#shhhh its a secret but as a reward for reading to the end of my tags ill let you know that its My Hero Academia

[blanketburritotoro]

Do I think that my favorite show is the best show?

No.

The story is inherently flawed. The fandom has its fair share of toxicity. The creator is inherently flawed. It's a mess.

Does this stop the show from being my absolute favorite thing on the planet from when I found it at only 3 episodes about seven and a half years ago?

Also no.

[shannsleeve]

The Bookshop: 3/5

Here’s part 3!

I couldn’t resist the ‘Wonder Woman’ reference. ;)

Tagging: @teacup-occamy, @allscissorsallpaper, @njckle​, @carnivorouskiwi, @believe-in-the-jabberwocky, @book-lover-dragon 

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11136360/chapters/25152060

The Weasley boys led the couple up a winding staircase to the second floor. It was surrounded by an iron grate barrier and boasted a few comfortable sofas and tables on the nearest platform. And, on the opposite side, was the plant nursery. Several pots overflowing with growling and purring plants framed a low swinging gate. In the far corner was a section of the platform obscured by a white gossamer curtain. The couple approached the curtain with caution, neither Bilius nor Caius were anywhere to be seen. They glanced at each other hesitantly, but Tina was far too tempted and yanked it open when Newt turned away to cover a sneeze.

“Bless you, darling,” she said as she stepped through. Her jaw dropped as she beheld the scene spread out before her.

“Merlin’s beard,” Newt breathed as he caught up to his wife. “This is…”

“Beautiful!”

The couple stood at the center of secret glen illuminated with bright, warm sunshine, surrounded by a small grove of enchanted Shrinking Sequoias. Each of the trees’ trunks were carved into towering shelves filled with stuffed magical beasts and a plethora of books.  Clumps of rosebushes bloomed throughout the glen, giving readers a comfortable, fragrant place to sit. This world was entirely separate from that outside the curtain. It pulsed with magic and joy and comfort and all things that fill the dreams of small children. As Newt and Tina knelt in the grass, Bilius and Caius emerged from behind the tree trunks, a stack of books in each of their arms. The boys settled near the couple in one of the larger rosebushes. Bilius dropped the books in his arms and gestured to Newt’s basket.

“What are you waiting for?!” he hissed, burying himself deeper into the rosebush. “Hurry, before all the good seats are taken!”

Tina shook her head politely. “I think we’ll stay right here.” She stretched out her legs, tucking her skirt modestly around them, and plucked Philippine Folk Tales from her husband’s basket. “Thank you, boys.”

Newt also grabbed a book from the basket – New Fairytales and Stories – and tapped his coat with his wand. The garment extricated itself from its master and arranged itself rather nicely on the ground next to Tina. With a satisfied huff, Newt lay down upon it next to his wife, book held high above his nose.

While the Weasleys and the Scamanders read quietly to themselves, a band of children no older than five discovered the glen. They bounded through the gossamer curtain like a herd of baby graphorns and made straight for the lowest bookshelves. Some yanked volume after volume out of the tree trunks only to throw them haphazardly to the floor. Others tumbled onto the remaining rosebush cushions, piles of enchanted picture books in their arms. The youngest members of the crew, a boy and girl with thumbs stuck firmly in their mouths, completely ignored the shelves, the cushions, and their friends. Instead they tottered over, quiet as could be, to the lounging wizard. Without question, they plopped down, one on either side of Newt’s head, peering curiously at him.

Startled, the wizard bolted upright, smacking his face with the center of the book. With a groan, he placed it in his lap and gently patted his swollen nose as he regarded the little ones. “Oh! Hello!”

They waved in unison while sucking harder on their thumbs. The girl pointed to the book in his lap and cocked her head to the side expectantly.

“Ah! Would you like a story?”

They nodded furiously, curls and thumbs bouncing up and down until they nearly toppled over. With the unerring skill of a chaser, Newt reached out with both hands to steady them. As they relaxed, a thought came to him.

“Tina, love?”

“Hmm?” The witch slowly raised her head from her own book, clearly struggling to bring herself back to the current plane of reality.

Newt scooted closer to her until their knees knocked together. Taking one end of her book in his right hand, he leaned over, using the book to hide their lips. He chuckled lightly at the conspiratorial picture they must’ve made. “I have an idea, dearest,” he whispered, his breath tickling his wife’s cheek.

She giggled and lightly brushed away the tingling from her cheek. “And what would that be?”

“Let’s practice our storytelling!” He looked meaningfully at the children then back to her. “Perhaps with a show for the little ones from the fairy tales?”

Tina was quite intrigued by and (slightly) proud of her husband’s suggestion. “All right, Newton, I’m game.” She smirked before nuzzling his cheek, raising the book a little higher as she did so. “Which story should we start with?”

The wizard lifted his copy of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales and smiled. “How about Hansel and Grettel?”

--

“‘And Hansel stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof to see what it was like,’” Newt read, his voice low as a whisper, eyes darting from the page to the space in front of the little ones where Hansel and Grettel and a candy house stood. The figures were made of shimmering, almost translucent magic that flowed effortlessly from Tina’s wand. It was an old Goldstein gift, she’d said, to make the words on the page dance like smoke before the eyes of all who cared to listen.

“’Thereupon a shrill voice called out from the room inside – ‘”

The children gave a collective gasp as the reedy voice of the witch echoed around them: “’Nibble, nibble, little mouse, who’s nibbling my house?’” Newt pulled his wand away from this throat to end the Sonorous charm and grinned widely at Tina who was nearly doubled over with boisterous laughter.

“SHHHH!” The little girl glared angrily at the witch, her finger pressed firmly to her small lips.

Tina bowed her head in apology and waved her wand in front of the smoke house. From its depths emerged an old, crotchety, grumpy hag who (upon closer inspection) looked slightly like the Magizoologist. Quick as a diricrawl, she Apparated behind Hansel and Grettel, tugging them none-too-gently from her roof. Again, Newt lent her his voice to the children’s great delight and (soon) terror.

“’Creep in, and see if the oven’s properly heated, so that we can shove in the bread…’”

By the end of the tale, the couple’s tiny audience had grown to encompass all the children in the glen. Tina enlarged her smoke figures and Newt utilized the Sonorous charm more often than he’d originally thought to accommodate all the newcomers. When they were finished and Hansel and Grettel had followed the bread crumbs home, a small smattering of applause was their reward.

“Another, please, Mr. Newton!” Caius Weasley cried. “That one was boring!”  

Grumbles of assent rose from the rest of the group as the Scamanders looked to one another with utter surprise and a touch of fear.

“Well then, my friends,” said Tina, placing her hands on her hips. “Throw out some ideas for us!”

“Babbity-Rabbity!”

“The Warlock’s Hairy Heart!”

“Cinderella!”

“The Little Mermaid!”

“JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE!”

Utter silence descended upon the group as all eyes turned to a child fiercely clutching a copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology to her chest. She stood and carefully picked her way through the group until she was face-to-face with Tina. With great aplomb, she handed her the book and pointed to a hippogriff bookmark peeking out from the center.

“Thank you, honey,” said Tina with a radiant smile. She flipped the book open and smoothed a hand over the page before tucking the bookmark into her dress pocket. “Oh, what a great choice! This is one of my favorites! Give Newt and me a few minutes to look over it, then we’ll start.”

“What’s that, Diana?” Bilius Weasley asked, tugging on the girl’s sleeve as she returned to her seat beside him. “Is it a fairy tale? Papa’s never read that one to us before.”

“Myths are even better than fairy tales,” Diana proudly replied. “Mortals thwarting the gods at their own games, romance that leads to war, and all manner of tragedy in between – it’s much more exciting than princesses and knights and talking mice.”

Bilius cocked his head to the side. “How?”

Diana gracefully settled down next to him. “You’ll see.”