horrid thing, but hoped dearly Harry and Ron would get him back enough that he didn't stop amongst the protest around him.

Harry's face flushed bright red in hatred, despising anyone speaking about Mrs. Weasley like that.

Ron began shaking in fury, but Harry called out for Malfoy to stuff himself, trying to drag Ron away.

"You're killing me Harry," James groaned, he wanted to see that brat cursed already!

Malfoy kept going though, remembering how Harry had been staying with the Weasleys, and demanded of him if she was really that porky?

"Couldn't say, nobody would notice but an f'ing little shit like you!" Remus growled.

Harry began to shout back, while having to grab hold of Ron to stop him having a go,

"I really wish you would stop doing that," Sirius snarled.

Harry had to take a deep breath to answer without shouting, "we were in front of the Great Hall, teachers everywhere, I didn't want to see him end up in detention without even getting proper revenge."

"Sometimes it's worth it," Remus huffed.

that his own mother had quite an expression on her face when Harry had seen her. He demanded to know if she always looked like she swallowed dung, or was it just because Draco was around?

"Brilliant dear," Lily made sure he heard her praise amongst the gale of laughter.

Harry didn't look as pleased as he normally would have at his mother's words, he was still too wrung up about why he'd had to throw that insult.

Malfoy went pink as he yelled at Harry not to insult his mother!

"Can't take what you dish out?" James sneered.

"Typical of his kind," Sirius nodded.

Harry suggested he keep his mouth shut then, beginning to turn away, when a shot of light went searing next to his cheek.

"He tried to curse you, when you were turning around?" Lily snarled.

"Can't say I'm surprised after all the dirty things he's done," Sirius grimaced with disgust, thankful that he'd missed and now Harry would have a chance to retaliate.

Harry was already spinning back around while reaching for his wand, when he heard the shout of 'no you don't laddie!'

James went wide-eyed in surprise, wondering who else had stepped in.

Harry turned properly to find Moody limping down the stairs, at the foot of which where Malfoy had been standing was a white ferret.

Sirius wasn't sure he'd read that right. He sat there gaping down at the book for several long moments before his eyes convinced his brain he'd really just read the most wondrous fact he could.

Then the others caught on, and all five of them were leaning back into their seating they were laughing so hard.

Only after several minutes did it vaguely subside, and Remus gasped out, "well, no one could say he didn't have that coming."

"A ferret-" James wheezed, "of all the, oh that's so perfect I couldn't have done better!"

Lily collected herself next, smoothing out her hair from her face but still unable to shake the smile this caused. Malfoy was an arrogant little thing who'd thrown the first punch, at Harry's back. No way could she find anything to protest in his getting this treatment.

Sirius got his breath back last, his eyes still watery from laughing so hard, and not sounding like he cared one jot.

The hall rang with silence as most of Moody turned to look at Harry, while his eye rolled into the back of his head.

"Cool," Sirius chirped, the more he heard about that thing the more it sounded like a pretty good compensation for losing an eye.

Moody asked if Harry had been hit, and he said no. Then Moody shouted 'leave it!' Harry asked what he meant, and Moody said he didn't mean him, while gesturing over his shoulder where Crabbe had been fixing to pick up the ferret.

"He can see out of the back of his own head with that?" Lily asked with mild disgust.

"Can see how that can come in handy though," Remus' grin widened as all the possibilities of this came to mind.

James got a smile in place of agreement before anyone noticed otherwise, but the second Sirius turned back it slipped away again to be replaced with confusion and concern. He just couldn't picture this in his head no matter how fascinating the idea.

Apparently Moody's magical eye could see through his own skull. Moody turned back around to face the Slytherin trio then, which made the ferret give a terrified squeak and try to make a run for the dungeons.

"Oh I hope you follow," Sirius begged Harry. "I would pay my weight to see that thing going to Snape, and him trying to figure out what it is!"

Harry gave another light laugh, but somehow got the feeling that wasn't what had happened.

Moody raised his wand again, and set the ferret ten feet into the air, then lowered him back down to the marble floor with a smack, before bouncing him back up again.

Causing the boys another round of ungraceful laughter, while Lily's brows shot up in surprise. She wasn't going to say anything about transfiguring him like that, though he was a teacher she reflected and wished he'd show better. But the physical violence was pushing what was called for in this situation.

"Oh come on Lily Flower," James wheedled when he caught sight of her expression. "You know Malfoy deserves this."

"I'm not arguing that," Lily shook her head with a small frown still in place, "but he could really hurt him doing that."

"You worry too much," Sirius scoffed, "you must know Moody won't cause him a permanent injury, just show him a bit of what a waste of space he is."

Lily still couldn't wipe away her concern, but Sirius moved on like she'd agreed with him anyways.

Moody was talking to Malfoy now, telling him he despised anyone who attacked their opponent with their back turned,

"I wonder if that might be how he got one of his injuries," Remus considered.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Sirius shrugged.

"Though he has always been against cowardice like that move," James pointed out.

still bouncing him around with every word as he told that this was a cowardly thing to do.

Lily sighed as she ran her hand up and down her face, did Sirius have to sound so indulgent as he said all of that.

The ferret was flailing around trying to escape to no avail.

Moody instructed he was never to do that again, every word punctuated with another smack against the floor.

"I sincerely hope this did teach him a lesson," Remus nodded in agreement, only managing to increase Lily's consternation when Harry nodded as if in agreement.

Someone shouted Moody's name in shock, it was McGonagall coming down the stairs with her arms full of books.

"Why is she always carrying so many books around?" Harry asked out of the blue. "She can't have that much time to read."

"She does some other stuff besides teach," Lily happily explained, more than pleased at this change of topic while the boys looked mildly annoyed they'd been distracted from this perfect moment, and now McGonagall was likely going to ruin it altogether. "I know she submits essays and some opinion pieces to the Ministry on a few of the problems the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes division has. I'm sure most of those are for research, though like Hermione I wouldn't be too surprised if she did have just a fun reading novel mixed in there."

"You two get to talking about the weirdest things," James snickered when Harry looked like he was fixing to return with something.

Lily gave him a sharp glare, he was one to talk, but Sirius kept reading loudly to get back on track.

Moody greeted McGonagall calmly, still bouncing the ferret all the higher.

"Doesn't even-" which was all Remus could get out before he started laughing again, though forcing himself to be quiet enough Sirius would keep going.

McGonagall asked what he was doing as her own eyes followed the ferret's progress.

"Isn't it obvious?" James raised a brow at her, thinking she usually caught on faster than that.

"He's just helping out a fellow student," Sirius quickly nodded in agreement as if McGonagall were standing in front of them now.

Moody responded he was teaching.

"Well he's not wrong," Harry smirked.

McGonagall shrieked if that was a student, her books falling in surprise.

Cracking up all of the boys again, who started snickering like idiots in Lily's opinion. She was watching them indulgently now though, unable to stop her own spark of amusement now that she knew this wasn't going to progress further. At least McGonagall had always been quick on the uptake.

Moody simply said yep.

"Not even going to try-" James got out before he was holding his sides in laughter again.

McGonagall cried no right back,

"Her reaction's my favorite part," Harry got out, starting to gasp a bit he'd been laughing so hard.

now sprinting down the stairs and pulling out her own wand and transforming Malfoy back.

"Aw, she's such a killjoy," Sirius pouted down at the pages, even though he was trying for a sad tone at their fun being gone, it still wasn't getting rid of his amusement one jot.

She turned on Moody and began scolding him at once that teachers were not to use Transfiguration as a punishment!

Lily gave a sad sigh, wishing McGonagall had checked to see if Malfoy had an injury or anything.

Insisting that Dumbledore must have told him that!

Moody seemed unconcerned as he said the headmaster might have mentioned it,

"Oh yes, just a little side note, right along with don't slip Veritaserum into their morning breakfast," Lily snorted.

"Wish you could get away with stuff like that," James said, "it would have made Moony's time there a lot more interesting."

Remus didn't even bother to look abashed.

but he'd been thinking that a good shock to the boy,

"Well he definitely got that," Sirius crowed with triumph.

but McGonagall instructed they were to be given detentions, or to speak to the offender's Head of House.

"Not effective, and a nuisance," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Taking house points away seems to work best," Harry offered.

"For those who cared," James snorted.

Moody agreed he'd do that for now, turning his attention back on Malfoy who was muttering something about his father.

"I swear you could make a recording of him doing that, make him disappear, and no one would know the difference," Sirius snickered.

Moody limped towards him, snapping at him that he knew his father quite well.

"I'm hoping Moody wasn't the one investigating him on the charges of being a Death Eater," Remus sighed, "otherwise I'd be really disappointed he couldn't find anything."

"And we know Moody can't be bribed out of whatever he would have found," Sirius nodded in agreement, "so I'm with you, hopefully he just tried at his trial or something and couldn't get through."

To tell Malfoy senior that his boy was being watched. Then he directed that Snape was his Head of House? Malfoy gave a sulky yes, and Moody declared that was another old friend.

Lily sadly remembered a time where she would have felt upset at the way this news was delivered, making it perfectly obvious to anyone in the know that he was referring to Snape as a Death Eater as well in that instance, but that ship had sailed long ago.

Moody agreed he'd been looking forward to talking to Snape anyways, coming forward and seizing Malfoy's arm and dragging him off.

"I can't believe McGonagall let them go," Harry chuckled. "He may just drag Malfoy out of sight and transfigure him into a slug next."

"We can only hope," Sirius nodded in agreement.

McGonagall watched them go anxiously, but then summoned her books back to her arms and walked away. Harry and his friends finally made their way into the Great Hall, and sat down, to hear Ron instruct his friends not to talk to him for a moment.

"He's probably still trying to find where he left his breath at," James snickered, "I know I am."

Hermione asked why not, and Ron said it was because he was implanting that into his memory, Draco Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret.

"I want to get that on a t-shirt," Sirius groaned, unable to believe he could still keep laughing as his head would likely fall off soon, but his body was trying.

Harry and Hermione both laughed, but Hermione did add on that Malfoy could have gotten hurt. It was good McGonagall had stepped in. Ron snapped at her that she was ruining the best moment of his life!

"That's the best moment of his life?" Lily snorted. "Poor boys got a long way to go then."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius scoffed at her, "I'd make the best patronus in the world with that memory!"

Hermione ignored him and began eating at top speed again.

Harry asked if she was going back to the library, which she agreed to. He tried to protest that she still didn't have any homework, and she cut him off that it wasn't for homework.

She cleared her plate in minutes then ran off.

"What on earth is she up to?" Remus demanded, mildly disappointed they had finally seemed to step off the topic of the ferret.

"Something to do with house-elves I'd presume," Lily said with much more curiosity, she knew she'd like to hear about this.

"Here's hoping Harry doesn't go and check," Sirius sighed.

Moments later the twins and Lee appeared, telling Harry and Ron about how cool Moody is! They'd just had his class this afternoon.

"I get a feeling Harry had a better lesson from him than you," James beamed.

Harry at once asked what it was like, and Fred said it was the best lesson ever.

"Aw, it's okay Moony, he didn't really mean it," Sirius told Remus with an amused smirk.

Remus rolled his eyes at the teasing, he hadn't taken that personally.

Lee agreed he knew things.

Ron asked for details, and George said that he knew what it was like to be out there doing it.

Harry asked doing what?

Fred said he knew about fighting the Dark Art's, George adding on that he'd seen it all! Lee finishing that it was amazing to listen to.

"Those three sound like you three," Lily smiled. "Honestly, he's not the only Auror in the world."

"But he is one of the best," James countered at once.

"He comes from a whole family of Aurors," Sirius added on, "so he's known what he's doing since he was in diapers."

"And he clearly gets results," Remus shrugged, "I wouldn't bet against him in a fight."

Lily started snickering when she realized they'd just proved her point, but wasn't going to pursue it.

Ron took another look at his schedule, and groaned that they didn't have his class till Thursday.

"I feel like that's the first time Ron's ever said anything about a class like that," Harry laughed as Sirius handed the book to him.

HPHPHPHP

* I found it! A lot of people were asking me back during book three why I thought all classes always started on a Monday, and this was my reasoning right here. September 2nd, 1994 was a Friday, not a Monday, so something is off about their days of the weeks compared to ours!

[the-marshals-wife]

Token (Din Djarin x Reader)

─ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ─ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─

A/N: After the finale, I just wanted to write something fluffy about this cinnamon roll. Took me a little longer than I expected after getting the flu, throwing my shoulder out, and then getting braces, but here it is in all its feelsy glory.

Description: The Mandalorian/Din Djarin x Fem!Reader, the fluff and angst are strong with this one | Warnings: none | Setting: pre-season one | Word count: 1,483 | Gif credit: user trelawnys

Imagine being an old flame of The Mandalorian and being unexpectedly reunited with him after he saves your life, only to face that you are now on different paths

The Razor Crest had hardly changed a bit since the last time you’d seen it. Dark, dingy, and nondescript. Nothing about it said comfort or warmth, but it served as a home all the same. At one point, it had been your home too.

Sitting on an unmarked crate, you exhale, thinking about how much you had changed. You glance down at your hands, calloused and worn, years of digging for scraps and salvage taking its toll on your once nimble fingers. You’d collected many a bounty with a sniper blaster in your grip. Back when your reputation earned you currency, food, and shelter. Before an old ally sold you out to a competitor, framed you for a failed job worth millions, and took away everything you’d bled and fought for. Now the bounties were on your head. You were the one being hunted, and life was purely a game of staying alive for one more day.

Your partner from so long ago was certainly the last person you’d expected to see in this corner of the galaxy, let alone he be the one to shoot down the bounty hunter who’d cornered you that morning. Out of all the planets in all the systems, The Mandalorian had found you once again.

The sound of your rescuer descending from the cockpit pulls you from your bittersweet ruminations.

“We’re here,” he announces, stepping off the narrow ladder as the ship lands with a jolt.

“Where’s here?” you ask, communication being sparse thus far.

“Lexrul. I have an ally here. They will give you refuge until you can get on your feet.” he answers.

“Wow...thank you. That means, a lot,” you say, moved by his kindness even after all this time, ”And thank you for saving me back there. I really owe you one.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he dismisses, walking closer, “What were you doing on Christophsis anyway? Why was that hunter after you?”

“I was involved a botched job with the wrong people. Got cornered, wound up stranded five months ago with a fried hyperdrive. Couldn’t get the parts to fix it,” you say, wanting to avoid the finer details of the incident.

“Why didn’t you buy passage off the planet?” he questions, sensing something wasn’t adding up.

You sigh, knowing there was no use in hiding the truth from him.

"I don’t have any money left. What you’re looking at? That’s all that’s left of me,” you answer, gazing up at him.

He takes a seat on the crate across from you. “What happened?”

“Benec Nold sold me out to The Hutts. We where working a job together, trying to take down a Duros that stole 9 million credit’s worth of spice from The Hutt Clan. We found him, but Nold set me up. Staged the whole thing. Killed the thief, made it look like I lost the goods, took it all for himself, and disappeared. Even after Jabba bit the dust, his bounty hunters are still breathing down my neck, trying to collect the Gundark-sized price on my head for the rest of the clan. For six years, I’ve been scraping garbage off the streets to not starve to death, while that sleemo is probably sunning himself on a Scarif beach,” you seethe, clinching your fists at the thought. “That Trandoshan you shot in the alley was just the next in a long line of creeps trying to cash in.”

He was silent for a moment, processing the information. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I’m used to it,” you shrug, forcing a smirk, though you knew it was hollow, “What about you? How’s the hunt?”

“Fine,” he says, getting to his feet.

You watch as he walks over to a panel on the wall, swiftly pressing a combination of buttons.

“Just fine?”

The doors of the ship’s arsenal open with a swish, revealing dozens of weapons.

“Yeah,” he says, his tone lower.

His guard was up. That was something you were familiar with, but he seemed agitated. Unsettled. Sad.

“Why can’t we talk like we used to?” you ask, standing up.

“A lot has changed since then, Y/N,” he replies, back still turned to you as he surveys a selection of blasters.

“You haven’t,” you say, stepping up behind him, “You’re the same Mando I knew all those years ago.”

“I wish that were true,” he sighs, sorrow in his voice.

You reach out and put a hand on his shoulder, and he finally turns to face you.

 “Y/N, you need to stay somewhere safe. Make a better life for yourself,” he implores.

“It’s not that easy. You know that. Imps are still everywhere. I was thrown out of the Guild. Everywhere I turn there’s someone more than happy to put a blaster to my brain. I can’t just disappear. No one can,” you respond. “I’ve been running my entire life. It’s all I know.”

“You’re stronger than that. I know you. You’ll find a way. You always have,” he insists. “I wish...that things had been different.”

“Din,” you say, “Come with me. Please. We can run together. You and me against the galaxy. Just like it was before.”

“We can’t go back, Y/N,” he says, “This chance...it’s all I can give you.”

“Please,” you beg, desperately trying to stave off the loneliness sinking in your chest.

“I’m bound to the Mandalorian life. I made my vow,” he denies, taking your hands in his. “This is the way.”

You nod, fighting the tears welling in your eyes.

“In that case, please, let me say goodbye,” you say, timidly reaching for his helmet.

He gently grabs your wrists, “No living thing can see my face. It’s forbidden.”

“I don’t need to see,” you state, pausing as he interprets your words. After a moment, you gazing up the darkened visor where you knew he stared back at you, he released his grip.

Receiving his permission, you close your eyes, slowly lifting his helmet. It’s heavier than you expected, but you sense the weight lift as he helps, removing it the rest of the way.

The temptation to open your eyes is so strong, but you resist, knowing how much his Creed meant to him. In the place of sight, you use your hands to see the face of the man you knew so well.

Your pulse quickens as your hand graces his chin. The rough stubble tickles your fingertips. His hand finds yours; he holds it tight as you cup his cheek. You lean closer, feeling the warmth of his breath on your face. Your heart pounding, he closes the gap between you, softly pressing his lips to yours. The kiss is as tender and gentle as you’d hoped, and the light tickle of a mustache is a welcome surprise; another treasured detail to complete your picture of him. Far sooner than you’d like, he draws away, touching his forehead to yours.

“If I could alter my path, know that I would align it to yours. If not in this life, then in the next,” he utters, lingering.

His words run through you like a blade. Your heart aches more than ever.

“Din.”

“I hope you find everything you’re looking for.” he says with finality, pulling away.

Tears run down your cheeks as you open your eyes. He’s turned away from you, helmet on, blaster in hand.

The ship’s boarding ramps lowers, cool wind rushing inside and hitting your face. You wipe your eyes with your sleeve, knowing the moment has passed.

“My contact will be waiting for you. Follow these coordinates,” he explains, standing by the ramp, holding out a map projector. “Imperial control fell here long ago. The remnant is small. You’ll be safe.”

“Good to know,” you reply, taking the chip.

“Take this too,” he extends the weather-worn rifle.

Your eyes narrow as you realize exactly what rifle it was. “You kept this all these years?”

“You told me to take care of it for you,” he reminds, chuckling a bit, “Let’s hope it still fits.”

A smile spreading across your face, you take your faithful weapon back, immediately feeling whole with it in your grip. “Oh yeah. Like a glove.”

Silence falls between you, the only sound being his cloak snapping in the wind.

“Thank you. For everything,” you finally speak.

“Take care of yourself,” he replies, extending his hand.

You grasp it firmly, meeting his gaze through that visor once again, “You too.”

Before it becomes impossible, you force yourself to let go.

As you tread down the ramp into the glow of twilight, you leave your old life behind. Yet as you walk toward your future, you pray that someday, somehow, The Mandalorian will be there to find you once more.

[galadrieljones]

The Lily Farm - Chapter 50

AO3 | Masterpost

Pairing: Arthur x Mary Beth

Rating: M (Mature) - sexual content, violence, and adult themes

Summary: After Sean’s death, Mary Beth asks Arthur to take her on a hunting trip, somewhere far away. What takes place at first is a simple love story: full of trials and journeys that they must endure together, as a team. But over time, things complicate. The gang is in trouble, and as Arthur and Mary Beth aim to set out on their own one day, they must find a way to help those they love while eventually, finding escape. Their ultimate goal is to go north with the Marstons, to find the bucolic stretches of Wisconsin where, rumor has it, there are lily farms. Will they make it? How will they survive when all hope seems lost? This is their story.

Chapter 50: Revenge is a Dish Best Shared

“Dutch,” said Abigail. “Goddammit, Dutch. Answer me.”

She had left Jack with the Reverend. They were practicing reading with the Bible inside one of the shacks on the water. A good deal of the camp had capsized in recent storms. The weather was cold at night, enough so to make most of them drink, even more than usual. Abigail had not drunk a drop, not since Sadie had left with the Texas Rangers some weeks before. She did not fancy losing control. That day, she wore a pair of John’s old trousers, tucked into a heavy pair of boots. Pearson and Charles and Lenny were spending all morning digging the wagons out the mud, caked in the stuff from head to toe, drinking water and wiping the sweat from their foreheads. A lot of the food had been lost or stolen by wild animals. One morning, not too many days before, an actual gator had washed up with the storm and nearly snapped Karen’s leg off. She bashed it on the head with a bottle and shot it with her gun and it scurried into the marsh.

Dutch and Hosea had been holing up in private the last couple days. They had sent Trelawny into town more than a week before with a letter Abigail knew was intended for Arthur. Something was going on, and though she understood it to be some sort of complex distraction being planned, she was sure they were supposed to be waiting for John and Sadie to return before they put things into motion.

“Tell me what’s happening, Dutch,” said Abigail. “Or I swear to fucking god.”

He was leaving the marsh. He was getting on his horse. “You swear to fucking god?” he said. “What god, fair Abbie? Prithee, tell me now.”

“Don’t matter what god,” said Abigail. “And don’t call me Abbie. Only one man around here can get away with that, maybe two, and it ain’t you.”

Usually Dutch would have laughed at her, but today, she seemed truly unhinged, and she was wearing trousers, which she never wore. He sighed, sitting on top of the Count. He leaned on his elbows so he could see her eyes. “Okay,” he said. “What do you want to know, Abigail.”

“I wanna know why the hell the boys are digging up the wagons? Why Miss Grimshaw is packing up the camp like we’re fixing to leave tomorrow.”

“Because we are fixing to leave tomorrow,” said Dutch. “Look around you. We are knee-deep in mud. If the law don’t find us, starvation surely will.”

“But what about John?” she pleaded. “What about Sadie?”

“We’ve got contingencies,” said Dutch. “Don’t worry. They’ll find us when this is all over.”

“All over?” she said. “How long will that be?”

“I don’t know,” said Dutch. “A few weeks? It really depends.”

“Weeks?” she said. With an unseen force, she reached up and tried making for his gun. “Weeks?”

She clawed at his face and got ahold of his hair. He was so surprised he didn’t know fully how to fight back and instead he yielded and allowed himself to be dragged from the horse. There was nothing else to do.

He landed on his feet in the muddy earth and then he managed to nudge her off of him as gentle as could be. He proceeded to dust off his lapels. “You trying to kill us both?”

“Maybe.”

“Calm yourself,” said Dutch.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“John and Sadie will be fine. The Rangers have reassured me that they’re alive beyond their daring escape and in hiding north of Annesburg.”

“It’s gotta be freezing cold up in them hills,” said Abigail. “What if they’re—Jesus Christ, Dutch. What if they’re—”

“They’re fine, Abigail.”

“You don’t know that,” she said. “We gotta wait. Or—send somebody after them.”

He sighed. He hooked his thumbs around his gun belt. He squared up with her and said, “My girl, we can’t stay here any longer, and we can’t spare the manpower. You know it, as well as I. It is simply not safe. Everything is in place in St. Denis. The robbery will take place the day after tomorrow, and by then, you all need to be fully removed from Lemoyne, or else this is all for nothing. Arthur and Mary Beth risked their lives for nothing. John spent months in jail, for nothing. Is that what you want?”

“No.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“But I just—” She was holding her face in her hands. “I can’t leave him,” she said. “I can’t keep waiting like this, Dutch. It’s killing me.”

“I know,” he said. “I know, my dear.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. He looked at her with soulful eyes, which seemed familiar. He had not reassured her on such fatherly terms in many years, and it was so foreign now she nearly backed away out of fear that he had been replaced by some sort of imposter. “You have to trust in John. Can you do that?”

She stared at him, feeling like a wild animal. “I suppose I can try,” she said.

“That’s my girl.”

“Where you going,” she said. “Why you getting on your horse.”

“I have an errand,” he said, replacing his hat atop his head.

“What sort of errand.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “If you’re looking for something to keep yourself busy, see Miss Grimshaw. I’m sure she needs help salvaging what’s left of this…wreckage.”

“That woman can bite my ass,” said Abigail, ringing her hands. “But I’ll help anyway.”

Dutch chuckled, mounted up, scratched the Count along his mane. “I shall return by morning,” he said. “Have faith, Mrs. Marston.”

He rode away.

She turned around to face the camp, which was in shambles. Mud everywhere. There were a couple structures, like repurposed fishing shacks, and that’s where they all slept. She thought about going in to bug on Hosea next, but she had heard him up coughing late the night before. This weather wasn’t good for him, for his lungs. Pearson was smoking a pipe, sitting on a tree stump. It was odd behavior for him and she figured he must have been drunk, head in his hands. Charles was taking a break, smoking hash cigarettes, which he had shared with her on occasion, but he seemed ornery as a great deal of the grunt work those days fell on him, and Lenny, and Lenny was green and despite his enthusiasm required some level of instruction. Micah was gone. Nobody had seen him in months. Tilly spent most of her days working the towns, bringing in as much money as she could, but without Mary Beth to help her work the angle, she just couldn’t bring in what she’d used to. The Reverend helped a great deal with Jack. He seemed to have turned a corner, and this was one small, good development amidst all the chaos.

The days and nights felt like an ongoing and monotonous fog of indecision since the weather started getting bad. Without Arthur and without John there was a big feeling of being unprotected on all sides. She felt like there was nobody manning the guns, even as that was untrue. There were good men left, but without those men she trusted most, it was never enough. In general, even with John around, Abigail had come to rely on Arthur’s presence for her ongoing sense of safety and stability in the gang for many years. It was something she was working on, not relying on him too much, especially now since he was having a family of his own and since John was stepping things up, as a man. But Arthur had always been the pillar, for as long as she had been around. Without him, there was a hole. Huffing and puffing and unsure of what to do, she placed her hands on her hips and scolded the dog for no reason. She felt bad about it immediately, patted him on the head and squeezed him behind the ears and said, “God fucking dammit. Goddammit. I’m sorry.”

“Hello, Abigail,” said Hosea. He was approaching her with his hands in his pockets. He looked tired, but awake. He had some color in his cheeks. Cane went up to him and sniffed at his pockets with excitement. Hosea scrubbed him once behind the ears and sent him away.

“Oh, Hosea,” said Abigail. “How you keeping?”

“I’m fine, sweetheart.” He walked past her. He stood on the edge of the water, looking out into its murky depths, wearing a brown cuourdoroy jacket. “How are you.”

“I’m trying my best,” she said, resisting the urge to ask too many questions. He wouldn’t have the answers anyway, not the ones she was looking for. She took a cigarette out of her pocket, but she didn’t have any matches.

Hosea breathed deep. He turned around, smiling at her wearily. He had a match and lit her cigarette, then he shook out the flame. “I know you miss John,” said Hosea. “I know you’re worried about him. I just wanted to check in on you.”

“Yes,” she said. “The boy needs his father. I—I need him, too. We been on better terms lately. Almost happy. Would be a shame to lose him now.” She was being sarcastic, but she almost started to cry as she smoked.

Hosea’s presence was strong and warm. He had been up late coughing, but she thought he looked a little better that day. Maybe it was just that she was so relieved to see him. “The two of you will make it,” he said.

She tried to smile.

“You know, I’ve been thinking a lot,” said Hosea.

“About what?” said Abigail.

“About Arthur,” said Hosea. “I miss him.”

She was surprised to hear him talking this way, so earnest. “Yeah, I miss him, too,” said Abigail, smoking. “Nothing feels quite right without him.”

“I agree,” he said. “It’s got me thinking. This whole…experiment. The gang. It might just be over. For good. That’s sad, in a way, but for Arthur, I couldn’t be happier. Somehow, it seems like a sign. New things are ahead, good things. I’ve just been thinking about him. That’s all.”

They listened to the sounds of the wintry swamp. It was cold and dank. The trees seemed to be heavy and hanging with sludge. The sky was gray. Abigail finished her cigarette, tossed it into the mud.

“Don’t give up on John,” said Hosea. He put his arm around her, held her close. “There’s still one more day, my girl. He might just make it, with moments to spare. He has a certain talent for that, don’t you think?”

They looked at the thick haze out over the water. There were alagators swimming in the soup. Hosea smelled strongly of stale smoke and medicine.

“Yeah he does,” she said, tucking her head into his shoulder, like she was trying to hide. “I’ll keep hoping, Hosea. I’ll try.”

It was late afternoon, and Arthur had tracked a Thoroughbred filly halfway down the valley and into Murfree Brood country. He thought she seemed fairly tame in nature upon initial observation and was going to break her for Charlotte. Though he had entertained the idea of taking Hamish since it had been some weeks since they’d spent time together, once he thought about it further, he decided that Hamish was an old man, and it was cold out there, and he was worried about the violence that could ensue. Perhaps it was coddling, but Arthur had grown a little protective in those days of the people had had left and those he held dear. He knew it would be better for him to go alone.

Losing light around four o’clock, he tried to ascertain whether he should stay the night or get back to the girls. John and Sadie had made their way out that very morning, and they were alone, and he didn’t want to lose the horse. It was now or never, he decided, after he’d had his dinner and tracked her one last quarter of a mile to the top of a snowy hill. He smoked a cigarette and went slow, the job taking about an hour in time. She would need further taming. She was a bit wilder than she had let on, but strong. Once he got her on the bit, he rode her back with Leah trotting at his side. The sun went down, and he did not see any bad characters nor cannibals on his journey. Perhaps they were in hiding, or sleeping off the snow. When he returned to the house, he tied up the horses in the stable and watered and fed them well. Inside, the girls had already finished with dinner but had saved him some, keeping it warm on the stove. Mary Beth had fallen asleep by the fire. Charlotte was knitting a sweater on the sofa.

“How’d it go?” she said to him, seeming good that night, though it was very late.

“It went well,” he said, lifting the lid on the stew. “I brought back a prize girl.”

“Really?” said Charlotte.

“Indeed. It’s a bit late, though. I’ll introduce her to you in the morning.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, Arthur.”

“You are welcome. It was the least I could do.”

Charlotte went back to her knitting, happily. Arthur went to touch Mary Beth on the forehead, just a habit he had. He had hoped she’d be awake, for he was in the mood to be with her and to talk a little. But it was okay.

“I’m gonna haul her off to bed,” said Arthur. “You doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “You don’t have to wrry about me, Arthur.”

He took a deep breath then, put his hands on his hips. “Did she, uh, talk to you at all? About what’s coming?”

“She did,” said Charlotte. “She asked me to come with you.”

Arthur nodded, looked down at his boots for a second. “And?”

“And, I think I will.” She set down her knitting and looked up at him, seriously. “I’ve nothing going for me here, not all alone. I see that, and while I think that it was once a noble dream, Cal wouldn’t—he wouldn’t want me to be unsafe.” She looked down into her lap and held the ring on her finger, tightly. “I don’t see it as giving up. Not anymore. I don’t know what I’ll do, where I’ll end up. But Mary Beth told me the two of you are headed north to Wisconsin with John and his family. I have a cousin in Chicago. We were quite close in childhood. I thought maybe I would…I’m not sure. Head there? Start over, somewhat. What do you think?”

Arthur smiled at her, feeling accomplished as if his job were done. “I think that sounds like a good idea.”

She was relieved.

“It might be…a little while, before we head up there,” he said. “Maybe not till some time after the baby comes. You good on waiting? If not, we can get you on a train. Any time. It ain’t a problem.”

“I think I’ll wait for a while,” she said. “I’ll try my best to learn and keep up. I’d like to meet the baby.”

For some reason, this surprised Arthur. He hadn’t thought about it like that before, not really. That the baby would be real, sooner rather than later, and that it would be a person that somebody would want to meet. It overwhelmed him, but just for a moment. This wasn’t his first rodeo, though he had not been there for Isaac’s birth. He had been so young, and it was a lifetime ago. “Very good,” said Arthur, almost bashful about it. “I’m real glad, Charlotte.”

“Me, too,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dutch was on his way into St. Denis. Some weeks before, he had received correspondence from Micah Bell, asking him for a meeting at the saloon there, wanting for peace, saying he had a plan, but Hosea had convinced him it was a fool’s errand. Convinced him he could even be working for the feds. Dutch was not fixing to go. He was sending a representative in his place. He rode around outside the town, to the big houses on the water, in full disguise. He had stopped somewhere under the train tracks to change his clothes. He was dressed like a stevedore. He even mucked up the Count. Nobody was going to catch a whiff of him, not for miles.

Things had changed, and Dutch was gritting his teeth. He had needed for some time to be reminded to look into the future, not the past. The future. But to get there, he knew he had to entertain some modicum of looking back, and so that’s what he was doing tonight. He hopped a large stone fence and bartered with a couple security guards, on of whom he had met at the mayor’s party many months before. He waited beneath a gazebo lit with electric fancy and there was a duck pond, which he admired as he smoked his cigar. Checking his watch, he was made to wait twenty minutes, which should have angered him, but he knew he would get what he came for. It was worth his patience tonight.

“Signor van der Linde,” said Angelo Bronte, coming out onto the lawn in the moonlight. He held two glass cups—Sambuca, con la mosca. He was wearing slippers and his smoking jacket. He, too, held a stogie between his teeth. “I am so sorry for the delay. My men, you know, they are hopeless bastards. Most are too drunk half the time to communicate at all, let alone clearly.”

Dutch knew it was mostly bullshit. He didn’t particularly care. He straightened up off the railing upon which he’d been leaning. Bronte handed him one of the Sambucas and the men shook hands in the gazebo. “It is not problem,” said Dutch. “Gave me time to collect my thoughts.”

“Very good, very good,” said Bronte. He smoked, looked around, and lowered his voice. “You are alone?”

“I am indeed.”

“Good. Then we may proceed. You and you’re men are all set for two nights time, no?”

“Yes, we are.”

“My man will be there,” he said, smoking, “at the bank, as previously agreed upon. He has the key, but not the combinations.”

“I have a vault man,” said Dutch. “You needn’t be concerned.”

Bronte examined his nails. “Detonation will occur as soon as you have boarded the vessel. My hostages will ID you, as discussed. Micah Bell will be there to take the fall.”

“Have you apprehended Mr. Bell, or does that yet remain?”

“It is in progress, as we speak.”

The ducks splashed around a little in the pond. A cloud passed over the moon, darkening the yard. “Very good.”

“When you arrive in Blackwater,” said Bronte, “you are on your own. My vessel returns to the St. Denis docks.”

“I got no further use for your boat, Mr. Bronte. Just need a clean getaway

“I had to make sure. You understand.”

“Of course,” said Dutch.

“I trust you will hold up your end of the bargain.” He blew a smoke ring into the air, watched it disappear, blew another.

“The mayor is already in trouble, my good sir,” said Dutch. “Removing dirty politicians from office is a former specialty of mine.”

“Is that right?”

“I’ve got friends in high places.”

Bronte smiled. “I want my money.”

“You’ll get it.”

“And I’d like to see Marie again, some day. If possible. Boy, I do miss her. And her oaf of a husband. They are such fun, for Americans.”

“Marie?” said Dutch. “You mean Mary Beth.”

Bronte laughed. “Yes, yes. Whatever the hell.”

“I can’t guarantee that,” said Dutch, “but I’ll see what I can do. They’re expecting a child. Arthur—or, Tacitus, is fairly…protective of his own. It’ll take some convincing. Especially after you kidnapped little Jack.”

“I did no such thing,” said Bronte. “I love children. I have several of my own, with multiple women back in Calabria. Jack was delivered to me by local barbarians with chips on their shoulders. All I did was give him a warm bed and feed him fine Italian cuisine. What was I to do, turn him out on the street?”

Dutch put out his cigar in a nearby flower pot. “I suppose that is true.”

“Anyway,” said Bronte. “All is in order. Are we in business, or no?”

He held out his hand. Dutch shook it, firmly. “Yes. I believe we are.”

They drank the Sambuca, both of them, in one gulp. Then they tossed the cups into the weeds.

“You may wait here, until you have confirmation of Micah Bell’s safe capture,” said Bronte.

“I think I will. Thank you.”

“You want anything? Food? Wine?”

“I’d love some,” said Dutch. “Thank you very much.” He took a seat at the table and straightened his suspenders. “Feel free to join me, Mr. Bronte. I love a party.”

“As do I,” he said. “I’ll send for the servants, and then I’ll return. It the good life, no? Being in agreement for once?”

“I could not agree more.”

They drank and enjoyed themselves for most of the evening. The girls came around, and though several were offered to him, Dutch did not partake. He didn’t like to mix business with pleasure, and he did not get too drunk. Around midnight, one of the men returned with Micah, unconscious, hog-tied, stuck him in the locked cellar. It was time for Dutch to take his leave, as all had been made clear. He rode home through the marsh, eager to return to Hosea, who he was concerned he had left behind in poor health.

“This is it,” whispered Sadie. “Don’t cause a ruckus. I don’t know what the hell’s been going on.”

“Why the hell would I cause a ruckus?” said John. “Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?”

Sadie glared. They were on horseback, coming in slow to the marsh. The gators were everywhere in the glowing moonlight, and it was clear that Arthur was at least partially correct. The weather was becoming a problem. When they crested the trees and entered into camp, John could see all that had been lost, everything that was going on, and it was a sorry and fucked-up situation. He’d never lived like that, not since joining the gang. It was a bad way, for sure. Good news was, however, they hadn’t missed them. Everybody was still there. He and Sadie had gotten home in less than a day, and the fire was still on, and Lenny and Bill were standing guard. It was near on 2am when John and Sadie arrived, in full safety. The snow had kept them hidden up in the hills, and by the time they got down through the valley, the lawmen were long gone. Charlotte had saved them.

“John Marston,” said Lenny. “Holy shit. It’s you! Sadie, you did it. You got him free.”

“Damn straight, kid,” she said. She tied up the horse and removed her hat. “Weren’t no picnic, I can assure you.”

“Where’s Abigail,” said John. “Is she here?”

“She’s in there,” said Bill, switching his shotgun to the other shoulder. “Shack by the edge of the water. Been crying for you every goddam night, Marston. I swear to god.”

John didn’t know what to say. He tipped his hat to Sadie like a final thank you and proceeded through the camp, listening to Lenny chatter on to Sadie in the background, asking her for the full play-by-play. Everybody must have been holed up in the shacks, because he saw no one lying about, or drinking, or warming to the fire. Not even the Reverend. The atmosphere was dank and sad.

When he got in the shack, he took his hat off and hung it up by the door and looked around. It was two rooms. The stove was burning. He heard Abigail’s voice from the other room. “Goddammit, who’s there?” she said. “Get the hell out. We’re sleeping.”

“Abbie,” he said, standing in the doorway. His own voice sounded desperate, echoing through the shack like a hollow tune. She came out, clutching a shawl around her shoulders, looking beside herself. “Abbie, I’m back,” he said.

“Oh my god,” she said. “John?”

She rushed to him, dropping the shawl. She was wearing his clothes, and she smelled like sweat and the smoke from the stove. He held her tightly, maybe tighter than he ever had. “I’m here,” he said, smiling into her hair. “Goddammit. I’m here.”

“You’re so goddam skinny,” she said, right away, smiling through tears. “John Marston. What happened to you?”

“Nothing good,” he said. “But I’m here now. That’s all that matters.”

They kissed in the warmth of the shack on the water. It had surprised them both. They looked at their shoes, and then they looked at each other. It was all right. It was right. He had been so scared that she would change, that she’d lose hope in him. But nothing had changed. It was all right.

“Hosea was spot on,” she said, drying her cheeks. “He knew you’d come.”

“Is everybody okay?”

“As far as I can tell,” she said.

“That’s good,” he said. “That’s real good.”

Dutch arrived back into camp shortly thereafter, bringing with him a bottle of very expensive Limoncello, and the the promise of a new day.

[norafike]

Despite all this, I still love you 16

“It's a pleasure to see you here!” Dutch cheered as he quickened in his steps to greet the female. Nora kicked herself from the saddle and closed the distance between them, taking his hand for a handshake before following him over towards the porch where Arthur stood, watching with an eyebrow raised. “I had Trelawny and Miss Gaskill travel into Saint Denis to buy you a dress for a such a formal occasion, they're all waiting upstairs in my room with.. Molly.” The way he said her name was forced and bitter and he grimaced at the mention.

Nora bit her tongue to not snap at him, give him a scolding for his treatment of the woman who grew up an aristocrat and instead forced herself to silently follow behind him up the stairs of the house and quickly he had pushed her behind the doors and closed them. “Dutch placed the dress here.” Molly said as she reached beneath the bed to pull open a white box, it wearing into nothing and covered in dust from the time spent away. Nora took it from her hands and placed it on the old mattress before pulling the garment out. “It looks beautiful.” She mumbled and the corner of Molly's mouth had twitched into a small smirk.

“Actually, Mary-Beth came and asked me what would be a good picking for a formal event and I said that my Ma would've said somethin' beautiful but not too flashy. They returned with this old thing and I had fixed it up a little for you.”

Nora nodded as she held it against herself, her hand running over the gold embroidery. She admired the small patterns before laying it out on the bed to admire it at a greater distance, a feeling that this had been one long dream she had yet to wake from. “I ain't never had somethin' like this to wear… it's strange.”

“You'll get to admire it plenty, for now it's best we get you ready before Dutch gets annoyed at the time we're wasting.”

...

The mansion was extravagant and lit so beautifully in the night that she found herself staring in awe at its exterior, mesmerized by the small details and the aura of superiority it held.

Arthur had an arm held out towards her that she took gratuitously and together the pair had followed behind the other men as they entered the party together. She behaved accordingly and spoke only when addressed and eventually Dutch had turned on his heel to face her with a gentle smile, at the same time addressing Bill and Hosea. “Why don't you go and join the party while Arthur and I talk with Bronte.”

She agreed with the idea and walked with the men outside, stopping short outside of the door so Hosea could turn to them. “Bill, listen out and gather what information could be useful. Nora for now blend in, I've told Arthur to come your way if he finds anything interesting.”

“So wait for Arthur.” She sighed and Hosea only could give her a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, you couldn't do more.”

“It's fine, just glad you boys were polite enough to invite me along.” She gave Hosea a toothy grin before finally leaving their sides to stand near a group of women who held their chins high and eyes pointed down in looks of disgust. They scoffed when Nora stood near them and would occasionally spare a giggle amongst themselves, trying to disguise it by drinking from their champagne glass but Nora was far more observant than she had let on and noticed straight away their snobby attitude.

Usually she would punch an individual if they had acted like this and in any other circumstances she probably would have done so anyway, but she chose to dig her nails into the palm of her hand and pretend to not notice.

As the party went on she had taken to drinking more champagne than cared to admit and slowly her head began to grow heavy, but she persisted on with the mission and engaged in simple pleasantries with the occasional guest who passed by and eventually she felt a cold hand squeeze her shoulder, a chill running through her flesh at the contact. “Come with me.” He whispered, gently taking her hand and pulling her from the main ring of people and towards a secluded path where she realised that he was following one of the mayor's servants.

“Arthur?” She whispered and he only shushed her as they snuck into the house. They both took extra care in their steps and at one point the servant turned briskly on his heel and had almost caught the pair of them had it not been for Arthur's quick thinking.

He stepped forward and looked left and right before continuing on their pursuit, waving over his shoulder at her. “Come on.” She listened to instruction and broke into a gentle jog to catch up with him, the echo of her movement was loud and Nora exhaled a sharp breath through gritted teeth as she worried somebody would march over and question them about their antics.

When they were confident that the coast was clear, they both ascended a staircase and stopped short just at the top to see the servant enter a room. Arthur turned back towards Nora and extended a finger to point at the door and quietly spoke to her. “While we were bein' escorted up here our guide had shut the door before we could even get a look at it.”

“So it could be somethin' important?” Arthur nodded slowly. “It could very well be, yes.”

After a couple minutes of waiting and nobody leaving the room they had been watching, Arthur had decided that they should sneak over and hope that somehow there was another exit so the room was empty. In a big house like this neither doubted the possibility of another entrance and so quietly they tiptoed over and pushed the door open, holding their breaths in case someone was waiting on the other side.

Collectively they let out an exhale of air when they were met with an empty room and both relaxed as the door closed behind them. Nora would keep an ear open in case somebody decided to approach the room they weren't supposed to be in but fortunately for them the house was eerily quiet.

“C'mon, we need to get out of here before someone catches us.” Arthur slipped some documents behind his coat before taking Nora's hand and walking her out of the mansion and back to join the party. This time they didn't bother going quietly and rather chose quickness to exit the building. Eventually, they reunited with the other men and subtly, Arthur would pat his chest where the papers were hidden to inform Dutch that he in fact stole something of value to them.

“We should go quick.” Hosea informed as he slowly pushed the group outside. “Lenny should be around with the wagon but the longer we hang around the more likely we'll be caught for stealin', at least that is, if someone saw you.”

...

“Arthur, why don't you an' I talk about what you found and Nora-” Dutch turned and faced her with a false smile. “I assume you'll be headin' back home now?”

“Might stay a small while, but I do need to return before my brother's end up killin' Lem.” She shared a chuckle with the leader and just as she said that the man she mentioned had emerged from inside the old plantation house to lean against one of the pillars. She gasped when she saw him but shook her head and smiled. “But I guess I'll be stayin' longer since he's here.”

Sharply Dutch turned on his heel and scowled when he saw Lem standing there. Maintaining this ‘great leader’ persona, Dutch only shook Lem's hand in greeting before ignoring any further social interactions and entering the house. Unfazed by this, Lem only managed a small chuckle before he walked over to join Nora's side. “What are you doin' here?”

“Nice seein' you too.”

“I didn't mean it like that, just surprised was all.”

“I w-was just playin'.”

Nora took his hand and walked with him over to the round table where Mary-Beth had been sitting with a bowl of stew in hand. She mainly prodded at the chunks in the bowl and found it hard to really sit down and eat, the worry of what could have potentially happened to Kieran becoming far more concerning. “Hey, Mary-Beth.”

She only managed a lazy wave, putting on a brave face now since she had become accompanied by two new people. “How are ya feelin'?” Nora asked.

“Oh I'm fine, thank you for askin'.” She answered. “ I guess I'm still worryin' about Kieran. What if somethin'… what if somethin' bad happened.” Nora reached forward and placed a hand on top of hers, breaking out into a small whisper. “I'm sure he'll be okay, nothin' to worry about.”

Mary-Beth looked back and forth before leaning closer to speak with her, worried of being thought of as strange if someone were to overhear. “I can't shake this feelin' that he's not okay.” She told and Nora's eyebrows furrowed when she heard this.

“You really are worried, ain't ya?”

“Oh more than anythin'.”

Nora nodded. “I ain't seen or heard anythin', but I am lookin'. Eat up for now okay, Mary-Beth.”

“I'm not really that hungry.” She explained before taking the still-full bowl and walking away from the two.

“Poor girl.”

Lem folded his arms and leaned against them on the table. He gave her a subtle smile that she picked up immediately and for a short while all the two of them had been doing was staring at each other in silence. “How long had you been here anyway?”

“F-Few hours maybe.”

“Ah, they let you in?”

“No. Bill Williamson was on guard duty but eventually he let me enter the camp- was hesitant because nobody was here. Leader wise.”

“Big bad Bill.�� She shook her head and smiled coyly at Bill when he looked back at the mention of his name. He only stared down at her before turning back around to face the fire, noticing the dancing flames.

Nora opened her mouth to speak more before a blood-curdling scream ripped through the quiet camp and Mary-Beth frantically pointing towards the entrance. When Nora turned to look that way her eyes began to widen and her mouth hung open in shock at the headless rider coming in.