#Percy trying to convince him that he's actually not wife

[vixcupid]

I need someone to use Helios and Perse/Perseis/Persea as a Percy and Apollo trope nowwww

[lady-ashfade]

Yeah, she’s my mom.

Sally Jackson x wife reader x son!percy.

-£ Is this apart of the lore? No. Do I care? Not at all. So forget Gade and have Sally have a good partner. Let Percy have a good step parent. And, because I want her to be my wife.

-£ Warnings: Show and book spoilers, short, “Death”, Demigod luck, everything that happens in the show and the first book but with the reader, my idea of comfort, kinda angst but I’m trying to make this fluffy. Saying this again. Spoilers for the events that will hopefully be in the next two episodes

there was no doubt in his mind that you were meant to be his mom.

when his mother found you he remembered the glow she started to had. you made her so happy and even he could see that at a young age. but the way you cared for him to without a question, letting him cook with you at times and always poke his face with flour. or the time you sat with him when his mom was sick and played with him for hours and you didn’t even bat a eye.

there was always a lovely smell in the air that even he could smell sometimes when he was at school. it was sweet and smelled like every baked good in the world in one place. it brought him comfort. your scent was strong enough to lead monsters away, he didn’t smell like a demigod. the way his mother looked at you, the way you held her and helped out, made him realize that true love existed. and you were meant to be in their lives. to be his mother.

he could remember the first time he actually met you.

“hello there,” you bend down so low to his height, or close to it. the warm smile made him feel welcome, “your mommy says you are special? That’s great, I seem to need a helper in the back. you think you can help?”

he looked up at his mom as he clings to her hand, asking for permission. she gave him a slight nod. he let go and gave you the same look and took your hand. “thanks for letting me borrow your little hero.”

that was the first time and for the rest of the day he didn’t realize his mom was away. the time with you was so special but he quickly needed a nap and he fell asleep on your lap while watching a movie. you were the best babysitter. so every time his mother had somewhere to go he would find himself at your house.

soon after, you moved in with them! It was great since he got to see you all the time now. Then he got enrolled into school and he saw less of you but couldn’t help but count down the second he could see his mom and you.

sally, she was the best lover in the whole world. she was so loving to you. making your heart swell with warmth when you were near her. she had some fire in her and you loved that about her, unless you were on the end of that. there was no life without her.

so you two got married.

years after being sent to school after school, Sally could see how worried you became. and it pained her to never tell you the truth of who Percy was, who his father was, and much more. you constantly looked for schools to fit him and offered to get a extra job just to send him there. but each time she refused because they would be to far away.

but when percy came home. after she got a call from grover. “Dear, I think me and percy need some time to..” she glanced at him as he looked at her confused, “have some time alone.” That’s not how it ever went done. you all did things together.

“Of course.” you just smiled as you always did. understanding. you reached for him and ruffled his hair. “Be good for your mother, got it?” He huffed to fake being annoyed and agreed. he was sad you couldn’t come

if only he knew that would be the last time he saw you for a long time.

the trip to the beach cabin was smooth. him and his mom being normal as always and reconnecting their memories. until the night went south when he started to share his doubts with his mom. that he was broken. he was convinced that everything about him wasn’t normal. it didn’t help when his mom told him the truth of who his father was, and what that made him.

everything was so confusing, Grover turning out to be a goat. Them being chased by a minotaur with underpants, going to a “camp” for half-bloods like him? Yeah, he was probably going crazy.

“Mom!” Percy yelled as he watched his mom reach out to him one last time until she turned to dust in the monster hands. every part of his body boiling with anger that she was taken away. he saw you. how you had just lost your wife too but you had no clue, sitting at home all alone while everything went down.

you didn’t know. that sally was dead, that percy was safe, where he was or his mom. how scared you must be feeling right now. and it took all his willpower to stop himself from buying tickets back home and see you while he was supposed to be looking for the lighting bolt.

when he saw the video of you crying on tv he started to tear up. you defended him from all the accusations that he was involved. saying there was no way your sweet boy would ever hurt his mother.

“If you’re seeing this, come home.”

he almost died so many times. but he had to save his mom, he had to get himself and her back to you.

hades was touched by percy’s actions and  released his mother after everything went down. his mom returned. The manhunt for him resolved. But there was a new war coming, and he was betrayed. And even if he needed to stay at camp for the whole year and train. There was only option he could take.

To go back home.

[littleblueberryartist]

Some future Percy Jackson headcanons :D

- He never grows facial hair. Yes this is partially because I don't like drawing facial hair but also I feel like Percy would just take one look at the mirror, realise that he looks like a splitting image of his dad and then shave the whole thing off

- Percy is the malewife trophy husband in this relationship. Yes I HC him with a job (I will get to that later) but it's about the vibes

Like he literally says this in Greek heroes!

He is the trophy husband to Annabeth's successful girlboss wife and he knows it! He does the cooking and cleaning!! (His mother is THE Sally Jackson so you better bet he cooks dam well too)

And I refuse to believe that he and Sally aren't like super tidy people after living with Gabe. Like ADHD disorganization real and true just like me fr but Percy would not let there be trash or bad smells /anywhere/

- Related to the above Percy does not drink

- Percy took a GAP year actually

- Like yes he does actually try and jump back into school like he does in ToA because he is tired of godly bullshit and craves normalcy. But my guy. That is a semester of content you missed along with current school AND you're still prepping for college AND you're still recovering from the war. Something something he does this as a distraction from everything but also because he genuinely wants to have normalcy but after burning out somewhere through the year he is convinced to take a damn break!!!!

- I think the road trip at the end of ToA can still happen but like, just them relaxing and exploring during the GAP year (also redesigning Olympus is Annabeth's BABY man she's putting that over school + she has worse school records than Percy because she's been year round at camp since she was 7 I don't think school convention matters that much to her actually)

- Anyway they take a well deserved break!! (And get therapy hopefully) So by the time they get to college they are in a much better place mentally <3

- With the accomodations from NRU for his learning disabilities Percy actually ends up doing really well and gets better grades than Annabeth! I am a believer of "Percy is smart it's just that he wasn't properly accommodated and also lacked interest in certain subjects" and "Annabeth is naturally gifted and never learnt to study because she coasts through school and wings her tests" (they're both just like me fr)

- Percy ends up picking Marine Biology as a major because he's not actually sure what he wants to study (he's never gotten the chance to think about what he wanted for his future because of the great prophecy) and thinks that "hey even if it's cliche it'll be easier for me"

Cuz like I understand the excitement of finally going to a school that accomodates you and having hope that you'll get an actual chance to succeed. But also school is still hard and Percy probably just wants to get through it too sjsjsjdj. So he doesn't think too hard on it and goes with the perceived most obvious and easiest option. (Also an option he's most likely to show interest in)

Okay! Rubs hands. From here I start talking about my marine rehabilitation center Percy hcs :) (this hc is heavily inspired by this post! I really looked at it a few years ago and never stopped thinking about it lmao)

- Something something Percy is canonically the kid who used to sneak out at night to help free sea creatures in fishing nets and is best friends with Grover "lord of the wild" Underwood and Rachel "activist" Dare. That boy is an environmentalist.

- He ends up finding genuine passion in ocean conservation and gets a degree in environmental conservation along with marine biology

- A while after graduating, he sets up a marine rehabilitation/conservation center of sorts

- Annabeth, who probably makes it big as an architect pretty soon (at least in the half-blood community) designed the building, Rachel helps to fund the whole thing. Grover, who goes around doing conservation work and setting up sanctuaries to help preserve the wild helps a ton with setting up too

- The center helps out both mythical and regular sea creatures. It also acts as a demigod safe house (something something Hazel + the Hecate kids help to set up wards to keep monsters out and also to shroud the mythical aspects of the place with the Mist)

- I dunno if the staff will be only consisting of people in the know or if there are mortals too but I feel like even though the wards at the center aren't as strong as those at the camps, the prospect of a safe working environment would be pretty enticing to demigods so a bunch of them end up interning there for a bit

- speaking of safe environment I feel like while Percabeth study in New Rome they wouldn't live there. Instead Annabeth ends up building something similar to it at CHB. But rather than a whole city, it's more of just apartments close to camp with various safe houses all over the country because I feel like they'd end up vibing in the mortal world more. (Much like this post!)

- The center holds educational field trips to encourage more people to care about the oceans. (I've been on a field trip to a marine rehabilitation center before, I think it'd be something like that but with a bigger, more advanced facility)

- I actually like the hc of Percy becoming an educator to help kids like him and also go full circle with the whole "why would anyone want to be a teacher for all time" thing with Chiron in TLT. But rather than become a teacher he ends up being an educator and advocator for environmental conservation. Might be invited to be a guest speaker at schools from time to time.

- Oh also he's still a teacher in that Percy teaches swordfighting and canoeing at camp send tweet

[zavbees]

I want to formally apologize for this in advance. This is a mess.

I just want y'all to know. There is now a Hastingsverse. This is what happens when I get high with a friend and we bs our way through brainstorming AUs for We Happy Few. Mainly centered around Arthur and Percy.

(also, I wanna say, Child Gang is always the same in all of these. Child Gang is before the train, and these all diverge off of the train)

The AUs in question:

Act 4: Arthur leaves Wellington like base game, Percy and his wife Evelyn goes to find Arthur in Wellington at the same time as him leaving. Percy escapes with Evelyn, Sally, and Gwen, Arthur finds them outside Wellington. The brothers reconnect, they all move into Evelyn and Percys house, now they're one big happy family with their daughters Gwen and Maevis living on the French countryside. In my head this is canon. No one can convince me otherwise. This is the main one I post about honestly. Can thank @fall0utboi12 for this au being engraved in my brain.

Arthur2: Percy left Arthur on the train. After he starts taking Joy, he basically convinced himself that he is Arthur. By the time the game happens, he's gaslit everyone enough - including himself - that he is actually Arthur. The game plays out like normal, but by the end you learn you're actually playing as Percy, not Arthur. (Also, sidenote, Arthur2 and Sally still kiss. She thinks he's actually Arthur until after he leaves cuz of 'self preservation', then she realizes that he can't be Arthur, realizes she just kissed Percy, and has a minor breakdown. Fun). When Percy leaves Wellington, he finds Arthur, who's now a higher up on some big company. And also a stoner. He lives in a normal apartment even tho he has hella money, and Evelyn lives literally across from Arthur. Arthur/Sally and Percy/Evelyn still happens. They still have their daughters. Can also thank @fall0utboi12 for this.

The Lone Brothers: Technically this is two separate AUs, but basically it's either Arthur or Percy try to leave Wellington after their brother left, and when they leave they do find their brother, but he's dead. These two are easily the saddest in this group. They must be protected. Ok really you can thank @fall0utboi12 for all of these.

The Wellington Brothers: Percy and Arthur both managed to not go on the train. They lived out their lives in Wellington, perfectly content. And they only leave because of the stuff Victoria was doing and Wellington becoming dangerous due to it. They fully drank the koolaid honestly.

The Train Brothers: They both got on the train and went to Germany together. Probably the most normal out of the group honestly, since there isn't any Joy involved.

[star--joy]

Apple Scent - Perc’ahlia

Percy sits up, careful not to disturb Vex’s body loosely tangled in his. The lack of sun peeking through the window indicates that it’s far before morning, an unusual time for Vesper to be up.  “Is everything okay, Sweetheart?”

“Daddy, it’s Mama’s birthday! We gotta make her a cake!” Vesper replies, trying to tug him out of bed with her tiny hands. “C’mon, c’mon!”

Trying to sort through the fog in his sleepy mind, Percy considers the proposition. Baking is not his strong suit, a fact he had learned years ago when Vex had convinced him to help her for a day at The Slayer’s Cake. Any attempts he and the five-year-old make towards a cake are sure to end in disaster. However, it will likely be a funny disaster, and Vex has always enjoyed laughing at those, so he caves. “Alright, let’s do it.”

-

Prompt: creativepromptsforwriting.tumblr.com/post/630762366625316864

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: None

Words: 1363

Originally posted: 9/20/22

Ao3 link: archiveofourown.org/works/41840049

Percy groans when he feels something poke his cheek, rousing him from the deep sleep that had him captured. Only half conscious, he tries to swat at the offending object, whatever it may be.

“Daddy! Wake up!” a squeaky voice hisses.

The sound of his daughter’s words does manage to pull Percy into a more lucid state as he blinks his eyes open. In front of his face is a blob that he vaguely recognises, even without his glasses, as Vesper’s adorable face. She’s currently poking his cheek rather aggressively. “Vesper?”

“Shh! Don’t wake up Mama!” she snaps. 

Percy sits up, careful not to disturb Vex’s body loosely tangled in his. The lack of sun peeking through the window indicates that it’s far before morning, an unusual time for Vesper to be up.  “Is everything okay, Sweetheart?”

“Daddy, it’s Mama’s birthday! We gotta make her a cake!” Vesper replies, trying to tug him out of bed with her tiny hands. She doesn’t accomplish much. “C’mon, c’mon!”

Trying to sort through the fog in his sleepy mind, Percy considers the proposition. Baking is not his strong suit, a fact he had learned years ago when Vex had convinced him to help her for a day at The Slayer’s Cake. Any attempts he and the five-year-old make towards a cake are sure to end in disaster. However, it will likely be a funny disaster, and Vex has always enjoyed laughing at those, so he caves. “Alright, let’s do it.”

Vesper squeaks with her excitement, which is the most adorable noise Percy has ever heard as he untangles himself from the bed and Vex’s limbs. His wife grumbles a bit, but settles for latching onto a stray pillow instead of him easily enough. 

Their attempts at stealth are relatively impressive as they tip-toe out of the room. As soon as the door is closed behind them, Vesper is racing down the halls with vigor that no child should have so early in the morning. Even Percy, with his fully grown legs, struggles to keep up with her. 

The royal quarters in the Whitestone Castle includes a small, personal kitchen that rarely goes used. As Vesper rushes in, a swarm of dust lifts off the counters. She doesn’t mind, or even notice, as she slams the cabinets within her reach open and searches for supplies, pulling ingredients out seemingly at random.

Percy considers allowing her full creative control, but he doesn’t want the results to actually cause food poisoning, so he steps in when she pulls out two stray limes that have been in the back of the cupboard for gods know how long. “Do you have a recipe in mind, Vesper?”

“Nu uh,” Vesper answers, still grabbing assorted supplies without a care.

A chuckle bubbles out of him. Gods, she’s a blessing. “I’m afraid that it’s rather hard to bake without a recipe, Dear. We’ll need a plan.” Reaching into a cupboard too high for Vesper to reach, Percy pulls down the small cookbook full of recipes Vex had made for The Slayer’s Cake. Vesper crowds around him as he brings it down, snatching the book out of his grasp. “You’re supposed to ask nicely,” he remarks, more amused than annoyed.

“Oh.” Vesper sheepishly looks down to the book in her hands, then back at her father. “Can I have it, please?”

Percy lets her lack of manners slide, knowing that she’s much better behaved in public, at the very least. “Yes, dear. Do you need help reading it?” he asks, sitting down cross-legged beside her and pulling the little girl into his lap with a giggle. 

Vesper nods, opening the book and holding it out so they can both see it, finger trailing along the words as Percy begins to read the first recipe, a cherry cake, out loud.

“Can we make this one, Daddy? Cherries are yummy!”

“I’m afraid we don’t have all the ingredients, Vesper,” Percy admits, for once cursing how understocked their kitchen is. They usually have no problem allowing the servants to cook for them, hence why their own supply is lacking. 

Vesper isn’t put off at all, just flipping to the next page.

Together, they sort through almost half the cookbook before finding a recipe they can hypothetically make: a simple apple pie. It’s not technically a cake, but Vesper is too excited to care about that. She springs up from Percy’s lap and begins rushing around the kitchen to find the ingredients Percy narrates for her.

After collecting everything, Vesper takes the reins. “Okay, Daddy, you cut the apples,” she orders. At Percy’s raised eyebrow, she pauses and rephrases. “I mean, will you please cut the apples?”

Perhaps he should give her a harder time on her manners, but she really is well behaved most of the time. The excitement of Vex’s birthday allows some room for error, he supposes. “Alright, darling.”

Together, they begin work, Percy slicing the fruit while Vesper mixes the ingredients for the filling with enough ferocity that a large amount of it ends up splattered outside of the bowl.

At least they’re only pajamas, Percy thinks to himself as a large clump of sugary filling flings out of the bowl and onto Vesper’s sleep dress. Uncaring in regards to the ever growing mess, Vesper continues to stir.

By the time they’re ready to put the pie in the oven, Vesper, and the kitchen, are thoroughly soaked in the stuff. Even Percy has his fair share of it scattered across his pajamas, and a thick glob in his hair that’s going to be a nightmare to wash out. Still, the pie manages to look relatively impressive for their skill set.

“How much longer, Daddy?” Vesper questions, after they’ve put the pie in to cook and Percy has corralled her into washing up a bit. They’re currently on the couch, him working through the sticky tangles of her hair with a comb and bowl of water. 

“Five minutes less than the last time you asked,” he answers fondly.

She whines. “But I’m ready now!” 

“I’m afraid I can’t speed up time, Darling. You just have to be patient.” The words make her pout, especially when he works at a particularly difficult knot in her pale hair, pulling painfully at her scalp. He presses a kiss to her forehead in apology. “But it will taste very yummy when it’s ready, and Mama is going to love it.”

That cheers her up. “Yep! And it smells really good!”

Indeed, the sweet scent of apple and cinnamon is thick in the air, making both their stomachs grumble. Apparently, it’s even strong enough to do the same to Vex, even in her sleep, because the door to their room opens not long after as she wanders out in search of the source. 

“Mama!” Vesper cries, springing up from Percy’s lap and leaping into her mother’s arms. “Happy birthday! Me and Daddy made you the bestest pie in the world!”

“Oh? Is that what smells so wonderful?” Vex asks, eyebrow quirking when she goes to stroke Vesper’s white hair back and finds a sticky spot. Her gaze falls on Percy, who just chuckles. 

“Mh hm! ‘Cause you’re the bestest Mama and so you deserve the bestest pie.”

“Well, thank you very much, Darling. That was sweet of you,” Vex coos, scooping her daughter into the air and heading over to the couch to join her husband.

“Happy birthday, Vex,” Percy greets, standing so he can press a chaste kiss to her lips. 

As a response, she just shoves him back down onto the couch before joining him, curling into his side with Vesper cradled between them. “Thank you, dear. Both of you.”

They cuddle together until the pie is ready, and then some more after that as they each enjoy a slice. It’s a bit too sweet, leading Percy to believe that Vesper had managed to sneak in some extra sugar when he wasn’t looking, and the crust is annoyingly flakey. Still, they eat the entire thing without complaint and it’s clear from the wide grin that never slips from her face that Vex is having a very happy birthday, indeed.

[milfmacbeth]

whats your favourite corruption arc? got any recs per chance ? 👀 even if its a fic or something maybe

thanks for asking!

ok so i wouldn't call all of these "recommendations" but these are the ones that stuck with me personally. (this is a fucking novel so i'm putting it under a cut)

in no particular order:

billy shakespeare's macbeth. there's just something so sexy about committing regicide because your girlboss wife convinced you to and then spiraling into paranoia and insanity

percy de rolo from the first campaign of critical role/the legend of vox machina. so, the first critical role campaign is set in a medieval-ish world but percy is an inventor with more of a steampunk aesthetic. in the story, he invented the gun to get revenge on the people who murdered his family. with the help of a demon that's possessing him and eating the souls of everyone percy kills with said gun. this one is especially fun since during the first arc, percy is this quiet supporting character in the background and then the briarwood arc starts and percy shows an aspect of his character that the fandom has lovingly dubbed "no mercy percy" (coincidentally, this is where the story really kicks into gear and gets going)

goethe's faust. this one is not a rec. do not read goethe's faust it is an absolutely incomprehensible 19th century german play that no one except high school students who got forced by their teachers has actually read. that being said, i fucking love it. it pretty much laid the groundwork for all subsequent deal with the devil stories. mephistopheles is one of the most characters ever (bisexual icon and also breaks the fourth wall which is wild considering he's from the 1800's where deadpool-esque talking to the audience was less of a thing than it is now), and faust selling his soul for knowledge and earthly pleasures is pretty enjoyable too.

lucifer (particularly the paradise lost version). fallen angel who got cast out of heaven for rebelling against god and is now trying (and succeeding) to drag humanity down with him because it's better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. gotta hand it to the christians, their lore fucks. (although their holy book really, really doesn't)

light yagami. this is less of a corruption "arc" than a corruption "2 episodes" but death note is still an amazing story. i watched death note for the first time when i was like 15 and less well-versed in media analysis than i am now (we all start somewhere) and having a villain protagonist just blew my fucking mind. (what do you mean the protagonist doesn't have to be a good guy? is this allowed?)

yarvi from joe abercrombie's shattered sea trilogy. don't really have much to say about this one and the books do have some issues (like that horrendous twist in the third book that made everything more boring) but all in all, the books are enjoyable and yarvi turning from "morally grey protagonist" to "literally worse than the enemies they're fighting" was pretty cool

fenrir from norse mythology (i don't know if he should count but i'm including him as an honorary mention. also, disclaimer that this is mythology so this is one version of about 50.000 and none of them are "more correct" than others). the thing that gets me about fenrir is the self-fulfilling prophecy of it all. when fenrir was a puppy, odin and the other gods were initially on friendly terms with him until odin got a prophecy about how fenrir was going to devour the moon, kick off ragnarök and kill him. so he chains fenrir up. however much time passes and the inevitable happens. fenrir, now a fuckhuge wolf, is pissed and rightfully so. as a harbinger of the end of everything, he (to the surprise of no one) devours the moon and kills odin. why? because he's angry at being unjustly imprisoned. it's one of my favourite stories because no one escapes their fate, not even gods and things could have been so different but they aren't, they can't be. this could've been easily avoided. this was inevitable. i am so normal about this.

and last but not least... the archivist corruption arc that lives in my head but never actually happened. it has been a year or so and i'm still coping and seething about the wasted potential that was the entirety of season 5 of the magnus archives. the archivist should've had a corruption arc and i will die on this hill. fight me, jonny sims.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Son of none

Based off this post: Aka Percy Weasley was abandoned by his family and I don’t think they realised just how much danger an 18 civilian blood traitor son would be when stuck behind enemy lines. Well never fear, a fic is here as if I don’t have any other drafts...any whoooo

@transparentfreakpursepanda

Warning for blood, torture, self loathing. Mentions of bullying and neglect. Cursing.

(Also while writing this I was listening to Polaris by Natewantstobattle and...yeah if you want more angst while reading this listen to them and think of Percy :)  )

Percy deserved this.

Knowing that didn't change things. It didn’t make it easier to make it duck past the office that had once belonged to Barty Crouch Sr without feeling dread and greif. As harsh as the man could be and that he had not bothered to learn Percy's name... Percy still mourned his loss. For all that he was, Barty Crouch Sr had been a good man.

Life at the ministry taught him quickly, that kind of wizard was few and far between.

He wondered if the look Barty Crouch Sr had shared with his son before his death wax the same his father had shared with him the day he left.

Maybe it wasn't wise to compare yourself to a deranged murderer, but if that's the kind of wizard his family thought he was...

"Weasley"

It was stern, drenched in spite that was not unlike his old potions professor. But sadly even Snapes treatment of him in class did not hold a candle to what was happening now.

Percy lifted his head, it felt heavy. Infact all of him felt that he was on fire. The figure infront of him came into focus, not that Perch could quite recall his name. Edward? No that didn't seem right. Not Edward was his wand in hand and looked very annoyed, his dark mark was on full display.

Percy became very well aware in that moment that he couldn't move. He was bound to a chair in a room that looked very much like a cellar. He was still in his ministry robes, though they were dirty and tattered and stained in something.

It took Percy longer than he should've to realise it was his own blood. Not that he knew where he was bleeding from. "You Gryffindors and your bloody stubbornness" sneered Not Edward, he was a broad man, towering over Percy.

"You're wasting my time, and yours of you don't hurry up and tell me where your family is hiding." Percy shook his head, defiantly even if his body protested at the sudden movement. "Like I said before, even if I did know, I would never tell you." 

And than Not Edward would shout profanities all the while using his subordinates to use Percy as target practice till he passed out. That had been the cycle for... Well he wasn't sure for how long. Apart from the first time when Percy had weaved a convincing story about the family heading to Romania to hide away with Charlie...a whole false hunt that ended with the brand he now had on his arm. 

But this time was different.

Not Edward smirked "thought you'd say that, no matter. We've found out how to get there attention, and they'll hand themselves over." Percy laughed, it was a strangled and it sent another wave of pain through his body.

Not Edward was still smirking, in fact if anything his confidence grew. "And better yet, you're going to the bait that brings them here." And that stopped Percy laughing at once, he was quieter. "What makes you think they'd come" the words were barely above a whisper that echoed throughout the room.

Not Edward (Percy really needed to learn this man's name for his own internal monologue's sake) rolled his eyes "don't pull that on me, you Weasely's are more attached than a bunch of grapes. Rest assured, they'll be coming one way or another."

With that he left. Percy tried not to think about the fact a death eater had more confidence in his families arrival than he did. His mind wandered to the day he left, guilt pooled in his stomach. No amount of head trauma would erase the disgust and rage in Arthur’s eyes, Percy knew at that moment he had lost all right to call the man father. 

He could never look him in the eye again, he couldn’t even look himself in the mirror without seeing him staring back. His mothers eyes haunted him, she’d been the only one to try to reach out but he had slammed that back in her face. Not that Percy should have been surprised, he’d always been a parasite. 

If anything they must’ve been relived to be rid of him. 

They wouldn’t come, he knew that. Than why did his heart race, did tears threaten to fall and his stomach churn at the thought? Percy thought of his siblings, young and old...they wouldn’t have given him a second thought. Fred and George would mourn the loss of their favourite target, but they would move on they all would if they hadn’t already. 

For Percy though, this was the end of the line. 

_______________________________________________________________

Weasley family dinners were always something else, Bill knew this better than most. He smiled to Fleur who sat at his side, amusement on her face as they both watched Molly do as she does best. It was organised chaos at its finest, and while Shell cottage was a far cry from the Burrow, somehow it all came together. Harry was laughing at a story Ginny and the twins were telling, Charlie and Hermione were actually helping Molly along with Arthur. 

But even with how familiar it was, it was missing a certain brother rolling his eyes at the story and telling the true ending to the annoyance of the twins. Who would than direct the others to helping out with dinner to there mothers amusement. 

Percy. 

Ever since the watch, a muggle watch at that had arrived on his wedding day, with no name for the sender but only Bill’s name signed by an all too familiar handwriting...Bill hadn’t been able to take his mind of his little brother. His absence at his wedding and just seeing him around the house stuck out like a sore thumb to Bill. He wasn’t the only one either, he could see how his Mum would pause her eyes searching before looking down and moving onto something else.

Much like now when she put down the plates and realised that she’d left a little extra to the side. “Mum, I get that you miss him but you can’t keep doing this. Percy’s not coming back” the first to say it was Charlie, his voice soft like he was talking to an irate dragon. “Good riddance” that came from Ginny, in that whisper that wasn’t even trying to be quiet. 

Instantly Molly became much like a dragon. “Ginevera Molly Weasley, don’t you dare speak about your brother like that!” She yelled, hot tears burning in her eyes. “Molly...” Interjected Arthur, putting a calming hand on his wife’s shoulder “you can’t blame her for her anger. Come on, let’s dig in.” And that should have been the end of it but Molly turned to him, her own temper boiling. 

“Don’t you start, Arthur. Don’t you tell me I should be sat eating dinner while my son is out all alone.” She spat. “Mum, it’s fine Percy’s probably having high tea with the new minister, talking about the importance of  cauldron bottoms” snickered Fred, “pfft yeah, just sat around telling the dark lord about his book report” agreed George. Bill frowned, as did Fleur but that was nothing compared to Molly. 

Her gaze hardened and the twins shut up instantly, they’d never seen her this mad. “I dont care if you hate him, I don’t care if this isn’t my home...you speak of my son following HIM, get out of my sight now.” She said, slumping into a nearby chair. Bill stood up, putting his own hand in his mums which she took gratefully. “Percy may be the most ambitious lion around, but he wouldn’t join you know who. He left to join the ministry because that's what he believed in, death eaters isn’t even in the equation.”

And Bill meant those words. More than he ever thought he would. 

“Though is there any difference between the death eaters and the ministry anymore?” Asked Harry, the place was filled with them after all. “Yeah? Might be but they’ve kept the employees, not that I know what’s going on in there anymore.” Said Arthur, adding his 2 galleon’s into the mix. “And there not going to take kindly to a Weasley” Said Hermione, making everyone look down as if they hadn’t just realised that. 

It didn’t matter if Percy had disowned himself, his family was very much publicly fighting the people he was now stuck with. 

And that was when fate decided to be extra cruel and the radio burst into life. 

“Greetings from the Ministry. Our daily transmission has already been received today but we have an exceptional treat for the wizarding public. We will be instead hosting an interview with one of our newest employees, give a hand folks to Percival Ignatius Weasley.”

Everyone in the room froze, and yet Ron who was the only one of the family minus Fleur not to speak, ran to the radio and put the volume as loud as he could. 

“Say hello your family, Percival.” Taunted the voice, it was very gleeful as it spoke. No response was heard. “Oh, silly me I forgot how many hours you young people work, not to worry let’s get him up boys.” 

A splash was heard and a shuddering scream. “Morning Percival, sorry do you prefer Percy? Don’t care, lets start the interview. So Percival, how are you finding the ministry?” Everyone sat with baited breathe.

And yet it was there Percy who, through shuddered breaths managed to whisper a “fuck you...fuck you and your ministry”

“Well that is very rude, and here I thought your mother would have taught you manners” “don’t...don’t you talk about her.” Said Percy, Molly broke down into tears and Bill held her close. Unable to tear his gaze from the radio, no one could. 

“What do you want to say them? I’m sure they’ve missed you. In fact, just for you we’ll be hosting a party. And there all invited to the ministry, so long as they bring a certain Mr Potter.” 

There was a silence before “don’t come...don’t. Whatever you do, don’t... it’s fine. I’m fine, I love it here.” He laughed, everyone cringed at the sound he made, as if he was choking. “It’s fine, don’t come...parties are overrated yeah.” The transmission started cutting off, Ron frantically along with the twins tried to get it working. 

They heard “too busy. Don’t come, Harry don’t...stay where you are!” Before the  transmission cut off.

No one could speak, horror was etched into all of there faces. The twins were scrabbling over themselves with wand in hand to track where the transmission had come from. 

The Ministry. 

“We’re going...now” said Molly, standing up. Her tears were gone, grabbing for her wand and coat. “Molly...be rationale, we need to plan this.” Said Arthur, Molly spun on her heel and glared. “I am not going to sit here while those...monsters torture MY son! Planning will take to long, did you hear him Arthur?! Did you hear your son crying out in pain...he doesn’t have long left...” Arthur looked down, unable to respond. 

Molly looked at the rest of the family, her gaze saying it all: You can come with me or you can stay. The first to stand was Bill, closely followed by Fleur who met his thankful gaze with a determined smile. Charlie and Ron were next, grabbing there wands with Harry and Hermione following. Ginny and the twins exchanged guilty looks but stood. Arthur couldn’t look at any of them, he simply picked up his wand. 

“Harry, I understand if you wish to stay” said Molly, he shook his head. “I might not know him well but Percy’s family 2...I cant sit here while you guys go even with the danger.” He replied, and somehow that was all it was, Percy was family...enough said. 

And so the family of lions got up and left, to find the one they left behind. 

_______________________________________________________

Percy was terrified.

A part of him argued that he should be grateful they came at all for him. Maybe it was out of pity, out of ensuring that he wasn't able to be used against them.

Yes, that's all it was. He was nothing afterall, he was merely a civilian in a war.

And yet hearing Molly tearfully and frantically whisper his name. Hearing Hermione yell the counterspell to his imprisonment to Ron who did so perfectly. Seeing the light of spells cast by Ginny and the twins to stun Not Edward... (Who was apparently called Edgar... Eh close enough.)

Feeling Charlie carry him in his arms, mumbling curse words. Smelling Arthur's cologne.

It all felt right. It was warmth that he couldn't remember experiencing. It was enough to lull him to a facade that everything was fine.

But when his wounds were healed and he saw them all looking at him... Percy knew he had to shelf that dream. "I told you not to come" was the first thing he said, averting his gaze. (Couldn't look them in the eye)

"And you must've lost a few screws if you thought we wouldn't" said Bill, meeting Percy's gaze. "You shouldn't have" is all he replied. "And what, let you be killed by the ministry?" Gaped Ginny. Percy shrugged "wouldn't have made much difference, you've only gone and put yourselves in more danger."

"Are you... Are you fucking with us right now?" Asked Fred, incredously. "No, im too busy ranting about cauldron bottoms to do that." And if Fred paused, Percy didn't see it.

Seeing as no one was getting anyway, Bill sat beside Percy who immediately felt on edge. "Thanks for the watch" he said simply. Everyone blinked in confusion and than realisation as no one has known where Bill's new watch had come from. Percy smiled faintly "You're welcome, reminded me of you."

"Although, I do wish you could've gave it in person" continued Bill, testing the waters. Percy surprised him by shaking his head "no you wouldn't have. It was your day, I wasn't going to ruin it." Bill frowned "is that what you think?" Percy shrugged again "it's what I've been told."

"You are way to chill after being tortured" said Charlie, Percy looked at his bandaged arms and snorted. "Eh? It's nothing new. That guy was just there for the theatrics, sadist if you ask me." Charlie raised an eyebrow "nothing new?" Percy nodded "yeah, what you think the ministry that's so far up Voldermorts ass would allow me to work there without some 'interviews'."

Everyone paled.

"But than why stay there?" Asked Arthur, Percy froze. Steeling himself, switching from calm to panic to calm in an instant but they all saw. "I've got business there, things I need to get done and ensure are done. Speaking of which, thanks for the rescue but I should be off."

He didn't belong here. Not anymore.

"Percy, you can stay." Said Molly, already standing up to get his room prepared. "No, I can't. I have work, I have a duty... And I'm no longer part of this family." When he said that, Percy felt like the wind was knocked out of him but stood his ground. "Percy... That's not true.."

Percy met Arthur's gaze, his father's eyes. "Really? Than pray tell why did no one tell me you were all in hiding... Or a warning? And don't say it was impossible because I managed to send a parcel to a location I didn't even know about nor knew existed."

No one could answer that.

"I'll be off, and don't worry I won't tell them anything. Just do what you do best, and leave me alone." Arthur managed to grab Percy's wrist though he hissed in pain and pulled his arm back like he'd been burnt. "Don't.. Touch me, Arthur Weasely."

Arthur recoiled, Percy looked away. "I spent my whole life wanting to be someone you could be proud off...I listened to all the critism and yes I was a prat. But the moment I made my own choice you already made me aware I didn't belong in my own house. I’m sorry...that I’m not athletic like Ginny, I’m not smart like Ron or as successful as Bill and Charlie, I’m not a hero like a Ron or fun like Fred and George. That I’m just plain ol prat Percy.”

He began to walk away. Just like he did before.

"That choice was against following Dumbledor, turning against the light." Said Molly, wanting him to understand. Percy laughed, with no humour at all but glaring hard. Rage emanated from him.

"I'm sorry if I choose not to stand behind an old coot who routinely sends an abused boy to his abusers, who nearly got 3 11 yearolds killed because he wanted to weed out a possibility. Who nearly got thousands of children killed and did nothing to save Ginny with the chamber. The man who wouldn't give an innocent man a trial and got him sent to the worst prison for 12 years... Who put teenagers in a death game and let an underage kid join because why not. That man is a monster and I refuse to follow someone like that. But no that means I'm blindly following authority." He sneered, staring at them all.

"And the ministry? Because as corrupt and fucked up as it is I know I can do something. That changes can be made in the systems to benefit everyone, Dumbledor is someone who breeds child solider’s and let's a known abuser teach at his school and somehow I’m the only one who isn't okay with that."

And with that Percy left, no one knew what to say. They simply sat in silence, absorbing everything they just heard. Ginny thought about how Percy had profusely apologised after she was free from the chamber, how he’d made time for her since than. Ron thought of all the times they’d have an adventure and Percy would watch over them like a mother hen. 

Bill and Charlie recalled when Percy would still come to them for help before he started Hogwarts. When they found him bruised and broken from bullies except this was because of them. “He really thinks that doesn’t he...?” Said Fred, George nodded. Neither could smile, guilt pooled in their hearts that they didn’t think he felt like that. 

Molly sobbed for her son who was once again lost and Arthur wondered where he had gone wrong to lose his son all over again. 

________________________________________________

Meanwhile Percy entered a muggle flat in London. Alone again just like he belonged, laying on his bed and looking at the brand on his arm.

'Son of none'

And if that didn't hurt most of all.

Suffice to say they all things to think about for when they’d meet again. 

[pregnant-piggy]

Quidditch Cup

Charlie Weasley x reader

Words: 7.6k 

Warnings: none, it’s a tad long?

A/N: Charlie deserves so much more recognition, he is such an underrated character in the books, films and in fanfiction. I really enjoyed writing for him, since he has so little character in canon there is so much you can do with him

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The whole Weasley household was upside down. The rest of world was still silent and asleep but the Weasleys were awake and running around the house packing the last things they had forgotten. Molly was making sandwiches while checking her children's backpacks. She was looking forward to have a few days to herself. She hadn't had that in a long time. She had planned everything out already; after she sent her oldest three away she would take a bath, she would cook dinner for herself and make something no one else in her family liked.

Arthur was feeling in his pocket every minute, afraid he would forget the tickets he had worked so hard for the past months. He was quite nervous; he never actually did things with the kids without Molly. She was always the one that made sure they were packed and ready to go. Now he wouldn't have Molly with him, but maybe it was better. His wife was stressed out and frankly, so was Arthur. Their children were growing older and had to make important life-decisions. Molly and Arthur tried to help them as good as they could, but their kids had minds of their own.

Ginny and Hermione were already downstairs in the kitchen eating their eggs and sausages while talking about what they were expecting. Both of them had never been to an official Quidditch match, Hermione being a muggleborn and Ginny yet too young. So they were excited. Hermione was mostly looking forward to seeing wizards and witches from other countries. Of course she had read about them, but now she could see them and maybe even meet them. Ginny couldn't wait to see the game. None of her brothers, but Charlie, knew that Ginny was an excellent Quidditch-player. When her four older brothers were at school she and Charlie, who still lived home back then, would take broomsticks and balls to the field behind the Burrow and play Quidditch until they were too tired.

Ginny had always looked up to Charlie. Though she would never admit it to anyone, he was her favourite brother. He was the only one that treated her like an equal instead of a younger sister. Charlie would talk with her about things her other brothers wouldn't because they thought she was too young to understand. He always was there for Ginny, so when he left to Hogwarts and she could only see him in the vacations Ginny was devastated. And then later when he moved to Romania, Ginny could only write to him and she rarely saw him. She missed him, his bright presence in the Burrow.

And for the boys? Percy, Bill and Charlie were still asleep. They would disapparate to the campsite later in the afternoon. Percy in his own room, probably dreaming about his cauldron-report. He was excited about the Quidditch-match, of course, but it was not the main reason he was joining his family there. He also thought it would be a good opportunity for him to meet with foreign wizards and it would show Mr. Crouch that Percy could maintain a professional attitude even when surrounded by... well, idiots.

Bill and Charlie were put together in the twins' room. They had stayed up all night, helping their parents with packing. Mr. Weasley had asked for their help after seeing his wife break down over a white sock in her red laundry. Charlie and Bill immediately made sure there was nothing their mother would have to worry about. They had gone to bed early in the morning after discussing the weird objects in Fred’s and George's room. It had left them both with tears from laughter and they were happy to be home for a while.

The other four boys in the house were getting dressed, too tired to talk. They tried to cover their half-naked bodies from each other but after Ron fell while trying to put on pants and hide behind his bed they gave up. With the sleep still in their eyes they walked down and were greeted by an enthusiastic Ginny and Hermione. Mrs. Weasley gave them breakfast and they gobbled in their eggs, too tired to talk.

After Fred had run up and down the stairs three times to get everything he needed, everyone was ready to set off. Molly kissed all of them goodbye, including Hermione and Harry, which gave the latter a warm feeling in his stomach. In silence they walked off the Weasley's property and started their way up the hills.

Harry was listening to Mr. Weasley who was talking about the measures the Ministry had taken to make sure everything was well organised. They were walking ahead, followed by Fred and George who were softly talking because they were still tired and they didn't want the others to hear. Ron walked behind his brothers. No one dared to talk to him; his grumpy face was more than enough for everyone to just leave him alone. All the way at the back walked Hermione and Ginny. Hermione was telling Ginny what to expect in her third year and Ginny admitted to Hermione that she wanted to try for the Quidditch-team when the season started at Hogwarts.

After walking for a small hour they reached the top of the hill. They were the first ones there. Mr. Weasley sat down on a fallen tree and looked around happily.

‘Who are we waiting for, dad?’ Fred asked.

‘Mr. Diggory and his son, uh... Sander, Rick, Simon?’

‘Cedric?’ Harry helped Mr. Weasley.

‘Yes, that one,’ Arthur said and looked at his watch. ‘And (Y/N). They must be here in a few minutes.’

A grin spread on George's and Fred's faces simultaneously.

‘(Y/N) is coming too?’ Ginny asked.

‘Yes, her parents didn't want to come so your mother was so polite to invite her. She will be staying with us.’

Harry looked at Hermione who was just as confused. He had never heard of a (Y/N).

‘Uhh, who is (Y/N)?’ Hermione asked.

‘Charlie's best friend,’ Ron answered.

‘They went to Hogwarts together. She lives a little down the road from the village,’ Arthur added pointing at the village below them.

‘Charlie totally has the hots for her,’ George said and his siblings laughed.

‘George!’ Mr. Weasley cried out.

‘Come on, dad! It's true! Whenever she is around he is nervous and doesn't know how to act!’

‘One time he climbed a tree and broke his arm when he fell,’ Fred said to Harry with a big smile. Harry chuckled. He didn't know Charlie very well and he couldn't imagine him acting all though around a girl.

But before Harry could even start to imagine, Mr. Weasley jumped up and spread his arms at Amos Diggory who was followed by Cedric.

Amos was just as the Weasleys carrying a big backpack which was filled with a tent and camping gear. His ‘muggle-clothes’ existed of cargo shorts and a polo-shirt that was two sizes too big, tucked into his pants and everything was held together by a belt. Compared to what other wizards wore it looked normal.

‘Arthur! My friend! How are you, my boy?’ Amos said loudly and Fred and Ron, who were still not really awake, covered their ears with their hands.

Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory started talking. Cedric awkwardly stood next to his father. Fred and George shot him angry looks; they still weren't over the Quidditch-match they lost last year.

The two girls stood a little further away and giggled. Ginny had told Hermione a gossip about Cedric. She had heard from a fifth-year Ravenclaw that Cedric missed his left nipple. Even though they both didn't believe it, the girls bursted out into giggling after Ginny said it.

‘Are we waiting for someone?’ Amos asked Arthur.

‘Yes, (Y/N) should be here any minute now.’

o-o-o

The alarm hadn't even rung yet before you woke up. You hadn't slept all night; you were too excited. It was your first World Championship Quidditch and you were thankful for the opportunity to go.

Your parents didn't want to go and neither did any of your friends. Because you did not want to go alone you had given up. But last week you had ran into Molly and she had invited you over to the Burrow.

You had not seen the Weasleys in a while. Charlie was away to Romania for his job and you felt it was kind of awkward to meet up with his family without him. Plus, you were busy with your job and trying to find your own place.

Right now, you were still living with your parents. Which was fine, but you really wanted to have your own place. Coming home after a long day and then seeing your father on the couch just didn't make you very happy.

When you sat down with Molly for tea, the subject of Quidditch came around and when you told her that you couldn't go to the match, she told you how Arthur could get tickets for it and after a while she had convinced you to go too.

So that was why you stepped out of your door at 4.30 in the morning, when the sun had not even risen fully and the grass around your house was still wet. The road to the Portkey would only take you thirty  minutes. You know you were a bit late. Your mother had wanted to make sure you had everything you needed and she took way too long for that.

After twenty-five minutes of walking you could hear the voices of your travel companions already above you on the hill. Two minutes later you recognised the red heads that were waiting for you. You walked up to then and were greeted by Arthur.

‘(Y/N)! Good to see you! How have you been?’

‘Good. Hey guys,’ you said to the Weasleys. Fred and George both hugged you at the same time and you laughed while petting them on their heads. ‘You have grown! How old are you now, 13?’ you teased the twins and when they let you go they stuck out there tongues to you.

‘Arthur, the Portkey?’ Mr. Diggory reminded the man who was looking at you with a smile.

‘Oh, yes, yes, the Portkey,’ Arthur mumbled and he looked around. ‘It must be here somewhere.’

Everyone started to look for an object that could be a Portkey. For a few minutes it was silent and Arthur got a bit nervous. The Portkey would leave in two minutes, with or without them. If they missed it there would be a big chance they would not get to see the Quidditch-match at all.

‘Here!’ Amos yelled and as fast as they could, everyone walked over to him.

In his hand Amos was holding a blue rubber boot. Everyone stepped around it and put their finger on the boot.

It was silent. Your heart was beating in your throat. Fred's shoulder was against yours and you looked over the boot at Ron. He was staring at the object with sleepy eyes. It was obvious he was still not fully awake.

A sudden pull and everyone got lifted in the air. The world around started to change. The brown of the trees shifted into green grass. The silence of the hill changed for the chatter of hundreds of wizards. The shadows that were created by the trees disappeared and the rising sun shone watery on the field the Portkey landed on.

Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, Cedric and you managed to keep standing, but the rest fell on the ground. Ron's knees smacked on the ground and he rolled over the ground in pain. Ginny did her best not to laugh and her face turned red.

‘Ah, Weasley,’ a wizard in a purple bathrobe over skinny jeans greeted Arthur after he had said goodbye to the Diggories. The wizard explained where they had to go.

Following the instructions the group walked past hundreds of tents. It was very silent; it was of course only 5.30 in the morning and everyone was still asleep. The only other person they saw was a minister that had a quick conversation with Mr. Weasley.

The tents almost looked like normal tents. Almost. Most people made the mistake of putting chimneys or front doors on their tents. It was easy to recognize the tents from the wizards who rarely were in contact with muggles.

But some wizards didn't even consider muggle-looking tents. There were tents that looked like houses, with multiple floors and windows. They passed a small palace with a real tiger in front of the door. There even was one tent that was made completely of glass. Everyone was able to see the old man that was sleeping in his bed.

After a ten minute walk they reached the open spot for the tents. Mr. Weasley dropped his bag on the ground and looked around proudly.

‘The arena is on the other side of the forest,’ he said and pointed at the woods a little further.

Harry curiously peeked over at the forest but he could see nothing but trees. There was no arena to be seen.

Meanwhile Mr. Weasley, with the help of Fred and George, had unpacked the tents. He was looking at it confused while ticking his wand against his leg. His tongue was between his teeth and he was blowing out air with a high pitched sound.

‘Can't we just use magic?’ Fred asked when his father put away his wand. Mr. Weasley shook his head.

‘No, the Ministry specifically asked not to use magic,’ Arthur said and sat down at his knees. ‘This can't be very hard,’ he guessed.

But he guessed wrong. No one had actually ever put up a tent and everyone had their own ideas on how to do it. After a lot of arguing the two tents finally stood in the right place. One for the boys and one for the girls.

The boys’ tent was bigger, but they had to share it with eight people. It had a living room and kitchen, a bathroom and two bedrooms. Bill and Charlie would take one room, Mr. Weasley and Percy the other. In the living room there were two bunkbeds for Harry, Ron, George and Fred.

The girls' tent was smaller and more cosy. The bedroom, kitchen and living area were all the same room. Only the bathroom was separated.

Though both tents had a fully functional kitchen Arthur insisted that they made a fire and do it the ‘muggle way'. He took some wood from the forest and started on a fire. Ron, Harry and Hermione went to get water.

You sat down next to Ginny in front of the boys' tent. She was looking at all the people that walked by. More and more people were waking up and if it hadn’t been clear yet that the campsite was crowded with wizards, it was now. There were people who magically conjured breakfast buffets so big and extensive no muggle could even dream it. Or wizards would start a fire with a flick of their wand, hoping the ministers that were walking all around the campsite wouldn't notice.

Some people were still just wearing wizard's clothes, but most of them wore what they thought muggles wore. A few people managed to look like actual muggles, but the bigger part was wearing awful combinations, which lead to great laughter from you and Ginny. There was one woman in dungarees with nothing underneath it (Fred and George, who had joined you and Ginny, were suddenly very interested in the grass at their feet). The man from the glass tent wore a quilt and tank top. But the most hilarious one was the old man walking around in a gala dress, completely unaware of the looks other people were giving him.

After you and the Weasleys were done laughing and the other three had come back from getting water it was time for lunch. Molly had given her children sandwiches and Hermione shared hers with you. While eating the bread and waiting for the water to boil Mr. Weasley provided commentary about the ministers that walked past their tent.

The more time passed, the more the tension in the air increased. The match wouldn't start for hours and you got tired. You hadn't slept a lot and decided it would be better to catch some rest. So you retreated back to the girl's tent to lie down.

Harry and Ron went to visit Seamus and Dean, who they had come across when getting water earlier. Arthur joined a colleague on a tour around the campsite, Ginny went looking for a friend and Hermione also thought it would be good to get some rest and joined you in the tent. You talked with her for a while but eventually fell asleep.

It was around this time Percy, Charlie and Bill arrived at the tents. They only saw Fred and George who were discussing something in front of the tent. Mr. Weasley came back only a few minutes later and showed his sons the tent.

Percy immediately went away to search Crouch and Bill and Charlie sat down next to the twins. Bill started a conversation with his father and Fred and George turned to Charlie.

‘Why didn't you tell us (Y/N) was coming?’ George asked.

‘Wait, (Y/N) is here?’ Charlie asked surprised. No one had told him that. ‘You mean on this field?’

Fred chuckled and nugded his twin brother. They were seeing the exact same. As soon as Charlie heard your name he sat up straight and looked around the field.

‘No, like in that tent,’ Fred laughed and gestured at the smaller tent next to them.

Charlie's jaw dropped but he recollected himself quickly. He glanced over his shoulder at the open opening of the tent but from his position he couldn't see anything.

Charlie didn't have to wait long to see you though. The noise that was created by the arrival of the three Weasleys had woken you from your nap. You quickly freshed up and left the tent with Hermione.

You were nervous to see Charlie. You hadn't seen him in a long time, only written. And although Charlie had been home for two weeks you hadn't visited him. When you were invited by Molly he hadn't been home and you had not returned.

So when you stepped out of the tent and were greeted by the sun shining in your eyes, the nerves were rushing through your body. Protecting your eyes from the sun with your hand you looked to your left. Charlie was sitting with his back to you and opposite of were the twins seated. When they saw you a grin appeared on both their faces. Something Charlie also noticed because he turned around to see what they were looking at.

‘Hey, Charls,’ you greeted the man sitting at your feet. For as long as he could remember you had called Charlie Charls. So it was normal for him to hear it, but now, when the name rolled off your tongue, Charlie's stomach turned upside down.

He hadn't seen you in so long he had almost forgotten how beautiful you were. Your cheeks were red from the heat in the tent and your eyes were still half closed, like you had just woken up. Which you had, but Charlie didn't know. But the glinstering in them was still the same as always. And when you smiled at him Charlie turned red, almost as red as his hair.

‘Hello, (Y/N),’ Charlie greeted you back and you sat down next to him.

George laughed at his older brother when he turned even more red because you kissed him on his cheek. Charlie sent him a dirty look and George quickly stopped laughing; he still had to sleep in the same tent as Charlie.

‘You want to take a walk?’ you suggested and Charlie happily accepted your suggestion.

The sun was setting and painted the whole campsite orange. It only was an hour before the Quidditch-finale started and people were sitting in front of their tents, eating dinner.

‘So, how was Romania?’ you asked after a few minutes of silence.

‘Wonderful. It was great to work there. They had huge isolated areas for the dragons there. It was amazing to see how they lived in freedom instead of the prisoned sites they have here...’

Charlie continued to talk about how much fun he had had in Romania and you smiled at his enthusiasm. You had always loved it when Charlie talked about his passion. He would light up and the biggest smile would appear on his face. Even though you always teased him about it you loved it.

‘When are you going back?’ you asked when Charlie was done talking.

‘I'm not.’

‘Not?’ you said surprised. ‘But you just said you loved it there!’

‘I know. Romania is great but I missed my family and friends. And you,’ he added and smiled at you. Your cheeks turned pink and you stared at the ground.

Meanwhile you had arrived at the tents of the Bulgarians. The people were louder here and it was obvious they had been drinking. Men were singing songs in a language you didn't understand and women in the most beautiful dresses were running around with pans and plates.

Halfway through the field a man about Charlie's age walked up to you.

‘Hello, gorgeous,’ he said with a thick accent. The man licked his lips and his eyes travelled up and down your body. You took Charlie's hand and stepped back. The stranger followed you.

‘Hey man, cut it off,’ Charlie said. He kept calm but you noticed how annoyed he was by the man trying to get closer to you.

The drunk man looked from you at Charlie. Apparently he was intimidated by him because after staring at Charlie for a minute he turned around and walked away while muttering something you couldn't understand.

‘Let's go,’ Charlie said to you while looking around suspiciously. ‘The others must be waiting for us.’

You felt like that was not entirely the reason why Charlie wanted to leave but you said nothing. With your hand still in his you walked back to the tents in silence.

Back at the tents Fred and George shot Charlie a look when they saw that he was holding your hand. Charlie suddenly let go of your hand and joined his father and Bill at the fire.

A bit confused why Charlie suddenly let go you sat down and stared at his back. When Charlie had said that he would not go back to Romania because he missed you, a weird, warm feeling had appeared in your stomach. You had brushed it off, but when you were holding Charlie's hand the feeling returned. You were not developing feelings for him, were you?

o-o-o

The sun had set and suddenly lanterns appeared on the route to the arena. The atmosphere was tensed. Everyone got their stuff and after Arthur made sure both tents were closed, they set off.

The route was short. The path was lighted by the lantarns that were dancing through the air. George tripped over a tree root and had to grab Fred's shoulder to not fall, but Fred had just placed his foot on a root too and together they fell on the ground. Ginny laughed so hard she didn't watch where she walked and fell right on top of her brothers.

Bruised and hurt everyone arrived at the arena. A guard lead them to their seats. From there they could see the whole field.

On one side of the field the Ireland supporters sat and everything was green there. People were not only wearing green items, some of them even painted there whole face green.

The other side of the arena was orange. The Bulgarian supporters were, just as the Ireland supporters, wearing anything in the colour of their team. They were singing the same songs the men you came across with Charlie sung.

‘This is amazing!’ you said to Charlie who sat down next to you. He looked suspicious to the Bulgarian site of the arena before turning to you and nodding.

‘I'm glad dad got the tickets. He almost didn't,’ Charlie responded.

‘Not because of me, I hope!’

‘No, not because of you,’ Charlie reassured you laughing. You lost yourself in the easy conversation with Charlie while other people filled the seats behind you.

o-o-o

The game was even better than you had imagined before. The seats were in the perfect place and you could see everything. From the goalposts on the Irish side, to the posts on the Bulgarian side, everything was visible.

As the game grew more aggressive, you became more enthusiastic. But you weren’t the only one. With you next to him Charlie felt excited and happy. The walk with you had given him butterflies in his stomach and that was new. His brothers had always said that he liked you but he had always ignored it, thinking that you were just his best friend, nothing more.

‘That’s not fair!’ Ron yelled and Charlie was pulled from his daze. The referee had given Bulgaria a penalty because one of their players had almost fallen off his broom while he tried to avoid getting hit by a Bludger.

Ron and Harry were both standing on their seats and even Mr. Weasley had gotten up to cheer for the Irish players. Hermione was still sitting in her chair but there was a red blush on her face. Ginny was seated on the left, in the chair in front of Charlie and she was staring at the field like she could influence the game with her gaze. Bill and you were both standing and jumping while singing the Irish anthem. Charlie was standing just as the rest of his family, filled with adrenalin. The only one that was sitting decently was Percy. But even his cheeks were more red than usual and it cost him great effort not to act like his family.

‘The snitch! They’re going for the snitch!’ Harry yelled and everyone in the room kept silent. The gasps from the supporters were like one big gasp.

The two seekers were shoulder to shoulder. One final sprint and one of them would catch the snitch.

The whole arena gasped as they watched the two seekers, though it was already clear who had won. Ireland had so much points that even if Bulgaria would catch the snitch, they would win. Nevertheless, the match was still exciting.

The silence went on as the two seekers fought for the victory. It was Krum who caught the snitch. So fast that is was almost invisible, but the shining golden ball in his hand couldn't be missed.

The supporters were silent. Who won? It was Ron who broke the silence in the Top-box.

‘Ireland won! THEY WON!’

And he was not the only one who had realised that. The Ireland supporters hesitantly started to cheer until every one of them knew what had happened. The overwhelming sound they made must have been heard miles and miles away.

Ron and Harry were jumping around, screaming and yelling; Mr Weasley had lost control of himself and was dancing with Hermione; Ginny had tears on her cheeks and her smile had never been brighter; even Percy was cheering. You jumped up from your seat and threw your arms around Bill. Charlie watched you and felt the euphoria fade. Seeing you in someone else's arms made him feel... sad?

But now was not the time to be sad, he told himself. Ireland had won, he had had an amazing day and this game would stay with him forever. Yet there was something itching inside Charlie. A feeling that didn't disappear until you turned to him and kissed him on his cheek.

‘They won!’ you exclaimed with a big smile on your face.

Your arm was still around Charlie and he turned red. But you were so focused on the victory you didn't notice.

o-o-o

The euphoric feeling stayed all night. The walk back to the tents felt shorter than it had felt on the way to the arena. Laughing and talking from the supporters that were staying the night at the campsite filled the air and the ambiance was cosy.

Mr Weasley gave everyone a cup of hot cocoa while they talked about the match in the boys’ tent. Every one was tired but no one wanted to go to sleep. You, Ginny and Hermione gossiped about the Quidditch-players while Ron, Harry, George and Fred discussed the techniques. Mr Weasley was talking with his other three sons.

You kept stealing glances at Charlie, hoping on one hand he would look back and catch your stare, but also not. There might be a small chance that you actually had developed feelings for your best friend over the time, but it didn’t matter. Because Charlie would never return those feelings. He thought of you only as a best friend, nothing more.

But that was not true. Because Charlie did in fact like you. More than he would ever admit to someone. And when you weren’t looking his eyes kept turning to you. There was something about the way your head moved back when you laughed and the dimples that formed on your face that made Charlie’s inside turn upside down. The way your lips parted as you let out a laugh gave Charlie butterflies. Blushing he looked at his empty mug. He had never felt like this before and he wasn’t exactly sure on how to act. Did you like him back?

It wasn’t until Ginny promptly fell asleep at the table, Mr Weasley sent everyone to bed. Hermione and you carried Ginny to her bed after saying goodnight to the boys. You kissed Charlie on his cheek and the pink on his cheeks made you smile as you took Ginny’s legs. Hermione lifted her under her arms and Ginny’s head tilted to one side, almost hitting the iron pole next to the entrance of the tent.

After Ginny was put in her bed, you and Hermione changed and lied in bed too. You talked for a while about the match and how her vacation had been, but it was late and you both almost immediately fell asleep.

In the boys’ tent however, the ambiance was different. George and Fred were laughing at Charlie who had placed his hand on the place your soft lips had touched his skin and was still standing in the very same spot. When he recollected himself he pointed his wand at Fred and shrunk his pyjama pants. Fred let out a loud groan as George erupted in laughing. But George wasn’t spared; Charlie pointed his wand at him too and his pants grew three sizes too big, causing them to fall of his hips and leaving him in his underwear. Now it was Fred’s turn to laugh.

Mr Weasley entered the living room from his bedroom and scolded at Charlie for hexing his brothers, but even he couldn’t suppress a smile. Charlie disappeared into his shared bedroom as Mr Weasley fixed his sons’ pants. Bill was looking at Charlie with a grin as this one was changing.

‘What?’ Charlie asked when he noticed his brother’s looks.

‘Oh, please,’ Bill snorted. ‘Have you finally realised you are madly in love with her?’

‘I’m not madly in love with her!’ Charlie scoffed.

‘So you are in love with her?’

‘I dunno, maybe,’ Charlie muttered as he lied down in bed and pulled up the sheets to his chin. Bill dropped the subject and the room filled with silence. The sounds of Fred and George whispering in the living room came through the door and were interrupted by Ron asking them to ‘shut up’.

o-o-o

It didn’t seem like you slept long before waking up again. At most two hours. But someone was outside the tent, making more sounds then necessary for such an early hour. Ginny and Hermione also woke up and you got out of bed and stumbled to the entrance. After opening it your gaze fell on a terrible situation. A group of people with dark cloaks and masks was walking across the campsite, screaming curses and setting tents on fire. People all around were screaming and running away.

You stared at the view three seconds before quickly turning to the girls and ordering them to put something warm on. ‘Stay here, I’ll be back,’ you said and while pulling your sweater on you hurried to the boys’ tent. ‘Guys! GUYS! Wake up!’

You opened their tent and with your wand filled the room with light. Fred groaned at the sudden light but you ignored him. Mr Weasley came rushing out of his bedroom, pants put on over his pyjamas and wand ready. Percy followed him and the door of the other bedroom opened to reveal Charlie and Bill.

‘Outside,’ you said and ran back to the girls’ tent. Ginny and Hermione, who had looked outside, were looking at you with terrified looks on their faces. ‘Come on,’ you said and lead the girls outside, while looking over your shoulder to check if there were people around. But the people with the masks were far away.

The boys had collected outside the tent. ‘Bill, Charlie, Percy and I will help the ministry,’ Mr Weasley explained as he rolled up his sleeves. ‘Go to the forest. And stay together!’ He ran away followed closely by Percy.

Fred took Ginny’s hand and pulled her with him. George, Ron, Harry and Hermione followed them. You turned around to Charlie, he was watching you and you could see the fear on his face, although he tried to hide it.

Then you did something without thinking. Your brain was still looking around the campsite taking in the damage that had been done, but your body stepped closer to Charlie and kissed him on his lips. Quick, soft and caring. You pulled away before Charlie could even act about it and ran after the others.

Charlie was left with burning lips. He looked at you as you ran away, joining his younger siblings. At that moment, Charlie would have traded the whole world to kiss you longer. To feel your lips on his, to run his hands over your body, to look you in your eyes and tell you how he felt for you. But as you escaped his view the screams of the people around him re-entered Charlie’s mind and he was pulled out of his daze. People were in danger, that was more important than kissing you right now, though every part of Charlie’s body thought different.

He turned around quickly and ignored Bill’s surprised grin. ‘Not now,’ he said and ran after his father.

o-o-o

What did you just do? It was as if your mind only now realised what you had done. You kissed him! You actually kissed him! And Merlin, was it great! Even now as you were walking through the dark, you could still feel his lips.

You, Fred, George and Ginny reached an open spot and sat down on a fallen tree. You made a fire with your wand. Soon you were joined by other wizards that didn’t speak the same language.

‘You kissed him?’ Ginny asked like she didn’t believe it. You could still see the shock and fear on her face that was lit up by the fire. You nodded slowly as your gaze turned to the fire.

‘I kissed him,’ you repeated.

‘Man, that took you guys forever!’ Fred sighed and you raised your eyebrow at him.

‘What do you mean?’

‘He has had it for you for years!’

A stupid smile grew on your face. Charlie actually liked you back? And he had for years?

‘But why did he never tell me?’

‘Because he is an idiot,’ George said. ‘I thought you knew that?’

‘I never noticed,’ you said and tried to think of times Charlie had showed more affection to you than a normal friend would.

‘You never noticed?’ Ginny asked surprised. ‘Don’t you remember when he ran to your house the minute he heard you had broken your arm?’

‘Or how he always wants to sit next to you whenever you are over?’ Fred added.

‘And what about your sixteenth birthday?’

You thought back of that birthday. He had bought you a million flowers and had prepared a whole day with a picnic and a dinner under the stars.

‘Get out,’ you mumbled when you  realised how long ago that was. ‘He had a crush on me back then?’

‘Oh definitely, but he never dared to admit it,’ George answered.

‘Please tell him you like him,’ Fred whined. ‘I can’t stand to hear more about your hair and your teeth and the way you smile.’

You blushed and stared into the fire. Your whole body filled with butterflies and for a minute you had forgotten about the riot. And so did your companions. Until the whole forest lit up by a green flash and you jumped wand ready to defend yourself and your friends. But your eyes quickly found the reason behind the flash.

The green skull floating in the air gave you chills. A shiver ran down your spine as its mouth opened and a green snake escaped. The three others behind you looked up at the sky with confused faces. You took them by their shoulders and pushed them back to the camp site, wand still ready to cast a spell any moment.

At the edge of the forest you saw three familiar red heads. But there was no sight of Hermione, Harry, Ron or Mr Weasley. You ran towards the three oldest Weasley siblings.

‘What happened?’ you asked worried.

‘Death eaters, gone as soon as the mark appeared,’ Bill filled you in. You cursed and stared at the skull in the sky.

‘No one hurt?’ you asked, not really sure if you wanted the answer. But luckily Bill shook his head.

‘They were levitating muggles, but they’re not hurt.’

‘Where are Ron, Hermione and Harry?’ Charlie asked as he looked around and saw that they were missing.

‘We lost them in the forest,’ Ginny answered, her eyes filled with tears. ‘Where’s dad?’

‘He went to the place the mark appeared. Don’t worry he will be safe,’ Bill added when he saw her fear.

Your hand was still on Ginny’s shoulder as you stared at the path in the forest. A silence fell over the group but the sounds of the crying people around were filling your head. You wished there was a way to help them.

No longer than three minutes after, the first journalist apparated on the grass in front of the forest. The workers of the ministry, that had stayed back, tried to appease the crowd. Photographers pointed their camera’s up in the air and took pictures of the skull, that now more looked like an oddly shaped cloud. Bill and Charlie noticed the photographers also taking photos of them and suggested going back to the tents. You took Ginny by her hand and walked past the photographers ignoring their yells.

The tents had not been damaged apart from the few tent pegs that had come out of the ground. Bill put them back with his shoe while the others entered the tent. You sat down and took Ginny in your arms. She was looking pale and her eyes were red. While she softly sobbed in your shoulder you dared to look at Charlie. He was seated on the other side of the tent with Percy, looking at the entrance as if that would make the others come back sooner. Fred and George sat down in the chairs next to you, but said nothing. Though they were not as pale as Ginny was, you could easily see the shock on their faces.

‘(Y/N)?’ Fred asked and you looked up. From the corner of your eyes you saw Charlie’s head turned to the corner you were in when your name was called.

‘Hmm?’

‘What was that thing in the sky?’

You looked at Fred, unsure of what to answer. Turning to Charlie for help, you thought of the horror of having to remember the mark when you were a kid. Your parents had wanted you to remember what it looked like so that if you ever saw it you wouldn’t go inside the house. As a kid you were unaware of the terror the mark had brought so many people, but you, just as any other kid that was around your age, did remember your parents showing you a picture and telling you how you should never, but absolutely never enter a house when that skull was above it.

‘I’m not sure if I am the one to tell you that…’ you answered honestly. ‘I think your father will explain it when he returns.’

And as if your words did the trick, Mr Weasley entered the tent at the exact same moment. Ron, Harry and Hermione were following him and Bill closed the line. They sat down at your corner and the exhaustion almost made you feel just as tired.

‘What happened, Dad?’ Bill asked while Percy and Charlie also sat down.

‘False alarm,’ Mr Weasley answered and four collective sighs filled the tent.

‘But what happened? Why did those people disappear when they saw that skull?’ Fred asked again. Ginny lifted her head from your shoulder and you caressed her hair. From across you you saw Charlie smiling at you and you started to blush.

‘That skull is better known as the Dark Mark,’ Mr Weasley explained. ‘Back when You-Know-Who was gaining more and more power, everyday people disappeared never to return. If that mark was floating above your house it meant that no one in there was still alive. It was the horror of every person to come home and see that mark…’

‘But who were those people?’ Ron asked.

‘They were Death eaters,’ Bill said. ‘Followers of You-Know-Who. They did everything he asked them because they were promised a world with only pure-blood wizard at the top.’

‘After You-Know-Who disappeared they went away with him. I guess they had a little too much to drink tonight,’ Mr Weasley said.

A silence fell over the tent and Ginny buried her face in your shoulder again. By her steady breathing you noticed she had fallen asleep. Ron and Harry also went to their beds, Fred and George took the beds in Bill and Charlie’s room and Hermione stationed on the sofa in the living room. Though her eyes were closed you saw that she was not asleep. But you didn’t blame her; you couldn’t sleep either. Mr Weasley had gone outside to talk with his colleagues and Percy had gone with him. Charlie gave you a cup of tea and Bill went into the empty bedroom.

As you drank your tea, careful not to wake up Ginny, who was still sleeping against you, you looked up at Charlie. His cheeks were red and he avoided your eyes. You decided to throw everything out.

‘Fred told me you like me,’ you blurted out. If you had thought Charlie couldn’t get any redder, you were wrong. His face turned into a tomato and he finally looked up to you. You had a small smile on your lips.

‘I- uhh… I think I do,’ Charlie mumbled, confronted by your abruptness.

‘You think?’

‘I mean, I do. I really like you, (Y/N). I just never realised it. But when I was in Romania… Although I enjoyed everything I did there, I kept thinking of you and how alone you were. Merlin, I wished so many times I could just return home and- and take you in my arms. But I never knew if you felt the same.’

‘You do now, right?’

Charlie looked up to you. You were looking at him patiently. Your voice was genuine and soft and Charlie had never felt so much love for you. He got up and sat down next to you on the couch. You turned your head to him and he was so close to you he could have easily kissed you.

‘Because I do, Charls. I really like you too.’

And you closed the gap between the two of you. Charlie felt his head explode at the kiss. He suddenly realised how long he had wanted this. How long he had missed this in his life. The way you touched him made him dizzy and light-headed. His thumb stroke your jaw as he pulled you in closer.

When you broke apart and looked over Charlie’s shoulder, you saw Hermione grinning at you. Charlie smiled at you and the top of his nose was pink.

‘Did they kiss?’ Fred asked through the closed bedroom door.

‘Yes,’ Ginny answered from beside you. You hadn’t even realised she had woken up.

‘Finally!’ George exclaimed and Charlie rolled his eyes.

‘Watch out or your pants will be so small things will get numb!’ Charlie threated but he was smiling. He turned back to you and kissed you again.

‘I can get used to this,’ you mumbled against his lips and he chuckled.

‘No problem for me.’

-------

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[wolfmage553]

Now I'm thinking about a AU where Philiza is actually the son of Vax'ildan and Keyleth who was conceived when Vax'ildan and Keyleth "comforted" each other in episode 64. Due to the fact that his mother jumped off a cliff later, he nearly died but the Raven Queen decided to bless the future son of her champion with a similar gift to his father in exchange for him staying with her when he was born. Philiza was born sometime after Percy and Vex's wedding with Raven wings which were a visual indication of the gift. He also inherited the longer lifespan of his mother. His mother decided to place him in the care of a childless couple in the dsmp world since she knew she made a lot of enemies that would want to hurt her loved ones.

Philiza grew up in the care of the childless couple and originally had no clue who his parents were. That was until the day a bridge broke from underneath him and his wings saved him from a early grave. His adoptive parents then decided to explain to Philiza who his biological parents were. Philiza decided to become a angel of death like his father was.

After many years of training and fighting he caught the attention of the goddess of death in the dsmp world, who's true name had been lost to history, who decided to make this 20 year old her champion and lover. Their courtship was a very sweet one and they eventually got married. Keyleth was attending the wedding in secret, since she didn't want her reunion with her son to overshadow her son's wedding.

After the wedding, a war broke out that forced Philiza to leave home to fight in it. This is where he met Technoblade and they became close friends.

Eventually, the war ended and Philiza returned home to discover that his wife had given birth to a son while he was gone. This son would be named Wilbur.

Keyleth, feeling like it would be safer in Exandria than in the dsmp world, stole away Wilbur for a week before Philiza was able to convince her that the dsmp world was safer.

Then Tommy was born and Keyleth stole him away as well. Then Tubbo was adopted into the family and the same thing happened. Then Fundy was born and Keyleth stole him away as well.

Keyleth hasn't learned about Michael and Yogurt yet, but Fundy knows exactly what will happen when (not if) she learns of the two new babies of the family.

It's tradition at this point.

By the way, the figure that chased Fundy was Vax'ildan trying to say hello to his great grandson.

[lifeofroos]

Part 51. Christmas with five people sure is calm. 

In short: Nico gets therapy from Dionysus. In this chapter, Nico tries to have a nice Christmas with Will, but a bad memory overshadows it. The rest of the story can be found on AO3 and Fanfiction.net! And in Tumblr tags like Dionysus, Nico di Angelo, percy jackson fanfiction etc. 

This Might Be Crazy: Chapter 51: Glühwein ‘Nico! So glad to see you!’ Naomi Solace chirped while Will and I walked in. 

‘Yes, thanks, mrs. Solace, good to see you too,’ I answered. She shook her head with a little smile.  

‘You can just…’

‘Just say Naomi. Got it.’ 

She looked at Will for a second. He rolled his eyes. ‘Is anybody else here yet?’

‘Your uncle Jacob.’ Naomi Solace turned her eyes to the heavens. ‘And my poor sister-in-law Marian, of course.’

‘Figures.’

They sighed, before lightly laughing. I looked up at Will, a little panicked. He saw it and grabbed my hand. ‘We’ll just drop off some stuff upstairs!’ he said, before pulling me and our backpacks along to the second floor. 

‘Uncle jacob and aunt Marian are pretty okay.’

‘Yeah, yeah, sure.’ I dropped my suitcase on the floor. ‘Do I get a mattress, or do we make it obvious?’

‘He was here last year as well,’ Will went on, without answering me. ‘He tried to stop, eh, my other aunt from talking a few times.’

‘Yes. I remember him, he was nice.’ I think. I realised I did not really remember uncle Jacob. It was eclipsed by the memory of aunt Natalia.

‘Aunt Natalia is not coming back, Nico, thank goodness. She won’t try to slam the door in your face again or throw a cross at you.’ It sounded as if he was trying to reassure himself of that too. 

‘Not?’ I had almost forgotten about the cross.

‘No. Also, the cross might have been for me,’ he sighed.

‘Ah. I guess it wasn’t a lot of fun for you either.’ Just stating the obvious here. 

He chuckled. ‘No, not really. But Uncle Jacob is nice, really. Let’s go, shall we?’

I gave him a hug. ‘Yeah, we’ll go.’

Wills’ aunt and uncle were sitting in the living room. ‘William! Is he back again?’ Jacob waved at me. 

I took a step back. Will put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Yes.’

‘Eh, yeah, good afternoon, I am Nico…’ I rattled. 

‘We know that, we saw you last year as well!’ uncle Jacob laughed. I looked at the floor. 

‘Eh, right, I just thought…’ I shrugged. I heard Marian sigh.

‘Jacob, cut the kid some slack,’ she whispered. 

Will pushed me further into the room. ‘Come, sit down, there are probably cookies,’ he mumbeld into my ear. 

There were, indeed, cookies. I took two and shoved one into my mouth.

Uncle Jacob looked back at his wife and sister and went on with the story he had been telling, that went on for quite long. 

I had to give it to them, I had been in the room for a good seven minutes and there had been no comment about our relationship. When uncle Jacobs’ speech went on for slightly too long, aunt Marian turned to me: ‘It is very nice that you decided to spend Christmas with us.’

I shot up. ‘I am glad I was allowed to come.’

She smiled at her sister-in-law. ‘I am sure Naomi wouldn’t have it any other way!’ Naomi shrugged, with a little smile. ‘Are you two going to Nico’s family tomorrow?’

Will looked like he found that idea, to spend Christmas with Hades and Persephone, both hilarious and horrifying. I shook my head. ‘I’m afraid my family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but they don’t want to stop my fun, so I went with Will.’

‘No Christmas?’

‘No. Eh, of course, that was weird for me as a young child,’ I lied, ‘but I am glad I have someone to celebrate it with now.’

‘Well, I hope we can make it better than, eh, last year.’

‘Oh, well…’ 

A small silence fell, before Marian quickly broke it ‘So, William, how's school?’

School was fine, if you're curious. The talking went slightly better after that, they even laughed when I joked we could try to invite Santa Claus today (You probably had to be there). Still I was glad when we could flee to the kitchen. Will had to make his, apparently famous, mushroom soup.

‘I didn’t know you could make soup. Did you do that last year?’

Will rolled his eyes. ‘No. Natalia brought her tomato soup.’

‘I remember the tomato soup. It had been quite good, but I hate it now.’

Will solemnly stirred his soup. ‘How do you feel, Nico?’

I shrugged. ‘Your aunt and uncle are nice, so okay I guess?’

Will sighed while he cut up a few mushrooms. ‘Yes. That’s good. I am glad.’

‘Will, how did you feel about aunt Natalia?’ 

It might have been a little too abrupt to ask. He was silent for a moment. I looked at my feet.‘Sorry, that is…’

‘She called me non-stop for three days afterwards, trying to convince me I was sinning. Eventually I had to block her from every medium of communication I got. I never talked about it again, not a lot at least, because I just wanted to forget it.’ He lowered the knife for a second. ‘Perhaps I, too, have more troubles with it than I thought.’

‘Well…’ I shrugged. ‘Of course, I mean…’ Will stayed silent. 

I felt a little cold. ‘I’ll go to the living room for a bit,’ I muttered, before I chickened out of the kitchen. 

In the hallway, I ran into aunt Marian. When she saw me, her look got concerned. ‘Hello, Nico.

‘Eh, hello.’

She pushed a hairclip straight. ‘I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to be nervous. I understand you are still a little shaken up about last year, but…’ She shrugged.

I nodded. ‘Thanks. Eh… You know, I thought I had taken everything quite well. It is only now that I have thought about it for a few days that I realise that it got deeper than I thought.’

Marian nodded. ‘I understand. I hope you can still enjoy some of it, at least. Did you like the cookies?’

I nodded. ‘Oh, yes, the cookies were good.’

She smiled. ‘Thanks. I made them myself.’

‘Fancy.’ 

‘Yes. I spend a lot of time on them!’

I snickered. ‘Cool.’

‘Quite.’ She looked up, at the stairs. ‘Eh, I’ll see you in a second.’

‘Of course.’ I stayed where I was.

Would my Italian relatives be celebrating Christmas right now? The thought came to me without warning. I mean, obviously, I must still have Italian family. Unless my mother was an only child of an only child, maybe.

But I had had an aunt, it dawned on me. Which probably meant that somewhere, there was an Italian branch of the family, celebrating Christmas. Hm. Weird, considering they would not be thinking about me at all...

‘Nico?’ Will yelled from the kitchen. ‘Can you help for a second? If you are still there?’

‘Eh, of course.’ I hadn’t moved a foot. 

‘Sorry,’ I muttered when I walked back in. 

‘It’s okay,’ Will mumbeld back. He threw a few mushrooms into the soup. ‘Is it a true witch stew I already?’ I looked into the pan. It looked too good to be witch stew. 

‘A little.’

‘No, Will, not at all. Okay, maybe a little.’ 

Will smiled again. ‘Just a little, as it should.’ He handed me the spatula. ‘Can you stir for me? I have to throw in these spices in the meantime.’

‘Yes.’

It was calming to cook soup together and to think about how we would be eating soup together soon. Yet, just as I stirred some weird herb through the stew, Will scraped his throat. ‘If you are getting sick, you should not be cooking.’

He chuckled, before pulling himself together again. ‘Nico, how about we just enjoy the here and now, and then talk about how we are affected by last year some other time? Maybe we could ask Dionysus to evaluate it with us. Because it feels as if we are both still hurt by it.’

‘Yes. I’ll ask him as soon as I see him again.’ 

Will nodded. ‘Good. In that case, you just need to stir slightly lighter, while I call over uncle Jacob so he can heat up his self made glühwein, which I doubt he actually makes himself.’

‘Does it contain alcohol?’

‘My mother always lets me have a small glass.’

‘And you say you aren’t rebellious!’

‘It is not rebellious if your mother lets you do it!’

‘I mean… point taken.’

‘Well then! Now, I am going to call Jacob over. Be prepared.’ 

I winked, while he went out to fetch his uncle.

While he was away, I sighed. Okay, maybe it hadn’t gone perfect. Yet, we could still make something of it. Anyway, who was aunt Natalia to not just ruin one, but multiple Christmases?

A/N: Secretly, uncle David gives Will and Nico alcohol-free glühwein because he is a responsible adult. 

On tuesday the twenty-seventh my adult responsibilities will catch up to me, AKA I will be eightteen, or otherwise said it’s my birthday :D. Also, by next chapter, I will be an adult (help).

Anyway Nico and Will having Christmas. Did you see the part where Nico thought about this Italian family? Yes ;). 

I know this chapter dragged a little. It is mostly meant to cement some things for future chapters.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E91 (Jan. 21, 2020)

Good evening, everyone! Sorry about missing last week; @eponymous-rose​ was out of town and I had some other commitments. Regardless, here we are! Brian is looking handsome and cold, as are Sam & Travis on the couch. Everyone is wearing coats. Is the heat broken?

That said, tonight’s guests are Travis Willingham & Sam Riegel.

Brian starts us off asking Sam if he’s remaking the Wire in Beverly Hills. Sam basically embodies that hello fellow kids meme tonight in a hand-knitted beanie from his wife, a bomber jacket, a yellow tee, and skinny jeans. They quickly photoshop in smoke trailing out of his mouth. We’re just a few minutes in and this is off the rails already.

Announcements: The next issue (#5) of Vox Machina comics comes out Wednesday, Feb. 19! It’s also available online at Dark Horse Digital and Comixology. And that’s it! Huh.

Episode 91: Stone to Clay

Brian tells us this is the first time ever to have Sam & Travis alone on Talks. I’m stunned and so are they. Sam says, “between me, Brian, Dani, and Travis right now, there’s four tens on this show right now.”

We’re already into questions less than ten minutes into the show. Truly this is a remarkable night.

63 in game days and 21 episodes passed between Caduceus’s first mention of Stone (episode 71) and Fjord connecting the dots. Travis blames the internet connection and his really bad ADHD night, as that was the night he and Laura remoted in from the hotel.

Brian tells us that when Ashley used to skype in, she could only see Matt & couldn’t see or really hear anyone else.

Travis says there was a huge delay for him between mouths moving and the audio coming through, and then that audio was pretty distorted. Laura could handle it okay, but Travis just heard a jumble and couldn’t parse it.

Sam took a CBD bath the other day and found it exactly as relaxing as a normal bath. Sam & Travis commiserate about taking baths only to have their knees pop out of the water. Tall people problems smh

Caleb & Nott completed the spell in less than a week, including dealing with the Angel of Irons & brokering peace treaties. Travis though the laughter was going to be Helas.

Travis says he definitely didn’t hear the name the first time (he remembered dust but not stone from the lava pits). “Look! Yes! No, I was not listening before! Thursday nights are my times to enjoy my friends and food! Marisha is an amazing note-taker; why would I ever take my own? This is how I got through college!”

Sam says he keeps a mission checklist in his head and has for ages. He has a page in his notebook labeled “To Do” that includes things like visiting Kiri or Shakaste, in case they have downtime and need ideas.

Travis asks if he continues writing in his (apparently) very small handwriting, and Sam says he has to leave room for Laura to draw all her dicks. They all marvel that she is actually a very good artist.

Travis honestly still thinks the Stone name is a huge coincidence, especially since Taliesin didn’t have access to Fjord’s last name when he created Caduceus’s last name and backstory. Sam challenges Travis that even if that were true, doesn’t he think Matt will find a way to tie it together?

Travis says Fjord doesn’t want anything to do with the last name and it’s not even his real name. He’s not convinced this isn’t a coincidence.

Travis did a lot of research into orphanage naming conventions when coming up with Stone. He does have a backstory as to how the orphanage manager picked Stone as his name.

Travis thinks Matt would have emphasized the Stone name more sooner if it had been a true connection and not coincidence.

Brian: “He does like to take credit for coincidences, doesn’t he?”

Nott didn’t think there was a catch in the ritual; Sam was more surprised they were allowed to achieve the milestone at all. He was shocked it happened so soon in the story and that the spell is relatively easy to cast.

He didn’t know it would fail, but there was a moment when he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go through with it. Travis agrees everyone was shocked when it didn’t work.

Fjord’s current stance on faith and destiny hasn’t changed since the last time he discussed it. Faith is a slow thing for Fjord and he really does think the name is a coincidence.

Sam as a player is excited to see what comes next for Nott; “if she had been transformed into Veth at that moment, I would have been excited to see what comes next. The fact that it’s still Nott makes me excited too. I’m excited to see more of Nott since she’s the best character in the M9.” He also confesses he was a bit relieved, in part because it’s delayed the inevitable. At some point she must decide if she is going to stay or go with the M9.

Cosplay of the Week: @kajicosplays​ on instagram of a lovely lady Percy. Brian: “Isn’t it fun when Taliesin’s characters live?”

Deep down, Nott knows she will do the transformation at some point, but at that last moment where she had to make a decision she had to check in with herself to make sure she was ready. Sam Riegel as a D&D player also knows that you have to trust your DM and make choices.

Brian misreads the word “ribbing.” Sam teaches Travis what rimming is. We all learn a lot about each other.

Sam thinks Fjord can realize when the time comes to set jokes aside. He thinks Fjord was very respectful. Travis has honestly forgotten that the conversation took place.

Travis has Dani answer from Fjord’s perspective. It’s actually pretty insightful, talking about how Fjord recognized someone hesitant to give up these newfound powers that have become intrinsically tied to self-worth.

Fjord has always been loyal, and Travis sees his protectiveness of the M9 as a logical extension of this.

Right now, he has found some agency & self-direction and is hopeful to share that sense with everyone else (he especially mentions Yasha).

Sam & Travis start quoting from Half-Baked. This is chaos.

Nott does want to stay with the M9, but she also wants to go home for sure, both of those things. The kiss with Caleb wasn’t necessarily a goodbye; it felt like the closing of a chapter. It felt like something to mark the end of the experience.

Now they’re quoting Beverly Hills Cop. Oh, boy.

“You look like you wrote Pitch Perfect.” When did this turn into a roast?

Fjord has no memories earlier than the orphanage (The Driftwood Asylum). There were a couple dozen kids there aside from him; Travis thinks some of them might have been named Stone. It also operated as a small child-labor workshop for carpentry & woodshop stuff. “It was a terrible place all around.” He has no images of parents or being dropped off.

Sam thought the Nott transformation would be more endgame, though he feels it makes sense that it’s not. “While Nott transforming into Veth was my original goal, what’s great about these long games is that your goals can change two or three times before the end. Now I can explore all these other things: does she want to go back and be a housewife? How does she rectify her obligations to her husband and child to the life that she’s made with the M9? It’s so exciting and interesting.”

Brian asks a hypothetical: if she could transform back but lose all Nott’s memories, would she do it? Sam: “Oh, that’s tough. I don’t know.”

Fanart of the Week: a lovely piece by @pen_draws with everyone in the hot tub.

Travis is very trepidatious about returning to the open ocean after rejecting Uk’otoa. He wants to make sure the third temple is sealed. It feels like it would be too easy for someone not to come and try to collect the job he left half-finished. He also wants to go back to Darktow.

Sam doesn’t know if Nott is still in love with Yeza, although she definitely still loves him. He’s playing with the idea of a high school sweetheart being exposed to the world and then going back home. But Yeza’s amazing, a great guy, perfect. “I guess we’ll find out when/if she turns back into Veth.” Sam feels guilty talking about him. “He’s a fictional character and I feel guilty that he might be watching the show.”

Neither Nott nor Fjord trust Essek. Travis: “He just went from being cold and aloof to being really warm. I know there’s been time and he’s lived an isolated life, but...time will show if he’s being genuine. All of our haunches were up. All of us were on level five alert.” He’s being so helpful that Travis doesn’t trust Mercer with him.

Fjord never ever considered becoming a paladin of the Traveler. “No. Fuck no!” The Wildmother reached out and directly intervened to save him. Travis gets super creepy bad vibes from the Traveler’s relationship with Jester (Sam agrees).

Nott feels more pressure when her own problems become the focus. It’s hard for her to open up and talk about her feelings. She’d rather pick up on other people’s problems. Sam also acknowledges it’s more pressure on him (and anyone) as a player when the whole table is looking at you.

And that’s that! Is it Thursday yet?

[halothenthehorns]

THE EGG AND THE EYE

Despite Remus' rather tired eyes as he never enjoyed being active any days preceding or following the full moon, and it wasn't helping the ever growing fear of the next task creeping closer, Remus wouldn't deny he couldn't think of how better to be spending his time as he got started.

Harry wasn't sure how long this bath would take, so he chose to do it after school hours so he could take his time.

"You make it sound so difficult to lock a door," James shook his head.

"I think he's just making up excuses for using that Prefect bathroom, and after hours is the best time," Remus smirked.

Harry ignored them both.

Though still not wanting to take any advice from that Hufflepuff, Harry also chose to use the prefects' bathroom, at least fewer people were likely to be in there.

Harry grumbled something about how he still wasn't going to admit they were right, it's not like he'd wanted to go in there just because he'd heard rumors about how cool that place was, and they couldn't force him to say otherwise.

  Harry had to be careful with this excursion, he'd been caught out of bed by Filch once before,

"The fact that you've only been caught once is what gets to me," Sirius shook his head fondly.

"By our fourth year we'd caught up with him as much as any teacher," James agreed.

"And you only got caught that time because you forgot the cloak," Remus snorted. "If you'd paid attention a little more, even then you would have gotten away with it."

Harry wasn't sure if they were teasing him for not being as trouble making as them again, or trying to mock him for that experience again, either way he chose not to answer.

and had no want of a repeat. He made sure to have his Invisibility Cloak on him,

"At least he'll remember it this time," Lily reminded to get the boys to stop smirking.

and the Marauders Map.

"The two kind of go hand in hand," Remus agreed.

On Thursday night,

"Why did you wait almost a whole other week?" James asked.

"Homework," Harry used as a main excuse, but also adding, "plus I spent a few nights making sure I could walk down there and scout the place out without getting caught."

"Look at you, finally showing some forethought," Sirius praised.

Harry slipped through the common room much like he had the night he'd gone to visit Hagrid, waiting for Ron to open the portrait hole to get out.

"Still think that one's a bit too paranoid on your part," Remus rolled his eyes. "No one ever pays much attention to that."

Harry made his way down to the correct door, whispered the password, and stepped inside before locking the door behind him. His first impression was it would be worth being a prefect just to use this bathroom regularly.

"Well now you can without the responsibility," Sirius smirked.

"You're lucky you never got caught in there," Remus reminded him, "or I would have most likely gone down with you. Then of course I would have had to pay you back for getting me into trouble."

Sirius had a challenging smirk in place as he stated, "wouldn't be the first, wouldn't be the last."

Candles softly lit the marble chamber, a large rectangular shallow pool filled the main portion of the room with a hundred golden taps all around the edge each encrusted with a different jewel, along with a diving board.

Harry's mind was starting to gape a bit at such grandeur. A diving board for a bathtub! The splendor of the castle had always seemed like a lot to the boy from the cupboard, but this new leap of wealth still somehow managed to surprise him.

Fluffy towels were in a cubby in the far wall, and opposite that was the stained glass image of a blonde mermaid fast asleep.

Then Harry felt a zap pelt his brain, now blinking spastically as he was sure that should have meant something more to him, but was instantly distracted by Remus trying to cover up some laughter. He quickly smothered it and explained for Harry, "I don't know who conjured up that image, but it's the farthest thing from what Merpeople actually look like."

Harry was very sure that news shouldn't have come as a surprise to him, but simply nodded in understanding.

Harry's footsteps echoed a bit as he walked up the few steps leading to this, and though he was very impressed and aching to try all those taps, now that he was here he was more sure than ever Cedric might be playing him.

Remus was suddenly distracted as well from Harry getting to find this new place, to his mind spinning back to that noise again and why Cedric would have lead Harry hear. Water, in the Prefects bathroom, it couldn't have anything to do with that particular painting of the mermaid? He'd only ever heard descriptions of them, but apparently they had a beautiful singing voice, underwater. Above water it was a senseless high pitched noise. He was immensely curious to know if this had been what Cedric had figured out, but even if it was, what would the second task have to do with Mermaids? They were bottom dwellers, even in the Hogwarts lake they were only rumored to have come to the surface once in the school's history. He kept the thought to himself for now until he was more sure of this.

How was this place going to help him solve his egg?

He was already here, so he decided to enjoy himself anyways, setting all of his stuff aside as he got to work. Every tap shot out water the perfect temperature he wanted, and each was also mingled with magical bubbles. One set such a thick foam Harry could have sat on it, another left a purple mist hanging just above the surface, Harry's favorite was the one that shot patterns in the water's surface.

"I used to spend hours playing with all of those taps," Lily agreed fondly. "Sometimes I'd even drain the water again just to watch them fill all over again."

After a surprisingly short time to fill, Harry slipped inside and treaded water for a bit, his feet barely touched the bottom.

Harry was surprised at his own daring at that, as he'd never learned to swim. Though he supposed being in there by himself was a good way to practice and it didn't seem deep enough that so long as he didn't try anything foolish he shouldn't have a problem.

After a few laps, Harry went back to the edge and picked up his egg, but still had no new revelations for it. Even opening still created the same cacophony, if not worse because of its new echo. He'd been leaning over the side concentrating so hard, he dropped the egg with a start when someone spoke,

All five of them couldn't help but startle a little as well. That's all Harry needed, to get caught and in trouble on top of this tournament mess.

telling him to put the egg in the water.

"Guess that's better than, what on earth are you doing in here," James raised a surprised brow, trying to figure out who'd catch him there and not tell him off.

Harry swallowed a large amount of bubbles in surprise as he spun around, seeing a ghost sitting on a nearby tap.

"Oh hey, Myrtle's back," Sirius said, relaxing back at once.

"Why is she in there?" Lily demanded around a squeaky voice, her hand already twitching like she was going to cover her modesty now.

"We told you she went snooping through some of the other bathrooms," Remus snorted at her surprise. "Why would you think this one was excluded?"

"Did she really spy on me though?" Harry couldn't help but fidget at such a perversion of privacy.

"Well yeah," Sirius couldn't help but give Harry a sad little smile, "but I like to at least pretend she closed her eyes while you were changing."

Harry still couldn't help a disgusted shiver, even with his memory finally being soothed of why he'd wondered he would run into the ghost again in another bathroom, this wouldn't have been his choice of moments.

It was Moaning Myrtle.

Harry yelled at her in shock, stating he wasn't wearing anything! The surrounding water was thick enough this wasn't the point, but Harry suspected she'd been around longer than he'd been in.

Myrtle told that she'd had her eyes closed when he got in,

Even with Myrtle having said it herself didn't make the shivers quite stop.

and then reminded how he hadn't come to see her in ages.

"Can't imagine why," James scowled at the reminder of that Chamber. Myrtle used to be something funny to think about, she was always a good laugh and sometimes even helpful considering all the times she'd spied on people in the bathrooms and if cajoled right she'd pass along the information. Now all he could think about in relation to that ghost was a basilisk fang.

Harry floundered for a moment, still keeping his knees bent so all Myrtle could see was his head,

Sirius wanted to make a comment about that, but actually managed to restrain himself with Lily still looking flustered and her husband in the room.

before reminding he wasn't supposed to be in there, it was a girls one.

"Bit of a pointless thing to say after spending half a year in there," Remus snickered.

Myrtle reminded he didn't use to care, he'd been in all the time.

"Not for the exclusive company though," Harry muttered.

While that had been true in his second year, this was only because of the private location so they could brew a secret potion. Aloud he told her that he'd been caught for going in there, which was half true, Percy had once told them off for coming out.

"Yeah, and I know how you always listen to everything Percy says," James stated with the utmost sincerity.

Fibbing he hadn't gone in after that.

Myrtle was not impressed as she switched back to telling Harry to put the egg in the water, that's what Diggory had done.

"How often does she spy on people in there?" Lily demanded, her voice still a little too pitchy than normal, the Marauders were taking this far to casually in her opinion.

"Don't know, never kept a record of her or anything," Remus shrugged.

"Often enough it wasn't exactly a surprise if we found her in there," James couldn't help but laugh a bit at his wife's continued squeamishness over this. She was just a harmless ghost, he was honestly convinced she did it more for attention than pervy intent.

Harry demanded how often she spied on people?

Myrtle just said sometimes, though Harry was the first she'd spoken to.

"Because that's so much better," Lily groaned. "How did you know she was there then?" She asked of the boys.

"If Harry had been keeping his eye on the map, he would have seen her show up," Sirius reminded.

"How on earth does that thing work," Lily demanded of them. "Ghosts aren't alive, why would she register?"

"The Homunculus charm," Remus said like that explained everything.

Lily looked honestly surprised, but Harry had no clue what that was so she told him, "the charm marks where everyone is in a specific location so long as they have even a vague human mind. Like the ghosts and Peeves would be included," she added on for herself. "It just never occurred to me that was the spell they used, because I could never find the incantation, just mentions of it in old texts."

"Sirius found it in a book from his house," Remus shrugged.

"There's a lot of musty old stuff in that place," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I got bored and looked through it at one point, came back and found it a few years later when it actually came in handy."

"Would the basilisk have shown up on the map?" Harry asked, thinking normal pets like Crookshanks never had, but then Mrs. Norris had so was the giant snake stretching it?

"Nope," James stated, "not human like enough."

"So how come Filch's cat's on there?" Lily demanded of them.

"She got her own separate charm to track her," Sirius grumbled, "we realized that mistake and added it after the fact."

Harry sarcastically snapped back how honored he was, telling her to keep her eyes shut as he crawled out.

He made sure she wasn't looking as he dried off and went after his fallen egg, then set his towel aside again and slipped back in. Myrtle looked up after that, repeating for him to stick the egg in the water.

Remus was instantly distracted from his old pet project and was now much more focused on seeing if his idea was right. He couldn't think of too many other creatures that this would apply to...

Harry opened the seal beneath the surface, but among the new bubbles no screeching echoed underneath, instead Harry could swear he heard gurgling singing.

"Oh," Remus smiled in triumph at the exact moment the other three stated in surprise.

Harry gave an agitated little sigh, he was sick of always being the one things to had to be explained to, but didn't question it as he had a gut feeling he'd come to his own conclusions on this soon enough and watched impatiently as Remus happily yelped, "it's mermaids."

"What does that have to do with a triwizard task?" Sirius demanded grumpily, the first one had been bad enough, and this wasn't starting off much better. Those creatures were rumored to be as vicious and territorial as dragons, with the added bonus of drowning their victims to death rather than setting them on fire.

"No clue," James tried to shush him and wave him quiet so he could hear this.

Myrtle told Harry he had to be underwater as well to hear the words, and when Harry hesitated she got a bit bossy by telling him to get one with it.

"Guess she doesn't get the opportunity much," Lily grumbled, though even she was finally distracted from the ghosts habits to pay attention to this.

Harry took a deep breath before ducking down as well, and finally heard:

Insert mermaid song

"That, was not encouraging," Remus' smile slipped right off his face as the full impact of the challenge sank in.

"Hang on, read that again," James requested, sure he'd heard a bit wrong.

Remus obliged, to the now stunned faces of the others.

"What's this on about an hour?" Lily demanded as she began biting at her lip at once at the thought. "What are you looking for?"

"Another bit to lead you to the last event I guess," Sirius sighed, but even as the worry started flooding him he couldn't deny at least this sounded more bearable and doable than the first.

"I'm still stuck on that part where they took something," James grumbled, running his hand through his hair in thought. "Are you looking for two things, or is the challenge personalized?"

"I really don't like the sounds of this," Remus groaned the more he thought about it. "They're only giving you a pinch more information than the first time, and it still seems as deadly as ever." He was still categorizing everything he'd ever heard about mermaids as well as aquatic life in general, none of it exactly pleasant, and all very hard to deal with inside the water where only a few select spells worked properly.

"Let's look on the bright side," Lily tried to keep their attention. "Least now he has something to work with, and I'm sure Harry'll figure it out," she gave him a winning smile at the end.

Harry wasn't as sure as her, unable to erase the nasty feeling that this was hardly his favorite challenge and he'd still take the dragon back, but didn't argue the point either.

Harry came back to the surface for air, tried to recite it, but then had to go under a few times before he got it right. Then he set the egg to the side again, and began swimming a few laps as he thought it all out.

Myrtle called him slow for not guessing who this could be about, while smirking down at him.

"No," Remus snapped at once, as he'd noticed that look on Harry's face. It must be annoying to constantly have things explained to him, then and now with his lapse of the magical world, but that was hardly his fault as he stated, "it's not exactly a common problem for many wizards, I'm positive it'd be just as hard to work out for the other champions."

"You guys figured it out in like, a second," Harry grumbled.

"We," James quickly corrected as he gestured at first Sirius and himself, "have a running expert on all things beast," now waving vaguely at Remus who was squinting at him like he was trying to decide if that was supposed to be insulting or a compliment. Knowing James, a combination of both. "So we know a bit more about it than the typical person."

"I didn't get it until he said it," Lily shrugged as she jabbed her thumb at Remus as well, "I was just surprised you could suddenly hear it underwater."

Harry did at least feel marginally better his mother had at least been on the same page as him for most of it.

Harry hadn't seen Myrtle this cheerful since Hermione had a tail.

"There's a fond memory," Sirius couldn't help but laugh, the magical mistakes people could do to themselves had always endeared him.

Harry ignored her as he kept up his swim, puzzling together that whatever this was must have something to do with a creature underwater if that's where you could hear the voice. He realized he was speaking aloud when Myrtle agreed that had been Diggory's conclusion, it had taken him ages to put this together.

Harry mostly ignored her, his eyes still on the water as he asked what else was in the lake besides the giant squid? Myrtle was not happy with the answer that there were all sorts, she'd been flushed down there from time to time.

All five of them made spluttering noises of disgust at that!

"Are you telling me the plumbing empties into the lake!" Sirius demanded, going a little green at the thought. "I thought it was just banished once it left the pipes. We never found where they exited off, so-" he cut himself with a retch.

"Great, and I used to go swimming in that," James groaned, his skin starting to crawl.

"I like to think Sirius was half right," Lily had her nose crinkled so much she looked like she was imitating a pug. "Surely it goes through some sort of magical cleaning system. There are creatures like the giant squid living in there who would get sick from that."

"Let's just move on," Remus grumbled, not really wanting to sit around thinking about it.

Trying not to think about Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet.

"Can't imagine why you wouldn't want to paint that picture," Sirius muttered to find some amusement again.

Harry instead looked around himself again, his eyes landing on the painting of a human voice coming out of the water, like the mermaid.

"You see, that's a brilliant deduction," Lily smiled.

"I probably never would have got there without that painting," Harry tried to brush off.

"But you did," James rolled his eyes, "so take the compliment."

Harry muttered something that didn't quite mask the pleased look on his face at his parents complimenting him.

Harry asked if she'd seen any of those down there, and Myrtle praised that had been what Diggory got to in the end, but he'd taken hours and that was with her awake.

Harry's pleased feelings increased into a full blown smirk, unable to really beat away that pride that he'd done something faster than Diggory. Then he got an intense curling feeling in his gut, and Harry was once again wondering why his own jealous feelings at Cedric really hurt like that.

Harry was suddenly bubbling with his own excitement as he was sure he'd got it, the second task was to go into the lake and find merpeople!

His happiness drained as suddenly as if someone had pulled the plug in this tub. Harry could hardly swim.

Sure a bit of floundering in his water was easy, but while Dudley had taken lessons in his youth, his aunt and uncle had never ponied up the money for him, most likely hoping he'd one day drown.

"Oh thank you for that lovely bleeding reminder," Lily narrowed her eyes nastily, all of them having to fight down the urge to go drown those people in a bathtub.

Harry spoke his problem aloud to Myrtle, asking how he was supposed to breathe?

Harry looked around expectantly, to find they looked rather stumped at the thought.

"That, is a remarkably good question," Lily frowned, fidgeting with a lock of her hair as she cast her mind around for a spell or potion she could lock on. There was a potion that would temporarily give him gills, as well as some transfiguration, but those were advanced, and she'd be surprised if an older student could pull it off in time, let alone a fourteen year old.

"Well, it's not exactly common for people to do so," James explained as his mind offered up a few suggestions he quickly dispelled as they wouldn't be any use to Harry's age. "I'm not really sure how Hogwarts expects you to pull it off without adult help honestly."

"Um," Sirius cocked his head to the side in thought, "ah, let me get back to you on that one."

At this, Myrtle's eyes filled with sudden tears again.

"Uh oh," Remus groaned.

"Now you've done it," Sirius sighed, resisting the temptation to plug up his ears at the thought of this.

"What'd I do?" Harry yelped in surprise, they'd gone from speculating his problem to all looking annoyed in an instant.

"Not sure," James rolled his eyes, "but you said something to set off Myrtle, so here we go."

Wailing at how tactless he was, talking about breathing in front of her!

"Oh," Lily nodded, "well I've seen her be set off by less."

Harry was starting to regret that he hadn't put his trousers on the last time he'd gotten out, so maybe he could have snuck away by now.

She buried her face in her sleeves, and Harry only now remembered how touchy she could be, when other ghosts didn't react to that kind of stuff.

"Well you said it," Sirius sniffed, "Myrtle's one of a kind."

He impatiently apologized,

"I wasn't aware you could be impatiently sorry," Remus chuckled.

"But I'm glad you can pull it off," James grinned.

while Myrtle brokenly stated he wasn't the first, nobody had cared when she was alive. It had taken the school ages to find her body.

"Here we go again," Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation. "This is the story we mentioned before, if ever you asked how she died she'd just go on about this bit."

"Not even a very thrilling tale," James agreed with a sigh.

Olive Hornby had been the first to do so, laughing about how she'd probably been in there crying again, and Myrtle had made her pay for that. Myrtle haunted her for years, even going to a wedding to follow her around.

Lily still felt kind of bad for Myrtle, but it didn't stop her snapping, "what's she blaming her for? It wasn't that girl who got her killed. Why's she even allowed to do that?"

"Well you know Myrtle doesn't even know who did it," Remus reminded, "so she's just haunting the first person who came into contact with her after the fact."

"I think at some point she got a restraining order from the Ministry banishing her back to Hogwarts," James shrugged. "At least, I hope Olive did, I know I wouldn't want to put up with that."

Harry had stopped listening, still playing the song in his head about how something he'd miss would be taken. What were they going to take?

Myrtle was still chatting about how the Ministry of Magic had eventually got her to stop stalking and forced her back to her toilet.

"Fair compensation for stalking," Sirius snorted.

Harry vaguely agreed that was a good idea,

"I can see you were just riveted by that," Lily giggled.

while deciding it was time for him to go. He demanded she keep her eyes shut while he got dressed again, and once he was done and picking up all three of his things Myrtle asked if he'd come visit her again?

"I'm sure that's top of your to do list," James rolled his eyes.

"Could always find some more illegal potions to brew in there," Sirius offered, "I'm sure you'll come up with a reason to eventually."

"You're not encouraging," Lily grumbled at him.

Harry lied that he'd try, while privately thinking he wouldn't unless her's was the last bathroom available.

"And even then I'd rather use the lake," Remus finished as if reading, "because apparently it goes there anyways."

The others got a fascinating combination of laughter and disgust on their faces, so Remus admitted he'd been joking but still kept going with a wicked smirk in place.

Harry said his goodbye as he slipped his cloak on and activated his map to track the school again, the egg under his other arm. Filch and Mrs. Norris were down in their office, Peeves was bouncing around the trophy room, all seemed calm and a peaceful walk back to his tower, until he spotted something odd.

"Was it Sinestra sneaking into Vectors office?" Sirius asked innocently. "I caught that a fair few times."

"And I begged you every time not to tell me," Remus grumbled without looking up.

Peeves was not the only thing that was moving. A single dot was flitting around a room in the bottom left-hand corner - Snape's office.

"I can understand why you'd be keeping an eye on him," James muttered in disgust, he was always top of his list to keep tabs on.

But the dot wasn't labeled 'Severus Snape,' it was Bartemius Crouch.

Remus had to blink down at the pages several times to convince his brain he'd read that, and by the time he was convinced that name wasn't vanishing Lily had come over her shock and snatched the book away to see for herself, now juggling the thick spine and baby all at once and still managing to hold a look of disbelief in place.

"What on earth is he doing?" Sirius tried to demand, but his voice failed him in shock so it came out more of a whisper.

"How can he even be," James waved his hand around for emphasis of not even being aware what this was. "I thought he was so sick Percy was doing his job, now he's crawling around the castle."

"In Snape's private office," Remus agreed as he gently took the book back.

"I really want to know what's changed this guy," Lily demanded as she kept glaring at the book. "The only time he's acted the way I know him now was at the World Cup. Ever since then he's been acting like, well I don't even know."

"I have a bad feeling about me finding out," Harry grumbled as he kneaded his temple with his knuckles, something was pounding away in there insisting what he'd said was true enough.

"Well, best get it over with then," Remus tried to shrug this off for Harry's sake, his own mind wondering how much Dumbledore knew about this. Surely Crouch wasn't on the property without the headmaster knowing, which surely meant Snape had knowledge of what was going on and maybe invisible Harry would find something out. There was no doubt in anyone's mind Harry would go investigating this.

Harry watched the dot uncertainly, trying to understand how Crouch could be so sick he'd miss the Yule Ball, but was now sneaking around his school after midnight. The little label was moving around and occasionally pausing.

"Bit of an odd time for an inventory check," Sirius muttered.

Curiosity getting the better of him,

"No surprise there," James agreed.

Harry changed course and headed that way, his nose still pressed to the map as he moved along, passing into a shortcut. This seemed very out of character for Crouch sneaking around someone else's office.

They all agreed, none of them could come up with a feasible explanation for this. Even Remus' idea about the teachers having foreknowledge was lacking when he was reminded of the time, surely nothing so pressing was happening that Snape's cupboard had to be raided at this time.

Halfway down, Harry's leg suddenly wasn't level, and in fact had sunk into a trick step.

"Oh bugger," James groaned, already his fingers sliding past his glasses to hide his eyes from what this could mean.

He wobbled, and the still damp egg came free of his grasp, clanging on every step on the way down,

Sirius was counting all the ways in his head how bad this was, and already reaching double digits for his poor pup.

while the Invisibility Cloak tried to slide down with it, and in Harry's wild grasp to catch that the Map slipped free floating halfway down the stairs as well from where Harry was jammed.

Lily was biting her tongue to stop herself bemoaning that this really couldn't get any worse, then she realized next thing his wand was probably going to go sailing away as well!

The golden egg fell through the tapestry at the bottom of the staircase, burst open, and began wailing loudly in the corridor below.

"And that's my limit," Remus groaned, letting his head hang for a moment before looking pleadingly at his friends, "anyone else want to read about the travesty to come?"

"Nope," Sirius shook his head quickly, "that's all yours."

James removed his fingers so that he could glare at the book doing this to his son as he stated, "sorry Moony, you have fun with that."

"He's just going to get caught out of bed," Lily tried for some optimism. "Worst that can happen is he might get a detention."

"With the cloak and map on him," Sirius tallied up for her. "Try week's worth of detentions."

"Maybe being a champion they'll cut him some slack," James offered weakly.

"Good luck with that," Remus snorted.

Harry tried to reach with his wand to wipe the Map blank, but it was too far.

"And why did that stop you?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes, "just say the spell and it'll still be done." Then he suddenly brightened all the more and said, "you've still got your wand on you, least that didn't come loose. Just summon everything back to you and hide under the cloak."

"You'll still be stuck in there until someone pulls you free," James winced, "so it's a question of being caught or let your leg go numb for how many hours."

Harry had gone from looking flabbergasted at Sirius, the thought hadn't even crossed his panicky mind, to thinking that his dad's options were more likely.

Making sure the cloak was still covering him, all Harry could do was tense in fear as the roar reached his ear, Peeves!

"There's a momentary relief," Remus couldn't help a small smile, "least he's not approaching you at defcon five."

"Filch always blames Peeves first," Sirius agreed.

Filch had arrived almost instantly upon the racket the egg was making, shouting about the poltergeist, but quickly catching sight of the real noise.

They all tensed in preparation for Filch making the connection...but then James suddenly brightened with the widest smirk in place. "Actually, this could still work out. Harry's hiding under the cloak, Filch shouldn't be able to find him. That could belong to any champion, so Harry could just steal it back before anyone's the wiser when Filch takes it back to his office."

"Could work," Sirius agreed eagerly, "so long as Harry keeps his head."

Harry could hear him stoop to pick up the egg, the wailing was cut off, and Harry stayed very still

"Not like you had a choice," Remus muttered.

as he waited for Filch to pull back the tapestry to his hidden corridor, expecting to see Peeves, but instead his eyes would surely land on the Map.

"No, really," Sirius insisted, watching Harry with the most disappointed eyes he could muster. "Summon it back to you already. You are losing some very important scheming points for not reacting already."

"I panicked," Harry defended, "went on lockdown, I think I stopped breathing for a few moments, let alone think."

Filch began whispering to Mrs. Norris about how this was a Triwizard clue, Peeves had been stealing from a champion.

"Actually no," Lily shook her head, "I've never known Peeves to actively steal personal belongings, or at least hang onto them. He might chuck it across the room."

"I can still see him trying this though," Remus disagreed. "If one of the champions had left it out, Peeves would think this was a great idea."

He ripped back the tapestry,

"Like Peeves would still be hiding there though," James scoffed.

"He'd either be floating above laughing, or at the other end of the school by now," Sirius agreed.

and Harry got a proper look at Filch's strained face and popping eyes landing on an apparently deserted corridor.

Filch began whispering to himself about how Peeves could hide all he'd like but surely Dumbledore would have him kicked out for this.

"I am as positive as can be Dumbledore has no control of Peeves being in that school," Remus snickered.

"I've never known magic that could get rid of one," Lily agreed, "and even if by some miracle you did, another would just appear. They're spirits of chaos after all-"

"And who harbors more chaos than a school," James finished for her.

"Really makes you wonder if Fleur was lying," Sirius cocked his head to the side, "I wouldn't honestly be surprised if all schools housed one of some kind."

"I wouldn't put it past her," Lily tisked, thinking she'd probably exaggerated every bit of her perfect precious school.

Filch began climbing the stairs, still muttering to himself, his cat at his heels now watching Harry with her eerie eyes through the Cloak. This wasn't the first time Harry had to wonder if this worked on cats.

"And the answer is still yes, physically she can't see you," Remus sighed.

"But she can use her other sharper senses, like smell," Sirius grumbled. "It just depends on how intelligent she is to work out if the scent is old, or fresh and she should get Filch, or what."

James was muttering under his breath about how bad this could get and didn't add in.

Harry tried desperately to wrench his leg free as Filch kept climbing closer, he'd reach the map first or walk right into Harry-

then someone called for what Filch was up to?

Lily scowled and said a few choice words even as relief flooded her, Harry's life really knew how to set the tension.

Filch stopped where he was and looked back down to see Snape.

Remus couldn't help face planting the pages for a moment, counting up all the number of times this guy kept showing up to ruin their lives and not happy at all with the number.

"Of bleeding course!" Sirius snarled in outrage. "Because if there's one person to make a situation worse, it'll always be him to show up!"

"I swear he has a radar on my last name," James moaned, "there is no other explanation how he keeps doing this."

He was wearing a long gray nightshirt and he looked livid.

"Because I always wanted to know what he slept in," Sirius crinkled up his nose.

Filch explained himself, showing the egg still in his grasp and what he knew Peeves had been up to.

Snape quickly reached his side, his eyes taking in the scene while Harry watched with a pounding heart he was sure would give him away.

"You're not helping by exaggerating," Lily sighed, though honestly she couldn't help a small smile at the same time. After all the heart pounding, fear inducing moments this tournament had already done to her, a thing like dealing with Filch and detention felt like a cake walk.

Snape's first comment was to say Peeves couldn't get into his office.

"Oh?" James drew the vowel too far out in surprise. "Well maybe we were slightly wrong, and it was a surprise visit being conducted."

"Hope he gets fired for something," Sirius grumbled, knowing it wasn't exactly Crouch's job to do...well whatever on earth could even be going on, but if it was putting Snape in a bad mood he was all for it.

The two began talking over each other, Filch still trying to go on about what Peeves had done, Snape saying how someone had broken into his office and only a wizard could have done so. Snape won by snapping out that he didn't give a damn about that Poltergeist, he wanted Filch's help to search the castle for whoever had been in his office.

Remus couldn't help a petty little smile that Snape was running to anyone for help, thinking the last time Snape had needed something he'd turned to Filch then to. Seemed the caretaker even he'd hated in his youth was the only friend he seemed to want help from now, not that he had any others.

Filch tried to argue, looking longingly towards the way he was sure Peeves had gone.

"He's kidding himself," Lily rolled his eyes, "he must know better than anyone Peeves wouldn't still be hanging around. He's got his evidence, he can come back later."

"You be sure to tell him that dear," James smiled at her.

Harry was pleading with the universe they'd just go, while Mrs. Norris was still keeping eyes on him. Harry knew if anything she could smell him, why had he used all that scented soap!

"Yes, why indeed did you not have the foresight not to play with that new toy," Sirius scolded, wagging his finger in Harry's face for emphasis.

Harry momentarily considered trying to catch that finger and hold it hostage until his godfather reconsidered doing it again, he was wound tight as could go at the remembered stress of this, but then Sirius turned eagerly back to listen to Remus and Harry lost his moment.

Filch told Snape he'd help, but first he had to see the headmaster, there was no way he'd condone letting Peeves get away with this.

Snape replied his office was more important than that- but was cut off by a distinctive and repetitive clunk.

"And the party continues?" Remus raised a sharp brow.

"Just how many teachers wander around this castle at night," Harry threw up his hands in exasperation.

"More than you'd think, but few enough this usually isn't such a problem," James said in what he was sure was a wise old voice.

Both stopped speaking at once as Mad-Eye appeared.

"While the footsteps were distinctive enough I guessed as much," Lily rolled her eyes, "could it not have been anyone else besides him. Harry actually had a chance to get out of this mess, but the one person in that castle who can see past that cloak shows up!"

"So glad we're on the same page love," James huffed as he slumped back into his seat, the game was definitely up now.

Moody took in the full scene, his first response to ask the two if they were having a pajama party?

"Well I should hope not," Remus tried for a laugh, "McGonagall wasn't invited, and you know how upset she'd be about that."

"See, this is why you should have stuck around," Sirius grinned at him.

Filch began explaining everything, but when he got to Snape's office Snape snapped at him to shut it.

Lily raised a sharp brow like she wanted to give Snape a suspicious look for doing that. What was he trying to hide from Moody?

Moody took a few steps up so he could be more on level with them, his blue eye alone being able to take in the full scene.

"Someone should make that the next painting hung up in school," James couldn't help a small smile, "it feels like the perfect metaphor for how Harry's life goes. Mostly observing and just waiting to get caught."

"I'm sure Snape would love one hung in his office," Sirius agreed.

Moody's lopsided gash of a mouth opened in surprise.

"What master Auror skills he has," Lily grimaced. "He practically gave away Harry's position before he said a word."

For a moment he seemed to be deciding what to do, then he closed his mouth and turned to Snape.

They all braced themselves for this boot to drop.

Asking about this person who broke in?

"Again," James couldn't help but point out with a smirk, though it faded right back off as he couldn't help but question, "though even knowing who did it doesn't help any of my questions."

"He's not going to tell," Lily yelped in surprise.

"I guess not," Remus agreed slowly, "if he didn't say it right off the bat, I can't imagine he would...but why not?"

"Who cares," Sirius grinned, "Harry's going to get away with it for sure now."

Snape replied it was of no importance to him.

"You weren't saying so a second ago," Sirius sneered, knowing Snape thought anything concerning him was the most important thing in the world.

Moody disagreed, asking if Snape had any suspects?

Snape grudgingly admitted it was most likely a student, this had happened before so students could steal and make their own potions.

Remus enunciated each syllable carefully, "hypocrite." Before continuing on more casually, "I know for a fact he used to filch from Slughorn all the time to brew his own vats for whatever he wanted."

Lily didn't bother to deny it, she'd just never wanted to ask where he got them.

Moody asked if he was sure he didn't have anything else hidden in there?

"Oh please have Moody go check next," Sirius sneered. "Would make my day for him to get fired for something illegal I know he has in there."

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Lily couldn't help but mutter a tad bitterly.

Snape narrowed his eyes at Moody as he said dangerously Moody knew full well he had nothing else, he'd searched his office already.

"Well lookie there," James' grin managed to spring back to life instantly. "As if Moody hadn't already proved himself useful to this school, now he's actually listening to us."

"Pity he didn't find anything," Remus sighed.

"Probably keeps a secret stash hidden in the dungeons somewhere, so he can torture students at his own disposal," Sirius said, only half kidding.

Moody agreed that was a privilege Dumbledore had allowed-

Snape cut him off with a temper, saying Dumbledore trusted him and he still didn't believe the headmaster had granted this!

"And yet he did it anyways," Lily snapped back, "which finally shows there is still a brain in his head."

While honestly pleased his wife still hadn't switched back to even remotely defending Snape again, he still couldn't help but expect a relapse, this new version was honestly scaring him as he recoiled slightly. Lily was speaking of him with as much hatred as she'd once shown James, so it wasn't exactly as pleasant a new sensation as he would have once thought.

Moody agreed Dumbledore did trust Snape, the man believed in second chances.

"What did he do with his first chance?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Most likely, got caught as a Death Eater," Sirius growled. "We've only heard rumours before now he was one, but that seems the most likely. I'm just wondering how in Merlin's beard Dumbledore let that slide enough to give him a job."

"I'm sad to say we probably won't find out," Remus huffed.

Moody disagreed, saying there were some spots that didn't come off, finishing with an obvious look at Snape.

His eyes narrowed, and he did something very strange, his right arm flinched like he meant to grasp hold of his left forearm like he'd been stung.

Harry felt a buzzing go off in the base of his skull, glancing down at that forearm as well and so very sure he should remember something being there on Snape's... but then he looked around and saw no one else had a clue what this could mean so he didn't press it.

Moody laughed at the reaction, telling Snape to run along to bed.

"Be a good little bat and I'll throw you some fruit later," James happily agreed.

"Don't be ridiculous Prongs," Remus said back without looking up, "he's obviously more of an O- type."

"Why should that stop me?" James demanded over the other three's giggling, "as if I'd ever give him what he actually wanted."

Remus could have kept the banter going, but he was far too curious for this night to be over and Harry to get away from Snape in general to keep on.

Snape was outraged, exclaiming he had just as much a right to walk this castle as anyone.

Moody agreed he could prowl away, but he was now looking forward all the more to meeting him in a lonely corridor.

"I am begging you to sit in on that one pup," Sirius turned pleading eyes on Harry. "Foot trapped or not."

"I'll get right on that," Harry shot back, not at all denying he'd pay good money to see that fight.

Then Moody added as an afterthought that that he'd spotted the map and Snape must have dropped it.

"Oh bloody hell," Sirius yelped, his heart starting to beat too hard at where this could lead.

"Remus isn't around to keep him away this time," James groaned.

Harry couldn't deny any such things of happening, because he was quite sure he wouldn't have his map for some time after this night, and it was not an encouraging thought at all.

Harry realized what was happening as both Filch and Snape spotted it for the first time, and Harry threw caution to the wind and waved to get Moody's attention under the cloak, mouthing at the DADA teacher that was his!

"Not sure how that makes it better," Lily got out around gnawing on her lip. "He's doing you a favor by not telling your there, not sure if that'll extend to your stuff."

Snape was reaching for it, an expression of dawning comprehension on his face -

Remus was resisting the urge to chuck the book across the room, he didn't want to read out this next part.

but Moody reacted fasted by summoning it to him, the parchment zooming right out from Snape's fingers.

"Moody is officially my favorite person ever," James sagged in relief.

"We owe him big for doing all this," Sirius agreed fervently.

While as happy as the boys, Lily was still more than curious as to why Moody was. Even having helped out Harry before with the first task, that should have been out of pity or even a reward for Harry doing the right thing. Helping to keep Harry out of trouble like this though was just odd, what was the reason? Surely even Dumbledore wouldn't have gone this far.

Quickly stuffing it out of sight and correcting himself that was his, he must have dropped it earlier.

Snape wasn't paying this any attention, his mind clearly putting together what only Snape could,

"Well yes, he does have the extenuating circumstances of knowing all of that is yours," Remus rolled his eyes.

"But even he can't think you're stupid enough to have just thrown those around willy nilly," Sirius scowled, "so you've got to wonder what he really thinks Harry's up to."

"Here's hoping I don't have to find out," James huffed, wanting Snape to be gone already.

Whispering the name Potter.

Moody asked what he meant, and Snape turned back in Harry's direction now, his eyes landing unerringly right on him as if he could suddenly see him there now that he knew.

All five of them gave a nasty shudder at that, more than thankful whatever magic possessed that cloak didn't work like that.

Putting together that everything that was here belonged to Potter, he was here underneath his Invisibility Cloak.

"I forgot he even knew about the cloak too," James groaned in disgust. "Merlin that man has successfully wrecked my school life by knowing about both of those now."

"It does indeed put a damper that he figured out that was Harry's that night," Sirius agreed, this not even having occurred to him at the time as he'd been more focused on other things, but it was true, Snape had found it and at once linked it to being Harry's. The man must have put it together as well as the Map that he'd seen it in Marauder hands often enough he'd pieced it all together.

Snape suddenly put his arm out and began climbing the stairs, clearly thinking he was going to find Harry like a blind man, Harry swore he saw his nose dilating like he could sniff Harry out.

"I always said that over large nose had to come in handy for something," Sirius rolled his eyes at the idea.

Harry was forced to lean as far back as he could while still being stuck in place to avoid the fingers, just as Moody barked Snape was being ridiculous, there was no one else around. He'd be happy to pass along the message to Dumbledore though that Snape's first thought was Potter.

"I should be flattered," Harry grumbled.

Snape stopped his approach, turning back to glare at Moody what he meant by that?

Moody stated that Dumbledore wanted to know everyone who had it out for the boy. In the torchlight illuminating his face, every scar and misshapen feature seemed to hold a whole new ghastly shadow.

James' face gave a nasty twitch at the reminder he hadn't forgotten, it was still very unsettling to picture Moody like that.

Snape did not reply to that, instead his arm dropped back down to his side and he stated he knew Potter had a habit of wandering after hours, he'd only been looking out for Potter's best interest.

"A top priority of yours, as you've always made clear," Sirius said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Habit?" Lily repeated in disgust. "Harry really doesn't do it that often, not even as often as I did. Two or three times a year at best."

Harry did a double take at his mum saying that, she'd never mentioned any explicit school breaking like that to him, but Remus was still eagerly reading and now clearly enjoying Snape's predicament against Moody to notice.

Moody didn't seem to believe him as he repeated that back at Snape.

There was silence all around until Snape spoke up again that he was going to bed.

"Scamper off with your tail between your legs," Sirius chirped, still wishing more than anything Moody had been around in their day, he clearly came in handy.

Moody agreed that was the best idea he'd had this night. Then he turned dismissively away from him towards Filch, telling him to hand over the egg.

Filch refused, clutching the egg as though it were his firstborn son.

James scowled lightly as his mind flickered to that feeling, not ever having believed he'd mock anyone for that description, but it reminded him too much of his numbered days being able to do that for his own infant and any mockery of it didn't sit right.

Protesting this was evidence of Peeves' doing!

"Bloody hell man, you're never getting rid of that poltergeist, move on," Remus sighed.

Moody shot back it was the property of a school champion and it was to be handed over. Snape walked past the squabbling duo without any acknowledgement, and clearly outed here, Filch unhappily passed the egg along and turned to leave as well, muttering to his cat to come along, they could still go to Dumbledore and report this.

"There's Moody's point," Lily rolled her eyes, "Filch can still tell for all the good it'll do without the egg in his possession."

When both were far out of sight, Moody heaved himself up the stairs to Harry's position, mentioning how close that had been.

Harry thanked him for not mentioning he'd been present.

Moody asked what the Marauder's Map was, pulling it back out of his pocket and investigating it.

"Something of the utmost genius," Sirius stated at once.

"Crafted by only the keenest of artists," James quickly tacked on pompously.

Remus pretended he wasn't going to add on by reading, but no one could deny the faint tones of pride lacing his own voice while reading about their map.

Harry tried to explain what it was while wincing around some pain, his leg was beginning to hurt in its trapped position.

Moody's magical eye was going haywire as it studied every inch of the paper,

Harry couldn't help but to start twitching in unease, some feeling trying to rear up in him warning he didn't like Moody having hold of his map...

telling him this was some object to be had.

"Yes!" James crowed as if he'd received the end of all compliments. "Can you believe the Alastor Moody just complimented us!"

"I'm at a loss for words," Sirius agreed, his eager smile not being dampened one bit.

"Can you imagine when you do become an Auror and mention this to him before he even finds it," Remus added for his friends benefit. "Moody'll be so impressed, he'll probably try having you make some for even more buildings and places."

James's chest swelled with pride at the very idea of receiving this praise in person, but would never dream of denying, "well of course I just drew it, if he wants full replications he'll owe you two some compensation as well."

"This could be fun," Sirius' smirk widened at once. "Can you imagine us actually making a business of plotting out and recreating our map for other buildings."

"Places like the Ministry for example would go haywire for dozens of copies," Lily couldn't stop herself adding in.

They all looked floored at the idea, nothing like this had even crossed their minds before as anything more than a childhood pet project for their own security, and partial vanity, but this really was the first time they realized what they really could have on their hands.

Harry agreed it came in handy, trying to ignore his eyes starting to water from the pain as he asked his Professor to give him a hand.

Sirius was suddenly accosted back to this reality, and remembered back to a time he'd found P-, that rat, stuck in there. He'd fallen in hours ago apparently and was limping for ages afterwards, it really could leave a bruise if someone was left in there long enough not being able to pull themselves out. He didn't say this aloud, what had once been almost a funny memory suddenly made him realize who his brain had been intentionally leaving out this whole discussion of their map and he was not happy at the reminder.

Moody was momentarily surprised at the interruption before looking up and realizing where Harry still was, quickly grabbing hold of him and pulling him back out. Then he asked Harry if he'd seen who was in Snape's office?

Harry agreed it had been Mr. Crouch.

Harry felt his jaw do an odd number, something in him kicking and screaming to say that wasn't quite right, but Harry had more than enough practice to hastily brush that aside and ignore it best he could.

Moody's magical eye whizzed over the entire surface of the map. He looked suddenly alarmed.

"Well that can't be right," Lily cocked her head to the side. "He's supposed to be heading security or something, there's no way Crouch got onto the property without Dumbledore knowing, and why wouldn't he tell Moody as well."

"Something about this really isn't adding up," James agreed.

Harry gave a nasty twitch but still declined his answer which he knew he'd be grateful for in the long run.

Moody found this very interesting, still taking this map in.

Harry couldn't think of any way to reply. He was grateful Moody had gotten him out of trouble, and wanted to ask about all this, so threw caution to the wind and asked what Crouch would be doing here?

Moody's magical eye went and landed on Harry now, clearly sizing him up on how much to tell him, before answering that while Moody may be obsessed with catching Dark wizards, it was nothing compared to Crouch.

"Interesting way of putting it," Lily sniffed.

"Moody caught them," Sirius explained for Harry.

"While Crouch threw the book at them, the heaviest and hardest ones he could find, on even the smallest of charges," James finished with the smallest of frowns showing his displeasure.

"It's supposedly to show he's not taking any Death Eater's lightly," Remus sighed, "but really, from what I've heard, he gets bleeding cruel sometimes."

"It seems to be working though," Lily sighed, "as no one's trying to stop him."

Harry was getting a terrible feeling as this continued, he was very sure he had strong feelings about this topic that just weren't coming to the surface quite yet, but thanked them all the same as clearly they didn't like talking about it. Even as anti- Voldemort as they all were, obviously something of what Crouch was doing didn't feel much better.

Harry then asked if perhaps Crouch knew something more was going on?

Moody looked at Harry suspiciously, asking what that could be?

Harry didn't want to admit he'd been hearing things from the outside, fearing it could lead to some inquiries about Sirius.

"I can't really see me being his first train of thought," Sirius gave an uneasy smile, "he and the likes would still think I'm after you after all."

"Better safe than sorry," James muttered, hoping Harry did keep his mouth shut.

Still, Harry tried to play it off he'd just heard some things, like the Dark Mark at the World Cup and things from the prophet, it was all odd.

Moody watched Harry with something like mild respect before telling Harry what a sharp lad he was.

"Is that really so hard to work out?" Lily rolled her eyes. "No one would think to put those two together?" She wasn't trying to underplay Harry for knowing this, but it wouldn't take a genius either.

"Well most his age are only concerned with Quidditch stats," Remus shrugged, "so I guess it's more of a compliment for paying attention like that."

Moody's eyes were back on the Marauder's Map as he said Crouch was most likely thinking along the same lines as Harry, all this talk going around was making people nervous. Then his lopsided mouth did something resembling a smile as he finished if there was one thing he hated, his eyes now on the left-hand corner of the map,

The Marauders knew that map like that back of their own wand of course, so they realized he was in fact looking at the dungeons, back in Snape's direction.

it was a free Death Eater.

Harry just stared, sure Moody couldn't mean what he thought he did.

Lily didn't even need to see the map to put together what that meant, restraining herself for saying just a few more foul things at yet more proof of what Severus had turned into.

Then Moody turned and said now he had a question for him.

Harry's heart sank as he guessed what was coming, he was going to be asked where this map had come from, which could lead to some awkward answers involving his old teacher Professor Lupin and even his dad, plus the Weasley twins.

"Two of which aren't exactly Moody's concern," James muttered with just a tad more sulleness in his voice as he realized he was technically speaking of himself in past tense.

"Is this thing even technically legal?" Lily suddenly asked as she did worry about Remus, and the twins for that matter. "Wouldn't you need permission from the Headmaster to have such a thing?"

"Don't know, not like we asked," Sirius rolled his eyes at the thought.

"There's not technically a rule against it," Remus put just a touch more emphasis than was called for into that.

"Of course that makes it all better," Lily snorted.

"This is all pointless anyways," James tried to wave back attention to the important matter, "it's not like Harry's going to spill."

Instead, Moody asked if he could borrow it?

"Err," James stuttered, sure he'd heard wrong.

"Great, if it's not one teacher confiscating it, it's another," Sirius scowled as he realized what that really meant, like Harry had a choice.

Remus flushed in remembrance of that action, Sirius had made it clear he wasn't holding a grudge about that but it still wasn't a pleasant reminder as he quickly read in hopes Harry would somehow get past this, or at least have the intentions of stealing it back.

Harry was so surprised, and grateful Moody had done him a favor this night, he supposed he should return it no matter how fond he was of his map.

"Well I guess," James blustered, "when you put it like that."

"So long as it's a temporary loan," Sirius stated in no uncertain terms. "If Remus couldn't break the curse no one can, and Moody doesn't need to be leaving with that at the end of the year."

"I'll make sure of it," Harry swore, that uneasy feeling in him still not settling even if he did now understand why he wouldn't get his map back tonight. Something in him was kicking his insides telling him he should have taken another long look at that map before he handed it over...

He agreed, and Moody thanked him while telling him to get back off to bed. The two climbed the stairs and at first headed in the same direction, Moody still holding the map like a treasure.

James still couldn't stop a genuine smile creeping across his face. He hadn't been able to help it last night, in between his tossing and turning and thinking over all the events to come, his realization of what had happened to Moody had lingered in there as well. Fear for his life, less accurately his face but still, really had been leaving him slightly dubious of his job of choice he'd been set on...but now he really was considering something else. He always had been a good artist, he'd been the one to hand draw out that map that even impressed Moody in this way, so if he could be of help to this department some other way...

They meant to split off when they reached Moody's office, but the teacher called Harry back and asked if he'd ever considered a job as an Auror?

Lily and James couldn't help but startle, the idea hadn't even yet occurred to them that though Harry was the age, he'd have some job in his life. It was really saying something if it was in fact the very one his father was looking for.

Harry said no in surprise, and Moody told him he should be considering it, while also glancing at the egg back in Harry's arms and also pointing out Harry hadn't been taking that on a walk.

"Without a leash? He wouldn't dream of it," Sirius smirked.

Harry agreed he'd been working on the clue, and Moody told him he had no doubts Harry would work it out. Then he did leave.

Harry made his way back to Gryffindor Tower, his mind still churning over Snape and Crouch, Crouch being dominant with all the questions about him. Why was he pretending to be ill but coming up here? What had he been doing in Snape's office?

"Both excellent questions," Lily wrinkled up her forehead, not coming up with an answer she did like, either in explanation or just plain chasing away her chills.

There was also that small other thing, that Moody actually thought Harry could be an auror. The idea seemed intriguing, but Harry decided as he climbed into bed, he'd like to see a few more noses on the other Aurors before he considered it.

Causing some smattering of laughter in the end as Remus handed the book a little guiltily to Lily, not wanting to admit that he was rather relieved he wasn't going to be the one to read that next task as well, and masking that by telling Harry, "I do believe the majority of them at least have the full percentage of their noses."

"That's right comforting," Harry smiled back, but something in him was lingering on the idea.

[oceanera12]

“Are you sure you’re in the right Cabin?”

Chatting with my sister (again) and we were talking about Nico going from this sweet innocent child who was obsessed with fun card games to the literal son of Hades rocking the black t-shirt and skull ring look. Like, wow. Way to step into that role with little to no pressure (not necessarily bad, just interesting).

And that got us thinking more than it should have about the Olympians and the attributes their kids get from them. And also the attributes they DON’T get from them.

What if Child of “________”, but everyone thinks they’ve been claimed by the wrong parent because there is no way in Tartarus this kid is related to that Olympian.

[And we did the big three in Greek form just to keep it simple (and Percy needs a half-blood sibling, everyone else already has one, fight me on this) Also feel free to replace the names, we just used these as fillers because just saying “Adjective” child was getting confusing.]

First up: “Brandon” the son of Zeus. (Aka. Anxiety child)

First off: I’m thinking the kid is no more than ten years old (more like nine, in all honesty)

This kid is afraid of heights. No joke. He refuses to even climb a step stool because the idea of being off the ground terrifies him to no end.

He’s shy as heck and talks very softly. When he first shows up to camp everyone is convinced he’s the son of some minor god (maybe the god of sleep) because “What son? We can’t hear you. Speak up!” *mumbles under his breath a little louder*

Hates being the center of attention (the exact opposite of his Dad) and just wants to make it through the day without having an anxiety attack.

Fights with a knife (and when we say fight, we mean “hold the thing up, look for openings, take them, but otherwise hide in the background and let Angry child and Sunshine child take care of it”)

He’s just scared of a lot of things, okay? (I’m thinking Neville from Harry Potter) He tries to fight and do what he’s supposed to in training and just falls flat on his face.

But when it comes to battle tactics? Oh, this boy has got some ideas. It doesn’t come as naturally as it would to Ares and Athena kids, but he’s great to have in war councils around the ping-pong table (yes, the nine year old is good at chess, so sue me)

Also, since he’s always so quiet, when he actually does speak up EVERYONE pays attention.

When he panics/freaks out/has an anxiety attack he just sits down on the ground and rests his head in between his knees and tries to breathe. Most of the time that helps but sometimes it just gets worse and worse and that was how he figured out he could summon lightning bolts from the sky (no one was injured but now he’s terrified of accidently hitting someone so he’ll run off somewhere quiet when he needs to breathe)

The one time camp has seen him angry was when Pearl was hunted by some bullies and came back bruised and bloody. Everyone agrees they never speak of that time and to never have a repeat of that time.

Doesn’t really have an opinion on his half-siblings (both Jason and Thalia scared the heck out of him the first time they meet and the two take that as a sign to give the kid space). He doesn’t mind spending time around them, but he’d rather be with the “Big Three Mess-Ups”

Next: “Pearl” the daughter of Poseidon (Aka. Angry child)

This girl has zero chill, even for a thirteen year old who is going through that angry teenager phase. 

And I mean ZERO. Ten minutes in camp and she’s already challenged three people to a duel and been in two fist fights (which she won one and lost the other)

The Ares cabin was already making room for her (because who else could it be?) and suddenly there’s a blue trident hanging over her head at meal time and Percy ends up choking on his blue food

She doesn’t like the ocean. Or water. Or sand. Or outdoors. She can swim and climb and all that stuff, she’d just rather stay inside. All the time. It’s a problem.

And when she is outside she likes to climb a tree (because it’s away from people). When the nymphs start complaining she storms off (quite literally) and hides at the bottom of the lake for a week. That becomes her solitude spot, much to Brandon’s and Violet’s annoyance.

Will carry a book everywhere. And it’s not because she loves to read (she hates reading because of her dyslexia). She just uses the book to ignore everyone around her and get people to not talk to her. Sometimes the book is upside down and she doesn’t notice (and will get mad when people point it out)

The one thing she definitely got from her Dad is just pure strength. This gal can deck most everyone in camp even if she stands at a mesley five feet. Also, she’s got pretty good control on the whole “water controlling thing” which is nice (especially when it comes to slapping some manners into a bunch of bratty Hermes kids who thought it was a good idea to plant dead flowers outside of Violet’s cabin and blame her for spreading death around)

She hates horses and this includes pegusi (mainly because they talk too much) 

The one thing she claims to not “hate” is her fellow “Big Three Mess-Ups” (although secretly she really loves sappy soap operas, a secret that is never shared with anyone)

Fights with a spear, weirdly enough and isn’t bad at archery. Prefers fighting with weapons then with “water abilities”

She doesn’t like Percy for no particular reason. She just avoids him most of the time and when they do talk it’s mostly short awkward conversations. (“Sooo... How’s camp?” “Fine.” “Good.” “Great.” “Good.”) It’s hard to hate Tyson so she just avoids him as much as possible.

And last: “Violet” the daughter of Hades (Aka. Sunshine child)

She wears bright sunny colors, loves sunshine and rainbows and is basically the happiest fifteen year old you will ever meet.

And it’s not that forced happiness that’s creepy and everyone is like “Uh, this kid needs therapy” she is actually happy with her life and loves camp.

Also wears flowers in her hair. They start out the day cheerful and bright but by the end of the day, they are wilted and dead as can be. Everyone has learned not to bring up the dead flowers (she gets angry because DANG IT, SHE DOESN’T MEAN TO KILL THEM SO QUICKLY)

When everyone met her, they thought she was Demeter’s kid. 

When Hades’s claimed her, everyone thought she was Persephone’s and Hades was just covering his wife’s butt or something.

And then someone thought it was a good idea to pick on Brandon and the everyone remembers the screams from the Ares cabin as an army of skeleton soldiers chased them across camp because “You don’t tick off the Mom friend” (Chiron had to get her to call them off because “It’s been two hours, they are going to drop from exhaustion”)

The Ares cabin nicknamed her “Violent” after that and all are convinced she is haunting their cabin at night by having skeletons outside their window and stare in at them (which she is, but no one can prove it sooo...)

Also she’s claustrophobic so don’t stick her in a small space unless you want skeletons to start popping out of the ground.

She is very friendly and outgoing and gets along with pretty much everyone (As long as you’re not a bully). She’s basically the ultimate Mom Friend.

Doesn’t really fight with weapons and most would think she’s a pacifist. But in reality she just summons the army of skeletons to do the fighting for her. When she does actually have to fight it’s just her swinging around some kind of staff (maybe made of bone?).

Violet LOVES her half-siblings and wants to be friends with them very very badly. Nico gets a little freaked out by her and tries to run in the other direction but Hazel thinks she’s pretty chill. The two of them get along fine enough.

Random things the three do together:

These three are best friends/the new trio/“The Big Three Mess-Ups”/whatever you want to call them and will fight anyone for any of them.

“Anyone want to trade parents?” *All three raise their hands without looking at one another*

Sleep over’s in one another’s cabins because let’s be honest: their siblings are never around (if ever) and it’s lonely. They switch cabins every week to change the scenery. Violet loves it (”Sleepover with friends!”), Brandon is very appreciative of it (”I don’t like being alone.”) and Pearl pretends she hates it and puts up with it, but is secretly very grateful for it.

They also eat with one another at meal times and will do group projects together because everyone is a little terrified to try.

Once, for capture the flag, it was the three of them vs the whole camp (Pearl made a bet with the Hermes cabin that the three of them could beat all of them. The Hermes cabin just took it to a completely different level). Violet guarded the flag with her army of skeletons while Pearl and Brandon sneaked around. They ended up winning, but barely (it was the entire camp, seriously)

That’s all I really got at the moment but I’ve fallen in love with these three and want to see them get into some trouble.

[365days365movies]

March 9, 2021: Orpheus (1950) (Part One)

Greek mythology was my first mythological love.

And yes, that is ironically a very cliché thing to say about Greek mythology, since it’s by FAR the most popular and well-known mythology in the Western world, but...what can I say, I’m a sucker for the classics.

When I was 6, my mom got me a copy of the Odyssey, followed by D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, and that book was my SHIIIIIIIIIIT. From the Titanomachy to the Trojan War, from Decaulion to Daedalus, from the Lernaean Hydra to Ladon, and from Zeus to Dionysus (my second favorite Olympian), I LOVE Greek mythology.

There have been countless adaptations of these stories over the last century of so, some better and more faithful than others. We got Blood of Zeus (which I...genuinely dislike) on Netflix last year, Lore Olympus is a fantastic webcomic and modernized retelling of the universe of stories in general (fuck Apollo, that’s all I have to say), Hercules by Disney is fun (though extraordinarily inaccurate), and who doesn’t like some Percy Jackson (the books, not the movies)?

Today’s entry won’t be the first of the Greek mythology stories this month; after all, it’s DEFINITELY fantasy, so there were going to be a few entries in here. Some will come pretty close to each other later this month, but for this one, we’re jumping forward 10 years from The Thief of Bagdad to 1950. Let’s get back to France, shall we?

Famous for his adaptation of Beauty and the Beast is Jean Cocteau, legendary French surrealist filmmaker. His stylings definitely capture a sort of practical magic, compounded with clever angles and fascinating visual and practical effects. It’s evident with the classic fairy tale, which I would’ve done this month had I not already seen it. So, instead, we’ll be looking at the middle film in a trilogy known as Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy. This is, apparently, the most important one. And that makes sense, since it’s focused upon...

Is Hadestown good? I’m real tempted to find a way to watch it, and it sounds like it’s just up my alley. I’ll probably check it out one of these days.

Orpheus was (maybe) the son of Calliope, the muse of poetry, and Apollo, god of music. Maybe. Parentage differs based on the retelling. No matter the parents, he was renowned for his charm and grace, as well as his voice and music. He was loved by animals, nymphs, and maidens alike. He was invited to be the Bard of Jason’s DnD group (AKA the Argonauts), and used Bardic Performance to inspire his comrades (and also helped them overcome the sirens by singing EVEN LOUDER).

But the one whom he loved most was his wife, Eurydice. Unfortunately, a satyr (AKA horny horned half-goat man) chased her right into a viper’s nest, where she was bitten and died. Orpheus was CRUSHED, and his song was so depressing that even the gods cried. They said, “Dude, go to the Underworld, get back your lady from Hades, please!” And he did.

Hades, the old romantic that he secretly is, agrees to let Eurydice’s soul, on one condition. That he doesn’t look back at her as she follows him out. Orpheus agrees, but the man can’t stop himself from looking back to make sure that she’s there. And she was...and then she wasn’t. So, our sad boi fucked up, and then...well, it’s spotty. 

See, some people say that he stopped worshipping Dionysus (his previous patron), and the wine boi’s female followers tore Orpheus to pieces as punishment. Some say that these same women got a liiiiiiiiiittle too into the Bacchanalia (think orgies, but religious and violent), and ripped him apart in a frenzy. And some say that he only took male lover from then on, and women tore him to pieces for not paying attention to them (also, possible homophobia). You know, it varies. Still, we can agree on the ripped apart by women thing. His head could still sing, and as the women threw his body parts into a river, it sang a song so beautiful that the rocks and branches in the river refused to strike it. His instrument of choice, a lyre, was eventually interred amongst the stars as the constellation Lyra.

The story of a pained artist searching for a lost love and losing her is all over the goddamn place, with the crazy-ass Moulin Rouge being a solid example of it.

But OK, let’s finally begin Orpheus, or Orphée to be more accurate. Gonna be a weird ride, I guarantee it. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

The story starts with a recap of the original myth, and notes that it doesn’t need to be limited  by time and place. This sort of story, after all, could happen anywhere and at any time. And in this case, that time and place are 1950s-era France, where we quickly meet famous poet Orpheus (Jean Marais).

At a café, he meets a friend, the Editor (Henri Crémieux), where they speak on Orpheus’ fame, which is not well-liked in a cafe frequented by poets. Also arriving there is a young drunken poet, Jacques Cégeste (Édouard Dermit), who is accompanied by his patron, known only as...the Princess (María Casares). Come on, guys, can we give our female characters names, please?

Anyway, Jacques quickly gets into a drunken brawl with other patrons, which leads to the arrival of the police at the café. They forcefully arrest him, but before they can, he’s hit by a couple of motorcycles, and potentially killed. The police bring Jacques back to the Princess’ car, with the help of her driver Heurtebise (François Périer). For unknown reasons, she summons Orpheus to help them. He agrees, and goes with them to the hospital.

Or he would be, if they were going there. Instead, as they drive off, Orpheus discovers that Jacques is dead already. They aren’t going to the hospital. Instead, they head to a mysterious mansion, as ominous and oblique poetry plays on the radio. They’re soon accompanied by the men on the motorcycles that killed Jacques, who work for the Princess. The plot fuckin’ THICKENS.

Back at her mansion, they bring the body of Jacques upstairs, much to the confusion of Orpheus, whom the Princess keeps calling stupid whenever he asks questions. However, he’s not proving her wrong, as she immediately convinces him that she’s actually dreaming at the moment. Although...maybe he is?

She sits in front of a mirror, which breaks...somehow. Frustrated, she commands Orpheus to wait there for her to return, as she goes to check on Jacques and her men. Like me, Orpheus is confused. This gets worse for me, though, as the Princess goes to the other room and tells the dead Jacques to get up. AND HE DOES. Well, Jacques’ a zombie, I guess. He identifies the Princess as “his Death”, which she agrees to. She tells him to hold on to her coat, and then...

...I got questions. I GOT QUESTIONS HERE.

They go through the mirror, and the Princess’ henchmen follow, just as Orpheus walks in. He also has questions, and he tries to go through the mirror, to no avail. Completely confused at this point, he passes out against the mirror, alone in the mansion. And then...he’s outside.

Yeah, he’s just outside now, and waiting there is Heurtebise, the chauffeur! Orpheus is freakin’ out, and Heurtebise has no answers for him, but has been told to take him back to town once he...arrived. OK. Still questions.

In town, the disappearance of Orpheus is being discussed by a police inspector, his wife Eurydice (Marie Déa), and her friend Aglaonice (Juliette Gréco). Aglaonice doesn’t seem to like Orpheus very much, as she’s trying to convince Eurydice that he’s cheating on her. And that’s hard to argue, since he was last seen with the Princess. However, just as there’s about to be a scandal reported by a spontaneously appearing journalist, Heurtebise and Orpheus arrive home.

After a rough encounter with the journalist, he arrives home to a relieved Eurydice, and an enraged Aglaonice, whom Orpheus also dislikes heavily. He’s apparently forbidden her from entering his house, and tells her off. The Inspector leaves too, and asks Orpheus to come to his office to discuss the matter of the missing Jacques.

Eurydice reminds Orpheus that Aglaonice is dangerous, as she runs...the League of Women. Well...I think we know what role Aglaonice is going to play by the end of this. Her and her League of Bacchanalian Women, get me? Yikes. Anyway, the conversation turns into an argument, when the EXTREMELY ornery Orpheus basically just storms off, being a DICK to his poor wife. And when he goes upstairs to his room, he actually sneaks out of the window.

Meanwhile, Heurtebise comes into the house to offer an alibi to the pained Eurydice. While she doesn’t quite believe it, the two share some time together and seem to bond. However, when he smells gas from the stove, Heurtebise lets it slip that he committed suicide by using a gas stove. He covers it up before Eurydice notices the slip-up, but...OK. So, “the Princess” is death. Going by the traditional Greek myth, she’s some form of psychopomp, and the world beyond the mirror is the Underworld, I can only assume. OK...I can dig it.

Orpheus, meanwhile, is at the car, listening to the strange radio poetry and writing it down. The, uh, “Princess” is busy as well. Like a ghost, she walks into the household and watches Orpheus as he sleeps. A narration refers to her as Orpheus’ death. Funny, I’m pretty sure that’s going to be Aglaonice’s role.

Two days later, Orpheus is increasingly obsessed with the poetry from the mysterious radio and its odd messages. While Eurydice seems to mock this obsession, Orpheus also seems to be far too enraptured in it. But, interestingly, the messages seem to be coming from nowhere known. However, it’s all beginning to affect their marriage greatly.

On the phone, the Inspector comes calling, and Eurydice asks Heurtebise to answer the phone. He does so, and soon after, we see the phone float into place, as if placed there by a ghost. That’s confirmed as Heurtebise phases to the outside from nothing, where he meets Orpheus and informs him of the message. The two decide to head to the Inspector in his car, rather than the mysterious talking car.

While Orpheus goes through town, looking for the Princess rather than the Inspector, there’s something that I wanted to mention here. Call it an interpretation. Apparently, Heurtebise is often considered an angel by critics and interpreters. However, I’m gonna suggest that he’s actually supposed to be a representation of Hermes, the messenger god and a psychopomp who escorted souls to the Underworld. Not sure about the Princess yet, but Cocteau apparently never meant for her to be portrayed as actual death. Interesting.

Meanwhile, at the Inspector’s office, both Aglaonice and Orpheus’ poet friends (supposedly) are accusing Orpheus of being involved in Jacques’ disappearance. The Inspector turns them away, just as Heurtebise and Orpheus reconvene in town. While Orpheus didn’t find the Princess, Heurtebise says that she came by, saying that he could stay with the married couple for now.

Speaking of the Princess, we see her at night, staring over Orpheus. And her eyes are...strange. They seem artificial, and it bothers the EVER-LOVING SHIT out of me. And the whole affair isn’t helping Eurydice either, as she’s tired of Orpheus’ obsession with the car, and is planning on going to Aglaonice for advice. Heurtebise tries to stop her from doing so, but she insists. But when she goes...the motorcyclists come for her. And she’s dead. As proven when the Princess arrives through the mirror.

Alongside her comes Jacques, acting as the Princess’ servant. She notes to him that their work isn’t easy, and couldn’t be done if she were dressed in the way the humans portray her. So, she is seemingly Death, or at least an aspect of Death. Obviously, as we’re talking about the Greek story, we can assume that she’s meant to be Hades in particular. But, we’ll see. It’s also confirmed, by the way, that the mysterious messages are indeed Jacques’ poetry, recited by him on the radio waves from beyond the grave. Neat.

Heurtebise is clearly upset with what’s just happened to Eurydice. He asks if the Princess actually had orders to kill Eurydice. She avoids the question, and guesses correctly that Heurtebise has fallen in love with Eurydice. He confirms this, and counters with the fact that the Princess has seemingly fallen in love with ORPHEUS. The plot fucking THICKENS.

Good place to pause, I think. Halfway mark and all. See you in Part Two!

[inatramento]

Through war and triumph [ PERSEUS BELMONTE ] rises, at [ 60 ] years old, serving as a [ TATTOO ARTIST / PRINCE OF THE HAVEN REALM ] residing in [ KING’S HILL ]. They are a [ WITCH ] that resembles [ TOMMY MARTINEZ ]. Upon meeting them, they are [ DYNAMIC ] and [ AFFABLE ]. Don’t be fooled, they can be [ SCATTERED ] and [ TACTLESS ]. 

I.

N A M E

Perseus Belmonte

N I C K N A M E S

Percy

A G E

60 (appears 28)

B I R T H P L A C E

Haven Palace, Haven Realm

C U R R E N T   R E S I D E N C E

King’s Hill

F A M I LY

Marcelo Belmonte (father, deceased)

XYZ Belmonte (mother)

Mayra Belmonte (older half-sister)

Matteus Belmonte (older half-brother)

Natala Belmonte (younger sister)

Zaya Rhodes-Alderman (wife)

Zia Alderman (sister-in-law)

O C C U P A T I O N

Tattoo Artist

(Prince, but pls don’t tell anyone)

S E X U A L   O R I E N T A T I O N

Bisexual

II.

E Y E   C O L O R

Brown

H A I R   C O L O R

Dark Brown

H E I G H T

6'3

S C A R S

TBD

F A C E C L A I M

Tommy Martinez

III.

B I O G R A P H Y

An heir and the spare...The spare, that’s what Percy was, and thank God for that.  Perhaps that wording was a little harsh, making his parents sound as if they only had him just in case, when that wasn’t the truth.  In fact, if he was speaking technically, wasn’t Matthias the spare?  Mayra the heir?  Whatever, he thought the saying was funny, that’s all.  But the notion of being thankful that he (hopefully) should never have to rule, stood regardless of his colloquial title.  He just simply wasn’t cut out for it.  He was a bit too nice, too selfish, too unsettled, too careless with his words.  

Being the third child, while still expected to grow and take some position within Haven’s court, the pressure he experienced was less than Mayra and Matthias.  And while some people might find themselves chafing at the inattention, Percy thrived in it, delighted by the fact that unless something went incredibly wrong, he would never have the incredible responsibility of ruling.  He got away with a bit more teenage rebellion, got out of responsibilities just a bit more often, got to chase his passions for a bit longer, and rode on the coattails of his siblings just a bit too much.  Like when Matthias had convinced their father to let him travel, only two years after Percy tried the same argument and was able to get him to agree faster.  Oh the joys of being a younger sibling.  

During his time traveling the other realms he discovered many things.  He found out which of those pesky powers witches he inherited through a series of laughable events (longevity and teleportation, so far, if you were wondering).  He found the things he loved to do most that he would follow as a career if he hadn’t had responsibilities to his family (tattooing).  And lastly, he found the love of his life.  Sometimes he looks back and wants to shake himself, yell in his own face ‘why didn’t you notice her sooner?  you could’ve had this all for so much longer!’.  Zaya Rhodes-Alderman.  The Aldermans had been family friends of the Belmontes for ages, and Percy had grown up chasing Zia and Zaya down palace hallways when they should’ve been sitting pretty at inter-realm functions.  Tugging on their matching hair-dos.  Refusing to play with them when he hit that certain age boys did when girls were suddenly gross.

They had rekindled their childhood friendship at Matthias’ coronation, having not seen each other for years.  They tried to stay in touch, then, with some modicum of success, but they were both trying to establish themselves.  Percy suddenly with the freedom--granted by Matthias--to do whatever he wanted, and Zaya with the exploration on the half of herself that she never got to learn about.  For a couple of years, they spoke when they could and met up even less.  But then eventually...Someone (Zaya) got their shit together to finally push them into that next step, and he know it sounds cliche but the rest was pretty much history, as they say.  They went from speaking when they could to being unable to go a day without seeing each other.  One thing quickly turned into another and it wasn’t long before they made the leap and decided to get married.  Many people assumed their quick jump into a serious relationship was due to being true mates.  But they were wrong, the two weren’t true mates, and they couldn’t care less about that fact.  They didn’t care, they were it for each other.

They’ve been married coming up on 25 years, now, and are still constantly mistaken for newlyweds, eternally in that honeymoon period.  They moved to King’s Hill some time ago, with Zaya taking her place in her family’s court as Head Healer, as between Percy’s job and his talent of teleportation it didn’t really matter where he settled.   

P E R S O N A L I T Y

Percy is constantly changing.  His hair.  His moods.  His hobbies.  He’s always up to try anything, and is one of those people who falls in love with something new; people, things, and places pretty much every day. 

He’s fairly easy to get along with, as he’s open, he’d much rather laugh than frown, and rolls with the punches, never taking anything too seriously.  His mother always told people that Percy had never met a stranger, his ability to start talking to anyone about anything both a gift and a curse.

And while he loves to talk, sometimes he needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.  It’s not that he means to offend people, he’s never trying to be rude or offensive, it’s just his tendency to keep things light and happy mixed with a need to think before he speaks sometimes ends badly.

He has an overwhelming need to always be active, to be entertained, to be doing something.  Which often ends in him doing a whole lot of nothing.  He starts one project only to get distracted or pulled into another one, with the original rarely actually getting finished.  This applies to all parts of his life from work to personal and everything in between.  Keeping him focused is a bear of a task.

CHARACTER GRAPHIC CREDIT

[just-a-dreamer23]

Pool day in the muggle way!

Some people may think that Half bloods and muggleborns are not worthy to live in the wizarding world. Sadly, part of Nymphadora’s and Romina’s Tonks family members believed in the purity of blood, except their parents. Therefore, they were open to be around with muggleborns, half bloods and even purebloods like the Weasley. In fact, both of them were proud to be part of both the muggle and wizarding world. These sisters embraced who they were in a way that others would never dare to do so. 

The older sister, Nymphadora was an Auror and had graduated Hogwarts in the year 1991. As for Romina, she had recently graduated from the school (year 1993) which is why she was able to meet and befriend Harry and his friends. However, she had being the closest to Violet Granger who had entered Hogwarts in the year 1990. Even though, she was a couple of years younger than her they became quite close; if no one knew them they would think they were siblings. They would help one another and the golden trio when it came to studies sections.

It had been a year since Romina had graduated from Hogwarts, instead of becoming an auror like her sister she started preparing herself to be a magizoologist. Her boyfriend of six years, Charlie Weasley was a magizoologist himself and focused more on dragons which is exactly what she wanted to do; one of the reasons they fell in love...their love for dragons. He was already working with dragons in Romania which is why they hadn’t see each other in a long time. However, summer was coming around which meant that they would see each other. 

Violet and Hermione had invited Harry, the Tonks and the Weasleys to their muggle summer house in order to spend time together in non- magical environment. They used the excuse of wanting to see the Weasley reactions as they were surrounded by many muggle artifacts. The Tonks were used to muggle things because their father wanted them to learn and get used to it. Making their house be just like the muggles and not use that much magic unless it was necessary. Andromeda agreed to it because she wanted their daughters to have a balance between both worlds; but the Weasley had never had that type of experience. 

Given this reason, the four girls wanted them to have an excellent time and show them how much fun muggles could have; not as much fun as wizards and witches though. A week before it all took place, the girls met and decided to go on a shopping trip in which they were going to buy “the essential things” for their pool day. Hermione bought many snacks that they were going to need claiming that Ron would eat a lot  and not leave them much; secretly she was looking for things that he would like since she had a crush on him or so the other girls think.  Violet focus of beverages...specially sodas for both her and Romina were planning to prank George (Her boyfriend) and his twins along with Charles. Romina was focusing on the fun objects that could be used in the pool like balls, a rubber duck and floats in shapes of random fruits or animals; she got one of an unicorn to see their thoughts on it. 

After they had payed for the snacks, beverages and pool accessories it was Dora’s turn to get the group to buy the number one essential, swimsuits. The girls went to a humble store in which they sell swimsuits of every single style. Violet took Romi’s hand and ran to the bikini section in which they grabbed a couple of them to try on. Dora, on the other hand, was trying to convince Hermione to get something more daring as she was looking for a one piece swimsuit. She failed at that and then proceeded to look at the bikini section to select the one that she was interested in. 

Many hours later, violet, Romi and Dora were able to decide which bikini they wanted to get; Hermione had already payed hers and was waiting for them.  Violet chose a red bikini with white flowers on it, Romina got a high waist bikini the top part was yellow and the bottom was blue with flowers of different colors and Dora got a bikini similar to Romi’s but the top part was pink and the bottom had less flowers. After they finished shopping, they went back to the summer house to set things out and prepare it for their pool day that was going to be in the following week. In the remaining days, the girls would have sleepovers and would talk about many subjects. Overall, they seemed to have gotten closer and had a great time. 

The pool day had finally arrived, Mr. and Mrs. Granger came early that day in order to meet their daughters’ friends. They would arrived late at night during the previous week which is why they hadn’t officially met them. When they met Dora they were very curious about her hair which wasn’t surprising and asked her how was it possible to change the colors. Therefore, Dora tried to explain it in the most simple way and when they looked at her confused she said that it was a magical hair dye that would change colors. After that explanation, Hermione got close to her and said “That was a genius idea” to which Dora replied by winking at her. 

Then Mrs. Weasley asked me questions regarding to my dragon tattoos and how was it that they somehow sort of moved a little bit. I said that after I got them I made an enchantment that gave the impression that they were flying around the area they are at but they were not moving. She looked at me shocked and then looked at her husband who just shrugged at his wife. Violet says that her parents are a bit conservative but that they liked us. Afterwards, the girls went to their bedrooms and changed into their swimsuits to be ready for when the boys arrived; Romi put a bathrobe to hide her swimsuit and tattoos since Violet gave her the idea to give Charlie a little surprise. 

An hour later, the Weasleys arrived through the chimney one by one, Ron being the first one to do so. Before we could great him, Ginny arrived saying “Who’s ready to party? This girl” as she jokingly flipped her hair. Subsequently, George arrived and Violet ran up to where he was to hug him which startled him but then said “Hello there, love!” then peck her lips. The other girls giggled and then heard someone say “Well, things got cringe worthy right away”. Everyone turned to Fred and laughed after Dora hit his head jokingly. 

Then Bill came through the chimney and said “The hottest Weasley has made his entrance to bless everyone with his presence”. Before anyone could say anything a deep voice said “Please, not even you believe that brother”. Romi’s heart skipped a beat as she saw her boyfriend coming in and ran to where he was. He picked her up and kissed her which caused the rest of the group groan in a joking manner. After he pulled her down he said while chuckling “You lot are just jealous because you don’t have anybody to love except for Georgie”. 

Hermione kept looking at the chimney since there was two persons that hadn’t arrived just yet. Then Ron said “Harry ain’t coming...his uncle and aunt didn’t allow him to come”. Subsequently, Fred said “As for Percy he’s to busy kissing Barty Crouch and Cornelius arses” causing their friends to laugh. Violet smiled at her friends and introduce them to her parents which had already met them. However, this was the first time that she would be presenting George as her boyfriend. It was something that she was being scared about yet she decided to do it there and then to get it over with; George was nervous and even dropped the gift that he had gotten for their parents since his hands were sweaty. 

Meanwhile, Romina took Charlie by his hand and guided him to her bedroom without anybody realizing it. He followed her intrigued by her actions and looking around the house which was different from the one he had grown up in. As they got in the room, she gave Charlie a smirk then said “Is been too long since we last saw each other and there is something that might be to your liking”. He raised an eyebrow and then said “Carry on” then she proceeded to strip down from her bathrobe revealing her swimsuit and dragon tattoos. The man’s face got all flushed and he started stuttering random words as she modeled the clothes along with her tattoos in a seductive way. 

As she walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck they heard a knock on the room’s door. Then a voice said “Are you too making babies or planning to adopt dragons? why is it taking too long...sexy time can be postpone for later”. Charles face couldn’t get redder at that time cause that was humanly impossible but his girlfriend smirked then said “Trust me, the sexy time is coming and the baby making might be put into practice although we will be careful not to make them just yet but you’re right...it has to be postpone so COMING”. At that moment Charlie said “Bloody hell woman, you are planning to kill me, aren’t you?”. Romi replied by winking at him and walking towards the door then said “Honey, you got to take care of your dragon before heading out it seems...rather bothered”. When she left, everyone heard Charlie yell “Bloody hell, you’ll pay for this Romi”. 

In the following hours the girls had shown the Weasleys all of the house and explained the muggle artifacts that were most curious to them. Then they proceeded to jump at the pool and were slightly confused at the floats. After an explanation of their function they were amused by them and Ginny said “I want the unicorn one. Doesn’t look like a real one but is close enough”. The girls decided to teach pool muggle games to the boys and Ginny. They got quite into it and everybody was rather competitive at the Marco Polo game which was hilarious for both Hermione and Violet. 

After being in the pool for nearly two hours, everyone started getting hungry and got out of the pool in order to eat. Mrs. Granger had prepared food for the group along with the beverages and snacks. Violet gave Romi a look and her friend nodded. Romi said “I will have a soda please” and Violet did the same; they actually made the twins and Charlie get some sodas as well. Before anyone could tell them how they were supposed to open the bottle Violet and Romi gave them instructions. “So, the first thing I have to do is shake it violently and then open it in order for the taste to be even better. Alright, everybody lets do it...three...two...one”. The boys along with Romi and Violet shook their drinks, however, only the boys opened it causing the drink to explode in their face. 

Everybody including Mr. and Mrs. Granger laughed and the girls began to run for their lives since the boys ran after them. Bill said “THAT WAS BLOODY BRILLIANT” as he wiped the tears that had escaped his eyes from all of their laughing. It wasn’t long after the guys caught the girls and started to tickle them until they were out of breath. Charlie looked at his two younger brothers and said “We better plan a revenge when we are in our world and the tables are turned”. The twins laughed and said “We are on it” then they all proceeded to head back and finish their food. 

After they all ate, Hermione took the group the “family room” which was one of the biggest room in their house and they all gathered there. Violet said “We know that you are into muggle stuff and we want to show you something that might blow your minds”. They all said “Wicked” and they proceeded to search for the movie “Practical Magic” to put it in the VCR and watch it with them. As they were doing so Romi asked Ron “Do you like pina coladas? or getting caught in the rain?”. Then before he could answer Violet asked him “Hey Ron, are you not into yoga or do you have half a brain”. Subsequently, Dora said “Hey Bill, do you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape?”. 

Before any of them could answer, Hermione turned to Ron and said “Then I’m the love that you looked for , write to me and escape”. After looking at their very confused expressions the girls laughed like maniacs and made fun of them. Once they calmed down, the girls explained to them the fact that they were quoting a random muggle song. They all made a bunch of questions about it and they gladly answered them; they even put the song on for them to hear it. After doing so, they played the movie and once it was over they spoke about it. 

An hour later, Violet and George fell asleep in each others arm in the “family room”; they were actually pretending because they wanted to have some time for only the two of them (Pretending to be asleep just to intensely make out with your girl was a brilliant idea according to George). Ron, Ginny, Fred, Bill and Dora went back to the pool for a little bit more and Romina was planning on joining them. However, as she was heading to towards the pool area her hand was grabbed and she got pulled into her bedroom. Then Charlie whispered in her ear saying “I’m ready to practice baby making as you said before my dragon is quite bothered” as he finished his sentence he pressed himself in her back as she bit her bottom lip...the rest was history. 

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Violet was inspired by my friend @bl597