#Cursebreaker Michael

[whitehathexerswriting]

White Hat Hexers Part 1: Battle at the Ball

Written by: @nighttimedaydreams and edited by: Anastasia M. ( @fighterpilotdragon02 / https://www.instagram.com/fighterpilotdragon/ ) tw: transphobia, homophobia, deadnaming

    Elizabeth woke to knocking on her door. She sighed and pushed some raven strands, which had fallen out of her braid and into her eyes, behind her ears. It was midnight, but she was the village’s cursebreaker. Technically, she was a hexer, but she had only ever cursed one person: herself. As mismatched as her skillset and job title were, however, she had the knowledge she needed to keep the village safe. She slipped on a flowy black dress streaked with white – the uniform of a cursebreaker woman. She twirled in it; even after all this time, she loved how it flared. It was no longer at all new to her, but she kept her dress so that it looked fresh to anyone else.  She slipped into and laced up her boots very tight.  They were slightly too big for her; they were a gift from long ago, but shoes weren’t easy to replace in the village, and she didn’t want to go far for something she only wore when going out.  She much preferred walking barefoot, but now wasn’t the time for frivolity.  Someone was knocking at midnight.  She stood up and stuck her hands in her dress’s pockets; other cursebreakers kept their supplies there, but she didn’t have to use them for that, although she did keep the willow bark there. She opened up the door, and standing there was Edward, the younger of Jacob’s two sons.  Jacob was the village leader and a retired knight. Edward was dressed hastily, with loose sleeping clothes, his hair clearly windswept by his speed, but he still wore a ring with the emblem of his house: a spider riding a boar. His heavy breathing filled the night, overcoming the sound of owls and other nocturnal creatures that lived near the forest behind Elizabeth’s house.

    “Elizabeth, come quick,” he panted, turning as if to head back into the village.

    “What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked.

    “It’s my brother. He was out hunting in the woods, and now he’s slowly turning into a toad.”

    “A toad? You are certain it is a toad and not a frog.”

    “NO! Of course I’m not certain about that, you’re the cursebreaker.”

    “I need to know which curse I’m breaking. I suppose I’ll learn soon enough when I see him. I presume he is at your home?”

    “Yes. He just got back from his trip.” “This late?”

    “He was held up by being cursed.”

    “Right, right.”

    Elizabeth knew Edward’s brother, of course. Henry came to her once of his own accord when he was thirteen. She was barely his senior at sixteen back then, but she knew he was under no curse – he simply liked other men. They had maintained touch ever since. She knew the other women in the village swooned over his grey eyes and wavy hair, but she didn’t see it as anything stand-out.

    They reached the house. Jacob was waiting outside.

    “Edward, I thought I said everything was fine, why did you go get that,” Jacob said.

    Elizabeth gripped the inside of her dress pockets tightly. Now wasn’t the time to cause a scene. “Father, with all due respect, my brother clearly has a curse on him. You must know time is of the essence.” “It’s simply a fever. It will pass. Edward, send it away.”

    “Father, you know that is a lie.”

    Elizabeth knew better than either of them how important time was.  She barged into the house.  Let the family squabble outside.  Jacob raised a hand to stop her, but Edward swatted it down.  She saw out of the corner of her eye that Jacob followed her.

    Today was not like the day her and Henry first met. The moment she laid eyes on him, she could tell he had a curse placed on him; she felt its magic pulsing. Soft, weak, barely there – a simple curse. Good and non-infectious, although she herself didn’t worry too much about that. 

    There were a handful of servants milling out about the room nervously moving around Henry.

    “Everyone out,” Elizabeth said. 

    The servants left; Jacob stayed.

    “You too, sir.” 

    He glared at her, but chose to do nothing more, slamming the door to Henry’s room as he left.  She let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

    “Henry, can you hear me?”

    He nodded.

    Good, good, he’s not gone mentally yet, Elizabeth thought to herself, gathering the willow bark into her hands. “Chew this,” she said, putting it in his mouth.

    Henry did as ordered.

    This next part is always the worst for the patient, Elizabeth thought to herself. She began chanting. Simple sounds – it didn’t actually matter the sounds she made, per se. All that mattered is she drew magic tight around her. All the strings of magic became visible to her.  The level of reality beneath the surface looked like linen threads on a loom, though to the untrained eye it only looked like lines.  To Elizabeth, each string connected to each other, like the way sinew connects to bone: every part interconnected, yet distinct.  Elizabeth remember reading in her studies that there were those who claimed to be able to see the future from the strings.  Hexers always were boastful and cursebreakers tried to avoid dealing with the threads unnecessarily, so Elizabeth never believed in such things, and dismissed the distracting thought.  She could clearly see the strings that made up Henry. Every piece of his thoughts and memories, every piece of his body all connected: all things became only magic to her. 

    There! she thought to herself as she spotted the string of the curse. The aberrant thread formed a breach in the pattern, its jagged lines a clean break from the smooth consistent threads that made up Henry.  Where the other lines looked like linen and connected like sinew, this one seemed woolen and looked like it was connected by a shoddy sewing job.  Even the curse she had placed upon herself was better weaved into her. She grabbed it and wound it around her hand, absorbing it into her and using it to add to the reserves of magic that made up her own curse, reinforce it, make it unbreakable. Elizabeth knew she no longer needed to worry about her magic ever running out on her, but it never hurt to be sure. 

    “Heat from fire, fire from heat,” she said, ending her chant. She watched Henry rapidly and painfully return to his original form. He screamed.

    Jacob barged in.

    “Peter! What did you do?”

    “My name is Elizabeth. And I saved your son’s life,” Elizabeth said, turning on her heels. She stormed out from Jacob’s house.

    Bastard. I save his son’s life, and that’s what he says to me? Elizabeth seethed. A fleeting memory appeared in her head in her hexer teacher’s voice, the first rule she heard when she learned magic: Those with power do whatever they please. 

    It would be simple for her to turn him into a toad.  That would neatly take care of the problem.

    No, no, I’m not like that; the first duty of a cursebreaker is to do no harm, Elizabeth reminded herself.

    She began to chant to herself. “Heat from fire, fire from heat, heat from fire, fire from heat…” Soothing words; there’s a reason she ends cursebreaking with them. Her feet moved in time with her speech. She heard other footsteps. She kept walking. Henry appeared in front of her.

    “Hey, Re,” she said tersely to him.

    “Elizabeth, I’m sorry for my father’s behavior.”

    “I’m sure you are,” She took a breath and looked at Henry. He had come out here so quickly after she left; she clenched her fists in her pockets a couple of times. “You really shouldn’t be moving around so much right now.  I apologize for my tone earlier; I was being rude to you. You’re not your dad.”

    “He has given you offense, and the hour is late. You have offended me none.”

    “Drop the formalities, Re.”

    “Oh thank magic. You know I hate talking like that, Liz.”

    Elizabeth laughed, “You really do.”

    “Well, while I have you here, there’s a ball coming up soon in the Lord’s manor.”

    Elizabeth had gotten a letter about that; as a cursebreaker she was invited as a matter of etiquette, not of desire.

    “You know I don’t do parties, Re.”

    “Please make an exception, just this once.”

    “Why? Are you asking me to attend with you?”

    “Magic forefend! No! Not like that at least, but there is a man I want you to meet.”

    “Ah, so you’re setting me up. You know I have no interest in marriage either.” She doesn’t say the quiet part, that she could care about marriage if it was between her and someone like her. Those people don’t exist. Even other cursebreakers considered her an outsider.

    Henry laughed. “No, no,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “I know you’re a spinster through and through. No, I want you to meet the man I’ve been seeing.”

    Oh. Oh! Elizabeth thought to herself. “Oh that’s amazing, Re!  … Does Jacob know?”

    “No.”

    “My lips are sealed. Cursebreaker-patient confidentiality.”

    “You invoke that right a lot.”

    “This village has a lot of secrets. I keep them.”

    Henry nods solemnly. “So, will you come?”

    “I suppose I can fit time in my busy schedule.”

    “You work on a summons basis!”

    “Speaking of which, you will need to contact the Curse Corps; they deal with the hexers after all.”

    “Right, right. I was with him tonight, you know.”

    “The hexer?!” Elizabeth grinned.

    “Magic, no!” Henry laughed out loud, “Me and Thomas, the man I’m courting, but we were seen and… you don’t think he was cursed too, was he?!”

    “He may be. Where does he live?”

    “About a half day’s ride north.”

    “Mina watches over that region. She’s a good cursebreaker. He’s probably fine. It was a simple curse.”

    Henry calmed down at that. “Good, good.”

    Elizabeth yawned and stretched, the interrupted sleep finally getting to her. “Well, as you said, it’s late.” As much as she liked talking to Henry, she knew the two of them rarely let a conversation end, and she was still tired. “I already have an invite to the party, so I’ll be there and meet with Thomas. But right now, I’m going to meet my bed.”

    Henry laughed, “It is late, I’ll give you that. I’ll see you there.”

    He turned and left. Elizabeth walked into her house, changed out of her uniform and into a simple nightgown, and fell onto her bed and to sleep.

***

    The party was upon them. Elizabeth was wearing her uniform; it was the fanciest outfit she had. She really should start charging more for her service, but she knew not everyone could pay. Maybe she should seek a proper patronage, perhaps once Henry took over his house. She shrugged at her thoughts. She watched couples dancing while she sat alone eating cake at her candlelit table.  Her eyes wandered to the flame of the candle; she did always like the sound the flickering flames made.  It was different from the crackling of wood, a sound unto itself.  The only other thing that compared was the sound grass made blowing in the wind.  Although, no one ever seemed to talk about the beauty of either. Her leg was bouncing from her boredom, but the cake was strikingly good. She needed to find out the recipe. Henry approached her with a man who stood a head taller than her in tow. The newcomer’s arms had the look of an archer’s.

    “Elizabeth, this is Sir Thomas. Thomas, this is Cursebreaker Elizabeth,” Henry said.

    “Well met, Cursebreaker Elizabeth,” Thomas said.

    “Please, Elizabeth is fine. No need for formalities, Thomas. We’re among friends,” Henry said.

    “Are you quite certain?” Thomas asked, his face scrunched.

    Elizabeth takes another bite of cake. “Yea.”

    “Then, I must say, Henry has told me much about you.”

    “Oh?”

    “He speaks to your kindness, your charity, and your calm demeanor.”

    She laughed, waving her hand dismissively. “He speaks half truths. But he has told me little of you, so who are you?”

    “I am the firstborn son of Sir Matthew of Huntersford and Lady Mary of Riverside. Heir to both fortunes, excelled in my studies, bested three tourneys held by our host.”

    “Boastful.”

    “I-” He stopped at that, jaw going slightly slack. “I suppose I am.”

    “He’s really not that bad, he’s swee-” Henry started before he abruptly cut off with a choking sound, and suddenly Thomas started choking too. It rippled out from there. Elizabeth stood up. She felt the magic smothering the room. A curse. She looked around the room.

    No, several curses woven together, she thought to herself, feeling the magic that smothered her. An asphyxiation curse, a transformation curse, and a memory rewrite curse, all woven together? How? That shouldn’t work, and for what reason?  Who would attack here? 

    Elizabeth shook herself. She had to solve this. She started drumming her fingers on the table, trying to think this through. She started moving; it helped her think. Walking by the people that had fallen into an unconscious daze, she saw in the crowd of downed dancers many faces of cursebreakers she knew. Her mind began listing them as she noticed each face. 

    Mina, Alexander, Paul, Mary – did all of this region’s cursebreakers come?  Was that normal?  Elizabeth shook her head to dismiss the thoughts.

    She looked up, and she saw a man about her age standing up. He wore a black and white suit – the outfit of a cursebreaker man. He was looking around in just as much shock as her.

    Is he the hexer? She thought to herself. She started to approach him. Softly, she began the vocables of magic. The sounds kept getting caught in her throat, the wall of magic in the room overriding her attempts to bring magic to her. She was near enough now to hear him chanting the same. His voice was a pleasant baritone; in another life, she imagined he could be a singer.

    He saw her out of the corner of his eye and turned to her. “Is this magic smothering you too?” he asked; she could now see the strain in his face. How hard had he been trying to push his magic?

    “Yes. I can feel the curse, but I can’t reach the weave.”

    “Then we’re in the same boat. I’m Michael. I must admit to being anewcursebreaker, justpassedtheexamlastwe-”

    “Elizabeth. Now breathe. I’ve been at this for about a decade now. Although I’ll say I’ve never seen anything like this before. Multi-curses are incredibly rare,” she said. And why weren’t you affected? Just who are you?

    Michael took a breath. “What do we do?” His hands were shaking.

    “Our job. We don’t have long, either; this curse is powerful, so it won’t take long before it will become truly irreversible. Panic will just make us sloppy. Focus, what are the facts we know?”

    “Right, right, focus, I can focus,” Michael said, his hands still shaking. “A powerful curse has been placed upon the castle; we don’t know why.” His hands kept shaking. “It smothers our magic, and, for some reason, us two have not been affected by it.”

    “Not entirely accurate, but good enough. Keep your mind on what you know,” Elizabeth said. Drumming her fingers on the side of her dress, she hurried to reach the next room.  Her dress billowed backwards and fluttered behind her with the speed of her movement. I need to know if it’s the whole castle, but the amount of magic here, it almost rivals what I’ve taken in over the years.

    Michael hurried behind her. “Wha-what are you doing?”

    “Checking the manor; we just know the ballroom is cursed, not the rest,” Elizabeth said, crossing the threshold of the next room, where she got hit by the wall of magic even more intensely than where she came from, and was forced back into the ballroom. “Huh. Cursed room, too.”

    “What’s theplan?”

    Elizabeth looked around the room; her eyes settled on the other unconscious cursebreakers. “Got any rosemary?”

    “What? Ah, y-yes.”

    “Excellent, get all their rosemary too.” Elizabeth looked at the candles lighting the tables. They are not ritually made, but it should work. Rituality is just a guide after all. She began to gather up the candles, carefully trying to not extinguish their flames.

    One to the north for the winds which guide ships, one to the east for the sunrise which brings the dawn, one to the south for the stars which guide sailors, one to the west for the sunset which brings the dusk, and one for the center which returnbrings one back to the self,  Elizabeth thinks to herself, remembering where to put the candles for the ritual. It had been a long time since she did any true cursebreaking with proper technique instead of just ripping the magic out to feed her own. Michael approached her; his hands were shaking still.

    “I’ve got the rosemary you wanted.”

    “Thank you.”

    She began the vocables of magic once more. The smoke from the rosemary began to take the shape of the weave, but it began to dissipate.

    No! No!

    Then Michael’s baritone voice joined in. The two of them together forced the weave to take shape.

    Elizabeth saw where the aberrations in the weave were around the room.  They were sloppy connections like the curse on Henry earlier.  This wasn’t the work of a practiced hand, but someone working unsure of the weave’s pattern.

    How did they get so much power if they are this sloppy?  It almost feels… borrowed.  In the same way using a quill that isn’t yours does.   Elizabeth thought to herself.  She noticed Michael in the weave. 

     Michael himself was covered in sewn lines. It wasn’t a shoddy job; it was a lot like hers, as if they had been taught to sew the weave by the same person. If she wasn’t intimately familiar with what she was looking at, she may not have noticed, but his were fainter than hers. They had not had as much time to set or absorb power.

    Is he like me? Similar at least? If he is, are there yet more; am I not alone? No, no time to think about that. Just don’t touch him. Focus. The room is ours, Elizabeth thought to herself. She grabbed hold of line after line; she pulled on it, acting like a seam ripper, and spooled the loose magic around her. It was hers to have, hers to keep; she grabbed what should’ve been the last thread, but it grabbed her.

    A voice pounded in her head. CURSEBREAKER, YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE INTERFERED. NOW YOUR MAGIC IS MINE.

    Elizabeth felt herself unraveling. Memories flashed by. She felt like she was burning. She had felt this once before, when she had reshaped herself.

    She knew this could only end one way. No. No! I won’t let it end like this.

    YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. NO CHANCE. ALONE IS HOW YOU DIE.

    She pulled back on the magic trying to hold herself together.

    “She’s not alone!” Michael said, his voice cutting through the pain. She felt his hands helping hers guide the magic back to her. They were still shaking. But they were enough. She began braiding the weave of magic together.

    WHAT!  BUT HOW?!

    “Because we’re cursebreakers, hexer bastard!” Elizabeth screamed out, grabbing tight onto all the threads of braided magic, and her and Michael tore them from the hexer. The pair pulled the magic into them and collapsed.

    “We won!” Michael cheered out in an airless laugh, a bright smile on his face as he lay on the ground, collapsed. The other party goers, breathing hard as if they had just ran a marathon, began to get up.  Elizabeth stayed supine upon the ground and was trying to get control of her limbs again; they felt wooden.  There was a static buzzing about her ears.  It sounded like the flickering of the candles, but just ever so off, and it was so much more annoying.  Measured footsteps came from the hallway outside the ballroom echoing in.

    “I wouldn’t rest on your laurels just yet. What a pain in the neck,” a man’s voice said. Elizabeth recognized it: it was the same as in the weave, and now, without the pounding of magic, she recognized it even more.  It was Jacob’s.

    Elizabeth got up onto one knee. She lifted her chin and looked up at the hexer.

    “Jacob?” Elizabeth asked, shocked.

    “Yes, I had hoped to deal with my worthless son here. Although I will also be glad to be rid of you.” He spat out the last word. He lifted his hand and began chanting.

    “Father?! What are you doing?” Henry cried out, his voice cutting through the noise. He looked shocked and appalled.

    Jacob started laughing. “My fool of a son. I know whom you love; who do you think cursed you and Thomas that night? Your brother just had to get that involved. But, at least he’ll take a wife.”

    Elizabeth seized this moment of distraction; grabbing the raw weave, she chanted fast, “Heat from fire, fire from heat,” and she bound him with the threads of the weave. His arms were constricted to his sides, and his gagged voice fell silently. He started choking.

    “Liz!” Henry shouted.

    “What? He was a threat. Give me a knife. I can end this quickly.”

    “You are not an executioner, Elizabeth; he shall stand trial. He is, unfortunately, a noble. To kill him without due process is a serious offense,” Henry said, spitting in the direction of his father.

    Elizabeth looked at Jacob, his face turning pale. Rage was building inside her. Her feet tapped the floor hard until she started making her way towards him. Henry and Thomas both grabbed her shoulders.

    “Cursebreaker Elizabeth, please,” Thomas pleaded. She shook them off. Michael had gotten in front of her.

    “Elizabeth, what is the first rule?” Michael asked, his arms trembling.

    She remembered the first rule she was taught when she learned magic. “Those with power do what they please.”

    There was a flash of recognition on Michael’s face. It was clear to Elizabeth that he was taught in the same manner as her. “Not the first r-rule of m-magic, the first rule of c-cursebreaking.”

    Her shoulders slumped. “To do… no harm.” She loosed the grip of the weave around the man’s throat, but tightened the magic gagging him. She really didn’t want to hear him talk right now.

    She turned her back to Michael, her dress flaring out as she did, and sat back down at her table. Henry, Thomas, and Michael joined her at her table. Her feet were still tapping the floor. The other people in the room looked at Elizabeth in fear of her, and they gave the table a wide berth. The mood had been quite soured. Elizabeth didn’t care. She felt incredibly exhausted. She ate some more of her cake.

[vanosslirious]

Fandom: Banana Bus Squad (Vanoss Crew.) POV: VanossGaming. Ch: 34 — The Wrath of The Fire Witch. words: 1.607 | 66.822 Excerpt:

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Evan said far too quickly.

"There's something you're worried about, what is it?"

"I don't think I can do this…"

"Do what?" Jonathan asked, frowning. He glanced at the house they were getting too and arched his brow at Evan. "Ever since we met, I have never seen you this scared. What did you do to him?"

[bi-demon-ium]

why do i have like seven entirely different beauty and the beast mbs aus rotating in my brain

[pjofancalledbelle]

Christmas with you + the naturals

Warnings~ Nothing

contents~ You x Dean also the other naturals. Making cookies and Christmas vibes

word count~ 596

A/N- Going to try and do Christmas fics at least every other day or everyday until Christmas so leave request's for pjo/ naturals and cursebreaker

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

The Christmas music blasting throughout the kitchen was a refreshing change from the usual conversations about cold cases that dominated the rest of the year. It was Christmas, and Lia had dragged Sloane out because Lia had conveniently “forgotten” to buy Cassie a gift. Obviously, it was too cold to walk into town, and there weren’t any good shops there anyway, so they had roped Michael into taking them in his car. That left you, Cassie, Judd, Agent Sterling—who had decided to spend Christmas with the Naturals—and your boyfriend, Dean.

Said boyfriend was currently covered in icing and flour, the result of you convincing him to make gingerbread cookies with you. It had taken 24 days and promises of cuddles—plus a strict “no Hallmark movies all day” clause—to get him to agree. Secretly, you and Cassie had already broken the Hallmark rule, and both you and Dean knew he’d inevitably be watching another during the promised cuddle session.

“Wow, you’re really dedicated to making sure that guy’s Santa hat is perfect—for someone who won’t wear one himself,” you teased with a grin, snapping a picture of your broody man. He was still dressed in all black despite the festive season, completely focused on decorating his cookies.

“Hey, I can’t wear the hat and take it away from Judd,” Dean retorted, glancing up from his meticulous gingerbread man. His handiwork made your own cookie creations look like they’d been decorated by a particularly impatient child. When Dean noticed your phone, he scowled before sticking his tongue out, making you giggle and snap another ten photos.

Judd and Sterling, seated nearby with mugs of hot chocolate, looked over at the two of you when they heard Judd’s name. Both of them had been surprisingly festive this year. Judd had been wearing a Santa hat all day, and Sterling had cracked jokes and even helped with last-minute decorations.

“Hey, I hope you kids ain’t making fun of me,” Judd called out, putting his mug down and eyeing you and Dean with mock sternness.

“Us? Why, I’d never, Judd. However, Dean is being a bit naughty. I just hope he doesn’t get coal tomorrow,” you teased, hopping onto a clean section of the counter—one that wasn’t covered in dirty bowls or flour. Dean’s blonde hair, now dusted with flour, made him look like he had a serious case of dandruff.

“Who’s getting coal?” Cassie asked, appearing in the doorway just as Dean flicked your forehead in mock retaliation.

“Dean, because he’s bullying Judd,” Sterling replied with a smirk, taking another sip of her hot chocolate as she watched the scene unfold.

Just then, the door opened, and Lia walked in sporting a pair of expensive new sunglasses, her coat damp with melting snow. Sloane followed close behind, chattering about how many snowflakes might be in the air at that exact moment. Michael came in last, scowling and carrying what looked like twenty shopping bags.

“We’re back and bearing gifts!” Lia announced grandly, spreading her arms wide before turning to Michael. “Close the door; it’s freezing.”

“So demanding,” Michael grumbled, shutting the door with his hip since his hands were full.

“We have exactly seven hours, forty-seven minutes, and—” Sloane paused to check her watch, “—seventy-two, no, seventy-one seconds until Christmas,” she informed everyone. Sloane had been keeping a countdown since December 1st, like a walking, talking, overly precise advent calendar.

“Can’t wait,” you said with a smile as Dean began eating the gingerbread men—and shoving pieces into your mouth, too.

You loved these people like family, and you loved Christmas.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💜 Queer Book Releases Coming Out September 2023

🦇 Trying to read queer all year? Make sure to check out these queer September releases!

❤️ Forget I Told You This by Hilary Zaid 🧡 The Otherwoods by Justine Pucella Winans 💛 The Lonely Book by Meg Grehan 💚 Every Star That Falls by Michael Thomas Ford 💙 Fly With Me by Andie Burke 💜 Wound by Oksana Vasyakina 🖤 Into the Bright Open by Cherie Dimaline ❤️ A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee 🧡 Straight Expectations by Callum McSwiggan 💛 Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson 💚 Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge 💙 The Mossheart’s Promise by Rebecca Mix

💜 Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson 🖤 The Borrow a Boyfriend Club by Page Powars ❤️ Ryan and Avery by David Levithan 🧡 What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell 💛 Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass 💚 The Meadows by Stephanie Oakes 💙 A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Paige O’Brien 💜 Monstrous by Jessica Lewis 🖤 OKPsyche by Anya Johanna DeNiro ❤️ Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura 🧡 The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu 💛 Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz

💚 You, Again by Kate Goldbeck 💙 Godkiller by Hannah Kaner 💜 The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven 🖤 Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo ❤️ A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey 🧡 A Crown So Cursed by L.L. McKinney 💛 In the Ring by Sierra Isley 💚 How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok 💙 This Spells Disaster by Tori Anne Martin 💜 The Free People’s Village by Sim Kern 🖤 Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas ❤️ Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in NYC by Elyssa Maxx Goodman

🧡 Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner 💛 Mall Goth by Kate Leth 💚 The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda Hall 💙 This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson 💜 A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles 🖤 The Problem with Gravity by Michelle Mohrweis ❤️ Alex Wise vs. the End of the World by Terry J. Benton-Walker

[grimmusings]

♢ Bill Weasley (25+) ⭒ Harry Potter ⭒ Michael Fassbender ♢

Bill Weasley is a canon character from Harry Potter, and his portrayal is largely a mix of headcanons, book, and movie lore. Unless writing with a Fleur muse, they may have dated but did not marry. He still uses Shell Cottage as a safehouse during the war. All details vary based on verse, and I'm happy to write him into crossovers or AUs.

♢ wanted connections: This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I can roll with most muses as far as basic interactions. I'm happy to ship Bill with other Harry Potter characters and OCs/fandom crossovers based on chemistry, but unless they're on my OTP list, they need plotting and interaction first. There is never any pressure to ship with me, even if they're on my list.

⭒ OTPs: Fleur Delacour, Nymphadora Tonks ⭒ Family: All the Weasleys! We love Brother!Bill. Since Bill is not with Fleur in every verse, please run any canon or OC children by me in advance. ⭒ Other: Any HP muses, werewolf muses from other lore

♢ verses: ⭒ post!hogwarts: Following his graduation from Hogwarts, Bill works as a Cursebreaker for Gringotts bank and fights in the battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort.

Note: Bill and the writer would like to register their protest against She Who Must Not Be Named and her notably transphobic ideology by injecting as much queerness and diversity as possible into this fandom.

[carewyncromwell]

"So the years went by -- I stayed the same -- But she began to drift away... I was left alone... Still I waited for the day When she'd say, 'I will always love you...'"

~"When She Loved Me (cover)" by Michael Crawford

x~x~x~x

Okay, seriously, why do I hurt myself like this?? ;~;

Surprisingly enough, this all came about because I wanted to explore the dynamic between Carewyn, her brother Jacob, and her BFF Bill Weasley. Bill was Carewyn's right-hand man for her entire time dealing with the Cursed Vaults, with the two together being the main Cursebreaking duo that saved Hogwarts from the dangerous curses threatening them. This also meant that -- since Bill was that little bit older than Carewyn and he was so used to playing the "big brother" role for his own siblings -- the eldest Weasley ended up filling the role Jacob had played in Carewyn's life when she was younger, in the sense of being her near constant companion and main source for both protection and advice. And since Bill and Carewyn's personalities were so similar, they ended up connecting really quickly and soon became the "Papa Bear" and "Mama Bear" of their friend group.

This, however, left Jacob feeling a lingering bitter resentment toward Carewyn's Surrogate Big Brother Best Friend. Bill in a lot of ways embodies a lot of Jacob's worst insecurities -- Bill had always made his parents proud, even becoming Prefect and Head Boy, while Jacob had been seen as a delinquent most of his school career; Bill had been able to have a reasonably normal childhood, while Jacob had had to grow up too fast and become the man of the house at age eleven; Bill had a large, close-knit family with six siblings and two parents who loved him unconditionally, while Jacob had only ever had his mum and Carewyn, since his own father saw him as nothing but a screw-up and arguably left his family partially because of Jacob having magic; Bill had been raised in the Wizarding World, while Jacob had been raised feeling like a freak in Muggle suburbia; Bill was patient and slow to anger, while Jacob had a violent temper; Bill was sensitive, organized and responsible, while Jacob was people-dumb, disorganized, and mercurial; and, to top it all off, Bill had been there to witness Carewyn grow up, when Jacob could not. Bill knew Carewyn in a way Jacob couldn't, when she was the center of Jacob's whole world. Jacob and Carewyn had been each other's closest friend and confidante from the very beginning thanks to their shared Legilimency potential -- and now, thanks to R and the Cursed Vaults, Jacob had missed out on seven years of both his and Carewyn's lives. And the person who'd "replaced" him in that time in his little sister's life -- whether he meant to or not -- was Bill Weasley. It's something Jacob knows he should feel grateful for, but just can't, in the face of his deep-seeded jealousy of Bill that is fed by Jacob's own remorse, inner demons, and longing for what he never had.

Although Jacob would have trouble articulating any of these feelings to anyone, and although he'd never actively disparage Bill around his sister since he knows how much Carewyn loves her best friend, that doesn't mean that it isn't still really unpleasant for Jacob to interact with Bill as an adult. It's not uncommon for Jacob to speak in a very clipped, detached sort of way whenever he and Bill end up at the same tomb together, clearly wanting to finish the job and part ways with him sooner rather than later. Bill doesn't fully get the depth of why Jacob dislikes him so much, especially when he thinks Jacob is perfectly brilliant and he would like nothing more than for Jacob to be just as much a part of his family as Carewyn is -- but the ginger-haired Cursebreaker is insightful enough of a person to know it's nothing personal and treat Jacob as kindly as he can despite his spikes.

Hope you all have a lovely evening, all...much love! 💙

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

Beauty and the Beast retellings

As Old As Time — Liz Braswell (Twisted Tales series)

Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge — Lisa Jensen

Beastly — Alex Flinn

The Beast's Heart — Leife Shallcross

The Beautiful Pretender — Melanie Dickerson (Medieval Fairytales series)

Bellamy and the Brute — Alicia Michaels

Belle — Cameron Dokey (Once Upon a Time series)

Belle — Sarah Price (Amish Fairytales series)

A Curse So Dark and Lonely — Brigid Kemmerer (Cursebreakers series #1)

Heart's Blood — Juliet Marillier

Human Again — E. L. Tenenbaum (End of Ever After series)

Hunted — Meagan Spooner

Lost in a Book — Jennifer Donnelly

The Merchant's Daughter — Melanie Dickerson (Hagenheim Fairytales series)

Of Beast and Beauty — Stacey Jay

Ogre Enchanted — Gail Carson Levine

The Princess and the Hound — Mette Ivie Harrison

Rose Daughter — Robin McKinley

Roses — Rose Mannering

Silken Scales — Alex Hayes (Chameleon Effect series #1)

Uprooted — Naomi Novik

🥀📚🪞

More fairy tales

[cursed-herbalist]

The Durand family's newest additions | HPMA

—

Élliot Zacharie Durand (b. 1967; Alderic's brother) Élliot is Alderic's older brother and quite the mystery as I yet have to figure out where I want him to go. That said, unlike Aldéric, he's quite stern and set in his ways, definitely not the greatest parent. His children were mainly raised by his emotionally unavailable wife, leaving them no choice but to heavily lean on each other instead.

➔ portrayed by Adrien Brody

— Lyam Aristide Durand (b. 1993) Lyam is the oldest of the bunch but, unlike his siblings, did not inherit the famed ability to speak to and understand dragons. Determined to make up for it, he spends all his time studying dragons in preparation for taking over the dragon-guarded fort, hidden along the cliffs somewhere in the south of France.

➔ portrayed by Michael Vlamis

—

Timéo ‘Mo’ Alain Durand (b. 1997?) Timéo has an artistic and sensitive soul, even if it often gets offset by his cocky demeanour. At Beauxbartons, he discovers his love for art, sculptures in particular, and wants to become a full-time artist which his parents greatly disapprove of. His parents, definitely, aren't the best and he never really got the emotional support he would've needed. (He's one of Kit's infamous dipshit friends @potionboy3 @gaygryffindorgal)

➔ portrayed by Jeremy Allen White

—

Eula Avice Durand (b. 2001) Eula might be the youngest of the three but definitely knows what she wants. Talented at solving riddles and with a knack for complicated charmwork, she aspires to become a cursebreaker—a decision which, ultimately, leads her to work in tandem with a certain Norwegian linguist, Mikeal Arcano (@kathrynalicemc), from time to time.

➔ portrayed by Ola Rudnicka

[usernoneexistent]

Challenge: All You need is love @hp-12monthsofmagic

A/N: I don't know what demon possessed me but I wrote this in like two days and then she had the audicatity to ask me to draw not just one but four drawings however o realised that I didn't have the time so here it is. So, Zola is tired from living with a loveless home but a simple letter from someone special is exactly what she needed.

Warnings: swearing, verbal abuse, child neglect, classism, no romance but angst with a hopeful ending

The night was cooling down London from the Summer heat earlier. The sun lingered around longer despite it being close to midnight. Zola wasn't even doing anything exciting, just hanging around the council block playground before a group of older kids from the block took over. She was smart enough to know when to move out of the way.

Instead she opted for walking aimlessly through her neighbourhood in the borough of London. Children screaming happily, ice cream vans and teens on their bikes filled the Summer night.

Zola had spent most of her summer either writing to her best friend, Tarra or seeing if Michael, a guy from her block was free. None of her old mates from primary wanted to hang out with the girl going to 'boarding school'. Like all of a sudden she has become one of those snobs from the West end.

And staying home wasn't an option for her. Auntie Gracie-Mae and uncle Andrew weren't exactly fun company either. They barely tolerated her presence so why stay any longer. Though now she figured would be a good time to head back to their council flat.

Zola waltzed back in without care that she made loud noise in the middle of the night. The TV was blarring in the background anyway. As she stomped pass the crack of the living room door where uncle Andrew has been sitting there since he woke up in the afternoon.

"Zola! What did I say about slamming the door?!" He yelled, slurring his words. The bastard was drunk and Auntie Gracie-Mae was off on the night shift.

She hated being alone with the slob. He didn't do anything but watch TV, eat, yell and sleep. Andrew was too lazy to even get out of the sofa.

"What did you say, you little bitch!" He yelled louder, grunting from the sofa.

"Fuck you, Andrew!" Zola slammed the door again. 

"I said fuck you!" Zola repeated before marching to her bedroom, slamming another door. She grabbed a chair to lock her door before letting frustrated groan to the pillow. Remnants of her makeup remained on the pillow. 

She looked at the news articles that she had converted as posters. All these cursebreakers free and full of fun and adventure. That's all she wanted, every Summer felt like a prison with them. Her father doesn't bother writing but her brother, Jeremiah did occasionally send an owl but ultimately she was all alone.

She clutched the pillow, hugging it tightly. No one wanted her. Zola was alone in this miserable apartment. Angry or sad tears, Zola wasn't sure threaten to leave her eyes.

"Everyone sucks." She muttered.

Zola wished she had a normal family or as normal as she could get. She was jealous of Tarra, her parents there for everything and even her cousin, Duncan. Yeah, he would moan about his father but it was clear that he wanted to be there for him. Her parents never did that for her. Her father decided robbing Gringotts was worth more than her and her mother...well she probably took one look at Zola and noped out.

A knock on her window brought her out of her own self pity party. A barn owl was outside with a letter inbetween her beak. She knew that owl immediately; Tori, Tarragon's owl.

Zola let in the owl and took the letter. Her fingers fumbled to open it quickly. She scanned each word meticulously, soaking in everything.

"Damn you, Tarra." Zola cracked a wide grin. "Always know how to make my day."

The timing couldn't have been any better. Tarra was inviting her to Scotland to stay with her and Duncan for a while. Without much thought, Zola grabbed whatever she felt she needed and stuffed it into a bag. Including her secret stash of gallons, sickles and knuts. 

She boldly strutted past Andrew with new found confidence.

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business, not like you ever care." Zola opened the front door. "Oh and I may never come back. You can tell Auntie Gracie-Mae that."

Andrew looked startled through the door before Zola slammed the door one last time.

Before Zola could change her mind a gust of wind before a royal purple triple decker bus was infront of her.

She looked for a secluded road before putting her wand hand up in the air. She felt stupid but she was sure this was how she could get the knight bus.

"You comin' on?"

Zola blinked before registering what was going on. A man in a purple uniform and a worn out soldiers cap

"Right."

She hopped on, paying eleven sickles for a ticket and told her destination to the Tentsmuir, Scotland. The man was the conductor who welcomed her aboard and showed about.

Metal beds in rows took up majority of the space. Some curtains were closed from other passengers. The few who hadn't closed their curtains stared at the fourteen year old. Zola simply gave a glare back in retaliation and chucked her bag onto the bed.

She closed the curtains for privacy and pulled out the smooshed letters from Tarra. Every letter of Tarra telling her she missed her best friend and was lonely without her when she was in Romania, England or Scotland. While Zola doubt that Tarra would ever feel lonely surrounded by animals a her words filled her heart more than any snogging with Michael ever did.

At some point, Zola's body finally caved into to sleep after staying up for so long. Though when she woke up, she felt her neck sore and the letters spread on stomach and chest.

The bus halted to a forceful stop. Her letters flew off the bed and her bag rolled to the middle of the floor.

"We have arrived at Tentsmuir." The conductor announced. "Thanks for taking the Knight bus, we hope you had a pleasant stay."

It was a beautiful sight of the sunrise along if the forest behind where she could find the stone cottage. She walked through the patches of grass with hope that she could gain a new home.

Zola hurriedly grabbed everything and stumbled out the bus. It left immediately leaving her at a muggle road. She covered her eyes as the stream of sunlight of the sun rising beamed in her face.

[springvaletales]

Modern AU Thoughts in no particular order bc I've been doing a lot of snippet writing in this setting lately but I haven't posted about it much, GO!:

Due to a complicated series accidents, lucky breaks and what were probably a few assassinations, Almaea ends up being the only surviving heir of Vekrom Duet, her estranged biological father and reclusive owner of Duet Technologies Inc., a massively profitable company that sold and produced high quality security systems.

Almaea never met her father, and only discovered his identity when she was tracked down by his lawyers for the purposes of executing his last will and testament. She is actually pretty bitter that he knew of her existence and those of her children but still chose not to approach them.

The Duet family is distantly related to royalty, but the local government has long moved away from monarchy, so it’s little more than an interesting family fact.

Despite Kemat, Maji, and Vashael all being adults, they still live at home with their parents. The Duet family estate is big enough for all five members of the family and then some, and they don’t see the point in moving out when they’re all pretty comfortable where they are.

Almaea and Manon-Val are often away on company business, but make a point to FaceTime their children at least once a night, if possible.

Maji was secretly dating Neragh, a former employee and security guard of Duet Tech Inc., and went public with their relationship after he lost his leg from the knee down and she paid for his prosthetic. They are engaged but have no wedding date set.

Kemat is aromantic/asexual, and is a regular face at the city’s pride events, only missing one year when he punched an off-duty police officer over ‘fighting words’ and spent the weekend in prison.

Vashael graduated college with decent grades but then went on to start a band with his college friends. They’re pretty good, and have a few albums out on the popular streaming apps, but they’re mostly unknown outside of their tri-city area

Michael makes a damn good cinnamon latte that Haaruma - notorious hater of lines and self-proclaimed ‘impatient bitch’ - will queue an hour for.

Michael had a crush on Vashael first after discovering their band’s music, but befriended Haaruma before he ever got to talk to Vashael face to face.

Naoka and Haaruma are still married but it’s a secret to everybody because Naoka’s parents are massively homophobic.

Haaruma has living family in this AU, but she’s no-contact with both of her parents for various reasons. She does still talk to her half-brother Isstun, though.

Bashur (the band’s Minotaur drummer) has his silhouette incorporated into all of the band’s album covers because he’s the most recognizable figure out of all the members.

Michael has a beautiful singing voice, but absolutely debilitating stage fright when the crowd is anything bigger than five or six people. Haaruma and Vashael both dream of one day helping him get over this fear so he can join the band (though their motivations are quite different).

Magic does exist in this setting, but due to past historical events, much of the knowledge of it has been lost. Some scientists and scholars dedicate their careers to researching and trying to revive this knowledge. Ex: Chad Ziel (the lich who isn’t quite so crazy (yet) in this AU), a rising star in the arcane academia scene for his work in understanding ancient curses.

Velenna was once the leading arcane scholar in Chad's field before she retired to live a 'less hectic' lifestyle, and now works with the local authorities of Springvale and surrounding cities as a cursebreaker. She and Chad have no connection in this AU beyond working in the same field of study.

Velenna did not raise Almaea in this AU, but acted as her mentor figure in college, and remains a close friend of the Duet family.

This AU is my ‘slice of life but with smartphones’ setting. The world building is still ongoing, and we’re just here to have fun when the more medieval base DnD setting won’t quite cut it.

[whitehathexerswriting]

White Hat Hexers 2: Fallhaven

Written by: @nighttimedaydreams and edited by: Anastasia M. ( @fighterpilotdragon02 / https://www.instagram.com/fighterpilotdragon/ )

        Elizabeth found herself lying in the grass looking up at the noontide sun through the sprawling crisscrossing limbs of the trees that grew along the coast near the lake outside her house.  The light flickered and swayed with the breeze, and it sounded like the gentle rubbing of fabric on skin.  The only thing missing was the babble of a river; her old home had one of those, back when she was a child.  She shook her head, dismissing the memories.  She wiggled her toes.  It was nice to finally be done with the whole mess that was Jacob.   Appearing before a court was never fun.  The only good parts were Jacob was no longer around to hate her, and she got to see Michael some more.  Henry ruled his house now and gave her his patronage.  It felt strange to her to no longer struggle for money.  The wind played with her red blouse and blue skirt.  She wasn’t in uniform; no curses had befallen anyone recently.  She heard footsteps approaching.  She sat up, twigs falling out of her loose hair.  She could tell by their weight the footsteps belonged to Henry.

        “Hello, Liz, I thought I would find you here,” he said.  He was dressed in common summer clothes – the only mark of his status was his family’s signet ring on his hand.  He often dressed like that in the village, especially since he had taken charge.  Elizabeth had asked him why once; he had said that if people only respected him because of his clothes, they didn’t respect him at all, just his station.

       “Hey, Re, you thought you would find me at my house? What a strange place for me to be.” 

       He laughed. “Liz, as I think you will notice, we are outside.  Your house,” he said, pointing behind them, “is about 40 feet that way.”

       Elizabeth laughed.  “Alright, alright.  What brings you here?”

       “A letter,” Henry said, pulling it out of his pocket. “Now, to be clear, it isn’t about a curse, but I do think you’ll still want to know its contents.” Henry handed her the letter.  She took it and read it over silently. From King William to the honorable House of the Spider-Boars,                                       On order of the king and his court you are being summoned to Fallhaven to discuss recent events.                                           May magic’s weave be long for you,               King William

       “I always forget you can do that, reading silently.” Henry said

       “Years of practice,” Elizabeth said – mostly to avoid skipping lines, she thought to herself – and waved her hand dismissively at both her thought and at Henry,  “but they’re summoning nobles even this distant to Fallhaven?  I know what happened with Jacob was a stir, but this seems extreme.”

       “Yea, that it does, but also what happened with Jacob, I want a cursebreaker with me.”

       “So you’re asking me to come with you.  All the way to the capital?  But what about the people here, what if something happens, and they need a curse broken, and I’m gone?  You know there have been reports of increasing hexer activity throughout the land.  Your father had to have been taught by someone, and they couldn’t be too far away from here.”

       “Liz, answer me honestly, what do you think is the likelihood of a hexer strike here while we’re away?”

       Elizabeth thought for a moment.  “Pretty low.  After the whole stunt with Jacob, most hexers won’t come this way for at least a half year.  Because either they expect we’ll be on high alert or because they heard about what me and Michael did…”

       “Which I maintain was quite amazing.  It must have been the will of magic that there were two cursebreakers there who could withstand the spell.”

       “Perhaps,” Elizabeth said; she never put much stock into that sort of superstition, but Henry was the religious type. “Or maybe it was just luck.”

       Henry smiled: this was often a point of debate between the two of them. “You know there is no such thing as luck.  All things are the will of magic, excepting, of course, human free will.”

       “If that’s so, then how does magic plan for our fickle natures?  We shift by whim like the wind.”

       Henry chuckled, “Ah, that is the question, but you, Liz, are avoiding the more pressing question.  Will you go with me to the capital?”

       She thought of the village.  The people here had been liking her better since Jacob was removed.  She once again thought of the chance a hexer would strike anyone here.  She had learned during her training most hexers, while power hungry, usually didn’t attack a place without a reason, and most often that reason was money.  Hexers were commonly hired mercenaries of a sort, despite the illegality of their practices.  People found it far too tempting to turn their rivals into pigs rather than just kill them.  She had kept the village safe for ten years.  Somewhere this remote didn’t usually see the power plays of the larger cities, but every now and then an aspiring hexer would try their hand here.  That wouldn’t be the case anymore.  No aspiring hexer would try the home of Elizabeth the Cursebreaker.  The story of that day had grown much from the reality of the events.  No, she had painted a target on their backs, but it would take time and planning before any competent hexer attacked.

       She sighed.  “You know you could force me to go, as my patron.”

       “And you know as your friend I never would.”

       “How much time do I have to pack?”

       “We leave the day after tomorrow at sunrise.  Edward is also coming with us, and my house steward Jonathan will watch over things here for us.  It’s too bad you don’t have an apprentice to safeguard the village while you’re away.”

       “Perhaps one day; more likely than me getting married at least.”

       Henry chuckled at that.  “Not even Michael is enough for you?” Henry teased with a light smile.

       “If I had to marry for tax reasons, he's on the short list, but no.  He's a fine gentleman, and I like getting his letters, but as it stands, no.” 

       “Well then, taking on an apprentice is the much more likely thing.  Find yourself a nice young student to train.  Maybe someone like yourself, if they ever came along.”

       “Maybe, if one ever comes along. For now, Re, we have a capital to get to.”

***

       A few days later, they were on the last leg of their journey to the capital. The journey had been much shortened by the means of a transformation that had once been put upon the land: a string of magical threads, with a large carriage that moved quickly on them, connected a handful of major cities.  They called it the Spider because the strings formed a sort of web when mapped out, but Elizabeth always thought it looked more like a spoke and wheel. It was from a hexer’s attempt to raid them all quickly with an army he had gathered, but the nobility found it useful, so it was never removed.  Henry's ancestors were the ones responsible for holding off the actual invasion. 

       The section they were in was fairly spacious and had lavish seats and a handful of tables either for dining or consulting documents. The ride was comfortable enough, but Elizabeth could feel the power of the curse – it was so strong she didn’t even call upon magic to feel it, and her own curse was tempted to consume it for power, but she resisted the urge. She had plenty of energy to maintain her curse.  If she had been less sloppy when she cursed herself, she might’ve been able to have her transformation last permanently without the need for fuel, but she never properly finished her hexer training from long ago.  Still, she was now a renowned cursebreaker; as long as she found curses to break before she ran out of power she’d be fine, and she had years of power stored up.  

       Henry had run into Thomas while heading to Fallhaven; the two were now engaged in quiet conversation, holding hands under the table that stood between where they were seated and where Elizabeth was.  Elizabeth was looking out the window, watching the scenery pass by, listening to the sound the blur made, bouncing her leg restlessly. She had been on the Spider once before, eleven years ago – just after she had left her hexer mentor.  She had forgotten how fast it moved.  Horses just could not compete.  

       She got up; she had been sitting in the same spot too long, and the boredom was starting to become agitation.  She paced back and forth, with the occasional twirl thrown in because movement always helped ease that feeling.  Henry and Edward knew how she could get, so they just ignored her pacing, Thomas glanced at her, but Henry held his attention.  The particular section of the Spider they were in was empty, save for the four of them.  Eventually, Edward got up to talk to her,

       “Elizabeth, remind me, for I seem to have forgotten, have you been to Fallhaven before?”

       Elizabeth stopped midtwirl. “Once.  Years ago.  Didn’t think I’d be back.”

       “Oh?  Did something happen?”

       “Nothing in particular, but it was a different period of my life.  I like our village; despite everything, it’s home now.”

       “I remember that when you came to the village for the first time, I was scarcely ten.  You seemed… much less sure of yourself.  From what I remember at least – that was a decade and some years ago.”

       “Yes, it was. I was still under my mentor’s tutelage at the time,” Elizabeth said 

       “What were they like?”

       “She was very exacting.  Nice, until you didn’t do what she wanted, but she’s no longer involved with me now.”

       “I see, that would explain why you didn’t stay long back then, but you came back not too long after.”

       “The village seemed nice.  It was far away from most of my problems, save your father.”

       Edward looked down at the mention of his father.  “I do apologize for his… well, behavior doesn’t quite begin to cover it.” Elizabeth looked at Edward and breathed in deeply. “It’s not your place to apologize for his acts.  You are not him, nor do you speak for him.”

       “I suppose not, but still I don't like seeing you hurt or suffering.”

       “That's kind of you, Edward.  I'm hoping this trip goes quickly.”

         “We’ll see,” Edward said before moving away from her.  The two never talked as long as she did with his brother.

           Elizabeth once again began pacing; her hands itched to move as well.

           I really should take up my various crafts again.  Spinning was fun, but so was looming. Knitting didn’t make much sense though, but I have more time and resources now that I have access to Henry's resources, at least until I decide that they don’t actually hold my focus that long again, Elizabeth thought to herself. 

***

       The train reached its second to last stop.  Elizabeth felt a familiar presence board the train.  “Michael?” she said aloud.

       Henry looked at her. “I haven’t seen him.”

       “No, no, I think he just got on board.  I’m gonna go look for him.”

       “How could you know?”

       “Cursebreaker senses!” Elizabeth said, leaving the car, not wanting to explain the whole truth to Henry.  She could feel the curse; it was hard to sense beneath the weight of the Spider, but she knew what she was looking for.  She saw him.  He was in the company of an obviously noble woman.

       “Oh, Elizabeth!” Michael said, smiling at her.

       “A friend of yours?” the lady asked

       “Lady Mary, this is Elizabeth, the other cursebreaker who helped me at the lord’s party.”

       “Oh!  What a pleasure to make your acquaintance, then.”

       “And mine yours, Lady Mary,” Elizabeth said, performing a proper courtesy. “I was wondering why Michael was going on this trip.  I suppose it is because you wanted his presence as a cursebreaker while heading to the capital?”

       “That is quite right.  If you were the one who helped him at the party, then I’m sure with the both of you there is nothing to worry about.  I shall go speak with the other nobles aboard. With both of your presence, I am certain you two can freely do… whatever it is you people actually do,” she said, leaving.

       “She’s snobbish,” Elizabeth said as soon as Mary was out of earshot. “Not like Henry.”

       “Yeah… but she was the only one willing to give me patronage.  My family is a bunch of farmers.  We needed money, especially since my sister, Abigail, is in poor health.  Lady Mary offered to cover the expense and more.  As long as I was willing to come at her beck and call.”

       “I’m gonna guess that it isn’t a curse on your sister.  You’re skilled enough to undo any of those you came across, if you wanted to.”

       Michael sighed. “No, it’s Beatrice’s Sleying. A rare disease, which not only affects them physically but their connection to the weave – weakens it. There are herbs that can alleviate the physical symptoms, maybe even cure that part of it, the doctors say, but they’re expensive and from faraway lands.  So I put up with Lady Mary because she offered to pay, and I don’t want to see my family suffer. You understand, right?”

       Elizabeth looked out the window.  “Wish I could say I do.”

       Michael turned to look at her at that.  Then he turned to look out the window as well.  “I hope someday you do,” he said.

       “I doubt I ever will.  My own family isn’t in the weave of my life.”

       “I think you’ll weave one yet.”

       “I doubt it.  You know most people don’t like us if they know what we’ve done, and the others find us offputting for not doing things in the traditional way.”

       “What about Henry?”

       “What about him?”

       “He seems unbothered by you.”

       “He’s different.”

       “How?”

       “He’s Henry.  I’ve only seen that man hate two people.  His father and himself.  The latter he eventually got over.”

       “And his brother that you’ve written me about?”

       “Henry’s the older; Edward will follow his lead.”

       Michael turned to Elizabeth; he had stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. “It seems to me, that you’re looking for reasons to think you’re unwanted.”

       “Oh I’m wanted; my skill as a cursebreaker has made me valuable.”

       “I didn’t say needed.  I said wanted.  There’s a difference there, Elizabeth.”

       Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively.  “What is the difference?”

       “One makes you a friend, the other a laborer.  And from what I’ve managed to glimpse, I think you and Henry are friends.”

       Elizabeth didn’t have a response to that.  She let the conversation lapse, enjoying the sound of the passing landscape.  It wasn’t quite like the wind, although she could hear that too.  No, it was the motion of the landscape itself that she heard, almost underneath the other sounds of the Spider.  It sounded smooth, like the pages of a book being flipped.

       They stayed like that for a while in the silence.  Eventually, from his pocket, Michael pulled out a book.  Elizabeth glanced at the spine for the title. Detective David and the Case of the Cursed Loom, it read.  Elizabeth laughed; she knew that book well.

       “Oh?” Michael said, looking up at her sudden bout of laughter

       “Sorry, it’s just that I loved those stories – well, what few I could get my hands on.  Absolute nonsensical dribble; who would curse an object when you could curse someone directly?  It’s so many extra steps.  But by shed and bobbin, I read them again and again.”

       “They are not the most intellectual stories, are they?”

       “Not at all.  But they are so very fun, weft and wrap. I remember when I was first learning letters, I read them and would try to make my own adventures for Detective David.  I think some of them might still linger around my house.”

       Michael chuckled at that; he seemed calm in this moment, like this was much more his natural state than when Elizabeth had met him at the ball. “I should very much like to read those.”

       “No, you wouldn’t!  It was terrible schlock.  I am no storyteller; that is one kind of yarn I do not spin well.”

       Michael laughed at that.  The silence strayed towards comfortable.  They stayed like that for a while.

***

       They had reached the capital, although Elizabeth wasn’t granted the luxury of exploring it.  She only got to see the shining city on the approach; it sprawled far larger than her village made of many stone and wooden buildings, but she barely had time to change into her proper cursebreaker attire and rebraid her hair, and so she had no time to wander through it.  The king had wanted to meet the nobles of their group as soon as they arrived; apparently the others were already waiting.  Both Elizabeth’s group and Michael’s entered into the palace which stood majestically looking over the rest of the city upon a large hill. It smelled of rosemary.  

       Strange, usually that’s reserved for cursebreakers.  Is it growing around here? Elizabeth thought to herself.  The group soon reached the banquet hall, which hosted the king and all the nobles he had summoned.

       Henry and Lady Mary were ushered inside  by the doorman, but Elizabeth and Michael were expected to stay where they were.  As cursebreakers, they bore many of the privileges of nobility but held no actual rank.

       “Do you smell the rosemary?” she asked him

       “Yes, it’s strange.”

       Then something shifted.  It was subtle, but Elizabeth was well attuned to subtle changes in magic.

       She began to chant, to feel the magic around her.  Everything became as string.  She saw how each part connected to each other like sinew and bone.  She could see Michael and the curse she suspected he had placed upon himself; it was better set now – he had consumed more power since Elizabeth had met him.  It was no longer freshly set: his curse had taken root on him fully now.   The palace itself became a massive weave to her.  She couldn’t pick out people far away from her in these conditions.  The banquet hall seemed perfectly fine and safe.

       “Heat from fire, fire from heat,” she said, ending her peering into the realm of magic. “The banquet hall seems safe.  You felt it too, right?”

       “I did.” His hands were shaking. “Someone is bold enough to strike the palace itself.”

       Elizabeth breathed in. “Then we have a job to do.  All the nobles are gathered here.  It would be easy enough to get them all gone in one fell swoop.  So, we aren’t going to let that happen.”

       “But where do we even start?”

       Barking shattered the nervous silence that had started up as the pair considered what to do.  The sound was deep and very loud. It somehow seemed worried.

       “I think that’s our answer,” Elizabeth said, following the sound of the dog.  Some cawing joined the chorus of barks soon after, and the caws were frantic.  It was all coming from the same place.  Elizabeth and Michael ran up several flights of stairs.  She could see Michael’s hands shaking.  Elizabeth was growing short of breath.

         They reached a spinning room.  Next to the spinning wheel was a large black dog and a couple crows; there were scraps of clothes surrounding them.  They seemed incredibly distressed.   The way they moved wasn’t natural.  They were obviously cursed, to Elizabeth’s eyes.

       Elizabeth started chanting, as did Michael.  The magic beneath everything revealed itself to Elizabeth.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Michael heading towards the birds, so she focused on the dog.  She saw the aberration and absorbed it into herself; they had arrived soon enough where the curse hadn’t fully set yet, but it was close.  Pulling it in burned, but she wasn’t just going to not do her job.  She heard bones shift from the dog as she drew in the curse.  Slowly humanity was restored to them, and she heard screams of pain.  It had been too late to apply willow bark.  Elizabeth felt a twang of guilt at that, but there was only so much she could do.  Eventually the person entirely returned to their human form; Elizabeth could clearly see the person was a woman now that she was no longer a dog.  Elizabeth quickly handed the woman a length of fabric from the floor, to preserve her modesty.  The woman was still very much in pain, but that would pass.  She would need a lot of rest, but that was true of the other two as well.  Elizabeth glanced over to see Michael had restored two children to humanity; their clothes had stayed intact because they had become much smaller.  Michael’s hands were shaking, but his face showed great relief.

       “Heat from fire, fire from heat,” Elizabeth said, ending the chant she had kept the whole time; her throat was parched.  “What happened?”

       “I, I don’t know.  I was just spinning and then-” The woman’s voice was ragged, hoarse, and weak.

       “It’s okay, rest now, you’re safe,” Elizabeth said, and then she looked at Michael.  He walked over to the spinning wheel.  

       “Elizabethyousaidcursingobjectswasridiculous,” Michael said, slamming his words together. He was nervous; they were almost too late. Whoever set this curse was very good. “But-” He pointed at the spinning wheel.

       Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively. “It can’t be that.  A hexer must’ve snuck in and been unnoticed.”

       “Andtargeteda-” Michael took a deep breath, “Children and a servant?  Not all the nobles drawn together?  I thought I saw something when I was breaking the children’s curses.”

       The children had huddled around their presumed mother.  “I’ll take a look,” Elizabeth said and began to chant.  She was so parched.  Michael had joined her. His baritone voice was nice to have added onto her own; comforting even, Elizabeth admitted to herself.  She focused on the spinning wheel.  Quite clearly she could see it had been cursed: one that would linger until activated.   

       But why? Elizabeth thought to herself. It would have made more sense just to curse these folks directly. 

       Elizabeth focused on the way the spinning wheel was cursed, Michael slowly unwound the aberrant threads of it.  While Elizabeth often acted like a seam ripper to cursed threads, Michael, she could see, treaded with a more careful hand, slowly absorbing the magic into himself.  She was certain now about the nature of his curse, as she watched him drink in the magic from the curse.  As he unwound it, she saw hidden in the threads of the curse a message.

       “I’m waiting.” 

       Elizabeth felt a chill run down her soul.  There was only one person she knew good enough at hexing, at playing with the threads, to weave a message into a curse.  Michael finished absorbing the last of the curse.

       “You saw it too right?” she asked him.

       He nodded.  He knew.  His hands, which had been steady when dealing with the spinning wheel, were shaking more intensely than normal, like how a flame flickers.  To Elizabeth’s eyes, the sound of the shakes was like the sounds of rocks tumbling down a small hill.  

       “Sheshouldn’t-sheshouldn’tbehere,” Michael hissed out, his mouth barely opening wide enough for the words spilling out of his mouth.

       “I know,” Elizabeth said, a hint of terror slipping into her own voice, “but we have to find out what she wants.  She's probably nearby.  If she wanted the nobles, she would have cursed them already.  This was a message for us.”  She looked over at the three she and Michael had saved.  They would need rest but should otherwise be fine.  “You three, get some rest.  Unfortunately, Michael and I have quite the unraveled fray to deal with.”

       The presumed mother nodded, and, tying the sheet Elizabeth had given her around her bust, left the room with her kids.  Elizabeth and Michael moved out as a unit.  They left the palace proper; their old teacher wouldn't be there.  There was another hill nearby.  Elizabeth thought she saw someone standing on top of it.  Even from this distance, she could sense the woman bore a curse, and Elizabeth knew what it was, too.  She pointed it out to Michael, he nodded, and they both headed that way.  Soon they were climbing it, and there they saw her.

       “You kept me waiting; you know I hate that,” the woman’s sultry voice cooed. She had a figure that most would die for, either to have or to hold; a thousand ships could be launched for her beauty.  The work of a finely crafted curse.

       “Circe,” Elizabeth said

       “No title?  You forget yourself, Hecate – oh wait, no, it’s Elizabeth now isn’t it?  Rejected the name of old power I gave you for one of theirs, one of Hers.” Circe looked derisively at Michael. “As did you, Odin; what was it now, Michael?  What a pathetic name.”

       “What do you want?” Elizabeth asked forcefully, as her voice took on a slow simmer of anger, and she took a step towards Circe.

       Circe looked down at Elizabeth. “I’m giving you two one last chance. I heard what you did at that party; did you know I was the one helping out Jacob?  You must’ve realized he was not nearly skilled enough for what he was doing.  Admirable work, what you two did, undoing it in the moment.  So join me now; together we can alter the fate of this country, of this world! Make it how we desire – no one could stop us.” She looked at Michael. “And if that somehow doesn’t interest you, I know about your sister.  I could give you the tools to help her.” Circe smiled at him like how a mother might smile upon their child.

       Michael closed his eyes a moment.  His breath sharp and rapid.  He seemed to be considering her offer.  He snapped open his eyes.  He breathed in deep as he could.  His whole arms were shaking.

       “N-no,” Michael said. “I.  I,  le-left you because you want t-to hurt people.  Y-you m-might help me, but y-you’d hurt so many.  You w-would use me to hurt so many.”

       “Hmph,” Circe growled. “Then you are lost to me.  Surely you’re not so ungrateful for the training I gave you; after all, you know that those with power get what they want, Elizabeth.” Circe spat out the name. “It’s only because of my teachings that either one of you have a body you don’t despise, and I could take that away. Don’t think you know more than me about the weave of magic, although, I’ll admit, I can’t understand why you two, you, Elizabeth, girl, especially, made yourself so average, when you could have had beauty beyond compare.”

       Elizabeth looked Circe dead in the eyes. “I thank you for the lessons you taught me.  But I have a duty to do no harm. And I know what you do to those in your way.”

       Circe shook her head.  “You’re both fools.  Unfortunately, you’re very skilled fools.  Consider today a warning, then.  I’ll be back, and when we next meet face to face,I won’t be so kind.  You will lose.” She snapped her fingers. “Now, you might want to check on your charges,” she taunted.

  Elizabeth felt something shift.  The weave of magic had grown taut; she didn’t even have to vibrate the air to feel it. Elizabeth turned her back to Circe and started running hard.  Michael followed.

       Faster, Elizabeth thought to herself, pushing herself harder.  She knew better than most that Circe could do harm beyond anyone else’s means.

       Faster.        Faster.

       Fast- 

       She reached the palace; she could only assume Michael had followed.  She pushed her way into the banquet hall.  The door fought against her as if it was being held tight.  She could feel the magic here being pulled taut still.  It wasn’t the same as when it tried to crush her at the last banquet, but still the pressure was so intense no one could move.  Instead, it was threatening to snap as it strained under the weight, and Elizabeth knew, from having seen Circe do this trick once a long time ago, that when it snapped it would rapidly transform everyone in here, probably into pigs. Circe was fond of that one.  

       She felt Michael’s shaking hand brush hers.  “Th-the m-magic is too tight in here, wecan’triskvibratingittoseeit.”

       “I know,” Elizabeth said.  Weft and wrap… wait, the rosemary! Elizabeth thought to herself.  “Michael, the rosemary!” she shouted, taking off to follow the smell of it.  Michael looked at her, shocked, as she ran off.  She found the gardens easily.  There was a gardener there.

       “I need all the rosemary you can give me,” Elizabeth said with all the authority she could muster.  The gardener nodded and ran off, and then they came back with a few baskets full of rosemary.  Elizabeth took them and sprinted to the banquet hall.

       Michael had at some point acquired flint and steel, and, as Elizabeth spread out the rosemary, he lit a spark.  They both began chanting outside the room.  The weave of magic took shape.  She could see it being drawn into the banquet hall, pulled almost to the breaking point.

       They had to slacken it all at once somehow; Circe had pulled it so tight that to slacken one would snap the others.  It was almost like the weave had been drained of its power and was hanging on only through memory.   

       Power.

       Elizabeth looked at her hands, and realized she herself was a wellspring of power.

       She understood now, that only she could restore the weave.  Michael wouldn’t have enough power absorbed yet.  This was Circe’s attempt to get her to abandon what it means to be a cursebreaker.

       No, I can’t.  I can’t risk going back to that, she thought to herself.  She thought about Henry being transformed into a pig.  She couldn’t let that happen, not because he was her patron, but because he was her friend.   Elizabeth knew that she couldn’t break a curse Circe didn’t want broken.  

       She’s a bastard, Elizabeth thought, making her choice, and then she closed her eyes and started feeding magic power like a tributary feeds a river.  So much power: all she had to give.  She became like a host of those tributaries filling the points all at once.  She was a flood.  She felt the magic slowly, like rope being pulled through her fingers, return to its default shape.  

       She was terrified to open her eyes, even though she didn’t feel any different.

       She opened her eyes and looked down at herself; she was unchanged.  She looked at Michael, the weave still visible around them, and could see the curse he had placed on himself looking much like it had when they first met, drained of so much of its power.

       He had to have fed her curse, so hers didn’t run out.

       “Oh, you are so on the short list,” Elizabeth said, getting up and hugging Michael.

       Henry walked out of the banquet hall, seeing Elizabeth tightly embracing Michael.

       “I assume, somehow, our rescue was done by you two’s hands.”

       Elizabeth, who slowly and somewhat embarrassedly let go of Michael, turned to Henry. “Yes, I really wish you’d stop getting into these situations.”

       “I’ll try.  The king has decided both to increase the harshness of the laws for cursing people and increase funding to train more cursebreakers.  So hopefully that will do just that.  And give you two more free time… to spend however and with whoever you like.” Henry said, looking between the two of them.

       Lady Mary appeared from the banquet hall. “Well, this whole thing was simply dreadful.  Yes, quite dreadful.  Michael, we're going back to my estate,” Lady Mary said, walking briskly past.

       Michael looked at Elizabeth and shrugged.  “I'll write to you, Elizabeth.”

       “You can call me Liz, if you want,” Elizabeth said with a bright smile.

       “Alright, then I'll write to you, Liz,” Michael said, an equally bright smile on his face, “Hopefully next time we see each other is under better circumstances.” Michael then turned and quickly followed Lady Mary.

       “So, tax purposes, huh?” Henry teased.

       “Yes, tax purposes,” Elizabeth said, laughing.  

       Henry shook his head.

       Edward met up with them. “Let's go home.”

       The three of them set off for the Spider.

[vanosslirious]

Fandom: Banana Bus Squad (Vanoss Crew.)

Ch: 37 • A Curse Made From Power.

POV: VanossGaming.

Words: 1.883 | 72.145

Excerpt:

"So, what are we?" Jonathan asked, motioning at himself and Luke.

"Exactly," Luke said, brows arched, "what the fuck does Oliver Reed want with us? All we cared about when we were with the asshole was controlling our magic, not to have it twist and fuck up on us."

[whatsortofschoolisthis]

A

IDENTITY

Full Name: Sean Michael Ames

Nicknames: Noddy, Mike, Pippin.

Name Meanings: Sean — Irish, ”God is Gracious”,  Michael— Hebrew, ”Who is Like God?” Ames — English, “Friend”

Date of Birth: October 31st 1973 (11:10pm)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bisexual

Blood Status: Pureblood

Ethnicity/Race: White/Caucasian

Nationality: Irish

MBTI Type: INTP-A- Logician. 

Residence: Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. (Until He and Hecate were 9), St. Ives, Cornwall (11-24) English/Irish countryside (24-27) then in St. Ives, next door to his sister and her husband for the rest of his life.

 MAGIC

1st Wand:

Wood: Hornbeam

Core: Unicorn tail hair

Length: 11 inches

Flexibility: slightly flexible

2nd Wand:

Wood: Ebony

Core: Dragon Heartstring Core

Length: 11 1/2 inches.

Flexibility: flexible.

Other Magical Abilities: Legilmen. 

Patronus: Otter

Patronus Memory: Rubin taking him, Hecate, Bryn, and Kit to feed the ducks the first week they started living with her.

Boggart: The Sluagh.

Riddikulus: The Sluagh are encased in an Ebublio Jinx and float away.

Amortentia:

Sean smells new textbooks, paper, and a spell misfiring.

Sean smells like Ink, cinnamon, and the sea.

Mirror of Erised:  Himself. He’s content as he is and with how things are

HOGWARTS

House: Ravenclaw.

OWL Classes:

Transfiguration - O

Charms - O

Herbology - A

Astronomy - EE

Potions - O

History of Magic -O

Defense Against the Dark Arts - EE

Flying - EE

OWL Electives:

Arithmancy- A

Magical Theory-O

Ancient Studies- O

NEWT Classes:

Potions- O

Transfiguration - EE

DADA- EE

Astronomy- O

Quidditch: Spectator. 

Prefect: No

Clubs: Astronomy Club and Dueling Club.

Favorite Professors: Professor Minerva McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Hooch.

Least Favorite Professors:  Professor Snape, Professor Rakepick, Professor Kettleburn.

CAREER

11 to 17 - Hogwarts student/Part Time dishwasher at The Three Broomsticks.

18 to 24- Potioneer Apprentice 

25 to 27- Worked with the Order helping smuggle Muggleborns, Half Bloods, and squibs out of the country. 

 27 to 98- Potions Professor at Hogwarts.

APPEARANCE

Faceclaim: No Clue

Height: 5 ft tall.

Weight & Physique: 107 lbs. Lithe build.

Hair Color: Red

Hair Style: Down to his shoulders, wavy. Pulls it back out of his face.

Eye Color: Brown

Skin Tone: Fair

Scars: Small burn scars on his hands and arms from potions brewing and a terrible scar that goes up his chest and on his neck from the Devil’s Snare.

Modifications: (piercings, tattoos, glasses, etc.)  Gets his ears pierced.

Distinguishing Marks: None.

Clothing Style: He likes hoods and hoodies a lot and prefers causal/business causal muggle clothing over robes.

Accessories: None

What’s In Her Pockets: His wand

What’s In Her School Bag:

Textbooks

Notebooks for each class.

Quills and ink, along with pens.

His star chart for Astronomy/Astronomy Club.

Small book of potion recipes with notes scribbled in.

VOICE & LANGUAGE

Voiceclaim: David Rawle.

Accent: (might differ from voiceclaim’s) Irish/Cornish

Dialect: Munster.

Languages Spoken: English, Irish Gaelic, and Faroese.

Languages Understood: English, Irish Gaelic, and Faroese.

Speech and/or Language Disorder: None

FAMILY

Father: Henry John Ames

Born on May 1st 1920 and raised in a small wizarding/squib village in North Devon, England. The youngest of three children, his parents were much older and tended to spoil him a bit.

His childhood prior to Hogwarts was...chaotic. His father (a cursebreaker), who he admired, had multiple affairs and his parents were always fighting about it. His siblings, Holly and Hannah, were also in and out of the house with their own families, so it got a little cramped.

Henry was thrilled when he got his Hogwarts letter.

Henry was sorted into Gryffindor upon starting Hogwarts. He was fairly popular and played Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team but was known for messing around with girls. In spite of this he attracted the attention of his first wife Nancy White.

After Hogwarts, Henry decided to pursue a career as a Cursebreaker like his dad and repeated the patterns of his father before him. A breaker of cycles, he is not.

He had a brief fling with Elsa Orn, who had Rubin as a result. He would write to and visit Rubin, who mostly tolerated him until adulthood.

He married Nancy in 1949 and had Wren a year later.

After his Wife’s brutal murder at the hands of blood purists, he took Wren and moved to Galway, Ireland to be near Fiadah and her mother Brigid. Fiadah hated him even as a tiny bitter four year old, so it was Not Fun.

In 1959, He met Saorise and after sweeping her off her feet he married her. He was also ‘Dating’ a woman named Gwen on the side who had Bryn on March 8th 1972.

On December 3rd, 1965, Saorise had Odhran Jacob Ames AKA Danny.

Sometime in 1973 Saorise and Gwen realized that Henry was cheating and he found himself divorced and with no girlfriend.

This did not keep him from moving on and it seems he has learned nothing and will continue to learn nothing until he dies.

Current wife is Sally Baker-Ames who had Evangeline Louise Baker-Ames in 1974. She goes to Hogwarts and it is very VERY awkward.

Looks for Jacob while out on Cursebreaking expeditions and helped Saorise pay for a private detective. He also informed Rubin when Saorise began to neglect Hecate and Sean. While he is a bad father and husband, he does care about his children, in a strange haphazard way.

Faceclaim: George Arliss

Mother: Saorise Aine O’Malley (formerly Ames, changed her name back after the divorce)

Born on June 4th, 1930 in Tralee, Ireland to Sean and Bridget O’Malley.

Her childhood was happy and full of love, she was an only child and was doted on by her parents.

Saorise was sorted into Hufflepuff. She was a Hatstall between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Saorise worked as a court scribe for the Ministry of Magic.

In 1959, Saorise met Henry and was swept off her feet. Soon she found herself with a stepdaughter at home, two more abroad, and three small children.

She slowly realized that maybe multiple affairs are not ‘Mistakes’ but indicative of a pattern.

Eventually Gwen (her best friend) revealed Henry to her and Saorise promptly divorced him. She forgives Gwen, as she had no idea,  and they maintain a friendship until Gwen dies of cancer in 1986.

Jacob going missing consumed her and she soon began neglecting her other two children while looking for him. Rubin stepped in and took custody of Hecate and Sean after she came over to visit at the insistence  of her father and found Hecate seizing, Sean sobbing, and Saorise nowhere to be seen.

She eventually came back around after year 5 but the children have no interest in a relationship and she doesn’t really blame them. They have a distant aunt type relationship with her. Sean sort of resents her but not really.

Faceclaim: Lucille Ball.

Older Brother: Odhran Jacob Ames AKA Danny.

Born on December 3rd, 1965, Danny is the oldest known boy. He was sorted into Hufflepuff and caused all kinds of problems due to his arrogance and inability to tell when he is being lied to.

Wants to be like his father which is why he goes after the Vaults so hard.

Sean does not like Danny and has never liked Danny.

Jacob calls him Noddy after the Enid Blyton Character and Sean calls him The Muppet or Muppet because he feels like it .

They reach an uneasy truce but Danny is “On Thin Fucking Ice.”

Faceclaim: Patrick Swayze (1980s)

Sister: Hecate Maran Ames

Hecate iis his twin and s ten minutes older than him

Sean loves her and they are very close. 

Sean takes over the Cursed Vaults Search for Hecate whenever she is in the Hospital Wing and they generally look after one another.

Faceclaim: Molly Quinn.

Sister: Rubin Agda Orn

Eldest ‘Ames’ Child. In her forties after Hecate graduates.

Becomes Hecate and Sean’s legal guardian when they are eight years old and moves them out with Kit to St. Ives when they’re ten due to wanting to get them away from their Mother’s negative influence.

Very close with both Hecate and Sean and teaches them her own form of magic.

Saved their lives during the First Wizarding War.

Sean thinks she is very cool. He also likes to mess with her.

Drumstrang Student, chose ancient Norse magic as her concentration in her 5th year.

Sister: Wren Etta Ito

Wren is the second oldest girl. Forty when Hecate graduates.

Married Osamu in 1970 and immigrated to Japan in 1972. Had her first child, Mirou, in 1970 and her second, Sara,  in 1973.

She writes to all her siblings and they love each other but Wren is more like ‘The Ancient Half Sister’ in Roald Dahl’s ‘Boy’ book to the younger ones.

Ravenclaw.

Sister: Fiadah Medb O’Faud

Third oldest girl. Thirty-nine when Hecate graduates.

As soon as she achieved Thoughts she decided to cause problems on purpose. Mostly for Henry and purist peers. Later this applies to criminals being tried in MAUSCA’s courts.

Sean likes Fiadah but is wary of her, she’s a little nuts.

Slytherin/Thunderbird house.

Brother: Bryn Ames

A year older than Hecate and Sean and the Responsible Sibling.

Sean loves Bryn and Bryn loves Sean but they fight like cats and dogs.

Bryn helps with the vaults when he can but his Prefect duties keep him busy most of the time

Slytherin

Nephew/Sibling: Kitto Alan Teague

A few months older than Sean, not that it helps him.

Sean is extremely protective of Kit and has threatened people’s well being if they try to hurt him.

A Good Noodle.

Cousin: Wednesday Anne Drew’

Older than Sean by a year, like Bryn. They don’t get along well.

Wednesday is very difficult and unlike the Ames’s, believes that they aren’t looking for living brothers. Is glad to be proven wrong but still is very negative.

Tends to condescend to Sean, which he HATES.

Will help with the Vaults. Will complain about it.

Ravenclaw

Sister: Evangeline Louise Baker-Ames

Sean  avoids her as long as he can until Chester forces him to talk to Evangeline.

He has offered to kill for her and tries to keep her from finding out about how bad Henry is. She WILL admire  and have a good relationship with their father, dammit!

Friends.

Faceclaim: No Idea

Pets:  A cat named Alvin.

FRIENDSHIPS

Best Friends:

Talbott Winger

Andre Egwu

Rowan Khanna

Penny Haywood.

Jae Kim

Close Friends:

Charlie Weasley

Bill Weasley

Murphy McNully.

Chiara Lobasca. 

Friends:

Orion Amari.

Barnaby Lee

Acquaintances:

Skye Parkin

Tonks.

Badea Ali, 

It’s Complicated:

Tuliup Kasarau

Ben Copper.

Liz Tuttle

Victor Katsuki.

Dormmates:

Talbott Winger 

Andre Egwu

Unnamed Ravenclaws.

Rivals: Merula Snyde, Diego Caplan, Ismelda Murk.

Enemies: R, Death Eaters, Rakepick.

ROMANCE & CHILDREN

Love Interest: Wilfred Levi Kidd

They first met after Sean started tutoring him in Charms in their second year.

Sean didn’t realize he had a crush on Levi until their sixth year and was like “No! Fuck! Merlin WHY.”

Meanwhile, Levi was trying to flirt and everyone noticed except Sean

Levi ended up telling him to his face shortly before the end of their sixth year. Sean was surprised and Levi was very annoyed.

They started dating after and spent the war together helping the Order.

Moved into a house next door to Hecate and Andre.

 They got married for legal reasons on April 20th 2003. It was a smallish wedding with family and a few close friends.

Future Son: Franklin Cael Kidd.

Adopted at 2 years old in 2004. Born on November 8th 2001, his parents were Muggle teenagers who gave him up for adoption. The youngest Child.

A quiet introverted boy who is an absolute beast at Quidditch and plays beater for Slytherin. Wants to be an Unspeakable.

Vine Wand, 12 inches, unicorn hair core, and flexible.

Future Son: Richard Alexander Kidd AKA Ricky

Born on February 8th 1997, his parents were squibs that were killed by Death Eaters. Sean and Levi rescued him and officially adopted him after the war ended.

Ricky is an outgoing boy and enjoys Wizard’s Chess and Gobstones , as he is unable to play Quidditch due to being born without his left arm. He’d like to be an artist. Was sorted into Gryffindor.

Apple Wand, 11 inches, Dragonheartstring core, and bendy.

PERSONALITY

Traits:

Positive: Intelligent, brave, thinks well on his feet, pleasant, and cheerful.

Neutral: Protective, loyal, hyper, odd, thoughtful.

Negative: Spiteful, cunning, annoying, unpredictable, oblivious, unsettling.

Favorites:

Color: Purple.

Food: Beef and Two Vegetables.

Weather: Misty and cool weather

Books: The Neverending Story, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Time Quartet (Wrinkle in Time Books)

Hobbies: Reading, experimenting with potions, and stargazing. 

Music: Little of everything, enjoys Johnny Cash quite a lot though. Rubin listens to him all the time and the singer grew on Sean.

Dislikes: Blood supremacy, Mooncalves, summertime, Valentine’s Day, and most insects.

Description: If you betray Sean, your life will become Very Unpleasant. Otherwise he is a loyal friend and will never betray you or test his potions on you. He is also very odd and likes to make unsettling observations about things you wouldn’t think were unsettling.

MBTI Description: “Logicians pride themselves on their unique perspectives and vigorous intellect. They can’t help but puzzle over the mysteries of the universe – which may explain why some of the most influential philosophers and scientists of all time have been Logicians. This personality type is fairly rare, but with their creativity and inventiveness, Logicians aren’t afraid to stand out from the crowd.”atround 

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

Pre-Hogwarts Childhood:

Sean’s childhood was tumultuous due to his parents divorce and Jacob running away. He dealt with it by looking after Hecate as best he could and escaping into books, which led to a lifelong love of fantasy novels.

Due to their mother’s increasing neglect and one very dangerous seizure, Rubin took custody of Hecate and Sean.

After that, He had a much happier childhood with Kit being one of his first close friends.

Hogwarts Years:

Trying to google everything would only frustrate me and waste my time, so I’m not going into detail.

Sean leads the vault adventures whenever Hecate is ill or busy and become a permanent leader after the events of Year Five.

Second Wizarding War:

After graduating, Sean apprentices under a potion’s master for around six years and finishes shortly before the war began

Shared a flat with Levi. They were forced to run after Death Eaters started targeting Sean due to being the younger brother of Rubin and a vocal anti-Voldemort critic.

Spent the next year helping muggleborns, half bloods, and squibs out of the country.  After being betrayed by a double agent, Sean and Levi lived out of a tent in the countrysides of England, Ireland, and Scotland for the next two years.

A few months in they rescued baby Ricky after stumbling across a fresh murder scene and killing the Death Eaters involved. Not knowing what else to do, they brought the baby along with them and would only venture into cities to buy baby formula.

They both fought in the battle of Hogwarts, Sean strapped Ricky to his back. Mrs. Weasley was extremely angry at him for it but Fred thought it was funny.

Adulthood:

Sean lived a much calmer life after the war, taking over the position as Potions professor shortly after the war ended while Levi wrote books on dyslexia in Magical Children after being diagnosed.

Levi died at the age of 98 and Sean secluded himself, only emerging to teach or interact with his family. 

Death:

Sean died in his sleep a few minutes before Hecate at the age of 105 years old. He was survived by two children, four grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

MISCELLANEOUS

Sean is a good singer and threw his audition for the Frog Choir so Merula could have it and so she would owe him

He hates Enid Blyton’s works with a fiery passion and hates his nickname Noddy even more. 

Dated a few people before ending up with Kidd: Penny, Tulip, Victor (a bad decision), Liz, and Ben. He’s still on good terms with Penny and Liz but everyone else? It’s complicated.

Enjoys Muggle horror films, his favorite being the Exorcist. Sean think’s its hilarious.

He also likes Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Mystery Science Theater.

Template made by @unfortunate-arrow​

[thequibblah]

Hi, I just caught up with Come Together, which I absolutely Adored (you know how sometimes you read something and it bleeds out into real life and makes it feel a-okay and all alright? Come Together did exactly that). All of the characterisations and ships were so spot on - I am rooting so unbelievably hard for Dorcas and Michael! I love the chemistry between all the couples, and just how much of a good friend James was to Lily before she even fell for him. I also just realised you wrote the one-shot where they're cursebreaker/archaeologists which has to be one of my favourite Jily oneshots! Anyway all this is to say, I love your writing so much!

AHHHH thank YOU, you are so very kind!!!! makes me so warm inside to think i have helped in any way make your day(s) easier with my writing :) i do love a dash of friends to lovers in just about everything, i’ve realised, which is…some amount of self-awareness 😂

and DOUBLE thank you about that oneshot! it was a joy to write and just like, pure fucking fun to figure out. every time someone tells me they liked it i feel VERY validated for my unnecessarily detailed premises LOL. (but speaking of, if you’re in search of another magical AU of mine… just saying, there’s more worldbuilding and spicy scenes and i’m writing more of it!)

[beforedawnrps]

the following muse(s) under the cut have been accepted. you now have 24 hours to send in your account or im the main for an extension.

( cis man | he/him | michael cimino ) —— isn’t that NORBERTO ALLAIRE ALVAREZ? yeah that is them, outside the three broomsticks! they used to go to BEAUXBATONS but apparently they now work as an CURSEBREAKER (in training) at GRINGOTTS. sybill once said that they reminded her of reading the paper at a café, apartment smelling faintly like french food all the time, empty bottles of firewhiskey lined up on a cabinet, and neat plies of little trinkets and books all over a cluttered apartment which seems about right. anyway i’ve heard they’re still a bit YOUTHFUL, RESERVED and IMPULSIVE , they’re TWENTY-ONE now but some things never change! i wonder how being a QUARTER VEELA is affecting them after hogwarts, especially now they’re NEUTRAL? i guess only time will tell… —— [ vex : et : 21+ : they/them ]