#I love James so much for making bertie

[rustyelias]

Listening to rqg when sleepy turns me into a even bigger hater of bertie

Why is he the worst ever? Why is he so punchable?

[once-upon-an-imagine]

heyy ok so I have this idea with maybe remus lupin or any smart character but your the writer whatever you think best is probably best, anyways so reader is failing a class and is assigned a tutor which would be the character. Anyways character is very in love with the reader and is nervous/flustered  but the reader is more outgoing/flirtyafter a couple lessons at the end the character asked “anymore questions?” And the reader goes “yeah when are you going to ask me out? ”KINDA CRINGE LOOKING BACK BUT TYSM BYE 💜💜💜💜

- submitted by @they-only-want-you-when-your-17

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this is sooo cute! I loved it too much, love! I hope you like it too! 😊Warnings: none, this is pure fluffDisclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter 😊 gif isn’t mine 😊

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Ask Me Out?

You hated Potions. Not just because it was your earliest class and you weren’t a morning person. But because you were absolutely dreadful at it. You insisted it wasn’t your fault. It was your partner’s. When Professor Slughorn decided to make Remus Lupin your partner, you knew it would be useless. 

You were never able to concentrate with him sitting next to you. Maybe it was because he started wearing his hair differently this year. Or because he smelled stupidly good. Or how shy he got whenever he was around you. Or because he had the most beautiful smile you had ever seen. Or because his friends and your friends kept making stupid faces at you so you would make the first move. 

Things got so bad, that Professor Slughorn suggested you got someone to tutor you for this class, and, much to your luck, Remus had volunteered himself to be said tutor. So, not only did you have to control yourself in his class, but now you were spending two afternoons a week with Remus at the Library or the Common Room, trying to listen to what he actually said, instead of getting lost in his beautiful smile. 

“Are you listening to me?” Remus asked, suddenly snapping you out of your thoughts. 

“I uh-” you said, sitting straight instead of resting your head on your hand. “Y-yes, of course, I was, Rem” you cleared your throat. 

“Really?” Remus asked with a beautiful smirk. “Then what is the last ingredient you have to add to the Draught of Living Death before you stir it anti-clockwise?” 

“Oh, uh- w-well, the um… the bean?” you tried with a small smile. 

“Which bean?” 

“I’m guessing not Bertie Bott’s beans?” 

“No” he laughed adorably. “The Sopophorous Bean-”

“Sopophorous Bean” you quickly repeated. “See? That was my second guess!” you insisted and Remus glared at you a little. “I’m sorry, Remus” you sighed. “I know you probably have better things to do with your time than being stuck here trying to teach the unteachable” you laughed. 

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself” he said, his look softening. “You’re not unteachable. You’re doing a lot better now” he encouraged you. 

“Well, to be fair, it’s way more pleasant to look at you and listen to you than to Professor Slughorn” you said, loving the way his cheeks blushed a little. 

“I’ll take that as a compliment” he chuckled. 

“It was” you said, resting your head on your hand again and smiling at him. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Uh, sure” he said, looking through his book. 

“Why did you volunteer to tutor me?” you asked, interested. 

“W-what do you mean?” he asked, nervously. “I mean, you needed help-”

“Well, yes, but I think everyone else would have run for the hills if they had to spend some time with me with fire and so many things that explode around” you shrugged. 

“You’re not that bad” he laughed a little. 

“Remus, I’ve burned more cauldrons than James and Sirius together” you reminded him. 

“W-well, that may be true, but you’re really trying” he reminded you. “So, I’m happy to help as much as I can” he said with a small smile. 

“Well, that’s very sweet of you, Rem” you said, making him look away. “I’m sorry, does it bother you when I call you that? I heard you telling Sirius once you didn’t like it-”

“N-no!” he replied quickly. The only reason he didn’t like Sirius calling him that, was because he did it mocking you. “I don’t mind when uh- when you call me that” he muttered nervously. “Sirius is… just an idiot” he said. 

“Oh” you smiled. “Well, okay” you told him, sitting a little closer to him. 

“Okay, so I think that’s it for today” he said, closing his book before turning to you again. “Anymore questions?” 

“Yeah, just one” you said and Remus nodded for you to go on. “When are you going to ask me out?”

“Uh- w-what-? Um- I’m sorry?” 

“Well, I was just… wondering if you were planning on ever asking me out?” you told him. 

“Y-you want me to ask you out?” 

“If you’d like” you smirked. 

“Well, I um- I would like that, very much” he smiled. 

“Really?” you asked, excitedly. 

“Y-yeah, the only reason why I haven’t asked you is because, I wasn’t sure if y-you’d want me to” he said. “So, um… would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend? We can celebrate your ‘O’ on tomorrow’s exam” he said. 

“I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you, Rem” you smiled. “But, I think you’re shooting for the stars, thinking I’ll get an ‘O’, I’ll be lucky if I get an ‘A’” you told him.

“We’ll see” he smiled. 

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“REMUS!” 

Remus looked up from the book he was reading and he saw you run down the hallway at full speed, causing you to trip and fall but you quickly got back up, and composed yourself, ignoring the laughter and stares from everyone as you made your way to where he was standing with his friends. 

“Are you okay, love?” Remus asked as soon as you reached them

“I’m fine- uh- d-did you just call me love?” you asked with a big smile on your face and feeling your heart flutter at the blush appearing on Remus’ cheeks. 

“I uh- is that okay?” 

“Yes, it is” you nodded happily. 

“Uh, are you okay?” James asked. 

“Yeah, that was a nasty fall” Sirius said, as he tried no to laugh. 

“Oh, I’m fine” you assured them as you tried to compose yourself. 

“You’re bleeding” Peter stated. 

“I am?” you asked, looking at your knee. “Oh, well, whatever is not that bad! Guess what?” you asked excitedly turning back to Remus. “I GOT AN ‘E’!” you said, showing him the parchment in your hands. 

“You got an ‘E’?” he asked, excitedly. 

“In Potions?” Sirius asked, grabbing the exam from you and looking through it.  

“I GOT AN ‘E’” you repeated wrapping your arms around his shoulders before you planted a big kiss on his lips. Remus was surprised for a second but he quickly wrapped his arms around your waist. 

“I’m really proud of you, love” Remus said, leaning in for another kiss. 

“Ew, get a room!” you heard Sirius yell when you pulled away and you noticed the blush on Remus’ cheeks was back. 

“Fuck off, Black!” 

The End

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A/N: I hope you loves like it! :D 

[spiritundaunted]

Speaking of Wimbleton, I recently came across this photo of Bertie watching a match at Wimbleton in 1920, with the King & Queen, Princess Mary, Louis Greig and equerry James Stuart.

This was in June of 1920, so Bertie would have just became Duke of York, Greig would just have officially become the Comptroller of his Household, and Stuart, his new equerry. This was also just around the time Bertie met Elizabeth and danced with her at a ball (their first significant meeting anyway; they had crossed paths a few times previous, but it didn't make a mark). She was romantically involved with James Stuart at the time, but Bertie became smitten.

Just my two cents - I know James is always described as "extremely handsome and charming" and women swooned over him, but in every photo I've happened across of him, he looks like a sourpuss. C'mon - Bertie is much cuter!

I think Elizabeth knew James wasn't good husband material, even though she really liked him - some say they were in love; some say only he really was. We will never know. But he was a known womanizer and a cheater - he hooked up with E's friend Mollie Lascelles while he and Elizabeth were supposedly "in love" (though it was Mollie she got mad at!) and he cheated repeatedly on his eventual wife, Rachel Cavendish, also one of E's friend circle. He was also very spiteful - his whirlwind romance and engagement to Rachel was a direct result of his anger over Elizabeth’s acceptance of Bertie's third proposal, and he announced his own engagement just a day or two before B&E's wedding. Then they actually got married on E’s birthday!!!! C'mon. That's just being a jerk. (Elizabeth noted in her diary that she was feeling depressed and that James and Rachel were marrying that day and she "hoped it will be alright") She knew he was a cheater and, I suspect, she knew he was only getting married to spite her.

And Stuart later blaming Queen Mary for his losing Elizabeth, saying "that b---- ruined my life", is just whiny. Although I am quite sure it is true that QM arranged for Stuart to get a lucrative job offer in the US, in an effort to help her son win E over by getting the competition out of the way, James was not forced to take it. He could have turned it down. It was a private business offer, not a military assignment. Or if he loved E so much, why not marry her before he left and take her with him? There may actually have been a proposal that E turned down - it does seem by their letters that they had a little bit of a fight shortly before he left. She also started seeing Christopher Glenconner almost immediately after James left, which made him very jealous and angry, but he conceded that it was “none of my business.” So it seemed no promises were made between them. (He was only gone a year, so she could have “waited” for him if she really wanted to.) Again, we will never know for sure. But she absolutely chose the better man, IMHO!!!!

Full Image:

[cbsghostsmetasandtrevor]

CBS Ghosts - 4x5 Live Reaction

This one is about Alberta - should be interesting.

Under the cut for spoilers.

LMAO Sass going into the dreams of Jay.

Pete mentioned the powers bragging and then said sorry "hetty".

Someone wanted to shoot a porno???

He was obsessed with me - wasn't he famously gay? - let me have this Trev - OMGGGGGG!!!

This is hilarious.

"This is getting sad"

I love Mark - "I'm not your contractor, I'm an artist".

Sass loving on the new girl - what is this... omg do I know her????

I love that they're all into her.

"Bruce warned us about people like you" - LOL.

Isaac vs Hamilton again!

OMG I thought she died!!

Even Hetty likes her!

We need Marissa to die. It'll be fun!

The mall... big performance.

OOOH SAM STANDING UP FOR HERSELF. I LOVE IT. :)))))

Sass still going into his dreams. James Beard Award.

Sass definitely made her pop into Jay's dream. This is hilarious - he can have a relationship in Jay's DREAMS???

Isaac trying to support Sam and failing. LMAO. At least he tried.

Alberta's face - "it wasn't politics..."

Alberta is clearly projecting onto Sam and trying to make her do something she doesn't really want to do. Sometimes, it's just better let it go.

LOL - Alberta's busy???

HOW ARE THEY STILL OPEN when they rarely have guests???

OMG - Alberta's training and Sam just shrugging off Sass going into Jay's dreams to be with a girl that doesn't know he exists???? NOT TO BE FRIENDS WITH JAY???

Poor Sam and Jay, they have INSANE ghosts.

LOL Flower's advice.

Trevor's face when he said "you know her".

Trevor's so supportive (he doesn't have a lot of options) and it's hilarious. I like this scene.

Why are they here - We're bored. - Hasn't she gotten this by now??

So much money wasted with those plates.

Alberta's rough as a coach.

Jay - "damn it Sass." - no secrets.

"The problem is and you'll like this - she hasn't appeared again."

THIS IS SO WEIRD. Why are they so okay with this??? Is this no different than Alberta/Sal or whatever last season??

Montage Training!!

LOL Hetty/Isaac here is great.

This is weirddddd.

Alberta is so harsh! "Bertie play dirtier"

LOL Pete's supportive, and Trevor pointing out that he's dating Jay... THIS IS TOO FUNNY.

Pete "I'm jealous you're dating Jay"

OHHH Sass.

OHHH Alberta's plan... AND FLOWER REMEMBERING THIS IN FRONT OF SAM. Poor Sam.

Hetty: "Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to entrust your secret mission to Flower."

Flower: "Yeah, you really messed up."

OMG. Why is that so funny!

Alberta, you're not helping.

Awwwww an apology. I like that. Yeah, Alberta that much was obvious.

A little????

I do like this Sass/Trevor/Flower/Pete idea here. It's great.

Awwww Sass.

Pete is smug and trying to bring one back to Sass!!! ( I so want his power to allow him to bring Shiki to the mansion)

"I can't put an order in" - OMG TREVOR.

OH No, she's going to get sick.... oh good, Alberta's helping.

OHHH She got the part! I love Jay's genuine excitement.

Trevor checking in a Sass - "How you doing, bud?"

"I'm good, it's weird being in the same room as my ex though."

Flower Asking, "Marissa or Jay"???

OMG That's too funny.

LOL "Baby steps."

Aww, Sam has become a monster.... "I'm so proud."

Overall, I liked Sass' storyline better, but I love the episode as whole. This season has been so great.

[seriousbrat]

What do you think the marauders voices sound like?

In terms of pitch or accent? lmao a difficult question to answer through text but I'll give it a go.

Remus is perhaps the most obvious in that he's Welsh. Personally I always have him as being from north wales but that's just my bias because that's where my family's from. And obviously wales has a variety of accents, in my official character guide I have him as being from Flintshire. Which again, that's roughly where my family's from so I'm used to it lol. Personally, I don't believe that he'd speak much welsh and I don't inject random welsh words into his speech when I write him because even though I love Cymraeg as a language I don't think that's realistic. Mae’n ddrwg gen i I guess. Diolch!

James and Sirius I'm going to group together because they have pretty generic southern accents. Sirius might skewed more RP as a kid, as befits a posh pureblood, but I think he'd have adapted quickly to speaking the way James did. I also see Sirius as trying to sound a bit more working class than how he was brought up lol. I'll be honest, I have a great time writing Fleamont Potter and his best friend Dedalus Diggle as basically two Bertie Woosters but that's not the voice I hear for James in my head. Let's say just a generic estuary for James and Sirius.

The thing is all these children were together for most of the year, so whatever accent was predominant in their peer group would probably be mostly adopted by a lot of them. For this reason I think even Remus's accent would have become more southern over time. Though he'd always say words like "bath" the correct way

Peter's the wildcard. One can go crazyyy with Peter. In my official character notes I have him as being from Somerset but I'm not wholly attached to that. Like let's just have fun. Let's go wild. He could be a geordie or something

As for pitch, I don't think anyone has extremely deep or high pitched voices. I feel like Remus and Sirius would be on the lower end, whereas James and Peter might be more nasally and higher. But not a huge range. Lol I haven't thought about this as much-- I do hear their voices in my head when I write their dialogue, and generally I enjoy writing different accents.

Btw one major gripe I have with JKR's writing is that she often writes out accents phonetically and I hate that. I believe Hagrid's meant to have a west country accent and whenever I write Hagrid I dutifully follow her conventions but I'm seething constantly. However I personally do enjoy trying to capture different accents. My main advice (I'm mostly spanish and haven't lived in the UK for many years so take my familiarity with different british accents with a grain of salt) is to make sure that you can hear the exact cadence of the particular accent that you're trying to write in your head, and try to capture that while sprinkling in a few specific terms rather than writing it out phonetically. Like in my head I can hear a perfect scouse, for example, but scousers still generally spell words the same as everyone else. In general. Alright la?

[jaybeefoxy]

Watched the Martin Shaw version of Dalgliesh the other night for the first time. UK TV Play has The Murder Room and Death in Holy Orders on demand. I have to say, I liked Martin's rendition of the character, but he's not as quietly contemplative as Bertie Carvel. He's studied, thoughtful, and shows the character's dedication to the pursuit of truth, but he's not as intimidating as Carvel manages to make his version. Somehow, the new version is much more like the original. I've stuck the rest of this review under the cut. I'd be interested in other folk's thoughts.

They messed with the Martin Shaw stories, but I can forgive it for the purposes of dramatising. I've not read the Murder Room yet so I can't compare it, but I've just finished Death in Holy Orders and was interested to see how it played out. They slightly changed the ending, probably to make it more dramatic, but I'm not sure they really needed to. They don't really seem to bring out the fact that Dalgliesh is a poet in Shaw's version. It seems to be used far more in the recent series.

I'm hoping they do Holy Orders for the new series because if they're sticking to canon, this is where P D James introduces Emma Lavenham. Not that I want to see Dalgliesh with a new love interest (because I definitely ship him with Carlys Peer's Miskin), but I'm interested from a literary pov to see what they do with it.

I was slightly confused, because they stuck Emma in Murder Room for Martin's series, which she isn't in Bertie's rendition. However, they filmed out of book sequence for the new one. Far as I can see Murder Room comes after Holy Orders, so the new series has ignored canon there.

However, I liked neither of the actresses who took Miskin's role in the Martin Shaw series. Tilly Blackwood played a version closer to the books in terms of looks, but I didn't feel sympathetic to her character's attitude. Victoria Scarborough took the role in Holy Orders, (so from a blond actress, they jump to one with short dark hair) and I found her too sharp-edged, despite perhaps being closer to the changes wrought in her by James' writing as the character grows.

I like Carlys Peer's rendition, despite it being the least like the books (not least of which because they didn't cast a white actress), but she brings out Miskin's relationship with Dalgliesh better, in my humble opinion.

Nor did I care for the rendition of Piers Tarrant either. In the Carvel version they've mashed up the (book) characters of Daniel Aaron and Piers Tarrant, so we seem to get Daniel Tarrant, played by Alastair Brammer. I feel he's a much better fit than William Beck who seems to be whinging all the time.

Personally, for series three, I would like to see them do Death in Holy Orders, The Lighthouse and The Private Patient. I think this would allow them to introduce Emma (even though I'd prefer an outcome with Kate Miskin, that's for fanfic realms, not television), and follow their relationship. Private Patient is the last one in the series, so it would allow them to tie this up to three series, unless a fourth is planned, in which case, they'll have to mess around with the timeline, which I hope they don’t do. The main problem I can see is that the last series was firmly rooted in the 70s and the last book brings us up to 2008. It's a big leap, and one I'm not sure will work. Roll on 2024.

[libertyreads]

Book Review #116 of 2023--

In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. Rating: 3.17 stars averaged.

Read from September 19th to 22nd.

We all knew as soon as we had an announcement for this one that I would be preordering it and reading it ASAP. I've discovered that I love Dark Academia when it's done well so buying this was a no brainer. This is an anthology of 12 Dark Academia stories from 12 well loved authors. The genres go from purely contemporary/dark academia to horror/dark academia to mystery/dark academia to sci-fi/dark academia. So we had plenty to read and hopefully discover some favorites from. My four favorite stories (I was going to list three but we had a couple with the same rating): 1. 1,000 Ships by Kate Weinberg--4.25 stars. 2. Pythia by Olivie Blake--4 stars. 3. Weekend at Bertie's by M.L. Rio--3.75 stars. 4. Phobos by Tori Bovalino--3.75 stars. I've noticed a trend for these favorite reads in the anthology: a darkness, a willingness to go there in the story. It felt like some of the authors in this anthology weren't really willing to make the Dark in Dark Academia stand out, but these four really dove deep which I enjoyed so much. I've only ever read from M.L. Rio before so I was surprised at how much I truly enjoyed the other stories. With Phobos, we get a dark side to Dark Academia that's derived from secret societies and the things we do to achieve. With Weekend at Bertie's, we see the worked to the absolute bone TAs and what they're willing to do to get ahead in both life and academia. Pythia by Olivie Blake was such a surprise for me. I was never planning on reading anything by this author purely based on the hype, but she actually wrote a pretty good story. We got some Sci-Fi/Tech Dark Academia which just really worked for me. But the highlight for me was the first story in the entire collection, 1,000 Ships by Kate Weinberg. I found the narration and the main character so compelling. We saw some truly dark and twisted aspects of academia and the way some use their power over others. But then we got a moment at the end that just turned everything on its head. I really enjoyed it.

My least favorite stories in the collection: 1. The Unknowable Pleasures by Susie Yang--2 stars. 2. The Hare and the Hound by Kelly Andrew--2 stars. 3. Sabbatical by James Tate Hill--2.5 stars. The main thing I found for these three stories that really got under my skin is how on the outside looking in they were. We follow characters who would be side characters in a traditionally written novel about Dark Academia. Their stories felt so bland and so outside the scope of what would be the actual story if this were a traditionally published novel. But that's not what I want in a novel. Especially a Dark Academia novel. I was to be right there in the depths of it with these characters and we just don't ever get there. The Unknowable Pleasures was also my least favorite because this girl is watching a Dark Academia/Student-Professor romance unfold right in front of her face and getting so emotionally tied to their romance. She has a relationship with a pretty patient boyfriend but at one point she's having sex with her boyfriend and imagining the other student and professor sexually. It was just odd. The Hare and the Hound at least had some Dark to the Dark Academia. I would have loved to get the other main character's perspective instead of the guy who revenge is foisted upon. It would have been such a good short story if it were told that way. But instead we watch as this boy has no clue what is happening and the Dark stuff really hits the reader on the final page of the story. Sabbatical is more of the same. Just following a character who barely exists as they watch Dark Academia things happen around them. There wasn't a ton of depth here, but it wasn't so bad that it was difficult to read.

Overall, I gave the anthology a 3.17 star rating averaged out across all of the stories. I found a few I really loved but a lot of them fell short for me. I think if you're a fan of the genre then you should definitely grab a copy. But if you just dip in and out of Dark Academia then maybe grab it from the library instead.

[darkacademicvibes]

I Guess Being Stood Up Saves Some Things

I can't find an angsty Sirius Black confession so I'm doing it myself.

CW: nothing. This is just a little sad and a little happy and it ends kinda cute. Enjoy :)

He knows it isn't right. You're mad at him, he's supposed to be mad at you. It's stupid, the way he ditches the boys for you.

He didn't mean to spy, he really didn't, but when he could see you outside, sitting by the black lake for an hour, and the distant but unmistakable way you wiped your tears... He left. He ran down to see you, stopping for a moment a couple paces behind you.

You hadn't heard him yet, but he could hear you.

"Stupid. Of course it was a joke, who would actually ask you out.." Sirius sits beside you and pulls a small box of 'Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans' out of his pocket.

"Hi, bean?" You turn to him and stare for a moment, tears wetting your lashes and threatening to spill over, running down your cheeks like salty raindrops.

He smiles softly and places the box between you, taking a bean for himself. You love the beans enough that, even in darkness, you know the one he got would be good.

Mango. Or apple pie.

Sirius hums quietly, "apple pie, you sure you don't want one?" He offers, it was nicer this time, soft. The way he speaks to you is like he's trying to calm a unicorn calf.

You watch him for a moment. "I thought you were mad at me" you hate the way your voice sounds like you've been crying. You have, and you know he knows you have, but did you have to sound like it?

He shakes his head and looks out at the black lake, his fingers pulling at the grass nervously. "No, I mean, I was. Not anymore, not for a while" he sends you a shy smile. You aren't used to this side of Sirius, but lately, you've been seeing much more of it. You hate yourself for the way you melt over it.

"I've missed you" he murmurs, eyes watching the burning stars above. Your response is slow, and at first, he doesn't think you meant it. "I missed you, too. So much" he smiles to himself and it's silent for a long few moments.

"I think I might be a terrible person," for a moment, your mind races over the past few days. Was it a prank? Was he helping James bully Snape? Was this about their fight? Or about the glare he sent you when you said you'd had a date tonight? You pause, we all think we might be terrible people, but we never say it. So why, suddenly, is Sirius?

"I think I love you, and I'm really sorry if this ruins things for us, but if I can't be with you... I'm not sure I can be around you, not if you want me to stop" he admits, and for once, you're thankful that our voices betray us when we cry.

You hesitate, but eventually place your hand on his, ignoring the way he turns to look at you through his own tears as you stare at the sky.

"I think" you start, warmth spreading though your chest. "I might love you, too" you turn to him and smile at the way he looks at you. Eyes watching yours, tears make his eye lashes stand out more, and playful jealousy stings at you. Him and his stupidly pretty eye lashes.

You lean forward and place your forehead against his. "I don't want to lose you, Siri" the nickname slips out before you can stop it, but he doesn't seem to mind.

"You won't, I don't care how hard it is. Even if we try, and it doesn't work. I won't leave you. I promise." You nod and smile softly, pressing your lips to his cheek gently.

"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" You ask, your fingers toying with the grass alongside his as you wait for his answer.

"I'd hate myself if I said no" he grins and you roll your eyes. "Could of just said yes, you weirdo" laughter surrounds the two of you as he hides his face in your shoulder.

"Well, where's the fun in that, love?"

[astradreaming]

hidden secrets - regulus black x OC!potter.

Chapter 1: Secrets Natalia Potter is very different from her brother, James Potter. The one thing she does share with her brother is her persistence for love. When a certain Slytherin comes into her life she is thrown into a new world. Having to deal with the Black family drama firsthand, learn the inner workings of the Slytherin hierarchy and what it means to keep secrets from the ones she loves. Can she make it through in one piece or is she dragged down into depths she never thought existed?

A/N: For Faceclaims of OCs check out the story on my Wattpad; wishingstarlove :) (It's the same title: Hidden Secrets)

masterlist

Natalia Potter shuffles into her dorm. Her roommates were gathered on one bed.

"There you are, I was beginning to think you'd died or something," Lily Evans said sitting slightly up, against the pillows of her bed. "Nope, in one piece"

Natalia took in the sight in front of her. All sorts of candies and rappers were discarded on the bed, the other two girls almost half falling off it. "Nat you're just in time to hear the confession" Marlene Mckinnon snickered as she began opening a chocolate frog.

Lily groaned throwing her head into her hands. "Confession?" Natalia questioned. "There is no confession!" Lily's voice was muffled by her hands. "Oh yes there was! We all know it." Marlene teased.

Natalia shot a look as if to say 'what on earth are they on about' at the other girl, Mary Macdonald who as of now had stayed quiet. "Today Lily here has not been asked out once by your lovely brother." Natalia sat down on the corner of the bed, crossing her legs.

"So?" Picking up a Bertie Botts bean to eat. "So! So Lily missed him, confessing that, whether she knows it or not she likes him!" Marlene states rather dramatically

"UGH" Natalia almost jumps off the bed, face full of disgust. "Come on! As if you couldn't tell already Nat" Says Mary. "What? No, I got barf flavor" Natalia chokes out as she runs to the bathroom to spit out the vile jellybean. The girls laughter could be heard all the way at the dungeons.

Natalia eventually returns to the others, having moved on to another topic. "Remind me to never eat those things again and for the record, I think everyone and their dog can tell you two like each other lils" The other three girls stifle their laughter, and the redhead's hair began to match her face.

Eventually, the four girls separated from their cluster and went back to their designated beds. Deciding to settle fairly early, mostly to shut lily up about worrying about sleeping in.

The girls routines were messy at the beginning of their friendship, always fighting for the bathroom, accusing the others of misplacing a beauty product, arguing about moving furniture, and everything possible in between.

Now, years later they have their routine down to a t. Lily always uses the bathroom first, wanting to sleep or study early. Mary second, spending the most time in there. Marlene third, by the time Mary is finished Marlene is usually back from Quidditch practice. Finally, Natalia, goes late, being the youngest, she wasn't there the first year so it makes sense, plus her being a night owl she didn't mind.

As they settled down, turned all the lights off. Natalia couldn't help but twist and turn in her bed. Her thought of the day to come plagued her and the thought of having to sit through another study session with Amos the following day definitely didn't excite her.

Suddenly wide awake, all the sounds in the dorm began to irritate her. Soft snores from Lily are drowned out by the louder ones from Marlene. The flicker and rustling of Mary reading. Natalia suddenly itched for a walk and a smoke.

It wasn't so much the cigarette itself she was craving, no it was the company that came along with the late-night walks around her home street. She and Sirius were close, of course, he and James were inseparable. Yet when he was open about the hardships of his family and how he was actually academically smart but he didn't tell anyone, she couldn't help but wait for him to tell her more.

Over break, she grew an addition, not to the cigarettes but to the boy she was sharing them with. Natalia's eyes began to droop at the memories, becoming tired. She shuffled into her covers further and began to fall into a dreamless sleep.

Natalia woke up to being violently shaken, almost being thrown out of her bed.

"Wake up! Natalia! We're late, like really late!" Lily, the culprit of her violent morning yelled. "Relax, we've only missed the beginning of class, nothing important" Marlene shrugged fixing her tie. At that, Natalia shot out of bed moving so fast she almost got whiplash.

The girls began to run over to the bathroom space. In spite of it all, the four ran to their classes, Lily, Marlene and Mary were in the year above Natalia. Perks of having an uneven year (and having such a nice soon-to-be friend group who easily let her in), she got to share with them. It was either that or by herself and she'd much rather be with them.

The older girls ran to Potions class while Natalia ran to DADA. The subject wasn't her favourite one in the world. Natalia would much rather be in Care for Magical Creatures, hell even Potions where she has to sit next to Marlene's brother, Max who is only helpful if you need to blow up the cauldron.

Walking into the large dark classroom, Professor Hawks hardly noticed as she slipped into the crowd of students standing gathered in the corners and far walls of the classroom. Usually, she liked the fact that their Professor hated the clutter of desks, opting to have a more relaxed feel to the classroom but now she disliked the calming atmosphere, if it wasn't for the rush of adrenaline from running all the way there she was sure she would have fallen back asleep.

She easily found her good friend, Johnny, always sticking out with his bob of curls and obnoxious movements.

"What did I miss?" Natalia whispered as she tried getting a look at the front of the class. "Professor Hawks hasn't said yet, he's been very theatrical about it but no surprises there." He said with a grin.

Professor Hawks silenced the room. "Today class, we have an important assignment, this assignment is possibly the most important assignment for your O.W.L.S." He stood up from where he was slouched against his desk and walked into the center of the classroom, pulling out his wand. "Today class we are learning about Werewolves." A murmur of whispers swept over the student like a wave.

"Quiet, shall we begin," Professor Hawks said waving his wand and the shutters slammed against their frames. Another flick of his wrist started the projector. "Werewolves were once believed-" Natalia tuned him out, turning to Johnny who now sat on the ground watching the slideshow through the other students' ankles who were all standing around in their friend groups. Natalia slumped against the wall and plopped next to him on the floor.

"Rory's gonna hate this huh" Johnny whispered turning to face his friend. Natalia chuckled humorlessly "Oh yeah she'll love this"

Natalia couldn't help but also think of Remus. He'd already been through this last year but she wondered how he felt, maybe she could talk to him about it. The boys were already breaking their necks trying to find out who the other Werewolf is, that randomly showed up to their full moon fun last summer and every month since then.

She'd tried to get Aurora to talk to Remus about it, maybe try and find what he was using for the aftermath, whatever it was it seems to make him bounce back a lot faster than Aurora does. She'd tried to find out, pestering her brother with questions but Aurora nearly bit her head off when she'd told her what she was doing.

"We should probably be paying attention you know" Natalia pushed her thoughts away trying to listen back to Professor Hawks. "Mhm, don't think Nick would like us copying him any more than usual" Natalia hummed in agreement. The pair focused on the presentation in front of them in silence.

The pair made their way to the great hall for lunch, preparing to tell Rory about class, and for Natalia to prepare for her next study period. 

An arm was slung over Natalia's shoulders. "Do you have any idea how boring Transfiguration is? I mean honestly, it sucked" Aurora grumbled. "You usually like it, what happened?" Natalia leaned into her friend's grasp.

"The Quidditch match this weekend was bloody canceled! It ruined the whole class experience!" The girl shouted angrily. "Wait what?" Quidditch having caught his attention. "Quidditch! Canceled! Over some stupid feud with the Captains" 

"Aw bloody hell, you'd think they'd sort it out by now" Johnny groans. The two continue their bickering about their Captain's feud. Natalia having zoned out not all that interested in the sport. Her attention was drawn down the hall.

 James' loud laughter along with the bickering of Sirius and Peter. James is slightly in front of the two who seem to be fighting over a piece of folded parchment, Remus is behind them looking down at a book in hand. The four boys disappear in the sea of students entering the hall. 

A tug on her sleeve gained her attention. "Where are we gonna sit today?" Rory questioned. "Uhm, wherever Nick is, I suppose." Johnny butted in. Natalia nodded in agreement before stopping.  "Anywhere except Hufflepuff, please" Natalia gave her best puppy dog plea look.

"Hey! What's wrong with good ol' Hufflepuff" Johnny puffed up standing up straight, trying to look tough although Natalia noted he looked more of a grumpy pitbull. "Nothing, Sorry Johnny I just don't want to deal with Diggory more than I already have to today." She patted his shoulder. Johnny seemed happy with this statement, having returned to his usual slouched posture. "Fair enough Nat" Rory spoke up. Johnny nodded at that.

"Good thing too, Nicks at my table" Rory pointed to Nick sitting in a swarm of blue, standing out in his yellow uniform.  The three went to sit with their friend. Johnny sitting with Nick and the girls sitting opposite.

"How was herbology?" Natalia asked, picking up her assortment of food for her lunch. "Actually, while we were supposed to be watering the plants, I got sidetracked and found something interesting on Mandrake leaves, specifically to do with you-" He pointed with his fork at Aurora "-and your erm.. furry problem" he awkwardly scratched his neck at his own wording. 

Natalia gave Johnny a look. Johnny caught it. Dryly coughing he said, "Uhm we also learned something on that lovely topic too-" He paused and Aurora glared at him to continue. "In class...For our assignment that is and not my words here-" He grunted and spoke in a horrible deep Professor Hawks voice. "- It is thee most important assignment of this whole year in DADA."

Aurora banged her head on the table, lying head down she muttered a lot of muffled curse words. She slowly lifted her head. "Well, what'd you find Nicky? Hope it's good." 

At that, Nick sat up, pulling out his book from his bag. "Let me find it... Here! 'The leaves of a Mandrake could be used as ingredients in Potions. But they also have additional magical properties: part of the process by which a witch or wizard became an Animagus was holding the leaf of a Mandrake in their mouth for an entire month'." He looked up expectantly. 

"I don't understand Nicky" Johnny looked utterly confused. "Right.." Nick began flicking through the book, slightly irritated at the lack of response from his friends. "The instructions on how to make the potion and whatnot are fairly simple, except it takes a month to make."

"Yeah, Okay but why would we make it" Aurora cut Johnny off. "Better, how would it help? I mean I'm sure it would be fun but.." She exaggerated the end of her sentence. "Aren't you in Ravenclaw?" Natalia poked her friend's shoulder. Rory leaned all of her weight on her friend, almost laying on top of her "Funny, truly." Natalia shook her head as she chuckled.

She noticed Nick still searching through his book, face scrunched in either concentration or frustration. "So what your saying is we could become illegal Animagus' to help Rory on her, nighttime fun" Nick whipped his head from his book. "Yes! I mean I don't particularly want to do something Illegal, but I think it could help Rory so eh" He shrugged with a soft smile.

"Yeah! We could lead you away from the castle, and away from the Gryffindors" The others could barely understand what Johnny was saying, food stuffed in his mouth. "Gryffindors?" Natalia raised her eyebrow, trying to give him the same look her mother would when James broke her vase last summer. Apparently, it worked. 

He swallowed his food fast. "No. NO, I meant your brother and his friends, you know how-" Natalia cut off his rambling with laughter. Holding her stomach. "I was Kidding!" Remembering his startled face, she began laughing again. "So not funny" He huffed, skulkingly picking up another sandwich. 

She settled down after a bit. "It is a good idea though Nick. I'm in. Rory, how do you feel about this?" Aurora has her head almost touching the paper of the book Nick was previously reading. "I don't know, I mean it'll be Illegal not to mention difficult to make. Oh! and dangerous!" She added sarcastically. "Rory we all are prepared to do this for you. We're your friend we want to help." Natalia said rather seriously. "I'll- I'll think about it yeah?" Her voice was quiet and shy, unlike her usual self which was full of confidence. 

The other three nodded and continued a less heavy conversation.

After saying goodbye to her friends. Natalia began her walk to the library. 

Once there she sat at what she considered her table. A comfy patted seat in the far corner away from most people. Inisionaly she sat here with Remus when he was helping her with DADA, back in her third year. It was the only seat left in the library, she'd sat there ever since.

She sat there for a good ten minutes. She knew Amos knew that she would sit in the back, as she had every other time. Deciding to do her own homework couldn't hurt. 

Slightly agitated he still hadn't shown up as she finished references for her History of Magic essay. It had been at least half an hour. He wasn't coming. Packing her things back into her bag. Finding a book she had finished reading, and deciding to get a new one while she was here. Giving the old book back to Madam Pince; the librarian. She began her search on a finding a new book to read. 

Finally, she found one, the second book of the series. It was new too, wasn't there last week when she'd gotten the first book. Trying to reach the book with her heavy bag in hand. Putting the bag down, now standing on her tiptoes. Her fingertips just brush the spine of the book. Deciding against trying again she began to reach for her bag. 

"Do you need help with that?" A male voice spoke softly behind her. She yelped in fright. Natalia turned, face to face with Barty Crouch jr. Much to her surprise he reached up and grabbed the book easily handing it to her gently. "Thanks?" He quietly laughed "Sounds like a question" Natalia felt slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, I do mean thank you, I just wasn't well-" "Expecting a Slytherin not to be a total asshole?" "To put it bluntly yeah" She breathly laughed. He laughed along with her. 

She looked at him, really looked at him. His wild brunette hair fell into his eyes, which were shut, crinkling the sides of his face. His smile was contagious. Natalia found herself laughing along with him. "I quite like you, Potter. I hope you enjoy the book" Natalia smiled. "Natalia." He looks slightly shocked. "Well, Natalia, if you liked the first book the second one is much better." He gave her one last smile as he turned and continued his day.

Barty was right, the second book was indeed much better than the first which surprised her. Natalia sat with her roommates in the Gryffindor common room. The other three girls are focused on their Potion assignment. 

"I think we should do an easy one, like a strength potion! We learned it in first year" Marlene whined. "No, we can do something a bit more challenging than that" Lily decided. "What about Dreamless sleep potion, that's harder to do."

"Exactly why on Earth would we want something harder?! Mary, what are Remus and you doing?" Mary looked up from where she was writing, for what seemed like the first time that night. "Urm, Right Remus wanted to so an advanced potion, Wolfsbane. And I want to get it right so shush." Wolfsbane. Natalia made a mental note to ask Nick about it the next time he has Potions, Slughorn seemed to like him best out of their group.

"Of course! Advance potion blah blah. Lily please, something easy." Marlene continues to whine, hanging half upside down off the one-seat sofa. "What about a Sleeping Draught potion" Natalia intruded on their study. "What?" Marlene twist so he was now just regularly half off the sofa. "Sleeping Draught, it kind of in-between Beginner and Advanced." Natalia shrugged "You don't have to it was just a-" "Perfect! Lily?" Lily began flicking through her notes. "Yeah, yeah I think it could work! Thanks, Talia." 

"What would you do without me huh" "Keep talking like that you'll have an ego like your brother" They all laughed.

[sophielovesbooks]

ALRIGHT I'VE FINISHED!!

So now I shall pass judgement. 🥰

1000 Ships - Kate Weinberg

Good! A good start to this anthology. I love her writing style. The story was quite simple but somewhat emotionally complex. Plus it features a character from her novel "The Truants"! 8/10 stars

Pythia - Olivie Blake

A weird one, let's be real. A bit absurd. Refreshingly different, though, and partly in interview style. I enjoyed it overall. 7/10 stars

Sabbatical - James Tate Hill

Hm, not sure about this one. It was fun to read it but sort of absurd, once again? The ending to me was bizarre rather than rewarding? But hey, at least it wasn't boring. 5/10

The Hare and the Hound - Kelly Andrew

Amazing!! Probably my fave in this book, if I had to pick one. The plot was just super engaging and fun, in my opinion. The dialogues between the main character and his mates were EXACTLY the type I love to read. I adore that trope where you are not sure whether the main character is losing their mind or not. Another character was really intriguing to me as well. I sort of guessed the main twist but that's okay. The style flowed so nicely as well and was so atmospheric. I don't like to hand out perfect ratings, but actually? Yeah, whatever, I'm feeling generous. 10/10 stars

X House - J. T. Ellison

Lmaooooo! I straight-up HATED this one! A poor imitation of the dark academia genre with stunningly amateurish writing imho. This author, for whatever reason, cannot keep their tenses straight?! Like, how did this one go through peer review aka editing?? The style was so incredibly clunky as well, like a how-to on what not to do. Ridiculous plot. Odd pacing. Laughable characters. It's a big no from me. (I've read another book by this author that I didn't really care for, so that checks out, I suppose.) Most entertaining hate read I've had in ages, though! 1/10 stars

The Ravages - Layne Fargo

Good! Fun. Cute. Not, like, super remarkable in my personal opinion. But well written with a plot that's easy to get into and a likeable sapphic main character. Touches interestingly on toxic relationships. Yeah, I enjoyed it. 8/10

Four Funerals - David Bell

Hmm, well. Not awful but not great either, in my view. Also the plot didn't feel very dark academia to me, to be honest? The atmosphere just wasn't there? It made an okay short story but it wasn't anything special. I didn't like his novel "Kill All Your Darlings" much, either, so again, this story sort of confirmed my opinion of the author's writing. 5/10 stars

The Unknowable Pleasures - Susie Yang

Oh shit, actually this one might have been my favourite?! Or it's a close second at least? Really, really engaging. Really drew me in. So interesting and unique as well. A story that doesn't provide simple answers and makes you reflect. The ending... wasn't super satisfying but that was kind of the point. It's interesting because I remember DNFing a book by Susie Yang because I didn't like her writing style, but here I really enjoyed it. So I should probably give her another chance? Again, feeling generous I'll go with 10/10 stars

Weekend at Bertie's - M. L. Rio

This was the story I bought the whole book for!! I was so excited for it and... it let me down a bit. I feel terrible writing this, but it is what it is. It wasn't bad by any means, don't get me wrong. Only the prose didn't flow as nicely as in some of the other stories, I thought. I felt like it was overly complex at times. And the plot... was okay, but a bit strange as well. Creative, yes. But a bit odd. And the biggest point of criticism is that, unlike IWWV, it didn't feel super dark academia to me. So... squinting and feeling sort of guilty I think I'll go with... 7/10 stars? Okay, no, that's brutal, 8/10 stars

The Professor of Ontography - Helen Grant

ANOTHER REALLY GOOD ONE! I literally just read it this morning so it's all fresh. But yes, two really likeable MCs and a cute romance. The setting was so fleshed out, it almost felt like a novel? Like, there was more than just that short glimpse that you often get with a short story? This one also encapsulated the dark academia genre perfectly in my view. A mystery with horror elements. Loved it. Another 10/10 stars

Phobos - Tori Bovalino

Yeah, quite good. Not too bad. All about secret societies and inition rituals. We got some fairly interesting character portraits in not a lot of pages. It was suspenseful. Can recommend. 9/10 stars

Playing - Phoebe Wynne

This one was okay. The writing was good and atmospheric. But I think it was meant to be twisty and to me the ending was so obvious from very early on so I kept wondering whether anything surprising was going to happen. And it didn't. I'm also not sure the author selected the best scenes to write out/depict in detail for this particular story, if you know what I mean. I'm making it sound worse than it was, though. 7/10 stars

And that's it! If you've read this book, let me know what you think.

I am doing sometimes super fun today. It's Sunday and I don't have any pressing responsibilities. So I've decided to do sort of a spontaneous readathon, something I have never done before!

For as long as I like, I'll stay in my little reading nook with coffee and snacks and read. 🥰📖☕️ Hopefully I'll finish In These Hallowed Halls, which is a dark academia anthology.

Would anybody like me to rate each story once I've finished the final one? 😊 (Because trust me, I've got opinions!)

[srapsodia]

sketchbook doodling while listening to the first episodes of season 2! I'm loving Rusty Quill Gaming SO MUCH!

[honeysucklehotchner]

by the lakeside ⭑ sirius black x reader

a/n: hi loves!! this wasn’t requested, just something i wanted to write to get my creative juices flowing! def my favorite thing i’ve written so far! as always hc and one-shot requests are open- just send me an ask!!

synopsis: your best friend, sirius, accidentally confesses his feelings for you one beautiful day by the great lake.

warnings: none that i know of! just a bunch of toothachingly-sweet fluff!

like many things in your life, sirius black (for lack of better words) hit you like a brick wall. from receiving your hogwarts letter, to trying the earwax flavored bertie’s every flavor beans, life in the magic world never failed to deliver an abundance of surprises. he, however, was by far your favorite.

sirius black walked into your life the moment you boarded the hogwarts express. he was just a small boy with dark, messy hair who accidentally bumped into you while being chased by one of his ever-mischievous friends. cliché, maybe, but sometimes you like to believe it was love at first sight- even if you were only 11 years old.

quickly becoming friends over the years, your fondness of the boy only grew stronger, your heart aching every time he’d flash a smile at any girl who wasn’t you. you could open your own library with the amount of journals you had filled writing about him.

“just. tell. him. how. you. feel.” your best friend, lily evans, said, swatting you with a spare rolled up piece of parchment in between each word. what was supposed to be a productive morning doing homework in the library had quickly turned into another conversation about your feelings for sirius. “y/n, i swear on merlin’s beard that he’s in love you,”

”he is not!” you sighed, closing your book and standing up a little too loudly, earning a scornful look from madam pince. “sorry!” you whispered, nodding your head towards the door, hinting for lily to follow you out.

”well if you don’t tell him soon, i’ll do it for you!” she said as you two headed outside for some fresh air, “i can’t take it anymore, y/n, i’m going insane!” she held her hand to her forehead, pretending to feel faint. you rolled your eyes and laughed.

the two of you walked down to the great lake, dropping your bags down by a tree and plopping down against the bark. it was a fairly quiet day on the hogwarts’ grounds, most students had gone to hogsmede for the day but you preferred to spend your weekends relaxing. these days were your favorite to spend outside. when the sun was bright in the sky but the air carried just enough breeze to make you comfortable in a light sweatshirt. it was mostly quiet except for the sound of birds flying over head, singing to one another. the sunlight glinted off of the water so perfectly that you wished you could capture it in a jar to keep beside your bed.

you finally succeeded in changing the subject away from sirius to your friends, remus and tonks, who were obliviously pining over one another and whether or not the slytherin quidditch team had deserved to win that week. suddenly, two familiar voices interrupted your conversation. you turned to see sirius and james sprinting down the hill, laughing and shoving each other. they reached yours and lily’s tree, sirius collapsing to the ground in a fit of laughter while james grabbed lily from behind, kissing her on the cheek.

“so much for our quiet weekend,” you giggled, nudging sirius in the side with your foot. he looked at you and smiled, shoving your shoe away from him.

“you will never believe who just tried to give sirius a love potion!” james said, still laughing and trying to catch his breath.

”addison greenglass?” you asked, still watching sirius who was laying in the grass, trying (and failing) to untangle his hair.

“wh— yeah! how the hell did you know?” he looked at you, confused.

“sirius, you idiot- she’s only been in love with you since she got here, everyone knows it,” you said, a pang of jealously hidden in your voice. addie was in the year below you and your friends, she was blonde, funny, and sweet. she was always put together and had all the boys in her year drooling over her. you were surprised sirius didn’t jump at the opportunity.

”well, yeah, who isn’t?” he winked at you, sitting up and brushing dirt off his t-shirt. he reached for your bag, stealing your water bottle and taking a drink.

james stood up and took lily’s hand, helping her up and kissing her sweetly. “if you’ll excuse us, there’s two mugs of butterbeer waiting for us at the three broomsticks,”

you pretended to gag, earning a laugh from sirius. “see you at dinner then!” you yelled, the couple already half way up the hill, hand in hand.

sirius sat down next to you, throwing his arm around your shoulder. you were close enough to smell his cologne, a smell you weren’t a stranger to by any means but one that made your face flush.

you leaned against his shoulder, watching the water in front of you gently ebb and flow. “there’s two mugs of butterbeer waiting for us…” sirius mocked, “i bet you james doesn’t even like butterbeer, y/n! i think lily put on a curse on that man, he’s whipped,”

”don’t be mean!” you swatted his arm, “they’re just in looove!” this time it was you who mocked your friends. sirius laughed. “why don’t you just go out with her?” you asked, surprising yourself with the words that came out of your mouth.

“hm?”

”addie— she’s pretty and smart and—”

”and clinically insane,”

”hey, i’m serious!”

”so am i! who tries to give someone a love potion without consent?”

”fair enough,” you mumbled, “but besides that, why not? aren’t you always saying how you’re sick of third wheeling with lily and james? might as well give it a go, right? she’s got everything!”

”but she’s not you,”

”what?” you snapped your head around to look at him. he was already looking at you.

”sorry, i—” sirius black never got flustered, who was this sitting next to you? “i didn’t mean—”

”you didn’t mean it?” your face dropped.

“no! no, i did mean it!” he ran his fingers through his hair, “i just— i didn’t want you to find out this way,”

you smiled and started to laugh.

“hey! i just opened my heart up to you, you’re not allowed to laugh at me!” he said, playfully pushing you away from him but you grabbed his arm, pulling him back towards you and kissing him on the lips. he kissed back, wrapping his arms around your waist while you cupped your hands around his face. you felt him smile.

“so maybe i should’ve just thanked addie instead of passing the potion on to peter…”

”you did not!”

”it would’ve been a shame for all her hard work to go to waste!”

”sirius!” maybe what he had done was a little cruel, but you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face.

he just laughed and pulled you closer to him, falling to the ground and pretending to wrestle with you, eventually finding himself hovering over you, your giggles echoing across the lake.

“hi,” you said, tucking a loose strand of his hair behind his ear.

“hi, love,” he replied, leaning down to kiss you again.

[pokemon-legends-and-legacies]

Got inspired by the Six Fanarts meme but instead of other people giving me characters to draw I just chose them myself.

These six are mostly Unova kids (Darcel is the only one who isn’t but he’s not mine so does that even count), and are three duos of Detectives and their Criminal Nemeses (who then become their love interests) who each embody a character archetype of the genre. Going column by column...

Amelia Mistral (Skyla & Elesa’s daughter) as: The Sleuth - Amelia is an amateur detective and reporter looking for the next big scoop. She often ends in over her head, but her pluck and wit lead her to find plenty of clever solutions nonetheless!

Cicely “Cici” Callahan (Cress & an OC Team Plasma Grunt named Brad’s daughter) as The Femme Fatale - Cici was raised by her father Brad after he left the team following the events of BW. Growing up in Castelia, it wasn’t long before she fell in with a bad crowd, as they say, and began turning to a life of petty-and then not so petty-crime. Known for being a deadly flirt.

Vivian Yanagi (Brycen & Sabrina’s son) as The Inspector - An up and coming hot-shot young Interpol detective, Vivian is determined to use his psychic powers for the sake of bringing order to the chaos of Unova’s big cities. He hopes to make a name for himself apart from his famous actor parents’ reputations, but a certain thief has been making his life difficult recently.

Jules Miyamoto (Jessie & Matori’s son from a one night stand) as The Gentleman Thief - Raised by his mother Jessie and her partner James, Jules had no shortage of excellent fashion and mischief inspiration growing up. Now, he’s Castelia’s most (in)famous thief, having won the hearts of the people by exposing corruption, stealing back stolen items, and donating his looted riches to those in need (after pocketing some of the prettiest jewels for himself... never hurts to save up!) Along with his partner Lupin the Zoroark - who often transforms into him to help them evade capture - Jules has eluded the authorities so far, and greatly enjoys teasing the uptight young detective who keeps narrowly missing him.

Hymnia Morvan (Grimsley & Shauntal’s daughter) as The Private Eye - Grimsley’s daughter born after a fling with a mysterious white-haired scientist from Sinnoh, Hymnia always showed an uncanny intelligence and love of problem-solving growing up. Eventually, with the aid of her friend Penelope, she set up her own detective agency to assist those with the most interesting unsolved mysteries who come to seek her aid. While on the surface her business seems ordinary, some of her clients can’t help but feel something off-putting about her beyond normal eccentricity... but surely that’s simply their imaginations.

Darcel Richelieu (@pkmnomegaverse​ ‘s Trevor’s Sister & OC Veteran’s son) as The Mastermind - Darcel is a young criminal ringleader in the making, thriving on deceiving and toying with others to his own ends. If there’s trouble afoot, he’s sure to be there - or to have caused it. After becoming involved with Hymnia’s cousin Bertie, he decides he wants to get to know the so-called genius detective a bit better, and thus their great game of rivalry begins. Are they simply a detective and criminal forever at odds or... is the line between the duo’s allegiances much more blurred than that?

[ivyaugustetc]

the dead poets at hogwarts: a headcanon from hell

@aedan-mills @charlie-dalton-simp @pretentious-strikes YOU ENCOURAGED THIS BEHAVIOR SO YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES. also i love you a lot but THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT.

also @aedan-mills i found out that some of the wand stuff is related to their birthdays and i am much too lazy to look all that up and figure it all out, but anyone else is welcome to lmao. sorry to disappoint but alas it's summer and i don't want to research that much. but other than that, please listen to me flex my extensive knowledge on harry potter :)

neil (half blood): i'm sorry,,,, can you say gryffindor? this boy would get up there and in a second the sorting hat would have him all figured out: big dreams with the will to pursue them, but not ambitious enough to step over others to achieve said dreams? sounds like a gryffindor to me. i just know he'd thrive at hogwarts, probably going on to play quidditch (def a chaser) and would excel in charms class. as far as pets go, i feel like he'd stay simple and classy with a chill barn owl he'd name after a famous broadway actor. he would kind of be a mix of james and remus, in which he's wild and crazy but still manages to get good grades. the teachers love him simply because they don't know much about him outside of class. he would absolutely LOVE going to hogsmeade and going batshit crazy at zonko's and honeydukes. he'd have a whole phase where he gets addicted to licorice wands and everyone else thinks they're disgusting but he simply cannot buy enough of them. he'd play a bunch of zonko tricks on the rest of the poets, saving the most harsh for charlie and the most wholesome for todd <3

todd (muggle born): ugh see i can see him being both a hufflepuff and a ravenclaw, but my heart says hufflepuff so i'm gonna go with that. he would absolutely HATE the sorting ceremony with a burning passion. getting up in front of everybody only to have a hat judge u??? no thanks. HAHAHA CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM ON A BROOM. i can't either because he would simply never get on one, probably referring to them as "flying death traps" more often than not. "hey todd, you think about joining quidditch?" "no thanks, i'd rather keep my limbs intact ;)". but he would love muggle studies a lot, even if the teacher was boring as hell. snape would scare the hell out of him for sure, resulting in his lowest class being potions. he would excel in classes that are more learning out of the book rather than in practice. for a pet, he'd want something that could not possibly turn on him and would just be sweet and loving, so ima give him a toad :) he'd name it something fancy and british, like nigel or sumn. and because of nigel, he'd love chocolate frogs because hey they're twins!!

fanon knox (pure blood): hogwarts fuck boy. okay well maybe not f boy but like...his favorite part is the fact that this is a co-ed school rather than an all-boys school so he can spy on both genders equally yknow. hmm i get hufflepuff vibes from him because he's a big romantic, sucker for cute relationships, etc. he would enjoy whichever class his current crush is in, although I feel like he'd do well with classes that involved spells and wand work mostly lmao. he'd want a really fucking cute pet, so i'd give him a kneazle (it's like a cat but a bit more lion like). he'd give it a strong sounding name, something german idk. but he'd love the shit out of that kneazle, i can tell you that much. i feel like he'd try out for quidditch his first few years, not make it on, and then make it on to the team around fourth year and somehow end up team captain in seventh (and that proves kids, that you too can have a redemption arc in sports). as far as candy goes, ima say he likes the super sour candy like acid pops n shit. like i feel like the others would dare him to each as much sour candy as he can and then he wouldn't be able to taste for a week. but he'd think it was worth it :)

cameron (muggle born): good god this boy just wants to learn. magic just fascinates him, what with growing up in a big muggle family (bestie he is the weasleys if they were all type a). he's a ravenclaw, no questions asked. he would love classes involving preciseness and attention, things like potions and transfiguration. i feel like he'd have a cute, stable relationship along the way ofc because he deserves so much love and happiness and UGH he's a baby. he'd stick with a lil ginger cat, naming it after one of the famous wizards he's read about. he would love spending christmas at the school and going places when the ground are nearly empty, enjoying the scenery. for candy, he'd go plain and simple with chocolate frogs. can't go wrong with those. he'd still have fun with his friends, but he'd skip a lot of parties for some studying (don't judge, i do it too lmao). would not play quidditch but would enjoy it, end of story.

charlie (pure blood): slytherin. don't dispute it. think the weasley twins but even more flirtatious. he would be a regular at every single party that happened, flirting with the guys and gals shamelessly and drinking butterbeer like it was water. look me in the eye and tell me he would not absolutely fucking HATE GILDEROY LOCKHART WITH EVER FIBER OF HIS BEING. he'd do spot-on impersonations of him though. teacher's worst enemy. like when he walks into class on the first day, every teacher collectively mutters "bloody hell not this kid again". asks the most incredibly stupid questions ("okay but is there a spell to turn my eyebrows green? just the eyebrows though, not my hair"). he would be the most aggressive beater on the slytherin team, though he would never deliberately try to hit someone, just distract the shit out of them ("put the fear of god in them and fate will do the rest"). he'd want a loud, aggressive pet but he'd probably end up with a mean cat that hisses at everyone. he'd give it the most adorable name that just. does not fit the personality. something like priscilla. for candy, he'd take his chance with bertie botts' every flavour beans and just roll with the punches. he's chaotic like that.

pitts (half blood): ASTRONOMY IS HIS JAM. he fucking loves that class. he tutors the entire ravenclaw house in that class. he's the guy that little first years who are terrified of the class go to when they're completely lost and don't understand what's going on. besides that, i feel like he'd just be everyone's cool older brother yknow? like he'd be in charge of helping all the first years figure out where stuff is and giving them advice to help them and stuff. he would be a die-hard quidditch fan although he would not play the sport (maybe recreationally on the weekends and holidays and stuff, but the fact that it's so fucking dangerous just does not appeal to him). he'd like the candy that does tricks and stuff, like fizzing whizbees and stuff. he gives me charlie weasley vibes, where he's hardcore in certain areas (in his case, astronomy) and just flipping chill in anything else. cool older brother vibes, man. it fits.

meeks (half blood): i've said it once and i'll say it again: nonproblematic ginger dumbledore. also a hufflepuff <3 this dude just wants to fucking coast along, getting good grades and not participating in the dumb shit that could probably get him killed (even though he would in a heartbeat if his friends were in danger. duh). he'd be a teacher's favorite, probably having conversations with his favorite teachers during free time. okay ik this isn't technically at school, but i swear to god he would be dumbledore one day. like he would be the chill ass headmaster who gets shit done while also being very la di da life is nice flowers are pretty type of person. that being said, his favorite candy is and has been lemon drops ever since dumbledore got him addicted to them. his favorite classes would be potions (he'd surprisingly get along well with snape) and he'd just be great and mixing shit right and just knowing how much of stuff to add in ("how much powdered root do i add?" "about three and a half shakes." "that's not a measurement, meeks." "*shrug* it works"). he'd stick with his small friend group and love them to death, but he'd be a friend to all really. he'll help anyone that comes to him asking for help with homework (and though he won't admit it, he gets super prideful when it's someone a few years ahead of him).

stick (muggle born): harry potter if harry potter could've been more harry potter. like he would just be a part of everything and end up being part of some prophecy that demands he'd save the world and at first he'd be like HEY i'm just a small boy but then he'd grit his teeth and finesse the shit out of this preventing the end of days stuff. he'd definitely be a gryffindor, and fucking proud of it. he'd be the seeker on the quidditch team because he is so short and small and yeah he'd fucking kill it there. he'd kind of be the shy one no one expected much from, but once he starts absolutely wrecking the shit out of the other houses' quidditch teams, he'd become sorta popular? like people would invite him to parties and stuff and he's too nice to say no, but he'd mostly just hang around the outskirts, saying hi to the other poets if he saw them and mostly talking to chris and ginny (danburry, not weasley). he'd like defense against the dark arts and minerva mcgongiall would become his literal mother i can't explain it. he'd have an owl as a pet and treat it like it was his own child, telling it thank you every time it brought his mail or took his mail. as for candy, he'd like drooble's bubble gum because the bubbles are all magic and shit and i just feel like that would make him so happy <3

chris (pure blood): the older sister lesbian <3 she'd be a sweet hufflepuff who would be friends with everyone while also being the greatest socialite the school has ever seen. you know that party that practically the entire school attended and talked about for months on end? she planned that shit. she'd be like pitts in the respect that she'd help all the first years find their way in the school and in life in general. she's just such a warm and kind person that everyone would love her. she's have a little pink pygmy puff to match ginny's purple one, and she'd give it such a perfect, human name like lila or something. she'd be great at muggle studies and all the teachers would love her. also every one is so invested in her relationship with ginny it's adorable. he favorite candy is acid pops even though they make her eyes water like crazy. she'd make pretty good grades, every once in a while getting one slightly lower than she'd expected, but she always manages to bring them up to her satisfactory level :) she would not play quidditch, but she would go all out to support ginny, even though they're in different houses. that's what i call love, baby.

ginny (half blood): the mom lesbian <3 she's a ravenclaw and also one of the sweetest people in the whole school. while chris helps other with the social aspect, ginny will help anyone in any subject they need help with (she and meeks are a help duo on this). she's quieter and less social than chris, but she's one of the best chasers the ravenclaw quidditch team has ever seen. she'd end up team captain by fifth of sixth year. she'd be like oliver wood in that she is sO invested in the team's success that at sometimes she'll go a bit crazy, but chris is always there to help her put things back into perspective <3. she'd make stellar grades of course, being good friends with all of her teachers. her favorite candy would be the sweetest things like fairy floss. as previously stated, she'd have a purple pygmy puff to match chris's pink one, and she'd also give it an adorable human name like lisa or something. ginny's just sweet to everyone, especially neil and his friends.

I DID IT. IT TOOK FOREVER AND A FEW HAIL MARYS BUT I DID IT. enjoy besties <3 love u all

[commander-diomika]

rqg for the blorbo asks????? (shocking I know)

Look, does anyone ever NOT want people to send them their current obsession for Ask Memes? I think not. Thank you for indulging me. blorbo (favorite character): Gotta be Wilde at this point, though I confess I have spent much more time thinking about the trans Wilde that lives in my head and fan fiction that I have spent thinking about like, actual canon Wilde. scrunkly (character that is So Shaped): Oh , Skraak. The Skraak voice makes me so happy. He is just a little guy, my sneaky good time boy. scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): Look, I don't think there is a single character that could be described as Under Appreciated in this fandom of love, but Grizzop fits here because firstly, despite being the best fucking character, he's in the least amount of episodes!!! glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): This has gotta be a joint effort between Barnes and Carter. I did that thing where I immersed myself in fanon about them, wrote some of my own, and just generally Got Attached, and then I went back and did some re-listening and was like "huh actually these two are not like... in the story that much." When they appeared in the final battle to just like, hang about and get made incorporeal for a bit, I was like punching the air and being like "YOU'RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIES." poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): It's not Mr Ceiling's fault he was powered by brains?? Some hivemind steampunk supercomputers?? are made of brains harvested from childen?? to cope? horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): ZOLF MY SWEET BABY I LOVE TO WATCH YOU SUFFER AND YOU'RE SO FUCKING SELF DESTRUCTIVE ITS SO EASY TO DO. eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): I mean, Bertie's already in a flaming poo dimension, yeah? (I think James did a really fantastic job with Bertie and very much respect his craft . He set out to make an unlikeable chara and oh boy did he succeed, it's just a shame that in being so successful he basically got himself kicked out of fan created content. )

[forthegothicheroine]

January 2022 Reading Report

Read:

The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White (DNF)

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites by Evan Dorkin

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

Jeeves in the Morning by P. G. Wodehouse

Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman

Terrible Things: An Allegory for the Holocaust by Eve Bunting illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence by Bill James

Still reading:

Nobody’s Perfect: Writings from the New Yorker by Anthony Lane

The Many Faces of Van Helsing, anthology

Varney the Vampire or the Feast of Blood* by James Malcolm Rymer (*I will still be trying to finish this book on my deathbed)

Why not try this again for the new year? I read a lot of books, often at once, usually a mix of my owned tbr list and the online Boston Public Library ebook collection. 

The Excalibur Curse, the third book in Kiersten White’s Camelot Rising Trilogy, was a real disappointment, but I probably should have seen it coming. The first book had delighted me with its unique portrayal of Camelot as a city built into a mountain, its troubled elfin Guinevere, and its burgeoning love square with steadfast Arthur, untrustworthy Mordred and loyal but secretive Lancelot. The second book started letting me down, as Arthur got very little development and Mordred became a much more conventional woobie bad boy (Lancelot was pretty great, though.) This continued into the third and final installment, and it just didn’t seem worth it to finish when most of what I’d originally liked was gone. I’m a big fan of some of White’s other work, so maybe I’m just too particular about Arthuriana.

Mary Roach has written a bunch of interesting-sounding pop science books, and as soon as I heard the title and premise of Fuzz I knew I had to read it. Between this and last year’s favorite A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, it turns out I love animal crime! Though not all criminals here are animals- plants also find ways to disrupt human life, it seems. My favorite chapters were the one about Fish and Game forensics guys who determine whether killings were committed by humans or animals (we need a procedural show about this!) and the one about elephants who rampage through farms while totally protected by the law. The line “Why would you kill a god?” has stuck with me ever since I read it.

I’m doing the Books in the Freezer Challenge this year, reading various horror books, and one category to check off was Horror Graphic Novel- searching for a good fill for this lead me to Beasts of Burden, a series about suburban neighborhood dogs (and a couple cats) dealing with monsters and the supernatural. The art is gorgeous and there’s some very clever stuff about familiars and werewolves (I really love the werewolf creature design!) I’m told some of the main characters die in the series, but thankfully that didn’t happen in this first book.

I’m always on the lookout for any books that my store website tags “gothic”, so that’s how I found The Death of Jane Lawrence! It’s a pseudo-Victorian story set in a fantasy world (a trend I’ve been noticing- I last saw it in The Beautiful Ones), which allows the author to make up whatever local history is demanded by the plot. This seems reasonable enough. The plot is a bit of Rebecca and a bit of Frankenstein, and I’m honestly not totally sure what happened at the end. It was an entirely serviceable book, so I’m not sure why I wasn’t satisfied by it. Maybe I want my gothics to be more lurid? Maybe the romance was lackluster?

During a sad day I started reading Jeeves in the Morning, on the theory that you can’t be sad while Bertie Wooster complains about his family. I love the Bertie and Jeeves stories (though I’m not crazy about the tv show- I think they overplay it with the mugging.) Bertie is veery charming in how much he knows that he’s an idiot, and this contains one of my favorite sentences in any book. When an acquaintance of his tries to brush him off, Bertie isn’t having it: “Experts have tried to rid themselves of Bertram Wooster and had to admit defeat.” The plot isn’t much, but did you really need it to be?

Due to the current censorship news, I decided to reread the Maus books, which I did over the course of one rather miserable night. I’d read it in my adolescence, at it’s still just as haunting as I remembered. As a Jewish kid who attended a Jewish school for many years, I’ve read a lot of Holocaust stuff, but not a whole lot about generational trauma. Spiegelman’s depiction of his father, and how traits like caution and resourcefulness that helped him in times of crisis curdled afterwards into paranoia and selfishness from the trauma, was much more complicated than the people on TVTropes seem to recognize.

...and then I read Terrible Things, which I’d heard of previously, after seeing it recommended during discussions about Maus. Like Maus, the protagonists are depicted as animals, in this case woodland creatures enacting the “First they came for the Jews...” story. I don’t think the analogy totally works (in that there would have been a lot more animals cheering when the Terrible Things took away the birds and scrambling to steal their belongings, for instance) but it’s very upsetting and very memorable. It would definitely scare the pants off of children. Is this good or bad? I don’t know, I was terrified when they read The Lorax to us in kindergarten that the world was about to end, and I had to grow up knowing Holocaust stories whether I wanted to or not. This almost seems beside the point, but dear god, the artwork! These illustrations are some of the best horror art I’ve ever seen. The shadows which shroud the Terrible Things grasp and claw and shift on their own, and then the glimpse of a face (Himmler, I’m told) takes the trope of humans being bad guys in animal stories and twists it into a humanoid abomination worse than any creepypasta figure. I keep flipping through the ebook over and over just to stare.

Finally, Popular Crime was an incredibly variable book that rocketed up and down all over the place. I have no idea if I like this book. I have a guilty fondness for true crime- not in the usual guilty pleasure sense of “this is kind of cringe but I love it” but in that there are legitimate ethical questions regarding the field- and this book examines that but doesn’t really come up with any well thought out answers. James is a very engaging writer, and seeing crimes that hit headlines across the last century or so is very interesting in terms of what fascinates us by the era. His speculations about the truth behind some of these crimes varies drastically in its plausibility- he’s definitely convinced me of serious doubt about Lizzie Borden’s guilt, but I didn’t quite buy the idea that the intruder who killed JonBenet Ramsey deliberately tried to frame her parents. And while I’m not the kind of leftist who throws around the term “liberal” as an insult (that’s too vague to be useful!) his periodic “all these problems are equally the fault of democrats and republicans!” hot takes felt a bit forced.

As to the books I started in January, will I finish them in February? Almost certainly Nobody’s Perfect (beautifully written and sometimes hilariously caustic reviews and essays) and The Many Faces of Van Helsing (a fun but mixed bag of stories), but I don’t know if I will ever finish Varney the Vampire, which spends so many chapters with nothing happening I’m surprised serial readers had enough interest to keep up. I have to try, though.