#HL Filter

[localravenclaw]

LET 👏🏻 PEOPLE 👏🏻 ENJOY 👏🏻 THINGS! 👏🏻

[savingsallow]

— my fave childhood friends to lovers✨

Callan Gaunt belongs to bb @girl-named-matty ❤️‍🔥

amazing shots by the QUEEN: @acslytherpuff 👑

[girl-named-matty]

[vamp63]

i discovered tumblr filters! haha

i love that they're kinda randomised! aand i'm feeding you badly today, sorry

By the way, although the screenshot is taken from the demo, The narrator depicted here is the version from the HL mod. I'm currently creating separate designs for demo, TSP, UD and TSP2(valid?)

I don't know. I make such a scope that I suspect that all this will grow into a separate (original?) story someday... maybe

aaaaand the screenshot itself!… if you wanna insert ur own narry hehe

[cesqdarque]

HL characters as cars, because I say so

I'm still deeply absorbed and dwelling in my modern AU. And being me, I've naturally put a lot of thought into the cars that the HL characters and my OC's would represent/ drive.

Here is a brief summary of my thoughts under the cut. Don't worry it won't be technical 😅

Sebastian Sallow – black Audi 100 C3 (1990)

Old soul, loud engine, no filter – emotionally or mechanically.

Drives like he’s running from his past (he is)

only plays old 80ties soundtracks

The 5-cylinder roars louder than his internal monologue

No modern safety features. No catalytic converter! Just pure steel and spite.

“I’m not speeding, I’m escaping consequences.”

Poppy Sweeting – mint green VW New Beetle 1.6 (2005)

Soft "girl" car but will absolutely ram a poacher off the road.

Backseat contains at least one magical creature at all times

Has flower stickers and tire tread from chasing poachers

Her bumper stickers are slightly threatening moral lessons

“Please buckle up, we're going off-road. And don’t scare the Niffler on the backseat.”

Garreth Weasley – orange Ford Focus ST Mk2 (2008)

Too fast, too furious, too many modifications.

One Word: Tuning!

Installed a brewing rack in the trunk. It exploded once.

Spoiler is handmade. (It wobbles.)

“I made a few adjustments… Wanna see?”

Imelda Reyes – red Ferrari 488 Spider (2019)

Faster than your insecurities.

Insults your driving while overtaking you

The gas pedal is an emotional outlet

Blink and you’ll miss her. Yellow was just a suggestion.

“I don’t race. I humiliate.”

Ominis Gaunt – silver Mercedes-Benz C180 Elegance W202 (1995)

Drives like a gentleman. Judges like a Gaunt.

The interior smells like old money and better judgement.

Flawless maintenance record.

Blind, but still drives better than you (let's assume he find a magical workaround)

“Turn left. Yes, I know. No, I’m not guessing.”

Cassandra Darque (MC) – Deep Violet Lamborghini Murciélago

Looks like a curse. Sounds like vengeance. Drives like a prophecy.

Custom rune-engraved rims.

Doors open upwards for drama.

She doesn’t parallel park. The world rearranges itself.

“Objects in mirror are already beneath me.”

One extra bc I'm a nerd:

"Whilst speeding up the tears of emotion shall pour horizontally towards the ear." - Walter Röhrl

Zacharias Boniface (OC) – Satin Black Aston Martin DBS Superleggera (2020)

Sharp, deadly, elegant. Like his owner.

Speed limits, what are speed limits?

Tinted windows. Subtle modifications. purrs

The glovebox has gloves. And classified documents.

“Get in. I already know where you’re going.”

And just for the shits and giggles:

Theophilus Harlow – Rusty white van, unmarked

It shouldn’t be running. But it is.

Back doors don’t open. (Probably for the best.)

Radio only plays greepy static.

Parked outside your house. At night.

“What do you mean ‘suspicious’? I live here.”

So. Who ever read that all. Thanks! I just have one question for you:

What car would your MC represent/ drive? 🚘

[traceyc-uk]

Hiii tracey!! You know I absolutely adore your arts!! Seeing your comics made me wanna try drawing one too, but the idea scares me. I feel like i have to know how to do compositions, backgrounds, effects, choose the right panels etc etc (tho ofc i really just have to try it). Do you have any tips or resources on how to make it less intimidating 👉👈

What?! no way because I can have a rant about how much I love yours! You better keep an eye on your ask box because I’ve got questions for you too missy, ok deal? DEAL 🤝

I find backgrounds and panel layouts tough too and effects takes me longest but there’s no right or wrong way to approach it and all I can suggest is go easy on yourself and just go for it! Honestly there’re some pages in my past comics that are painful to see because I’ve forced panels around to fit in exposition or set up for something later but who’ll know apart from myself

Your figure drawing is so gorgeous too! So good at illustrating movement! just being able to tell a story through body language I like to do too and just doing that is a great way to start. Forget about backgrounds and everything else if it’s putting too much pressure and go at your own pace. Like Calvin and Hobbs if you’ve ever read any of that?

I don’t often draw backgrounds either, I’m not sure how much detail you want to go but my last comic I drew an establishing environment to set the scene and that’s it

One saving grace in making HL comics is it’s already set in a well established world and most would instantly recognise places if given the right prompts (four long tables = great hall) I play on PS5 and I’ve got so many screenshots of place references 😅

Some panels are literal trace overs of screenshots and I do anything and everything to make life easier (the Beast class bullies had the most backgrounds as it jumped around scenes so much) i find filtered images too jarring against my drawing too

My comfort approach is rule of thirds for composition and is I think a great way to start establishing frames and once you get more comfortable you can start playing around with it

Effects I’ve copied from comics I liked as I had no idea where to start too, I have no consistency either it changes because I’ve forgotten what I did before 😅

Panel layout I’m still finding my way too, I often don’t plan linearly, I’ll have keyframe panels (in green) and is finding the rhythm getting point A to B is loose and fun to navigate. and there’s so much of my earlier comics I’d like to change with what I learned now but I digress

This is just my approach and I’m definitely no expert but am happy to help anyway I can. I’m always copying or taking reference from films and comics I like too, taking elements that I like so much about it and let it influence and inform my own style.

If anything I’m nervous for the next one I’m working on now, emotional angst is definitely out of my comfort zone 😭 and I’m no writer like you are

[ibchemist]

Sunday, August 27th

Hello everyone! I'm back. I have been pretty much gone because I was in vacation but we are back. Started school two weeks ago and it's kinda crushing me but it's okay because I passed the first and only filter for sec gen of my school's mun. Please wish me good luck! I have nothing to do for tomorrow as I finished all my hw on Friday, but I do want to know if you guys want any type of new content or dynamics <3 Remember that my ask box is always open!

🎧 - do it like that (txt)

📚 - the ib chem textbook

Classes I'm taking in the IBDP

HL Chemistry <333 Biology Global Politics

SL English L Spanish L Math AA

[tamayula-hl]

TAMA IT'S YOUR DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE WE WANT TO SEE!! It's no matter if cultural values are different - because the story you want to write is filtered through YOUR lens, the characters are interpreted through your lens only, a.k.a. you set the philosophical/cultural context of your story regardless of the original context your source material is based on. If you use your SebxOC dynamic (you have already explained her background in your OC posts), the dual cultural values will actually factor in your story in an extremely fitting manner.

I would really, really like to see things your way, or even how you interpet a foreign value system in your story. This is one of the reasons I think you don't need to be writing in English! I know it is discouraging to know people are losing the nuances of your work by putting it through a translator, because there are subtleties to every language which cannot be caught when translated ('male' and 'female' speech, choosing a level of distance/formality, relation of the individual self to the mass public etc.), but please know we will try to catch on as well as we can! Don't dilute your work for us, even if you feel the need to - it's the reader's job to interpret the text, not the author's to explain it!

I'm excited to read everything you write - writing is never useless in a fandom. You never know if what you write is exactly what someone wants to read!! GO TAMA!!

Aww, I'm really grateful and happy to receive such strong words of encouragement. Thank you so much🙇‍ I want to write a novel about the charm of the Wizarding World and HL characters seen through the perspective and values ​​of Sakurako, a typical Japanese person, and the dynamics of how a woman with Japanese values ​​interacts with Sebastian, and as you say, I think that if I were to write a novel in this fandom, I would have to use these differences in values ​​as a weapon.

And it was really encouraging to hear you say that I can just submit the novel in Japanese. However, if I take the time to write and post a novel, I want as many people as possible to read it, and considering that almost no one has read the Japanese novels I have posted in the past, I think I may need to translate the novel into English for my own sake 🥹

And because sentences that maintain the style of a Japanese novel will end up in English that are quite strange and incomprehensible even if I use DeepL or ChatGPT (mainly sentences that are considered more beautiful when omitting the subject, which is unique to Japanese, are a huge hurdle when translating into English), I think I will write Japanese sentences that are easy for machines to read, such as ChatGPT, and that clearly state the subject (and that are very strange and unrefined from a Japanese speaker's perspective).

Sentences that are refined as Japanese while retaining the unique nuances of a Japanese novel and sentences that are easy to translate into machine translation are completely different, and it is a very difficult choice to decide which one to discard. Should I post both the original Japanese version and the English translation? 🤣 Anyway, this language barrier is really bothering and bothering me.

If I had English skills, this problem would be almost solved, but I regret and feel ashamed that I didn't study English as hard as I could for the past two years. First of all, I'm going to start by writing out the lines that appear in HL's main quest line and Seb's quest line in English, reading their meanings, and memorizing them. 🥹 I have to continue studying art, and this is the beginning of days where I will have to cut down on my eating and sleeping time even more. 💪

[larrystylinsontweets]

About the tags

Info & tags pages

you'll LOVE to stalk the first two + random gayness btw !!

mentions/interactions between HL

about them but not interactions (HL winks to larry)

stylinson and co (friends and family)

brands and others (everyone else)

follows - likes - retweets - fan tweets

random gayness (tweets that scream gay) & random stuff (everything else for archiving purposes)

context (for more info on a tweet, check its date tag) & analyses (conclusions/opinions about some tweets)

stunt mention (just because in case someone wanna filter that stuff)

every person is tagged "by [full name]" except the 1d boys, anne, jay, mark, des and robin. they're all tagged with only their names/nicknames.

dates are tagged in 3 ways: year only, dd.mm.yyyy (with leading zero if single digit) and month dd yyyy, e.g. oct 02 2011 (also with leading zero). in the posts (as text) i use dd/mm/yyyy so that when you use the loupe to search, either way it can come out :)

tweets containing song lyrics are tagged with artist on one side and song name on the other. 1d lyrics, hs lyrics & lt lyrics are for their songs.

[girl-named-matty]

Hey to anyone who's stealing work from @dvinaamesca and going out of their way to crop water marks and re-edting their stuff: CUT IT OUT.

So much work goes into taking photos, editing them, and a lot more. When you just steal others work for your own, it's so petty I can't stand it. Creators WILL stop creating if you want to act like a jerk and steal stuff that isn't yours.

[dancingthrghthemusic]

I’m SO tired of seeing ugly ass Homelander edits to the most boring rap/phonk and ton of filters/slomo.

Half of the Homelander hashtag on TikTok is filled with this dogshit and it pisses me off so much. Not just from an aesthetic point of view (which is an achievement itself, knowing how plain and hideous these videos are), but also from a story telling one. He’s not a “based sigma”. He is literally the most pathetic crybaby on the show with mommy issues. How do you misinterpret the character SO badly 😭 Season 4 literally ended with him crying on the floor, until a black woman, who openly calls out racists, saved his ass and became if not his equal, then his boss. I’m like 99% sure idiots who make this shit either don’t watch the show or skip like half of the scenes HL is in.

I do know that ugly and boring edits is a thing for the majority of the boys TikTok fans (since most of them are men), but I genuinely haven’t seen this amount of cringe alpha edits with any other character, except HL. They also attract the worst possibly imaginable kinds of ���fans” on the show, who bullied women like Erin. And the thing is, these corny ass tiktoks overshadow really good and talented creators, who actually put effort into their HL edits and don’t see him as a Fortnite skin. We seriously need more coquette HL edits to scare them off + bully editors of the “sigma” HL tiktoks, so this atrocity would stop and the actual good edits would come on top

I hate m*n

[blindmagdalena]

Hey, so a slightly interesting question. I know Homelander can't exactly drink in canon (with the stipulations put on him by Vought bc of him being "the image of America" and all), but how do you think Homelander would be with alcohol? Could he drink a ton, or is he a lightweight? What kind of alcohol do you think he would drink? Would he be more dominant and himself ×1000? Or would he be more sweet and submissive?

so, Maeve and Soldier Boy and pretty much any other supe we see seem to be affected normally by both alcohol and weed. as far as I know, we don't have any canonical evidence to make us think the same wouldn't be true for Homelander, which is probably WHY no one wants him to drink. HL not being fully in control of his powers is a scary thought.

he's extremely durable, but when they did manage to bruise him, the mark lasted for days, so he doesn't seem to have any pronounced regenerative abilities that would phase out the alcohol.

i have actually written drunk Homelander before! just a fluffy little ficlet though.

what type of drunk HL would be depends heavily on the context he's drinking in. if he's out and about in a public setting he's posturing and drinking a neat whiskey. does he like it? no, definitely not. he'd get more boisterous and dominant in this setting because that's his go-to persona.

home and comfortable with someone he trusts? i think mixed drinks (he seems like a mimosa girlie to me, or anything citrusy) would be the winner. also obligatory shoutout to anything creamy/milky, like spiked eggnog or something with baily's. he gets silly and cuddly and loses what little filter he has. my personal belief is that deep down, Homelander is just a goober. imo, the only way he enjoys being drunk is if he's safe and silly with someone he loves, so i guess that's more on the sweet/submissive side.

[kickassdevelopers]

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[hogwarts-legacy-confessions]

I found my fantasy&imagination of HL world start to unleash beyond my expectations once I filter out all the Sebastian and Ominis post. The Slytherin duo is the core (and undisputedly the best) storyline of HL canon but it's start go get boring when all content revolving around them go down the same cliche path regardless of the colourful MC starring the content. When I filtered out all Sebastian and Ominis content, I start to find little corners of the fandom revolving around other minor characters. Poppy, Imelda, Amit Fig, Sharp, Rookwood; they all add colours to the content I found in these small corners.

Then, the MCs, whose lore and background story revolves around fellow MCs rather than the NPCs. I really love the multiverse concept some of these blogs indulge in where one MC from a player meet the MC of another player and become a power couple of their own rights. I found a few pairings of MC x MC which I hope to see a full story of their adventure soon. If not romance, there are also the MCs I followed which have intricate lore with each other—a platonic found family of ancient magic wielders across the multiverse. The whole concept is just so refreshing, I enjoy imagining their daily shenanigans from the lore their player posted.

To anyone who is bored with the good ol Mary Sue/Gary Stu MC being the light for Sebastian to cling to while he trudges his dark path, try to filter their tags out and explore the isolated corners of the fandom. I personally think these 'hidden' blogs are happy with the content they put forth and doesn't really care to push themselves forward for notes and popularity, so they do remain obscure behind the sea of famous tags' content.

I keep seeing confessions complaining about how boring the current content of the fandom is, and while I do understand the need to vent, it just feels like jealousy-fueled and mean-spirited most of the time; moreover, that it does seem targeted to specific MCs/creators. Perhaps if you try exploring the isolated nooks of the fandom, you'll find something that will sate you content need for this fandom? Just a thought. ☺️

Have a nice day everyone!

👀

[blue-bujo]

Hogwarts Legacy: Hiding in Herbology

Summary: Elizabeth Shallowbrook, now in her seventh year at Hogwarts, is taking refuge in the greenhouse basement after receiving a letter from her mother when her sulking is interrupted by the potions professor, coming to gather ingredients from storage.

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: Family drama, old injuries, scars, physical contact between teacher and student (platonic)

Author’s note: This is a follow up to my first HL fic, Care of a Magical Creature, but can be read separately. MC is a Ravenclaw.

Elizabeth Shallowbrook, now in her seventh year at Hogwarts and finally caught up in her studies, was hiding in the Herbology Basement, sitting in the water-filtered light of the submerged tank of tree roots. It was dim, and quiet, and one of her favorite places in the castle because it was almost always empty. Professor Garlick mainly used it for storage, and had recommended it as a good place to be alone during an extra assignment the previous year. The herbology professor also, very sweetly, tried to discourage other students from using the space when she knew Elizabeth was down there, for which the Ravenclaw was immensely thankful. She quickly began frequenting it when her schoolmates started hailing her as the Hero of Hogwarts. It was easier to be normal when she was alone.

The school year had only just started, but she had already spent a fair amount of time in the dimly-lit basement. She needed the distance, after an uncomfortable summer in her mother’s house in London. Mrs. Shallowbrook had never been very maternal, or taken much interest in her only child, but for whatever reason, she’d been intent on transforming her into a proper Victorian lady during the span of the break. Elizabeth had never hated being the center of her mother’s attention before, but she’d learned to after being stuffed into stays and paraded through society for two months.

The more she’d thought about it, the more she was certain that there’d been an ulterior motive. September hadn’t been able to come fast enough. But the Ravenclaw tried to please her mother, and wrote her regularly when the term started and she’d been able to escape. She’d even adopted an owl, a funny barred owl that she’d named Hermod, after the swift messenger god in Norse mythology. The large bird zipped back and forth between Hogwarts and London for the first three weeks of term, until one day he returned from a delivery with empty talons, and then a second time.

It was now a few days past Hallowe’en, and Elizabeth was sheltering in her spot. Hermod had finally returned with a letter, and she was trying to discern her feelings on it. It was dark outside, nearly time for curfew, but she wasn’t ready to face humanity yet. As usual, her mother’s words had cut her deeply with their carelessness.

The young witch was of-age now; she was frustrated with herself for caring. She knew better than that, especially after being raised in that environment. She knew her mother was a cold, jaded woman. She shouldn’t have been surprised.

Elizabeth was deep in her thoughts, so she didn’t notice at first that someone was approaching. It wasn’t until she heard a heavy step on the stairs leading down to her from the greenhouses that she realized. It didn’t advance for a few seconds, but when it did, it came unevenly. A moment later, a familiar pair of braced boots limped into view, and the girl sat up straight.

She was comfortable with Professor Sharp – he’d been there for her after the goblin rebellion, his similar history making him the only one who’d been able to truly understand – but she didn’t want him to see her like this, moping over a sheet of parchment. It was embarrassing how many times he’d seen her upset. He’d told her that she could come to him, and welcomed her whenever she did. They’d shared meals for two months of an unofficial detention when she’d been tutoring a first-year for him. He seemed to genuinely enjoy her company, though he pretended to merely tolerate it.

So why was she so uncomfortable with the idea of being seen by him now?

Because he doesn’t need to be burdened with this, said the harsh voice in the back of her mind. He has enough of his own problems without adding your petty little ones.

“Ah, Miss Shallowbrook! Forgive me, I didn’t mean to intrude,” called the professor, pulling her from her thoughts as he rounded the bottom of the staircase and she came into his view.

“Hello, sir,” she replied. She willed a smile onto her face as she rose. Better not to let him see the hurt that her mother’s letter had caused. “It’s odd to see you out of the dungeons.”

Elizabeth assumed, as did most of the students, that the potions master rarely ventured out of his classroom because of the hundreds of stairs one had to climb to navigate the castle, and the difficulty that his injury added to the task. Indeed, tonight he was hiding a cane behind his leg as he stood on the landing regarding her.

He only scanned her for a moment before he sighed and limped closer. She could see just how heavily he was favoring his left leg tonight; it didn’t seem like he could straighten it, and he only hobbled a few steps before he decided to stop hiding the cane in favor of leaning heavily upon it.

“Professor Garlick and I have an arrangement,” he explained as he squeezed past and sank gratefully onto the bench. “She lets me use any excess materials that she and her classes harvest to restock my stores. Normally she brings it, but she had an engagement tonight and I found a majority of my stock is low, so I told her not to trouble herself and that I would pick it up. However, I find myself wishing now that I had waited before making that commitment.”

The girl watched as he carefully stretched out his leg – it still wasn’t straightening – and pressed his knuckles into it. He was in pain, more than usual.

“Why do you wish you’d waited?” she asked.

“Hmph. One of my third-years has recently learned the Tripping Jinx, and was practicing it during class this afternoon. Suffice it to say that Ravenclaw lost a good amount of house points today. You have your housemates to blame for that; they can be a devious bunch. But by the time that class had started, I had already told Professor Garlick that I’d pick up the ingredients.”

By Merlin, the man was proud. He was hurt, even more so than he normally was, but he wouldn’t ask for help when he’d already said that he would be okay doing something. Elizabeth was beginning to forget her mother’s letter; she was falling back into her old pattern of putting others’ needs at a higher value than her own.

“You could have asked me. I would’ve brought them for you. I’m down here all the time.”

“I didn’t know this was one of your haunts. Besides, I am perfectly capable of managing. I just need a moment.”

They both fell silent. The Ravenclaw glanced furtively at her letter, on the same bench as her professor, and prayed that he wouldn’t notice it. He was occupied for now, but he was as sharp as his name; she had to distract him, do something.

The discomfort on his face gave her an idea. She unslung her bag from her shoulder and plopped it onto the bench, on top of her letter, before she threw back the flap and had a rummage through her things. Once she found a vial of Wigginweld potion, she fished it out and held it out for him.

Professor Sharp scowled at her. “Miss Shallowbrook, I appreciate the gesture, but I’ll be fine in a moment.”

“You aren’t fine now,” she argued. “I’ve never seen you use your cane before, and I can see how pained your movements are. You’ve told me before that my potions are textbook quality, so please, take it.”

“Very well.”

Begrudgingly, the potions master took the offered vial. He held it up to the light to check its consistency, like at the end of a class when assignments were turned in, before popped off the stopper and gulped it back in one swallow. The furrow between his brows became less severe as the Wigginweld took effect. Then he gave his student an approving, almost proud gaze as she closed her bag and scooped it up, trying to sneakily retrieve her letter in the same movement.

“Top marks, Miss Shallowbrook. I’d be hard-pressed to make a better batch myself.”

“Thank you, Professor,” smiled Elizabeth. “I’ve had a lot of practice with this particular potion.”

It was meant as a joke, a reference to her fifth- and sixth-years spent running all over the valley fighting Ashwinders, poachers, and loyalists, but Sharp didn’t find it amusing. It only seemed to make him more vigilant.

“I wish you hadn’t had to make so many batches, but I am glad that your adventures gave you the opportunity to practice. And speaking of your adventures, you’re out dangerously close to your curfew tonight. I hope I’m not going to have to start giving you tutoring assignments again to keep you where you’re supposed to be?”

Elizabeth felt her heart rate quicken anxiously under his questioning. She didn’t want to disappoint her favorite professor. Gripping her bag tighter, she shook her head. “I’ll have time to get back to the common room if I hurry. I’ll get going.”

It was the man’s turn to shake his head. “No, stay a moment. I… may need some help with collecting everything that Professor Garlick left me, and I can see you’re upset.”

“Okay.”

“I can also see the parchment you’re trying to hid, you know. You’ll have to be sneakier than that if you want to fool an auror.”

“Merlin’s beard,” the young woman groaned. “I thought you hadn’t noticed.”

“Most people wouldn’t have,” he conceded, “and distracting me with the potion was a nice touch. Please sit.”

Elizabeth dropped her bag on the ground and sat down next to her professor. She kept hold of the letter, feeling embarrassed. She knew by now that Professor Sharp was far from a threat, and she did trust him with her life. She didn’t want to admit it, but she almost saw him as a parent, ever since she had broken down in his office last year. He had definitely become a mentor to her after she’d lost Professor Fig. But she was emotional after reading her mother’s words, and not in the mood to share. The man sitting quietly beside her was in pain, and didn’t need her problems.

He seemed content to sit, which only made Elizabeth more uncomfortable. She hated when people waited for her to speak; it was a trick that a lot of the faculty used to force engagement in their classes.

“Don’t you professors know how much we hate it when you wait silently for an answer?” she demanded, irritated.

Sharp’s low chuckle only irritated her further. “We do. Students would rather speak publicly than endure an awkward silence, which is why it’s so effective. Although you tend to be more immune to it than your classmates. Why is tonight an exception?”

He’d asked. Now she had to tell him. Waving the parchment, she grumbled, “My mother wrote me. Finally.”

“Ah.” The potions master nodded. “And you didn’t like the contents of her letter.”

“No, I did not,” scoffed the Ravenclaw. “My mother has a way of choosing exactly the right words to aggravate me, and make it my fault that I’m aggravated. She never has any guilt in the matter.”

“Families can have a way of allowing gnomes in the garden,” the man said evenly. “Those little niggling issues multiply until you have an infestation. Even my own mother had her moments, rest her soul, and she had the patience of a saint to put up with my father and I both being aurors. I would hope yours doesn’t mean to antagonize you intentionally.”

Darkly, Elizabeth replied, “You don’t know Emelia Shallowbrook. My mother could make a frost salamander seem warm.”

The witch stood abruptly and started pacing, being far too riled to sit any longer. The letter was stuffed unceremoniously into her robe pocket.

“I really tried to be a good daughter this summer. I was introduced to society, and she showed me off all season, trying to marry me off to a respectable muggle, and I endured it. But then she cut me off last month, stopped sending me letters completely.”

“But you received a letter today?” prompted her teacher.

“Yes. Telling me that she’s being courted again.”

“Courted?”

Elizabeth could feel the unasked question hanging heavy in the air around them. She hadn’t told anybody but Natty, Sebastian, and Ominis about her father, John Shallowbrook. But Professor Sharp needed to be told so that he had the context for this conversation, and he’d revealed a detail of his personal life, that his own mother had passed. It was only fair.

“My father was drowned when I was eight, before my magic emerged,” she sighed. “He ran a shipping company on the Thames, and there was an accident in the fog one night when two of the barges collided. Mother loved him, and married well below her station to be with him, and I think she’s always regretted it. She was never warm or maternal, only jaded and distant, and it got a lot worse after the accident. I was always closer to Father; he was where I could go to feel loved.

“I thought maybe, when she finally took an interest in me this summer, that she had finally found her heart again. But now I know that she was just trying to make me into a proper lady to keep me from scaring off her suiter.”

Suddenly, she was so tired, and overwhelmed. There was a reason she tried not to think about her family. She sat back down next to Professor Sharp, flopping herself onto the stone bench with a huff. He raised an eyebrow at her – whether questioning her behavior or her willingness to keep talking, she wasn’t sure. Or maybe she hadn’t left enough space between the two of them; she couldn’t read him or his silence. Elizabeth was determined, however, not to be the first to speak this time.

Eventually she heard her teacher release a neutral “hmm,” as he so often did. She turned her head to regard him, and he held out a hand.

“May I see this letter? That I may better understand?”

“I… well, I supposed there’s nothing private in it. Okay.”

The Ravenclaw pulled her now-crumpled note out of her pocket and handed it to Professor Sharp. It felt incredibly vulnerable, letting him read it, and she found herself clasping her hands as he took it. Thankfully, nothing ever escaped his notice, and he saw the nervous gesture.

“If you need something to do while I read this, you can start gathering the ingredients that Professor Garlick has left me. She typically boxes them and stores them on the shelf opposite us. I won’t be long.”

While Sharp read, Elizabeth carefully lowered the boxes he’d described from an overhead shelf and set them, six in all, in two neat stacks on the floor. She didn’t use magic, but did the task the muggle way, to make it last longer, and to try to distract herself from the disappointed tutting sounds that her mother’s letter was causing to issue from the ex-auror.

As she was dusting her hands off from handling the last box, her professor evidently finished reading. He stood up carefully, leaning heavily on the cane, before hobbling to her, her letter in his outstretched hand. She took it back silently.

“You underplayed your mother’s venom, Miss Shallowbrook. That felt intentionally divisive.”

“Glad to know I’m not overreacting, then,” Elizabeth said sarcastically. “So you saw that she was asking me to stop owling her until her beau could get used to the idea of me being an ungodly witch?”

He nodded. “He sounds pretentiously religious. I apologize that you have to endure that from your own mother.”

“It’s all right,” she mumbled. “At least I’m not in that house anymore.”

“True. Have you considered speaking to Mr Gaunt about this?”

“Why does everybody ask me if I talk to Ominis about things? I have other friends, too!”

Elizabeth usually tried to remain neutral about the Slytherin, but she knew that her tone betrayed her tonight. She and Ominis were more than close friends, but they both wanted their privacy, for multiple reasons. It was probably noticeable that they had started sharing an interest in each other. Not courting of course, not yet, but…

Professor Sharp was looking down at her, giving her a disbelieving expression, one eyebrow arched.

“Miss Shallowbrook. As the bearer of a facial scar over your eye, as I am, you of all people should know that it does not render one blind. Anybody with any sense can see that you favor each other. I’ve had my suspicions since your first year.” He paused, took a step back, and pulled the handle from his cane to remove his wand before reassembling the walking stick. “Come, we’ll take these back to my office now. Walk with me.”

He cast Wingardium Leviosa on one of the two stacks of boxes before mounting the stairs to exit the Herbology Basement. The Ravenclaw followed suit, focusing intently on her slow ascent behind him and not dropping the other stack of ingredients.

As he climbed, the ex-auror continued their conversation. “I brought up Mr Gaunt because he has experience with venomous parents. The House of Guant is widely regarded as one of the crueler pureblood families, as I’m sure you already know.”

“And is that the only reason that you brought him up?” challenged Elizabeth. She would have pushed further, but between climbing the stairs, levitating the boxes, and trying to start an argument, she very nearly lost control of her spell. The boxes rattled precariously.

Sharp, now at the top of the stairs, watched as she struggled. “Focus. Practice keeping the largest part of your concentration on your spellcasting, and let the smaller part of your brain handle conversation.

“And to answer your question, the pair of you seem good for each other. Mr Gaunt fairs much better in my class with you working beside him, and you seem as though you feel safer. If throwing the two of you into each other’s paths benefits you, then far be it from me not to do so.” His face wasn’t visible as he was walking in front, but the smirk was evident in his voice.

“Professor Sharp, are you admitting that you play matchmaker with your students?” teased the witch.

“I said nothing of the sort,” he puffed, now tackling the second flight of stairs, which led into the Central Hall. “At least, not directly. Keeping up with a few hundred students’ crushes would be an exhausting waste of resources. I leave that up to Garlick and Ronen.”

He fell silent as he climbed the rest of the steps, except for one or two pained grunts towards the top. Once he reached the landing, he looked at her, and the Ravenclaw was surprised by the softness in his dark eyes.

“However, for certain students – which may or may not be favorites – I take notice of what makes them happy, and might push them in that direction from time to time.”

Elizabeth felt herself grinning, powerless to stop. “I’m one of your favorite students?”

“I never said anything of that sort directly, either. Now, do keep up,” he ordered ironically. They both knew that she was holding back to match his pace, even concentrating this long on maintaining Wingardium Leviosa.

They slowly crossed the Central Hall together, levitating their boxes of ingredients before them. Sharp grumbled about the wretched, unnecessary split-level design of the hall and the two extra staircases that it forced him to traverse, while Elizabeth pondered their interaction. Her mother’s letter was still burning a hole in her pocket, but she was hardly upset about it. Instead, she felt similar to how she’d felt after her breakdown in the Potions classroom last year. Her emotions left her exhausted, almost numb, but she was safe and protected while she recovered from them. Professor Sharp makes me feel like Father used to, she realized. Valued and cared for. He gets me.

“I supposed I can talk to Ominis about all of this,” she admitted as they reached the classroom. “It couldn’t hurt.”

“Asking for help never does,” the man agreed sagely.

He opened the door for her and extended his spell to take her boxes from her, before wordlessly sending all six of them into his office to put themselves away. The Ravenclaw looked at him, trying to be cross.

“You didn’t need help,” she challenged.

“No,” he replied, “but you did.”

Elizabeth rubbed the back of her arm. She didn’t like how easily he’d read her; it was embarrassing.

“Don’t feel bad. I only wanted to help you if I could. You’d best get to bed now, as it’s past curfew. If you take the Floo back to your common room, you should be able to avoid the prefects.”

Sharp summoned a small container of Floo powder and pressed it into her hand. Elizabeth grabbed his fingers before he could let go and gave them a squeeze.

“Thank you for always being here for me,” she murmured.

After a moment, he awkwardly squeezed back. “You’re most welcome. Now, run along, Miss Shallowbrook. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

She slipped away to the Floo grate, avoiding the portrait of Lethia Burbley and holding a finger over her mouth to shush Ignatia Wildsmith. The letter stayed tucked in the pocket of her robes, even after she changed into her nightdress and chatted with Samantha Dale about their arithmancy homework. Professor Sharp, by accepting her emotion and showing her that it could be reframed, had helped calm her. Her mother was all the way in London, while her friends were here at Hogwarts. She could seek their company instead of having hers spurned by Mrs Shallowbrook, starting in the morning. Before she went to bed, she sent Hermod to the Slytherin dungeons with a note, to ask a certain classmate to meet her early for breakfast before potions.

The next morning, Elizabeth walked into Professor Sharp’s classroom leading Ominis, the pair of them arm in arm as the Ravenclaw navigated to their usual seats. After the potions master’s brief lecture, they murmured quietly to each other while they brewed. They’d been talking all morning, and the young wizard had no end of pointers for dealing with a distant, disinterested family.

She soaked up his words and his attention. It was almost the end of class before Elizabeth looked up at her teacher, having had her focus drawn by the throat clearing he was doing. When she met Sharp’s eye, he was wearing the smuggest – yet proudest – smirk. Then he limped back to his desk, having said everything he’d wanted to say with just that expression.

When it came time to bottle their yields, the witch found a way to deep clean her brewing station so that she was the last student in the classroom. She gathered her belongings and approached the professor’s desk, handing over her bottled potion for his critique.

Holding it up to the light, Sharp smiled. “Excellent as usual, Miss Shallowbrook. Well done today. And I don’t just mean on your assignment; I’m proud that you chose to share your situation with Mr Gaunt.”

“You just say that because I followed your advice.”

“Perhaps. But then again, perhaps not. I’m always proud of you, provided you’re not doing anything foolish.”

Elizabeth blushed under the praise. “Thank you. You’ve been more supportive than anybody else has since… well, since Father died.” This was deeper than she’d meant to go, but it had come out surprisingly easily. “Even Professor Fig had his motivations for supporting me, but I don’t feel that from you, and I appreciate that.”

It was the man’s turn to shift uncomfortably. He grumbled something unintelligible before saying, “Being compared to your father is high praise, which I don’t know that I deserve, but thank you. As aways, if you need me, I shall be here.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Yes, well. I’m sure you don’t want to be late for your next class. Run along.”

She smiled at him before following his directions and jogging upstairs to meet Samantha for Arithmancy.

[helena-thompson]

Discord Drabble Prompt: All the little things about you

Helena Thompson x Sebastian Sallow [ other discord drabbles ] [ HL fanfic masterpost ]

Sebastian's eyes wandered up over the top of the book he was reading, his gaze landing on Helena at her cauldron. She scribbled into her notebook before adding more ingredients to her brew and continued to stir, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth as she waited for… whatever was supposed to happen.

He gave up on his research, completely, as there was no way he could focus when she was standing there like that—biting her lip, hair illuminated to a shining golden color by the sunlight filtering through the windows, beauty marks dotting her skin like constellations…

"Seb?"

Her voice startled him out of his trance, and he beamed at her. "Yes, darling?"

A smile graced those lovely lips "You're staring. Again."

"Can't help it," he said, shrugging as he closed the book and set it aside before sauntering up to her. "Can't help but admire all the little things about you that I love while I watch you work."

Helena rolled her eyes at him, but he saw her smile grow and his heart swelled.

"You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"Says the witch who watches me read," he retorted, earning a laugh from her. He slipped his arms around her from behind and buried his face against her hair, breathing her in deeply, reveling in her familiar scent. "All right, what is that brilliant mind of yours concocting this time?"

"Well…"