#and it made me want to do more marauder related animation

[daiziesssart]

sorry for disappearing but i’m sooo close to finishing this jily animation 🙏 it’s literally all because of james’ hair

[4amode]

Hi, if you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 7 (or top 10) favorite media ever (can be book, anime/manga, tv series, movies, games, etc)? Why do you love them?

Also, can I ask your top 10 favorite characters ever (from any media)? Are the characters that you can relate the most, in your pinned post included in your top 10 fav characters? Sorry if I ask too much, thanks if you want to answer....

Of course I don't!! Thank you for the ask ♡

First and foremost, I am a huge consumer of fictional media: I read, watch, and am (more or less actively) involved in a ton of fandoms. That said, I'll mention the ones I return to most often, even without being prompted by fandom content like edits, fics, fanart, and so on.

Here's my top media [the order is random] :

Harry Potter with a special mention to the Marauders era, because I've completely lost mind and soul to that fandom [I’ve even cosplayed Remus a couple of times]. I’ve also read most of Rick Riordan's sagas, although I grew up with Harry Potter, so I suppose that's the one I’m most emotionally attached to [despite my deep-rooted disagreement with and disgust for J.K. Rowling's opinions]. To this day, I think it’s the fandom I’ve read the most fanfiction of

Tolkien: anything that wonderful human being wrote. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, other Middle-earth tales. I’ve watched the movies an infinite number of times [yes, I am that nerd]. I may or may not also own a replica of Aragorn's sword.

Anything Sherlock Holmes. I’ve watched the BBC series, old movies, read the books—basically anything I could get my hands on.

MXTX novels. I started with The Untamed and completely lost it (specifically my dignity, given this endless list of fandoms). I’ve read the novels, manhua, and watched the donghua of MDZS, SVSSS, and TGCF—with MDZS undoubtedly being my favorite. I’m currently planning a Lan Wangji cosplay. Other honorable mentions along these lines: 2ha and Word of Honor.

Genshin. I play video games often, but Genshin is one of the few I’ve played consistently over the years. I also love the characters and the story. That said, I don’t agree with some of the company’s policies, but the fandom-generated content is often of amazing quality and is what keeps me attached to it.

Marvel and DC universes. I know some people might kill me for grouping them together, but I’ve followed both, especially back in high school. I’ve seen almost every Marvel movie, while with DC, it’s mostly been Batman and animation. Gotham is one of my absolute favorite shows [don't get me started on Batman villains]. For Marvel, Loki and Spider-Man are def my top picks.

Studio Ghibli. I watch a lot of anime [of course, duh], and I’ve cosplayed a few characters [not as many as I’d like, I admit]. But I’ve always had a strong emotional attachment to Ghibli movies. They’re still one of the few things that help me calm down when I’m anxious or stressed [which, sadly, happens often]. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve rewatched them.

Japanese BL dramas—I’ve watched a lot, as well as some Korean and Thai ones, but the ones I’ve rewatched the most have always been Japanese (not sure why that is), but I’ve enjoyed and would rewatch many of them. If I had to name the ones I’m most fond of, they’d be Cherry Magic, Kieta Hatsukoi, Utsukushii Kare, Absolute BL, and Bokura no Shokutaku.

TMA. I got into The Magnus Archives fairly recently compared to everything else. That’s mainly because I wasn’t used to listening to podcasts before TMA, I only stumbled upon it because of a TikTok audio. Also, I love anything horror. I fell in love with the story, how carefully it was constructed, and the characters.

Cinema [yes, I know it’s a very broad category]. I’m a cinematophile. I’ve watched a ton of movies—old ones, really old ones, every type and genre. Photography is one of my passions, so that made me a fan of cinema as well. I love the technical side, the history [I chose cinema history as an elective], and everything that comes with it. There are so many movies I love and consider masterpieces, but if I had to name a few I'm particularly attached to, it would be Call Me By Your Name, the Indiana Jones saga, and any Wes Anderson film.

I know you told me 10, but I'm sorry and hopeless. Anything Dark Academia coded: The Secret History, If We Were Villains, Dead Poets Society, The Goldfinch, Maurice, Dorian Gray, The Dreamers and so on

I picked the ones I’m most emotionally attached to, either because I’ve followed them since I was a kid or they helped me through tough times. There are so many more I didn’t mention, like Good Omens or The Witcher, and many webtoons, and anime which I’m just as into, but they didn’t make it to the list.

My top 10 characters:

Remus Lupin and Regulus Black [I have no words to express how much I love and relate to these two]

Snufkin [I am him, he is me, we are]

Wei Wuxian [I would let the world burn for this man, tough, as you might have guessed, my character is more aligned with Lan Wangji's, so it comes with the personality ig]

Thranduil Oropherion [he's the elven king of wood and stone, and he's very loud and daddy about it]

Milo Thatch [he's (excitedly) into history, archaeology, and linguistics, and we both give the you-really-do-not-want-to-get-them-started nerd vibe.]

Jonathan Sims [if on a good day I'm Milo Thatch, on a bad one I'm Jon], also I love how in some fics he wears long skirts, paranormal fear avatars can't be bothered with gender norms.

Newt Scamander [I find him very relatable. His stress in social situations and preference for animals or plants got to me. Also, he's so passionate and caring, love a good example of healthy masculinity.]

Suguru Geto [nothing to say on this, I love this man]

Loki [look, I have an issue with dramatic, gender-defying villains AND mythology, it was inevitable]

Sun Jing from Tamen de Gushi [I wish I was as cool as her, I love her so much]

Generally speaking, I tend to like morally grey characters, villains with redemption arcs or byronic heroes with a complex history who, in the end, try to do the right thing, even at the expense of self-sacrifice. Not in a selfless "it's the right thing to do" hero-complex kind of way, but more in a "I think I'm worthless and expendable, at least I'll try to do something good," angst, hurt/comfort kinda way.

I hope I answered all your questions, but if you have others, or you just wanna chat about it, just dm me!

[sp1rit-realm]

₊‧꒰ა 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ⧿ 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐩𝐬! 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢'𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞!

Happy 900!!!! Ummm Marauders maybe? but if you think someone else fits better I assure you I don’t mind.

Where to start, i’m pretty quiet, like very very soft spoken until im really comfortable in a room. Once I know someone I’m still quiet in volume but then i can talk for at least 15 minutes straight without losing my rhythm and i get very very animated, lots of facial expressions, too many hands waving around. I like reading but I can’t call myself a bookworm because I take too long to finish them and usually give up so i’m more of a book dragon. I love writing and art and being creative and I love to learn but i hate to be graded. My favorite color is burgundy and my favorite season is whatever one it currently is until the very end and i’m sick of it, then i like whichever one is coming next. I like to collect things and i’m way too sentimental. I like rain and leather jackets and i don’t know if you want any physical attributes but im short enough that literally everyone comments when i wear tall shoes (i have platform doc martins with a heel so it’s only like 4 inches which i guess is a lot over all but even then Im only up to like 5’6-‘7 barely) And my hair is stuck an almost auburn color because I dyed it dark plum/burgundy in november and now the final claws of goldish red are dug in and i don’t see it letting go, which is especially annoying because my roots are returning much lighter than i last remember but I’ve been dying my hair since at least last June so i don’t know what I really expected. I have identity crises over my hair at least every other week.

In terms of how I love people it’s very much however it works with that person. I like when people like to pay attention to me and look for me in a room and that kind of thing, I also really like to be held and have my hair played with,,,,i find dogs very relatable (but don’t let that sway your decision in anyway, do what your heart tells you)

I’m sure 900 people leads to a lot of asks, but i have no idea, so please take your time and don’t feel rushed or obligated at all. I am so proud of this milestone for you and i’m so proud of all the people coming to their senses to appreciate such a talented spirit like you 💖💖💖

HI MARA!!!!!! THANK U SO MUCH

if you mean marauders era in general, i say (drumroll please)

you and dorcas!

to me, her character is very laid back, but secretly she's so passionate. like, she pretends she doesn't care, but really secretly does. she would adore all the things you collect, and will listen to anything you have to say about them. she'd still have to lean down to kiss you. she would say, "really? new hair again, mara?" and then she would whisper to you, "it's cute, makes your eyes pop." because nobody can know that she adores anybody, until you become official. then, she can't stop talking about you. she will read books to you as you lay your head on her lap, hair being played with. she would dance with you in the rain. she would steal your jacket because it smells like you, and because it means everybody knows you're hers. she would sit and listen to you rant/ramble/infordump and watch lovingly as your mouth moves a mile a second and your tongue gets all twisted. she would hang up your art, proudly displaying it as to say: "yeah, my girlfriend? they're perfect, and talented, and beautiful, and look at this art they made." she would kick someone's teeth in for you, and she winks at you during her quidditch games, loving how much you blush; stark red in the sea of green.

[put-me-in-a-movie-mp3]

Hello could I have a ship for Stranger Things, Harry Potter (marauders), IT, and AHS if that’s too many just stranger things is fine 😊💕 I’m a 20 something year old  bi female (although I lean more towards guys) 4’11,mexican, dark brown wavy hair,brown eyes with glasses. isfj, hufflepuff, soft spoken, very shy/introverted I also struggle with social anxiety which a lot of times can get in the way of doing stuff I want. I try my best to always be kind and friendly. understanding , open minded, a good listener people often vent their problems to me I’m also great at keeping secrets  .I can be sarcastic and joke around with people I’m close too but most of the time I’m pretty quiet . I’m generally a patient person I don’t get angry easily.I like helping others & tend to put other people before myself sometimes I can be ‘too nice’ and can be a bit of a people pleaser .Dislikes : I hate rude people in fact even though I find it really difficult to stick up for myself I have no problem sticking up for others, being the center of attention, being talked over , being ignored/ unappreciated.  My love language is gift giving so I’m always creating/buying stuff for friends. I’m currently studying history and theater design. I love all things vintage 40s-80s and alot of my outfits tend to be inspired by those decades,especially the 50s . I love movies and books I can’t pick  a favorite genre but I do love horror. I like coloring/painting ,puzzles , flowers/plants, swimming , and animals. I also love all kinds of music but I mostly listen to oldies, the 60s is my favorite decade for music. Thank you so much in advance I love your ships 💕also again you don’t have to ship me for all of those fandoms I understand you probably have a lot of requests :)

Here is who I ship you with! :)

It

Bill

Bill would always stand up for you. He knows what it's like to have social anxiety and to get bullied for it, since he had a stuttering problem. And he wants to make sure you never experience what he experienced as a kid. He would relate to you deeply on that level. Bill would tell you all his "horror" secret that he only trusted you with. He knew you wouldn't judge or think that he was crazy. He knew you were loyal too. You both also love the arts of writing, theatre, music, drawing, painting, etc.,.

I love the Countess so I just know she would love you! First of all your love for vintage things is what you and Elizabeth share in common. I mean she lives in a vintage hotel that is her's! She is very caring towards you and treats you like a treasured jewel. At first when you meet you're very shy, so she tries to make you feel as welcome as ever. Everybody loves you at the hotel and immediately love how you have such a sweet soul. She would treasure all of the gifts you give her out of love. She would tell you all about her past and what history was like then since you are so intrigued with history. Also she admires that you have such a love for theatre!

Harry Potter (Marauders Era)

Narcissa Malfoy

You and Narcissa would love to go shopping for vintage things. It was your guys thing. She loved the fashion back than just as much as you! You are a bit more shy and introverted which is similar to Ms. Malfoy. So you both enjoy the silence and peace while being together whether it's watching a movie, reading, writing, or painting/drawing. She would also never make you feel like you were unheard. She always made you feel like somebody was sticking up for you when you were in tough situations.

Stranger Things

Nancy Wheeler

You and Nancy have a lot in common. The only difference is Nancy is not afraid to be heard and would stick up for you no matter what. She never made you feel like you were unimportant either. You both love going to antique shops to buy some vintage items and you both lobe volunteering at the animal shelter. You and Nancy like the small things like doing puzzles together and gardening as well! She loves you for who you are. You are her one weakness when it comes to being tough.

[hxlyhead-harpies]

The Last Dream of my Soul pt. 5 (R.L.)

Hello!!! The newest part has arrived and i hope you all enjoy it! Also. I am aware that hippogriffs are a third year lesson but pleaseeeee just pretend it makes sense...

Pairing: Remus Lupin x Reader

Summary:  The very bookish (Y/n) has spent most of her life alone, aside from her best friends Lily and her beloved books. But when the infamous Marauders get thrust into her life, how could she resist the beautiful and unattainable Remus.

Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 2.2k

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The two weeks at home were rough. As excited as you were to return to the place that you grew up, you soon came to the realization that Hogwarts and the wizarding world were your true home. As much as you loved your parents and the creaky floor of your old bedroom, you couldn’t help but feel entirely out of place. And as much as your parents loved you, they could never understand you.

But still, you enjoyed Christmas dinner and watching your old favorite shows on the television. Despite this though, you were near tears every night when you thought of your friends and the old castle walls of your school. You missed them immensely.

You were at a great disadvantage as you did not own an owl. Luckily, your friends sent plenty of letters, and you held their birds hostage until you could scribble out a response.

You received the most letters from Lily. She related to your feelings of feeling out of place in the muggle world. It was made worse for her by her sister, Petunia. Petunia was jealous of Lily to a near disturbing extent. It made your best friend’s time at home miserable.

You received one letter from Peter on Christmas. It was a simple letter that mostly just wished you a happy holiday, but nevertheless, it made you smile.

From Sirius and James, you received joint letters as they were both staying at the Potter’s house for Christmas. The letters detailed all of the mischief they got up to and they never failed to make you laugh. You’d always send back a letter reprimanding them but also subtly egging them on.

Remus’s letters were your favorite. He wrote to you relatively often, describing his family and what he was reading. You did the same, raving about the book that he had gifted you. You loved the way he wrote his letters. It was almost like poetry. You weren’t surprised though. How could someone spend their whole life reading and not have a way with words?

But despite the comfort that the letters brought you, you couldn’t help but wish that the words could be spoken in person instead.

But soon enough the time came for you to return to your real home and greet your chosen family. In a flurry of brotherly hugs and high pitched squeals, you said hello to Lily and the marauders with a grin stretched ear to ear.

As excited as you were to return to Hogwarts, the return to lessons was less exciting. Soon, you were once again drowning in school work and waiting for a chance to breathe. Classes were beginning to pick up and become more challenging, and you were doing your best to scrape by.

“Hey (Y/n),” Sirius said, catching your attention as you walked to your care for magical creatures class.

“Yes, Sirius?” you inquired.

“Have you finished the transfiguration essay yet?” he asked. You smirked at him.

“Are you asking because you’re curious or because you want to copy it?” you asked teasingly. Sirius groaned.

“Oh sod off (Y/n),” he retorted, shoving your shoulder. You yelped as he d pushedyou a tad too hard and braced yourself, preparing to hit the ground. Instead, you felt strong hands grab your arm.

“You okay?” Remus asked as he helped you steady yourself.

“Yeah I’m fine,” you said breathlessly, your arm burning from his touch. You sent the concerned boy a quick smile before turning to face Sirius. You punched him quickly in the shoulder.

“Ow!” he exclaimed, rubbing his arm.

“That’s what you get for assaulting me,” you retorted and you heard Remus chuckle from your left.

“Yeah yeah I’m sorry,” Sirius said, waving his hands in the air. You smiled, satisfied, and skipped the rest of the way to class.

When you arrived at the forbidden forest Professor Kettleburn stopped the group at the edge of the woods.

“Now students, we have a very special lesson today,” he explained to your peers. You danced on your toes in excitement. You loved care for magical creatures, enough to take it in your N.E.W.T.S years, and you were excited at the prospect of an exciting lesson. Sirius shifted impatiently on his toes, having only taken the course for an easy E, while Remus smiled at your antics.

“Today we will be in the presence of one of our realms' most compelling creatures,” Professor Kettleburn continued mysteriously. A smile spread its way across your face as you waited for him to reveal the creature. Professor Kettleburn led his herd of students into the forest, pausing a few paces in. He pushed back a branch of a large, sweeping tree, to reveal a herd of creatures. You felt your mouth drop open in astonishment. You turned to Remus, a wide smile adorning our features.

“Hippogriffs,” you whispered excitedly. Remus smiled at you, nodding in affirmation.

Professor Kettleburn walked to stand before the class.

“The hippogriff is an incredibly unique creature. Its front half bears the resemblance of an eagle, while it’s back half is one of a horse. The hippogriff’s closest relative is the griff, a creature that is half lion and half horse. The Hippogriff is also an especially proud creature. Can anyone tell me the proper etiquette for greeting such an animal?” the professor asked. You did not hesitate to shoot your hand into the air.

“Yes, Miss (L/n),” he said, calling on you.

“When approaching a hippogriff, the proper thing to do is to bow and wait for the hippogriff to do the same. You wait for the creature to approach you, and you must maintain eye contact,” you explained, almost reciting the textbook exactly.

“Very good,” the professor replied with a smile. Professor Kettleburn rambled on for a few more minutes, describing the deity habits and the ideal habitats for hippogriffs. You excitedly listened to him, soaking up every bit of knowledge that you could. You could hear some boys in your year laughing, mocking your professor’s eccentric habits, and you turned to glare at them. The group’s ringleader, Rodolphus Lestrange, turned and glared back at you, sending you an unflattering gesture.

Eventually, Professor Kettleburn clapped his hands together and stopped talking.

“Now,” he began, “who would like to be the first to greet the hippogriff?” Your hand immediately went up, waving back and forth through the air. You heard Sirius and Remus laugh at your behavior from either side of you.

“Okay Miss (L/n), please step forward,” the professor said as he motioned you towards him. He gave you a quick rundown of how you were to approach the creature, before sending you off with a quick pat on the shoulder.

You approached the creature and admired its beauty. It's gorgeous storm grey coat glistened under the late afternoon sun and its eyes were a brilliant shade of orange. You stopped about six feet in front of the creature before bowing, maintaining strong eye contact the entire time. After a beat, the hippogriff bowed as well. You smiled widely as you stood, awestruck by the creature before you. You stepped forward with your hand outstretched.

“Hello, you beautiful creature,” you spoke softly. The hippogriff leaned towards your hand before nuzzling his beak into it. You caressed his beak and gently carded your hands through its feathers. After a few minutes, Professor Kettleburn ushered you back. You reluctantly bowed to the creature before scurrying back to your friends.

When you returned, Sirius patted you on the back.

“Good job (Y/n). I would’ve been scared the thing was going to rip me to shreds,” he said. You shook your head at him.

“Oh come on, it’s a gentle creature,” you said. Remus grimaced from beside you.

“Yeah but one wrong move and it tears you to shreds,” he said quietly. You roll your eyes.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit of an overreaction?” you asked. Remus opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the professor.

“Now who else would like to greet our friend?” he asked the class. Before anyone could respond, Rodolphus strutted up the front. The professor leaned over to go over the proper etiquette, but Rodolphus just waved him off. You frowned.

“This is not going to end well,” you mumbled to yourself. Rodolphus swaggered up to the hippogriff, giving him a shallow bow. The hippogriff hesitated but eventually bowed in return. Rodolphus walked up to the creature, his first mistake, and immediately reached in to touch it. The hippogriff flinched, which caused Roldophus to say something to him. You could not quite make out what he said, but it angered the hippogriff. He reared his head and lunged towards the boy. The students around you began to scream and run away. Professor Kettleburn lunged forward, trying to get the student out of the hippogriff’s path. Remus grabbed your arm, attempting to pull you away, but you broke free from his grasp and headed in the opposite direction. You heard him shout after you as you ran towards the creature but you ignored him. Professor Kettleburn was attempting to keep the creature at bay while Rodolphus tried to crawl away. You approached the creature and tried to get its attention.

“Don’t waste your energy on him,” you shouted at the animal. It paid you no mind.

“You’re a magnificent creature! You have no business having to deal with someone like him!” you shouted. “You’re too good for him!”

After hearing the compliment, the hippogriff turned towards you. His orange eyes still glinted with aggression and his body was tense. Rodolphus got up and sprinted away. You quickly bowed, trying to appease the creature. It huffed and shook off Professor Kettleburn’s hand. You stayed in the same position, maintaining eye contact with the creature. You silently pleaded with it to calm down. Eventually, the hippogriff lowered its head in return, the aggression leaving its eyes. You waited for him to approach you before tentatively touching his beak. The air was thick with anticipation as your peers watched you, all of them scared for your safety. After a beat, the creature nuzzled into your hand, causing you to let out a sigh of relief. Professor Kettleburn came up behind you and placed a hand on your shoulder. He ushered you back towards the other students, before dismissing class for the day.

“Okay children, that’s enough excitement for today. Feel free to head back to your dorms,” he stated, shooing you all with his hands.

You pushed through the crowd towards your friends. You were immediately wrapped into a strong hug. Sirius released you after a moment, a wide smile across his face.

“Godric you scared me half to death!” he exclaimed. “But that was wicked!” You smiled at his words. You turned towards Remus, hoping to see him smiling as well. But when he came into view, he looked the opposite of happy. His face was hard and cold and his arms were crossed stiffly over his chest.

“Remus what’s wrong-”

“How could you be so stupid,” he asked angrily, cutting you off in the process. You blinked at him, confused.

“What are you talking about?” you asked softly.

“Do you not realize what you just did? You approached that- that monster! And you practically begged him to attack you!” he yelled. You flinched at his words.

“He’s not a monster,” you responded, your voice wavering. Remus frustratedly ran his hands through his hair.

“Yes he is! Yes he is (Y/n)! But just can’t see it,” he exclaimed. Confusion filled your features.

“Remus I-”

“No. You do not get to speak. You can’t just go around and expect things like that- monsters- to not hurt you,” he yelled. Your face hardened.

“Remus I am perfectly capable of handling myself!” you yell back, anger coursing through your veins.

“No, you’re not! You’re too naive,” he responded angrily.

“I am not naive and you do not get to talk to me like I’m a child,” you yelled back. Remus just shook his head.

“One day, you’re going to try and tame the wrong creature and you’re going to get hurt. You don’t understand these things,” he said, quieter than before. He takes one last look at you before turning on his heel and storming off towards the castle.

You watch him leave, tears forming in your eyes. Your anger had dissipated, leaving only sadness and confusion in its wake. Remus had never spoken to you like that before. He had always been soft and sweet, the opposite of the man who had just screamed at you. You turn towards Sirius, who’s shocked expression matched yours.

“What was that all about?” you asked Sirius, who was avoiding your eyes. He sighed.

“Remus is going through some things right now,” was his only response. You scoffed through your tears.

“And how does that give him the right to speak to me like that?” you countered. Sirius kicked a pebble on the ground.

“It doesn’t. But just give him time,” was his reply. You shook your head, begging the tears to stay at bay. You quickly turned and stalked back to the castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist:

@goosegorl​​ @serenefreakgeek​​ @blueflame2778​​ @thegirlthatsfalling​​ @glimmering-darling-dolly​​ @calmspencer​​ @therustictea​ @florenceivy​ @peachyblue​ @blackpinkdolan​ @killerqueenishere​ @lotties-journey-abroad​

[the-silentium]

Here we go again

Masterlist - Murphy day - Part 2

Before I introduce you to my story, please note that Fors is an Original planet. I do not give permission to people to use it for their own fics, the planet, the animals, the Nightmares, the lore or anything related to Fors. Thank you.

Pairing: Bad Batch x Reader

Words: 3661 words

Warnings: Hurting animals (predators, don’t worry).

A/N: This is going to be insane. It’ll get gory (not in this chap, but we’ll get there). 

Taglist: @haloangel391​ (still want to be tagged?) + Tag list open

_____________________

"This," Tech paused to find the right words to not insult you once more. "went rather good considering it's your first time." He met your gaze, clearly concentrating on your body language to see if you were insulted or not.

You stared back at him blankly, eyebrow raised, hands joined on your lap. You turned your chair to face him completely and moved forward to get your elbows on your knees, never breaking the eye contact. 

"Cut the crap. Say what you wanted to say." 

"Two things." He immediately followed like the words were dying to leave his lips. "One, this should have been a lot more chaotic. Two, there was no way you actually never flew a ship before." His eyes squinted like this would press the info out of you.

"You accusing me of lying?" You remained stoic, not letting him know yet about your little secret and actually making him squirm in his seat. 

"No!" He straightened in his seat, frowning in confusion as if you'd just slapped him. In the background, you could hear footsteps getting closer to the cockpit door. 

"Are you?" He continued, uncertain.

"No." 

"For a second I doubted it was you piloting." Hunter entered, followed by Wrecker who stood right behind him. "Very good for a first flight." 

"Yeah! We could tell it wasn't Tech because of the landing! It was too smooth." Wrecker chimed in to his smaller brother's dismay. 

"Thanks." You answered with a nod at the same time Tech yelled his indignation. 

"She cheated!" 

"And how can you cheat at piloting a ship?" Crosshair snickered at the apparent attempt to keep his reputation of best pilot of the Marauder. Apparently you were promising enough to be a threat. This was interesting. 

"Tech. She doesn't have a droid. She couldn't cheat." Hunter pointed out, confused. 

"She said she didn't fly a ship before! It clearly isn't the case!" His hands moved around to prove his point, almost causing you to burst out laughing. 

"Again with accusing me of lying?" You inquired innocently. 

"No! I'm not-" 

"You just did." The sniper smirked, enjoying the show. 

Shiny decided to join the troop at this moment, passing its head under Wrecker's big hand for some pat. Your heart squeezed at the prospect that the tiny baby wouldn't be around anymore. He was so sweet. 

"But you can't learn that from the books!"

"I didn't lie." You chuckled, your attention back to the discussion. One of your hands found the engineer's pauldron to calm him down. "I never flew a ship before. Hell, I've never used a blaster before! This planet is still using bows and arrows."  

You heard a snort on your right, clearly coming from the grey-haired trooper, but your eyes were fixed to Tech's who was still trying to get how the hell you managed to get the hang of flying a ship so quickly. You were sure it took hours of training to be able to fly to the GAR standards and you knew you didn't reach these standards. Yet. But it didn't stop your first performance to be quite good, or so it seemed. 

"You're right. I read all the books and they couldn't have prepared me enough." He nodded, already knowing that he was right, waiting for you to continue with barely contained impatience. 

"Remember the trooper who shared my room for a while? Blast?" You didn't wait for him to answer your question before getting to the part of his interest. "He's a gunship pilot. He taught me what to be aware of, what to look for, how to react in what situation, and other stuff." 

You smiled sweetly at his goggled eyes, batting your eyelashes innocently. 

"See? Not a liar. Just resourceful." 

His eyes grew wide in panic, almost making you panic. 

"You blew your cover of being a trained pilot!" Oh. You rolled your eyes in all playfulness, noticing how the rest of the team tensed at his words. 

" 'm not that dumb Techie." You resisted the urge to boop his nose in front of everyone. "Told him I was used to starfighters and not gunships. Wasn't used to the big extra weight behind my ass. He bought it and helped me 'adjust'." You finished by making quotation marks in the air, happy to see his face crumble in relief. 

"It's okay Tech. You're still the best pilot between the two of us." You patted his shoulder and got to your feet, a new energy in your steps as you made your way to the back of the ship. 

You looked around for your knife, going to the last place you remember seeing it; the barracks. Only, you found the beds to be totally empty and your knife was unexpectedly nowhere to be seen in the living area too. Maybe one of the boys had it, you thought. Before you went to ask them, it flashed into your mind. You remembered sliding it into the slot at the side of your boot. You lightly hit your forehead with your palm. Oops. You could keep that to yourself.

You heard the boys argue for a bit, Wrecker laughing at the whole exchange, your lips stretching at his contagious joy. They finally settled, the silence making it obvious that their small discussion was over, so you made your way to the door of the ship. 

"All ready to go drop off our lil' friend." You announced as they joined you, pressing the button to open the door. 

Tech handed you a small device with a flashing round circle as soon as he was within arms reach. 

"What's that?" You took the device, turning it around to inspect it. 

"An improved comm link. If by some bad luck we get separated, we'll still be able to reach you. It is set to our team frequency. Press this button to talk." He pointed at the no-longer-flashing circular button. 

"So I can't dirty talk Hunter." You said in the device, and you could hear your voice echoing from all their helmets under their arms. 

"Definitely not." He deadpanned, disgusted. Wrecker laughed whole-heartedly, one of his hands slapping the back of your right shoulder that moved forward under his strength, Hunter smirked in your direction with a delicious glint in his eyes while Crosshair rolled his eyes and put his helmet on. 

"Fiiiine." You fake whined, eyes and head rolling like a kid before inviting them to get off the ship with a movement of your hands presenting them the outside world. "After you, gentlemen." 

Scoffing, Hunter pulled his helmet on and walked down the steps, followed by the rest of the batch. 

"Good job Y/N!" Wrecker eagerly presented you his fist, to which you keenly answered with a hit of your smaller fist. He descended the stairs to regroup with his team. 

Smiling, you noted that they were fully armored, armed and alert, surely not trusting the fauna around to stay at bay. You found that deep inside, it made you feel safer to have them by your side. 

You pocketed the comm link in one of your deepest pockets before following suit, arms wide at your side to bathe in the warmth of the slowly retiring sun while you could. Space, you'd realized, was terribly cold. 

Tall trees reached high in the blue sky, the green grass grew as far as you could see, a warm breeze stroked your face and all in all, you found yourself not relaxing like you expected. You thought that you'd feel better to be in known-ish territory as opposed to a cold military base, but your mind couldn't find ease. Not even slightly. Maybe it was PTSD following your last experience on Murphy Day. You deeply hoped this was the explanation. 

You made sure that you landed the ship far enough from the Forsian hunting territories and the Waytree, the prospect of meeting one of your peers wasn't very tempting and if you could avoid meeting another Basilisk, you'd definitely take it. The Marauder was now in wild territory, far enough that even you hadn't ventured that far in your exploratory trips, about a couple of hours of walk away from your native village, just enough to stay undetected.

You joined the group, smiling at seeing Shiny running into the greenery, glad that at least one of you was happy to be back. 

Wrecker and Crosshair went ahead, closer to the line of trees to search for predators of some sort, their movements frightening small sunbathing Jerboas that fled back into the jungle. 

"We'll have to do it quick. Can't be here when the sun's down." You informed the sergeant who nodded in understanding. 

Or at least, some understanding. Like everyone else, he must have deduced that this planet was even more dangerous at night. If only he knew to what extends. Or maybe it was best for him not to know. 

"Clear." Came Crosshair's voice from your pocket. 

"All cl-" Wrecker started before his sentence finished in a yelp of surprise. 

All at once, four heads turned towards his position, quick enough to see his torso and helmet disappear into the ground. 

'Wrecker!" You yelled along with Tech, running to where you last saw him, the remaining commandos barely outrunning you. 

"Stop!" Hunter barked, arms extended at his sides to prevent you all to fall off the cliff, cutting your breath for a second when the blaster in his hand hit your chest full force. 

The ground was crumbling under your combined weights, hurrying you to step back from the edge. You dropped on your stomach to redistribute your weight and peer at the open space below. Making sure this time that only your head poked over the edge and nothing else. A hand gripped the back of your shirt in haste, like you would ever decide to throw yourself off a precipice. Again. 

Wrecker sat there on his ass surrounded by trees, passing a hand over his helmet in confusion. You finally took a deep breath in when you registered that he was moving. 

"You okay there?" You yelled with your hands around your mouth, the others replicating your position at your sides to look down, the hand on your back still closed around the fabric. 

"All good." He looked up, flashing you a thumbs up. 

Bending your head to look under you, your blood ran cold as you took in the really thin plate of ground kept together by roots and nothing else. There were only a very few inches of dirt supporting your bodies, creating a gap between the part of the cliff Wrecker could climb and the edge where you all laid on. 

"He can't climb up." You rotated your head to the side at Crosshair's comment and saw the ground disappearing two clicks further down. You landed on a weird ravine top of some sort. 

Your breathing picked up in pace as the image of the sun licking the top of the trees reached your brain, pushing back to the front of your mind all your survival instinct adapted to the hard life on your planet. 

"We have to get him. Quick." Your eyes were fixed to the sun, muscles tensed. 

How long before the last rays warmed the ground? How long until you weren't protected anymore? 45 minutes? A bit less? 

"What's wrong?" Hunter questioned, bringing you back to the land of the living. He looked worried, maybe it was caused by the panic in your voice. Or the fact that your skin paled significantly in a matter of seconds. Or maybe it was both. 

You got on your knees before bolting toward the line of trees, evading the hand clutched around your shirt to look for a spot where the cliff met your own ground. Yells of your name were muffled by your loud frenetic thoughts, warnings to not stay outside at dusk, stories of what roamed the darkness on the other side of the gigantic fence protecting the village, drawings of terrifying creatures that haunted your nights for years.  

You jumped at the something closing on your shoulder, instinct kicking in to lift your hand to threaten the intruder. You were as surprised at Tech when you saw the hunting knife in your hand, the blade almost pressed against his neck. 

"Calm down!" A sharp order reached your ears as a hand pulled your wrist away from the tender skin. 

"S-sorry Tech." Your voice shook as much as your hand, your grip tightening around the handle of the blade.  

"What's wrong? Talk to us!" Hunter ordered again, invading your line of sight. 

"We have to be gone before dusk. We can't survive a night outside." You rushed, eyes lifting to the darkening sky between the leaves. 

"Why?" He pressed, tension building. 

"We are losing time! We have 20 minutes tops to find him and all get our way back to the ship." You turned around to continue your search of a way to get to your teammate. 

"What happens at dusk?" Tech inquired, joining your sides and matching your quick pace. 

"They come out, Tech." You whispered, almost scared to say it out loud in fear that they would appear at their mention. 

"What's 'they'?" Crosshair grumbled, completely done with your nonsense. He seemed unbothered, but you knew your stress was affecting him too, his gun at the ready was secured in a tight grip while his helmet scanned the trees meticulously. 

"Apex predators." You shuddered, the drawing of an Algax invading your mind. 

You noticed Shiny wandering a bit farther ahead, his horns illuminating a couple of Furants watching the group closely. The feline-like owls were perched on low branches, the green light reflecting over their dark feathers and four legs armed with sharp talons. Their ears and eyes followed your movements, their tail intertwined to keep the other close. 

They flew away in silence when Wrecker's voice boomed from your comm link. 

"I hear weird laughs all around." He sounded worried, some of said laughs could be heard in the background. 

As if this situation wasn't already bad! You definitely could have done without Wrecker being surrounded by a pack of vicious opportunist predators.

"Shoot 'em! Check in the trees!" You rushed out. "They'll try to surround you, you can't let them. Run if need be, they're not that fast." You glanced down the edge and huffed in annoyance when it still wasn't close enough to let you jump down to help him. 

"We have to get to him!" You heard the first blaster bolts just below to your right, meaning that Wrecker foolishly ventured the jungle alone on his side when the others started running after you.  

"Wrecker. Continue running North. We'll meet at some point." Hunter ordered. 

"Got that!" 

You jumped over dead trunks, roots and dense patches of tall grass, slalomed between the trees disturbing the small animals tending to their daily routine of surviving the harsh environment and ignored the yelps of Tech tripping over something. 

"Don't shoot that!" You yelled, pointing to the big moss-covered lizard currently digging the ground before you, rushing past it without a care. He barely acknowledged your passage, staying focussed on his task. 

You passed too much time running to your liking, but it all paid off when a very tall tree almost reached your ground level. It was a couple of feet too short, but it definitely was enough for you to jump down to the thick branches below. The top ones weren't strong enough, breaking beneath your feet and scratching your arms slightly. Soon, you reached the level where the wood became thick enough to sustain your weight. You plunged your knife into the trunk to slow down your fall to allow you to grab a branch without dislocating your shoulder and quickly made your way down. 

You heard your name from above, but ignored it. They could make it on their own. Or at least you hoped. 

You heard Wrecker before you saw him, the high pitch snickers and whoops following him closely. He shot some bolts behind him but continued running forward like Hunter ordered him to. He passed below you, not seeing you in the tree but stopped when he heard something fall on the ground behind him. 

You had plunged your knife into one of the Rideat following the clone, stabbing him near the neck as soon as he jumped on your branch to continue its course. It lost balance at the pain, propelling the both of you to the ground. 

You jumped to your feet in milli-seconds, already expertly jumping away from its long clawed prehensile fingers to stab it in the neck. It screeched in pain, jerking it's dangerously powerful back legs forward to push you away and claw at your flesh in the same movement. 

You jumped back and Wrecker used the moment to shoot at the agonizing beast. Groans and grunts resonated all around, brown flashes moving from trees to trees. With your back to Wrecker's, you analyzed their pattern, lifted your hand and threw your knife to where you were sure the brown Rideat would jump next. Its body hit the ground, stunning it long enough for the trooper to shoot it down. 

With snarls, the others retreated, leaving the scene as swiftly as they came. 

"Those things are ugly!" Wrecker let out when you pulled your knife out of the canine-bat's shoulder. 

"They are." 

You pushed the body with your foot, cautious of any movement on its end, they were known to fake dead after all. Its long front legs were motionless just like its smaller back legs. 

When it's large sensitive protrusions on its scapulas didn't move, you allowed yourself to breathe. 

"You okay?" You turned to Wrecker who lifted its helmet to wear it as a hat. 

"Yes! Thanks to you, cabur'ika!" 

You frowned at the new nickname. You opened your mouth to ask what it meant when troopers rained from above, landing on their feet like the perfect elite commandos that they were. You were actually surprised that they didn't fall all the way down with their armor. 

"They're gone." You informed them, almost snorting at their weapons moving along the trees. 

"You sure?" Hunter stayed focused on his surroundings. 

"100%. They're opportunist cowards. Always flee when they realize the prey is too strong." You pushed Wrecker's arm playfully at your last word. 

"What's that?" Tech asked, crouched next to one of the bodies. 

"A Rideat." You looked above, trying to discern the sky above the clouds of leaves but failing miserably as this part of the jungle was way too dense. "I'll describe later. We should get back up and leave." 

Unfortunately, the tree was too short for you all to get back up there, so you had to walk further into the jungle to find a way up. This ravine must have a climbable spot somewhere. It had to. 

Each passing second put you more and more on edge, sharpening your senses and reflexes. You heard the pounding of several Jerboas running to safety around you, a young single Loth wolf passed right next to your group, running towards its den. 

You'd spent too much time walking, running and fighting. You were late. Too late. The sun was down and the diurnal animals fled to their secure home to pass the night. Preys and predators alike. 

"We have to follow it!" You yelled, sprinting after the Loth wolf. Maybe it would lead you to a suitable shelter. Please, please, please.

Desperately, you tried to keep sight of it. Running at your fastest, you took every turn it did, jumped every mud puddle it did, but in the end, its four legs were too fast for the two of yours. 

You lost him for a second. It was a second too much. Your blood ran cold when you lost sight it, but you soon spotted the small crack in the rock where it sneaked in to find shelter. 

"No. Nononononono." You shook your head, eyes widening as fear traveled through your body like fire. 

The fissure was too small for anyone to slip in. You were stuck out past daylight. Too far from the ship and too far from the nearest village.

"Stop running off." Hunter grumbled, joining your side. 

You were on the verge of hyperventilating, too much blood was flooding your head, pins poked your fingers, the quick beating in your skull almost made you dizzy. 

"Can't be out at night. Can't." You whispered, reciting the fundamentals of your previous years of survival. "Never leave the village alone. Don't forget your weapon. Return home before dusk."

You had failed. You'd die. You'd die like everyone else that ventured the night. You'd given yourself a death sentence without even returning to the village. How dumb-

"Y/N!" You were shook back and forth for a moment, trying to get you to focus. 

"Calm your breathing. Now!" You heard the order, it was distant and muffled, but you heard it. It was only then that you regained feelings of your own body and forced your erratic lungs to slower their pace. 

Your vision cleared, the sounds in your head vanished, the ringing in your ears faded, your fingers flexed to regain full feeling in them. You were alive. Still alive. Not for lo-

"Good." You blinked at Crosshair, his worried gaze moving over your face like you'd scared him. As if. 

"We have to find shelter." You told them, coming back from your panic attack. Body leaning on the sniper's hand on your shoulder for stability. 

"Remember I told you guys that Fors feeds on beliefs and basically make them real?” You didn’t wait for an answer. “Now what are common beliefs at night?" 

"Monsters." Crosshair deadpanned, eyes reduced to slit. He must think you went downright crazy.

"Blood-thirsty man-eating monsters." You specified to their horror. 

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 38: Aunt Marge's Big Mistake

Remus had never really considered the smell of dog repugnant before, but the puddle he landed in and the odor that met his nose was really trying to change that. "Are you shitting me!" He howled in disgust as he pulled himself free.

Sirius whistled from atop a rickety pile of empty dog crates. "You must have really pissed off someone in another life."

"I hope you fall on your head from there," he snapped as he waved his wand to remove the mess, though that still didn't remove the lingering scent from his own nose.

The two took eyes off each other and instead spent a moment to glance around and realize they were the only two out here. Sirius, in his usual feats of ease and grace, landed on his feet beside Remus and the two cautiously circled the area to find themselves in some sort of barn, which mostly seemed to be used for storage. Stacks of dog-food, of a high premium quality, were in carefully managed containers as well as an assortment of collars, and even a few medical supplies.

"I'm feeling a little creeped out now," Sirius muttered, rubbing his neck and eyeing the cages he'd been upon.

Neither got the chance to make much more sense of it when the barn doors swung open wide, and Frank's surprised face peered in. "Oi, I found um!"

"Where are we?" Remus asked as they joined him at the door to find an even wider expanse beyond, quite the gorgeous acreage for some sight beyond, and a bulldog sitting at Frank's feet wagging it's tail curiously up at the pair.

"You're guess is as good as ours," James assured as he came up beside Frank. "Everyone else is inside that house," he gestured beyond the two where they couldn't yet see from the inside, "but I'm suspecting we're dealing with an animal lover. There's bulldogs all over the place round here."

The one watching at their feet was on the younger side, completely white, and rather healthy in weight Sirius decided as he knelt down and scooped up the pup.

"Let's go see if they've found the book yet, spread some light on this nonsense," Frank sighed.

Circling around the side of the barn found a very nice bungalow, clearly very well kept up with bright shutters opened wide. Even from their view as they approached what must be the backdoor they could already see inside the kitchen, where bright yellow wallpaper was abound and even more pictures of bulldogs hung from surfaces. Inside saw Peter at the table, face in hands and looking exhausted, with two more bulldogs sniffing curiously around his feet and Regulus at the table beside him. The two stopped talking when they entered, but to the others surprise there hadn't been much noise of hostility in either tones.

"Come on Wormy," Sirius said at once with chipper, going forward and clasping him on the shoulder while forcefully putting the puppy near his face. "Won't get back to our world tell we find the book, sitting around worrying ain't going to fix that."

"Alice already found the book," Regulus shrugged without concern.

"Well then let's get to it," Frank agreed going past them into the living room. Alice was sitting on the floor next to a snoring pooch as tan as the carpet rather than the plastic bound furniture, while four more dogs of the same breed were all lazing about comfortably, one nursing a litter of three. Lily was crouched down beside the proud mama, stroking a little fawn one.

"Don't be getting ideas now," he cautioned as he offered to take the book from Alice before sitting down by a brindle colored one with a rather rotund stomach and very round teets, likely promising another litter soon. "We don't have time to be hunting down formulas for puppies."

"I know," she sighed as she relaxed against the wall and glanced out the front window where a picturesque well stood on a hill. "It's just nice to land somewhere so pleasant for once. This isn't any of our houses, seems to just be some nice person who breeds dogs. I don't know what Harry has to do with this place, but it seems to be something good for once."

"Chapter title doesn't indicate as much," Frank said in surprise as he cracked the book open. The opening was as horrendous as usual, none of them ever actually enjoyed hearing of the Dursleys many ways they managed to make Harry feel as unwelcome as possible in that house.

Things picked up with interest though, when the Muggle news casually said a certain name.

The other five walked slowly into the room, eyeing Frank like they thought he was playing his first prank. Even Pettigrew was looking more lively again, still clutching the little white pup to his chest a little too tight as he went from looking at the book to not only his best friend, but the brother that shared the Black name.

"Did we miss something?" Potter demanded, wand clutched in one hand and the other balled into a fist. Frank found that a tad dramatic. It was the Muggle news after all, and while it had caught him off guard, there was certainly no reason for his him to be getting defensive over it.

"No, not really," he said calmly, already turning back to the book. "I'd think you heard as well as I, someone named Black broke out of a Muggle prison." The group remained cluttered in the doorway while Frank finished, though there really wasn't much more to be said from the news.

Lupin made an awkward sort of noise that may have possibly been an attempt at a laugh. He put a casual arm around his friend and eyed the brother with that same pained sort of look that was desperately striving for carefree. "Well, what do you suppose you two get up to in the future?"

"Stop exaggerating Moony," the elder of the two brothers pushed his friend away with a much more natural look of uncare. "Just something being stirred up in the Muggle world, how could anyone break out of Azkaban for it to be related to us?"

"Yeah," Regulus quickly muttered agreement, but his brows were still ruffled with confusion and uncertainty. Frank couldn't blame him. Of the two, he'd put money down the youngest would certainly break the news first in You-Know-Who's service rather than the toerag and self proclaimed savior to James Potter.

Harry very obviously had no reason to dwell on this, so it made sense he was distracted by the next interruption of someone named Marge coming about. His reaction to the news was distracting enough to get to them as well.

"What's that horrid woman done then?" Lily snapped in frustration. Already more than sick of the way these horrid people treated her son, she had half a mind to slap Petunia across the face when she saw her again, even if she still doubted herself to go through with it. This perverse future version of a life without her in it already featured a bitter best friend who treated her son so horrid and she was still bound and determined to find a way to an answer for that, her sister was a slightly lesser concern but one she'd have to deal with eventually.

At least this particular problem wasn't on her plate, this Marge was Vernon's sister, and the location they happened to be at suddenly made more sense. Then her hand froze on the little pups warm fur as the their surroundings went from cheerful to claustrophobic in seconds as the laundry list of misdeeds she'd done to Harry were listed. The bright wallpaper was sickening, the little box of dog treats placed sporadically had her clenching her jaw in disgust, and the walking stick left propped against the back door was something everyone was eyeing to be broken in half.

This was no innocent woman breeding dogs for a living, this was a horrible woman, just like every other person in Harry's life who treated that kid like scum, for what?! Lily felt fooled as she sat there shaking with rage, taken in by the beautiful countryside and calm animals around her not to realize there was always something repugnant under the surface.

Of course things only got worse when the woman arrived, Lily couldn't help but get defensive. Of Potter of all things! And not just Harry! This Marge woman shamelessly took to taking criticizing to an inhuman level in regards to Harry and even going so far as to putting this blame on his parentage. As many times as she'd wanted to curse Potter's face off, at least she knew why he deserved it! This woman didn't know anything about them, and what she was saying to a child was reprehensible!

Between this, Petunia not having the decency to say a single word in defense like some part of her still hoped for, and the revelation the woman actually had puppies drowned, Harry magically blowing her up was a blessing.

Lily didn't burst out with cheers like the Marauders, or even resort to the other three muttering things they'd like to do to this woman instead of something so mild, Lily just let herself relax. She released a stream of breath, her shoulders slumped, and she scooped the little ball of folded skin that was the wrinkly puppy just finished nursing and tucked the babe into her neck. It was by far the most mild victory Harry had ever dished out on his own, but really, it was somehow the most satisfying.

Defeating Voldemort, twice, was still such a fantastical thing for something of their future, let alone a kid of hers to be doing it, she still just hadn't quite grasped that concept. This however was something she and her son could readily agree on, no one would be saying such atrocious things and getting away with it.

The news that Harry was leaving that house was a welcomed one, she couldn't stop herself from laughing in relief. Of all the times she'd escaped a very similar house and words from her sister, the idea of escape was one she knew intimately. As Frank warned the closing sentence was upon them, she regretfully set the little pup back down next to its mother and watched Pettigrew finally do the same.

[terramythos]

TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 30 of 26

Title: The Cloud Roads (2011) (The Books of the Raksura #1)

Author: Martha Wells

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction (ish), Adventure, LGBT Protagonist, Third-Person

Rating: 8/10

Date Began: 10/20/2020

Date Finished: 10/28/2020

Moon has spent most of his life as an outsider, wandering from place to place. An orphan with little clue to his origins or past, he has the ability to transform into a large, winged creature. Due to an unfortunate visual similarity to the Fell, a destructive race of marauding shapeshifters, he has to keep his identity hidden. When his current home discovers his secret, the residents assume the worst, poison him, and leave him to die.

By luck, Moon is rescued by a huge shapeshifter named Stone. According to Stone, they're both members of a species known as the Raksura, and a nearby group is in the midst of a dire crisis. Desperate to know more about his past, Moon agrees to help. He follows Stone to Indigo Cloud, a dwindling court of Raksura under threat from the Fell. While the Raksura initially distrust Moon, and Moon has difficulty adjusting to their way of life, they soon discover they need each other to survive. Moon must come to terms with his place among his newfound people and help them overcome an insidious and overwhelming enemy.  

He spoke the thought that had become increasingly obvious all day long, with every interaction he had had. “I don’t belong here.” Maybe if he had been younger, there would have been a chance, but not now. 

Stone made a derisive noise. “You’re afraid you don’t belong here. There’s a difference.” 

Moon seethed inwardly but held his temper, knowing it would give Stone a victory if he lost it. “I’ve been walking into new places all my life. I know when I don’t belong.” 

Stone sounded wry. “You’ve been here half a day, and for most of that you were asleep.” 

Moon said sourly, “I like to make quick decisions.” 

Minor spoilers and content warning(s) under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Lots of graphic violence, action, and death. Non-graphic sexual content. Mind control/manipulation is a whole thing. R*pe is plot relevant and mentioned several times, but not depicted.  

I read Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries series earlier this year and enjoyed the hell out of it (reviews here and here). Featuring fantastic writing and the most well-written perspective character I’ve ever read, I cannot recommend that series enough. So I was interested in reading other stuff by Wells, and ultimately settled on this series. Murderbot is a tough act to follow, and The Cloud Roads is MUCH different in tone/genre, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to more. 

To me, the worldbuilding is the strongest aspect of The Cloud Roads. The Three Worlds is an interesting and creative setting. Humans are completely absent-- instead, there are dozens of different sapient humanoid races. While there are some cultural analogues to our world, everything feels distinctly alien and science fiction-y. I find it interesting that there don't seem to be countries or empires as such, though I get the sense it’s intentional. The Raksura, a main focus of the novel, are based on insect colonies like bees or ants, but with social complexity more like a wolf pack. 

Moon is a good choice of protagonist for this novel due to his general ignorance of the world around him, so we get a firsthand view of someone learning about it. Furthermore, I think Wells does a great job in heavy worldbuilding without it feeling overbearing. When information is doled out, it's always because it's relevant to the situation at hand, so the learning progression feels very natural. By the end I got the sense of a vast and complex world that we'd barely scratched the surface of-- which is a good thing.  

The Raksuran culture is fascinating. Personally I find insect colonies super interesting so I love to see a fantasy race borrow some elements of that. Without going into a whole essay, the matriarchal Raksura have a biological caste system and a ruling queen responsible for a lot of the reproduction. They're separated into two main groups-- winged and not. Within those two categories are various social roles one performs for the colony. All Raksura are able to shapeshift between a smaller almost-human form and a larger, more animalistic one. Despite the insectoid inspiration, the Raksura seem to be a hybrid of mammals and reptiles. They’re... sort of dragons? Gargoyles? Dinosaurs? There’s no perfect analogy. One thing I particularly admire about the writing is how Wells manages to make the Raksura human enough to be relatable, but with pronounced animal-like behavior to make the distinction obvious. Maybe I’m a bit of a furry, too. Sue me. 

I also enjoyed reading a story where the main characters can fly. I haven't read many books like that; I just think it's neat! It adds an extra element to travel sequences, or even how the characters view and observe the world around them. Journeys in fantasy can be boring to read, but this element keeps it interesting. 

The Cloud Roads’ plot isn’t mindblowing, but I think it serves the purpose of the novel well. It’s a pretty standard stock story-- orphan/loner must set out to reclaim his heritage and a new place in society. I think this plot works here because the worldbuilding is so complex, it would be difficult to also balance a complicated story. What keeps it interesting is that Moon struggles to adapt to Raksuran society; it’s his whole character arc. He is inherently mistrustful of the others and in many cases the feeling is mutual. The Raksura initially see Moon as a means to an end; something he is acutely aware of, and Moon keeps himself deliberately detached. The emotional thrust of the story lies in certain characters genuinely wanting him to stay on his own merits, and Moon realizing he actually wants to as well. 

One thing I hope to see more of in future installments is good ol’ character development. Moon is well-realized in this novel; he’s emotionally repressed, but starts to get over it and find a place to belong over the course of the story. We also gradually learn about his past, which adds more depth and context to his behavior. But I want more from the supporting cast. Jade, Chime, Pearl, and Stone get some development but I found myself wanting to know more about them outside of the main plot and their direct relationship to Moon. All the books are written and published by now so I guess I'll see for myself. One pattern I do like with the side characters is how several are set up to be obvious antagonists, but turn out to not be so bad, or are otherwise open to changing their ways. I like how Moon’s limited perspective influences perceptions of certain characters. Also: loving Moon's Peak Bisexual Energy. I tagged him as an LGBT Protagonist since he's clearly bisexual, though it isn't a big focus in the story. Casual rep is still nice to see. 

My main challenge is the Fell, which are basically an Always Chaotic Evil race of shapeshifters similar to the Raksura, and serve as the novel’s antagonists. I personally don’t find them that compelling. They sort of remind me of Reapers from the Mass Effect series, but thus far lacking the grand ulterior motive. They just come off as pure evil without much nuance. I also have to wonder how the species has survived this far if their main method of survival is targeting entire cities and eating the inhabitants (and each other?). I’m not sure where that whole thing is going. Maybe insight in future novels will help me on this. 

I’ll be honest, while I personally enjoyed The Cloud Roads, it is pretty unusual and I don’t think it’s for everyone. If anything, I recommend reading The Murderbot Diaries before this series, but both are well-written and creative. I’m planning to read book 2, The Serpent Sea, after this one, so look forward to that! 

[liw-the-melancholic-apple]

How it may have gone - Humble Beginnings

A fic taking place in the marauders era. While the political climate seems to head to a conflict, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter are still just teenagers. Dealing with typical teenage problems.

But this year their little group grows. Who would have known that more prefects would be a good thing?

Masterlist

Ten: Detention III

When I came back to Greenhouse 4 the next day around the same time a new list lay on the first workstation. Next to it I found the lower section of the one I had worked off of yesterday. The little facts about the plants and creatures were apparently mine to keep. I folded that piece of parchment and put it in my bag.

Then I unfolded the new list.

To Do – Day 2

Behind the bumblebush by the desks you’ll find a door. I houses the supplies and tools. It’s not locked, grab whatever you need.

One table over is a stack of books that tells you what you need to know about the various plants and animals.

Feed the Abtu in the river 

Check elderly mandrakes for signs of life (or death)

Water nettles, beets and tea (green, white and black)

Cut eight branches of Dittany 

Wear gloves !!! and collect Streeler slime.

The Chameleon Potion is a very advanced one but it is one of the most powerful ways of disguise. In contrast to polyjuice potion which lets the drinker only turn into one person, of whom a ‘piece’ is required as an ingredient, which poses its own risks and obstacles, the Chameleon potion enables the drinker to practically become a metamorphmagi for at least two hours after consumption.

Nettles, beets and tealeaves (fresh or dried) are basic ingredients in a lot of potions. Nettles are mostly used in healing potions to provide the best starting points for the more magical ingredients. Not a single common healing potion is brewed without nettles! Beets are mostly used for colour in cosmetic applications. White, Green and Black Tea all have different properties that are released when put in hot water. Those properties often react with more magical plants like devil’s snare or moon dew to bring the potion to full potential.

When dittany is boiled and reduced, then combined with liquid silver it becomes a paste that is a very powerful cure against werewolves bites, called Lykoiaomai. This is the full recipe: Boil and reduce dittany leaves, strain the liquid to rid it of all solids and stir it into a liquid but slightly cooled silver. The ratio is one tablespoon of liquid silver to five tablespoons of dittany reduction.

When dried over a moderate flame Streeler slime turns into thin transparent gelatinous sheets, that can be dissolved in hot water. Dissolve the sheets in white tea as a cure for sleep deprivation.

Again, with the factoids… While the last ones seemed random these appeared to be a little more tailored to my situation. Mainly because of the werewolf and sleep deprivation. Full moon would be tomorrow. All of the Gryffindor boys would be completely destroyed on Thursday, if I could find dried sheets of Streeler Slime in Slughorn’s shelves, I might just take them to see whether they worked as well as pepper up potion.

While Sirius was right and there were no side-effects to using the potion it was pretty hard to get a hold of and expensive to buy. If the giant slugs provided an alternative I could see myself nicking  some jars of their slime before detention was over. It would be helpful to the boys and to Crick and me. Just yesterday the next month of nightshifts had been figured out and I was serving at least one a week, not one on the weekends. Crick had had a similar fate while Jonas got way too many Saturdays to his name. Anything that would get me through a day of classes after a nightshift was absolutely worth breaking the rules for.

On the other hand, Sprout had never once said that I wasn’t allowed to take anything from the greenhouse. Obviously I could assume that nothing was to leave the treehouse but nobody had officially forbidden it.

I got to work and finished a bit quicker than the day before. One of the mandrakes didn’t react to anything I did to it, so I assumed it to be dead and put it on the table with a note. I thought it smart to let everybody know that I wasn’t sure what a dead mandrake looked like. Just in case this one was just really old and moved so slowly I didn’t realise it. The last thing I needed was to get in trouble while serving detention.

After I placed the dittany branches on top of the books I walked back into the shed and looked through the Potions section. I found two interesting things: There were a lot of sheets of Streeler slime and there were about 12 glasses of Dittany-Silver-Paste. They were labelled with dates. All of which lay in the future. One of which was tomorrow.

I had thrown myself in a homework marathon yesterday night and written my essay on the significance of Venus in relation to death for the Thursday class. Normally I couldn’t be bribed to research astronomical deteails outside of class or homework. It was one of those subjects whose importance to general magical education I understood – unlike divination – but I really wasn’t all that interested in it. Yesterday however, I had broken out my moon chart for the decade and checked the dates of full moons. I had made a list and pinned it into my wardrobe, just so I was prepared for a weak and sickly looking Remus and a grumpy Potter-posse. Aside from that, I had a feeling that the other boys were stupid enough to hang out with Remus after he had transformed and I wanted to be able to run to their rescue when something happened.

The dates on the glasses of anti-werewolf-bite-cream were all full moon dates. Seeing how Remus didn’t need a specific potion to be healed, even if he bit himself, because he already was a werewolf and didn’t get affected by the poison in his own fangs, the existence of all of these jars seemed to proof my theory that my stupid, stupid friends did regularly lounge with a transformed werewolf. And that the school knew.

While making these observations I found one glass with a December date. The 26th, to be exact. Remus would have been with his parents during the holidays, so this one went unused. Then, again, I doubted that every other jar of this stuff had been used. Did it maybe spoil quickly? Maybe, but not very likely. There were jars labelled for next November. I went back out into the bright garden and checked the special edition book on uncommon healing potions. I had a section Dittany, the recipe for the cream and stated that it was good for roughly ten years.

So, maybe the teachers relabelled the jars after every full moon that went well. I could safely assume that every single one of these jars was good to go in case of an emergency. And that it would be for couple of years. After all Remus had only started school five and a half years ago. And I doubted, that we had more than one werewolf on campus.

I struggled with my conscience and I didn’t feel good about it. But I went back into the shed, ripped the label off the December jar and put it into my bag. Just in case I really needed to run to anybody’s rescue. When I left I felt really guilty but I also reckoned I could talk myself out of the situation if it ever came to light. 

We were all pretty nervous on Wednesday. It was our first full moon. And even though we weren’t going to actually be around Remus during the night, all of us girls were hyper aware of Remus’ bad shape and what would happen at night. I was glad that we went on revising spells in Charms class that morning. That way nobody noticed how little I could concentrate. Transfiguration went fairly well, too, as it was a theoretical class and I only needed to write down notes. I did, however, pull myself together to write them completely, detailed and legible because Milla was an absolute wreck at this point. Yes, her feelings for Remus weren’t influenced by the fact that he was a werewolf but the thought of every bone in his body breaking horrified her for him. Her voice was shaky all day and it sounded like she could start crying any second. Needless to say that she didn’t take any notes at all during McGonnagal’s monologue.

“Please, keep me away from Remus!”, she begged when we crossed the foyer for lunch. “Or at least don’t let me talk to him. He already looks like death and I don’t think my state would help that at all.”

“Sure thing. We’ll distract him.”

We did. Quite successfully. By now the others knew what my detention consisted of exactly and I decided to tell the entire group about my recent venture into thieving.

“Point is, that I have that stuff. I don’t hope you’ll ever need it but in all honesty if you should ever need it, it’s probably better if you have it with you rather than it sitting in my night stand”, I whispered while smoking.

“You stole Slughorn’s supply from a restricted area of the school? You sure you’re still you, Goods?”

“Fairly certain, yeah. Honestly, I’d rather lose my badge and serve detention for the next two years, than live through the nightmare of something happening to any of you.”

“I’m with Jette”, Remus agreed strongly. Well, as strongly as he possibly could. Milla was right, saying he looked like death. His skin was basically see-through and the dark circles under his eyes nearly reached his upper lip.

“I’m not myself. What if I do bite one of you?”, his voice got a little shaky and I had the distinct impression that that had nothing to do with his physical condition.

“You haven’t yet, Remus”, James tried to calm him down, with a pad on the shoulder.

“First time for everything”, Remus half-smiled in response.

“Just take it!”, I shoved the jar in Peter’s hands. “If you never need it, I’ll be heavenly happy, but if you do need it and don’t have access to it I’ll kill myself over it. And so will Remus. So, don’t argue!”

We sent them off to their classes and descended to the dungeons to learn something or other about fever-reducing-potions. Blair took care of her cauldron that she shared with Millla and the one that Chloe and Nica were supposed to brew in, while Joe was absolutely on his own with ours. I’d told him that I wasn’t on my A-game and could barely concentrate and being the wonderful person he was, he took it upon himself to just do the potion on his own, allowing me to lift. I had to promise that I’d help him out in Defence, though. And I was more than willing to pay that price.

When I got to the treehouse that afternoon I was met by Professor Slughorn. Oh. Not good.

“Miss de Witt. How nice. I thought it useful to talk you through some of the ingredients we have you collect and store. While I’m aware that Professor Sprout provided you with the books and some additional information, I’d like for you to know a little more. You up for it?”

“Certainly, Professor.” Maybe he hadn’t noticed that I nicked his December jar.

“Very well. We will get to the Dittany you collected yesterday. First, you should feed the animals. I’ll set up over there.” He pointed at the tables and pulled out a collapsible cauldron. I scanned my list for the day that just told me to feed the fish and lay out some hay for whatever other creature. I did both those things, visited the mandrakes, who were all still alive and returned to the table.

The Dittany branches were already in the cauldron and a shimmery, shiny substance sat atop a different fire. Shimmery, shiny and silver. Maybe he had noticed that I nicked the jar.

“Now, I’m sure you can guess what we’re doing today.”

“The potion – paste – that Professor Sprout wrote about. The one that heals werewolf bites?”

“Excellent. Five points to Hufflepuff.”

“Oh, thank you, Sir.”

“Now, I’m aware you don’t like potionmaking all that much. Contrasting your brother, who is still doing brilliantly.”

“Happy to hear that, Sir.”

“But with your strong suit being Defence against the Dark Arts, I don’t think that it would be crazy to assume you at least think about working in theat field. I would favour you for an auror but obviously you might end up a curse breaker, a member of the department for magical law or a dejinxer at St. Mungo’s. Every single one of these professions is connected to potions and potionmaking in one way or another. And if you’d ever want to apply to the auror training programme you need to have achieved an A at least in your NEWTs. So, I thought we’d try to install some interest in you by meeting here every now and again during your detention to work on interesting and practical potions. Would you be okay with that?”

“Of couse, Sir. Thank you. This is probably the best opportunity anybody has ever gotten by getting detention.”

“Well, I personally don’t agree with your actions, Miss de Witt. But I also don’t agree with those of my own students.” I had fully forgotten that Slughorn was Slytherin Head of House.

“What Messrs Black and Mulciber said and did does not represent my house. I trust you know that. And I don’t want you to miss opportunities over a throw-away nasty comment.”

“Thank you, Professor. I appreciate that. A lot. A whole lot.”

“Let’s get to work then.”

He went through the recipe and one or two tricks that could help me when brewing the thing myself. At the end we had produced four more of the jars. Three of them Slughorn put on his shelves, one he gave to me.

“I’d guess you won’t need it anytime soon. But it keeps nearly forever, so it won’t hurt to keep it for emergencies in whatever field you chose to work. And now that you know how to brew it and should wish to practice again, you can always ask me for the ingredients or supplies. I would have to supervise your use of them. You’ll understand that I don’t want you to take the silver for making jewellery. “

“Completely.” Frankly, I didn’t understand anything that was going on but I ran with it. By this point I was one hundred percent certain that Slughorn had noticed the theft. Otherwise he’d not have said that I could ask him for more of the potion. I thought he’d be mad at me but since he wasn’t I had to conclude that he knew about Remus’ condition and my friendship to him.

When Slughorn dismissed me it was pitchblack outside. I quickly looked up. The moon hadn’t fully risen yet, but it was definitely visible. According to our DADA material the transformation didn’t happen until the moon had done exactly that. Full rise and full moon. I imagined that the boys had already eaten and were on their way to wherever they hid during these nights. They’d gone so far as to tell us that there was a hideout but not where it was.

My steps quickened as I crossed the lawn. Suddenly, the lights from the castle’s windows seemed very far away. How fast did the moon rise? How far away from the castle was the hideout? Did the boys get there in time for the transformation? I quickened my steps. I started jogging. I did not want to run into Remus tonight. Absolutely not. Nope.

“Goods!” I stopped. Turned around.

“Sirius?”

“What are you still doing out here? Moon’s nearly risen.”

“Why d’you think I’m running?” I couldn’t spot any of the other boys.

“Oh… are you scared of the big bad wolf?” Sirius smug smirk appeared on his lips.

“I thought I already told you that I’d rather not run into a transformed werewolf. So, yeah. I love Remus, I do, but …”

“You don’t want to share his fate.”

“Well, no I don’t. And I’d rather not die, either.”

“Fair enough. No need to be scared, he’s already where he’s supposed to be.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“Forgot you wonder potion in the dorm… We have a fairly established routine for nights like these. And your stupid jar, is not yet part of it. But Remus insisted I get it.” I swung my backpack from my back to my chest and opened it.

“What are you doing?” I handed him the new jar of dittany and silver.

“Slughorn was at detention. He must have noticed that I stole one of the jars and taught me how to brew it. I got to keep one. Fully legal this time.”

“What kind of detention is that? I only ever get to clean things or write the same sentence over and over again.”

“Haven’t quite worked that out yet. But it seems to have some kind of deeper meaning. Slughorn said that he’d stop by more often during detention to teach me potions. The useful kind that I might enjoy brewing. He said it’s to help me get into the auror programme but I don’t know whether I should believe that.”

“Curious” Sirius looked up at the dark sky. “I gotta run.”

“Right… Hug Remus for me, yeah?” Sirius tilted his head. He didn’t look impressed with that suggestion.

“Or tell him I’m hugging him mentally.”

“Will do.” He was ready to head back to where he had come from.

“And be careful, you hear?”

“You worried about me?”, again he smirked at me.

“Yes, Sirius, I am. About all of you. Including Remus.  So, be careful and not arrogant or heroic or Merlin knows what. Okay?”

Sirius came a little closer and studied my face.

“Nothing will happen, Goods. We’ve done this for a while now. We know what we’re doing.”

“Yeah, right because it’s such a common practice to ru…”

“Nothing”, Sirius interrupted me “will happen to any of us. I promise.” He gave me that look that made one feel like he uncovered the deepest and darkest secrets of one’s soul.

“Fine. Fine, fine. Run off, then.” I pushed him against his shoulders to give him some momentum.

“Get something to eat you worried Goodie-two-shoes”, Sirius grinned as he ran back into the blackness of the grounds.

I continued on my way to dinner, slower than before, but distinctly more concerned. He could promise me that they’d be fine a million times, I would never fully believe that none of them took unnecessary risks. That was in their blood. They were inherently adventurous. To the point of stupidity. This was going to be a long night. I doubted I’d get any sleep at all.

Entering the Great Hall and spotting Milla, Blair, Chloe and Nica I realised that none of us would sleep. We’d all be awake all night assuring one another that the boys would be fine. Although none of us were sure about that.

[nomattertheoceans]

There have been so many new people following me this last month omg

Thank you so much to everybody, I’m so so happy you stumbled upon my blog and decided to stay!!!!!

Since I think most of you followed me for my Feysand fics, I thought I would make this post to let you know a few general things about me and my blog :)

I’m French, so my English isn’t always great. I’m 25, and I live in South America, so I’m not on the European time zone, I’m closer to the US time zone (GMT -5). You can always come talk to me, about anything, in my DM’s or in my ask box, anon is always on.

Things I blog about, mostly:

- Sarah J Maas, mainly her ACOTAR series. I ship Feysand (I think this is obvious from my fics hahaha), I do not ship either Elriel nor Elucien, and I don’t really have strong opinion on Nesian. I want Mor to find the love of her life really soon, and I want Azriel to stop feeling entitled to her affection. I also wish Nesta going to the Mountains won’t turn her into a warrior because I want her to read books and drink tea all day long. Although, I’m really critical of the sisters’ general behaviour so I’m not always positive about them.

- Leigh Bardugo, mainly the books from the Grishaverse. I would die for Kanej and Zoyalai. I have many, many feelings about them and can’t wait for King of Scars 2 because I can’t wait to have my heart destroyed. I think Alarkling is an abusive ship and I do blog about that, I also think the Darkling is just an entitled abuser and I hate him. So... yeah no Darkling love here ^^’

- Brooklyn 99, mostly Peraltiago but really the entire show is gold and I blog about it often. Often without tags so... sorry x) If you ask me to tag it I will try to be better :) 

- His Dark Materials, the show AND the books. If you haven’t read the books, but are watching the show, my blog isn’t safe because I am talking about the books a lot!!!!! BUT everything that relates to the books is tagged #hdm books so you can avoid spoilers in my blog if you filter this tag. ALSO these books are a personal obsession, and my favorite book series, since I was nine so I.... have a lot of feelings. About a lot of things.

- Harry Potter. I hate Snape with a passion, I can rage about him for hours on end, and I do share anti Snape stuff. I also hate Dumbledore for forcing Harry to leave with his abusive family for 17 years. I ship Hinny and Romione, I LOVE Ron and I will defend him from the haters always, I identify 2000% with Hermione, and Ginny is my favorite character. Harry is bisexual and no you cannot change my mind. I do not consider The-Play-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to be canon, and I have very mixed feelings about the Fantastic Beasts series. I also have a very love/hate relationship with JK Rowling because I love what she created but she doesn’t seem to understand her characters, she doesn’t seem to care anymore, plus she’s a TERF and probably a homophobe so yeah... I hate her and I talk about it.

- Random stuff: A LOOOOOT of it!! Stupid jokes, cute photos of animal, art that I like, movies, books, TV series I like,..... Sorry my blog is not well maintained hahaha

- Other people’s fanfic: Okay so I have a job that takes up most of my time and energy. So I have very little spare time to read and write, and most of the time, I chose to write. Which means I am very bad at keeping track of what’s happening around me in the fanfic universe. BUT I am always willing to check out someone’s writing!!!! I might not do it right away because of lack of time but I would love it :) I’m really bad at recommendations though because I have so little time hahaha

The things I write

Here’s my masterlist :) You can also read all of it on AO3 !

- Original story: I don’t blog much about it, but I’m developping an original story that is basically sci-fi/apocalyptic. I looooove it and I am always open to answer things about it!!!! I might try to share more about it in the time to come ^^

- Non-Feysand fics. I don’t write a lot of these hahahaha but I do sometimes write some Peraltiago, some Kanej, and I have a few Jily/Wolfstar/Marauders projects, but I don’t think I will post them any time soon.

- Feysand fics. aka most of what I write hahahaha I love them and their relationship is an endless source of inspiration for me. Here are details of what’s happening right now, and what’s coming hopefully soon.

Current projects:

Feysand Holiday Fluff Fest: The reason I think most of you are following me ^^ A series of fluff prompts I’m writing for this month, it’s really fun for me because I have a tendency of writing very long stories and it’s a fresh feeling stopping at one-shots.

If you hold me close: It’s a modern fake dating AU, Feyre doesn’t want to go alone to her sister’s wedding and invites Rhys, but then they end up faking being in a relationship. I was thinking I would tag everyone who asked me to be in the tag list for the holiday fluff, but you can always ask me to untag you, I will not take it personnally I swear!!! Your personal experience is what matters :)

Staying Afloat: My baby, I love this fic so much it’s impossible to explain how much I do. I want everyone to love it and tell me what they think. This fic tackles some tough subjects though, mainly domestic abuse (Feyre is dating Tamlin for a good part of it). It’s also very angsty, and a very long slowburn hahahaha @tonystarksbish is my amazing beta reader and general main supporter, she’s honestly the reason I write that many things now. Go check her writing blog ( @somanyshipsss )

Future projects:

A Feysand college AU, mostly written from Rhysand’s point of view. I’m planning for it to be around 15 chapters, maybe? But it might get longer hahahaha

Some one-shots, some canon campliant, some in modern AUs, but all of them being published at an unknown date, depending on when inspiration strikes hahahaha

A project that is basically dumb and silly and that I started TODAY with @quakeriders (if you don’t know what she writes, go to her blog right now), we might post it and tell you more but basically Rhys is canon!Rhys and Feyre is a dumbass human from modern time who’s chilling around in a Stitch onesie. It’s really silly but we LOVE it!!!!! I can’t wait to share it with you guys it’s gonna be so fun ^^ (But not before the end of the month at least!)

Completed projects:

I made you a promise, it’s basically a mostly fluff modern AU, Feyre and Rhys meet at a bar and start dating! It’s been complete for a while now but sometimes I still post random headcanons or short or less short snippets of the story, generally according to request from people (well, from @quakeriders really hahaha) so you can send me requests if you want extensions or headcanons!!

I am ALWAYS open to prompts!!!!!!!! I love them and I will love you if you send me some. BUT I might not answer right away because inspiration is a bitch hahaha

Anyway, I think that’s it, I hope you all are having a great day, and I love you all so much for liking what I write, you bring me so much joy that I could hug all of you and it still wouldn’t be enough ^^

[aproblematicpanda]

Harry Potter? For the in-depth fandom ask

Hi thank you! ♥ I will use the books for my answers, since I didn’t really like most of the movies. I apologize if I mix up some of the characters, I’ve only read the books in my native language so I will have to google for some of the names in English. :’D

Top 5 favorite characters: Minerva McGonagall, Luna Lovegood, Fred & George Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley. Other characters you like: The golden trio obviously, Molly, Dobby, Draco Malfoy, ... There are not a lot of characters I dislike. Least favourite characters: Umbridge, for obvious reasons. Otps: Hermione and Ron. Notps: I don’t think I have any? I’m not very invested in shipping when it comes to the HP fandom, I pretty much keep an open mind to everything? Except incest but I’ve never seen anyone ship anything like that, so. Favourite friendships: Harry, Ron and Hermione, obviously, and I also really liked Fren, George and Lee, and Lavender and Parvati. Favourite family: The Weasleys Favourite episodes: / Favourite book:  Prisoner of Azkaban is probably my favorite book. Favourite quotes:  "If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." "But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." "Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, 'It unscrews the other way.’" "There is no need to call me ‘sir,’ Professor." And probably more. The books have so many amazing scenes, funny, inspirational, sad, hopeful, ... It was really hard to pick just a few. Best musical moment: / Moment that made you fangirl the hardest: Ehh... I mean, obviously I was rooting for Harry and the ending was a satisfying one, just like every other time Harry beat Voldemort, but the moment that made me fangirl the hardest would probably be Hermione punching Draco in the face. xD When it really disappointed you: The only truly disappointing thing about the book is how House-Elves are treated. Other than that, the only time I’m disappoint is literally every time JK Rowling decides it’s a good idea to open her mouth. Saddest moment: The moment Harry breaks down in Dumbledore’s chambers after Sirius dies gives me chills every. damn. time I reread the book. Most well done character death: Oh god, this is so hard because most of the deaths really hit me hard Favourite guest star: / Favourite cast member: / Character you wish was still alive: Honestly? Probably Hedwig. Maybe Fred. One thing you hope really happens: That JK Rowling’s Twitter account is banned so she doesn’t have a damn platform anymore. Most shocking twist:  When did you start reading: I think the first three books were already out when I started to read them. My classmates kept telling me to do it and I was in that annoying phase where I refused to dive into anything that was this massively popular - but I’m glad I eventually caved because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have grown up in this fandom and that means I would’ve had an entirely different experience. Now I can still say I grew up with the books and I’m glad I did. Best animal/creature: I’m a gigantic sucker for unicorns and I’m not sorry about it. xD Favourite location: I mean, Hogwarts is amazing, the descriptions of the castle never get old. Trope you wish they would stop using: Ehh... I honestly don’t know? One thing this book does better than others: I love how this show has such an inspired, dedicated, creative fanbase. The amount of HP related art, fanfiction, headcanons, ... out there is mindblowing. I’ve never quite seen that happen in any other fandom and it’s part of why I love this one as much as I do. Like how people can take a character that’s mentioned maybe a couple of times in the books and they create so much content for them to the point where I’ve actively had to stop myself from writing an answer to this questions because the answer isn’t canon, that’s admirable. Funniest moments: Fred and George wrecking havoc on Umbridge and finally leaving the castle after they get caught is without a doubt the funniest scene I can think of. Couple you would like to see: Like I said, I was never really into shipping anyone with anyone. I enjoy quite a lot of fanon ships I see on Tumblr, though. Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: / Favourite outfit: Every outfit I can think of is influenced by the movies so I don’t really have an answer to this. I would’ve loved to see Hermione’s dress to the Yule Ball, though, and the Patil sisters’. Oh, and Fleur’s wedding dress. Favourite item: The Marauder’s map. Do you own anything related to this show: No. What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in: I’m a Slytherin. Most boring plotline: I can’t think of anything. The passage that bores me the most is the one where the Minister of Magic meets the Muggle Prime Minister but that’s not a plotline. I guess everything is just so well thought of, everything that’s in the books in there for a reason and I wouldn’t cut anything out of it. Most laughably bad moment: As much as I dislike JK Rowling, she wrote seven brilliant books. I can’t think of a bad moment. There are plot holes, sure, and things that really fucking bug me, but no laughably bad moments. At least, not any that I can think of right now. The fact that she gave Cho Chang two last names as a name is a bad moment, though - but it’s not laughably. It’s just more proof that JK Rowling is a terrible person. Best flashback/flashfoward if any: The memories Snape shows to Harry, and the ones they both get to see of each other during their Occlumency lessons. Most layered character: I love the character development Ron goes through. Most one dimensional character: Ehh. There were a lot of important characters so it makes sense that not all of them got the layers they deserved. Right now nobody who’s relevant to the plot comes to mind as an answer? Scariest moment: Well, when Harry and Dumbledore came back from finding the fake Horcrux, that had me scared. Not for their lives (because it was obvious that Harry would live and Dumbledore would die) but because it felt like all of Dumbledore’s plans would be ruined so that’d probably be the scariest moment for me? Grossest moment: Ehh... I would probably throw up if I had witnessed Nagini sliding out of Bathilda’s dead body so I’m gonna go with that one, that must’ve been horrifying for Harry, especially because he spares Hermione the details. Best looking male: Well the books name Cedric Diggory as the most attractive one, so... Let’s go with that one then?  Best looking female: Fleur and Ginny Who you’re crushing on (if any): I would probably be all over Ginny if I had gone to Hogwarts. Favourite cast moment: / Favourite transportation: A Thestral! Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): I really love the descriptions of Hogwarts. Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: Oh god, so. many. Off the top of my head, here we go. 1. The carriages that bring the students back to the train station are mentioned specifically at the end of the fourth book and yet Harry can’t see the Thestrals until the beginning of the fifth book. 2. In what world are the Weasleys poor? Hermione specifically mentions in the seventh book that you can increase the quantity of food and Harry gets more wine for Slughorn and Hagrid with a spell in the sixth book, so no wizard or witch would have to spend any money on food, ever. And like with clothes and books and everything, why buy multiple ones? Just buy one and then duplicate it like when Hermione did it with the medallion? 3. Harry randomly remembering the phone number to get into the Ministry of Magic after almost an entire year, having heard them once: please. I started rereading the fifth book like two months ago for the gazillionth time and I already don’t remember them anymore. 4. Supposedly there’s a curse on the position as the DADA professor ever since Voldemort asked for the job, so there’s a new teacher every year, but Professor Quirrel is introduced in a way that makes it seem as if he has been teaching there for quite a while and other students (like Fred and George) treat him as such - seems to me like the curse was only activated with Harry coming to Hogwarts but that’s not what’s canon. 5. Voldemort conveniently waiting for the end of the school year each year to make his move. 6. The school year somehow always starts on a Monday and the Hogwarts express always leaves on September 1 which would mean that September 1 was a Sunday for seven years in a row. 7. Why, WHY, would they use feathers and parchment? What the hell is wrong with pen and paper? Or things like torches, when electricity has been a thing since forever? And the same goes for using owls to send letters, or the memos that are used in the Ministry of Magic: just text or e-mail, dudes. One sloppy ‘this doesn’t work here because there’s too much magic in the air’ just doesn’t cut it for me, especially because Harry does wear a watch, for instance. I probably have more but this is all I can come up with right now. xD Best promo: My childhood best friend bugging me about the books until I finally caved and started to read them. xD At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: Literally the first chapter.

Send me a show/fandom and I’ll answer

[fae-fucker]

Zenith: Chapter 45-48

Chapter 45

Nor is floating in a super sci-fi space carriage over the last remaining “wealthy” city on Xen Ptera, which is apparently so garbage only a few people have roofs over their heads. She thinks about how much she loves her people and how she’s doing this for them, except she purposefully floats just out of reach of their poor-people hands and throws food and “med kits” at them so they’ll follow. 

Darai is very confused by this, because Shinsay desperately need Nor to seem complex and intelligent. She compares her people to an [incidental space animal] she got from her father as a child.

“I fed it,” she explained. “Give a pet food, Darai, and it will do anything to stay by your side. Starve it or beat it, and it will begin to fear your very existence, only coming out of hiding in the moments when you have something to give and it to take.” 

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

[...]

“The people of Xen Ptera are my responsibility now. But more than that, they are my soldiers, and I wish for them to follow me always. No matter how dark the path I choose to walk upon.”

Yes, this makes so much sense. First you let your people starve and get radiation poisoning, but then you throw scraps at their feet and obviously peasants are food-motivated like kittens and will absolutely do as you say. 

Except this doesn’t make any fucking sense for many, many reasons. 

1) Darai complains about the fact that these rations are used for scientists and soldiers. Which he’s right about. If Nor has an army and scientists, those people tend to be far more useful in, say, a war, than a bunch of mutated and starving peasants. 

2) I dunno if Shinsay have read any history ever, but when large masses of people get hungry, they don’t just sit there, they turn on the few people in power who still have food and resources. These peasants would turn on Nor the moment someone else provided better food. I’m just saying that Nor’s neck accessory wouldn’t be a spiked collar but a guillotine.

3) Don’t you have that Zenith stuff? The stuff that can make people into brainwashed robots with a single drop? Release that shit into the atmosphere and save your food and “med kits” for the few actually crucial people who need it.

3.5) If you’re only going to use it on enemies to convert them, why bother with your people in the first place? Despite what Nor is claiming, her “love” for her people is token at best and her priority lies in revenge, not recovery.

4) Also it’s so transparent that they only wrote this to make Nor look smart, because they purposefully made Darai into an idiot who doesn’t understand basic concepts when he previously was written as an older, intelligent advisor.

Nor arrives at the old palace ruins and it’s all very sad and angsty, complete with special Backstory Flowers that used to Bloom but Don’t Anymore because the Environment got Too Tragic, and flashbacks to that time her hand and also her dad were crushed under rubble. We find out that the crowd gathered here are just “thousands” of people, and Nor refers to them as her “army.” Okay. 

Nor gets stage fright when the crowd is silent and doesn’t instantly love her because she has the confidence of a highschooler asking someone out to prom, and decides to snap her golden hand off to prove to her people that she’s “their equal,” which works for some reason even though the narration acknowledges it as a lie. 

Obviously starving people seeing this LITERALLY GOLDEN woman who just shat out a bunch of free food from her floating carriage will definitely 100% swallow her little speech about how they have to take revenge. Even the mothers holding up their starving infants! We all know people who are starving want revenge before a sandwich. The blood of my enemies? I call it vengeance ketchup.

She shows Zenith to the crowd which they totally understand what it is right away from afar and how it works and what it has to do with literally anything.

“Remember, Xen Pterrans, and never forget, that even the stars can bleed!”

The royal entourage pack up and Nor says she wants a crown forged for herself because “every queen needs one” and: 

“I want to wear it while we feast on the galaxy’s bones.”

Cool. 

Chapter 46

We’re in Lira’s POV while she’s doing what she does best: moping off on her own. I guess she’s not very special in that regard. She’s thinking about how she loves to fly because the sky has no limits and the ground is confusing. Aight.

The gang seems to have gotten off without any punishment for crashing into a village and are now staying at the very center of power of Adhira, this mountain palace called Rhymore. It’s very pretty and yadda yadda, I skipped 90% of the description because literally whomst careth. 

One important detail to keep in mind is that we find out varillium, the glass-like substance that the Marauder is made of is, like M. Night Shyamalan’s movie starring Bruce Willis, unbreakable. You know, which is why they need those metal shields around the damn thing. Thanks guys, this makes total sense.

Lira looks into an “eyeglass” and sees literally all of Adhira like a tiny map. Either Shinsay are confused about what a telescope does, or they’re flat-earthers. And yeah, she literally sees cities, waterfalls, rainforests, deserts ... This is after we’ve established she’s in a mountainous area.

All the descriptions read like screensavers and are just as relevant to the story so I’ll just skip them. 

Lira is ambushed by her twin brother Lon, who is the owner of that sarcastic soul we’ve heard so much about. 

He was at least a head taller than her now, his pale blue arms rippling with muscle, spreading up into a thick neck and strong shoulders.

This description bothers me and I don’t know why. 

The conversation quickly turns all mopey and Lon says Lira has abandoned her people and himself, to which she replies she was only protecting him from WHAT SHE’S BECOME (wake me up inside). We then get a random infodump about how the Adhiran queen is super great and loving and a perfect leader. Not perfect enough to abdicate the throne but I don’t think Shinsay thought that far. Monarchy good if monarchs good, obviously.

Lon is all “ur still my sister until the mountain falls uwu” and Lira is like “omg stop guilt-tripping meee” and we’re informed there’s gonna be a “peace festival” soon that celebrates the end of the war against Xen Ptera. How convenient that their ship would randomly malfunction right before this event. :)

Lira says she wants to tell him only the good stuff of what’s happened while she was away and says that she’s been using Moon Chew, which is Bad for Reasons, and she knows Lon uses it too but keeps it a secret from the queen aka their aunt. Lon asks about what “led” Lira to using it and I’m just baffled by the fact that we still don’t know what the fuck Moon Chew is or what it does, and why, if it’s something so terrible that one must be “led” to using it, they’re talking about it like it’s some unhealthy fast food their aunt frowns upon and not, say, a drug? 

Anyway, Lira tells him of their adventures and it sounds way more interesting than anything we’ve read so far. Then we get this:

Lon always knew that Lira harbored a darkness in her soul. A little tug, a tiny whisper at the back of her mind, that led her to go above and beyond the pranks that Lon had always pulled while they were growing up here. 

She’d fallen, not for a lover, but for the skies. For adventure. 

She’d found a ship full of girls with their own affinity for darkness to mirror her own.

So I recently found out that there’s supposedly an “asexual” alien in the crew of the Marauder, and that member is apparently Lira. I think this idea is reinforced by the “fallen but not for a lover” line.

Framing her wanting to explore the world on her own and go her own way, comparing it to falling in love but not with another person but with a concept, as a darkness in her soul? 

Not a good look.

Anyway, Lon decides after all this time that apparently Lira was always meant to fly and tells her that her aunt wants to see her.

This is plot?

Chapter 47

We’re in Valen’s POV. He wakes up and is in pain but not enough to avoid noticing that he’s in a fluffy bed and outside there is [insert generic description of pretty place here] and it’s so pretty he could never paint it, because he’s a painter and he can’t relate anything in his life to anything but painting.

The Adhiran queen is there and she’s very pretty. She asks him about the last thing he remembers, which is Nor, and it sends him into a ... flashback? Basically he starts freaking out that this isn’t real and they sedate him again and the last thing he sees is

[...] Androma Racella leaning forward from the shadows across the room, half of her face aglow as sunlight spilled across her skin like paint.

You know, because he’s a painter!

Chapter 48

We’re back with Lira, who starts the second chapter like she started the previous one, complaining about how being planetside is the worst. Yep, we get it. It’s the worst. Cuz she’s a pilot. 

Painters be painting. Pilots be piloting. If your characters don’t constantly refer back to their one defining characteristic, how will be able to tell them apart? 

Anywho, Lira finally gets to the queen.

Alara was beautiful in every sense of the word, inside and out. She had a lithe frame, perfectly proportioned, and no scales on her skin.

PERFECTLY PROPORTIONED

What in the everloving fuck does that even mean? :’) Probably just means she’s skinny.

And of course she has no scales, only evil people and/or “morally grey” people can have imperfections. How do we know someone is good unless they have flawless skin?

Lira had always admired Alara’s beauty, but it paled in comparison to the woman’s intelligence.

Shinsay, slapping us all with a big purple dildo: THIS IS FEMINISM. 

“She’s absolutely good and perfect and INTELLIGENT because women don’t have to be pretty to be smart and we totes value things other than beauty, but let us constantly describe how absolutely fucking DICK-OUT-HOT this Generic Good Queen is, in case you ever doubted it.”

👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

And, yeah, Nor is also described as hot, but like, evil hot. Sexualized and sexual and dangerous and GASP OMG SHE HAS A GOLD HAND. GGQ straight up glows, that’s how good she is.

Generic Good Queen addresses Lira as “Lirana” which, yeah, ok, and we get this:

“I’ve just had a rather unfortunate conversation with Valen Cortas, the poor, tortured soul, so spare me whatever dramatic greeting you must have prepared.”

You know what? Maybe Generic Good Queen ain’t so bad after all. 

YOU TELL HER, GGQ. 

[kaluawoo]

Marauders’ Animagus Forms

Yeah yeah, I know, most people will probably say it’s obvious; James is a stag because of his pride, Sirius is a dog because he’s loyal, and Peter is a rat because he’s a traitor.

Yeah, I’m not buying those, at least not that simply. (This is gonna get long, so let me put it under a cut)

Let’s start with Sirius, because he’s gonna be easiest for me. I’m not disputing that he’s loyal, I know he is, and dogs are known to be very faithful - Other animals are, too, but dogs stand out due to their faithfulness towards humans in particular, and are more well-known for it than other domestic animals.

What, then, am I questioning? Well, why is Sirius a big, black dog? A dachshund is loyal, too. Or a toy poodle, or a Chihuahua. Or a corgi they’re adorable. But no, our dear Padfoot isn’t just a pooch, he’s a big, black, shaggy pup.

Now, let’s start with the breed. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think anyone ever mentioned one, so I’ll assume he’s a mutt. He didn’t have to be; there’s plenty of big dogs with black fur. Irish Wolfhounds come to mind, black labrador, Rottweiler or Dobermann (Though those aren’t fully black), even German Shepherds. He’s from a long line of purebloods obsessed with purity, but he is not a purebred dog.

Because Sirius rejected that idiology. I think an animagus can reflect a LOT about a person’s personality - There are so many different animal species, subspecies and breeds, after all - and refusing to obsess over blood purity like his ancestors was important for him; hence, his animagus form mirrors that.

Now, mutts still come in all shapes and sizes, but Pad is still a big black dog. The size, well, he wanted to keep a darn werewolf company; he must have REALLY wanted to be a big animal. Protecting and helping his friend was so important to him; and a big animal is much more easily able to protect someone than a small one.

That leaves color. A big black dog is also an omen of death; the Grim in Harry Potter specifically, and there are many English folk tales about black dogs like the Barghest. But first, as a nice tidbit: Not all those folk tales say the black dog is evil. Most, yes, but a few have the black dog as a protector; I distinctly remember one where people claim it’s perfectly safe to let children play on the meadows near that village because the dog is watching over them. Now, that sounds like it’s suit Pads.

But it’s more; even though he rejected his Black lineage, it’s still there, looming over him. To non-purebloods, the Black family is probably not the best omen, especially with Voldy on the rise. The first time someone hears Pad’s name, they won’t know that he’s not a blood supremacist; just like someone seeing a huge black mutt won’t know whether that dog is dangerous or not. Sirius may have rejected his family, but in a way, it’s still almost haunting him.

Next up is James. I’ll admit I don’t know as much about deer as I do about dogs (I heard they don’t make too great pets), but regardless, I think just “he’s proud” isn’t enough justification.

Lots of animals are associated with pride. Most prominently lions, but also tigers, and maybe to a lesser extent even domestic cats; also horses, sometimes wolves, and even if you want to stay deer-like, I’d say a moose, elk or reindeer is a tad more impressive than a Stag (I think he’s meant to be a red deer? It’s not explicitly mentioned, but that’s how I’d imagine him). So why did he end up in the shape that he did? If I’d want to keep a werewolf in check, I’d pick a moose. I would NOT mess with them.

First, the carnivores. It’s kind of hard to find the right words, but I’d say in some way, they’re too fierce. Of course, big carnivores don’t just go and kill stuff just because, but most tend to be more aggressive than herbivores; most herbivores as prey animals run away if there’s a danger, while carnivores, being predators, fight. James wouldn’t back down from a fight - And deer can fight, with both antlers and hooves - but once he’s grown out of his teens, he’s more of a carer and nurturer than a fighter, I’d say. And it took me a long-ass time to understand that, while he was a jerk as a teen, he most likely wasn’t one as an adult.

We still have a bunch of herbivores left, though. Well, moose are easy to leave out; they’re solitary, and I, for one, can’t imagine Prongs without his friends. Well, the simplest explanation would probably be that stags are just more well known for trying to impress their does, but I’m not here for analyzing meta reasons, I want to find in-story ones. So, I’ll cheat a little bit and say that the animagus form is mostly based on a person’s core personality, but influenced by lots of things: Not just how the animal actually is, but also how it’s perceived, the wishes of the animagus-to-be, how they think about themselves, all of that. Basically, it’s like the animagus form is trying to communicate as much about the human as it can.

James is, or at least was as a kid, something I’d describe in German as a “Wildfang”; literally it means “wild catch”. I don’t like the English translations I’m finding, so I’ll just describe it as someone - often a child, but sometimes also a young adult - who likes to bend or break rules, and wants to have fun in their own way without caring about society’s expectations of what or how they should be. A little boy preferring to stay out till dark with his friends instead of studying, or a girl playing in the mud without caring about her dress getting dirty. Sound like someone we know?

Now, as a “wild” boy, our little Prongs probably wouldn’t want to be a domesticated animal, or better, wouldn’t see himself as one. Horses can often be described as proud, but the well-trained ones are usually also very obedient.

And elk or reindeer, well... They might be more physically impressive than a red deer, but if people’s expectations about an animal play at least some part, then of course he’d end up the most well-known option, making him a stag. That also opens the interesting thought that it’s more than likely different cultures would cause different animagi, thanks to different ways of looking at animals, but I digress.

Last, but not least, is Peter. Honestly, he’s the main reason for this post, because I adore rats; I never kept any as pets, but I wanted to as a kid. Newsflash: Rats are not traitors. Again for the people in the back:

Rats are not traitors. Rats are incredibly social animals.

Yes, I’ve already assumed human preconceptions have an influence on the animagus form, but I don’t think they could overwrite the animal’s true characteristics. If they could, Padfoot being basically the Grim would mean he’s evil, but he isn’t.

Now that that’s out of the way, what do I mean with “social animals”? Some wild rats teach their young how to open pinecones to get the seeds, which is cute, but there’s something even more amazing: There have been experiments with a trapped rat, and a free rat. The free rat was able to push a button, releasing the trapped one.

It doesn’t stop there; in further experiments, they made it so the rat had to swim to get to the button, which rats normally don’t like. It did so anyway, to help the trapped one. They also put some delicious food out; the free rat often ate some, but not all, before releasing the trapped one, basically sharing the food. Unrelated to that, rats are among the rodents most likely to bond with their owner. Mice, degus (even though they’re adorable), even guinea pigs; some might bond with their owner, but by far not all. And even then, it’s kind of rare they’d want to cuddle - rats do.

And that is supposed to mean “traitor”? Really? Rats get a bad rep, I know, but how can you look at that stuff and decide “Yep, that means someone who can turn into a rat HAS to be evil!”?

So how does it relate to Wormtail? Well, while it’s a movie quote (Sorry - books are longer ago, and I haven’t read them as often as I watched the movies), I distinctly remember someone saying that Peter used to cling to his friends’ coattails, and at least I don’t remember any book quote refuting that. Rats are group animals, they need other rats in order to be happy; suits being a bit clingy with friends, doesn’t it?

Now, of course, rats aren’t the only social animals around. Wolves are probably among the most well-known, but there’s plenty of herd or pack animals. Well, first, I’d throw out the big ones - Wolves, lions, horses, etc. Yes, they’re group animals and need company of their own, too. But can you imagine Wormtail as a lion?

I’m verging into headcanon territory, but I feel like Peter probably lacked self-confidence and self-esteem. James and Sirius were cocky as they could be, and Remus, even though he probably had moments when he doubted himself, still comes across as mostly self-assured. But Peter?

Most big animals aren’t only known for being group animals; they’re also known for things like pride, strength, ferocity. Peter may have wanted to be a big animal to help his friend (yes he was part of the Marauders, another thing I took a long-ass time to accept. He betrayed them later on, but during Hogwarts, they were one group), but his self-doubts might have reflected on his form. What if he messed up? What if he couldn’t keep Moony in check and someone got hurt? As a tiny rat, there would’ve been nothing he could’ve done anyway, right?

Now, even small animals often have groups. Rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, degus... So there’s still lots of options. Some other things rats are known for is curiosity, intelligence, and being survivors.

Let’s start with curiosity. Wormtail was a Marauder. Secret passage? Neat! New path in the forbidden forest? Let’s check it out next full moon with Moony! He wasn’t just an accessory, he was part of the group, so I’m willing to bet he was just as adventurous as the other boys. While my degus are excellent at breaking out of their cage, they also get startled easily, not exactly adventurer material.

Now, intelligence. Okay, I’ll admit, I don’t remember if there were any mentions of Wormtail’s grades, but I remember reading a headcanon that he was the one best at coming up with excuses, and I can believe that, even though I’d guess his grades weren’t too great. He might’ve lacked book smarts, but he probably had a good helping of street smarts; bad application of ‘em, but he managed to frame Sirius for the murder of twelve muggles and then live with a family full of wizards - pretty smart ones, at that! - for a pretty long time. Look me in the eye and tell me that doesn’t require any cunning or intelligence. (I do say my degus are smarter than I am, but nobody knows what they are, and I just can’t imagine a new animagus ending up as an animal they don’t even know)

Last is the survival instinct. Look, talking to Voldy wasn’t noble, but it probably helped Peter’s survival. And, honestly? I have no idea what I would do in that kind of situation. Yeah, it looks like it goes against the social part, but - Does it? Voldy definitely threatened Wormtail’s life, but Wormtail was not alone. They sent his finger to his mother, if I recall correctly; what if Voldy threatened her, too? What if Wormtail had to decide between the lives of James, Lily and Harry, and the lives of his mother and himself? I adore my friends, but even though I hope I’d be able to protect them, I’m not sure if I could. And if my brother’s life was in danger, too, or my parents? I genuinely hope I will never, ever have to make a choice like that, because I couldn’t. I don’t love Peter for what he’s done, but I don’t exactly blame him, either. Fear makes you do weird things.

So, to wrap it up, Peter’s not a rat because he’s a traitor. He’s a rat because he’s social and loves his friends; he’s a rat because he’s curious and loves adventure; he’s a rat because he’s smarter than he thinks, and because he’s a survivor. Good people do bad things under the right kind of pressure, and being threatened with death - your own or a loved ones - is one hell of a pressure.

[calleo-bricriu]

TAGGED BY: @lucklessladies​

TAGGING: I dunno, if you want to do it, go ahead. :)

SPEED: Until this October, I work remotely so I'm pretty much around all day. I usually try to get replies out within a couple of days and tend to post often. After October, I have no idea but if I go back to not working remotely I’ll probably be more active in the evenings (CST, -6 GMT)

REPLIES: Fast enough that there's rarely anything in my drafts. Unless I put something there late, late at night chances are I’ll forget it’s there until someone prods me, I so rarely need it. I don't go in any particular order. I also don't mind doing conversation in replies as opposed to reblog threads.

STARTERS: I mean, I can. I think I have a few things tagged as starters that I've reblogged; usually if I do a starter it's either for what's going to be a thread or for a back and forth type conversation.

I don't typically do open starters or greeters and I don't mind at all if you write a starter at any random time and tag me in it or dig through the tag for something.

INBOX: I get a decent amount though there's no pattern to them. Sometimes it's memes, sometimes it's conversation, sometimes it's just random stuff. If I reblog a meme from a blog that isn't a meme blog, I do try to send something in or, if I don’t feel like sending something in, I’ll reblog from the meme source instead.

SELECTIVITY: Eh, not very.

I can be a bit picky about OCs related to canon characters not because I think it's a bad trope or anything, I just tend to not care for that type of character hook if it's the front and center defining feature of an OC.

Also, after you've seen the 1,000th variant of Snape's Daughter, Draco's (usually) Twin Sister, The Fifth Marauder Because Peter Is Icky, and Harry's Twin (usually) Sister, they all sort of blur together anyway. That’s not to say I won’t write with OCs like that and there are a few that I do and enjoy writing with them, I just tend to not follow those sorts of blogs first.

I'm also a bit picky with OCs who have multiple rare abilities (the Good At Everything trope) just because I'm--not really into that; if you need that many hooks to get anyone interested, the character as a whole probably needs a revamp. If you're having fun and like your OC as is, cool, keep them that way and have fun. It's just not my kind of fun, and that's perfectly all right as there are plenty of other people out there who do enjoy that kind of thing.

You'd think I wouldn't be so damn picky about OCs considering that's all I write but I've also been writing this particular OC since about 2001 and have long since learned what I do and do not like about writing with other OCs.

Doesn't mean people who write things I don't care for are doing something wrong, it just means it's not my thing.

Other than that, as long as you're not trying to get me to do something on the hard no section of my rules, I'm pretty flexible.

I have no problems writing with multiples (I think I currently write with something like 5 Snapes and the dynamic with each of them is different) or canon divergent canon characters because nobody wrecks an ending quite like JKR.

I do tend to have a difficult time writing with the “human version of this inanimate object/animal” type characters though; it’s not that I don’t get it or think it’s silly, I just--have a hard time figuring out how Calleo would even begin to go about not thinking someone who told him that was completely out of their mind.

WISHLIST: Here you go.

HONEST NOTE: I'm nearly 40 and have been playing RPGs from table top to MMOs to small group games since about 1988. I've run RP guilds, from 10 members to close to 300 members, and games multiple times over the years and I have an extremely low tolerance for OOC misbehavior.

If you come to me trying to gossip, spread rumors, show me your "anonymous burn blog" or brag about how you and your friends made someone deactivate simply because you don't care for them OOC or had a falling out with them OOC, we're not going to be friends and there's a very good chance I'll not want much to do with you. If you don't like someone, how they write a character, their OC, or anything about them for any reason be an adult and either just don't follow them (or don't follow them back if they follow you), don't write with them, or block them and move on.

I don't care what your age is, what mental illnesses you have (don't even try me there, I will give you a list of my diagnoses, medications, and symptom manifests and point out that I still manage not to be a shady jackass; if you can't manage yours, you don't need to be on Tumblr right now and you need to get your shit together before coming back because despite what you may think, nobody is obligated to put up with you if you're treating them badly), are autistic (hi, me too, it’s not an excuse to mistreat others) or whatever excuse you want to make for the above; if you think it's okay to act like that, we're not friends.

Please note this is not the same as, "I'm having a disagreement with someone else and was wondering if you could take an objective look at it since you're not directly involved"; I'm fine with that.

[mvadowes]

DORCAS CLEMENTINA MEADOWES is 26 years old and works as a DRAGON RESCUER/SPY and is loyal to THE OOTP. she was a RAVENCLAW and is a MUGGLEBORN. SHE looks like DIANE GUERRERO. ( and it’s cami, bitch !! )

dorcas was born into a rather large working-class family in leeds, and quickly stood out ( some would say, for all the wrong reasons ). the meadowes were quite proud of the respectable reputation they’d earned inside their social circles over the years, and expected their children to be models of just that - quiet, obedient, polite, soft edges.

she was different from them all long before she knew magic ran in her veins

the mere concept of reputation always felt absurd to her, even as a little girl who dared to look in the eyes those who’d even consider glancing at her. her parents thought her daredevil and somewhat cynical behaviour would tire itself out and she’d eventually copy her siblings, but they were wrong.

something fiery in her was intensified by the weird occurances she couldn’t explain, and when her tongue grew sharper, more imaginative, she was uncontrollable. sometimes even to herself. dorcas meadowes was born a wild card.

the very muggle meadowes didn’t take lightly the news that their odd girl was a witch, and that aversion never really went away. inside the household, the reactions would always range from complete disinterest in anything magical to terror of what she could TECHNICALLY do. she’d accidentally won the power struggle in the family. she simultaneously held it all and none. the double edge sword of her status made it so that no one even tried controlling her anymore, but also left her lonely and lacking affection, regardless of how much she insisted she did not need it.

ravenclaw, home of the curious, imaginative, individualistic sharp-witted. dorcas fit right in, although that didn’t stop her from being in all other common rooms at all times. hogwarts was the biggest playground she could have asked for - somewhere new where no one knew who she was; somewhere magical where her curiosity could be fulfilled; somewhere where suspension of disbelief was common; a bubble she could experiment with. of course she’d tried lies back at home ( how many times had her mother bitterly called her a liar anyway ? ) but this was storytelling. dorcas sharpened her lying skills like one sharpens a weapon, and after some trial and error she found her tricks. after that, the options were limitless. she was a social butterfly, telling 10 different life stories in the same day, carrying them over for months. once she fooled a single hufflepuff into thinking for 4 weeks that she was in his house and year. even got a hufflepuff tie.

despire hogwarts being where she truly learned how to lie and how to put up fortresses around her, it was also when she was at her most internally chaotic. her identity was still shaky and between her crisis and her offputting ways, she truly opened herself up, more than before and certainly more than after. she holds dear to her heart the friendships she’s made back at hogwarts, with a special place dedicated to the so-called d squad, or dick squad. she’s made up so many stories about they all met that she now can’t pinpoint how exactly they all came together, but the four wild cards that are dorcas meadowes, daisy hookum, mundungus “dung” fletcher and caradoc “doc” dearborn eventually united and brought terror upon hogwarts. marauders who? golden trio who? the dick squad was chaos and friendship and family - she cares for all of them very specially and very individually, and to this day they’re the ones she always goes to.

hogwarts was also where she found her love for magical creatures. growing up, she’d bring home bugs and lizards, tried to take in stray cats, wanted to be a vet. magic opened up a new world of animals and her personal favourite - dragons. giant flying lizards that burned down entire fields? y e s.

after a few summer internships, she graduated with a job at a dragon reserve, but it wasn’t fulfilling. not just yet. after falling victims to too many of her lies, her superiors realised where she’d be able to put those skills to use, and as such she became a dragon rescuer. with no real experience, she was tasked with giving herself a cover, a way into a dragon smuggling ring, get vital evidence and then let the authorities tear it down. she succeeded. it was addictive.

soon she built up her little network of other spies, ID forgers, crime connections - dorcas is represented in every seedy corner, hears talks in every dark bar, has covers to pick and choose from. the latter, the criminal world is one she dips her feet in far too often, honestly just for the thrill of it. a lot of what she does can be justified with that.

the order too knew how to use her skills. when she isn’t on dragon missions or visiting a reserve to help out, she’s spying for the order. once again, contacts everywhere, dorcas meadowes is always listening.

is she way in over her head? yes. dorcas is young, reckless, only has SIX years of experience in spying and is honestly just making it up as she goes. does she see that?absolutely not. that’s her mortal flaw; she can’t see mortality. even in a war, surrounded by death, the concept is foreign. it’s a mix of her bravado and her detachment from reality what causes it. it’s this what gets her killed in a year.

activist to her very core. can always be seen arguing about something, especially animal rights. has been arrested for trying to free the gringott dragon. will keep on being arrested.

openly anti-government. anti-capitalism. anti-separated muggle and magical worlds. long live the anarchy.

part of her misses being a full-time dragon carer. even though most of her missions are animal traffic and animal cruelty related, she doesn’t spend quite as much time with the dragons as she used to. 

loves the punk rock underground scene and all of her muggle friends are from it. catch her going to weird secret bars and rocking out to ‘noise’.

she has very few things grounding her, since for the most part dorcas is like a ghost. she has no home, living off a backpack and couch surfing, has no telephone, no fireplace, very few photographs. disappears for missions or just to satisfy a need to not be stuck in the same place far too often. dorcas meadowes will come into your life after two weeks of radio silence, with two dragon eggs and a simple ‘i’m staying with you this week’.

gets in trouble far too often. always did like to hang around the wilder more out fringe groups of society, and can also usually be found in the company of aurors. has a need for danger and excitement. would light up a car just to see how that happens. doesn’t lead the healthiest life, far too much alcohol and party drugs but hey at least she always sleeps a lot ??

she does have a fascination with fire. lieks to watch things burn, gets lost in the beauty of flames !!

lowkey just needs to learn how to be more emotionally honest and how to accept the rawness that comes with it, and to not run away every time something arises. lowkey needs to learn how to emote and live like other people. lowkey never will.

basically ??? she’s an irresponsible couch surfing slightly pyromanic compulsive liar anarchist, with a passion for animal rights and especially the breathing fire type, and an intense lack of emotional abilities

character parallels: gina linetti, eleanor shellstrop, cristina yang, elektra natchios, doug judy, veronica mars, natasha romanoff, malia tate, daisy johnson, heather davis, mazikeen, jason mendonza, gilderoy lockhart, peter quill, ilana wexler, jo wilson, titus andromedon, daenerys targaryen

some wanted connections:

- hogwarts enemies: dorcas got in everyone’s business all the time and also spread lots of fake rumors just for the fun of it. she’s bound to have upset someone.

- post hogwarts enemies: the exact same thing from the first one IHFBGJSHDBV

- a different life: people who know dorcas but as someone totally different. different name, story, maybe even looks due to polyjuice. oops.

- the name is bond: SPY PALS. people dorcas has worked with or against, who happened to meet through their missions or their contacts and understand each other, the way they live in lies...

- hot: someone please fuck dorcas. she loves fun so yall can’t tell me she isn’t boning at least one person. no feelings needed, just screw her.

- okay but someone love dorcas please

click here for a bad pinterest board and hmu for dorcas to come ruin ur life

[shadowsndaisies]

HW18D4 - Sweets

HW18D4 → Candy/Sweets

Fandom: Harry Potter → Marauders Era

Pairing: Sirius Black

WC: 2824

2k18 Holiday Masterlist                            normal masterlist

As soon as the month of October began your mood had noticeably deflated, and as the month progresses the more flat you became. At first, no one could figure it out, Sirius had been the first to notice, then Lily and then all the others. Lily, however, was the first one to figure out why she had caught you while responding to a letter from your older brother and younger sister.

They were still in America, your mother had gone to Hogwarts while growing up, she married your father, a muggle when she later moved to America. When they found out you were a witch she had wanted to send you to Hogwarts though your father resisted at first since Hogwarts was significantly far from the state of California in the United States. It took three years before your mother was able to wear your father down, and so as a 4th year you had been accepted in as a Gryffindor, just like your mother. Now you were a 5th year and you had become friends with people you believed to be some of the best in the world.

The letter had been a detailed recount of how Jackson, your brother who was a year out of school, had taken Maria, your sister who would be a 1st year, Halloween costume shopping. Halloween at Ilvermorny was something unforgettable, decorations everywhere, pumpkins carving contests and the teacher always gave out the best sweets on October 31st, but your favorite part would be the evening, when the school would gather after a shortened day of classes to have a feast, everyone dressed in a costume and mingling, despite their house. Obviously, things were different at Hogwarts, Halloween wasn’t as big a deal here, as it was an American holiday, normally you’d be okay with that, except, you’re American and this was your favorite holiday.

OCTOBER 6TH

“Darling, are you feeling okay? You’ve been a bit quieter this week?” Sirius had asked only six days into the month that you usually loved.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just a bit under the weather,” you had lied so simply, believing you’d be okay after giving yourself maybe a week or so to mope about.

Last year you had been so busy with readjusting that Halloween had come and gone and you only realized it the week off, leaving no time to really miss the festivities.

“Are you sure? We can skip class and head to Madam Pomfrey if you need..” he offered unsurely.

His unruly raven locks moved with his head as he turned a bit further to face you completely, they always looked so soft.

“Positive,” you smiled softly, though he could see it, your eyes were missing their normal glint.

“Just tell me, love. Whatever you need, whenever,” he promised, looking back to the fire that was raging before them as they sat on a sofa in the common room.

He was looking away and so he missed it, the small look of adoration that flashed before her eyes, she may be sad but she had him, and she was glad for that.

OCTOBER 18TH

“Love, you seem awfully aloof lately,” Sirius had mentioned to you one day after potions, Lily was with Remus doing their duties as prefects, James had a Quidditch practice and Peter had gone to watch.

“No idea what you mean, Black,” you had shot back with what you had hoped was your normal level of sass.

Honestly, you knew what he meant, you were quieter in conversations, often imagining the common room decked out for the end of the month, you imagined cobwebs on the big banister in the main hall and all along the railing of the ever moving staircase. You could almost picture the costumes your friends would choose, each of them having something very fitting. Lily would probably dress up as some brilliant Witch from the past, James a Quidditch player, Remus probably would hesitate to participate but with some sway from you imagined to be Sirius would dress up as a werewolf, of course, nobody would understand the full meaning. Peter would choose something a bit subtle that allows him to blend in and would ask for your help. Alas, being who you are, you’d help the mousy boy into a pair of light wash denim jeans and a red and white striped hat, give him a pair of James’ glasses and then a beanie turning him into the “Where’s Waldo” bloke. Sirius would choose something charming, or at least he’d try to and then you could almost imagine how it’d go down, the two of you dressing up as something together because you wanted something from some muggle movie and he’d want to be a part of it, that was, after all, who Sirius Black was.

“Bullshit,” Sirius had shot back at your weak attempt to dismiss his worries, “you’ve been weird for weeks now, love.”

“I’m okay, Sirius, really, I’m serious,” you had used the term knowing it would gain an eye roll and grumble that would successfully distract him from the conversation, he was so very much like a puppy sometimes.

“That isn’t funny, it never is,” he would add after as you walked together down the corridor.

You grabbed his hand swinging it over your shoulder the way it normally was when the two of you were stuck together, “I beg to differ,” you add with your head tilted upwards a small smile of accomplishment spread on your lips.

“I bet you would,” he grumbled, causing you to chuckle, though he wasn’t mad, he never could be, not with her.

OCTOBER 23RD

“What’s going on with you?” Lily shot as soon as you had entered your shared dormitory, the rest of the girls seemed to be missing, “is it Sirius? Did he do something? I’m going to kick his arse…”

“Hello to you too, Lily,” you rolled your eyes. “And no, you will not harm hair on his pretty head.”

“No pleasantries then, out with it! you’ve been keeping something from me, from all of us. You never pay attention when we talk, your mind always somewhere else!” Lily argued and you sighed.

You knew she was trying to be a good friend but this was getting to your nerves, it’s not like she knew how you felt, or that she could relate. You were the only American transfer in the school, no one had ever celebrated Halloween the way you did, and so no one could understand what you were missing. You knew your mother and father would be throwing their annual Halloween celebrations, there were always two, one for the muggles and one for the witches, both were entertaining and both held the promise to feed your sweet tooth.

“Just forget about it, Evans, it’s not important,” you huffed and she faltered, your voice had been a lot tougher than you had meant it to be.

Before she could get another word in you closed your bed drapes and lay there, staring at the red drapes.

OCTOBER 27TH

After a long chat with professor Slughorn over some issues with the most recent potion in class, a result of your daydreams, you had returned to your dorm and were extremely surprised to see Lily on your bed, a letter you had received from your sibling in her hands.

“That is not yours,” your voice had been cold as you addressed her and you remember the way she jumped in fright from being caught.

“I know, and I know how improper it is to snoop, but you’ve been miserable lately and well, it was laying there, open. On your bed clear as day for anyone to look at!” She attempted to defend herself.

You had to bite your tongue at this, you had rushed out of your dorm this morning as you had slept in a bit later than normal, the letter which you had spent the night reading and re-reading had been left a top your bed after the house elves came and made the sheets. Instead of shouting at Lily about personal belongings like you wanted to you sighed, those words that had bubbled were mean for the wrong reasons.

“I just...I miss them, Lily. I miss spending this time of the year with them. Jackson graduated last year and so he didn’t transfer with me and Maria hasn’t shown signs of magic yet, and so I’m alone. I’m across the Atlantic ocean from the people I love, and I can’t celebrate my favorite time of the year because all you stupid brits don’t look at Halloween the way we daft Americans do,” you had grumbled as you slumped onto the edge of your bed, head dropping to your hands.

“Oh, darling,” Lily’s voice was soft as she moved to rub one hand on your back. “You should’ve just told us, we would’ve done anything to help.”

“I know, it’s just what can you do?” You asked, and yoru voice cracked. “I live most of the year in another country, away from my siblings and parents now…” you exhaled before sniffing and wiping your eyes, “and I have to learn to live with it,” You straightened.

OCTOBER 30TH

“So everything’s in place then, yeah?” Sirius asked Lily, the two were in the common room, curfew had passed an hour ago and so the room was empty, the two had been hard at work.

After (Y/n)’s confession to Lily, Lily had decided to do whatever she could and so, while costumes wouldn’t be ready that didn’t mean the common room couldn’t become slightly spooky. Lily had enlisted Sirius’ help as she could see the way he had been carefully watching and analyzing (y/n)’s every move, looking for some sort of sign. When Lily had explained it to Sirius he had a determined look. And so the pair of friends found themselves string cobwebs around the Gryffindor common room and quickly carving pumpkins with the help of their wands. A few more hexed items set around the room and it looked almost like the muggle depictions of witchcraft and wizardry.

“Yeah,” Lily nodded looking around once more. “I reckon we did a swell job, Sirius. She’s really gonna love it,” she added as an afterthought.

Sirius looked at the animated cat skeleton which had been charmed to slink around the room, “I do too, goodnight, Red.”

“She’s lucky to have you,” Lily smiled softly at her friend.

“It’s the other way around, Evans, I’m lucky to be her friend,” Sirius shook his head.

“I didn’t mean as friends,” Lily gave his shoulder a squeeze before walking back up to her dorm.

OCTOBER 31ST

You were miserable as soon as your eyes opened, and as you got up for the day you found it odd that once you pulled your drapes back, the dorm was empty, usually, the other girls would be going about their routines to get ready. This only fed your sense of dread because as much as you missed home, you really didn’t want to be alone. It was seven in the morning when you grabbed your book bag and robe and began walking down the stairs to the common room. Your skirt fluttered as you moved your black stocking perfectly aligned and the Gryffindor scarf you had stolen from Sirius ages ago, was tucked around your shoulder. Your robe was thrown over your arm as you rubbed your eyes. When you stepped into the common room you froze and your heart began to race.

There were cobwebs hung on the walls, skeletons of spiders moved around on them, another skeleton of a cat slinked around the room between people's feet. You noticed a few cauldrons were bubbling with something that didn’t look too dangerous and that your friends were waiting for you beside the sofa all of them staring at you.

“You guys did this?” you asked in awe.

“I wish we could take credit,” Remus began, “but this was all Lily and Sirius.”

“You two?” you asked turning towards the pair who had stood up.

“You were missing home, I told you we would help,” Lily smiled to you, and your eyes watered as you rushed to hug her.

“Don’t worry about me, love, it’s not like I stayed up til midnight helping to set this up,” Sirius drawled and you let go of Lily to throw your arms around Sirius.

Your arms wrapped around his shoulders and his looped around your waist you squeezed him tight and he tightened his grip.

“Thank you,” you whispered.

“I told you, love, whatever you need, whenever you need it,” he whispered back and you're separated.

“Thank you, all of you,” you say turning back to everyone else.

“Now, let’s eat these sweets before we get caught,” James told the lot of you as Lily sat down beside him and you fell into the seat between Sirius and Remus.

“Where did you get these?” you asked, marveling at the collection of candies, the first trip to Hogsmeade wouldn’t be for another few weeks.

“Secret Stash,” Sirius winked as you all divided the candies up.

It wasn’t until you all had eaten one and the rest were in your bags that you left the common room for the great hall. You fell into step with Remus at first and he nudged your shoulder before leaning down to whisper in your ear.

“You know he borrowed James’ cloak last night and went to Hogsmeade, right?”

“What?” you whipped your head from Remus to look at Sirius who was talking to James at the moment.

“He used the shrinking shack passageway, and went into town to get the chocolate cauldrons for you. He mentioned that they were your favorite…” Remus trailed with a wise look in his eyes. “You know, he might not be that great with the words that matter but his actions to speak quite loudly…”

When Remus was done you noticed that your eyes hadn’t left Sirius since the first glance and now he was staring back at you, though you didn’t shy away or blush under his gaze, instead, you held contact as you tried to read his stormy grey eyes. Slowly you fell into step with him as he had stopped to wait for you.

“It’s improper to lie Sirius,” you reminded him, though your voice was soft and nearly a whisper.

“I am aware, love,” he smirked, “what exactly might you be referring to?”

“You said you got the candies from your stash, Remus mentioned that you were out of cauldrons, so enlighten me, Black, where did the sweets come from?” you ask him, though this time your voice isn’t condescending as it might normally be when you’ve caught any of the marauders in a lie, this time it’s full of need. You know why, you want to hear him say he went to get them, and he went for you because of how he feels.

For the year you’ve been here you haven't grown closer with anyone as you have with Sirius, the rest of the wankers you proudly call friends have never missed the opportunity to point out that the boy is head of heels for you, however, you had never really believed them. Not with the way Sirius used to go through girls when you had first met, but thinking back, since Sirius had grown closer with you, you couldn’t recall the last time he had a girl on his arm.

“Damn Mooney, sold me out,” Sirius grumbled looking away from you.

You grabbed his hands with your smaller ones and gave them a squeeze causing him to look back to you, “please, Sirius,” you whispered to him, you needed to know.

“Hogsmeade…” he stated. “You see, love, I don’t reckon you’ve noticed but for some reason, you don’t seem to leave my thoughts.”

A shy smile broke to your lips as you dropped Sirius’ hands and flung your arms around his waist, to pull him into a hug. You felt him envelop you as well and as your head fell against his chest, you could feel it, how fast his heart is racing.

“I happen to like you an awful lot too, you know,” you whispered to him.

“Talk to me next time, Love, please. I want to be there for you,” he said softly.

“I will, promise,” you nodded and he pressed a soft kiss to your head.

It wasn’t until your first break of the day while sitting with Sirius under a tree on the lawn watching as students zipped by and vaguely able to hear the shouts of the first-time fliers down by the Quidditch pitch.

“Thank you for the sweets,” you said, leaning your head on his shoulder.

“Whatever, whenever,” he reminded you, pulling your laced fingers to his lips to press a sweet kiss on your knuckles.