#nearing the first draft's end doesn't mean too much in terms of time

[lesbianherald]

I love your jayvik fics, and I am suuuuuper stoked and looking forward to your jayvik fantasy au!

I am very glad for all the compliments and recognition you get because you write so well, you deserve it. I hope you have a nice day!

you are the sweetest thank for taking time out of your day to tell me! and the kindness I've received from you and others really means so much. it's hard to put into words what these past few weeks have done for me.

so happy you're excited for the fantasy AU. since I'm almost done with the first draft of Chapter 1, here are a couple of sillier snippets teeeheee.

Road trip games

Horse girl Jayce

Vi with priorities

Magical pain medicine induced first impressions before loading jayce onto a stretcher

[lilahisntsadanymore]

We're the black sheep

Chapter Six

This one is kinda short, I apologize. I'm just glad I managed to find it in my notes after accidentally deleting it from drafts ;-;

This chapter is a bit of a drama but lil bit of drama never killed nobody ;)

Link to the masterlist

Words count: 1.9k

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Another month had passed and it was the time for the ball. Nothing had changed and Sirius was still going to take [Y/n] to the ball, even though they still didn't make their "relationship" (or whatever they had) official. Many other students knew there's something going on between them. Sirius and [Y/n] weren't showing off any public display of affection, but people noticed how they started hanging out more and being less mean to each other. In private, where nobody could see, they weren't hiding how much head over heels they're for one another. Kind of private if we skipped the other three Marauders, who would leave the lovebirds only on dates. Usually. They just had to make sure [Y/n] is treating Sirius well and doesn't give him any kind of a love potion. But after a few weeks James, Remus and Peter understood that [Y/n] could be pretty nice to hang around with when she wasn't near her Slytherin friends.

To the ball [Y/n] wore a scarlett dress, so that she would match Sirius, who was wearing a black suit with a scarlett tie. Once they arrived, a few (well, most of) girls were sending jealous looks towards [Y/n]. It was obvious that Sirius Black was Hogwarts' biggest heartthrob and a lot of girls were either attracted to him or hated him for breaking their hearts. Obviously, [Y/n] was beautiful herself, but she wasn't a heartbreaker. Before she got closer to Sirius, she wasn't into any other boy from the school like this. She was friends with Owen and Regulus and used to hang around with other Slytherin (and sometimes Ravenclaw) boys, but that was it. She never seeked for a relationship, actually she used to be sure her parents would eventually push her into an arranged marriage eventually.

As they walked on the dancefloor, [Y/n] looked around the Great Hall. The decorations were gorgeous, a few Hufflepuffs and some Gryffindors took care of these decorations and they did a good job. For the night there was no "house tables", people sat wherever they wanted to and neither house was favoured since Minerva McGonagall was the patron of the Decorating Committee, instead of Albus Dumbledore.

[Y/n]'s eyes stopped on Marlene McKinnon, who came to the ball with her girl friends. Even if [Y/n] wasn't on the best terms with her, she had to admit the blonde girl looked stunning. Suddenly their eyes met, [Y/n] tried to send a smile towards Marlene, but the girl crossed her arms and with a light smile turned her head back to her friends.

After the first dance, [Y/n] and Sirius sat at a table with James, Remus and Peter. Since James didn't manage to make Lily Evans go to the ball with him, Remus and Peter didn't want to bring anyone either. Totally not because they were too shy to ask a girl out.

[Y/n] already liked Remus and Peter, they were kind and helpful, but it was a little harder to take a liking to James. The ball changed it though when [Y/n] noticed how he danced with girls who didn't have a partner. Maybe James Potter wasn't that much of an arrogant git. He could be nice when he wanted to.

"Hey, I want to show you something", Sirius suddenly said and dragged [Y/n] out of the Great Hall. Holding each other's hands, they ran. They ran and [Y/n] was confused, because she didn't know where to.

They ended up on the Astronomy Tower. It was quiet and peaceful. The view, even though dark, was pretty. Suddenly, [Y/n] noticed Sirius was holding a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand. He probably hid it at the Tower a few hours before. Because he woudn't steal it out of the Great Hall, would he? [Y/n] thought.

Sirius opened the bottle and took a big sip. He scrunched his nose and then offered the bottle to [Y/n]. The girl hesitantly took it from him. She scanned the bottle with her eyes. C'mon, if it was poisoned he'd be dead by now, the girl thought. She also took a sip and felt the burning liquid in her throat.

The lovebirds ended up laying on the floor together, cuddled up and passing the bottle back and forth to one another. The clear night sky was a perfect opportunity for stargazing.

"Look there," Sirius pointed at some place on the sky, "this is Sirius. The brightest star on the night sky."

"Also known as the Dog Star," [Y/n] added, "is your patronus a dog?" the girl laughed.

"Yes. Yes, it is. What's yours?"

"I don't know. I was never able to...you know..."

"I have to teach you then!" Sirius exclaimed and kissed [Y/n]. The both of them tasted like firewhiskey, which killed even the orange smell [Y/n] had. The girl loved oranges and couldn't imagine a day without eating a few of them.

Suddenly the couple heard someone walking up the stairs. They broke the kiss and gestured each other to be silent. The footsteps were extremely quiet, quieter than light sobbing that filled their ears a few seconds after. [Y/n] and Sirius stood up and walked closer to the source of the sound.

"Reg..." [Y/n] whispered when the sobbing person turned out to be Regulus. He looked at her, then at Sirius. The older Black's face remained still and suddenly emotionless, while the younger Black had tears falling down his face.

"Go. Away." Regulus muttered, hanging his head down so that he could hide his tears.

"Regulus." [Y/n] said with a steady voice.

"I said. Go away!" The younger Black stood up, with no tears on his face anymore. Now he looked emotionless just like his brother. His took out his wand not really pointing it at anyone.

"Hey!" Sirius said cautiously with his own wand at ready.

Regulus backed off a little with his wand pointing at Sirius. They stared at each other in silence but with rage flaming in their eyes.

"What happened?" [Y/n] asked, breaking the silence, "you were crying, Regulus."

The younger Black muttered something under his breath and began walking away. [Y/n] took out her own wand and used a non-verbal spell to stop him.

"Regulus Arcturus Black," [Y/n]'s voice was now demanding, "I asked you a question."

"And I don't wanna answer. Let me go!" Regulus shouted.

"I am your friend, not enemy..."

"Shut up!"

"Don't yell at her!" Sirius chimed in.

"Fucking blood traitors." Regulus' voice was quiet as if he didn't want to say it. [Y/n] got upset and let him go. She never seen Regulus so aggressive before.

[Y/n] had lost the mood to party, so she spent the rest of the night with Sirius on the Astronomy Tower. They were comforting each other. Even if Sirius wouldn't show it in public, he was really sad about his relations with Regulus.

"I wonder what happened to him. He's my little brother and I love him, but things are so difficult. And it's my fault. If I was in Slytherin, everything would be different. Better." Sirius confessed. He was close to crying, one tear was falling on his cheek already. Normally he wouldn't let himself be so vulnerable around a girl, but [Y/n] was different. He fell for her how he haven't fell for a girl before. He wasn't afraid of losing his heartthrob reputation in her eyes.

"Sirius, it's not your fault." [Y/n] hugged him without even noticing she probably called him by his first name for the first time ever. The boy smiled but decided not to point it out right now. Later, maybe (author's note: if the author doesn't forget lmao).

"No, [Y/n], it is my fault. I should protect Reggie. I hate him sometimes, but I would hurt myself if something happened and I wouldn't be able to help him. I have to do something before it's too late."

"Sirius-"

"No, you don't understand it. I can't let him become a death eater." He didn't let her finish what she was going to say. It angered [Y/n] and caused her to pull away from Sirius. With a serious look on her face and anger in her voice, she said:

"You're right. I don't understand it. How could I understand it if my brother became a death eater when I was a kid and was oblivious to it the whole time?! How could I understand it if I found out about my brother working for Voldemort just a few months ago?! How could I understand... I know nothing about it, right, Black?"

"[Y/n], I'm sorr-"

"I don't care. Goodnight, Black"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Days had passed. [Y/n] didn't talk to Sirius, even if he tried to start a conversation. Maybe the girl was exaggerating it, but she was still angry. She was hurt. She felt belittled by Sirius. How could he say she didn't understand him? Even if [Y/n] was only twelve years old when Cieran became a death eater and found out about it recently, it didn't mean she didn't get how Sirius felt. When [Y/n] found out her brother was a death eater she was sad and angry. She didn't show it on the outside. She cried a few nights in a row. She wished she could go back in time with the knowledge she had now and try to stop Cieran from becoming a death eater. But she couldn't. Sirius still had time. But [Y/n] knew how he felt about Regulus.

Even after months, [Y/n] still didn't want to have to do anything with Sirius. She stopped hanging out with him and the rest of Marauders. Thankfully she had Circe and Owen. And Regulus, who was like a brother to her. Sometimes she looked at the younger Black and thought how she was more of a family to him than his actual family. Even if Sirius wanted to try to be a good brother, he would then do something to mess it up again.

If [Y/n] and Sirius talked, it was because they were arguing. During one of their fights, [Y/n] pointed out how much of a shitty brother Sirius is. She pointed out every single one of his flaws and every single one of the mistakes he made. She was definitely exaggerating, but she didn't care.

"It's difficult being a good brother, while he hates me only for being in a different house!" Sirius shouted.

"Oh yeah?" [Y/n] laughed sarcastically, "has Regulus ever told you that he feels rejected by you? Rejected for being sorted into Slytherin. You were the one to stop talking to him in your second year. Regulus used to look up to you. And you rejected him, you started ignoring him, you didn't let him-"

"He could tell me! He was the one to stop coming to our meetings on the Astronomy Tower, has he told you about that?"

"He got caught by a teacher sneaking out. You would know if you weren't such a coward! How much courage do you need to talk to your own brother in public?!"

"You don't know how hard it is to-"

"No, don't start again! At this point I am more of a sibling to Reg. Pull yourself together, Black."

The truth was, Sirius' pride made it difficult to talk to Regulus in public. Other students didn't know anything, they all thought the Black brothers hated each other. At some point eventually even the brothers thought they hated each other. People could describe it as a platonic, sibling-wise love-hate relationship. They acted like they hate each other, because they had to. Because their pride didn't let them act diffrent.

[specialized-stem]

Essay Writing Guide: Tried and Tested

Part 2 of the Tried and Tested Series

Part 1

This here is just a handy list of tips and guidelines on quick and accurate essay writing. I picked up most of this advice from my English teachers, debate mentors, personal experience, and of course, hours and hours of obsessive searching on the Internet, all summed up into one little guide: hope you all enjoy~~

Structuring Your Essay

Introduction

In any paper, it's important to start strong; after all, good content is useless if no one actually reads it, right? That's why most good essays begin with a hook or attention grabber sentence. Depending on the nature of your paper, this can be a rhetorical question, a quote, a base statistic, or even a joke. Although some claim the hook to be optional, I'd argue that it helps the reader not only feel more interested, but also allowing them to build expectations about the overall theme and tone of the essay.

If you're writing a heavy informative type essay, it's essential that you provide background information on the topic. Shed light on the current situation surrounding your topic. Explain your keywords in layman's terms. Try to consider those people who may not have the same background knowledge as you do, and how to possibly make your writing more understandable for them.

Finally, I usually put my thesis statement near the end of the paragraph, which is a nice little spot to segue into the meat of your paper. In one simple sentence, explain what your entire essay is about-- while that does sound pretty daunting when you have a 10 page long paper, it does helps you put into perspective the most important aspects of the topic that you should be focusing on and prevents you from going too off-topic.

Body

In my opinion, a well structured essay resembles a very wordy flowchart. The body is divided into paragraphs; each paragraph holds one main idea that is linked to the thesis statement. This idea is often called a topic sentence.

The sentences after the main idea usually answer the following questions:

What is currently known about the main idea?

What are some examples about or concerning the main idea?

How can you further describe or explain the main idea?

How is the idea related to the thesis statement?

Why is this idea important or worth mentioning?

Before going to the next paragraph, make sure there are transition words or phrases to make the sentences flow more smoothly. You should also make sure to use the appropriate transition words, because no one appreciates you reusing therefore and moreover 5 million times. When in doubt, there are plenty handy lists of transition words floating around the internet.

When organizing paragraphs, it's worth considering what kind of structure you plan to use.A more narrative based essay would favor a chronological arrangement compared to a persuasive article, which ranks ideas by order of importance.

Conclusion

The main purpose of the conclusion is to briefly summarize the contents of the entire essay. This includes restating all your main ideas and other important pieces of information. After all, this is where most readers look first when they do their research; help them out a bit by letting them know what they can find in your paper

The second and sometimes overlooked purpose of the conclusion is to show the relevance of value of the essay. Just like in a book or movie, it is important that the readers feel a significant impact at the end of a paper. If the essay is informative, they should feel knowledgeable; if it was persuasive, they should feel inspired. The ability to grab a reader's interest or attention from start to finish is often what separates a good paper from a mediocre one.

One of my favorite pieces of writing advice is to "go full circle". This means tying your conclusion back to your introduction. There are a million ways to do this, from simply restating your opening line to constructing elaborate analogies or answering your own rhetorical question. This prompts the reader to mentally go back to the beginning and recall what they've read. It also makes the entire piece feel well planned and thought out, and that's why I believe it is a very powerful tool.

Tips for the Writing Process

Outline. Outline. Outline. Believe me, I used to be one of those people who thought outlines were next to useless. I used to be so confident in writing whatever was on my mind right onto the paper and believing that whatever came out would be of good quality; that was until I met an English teacher in Senior High with much higher standards on organization, and my once-high English grades plummeted due to "wordiness" and "poor organization". As a hobbyist writer, my pride really took a blow, and I was determined to fix whatever criticisms my teacher had. That's when I got into outlining, which probably should be a topic in itself, but basically is just the process of brain dumping ideas, rearranging them in bullet form, and creating a hierarchy of ideas without using proper sentence structure. After using this system, I found out that outlining not only improved organization (I realized how much I used to go off topic) but helped conquer writer's block, which makes sense since drafting out base ideas is way easier than spending 5 minutes trying to write the PERFECT opening line got a paragraph. So yea, don't be lazy and just outline. You won't regret it.

Write out of Order!! Just because the introduction comes first on the paper doesn't mean that you have to write it first. In fact, some of my friends write the introduction last because they find it the most daunting. Instead, write whatever feels intuitively easiest for you, and you'll find that the bulk of your paper will be finished faster than you'd expect.

Get a second opinion if you can. Ask a friend to read through your paper, get their (honest) opinions. Be open to criticism, because only the truest of friends are willing to steer you towards improvement. Who knows, they might even catch a typo you missed. In return, offer to check their work. Try to identify what aspects of their writing style you like, and how you could possibly incorporate that into your future essays.