#location : the ministry of magic.

[greenerteacups]

Ok. First of all, I am obsessed with Lionheart. You are amazing and I could sing your praises for hours. However, I have a question regarding Wolfstar. Your fic was actually the first time I came across that ship. (I know now it's really popular). However, I would love to hear more about your thoughts on Remus and Sirius. Whether it's canon or your interpretation of them. I always found Tonks and Remus to be a strange couple in the HP books. Was that your impression as well? How do you think a romantic relationship between the two characters changes them, if it does at all? Thanks!

Totally! Thanks for the ask!

I think Remus and Tonks getting together suffers from the same thing that a lot of canon relationships do, i.e., that JKR doesn't really know how to write romantic chemistry. There are very few times in the books where it feels like there's genuine sexual or romantic tension happening on the page. So that's layer 1.

Layer two is that Remus and Tonks aren't themselves on the page for most of Books 5-7, so their "love story," as such, is 90% exposition. The only scenes we get of them as a couple are Tonks scolding Remus for not dating her and Remus guiltily shooting her down. It also seems out of character for Remus, who is defined in many ways by his attachment to the past and who has been living out of Sirius's pockets for two years, to show little or no apparent grief at the death of his best friend of twenty years, not to mention one of the last people alive who loved James Potter. Harry grieves Sirius more than Lupin seems to, and Harry knew Sirius for about five minutes compared to Lupin. That's not to say that grief always looks the same — it's different, and I'm sure Lupin compartmentalized it for the war effort — but it should, in theory, stop you from jumping into a high-intensity relationship with your dead best friend's niece. (If you look at the timeline on Tonks and Lupin's relationship vis-a-vis Sirius's death, it is absolutely wild.)

The Wolfstar in Lionheart is subtle, but as overt as I thought was realistic for two men who hadn't seen each other in years and are also, by necessity, only seen by the reader in the presence of their thirteen-year-old godson. I wanted to capture the energy of "closeted on-again off-again lovers in the 70s and 80s before having a VERY messy breakup" (which, believe it or not, is a broader demographic than you'd think), both because I think it's a fun way to write them (the vibes! the possessiveness! the old-married-couple meets shy-first-relationship of it all!) and because it explains why Lupin is totally alone before Prisoner of Azkaban — in particular, why he never made an effort to contact Harry. It's hard enough to be a closeted man in Britain in the 1980s; throw in a case of lycanthropy and an insane amount of personal trauma, and what you've got on your hands is the kind of guy who'd go totally radio silent on everyone he knows for 13 straight years.

[taciiturns]

"weasley." surname with all lack of warmth is as much of a greeting as any member of the brood of redheads is ever going to get from mikaela karkaroff. she must then remind herself to at least twist her features into a facade of friendliness- she's poking the rabid rabbit ( kaela's new nickname for her LEAST favorite ) for good reason, afterall. "i've been meaning to talk to you about something."

she glances over, looking for a tell-tale sign from ginny to go on, but she would press onwards even without the affirmation. "what is the deal with your uncle ? single ? married, still ?" lips press together in very surface level contemplation. "he's very handsome despite how glum he seems. you think that's something that can be fixed ?" @petriichvrs

[hoggleswart]

LOCATION:      Department  of  Magical  Law  Enforcement,    Ministry  of  Magic  Headquarters. STATUS:      Open      (    @startertms    )

He  jolts  awake  with  a  startle  and  eyes  blink  in  an  attempt  to  familiarize  himself  with  his  surroundings.    Dark  walls,    stacks  of  paperwork.    The  quiet,    distant  murmur  of  other  people  still  mulling  around  Ministry  headquarters.    It  doesn’t  take  Arthur  long  to  realize  he’s  still  at  work  rather  than  home,    head  resting  against  the  cold  wood  of  his  desk.    Back  straightens  while  hand  lifts,    fingers  pushing  red  hair      (    with  just  a  few  hints  of  grey,    if  one  were  to  look  close  enough    )      away  from  tired  features.    It  takes  almost  a  whole  minute  before  disorientation  wears  off,    allowing  him  to  notice  the  figure  standing  in  office  doorway.    How  long  have  they  been  standing  there?    Throat  clears,    bashful  look  flashing  over  face.        ＂    Sorry.    I  must’ve  dozed  off  for  a  minute.      ＂        Again.    This  happened  two  weeks  ago  too.    He  really  had  to  stop  putting  in  those  extra  hours.        ＂      What  time  is  it?      ＂

[andrmedatonks]

Where: Ministry of Magic Who: Emmeline Vance @amissafide​

Andromeda always got turned around in the Ministry, no matter how many times she had come there to interview employees for the Prophet. And the worst part was that they all assumed that she knew her way around there because she was there so much. But she usually found someone to follow out without making it obvious that that was what she was doing. But she had been wandering the halls for several minutes and she just felt like she was wandering deeper and deeper rather then back towards the entrance. She was worried that she was going to find herself somewhere that she shouldn’t be and the Prophet would be publishing a story about a reporter that got into something that she shouldn’t. 

Andy was relieved when someone walked out of an office up ahead. “Excuse me?” Andromeda called out and started to walk a little bit faster. “I’m so sorry, I’m hopelessly lost,” she started, but a smile formed on her lips when she recognized Emmeline. She had been behind her at Hogwarts, But Andromeda had always liked her. Thought that she was one of the good Slytherins with a good head on her shoulders. “Emmeline! I’m so glad that it was you that I ran into. How are you?” She asked.

[cafe-grindeldore]

Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them. 5 filming locations.

[lumosfm]

𝙆𝙉𝙊𝙒𝙉 𝙇𝙊𝘾𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎:  𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘

The Ministry of Magic (M.o.M.) is the main governing body of the magical community of Great Britain that has the intention of preservation of magical law. The Ministry connects the British government to the wizarding world. The headquarters of the Ministry is in Whitehall, in central London, deep underground. It is headed by the Minister for Magic. Each Prime Minister of Great Britain is visited by the Minister for Magic so they may work together to ensure protection for the Muggle world.

Over the years, there has been a number of witches and wizards who have been appointed as Minister for Magic. As of the current date in game, the Minister of Magic is Harold Michum. The title had previously been held by Eugenia Jenkins from 1968-1975 and will be passed on to Millicent Bagnold in 1980. Please see below the cut details of the various levels and departments contained within the Ministry of Magic.

𝘿𝙀𝙏𝘼𝙄𝙇𝙎:  𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨

The Ministry of Magic has ten levels and seven departments, each dealing with different aspects of the wizarding world. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is the largest, and all others more or less answered to it (except for the Department of Mysteries). Each Department has a level of Ministry Headquarters assigned to it, although Law Enforcement has not only level two, but also the courtrooms of level ten. Known Ministry departments and offices included:

LEVEL ONE ; On level one, you can find the personal office for the Minister for Magic, as well as the offices for Ministers personal support staff.

LEVEL TWO ; On level two, you can find the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.  This department is a combination of police and justice facilities, and has power over all other departments except the Department of Mysteries. It includes the following offices: the Auror Office, the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects, the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, the Improper Use of Magic Office, the Wizengamot, and the Wizengamot Administration Services.

LEVEL THREE ; On level three, you can find the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. This department is responsible for repairing accidental magical damage. It includes the following offices: the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, the Obliviator Headquarters, the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee, the Invisibility Task Force, and the Muggle Liaison Office.

LEVEL FOUR ; On level four, you can find the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. This department is responsible for studying, regulating, and controlling magical creatures. It includes the following offices: the Beast Division, the Being Division, the Spirit Division, the Goblin Liaison Office, the Centaur Liaison Office, the Pet Advisory Board, and the Office of Misinformation.

LEVEL FIVE ; On level five, you can find the Department of International Magical Cooperation. This department deals with foreign affairs, both political and public. It includes the following offices: the International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical Office of Law, and the International Confederation of Wizards (the British Seats).

LEVEL SIX ; On level six, you can find the Department of Magical Transportation. This department is responsible for the various aspects of magical transportation. It includes the following offices: the Floo Network Authority, the Broom Regulatory Control, the Portkey Office, and the Apparition Test Center.

LEVEL SEVEN ; On level seven, you can find the Department of Magical Games and Sports. This department deals with organising sports events and enforcing game-related laws and regulations. It includes the following offices: the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, the Official Gobstones Club, and the Ludicrous Patents Office.

LEVEL EIGHT ; On level eight, you can find the main Atrium. It is a large hall with fireplaces up and down both long walls. Down the left-hand side of the hall are gilded fireplaces which witches and wizards used to arrive at the Ministry. The right-hand side contained gilded fireplaces as well, and these were used for departures. At the end of the Atrium was a set of golden gates, next to which is a security stand where the wands of all visitors are registered. Another smaller hall is beyond the gates, where there are a series of lifts. The lifts provide access to the other levels, except the tenth.

LEVEL NINE ; On level nine, you can find the Department of Mysteries. This department is responsible for carrying our confidential research regarding particular enigmas (death, time, space, thought, and love) and stores copies of all prophecies. Most of its operations are carried out in total secrecy from the general wizarding populace. It contains the following chambers: the Brain Room, the Space Chamber, the Death Chamber, the Time Room, the Hall of Prophecy, and the Love Chamber (aka the Ever-Locked Room).

LEVEL TEN ; On level ten, you can find a dungeon-like corridor that leads to Courtroom Ten, which is used by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. This level can only be reached by the stairs to the left of the door which leads to the Department of Mysteries on level nine. The walls of the Courtroom are dark stone, and in the center of the room is a chair covered in chains that stood below rows of high benches where the Wizengamot sit.

[aethon-recs]

Themed Rec List | Tomarrymort Recs by Horcrux ⚡👑🏆🔒💍

I wanted to put together a rec list of Harry/Tom fics with a core focus on horcruxes outside of Diary Tom (the most popular horcrux) and Voldemort himself. Please enjoy these 22 fics that feature one of Tom's horcruxes and their special relationship with Harry.

There’s a ton of interesting variation that can be explored within a Harry and horcrux Tom ship — from where the horcruxes are located and when Harry can conceivably meet them in canon (for example, the Cup horcrux is harder to access than the others); to what age they were made by Voldemort and how that would shape their personalities and interactions with Harry; to the different magical properties that they might embody, depending on the vessel that was chosen.

Finally, it looks like Scarcrux and Locket are the most popular choices (after Diary Tom), and we absolutely need more Cup horcrux fics!

*

⚡ Scarcrux

Amensalism by @cindle-writes (E, 6k, complete)

Scarcrux becomes sentient after the encounter in the Ministry in Harry's 5th year and takes Harry for an adventure.

Bolide by @vdoshu (T, 3k, complete)

On October 31, 1981, a tiny piece of soul attaches himself to Harry Potter in order to survive. This is his story.

Creatures of the Dark we are by @hikarimeroperiddle (M, 28k, complete)

Banished to his cupboard at age 4, Harry learns to listen only to the Voice in his head. Its teachings warp all Harry could have become until no more than dark magic and devotion remains. Visions of a wraith with red eyes complicate matters, especially when Harry and the Voice follow it to Hogwarts so Master can get his hands on the Philosopher’s stone.

Eulogy by @meles-merrivale (E, 6k, complete)

You run through the things you have to do for the day. It is, admittedly, a very short list. Wake up. Be clean. Be ready. An empty life, some might call it. You don’t. It is the life He has given you, and so it is what you deserve.

last rites by @cindle-writes (E, 5k, complete)

Harry has an hour before he walks to his death in the Forbidden Forest. The horcrux in Harry’s scar decides to take matters into its own hands.

Look at me. by @crowcrowcrowthing (M, 1k, complete)

A dark night of the soul.

Pitch Black by @kagariasuha (E, 2k, complete)

The proximity of Horcruxes can influence anyone - especially Harry.

sandpaper kisses, paper cut bliss by @xodahafez (E, 27k, WIP)

Harry Potter survives the Killing Curse, but so does the horcrux within him. And this horcrux has been dangerously infatuated with Harry for seventeen years.

saw you in a dream by @duplicitywrites (E, 2k, complete)

Harry has had this dream before.

*

👑 Diadem

A peculiar way of fitting together by @being-luminous (T, 2k, complete)

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m wearing a diadem?”

Dance Me On and On by @duplicitywrites (E, 19k, complete)

In his first year at Hogwarts, Harry overhears Quirrell interrogating Binns about an artifact from over a thousand years ago. Five years later, Harry uncovers Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem in the Room of Requirement and finds himself pulled into a kingdom in the throes of a mysterious masquerade ball.

In Just a Moment, You’ll Be Mine by @dividawrites (E, 34k, WIP)

Tom has been stuck inside the Ravenclaw's Diadem for decades, alone, with nothing but his slowly fading memories. One day he feels a pull towards someone and gets interested. And then he gets obsessed.

Death is not an Escape by @whitepinkdandelions (T, 2k, complete)

The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw is full of endless wisdom, so it only makes sense that it gets its hooks into Harry much faster than the rest of them.

*

🏆 Cup

Thirst by @obsidianpen (E, 27k, complete)

Things go awry when the trio beaks into Gringotts. Harry finds himself trapped, locked in the Lestrange vault, wandless and alone... With a horcrux.

*

🔒 Locket

Arson by @rudehellion (M, 8k, complete)

The hunt for Voldemort's Horcruxes is going poorly. In need of some space to think, Harry offers to take the first watch over camp and slips out into the snowy night. Unable to shake his dark thoughts, Harry finds himself drifting and he begins to dream. What he sees changes everything.

knock it off (part 1) / crave gets slaked (part 2) by @theonceandfuturequeenoftarts (E, 6k, complete)

At some point during Harry's time with the Dursleys, pain got crossed with affection. A kick from Dudley or having his arm yanked by Uncle Vernon at least means they’re acknowledging his existence. It’s not love, but it’s something. Too bad for Harry he carries that through to his less dysfunctional relationships.

The Cost by Blood_Stained_Fingers (M, 8k, complete)

The cost of making a horcrux was steep and when Voldemort manages to kill Harry, destroying the horcrux within, Harry finds out the exact price of losing a piece of your soul. It made a cruel joke that if Voldemort loved his horcruxes, Harry should love them too.

The Dead of Night by @cybrid (E, 6k, complete)

An empty house. A glint of gold. A dream. Or: running away from Privet Drive goes terribly for Harry.

The Ties That Bind by @mosiva (E, 8k, complete)

Harry finds the locket at Grimmauld Place, but it has a curse laid on it. When Harry triggers it, he finds himself trapped with the locket version of Tom Riddle, both of them stuck within the enchantment until they can find the way out. Or so Harry thinks.

Whole by Emriel (E, 20k, complete)

The horcrux hunt goes wrong and Harry fails to destroy the locket horcrux. Tom Riddle hands him over to the Dark Lord as a present for they know he holds part of their soul. In their care, Harry learns that feelings, no matter how toxic, are hard to get rid off.

*

💍 Ring

Personal Assistant by @phantomato (E, 10k, complete)

“And that’s it? I call ‘Tom’ and you show up?” “Yes,” Tom answers.

shelter from the storm by @cindle-writes, @duplicitywrites (E, 7k, complete)

After being left behind by the Dursleys, Harry stumbles upon an empty shack in the middle of nowhere, where he finds a mysterious ring underneath the loose floorboards.

*

[gemissleeping]

Velveteen|Theodore Nott

"He knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else."

Theodore Nott x Reader

Summary: As the last surviving witch with ties to an ancient form of magic, Dumbledore has you tracking down horcrux hotspots.

Length: 2.2k

Notes: Angst mostly, some fluff. Blood, swearing, smoking. Percy Weasley hate (valid). This is just a little something I had the urge to write. May or may not continue as a series at this stage.

Fuck trees, fuck trolls, and fuck that smug little Weasley auror from the Ministry. He was a rat in y/n's eyes. A scheming, conniving rodent of a man. How he had even tracked her out there was beyond her. She'd made sure to take all of the precautions Snape had given her.

She'd apparated out with Professor Dumbledore. A good fifty kilometres from the point of interest too, might she add. Fifty kilometres she'd had to trek over two days to remain undetected. On foot. All for nothing in the end thanks to Percy.

Bootlicker.

There was no worse feeling than a failed task. Especially when it was one of her most important to date. The map was atrocious really, they clearly had no idea what they were looking for. Just that y/n should be able to sense it. Sniff it out as though she were some kind of blood hound.

Percy she had sensed. Thankfully she had gotten out before he'd seen her face, or the sea cave entrance she'd been eyeing on the cliffs below. She'd have to go back now. Which was absolutely wonderful and definitely did not make her want to tear her hair out.

Merlin, she thought she might hit the next Weasley she came across just for looking like him if she didn't calm down soon. Not Ginny of course, Ginny was lovely. Ronald was fair game though. Fred she would also be impartial to.

To top things off, y/n now found herself fleeing from the edge of the Forbidden Forest towards the castle. She'd missed the welcome dinner, which was a shame. But in all honesty, may have been a small mercy at this point. At least this way most of the students would be asleep, and she could get into the castle undetected.

It wasn't Dumbledore's fault that the end location of the Portkey had seemingly been inhabited by a troll since he had selected it. But how hard was it to check up on, really? Especially knowing she was wandless and unable to cast any regular spells. She'd blasted it to bits, of course. Not before it had gotten one good shot at her though, flinging her into the nearest pine tree.

It was just rather inconsiderate she thought.

The dizziness was setting in as she entered the castle via the Viaduct Bridge, snaking her way down to the dungeons. Making sure to grip every railing or wall available to her. Merlin was on her side that night, not one Professor crossed her path while she had floated through the dim halls. Once the concrete snake had appeared, revealing the door, she almost fell over with relief

The stairs felt so horrifically long, but finally she reached the dim, candle-lit depths of the Slytherin common room. Keeling forward for a moment, y/n placed her hands on her knees as she tried to calm her breathing. Her left palm came away bloodied. There was a tear in her stockings, and a huge gash across her knee.

y/n groaned, making her way around the corner to the couches her friends had claimed in third year. She couldn't wait to fall into one, maybe never wake if she had her way. And she did fall, only into Theodore Nott's eyeline. He looked as though he'd been waiting there for hours from the sweltering anger on his face. She took a deep breath, knowing she was about to get her ass handed to her for a second time that night.

"Nice of you to notify me of your delay."

"Does it look as though I planned on it?" y/n mumbled, sinking into the green velvet couch across from him. She sighed as her tension eased for the first time in days. Head lolling against the couch's back. Her hands shielding her eyes as a headache set in. While Theodore sat deathly still, awaiting further explanation with a burdened gaze. Something told y/n the burden was her.

"Mind if I borrow your wand?" y/n groaned from behind her palms.

There was only silence for a moment, before she heard him shift across from her. When she lifted her head his wand was resting on the table between them. He was pissed, beyond apprehension. But he had softened at her shattered appearance, the blood on her knee. Which she had now unknowingly painted on her cheek.

"Thank you," y/n sighed in relief, half expecting to have to fight for it. She worked quickly, sealing up the gash and cleansing the blood, pine needles, and dirt from her skin. Finishing by stitching her stockings together again. When she finally glanced back up, Theodore was frowning. His eyes sweeping her body up and down as she finished her work. He looked up from the closing threads of her stockings as they meshed around her knee, one eyebrow raised.

"Have something you'd like to say?" y/n grumbled, holding his wand out for him to take. He wasn't a fan of that question, or her attitude. His expression soured once again, all past concern pushed away. y/n brushed more pine needles off of her skirt, too tired and sore to care. She was spent, so completely crushed from the past two days. The knowledge that she had no choice but to continue until she succeeded wasn't helping.

"Have you always behaved like this, or do you just enjoying making me worry insufferably?" Theo leaned forward, and took the wand from her outstretched hand. His fingertips gently brushing her grazed knuckles.

"It's nice to see you too, Teddy," y/n laughed tiredly, shedding more pine needles as she picked them from her stockings. If she shut her eyes now, she worried they were so heavy she might fall asleep sitting up.

"Where have you been? I searched the whole train up and down for you. You missed the Sorting Ceremony," Theo hissed.

"It's a good thing we already know what house I'm in then, isn't it?"

"That's not funny y/n." He scolded, the concern in his voice thinly veiled by the frown he was wearing. She had no idea what it had been like for him, these past few hours especially.

"I need a cigarette before we get into it," y/n sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Everything was aching, she would find solace in a smoke or two. He didn't move. "Please?"

"It's late."

"You're awake," she countered, a hopeful look on her face that he knew he wouldn't be able to dissapoint.

"Because of you," he grumbled, running his hands through his messy curls.

"I'll take that as a yes, be right back," and she was off, disappearing into the dormitories.

"Do as you please, you always do," Theodore huffed under his breath.

He needed one too if he was honest. He felt as though he'd aged a few decades from the fear he'd been wearing all evening while he fretted over her disappearance.

She reappeared a minute or so later, the heavy overcoat he'd brought her for her birthday last year hanging off of her shoulders. The pair took their usual route until they found themselves at the top of the hill just outside the grounds, overlooking Hagrid's hut. y/n stood, overlooking the moonlit valley beneath them. The peace quickly disintegrating into swearing as the wind prevented her from sparking up. Theo had been hanging behind slightly, still not having forgiven her. But upon hearing the quiet curses falling from her lips, he couldn't help but walk over.

"You shield, I'll light it," he instructed, y/n doing as she was told and holding the sides of her coat up.

He closed the open space with his chest in two gentle steps. His thumb running over the flint of the lighter as the wind went quiet and y/n's face grew warm. He brought it to her lips, unable to keep himself from looking as he lit the cigarette between them. She took a relieved drag as the flame took. Theo got out his own cigarette, leaning down to press its tip to hers. He inhaled, spreading the flame between them. The grass was dewey beneath them as they smoked. Theo looked over to y/n, trailing over her body just to make sure.

"You've got pine needles in your hair, by the way," Theo murmured as he took another drag. His eyes flickering from hers, to the ground as he tapped his cigarette.

"Oh for fuck's sake," y/n heaved, tilting her head back in exasperation. She began ripping the hair ties from her two braids and brushing her fingers through them to shake the needles loose. Balancing her cigarette between her lips as she did.

"Still there," Theo mused, studying her with an amused expression as her frustration grew.

She passed him her cigarette wordlessly, which he took. She'd have rather not set herself alight on top of everything today. Then tipped her head forward, carelessly dragging her fingertips through it to rid herself of them. Once she was done, she flung her hair back. Raising an eyebrow in Theo's direction. He only gave her a saccharine smile as he took a drag from her cigarette, keeping it lit.

"Still?" y/n asked in disbelief, taking her cigarette from his lips and placing it between her own.

"Come here, sit," He shook his head, as though she was the most useless creature he'd ever seen. Theo walked over to the steps nearby, sitting on the top one. She followed suit, tucking her coat beneath her and taking a seat two steps down. She dipped her head back, leaning on her elbows. Her head resting between his knees. Theo couldn't help but admire the way her hair fell, even in its current mess.

Pressing the nub of his cigarette into the grass after one final drag, Theo brushed his hands off. His fingers quickly lacing through her hair in gentle streams as he dragged out the remaining pine needles. Christ there were a lot of them. He ran his fingers through it again, carefully to ensure he didn't snag anything. He did it again, and again. The pine needles were long gone. But her breathing had grown steady, and her shoulders relaxed. And that mattered far more to him than some pine needles.

"All clear?" She whispered sleepily, her head falling all the way back to meet his eyes.

"All clear," Theo echoed, the dried blood beneath her eye making him wince. "You missed this though," he reached out, pressing his thumb to his tongue and running it under her eye to brush the blood away.

"Ew," y/n gasped, but if she was honest, she was too tired to care. She swatted his hand away gently. Taking another drag from her cigarette which had been resting beneath her knuckles.

"Need I remind you that you once sneezed in my mouth?" Theo chimed, knowing it was his trump card, and likely would be for eternity.

"That was literally in First Year and it was an accident," she mumbled.

"Still stands." He shrugged.

"You loved it, don't lie." That got a smile out of him, however unwillingly.

"You're foul. Now tell me why you came in several hours late, looking like a troll dragged you through a bush backwards."

y/n's eyes widened slightly at his statement, choking on the dregs of her cigarette in disbelief. His smile vanished, eyes flickering between her own as he gauged her reaction. His jaw clenched as she sat up swiftly.

"Tell me you're joking."

"I think it's bedtime," y/n breathed, going to push herself up and off of the steps. But Theo's hand found her wrist like a vice, pulling her back down before she had a chance. He leant forward as she stumbled closer to him from the force. She just managed to catch herself from falling straight into him.

"I don't think so. What was that?" He said lowly, staring into her eyes. She was eternally fucked now. He could always tell when she lied, and he never tolerated it.

"Just leave it Theo, please," she pleaded, not having the energy.

"I left it all Summer. All of your disappearances, all of your little quests. You promised me it would be done by the end of the Summer. I have it in fucking writing, so don't tell me to leave it. What is going on?" He seethed, and y/n found herself unable to meet his eyes.

"Teddy, you know I can't-"

"God I'm so sick of hearing that." He laughed, a cruel sound, not his usual light-hearted teasing. "The Professors have you off, running around like some toy soldier, but you're not allowed to tell me what for. Then they're not even there to help you when things go wrong?"

"It's-"

"Despicable is what it is."

"Would you listen to me?"

"I would, but it's not like you'd be able to tell me anything, is it?"

The words left y/n silent, because they were true. She wished so terribly that they weren't. That she hadn't done it.

"I've always told you everything, y/n. I don't understand why-"

"I made the unbreakable vow."

The words rushed out of her as though she were going to be sick. The silence that followed her confession only made it more probable. Theo's features had darkened as her confession sunk in. He let go of her wrist, his hand wound into a fist as he looked out at the treeline of the forbidden forest. He stayed that way for a few moments as y/n stood before him, silently begging him to say something.

"Dumbledore," he breathed out finally, his voice straining with the effort of evenness, "you made the unbreakable vow, with Dumbledore?"

"I had to Theo, it was too important. They can't take any risks. Not until everything is done. I wanted to tell you, more than anything. I still want to-"

"Do you suppose he's ever made Potter make one?" Theo turned to her, looking as though he was about to set them both alight.

Her explanations fell dead on her tongue. They both knew he hadn't. Both knew what Dumbledore was scared of when it came to her.

"I didn't think so either," Theo conceded to her silence, his voice turning hollow. y/n felt something within her crack at the truth of his words. He was wrong, or at least she wanted him to be.

"It's different."

"I'm not sure it is," Theo countered, and he knew he was right in saying it.

Because it wasn't any different. The difference was trust. They were using her up and once they were done they would spit her out, or worse. He wasn't going to be able to sleep easily now.

"You should get to bed, I'll see you at practice tomorrow," he huffed, staring out to the forest again.

y/n stood there for a moment, hoping she could think of something to make it better. But as Theo lit another cigarette, the only thing she felt was tired.

[tedwardremus]

Love in Secret: The Secret Wedding Everyone's Talking About

By Rita Skeeter

The Vanquisher of Voldemort, Harry Potter, and his Hogwarts sweetheart, Ginny Weasley, have secretly eloped!

Mr Potter, hero of the Second Wizarding War now a celebrated Auror, and Ms Weasley, a star Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies, have long been a favorite couple among fans. Their popularity endured even through persistent rumors that Ms Weasley used love potions to secure her longtime relationship to the famous wizard.

Ginny Weasley, the youngest daughter of the famously large and somewhat eccentric Weasley family, has always had her eyes set on Harry Potter. Friends from their Hogwarts days recall a shy young girl with a crush that bordered on obsessive. But could this infatuation have driven her to take more sinister measures?

Anonymous sources from the Ministry of Magic have hinted at an investigation into the matter. “It’s not uncommon for witches to resort to such measures when their affections are unreturned,” said one insider. “And with Harry Potter’s fame and fortune, who could blame her?”

When reached for comment, Ron Weasley, Ms Weasley's brother and Mr. Potter’s wartime sidekick, told this reporter to perform a vulgar sexual act on oneself that is too crude to write in this prestigious paper.

Despite their high-profile lives, the couple has always sought to keep certain aspects of their relationship private. Their decision to elope reflects their desire to cherish their love away from the prying eyes of the public.

The newlyweds have yet to make an official statement, but sources indicate they are currently enjoying a romantic honeymoon at an undisclosed location.

[ellecdc]

L…. idk if youre up for mega angst…. but how did cbbh sirius take the news of vix’s disappearance + death as it happened 🥲 like i cant imagine how deathly nervous he’d be at headquarters, hearing about the attack and anxiously waiting for his bestfriend and partner, holding out hope that they’d walk through the door with battle scars but alive …. Then a few hours later only James returns 🥲🥲🥲 pain

I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this *sniffles and throws this at you all* I hope it was worth it, because I'm calling the police (thank you for your support and your request, I love you)

CW: hurt/NO comfort, (believed) death of a loved one, grief, physical injuries, vomiting

I'll Find You

Lily had a bad feeling about this.

Granted, that was nothing new about this war, but something felt intrinsically wrong right now.

Lily and Sirius had gotten a message from Dumbledore stating Benjy and Emmeline had portkeyed back to headquarters to report on their findings, while Jamie and Y/N stayed behind to finish up the stakeout. 

Sirius met Lily at her and James’ flat where they decided to head to headquarters to await your arrivals.

The only way to access the headquarters was through portkey – for security purposes – meaning that upon arrival, Lily spent about twenty minutes having to soothe an upset baby Harry.

“Portkey is no way for babies to travel, huh Haz?” Sirius cooed at his godson. 

Lily wanted to smile at the view, but she couldn’t shake this heavy feeling in her stomach.

“Something’s wrong, Pads.” She murmured.

Sirius grimaced. “I don’t feel great about this either. I mean, two days of silence at a supposed Death Eater meet-up? What’s that about?”

They followed the sound of gentle conversation when they found Dumbledore and Minerva conversing with Benjy and Emmeline.

“We saw nothing yesterday. I think we need to consider where this intel is coming from because they were either way off or are planning something sinister.” Benjy could be heard saying, causing Sirius to suck in a sharp breath.

“Thank you, Mr. Fenwick. I’ll let you know when we have word.” Dumbledore said as he dismissed the two Order members.

“Mr. Black, Mrs. Potter. And baby Harry...” McGonagall was all business until she spotted the small infant in Lily’s arms. “May I?” She asked.

Lily handed over the child who went with little-to-no fuss.

“What happens if this tip was a bust?” Sirius asked Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took in a breath and looked between his two former students.

“If the tip ends up being wrong, or worse – fabricated – we may need to consider moving the Potter’s into hiding.”

Lily groaned. “There’s a chance the Death Eaters don’t even know about the prophecy.”

“Yes, but desperate people go to great lengths when they feel threatened. We do not want them to find out and, in turn, find you.” Dumbledore argued.

Lily understood; really, she did. But her maternity leave already had her feeling like she was in hiding, and she was sick and tired of feeling so useless. 

“There are Voldemort sympathisers in the Ministry, Red. We have no idea what they could know.” Sirius pointed out.

Sirius and Dumbledore spent the next while discussing different aspects of the war, next steps, new leads, past battles, and Sirius’ job at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before Lily couldn’t take it anymore.

“What time were they supposed to report back?” She spat.

Dumbledore’s eyes moved to consider the redhead. “We agreed no later than 21:30. 

Lily looked down at her watch. “Well, it’s 21:45.”

The three sat in silence as they let that fact wash over them.

“They left at 07:45 this morning,” Sirius supplied.

“They met with Em and Benjy before apparating to the location together and scouting the area.” Lily added.

“Okay so fourteen hours in the field? That’s too much.” 

“It’s not too much if there hasn’t been any activity.” Dumbledore argued.

Sirius stood up suddenly. “We need to go. Where’s this location?”

“Son, that is not how things work. We cannot risk giving away our intel or sending more people into the front lines of a battle.”

“That’s my partner out there, and my best friend – I cannot stand here and do nothing.” Sirius spat furiously.

“You can, and you will, Mr. Black.” He challenged.

“We’ll give them 45 minutes. If we haven’t received a patronus from them in that time, we’ll reconvene.” McGonagall placated.

Sirius spent the next 37 minutes pacing a hole in the concrete floor beneath him whilst Lily chewed a hole into her lip.

The ringing sound of a portkey suddenly echoed through the room before a figure fell unceremoniously into the wall and slid to the ground. Lily could tell by the size and the sobbing that it was James.

“What happened?!” Sirius barked as all four adults stood and made their way to James.

“Trap. Trapped, it...” James huffed between sobs and coughs before he leaned over and threw up on the floor.

“What’s trapped?” Dumbledore inquired as Harry started to fuss in McGonagall’s arms.

“Minerva, can you take Harry away please?” Lily pleaded. The matriarch offered a quick nod and left the room with the infant. 

“Death Eaters - it was a trap - she knew.” James got out through gasps.

He was covered in ash and dirt with various wounds bleeding along his person.

“Who knew?” Lily asked.

“Vix! She knew!” He screamed in agony.

“Where is she?” Sirius asked quietly.

James continued trying to breathe through his hyperventilating.

“WHERE IS SHE?!” 

“She’s gone, Pads, she...” James paused as he threw up again. Lily couldn’t tell if he was sick from his grief or his wounds. Perhaps both.

“No, no. She’s not gone. She was just with you. You left with her this morning.” Sirius argued calmly. “Where is she?”

James shook his head as his face crumpled in agony and tears spilled from his eyes.

“She saved me, she...she made sure I got out. I’m sorry, Sirius.”

“I don’t need you to be SORRY, I need you to TELL ME WHERE SHE IS.” Sirius bellowed.

“Sirius...” Lily whispered.

“Fuck OFF. Where IS SHE? WHERE IS SHE?”

“Sirius, son, I need you to calm down.” Dumbledore spoke quietly.

“I need to find her. I’ll find her. Tell me where she is. Where is she?”

“She’s GONE. She’s GONE, I FUCKING KILLED HER IT’S ALL MY FAULT.” James sobbed.

“She can’t fucking be gone! She can’t! I just kissed her goodbye this morning, I just saw her! SHE WAS JUST WITH YOU.”

“There were anti-apparition wards up when she started to be concerned about – about it being a trap since we hadn’t seen anything all day. There was fiendfyre. They were burning the fucking building down. Then I was hit and I...I don’t know. She got us out, and then...and-and then a bombarda and she...”

“No.” Sirius said plainly.

“Pads.”

“No.”

“She told me, she told me to go. She said-”

“No.”

“She told me to thank you for her, that she didn’t regret a thing.”

“No.”

“That she was so grateful for you, and that loving you was worth every minute of it. She’d do it again.”

“Stop.” Sirius begged miserably. 

“She said she loved you.”

“SHE DIDN’T LOVE ME. SHE LOVES ME.” Sirius screamed.

“She loves me NOW! Not loved me past! I have to find her. I have to find her. Red,” He turned his sights to Lily.

“Please, please. I have to find her. Please, I have to. I’ll find her. Please.”

Lily’s tears were streaming down her face. “I’m sorry, Sirius.”

“Don’t be sorry! Don’t, I-” He looked desperately to everyone in the room.

“I don’t want anyone to be sorry! I just want her! I need her, please...” he sobbed.

“I’m sorry.” James repeated.

“STOP FUCKING SAYING THAT!”

“Sirius.” Lily murmured.

“I have been on countless missions with your wife, and I have always brought her home, back to you!” Sirius spat furiously at James. “I’ve never let anything happen to your wife. I TRUSTED YOU! Y/N... she-she trusted you!”

James sobbed again as his face contorted in agony.

“Sirius, that’s not fair.” Lily pleaded.

“Fuck off! What’s not fair is you get to go home with your husband tonight and Y/N is gone.” Sirius bellowed as his face fell in realization. “She’s gone.” He whispered. 

The room fell painfully silent as Sirius stared into space, murmuring to himself.

“She loved me...not loves me...I said goodbye...a kiss, she had breakfast, what did she eat? What did she have for breakfast this morning.  Oh gods, I can’t remember.”

“Sirius.” Lily asked gently as she went to touch his shoulder. He flinched away from her.

“I think she had cereal; it was cereal. She had cereal for breakfast. I think her bowl is still in the sink. Oh gods, her things. All of her things. She can’t be gone? She can’t be gone...I have all of her things. She needs her things...she’s-” He was cut off by a shuddering breath.

“My girl.” He whispered in agony. 

The other three members let Sirius gather his thoughts before his eyes flew to Lily.

“Lily...she...”

“I know, Pads.”

“I can’t do this without her.”

“I know, Pads.”

The heavy weight of the loss began to settle amongst the friends before Dumbledore spoke solemnly. 

“I think it’s time the Potter’s go into hiding.”

[somewhere-at-the-burrow]

I'm really curious about what job options are in the wizard world!! In the movies & books they show so little, like aren't there other professions besides working at the ministry, owning a shop, or being a teacher?

I was so so curious about this as well before I shifted.. so I am glad to answer!

thank you so much for the ask <33

something unique about the wizarding world is how common it is for the average wizard/witch to work a main job and a side job (usually creative). Arthur used to work two jobs, one at the Ministry and one at an antique artifacts office in Diagon Alley, but he doesn't go there as often to spend more time with the family!

because the wizarding population is so slim, many people are not afraid to show their skills and try different things, as we rely on each other in our secret little world! for example, many of my friends have wizarding parents who have written a book, sometimes about commonplace things or about research topics or art, even!

I definitely wasn't expecting this, but the wizarding world loves to share information through magazines, books, plays, etc. they have bookstores that are always releasing new books, and there are many popular magazines that have whole teams of people who work on them every day! so being a writer is definitely very common in my DR

there is also a rise in radio hosts and commentators, and there are many shows you can tune in to on certain days of the week. there are also many wizards / witches who go to quidditch games worldwide and their job is to commentate and keep radio stations informed on the games. when I went to the League cup, there was constant chatter of radio hosts broadcasting to worldwide quidditch channels!

on a different note, many people choose to go down the research / conservation scientist route, and this is usually paired with authoring a book or documenting with the Ministry. Cedric's mom (Kelley) goes on many trips to Scandinavia and those regions to document magical plants and their properties, and she comes back and writes artistic books under the pen name Kellory.

many witches/wizards will collaborate with magical governments worldwide to better help wildlife in different locations and preserve the wizarding culture around them! this also comes with people who work with animals / beasts, and there are breeders, tamers, and caretakers. these jobs need lots of training and experience, but they are so vital to the care of magical creatures.

working at inns, bars, and restaurants is also very common, and for some people that is their only job. take Rosmerta in the Three Broomsticks for example... she works and lives there, and these roles are incredibly important in small wizarding towns like Hogsmeade. this also comes with cooks, and when the barmaids and the bakers come together, absolutely ICONIC restaurants are born and food really ties us all together so it is PERFECT!

there are also traditional jobs like being a broom-maker. this is kind of a dying art with mass produced racing brooms becoming the norm, but many wealthier families will pay for customized brooms and sometimes the artists hold teaching workshops. I went to one at the beginning of summer, and I made my own broom from maple and apple branches with my dad. the broom-maker and his team did help us with enchanting it, though, but it didn't cost as much as I thought it would and I am so glad I got that experience!! wand-maker is also a very similar job! I love folk arts <3

I forgot about actors, musicians, and singers too! there are so many littler bands in the wizarding world, and it is pretty easy to gain an audience (at least for a short amount of time). a lot of popular musicians will also go on to write books too, so double whammy!

AND ALSO HEALERS—— any type, people are obsessed with wanting to become a healer in my DR! St. Mungo's is the most popular workplace, but there are also private healers who go to wealthy households and healers who work around quidditch games! it always requires schooling after hogwarts, but it is a very common route!

honorable mentions include herbologist, farmer (who tends to magical plants and sells them), greenhouse owner (similar to farmer, except more "pretty" plants), professional quidditch player / substitute player, magical photographer, traveling saleswizard, magical translators, and being a psychic medium!

I hope this helped!! if you have any more questions about any of these jobs in depth, I can try and answer to the best of my ability!

all I do in my DR is study the world around me... I am just so fascinated by it! i love rambling about these little things :,)

[felassan]

The Infocomm Media Development Authority is a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of Digital Development and Information. It has a website which has things like ratings classifications for video games for its region (Singapore).

This is what it lists and describes for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, bolded emphasis mine -

"Extended Classification Information ‘Dragon Age The Veilguard’ is an action-roleplaying game set in the fantasy lands of Thedas. The protagonist takes on the role of Rook to explore a world where corrupt ancient gods have broken free and are trying to wage destruction. Rook must gather a powerful team of companions to save the world. The game is rated M18 for nudity and sexual references. From a third-person perspective, the player controls Rook to traverse through varied locations, interact with other characters, undertake quests and battle fantastical enemies (creatures, demons, and humanoids comprising humans, elves and other fantasy races. The player can choose to customise the protagonist’s race, gender, faction and combat class, which determines the weapons, abilities and powers that can be used in combat against enemies. Over the course of the game, the player can recruit companions of various race and gender to the cause. Completing quests and defeating enemies earns the player characters gold and experience to level up, unlock new skills, and purchase items. Some scenes may depict female characters topless, such as during the character customisation screen or in certain romance scenes. As the narrative progresses, the player can develop relationships with party members, and optionally pursue a romance with some, including with same-sex human and fantasy characters. These may culminate in scenes of intimacy depicting the characters kissing and embracing, with some accompanying suggestive dialogue before the screen fades to black alluding to sexual activity. The M18 Classification Guidelines permit “depictions of same-sex kissing and hugging”, and “some homosexual content, if discreet in treatment and not gratuitous”. There are scenes of realistic violence depicted during battle sequences and in some cutscenes. Characters are slashed and stabbed by melee weapons or shot by arrows and magic projectiles, with blood splattering and staining surfaces. During exploration, the player may come across bloodstained environments, and carcasses and corpses sprawled about, hung aloft or impaled by objects. A scene depicts an animal being sacrificed during a ritual and exploding in a large burst of blood. The dialogue contains some use of the expletive “f**k” and its variances, as well as the use of crude words such as “asshole”, “bastard”, “damn” and “shit”."

[source, via]

The animal sacrifice part is interesting. I wonder what kind of ritual, to whom or for what purpose? Tevinter, blood magic, Venatori..?

[the-magiarcheologist]

Hogwarts Legacy Timeline

I've gone deep into research to try to put together a timeline of events that happened before the start of the game.

Ok, let's break it down! (I'll provide my sources for all of this)

And let's start with the most shocking: when anne gets cursed.

Almost everyone assumes (logically) that she got cursed sometime during the fourth year or the summer before the start of fifth year. But, in the book "The Art and Making Of Hogwarts Legacy" there is a short paragraph introducing Sebastian and here is what it says:

If we take this info as legit (and I think it is since that book was written by the people developping the game) then Anne has been suffering from that curse for far longer than anyone thought!

That also means that Ranrok opened the first repository over a year before our MC starts at Hogwarts and discovers ancient magic.

Before we start the mission 'It's all Gobbledegook" with Amit, Lodgok tells the MC that Ranrok orginally unearthed Bragbor's journals that had been long lost. From these journals, he discovered that wizards had hidden for 'repositories' full of magic that Bragbor had built for them. He knew all of this was connected to five names: Rackham, Fitzgerald, Bakar, Morganach and Rookwood. Ranrok then sent Lodgok to begin the search at Rookwood castle.

Sebastian also confirms that Goblins first arrived at Rookwood castle. Before we visit his sister, he tells MC: "No one has felt safe here since Ranrok's Loyalists took a peculiar interest in that castle over there - Rookwood castle."

Miriam was actually already at Rookwood castle, conducting her research on ancient magic, before the Goblins arrived. That is how Lodgok meets her. She had already found the container (with the portkey inside) and was studying it. (Lodgok tells us this after we complete the mission with Amit).

Other Goblins join Lodgok at Rookwood castle to search it. At this point, Rookwood must have joined hands with Ranrok and allowed the Goblins to tunnel under Rookwood castle to search for the repository. (We overhear Rookwood telling Ranrok: "I allowed you to tunnel under my family home!" when we first visit Rookwood castle to start the second trial from the Keepers).

The Goblins find the first repository and Ranrok is thrilled. That is when Lodgok tells him that he met Miriam and that he trusted her and allowed her to continue her research on the container independently. Lodgok does not really know what happens after that but we know that Ranrok eventually found her and killed her. So Miriam died sometime between Ranrok finding the first repository and the start of the fifth year.

The only other thing we know to try to piece together when Miriam died is that shortly before her death she first sent George Osric a letter warning him about Ranrok's activities (presumably she knew that he had accessed the first repository) and then "before [George] could respond" she also sent him the container. Since George himself says he had not had time to respond to her first letter before he received the container, that probably means only a few days went by between Miriam being worried about Ranrok's activities and when he found her and killed her. (We learn all of this from George Osric in the carriage going to Hogwarts.)

The other interesting thing is that George tells Prof. Fig that he had received Miriam's first letter (and the contained shortly after), "months ago". Rookwood sort of confirms this when he tells Ranrok that he spent "months and countless Ministry favours" locating the container (he says this when we overhear his conversation with Ranrok at Rookwood castle). So this means that Miriam died several months before september 1890.

This raises a lot of questions: Why did George Osric wait that long to tell Prof. Fig that he has received a mysterious container from his wife before her death? Also, why did Miriam send the container to George and not her husband? Were Prof. Fig and his wife estranged? Did Miriam not trust Prof. Fig? But that's the topic for another post I suppose...

Anyway, after Goblins started searching at Rookwood castle, they also started searching at other locations connected to the 5 names of the Keepers. (We know this, again, from Lodgok before we start the mission with Amit). That is when they arrived at Isidora's house. We don't know the exact timeline between them arriving at Isidora's home and the fire during which Anne got cursed. This could have happened before Ranrok found the first repository. But it happened after Ranrok and Rookwood started their alliance since Rookwood was at Isidora's house with the Goblins. So I think it happened after Ranrok had already found the first repository but we can't be sure.

Anyway that's all I've got! Have I forgotten something?

[slitheringghost]

Voldemort and Manipulation of Power Structures

I wanted to explore one of the most fascinating parts of Voldemort's character, which is his immense consciousness of the power hierarchy and structures of magical society and his ability to manipulate them, as well as his consciousness of his own place in those power structures, and how he often plays on those weaknesses.

There are many ways in which he demonstrates this - i.e. he tells Quirrell “There is no good and evil, there is only power" and seems to follow that regarding his own beliefs; he sees himself in followers similarly disenfranchised as him (Harry, Snape, Ginny, Bellatrix, etc.), and we see him use this with them as a combination of genuine identification and manipulation; and we especially see this hyperawareness of the pureblood power structures that killed Merope in the locket protections (see my meta Slytherin Locket Cave: The Life and Death of Merope Gaunt and this addendum) and how that ties into his consciousness of the legal system and who is vulnerable and disposable to it.

In this meta I’ll explore some more of those instances.

1. Chamber of Secrets

His interactions regarding the Chamber attacks are particularly telling:

“It was my word against Hagrid’s, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student.. on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls

Well, how it looks... is that Armando Dippet, until Tom Riddle specifically clarified to him otherwise, was assuming Tom was Muggleborn, while there was a monster petrifying and hospitalizing Muggleborns for months and ended up killing one, and then told him he'd be safer at his orphanage. This is also something Tom plays on to Harry:

“My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy... the death of that poor little girl.... You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the — er — source of all this unpleasantness...." “Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read.” [...] “I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were covered up.” [...] “Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who’d opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again.”

Tom correctly points out Dippet’s embarrassment about the attacks and attempt to cover them up. Dumbledore says that “Dippet was very fond of Voldemort and convinced of his honesty”, yet that didn’t stop Dippet from initially seeing Tom’s life as disposable as other Muggleborns, and it’s clear Tom realized this fact.

2. Half-Blood Prince

There’s Tom joking about being the “half blood heir of Slytherin” with his friends, enjoying the irony of playing on his background:

“I don’t know that politics would suit me, sir,” he said when the laughter had died away. “I don’t have the right kind of background, for one thing.” A couple of the boys around him smirked at each other. Harry was sure they were enjoying a private joke, undoubtedly about what they knew, or suspected, regarding their gang leader’s famous ancestor.

And then the way he flirts with and manipulates Hepzibah Smith is particularly interesting to me, especially combined with his framing of Hokey and using Kreacher for the locket:

“Hurry up, Hokey!” said Hepzibah imperiously. “He said he’d come at four, it’s only a couple of minutes to and he’s never been late yet!” “Now then,” said Hepzibah happily, “where’s Hokey? Oh yes, there you are — take that away now, Hokey.” The elf obediently took the boxed cup, and Hepzibah turned her attention to the much flatter box in her lap.

“Now, now, not so fast, or I’ll think you’re only here for my trinkets!” pouted Hepzibah. “I am ordered here because of them,” said Voldemort quietly. “I am only a poor assistant, madam, who must do as he is told. Mr. Burke wishes me to inquire —”

Just like he recognizes the parallel between Merope’s treatment and a house elf/slavery, you can tell he’s noticing the same parallel with himself - and he’s playing into it.

Of course, plenty of his politeness with Hepzibah is necessity, but in the above quote he’s milking his “weakness” and playing the obedient servant - because he knows that power dynamic between them is what Hepzibah Smith is attracted to (and that she enjoys fussing over him as the “poor assistant” - i.e. Hepzibah feeding him with the cakes and telling him he’s overworked, etc.).

Then there’s his framing of his uncle - while the majority of the specifics of Morfin’s confession is revenge for his mother, you can tell Tom’s enjoying the irony of framing Morfin and getting him sent to Azkaban for killing Muggles as a fuck you to his pureblood relatives in general:

“And so what? Morfin gave a Muggle a bit of what was coming to him — what about it, then?” “Morfin has broken Wizarding law,” said Ogden sternly. “Morfin has broken Wizarding law.’” Gaunt imitated Ogden’s voice, making it pompous and singsong. Morfin cackled again. “He taught a filthy Muggle a lesson, that’s illegal now, is it?” [...] “Summons! Summons? Who do you think you are, summoning my son anywhere?” “I’m Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad,” said Ogden. “And you think we’re scum, do you?” screamed Gaunt, advancing on Ogden now, with a dirty yellow-nailed finger pointing at his chest. “Scum who’ll come running when the Ministry tells ’em to? Do you know who you’re talking to, you filthy little Mudblood, do you?”

“The Ministry, on the other hand, knew at once that this was a wizard’s murder. They also knew that a convicted Muggle-hater lived across the valley from the Riddle house, a Muggle-hater who had already been imprisoned once for attacking one of the murdered people. “So the Ministry called upon Morfin. They did not need to question him, to use Veritaserum or Legilimency. He admitted to the murder on the spot, giving details only the murderer could know. He was proud, he said, to have killed the Muggles, had been awaiting his chance all these years. He handed over his wand, which was proved at once to have been used to “kill the Riddles. And he permitted himself to be led off to Azkaban without a fight.

Of course this doesn't stop him being a total hypocrite and looking down on Muggles himself, just like his awareness of house-elf oppression and ability to use it doesn’t stop him from completely underestimating Kreacher.

Because one of the biggest ways Voldemort’s arrogance manifests is his belief in his ability to manipulate these power structures, how he sees himself as an outsider in magical society who is always chessmaster-ing it, his certainty that everyone else but him are simply too imprisoned by those oppressive structures to resist against and fight back against them - that he’s the only one that can truly rise above them.

[emeritusemeritus]

Hello!! If it isn't too much to ask, could you make a Fred fic with reader on her period? Mine are absolutely excruciating, especially in the first two days, to the point of crying on the floor and stuff :(( it's totally okay if you don't want to, I just like to imagine Fred trying his hardest to pamper his s/o (and probably freak out a bit because honestly, periods are a nightmare men will never understand). Have a nice day ♡

Anon, it would be my pleasure! I’m so sorry you’re suffering, I had an endo flare up last week that nearly sent me to A&E so you have my full sympathy. You know that feeling when you could destroy the world and everyone in it but then your period starts and you realise that it’s been that all along? 🖤

Warnings: mentions of periods, menstural cycle, PMS, blood, pain. Best friend George, Fred is a sweetheart.

Words: 3.4k

The princess and the period.

You'd had a really terrible day, a horrible, never-ending bore of a day, at least in your mind. It started from the very second you woke up, alone in bed without Fred beside you. You'd slept through your first alarm and had nearly been late for an interview you'd had scheduled for months within the Department of Mysteries. You'd taken the visitors entrance to the Ministry to acquire your required visitors badge and had been held up by some Muggle incident that had rendered London at a near standstill.

The interview, thankfully, had gone well but you couldn't help but fixate on the discomfort you felt in yourself the entire time. Your clothes felt uncomfortable and restrictive and you felt bloated to the point that it was showing through your clothes.

You'd had plans to meet with Arthur after your interview for a cuppa and a catch-up at the small cafeteria whilst he took his break, something you'd been looking forward to all week. You made your way back down to Level two where the department of magical law enforcement was and walked through the mini atrium until you located the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office, only to be informed by Perkins that Arthur was running a tad late, caught up with something that required his immediate attention. Though this was far from unfamiliar, your temper had flared and you had barely managed to contain it, choosing instead to silently seethe as you waited in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs near the main desk. You weren't mad at Arthur by any means, you don't think you'd even been mad at him, but having to stay in uncomfortable clothing and wait when you were already having a bad day was just irritating you further and further as time dragged on, not helped by the incessant ticking from the muggle cuckoo clock on the wall that was driving you mad.

Arthur finally emerged twenty minutes later, apologising profusely as he grabbed his coat and ushered you back into the lift, a bright smile on his face as he began asking you about how your interview went and how his son was. You'd spent a nice half an hour together having a cup of tea and a freshly made slice of cake, something he was keeping a secret from Molly, but as you parted and made your way out of the Ministry to travel home, your mood had almost immediately soured again.

The street was still busier than usual, the noise of people shouting and car horns honking were essentially non stop and you couldn't wait to get home and relax away from the chaos. You had to stop by the shop on the way home for some ingredients for dinner that night and found upon entering the shop that they were completely out of what you needed. You huffed out a breath, feeling yourself getting worked up again and tried desperately to think of alternative ideas to work with what you already had at home but your mind was foggy and unable to concentrate, coming up with nothing. You felt like crying, stood in the middle of a crowed aisle in the muggle supermarket, feeling utterly pathetic. You cursed under your breath and moved away from the aisle towards the exit when you passed the small bakery counter, the sight alone of the small chocolate fudge cake on display enough to make you pause. Without hesitation you bought the cake and walked straight to the checkout, feeling defeat at not getting what was needed for dinner but at the same time, feeling a little victory at acquiring the chocolate cake you were so looking forward to.

You were exhausted by the time you opened the door to the apartment, cursing Fred in your mind for placing the anti-apparition jinx upon the store and the flat above and for not fixing the floo function on the fireplace which had forced you to manually travel into central London and back and then walk up four flights of stairs in your business heels. You were in a foul mood, tired and ready to snap from the day filled with complications and irritations.

You walked into the kitchen to place the cake on the side after kicking off your heels and saw a load of dirty pots piled up in the sink and a mess made on nearly every surface of the countertop, clearly from one of the twins on their lunch break.

You let out an aggrieved groan and slammed down the bag containing the cake on the small kitchen table, huffing and cursing under your breath as you chucked down your wand and walked immediately into the bedroom in a huff.

You rolled your eyes seeing the wardrobe doors open and the bed covers strewn everywhere from your rush this morning and groaned again, now in disdain for your own actions. You walked off once again, now annoyed at yourself and stepped into the thankfully rather tidy bathroom. You started the shower, wanting to wash the entire day away and get out of your uncomfortable clothes immediately which you happily threw onto the bathroom floor without a single care.

The shower helped, feeling a little cleansed by the water and familiar scents of your shower gel, though it didn't remove your bad mood entirely; thoughts of the messy kitchen and lack of dinner ingredients were still playing on your mind only winding you up more. You stepped out of the shower, wrapped in a big fluffy towel and walked into the bedroom to put your comfy clothes on, a big T-shirt that used to belong to Fred and your black joggers, aiming for ultimate comfort. You hadn't heard from George or Fred today except for the nice note they'd left on the fridge door wishing you luck for your interview, though it wasn't unusual, the shop was always busy.

You walked to the kitchen, completely ignoring the mess and pits that were not yours to clean and made yourself a cup of tea, almost crying as you looked at the slither of milk left in the fridge. It was enough for one cup of tea but nothing more and you cursed yourself again for not thinking of grabbing milk whilst you were at the shop.

You sat down in the living room with your cup of tea, wet hair thrown up in a lazy bun and had just pulled open the book you were currently reading when Fred burst through the apartment door.

"Ooh there's my princess, how did your interview go?" He says loudly, bombarding you instantly with a kiss to the head and throwing himself down onto the sofa beside you. You closed your eyes in annoyance, just wanting to relax and on the cusp of being able to before he interrupted.

"It was fine," you replied with a shrug, really not feeling up to explaining your day just now. "They said I'd receive an owl by the end of the week."

"Know you'll get it princess, always have been the smart one," he says, apparently thinking nothing of your rather clipped reply.

"Anyway, we're taking you to dinner tonight to celebrate," he says in a sing-song manner, stretching out on the sofa to put his feet up on the coffee table.

"But I haven't gotten the job," you countered, placing down your book, casting one last sad glance at the cover.

"Yet," he replies, stretching out and pulling open his tie just a fraction, eyes closed with a smirk tugging at his lips.

Any other day you'd have jumped at the chance to go out for a meal with your loved ones but upon looking at your comfy yet completely inappropriate outfit to go out in, your face fell. You'd have to put actual clothes back on, do your hair again and reapply your makeup that you'd just scrubbed off in the shower. You couldn't be bothered, at all. You wanted to sit and read with your cup of tea, switch off your brain and eat your weight in chocolate cake. But then you remembered that you had no solid idea or complete ingredient list for any viable meal and maybe going out would be the only way of eating that night.

You felt another wave of annoyance come over you as you considered having to get all done up again. Couldn't they have warned you? Left a note or something so that you didn't shower the minute you got in? You knew you were diverting into unreasonable territory as they were just trying to do something nice but you couldn't help it, you'd rather vomit slugs than have to get ready all over again and out of your comfort clothes.

"Anyway, best get back or George'll curse my eyebrows off, 7pm gorgeous, wear something sexy," he says, straightening his toe as he wiggles his eyebrows at you before leaning down to press a kiss to your lips, "proud of you sweetheart." And then he's gone and you're left reeling.

Wear something sexy? Who the bloody hell was he to request that? Your boyfriend of years, but still.

You looked down at your outfit again and felt a ridiculous but prominent sense of loss, wanting to stay bundled up forever. You check the clock on the wall and feel aggravated once again as you see that it's nearly 5:50pm and you'd have to start getting ready. You begrudgingly dragged yourself into the bedroom and sat at your little table, staring into the mirror and felt no motivation or desire to get ready, looking at the drawers in front of you but not actually wanting to open them.

That's how George found you a little before 7 as he slipped away from the shop, seeing you sitting at your makeup table in tears. He rushed in as soon as he saw your tears and crouched down to try and comfort you, eagerly listening though it must have been hard for him as the crying was affecting your voice and all that came out were a few unintelligible whines.

"I just don't want to," you say with a hiccup, wiping away your fear from your cheek. You didn't think it would actually get this bad but your curls hadn't gone right, the hairbrush you found was not your favourite and sometimes pulled your hair a little as it brushed through and nothing at all would make you look sexy tonight with your bloating. You didn't want to wear uncomfortable heels again, nor walk anywhere in them and by the time you'd gotten to take a sip of your tea, it was cold.

"Shh, it's alright," George says soothingly trying to calm you. He placed his hand on your shoulder but quickly removed it as he saw your little glance at it. It wasn't that you didn't want to be touched per se, but his touch very heavy on your already uncomfortable body. "We don't have to go, it was only an idea."

You sniffled miserably and looked at your best friend, wiping away the tears. "But we don't have anything for tea, they didn't have any-."

"Then we'll order in, get something delivered or we'll nip out and bring something back," he says, not quite interrupting you but just enough to make you stop spiralling. You nodded meekly, feeling utterly pathetic again. "Right, I'll go tell Fred we're staying in, then we'll close up and order something okay? Do you want me to make you a cup of tea?"

You'd seen his eyes flicker to your still full mug and frown as he entered, figuring it was something that had set you off. You shook your head, already feeling like he'd done too much for you.

"Okay, we'll be back as soon as we can," he squeezes your shoulder and walks out.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, makeup sparingly applied but messed up thanks to your tears and your hair curled but not how you wanted it and sighed, feeling overwhelmed with guilt at shooting down your boyfriend and his brother. They'd only tried to do something nice and you'd completely spoiled it, too selfish and caught up in your own feelings that you'd been unreasonable and unkind. You considered wiping the makeup off your face but thought better of it but you reach for a big scrunchie and tie your hair back into a high ponytail, making you feel a little better.

You threw back on your comfy clothes and trudged into the kitchen, retrieving your wand to cast a few spells that had the kitchen cleared in no time. You poured away your cold tea and put the kettle back on, still seeking the comfort as you had before.

The twins closed up the shop in record time and Fred pulled you into the bedroom with him as he undressed, slipping out of his suit and into his own loungewear.

"Princess you should have said," he says gently, reaching for you, his hand cradling your face as he looks into your eyes, "I didn't mean to pressure you."

"No it's not you, I've just been off all day, everything's irritating me and I just want to switch off," you explained, hearing the remorse in your voice.

"Then relax you shall," he says with a smirk, "kiss first though?" His cheeky smile extends to his eyes and you catch his gaze flicker at your lips. You eagerly reach up on your tiptoes to place a sweet kiss onto his lips and you pull away smiling, feeling like it's the first time you'd properly smiled all day.

George ordered food for you all before hopping in the shower and arrived back in the living room wearing his comfiest pyjamas, pulling you into him for a hug as Fred fired up your favourite muggle movie on the TV, also joining you on the large sofa.

It was pitch black when you woke up, your eyes struggling to focus as you came around, confused as to what had woken you up. You could hear Fred breathing deeply and evenly, sound asleep. You looked at the little alarm clock beside the bed, lifting your head up from the place between the pillow and Fred's shoulder where your head rested and saw that it was 2:34am. As your consciousness begins to clear, you frown, feeling a soreness in your abdomen that you couldn't place, feeling as if you needed the toilet but without the urge to go.

You extracted yourself from your boyfriend's side, which never proved to be an easy feat, and walked to the bathroom, dragging your tired body along. You turned on the light and quickly shut the door to stop the light from disturbing your sleeping boyfriend and sat down on the toilet, turning the tap on out of habit. You pulled down your sleep shorts and underwear and immediately understood why you had an ache in your stomach, and why you'd been out of sorts all day.

Your period.

Every month without fail, the moment you discover your period had started, the pain heightens at least ten notches. You winced as you wiped, kicking off your underwear and shorts that were soiled and dragged yourself into the shower. For the second time, you sighed as you entered the shower, your body screaming at you out of exhaustion as you rinsed yourself off. You grabbed a towel and raced into the bedroom to grab a pair of panties from the dresser and ran back into the bathroom to sort your pad out. You then slipped on some new pyjamas and dragged yourself back to the bed, illuminating your wand to check that nothing had gotten onto the sheets, or worse on your boyfriend sleeping beside you. Luckily, it hadn't.

You suddenly didn't feel tired anymore, body wired from your lukewarm shower. You walked to the kitchen, padding through the flat on barefoot and flicked the kettle on, searching through the cupboard above for a jar of hot chocolate you kept in.

You grabbed your hot drink and flicked on a lamp before you pulled a black cushion from the side of the sofa to sit on, not wanting anymore accidents to happen. You didn't turn on the TV right away but instead chose to sit in the partially illuminated room and try and wind down. You couldn't get comfy at all, wiggling your hips to try and ease the ache between them, feeling like your lower abdomen was being constricted from the inside, shooting pains going down your leg and an uncomfortable pressure in your bum. You could sob with the pain, wanting to curl up in a ball and cry but you couldn't, I'm too much pain to even try and move, your entire energy being consumed by simply existing right now.

Your periods had always been bad, starting just before your third year at Hogwarts and though through time they had evened out a little, they were still unpredictable at best and monstrous at worst. You shifted your hips again, trying to relieve the tension you felt and groaned quietly, wishing that you'd filled up your hot water bottle before sitting down.

Medicine in the wizarding world was spectacularly different from the muggle word though a little less advanced as the wizarding community came with added complications such as diseases and ailments that muggles would never know existed. Witches and Wizards often didn't react well to normal muggle remedies nor pharmaceuticals, something you'd learned at Hogwarts from Madame Pomfrey, something about the magical ability burning through modern pharmaceuticals at a rapid rate, rendering them ineffective.

You placed your mug on your stomach to try and gain some heat from it and rested your head back on the sofa, breathing deeply and trying to calm yourself so that you could go back to bed. Feeling yourself getting sleepy, you placed down your mug and pulled a soft blanket over you, trying to get comfy as you settled into the soft material of the plush sofa.

"Princess?" You heard a quiet voice call out, your eyes on the verge of closing. You opened them just a little, sensing Fred's presence behind you and you twisted in position to look at him, wincing as a bolt of pain shot through your groan at the motion.

"What are you doing out here? George snoring too loud again?" You smiled appreciatively for the joke and reached out for him with grabby hands, needing some comfort. He wordlessly slipped in beside you on the sofa and immediately wrapped you around him, blankets and all as he kept you bundled up. You reached for his large hand, feeling the absurd heat he always radiated under your fingers and placed his hand onto your tummy. The heat from his hand spread over your skin instantly and you could feel it penetrating deeper and deeper, soothing your pain.

"That time?" He asks delicately and you nod into his chest, your eyes still heavy as you breathed in the familiar, comforting smell of Fred. "Want your water bottle?" You paused, considering it but slowly shook you head.

"Not right now, got you," you mumbled into his chest, his warmth and presence soothing you further into sleep. You felt him chuckle, chest rumbling with the vibration and he reach down to press a kiss to the top of your head.

"Out of ten?" He asks, keeping his hand placed delicately on your belly.

"Eight at least," you groan, your eyes closing as your toes twitch out of the intensity of the pain.

"Oookay, what can I do?" He asks, clearly a little freaked out by the high level of pain you admitted, knowing that it really must have been bad as you always had a high pain threshold.

"Just sit with me," you say, feeling depleted.

"Wanna go to bed or are you happy here?" He says after a few minutes. The heat from his hand has begun to feel redundant, your skin now the same temperature as his.

"Water bottle first?" You asked innocently, hopeful that he'd accommodate you. He presses another kiss to your head and tells you he'll bring it in before shoo'ing you into the bedroom where you sink down into the soft sheets, finally feeling comforted enough to close your eyes.

[marigold-hills]

Dunes & Waters, part 47

PART 1 • PREVIOUS PART • NEXT PART

“Peter wants to celebrate today,” Sirius says as they lounge in bed, lazily wasting away the morning. Remus is squished into Sirius’ side, avoiding the wet spot on the bed sheets where he spilled some of his tea. It’s probably the only good outcome of shaky fingers, even though he’s not needed the excuse to touch for weeks - maybe never. Still, he knows there isn’t much time left for them and it’s breaking him, this proximity, but he takes what he can. Ignores the inevitable.

“Celebrate?”

“Yeah. My regained freedom, you know, from this one jailor I’ve been saddled with,” he laughs, turns his face into Remus’ hair.

“I think the jailor has been saddled with you, to be precise, but if you’re so keen to be free of him…”

“Never,” spoken into the skin of Remus’ jaw, followed with a press of lips, “I’d commit so many crimes if it meant staying here.”

“Don’t let the Ministry hear you say that.”

“Or Shacklebolt,” Sirius shudders, overdramatically, “think I could give him an aneurysm?”

“You’ll give me one if you don’t stop with this.”

“Can’t be having that,” he pushes himself onto his forearms, hovering over Remus, lovely hair cascading down and blocking out the sun. “I’ll reschedule,” gets back on topic.

“Don’t. You don’t have long left here, you should see him. Not like I’ll be much fun today anyway.”

“I don’t need you to be fun. I need you to be comfortable.”

It’s so lovely, this casual care, that Remus almost says yes, stay. But he’s been selfish enough and Sirius doesn’t have many days left to spend with Peter. “I’ll see you in the morning anyway. Go with him, let me be an old man about the apartment.”

“Hottest old man I’ve ever seen,” lingering kisses: cheeks, eyebrows, “alright. But I’ll be home before you have to leave for the facility tonight. Don’t forget to drop the potion off at the library on your way, since you care so much for Shacklebolt’s continued wellbeing.”

Remus picks it up from the windowsill and puts it into a pocket of his trousers, showing Sirius: see, won’t forget. Don’t fret.

They have long hours to pass. The nearing full moon is making Remus slow and achy but it almost doesn’t matter when he can press himself close to Sirius’ body heat and leech it away to soothe his muscles. When he goes, he promises again to be back well before nightfall. “We’ll have dinner,” he says, “I’ll pick up something good. Don’t even think about doing any house chores while I’m gone, get yourself and Ziggy on the couch and don’t move a muscle.”

***

The owl comes as the sun is still high in the sky. Remus lounges around the apartment, drinks tea and eats peaches. He thinks, when Sirius gets back, he’ll ask him to run him one of those magic baths he makes, with the spells and the potions and the lovely stasis charm that keeps the water warm. 

Remus, the letter says in Peter’s hurried, scratchy handwriting,

Is Sirius with you? He was supposed to meet me a few hours ago, but he’s not shown. Unlike him. Getting a bit worried.

Let me know if you can?

Wormtail

Remus doesn’t worry. Not straight away. Something gnaws on him like a whisper to pay attention, a niggling itch somewhere behind his ear, but there is nothing to worry about. Sirius is, after all, free to do as he pleases. And sure, it’s not like him not to show up when he said he would, and he never before left the apartment without telling Remus where he’s going, sneaking out to the post office and to grab Ziggy notwithstanding. Extenuating circumstances. So that’s what Remus thinks. There must be circumstances to explain the absence.

Within half an hour, his anxiety peaks alongside the sun.

He writes back to Peter. I’ll find him, and will let you know. Short and perfunctory, because it doesn’t need to be any more, and the joints in his fingers hurt when holding the quill.

The tracking spell is easy to use. It pulls Remus’ bones towards Sirius’ location.

***

It takes a better part of two hours for Remus to find the abandoned house on the edge of Aswan the spell brings him to. It’s on the waterfront, overlooking the harbour. The water is clear and red in the light of the sunset. Across, he can see the Philae Temple standing on an island and thinks Sirius would like this.

He tells himself to stay calm, stay focused because Sirius is definitely inside, and there is no good reason for him to be. (He feels a bit guilty. Like he’s stalking Sirius, like encroaching on his space and his freedom. He’s tracked him here, without his knowledge or consent, and it’s not something he relishes. No matter how worried he is.)

Wand concealed inside his sleeve, he spells the door open and, slowly, quietly, ventures inside.

It’s dark, most of the windows boarded up. Remus doesn’t check if the lights are working. There is nobody inside, he doesn’t think. The spell pulls him towards a staircase leading to the basement. On a string, he follows.

There is a desk in the basement, littered with papers, several quills and an ink pot. It must be a Wizarding house, Remus thinks, and gives up concealing his wand, casts Lumos to see better. It illuminates a sturdy-looking door. The tracking charm tells him to open it, but it’s locked.

“Sirius?” he calls out, but there is no response. Looks around himself, checks again if there is anyone there, then spells the door to unlock. It opens with a metallic grunt like rust being scraped off iron.

Behind the door is Sirius, eyes wide, mouth taped shut, fighting against rope binding him to a chair.

Remus takes a step towards him. Halts.

Remus smells the rat.

He’s too slow. Disarmed before he can react, from behind. His wand flies out of his hand and Peter catches it, clumsily. Remus is half-way turned when another spell knocks him back and into the room with Sirius.

“Took you a while, but I guess better late than never.”

Sirius bucks so hard he almost topples the chair, muffled fury in each cut-off sound he makes. Remus stands up from where he fell to the ground. Wants to check on Sirius, check if he’s safe, if he’s in one piece, but doing so would require him to turn his back to Peter, and he can’t risk it.

“Settle down Pads, we’ve been through this already. I’ve got your wand. I’ve got Remus’, too,” he twirls it around his fingers, stands in the doorway, “there is nothing for you to do, but wait.”

“What do you want?”

“For now, for you to untie our Padfoot here. Wouldn’t look good if he were to die like this, too obvious there was foul play involved. Come on now, don’t make me wait. We don’t have long, since you took forever.”

Peter is watchful, wand trained at Remus, flicking between him and Sirius. The ropes don’t want to come off, twisted too tightly by Sirius’ attempts to free himself. There are red burns on his wrists and forearms.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake,” Peter gets frustrated, “told you to stop fumbling about Sirius. Course, you can never make anything easy, can you?” he vanishes the rope, and Sirius rips the gag off his own mouth.

“You little fucking rat,” his voice is full of venom as he steps in front of Remus and stops there, paused by another flick of Peter’s wand. “What do you want?”

“Want? Not much. Nothing from you, anyway. That lovely cousin of yours, well… she wants your money and your seat on the Wizengamot.”

“You’re working for Bellatrix?” It's more than shock. Remus can hear the way Sirius’ heart breaks, the way he must have, until that moment, hoped that this was all just a misunderstanding, maybe a stupid game Peter was playing.

“For, with, under. Well, not the last one, but if she asked… anyway, semantics. This is your fault, Sirius,” ugly sneer, little eyes glowing with hate, “you could have just let those Muggles die like you were supposed to. But no, you had to do your thing and only land yourself a limited sentence, so of course all your titles stayed yours.”

Sirius doesn’t catch the meaning. Not as fast as Remus does. “What do you mean, let them die?”

“What, you think our noble Lord Black here actually hurt anyone? Of course not,” Pete speaks with derision like it’s an insult, “no, I did that. Got him to the restaurant, waited for him on the corner, and cast the spells. Why do you think they took your wand and left you to rot in a Muggle prison? Bellatrix has more contacts than you think. Wanted to make sure nobody could trace that you didn’t actually do any magic. Except for that bloody protective spell you somehow managed, of course. Always have to be such a bloody hero, Padfoot.”

Sirius rushes at Peter, and for a moment it looks like he’ll overpower him. He’s larger, faster, and infinitely angrier, but then a spell throws him off. “Calm down. Show some of that fabled Black decorum.”

The air around Sirius tries to spark up. He’s a conduit and lightning goes through him. There’s an audible crack, then… nothing. The magic fizzles out, sucked away.

“The room is lined with malachite, Sirius. You can’t do anything here. Need to keep Padfoot dormant tonight,” Peter says, taking a step backwards. Remus can see him putting down his own and Sirius’ wands on the desk. “See you in the morning, Remus! And you, Sirius, or whatever is left of you. Will miss you, for what it’s worth.”

The basement door rattles closed, heavy metal grating against itself.

“Peter! Pete! You absolute fucking wanker open this goddam door!” Sirius shouts, screams, throws himself at the door, kicks it. Nothing happens. Peter doesn’t come back. “I’m going to break your fat fucking neck!”

There is one tiny window high up on the wall, right to the ceiling. Sirius looks beautiful bathed in the glow of the sunset. It must be minutes before the full moon rises.

Remus watches. Sirius is stunning in his anger, hair a disarray and eyebrows tight. He’s a whirlwind of energy, misfiring magic contained within the charmed walls. Remus allows himself space to watch. It’s probably the last time he will get to.

Gives himself a minute. Counts it away.

“Peter you fucker, I thought you were my friend!” Sirius rages. His body is taught like a bowstring. He grabs at his hair, where his wand usually is. Instead he tears at it in frustration.

Fifty eight… Fifty nine… Sixty.

“Sirius,” Remus says softly but he’s heard anyway, as if Sirius is attuned to his voice. “It’s alright.”

“It’s not! He’s… fuck, they’ll blame you. They’ll say you didn’t go to the facility and you attacked me and you’ll end up in Azkaban,” Sirius doesn’t even take a second to think about his own life, and isn’t that something? Doesn’t that mean something? “Or worse. Fuck. They put werewolves down.”

Remus touches his pocket. Feels the shape of the vial. Smiles.

“Sirius. Please. Stop. Come here.”

He does. Like pulled by a string. There are tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is. If I hadn’t…”

“Sirius,” Remus touches his face, wipes a stray tear away. “None of this is your fault. No matter what happens, alright?”

“They’ll kill you.”

Remus laughs, a soft thing, broken thing. “They won’t. And you’ll be safe, alright? I promise you. As long as I have a say in it, you’ll be safe.”

“I don’t think you get to talk our way out of this one,” a weak, sobbing laugh. “Fuck. Remus.”

Remus takes the vial in his hand, careful so Sirius doesn’t notice. He’d try to stop him, Remus knows. Can’t let it happen. The glass is cool in his palm. He brings Sirius close, chest to chest, hides his face in that lovely, lovely hair. Choosing one pain over the other has never been so easy.

“Sirius, I have to tell you.”

Sirius tries to lift his head but Remus keeps it tucked into the crook of his neck. Holds him tightly. Sirius doesn’t fight it. The light outside grows dimmer.

“If this is my last… fuck. If this is the last chance I get. Sirius. I love you.”

He uncorks the vial with his thumb, careful not to spill any. Other hand still deep in Sirius’ hair, caressing through it. Love on both ends, one an ending and one a worship.

“Why are you telling me this now?” Sirius grabs onto him tighter, fingers digging into skin. “Why not earlier?”

Remus drinks. The potion tastes like jasmine and like hot summer nights. It’s two swallows, nothing more. It burns like he’d eaten a star.

He lets Sirius move away. Shows him the now empty vial.

Large eyes. Hands over mouth. Sirius stumbles away from him like a reed in a storm.

“No. Remus, you didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t. Not for me.”

“Of course I did.”

“I didn’t know you had it! You were meant to… fuck, Remus, why didn’t you leave it at the library? You told me you would! If I’d known I never would have let you…”

Remus smiles at him as if to say that’s why, that’s exactly why.

“I don’t want you to die for me.”

“You don’t get a say in it.”

The moon must be near rising. Remus can feel it pulling at bones and muscles, but there’s another layer to the hurt - a burning, incessant thing he’d never felt before. Like his body is gnawing at itself already, before the wolf could start to.

He takes Sirius’ hands in his, brings him closer. Touches each favourite line of his face - there are so many. Combs through the hair and marvels at how much softer it’s become with care and love and time. Indulges himself, slow and steady. Feels no fear. Supposes there’s no space for it, when he’s this sure of his decision. When there is no turning back.

But Sirius doesn’t calm. He’s a hurricane with no outlet, all that magic that wants to escape trapped inside of him. Peter was right, to lock them somewhere where he wouldn’t be able to access it. Sirius looks like he’d derail the movement of planets if given half a chance. 

“Promise me,” Remus asks, tracing the shape of Sirius’ eyebrow with his thumb, “you won’t go after Peter.”

“I’ll kill him for this.”

“No, you won’t. You’ll go to England. You’ll go back to James and let him take care of it. Take care of you. Promise me, Sirius.”

“Fine,” Sirius throws Remus’ hand away carelessly and tucks himself into the spaces in his body that must have been made just for him. No other reason for why he’d fit so perfectly in the juncture of Remus’ neck and between his arms.

“I wanted so much time with you,” Remus says and the moon rises.

NEXT PART

NOTES

@digital-kam @sweetstarryskies you wanted them to spend the full moon together?

@tealeavesandtrash

@moon-girl88

@hoje--aqui

@cocoabutterandbooks

@onion-sliced-apples

@prancingpony42

@digital-kam

@remoonysiriusly

@sweetstarryskies

@a-sunset-outside-my-window

@procrastinatingstuff

@annaliza999

@arasael

@a-pine-cone

@goldenprophetwrites

(let me know if you do/don’t want to be tagged!)