#rip mel you would've—

[bioeiectricity]

free time obtained ‼️‼️ FINALLY 🗣️

anyway, finally finished mellie's ref sheets <33 i missed impulse 1995 (part 2)

currently making an impulse clone saga au ( oc centric !!!!! ) there's more incoming but mel's my fav!!!

they had 2 years to live 'n' learn how to be their own person and stuffsss before their sickness get to them && they eventually die— ??? heavily inspired by whatever ben reilly and kaine parker went thru <33

there's reasons on why they're artificially deaged + why eobard created her. he's chill tho just let bro be 😭😭 <333 !!!!!!!

ft. some memes I've made that's connected to their lore

[littlelovelunette]

Hii i love your works so muchh and I just wondered if you could do an Ambessa x reader (angst), where Ambessa was supposed to die from the black rose but it ended up being the reader. Thank youuu🫂💗

An Altruistic Act

Contains angst, death of reader

You knew the time would come, you did but never had the guts to really tell Ambessa.

You were married to her, step mother to Mel who seemed to despise you with all that was in her.

Whatever the case was, Ambessa's orders were clear, "Stay where you are, don't intervene, don't move," and so you did when you watched Caitlyn Kiramman initiating a fight with Ambessa, a move you would've normally said was foolish.

But you could sense something darker underlying, you didn't know what to do. Every cell in your body was yelling from you to intervene but you didn't want to let Ambessa down.

Then it happened.

Caitlyn’s quick reflexes severed Ambessa’s protection—her talisman, the one safeguarding her from magic.

The moment it was ripped away, the room seemed to still. A sinister force coiled in the air like a serpent ready to strike.

But you didn't want to let it. You couldnt.

Ambessa had to live, she couldn't die this way.

The next few events went in a total blur, you lunged in front of her is all you remembered. White hot pain shot through every single vein of your body, agony gripping you, threatening to eat you whole and then you landed on the ground with a thud.

All the air knocked out of you.

Vision blurring with tears from pain.

Absolutely everyone watching was petrified, transfixed wherever they were as they stared, trying to comprehend Ambessa's reaction only there was none.

The woman walked closer to your limp body, sinking down on her knees for once, cradling your head.

Ambessa tilted your head delicately as if afraid your head would come detached into her hands, "Why?" She questioned, she couldn't cry. She couldn't let herself.

"Ambessa," her word was a whisper on your lips, hand raising to cup the side of Ambessa's face. "I'd rather die, than live without you." Your thumb rubbed against her cheek in a soothing manner.

"But you were supposed to live," Ambessa said, voice almost strained with emotion but she wouldn't let her resolve crumble.

"So were you," you chuckled weakly but then your hand fell limp from her face, Ambessa grabbed your hand tightly in her own.

You could see from your peripheral vision— Caitlyn and Mel stood there, horrified by what just happened. Not only did they miss their shot at Ambessa, they shot someone else completely.

"Stay with me," Ambessa said although she knew it was of no use, pressing her forehead against yours with oh-so desperation as if it would magically cure everything.

"Ambessa, promise me," you said, dark edges creeping in your vision, "Promise me, you'll win this battle and every other one after this."

Ambessa nodded, "I promise," she said with so much emotion, no Noxian had ever heard her like this.

Ambessa felt you fading from her arms, golden eyes raising with pure rage to lock over Caitlyn and Mel.

Perhaps nobody had ever heard Ambessa being so vulnerable before but now? No one would ever hear that again.

There was nothing more to lose for Ambessa for they had taken away what kept her going at the worst times in her life.

You.

[unhinged-as-hell]

RIP Viktor, you would've loved simping on Mage Mel.

[oodlyenough]

last of us 2x07

i'll miss having this show every week it's been nice to read people's thoughts ... and on a story where i'm not worried about getting spoiled by set leaks because i already know what happens lol

anyway, thoughts below, spoilers for the game, yadda yadda

as i've said all season we've really got all our cumulative little changes adding up to bigger ones here. pretty much all of the characters in ellie's sphere are now, imo, significantly modified from the source. which is good or bad or neutral depending on the viewer, i just don't think it's really accurate to pretend like those differences are insubstantial/irrelevant.

stuff I liked:

i thought the theatre scene with abby was excellent. i've been a little critical of the casting of kaitlyn dever but she was perfect in that short clip, great delivery, love the leather jacket, she feels scary and (i imagine, if you don't know) shocking just as she did in the game. whew. i figured we'd end when she pulls the trigger so that little glimpse all the way back into abby day 1 was a pleasant surprise

RIP jesse. i loved the reveal that jesse voted no to ellie's revenge plan. it makes perfect sense for this jesse, much more sense than him voting yes would've made. (frankly i don't believe maria would've voted yes either, so i'm choosing to believe it was tommy + 2 random nameless councilors lol.)

isaac being like "there's only one abby" made me laugh, as an abby fan i was like true man... i am curious to see how that develops over s3, abby as the leader-in-waiting. also loved to see bev again. i hope this means she's in s3 as well

the lead-up to the aquarium was so tense. lol i loved ellie's canon-typical parkour. the set!! i've been dying to see the aquarium set. the wheel and the whale... interesting to make it more of a mystery but of course as soon as we saw ellie look off into the distance on the horizon i knew what she'd spotted lol.

all season i've wondered why they aren't leaving more breadcrumbs to the abby storyline; i'd expect them to be subtle, but i'd also expect that the game fans would spot 'em when we see 'em, and i haven't really. in the absence of the polaroid, hunt-them-down-one-by-one plotline, it's been hard to see where the abby stuff is being set up. but this episode seemed to compensate by tossing them all in at once, for better or worse, lol. owen and mel and abby MIA, the cranes in the distance when jesse and ellie are walking, the aquarium argument, the island attack, the sniper attack, the bloody surgical gear in the aquarium... i was leo pointing meme at most of it. (could and should it have been spread it through the season? uh. probably. but anyway)

god i just love the set design on this show. it's so cool. i get such a kick out of seeing all these environments brought to life. I Just Think They're Neat

i have to say i find owen and mel pretty intolerable in the game lmaooo so i'm very receptive to their show counterparts.

stuff i'm undecided on:

jesse and ellie's relationship is so different. on one hand, i really like jesse and ellie in the game, and i mourn their uncomplicated bromance. on the other hand, i do think jesse's reactions are mostly justified in the context of the show, and show ellie's behaviours.

i get that ellie ending up on seraphite island is almost certainly another one of those abby easter eggs, and at some point in s3 we'll see the abby POV of that same sequence, and we'll get to be like "ohoho but she doesn't know ellie is on the island and she just accidentally saved ellie's life, leading to owen and mel's deaths!" like. i get it. but that's a long time to wait for a pretty minor payoff, and in the meantime it just feels like a pretty pointless interlude.

mel's death... hmm... as mentioned, i have no attachment to mel in the game, so i don't mind this being reinterpreted. i'm trying to decide if i feel that it was Too Much or not and haven't landed. it was certainly horrifying.

owen and mel's deaths were rewritten in a way to make ellie a little less culpable... which i find odd... i mean their deaths always seem a little unplanned, ellie is reacting defensively to their counter-attack, but this totally reframes mel into basically an innocent bystander and i'm not sure how i jive with that.

stuff i do not like:

i don't think i like ellie telling dina the truth of what joel did. i'm not sure i really believe it from ellie, and i also found dina's reaction a bit... puzzling. i get that it's a lot of information to receive in 60 seconds, lol, but i just think if this is going to drive dina and ellie apart it sucks that it's something JOEL did to ellie, and not something ellie has done. ellie wasn't even really keeping it a huge secret because she wasn't lying when she says she didn't know they were fireflies.

in the game, dina spends time in day 1 speculating about what joel did that got him killed, and also the motivations in general of his killers, and ellie tries to brush it aside or change the topic. here, just a couple episodes ago, dina gave a big speech like "it doesn't MATTER what joel did to their people" only for it to very much matter. i get that it's shocking, it's something dina would never have considered possible i guess (surely "joel killed a lot of people" was not out of the question??), but it just makes it stranger to me to include that earlier line about how it doesn't matter to her. this happens a few times in the season, where a character says something that is directly contradicted later, but in a way where instead of feeling like the character was lying to themselves or has changed their perspective, i'm just left a little muddled.

(one possibility is that dina, who like everyone in the sphere of that plotline is now super hyped for her unplanned pregnancy, feels differently now that she's ~a mother~. i hate this explanation to be quite honest but the show is going hard on the Parenting angle so it feels as likely as any. i just can't handle how the narrative is framing dina's unplanned teen pregnancy by her ex in an apocalypse revenge mission where she has inadequate care and no real choice but to carry to term as like. uwu <3 babies <3. right from the jump. that's an absolute nightmare scenario fuck off lmao, even if they reach that emotional point eventually i hate that they reached it IMMEDIATELY.)

aside from that, i overall found a lot of the writing for ellie this season to be pretty inconsistent from episode to episode/scene to scene, and i think the character they've created now after two seasons of tv is just... well... not the character i love so much in the games. i like show ellie a lot in some scenes! and then others i just find the choices they make for the character disappointing. it feels a little like she is changing moment to moment based on what the plot demands, when the plot should really be bending to what ellie's arc demands.

other stuff:

i know show-only fans are sick of hearing it, and i knew going in that tlou2 would be harder to adapt to screen than tlou1, but ... well i was right lol, i think it's hard to recreate some of the emotional moments the game had without the level of interactivity. if you don't feel as culpable for ellie and abby's sins as they are, if you don't have the POVs locked in so much, if you don't have that gut horror at "oh my god *I* have to FIGHT ELLIE????" etc.

i also wonder how the audience figures will be for s3. in the game, you're locked into abby's storyline whether you like it or not and you have to progress to get back to finishing ellie's story. ideally over the course of the abby gameplay you grow to understand her, but the game really forces you into her shoes. on tv, it's pretty easy to just ... not tune in to a season that is mostly about characters the TV audience may have no reason to be interested in.

having said all that. if s3 scared away all the fans who only care about joel so i could stop scrolling past endless joel miller/reader fic and 10000 posts about how joel did nothing wrong and the show isn't the same without pedro, that would be great.

[bruh-anator3000]

Ripping the bars of my enclosure off bc Caitlyn could've been SO much better. She could've done everything she did in such a better way. I'm not against her being a villain, I'm against how it was written.

Jinx and Caitlyn are mirrors, okay? They are - they were. Two sides of the same coin, but season 2 bent that quarter in half. Blue haired freaks obsessed with their red haired protector. Jinx was the violent to Caitlyn's calm. Vi was their middle.

Now, the death of a mother can drive her upset. I understand, it's a good motivator. But, Vi and Jinx lost their parents 4 (later 5) times over. There was one loss to their 5 losses. Vander's death pushed Powder into the arms of Silco - who helped her lose her mind.

Now, Caitlyn's loss led her to Ambessa (another parallel) HOWEVER there is no weight to her loss. I mean it. You felt it when Vi lost Vander, everytime. A punch that left you weeping as hard as Powder. Cassandra's death was... artistically as hell, but did we feel it? Did it weigh on us? In my opinion, no. It lacked the impact. We get to see how strong Caitlyn is, holding in everything until she runs into Vi.

But you know what would've made it hurt? Made her descent into cold heartedness *impactful?* If she broke like Jinx. I was waiting for the moment Caitlyn lost it *all.* I was expecting her to tear everything off her walls, screaming as she sobs. Make a mess, because if she was losing her morals, we had to see it the first time, not just when Ambessa called her forward.

She could've pricked her hand on a pin. Landing jn front of a poster of Jinx. Then, then we could see her resolve form. Then we could see her accept her new position. And we would feel her, know she chose it cause she was set on this. That her peace would be achieved when she brought Jinx to justice.

What we saw in the show lacked that relatabilty. Not literally, I'm sure a lot of us wouldn't bomb an entire city council because we accidentally killed our toxic adopted dad, but those screams of agony and her real anxiety meltdowns hit you hard. Because you've cried like the before.

And when it all comes down, the walls build up. To hide the mess you feel deep inside with a facade of rage and cruelty. And Caitlyn could've been so much better as a villain if she had weight to her. She lost all complexity in season 2 - they all did. But she was the most disappointing. And her karma didn't even feel like anything. You watch her get stabbed in the eye, picking a fight she finally can't win, and you're not satisfied with anything. There's no point to it, other than Cait picking a fight. Again. It's not even relieving to see her get humbled, it's just... bleh.

And it shouldn't be! The woman lost an eye for going in too deep over her head the entire show! But again, there was no emotion with it. I feel like Maddie's reveal was much more Caitlyn's getting what she deserves more than the fight with Ambessa. It was all so squished together. There was no time to sit and feel, like how Episode 3, Act 1. It was just, heres a fight, cait lost, but its okay, mel killed her own mom for cait, the end.

And again, another parent was lost. And no one went to the extremes Caitlyn did. Now, again, I understand Caitlyn, she's the rich kid experiencing a sliver of what Zaun goes through daily, of course she'll act entitled to revenge. I just wish it had left a bitter taste, instead of confusing me with a bowl of damp oatmeal. She could've had so much more lead to her war crimes, but it was all sewn together with safety pins.

[seven-eleven-slushie]

RIP Mel Medarda, you would've loved The Tortured Poets Department

[earlofnewshire]

rip athena you would've loved mel medarda

[crimsonscloud]

some steel trap headcanons of varying levels of thought, because me and @roxie-roo are ever so normal about this dumb movie. so normal, in fact, that we made a whole au (party crashers) where robert and melanie live.

also all the last names mentioned in here apart from kathy's aren't canon, the movie doesn't give the others any.

robert hollister

aka the character with the most final guy energy in this entire movie i said what i said

bisexual king

has a younger adoptive sister named blake, @tseliius' oc. they are the siblings ever i love them

was definitely the guy that got paid to write essays for people in high school/college

loves rock music, stuff like american pearl, breaking point, finger eleven, etc.

has a black cat named loki

always has Cold Hands. nobody knows why, including him, they're just like that

dictionary brain. will use big words / legal terms in sentences sometimes for no reason

doesn't want kids with nicole bc he has issues with his dad and doesn't want to risk passing that stuff to them

roxie and i have a crossover ship with him and dani ardor from midsommar. they're so hades and persephone coded (but like. in a good way)

color association: black or dark green

melanie reed

opposite of nicole's "screaming woman" trope. if she's scared she will just Hard Dissociate

platonic besties with robert. he nicknames her mel, she calls him robbie

adhd queen

stims by humming, swaying, and/or pulling and twirling her curls. if she's really stressed sometimes she'll end up pulling her own hair out

weapon she'd take from the box is a pair of scissors (insert until dawn reference)

has scars on her neck from the elevator cables

bubblegum bitch by marina coded

rip girl you would have loved slime. especially the clay texture ones

would wear those little ceramic star bracelets

develops hemophobia after the experience with the bucket

terrified of spiders. robert isn't. hilarity ensues

loves the princess diaries movies

adopts a puppy at some point

also gets a gf :)

color association: pink

nicole palmer

her and robert are Very bleak december coded i said what i said

there is no way things would've been stable if robert married her

needs glasses but hates wearing them, so she has contacts

color association: dark purple probably?

kathy king (aka kay knight)

read carrie in high school once and got a little... fixated.

besides melanie getting blood dumped on her, adam's death is also a reference to this: he's the "pig" that gets slaughtered for the blood, and his corpse wears a crown like tommy does in some adaptations of the prom night

and if i could / i'd bring them all down to their knees / i'd make them sorry forever for teasing

kay+carrie parallels. the writers might not have meant it to be That Deep but i see the vision

made the locked room trap because she thinks robert's selfish / egotistical (the sticks and stones exchange, she also outright calls him an egomaniac later i think?) and wanted to see who between him and wade was more selfish than the other

color association: deep reds for, you know, reasons

[cushfuddled]

I AM SO UNWELL ABOUT JAYCE LITERALLY SHAKING NEXT TO VIKTOR'S HOSPITAL BED. Thank you for the delicious food!

Somehow this gif bolsters my belief that Jayce was the one who found Viktor's unconscious body.

Just...looking back on Jayce's face earlier that day...

Maybe this look says, "Oof, Viktor's about to take out a city block." In retrospect I'm more given to, "Am I really about to leave Viktor alone to blow himself up?"

This moment strikes me as an extension of Jayce's series-long tug-of-war between the council (and by proxy his wider obligation to society) and Viktor, who he's about to leave to perform extremely volatile lab experiments alone. They've known each other for like seven years at this point, so I daresay Jayce would expect Viktor to stay and work long after Sky and the rest of the faculty had left for the night. There's a reason lab safety protocols demand you work with a partner whenever possible. If Viktor does decide to stay late and something goes wrong, there won't be anyone around to help.

Anyway. Mel wakes up to an empty bed. I always joke Jayce's queer premonition alerted him to Viktor's plight, since if someone came by Mel's quarters to fetch him, the noise would've woken Mel as well (plus at this point their tryst was so new I'm not sure anyone would've thought to look for Jayce in Mel's bedroom). Guilt feels like the only viable explanation for Jayce's rude departure.

I posit up until this moment Jayce justified his councilor position as a means to an end. He told himself it was obligation that ripped him from Viktor; the lab; his true calling. They needed the money and the support. But I don't believe Jayce slept with Mel to "get ahead." He's not that brand of opportunist, and anyway—he'd just wrapped up a successful wine-and-dine campaign. Jayce's counselor position was more secure that night than it had ever been. He slept with Mel not out of obligation but because he wanted to.

To me this proves some part of Jayce liked the attention; the mind games; the power that came from his position. It proves Jayce didn't only leave Viktor out of obligation. And I think Jayce realized the same contradiction. He could no longer hide behind excuses like money and public perception. That night Jayce had the choice to go back to the lab and make sure Viktor hadn't electrocuted himself...or sleep with Mel. And he chose to sleep with Mel. To assuage the guilt he slipped out of bed and course-corrected to the lab—only to find Viktor passed out on the floor.

So anyway. Um. Back to OP's gif. Those are the hands of a guilt-ridden man who carried his partner to a hospital. I'm not sure why this gif makes me so sure of the fact, but I will die on this hill.

Noticing these things is above my mental health’s paygrade🥺

[hotxpink]

okay finally caught up with yellowjackets so here's my thought of each central character (that nobody asked for) *spoilers *

1. misty- i actually hated her the most at first but she grew on me the most. that probably has a lot to do with christina ricci but she is a weird girl with no outlet for it, so i guess it makes sense to why she is the way that she is. also as the series goes on, both her younger self and her older self are more sufferable, and i find myself routing for her to know her own worth. the other girls, especially the survivors later on make themselves seem so much better than her, but in terms of morals misty feels more like she knows exactly who she is.

2. natalie- i like the young version of her but her older self is... a bit much. i think she's over doing the whole drunk thing but i don't think ive seen the actress in anything else so maybe she's like that irl. typical edgy girl but she def deserved better, wish she would've stayed away from the wildness bs. doesn't try to pretend she isn't a bad person for the things she has done. her younger self has gone through so much i can see why she turned out so fucked up, truly deserved better.

3. tai- honestly, kinda boring. was routing get her at first (mostly out of obligation for black girl solidarity) but god is she so... irritating. had a lot of potential but just wasted it. also the whole alter personality gets a little cheesy to me later on. was rooting for her relationship with van until they became the more developed in the worst way. def would be the couple everyone avoids.

4. van- doesn't feel like much of her own character separate from tai. feel like her dying to the wolves would've been more interesting.

5. lottie- god. she is very up there as the absolute worst character. i was so happy when she kicked the bucket. her influence over the survivors was their downfall. at first i pitied her but she's so selfish and manipulative. she twists things for her own benefit, and labels it as the wilderness. she's off her meds though so it gets hard to discern what's purposeful. responsible for so many deaths (rip travis, + others)

6. shauna- to nobody's surprise, I hate her. she's such a bitch. as a teen she starts off with this whole, i'm a sidekick to my best friend nobody likes me routine, meanwhile she's literally sleeping with her best friends boyfriend in the first episode (which she MARRIES). don't care if you had a thing for jackie, why would you hurt her like that? she's largely responsible for jackie's death, and the way she treats her dead body afterwards was,,, indicative of her issues. she gets so much worse from there, the way she treats the other survivors like they're trash? god i wish i could protect natalie from her she's so fucking EVIL to her.. and the way she talked to mel and mari?? i could write a whole essay on how much i loathe her and i haven't even gotten to her as an adult. basically, i hope her family leaves her bitchass alone , and that everyone else pins the murders on her so she can die alone in prison.

honorable mention, jackie deserved better 😔 but glad she got to miss out on the rest of the chaos

coach scott also deserved better. no worse fate to be the only normal adult stranded with a bunch of crazy kids

[danidoesathing]

Wasn't Jayce dealing with an arcane infection after due to his time in the other reality?

Because if so, I think one of the few things (compared to the rest of the cast) I criticize about his arc in season two: he(they) should have amputated that leg.

yeah his leg was shown to be infected, and it's likely that since his back cut hadn't healed yet (i think it was also implied that he even reopened his stitches when working on the hextech rifle) his back was infected as well (although we never see it so). his wrist too is also infected i suppose? but that's a whole complicated other thing so idk.

i mean i think that would've been a interesting plot line, especially if he got a prosthetic leg for it (both as more of a contrast to his league self and a reminder of his mom's prosthetic fingers, but instead of magic saving them, it took away from him (even more with her line in ep2s1 where she tells him magic cant save everything. yay </3)). but im gonna be honest man we did not have time for that. this season was clearly already compacted as much as possible to finish up everyone's arcs as fast as possible (poor sevika didn't even have a full arc this season rip girlie you deserved better). like in s1 they clearly planned for more seasons but both seasons cost a 250 million fucking dollars so they certainly weren't getting it, which is a good amount of s2 feels rushed. because it is. Ekko Viktor and Jayce's are the only story arcs i feel worked well with the pacing (mel's too somewhat, but she's almost definitely getting a spot in the new show so her story isn't over yet). i would have loved to see an arc about Jayce losing a leg and struggling a lot more with the changes in his body but i can't say im not satisfied with his arc as it is.

(also i have no clue if the wild magic infection actually does to the body. i think if it is lethal it would take a long while (possibly years?) to kill, given jayce was in that at least around six months and ate infected lizards as his sole food source. Jayce being alive long enough to have his leg heal (incorrectly but) and still be physically well enough to travel across the cities twice and climb makes me believe that either slow acting/long term or nonlethal. it possible that it's not lethal, but could leave them with lifelong symptoms and pain (woe! chronic illness be upon ye). it's clear that by the time he leaves the hell world Jayce isn't well mentally or physically, likely feverish and dealing with overlapping timeline issues, however by the time act 3 comes around he seems to be...not well but physically way better and somewhat stable mentally (still dealing with some nasty fucking PTSD and multidimensional glitching but what else is new). hes no longer delirious at least, which makes me think a lot of the symptoms we see in the pit and right after (the fever, the hallucinations, lashing out violently, etc) was more caused by the starvation and isolation taking a toll on his body and mind. though im sure the magic in his bloodstream contributed to it. given all that i am under the assumption it's not lethal)

(additionally given that he's infected in his arm (and likely his back) as well so while i think amputation could do something, it's in multiple places and already been in his bloodstream for a looong time so i dont think it would do much.)

(none of this is meant to criticize this ask or your take btw im just now thinking about a magical illness's the effect of it on the body and am kinda fascinated by it)

[unhinged-as-hell]

RIP Mel you would've loved painting on Jayce.

[mercutio-the-velaryon]

RIP Mel Medarda, you would've loved Magdalene by FKA Twigs

[shyrule]

rip bonus war you would've loved the arcane x fenty beauty mel gold eyeliner

[twoidiotwriters1]

Written In The Stars CXCV (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: Welcome home, kids -Danny

Words: 4,304

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Back To Hogwarts.

Ariana Dumbledore smiled at her brother, she turned around and started to walk towards the back of her portrait without uttering a word.

"You know," Erick muttered beside her. "You do look a lot like her."

"I know," Mel replied.

"Er..." Ron started. "What—?"

"There's only one way in now," Aberforth explained. "You must know they've got all the old secret passageways covered at both ends, dementors all around the boundary walls, regular patrols inside the school from what my sources tell me. The place has never been so heavily guarded. How you expect to do anything once you get inside it, with Snape in charge and the Carrows as his deputies... well, that's your lookout, isn't it? You say you're prepared to die."

"That's right," Mel said. "Good to hear the Carrows are still around, I have some pending business with them."

"But what..?" Hermione squinted. "You see that?"

Someone was coming back with Ariana, taller and limping, but it seemed to be quite eager to get to their end. His face was terribly beaten and his hair was quite long a messy, it got closer and closer until the portrait opened in front of them revealing a dark tunnel. Neville looked at them beaming, he jumped out of the edge of the fireplace and enveloped Mel in a tight hug.

"I knew you'd come! I knew it!"

"Neville—what the—how—?"

The boy let go of her only to hug Ron, Harry, Erick, and Hermione in turn.

"Neville!" Mel exclaimed in horror. "Who did this to you?"

He had bruises and dry blood everywhere she looked, his clothes were ripped and unkempt, but he'd never looked this excited.

"I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!"

"Neville, what's happened to you?" Harry insisted.

"What? This?" He vaguely pointed to his injuries. "This is nothing, Seamus is worse. You'll see. Shall we get going then? Oh! Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way."

"Couple more?" Aberforth frowned. "What d'you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There's a curfew and a Caurwauling Charm on the whole village!"

"I know, that's why they'll be Apparating directly into the bar," Neville replied gleefully. "Just send them down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot."

"You've been helping them? The students?" Mel asked in a strange voice.

Aberforth looked at her as if she were asking a really stupid question. "They're innocent children."

Hermione and Ron climbed up to get into the tunnel, Erick made an attempt to follow and she pushed him back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I can't leave you guys on your own, can I?" He raised a brow.

"Yes you can! You're supposed to take my mum and my brother to France!"

"They know where to go, don't you Mily?"

"Yes," The woman nodded calmly. "It's alright, Mel."

"No, it's not. You're not coming, Flint."

"Mel, you already messed up my personal plans," He crossed his arms. "You owe it to me."

"What? That's stupid, I can think of at least ten better ways to repay you."

"This is what I'm supposed to do whether you like it or not," He scowled, pushing her aside. "I'm staying."

Mel let out a frustrated groan, she'd been complaining about people leaving her all the time, but this wasn't the time to change the narrative! She pushed her hair back and looked at her mother.

"You better go as soon as the sun comes out, d'you hear me?"

Emily just smiled at her, behind her Regulus kept on eating the leftovers of Mel's dinner.

"I don't know how to thank you," Harry told Aberforth. "You've saved our lives twice."

"Look after 'em, then," Aberforth grumbled. "I might not be able to save 'em a third time."

Harry climbed over the fireplace and offered his hand to Mel, she looked at her Grandfather one last time.

"My father would've been proud of you if you'd told him the truth. I know I am."

She could've sworn she saw some kind of teary expression on his face before he turned around. Mel climbed up with Harry's help and the portrait closed behind them.

"How long's this been here?" Ron examined the tunnel in wonder. "It isn't on the Marauder's Map, is it, guys? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of the school?"

"They sealed off all of those before the start of the year," Neville explained. "There's no chance of getting through any of them now, not with the curses over the entrances and Death Eaters and dementors waiting at the exits."

He was walking backwards so he could continue to see them, he was truly glowing despise all the wounds on his body.

"Never mind that stuff... Is it true? Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere, everyone's talking about it, Teddy Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"

"Yeah, it's true," Harry said awkwardly.

"What did you do with the dragon?" Neville laughed.

"Released it into the wild. Hermione was all in for keeping it as a pet—"

"Don't exaggerate, Ron—"

"I thought it was sweet!"

Hermione laughed, Neville and Erick both look at the pair weirdly, Mel snorted.

"This is sort of recent," She told them, pointing at the couple.

"Blimey, so Mrs Weasley's right, war causes people to get in stupid relationships..."

"Erick!"

"I'm joking!" He laughed when Ron tried to hit him.

"But what have you been doing?" Neville insisted. "People have been saying you've just been on the run, Harry, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something."

"You're right, but tell us about Hogwarts, Neville, we haven't heard anything."

"It's been... well, it's not really like Hogwarts anymore," His smile faded. "Do you know about the Carrows?"

"Those two Death Eaters who teach here?"

"They do more than teach. They're in charge of all discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."

"Like Umbridge?"

"Nah, they make her look tame. The other teachers are all supposed to refer us to the Carrows if we do anything wrong. They don't, though, if they can avoid it. You can tell they all hate them as much as we do."

"Amycus, the bloke, he teaches what used to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, except now it's just Dark Arts. We're supposed to practice the Cruciatus Curse on people who've earned detentions—"

"What?" They exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's how I got this one," He tilted his face so they could see the cut on his cheek. "I refused to do it. Some people are into it, though; Crabbe and Goyle love it. First time they've ever been top in anything, I expect."

"Bastards," Mel growled. "When I get my hands on them..."

"You won't," Harry reminded her. "We're going to remain hidden, remember?"

"Alecto, Amycus' sister, teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone. We've all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished. I got this one," He showed them another cut, "for asking how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."

"Blimey, Neville," Ron grimaced, "there's a time and a place for getting a smart mouth."

"You didn't hear her. You wouldn't have stood it either. The thing is, it helps when people stand up to them, it gives everyone hope. I used to notice that when you did it, guys."

"But they've used you as a knife sharpener," Ron insisted.

"Doesn't matter. They don't want to spill too much pureblood, so they'll torture us a bit if we're mouthy but they won't actually kill us."

"I think that what you're doing is great," Mel retorted.

"Of course you do," replied the other four.

"I hope this doesn't come off as rude, Mel, but it's weird how much you enjoy being tortured," Hermione said worryingly.

"I don't enjoy it!"

"Well, not enjoy it—but you were laughing and joking a lot when Bellatrix and Greyback were hurting you, as if all of it were some kind of game."

"I was trying to get a rise out of them so they would hurt me more," Noticing this wasn't helping her case, she explained further, "it's the only way I have bursts of magic now!"

"That doesn't make it better," Harry groaned. "Keep going, Neville."

"Well, the only people in real danger are the ones whose friends and relatives on the outside are giving trouble. They get taken hostage. Old Xeno Lovegood was getting a bit too outspoken in The Quibbler, so they dragged Luna off the train on the way back for Christmas."

"Neville, she's all right, we've seen her—"

"Yeah, I know, she managed to sent a message to me," He showed them the D.A. coin. "These have been great! The Carrows never rumbled how we were communicating, it drove them mad. We used to sneak out at night and put graffiti on the walls: Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting, stuff like that. Snape hated it."

"You used to?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"Well, it got more difficult as time went on. We lost Luna at Christmas, and Ginny never came back after Easter, and the three of us were sort of leaders. The Carrows seemed to know that I was behind a lot of it, so they started coming down on me hard, and then Michael Corner went and got caught releasing a first-year they'd chained up, and they tortured him pretty badly. That scared people off."

"A first-year!" Mel said in outrage.

"No kidding," Ron growled.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't ask people to go through what Michael did, so we dropped those kinds of stunts. But we were still fighting, doing underground stuff, right up until a couple of weeks ago. That's when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose, and they went for Gran."

"They what?" They all gasped.

"Yeah, well, you can see their thinking. It had worked really well, kidnapping kids to force their relatives to behave, I s'pose it was only a matter of time before they did it the other way around. Thing was," He chuckled, "they bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living along, they probably thought they didn't need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway, Dawlish is still in St. Mungo's and Gran's on the run. She sent me a letter, telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parents' son, and to keep it up."

He grabbed the letter from his pocket and showed it to Erick and Mel.

"Cool," Ron laughed.

"Yeah! Only thing was, once they realized they had no hold over me, they decided Hogwarts could do without me after all. I don't know whether they were planning to kill me or send me to Azkaban, either way, I knew it was time to disappear."

"But... aren't—aren't we heading straight back into Hogwarts?"

"'Course! You'll see. We're here."

Erick slowed down, his face grew worried.

"Neville," He spoke, giving back the letter to the boy. "Does everyone in there think I... you know..."

"That you're a Death Eater?" He raised a brow. "Nah, you're alright. Dean sent us a message as well, we've been hearing Potterwatch so we assumed that it had to be you. It's alright, mate."

Erick nodded, but he didn't look entirely sure. Mel reached out and squeezed his hand encouragingly. Neville pushed open the door in front of them and spoke loud and clear:

"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?"

A string of shouts followed Neville's voice, Mel got a bit disoriented since she didn't recognize this room as part of the castle, especially since it seemed to have decorations of all the houses hanging around and she couldn't remember ever seeing a thing like it in her six years of studying there.

She got pulled into a group hug and saw many familiar faces, friends from her time spent at school, some of them were actually crying in delight.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville called, and it was kinda shocking to see everyone listen to him so intently.

"Where are we?" Harry and Mel asked.

"Room of Requirement, of course! Surpassed itself, hasn't it? The Carrows were chasing me, and I knew I had just one chance for a hideout: I managed to get through the door and this is what I found! Well, it wasn't exactly like this when I arrived, it was a load smaller, there was only one hammock and just Gryffindor hangings, but it's expanded as more and more of the D.A. have arrived."

"And the Carrows can't get in?"

"No," said Seamus, Neville wasn't lying when he said he was looking way worse. "It's a proper hideout, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get at us, the door won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this room. You've got to ask it for exactly what you need—like, "I don't want any Carrow supporters to be able to get in—and it'll do it for you! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes! Neville's the man!"

"It's quite straightforward, really," Neville shrugged. "I'd been in here about a day and a half, and getting really hungry, and wishing I could get something to eat, and that's when the passage to Hog's Head opened up. I went through it and met Aberforth. He's been providing us with food, because for some reason, that's the one thing the room doesn't really do."

"Yeah, well, food's one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration," said Ron casually.

Hermione held onto his arm and beamed up at him, everyone looked at the pair in surprise.

"So how long you've been in here?" Mel asked so the crowd would stop staring at her friends.

"We've been hiding out here for nearly two weeks," Seamus explained, "and it even sprouted a pretty good bathroom once girls started turning up—"

"—and thought they'd quite like to wash, yes," Lavender crossed her arms.

"Tell us what you've been up to, though," said Ernie. "There've been so many rumors, we've been trying to keep up with you on Potterwatch—You didn't break into Gringotts?"

"They did! And the dragon's true too!"

"Is it true that you've been helping muggle-borns flee the country, Flint?" A Slytherin questioned.

Erick's cheek turned slightly pink as he answered. "I—Yeah, some friends have been helping me."

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause once more, Ron bowed dramatically.

"What were you after?" Seamus inquired excitedly.

"Well, it's a long story..." Mel started.

Next to her Harry hissed and lowered his head, one hand shutting up at his forehead. Mel abruptly remembered why they'd gone to the castle in the first place. The boy stumbled sideways and Erick was quick to catch him before he fell.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Neville frowned. "Want to sit down? I expect you're tired, aren't—?"

"No," Harry looked at his friends urgently, he moved away from Erick. "We need to get going."

Ron and Hermione nodded, Mel drew out her wand.

"What are we going to do, then, Harry?" Seamus got closer. "What's the plan?"

"Plan?" Harry blinked. "Well, there's something we—Ron, Hermione, Mel and I—need to do, and then we'll get out of here."

"You forgot to mention me there, mate," Erick raised a brow.

No one moved, Neville crossed his arms. "What d'you mean, 'get out of here'?"

"We haven't come back to stay," Harry was rubbing his scar, he couldn't tell that what he was saying wasn't helping him at all. "There's something important we need to do—"

"What is it?"

"I—I can't tell you."

"Why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You-Know-Who, right?"

"Well, yeah—"

"Then we'll help you."

"You don't understand," Harry grunted. "We—we can't tell you. We've got to do it—alone."

"Why?" asked Neville.

"Because... Dumbledore left the four of us a job," He looked up again, but he was blinking a lot, Mel started to feel a distant pounding on her forehead. "We weren't supposed to tell—I mean, he wanted us to do it, just the four of us."

"We're his army," Neville shook his head. "Dumbledore's Army. Mel's a Dumbledore and we were all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you four have been off on your own—"

"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," Ron retorted.

"I never said it had, but I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this room's been fighting and they've been driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here's proven they're loyal to Dumbledore—loyal to you."

"Harry," Mel started carefully. "We should let them help."

Her friends looked at her as if saying 'not now!' but none of them got to speak, because right at that moment the portrait opened, and someone jumped out of it.

"We got your message, Neville! Hello, you four, I thought you must be here!" Dean smiled openly at them. Seamus rushed over to engulf him in a bear hug.

"Hi, everyone!" Luna beamed. "Oh, it's great to be back!"

"Luna," Harry blinked, "what are you doing here? How did you—?"

"I sent for her," Neville said. "I promised her and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution. That we were going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows."

"Of course that's what it means," Luna piped up. "Isn't it, guys? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"

At that Mel did panic, she shared one frightened expression with Harry and the boy tried to calm the crowd.

"Listen, I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. There's something we've got to do, and then—"

"You're going to leave us in this mess?" Michael Corner asked.

"No!" Ron said right away. "What we're doing will benefit everyone in the end, it's all about trying to get rid of You-Know-Who—"

"Then let us help!" Neville was starting to get angry. "We want to be a part of it!"

Mel wanted to be with her friends, be part of something that could remove some of the guilt she'd been carrying for months. She saw herself leading this group of kids, that could surely take down three adults, and she imagined how it'd be to have Hogwarts as their main quarters.

If they could do that, that would mean Voldemort would have no way to enter, therefore they would be in possession of one of the Horcruxes, and the basilisk was right underneath them as well!

On the other side, though, these kids had gone through enough, they were children that didn't have anything to do with what was happening. She refused to be like Albus, she didn't want to turn them into soldiers before they even had enough common sense to decide for themselves.

The portrait swung open again, out if came down Ginny, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan.

Her mind seemed to short-circuit as the twins grabbed a hold of her and Erick and pulled them in for a suffocating hug.

"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," Fred said to them. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station—Good to see you, Prince! How's your cousin?"

"He's—" Erick stopped and looked at him. "Wait, you know my Joseph?"

"I met him last July," Fred smirked. "Great dancer, but a better kisser."

Mel and Erick gawked and complained loudly at the same time. Cho Chang walked out of the portrait then.

"I got the message!" She said happily, walking over to Michael Corner and giving him a hug.

"So what's the plan, Harry?" said George, his arm still very much around Mel's shoulders.

"Alright," Mel pushed him away. "This is... guys..."

She looked at Harry with pleading eyes.

"Mel, tell me you're not considering it? We have no plan!" Harry looked at her stubbornly.

"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind," Fred grinned.

"Perhaps... perhaps we can make it work, Harry," She appealed.

"What the hell are you saying?" Ron frowned. "Most of the people here are kids! They're not of age!"

"They don't have to fight!" Mel insisted. "We can keep them safe in here, and if we manage to take down Snape and take over the castle—"

"Then You-Know-Who comes around and we all die!" Erick stated.

"No!"

"Yes!" Her friends replied.

"You've got to stop this!" Harry turned to Neville. "What did you call them all back for? This is insane—"

"We're fighting aren't we?" Dean raised a brow. "The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight! I'll have to get a wand, though—"

"You haven't got a wan—?" Seamus asked in bewilderment.

"I got a few," Erick responded as he casually pulled five wands out of his inner pocket.

"Ron, help me on this," Mel approached her friend. "Use that strategic brain of yours and if you tell me this would never work I'll shut my mouth and obey Harry, but if you think there's even the smallest chance we can do it..."

Ron looked down at her with a little frown, he closed his eyes tightly and tapped his foot impatiently, then he turned to look at Harry and blurted out:

"Why can't they help?"

"What?"

"They can help," He grabbed Hermione so she could listen to their conversation and started to speak in a whisper.  "We don't know where it is, we've got to find it fast. We don't have to tell them it's a Horcrux."

"Sounds good enough to me," Mel nodded. "If some of us run into the Carrows, though..."

"I need you to hold back your murderous needs for a second," Harry glared at her. He turned to Hermione waiting for her opinion.

"I... I think they're right. We don't even know what we're looking for, we need them! You don't have to do everything alone, Harry."

"Glasses," Mel put a hand on his shoulder. "Years ago it was just the two of us. Then two turned to four, then five... you remember what You-Know-Who's best at? He divides us, turns us against each other. We have a whole crowd of people that have proven time and time again that they want nothing to do with what the Death Eaters are offering. There's safety in numbers!"

Harry closed his eyes tightly, his hand went up to his forehead once more.

"Please, Harry," Mel insisted. "Have I ever been wrong?"

"All right," He muttered. "Okay!"

His voice silenced everyone else's, even Fred and George remained still, waiting for instructions.

"There's something we need to find. Something—something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone ever come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"

"Well, that's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember, Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."

"Yeah, but the lost diadem," Michael Corner started, "is lost, Luna. That's sort of the point."

"When was it lost?" Harry asked.

"Centuries ago, they say," Cho shrugged. "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked, but nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?"

"Sorry, but what is a diadem?" asked Ron.

"It's a kind of crown," Terry Boot explained. "Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer."

"Yes, Daddy's Wrackspurt siphons—"

"And none of you have ever seen anything that looks like it?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Wait," Mel grabbed his arm and clung to it tightly. "Harry... I think you have!"

"What?" He frowned. "No, I haven't!"

"You have!" She insisted. "Last year, you were looking for a place where to hide the potions book, remember? And you came in here, and you told me exactly where you'd hidden it! You said you knew where you'd put it because—"

"There was a warlocks' head and I put a weird tiara on it," Harry grabbed her by the shoulders. "That's true!"

"But how can we know that was it?" Hermione frowned. "That place was full of rubbish, Harry! What if it was just a random tiara?"

"We should make sure first," Ron nodded. "You'd need to kick everyone out of this room to check—and I don't think that risking all of the younger students to get caught is a good idea if we're not certain that's it..."

"If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry. Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue," Cho offered politely.

Harry groaned again.

"He's on the move," He whispered to her and his friends. "Listen, I'm going to go and look at this statue, find out what the diadem looks like so I can confirm Mel's right. Wait for me here and keep, you know— the other one— safe..."

Cho got to her feet, Mel found herself blurting out:

"Luna should go as well! Safety in numbers, remember? And two Ravenclaws are better than one!"

"Oooh, yes, I'd like to!" Luna smiled brightly.

Erick and the twins looked away to hide their knowing smirks, Cho looked slightly disappointed.

"How do we get out?" Harry inquired.

"Over here..." Neville walked towards a bookshelf.

Mel grabbed Harry's wrist to get his attention.

"Be careful," She whispered. "Come back to me in one piece, alright?"

Harry seized her hand and kissed it briefly before following Neville.

"Always."

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha​ @vampiregirl1797 ​ @siriuslysirius1107​ @stardusthigh​ @mikariell95​ @vernon-dursley ​ @thesuitelifeofafangirl​ @tomshollandz ​ @reverse-hxlland​ @hamiltonwc​ @omiwashere​ @t-rexs-world​ @21bruhs ​ @dielgonacoffee​ @thelastpyle ​ @cedricisnotdead​ @aconfusedslytherin ​ @greengarsstuff ​@talksoprettyjjx ​ @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual ​​@avengersz-biotch ​

[werewolfhooligan]

Which oc had the most reworks? Like design changes or even story changes

this is a tough question... like i wanna say mel cause I've been writing or drawing him since i was in middle school but i think that most of those design changes have just been me getting better at drawing and finally realizing the design he'd had in my head all along. like I've changed the length of his hair several times, and he's gotten broader but that's not really a change so much as it is me starting to consider muscle and fat when i'm drawing lol. even his backstory hasn't changed much at all. god this would've been The answer when i was in high school lol

frankly i can never remember little details of character designs anyway, so changes are normally either extremely small, no-reference sort of things or complete overhauls, but the second hasn't happened in a While. unless you count ophelia, eric's mother, who hadn't really had a solidified design before i made her more physically wolf-like to begin with.

design-wise i'd probably say that raleigh's changed the most even if the changes were really incremental and i didn't notice they were happening. like this is one of the Earliest drawings of him i have and i barely recognize this man

he's just been evolving into a guy with shaggier hair and more scarring

(he's better now)

characters who have always had more distinct designs don't change much at all. like i don't even want to be simplifying fiasco's stripes when i'm stylizing him or whatever. unless i really just Hate a design bc i think it's boring or whatever i barely change anything about anyone. even additions like jewelery or tattoos magically disappear bc i simply forget they're there

a lot of stories change in similarly tiny ways over time, too, but if i'm not writing all of those changes down (im not rip) it'll just fall right out the back of my head, or else fester for eternity as an embarrassing little dumb idea i had in grade school