#Over half of my beta readers said it reminds them of merlin so there’s a vibe check on it lol

[bucketsofmonsters]

Hey everyone, I wrote a book!!

A new kingdom, a new king, a new life. But nothing ever really changes for squires. A banished knight has no choice but to abandon his home in search of a new kingdom to serve. That knight's squire, on the other hand, is less content with being pulled around due to someone else’s mistakes. When a dark figure offers the squire a second chance, how could he not take it? However, this deal might be more than he bargained for. A disenchanted squire with more potential than he realizes and a cunning mage who might not be as proficient at magic as she claimed join forces to save themselves by fulfilling their end of a cursed bargain: to kill the king.

If you're interested you can order it in all forms here

[ladynestaarcheron]

Like Pristine Glass - Chapter Eight

ao3 - ff.net - masterpost

(tagging these cuties: @humanexile @skychild29 @rhysandsdarlingfeyre @candid-confetti ​ @rhysandsrightknee @missing-merlin @azriels-forgotten-shadow @books-and-cocos@sezkins79 @city-of-fae @someonemagical)

so here’s chapter eight! I hope you all enjoy! if you do, I'd really appreciate you reblogging this in addition to liking (only if you like it obvi!) because my like to reblog ratio is between 10-30% (like 80 notes and only 12 are reblogs). likes are wonderful and I appreciate them but weblogs get me more readers and traction. but as always, thank you so much for your support, I really do appreciate it!!

also, I'm still looking for a beta! so here’s some more info on that.

November 9- Year of

The day after Nesta's proposal for dinner became Emerie's treat at the eatery, the two females greeted each other with a tentative nod. The next day it it was a Good morning and a You as well, and then the next day there was an-almost smile from Emerie.

They still worked mostly in silence, but it was far more comfortable than the tense couple of days behind them.

"Why have you ordered so many coats?" Nesta asked her.

"I...didn't think I did."

"Well, you've written in here more than we need. Look," Nesta said, showing her the book. "We've not sold these yet. So why do we need a dozen of these?"

"Other shops..."

"Forget the other shops. This is unnecessary. Especially if you downmark the ones we do have...and then wait a month...and then order these..."

"I don't understand," Emerie admitted.

"People will buy perfectly good coats for cheaper than the competition right at the start of winter, right? So they buy these coats that we have. Then they tell people they bought cheap coats at your shop. A month from now, in December, when all the clothiers will have ordered their coats already, all the leftovers will be marked down. We'll order then. And sell."

"Hmm," Emerie said.

Her tone was non-committal, but Nesta suppressed a grin. She knew she'd impressed her.

"So...how much do we mark them down by?"

"Thirty percent," Nesta replied, without hesitating.

"That's a little low."

"It'll pay off."

Emerie narrowed her eyes a bit. "All right," she said.

Now Nesta had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. It was good to be thought of as good again. To be trusted, respected.

She had not desired the feeling for so long...felt nothing at all for so long...and it was slowly coming back to her.

---

October 27 - 4 years later

Nesta does not mean for Cassian to be at her house when Amorette arrives, but he is.

He had come with her to bring the children home from nursery, and there had been whispering abound from her fellow townspeople. No one has yet asked her if he’s their father, but it’s quite obvious. If his wings did not give him away, his hair and his eyes, Nicky’s hair and Avery’s eyes, surely would.

She has not yet spoken to Zeyn, either. She tells herself that she isn’t being a coward, just that it’ll be easier after today. And that is partially true. She is always lighter, always more prepared to face whatever it is she has to do after her afternoon trip alone at the end of every month.

Cassian looks to her when Amorette knocks on the door and inwardly, Nesta swears. She realizes only know that unless she kicks Cassian out, the children will be left with the both of them. Him and Amorette. It’s too much of a clash for her between her two worlds, then and now, and makes her too anxious about the future, and she lets Amorette in with a muttured, “I’ll get him to leave.”

“You don’t have to,” Amorette says in an equally low tone. “If you don’t mind, I don’t mind.”

Nesta shrugs a little. She leads them into the kitchen, where the children are sitting with Cassian at the table, coloring.

He looks up, curious. He has not met any of her friends here, not properly, and she doesn’t want him to just yet. Although perhaps she’s just delaying the inevitable...and Amorette is a good person for him to meet first, she thinks. Civil, diplomatic, fair.

“I have to go for a few hours. Amorette’s here...to watch them.”

Cassian nods slowly. “I...can I stay?” His voice is soft. His hand clenches a little on Ollie’s shoulder. Subconscious, she thinks.

But it squeezes her heart a bit, as well. A whole mess of things had led to him missing out on the first few years of their lives and lately she’s been thinking more and more of her part in it, how maybe she is not entirely guiltless and he is not entirely to blame, maybe neither of them played by the rules and in the end, only their children really lost.

But she doesn’t particularly like to think about that. It’s far too complicated for now, right when she is about to leave, so she just says, “If you’d like.”

He smiles widely. His eyes crinkle for a moment, and she remembers that this smile was one of the  common ones that she would see all the time back in Illyria. Pure, unabashed joy, because that was who he was. The kind of person who felt that joy all the time.

She doesn’t smile back. Instead she looks away and crosses her arms.

“Amorette’s in charge,” she says to him.

“Yes, of course.”

“I’ll be not four hours.”

“Okay,” he says. He bites his lip, and she knows he is eager to ask where she is going.

But she doesn’t tell him.

“All right, angels,” she says, and her children look up from their coloring. “Mummy’s leaving now. Be good for Amorette and Appa, all right?”

“When are you coming back?” Avery says.

“After dinner.”

“Will you tuck us into bed?”

She smiles at Nicky and moves over to the table to tuck his hair behind his ears. “Do I ever not tuck you into bed?”

He laughs, a rolling sort of giggle that never fails to get a little laugh out of her as well. “I’ll be back soon,” she promises, and bends down to kiss each of them on their heads. Ollie reaches up and kisses her on her cheek, too.

“Dinner’s already in the fridge,” she says to Amorette.

“Go,” she says. “We’ll be fine.”

She nods at her and looks to Cassian, still sitting at the table. He meets her eyes.

“Well...see you later,” he says.

She swallows. Nods once. And turns to leave.

---

November 9 - Year of

He did not make a habit of watching her outside of the house. He was busy, after all. Rebellion was thick in the air of the neighboring camps, and even in his own he could feel it. That left him with more than enough to do, and that wasn’t even counting all Velaris had for him. So he did not need to spend any extra time worrying about and chasing after Nesta Archeron.

So he just checked to make sure she wasn’t getting into any trouble. Just stopping by her shop--not going in, just checking.

He wasn’t sure if what he saw could be classified as trouble.

What he saw...he thought...was that Nesta and Emerie were--there was no other way to say it--friends.

At least two nights in a row, Emerie walked Nesta to his house. And she lived above the shop! He would hear her laugh--Emerie, not Nesta--every now and again at something Nesta would say.

He supposed he should tell Feyre of her progress...but he didn’t want to leave; he’d just gotten back.. So he could just write it in a letter. The next letter he sent--it wasn’t really urgent, was it? And she was busy too....

Yes, he’d send it in his next letter. He would stay here for a while.

---

October 27 - 4 years later

Nesta tries her hardest to empty her mind as she walks. She finds it works best if her head is blank when she arrives at the lake.

She does this slowly, by dissecting everything that has happened to her over the past month, and then pushing it out of herself. This time is obviously harder than most, but she does so anyway: so there was the healer telling her Avery wasn’t getting enough calcium, and then taking them to their first flying lesson, and then the new load of books at the shop.

That was the first half of the month. Easy enough to mull over and then stop.

Then she thinks of Cassian arriving at her door. Meeting the children. Seeing her sisters again. Zeyn bumping into Cassian. Oh, all the forgotten gods, the competition in Chokecherry, how could she forget about that?

The walk is about an hour and a half. Normally more than enough time to clear her head, but now, standing in front of the lake, Nesta feels as though she’s more anxious than ever.

No matter, she tells herself. She has to do this.

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She focuses just on breathing for a few minutes. In and out. She doesn’t need to worry about any of it. She’s just here and now. Herself and the lake. That’s all there is.

Well. Most of the time. This time Cassian is there, right behind her, asking her about the children. And Elain and Feyre, a little behind him, and Zeyn is there, and Emerie and Amren, and Amorette, and Adil and Miri and--

Deep breath, she thinks. She closes her eyes tighter and tries to ignore her restlessness, tries to push past in and reach deep inside herself and pull out that thing.

Power. Magic. Abomination. The Cauldron. Death. Whatever it was that festered inside her, that she stole and refused to give back and now desperately regretted it...she grabs onto it and pulls.

Pulls as hard as she can. From deep inside of her--her soul, her core, whatever. It puts up a fight as it always does, but she pulls harder because she knows she can win. She does it every month.

It reminds her of childbirth, in a way. A miserable tight pain, then like being ripped in two, and then...relief.

Only briefly, now. Because now she holds the pulsating, living thing in her hands...and without opening her eyes...she hurls it as far away as she can, into the lake.

She only opens her eyes when she hears the splash. She does this every time, to scared to see what it looks like. If it’s really there.

Nesta wipes her cheeks of her tears. She’s never sure when she starts crying, and she’s not entirely sure why, but she does.

She checks her watch. She’s been here for an hour and a half, the same time it took her to walk here.

“All right,” she mumbles to herself.

There’s no reason to walk back. She cannot winnow, exactly, but she has her own method of traveling. It’s rather clumsy, but far easier right after her ritual at the lake. Her magic is more controllable after she rips most of it out.

She can feel it inside her, quieter. She’s never really learned how to deal with it, so she just...figured it out. It’s not graceful the way she’s seen High Fae use their magic, and not sleekly brutal like how Illyrians wield their power, but it works.

She has no one she’d trust enough who could be of any use with finding out the intricacies of...whatever it is. She did, once--but that relationship is dead, died long ago. Before she even arrived in Illyria.

Her travelling is easier by trees. She leans against one and closes her eyes again. Summons black whips from the ground--she can pretend they’re roots, that’s what makes it easier--and feels them curl up around her legs. They yank hard on her, and she opens her eyes, and stumbles a few feet into one of the parks in Sugar Valley.

She’s back. She rubs her chest and breathes deeply. She doesn’t like her winnow-alternative, but she needs to get back home.

“Good evening, dearie,” says someone behind her.

Nesta turns. Aysel, one of her neighbors. And the biggest gossip Sugar Valley has. “Hello, Aysel.”

“Out on your own, then?” she says, in a would-be casual tone.

“Yes,” she says. “Just for a bit.”

The people of Sugar Valley know she leaves at the end of each month to somewhere else, but none of them know exactly where, and only Amorette, Zeyn, and Adil know what she does.

“Good, good, dearie,” she says, cheerful. “A lady’s got to have some alone time. Makes you a better mother.”

Nesta smiles briefly. “I was just heading home, actually.”

“Oh, I’ll walk with you,” she says.

Nesta sighs inwardly. She normally likes Aysel. She didn’t when she first got here--didn’t like anything much, when she first got here. Aysel is always good for keeping people in the know, and Nesta once cared about the comings and goings of people in her human village, and it’s nice to have a cup of strawberry tea and hear who said what and so forth from Aysel.

But it’s not particularly nice when she knows that she and Cassian are the most popular topic of discussion lately.

Aysel’s miserable at being discreet. “So, I heard you’ve had some visitors lately.”

Nesta can’t help but laugh a little to herself. Years ago this would have irritated her beyond belief, but she’s too fond of Aysel to be properly angry. “A few,” she says.

“And?” she prods.

Nesta sighs aloud this time. “You know, Aysel, there are some people I need to discuss it with first. I don’t want to hurt them.”

“Oh, of course, dearie,” she says hurriedly. “No, I understand. I was just telling Madam Sabina, she was telling me about Jale--you know, Jamal’s waitress? Well, she was saying she had seen her at Samir’s....”

It’s easy to walk alongside Aysel. Nesta nods and chimes in where she’s needed. She keeps her mind focused on how she’s going to have to have a conversation with Zeyn and Cassian and Adil and probably her sisters, too.

And with her step lighter after her trip to the lake, the tasks still seem daunting but nothing she isn’t capable of.

---

November 9 - Year of

When Nesta arrived home, he was waiting for her in the living room.

As usual, she looked at him only for a moment before moving to push past him to go to her room.

“Wait,” he blurted out, before she could leave.

And she paused.

He froze, taken aback. He didn’t think it would be this easy; he thought he’d have to plead more.

Although, he mused, he had been pleading for months, really.

“I made stew,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow.

“You could eat with me. I...would like the company.”

There. That was a new tactic. And fitting, he thought. Since she was finally, willingly staying in the same room as he.

She pursed her lips. “I’m not hungry,” she said.

Oh, her voice. He had not heard her voice like this in so long. He felt whatever it was inside him--that thing that he would not name--curl up against it in his mind, try and latch onto it, keep it.

“Join me anyway?” he said, struggling to keep his voice casual. “I meant what I said about company.”

“I’m tired,” she said.

“Oh,” he said. He didn’t want to push her. And he wasn’t sure what pseudo-polite strangers game they were playing, but he was not going to be the one to break the act first, so he said, “Well, next time, then.”

“Sure,” she said.

“Off to bed?”

“Yes.”

“Good night.”

“You too.” And she left before he could say anything else.

He sat back down on the couch. It seemed...the job with Emerie was indeed doing her good. And he thought he had definitely made the right choice in not going straight to Feyre.

Progress with Nesta was slow, but it was real. He only hoped that when she came back to herself she wouldn’t be so angry as to cut him out completely again.

---

October 27 - 4 years after

The children are already bathed by the time she arrives and she gives Amorette a grateful smile, but she only shrugs.

“Cassian wanted to,” she says.

“How...was he?” she says, her voice low so only Amorette can hear.

“He was fine. Antsy. He loves them, you know.”

“I know.”

“He loves you, too.”

She flinches.

“Nesta?” Cassian says. She looks over at him, blood rushing to her face, worried that he heard them from across the room.

“Hi, Mummy!”

“Mummy, look at my drawing!”

“Hi, angels,” she says, and joins them at the kitchen table, next to Avery. She drops a kiss on her head. “Were you good for Amorette and Appa?”

“We were so good.”

“We were!”

“Did you have fun, Ollie?” she says, reaching over and brushing his cheek with her hand.

“Yes,” he says.

“Yes? What did you do?”

“I colored with Appa. And Amorette.”

“And me,” Nicky chimes in. “I also colored with Ollie.”

“I also did!”

“Wow,” Nesta says, smiling down at them. “That sounds very fun, then.”

“Are you going to color with us now, Mummy?”

“Actually,” Cassian says, before she can answer. “I was hoping if I could talk to Mummy for a bit.” He holds his breath as he turns to look at her.

Nesta shrugs a little. “Sure.”

“I meant...maybe outside. For a few minutes?”

Nesta frowns. She looks over at Amorette, who nods.

“All right, come on,” she says. “I want to color, too.”

“Mummy’s leaving again?” Ollie says.

Nesta bends down to hug him tightly. “Just for a bit, darling,” she says. “I’ll be right outside.”

She can see Cassian swallow in her periphery. She lets him lead them out of the house.

“So,” she says, sitting down on the bench she has on her front porch. “What did you want to talk about.”

Cassian sits down next to her. “I wanted...to ask you...if you had thought anymore about your sisters visiting.”

Nesta takes a deep breath.

“Because I have a long-term goal here,” he blurts out. “And--I wanted to discuss that with you. But also I think...I mean, you’ll have to--you’ll agree. You agree, don’t you?”

Nesta rolls her eyes. “Slow down,” she says. “You’ll find I’m...of a clearer mind, after my trips alone. So...relax. What are your...long term goals?”

Now Cassian takes a deep breath. He looks her in the eye and says, “I want us both to be seeing the children daily and for them to be in continuous contact with both of our families. All of our families,” he adds, correcting himself.

Nesta’s lips quirk upwards. “I’d expect a more detailed battle plan from the General Commander of the Night Court’s armies.”

But Cassian doesn’t laugh, doesn’t smile. Instead he says, softly, “I don’t want this to be a war.”

Nesta turns. “It’s not,” she says. “We’re...on the same side. Right?”

“Right,” he says immediately. “And...I think...I know...your sisters are too. I’m not saying that you should forget everything that happened. I’m saying...start here. Not with--Rhys, or...anyone. Just your sisters. Here. Under your supervision. I’ll come too. Or I won’t. Whichever you think is best. But...that’s the only place I know...to start.”

Nesta’s quiet for a minute. She takes a shaky breath. “I know,” she says, “that you love them. And you want what’s best for them.”

“And I am the first to admit that I don’t know what that is,” he says. “I--I didn’t have a childhood to look back on and take ideas from. I only know what absolutely not to do. But...this is the opposite, right? A big family. Two parents. Aunts...and uncles. And cousins. And I know you hate when I bring it up, Nesta, but...having Rhys on their side is a good thing.”

“I do hate when you bring that up.”

“I know. People are quiet here, but it’ll spread. Someone will find out they exist. Feyre’s niece and nephews. And Rhys’. And my children. And yours. We want the risk to be greater than the reward.”

Nesta flinches--the reward. Slaughtering her children. Taking them away from her for the Mother only knew what purposes.

“That’s the part I do know,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing all the time,” Nesta says automatically, without realizing it.

Now Cassian laughs. “Never thought I’d hear you say that,” he says. And it’s quite good to hear him sound...carefree. Teasing. A bit happy.

Because he’s the father of her children. If he’s happy, he’s a better parent.

“I don’t know what my long term goals are here,” she says. “And...what are yours?”

“I told you.”

“No, I mean, yours. Regarding you. Not the children.”

Cassian blinks. “Whatever you give me.”

“Well...what do you want?”

Cassian’s gaze shifts. “I’m not sure,” he says, and she knows he’s lying, but so is she, all the time, so she doesn’t push.

“My sisters...” she says slowly, “can come. For a short visit. Supervised by me. You can come.”

“Nesta--”

“It’s over when I say it’s over.”

“Yes, Nesta, of cou--”

“And they don’t talk about the Night Court.”

“Yes--”

“And they don’t mention anyone they know from there--”

“Yes, Nesta, I’ll let them know. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” she says, a bit sharp. “I’ve thought a lot about this. It’s not for you.”

“No, it’s for them. Ava and Nicky and Ollie. Of course.”

Nesta nods. She doesn’t like it, but she’s not who she used to be. She doesn’t avoid things she doesn’t like. Not where her children are involved.

She hates when he brings up how important a relationship with her sisters, with...his side of the family is, because he’s right. She knows he’s right. She’s not enough on her own.

She can take care of them in Sugar Valley, but she’s relearning the lesson she learned when she crossed into Prythian the first time, when she set sail for Montesere, when she found herself here: the world is a lot bigger than just her own home.

---

Chapter Nine

[fortisfiliae]

Somnium - Part 2 [Sirius Black x reader]

Filia’s celebration fic

A/n: Thank you so much for the great support on the first part. I hope you’ll enjoy this one too! Special thanks to @obscurilicious for beta reading :) GIF is not mine. 

Find the other parts on my Masterlist linked in my bio!

Summary: A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep, in dreams you will lose your heartaches, whatever you wish for, you keep (Cinderella)  

Warnings: curse words

Word count: 1.9k

A hand running through your hair, skin on bare skin, feet touching feet, you found yourself lying in bed, your eyes half closed, drowsy and complete. Wait - what? 

This seemed strangely familiar. You knew Sirius was right behind you, even though you hadn’t looked at him yet; you couldn’t really feel him but heard him breathe in and out slowly. How could you be so sure it was him? His fingers would touch your neck in a second, wouldn’t they? They did. Why did you know that?

Soon enough you realised you were dreaming the exact same dream you had had the night before, so you jolted up quickly while shielding your upper body with the blanket and turned around to look at Sirius. He was lying on his back now and frowned for a second with his eyes shut.

“What’re you doing?”, he mumbled, eyes still closed before rubbing his palm flat across his cheek.

“I... I’m sitting”, you said. 

“Yeah. I can tell”, Sirius answered and opened his eyes a bit. “But why?”

“Because we shouldn’t be lying in bed together.”

“Is it time for breakfast already, or what?”, he asked as he shuffled to lie on his stomach and buried his face in the pillow.

“No Sirius”, you said and snorted. “You don’t understand. We’re not a couple, we’re just friends. I’m dreaming, this isn’t real.”

He raised his head slowly and looked at you in irritation. “If you want to break up with me you can just tell me, you know. No need to come up with some ‘Ohhh this is all a dream, I’m the ghost of Christmas past’ bullshit.”

“No, I... Okay whatever, forget it.”

Dream-Sirius obviously wasn’t aware of what was going on and if you couldn’t convince him otherwise, you might as well play along. You looked down at yourself and noticed that you were wearing a tank top anyway, so you lowered the blanket from your chest and laid back down, an arm’s length away from him.

He looked into your eyes for a while and asked: “So you don’t want to break up?”

“No”, you said and smiled. Technically you didn’t want to, even if it wasn’t possible to break up when you’re not in a relationship, but that was too complicated to explain now.

“Good”, he said, a tiny smirk on his face. “I’m glad to hear that. And you’re not a ghost?”

“Still not a ghost, nope”, you reassured him, while he reached out to hold your hand but couldn’t grasp it.

“Come closer?”, he asked and almost sounded shy, as he held up his blanket for you to slip in.

Should you? You definitely could, he asked you to. But was it right? Could it even be wrong if it was just a dream?

“Um, okay. If you want to”, you said and shuffled his way.

“Yup”, he said and nodded. “Uh-huh, that’s it, yes.”

Dream-Sirius wanted you close, really close. But he was constructed by your subconscious and you couldn’t believe how desperate it made you look for him. Theoretically, you could do whatever you wanted right now and no one would ever know. You could cuddle, kiss him, or do other things and you were sure Dream-Sirius wouldn’t mind at all.  But it would feel weird. It was one thing to dream of someone without you realising it, but when you actually figured it out and made use of it, it would make you feel like some kind of dream molester. So you decided not to take action and just interact with him, even if Dream-Sirius was really a version of your own mind thinking of him. Merlin, your psyche was problematic.

He pulled you even closer, brought his hand up to your face and brushed a strand of hair behind your ear before he rested his palm on your cheek. Admittedly, it felt good, but his touch was a faint replica of reality. The only thing that felt real was his smile. Those perfect teeth and dimples, the small wrinkles around his eyes when he squeezed them felt so unbelievably real and reminded you of how often you must have studied his face in the past.

“Have you done your homework?”, he asked like he had done in the previous dream.

“Yes. Have you?”

“It’s mostly finished.”

“Don’t ask me about the ducks now”, you said smirking.

“What ducks?”

“Doesn’t matter”, you giggled. “Why didn’t you finish your homework?”

“Well, McGonagall gave us detention for no reason, so we didn’t feel like doing it.”

Oh, an updated part. Interesting. You wanted to try something and hoped it wouldn’t trigger your subconscious to wake you up.

You asked: “What did she give you detention for?”

“She said someone pulled a prank on Filch, apparently jinxed his shoes to have a mind of their own, so he was sliding up and down the corridors for two hours”, he explained. “I mean, I’d love to say this was our work, but we didn’t do it. She just assumed we did, because it was ‘exactly our style of vigilante justice’, as she called it.”

“Yikes”, you uttered. “I think I have a confession to make then.”

“For what?”

“That was me. Filch’s shoes. I did it because he seemed to follow me around constantly. And because it looked hilarious”, you told him.

“You’re kidding”, he said and couldn’t hide his grin.

“I’m not. I wish I was though. Sorry you had to pay for that.”

Sirius suddenly threw his head back and laughed wholeheartedly.  “I can’t believe it. No, I... Hah! That’s amazing!”, he wheezed.

“You seem to be taking that quite well.”

“What? How couldn’t I? It’s hilarious!”

“I thought you’d want to kill me. The looks you guys gave everyone after talking to McGonagall were something else, really.”

He finally stopped chuckling and took a deep breath. “Well, we thought someone tried to blame it on us, but this... This is the best thing ever.”

All of a sudden you started to hear something ringing in the distance and it slowly got louder, so you figured that it must be your alarm clock and it was time to wake up and leave.

“Goodbye Sirius”, you said softly and noticed how everything around you became blurred.

“Huh?”

Painstakingly you rolled over to turn off your alarm clock and sat up slowly. No oversleeping today. Great! The other girls were just opening their eyes as well, so you were pretty sure no one had heard you talking in your sleep if you had even done it again.

When everyone was ready you made your way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. While walking you kept thinking about your dream, how brilliant the human mind must be to come up with a plausible story for things you don’t know the answer to yet. It had taken some puzzle pieces from your memory, the Marauder’s detention, as well as the one time you jinxed Filch’s shoes last week and stuck them together so carefully, you would have believed it on the spot.

“There they are”, Marlene said and pointed to the far end of the Gryffindor table, where the guys were sitting, so the rest of you followed her and sat down with them. Lily took a seat between Dorcas and James, who was already eating next to Sirius; while you sat down opposite him, next to Peter, Remus and Marlene.

Mornings were always pretty quiet, no one liked to talk much before they had some food in their system, so Peter just sent you a sluggish nod, along with a tired smile, raised his eyebrows instead of greeting and handed the silver teapot over automatically. 

You were busy mashing your eggs with a fork when Lily asked: “So, what happened yesterday?”

“What do you mean?”, James asked before he drank from his cup.

“What did McGonagall say? You all looked super pissed afterwards, so I assume it was bad.”

“You tell them Moons”, James sighed. “I’m still mad.”

Remus exhaled a short laugh through his nose and began to explain: “Apparently someone jinxed Filch’s shoes while they were still on him and they dragged him up and down the hallways against his will for quite some time.”

You were glad your mouth was empty because otherwise, you would have choked for sure. You looked over to Sirius without thinking and caught him watching you with a strange expression on his face. He quickly dodged and carried on listening to Remus and Lily.

“Okay so you got caught”, Lily concluded.

“No”, James intervened. “That’s the thing. We didn’t do it.”

“What?”, Dorcas laughed. “But that sounds exactly like something you’d do.”

“That’s what Minnie said as well”, Peter told her.

“But she couldn’t prove it then, could she?”, Marlene asked.

“Nah she couldn’t.”

“So how can she give you detention for it then?”, Lily asked.

“That’s exactly my point”, James growled. “She can’t prove it, yet gave us three hours of detention for it. Merlin, I’m sure Snape has something to do with it. If I find out-”

“Calm down mate”, Sirius said and laughed it off. “We served our sentence, so it’s too late now anyway.”

“You’re telling me to calm down now?”, James asked and shook his head. “You were the one already making revenge plans yesterday.”

“I know, but maybe the person who did it didn’t do it to cause us trouble”, he said and took a bite from his toast.

“Where does this newfound wisdom come from now?”, James asked.

“Shut up Prongs”, Sirius said and grinned as he took another bite.

When everyone had finished their breakfast and went to class, you knew you had to talk to Sirius. You had to know if this was real, if you were really talking to him in your dreams. All this could in no way be a coincidence. How was that even possible? Maybe he knew. 

You went up to him on your way to class and made sure to walk slower than the rest of the group to fall a bit behind.

“Hi”, you said and made sure no one but him could hear you. 

“Alright?”, he said and started to walk equally as slow.

“So... How have you been sleeping lately?”, you asked and could’ve slapped yourself in the same second for it. What a stupid question.

“Um, good?”, he said and gave you a strange look.

“Okay”, you breathed and cringed. “You see, I wanted to ask... Have you had some... Weird dreams lately, by any chance?”

“No?” He frowned slightly, the right end of his mouth pulled upwards. “I never remember my dreams. What are you on about?”

Shit. 

“Oh forget it then”, you said. “I just wanted to know.”

“Are you asking me if I’m dreaming about you, or what?”

“Well, um-”

“Because I’m not, sorry to disappoint you”, he grinned. “I wish I was though, could be fun, right?”

To be continued.

Find the other parts on my Masterlist linked in my bio!

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[hannahazzard]

Nothing Embarrassing About It (Harry x Childhoodfriend!Reader)

Prompt: a Kingsman meeting an old childhood friend on a mission or something.

Note: It’s dooooone, I made it to my deadline. And bigger than expected. It’s sadly not as good as I’d hoped, but all all I can bring up now. So, hope you can still enjoy it. Usual warning, not my first language, don’t have a beta, blah, you all know the risk of continuing. 

Third and last childhood friend story :) Eggsy is here and Merlin here

Nothing Embarrassing About It

“Come on, beautiful. You know you want to.“

You barely stopped yourself from gagging, but couldn’t help the eye roll. How some people could be so stupid was beyond you. You were supposed to meet your friend here at the bar, but sadly she’d had to cancel last minute. As you’ve already been here, you’d figured a drink wouldn’t hurt. Well, mistake. Sitting alone at a bar was obviously an invitation for every idiot to come over to you.

“Look,” one last time you would try it politely. “I’m sure you are a nice guy and all, but I just want to finish my drink in peace, and then go home.”

“I could join you,” the man winked and made to reach out to you. Right, that’s it. You were about to ditch polite and tear into him, when the hand heading your way was stopped by another. A new presence came up beside you.

“I would really appreciate it if you could stop bothering my fiancé.” A cool, deep voice told your would be suitor with a no-nonsense tone.

Great, another one. Pretending to be your fiancé; well, at least he’s original. You relaxed and turned back to your drink, letting the two males fight their testosterone filled battle of wills. The winner was clear pretty fast. The man that had been annoying you pulled his wrist free quickly and backed away with a muttered, so not sincere, apology. As you expected, the newcomer didn’t leave, but sat himself boldly on the stool beside you. Well, time to break another heart tonight. You took another sip of your Martini, the last thankfully, and turned to him.

“Listen, I appreciate the safe – even though it was not necessary – but whatever it is you want, I am not interested. So thank you, but I’m heading home now.” You made to stand and grab your purse, but stopped, surprised, when the man just chuckled.

“Oh, I was not my intention to safe you. Just him from an - albeit well-deserved - bloody nose. I know how short your temper can be, Y/N.” Your eyes widened at the use of your name and you sat back down. “Also, I take offense. After all, you pledged yourself to me years ago. You could at least let me buy you another drink.”

“What the-.” Stunned by the words, you finally did the guy the courtesy of looking at him. Or rather looking him over, really. Grey, pinstripe suit that fitted him perfectly, a white shirt and dark tie. He was tall, and lean. Then you looked at his face and fuck. It’s been years and you’ve been so young, but you recognized him instantly. You gasped and covered your mouth with your hand. Without thinking you propelled from your chair and into the strangers arms. No, not a stranger.

“Harry.” Your voice was trembling and his name came out in a half laugh, half sob. You would feel bad about squeezing him so tight, but he was holding you just as strong.

“It’s good to see you, Y/N,” he spoke softly into your ear. Harry didn’t complain that he had to hold all your weight, or that a few tears leaked down his neck, where your face was pressed. You’ve had some shitty years behind you. Meeting someone positive from your past – meeting Harry – again was a beautiful blessing.

Finally you pulled back a little, wiping at your wet eyes with a bright smile. “God, Har. Look at you. Look at me! It’s been so long.” You gushed and, you couldn’t help it, cupped his face to press a kiss to his cheek. “I have really missed you.” He smiled at you. There were dimples and laugh lines now, but you could swear it was the same boyish smile.

“I have missed you, too.” Harry took your hands in his and squeezed a little. “You look stunning,” he eyed you in your favorite evening dress. “Who would have thought you’d grow into your gangly limbs.”

“Hey,” you protested with a snort and pulled one of your hands free to box him playfully. “You are just still sore that I was taller than you, for one whole year.”

“You wish, lady. Everybody who said that just didn’t want to break your heart.”

“Your ridiculously styled hair didn’t count.”

Harry opened his mouth, but closed it again with a fond shake of his head. “Let’s agree to disagree, then.”

“And look for evidence to prove our case later.” You finished for him with a grin. “You’re on, Hart. I still got pictures and everything.”

“As competitive as always,” he chuckled, then lifted your hand to kiss it. “Now, I’m here with two friends, one of them probably staring at us with open curiosity behind me.” You looked over Harry’s shoulder and sure enough there was a table with two men. One tall looking, bald gentleman, who was mostly minding his scotch in front of him, and a younger man, with brown hair, staring in your direction. You grinned and waved. He immediately waved back happily, but quickly looked away when Harry turned to look as well.

“Cute,” you chuckled.

Harry shook his head with a smile and continued. “Would you like to join us? Or are you still adamant about going home?”  

“They won’t mind?” You would love to spend some time with Harry, but you really didn’t want to intrude.

“Quite the opposite, I’m sure. Especially Eggsy will be happy to interrogate you.” Harry waved away your concern. He held his arm out for you and let you to his table. Both man stood until you were seated, really not seeming to mind your presence at all.

Introductions were made quickly, and soon you were talking about your new drinks. You had to hand it to Harry, for all the trouble both of you had to find friends as children; Harry has now snatched himself two wonderful people. Both charming and polite and funny in their own respective ways. It was easy to talk to them. After about an hour, and another round of drinks, Eggsy finally exploded with something he must have been barely able to hold in, the way he was vibrating.

“So! Harry as a child. There have to be stories?” he looked at you expectantly. “To prove that he wasn’t.. born like that?” he added as if to clarify.

“Like what?” Harry asked the younger man with a raised eyebrow.

“Like a proper gentleman, sir,” Eggsy reassured hastily, making the round laugh, himself included.

“Well,” you leaned back and pretended to think, looking mischievously at your old friend. “I guess there were some occasions.” You wanted to make him squirm, sadly he just smiled softly back at you. Okay, so teasing didn’t work. “but it wouldn’t be very lady like to tattle, sorry.”

Eggsy groaned, dramatically disappointed and by the looks you shared with the other men, you agreed that the Eggsy maybe had enough to drink for tonight.

“Go ahead, dear. There is nothing about our time together that I am embarrassed about.”

Eggsy perked up immediately.

“Really?” you raised a brow and leaned forward on the table. Challenge accepted. “What about the time you caught a ball from me with your eye and then said at school that you were brawling with people twice your size?”

“Learned to duck that day.” Harry shrugged, unconcerned.

“And when you fell into our pond and had to walk home in one of my dresses?”

Eggsy snorted and even Merlin couldn’t help but grin.

Harry just waved a hand dismissively. “Please, you know I had the legs for it.”

“When you lost a bet and had to dye your hair red?”

“You can only know it’s not your color if you’ve tried it.”

It continued for a bit, Eggsy was positively beaming, Merlin looked like he was imagining everything vividly, but Harry still looked so damn content. Time to pull out your last ace.

“When your first kiss happened to be with annoying Lydia Kalof?”

Here, his face actually did a small twitch.

“She surprised me,” he defended himself with a sigh. “I admit, that was regretful. My first kiss was supposed to be with you.”  

Eggsy chocked on the last dregs of his drink and then slapped the table. “Smooth, Harry.” He coughed.

You felt your cheeks heating up and you knew it had nothing to do with the alcohol. Damn, he was supposed to get embarrassed, not you.

“But I think I saved myself,” Harry said, “by asking you to marry me, not annoying Lydia.”

“Wait, what?” Eggsy asked, shocked. “I’ve heard you call her your fiancé, but I thought it was just to chase away the other guy.”

“No, it’s true. She is.”

“Harry,” your blush deepened. Double damn. “We were kids.”

“I asked, you said yes. I say it counts,” he grinned boyishly. “You finger agrees.”

Of course he had seen your finger. Blushing madly now, you forced yourself not to cover your left hand. “Yeah, well,” you cleared your throat. “It broke when I was nineteen.” You stroked your ring finger, over the tattoo you’d gotten years ago. It was a grey band with a blue butterfly at the center.

When the ring fell off of your finger, it hadn’t really been a surprise. It had been cheap material and you’d worn it for years, every day. Still, you had been devastated. It had been a reminder of your home, good times and most of all, Harry. The decision to get a tattoo hadn’t been hard.

“You made our inion more permanent.” Harry said, reached over the table and lifted your hand again to his lips.

The ‘proposal’ had been made when your parents had been waiting for you in the car, giving you a moment to say farewell to your best friend. Neither of you had been happy about you having to move away. Both of you had been crying and clinging to each other. ‘Getting engage’ had been a childish attempt to be connected forever, you guessed.

Harry and you had never been together in a romantically way, but now, all grown up, you felt your heard speed up.

“Fuck,” Eggsy defused the moment, “if that isn’t the most beautiful fairytale, chick-flick shit I’ve ever seen. I want to be best man.”

You all smiled again, and Harry let go of your hand after one last stroke over your tattoo.

“Well, it’s way past bedtimes, my friends. And I think Eggsy here is drunk enough.” Merlin smiled.

“I’m drunk on love, Merlin.”

“Sure you are.”

It didn’t take you long to sort out your things and head out of the bar. Outside, it was time to say goodbye. You lived just beside the bar and the three men wanted to share the taxi already waiting for them.

It was an extraordinary pleasure to meet you, Y/N.” Merlin said, holding on to Eggsy with one hand and the other he held out for you. “I hope we will again.”

“I’m sure we will.” You shook his hand. “It was good to meet you, t- ugh.”

Eggsy interrupted you by hugging you with enough force to make you stumble. Harry and Merlin reached out to steady you as you laughed and hugged him back.

“Of course we’ll meet again. You’re our bruv now.” Eggsy’s words warmed your heart and your squeezed him one more time, before Merlin pried him off you and went with him to wait in the taxi for Harry.

“You have found great friends, Harry.” You looked at him with a smile, unsure of how to say goodbye.

“I did. However, I hope that we could meet up alone next time. Dinner? Tomorrow, perhaps?”

“I’d love to.” You beamed, happy that he wanted to meet you again. You reached out to hug him again. “Good Night.”

“Good Night.”

Harry didn’t step into the taxi until you reached your door, so you gave him one last wave before heading inside, happier than you’ve been in a long time.