#getting ready for the next ceremony at the beginning of august and just read over his notes for it ... very cool very neat

[famewolf]

doing pagan ceremonies with my sweet pagan husband <3

[tarasmithshifts]

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐃𝐑 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐓 part 1

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐑. 3 years 𝐀𝐆𝐄. 17-20 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏: sirius, remus, james, lily, peter, dorcas, marlene, mainly people from gryffindor and ravenclaw

𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐒. taken

「 ✦ 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼 ✦ 」

im crying rn. I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK IN THIS DR SOME CRAZY STUFF HAPPENED SOOOOO LETS GET INTO IT. THREE YEARS. gosh this is so crazy

— ୨୧₊˚ click here to read part 1 of my last update

— ୨୧₊˚ click here to read part 2 of my last update

i will write this storytime in 3 parts probably, i am noooooooot ready. NOT AT ALL.

be ready for 2 next parts because in this one nothing really happened, there was nothing crazy or something. let's say it's an interlude to the next 2 parts 🌷🌷🌷

「 ✦ 7th year ✦ 」

𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓮 - 7𝓽𝓱 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻

summer - sirius got his own place to live

summer- i bought a house in yorkshire

september - june -> final school year

july - odd proposition

okay so as we know we are in year 1977!! my last year at hogwarts with marauders :'( literally one of my best shifting experiences was hogwarts with my boys and girlssss

okay let's go because this is gonna be crazyyyyyyyyyy

ＳＵＭ ＭＥＲ

— ୨୧₊˚ last shift update ended in may and here i just wanted to say that i of course graduated!!! i just don't like wasting space for that info bc it's so obvious lmaoo

okay soooo i bought my house, as well as sirius!!! we got money from Alphard, who passed away and we split the money in half. i afforded a cottage in yorkshire, where i moved on in july, i was contacting with remus through letters, also because war intesified. then one day in the beginning of august he appeared at my front door and i kneeeeeeeeew something was wrong. and i was like "what is going on???" he asked if he can come inside, i said he doesn't have to ask and that he can ofc come inside, we sat in my living room and HOLY SHIT

lyall lupin is dead y'all.

my jaw was on the floor. and he didn't show any emotion while he was saying me that. and i was there. DEVASTETED. apparently death eaters killed him when he helped some aurors with their job outside of london, and he said that he just got the news from ministry.

and we sat there.

in my living room.

in silence.

gosh you should've seen him. i was not prepared to this at ALL. AT ALL.

so uhhh we decided that he will stay at my place for few days (he stayed with me all summer hahaha) the next day we went over to sirius to tell him, as he knew lyall as well. during next week remus planned, but it was right before full moon so i said to him that i will take care of it. i didn't want him to stuggle even more. full moon happened on 16 of july, remus was in worse state that i expected but we got through it :') the funeral happened few days later, it was a small ceremony, without anybody around us. in documents it was stated that lyall had a heart attack so there wasn't any problems with people thinking about how he actually died. he was buried next to hope lupin :(

we spent whole summer at my house, sometimes visiting his to clean up or move some stuff, and sometimes we visited boys and i went over to lily 💗 i don't have much to talk about here so i'm not going to describe anything lmao

and one of the things that we do at my house is listening to remus mum records from the opera 🥲🥲🥲🥲 it’s so cute and i can confirm, his mum was AMAZING

also i forgot to say that during summer sirius and james encountered two Muggle police officers on FLYING MOTORBIKE. are you kidding me LMAO 😭😭😭

S C H O O L Y E A R

in this school year most of the time we spent learning for our finals :')

i needed to pass 5 N.E.W.T.s so i had a lot of work to do, as i wanted to become auror in the ministry.

also many people we knew from ministry was dying because of war, all of them were mentioned in daily propet, we read it DAILY. we didn't care for it earlier, but from that moment we read it religiously.

i think that we were also scared that there will appear a name of someone that we knew personally.

hogwarts was not the same that year.

also james and lily were made head boy and girl of gryffindor! james was super proud of himself and at the beginning he was telling EVERYONE around how cool he is. and lily is super happy with him which i'm so THANKFULLLLLL they are so cute you need to believe me lmao 💗💗

me and remus were helping each other A LOT during this school year, because of n.e.w.t.s i saw that he was super stressed about them :/

alsooo we had inter-house quidditch cup!!! we had some changes in positions, me and sirius took beaters positions (which is pretty funny because years later fred and george weasley had this position too, and they are also twins lmao) arthur browne took the keeper postition, james, geoffrey fawley and marlene were chasers, and phoebe dawson was a seeker.

also regulus became captain of slytherin team, and gryffindor lost match with them, so we were super angry but it is what it is lmao 😭

also boys did not spend that much time with each other, all of them became more serious about their future (okay, maybe except sirius lol) so they were not doing that much pranks etc. i spent more time with lily, she helped me a lot with potions too, also we sat together on potions because slughorn LOVED HER. literally she was his pearl in the eye,he invited her to his partys etc, gave her books she could learn from even more, which helped me not her LMAO 😭😭😭😭😭😭

ALSO from funny things that happened, one night after mine and sirius' birthday, we were sitting down in boys dormitory, me, ofc marauders, marlene, lily and dorcas, there was silent moment and sudenly dorcas went "is it only me or dumbledore is gay" AND WE WERE LIKE "WHAT" and we had full debate if he is gay or not LMAO and yup the verdict was that he is gayest of all gays ever LMAOOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭😭😭😭

about n.e.w.t.s - I PASSED 6 SUCCESSFULLY IM SO HAPPY AHHHHHHHHHHH

DADA - i totally slayed this one HA

POTIONS - it went better than i thought, so i'm safe with this one

CHARMS - it went even better after dada exams because i was sure it will be easier than dada one, and i was right

TRANSFIGURATION - thanks to mcgonagall, without her i would be screwed with one lmao

HISTORY OF MAGIC - okay this one went worse than i expected but i still got E

CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES - this one was HELL. literal HELL TO ME because i did not like this subject and learning it for n.e.w.t.s was a torture, but i passed it with E

me and remus decided to move into my house together :')) so did lily and james, they bought a cute house at godric's hollow 💗💗💗

J U L Y

me and remus lived in yorkshire, we used teleportation to see sirius, peter, james and lily from time to time. in the middle of july sirius appeared at our door. we were at home, so we let him in. and he started yapping about some kind of order, he was talking so fast we literally had no idea what he was saying. when we sat him down, he started from the beginnig, and he told us about the order of pheonix. that dumbledore is looking for people that are talented and brave enough to fight against voldemort. and that he wants to prepare us before dumbledore will appear at our door. he said that he already joined the order, as well as peter. he started telling us who already is there, and that he wants to give us more time to think because albus wants immidiate decision.

so after sirius left me and remus were talking for HOURS about what should we say to dumbledore after he will appear. and we both agreeded that joining order will be the best decision for us. we could finally help in war, and not only help other wizards but also save muggles.

in the evening somebody appeared at our door. we heard the teleportation sound outside. out there it was very dark, like every light on the street disapeared. remus told me to stay inside and opened the door by himself with his wand raised, but he only saw dumbledore, and immediately lowered wand. dumbledore looked at him and just said "if it wasn't me, you would be dead already remus."

i stood in the kitchen but observed the whole thing, and finally stood outside so albus would see me too. "you should ask me a question" said dumbledore, still not coming inside. i just stood there and waited for remus to say something, and remus finally spoke "who told severus snape about the secret" obviously he was telling about the prank, dumbledore only smiled and said "oh of course mr. black" and came inside. he looked around and i showed him the way to living room. me and remus sat on the couch, while dumbledore sat on huge armchair that we bought recently. "you need to be more creative next time" he said "they can get such and information" and after that he started to TALK and when i say talk, he talked for like about 30 minutes NON STOP. about the order, about his trust in us, about the need of our magic, about the importance of defeating voldemort. and after he stopped talking, he just looked at us, and we both immediately said "yes".

and from that moment, nothing ever will be the same.

「 ✦ end notes ✦ 」

gosh i finally published this

HELLO IM SO BACKKKKK and i can't wait to tell you more, because this was super short and it was just the beginning of spiral chaos that will happen, so BE READY.

anyways, IM SO HAPPYYYYY and i can't wait to tell you moreeeeeeeeeeee 🌷💫💗

[iliveiloveiwrite]

Potions and Constellations // G.W.

Summary: The job offer landed on George Weasley’s doormat on the second Tuesday in March. As he bent down to grab the thick, cream envelope, George knew immediately who it was from, having read the handwriting every summer from the ages of eleven to eighteen.

A/N: Professor George Weasley anyone?

Warnings: mentions of grief, missing someone, pining, mutual pining, post!war, fred is dead.

Word count: 4.8k

The job offer landed on George Weasley’s doormat on the second Tuesday in March. As he bent down to grab the thick, cream envelope, George knew immediately who it was from, having read the handwriting every summer from the ages of eleven to eighteen.

The letter then remained on the kitchen table for a week, going unanswered as George battled with his head and his heart. Teaching was never a profession George had wanted to undertake, but Professor McGonagall sounded adamant in her letter that he would make a worthy addition to the staff at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The war between his head and heart raged on and on. On one hand, he wanted to take the job. George was desperate for a change of scenery. The sight of the shop, no matter how loved it was, had become stale without Fred’s presence. However, how could he leave the legacy of his twin brother? How could he walk away from the walls that screamed Fred’s influence?

The decision is made by Ron. He stops by George’s flat two weeks after the letter first showed up. As brothers are wont to do, he nosed through the papers on George’s kitchen table before his eyes fell on the letter from McGonagall.

After that, a long and winding conversation took place between the two brothers who had grown closer after suffering the loss of a sibling. Ron explained that he would look after the shop; that George could always come back in the school holidays and the odd weekend to check in. The shop wouldn’t be the same without him, Ron admitted, but he made sure to tell his older brother that he would live to regret not taking the opportunity McGonagall was offering.

So that was that.

George replied that very afternoon; accepting the job that would start that September and offering his apologies for how long it had taken to reply.

----------

Over the course of the last four years, Molly has cried exactly four times. In one year, she cried twice. Once out of fear for her husband’s life, and then again over the lifeless body of her darling boy.

After that, Molly very rarely cried, feeling as if there was nothing else that could draw out her tears. That is, until George turned up at the Burrow holding the letter written from the new Headmistress of Hogwarts; the very one offering him a teaching position.

She had cried out of joy and out of fear. She couldn’t help but be scared for her son; returning to where his twin brother died. It took a different sort of bravery to return to such a place, but for George, she would be brave.

George moved to Hogwarts in the last week of August, wanting to settle into his quarters before getting to know the students he would be teaching. All through it, he thinks of Fred, wondering and wondering whether his twin resides with the ghosts of the enchanted castle.

He doesn’t let himself dwell on the though, not wanting to be disappointed when the ghosts return to school when the students return. Instead, George focuses on getting his classroom ready. Being asked to teach Potions was no small feat, and whilst he had little to none teaching experience, he felt confident he could pull this off.

------------

It had been an age since you had last clapped eyes on George Weasley. It was completely possible in that time that he had grown another foot, towering above the students. His robes were just as colourful as the last time you had seen him; the fabric settling around him comfortably as if he was made for a teaching role.

Everything about him has changed, yet he still remains the same. The corner of his eyes now have the beginnings of wrinkles lining their corners; they become more prominent as a large smile breaks across his face, his gaze solely directed on you as George shuffles through the throng of students, stopping in front of your seat at the staff table.

“It’s been…” He starts, a breathtaking smile taking over his face.

“Years,” You finish, cutting him off in one breath.

He smiles, and your heart starts to race uncontrollably. “How have you been?” He asks, voice genuine, eyes bright.

You fiddle with the sleeve of your dark blue robes, representing your house in the sorting ceremony. “I’ve been good,” You murmur, casting your gaze across the Great Hall, taking in the faces of the new students who you would be leading through their magical education. “How have you been, George? I know you’ve had a rough couple of years.”

George frowns, nodding, “It hasn’t been easy, but we all came together as a family and helped one another.”

Silence falls between you both; minds wandering back to that fateful night all those years ago when the school suffered the worst of crimes. So many lost in such a short amount of time; so many lost and the school was still feeling their absence. More ghosts wandered the halls of Hogwarts now, each one becoming a guiding light for the students who were fortunate enough not to know a magical society divided by blood status and family names.

“How long have you been teaching?” George queries, shifting the subject away from the grief that still ravages his soul.

“Since the end of the war. McGonagall offered me the position once Hogwarts had finished reconstruction,” You answer, thinking back to the mild summer day that McGonagall’s offer landed on your doorstep. It had taken you less than an hour to decide; half an hour to reply, and a week to pack up your belongings and move.

George blows out a long breath, nodding as he does so. “What do you teach?”

You laugh, quirking an eyebrow, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to get to know me.”

George laughs, holding his hands up in surrender, “That’s it – you’ve caught me red handed.”

You snort, rolling your eyes playfully at the man you haven’t seen in years. “I teach Astronomy,” You answer, gesturing to the silver moons and stars sewed into the hems of your robes.

“The only reason I remember those lessons was because of you,” George admits, briefly wondering whether he’s said too much in his first hour of seeing you again.

You duck your head, clearing your throat as you ignore the small voice in your head, reminding you of the teenage crush you had on the redhead all those years ago. Gesturing to the empty seat next to you, you offer George a seat, wanting to catch up more before the sorting ceremony begins and anxious First Years are settled into their houses.

George folds himself down in the seat next to you, immediately reaching for the pitcher of water, pouring a glass for you and him.

“George Weasley,” You tease, “You are a gentleman.”

He snorts, shaking his head, “Molly Weasley’s education was more thorough than anything else I’ve experienced.”

You hold your glass up, toasting the matriarch who you remember with nothing but fondness. George copies your movements, feeling a pang of homesickness as he thinks of the woman who had dedicated her life to her children, and who had experienced the incomparable loss of a child.

Quiet conversation is made between you; earning far more glares than deserved from Professor Flitwick as George makes you laugh so loud; your snort of humour is heard across the Great Hall.

Soon after, McGonagall dismisses the students, wanting them to get an early night, ready for the first full day of lessons tomorrow. As the students file out of the Great Hall, the Professors follow behind, ready to catch any stragglers.

As you turn to the stairs, fingers curl around your wrist, keeping you in place. Wide-eyed, you meet the fierce gaze of George Weasley. “Will I see you again?” He asks; the words blurring into a mess as he rushes to get them out.

You smile softly, nodding your head, “I’m sure you remember the way to the Astronomy classroom.”

George’s answering smile takes your breath away. Reluctantly, he lets go of your hand, breaking the connection between the two of you. Your whole body suddenly feels cold at the loss of contact, as if George’s touch set your whole being alight, bringing it back to life after so long lying dormant.

Turning from the redhead, you hurry away, your steps loud on the stone floor of the corridor. It’s a moment; that’s all – a simple moment, but you turn around, wanting one more look at him before you retire for the night and begin the new school year.

A moment: one moment to find that George is watching you go.

----------

The last time George Weasley had seen the Astronomy Tower there had been fire and screams raging all around him. It had been a shock to return to the school after such a long absence. He never thought he would return; not after leaving his education, and not after losing Fred in the manner he did.

George didn’t think he would ever come back, but on a Friday night, three weeks after lessons start, he finds himself climbing the tower’s steep stairs.

He doesn’t say anything when he lands on the top step; taking a moment to catch his breath and silently admire your form by the telescope. You stare into the instrument intently, your mouth partly hung open as if in constant awe of what the night sky can offer.

Clearing his throat, George announces his presence politely, not wanting to scare you by remaining in silence.

“I was wondering when you were going to come see me,” You tease, eyes bright with happiness at the sight of your unexpected visitor, “I was beginning to think I would have to journey all the way to the dungeons to find you and coax you out.”

Despite himself, a laugh escapes him as he crosses his arms against the cold that rages through the tower and leans against the wall. “I would have come earlier, but I didn’t realise how much work goes into teaching,” He states, gesturing with his head to the piles of paper littering the floor, close to flying away in the wind.

“That isn’t school work,” You clarify, steeling yourself to be made fun of, “That’s my own research.”

“Your own research?”

You nod, “I want to write a book eventually, but it’s also ideas for future lessons.”

George huffs out a breath, thoroughly impressed at your devotion to your subject. He steps further into the tower, “I don’t think I could imagine loving a subject so much.”

“I like the stars,” You offer as explanation, “Did you enjoy it at school?”

“I dropped it after Fifth Year,” George admits sheepishly, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck as he refuses to meet your eyes.

You laugh, shrugging off your teaching robes and depositing them on a nearby chair. “I never thought you were inclined towards the subject, George, don’t worry,” You snigger.

He rolls his eyes, “So what do you teach to Seventh Years?”

You grin, beginning to gesture wildly as you explain your long term plan for Seventh Year witches and wizards. In their final year at Hogwarts, witches and wizards develop their knowledge from Sixth Year by studying further constellations such as Orion the Hunter and Cygnus. “I like to focus on the stories behind the constellations. We focus on one constellation a week, and I round off the week by telling the story of the constellation to the students,” You round off, feeling your face begin to heat as you realise how long you have rambled about the stars.

George doesn’t seem too bothered, however. Instead, he looks rather bewitched by the idea of it. At this point, he wishes he had paid more attention in this particular class. “What constellation did you look at this week?” He asks, unable to stop himself, wanting to hear you talk more about the subject you find yourself so in love with.

“Perseus and Andromeda,” You reply, automatically pointing to the night sky

“I don’t know that one,” George admits, eyes scanning the sky to find the stars that make up the named constellation.

“Would you like to hear their story?”

“You know it?” George ask, feeling immediately silly for asking such a question, worried that he might have insulted you.

You laugh lightly, your smile lighting up your whole face. “Just as well as you know your potions. Don’t think I don’t know you’re smart, Weasley,” You laugh again when George’s face descends into a blush, “You would have had to have been good at the subject to make your skiving sweets.”

“I like Potions,” He admits, knowing full well that three weeks into teaching Potions, he could see him doing this until retirement. “Will you tell me the story?” He asks, desperate to know the story of Perseus and Andromeda.

You gesture to the blankets you keep piled on the floor, wanting somewhere comfier to sit when your back begins to protest the chair at your desk. George all but throws himself on the blankets, eagerly awaiting your retelling of a story he wishes he heard long ago.

Taking a deep breath, you begin, “Perseus was travelling back from killing Medusa when he found a princess chained to a rock in the ocean. For Perseus, it was love at first sight. He saw Andromeda and knew he was in love.

“Andromeda had been chained to the rock as punishment to Cassiopeia, her mother. Cassiopeia was so vain about her beauty, she claimed to be even more beautiful than the daughters of the God of the Sea, Poseidon.

“Poseidon, who was known for his short temper, reacted furiously. The God chained Andromeda to a rock in the sea and sent the sea monster, Cetus after her.

“Perseus was flying home on Pegasus, his winged horse when he came upon Andromeda just as she was about to be devoured. In a hurry, Perseus struck a deal with Cassiopeia and her husband, Cepheus. If Perseus saved Andromeda from Cetus, he would win the right to marry her.

“Unfortunately, the fates were not on their side. After Perseus slew the monster, he came to learn that Andromeda’s hand in marriage had already been promised to another man. Soon, the two men were locked in battle for the right to marry Andromeda. Perseus was initially outnumbered, but at the last moment, pulled out the head of Medusa and turned his opponent to stone.

“Perseus and Andromeda married soon after and lived to old age. When they died, the Gods placed them in the sky as a love story for the ages to come.”

“I think you’re incredible,” George breathes out when you finish the story, but he quickly backtracks when he realises exactly what has been said, “I mean… you’re incredible at your job. I remember you in class, and your love then shines through now.”

“Thank you,” You laugh, “Enough about me. I want to hear about you, George. Tell me about your joke shop in Diagon Alley.”

So he does. George regales to you tales of the shop; the customers he gets to meet. And the ones who have quickly become regulars. He tells you about Ron; how he stepped up after the war, choosing not to become an Auror and instead, help George run the shop. George admits his guilt over leaving Ron to run the shop alone, but he has utter blind faith in his younger brother and knows the shop will be fine.

He speaks of how odd it is to be back at Hogwarts without Fred; to be teaching Potions without Fred and living his life without his twin. The pain of Fred’s loss is still very much alive and evident in his voice as he falls into an inevitable silence, dragged into memories that pricked at his mind like thorns.

That evening, a friendship is forged between the two of you. Through your time at Hogwarts as a student, you had known of the Weasley Twins, and had spoken to both George and Fred on multiple occasions but had never found yourself being friends with them. Now, the beginning threads of a friendship have been weaved between you and George, and the both of you felt it was going to stick.

“Can I come back?” George asks out of the blue, breaking the comfortable silence.

You jump at the sudden sound of his voice but recover quickly. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t, Professor Weasley,” You smile, a joking tone to your voice.

He parts with one last smile, leaving you at the top of the stairs to the tower, your mind in a muddle. It was going to be one interesting friendship, you thought to yourself, staring at the space George stood only moments ago.

------------

Winter falls into Spring, giving way to new blossoms and a new leash of life – even the Whomping Willow is serene enough to bask in the early morning sun, not wanting to thrash about angrily.

A friendship with George forms quickly; the two of you becoming dependant on each other much faster than you cared to admit. Every Friday evening, George would climb the stairs to the Astronomy Tower where you would both catch up on the week before he inevitably asks to be told a story from the stars.

Weeks passed where this was the routine. Sitting together at meals when your schedule allowed it; night classes meaning your sleep schedule was much different to other teachers. However, Friday evening would be dedicated for George.

Your feelings for George Weasley started slowly. It would be your heart beginning to race by being in his presence, a simple smile from him pulling you close to the edge. That was then followed by daydream after daydream; hopeless wonderings about the touch of his hands against your skin, and the feel of his mouth pressed against yours.

Countless times you had been pulled out of daydreams by students; each one of them knowing full well that the person on your mind had to be important to you to distract you from the stars and their stories.

They hit you full force when you interrupt his lesson on a Wednesday in February. Knocking gently on the classroom door, you had entered upon hearing George’s invitation.

His robe is discarded on his desk and his shirt sleeves are rolled up to the elbow as George gestures animatedly, lecturing about the properties of powdered root of Asphodel in the Draught of Living Death.

The sight of him teaching; commanding the classroom, demanding the attention of every soul in the room – it has your breath quickening and your heart pounding in your chest. He paces the front of the classroom, keeping the attention of all students as he explains what the tasks for today’s lesson. His eyes are bright with passion, and his smile is great as he urges his class to simply try their best – they do not need to get it right the first time.

Upon noticing you stood by an empty desk, George flashes you a wide smile before sending the class off to gather their ingredients and heat their cauldrons. “To what do I owe this visit?” George asks, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets and leaning back against the desk.

You swallow thickly, ridding yourself of all thoughts to do with George and the desk and the outfit he is currently wearing. Regaining your composure, you smile shakily at the redhead, “What? You can visit me, but I can’t visit you?”

George laughs, “Of course not. You’re always welcome. We’re brewing Draught of Living Death. I’m sure you remember that lesson with Snape.”

You snort, “How could I forget? He used my brew as the perfect example for how not to use a cauldron. If I recall correctly, he called it an abuse to perfect potion brewing equipment. I had detention for two weeks!”

“Well” George states, barely repressed amusement sounding in his voice, “I remember your brew. There were very few things that Snape had right, but that was one.”

For a moment, you think he’s serious, but his famous smile soon spreads across his face and you have to repress the urge to jinx him in front of students. “Professor Weasley!” You gasp, faking offence.

George rolls his eyes, “You know it’s true.”

You wait a second before bursting into quiet laughter, trying not to disturb the working students. “It is true,” You giggle, “I was awful at Potions, but your class looks to be in good hands.”

He smiles softly, “So what did I do to deserve a visit from my favourite professor?”

“I’m your favourite?” You ask, placing a hand on your chest, touched.

“Only if I’m your favourite.”

“Then you’re my favourite, Weasley.”

He smiles; the grin lighting up his face as he shuffles on his feet, wondering what to say next that won’t make him look like a fool in front of his students.

Sixth Year Potions watch the exchange; their brews long forgotten as they observe their two favourite professors clearly flirt in front of them. Eyes meet across the room, and all students have the same thought – how long would it be until they got their act together?

-----------

Months pass.

Months pass, and you do not confess to your feelings.

Months pass, and something changes between the two of you. The friendship develops, becoming deeper, meaning something more to the both of you. You’re teetering on the edge of a knife, hands gripped tightly in the others as you try to decide which side you’re going to fall over.

It’s as if the both of you know that over the course of your short friendship, friendship would never be enough. It was as if you were destined for each other; George feeling understood by you in a way he hadn’t felt since Fred died.

Feelings remain unsaid; yearning growing inside the both of you until you simply push that boundary of your friendship further, becoming more comfortable with each other. It was hard to remain quiet on the subject when you often caught George’s eyes on you, watching you with an expression on his face that you’re sure is mirrored on your own.

----------

“Are you sure you want to hear tonight’s story?” You ask, a light note of concern in your voice as you watch George’s face for any reaction.

“What do I have to be worried about?” He asks, face adorable scrunched up as he peers through your telescope.

“It’s the story of Castor and Pollux,” You murmur gently, reaching a hand out to brush against the back of George’s hand gently.

George freezes. Somewhere, in the recesses of his mind, he knows those names. A brief memory washes over him; the astronomy tower, a flash of a Gryffindor tie and the sound of a laugh he hasn’t heard in nearing five years now.

“The Twins?” He whispers, voice hoarse as unexpected emotions wash over him. George turns to you, finding nothing but concern and worry alight in your eyes and written across your face. His heart doubles in size at the sight of it; your clear apprehension at telling this story for the fear of hurting his feelings only deepening his feelings for you.

You care, he realises. You truly care about him.

“George,” You whisper, “I don’t have to tell this story. I can tell you another one – the Seven Sisters, or Altair and Vega. The choice is yours.”

George shakes his head, stepping away from the telescope and settling down on the blankets that were spread across the floor. He had to hear this, he realised. He has worked and worked through his grief; he had spoken about it, he had ignored it, he had written about it. It hadn’t gone away; it had simply evolved into part of him – something he would carry around until his very last day on this planet.

No, he had to hear this. He had to hear whether there was another way his grief could be addressed. Meeting your gaze, George smiles reassuringly, holding out a hand for you in a gesture signalling for you to join him on the blankets.

“I want to hear it,” He asserts as you settle next to him.

“Are you sure?”

He nods once more, fidgeting on the blankets, getting comfy.

“The constellation Gemini is made up of two twins named Castor and Pollux. To this day, there is debate of their lineage. In some accounts, they are written as if divine, but in others, they are simply mortal men.

“Castor was born to the mortal king, Tyndarus while Pollux was born to the King of Gods, Zeus. Being identical twins, Castor and Pollux were inseparable. They were two halves of a whole. Castor was a great horseman; Pollux was a born warrior. So great in fact, that they travelled with Jason on the Argo and saved the ship from a terrible storm that would have killed them and the crew.”

You take a deep breath before plundering on with the story, “Castor was killed in battle. He wasn’t to survive; not being the mortal son of a mortal king. Pollux was devastated at the loss of his brother, his closest friend. He begged, pleaded with his own father, Zeus. Pollux asked the King of the Gods to bring Castor back, to bring him back to Pollux so they could have more time.  

“Zeus agreed. He immortalised both Castor and Pollux in the stars, creating the constellation Gemini. To this day, the twins are still together – no longer separated by the veil of death.”

Neither of you speak as you finish your story. You refuse to utter a word, barely even breathing as you wait for George, all the while thinking that this was not the story to have told a man still grieving the loss of his twin brother. In this metaphor, George seems to be Pollux. Fred, the mortal Castor.

“He’s still with me,” George whispers into the night air, “I swear I sometimes feel him around me. It’s been years, but I swear I can hear him tell me to stop being a prat when I need to hear it.”

You smile softly, “He isn’t ever going to leave you. Those we love leave a mark on us that won’t ever fade; their love remains with us even when we think we don’t deserve it.”

“Thank you for telling me the story of Castor and Pollux,” George comments, reaching for your hand across the blankets and squeezes tight.

“You’re welcome.”

“I want to repay you,” George states, sitting up further.

“For what?” You ask, entirely puzzled.

“For Castor and Pollux, for Andromeda and Perseus, for Altair and Vega. For coming to my classroom and making me laugh,” He lists, counting off the reasons on his fingers, “For helping me with my grief when I didn’t know I needed help.”

“You don’t need to repay me,” You comment, “It’s what friends do.”

“I think we’re more than friends at this point, (Y/N),” George states bluntly, “Friends don’t spend their Friday nights regaling the stories of lovers in the past. They don’t tell each their darkest secrets and deepest worries like we do. Friends don’t make my heart race the way that you do.”

“I’d hope not,” You joke, “Otherwise Flitwick is going to get a shock when he’s told.”

“Let me take you to dinner,” George prompts, ignoring your attempt at humour, grasping to his straws of confidence before they fall through his fingers and he loses his chance.

“You want to be more than friends?” You ask, needing clarification before you answer.

“I want to be friends with you, but I want to be the one you wake up to, and I want to be the one you tell the stories of the stars to,” George admits; eyes shining with honesty, voice close to breaking with the sheer scale of emotions running through his body.

“I want to tell you the stories of the stars too,” You whisper, “So long as you teach me how to brew a decent potion.”

George throws his head back at your unexpected answer, laughing as he does so. “Let’s make a deal,” He begins, “Go to dinner with me, and tell me more stories of the stars, and I’ll teach you how to brew a potion.”

A slow smile spreads across your face as you start nod your head, wordlessly accepting his terms. George’s answering grin in breathtaking; relief flooding his body and affection for you rushing to his heart.

He thinks back to that second Tuesday in March when he initially read McGonagall’s job offer, and he wonders whether the last year of his life had always been written in the stars.

****

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[floralseokjin]

;glazed & dazed (m) COMING SOON

Vanilla, that’s what you do best as one of the industry’s most loved stars. Only you want a change. Taking the plunge to taint your pure image, knowing so many fans would love to see it sullied, even if just for one movie. 

There’s only one man for the job in your eyes. One you’ve always admired from afar, and the only one who’s perfect enough to take your innocence in the most fitting way. Seokjin Kim. Even more famous than you; a pro, a veteran, and someone you can’t wait to give your all for. Together you will be unstoppable.

pairing; kim seokjin x reader  genre; pornstar au, pornstar! seokjin, pornstar! reader, explicit smut, romance, some angst bc it’s me!  estimated words; 30k

(!) warnings to be confirmed 

RELEASE DATE;  AUGUST 4TH 9PM BST

T E A S E R  (2.4k) 

Glazed and Dazed: Good Girl Gone Bad XXX 

Porn’s most loved good girl like you’ve never seen her before... Devoured by Porn’s most filthy leading man...  Buckle up everyone, you’re in for a (sweet) treat... 

To get hired, there’s just one simple motto to remember: “The magic is always in the hole.” 

・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・◦・

The day of the dinner came around quickly and you were oddly nervous. You had made it very clear how you wanted this to be a personal, independent job, that you wanted to spend significant time discussing and storyboarding the movie yourself, so of course you were thrilled he understood that and wanted to meet up. You just hadn’t expected the one on one just yet. Usually these things were discussed between manager and manager, not adult star and adult star. The only interaction you’d have was when you met up to shoot. This way was a lot more nerve wracking. 

Despite being the complete opposite, it almost felt like you were getting ready for a first date. Not that you could remembered such a feeling. It had been a long time since you’d dated anyone, so long ago that you often wondered if you’d ever get the chance again. Dating and relationships seemed like something your future would never hold at this point, and somewhere along the line you’d become okay with that… 

Still, you could faintly remember the nervous buzz a first date bought and that’s what you were feeling right now as you applied your mascara in the mirror. These nerves were something else entirely though, of course. You were going to discuss sex. You were going to try and convince this man to make a movie with you. It was a pretty terrifying thought. You’d grown confident over the years, but this was a totally brand new situation. 

Irene had text you the location of the restaurant this morning, Seokjin in charge of the reservation, and had warned you to dress fancy. This place was no Cheesecake Factory google soon informed you. You hadn’t worn a dress in months, and that had only come about because you were forced to attend the AIA’s; a tacky award ceremony filled with mostly vulture like men hiding behind a professional title. You were beginning to realise your distaste for the industry had always been there, in the back of your head, it was only lately that it had made itself louder…

You took an Uber there, hardly flashy but that had never been you, so why change now? You would’ve driven yourself but you’d probably need a glass (read: bottle) of wine during dinner just for some Dutch courage, even if it was a bad idea. You attempted sophistication when you made your way to the reception area, beginning to regret the size of your heels halfway there, and relayed Seokjin’s surname to the host, clutching your purse uneasily. What if he wasn’t here? What if he wasn’t coming at all? They were dumb fears but they were still there. However, they soon disappeared when the host smiled and nodded, calling a female colleague over to lead you to your table. You didn’t miss the way his eyes glazed over you a little longer than they should though, the faint look of recognition on his features. He was wondering how he knew you. It no longer fazed you, you got that surprisingly a lot. It was just one of those things. This man had watched you get fucked…and maybe he’d watch you get fucked by Seokjin soon enough… 

Your table was in another room, cut off from the busier main area. It held a few tables but tonight it was just Seokjin and you. He sat waiting for you at the furthest table and he stood once you entered. Your waiter turned to leave, telling you to ring the bell when you were ready to order and you thanked her, Seokjin joining you. And then you were alone. 

You stood in the entrance way like someone lost. You had not expected this to be so intimate. You had expected other customers eating around you, not just you and he alone. Light music played from the speakers, the only thing filling the silence until Seokjin smiled, stepping forward, around the table to greet you. “Good Evening.” 

“Evening.” You found yourself easing immediately, smiling back. It was hard not to upon hearing his voice. It was so gentle, so polite. The complete opposite of his on camera persona. The filth that flew from his mouth was unholy. Here, he looked like every mothers’ dream son in law. 

There were a few details you’d forgotten to offer up regarding Seokjin, which seemed absurd because it was the first thing anyone noticed. He was ridiculously handsome. Like out of this world handsome. Drop dead gorgeous most would say. Enough to make any woman or man weak at the knees while in his presence. Or maybe that was just you right now. You walked forward, desperate to sit down. 

“Oh, let me hang up your coat,” Seokjin offered, and you stopped, lowering the black textile off your bare shoulders. This room was comfortably warm, now all you had to worry about was breaking out into a sweat. He handled the garment with care, attaching it to one of the bronze hooks beside the entrance door while you took a seat, tucking yourself in discreetly. 

You definitely didn’t have to worry about over dressing tonight. Seokjin was in a black two piece suit, the jacket sinfully figure hugging, stretched over his broad shoulders, the dress shirt underneath crisp and white, loose at the neck. His hair was parted to the side, his usual style, black locks sleek. He was a distinguished man. Somehow soft yet angular. It just depended what way the light caught him, and age had been kind to him. He wasn’t much older than you, perhaps five years or so, but he didn’t look a day past 25. 

The strong arch of his eyebrows almost made you feel intimidated as he made his way back to the table and sat in front of you, so much so, you had to look away from his gaze, spotting a glass of iced mineral water already waiting for you. You picked it up and sipped, wetting your dry throat. 

“Sorry, I didn’t know what you drunk else I would have ordered something a little stronger to start off with,” he apologised with another smile. 

“That’s okay,” you reassured. 

“Here, take the drinks menu. There’s plenty to choose from.” 

“Thanks.” You took it from him, catching his eyes as you did so and he chuckled.

“Sorry, I’m acting weird. I’m nervous.” Your eyes widened a little in surprise. He was nervous? Not going to lie, that made you feel a lot better. “It’s really nice to meet you.” He continued, laughing louder this time. “I’m honestly pretty awestruck.” 

You nearly snorted. You were the only one allowed to be awestruck, surely? You shooed him away with a hand. “Please. Shouldn’t I be the one lost for words? The man, the legend.” 

“That’s just nonsense.” You were both laughing now, embarrassing one another. The apples of his cheeks were tinged pink, a reaction you hadn’t been expecting from a man like him, and you lifted your hand up to your face just to check how hot you were, wondering if you were blushing too. 

“No, honestly. I’m a fan of your work,” he told you earnestly. You must have looked unconvinced because he chuckled again. “Don’t look so dubious. Can’t take a compliment!?” 

“Actually, that’s never been a strong point of mine,” you admitted. Plus, it seemed pretty crazy that The Seokjin Kim was a fan of what you made. You were polar opposites. Wasn’t your stuff way too tame for him? 

“So, do you have any questions?” You asked, puzzling how you should start this discussion, wanting to divert the attention from you. This was all new to you, and you were trying to fight through your awkwardness. 

He smiled. “Let’s order first. Get to know one another a little.” You watched him pick up the main menu that laid next to him. “I want you to be comfortable. I don’t want you to think of this as a business deal, more so, hm…” He paused to search for the right words, smile turning into a grin when they came to him, “an agreement between friends.”

You dipped your head, smiling coyly. It was hard not to agree with that. 

“Now, any thoughts on that drink?” He prompted. 

You spent half the dinner getting to know one another, nerves slowly depleting as you laughed and joked. Despite hearing all these good thing about Seokjin, nothing could prepare you for how truly well-spoken and well-mannered he was. He was charming but definitely not with intent.  He was easy to be around, a warming presence. You spoke about mindless things really, hobbies, favourite tv shows, books you were currently reading. If anyone could see you, they’d think you were on a first date. In reality you were here to discuss the deal of a lifetime. 

You were halfway through the main course when Seokjin brought it up again, intrigued and impressed that you were determined to take the reins with this project. You had made sure his agency was aware of that. How much work would go into the discussing and creating of this movie. How close you would work together, and how you were willing to do just about anything. You had chosen Seokjin because of this. He was known in the scene for being extremely professional and respectful. To both the actresses and staff, and you had kept that all in mind, and on top of that, he had been in this industry for over a decade. He knew how things worked, and despite not knowing him personally, there was a trust there when it came to that. You looked up to him. 

You thought about telling him all this, but it just seemed all too official. You were embarrassed. Would he think that you were being over the top? Over stepping boundaries? However despite you reluctance to open up, he seemed more than excited about this offer, which surprised you. In the greatest of honesty, you hadn’t even expected to get this far, predicting an email where his agency declined the offer, not that of a dinner invitation with the man himself. 

“I have to say though, I’m surprised it’s me you want,” he admitted almost, what was that…bashfully? 

You watched him over the rim of your wine glass, taking a sip before you replied. He hadn’t consumed any alcohol tonight, driving here himself, so you were actually still on your first and only drink, in fear of overdoing it and making a fool of yourself. You didn’t drink often so you were a bit of a lightweight. 

“You were the only choice.” 

You could hear your heart beating against your ribcage, but thought what the hell? Why were you so scared to let him know how much you wanted him to be your co-star? He was perfect for the job and you knew you’d be great together. You told him just as much. 

“Well,” he gobsmacked, chuckling lowly. “I’m truly speechless right now. Incredibly flattered, but speechless.”

You dropped your head. “I know I’m not what you’re used to but this is my chance for some change. I truly want this, and it would be just as much your project as it is mine,” you reassured. You’d gladly let him take charge. You had so much to learn from him. 

He smiled your way, and you took a shaky breath, needing to know his answer. “So what do you say?” 

He paused, smile widening. “I say it sounds fun. I’m in.” 

“Really?” You almost gasped, too excited to hide your reaction. Relief flooded over you. 

“I think it would be great. Honestly, shooting anything with you would be an honour. You never know,” he laughed, “maybe it’s time I had a shakeup too. I can pull off softcore, right?” 

You burst out laughing, realising how unflattering it might look at the last second and shot your hand up to your mouth in a bid to stop yourself, but he laughed freely, not caring what you thought. He had a cute laugh, almost dorky, despite his untouchable appearance.  

“You could pull off anything.”

“So could you,” he told you, turning serious, the genuineness in his voice making you shift in your seat awkwardly. “Trust me, I don’t have some crazy expectations when it comes to the women I work with. I think you’re amazing and I would be honoured to work with you. I’m honoured that you thought of me, and…” He trailed off, hesitating. “Actually, I think I should let you know something…”

You raised your eyebrows, curious, and unable to guess what he wanted to disclose. You waited patiently. 

“I’m going to be retiring soon.” 

Your jaw dropped. “Y-You’re what?” That you had not been expecting. 

Seokjin was the it man in porn. You could never imagine him leaving the industry. Men often had it easier like that. Not that they didn’t have struggles, not that you didn’t hear stories, but when it came to longevity, it was easy being a man in porn. Women had a sell by date. In fact, at 27 you were probably near pushing it yourself. Only a certain few kept their fame for decades, and then they were boxed in, stuck doing the same type of movie over and over. The thought made you suddenly bitter. You didn’t want to be boxed in. 

“It’s my time. I’ve been here far too long,” he shrugged. Mood dropping, you looked across at him sadly. You felt funny, couldn’t put your finger on it. “But can you keep it quiet?” He asked. “It’s something I’ve been discussing with my agency. I don’t know when it’ll happen yet, but I thought you should know.” 

You nodded, feeling a little wooden from the shock, but you quickly forced yourself to smile. “Secret’s safe with me. Honest.” He didn’t even have to tell you, but you appreciated it. Didn’t really understand why he had in the first place. 

“Secret,” he repeated, amused. “It’s funny, right? Usually something like this would benefit the both of us, help sustain our careers, but I’m calling time and you’re,” he paused, watching you carefully as he continued. “I guess you want a change in direction?”  

A Change in direction? Did you want that? You didn’t know what you wanted. In a way you were lost, not bored. He was still watching you, as if searching for some kind of reaction. Some kind of answer. 

“Fucking me will change everything, you know,” he told you finally with a tilt of his head. “But I think that’s what you want, right?”

Change. You think that sounded better. One word. One feeling. 

Just what type of change did you want? 

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 22: Pumpkin Patch (originally published on August 9, 2021)

AN: At long last, the homestretch of Part 3, which I have already dubbed the Tearjerking Three last time. And for our first entry into this trilogy, we finally get an update on the relationship between Peridot and Lapis, which I found to be done so dirty in Future as a Lapidot shipper. I mean, they didn't even interact with each other even when they were in the same episode together! Plus, Pumpkin just disappeared into thin air once the movie came along, leaving the only hint of where she is now are those similar gourd puppies from The Future. But enough griping, let's get my personal answer on what really happened, and maybe a big surprise that I no doubt have already spoiled on DeviantArt anyways.

Synopsis: Steven, Peridot and Lapis reminisce on the anniversary of Pumpkin's death.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven, Pumpkin

Shelby Rabara as Peridot, Squaridot

Jennifer Paz as Lapis, Laz, Zuli

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst, Ocean Jasper

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Amy Sedaris as Teal Zircon

Jeff Bergman as Farmer

Featuring Billie Eilish as Turquoise

--

"Maybe I'll find myself smiling on that distant shore," Steven sang to himself while gazing at his watch as the oven timer counted down in front of him. "Maybe I'm not alone."

The timer beeped, notifying Steven that whatever he had in the oven was ready. After putting on some oven mitts and opening the oven, Steven pulled a pumpkin pie out and set it on the counter to cool. "This one is for you two, guys." He said before gazing at a nearby calendar that read June 7th. "I remember it like it was yesterday." Steven then began to reminisce on the aftermath of his visit to Homeworld.

--

A few weeks the Crystal Gems have successfully convinced the Diamonds to help them in healing the corrupted Gems on Earth, these Gems now needed somewhere to live. As far as Steven knew, there was no way they could expand the Temple to make room for all of them, and he's sure none of the newly healed Gems wanted to return to Homeworld, so the Crystal Gems decided that their only choice now was to build them their own little town. They had some basic ideas down, but all they needed now was a name.

"How about Peritropolis?!" Peridot suggested as she wrote down her choice of name on the whiteboard, with little sketches of her face surrounding the name for emphasis. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"How about something that won't stroke your ego?" Steven frowned at the idea.

"What about Barnstantinople?" Lapis proposed. "We are building it around where the barn used to be after all."

"Speaking of which, how's clean-up on that going?" Amethyst asked, looking out the window to gaze at the wreckage that was once Lapis and Peridot's barn house home. "I think some bits of it might be useful somehow."

"I say we put that on hold." Lapis stated. "That old barn caused just as much harm to Peridot and me as much as it did good."

"You serious about this?" Peridot asked her blue roommate. "I mean, we had so many good memories in there."

"Yeah, and a lot of those memories were you just bending over backwards trying to keep me happy." Lapis added. "I know you're still sad about me jumping ship and coming back with only a "Hey", but I still got things to work out, y'know."

"OK." Peridot said just as their pet Pumpkin opened the door. "Oh, hey Pumpkin!"

In contrast to Peridot being excited to see Pumpkin, the little canine fruit let out an exhausted bark before sitting down to nap, revealing wrinkles around her eyeholes.

"Hey, is your little buddy there doin' alright?" Bismuth asked. "I barely know a thing about the lifespan of organic creatures, but even I know she ain't doing so hot."

"Oh, I'm sure she's just tired!" Peridot assured Bismuth. "Just needs to rest, that's all!"

"Don't be so sure Peridot." Garnet advised the little Gem. "Pumpkin was brought to life with magic, which means she's probably lived longer than a pumpkin normally does."

"Just let her be happy Garnet." Pearl whispered into Garnet's ear. "She's already been through so much recently, and I don't think she can take anymore."

"You sure she's OK Dottie?" Steven asked Peridot regarding Pumpkin. "Nothing lasts forever, you know."

"Oh, she just needs some extra time in the Sun!" Peridot laughed. But despite her insistence, that wasn't how the story really went.

--

"Okay, a little to the left!" Peridot commanded Squaridot as the eye Gem Peridot levitated a lifeguard chair around while Bismuth, Ocean Jasper & Teal Zircon dug up the ground to build a swimming pool. "No, your other left!" she corrected herself. "Wait wait, your other OTHER left!"

"There's no such thing as an other other left!" Squaridot yelled and grumpily set the chair down next to where she was standing. "How's this?"

"Perfect." Peridot gave her fellow technician a thumbs up before turning around to see the Lapis twins walk towards the construction site. "Oh, I see our lifeguards wanna start early!"

"Why was it necessary for us to dress in these?" Laz wondered while modeling the red one-piece she was wearing. "I don't think red is my color."

"I don't know about you Laz, but I make this look good!" Zuli declared while flaunting her body in a matching outfit. "We look just like the hotties on Coast Patrol or Destiny from CPH season 3! By the way, where's Lapis? She's head lifeguard, so shouldn't she be out here with us?"

"She still has the suit, but she's not coming out because today is a special day." Peridot stated. "It's the anniversary of a certain something."

"Hey, I think I can see Steven's car!" Ocean Jasper cried out as she peeked out of the hole to find Steven disembarking from his Dondai Supremo and walking over with the pumpkin pie in hand. "And he's got a pie, maybe as thanks for our hard work."

"Naw, I don't think it's for us Ocean." Bismuth said just as Steven walked over to Peridot. "I think we should leave them alone for a bit and get back to work."

"Aw, but I wanted a pie!" Teal Zircon complained.

"I see you got the pie." Peridot said to Steven while gazing at the pie in his hands. "In case you're wondering, we worked on a new meep morp last night dedicated to her."

"Okay, why don't you show me?" Steven offered.

"I'd be happy to." Peridot smiled before turning back to everyone at the in-progress pool. "Keep up the good work everyone, I'll just be taking the rest off!"

"Yeah, take some time for yourself, Peri." Bismuth replied while Squaridot used her burgeoning ferrokinesis to lift the blacksmith out of the pool. "Just don't get too teary-eyed and fill up the pool early."

"Yeah, we're planning on filling the pool for our opening ceremony!" Teal called while struggling to get out.

"And I'm just gonna catch some rays." Laz declared as she sat down on a lawn chair, pulled some sunglasses over her eyes, and began sunbathing. However, her moment of peace was cut off by Zuli loudly blowing into her whistle and laughing.

"So, who's the pie really for Bis?" Ocean Jasper asked as she climbed out the pool before helping Teal and the two sat down next to Bismuth.

"You two got a moment?" Bismuth asked, and the Jasper and Zircon nodded in affirmation. "Well, the pie is actually for a friend of theirs."

--

Steven and Peridot kept walking away from the pool and eventually found themselves in front of the Little Homeworld house that Lapis & Peridot shared. It looked like a smaller version of the barn the two Gems once lived in, but instead of being decorated with a mishmash of items around the barnyard, it now looked like Peridot did most of the construction with bits of metal and advanced technology sprinkled onto a simple-looking two-story cabin.

"Hey Lapis, we're here." Steven called out to Lapis as he and Peridot entered the cabin to find Lapis napping on the couch with a manga on her lap and a red one-piece hanging on a clothes hanger nearby. "Lapis, wake up."

"Agh, don't go with her Pierre!" Lapis yelled as she woke up from her nap and rubbed her eyes to find Peridot & Steven before her. "Sorry you guys, I was trying on my lifeguard uniform, but then I got bored and decided to relax a little."

"You still remember what day it is?" Peridot asked while Steven presented his pumpkin pie.

"Yeah, I still do." Lapis declared sadly. "Want to see the meep morp we've been working on, Steven?"

"Sure." Steven replied before the two Gems took him upstairs to their shared bedroom & workshop, where a very large sculpture of Pumpkin stood, a big smile permanently etched onto the front beneath a pair of innocent eyes. "Almost like the real thing. Except bigger."

"Showing this to you makes me miss her even more." Peridot began to hold back tears. "I still remember how I coped with it too."

--

The groundbreaking ceremony of what would soon become Little Homeworld went quite swimmingly for the Crystal Gems, thanks to the support of their Beach City friends and the Diamonds. But amidst the rejoicing of a new beginning for Gems on Earth, there was some bad news that flew right under everyone's noses.

After Peridot marked the giant pit where the barn once was with Little Homeworld's flag, Pumpkin came strolling up to her green owner looking far wearier and more decayed than she did previously, a sight which worried them greatly. As soon as the ceremonies ended, Pumpkin was rushed back to the beach house.

"Please Steven, you gotta do something!" Peridot begged Steven while Pumpkin laid before the trio with a heavy sigh emitting from her mouth. "Pumpkin doesn't have much time left, surely you must have the solution like you always do!"

"I'm really sorry Peridot." Steven said regretfully. "As much as I would love to help you and Lapis out, Pumpkin wasn't long for this Earth anyways. Death is a perfectly natural part of life. It can be real sad and scary to watch someone you treasured so dearly go, but ultimately, their time will come all the same."

"So, she was going to die regardless?" Lapis said apprehensively while stroking the living gourd's rotting body. "I don't really see how this is possible since you did bring her to life with your powers, but I can deal with it."

"Well, I'm not!" Peridot objected tearfully. "It's not fair! I've already been through so much, why does the universe have to keep nailing the hammer into the coffin?!"

"Peridot, I know you're upset, but you gotta listen." Steven tried comforting his little green pal. "Death is completely natural, even if it's scary. I mean, my dad might die someday, and so might Connie. I'm not sure if I can die like a human though."

"Well, your race is different." Peridot declared. "None of you will ever know what it's like to live forever!" With that, she stormed out of the beach house to vent, leaving her two friends to worry for Peridot.

"I don't think I want to know where this is going." Lapis muttered.

"If it's anything like what happened to Peridot after you left Earth, I don't think she'll take it very well." Steven agreed.

--

Using a trashcan lid, Peridot flew far away from the general area of Beach City and into the countryside, where farmlands were very prosperous. Farmlands like the ones she and Lapis tended to together in the past, and the ones where Pumpkin was born. The very sight of all these fresh crops made her more miserable. What gave them the right to grow so healthy while Pumpkin looked so withered?

"Rackum frackum produce, I'll show you what for!" Peridot mumbled as she touched down in front of a pumpkin patch and swiftly got to work on destroying them. "You walked so Pumpkin could die!" she yelled as her green body became covered in orange pumpkin insides. "Why can't anything go my way for once?!"

"Hey, get offa my crops ya gremlin!" a farmer yelled at Peridot while stomping over to her with a pitchfork in hand. "You got any idea what it's like to work so hard on a great harvest, only for it to be ruined by a bunch of punks?!"

"No, but I'm sure you don't know what it's like to love someone only to lose them!" Peridot argued with the farmer, a retort that stunned him a little before he tried to look more sympathetic.

"Coping, eh?" the farmer said. "Look, you have every right to get mad, but that don't mean you can just stomp all over someone else's hard work! You gotta find better ways to vent, ya know!"

"Look, sir, I literally just ran away from home, I don't have time right now." Peridot coldly rejected the farmer's advice.

"Well, looks like you left me no choice." The farmer shook his head before reaching behind his back and pulling out a scary mask to frighten Peridot with. "BOOGEDY BOOGEDY BOOGEDY!"

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Peridot screamed loudly before flying away from the farm on her lid.

--

As soon as Peridot returned to Beach City, she soared right towards Steven's house, where she found him making a grilled cheese sandwich, and began pounding on his window.

"Steven! Steven!" Peridot yelled from outside, getting the half-Gem's attention. "Let me in, I wanna talk!"

"You know you can just come in yourself." Steven suggested before opening the door for his green friend. "How have things been going?"

"I got an idea for you." Peridot stated. "How about in exchange for helping me with Pumpkin, I'll do something for you in return. Just name your price, I'll do anything!"

"Peridot, are you trying to bribe me into saving Pumpkin?" Steven asked. "Didn't I tell you earlier that death is a natural part of life?"

"But you managed to save Lars from death with your crying!" Peridot objected. "Why can't you do the same to Pumpkin?! Why does she have to die while so many other pumpkins have to live?!"

"Pumpkins?" Steven asked. "What other pumpkins?"

"I vented my frustrations by whaling on some farmer's pumpkin harvest." Peridot confessed innocently. "He didn't take too kindly to that."

"I think I know where this is going." Steven realized. "Five Stages of Grief, right? First was anger, now you're bargaining. Which means depression might not be too far behind." Just then, as if on cue, Steven's phone started ringing with a message from Lapis that he readily picked up. "Hello?"

"Steven, is Peridot there?" Lapis asked from the other end of the line. "Ever since she fled the house, I took Pumpkin back to our place, and now she wants to see us both before, you know."

"See what I mean?" Steven declared to Peridot, who was now on the verge of breaking down because now, she finally realized it was too late. "Do you want to see her?"

"Yes please." Peridot began to sob and hugged Steven tight. "Promise me that you won't ever leave too, Steven."

"I promise." Steven stated, hugging Peridot back.

--

Meanwhile, at the massive construction site that would soon become Little Homeworld, Lapis gently watched over the slowly dying Pumpkin, whose normally bright orange skin now had splotches of grayish-black, as she let out a weak yip. "Don't die yet, sweetie." Lapis assured Pumpkin. "Peridot will be here soon, I know it."

And right on cue, Peridot and Steven soared right towards Lapis on the trash can lid to see Pumpkin off one last time. Peridot raced as fast as she could towards the groundwork for her and Lapis's new home and tightly nuzzled her pet gourd, unaware that it wasn't in the mood for such a tight hug.

"Peridot, let her go! She's in pain!" Lapis yelled while prying the sentient pumpkin from Peridot's embrace, much to the green Gem's agony.

"No, please!" Peridot cried. "Just let me hold her!"

"I'm sorry Peri, but I don't think she can take much more!" Lapis argued while on the brink of crying just as much. "Pumpkin's already dying. She's so scared right now, so let's just-"

"Don't try to argue Lapis." Steven solemnly interrupted Lapis. "Peridot's already having a breakdown as is."

"I'm sorry about that." Lapis quickly apologized before she turned to Pumpkin. "Pumpkin, if you can still hear me, I want you to know that you and Peridot were the only things keeping me sane here, even when I ran off to the moon." She said to the dying fruit. "I can't thank you enough for brightening my day with your cute little smile, your barking, and all the days we spent playing together. Even if we find a replacement, none can ever replace you, little guy."

"You want a turn, Peri?" Steven said to Peridot.

"Fine, but I won't like it." Peridot sniffed loudly as she walked up to Pumpkin. "You were like an offspring to us, Pumpkin." She said quietly. "When I first saw your little carved face, those adorable stubby legs, it filled my heart with so much joy. Figuratively, of course, since we naturally don't have hearts. But every step we took together, every struggle, kept me grounded here on this crazy planet. Oh stars, now I won't know what to do now."

"Mah, mah," Pumpkin barked weakly with her last breath. "Mommy."

"I promise you," Peridot declared while her gem touched Pumpkin's forehead. "I'll never forget."

And with that, Pumpkin gently shut her eyes, allowing herself to pass on with her mothers and her creator by her side.

--

The funeral that followed was a private affair, with only the other Crystal Gems, Connie and Greg in attendance, and Pumpkin buried outside Peridot & Lapis's house. However, it was after the funeral when trouble began brewing. Just like when she had first begun living with the Gems, Peridot began hiding away in the bathroom for the next week to grieve the demise of Pumpkin and seemed resilient in refusing to come out, no matter how much they tried.

"C'mon P-Dot, open up!" Amethyst called while pounding on the door. "If you're planning on flushing yourself down the toilet again, let me tell you again, I tried that once and it didn't work."

"I think I know what to do." Greg proposed his idea and held up a boombox that began playing a song he knew she would recognize. "I look up to the sky, that's full of stars-"

"I'm trying to mourn here, leave me alone." Peridot despondently declared.

"I say we should respect her wishes." Garnet stated before she turned her gaze to Lapis. "Unless…."

"You think I should go in there?" Lapis asked.

"You are quite possibly Peridot's closest friend." Pearl agreed with Garnet.

"Closest friend?" Bismuth raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, we all know there may be something more than that!"

"Well, okay then." Lapis finally accepted with a shrug and slowly pushed the door open. "Wish me luck." She then said before entering the bathroom and closing it behind her. "You still in here?"

"So, they sent you in now." Peridot observed hoarsely. "I may have lost all hope, but I can still hear you know."

"They do say we're the closest." Lapis said before she sat down on the edge of the tub where Peridot had hidden herself away beneath a cocoon of Steven's bedsheets. "Come on now, get up and sit next to me."

"Okay, if it's you, I'll talk." Peridot succumbed to Lapis's offer and rose from her comfy shell to talk with her barn mate. "I'm sorry for worrying you all this past week, it's just that Pumpkin was basically our baby! Watching her die was like watching a child die!"

"Except the child wasn't human, it was a magical living pumpkin." Lapis remarked, which caused Peridot to glare at her. "No offense."

"But still, outside of our relationship, why did you volunteer?" Peridot wondered.

"Well, because I wanted to return the favor." Lapis answered. "Remember what happened after that boat trip I took with Steven and his dad?"

--

As soon as Lapis dropped Steven and Greg off at the docks following the boat trip gone wrong, she needed someone to lean on in her time of need. It didn't matter who, it could be any of the other Crystal Gems, or one of Steven's human friends. But right now, there was only one person, or rather Gem, that she could turn to.

Lapis could now see the barn in the distance, and as reluctant as she was to admit it, Peridot was the only one who could understand her regarding a certain Quartz. "Peridot, are you there?" she called for her green housemate. "I'm back!"

"Lapis, so glad you could make it!" Peridot exclaimed while racing out of the barn. "I discovered that I can move spoons with my mind, I made some decent progress on my Camp Pining Hearts essay; though I'm still stuck on the poutine theory, and-" However, she realized a bit too late what Lapis was feeling. "Is something the matter?"

"Steven and I found Jasper during the trip." Lapis said morosely. "She wanted to fuse with me again because she says I changed her. And to be honest, I think it was kind of my fault. Unfusing with Jasper drove her mad and I even said I missed taking all my frustrations out on her!"

"Lapis, are you serious?" Peridot gasped in alarm.

"Yes, I'm serious." Lapis declared as her eyes darkened and she turned away from Peridot. "Go ahead, run off and live with the Gems again so you don't have to be another one of my victims. If Jasper says I'm a monster, then I guess I really am one, especially after the way I treated you when we first moved in together."

"Okay Lapis, I don't want your garbage right now!" Peridot yelled, briefly breaking Lapis out of her funk with the almost exact words she described the tape recorder she broke. "I can see you're very stressed out. You want to scream so bad, to hit something, to let your anger out! But whatever you do, don't lose it on other people."

"Wh-what are you saying?" Lapis asked.

"I'm mostly just repeating stuff I read online," Peridot admitted. "I think what you need is a way to vent healthily, maybe on a perfectly defenseless object."

"Like what?" Lapis raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"One second!" Peridot exclaimed while walking into the barn and coming back out with an alien plush wearing a top hat and bowtie that she gazed at with a solemn expression. "I'm so sorry my sweet." She said softly to the stuffed toy before presenting it to Lapis. "Go ahead, hit it as hard as you can. Or maybe something else violent, whatever."

"Okay." Lapis sighed as she began feeling around the toy for something to do before grabbing at the bowtie and ripping it off the alien's neck, causing some stuffing to spill out of the hole she created. "Whoa."

"So, how did that make you feel?" Peridot asked as the alien dropped from her grip.

"Good." Lapis muttered in awe of what she just did. "I feel so much lighter now, like a real adrenaline burst."

"See, as I told you." Peridot smiled happily. "You just needed healthier ways to relieve stress."

"You're right." Lapis agreed when she got an idea. "Now, how about I try something a little heavier?" She then glanced over to a nearby pickup truck and used the water from Peridot's makeshift pool to lift it into the air. "How about this?"

"Yeah, I think that could work." Peridot nervously replied before Lapis suddenly tossed the truck into the air. "NO WAIT, THAT'S A LITTLE TOO-" she screamed and covered herself to avoid getting hit, but the truck instead crashed into the wall over the barn entrance, creating a massive hole that the vehicle filled. "Hm, guess I was wrong."

"Well, if we're gonna be living here together, why don't we make ourselves at home?" Lapis laughed and put a hand on Peridot's shoulder.

"Yeah, I think this is a good start." Peridot agreed while wrapping her arm around the taller Gem's waist and the two began brainstorming ideas for remodeling the barn.

--

"Yeah, I really was there for you back then." Peridot realized with a grin. "And from then on out, we were so close."

"You bet." Lapis replied and cupped Peridot's face in her hands. "Let me be a shoulder for you to cry on this time. I love you Peridot."

"I love you too Lapis." Peridot responded happily before the two began to kiss, and their gems started glowing as they began to fuse into a tall, slender Gem with turquoise hair, dark cyan hair in the shape of a maple leaf, Peridot's glasses, Lapis's top with a bright yellow star on it, a skirt with a bronze ribbon around her waist and dark teal sandals with bronze accents.

The new, accidental fusion of Peridot and Lapis looked around the bathroom and gazed down at her four hands. Feeling around her body, she felts the gems of her components on her forehead and back before coming to a shocking realization and let out a loud, confused scream. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Is something wrong?!" Steven exclaimed as he barged into the bathroom to discover the fusion before him and started screaming as well, but this time in joy. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" the new fusion continued screaming and covered her face in alarm at Steven as the two continued shrieking at each other.

--

"But was that fusion really an accident or maybe something more?" Peridot asked while she, Steven, and Lapis walked outside to her and Lapis's garden in their backyard.

"Maybe a mix of both?" Lapis answered with a shrug. "I mean, we did kiss each other after saying "I love you" to each other, but the fusion part came out of nowhere."

"Still, we were all so happy to see you two fuse at last." Steven said. "Words could not describe how long I've been waiting for that moment."

"I couldn't shapeshift, so I just assumed I couldn't fuse as well." Peridot observed before they happened upon a makeshift tombstone that read 'In memory of Pumpkin. A good girl to the end.' "You know, all this talk reminds me of a song I've been writing for the past few days. It may seem a little short and I pulled from other sources, but it's the best I got."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Lapis suggested eagerly. "Sing for us."

"Yeah, we never heard you do a solo before either." Steven agreed with the ocean Gem.

"Okay, if you insist." Peridot declared before she cued a nearby Robonoid tending to the garden to start playing jazzy music, and she started to sing. "My sweet little pumpkin o' mine, a living gourd with a smile so fine. You made us smile with your bark, your stem's like emerald, and filled with seeds of gold. You were our most beloved work of art."

Almost as if Pumpkin was coming back to listen to Peridot's eulogy, many similar living produce like additional pumpkins, some gourds, and squashes, began coming out to watch. "You saw fields of corn, sandy beaches too. In summers so warm, it was just us and you." Peridot continued singing. "And I think to myself, what a wonderful pet."

Soon, Lapis began to join in on the song as well. "Though your time was short, like all things are." She joined Peridot in singing with her own solo. "We'll always think of you, when we look at your star."

"Our sweet little pumpkin of ours," the pair finished the song and embraced each other. "You were a wonderful pet."

With that, the two Gems fused into Turquoise, this time on purpose while surrounded by living Cucurbita, and smiled.

"Thank you for coming today, Steven." Turquoise said to Steven. "It really means a lot to us."

"Nothing to it girls." Steven smiled while rubbing his finger on his upper lip.

In Memory of Thea "Muriel Bagge" White

June 16, 1940 – July 30, 2021

"What courage you have."

--

So ends the first installment of the Tearjerking Three. In comparison to what will come next, I'm pretty sure this will be tears of happiness at these two dorky barnmates basically becoming an item at last and even fusing too (also, I totally took Turquoise's design from @artifiziell, she makes some amazing stuff, go check her out). But next time, we move on from someone being dead for real to someone being dead to Steven. Can you guess which one? Oh who am I kidding, if you watch me on DeviantArt, I basically spoiled everything after this.

[official-weasley]

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 2, Ch. 2

PART 2: THE YEAR OF MISCHIEF AND SNEAKING AROUND Chapter 2 - A New Year

Nova

In the last week of August, the Weasleys and I met my mum in Diagon Alley just like my mum and Molly planned. We bought our books and got Pip his favorite treats. Charlie and I were drooling and pressing our hands on the window display of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

We then stopped at the café Tulip's mum owned just to find out that Tulip wasn't there but her mum told us that she would tell her to meet us on the Platform 9 ¾ on the 1st September. Molly also took Bill to get new robes as he grew quite a lot over the Summer and Charlie got Bill's old robes. His freckled cheeks turned pink as his mum told that in front of me and my mum but I didn't care.

—

On several occasions, Charlie got embarrassed as he talked about his home or his things, most belonging to Bill before him. I have never seen it as a bad thing that they didn't have as much money as some of the other Pure Blood families. My parents had quite a stock of gold in our Gringotts vault as a Curse Breaker and an Auror but what good did that do me if I didn't see them most of the year.

I would've done anything to have my mum or my dad at home as Molly stayed at home with Charlie and his siblings. Their house was also something that wasn't embarrassing at all. I liked the smell of wood and honeysuckle and I liked the fact that it was a bit cramped. You feel more like a family rather than in a big house.

—

When we got all of our things, my mum said goodbye to me as she had to hurry back to work. She gave me a big hug as tears gathered in her eyes. I knew she felt bad that she wouldn't be able to accompany me to the Station in a week's time and I knew she wanted more than anything to spend my last week out of Hogwarts with me but she couldn't get time off work.

That's why I returned to the Burrow with the Weasleys, something I really didn't mind. I couldn't deny that I missed my mum but being surrounded by such a loving family made me forget just how much I miss spending time with my parents.

On 1st September Molly took me, Bill, and Charlie to the Platform 9 ¾, accompanied by Percy, Fred, and George while Arthur stayed at home with Ron and Ginny as it was a Sunday.

She hugged her sons and wished them a great year at Hogwarts and then she looked at me.

“Oh, Nova dear, it was so nice to have you in our home.” She cupped my cheeks.

“Thank you for having me Molly, I had a great time.” I smiled.

“Have a good year, study hard, and take notes.” She stopped for a second. “Your mum told me to say that to you.” She winked at me. “And take care of my boys, will you? My heart is lighter knowing that they have you, especially Charlie.” She pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Mum!” Charlie frowned, embarrassed.

“Bill, you look after these two. Make sure they stay in line.” She hugged both, Bill and Charlie, again and gave them a soft kiss on the cheek.

We wanted to enter the train when I heard someone calling my name. It was Tulip who was looking all over for us in the crowd. Together we got on the train and found that Tonks and Penny already reserved a compartment for us.

We all hugged and I couldn't help but feel happy as we were all together again. Jae, the Gryffindor Charlie spent time with and spent more time with Tulip and Tonks than any of us by the end of our First Year, joined us for a second but couldn't stay as our compartment already had 6 seats taken.

Tulip started to explain what a mundane Summer she had as she was mostly helping her mum in her coffee shop but she didn't mind as she made quite a lot of money and was saving it for Zonko's Joke Shop next year when we are going to be allowed to go to Hogsmeade for the first time.

Tonks showed us all the scars Merlin gave her over the Summer and we were puzzled as to why her parents didn't use a charm to heal her hands. She admitted that she liked spending the time with the cat after all and that she kicked him off the bed one night as she didn't know he was there and felt sorry for him as he came back to cuddle.

She also told us that 2 out of 4 pranks she planned for her parents succeeded and that to her astonishment her parents still loved her.

Penny gave us a rather short version of her beach vacation as all of us sent her a confused letter when she sent us greetings from Brighton. She instead told us that mum taught her how to brew 3 new potions, 2 of which we won't learn in class for another year. She also told us how annoying her little sister was as she kept bombarding her with questions about Hogwarts and wanted to know when she could meet all of her friends.

It was fun to see the Sorting Ceremony from the House Tables instead of being sorted. Ravenclaw gained 4 new witches and 2 new wizards. Tulip and I couldn't help but reminisce about our Sorting Day and admitted that we don't miss it at all.

After the feast, we went to our dormitories, and much to Tulip and mine's surprise we knew exactly how to get to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Our room was still looking good and still had the best view of the entire castle.

A little before we went to bed, Professor Flitwick gathered us all in the Common Room, giving us our class schedules as tomorrow was Monday and the classes were ready to begin.

Our schedules this year were packed way more than the previous year where we only had 2, max 3 classes per day. Now we had at least 4 classes per day except 3 on Friday.

The schedule read:

Monday – Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology

Tuesday - Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Double Charms, Astronomy at Midnight

Wednesday – Double Herbology, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic

Thursday – Transfiguration, Double Potions, History of Magic, Herbology, Astronomy at Midnight

Friday – Potions, Charms, Transfiguration

We had classes with the same Houses as last year and even though we knew that we had History of Magic, Tulip and I kind of hoped that the teachers would forget about it and we wouldn't have to go. That, of course, was not the case.

—

I decided that I wouldn't try out for the House Quidditch Team this year just yet. I still felt that I could use a bit of practice and I teased Charlie that I would let him have the Quidditch Cup this year as we would win every year after that with me on the team.

Charlie tried out for the Gryffindor Team but wasn't picked as the Quidditch Captain picked his little brother as Team's Seeker. He was pretty bummed out about it and we had to go to Hagrid's every day after school for almost a week so Hagrid could cheer him up by telling us stories about different creatures he encountered or owned at any point in his life.

Penny, of course, loved the fact that we had so much more school work and Potions 3 times per week made her heart pump faster.

Tonks however made me and Charlie question our prediction that she would wait until the end of the year to have a breakdown as she already refused to do her homework. She and Penny got into constant fights because Penny couldn't understand how she doesn't care about homework one bit and Tonks didn't understand why she cared so much about it.

I did pretty well and kept up with most of my schoolwork. Penny only had to help me with one of my Potions essays and Tulip and I always did Astronomy homework immediately after class. It did mean that we stayed up almost all night since Astronomy classes were at Midnight but we enjoyed each other's company and the little chats we had together as we didn't have the opportunity to spend that much time alone outside of class.

She was sneaking around the Castle with Tonks and Jae most of the days as I spent my time with either Penny or Charlie by the Lake, at Hagrid's, in the Owlery with Pip, or in the Courtyard, which was still my favorite place to draw.

It seemed that Charlie rarely left Hagrid's and I am sure he wouldn't even do that if it wasn't for me and he wanted to spend time with me. As Second Years, we were allowed to bring our own brooms to school and when the weather was nice Charlie liked to practice his flying by the Lake, me throwing a ball for him to catch.

—

One Tuesday it so happened that we had a free period when we were supposed to have Herbology. Apparently, one of the Forth Years accidentally angered a plant and it trapped them in the Herbology classroom resulting in our class being rescheduled for next week. As Tulip and I wandered around the Castle, we decided to see what was so bad about the girl's bathroom on the Second Floor.

See, the day before, we heard a couple of Slytherin girls from the year above us say that they are never going in there again and that they wouldn't wish it upon their worst enemy to get locked in there and that said a lot about Slytherins.

My school bag was unusually heavy that day but I didn't pay attention to it as I was sure that I misread the schedule and put an extra book in there.

When we got to the bathroom it looked quite normal to us. We knocked and nothing happened. We peeked inside and it didn't smell bad or seem in any way out of the ordinary.

We took a deep breath and went in, eyes closed as we were expecting something bad to happen. We thought we came upon a completely normal-looking bathroom and almost left but then we heard something in one of the bathroom stalls. We stopped, turned around and listened carefully.

It sounded like a girl was crying and for a second we were really mad at Slytherins for making fun out of a crying girl.

All of a sudden a ghost of a girl came through the door of one of the cubicles. She looked at us startled as much as we looked at her in shock. At first, she looked quite happy to see us. She told us that her name is Myrtle and that she lives in the bathroom. We didn't see anything wrong with that until Tulip made a very big mistake. She asked her what happened to her.

Myrtle burst into tears and started to cry rather loudly. After the crying stopped she started screaming and became angry and just as we were about to leave, the belt on my bag ripped and I heard something broke inside it.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Tulip whispered as she was quite taken aback by Myrtle.

“I have no idea.” I replied as I watched Myrtle getting closer to my bag.

I took a deep breath and ran towards it. I had my drawing notebook in there and I didn't know much about ghosts so I didn't know if Myrtle could ruin it or not. I grabbed my bag and out fell something that looked a lot like a...

“Dungbomb! Nova run!” Yelled Tulip and opened the bathroom door.

We got out just in time and as the doors were closing, we saw how the bomb exploded straight into Myrtle's face as she was too slow to realize what we were running away from.

We ran down the corridor and all the way to the Great Hall and when we finally caught our breath did we manage to understand what happened. We knew we were supposed to feel bad but just by exchanging looks, we burst out laughing.

We laughed so hard that I was beginning to feel cramps in my stomach and Tulip was clapping in a way that reminded me of a clapping seal.

Our friends ran to us, asking what was going on and upon telling them how we sneaked in and detonated a Dungbomb on a crying ghost, Tonks finally spoke.

“No! I was saving that for tomorrow!” She got sad.

“Wait, the bomb was yours?” My face puzzled. “What was it doing in my bag?” I frowned at her.

“Well, you take care of your bag the most as your drawing notebook is inside and I needed a safe place for it until tomorrow to execute my plan.” Tonks' face was as pink as her hair. “See, I wanted to hide the bomb from myself as I knew I wouldn't be able to resist using it today rather than tomorrow.” She explained.

“And you put it in my bag? The bag that has my most prized notebook inside?” I was trying to keep my voice as normal as possible. “What if I didn't grab the bag and the bomb went off with my notebook still inside?” My eyes narrowed.

“Blimey Nova, I'm sorry. I did package the bomb carefully but I didn't think about that.” She scratched her nose.

I couldn't be angry at her, not after what Tulip and I just witnessed, especially because my notebook was alright.

We had to tell the story again as our whole lot laughed, including Penny who wanted to feel sorry for Myrtle but the whole incident was just too funny. Tonks, however, promised that she would never put anything that would either rip or ruin any contents inside my bag ever again as I sewed it back together with a spell.

I spent most of my weekends after lunch with Charlie by the Lake. We got a few new books from Hagrid as he reckoned we were ready for them. While reading them out loud to each other, we usually daydreamed about playing Quidditch and we couldn't wait until the end of the school year when the Second Year students had to pick Elective Subjects as we already knew one of them was going to be Care of Magical Creatures.

Bill sometimes joined us, however, Charlie and I both thought that he was daydreaming about a girl rather than creatures and that he joined us as an excuse to keep an eye on us. Pip also accompanied us to the Lake often and was quite surprised when I started drawing other creatures, inspired by my Self-Doodler rather than him. Serves him right for not wanting to pose for me over the Summer.

[taeyongtime]

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 thats 125 roses :3 ❤️❤️❤️❤️

i purposely saved this one for last because you, my friend, are big brain 👍125 sentences for 125 roses *slow claps*. in respect of such a big brain move, the following preview is for a hogwarts!au feat. hufflepuff!taeyong and slytherin!reader. i’ve actually already finished it, but it’s supposed to be a joint work with another writer, so i haven’t posted even though it’s basically completed. 

for every “🌹” received in my inbox i’ll post one random sentence of a random WIP i’m currently writing

◆

It is no surprise that the first thing you hear stepping into Hogwarts is a question asking if you were Kim Doyoung’s sister.

Soon after the Sorting Hat places you with the tables of emerald green robes, upperclassmen and students your year flock to your seat next to your brother, who simply offers a smug nod as he begins a spiel of how the family had expected nothing less (old-money purebloods such as yourselves were a shoo-in for the Slytherin House, no doubt about it). Chimes of agreement follow, an occasional joke on how your parents would have reacted if you had been sorted into Gryffindor or Hufflepuff garnering a gasp of shock from the crowd.

Imagining if you had been sorted into Hufflepuff brings about a budding headache and you politely ask for them to give you space to eat, your stomach famished from the long train ride and the sheer conviction to not let go of your purse strings to purchase snacks from the cart that rolled down the aisle every hour or so. Luckily they oblige, and your brother sighs as you dig in, piling your plate high with potatoes, meats, basically a little bit of everything you can reach within arm’s distance.

“You’re going to become a pig if you continue to eat at this rate.”

“Oh, shut up and eat your own food already.”

Doyoung scoffs and picks apart his bread, tossing bit by bit into his mouth. “I hope you won’t speak to any of the Professors here in that tone.”

“Please stop nagging me when I’m eating, it’s annoying.”

A dirty look sent your way, he adds a final word of putting some vegetables onto your plate before leaving to find a different seat where someone would listen rather than provide a rebuttal to his every sentence. Naturally, you ignore his nagging and reach for another portion of potatoes, gravy dribbling down like a volcano had just erupted all over your plate. More meat, more biscuits, you eat until your stomach is at its limit, threatening to implode at everything you had just ingested.

Pushing your chair out, you search the sea of heads for your brother but fail to spot the lanky second year who was all the rage for the Slytherin House. Not wanting to remain in front of all the food and certainly not having the energy to sample any of the decadent desserts, you ask your neighbor on the right for directions to the Slytherin common room, heading out to find the entrance yourself without waiting for everyone else.

“Where do you think you’re going, little lady?”

Turning around, you meet the eyes of the headmaster, his hands clasped together as he waits for your answer.

“I… I think I ate too much,” you begin slowly, calculating each word spoken. “I wanted to look for the way to the Hospital Wing.”

“The Hospital Wing will be to your right. Madam Pomfrey will have something ready for you by the time you get there.”

“T-Thank you… Sir.”

“Next time, find someone to accompany you,” he adds with a knowing smile, “Especially when you have yet to discover the way to the Slytherin Common Room.”

Spooked, you hurry towards the Hospital Wing and endure another bout of nagging from Doyoung when he comes running after hearing from an upperclassman that you had gone to see the school nurse after the feast.

---

Year One is over before you know it, and you find yourself back on campus grounds again once August ends, following your brother off the Hogwarts Express and into the Great Hall to be seated for the new year’s welcoming ceremony and accompanying feast. Once you find a spot along the green tables for Slytherin House, your brother slides in on your right and another quickly fills in the left, the dimpled smile offered your way a sight for sore eyes.

“How was your summer, Y/N?”

“Bo-ring,” you reply in kind, rolling your eyes as your legs kick underneath the table. “You should’ve brought me with you to France, Jaehyun.”

“Next time,” the second year says with a chuckle. “I don’t think you would appreciate the beauty that is Quidditch when you never showed up to any of my games last year.”

“It’s a pointless sport,” you refute. “Chasing a little golden ball in the air while risking getting your teeth knocked out by Beaters? No thanks.”

“You just haven’t seen a good game yet.”

“Shh!” Your brother’s sharp voice hisses in your ear. “The Sorting is about to begin!”

A hush falls over the table as the Sorting Ceremony begins. Just last year you were one of those children waiting in line to be sorted, the feeling of anxiety at your sorting still as palpable as ever as you watch each sortee be divided into one of the four Houses at Hogwarts. A few enter the ranks of emerald, but most make their way to the rich scarlet and gold of Gryffindor or warm honey of Hufflepuff, two of the most popular houses across the campus compared to your very own.

“Really, you’re so yappy whenever you’re with Jaehyun.”

“Okay, Doyoung, go find somewhere else to eat at if you find me annoying.”

“I never said that.” Against your protests, he scoops some peas onto your plate along with some carrots. “Eat some vegetables, you need it.”

You immediately push the vegetables onto Jaehyun’s plate once Doyoung turns his head the other way, reaching for two slices of corned beef and a breadstick in lieu of the empty space next to the mountain of potatoes and gravy. Jaehyun finishes before you and you split half of your breadstick, keeping the left half while handing over the right.

“Thanks.”

“Did you not eat anything on the train?” you ask incredulously, amazed at his second full plate when you barely made a dent in yours.

“I did earlier, but I’m starving now. Haven’t had a bite since they were sold out of chocolate frogs.”

“Pig.”

He oinks in return and you laugh, catching a glance from your brother and ignoring it once his attention is again captured by someone else calling his name. You were used to it by now, the wonder boy that is Doyoung being the pride of Slytherin House since he first set foot onto Hogwarts.

Going to bed early after dismissal from the Great Hall, the next morning you return to the routine of classes, meals, homework, studying for exams, more homework, and so forth, a never-ending cycling of academia that left little room for leisure time when there was so much to do. Not one to socialize much and not at all interested in going to see Jaehyun at his Quidditch games, you spend most of your time in the library when you didn’t need to be in class, the peace and quiet comforting when you wanted to be alone (which was all the time).

Today, you find yourself not in the mood for Potions on such a fine sunny Tuesday afternoon, thus you make your way to the library once you finish lunch, courteously greeting the librarian before scurrying off to your favorite spot by the windows. Madam Pince was stern to all students entering the library, but your frequent appearance last year and diligence in following library rules made you tolerable in her book, hence the blind eye cast when you show up when it was clearly not a time for a student your year to be in the library when there were classes going on. Spreading out your bag and other things to lay claim onto the table, you head over to the Care of Magical Creatures section and pull a few volumes off the shelves. Two hours easily fly by as people begin to trickle in, your eyes scanning the pages of information on fairies, elves, and other creatures of the like. Currently not enrolled in a Care of Magical Creatures class, you ponder on the thought of taking it as an elective next year as you return the books you had just finished reading in exchange for new ones.

After making sure everything was placed back in the correct alphabetical order, your fingertips graze along the spine of each book as you wander down the shelves, eyes locking in on a volume regarding dragons when another set of hands reaches for it at the same time. The physical contact catches both you and him by surprise, neither saying a word until you break the silence as you glare at the black-and-gold robed Hufflepuff who wanted the same book as you.

“Let go, I got it first.”

“I… Go ahead.” He gestures for you to take the book and you do so, letting out a huff of indignation at the audacity after. Mumbling an apology again, he reaches for a book on the upper shelf and you roll your eyes before turning tail to return to your table. Waiting until your Potions class was over, you pack up your things and head to the librarian’s desk, only to be stopped in the process of checking out the book on dragons you had just successfully taken off the shelf.

“The gentleman behind you had put in a request to reserve this book.”

Your eyes meet the Hufflepuff who you’d bumped heads against, a hesitant smile etched across his lips as he points at the book in your hands. “I wanted to tell Madam Pince I found it on the shelf, but then you took it, so…”

“Fine.” You hand over the book gruffly and overlook the glare in Madam Pince’s eyes for your ‘rough treatment’ of school property. “Take it.”

“Have you finished reading it? If not—”

“Take it already.”

You flinch at the feeling of his fingers against yours and quickly pull your hand away, running out of the library without speaking another word. Tossing the encounter with the Hufflepuff out the window, you make your way back to the Slythern Common Room, where a certain Jung Jaehyun bounces up from his seat on one of the leather sofas the moment he sees you enter.

“You missed Potions today, Y/N.”

“Can I see your notes later?”

He nods without skipping a beat, grabbing your hand and pulling you after him. “Only if you come with me to watch one of my Quidditch games.”

“What,” you exclaim, “No, I don’t—”

“One game. We’re going to play right now against Hufflepuff; that’s all I ask in exchange for my notes.”

“Ugh, fine!” Forgoing the resistance, you let him drag you out and towards the stadium, where the stands were already divided to parades of yellow and green respectively. Not sure where to go since Jaehyun was a Beater on the Slytherin team, you inch your way through the lines of already-filled seats until you see Haechan, one of the first years that you knew through Doyoung. Your best friend should have at least saved you a seat if he was going to drag you to watch his game, the nerve.

“Is this spot taken?”

He shakes his head and you sit, accepting the offered pair of binoculars as the game begins. You recognize your brother’s voice over the speakers narrating the events of the game as all you see are broomsticks flying left and right, up down and back again while balls of every shape wiz by, threatening to knock unsuspecting players off their brooms. Cheers and boos simultaneously sounding out across the stadium, the whole ordeal is chaotic and you roll your eyes at how people found this entertaining and worth the time.

“Here,” you begin, handing back Haechan’s binoculars. “I’m going to go back to—”

“The Snitch! Lee Taeyong has just spotted the Golden Snitch!”

A hush falls over the entire crowd and you snatch back the binoculars, intrigued by the sudden overcast of silence. Through the lenses, you spot a lean figure picking up speed while chasing what looked to be a small golden ball. Recognizing him as the Hufflepuff from the library, you watch him zoom around the Slytherin team, ducking just in time to avoid a Bludger to the head. He reaches his arm forward and seals the Golden Snitch in his grasp, spinning to a loop-de-loop and throwing a fist in the air triumphantly with the Snitch fluttering its wings in defeat.

“And that’s the end of the game! Hufflepuff wins, 150 to 40!”

“That’s it?” you exclaim. “End game after he catches that stupid ball?”

“Y/N, the Snitch is worth 150 points,” Haechan deadpans. “It’s the fastest and hardest ball to see and catch out of everything that goes flying around; if the game doesn’t end after someone catches it, we’d be here all day.”

“Okay, I get that, but he caught it in like… just 20 minutes. Aren’t games usually longer than that?”

“Taeyong’s the best Quidditch Seeker at Hogwarts in all of the teams! No one’s been able to take the Quidditch Cup from Hufflepuff since he joined his first year.”

Impressed by the statistics, you aim your binoculars down at the grounds where both teams had landed and were getting ready to change out of their robes. Spotting the Hufflepuff Seeker immediately, you feel your heart grow warm at seeing the wide grin on his face after he made the winning catch, his teammates huddled around him as they lift him up in the air to celebrate another win under their belt.

“Hey, can I get my binoculars back now?”

Snapped out of your trance, you hand over the lenses back to Haechan, admiration growing in your chest for the Hufflepuff who had just quite possibly stolen a piece of your heart after the stellar performance right before your very eyes.

---

The rest of the year spent buttering up to one of the upperclassmen on the Slytherin Quidditch team to learn more about your growing crush on a certain Hufflepuff Quidditch Seeker, you find yourself dismayed that he was a year older than your brother, meaning it would be hard to find a chance to talk to him when the chance to share classes wasn’t possible at all. Yuta had figured it out after two minutes of answering your questions about Taeyong, but promised to keep it a secret after you made a deal to buy him a pack of Chocolate Frogs each time you went to Honeydukes, which was growing to be your favorite place to go to in Hogsmeade after obtaining the needed signature on the permission slip given your third year at Hogwarts. Clearly not in your favor when you went to Honeydukes at least once every weekend, but the emptiness in your purse was worth it if it meant you got to know just a little bit more about Taeyong despite only speaking with him once.

You weren’t the only one who had fallen into the group of people who had “Taeyong Syndrome” (as labeled by your brother), but you certainly spoke nothing of it when most of his fans were from his own house, not wanting to be teased when you were in Slytherin of all houses.

“Professor Slughorn sent me an invitation to a get-together tonight,” Jaehyun says to you one morning at the breakfast table. “Want to come?”

“No thanks,” you grimace. “I’m not interested in your little Slug Club parties.”

“But Doyoung said—”

“Especially not if Doyoung’s going to be there.”

[all-the-love-harold]

Chapter 14 - Wedding Bells

Master post 

Come and Talk about Harry and Poppy 

August 30th, 2017 -21 Weeks

“Did you just…” Poppy looked at Harry, shocked by what he had just asked, hands still over his on her bump

“Marry me” he urged her, intertwining his fingers with hers

“Harry are you crazy?”

“Maybe, but Christ Poppy, I want this, I don’t want to spend my life with anyone else, I want this baby to have a proper family, with a Mum and Dad” he leant in a little closer “I know we haven’t been together for very long, and maybe this is a little crazy, but what about my life right now is normal?” He brought his hand to her face “I love you Poppy, I have since the day we became friends, I don’t want to wait any longer to start our life together”

She brought her hand up to his on her face, slamming her lips against his to shut him up, once he had a chance to react, she felt his tongue press against the seam of her lips, parting them, she allowed him in for a moment, pulling away before things got too heated.  

“Yes” Poppy giggled, resting her head on his “Fuck yes Harry, I’ll marry you”

He pressed another kiss to her lips “before the baby comes?” he asked a little tentatively, aware of how little time the both of them had before he left for tour.

Poppy laughed, leaning her head on his shoulder “If you can get it organised and get my family here, before you go on tour, then sure, we can get married before the baby comes”

***

September 8th, 2017 – 23 Weeks

The last week and a half had been absolutely crazy, between the beginning of Live Lounge month at work and trying to get the wedding organised so last minute, Poppy was exhausted. But it meant a lot to Harry that the wedding happened before the baby came, he wasn’t his father, but if they were married, then the baby could take his name, and that was as close as he could get.

Today was the day Poppy had dreamed about ever since she was a little girl, and while she had never imagined that she would be pregnant, everything else was how she had always dreamed it would be. She were in a slight daze, as Lou did her hair and makeup and her sister, Addie and Gemma buzzed around the room, making sure the dress was ready to put on when Lou had finished.

“I’m going to run next door, make sure the groom hasn’t run away” Gemma said, walking towards the door

“Gemma!” Addie, exclaimed, “don’t say that! She’ll cry again”

“I’m not going to cry” Poppy rolled her eyes “go check on him Gems, he’ll be a nervous wreck” she smiled, and Gemma walked out of the room. Harry was getting ready in the room next door, at such short notice, he was unable to find a proper wedding venue, so instead he he’d hired a house in Holmes Chapel where the wedding could be hidden from prying eyes. The house had a big enough garden for the ceremony to take place outside and there was plenty of room in the house for the reception after the wedding.

“You’re all done love” Lou smiled, fluffing Poppy’s hair a little before she offered her a hand to help her stand up

“Thanks Lou” she looked at her hair, admiring her work “it looks great”

“You look great” she said, “I’ll go swap with Gemma, keep Harry’s nerves at bay while you finish getting ready” she twisted the handle on the door and turned her head back towards Poppy before she walked out “No more tears, don’t ruin your makeup” She closed the door and left Poppy and Addie in the room.

“You look beautiful Pop” she said, bringing the dress over to her “If I can look half as beautiful as you do right now on my wedding day, I’ll be happy”

“Just don’t be pregnant for it” Poppy laughed

“Hey, if this little bump never happened, you and Harry would still be pretending not to be in love”

She smiled “That is probably very true”

“What’s true?” Gemma asked as she walked back in the room

“The bump made Harry and I fall in love” Poppy said to her

“Took your bloody time” she laughed “right” she clapped her hands “let’s get you dressed”

***

“One, Two, Three, Four” Ed counted as Poppy’s dad grabbed her hand at the beginning of the aisle, placing a kiss on her hand and smiling at his eldest daughter, who he was about to give away to the love of her life, her best friend, her knight in shining armor, her Harry. The gentle strumming of the guitar began, and Addie started her walk down the aisle, closely followed by Gemma. They were both dressed in dusty pink dresses, with flowers woven into their hair and they looked stunning as they made their way to the arch where Harry was standing.

Ed had lengthened the introduction to the song so that he would start singing as Poppy walked down the aisle.

“Settle down with me

Cover me up

Cuddle me in”

Poppy’s dad looked at her and she took a deep breath, taking her first step towards the rest of her life. She concentrated on her feet, focusing on each step, trying to avoid making eye contact with any of the guests, knowing that as soon as she did, she would start crying.

“Settle down with me

And I'll be your safety

You'll be my lady”

Halfway down the aisle, she looked up to see Harry, standing there, smile on his face as their eyes met. He was in awe of how beautiful she looked and as she looked up at him, all the butterflies that had been in his stomach all day, vanished, and he was overcome with love for Poppy. He couldn’t quite believe that this was actually happening, it was a day he’d always dreamed about, but never in his wildest dreams, did he imagine that it would be Poppy Thomas, meeting him at the end of aisle.

“This feels like falling in love

Falling in love

We're falling in love”

As Ed played the final notes of the song, Poppy’s Dad placed a gentle kiss to her hand, and passed her into Harry’s grip.

“You look beautiful” he whispered into her ear as they both turned towards the minister

Poppy  smiled at him mouthing a ‘thank you’ as the minister began to speak “Friends and Family of Poppy and Harry, welcome and thank you for being here on such a momentous day for the young couple. We are gathered together to celebrate the very special love that Poppy and Harry share by joining them in Marriage. Poppy and Harry,” She smiled at the both of them, glancing down at her bump, “your marriage today is the public and legal joining of your souls that have already been united as one in your hearts. Marriage will allow you a new environment to share your lives together, standing together to face the world and all that it can throw at you.” Poppy looked up at Harry, who was already looking at her, and smiled knowing that together, they could take on the world. “With that said, I would now like to invite Anne Twist, Mother of the Groom, to read a poem”

Anne made her way to the podium, taking out a folded piece of paper and placing it flat against the wood, speaking into the microphone as tears fell gently from her eyes “Harry and Poppy, the relationship that you have grown together stands for love that will blossom and grow with each passing day. Swami Omkarananada, put into words what I couldn’t, so I’d like to read a poem of his to you now; Love has wisdom that can solve every problem. It possesses the great patience which waits until, drop by drop, an ocean is formed. Love is royal in dignity, brave in spirit, unbreakable in substance, and divine in nature. It does not complain, does not judge. It transforms everything that it touches. It rules everything to which it presents its own Light. It understands and yields only to conquer fully. Love has numberless resources and inexhaustible energies.”  She stepped away from the podium, tears rushing down here cheeks as she made her way back to her seat just behind Harry.

“It’s now time for the vows” the minister said, looking back at Poppy and Harry “could the couple, please turn and face one another”  they both turned to look into each other’s eyes, joining both their hands “Mr Styles, do you have your vows ready”

He cleared his throat, letting go of Poppy’s left hand and searching the inside of his suit jacket for the piece of paper that he’d written his vows on “Yes” he said, voice shaking as he unfolded the paper “Poppy” he looked at her and took a breath, “ I have loved you since we were 18, long before we both thought the same thing” he laughed and cleared his throat as she heard Niall Liam and Louis snickering in the crowd “Sorry,” he shook his head as she rolled her eyes at him “I’m not going to do that, we were 19” the crowd laughed, catching on to the reference a little late “I’ll start again.” He cleared his throat “Poppy, You have been my best friend since the day we met, and for the last four years, I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my life with you, you’re the most wonderful woman I know, I love you, not only for what you have made yourself, but for who you have made me,  I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for me, my sweetest creature, wherever I go, you will always bring you home.” The tears were falling freely from Poppy’s eyes now “Poppy, my love, I promise, from this day forward, to be your companion and your friend, I promise to love you, even when I don’t, I promise to lift you up when you’re feeling down and to laugh with you in your happiest moments, our life together will bring many ups and downs, but I promise to always be there for you, no matter where I am in the world. I promise, that for the rest of our lives, I will love you with my whole heart, I will brighten your darkest days, and above all else, I promise to be your best friend, from now, until forever.” Tears began to fall from his eyes now too and Poppy reached up to wipe them away with her thumb and he chuckled at her “Poppy Marie Thomas, I love you more than anything in the world and I couldn’t be happier to be spending the rest of my life by your side”

Poppy felt the urge to kiss him over take her, as the tears streamed down both of their faces

“Damn it Styles” she giggled through her tears “you stole my thunder” the crowd laughed and so did Harry, shrugging his shoulders with a smug look on his face. “Harry,” she smiled at him, “If you told me when we first met that we’d be getting married in four years’ time, I would have laughed in your face, but I’m the luckiest girl in the world, to be standing here next to you, about to start our life together. To the world, you’re a rock star, but to me, you’re the weirdo that used to show up at my door at 2am with two tubs of ice cream, because he was lonely” she giggled and wiped some tears from her eyes “it may have taken me four years to fall in love with you, but I have never been so sure of anything in my life, I love you more than anything in the world and I promise that, for the rest of our lives, I will love you, I will love you when you’re touring the world and I haven’t seen you for weeks, I will love you when you’re tired and jetlagged, I will love you at your best and at your worst.” she paused for a moment, taking a breath and letting Harry wipe the tears from her eyes “Today,” you sighed “I am marrying my best friend, I love you Harry Edward Styles, you’re my rock, my sunshine, my home, thank you for loving me too.” Harry leant in and placed a light kiss to her lips, smiling widely at her

“Not yet” the minister laughed, “let’s get to the rings”

Grimmy walked over to them, holding the box with the rings, grinning at them both as he handed Poppy’s ring to Harry.

“Repeat after me; I, Harry Styles”

“I Harry Styles”

"give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today”

"give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today” he placed the ring on her finger, smirking at her.

“Poppy,” the minister said as Grimmy handed her Harry’s ring “Repeat after me; I Poppy Thomas”

“I, Poppy Thomas”

"give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today”

"give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today” She  placed the ring on his finger

“Now” the minister sighed “You may kiss the Bride”

Harry leant down and placed a tender kiss to Poppy’s lips as their families and friends stood and cheered and he pulled away and grabbed her hand. They both walked back down the aisle, hand in hand, starting their new life together, as Mr and Mrs Styles.

***

Poppy’s Mum and Anne had the inside of the house set up beautifully. There were white sheets draped from the roof, covering the downlights making the room feel cosy. The tables were decorated with the most beautiful bunches of flowers Poppy had ever seen, and the chairs were covered with white cloth, tied together with a dusty pink ribbon that matched the bridesmaid’s dresses and Harry’s bow tie. The lower level of the house was spacious and open enough to comfortably fit all the guests. On such short notice most, people they had invited had been unable to make it and because Poppy’s family had to come from Australia, she’d only invited her immediate family and God Parents. But everyone that mattered had made the time for them both, and neither of them minded, having always dreamed of a small wedding.

“Alright” Ed said, making his way to the microphone “it’s time for the couple to have their first dance.” Harry had asked Ed to sing because he knew that he was one of Poppy favourites and it meant a lot that one of his friends was there to sing on such a special day.

Harry took her hand and helped her stand, leading her over to the dancefloor as Ed put his guitar over his shoulder and started playing. Poppy draped her hands over his shoulders while his rested on her waist. As they began to sway to the tune of the song, looking into Harry’s smiling eyes, the rest of the room disappeared, it didn’t matter that all the eyes in the room were on them, right in that moment, everything that mattered was right there in front of her, hands on her waist, thinking exactly what she was.

“You're the best friend

That I ever had

I've been with you such a long time

You're my sunshine

And I want you to know

That my feelings are true

I really love you

You're my best friend

You're the first one

When things turn out bad

You know I'll never be lonely

You're my only one

And I love the things

I really love the things that you do

You're my best friend”

Harry moved his right hand from Poppy’s waist to her bump as she leant her head on his chest.  The music echoed through her ears as she listened to his heartbeat, feeling the baby move with his touch. This was finally the little family that she’d always dreamed about.

The song ended, and they took their seats again as Ed, who had agreed to MC the night, invited Grimmy and to make his best man speech.

“Right” he said taking the mic from Ed and putting his hand on Harry’s shoulder “I’m going to keep this short and start by thanking everyone on behalf of the couple, for being here tonight, especially on such short notice.” Harry joined his hands together, as if he was praying and blew kisses to their guests, like he did when he was on stage and Poppy smiled at up at him “I’ll be speaking on behalf of the maid of honour tonight because she agreed that I know Poppy well enough and she was too shy to make a speech” Addie looked at Grimmy and thanked him while Poppy smiled at her, reassuring her that she didn’t mind.

“Over the years, these two” Grimmy pointed at them both “have become my best friends, I’ve known them separately and I’ve known them together, and let me tell you” he sighed “they are much better together.” Harry rested his hand on Poppy’s knee as Grimmy spoke “As you would all know, Harry and Poppy met in Heathrow airport, in the most cinematic way possible,  Poppy was sitting at a coffee table, Harry came and sat next to her, she told him she had nowhere to live for a few weeks, he let her stay at his house while he toured the country, they fell in love right there and then, but it took them four years to admit it to each other. In those four years, they formed a bond that most of us can only dream of, they really are two of the most loyal people you will ever meet and I know that both of them would do absolutely anything for each other. So, in the name of keeping this short, I’d like tell you both how much you mean to me, and everyone else in this room, and offer you a massive congratulations on your wedding” Grimmy started to clap and their guests all joined in as Poppy and Harry smiled at them all “your future together will bring you many reasons to smile, and I’m sure I speak for everyone in this room when I say that we’re beyond excited to meet the little guy in a few months.” He picked up his glass of champagne “To Mr and Mrs Styles” the guests all raised their glasses in a toast to Poppy and Harry and Poppy took a sip of water from her champagne glass, while everyone else had wine.

***

The celebrations ended around midnight and Poppy and Harry watched as all their guests left the house, except for those who were staying there, which was mostly Poppy’s family. Eventually, once the place had cleared, Poppy made her way upstairs, closely followed by Harry, who was a little tipsy but not too drunk because he promised he would only have a few drinks, knowing that she couldn’t have any.

“Hey, Mrs Styles” Harry giggled as he closed the door to the room that Popp got ready in.

A smile spread across her face at the sound of Harry calling her ‘Mrs Styles.’ “Hi Husband Harry” she giggled

“Husband Harry” he laughed, grabbing her by the waist “I like that- has a nice ring to it”

She giggled, turning around in his arms, reaching her arms up to cup his face and placing a gentle kiss on his lip “Thank you for Marrying me”

“It’s an honour” he said, kissing her again.

After a few more stolen kisses, Poppy turned and allowed Harry to help her out of her dress and into her pyjamas. They were both exhausted from the crazy week they’d had had trying to organise this wedding, and as they both finally made it to the bed, they were too tired to even think about getting up to mischief on their wedding night.

Poppy grabbed her phone off the bedside table, desperate to see some wedding photos that would have already gone online and found that she had six missed calls from an unknown number. Confused, she entered her Passcode and saw that she also had a text from the same number.

“That’s my baby Poppy, stop pretending it belongs that greasy haired idiot. I’ll be taking you to court for custody. Danny”

[universally-the-same]

The miracle of manifestation

For the past month or so, I've been focusing my energies on working with the law of attraction.  This year has been particularly challenging.  My husband works in the agricultural field, so usually spring and summer is a period of financial abundance for us which helps carry us through the winter when his hours are reduced.  But this year, instead of an abundance of overtime, there has been an abundance of rain.  This has caused less business for him which in turn has reduced his hours.

Ironically though, this period of uncertainty has given us more time together in which we've been growing spiritually as a couple.  We've aligned our dreams for the future.  The only challenge that lies ahead is the financial freedom to be able to bring those dreams to fruition.  Earlier this summer, in the usual timely turn of events, my social media news feeds started to flood with posts about manifesting.  I decided to look into it to see what all the buzz was about which is when I discovered the law attraction... the idea that "like attracts like".  Not happy about your current situation?  Change your attitude and become the energy that you want to attract.

Okay.  Become financial freedom.  Hmmmm... how do you do that?  Well, I guess the first step is to really figure out what you want.  Once you've done that, figure out how much money you need to live that life you dream.  This is what I did on July 9.  I had a day off from work and unbeknownst to me at the time, it the week of the new moon (which brings the lunar energies of new beginnings with it).  I felt incredibly drawn to sit out in my yard and journal.

I created a sacred space, sank down into my chair, put pen to paper and the words flowed out of me effortlessly.  I wrote about the world my husband and I wanted to create, every element that I could imagine.  After all, one of the secrets to manifestation is in the attention to the details.  You have to see it, feel it, and be it.  After several hours and pages later, I got off that cushion (with a hand cramp!) and a clear vision of what we wanted, why we wanted it, and the magic number to get there.

One of the pieces that I believe is really important in manifestation work is to determine what your talents are.  Why? So that you are manifesting a life that will utilize these talents to help you reach your highest good.  It's also important to consider how you can give back to the Universe.  How can you use your talents and your new life to make this world a better place?

Over the next few weeks, we took time to meditate on our new plans.  We worked on raising our energy so that we are focusing on gratitude for what we have, and not focusing on what we are lacking.  With any task that resembled our new life, we started to complete it with purpose and resolve; grateful for the opportunity to perform the task and confident that we will do the same task on a much larger scale in the near future.

On July 21st we took a little road trip to Crystal Connection.  An eclectic crystal shop that was originally a church.

After nearly a year of wanting to make the drive, I'm happy to say that it was worth it.  The energy in the space was unreal.  We spent close to two hours in that store, ogling everything in site!  I was in crystal heaven.

Something that I've been wanting to do for months now is create a crystal grid.  They say that by placing your stones in a geometric pattern with a pointed tower stone in the middle (known as a generator) will help to intensify the energy you are looking to create.  Well, I couldn't think of a better energy to intensify than our desire to manifest our dreams.  So that day, in that little transformed church, I bought the crystals that would make up our grid.

The following weekend, under the full moon, we created vision boards to represent everything that we want to achieve together.  It was such a fun, creative, unifying project to do together.  Each day, we look at our boards and reinforce our intentions.  It helps keep the vibrations high and the energies positive.

Last week was Lion's Gate.  For those who don't know, Lion's Gate is an annual astronomical event that occurs on August 8th.  It's when the Sun, Earth and the star Sirius align.  The symbolism behind it is that it opens a portal each year for spiritual growth, allowing you to step into your knowledge in a deeper way.  The thought that we are in an "11 manifestation" year (2+0+1+8=11), means that this Lion's Gate that just passed had the added bonus of having energies to help intensify and move things along.

I knew I wanted to do a little ceremony celebrating this special night.  Having never done one before, I didn't know what to say.  I went outside that morning, ready to see the cosmic alignment in person, but was instead greeted by the sliver of a waxing moon.  The energy in the air was so peaceful.  So gentle.  After spending a few minutes outside, I was inspired to write my first intention prayer which I read later that evening.

As my husband and I read the words, focused on our dreams, and placed the crystals on our grid I was filled with so much love, gratitude, hope, (yet at the same time) certainty.

After having a few financial setbacks this week, I was beginning to doubt my faith this practice of manifestation.  Thankfully, I confided in my cousin (@findingyourownmagic) who reminded me that it wasn't my job to know how or where the money would come from.  My job was to trust in the Universe.  My job. Was to believe.  So that's what I did.

Monday, I received a phone call from a very unexpected source.  Did we win the lottery?  Not exactly, but we received enough to help ease my worried mind.  I easily sobbed 6 or 7 times yesterday.  Tears of gratitude would stream down my face as laughter would erupt from my belly.  The last time my heart was filled with that level of gratitude was when I was teenager and I had just made my (then) biggest dream come true.  Being able to get in touch with that little girl again, that joyful heart and soul, was truly as incredible as witnessing the miracle of manifestation unfold.  Any doubts that I had are long gone.  I believe with my whole heart more now than ever, that our dreams will come true.

For anyone out there looking to sincerely open your heart to the possibilities of the law of attraction, you should seriously give it a try.  But do your research.  Come from a genuine place, and place your trust into something you can't see.  I can't wait to share the next chapter of this story with you.  I don't know when it will happen, but I can tell you that when it does, it will be WonderFull. ♥

*this blog post was originally posted on my StayWonderfull blog on 8/15/2018 when it was a personal blog, and moved to my Universally the Same blog.

[teamhook]

My Fics Retold:

Hello. So I’ve decided to do a relaunch of my WIPs. When I first started writing them I was so afraid of getting a Beta because I was insecure about my writing. I know I’m not the best, but I wanted to write about my OTP. I finally got over my fear. They are Beta'ed by the amazing @ilovemesomekillianjones I wanted to show that I’m not abandoning any story. No fic left behind. Thanks for reading!

Cover By the lovely @xhookswenchx

Tagged a few friends: @revanmeetra87  @hookedonapirate @searchingwardrobes @seriouslyhooked @ilovemesomekillianjones @kymbersmith-90 @kmomof4 @djlbg @mayquita @andiirivera @thesschesthair @pirateherokillian @onceuponaprincessworld @aprilqueen84 @snowbellewells @resident-of-storybrooke  @branlovestowrite  @sherlockianwhovian  @shireness-says @tiganasummertree  @dassala @onceuponaprincessworld @let-it-raines @profdanglaisstuff @stophookingatmeswan  @optomisticgirl  @gingerchangeling  @xemmaloveskillianx @xhookswenchx @wellhellotragic @phiralovesloki 

|AO3|   |FFN|

Chapter 1: The Wedding

E-POV

Emma stares at her reflection in the full-length mirror. She looks at the image she makes today, dressed in the most modest white wedding dress she has ever seen. It’s plain and simple, nothing exquisite or extravagant about it, nothing like the dress that she had always dreamt of when she was a young girl.

Once upon a time, the day she’d been promised a betrothal to August, she’d envisioned such a dress. Unfortunately, she will not be marrying August, the man she loves, as she must protect him and her family's honor.

This is my duty, is all she keeps telling herself. She knows it is crazy, but she still longs for August, even though he chose another. Tears slowly fall and it makes her more determined to conclude this transaction because essentially, that is all it is - a business deal.

A soft knock raps lightly at the door and Mother Superior’s voice sounds softly. "Emma, it is time. They are ready for you."

Emma slowly walks to open the door and closes her eyes desperately hoping for a sign that she doesn't need to go through with it, alas nothing happens. She has no choice, so she slowly covers her face with the sheer material her veil is made of. This is her final moment of freedom.

She can faintly hear the wedding march playing on the other side of the tall twin doors. Suddenly the doors open and she starts her walk down the aisle. She holds her head high and the voices fade into the back of her mind by the time she reaches the altar.

The priest starts reciting the exchange of vows consent.

"Emma and Killian, have you come here freely and without reservation, to give yourselves to each other in marriage?" They both answer in unison, "Yes." The priest continues, "Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?" They answer, "Yes." "Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?" The answer is prompt, "Yes."

“Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church." They heed the priest’s words. Killian looks at Emma and says his vows.

“I, Killian, take you, Emma, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. "

Emma takes a breath and starts her vows in reply. "I, Emma, take you, Killian, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

They follow the traditional vows with the Blessing of Rings and a kiss that seals their union. Although this is not their first kiss, Emma has never experienced a kiss like this one before, a kiss tinged with the promise of something more. Quickly composing herself, Emma puts that thought in the back of her mind. Suddenly everything is a whirlwind around her and the next thing she remembers is finding herself in a carriage with her husband, headed to an unknown destination.

Not long ago she was ready to make vows of a different variety. Losing her love had broken her heart. She couldn’t bare living under the same roof as the happy couple. She tried not to let it show that she was hopelessly in love with her cousin's husband. She knew love would never find her, so the only choice was the convent.

But now, so many changes have happened so fast. This marriage is the only choice she’s decided for herself, no one can take this from her. Never again will Emma find herself at the mercy of others.

That lovely chapel in the convent had been her haven for a short time, but now a new endeavor is upon her. Emma looks at her husband and hopes that God will forgive them for a marriage that was not entered in the name of love. They had lied through their teeth to the priest.

She had felt the guilt right away, but the alternative is not an option.

K-POV

Killian Jones always considered himself a patient man, but right now that ability to wait is nowhere to be seen. He feels powerless and he hates that feeling. Killian looks toward the doors, willing his bride-to-be to finally show herself. For a few seconds, he fears Emma has betrayed him.

He looks around the chapel. There are no loved ones here to show support on either side, just some novices and a few of the older nuns. He has no family in town left alive, only a longtime friend that refused to show because he does not agree with this marriage.

When he finally hears the music begin to play, Killian takes a breath and tries to form a smile. He looks to the opening doors and finds himself entranced by the woman slowly making her way to him. He is not a blind man, she is beautiful, but sadly she is not the woman deeply embedded in his heart. But he will have his happy ending and it does not matter what needs to be done or how long it takes for him to get it.

The priest starts reciting the exchange of vows consent.

"Emma and Killian, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?" They both answer in unison, "Yes." the priest continues, "Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?" They answer, "Yes." "Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?" The answer is prompt, "Yes."

“Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church." They heed the priest’s words. Killian looks at Emma and says his vows.

“I, Killian, take you, Emma, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. "

Emma takes a breath and starts her vows in reply. "I, Emma, take you, Killian, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

They follow the traditional vows with the Blessing of Rings and a hope-filled kiss that seals their union. It is a first kiss that holds so much promise for both Killian and Emma, they are unknowingly courting danger as neither suspects true love could soon be in the cards for them.

Not long after the ceremony, the newlyweds find themselves in a carriage headed home.

Killian can see the guilt all over his wife's face. He didn't know how it was possible to be able to see her truly. Yes, he knows his way around women, but with Emma, it is something entirely different.

"Darling, we will arrive soon to our new home," Killian says, and their eyes meet and time stands still for a brief second.

[missmyloko]

What’s In a Book? Part 28

On The Bonus Day Of Fun I present... a book review! It’s hard to believe that my last review was also done last year! This year I’ve really set my sights on buying a few books that my collection dearly needs, so this will (hopefully) not be the last review you’ll see in 2019!

Book’s cover courtesy of Amazon Japan. 京都五花街 - 祇園甲部 - 宮川町 - 先斗町 - 上七軒 - 祇園東 - The Kyoto Gokagai by Hiroshi Mizobuchi 溝縁ひろし (ISBN 978-4-8381-0432-1) Date of Publication: 2010 Language: Dual Japanese and English (Mostly) Format: Softcover Availability: Still being printed and easily found online Price: $15 Errors: 1 As can be guessed by the look of the cover, this book came between Kyoto Hanamachi and The Kagai In Kyoto. Already with the title and introduction we can see how the author is now using the more correct term of “Kagai” instead of “Hanamachi” as that is the term used in Kyoto. It’s also nice to note that if you look at the English page with the publishing information you’ll notice some Japanese text and numbers at the bottom. These are actually the statistics for how many maiko and geiko were active at the time! I’m not too sure why they were kinda hidden there, but it seems like a fun easter egg for people who are paying attention. As of September 2009 there were 194 geiko and 89 maiko, which isn’t too far off of the current count of 188 geiko and 74 maiko. One of my only qualms is how the book begins. Even though pretty much every event has the information written in Japanese and English the entire index is written in Japanese only. This would be remedied in his next book, but it seems like a bit of an oversight that should have been corrected for this book. Overall, the book is split into three separate parts: The Calendar of Events, The Miscellaneous Maiko and Geiko Information, and The Gokagai Directory. Part 1: The Calendar of Events We’ve seen this before numerous times, so I’ll quickly list off each event covered, along with a small blurb. Each event name is as it appears in the book: Shinen New Year’s Day - Details the kadomatsu ornaments outside of businesses. Shigyōshiki Year Opening Ceremony - Ceremony to officially open the kagai. There’s a few pages of photographs showing the ceremonies in each kagai along with descriptions, but they’re only written in Japanese. Hatsuyori New Year Greeting - Gion Kobu’s special rounds. Setsubun Seasonal Division Ritual and Obake Disguise - Ceremonial dances performed at various shrines along with bean tossing and dressing up in costumes for ozashiki. Baika(sai) Plum Blossom Festival - Outdoor tea ceremony at Kitano Tenmangu hosted by the maiko and geiko of Kamishichiken.   Oishi Ki Memorial Service - Special memorial service for Kuranosuke Oishi, leader of the 47 Ronin, held at the Ichiriki. Miyako Odori Dance Performance - Gion Kobu’s annual spring dances. Kyō Odori Dance Performance - Miyagawa Cho’s annual spring dances. Kitano Odori Dance Performance - Kamishichiken’s annual spring dances. It’s placed after the other two as the Kitano Odori used to take place at the end of April; it now takes place during the last week of March and the first week of April. Takasegawa Canal Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival - Held by the maiko and geiko of Pontocho each April. Dance Dedication For Annual Festival of Heian Shrine - The spectacular dedication dances of the four kagai associated with the Heian Shrine. You may know it better from its Japanese name as the Heian Jingu Reitaisai Hono Būyo Matsuri.  Kamogawa Dance Performance - Pontocho’s annual spring dances. End of Miyako Odori Rituals - The Gion Kobu maiko and geiko praying together with their Inoue teachers for a successful Miyako Odori. It used to take place each year on May 1st as the odori ran from April 1st to the 30th at the Gion Kobu Kaburenjo, but since it’s been moved to various locations for the past three years while the kaburenjo is undergoing retrofitting the dates have changed. In 2019 it will take place on April 28th. Kanki Inari Shrine Festival - Gion Higashi’s big event for the spring where they celebrate the ongoing success of the shrine with an outdoor tea ceremony. Fumi No Kai Singing Performance - A nagauta festival hosted by Miyagawa Cho in the early summer. Kyoto Gokagai Traditional Dance Performance Miyako No Nigiwai - The annual combined dances of the five kagai on the third weekend in June. There’s seven pages of images dedicated to this event! Beer Garden - Various outdoor beer gardens hosted by Kamishichiken. Since theirs has proven to be very popular Miyagawa Cho and Pontocho have also followed suit in recent years. Osendo Thousand Time Shrine Visit - The gathering of all maiko and geiko of Gion Kobu together with their dance teachers to pray for success on July 7th in specially made yukata. It’s better known by it’s other name of Miyabi Kai Osendo. Sannin No Kai Performance - An event held only a few times from what I can find. It featured the best dancers from Gion Kobu, Pontocho, and Miyagawa Cho and ended with a dance by Yachiyo Inoue and Mitsugoro Bando, the heads of the Inoue and Onoe Schools. Gion Festival - The massive festival that takes place for the majority of July and is one of Japan’s Big Three festivals. It also details the Hanagasa Junko and the Dedication Dances by the maiko and geiko who are selected to perform each year. Yukata Kai Summer Music Learning - Annual event held by Miyagawa Cho in which the performers all wear yukata. Since this book was written Kamishichiken and Gion Higashi have also began their own Yukata Kai. Hassaku Summer Greeting - The annual rounds of thanks on August 1st each year. Autumn Dance Performance Practice - Beginning in September the gokagai each get ready to host their annual fall dances. Zuiki Festival - Annual event in Kamishichiken that celebrates the harvest. Onshū-kai Dance Performance - Gion Kobu’s annual autumn dances. Mizue-kai Dance Performance - Miyagawa Cho’s annual autumn dances. Kotobuki-kai Dance Performance - Kamishichiken’s annual autumn dances. Suimei-kai Dance Performance - Pontocho’s annual autumn dances.  Jidai Festival - The annual procession that celebrates over 1,200 years of Kyoto history with participants dressed in period accurate clothing. Fire Drill - Annual demonstration of how to put out fires by maiko of each district. Gion Odori Dance Performance - Gion Higashi’s annual dances. Chion-In Gion Odori Presentation Dance (知恩院祇園をどり奉納舞) - This part was in Japanese only, and it appears as though after the Gion Odori the maiko and geiko of Gion Higashi did a dedication dance at Chion-In following the Gion Odori. I am not aware of this event still existing though. Ohitaki Fire Festival - Annual event held at all shrines where wishes written on paper are ceremoniously burned. Kanikakuni Festival - Annual dedication of flowers at Osamu Yoshii’s monument that features his famous poem Kanikakuni. Ichi-go Ichi-e (Treasure Every Encounter For It Will Never Recur) Autumn Tea Ceremony Party - An event held by the maiko and geiko of Gion Kobu in which they perform a tea ceremony and dances. I do not recall this event happening within the past few years.  Gion Kouta Festival - Two maiko from each kagai read the lyrics of the famous Gion Kouta in front of a monument in Maruyama Park. Each kagai takes part on a rotating basis. Kaomise Soken Kabuki Watching - Annual viewing of the first kabuki performances of the year by each kagai. Kitano Kencha Tea Dedication Festival - Annual tea ceremony hosted by the maiko and geiko of Kamishichiken that celebrates the tea festival held by Toyotomi Hideyoshi that lead to the establishment of Kamishichiken. Kotohajime New Year Preparation - Visit to the head of each dance school where maiko and geiko give a gift of pounded rice cakes and receive a new fan to use in the new year. Okotosan Year End Greeting and Okera-bi Fire Offering - The annual year end greetings where maiko and geiko receive fukudama and the shrine fire ceremony where maiko and geiko light a special rope that is then used to light the oven for the new year. Part 2: The Miscellaneous Maiko and Geiko Information   A short section that features an interview with a maiko (Japanese only), the misedashi process (Japanese only), a section about various maiko accessories, such as hair ornaments, hanameishi, dance fans, pocchiri, and kago (Japanese only), maiko hairstyles (Japanese only), the erikae process (Japanese only), the hiki iwai retirement process (Japanese Only), and ozashiki asobi practices (Japanese only). This is then followed by a two page blurb about Shimabara, which is written in Japanese and English. Part 3: The Gokagai Directory This may seem a bit odd to English speakers, but listed within are the history of each kagai, maps of the kagai, where all ochaya are located on said maps, and even the phone numbers for each ochaya. Obviously you can’t just call up these places as you need an introduction, but it’s not uncommon for Japanese publications to print phone numbers for businesses. This is still practiced with odori program books too! Like his other books, this section is entirely in Japanese. Like all of his other books, the real charm here is from his absolutely GORGEOUS images. This book is loaded with images for each event and even some random outdoor images that mark the changing of each season. It’s a feast for the eyes that makes this book worth the (very affordable) price alone! During the entire book I found one error, and it’s an English issue. In the introduction the English part states that a shikomi period can also be known as a minarai period, but it’s correct on the Japanese side of the text in that it states that the minarai period comes after the shikomi period. For those of you who are looking for an affordable book that details the events of the gokagai along with stunning images then this is the book for you! Rating: ✪✪✪✪✪ (out of 5)

[heeydolan]

Marry Me {G.D.}

Summary: An invitation to Grayson’s wedding wouldn’t be triggering so many feelings for Y/N if he were marrying her. Still, she attends the event but quickly realizes how hard it will be to hold back emotions once the day arrives.

A/N: I’ve seen a ton of writings based off of the song Marry Me by Thomas Rhett but I decided to put a twist on it! So that is what this imagine is inspired by! ; )

Warnings: N/A

WC: 2.9k

masterlist

Y/C = Your City

August 3, 2020

It has only been about 3 years since Grayson and I decided to go our separate ways.

Our romantic relationship had ended but we mutually agreed to continue to be friends.

I knew in my heart I would always love him but I never knew missing him would never stop.

We met in January of 2016. Soon after his wisdom teeth video came out, I told him how I felt about him and made sure he knew he was more than good enough. We broke up in early December of 2017. Our schedules were getting too hard to sync with each other. Him traveling between New York for TRL and LA for YouTube put a toll on us. My schooling, work, and family & friends all being in Y/C made it hard for me to pick up and visit him.

Even after the breakup, we continued talking almost everyday through texting, snapchat, or quick FaceTime calls. It was so obvious we were still so in love with each other.

That is until almost a year later when he began dating Sara Bradley. The FaceTimes stopped, the random 'how was your day' texts were not received anymore, and the snapchats were slim to none. I understood, though.

I had found a boyfriend and we dated for about a year. I eventually broke up with him before we got any deeper into our relationship. I had unconsciously been comparing him to Grayson with everything he did so I ended it when I accepted the fact I was still hung up on Grayson. It wasn't fair of me to drag him along and basically treat him as a rebound.

I open one of the white envelopes I had just taken out of my mailbox and my heart drops as I read the invitation inside.

Please Join Us For The

Wedding of

Sara Bradley & Grayson Dolan

as we celebrate their joining as one.

September 12, 2020 @ 3 o'clock pm

417 County Rd 513, Califon, NJ

I sit the invitation down on the island in my kitchen. I let a tear slip from my eye as I continue to stare at it and think about how I always hoped we would find our way back to each other.

He is my person.

Now there's no way for me to get him back.

- - -

September 12, 2020

I take one last glance at myself in the full body mirror before turning in my heels and walking out of the hotel room.

When I reach my rental car sitting in the parking deck, I slide in. I feel my heart break a little more as I spot the wedding gift I brought for the soon-to-be newly weds sitting in the passenger seat. I wrapped it in a t-shirt I had kept of Grayson's. I figure now is a good time to return it since it wouldn't be appropriate for me to continue holding on to it.

-Flashback-

"Is that my shirt?" Grayson asks me through our FaceTime call. I had been wearing it this whole hour we've been on the phone and he just now noticed.

I giggle and shrug my shoulders, "Yeah, it is."

"Looks good on you," he looks down awkwardly, "guess I have to steal it back next time I see you." We have been broken up for about six months now and I have no plans on returning this shirt.

"I'm going to conveniently forget to ever give it back to you."

-End of Flashback-

I slowly walk up to the gift table and set mine down. I take a quick glance at the picture of Grayson and Sara that is on display. I quickly turn around to walk towards one of the waiters carrying a tray of full wine glasses.

"Wine ma'am?" He grabs a glass and pushes it in my direction while he mumbles a description of it.

"Thank you." I take it and sip at it as he walks away.

"Y/N!" I hear a familiar voice call. I look to the direction the voice came from and immediately see Ethan walking towards me.

"Hey E!" I grow the first real smile since the day I got the wedding invitation. He pulls me into a hug and I notice how much his scent smells like Grayson used to.

"Are you here with anyone?" He looks around me, trying to find someone who came with me, but fails.

"No, I flew out alone." I take another sip of my wine and notice the glass is quickly beginning to empty.

"So are you still living in Y/C?" He questions.

"Yes, I am." I chuckle out. 

Ethan's phone begins to ring, "It's Gray, I better go tend to the little drama queen. I'll find you during the reception though!" He quickly says as he is walking away.

"Sounds good, but you're still the drama queen Ethan!"

"No way! I've never been a drama queen!" I watch as Ethan disappears into a room nearby then I focus my attention on the rest of the people here.

Half of them I recognize as family and friends of Grayson that I had met when we were together. The other half I assume are guests of Sara.

A couple people come up to me and greet me, letting me know it's nice to see me after so long.

"Y/N is that you? Wow I haven't seen you in 3 years!" I hear a voice behind me.

"Lisa! Hi, yeah! It's been a while." I pull her into a hug then turn to Sean who is standing by her side.

"How are you?" He asks as I hug him.

"I'm surprisingly good." I lie, "are you guys doing ok? Today's a big day for y'all too!"

"Oh, well," Sean begins, "we, uh–" Lisa cuts him off.

"–we're happy Grayson's happy." she says with a little uncertainty in her voice. "But hey, it was really good to see you, sweetie. We're going to take our seats now. It's about to start."

We say our goodbyes and I watch as they walk towards the double doors that lead to where the ceremony is being held.

"That's who he should be marrying." I hear Sean whisper to his wife. I see her nod her head as if she's agreeing. I lightly smile to myself then I decide to walk in, too.

I take a seat in the back row. Time seems to be going by so slow as I wait for the wedding to begin.

I start to think I should go find Grayson and just tell him how I feel. Lay it all out with no regrets. As much as I want to, I just know I can't put him in that position. I can't be the reason this day is messed up. If he had second thoughts because of me, I'm sure he wouldn't have went through with this.

Finally, the wedding is beginning. Grayson is standing at the alter waiting for his bride to walk through the doors and straight to him.

Once the music starts, the double doors open. A train of bridesmaids and groomsmen walk down the aisle. This includes Cameron as a bridesmaid and Ethan as the best man.

I begin to wonder if Grayson even knows I'm here. I try not to look up at him too much due to the fact I don't want to know if he's looking at me or not.

Sara begins walking down the aisle with her dad. She looks gorgeous and that makes my heart break into even smaller pieces than they were before.

I quickly turn my focus on Grayson. His eyes are glued on his bride as she slowly walks towards him. He has a slight grin on his face but besides that he is completely frozen in place. I assume this is due to the fact he knows mostly everyone is staring at either him or the girl he's about to marry.

The officiant begins the wedding. I tune out everything and get lost in my thoughts. I feel a tear sneak out of my eye and I quickly wipe it away. I try to focus back on the event occurring in front of me but realize I'm too lost in my thoughts about Grayson that it's practically impossible.

The tears begin to silently pour out of my eyes and with that I know I have to get out of here. I walk towards the closest exit and quickly open it to escape.

I don't even worry about the door and if it slams shut or not– which it does– I just run. I run to my rental car and I get in as quickly as I can.

I make my way towards the only place I know how to get to in New Jersey without a GPS.

Grayson's P.O.V.

I call Ethan as I stand in the dressing room alone. He doesn't answer but seconds after I end the call, he's walking into the room with me.

"What's up bro?" Ethan questions me as he shuts the door. The voices of guests from the other side of the wall quickly dim down.

"I can't get this stupid tie." I reply with anger. I fiddle with it for a few more seconds until Ethan makes his way over to help.

"Chill, I got it." He quickly fixes it with no problem and I take a seat, putting my face in my hands. "I don't know if I should tell you this or not but," he pauses and I look up, "she's here bro, alone."

My heart completely drops with those words. I knew exactly who he was referring to as 'she'.

My love for Y/N never really went away. I started dating Sara to kind of get over Y/N. Don't get me wrong, I do love the girl, it's just different when it comes to Y/N. Once Y/N got a boyfriend, it was obvious she was over me. Things with Sara went on, day by day, and eventually I asked her to marry me.

Ethan saw straight through it, though. That's why he told me Y/N was here. That's why he told me she was here alone.

"Ethan," I begin, "I love her so much and I miss her more than anything in this world. I can't–" I'm cut off by the door opening. Luckily, it's just my sister.

"Hey, Gray," Cameron peeks in, "this is from Sara." She extends her arm out and hands Ethan a box. I stand up and start pulling at my hair, pacing the room.

"I didn't get her anything, shit."

"She said you would say that," Cameron simply says, "she said not to worry about it." And with that she shuts the door and is gone.

Ethan hands me the box and I open it. I pull out the brand new rolex watch. It has a tag on it that reads "See you at 3:00. Xo, Sara."

I pull out the piece of notebook paper that is also in the box.

It reads:

Graybear,

     Today is the day you finally make me your wife and I make you my husband. You are the man of my dreams and I couldn't have picked a better partner for the rest of my life. I'll keep this short so you can finish getting ready, but I love you. Thank you for being perfect.

      Xoxo,

          Sara (almost) Dolan

I sit the paper down on the table and put the watch back in the box.

"You good?" Ethan asks.

"I–I–"

"–Grayson, we're ready for you." The officiant cuts me off by opening the door.

I gather myself and walk to my spot on the stage. Tons of people are here, fulfilling Sara's dream of having a huge wedding. The seats are completely full, familiar faces and some not so much. But there is one face I see that begins to change my mind about everything.

Y/N.

I don't stare at her due to the fact there are a lot of eyes on me but I do keep thinking about her.

Like Ethan said, she is here alone. I could just run up to her now and kiss her and profess my love for the girl. But what if she does have a boyfriend? And what if she's over me?

My thoughts are interrupted by the music beginning to play. I watch as everyone walks down the aisle, my eyes darting back and forth between them and Y/N.

God she's beautiful.

Once Sara is in view, I keep my eyes on her. I force a smile on my face but for the life of me, I can't move and I can't smile any bigger than this creepy smirk.

That's when I start to wonder. Why am I going through with this? Why am I standing here waiting for someone who doesn't even compare to the girl I want to be with?

But still, I do nothing to stop this. It's like my body won't let me.

Sara and her father, now standing in front of me, hug as he gives her away to me. She steps up on the stage and takes both of my hands.

With everything in me, I keep eye contact with her. It seems to be the hardest thing I've ever done in my life but I assume it's because Y/N is sitting on the other side of the room.

When I was with her, I could never stop staring at her. I took every chance I could to soak up her beauty.

I hear a door slam and I unconsciously look to the exact spot Y/N is.

She's gone.

I force my attention back on Sara and listen to the preacher.

"Now, do you, Grayson Bailey Dolan, take Sara Grace Bradley to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in–"

"I can't." I hear myself say.

"What was that?" The officiant questions my words.

"Graybear?" Sara squeaks out, obviously on the verge of tears.

"I can't marry you." I pull my hands away from her, "I'm sorry." And with that I begin running to the place I knew Y/N would be.

Y/N P.O.V.

I take a seat in a booth towards the back of the small diner, my back facing the door.

"I haven't seen you here in a while." The familiar waitress walks up to me. "I heard that Dolan boy you were always with is getting married today. I always thought it would be to you." I give her a small smirk but look back down at the menu.

"I'll just take a coffee, please."

"Coming right up sweat heart." She walks away but quickly returns with my cup of coffee.

I sit here and just think.

On a scale from 1-10, how stupid am I for showing up here? What made me think I could sit through Grayson's wedding and think it wouldn't rip my heart out?

"It's you." I hear a voice behind me, "It's always been you, Y/N." I slowly turn around, not knowing if the out of breath man is who I think it is or if I’m just completely losing it.

As soon as our eyes met, I jumped out of the booth and wrapped him in a hug.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting married right now?" I question, tears falling from my eyes for the billionth time today. He pulls away from my embrace and begins to wipe the tears from my cheeks.

Holding my face in his hands, he speaks, "No, I shouldn't be getting married right now. Not to her. Not to anyone unless it's you, Y/N. I love you. I've loved you since the day I met you in the airport and I loved you more when you told me I would always be good enough for you. My love grew for you the day I officially asked you to be my girlfriend when we were watching that stupid movie in the basement at the old house." We both chuckle, tears still falling down my face, "The day we broke up, believe it or not, my love grew for you then. I knew it wasn't what I wanted but we were stuck in an unhealthy cycle we just had to get out of. Seeing you in a relationship made me love you more but at that point I knew I would never have you again. I thought you moved on, found someone better. Someone who had time to give you. Trying to love Sara made me love you more. She never has and never will be able to compare to you or the love I have for you. You, Y/N, are the one for me. The one I want– no, need– to be with."

"Grayson–" He cuts me off by pulling my lips to his. I wrap my arms around his neck and he wraps his around my back, picking me up off the ground.

We hear cheers from the waitresses and the other few customers in the small diner. I smile into the kiss and pull away, looking into his gorgeous eyes.

I have missed this, him, us more than anything in the world.

"I love you, too, Gray." I whisper against his lips.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.” 

[justholdinghandsok]

Gillovny timeline 2018 (part 1/2)

I usually post the timeline every six months, so I’m a little late this year, but here it is, right before the first Gillovny Con of the year!

As usual, feel free to tell me if I forgot something!

Here’s the full timeline since 2016

#BTS

January 3rd: 

- For The X-Files season 11 premiere on Fox, Gillian posted this picture of David, Chris and herself. “Gangs all here! Tonight at 8/7c.”

- And this picture of David and Mitch. “Ooh don’t they look spiffy?”

Walk of Fame

January 8th:

- David couldn’t be at Gillian’s ceremony but he left her a sweet message. “Gillian, you said you would be next to me when you died, too. Well, you were right. But this isn’t death, it’s a beginning. So much more to come for you. In the meantime, I hope your fans sprinkle chocolate on your star the occasional Hollywood midnight and some kind soul builds a Gilly ramp from your star to mine. We will always be joined as partners, friends, and neighbors. Congratulations Gillian. Love, David” (watch the full ceremony)

- A guy made both Gillian and David sign a picture of them at their respective ceremonies. Here’s what happened. 

- David liked a tweet with an “heart-eyes emoji” and the picture of Gillian’s star ceremony. (source)

#TCA, #TBT, #BTS and The ChemistryTM 

January 10th: Gillian keeps going on with the red speedo. “Because I wasn’t in this scene and because this isn’t disappointing, I’m putting this out there.” 

January 12th:

- David makes up tells a new story about how they met for the first time: “Celebrating 25 years, makes me look back when I first met Gillian. It was during the casting, I was looking for some matches and she took them out and approached me, just like that, without saying a word.” (read the interview)

- David and Gillian did a panel for the TCA and have been asked about their chemistry. Gillian said: “And I feel like just this year, I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for the uniqueness of what people always ask me about and referred to, “What about your chemistry,” and, you know, “You got chemistry,” you know? But it was it’s special. And it’s a chemistry that often there are elements of it that show up when we’re, you know, side by side doing interviews, but most of it shows up” (read the full panel report)

January 14th: Gillian changed her Ebay icon to this picture.

January 17th: Gillian tweeted this video of a bear on the set, a call back to this story. 

January 24th:

- Gillian tweeted this little video of David. “2,945,002...2,945,003..”

- And this picture. “Scully drove. Her feet reached the pedals.”

January 31st: Gillian posted this picture. “Just when you think life’s a peach....” and later, this set of pictures of she and David. “A series.”

February 2nd: On a podcast, David is asked about his relationship with Gillian: “there’s a personal history that’s strong, there’s a personal history kind of encompasses this life changing and career making enterprise that we did together. We have that bond of like having started when we were just kind of individual people and then becoming this huge thing and only the other one knows what that’s like. And then we have all this acting that we’ve done together so I don’t think we even try to play any kind of anything.“ (listen to the full podcast)

February 7th: Gillian posted this picture. “Killing time between takes.”

February 9th: Gillian retweeted David’s release of his new album.

February 19th: During an interview in Australia, David is asked about his friendship with Gillian: 

Interviewer: “But you’re friends. You’re mates. You’re back doing it?”

DD: I can see that you are concerned.

Interviewer: I am concerned. This is a big deal to me. I need to know.

DD: We are friends. We are friends. (watch the interview).

February 20th: Gillian posted this manip of Virtue & Moir with their faces. “Did we win?”

February 28th:

- Gillian posted this little video of David and Darin Morgan and the blobfish. “Which of these three is not like the others?”

- And this picture of David. “Safety first.”

March 7th: Gillian posted this picture of she and David. “Very serious episodes call for a throwback to a smile”

March 14th: Gillian posted this little video of David. “Getting ready for a night out!”

March 21st: Gillian posted this #tbt. “Lara Croft for dummies.”

More #BTS, Cons’, mutual admiration and dick songs

April 8th:

- Gillian was in Belgium for the Facts Convention. During the panel, she said that her favorite part of the revival was to work with David again. (source)

- She also said about David: “David and I become really good friends over the years. We become closer over the years. At the end of the day, we realized that we were probably the only two people who were ever going to have the experience that we had together. So, there was something special in all of that to celebrate and to respect and to honor. It helped us to slow down and lean in to the friendship.“ (watch the full panel)

April 28th: David gave a “confirm or deny” interview to The New-York Times: 

Interviewer: You’ve never read Gillian Anderson’s sci-fi novels?

DD: Deny.

Interviewer: You’ve never socialized with Gillian.

DD: We’ve gone out to dinner. You know, between five and 10 times.

(Read the full interview)

May 1st: Gillian tweeted for David’s book Miss Subways’ release. “Yup he’s done it again!“

May 17th: David is on a radio show when this singer has a particular song for him. “Stick it in Gillian.”

May 21st:

- Gillian posted this picture. “Warm and dry and resigned.”

- And this video of David. “Sploded head prep”.

- And this manip. “Wait...I thought this was what's next.”

June 10th: Gillian posted a picture in her instagram story with a very famillar message... “Be here now.” (source)

June 17th: David and Mitch are at the Alien Con. 

- Here’s David’s theory about what Gillian might have whispered during the church scene. 

- And David telling the neck brace prank again. 

(Watch the full panel)

June 29th: Gillian’s makeup artist for a photoshoot called David “her partner”. Kinda... (source)

The X-Files season 11 BTS are out!

July 19th:

- A few clips from The X-Files season 11 DVD start to leak, starting with the now famous “goodbye Mister Duchovny”, (full video)

- Then the even more famous “I love you.” “You too.” 

- And the gags real, of course. 

(here’s a masterpost with links to all the BTS, here are some screenshots of the documentaries, a little video of the church scene BTS)

#WTFTM

- July 30th: David is in London for a comic con. He and Gillian are spotted having dinner together with their “partners”. (source)

Birthdays wishes

August 7th:

- Gillian wishes David a happy birthday. “Happy Birthday Mr. Duchovny!”

- David responded. “The gift that keeps giving...”

August 9th:

- David wishes her back. “Right back at ya Ms. Anderson...Happy Birthday!“

- And Gillian responded something spicy... “Thank you! You know how much I love sweet and spicy...chocolate.”

To be continued...

[captaincanarygotmelike]

Fic: Voices Carry ch. 20

So apparently it's been a whopping three months since my last update. Whoops. Here's a super long chapter to (hopefully) make up for it.

Read on AO3

Read on Fanfiction.net

After the incident at the playground, Sara saw Nate one more time before he left for Star City.

He stopped by the apartment at Sara’s request to talk about how to move forward.

“Where’s Avery?” Nate asked.

“Len took her to the park for the afternoon,” she told him, “I wanted to talk with you one-on-one. Sit.”

Nate took a seat in the upholstered armchair while Sara sat on the couch.

There was a beat of silence before Sara spoke.

“You know you crossed the line, right?” she asked him, “I had one request: that you didn’t tell Avery you’re her dad, and you couldn’t even manage that.”

“Look, I’m really sorry,” he said, leaning forwards, his hands clasped as he balanced his elbows on his knees, “I swear it was a mistake, I didn’t know Avery would get so upset and I’m sorry.”

Sara exhaled heavily.

“Thank you,” she nodded, “I appreciate you saying that.”

“You know, I was a little surprised you even asked me to come back,” he said.

“Believe me, it’s not because I wanted to,” Sara replied. Nate’s face fell slightly, “But it would be wrong of me to keep you out of Avery’s life, especially now she knows who you are.”

“Thank you,” Nate nodded vigorously.

“I guess now I need to know what you want to happen next,” she continued, “I know it’s hard because we live in different cities, and she’s starting school again soon, but would you maybe want to try taking her overnight or something?”

“Yeah, totally,” he answered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Okay, well, my best friend’s wedding is in a couple weeks so we’ll be spending a few days in Star City. We could do it then?”

“Definitely,” he nodded, “That’d be awesome.”

He didn’t stay for too much longer before he left to catch his train. Sara was glad for the reason to see him go.

She always felt drained when she spent time with Nate. It made her wonder how she’d actually dated him for so long — almost a year, believe it or not. He’d just been so charming and seemed genuinely interested in her, although knowing that the person she’d been with before him was Oliver Queen made her think that perhaps her definition of those two qualities had been skewed at the time.

She meant it when she said that she wanted Nate to have a chance to be in Avery’s life, but it certainly wasn’t easy on her.

It made her think about Leonard. He’d been handling everything so well — dropping Avery off with Nate when Sara couldn’t (or didn’t want to), offering his genuine unbiased opinions when she needed to make decisions, not punching Nate in the face when he was being a jackass (which was often) — and it made her forget that this couldn’t be easy on him either.

She knew his experience with his own father had somewhat dissuaded him from being one himself, but the relationship he’d formed with Avery had proven him wrong. Sara could tell that he loved being Avery’s dad, and she was sure it was uncomfortable at the very least to have some of that taken away.

Not that he’d ever tell her any of this. Sara had long since learned that Leonard tended to avoid sharing his feelings if he didn’t have to. If she sensed something was wrong, she had to dig it out of him. She knew that some people wouldn’t see that as an appealing quality, but Sara usually didn’t mind. She just didn’t like to think he was suffering alone.

Except he wasn’t alone. Sara had told him time and time again that she would go to the ends of the Earth for him, and no matter how many times he rolled her eyes when she said it, she knew he believed her.

A few weeks after Sara’s conversation with Nate, they all headed to Star City for Felicity and Oliver’s wedding.

“I feel like we should just move here,” Leonard commented as they sped past the ‘Entering Star City’ sign.

“Don’t even joke about that,” Sara replied, shaking her head warningly.

Not too long later, they had checked into their hotel room, though they didn’t stick around too long before they headed out once again.

They successfully made it through the rehearsal dinner (Leonard generously left early to put Avery to bed and Sara successfully avoided an interaction with her sister) and they woke early the next morning to prepare for the wedding.

Sara was Felicity’s maid of honor, so after a quick breakfast with Avery and Len, she headed off to the wedding venue to help Felicity get ready.

Getting everyone’s hair and makeup done took an astounding four hours, including the times Sara left to see how Oliver and the groomsmen were doing (they were fine, watching a Star City Rockets game that might have also detained Sara for a half hour).

Finally, two hours before the ceremony began, it was time for Felicity to put on her dress.

“You look so beautiful, baby!” Donna Smoak gasped when Felicity emerged from behind a curtain in her wedding dress.

“Thanks mom,” she said, a hint of exasperation in her voice as her mother hugged her.

Felicity did look beautiful. She had chosen a ball gown style dress, a contrast from the tight-fitting clothes she usually opted for. It was strapless, with a lace bodice and crochet details on the tulle skirt and train. Rhinestone detailing along the waist complemented the gems pinning up her hair.

Her bridesmaids, Sara, Thea, Iris, and Elena, were in long dresses of a deep forest green color. There was a wide satin band around the waist and a tall slit up on side of the skirt. The halter neckline was cut low, the strap narrowing to reveal an open back.

“You look great, Lis,” Sara nodded.

“Are you sure?” Felicity asked nervously, looking at her reflection in the full length mirror.

“Yes,” they all reassured her.

“When are pictures?” she asked, smoothing out the tulle skirt of her dress.

“Five minutes,” Sara told her, “The guys are ready. We can head over now if you want.”

Felicity nodded.

An hour later, when pictures were done, Sara stopped by the hotel to see how Leonard and Avery were doing.

She entered the room to see Leonard standing by the window, straightening his tie. He looked over when the door opened.

“You ready?” Sara asked as she walked towards him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Felicity?” he asked.

“Everyone’s getting their makeup and hair touched-up before the ceremony starts,” she replied walking further into the room, “Thought I might stop by and see how things are going here.”

Sara tugged lightly on the lapels of his jacket. She’d never seen him in a suit before. He was always in his dark jeans and heavy leather jacket (she’d noticed that the blue parka hadn’t made an appearance in a while, but if because of the mid-August heat or because he was ready to put that part of his life behind him, she wasn’t sure).

Today, he was in a suit of a deep navy blue color. Underneath the jacket was a grey vest and a white dress shirt.

“You clean up nice,” she said, watching him tuck the red tie beneath his vest.

“So do you,” he replied, his eyes sweeping up and down her green dress.

“Thanks,” Sara smirked, “Felicity has good taste.”

“That she does.”

A moment later, Avery bounded out of the bathroom in the outfit Sara had picked out for her: a halter sundress that tied into a bow around the nape of her neck. It was a longer length than Sara would normally opt for to hide the scrapes and bruises Avery had acquired during long summer days spent on the playground, and printed on the pale blue fabric were large flowers of navy blue, lilac, red, and gold hues.

“Mommy, you look so pretty!” Avery exclaimed.

“Thank you, Avie,” Sara smiled, “Do you like your dress?”

“Yeah!” she said, spinning in a circle to make the long crepe-y skirt flair out, “Look Mama, I match Daddy!”

She pointed to a navy blue flower on her dress before frantically poking at Leonard’s leg.

“I can see that,” she nodded, smiling. She glanced at her phone, “I should get back to Felicity soon. And you guys should start heading over too.”

Leonard nodded.

“Do you want me to bring Ave’s bag for tonight?” he asked.

Sara thought for a moment, “I’ll take it. I can leave it in the back room of the wedding place until the reception.”

“Is the wedding soon,” Avery asked as Sara found her backpack wedged between one of the beds and a side table.

“Uh-huh,” Sara nodded, “Ave, you know I’m not gonna be sitting with you during it, right?” Avery nodded, “You’re gonna sit with Daddy and behave and not make a lot of noise?”

“Yup,” she chirped.

“Good,” she said, “Okay, so I’m gonna go now. Be good for Daddy, okay?”

“Okay.”

Sara kissed Leonard, and planted another in Avery’s curls and then headed back out the door.

About thirty minutes later, Leonard and Avery were sitting in ornately carved wooden chairs, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Oliver and Felicity had chosen to have their wedding in the glass-walled conservatory of a manor on the outskirts of Star City. Even Leonard could appreciate how beautiful it was, with the afternoon sunlight shining into the room and greenery growing up the walls.

“Hey.”

Leonard turned in his seat to see Laurel standing in the aisle next to him. Avery turned with him, her face brightening when she saw who had spoken.

“Auntie Laurel!” she exclaimed, climbing over Leonard’s legs to reach the aisle.

“Hi Avery!” Laurel said, lifting her up into a hug, “Are you excited to see the wedding?”

“Yeah!”

Laurel put Avery back on the ground.

“How’re you, Leonard?” she asked.

“I’m good,” he nodded, “and you?”

“Uh, well,” she began, “I’m at the wedding of my ex-boyfriend — alone — because my husband is the best man, so…confused would probably be a good word for it.”

“Well, it’ll be over soon,” he amended.

“Sara’s in the wedding?” she asked him. Leonard nodded, “She still hasn’t talked to me since…y’know.”

“I think she needs time,” he replied. She nodded.

Laurel glanced over her shoulder to see Quentin waving for her.

“I should go,” she said, “I think the ceremony’s gonna start. Maybe I’ll see you at the reception?”

“Maybe.”

Laurel smiled, waved to Avery, and turned away from them.

“Daddy?” Avery asked. Leonard looked over to her, “Is Mommy and Auntie Laurel fighting?”

“Yes.”

“How come?”

“That’s what sisters do sometimes.”

“Does Lisa fight with you?”

“Sometimes. More a few years ago than now.”

“How come d’you fight?”

“Lisa isn’t always the best at making decisions.”

“All rise,” the officiant said a moment later, his voice carrying across the room.

Leonard stood up along with everyone around him.

“Daddy, I can’t see,” Avery said, tugging on his sleeves. Leonard lifted her under her arms and stood her on a chair.

“Good?”

“Uh-huh,” she nodded, “Where’s Mommy?”

“She’s coming soon,” he replied.

A door at the back of the banquet hall opened and Felicity’s mother, Donna, started down the aisle.

Donna was wearing a summery floral-patterned dress with a neckline he knew Felicity wouldn’t appreciate.

Leonard had gotten the chance to meet Donna Smoak at the rehearsal dinner the night before. She seem to be quite a foil to her daughter, brazen and high-strung, yet still likable. She was, unsurprisingly, infatuated with Avery and was very disappointed to hear she wouldn’t be in the wedding (Felicity had initially wanted Avery to be her flower girl, but when she found out that Leonard and Sara were getting married, she insisted Avery wait to be flower girl for her parents’ wedding).

Donna made it to the end of the aisle and took her seat right in front of the alter.

A moment later, Oliver appeared beside the officiant, dressed in a sleek black tuxedo. He shook the officiant’s hand, straightened his jacket, and turned to face the wooden door at the back of the room.

The door opened again and one by one each of Felicity’s bridesmaids made their way down the aisle, arm-in-arm with a groomsman.

Oliver’s sister Thea walked with her boyfriend Roy, followed by Iris and Barry. Last was John Diggle and a young, short woman named Elena.

Leonard was impressed with himself for knowing who all of these people were without a formal introduction to any of them, but Sara talked to Felicity a lot, and he would be lying if he said he hadn’t picked up on some of the family drama, and there was certainly a lot of it.

The “drama” that went down in his own household had been of a much different variety than hers, and he found it intriguing to see a normal family experience their own trials (although as more time went by, the more he was convinced this was not a normal family).

“Look!” Avery exclaimed, her voice at a volume clearly meant to be a whisper, “Mama!”

Leonard looked where she was pointing and saw Sara starting her walk down the aisle. Tommy Merlyn, Oliver’s best man, was by her side. Sara was smiling good-naturedly, quietly laughing at something Tommy had said.

“Mommy!” Avery said, her voice not quite a yell, but certainly audible.

Sara looked over as she reached their row of seats.

“Hi Avie,” she whispered, her eyes twinkling as she waved.

Sara continued down the aisle and soon Felicity came into view.

“Look,” Leonard murmured, lifting Avery up so she could see over the heads of the other wedding attendants. When Avery saw Felicity in her wedding dress, walking arm-in-arm with her father, she let out a gasp.

“Daddy, look, she looks like a princess!” she said, gripping his shoulders and craning her neck to see better. Avery waved to Felicity. She glanced over, smiling in their direction when she saw them.

A minute later, she reached the alter and everyone took their seats.

“Daddy?” Avery whispered, tugging on Leonard’s sleeve, “Is Mommy gonna look as beautiful as Auntie Lissy when she marries you?”

“Your mom is beautiful all the time,” he told her, his voice quiet.

“But she doesn’t wear wedding dresses all the time,” she responded.

“That’s right She doesn’t do that,” he amended.

“And wedding dresses make you a gazillion times even more beautiful.”

“I think that’s your answer, then.”

The wedding went by relatively quickly, and mostly consisted of Leonard explaining the ceremony to Avery.

“Why’s Ollie talkin’?”

“He’s giving his vows.”

“What are vows?”

“He’s promising to Felicity that he’ll love her forever.”

“Is he gonna?”

“I hope.”

“Why’s Lissy talking now?”

“She’s giving her vows.”

“Why?”

“Same reason Oliver did.”

“She’s gonna love him forever?”

“Theoretically.”

“What’s theoretically?”

The ceremony didn’t drag on like Leonard suspected, and soon Oliver and Felicity were making their way back down the aisle together.

Ten minutes later, they had all reconvened in the manor’s formal banquet hall decorated in shades of cream and gold.

“It looks like a princess castle!” Avery had exclaimed when they first entered the room.

Leonard had been to few weddings throughout the course of his life, and this one was certainly the most extravagant. He rarely interacted with polite society (besides stealing from them, but that part of his life was over). It was interesting to him to see this lifestyle, this lavishness, when it was considered by many in the room as normal. He had never been in the same room as Oliver Queen before, and although he didn’t seem quite as clueless as Tommy Merlyn, he gave off a similar air of ignorance, a life of affluence preventing him from being able to fully recognize all he had.

He didn’t participate in much of the wedding festivities, choosing instead to sit and observe. He watched Oliver and Felicity’s first dance, set to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (which was number eight on a list of common first dance songs, something Leonard had looked up just to spite Sara, who thought it was sweet). As they were finishing up dinner, the toasts began.

Donna went first, her too long and overly revealing speech ending with her in tears and Felicity with her head in her hands.

Tommy went next, talking about the childhood he’d spent with Oliver, and how they had been together through all the important stages of their lives (it was a touching toast, Leonard had to admit, although he figured Laurel was behind at least most of it).

Sara was last. She hadn’t prepared a toast, at least not a fully written-out one like the other two — it wasn’t her style, but she ended up delivering a lovely speech about her friendship with Felicity, supporting each other when no one else would.

“How was that for impromptu,” she whispered gleefully as she returned to her seat. She gave Avery a high five.

When everyone finished eating, the dance floor was opened up to the rest of the wedding attendants.

“Let’s go dance, Len,” Sara said, nudging his arm with her shoulder as she nodded to the dance floor.

“Are you watching the time?” Leonard asked Sara, ignoring her request.

“No,” she replied, her expression blank.

“Nate’s gonna be here in three minutes.”

“Shit,” she said, recognition dawning across her face, “Where’s Avery?”

Leonard tipped his head to the side. Sara looked over to see Avery playing with the flower girl, a cupcake in each hand and frosting all over her face.

“Oh God,” Sara said closing her eyes momentarily before calling for her daughter, “Avery, c’mere!”

Avery looked up and then ran over to her mother.

“You’re double-fisting cupcakes, my love,” Sara told her, ruffling her curls.

“They’re good!” she chirped, taking an impossibly large bite out of a cupcake and smearing even more lilac-colored frosting on her cheeks.

“I don’t doubt it,” Sara said, attempting to wipe the frosting off with a napkin, “but we gotta go. Your dad’s waiting for you.”

Avery’s face fell.

“But I don’t wanna go. I wanna stay at the party.”

“I know, but you promised you’d stay with him tonight, and you’re gonna do fun things there too.”

“Can he come to the party?”

“Uh…no. C’mon, say bye to Daddy and then we have to go.”

While Avery hugged Leonard, Sara found Avery’s backpack hanging off of her chair. She held it out for Avery and watched as she pulled her arms through the straps.

“Ready?” she asked. Avery nodded. Sara took her hand and led her into the foyer of the manor.

Nate was waiting for them, sitting on an upholstered couch. He stood up when he saw Sara and Avery approaching.

“Hey,” he said, meeting Sara’s eyes, “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” she replied, “You ready?”

“Yeah, totally,” he nodded.

“Well, here she is,” Sara said. She looked at Avery, “You ready to go?”

Avery nodded. Sara looked back up at Nate.

“Okay, so basically everything she needs is in her backpack. She’s eaten — sort of. It was  mostly cupcakes so she still needs dinner. She’s not a very picky eater, so she’ll probably be fine with whatever works for you. Her bedtime is at eight, but if you wanted, you could keep her up a little later.”

Nate nodded.

“Okay,” he said, “Sounds good.”

“And if you need anything, just text me or call.”

“Got it,” he nodded, “You ready to go, Avery?”

Avery nodded, not letting go of her mother’s hand. Sara crouched down and pulled her into a hug. She felt Avery’s arms wind around her neck, her fingers gripping her hair.

“You’re gonna have fun, okay?” Sara whispered into Avery’s curls, “I promise.”

She felt Avery nod.

Sara stood up and gave her a little nudge forward.

“Have fun,” she said as they started heading for the front door that was being propped open with a barrel filled with purple flowers. Avery turned and waved as they passed through the doorway. Soon they were down the porch steps and out of sight.

Sara took a deep breath and then headed back for the banquet hall.

“Well that was shitty,” she said when she returned to the table and saw Leonard in the same place she’d left him.

“She didn’t want to go?” he asked as Sara sat in the chair next to him.

“Not really,” she replied, “She seemed kind of…I dunno, uncomfortable?” She met his eyes, “Was this a mistake?”

“I really don’t know,” he answered. Sara let out a sigh, leaning over to rest the side of her head on his shoulder.

A moment later, Felicity came up behind them.

“Did Nate pick Avery up?” she asked. Sara nodded as she sat up.

“Just now.”

“Aw, that sucks,” Felicity said, leaning over to hug her from behind, her arms wrapping around Sara’s shoulders, “I mean, I’m sure she’ll have fun with him, but…y’know, it can’t be easy.”

Felicity stood and walked around their chairs.

“But look on the bright side,” she said, gesturing around them, “You’re at a fancy party. The booze is free, for you at least, and you don’t have a kid to take care of.”

“She has a point,” Leonard agreed.

“When have you ever looked on the bright side of anything,” Sara grumbled.

“Cute,” he smirked.

“You’re seriously both encouraging me to, what, get hammered on my night off?” Sara said skeptically, “Really?”

“Yes,” they said simultaneously.

“You deserve it,” Felicity added seriously.

Sara raised her eyebrows thoughtfully.

“Fine,” she said, “I’m gonna go get a drink — or two — and then you,” she poked Leonard’s chest, “are gonna dance with me even if I have to drag you out onto the floor.”

She stood, feeling his eyes on her as she headed for the bar.

She ordered two shots of an alcohol she hadn’t had since right after Avery was born (and then never again — waking up hungover sucked, but waking up hungover at dawn to a screaming newborn was damn near prison torture) and a whiskey for Leonard. She downed one of the shots before even leaving the bar. Just as she picked up the other two glasses to head back to the table, she saw her sister making her way towards her. She drank the other shot, wondering briefly if she should order another before Laurel was standing in front of her.

“Hey Sara,” she said.

“Laurel,” Sara said, forcing a friendly smile onto her face, “You look nice.”

“So do you,” she replied, “As always. Your wedding invitation came in the mail yesterday. I was a little surprised to see it.”

“Yeah, well, Lisa told me not to just send emails,” she joked.

“I’m serious,” Laurel said, “I was sort of surprised to see you actually invited me.”

“Well, you are my sister,” Sara shrugged, “Of course I’d invite you to my wedding.”

“So you aren’t still mad at me about Nate?” she asked.

“I think you’re smart enough to know it’s gonna take more than a month and half for me to get over that,” she said, lifting the glass of whiskey meant for Leonard to her lips.

Sara couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or resignation she saw in Laurel’s eyes.

“Okay, well, I’m sorry, I guess,” she said, “I hope he’s not causing you guys a ton of trouble.”

“No, none at all,” Sara said sweetly. She ordered two more shots for herself and another whiskey for Len and then walked away from her sister.

“That looked less than amicable,” Leonard commented when Sara returned to the table, accepting the glass of whiskey.

“Let’s just say Felicity is lucky I love her so much because I would love to beat some sense into my sister.”

Felicity and Leonard were ultimately unsuccessful at getting Sara completely hammered, but when they returned to the hotel room at nearly eleven o’clock, her wide smile and uncharacteristic giggle were reminding Leonard of when Sara had to take pain meds for her bullet wound to the stomach several months ago.

It didn’t last long.

“I hope Ave’s doing okay,” she said morosely, pulling off her silver heels and letting them drop onto the carpeted floor.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Leonard reassured her, loosening his tie, “She usually has fun with him.”

“I know,” she nodded, “but she’s never spent the night with anyone before.”

“That’s not true,” Leonard replied, “She sleeps at your mom’s house all time.” Sara opened her mouth to argue but he continued, “and when you had to stay at S.T.A.R. Labs for a few weeks after the warehouse incident, Lisa stayed with her.”

“She trusts them though,” Sara argued, turning away from him and pulling her hair over her shoulder. She was still as he unzipped the back of her green dress, “She hasn’t known Nate for very long, maybe not long enough to spend a whole night with him.”

Sara went into the bathroom, leaving the door open to hear Leonard’s response. as she changed into a t-shirt and shorts.

“You left me alone with her when you only knew me for a month,” he said, “and I’m not actually her dad.”

“Yeah, but that’s because she was, like, obsessed with you,” she replied, “She trusted you before I did.”

“She has good taste,” he replied, and Sara could practically hear his smirk. She rolled her eyes.

She picked up a hairbrush off the counter and went back into the hotel room where Leonard was now in a t-shirt and sweatpants, sitting on one of the queen-size beds with a book.

“I just feel like I’m rushing into it,” she said, shrugging as she sat cross-legged next to him.

Sara’s phone, resting on the bedside table, starting to ring.

“Who is it?” Sara asked, starting to run the hairbrush through her hair.

Leonard, closer to the phone than her, leaned over to read the name on the illuminated screen.

“Speak of the devil,” he said, handing the phone to her, “It’s Nate.”

“What does he want?” Sara asked, then held the phone up to her ear, “Nate, what do you want?”

“Avery’s saying she doesn’t feel good,” Nate replied.

“Okay,” Sara replied, slowing down so she could process what Nate was telling her, “What’s she saying is wrong?”

“She says she has a sore throat.”

“Did you give her Tylenol or cough medicine or something?”

“No. I don’t have any kid’s medicine.”

Sara closed her eyes, “You agreed to take Avery for the night and you don’t have children’s medicine? Where do you have her sleeping, the floor?”

“Sara,” Leonard said warningly, but when she looked to him, there was a hint of a smirk on his lips.

“Look, take a regular Tylenol pill and cut it in half,” she told Nate, “That’ll work. Oh, and she can’t swallow pills because she’s four, so you have to crush it and put it in ice cream or something and have her eat that.”

“Okay,” Nate said.

“And if it starts to be too much, call me and I’ll come get her. I won’t hold it against you,” then she added, “Probably.”

“Okay,” he repeated. He hung up. Sara tossed the phone onto the couch and exhaled heavily.

“Ave doesn’t feel good?” Leonard asked.

“No, of course not,” she said sardonically, “because why would anything in my life be easy.”

Leonard didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry,” Sara said, her voice softer as she uncrossed her legs and curled up against his side.

“You keep telling me that and I’m not really sure why,” he replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Because everything was hard for so long and we kept almost dying and then after the Markov device things were actually normal for a while, and then hurricane-Nate showed up and now everything’s crazy and you’re all caught up in it when you shouldn’t have to be.” Sara stopped to take a breath, “You should want…better, or…easier.”

“I want you,” he replied, “and anyway, I gave up on normal after the particle accelerator exploded and the Flash showed up. Besides, I…doubt…this Nate thing will last.”

“What do you mean?” Sara asked, propping herself up on her elbow to better meet his eyes.

Leonard hesitated, searching for the right words.

“My dad would always come home from prison wanting to be a better man, and he tried. For the first few weeks, he was a good dad and a good husband, but he never could make it last. A job would go badly or my mother wouldn’t have dinner on the table at the right time or I got on his bad side, and he would lose it. My father was a man who couldn’t do a job if it wasn’t easy,” he paused, “He didn’t know how to keep trying.”

“You think Nate’s gonna be the same way?” Sara asked.

“Well, considering he didn’t try to stay with you when you told him you were pregnant, he’s not off to a great start,” he replied, “He hasn’t had any…challenges…with her yet. We’ll have to see how he does when they do happen.”

“That’s why I didn’t want Ave to know he’s her dad,” Sara said, “I wanted to give him the time to back out if he wanted to, so she wouldn’t be disappointed and he wouldn’t be known to her as ‘the dad who left and didn’t come back’ for the rest of his life. I know he thinks I was doing it to spite him, but I really wasn’t. I don’t hold anything against him anymore.”

Leonard raised his eyebrows.

“Not that much,” she corrected.

He let out a sigh.

“I just don’t want to see her disappointed by her dad’s inability to do his job, because I know what that’s like,” he said.

“Well she’ll always have you,” she said, nudging his side. He said nothing, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a hint of a smile on his lips, “I’m serious. She loves you so much that it’s actually kind of crazy. I can tell she hates calling Nate her dad because the bond the two of you have is like nothing else. She doesn’t feel it with him like she does with you. No matter what he does, and no matter how long he stays, you’re her dad, not him.”

The next morning, Sara met Nate in the lobby of the hotel to pick Avery up.

She was only waiting a minute or two before they arrived. Nate was holding Avery’s hand in one of his own and her backpack in the other.

Avery didn’t look to be in great shape, although that made sense considering she clearly had come down with something. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were drooping. The usual bounce in her step was noticeably lackluster.

Nate looked downright exhausted.

“How’d it go?” she asked as Avery let go of Nate’s hand and ran into her arms.

“Uh, it was good,” Nate nodded, handing Sara the purple backpack.

“Good,” Sara nodded, “Hey, sorry she wasn’t feeling good.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” he shook his head, “It happens.”

“Well, I know we have to head back to Central, but we can schedule another visit. We could do the same overnight thing if you wanted, or she could even stay longer if you were up for it.”

“Yeah totally,” Nate nodded, “but my work schedule is so crazy right now. Why don’t I check when I’m free and I’ll let you know what works?”

“Sure,” she replied. Nate nodded.

“Uh, so have a safe trip home,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“Bye Avery.”

“Bye,” Avery replied, pulling away from her mother to wave at him.

Nate turned and walked towards the tall glass doors and then he was gone.

Sara started towards the elevators with Avery in tow.

“I’m sorry you don’t feel good,” she said, “Did you have fun with your dad anyway?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What’d you do?”

“We made pizza outta bagels and then we watched Tangled.”

“That’s fun, you love Tangled,” Sara replied, “Do you want to press the button?”

“Yeah!”

Sara pointed to the button with an up arrow and watched Avery enthusiastically jab at it. A moment later, the metal doors parted and they stepped inside the elevator.

“What else did you do with him?” Sara asked.

“Can I do this button too?”

“Seven,” she replied, “What else did you do with your dad?”

“We played go-fish. He won a lot.”

“Oh, well that’s okay. You can’t win every game. Is that all you did?”

Avery shrugged before lapsing into a coughing fit.

“Where’s Daddy?” she finally got out.

“We’re almost there,” she said as the elevator doors parted. She led Avery down the carpeted hallway to their hotel room, letting them inside.

Leonard was sitting on one of the beds, legs crossed at the ankles, reading a book. He looked up when they walked in.

“Hey,” he said, closing the book and setting it on the quilt beside him, “How’d it go?”

Avery tiredly crossed the room and climbed into the bed beside him.

“I don’t feel good, Daddy,” she said, curling against his side.

Leonard pulled Avery closer to him, running his knuckles up and down her arm.

“That’s not fun” he said. Avery shook her head, nuzzling her cheek against his shoulder. He looked up and met Sara’s eyes, “So how’d it go?”

She shrugged, “Avery says she had fun, didn’t you, Ave?”

Leonard felt Avery nod, her messy curls brushing against the base of his neck.

“I wanna go home,” she said.

“I know,” Sara said, “We will. Soon. We just need to say bye to Ollie and Auntie Lissy before they go on their honeymoon.”

Avery didn’t answer.

Leonard held the back of his hand against her forehead.

“She has a fever,” he told Sara.

“Ave, did your dad give you any medicine this morning?”

“No,” she replied. Sara let out frustrated sigh.

“I’m gonna run out and get her some Tylenol,” she said, grabbing her phone and wallet, “I’ll be right back.”

As Sara left the hotel room, Leonard lifted Avery onto his chest, an arm across her back bracing her from slipping off of him.

She curled up against him, her cheek against his chest.

“Can you read to me, Daddy?”

“Did Nate read you the books you packed?” he asked as he reached for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

“One of ‘em,” she replied, her arms locking around his neck.

“Where’d we leave off,” he asked.

“They’re in the Beavers’ house and Edmund left to find the snow lady,” Avery answered.

“Right,” he nodded, holding the book above Avery and opening it to the dog-eared page from a couple days ago.

They read two chapters before Sara returned and gave Avery her medicine.

“Felicity and Oliver are gonna meet us downstairs in twenty,” she told Leonard, tossing a pile of clothes into her suitcase.

He nodded, standing to help her pack.

After a few minutes, Sara noticed that Avery’s eyes had dropped closed, her fist loosening its hold on her bunny blanket.

“No, you can’t go to sleep, Ave,” Sara said. Avery whined as Sara lifted her up, sitting her on the end of the bed so her legs dangled towards the floor, “I know you don’t feel good and you can sleep in the car, but you’ve gotta stay awake to say bye to Auntie Lis, okay?”

Avery slumped somewhat pathetically over to one side.

“Here,” Sara said, holding out Avery’s backpack, “Take this and just wait a couple minutes and then we’ll go.”

Avery pulled the backpack onto her shoulders and stood by the foot of the bed until Sara said it was time to go.

“Ready?” she asked, taking her daughter’s hand. Avery nodded and followed Sara and Leonard out of the hotel room.

“Do you wanna push the button?” Sara asked her when they reached the elevator.

Avery shook her head, reaching towards Leonard. He lifted her into his arms as the elevator door opened.

Felicity was waiting for them when they arrived in the lobby of the hotel.

“Hey guys!” she exclaimed, smiling brightly.

“Hey Lis,” Sara said, hugging her friend, “Where’s Ollie?”

“I guess there’s an issue with our plane tickets?” she shrugged, “He’s off taking care of it.”

“Are you excited for Italy?”

“Hell yeah,” she replied, “It’s gonna be great. You guys are heading back to Central?”

“Yeah,” Sara nodded, “Ave’s not feeling great so we’re gonna get her back home.”

“Oh no,” she said, taking Avery from Leonard to give her a hug, “That’s not fun, Avie.”

Avery shook her head in agreement.

“I’m gonna miss you guys,” Felicity said, handing Avery back to Leonard.

“Me too,” Sara said, pulling Felicity into another hug, “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you,” she said, hugging her back.

“Have fun in Italy,” Sara said, “Eat some gelato for me.”

“I will,” she nodded, “and when I get back it’s all about you.”

“Why me?”

“When I get back it’ll be only a month until your wedding.”

“Oh yeah. I guess you’re right.”

They heard the sound of vibrating. Felicity glanced down at her phone.

“It’s Ollie,” she said, “I should go.”

She gave Sara one last hug, waved to Leonard and Avery, and then was on her way.

During the following weeks, Nate took Avery overnight two more times. Sara had to admit she was starting to get tired of driving to Star City, but she knew it was the right thing to do, and besides, Avery seemed to be having fun with him.

Finally, the weekend before Avery started school again, Nate agreed to be the one to make the trip between their cities. He wasn’t taking her overnight this time, but, at Sara’s suggestion, was bringing her to a children’s amusement park a little outside Central City.

“Are you excited, Avie?” Sara asked that morning, pulling a patterned t-shirt and denim shorts out of Avery’s dresser.

“Yeah,” Avery replied from where she was sitting on her bed, “Wait it’s the one that we went to at my summer camp right?”

“Uh-huh,” Sara answered.

“Yeah!” she exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her knees, “It’s so much fun ‘cos there’s so many rides, remember?”

“I wasn’t there, but I’ll take your word for it.”

“Are you comin’ with us?” she asked, her voice muffled as she pulled her shirt over her head.

“Nope. Daddy and I have to go work on the wedding with Lisa and Iris and everybody.”

“Can I come?”

“You’re going to the amusement park with your dad, Ave.”

“Oh yeah.”

Sara watched as Avery pulled on her shorts.

“You ready?” she asked, “He’s gonna be here soon.”

“Uh-huh,” she nodded, jumping off her bed and into the hallway, “Wait, can we do daily bubble?”

“Do you want to wait and do it with your dad?” Sara asked her.

Avery paused, thinking.

“No,” she decided, “I wanna do it now.”

“Okay,” Sara shrugged, following Avery out onto the balcony

“Daddy!” Avery called over her shoulder, “Come do the daily bubble!”

“He’s at the grocery store, babe,” she told her.

“Is he gonna be back before I go?” Avery asked as she pulled the plastic top off the tupperware container holding the bubble soap.

“Maybe,” Sara replied, picking up the bubble wand, “He told me to tell you to have fun for him in case he isn’t, though. Ready?”

Avery nodded. Sara slowly dragged the pink plastic wand through the air until the bubble formed, bouncing through the air, wobbling as the wind pushed it in different directions.

“One,” Avery was counting, “Two…three…four…five.”

Sara joined for, “Six…seven…eight.”

And then it popped when a particularly strong gust of wind blew it into a nearby telephone pole.

“Aw,” Avery pouted.

“Hey, that one wasn’t that bad,” Sara told her, putting the lid back on the tupperware container, “C’mon, come put your shoes on and wait for your dad.”

A half hour later, she was still waiting for Nate.

Leonard had returned to the apartment about ten minutes earlier.

“Sorry, traffic — hey, why’s Avery still here.”

After another thirty minutes, Sara tried calling him, but he didn’t pick up.

“Mommy, where is he,” Avery asked, hanging off the back of the couch.

“I dunno, honey, he’s probably just running late.”

A full two hours after Nate was supposed to show up, the phone finally rang. Leonard picked it up.

“Hello?” he said, although he suspected he already knew who was on the other end.

“Hey, it’s Nate.”

“Avery’s here waiting for you,” Leonard told him, not bothering with small-talk.

“Yeah, so there’s a problem,” Nate said, “I’m not gonna make it.”

“What?” he asked, anger creeping into his voice before he could stop it.

“I got put on the schedule at work by accident and we’ve been super busy lately so I didn’t think I should just cancel. Sorry this is last minute.”

“You were supposed to pick her up at seven-thirty, and now it’s almost ten,” Leonard said, “That’s not last minute, that’s late.”

“I know,” he said apologetically, “Look, I have to go. Tell Sara I’m sorry.”

Before he could say anything, Nate hung up. Leonard closed his eyes, letting out a deep exhale.

A moment later, the apartment door opened and Sara and Avery walked in, the latter pushing her bike by the handlebars. Sara stopped when she saw the phone in Leonard’s hand.

“Ave,” she said, “go put your bike in your room and play for a little bit, okay?”

When Avery was in her room, Sara said, “He’s not coming.”

Leonard shook his head.

“He said something came up,” he told her, “He told me to tell you he’s sorry.”

“I’m sure he is,” Sara shook her head. There was a sadness in her eyes as she walked closer to him. She sighed, “It can’t just be easy.”

He pulled her into a hug.

“It can’t just be easy,” he repeated.

[dee6000]

Totalitarian, Perverted Antifa Is Just Jacobinism Reborn. But Thermidor Is Coming by Paul Souvestre

The recent sudden eruption of a Totalitarian Left in America is essentially unparalleled in our history. But it has an unmistakable precedent in the early French Revolution: the Jacobins, who briefly held power and imposed a regime of crazed ruthlessness and radicalism before being overthrown by the moderate Thermidorian Reaction (named for the month of Thermidor—changing the calendar was part of the Jacobins’ drive to destroy traditional society and culture). Today, a flagship publication of the U.S. Left is called, incredibly, Jacobin—openly glorying in the implied threat of repression and mass murder. The good news: these revolutionary spasms don’t last. The bad news: they can do a lot of damage.

Jacobinism was the mother of all modern totalitarian ideologies. The Club was formed on April 30, 1789, by anti-royalist deputies to the newly-summoned Estates-General, many of whom were middle-class strivers like lawyer and future leader Maximilien Robespierre. By October 1789, it was reorganized as The Society for Revolution, or The Society of the Friends of the Constitution. Royalist pamphleteers called the club the “Jacobins” because it met at a former Dominican monastery in Paris, the Couvent des Jacobins de la rue Saint-Jacques. By July 1790, the Jacobin Club’s membershipnumbered 1,200 in Paris; 152 clubs had sprouted throughout France.

The ethos of the Jacobins was revolutionary and based in the ideals of the Enlightenment. Its adherents wanted to destroy the French monarchy and replace it with a “democratic” republic disconnected from any influence of the Catholic Church. They were militantly anti-Christian and violent from the beginning, taking inspiration like many others in the revolutionary ferment from Lucifer, the rebel against God.

The Jacobins sought to use the profound anger of the French Revolution to their advantage. And what anger there was. The storming of Versailles by an army of women—and men dressed like women—ended with the decapitation of two guards and a chorus baying for Queen Marie Antoinette’s flesh and blood. Other instances of urban violenceincluded the storming of the Bastille [Demonic: How The Liberal Mob Is Destroying America, by Ann Coulter, Penguin Random House, 2012].

But that violence paled beside what was to happen between September 5, 1793, and July 28, 1794—the “Reign of Terror.” As Revolutionary France fought for its life against a coalition of European monarchies, the government in Paris decided to secure its power by eliminating suspected counter-revolutionaries. The Jacobins, led by Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety, suspended the right to a public trial and legal assistance. They arrested 300,000, executed 17,000, and let 10,000 die in prison.

Terror came to the provinces too. As part of the Jacobin assault on local autonomy, soldiers were sent out into the countryside. In the Vendée, they found a peasantry enraged over the destruction of their churches and traditional way of life. They responded by carrying out what amounted to a genocide: French historian Reynald Secher estimated that 117,000 Vendéens out of a population of 815,000 disappeared from the public record during the insurgency. On top of that, eighteen percent of private houses were lost along with approximately fifty percent of all dwellings. [The French Genocide That Has Been Air-Brushed From History, by Jaspreet Singh Boparai, Quillette, March 10, 2019]. As in Paris, churches were turned into whorehouses or made into anti-churches where the Goddess Reason was worshipped instead of Jesus Christ.

This is significant. Aberrant sexual practices were also a core component of the Jacobin revolution—influenced by the Marquis de Sade , the pornographer and pervert who had spent five years in the Bastille for sex crimes before the prison was stormed. The Jacobins promoted free love and promiscuity, tried to ban priestly celibacy and strong-armed priests into getting married [The Jacobin Clubs in the French Revolution, 1793-1795, by Michael Kennedy].

Similarly, just as today’s Antifa Jacobins employ the violence of their ideological ancestors, they also promote sexual libertinism. Antifa recently rioted and even shot counter-protestors for having the gall to demand repercussions for a transexual sex criminal eventually convicted of flashing his genitals at innocent spa customers in Los Angeles [Sex offending suspect claims transgender harassment in Wi Spa case, by Andy Ngo, New York Post, September 2, 2021]. The Antifa Jacobins are also (you won’t read this in the Regime Media) disproportionately involved in sex with children [Antifa has a major pedophile problem, by Anna Slatz, The Post Millennial, March 7, 2020 [paywall]]. De Sade, of course, was also a pedophile [Marquis de Sade: depraved monster or misunderstood genius? It’s complicated, The Conversation, September 24, 2020].

Of interest to Americans given the current border disaster, theJacobin malignancy metastasized to Haiti. In May 1791, the revolutionary government granted political rights to rich free people of color on the island, but the gesture didn’t stop the coming hurricane of sanguinary violence. On August 21, after a voodoo ceremony, slaves rebelled. The slave army reached 100,000. Here’s how Leftist Wikipedia describes the resulting bloodbath:

Masters and mistresses were dragged from their beds to be killed, and the heads of French children were placed on spikes that were carried at the front of the rebel columns. …

[W]ithin the next two months, as the violence escalated, the slaves killed 4,000 whites and burned or destroyed 180 sugar plantations and hundreds of coffee and indigo plantations. At least 900 coffee plantations were destroyed, and the total damage inflicted over the next two weeks amounted to 2 million francs. In September 1791, the surviving whites organized into militias and struck back, killing about 15,000 blacks.

In July 1792, a civil commission backed by 6,000 soldiers arrived from France. Among the members of the commission:Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, a committed Jacobin. In 1793, Sonthonax emancipated the slaves—sort of like defunding the police?

In 1805, after French troops departed the island, self-declared emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalinespromised to protect whites, and white refugees who had fled the violence returned. But then Dessalines began a white genocide. A French official who witnessed the horrors said bands of blacks and mulattos attacked white women and children with knives, bayonets, and sabers [The French Revolution in San Domingo, by T. Lothrop Stoddard, Houghton-Mifflin, 1914]. Many were disemboweled, others were drowned. White women were kept as sex slaves and forced to “marry” their tormentors. By the end, the Jacobin-inspired revolution of Haiti had killed off the white population of the island.

In later years, the Luciferian Jacobin spirit spread beyond France to Soviet Russia and elsewhere. Another lesser-known episode: the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolution, which left the revolutionary government of General Plutarco Elías Calles in charge. Calles immediately attacked the Catholic Church and the peasant Cristeros took up arms.

Approximately 30,000 to 50,000 Mexican Catholics perished in the fighting. The Church recognizes25 saints and martyrs of the war.

The same story played out in the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil [Spain: Remembering the forgotten Red Terror, by Rev. Ben Johnson, Acton.org, November 6, 2017]. As with Mexico, the Catholic Church has beatified almost 2,000 victims of the Red Terror. And like true Jacobins, the current socialist government of Spain is erasing the country’s past, even moving the graves of the Nationalist dead.

Remember the campaign staffers for Bernie Sanders who threatened the guillotine and mass murder for Republicans, Trump supporters, and moderate Democrats [ANOTHER Bernie 2020 Field Organizer: “I’ll Straight Up Get Armed…I’m Ready for the F***ing Revolution…Guillotine the Rich”; Praises the Soviet Union, Advocates Sending “All the Republicans to the Re-Education Camps,” Project Veritas, January 21, 2020].

To summarize: The Jacobin parallels with BLM and Antifa and with the Regime in Washington that supports them are clear:

Wholesale statue vandalismand destruction;

Grave desecration;

Attacks on churches;

Demonizing political opponents;

Rewriting history;

Creating false narratives;

Unpunished violence andother mayhem against political opponents;

Prosecuting—meaning persecuting—political opponents; and more.

All those were features of the original Jacobin revolution. Our American Jacobins want to kill us and destroy our country. We had better get to work.

Paul Souvestre [Email him] is a French citizen and Breton nationalist originally from Brest. He currently lives in Quebec.

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "Joe and Kendra Say I Do"

Season 7, Episode 5 or 6 - March 26, 2018 - Last episode until August unless they sneak some specials in.

"Joe and Kendra's wedding day finally arrives, and there are emotional moments with family and friends as they get ready, but when the ceremony begins, a few surprises and mishaps make sure it's a day they won't forget." From TV Guide

In the link is my recap from when the wedding first aired. Do I really have to do this again? I'll just cover any new stuff I see which hopefully isn't much.

1. Joe is working on the log cabin house that was his grandma's and is now going to be his and Kendra's. It's located in his parents' front yard. Joe sure isn't leaving and cleaving if he's only feet from his parents' home. No mortgage, no taxes, works for daddy and has Jackson and Tyler peeking in their bedroom window at nights to fulfill their homeschool sex ed. class requirements. It's a win-win for all. At least he's pulling up his own bootstraps trying to wire up the house with power though I'm sure a professional came up behind him and fixed his mistakes like they always do. Joe is going to be trapped for a long time in that house. Will his dad pay him enough to save for a bigger house or just keep him poor and trapped on Duggar land. I'm betting Josiah and Lauren will also be chained to the compound. Kendra arrives to gush over "Joe Joe" as he shows off his muscles to a giggling child bride. This is where I vomited. Sheeesh, a Duggar hasn't made me vomit since the humping on the mini golf course incident.  

2. Kendra invites most of Springdale to watch her try on her wedding dress at her parents' house. There is a lot of giggling happening here and not much else. Kendra's mom breaks down crying after seeing her daughter in the dress and it's kind of refreshing seeing real emotions and not the crocodile tear crap the Duggar parents tend to push on us.

3. Four days before the wedding and the Duggars are having a birthday party for Jeremy. Jordyn, at nine years old, doesn't recognize raw chopped beef. I guess it's always frozen food for them. Jana and Jessa are attempting to make home-made meatballs while Joy has the challenging task of boiling noodles. Joy mentions she is three months pregnant and has passed the morning sickness phase. She says this twice. This contradicts her statement saying she didn't suffer from morning sickness. Why would she mention morning sickness after saying she didn't have it? Just trying to be a clone of her sisters' pregnancies? And why do the Bates' girls have small babies while the Duggars birth schoolagers? Jinger may break that big baby tradition though. She's about six months along and looks smaller than Joy at three months. Go Jinger!

4. The Duggar girls who are raised to be only mom's and wives for some reason can't cook their way out of a Chick-fil-A bag. Their meatballs are flavorless because they forgot spices and herbs. When JinJer arrives Michelle slaps on an apron and pretends she cooked all the food. Maybe that's why the girls messed up the meatballs. They knew their mom would eventually take credit.

5. Jana and her buddy, Laura, organize a scrapbook making party with tons of women and little ones.  The guys go out to attempt a "manly" job of making a bench. I can make a bench and I'm no man. I paneled my mom's den all by myself once. Paneling may have been passe at the time but that didn't stop me! The only thing manly about making a bench is when it falls apart and the woMEN have to put it back together again.

6. Decorating the church time. Jana and Laura are back wearing almost identical dresses and carrying the manly bench. Where are those manly men in tight tights hiding out when a bench needs to be carried? Oh, they were hanging flowers and putting down table cloths. Rehearsal happened and then on to the rehearsal dinner. Painful speeches are up next. The Godbobber mentions it's the third wedding in under a year and he's quite proud of that. Pastor Caldwell wants people to pray for him. Josiah says he wants to be an uncle again. Shut up, Josiah! Lauren Caldwell talks about missing her sister and then it's Joy's turn. Tough tomboy Joy is crying before she even gets up to the mic. She claimed Joe helped her through her teenage years, like last year, she's 20, when she had a hard time accepting her parents' faith. If anyone should have trouble with it it should be Joy. Allowed by her parents to be molested at age five by her sexually stalking older brother and then being told it was your fault for how you dress and to hide that secret for so many years that even your close cousin Amy didn't know...who wouldn't have a hard time. Their beliefs are a mess. Joe apparently "helped" her by talking to her once in awhile and taking some interest in her. There must be more to that because that's just sad if that's all he did because it makes it look like nobody else cared about Joy. Austin is sweet by crying along with Joy and thanking Joe for being a good Bible reading example to his brothers. Painful speeches over. I scan the reception room and spot Anna and her kids and some Bateses scattered around. DerJill and Josh must have been tied up in the rejection room.

7. Now the repeat of the wedding begins. See my recap below. One new part is where they talk about the first kiss. I think that's new. Joe said it was different from kissing a baby's forehead. Sigh.... And then God shuts the whole thing down by pulling the power on the young couple. That has got to be a sign. Kendra smears cake all over Joe's face in the craziest wedding tradition ever and then Kendra throws the bouquet to the gals and Joe throws a manly football to the guys. Garters aren't allowed in Duggarland. Outside sparklers are lit as the couple runs to their getaway truck with the word happily misspelled as hapily. Now whoever was in charge or writing "Hapily Ever After" needs to idiot on his/her forehead. No Duggars or Caldwells or anyone noticed the word was spelled wrong? Sad.

It's over but it's not over. Previews were shown for the summer season. Even sadder.

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