#the coloring is so off and weird kill me dumbledore

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

After reading your opinion on Molly Weasley, i want to know: What are you're opinions on the Weasley family? Besides Ron & Molly that is.

Five characters? In one post? Well, alright, here we go.

The Weasleys as a Whole

I’ve mentioned this before but JKR writes the Weasleys to clearly be a believable but ideal family. They’re all fiercely loyal, progressive per wizarding world standards, love each other and Harry deeply, and have this wonderful off-kilter joyous house where there’s always some rambunctious thing going on. 

Harry comes to associate the Weasleys with family and, personally, I believe a large part of him marrying Ginny boils down to it will make him a Weasley for real. 

That said, they’ve got some major issues. They’re very righteous people who, as a whole, will ice you out the moment they even suspect you do something that disagrees with them. You don’t even have to do it, what you did or didn’t do doesn’t even have to be something terrible or something bad, but god help you if the family decides they’re done with you. 

They’re very resentful of people like the Malfoys. This isn’t just because Lucius is a smarmy, pompous, ass (he is) or that he indirectly almost murdered Ginny but seems to mostly be because Lucius has so much money. All of their interactions seem to boil down to the money. More than this though, the Weasleys seem fully supportive of laws that... well, used against themselves would be a travesty but used against the likes of the Malfoys it’s about damn time.

They’re unquestioningly loyal to Dumbledore. Granted, most people we see in canon are, Dumbledore’s very very very good at convincing people he’s a saint. However, these guys are practically his cult member to the point where they do things like refuse to have Harry over the summer, even before Voldemort returned, because Dumbledore told them not to. 

They also never really adopt Harry into the family. Oh they give him a nice sweater, he comes over every once in a while to the house, he’s very good friends with Ron but he’s mostly treated just like that, a good friend. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this, except the way JKR sets it up we’re supposed to believe this is the family Harry found. It’s just that the family Harry’s found let’s him stay in a house with bars on his window where twelve-year-old Ron tells them, “Harry’s muggle family is really really awful” in a way that should have been raising red flags. Hermione practically lives at the Weasleys, Harry never does.

Now, are the Weasleys evil? No, far from it, they’re ordinary people who act in ways I’d expect ordinary people too. Technically they didn’t have to do anything more for Harry than they did, they didn’t have to hate Lucius Malfoy for better reasons, and they don’t have to be even slightly less worshipful of Dumbledore. They’re people, and they’re fine characters, but the overwhelming worship and love of the Weasleys we see across fandom does get on my nerves.

But you asked for individuals, so here we go.

 Arthur Weasley

Arthur is the epitome of “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” in the worst of ways and is, frankly, a giant awful joke to me. He’s the white kid you see going around with dread locks, a beanie the color of the Jamaican flag, smoking weed, and attempting to speak like Bob Marley 

Only, because he does it with muggle things, we’re supposed to find him funny and progressive.

Arthur is absolutely, albeit unwittingly, condescending in his love of muggle knickknacks. He has no idea how any of it actually works, not limited to how muggles could possible survive without the gold standard, but ardently believes he does because he can enchant the car to fly. Seriously, that he believes he’s an expert on muggle culture, as a pureblood wizard who heads an office in the ministry on it, is the worst part. His love of toasters comes across as, “Wow, look how cool it is that these poor little muggles made all this neat stuff. We should absolutely love the muggles because of it!” And that he heads an office in the ministry called “The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts” which is all about catching down Jackass style pranksters who think it would be hilarious of they enchanted toasters to bludgeon muggles to death...

Goddammit Arthur, why do you exist?

Right, otherwise, he’s got some pride issues going on. Part of the reason Percy is excommunicated is not so much that Percy doesn’t believe Harry, but because Percy dared to do better than Arthur in his own career. Arthur is stuck in his position as head of a joke of a department, he is an underling at its finest, and frankly likely only has that position because he’s a pureblood and the idea of putting a halfblood or even muggleborn at the head of a department dealing with muggles just made the higher ups shudder. (Don’t tell Arthur that though, he likes to think he’s not benefitting from nepotism). 

Arthur goes so far to accuse Percy as Fudge’s secretary as spying on him. Arthur, the guy who heads “Misuse of Muggle Artifacts”. Yeah, Arthur, I’m sure Fudge is really wasting his time using his straight laced secretary to find out all your dirty secrets. 

He also tends to see the world as very black and white. When Skeeter in book 4 writes an article after the Quidditch World Cup disaster complaining about the ministry’s lax security in enabling domestic terrorists to enter (something completely valid and true by the way) Arthur is so personally offended that both he and Percy go straight to the ministry to complain about Rita Skeeter and her daring to assume freedom of speech! HOW DARE SHE CALL THE MINISTRY’S NON-EXISTENT SECURITY AT THE WORLD CUP LAX! (To be fair, she also cited Arthur as having been in attendance at the event, a ministry employee, and having done nothing but, well, this is also true Arthur. You’re in a guerilla, underground, resistance movement. If I didn’t already think the Order was a joke this would kind of highlight it for me).

He’s also very resentful of Lucius Malfoy, and it seems to mostly be about the money. Arthur and Molly have a severe spending problem and actively resent that Lucius is swimming in money. That Arthur is ardently pleased about a law being passed in which the ministry without warrant can ransack Lucius Malfoy’s home... 

Well, Arthur, imagine the slippery slope if the government decides that it would like to search the Weasley home without warrant? In fact, he doesn’t even have to imagine it, as the beloved government in a few short years turns against him and then it’s all about how corrupt the ministry is. 

Arthur’s delightfully narrowminded, basically, and reminds us at nearly every opportunity.

Percy Weasley

Mostly, I just feel bad for Percy. Percy’s the son/brother that nobody likes and he’s painfully aware of that fact. He doesn’t fit in with the others, he has far too much ambition for the Gryffindor family and they resent him for it, and then he dares to say things like “I don’t know guys, Voldemort resurrecting from the dead after decades doesn’t sound plausible, we know Harry’s a little off kilter, and Dumbledore’s one shady dude”. Percy happens to be wrong about Voldemort resurrecting (and admits as much when the evidence is plainly visible), but he’s pretty on the money with the rest of it.

Regardless, growing up we see Ron constantly hating on Percy along with the rest of the siblings. I’m sure Percy is obnoxious, and certainly full of himself after making prefect and head boy, but he’s very clearly even before Order of the Phoenix the Least Favorite Brother (TM).

Then the Weasley family completely ices him out for a) getting a very high ranking position very quickly as Fudge’s secretary and b) not being gung ho about Dumbledore saying crazy things in the paper. Remember that to Percy Harry is Ron’s weird friend who seems to get into highly illegal activities every other week. From Percy’s point of view, it’s probably a matter of time before Harry becomes a crack head in Knockturn Alley (or given how behind the times wizards tend to be, an opium den). 

He’s constantly getting Ron into not only trouble but life threatening situations, is erratic and apparently a parseltongue of all things, and now Harry’s flipped his lid and saying that Voldemort has been resurrected after having gone through a very traumatic experience of watching a classmate somehow die. 

While we see Percy kind of (sort of)  make up with the family it’s clear that for Percy to have any relation with these people he’s the one who will always, ALWAYS, have to come crawling back on his knees and begging for forgiveness. It’s the Weasley way or the highway and I imagine, at some point probably a little after/during that epilogue, Percy will just slowly drift away because it’s just not worth it anymore.

Percy’s very much the black sheep of the family.

Fred and George Weasley

You all are going to kill me, but I actually don’t care in the slightest about Fred and George Weasley. This is because they basically have no personality aside from “funny”. 

They just have their weird, tandem, twin act and are either playing jokes on the school or else serving as Deus ex Machina in giving Harry magical items such as the Marauder’s Map for no apparent reason. The plot told them it was time, I guess. 

Their jokes, while not as bad as Sirius and James’ “Let’s sexually harrass Severus Snape by pantsing and beating him at the edge of Hogwarts lake” or Sirius’ “Let’s get Snape eaten by a werewolf!” are still often needlessly cruel and... kind of pointless. They harass Slytherin house constantly just because they happen to be Slytherins, they’re acceptable victims (which of course makes house tension that much worse). Harry gets sent a toilet seat in the hospital because... that’s funny? Har de har? 

They’re so indistinguishable from one another I routinely see people mistake which one got his ear chopped off and which one died. Because the point is, that we can’t tell the difference! It doesn’t matter who lived and who died because all we know is that Freorge is dead! 

Similarly, you see tons of fics around where character of the day ends up in this weird twincestuous relationship with Fred and George and it’s not only for a) that delightful twincest but b) because they’re such a singular unit that any attempt to pair one with somebody else feels weird. So you just get these porn fics about Fred and George being weird rapey teenagers who seem like they’d be more interested dating each other. 

Charlie Weasley

I really have no thoughts on Charlie. He raises dragons in Romania, the family loves him. Now, dragon raising feels like one of the most dangerous jobs in the Harry Potter universe, like Charlie had just gone and signed up to be a lumberjack but he seems to like it?

We really don’t see much of Charlie, he’s just the obligatory older Weasley son so that the Weasleys can be this ridiculously large family.

Bill Weasley

We see slightly more of Bill, but again, not enough to really leave an impression. We know that his marrying Fleur sent Molly into a complete state, and that they’re going to have awkward Christmas dinners forever because of it where Fleur just sits there and pretends not to loathe every second of Molly’s presence while Molly notes how bad it is that Victoire got stuck with that ugly pink hair instead of the Weasley red. 

Bill doesn’t seem to really do anything about this. He still marries Fleur, but we don’t really see a major confrontation where he tells the family “Look, I’m marrying her, so grow up.” So, I imagine he just tries to smile pleasantly and tells Fleur to just endure it for another few hours. He loves his family, his family’s great, but they only have to see Fleur once a year at Christmas.

Ginny Weasley

Ginny is weird. She’s this weird, frankly, almost personality-less void whose sole obsession in life seems to be marrying Harry. She and Harry end up in the world’s weirdest relationship and I honestly have no idea how people ship it other than canon told them to.

Ginny’s... well, first off, she’s very much in love with an idea. She had always worshipped Harry Potter but then he personally saves her life in what was a horrifically traumatic year and so that feeling just grows even more. Despite being Ron’s sister, she barely seems to know Harry, and everything she seems to like about it are just things she made up.

I imagine her and Harry’s marriage will be littered with affairs on her end. Not divorce though, because Harry would never admit his wife is having affairs on him all the time even if someone directly confronted him. Harry also won’t admit he’s gay. 

More than though we get hints of a personality. Ginny’s a fiery red-head tomboy with a temper. But... Well, it’s only ever hints. She never felt like a real person to me. She has I think one throwaway line about the Chamber of Secrets incident and how it personally affected her. We’re told she’s great at the bat boogey hex so we know she’s a fiery independent woman.

She feels more like a character sheet than an actual person. 

Whenever she’s around I always had this nagging question in my head where I ask why Ginny’s here. She has a lot of potential but nothing’s ever done with her. And when something is, it’s to get her into this bizarre relationship with Harry where he imagines there’s a green rage monster in his chest that loves her skin.

Okay Harry, if you say so. 

TL;DR: The Weasleys aren’t evil or anything, I’m not on Team Bash Them All, but they are shortsighted, ordinary, people who don’t deserve to be worshipped as all that is good in this world.

[sk1fanfiction]

the many faces of tom riddle, part 2

 -you dislike frank dillane’s portrayal of tom riddle only because you don’t think he’s attractive-

FULL DISCLAIMER THAT THIS IS JUST MY OPINION OF A CHARACTER WHO DOESN’T HAVE THE STRONGEST CANON CHARACTERIZATION, AND THUS ALL THIS IS BASED ON MY CONCEPTUALIZATION (and this time, featuring a bit of armchair child psych from a student).

Wait, don’t clutch your pearls just yet. Compose yourself.

I am about to explain why it’s not actually that bad, and Dillane’s portrayal is vastly underappreciated.

I definitely agree that his portrayal comes off as ‘creepier’. It’s not helped by the stylistic decisions in the scene -- the smeary, green filter gives the scene a sinister quality. 

Even Slughorn looks suspect here, which is somewhat appropriate, given that he is complicit in this crime. 

Again, this scene is very much intended to be slightly off.

You’ll notice (and I’ll discuss this again when I talk about Coulson’s portrayal) that Dillane is almost always shot from at least slightly below, which makes the lower third of his face look bigger (and thus more menacing). The lighting also makes his eyes glow in a really unnatural way. There’s an echo-y effect to make his voice (and not Slughorn’s) sound unnerving.

People talk about how Coulson would have looked in this scene, and if he was filmed in the same way (monotone, smeary/shadowy filter, and always from below), he’d look a bit creepy, too.

But all of this, imo, is for a pretty good reason. Slughorn isn’t the POV character. Harry is. Harry is learning about how a young Lord Voldemort wheedled the secret of Horcruxes out of an unsuspecting teacher. Unlike in COS, he expects Riddle to be evil. And, so, Harry’s new perception of Tom Riddle literally colors how we perceive him.

Take this shot, for example: he does that head-tilt thing that Coulson does, and it’s actually... kind of... cute???

Imagine Dillane filmed from slightly above, like Coulson usually is, and it looks even more innocent. (I mean, come on, he does not look like he’s killed four people, does he?) It’s not hard to imagine teachers being taken in by this kind of act.

Even that little smirk he does when the camera (aka, Harry’s gaze) pans in, is for Harry’s benefit. No one else noticed that. 

However, I still fail to find this creepy, like, at all. Yes, it’s a fake smile, but he’s portraying a different side of Tom Riddle to Coulson. Whereas, in COS, he’s in his vindictive, murderous element, where he’s free to express himself, in this scene, Tom Riddle is doing what he does best -- manipulating and managing appearances. 

This entire scene is an act. And because Harry knows it’s an act, it should look a bit stilted. 

From the Hepzibah Smith scene in the books: Voldemort smiled mechanically and Hepzibah simpered.

So, Harry is pretty adept at parsing Tom’s fake expressions.

But just look at the expressiveness in his face: he goes from brooding, he blinks, and his entire face changes to this charming (fake) smile. 

At the risk of sounding elitist, I’m a bit tired of seeing the word ‘psychopath’, which is not an actual medical diagnosis recognised by any psychological or psychiatric institution, being tossed about, especially with reference to Tom Riddle (and from a neuroscience perspective, it’s doubly annoying). There’s no such thing as ‘insanity’ or ‘psychopathy’ or being ‘crazy.’

-although I use it too a shorthand in conversation to distinguish ‘canon’ Tom from his ‘softer’ OOC counterparts, I really shouldn’t-

Unfortunately, I’ve seen the ‘psychopath’ comment used time-and-time again as an excuse or a full explanation of ‘why Tom Riddle went evil’ (JKR in fact, has made a weird comment in an interview, basically saying that ‘psychopaths can’t be redeemed or learn adaptive coping skills’ or whatever), which really just goes to show the lack of understanding and compassion when personality disorders, especially, are concerned.

But what I like most about the opening of this scene, actually, is that first, listless expression. And this is where we get slightly into headcanon, but Tom Riddle is the opposite of a happy, mentally healthy teenager. By Dumbledore’s own admission, he has no real friends. He has no parental figures, no real attachments. Yes, he might derive some pride or enjoyment from being good at magic and top of his class and all that, but I really don’t think even Tom finds that truly fulfilling. There is nothing that makes him happy. 

In fact, although some might perceive it as ‘creepy’, I think that listless expression is an accurate window into Tom’s psyche. 

I know people aren’t big on Freud, but I think that he does make some interesting points (also, cut the guy some slack for being relatively open-minded for the Victorian Era, and inventing psychoanalysis and while yes he did say some sexist stuff, good luck finding a field of science that isn’t male-focused and makes crazy generalizations about women, especially back in the day) about the possible origins of thanatophobia, the fear of death.

According to Freud, thanatophobia is a disguise for a deeper source of concern -- he did not believe that people were capable of conceptualizing their own death to that extent. Instead, he believed that this phobia was caused by unresolved childhood conflicts that the sufferer cannot come to terms with or express emotion towards.

Now, I know Freud almost always attributes mental distress to childhood experiences, but I think in this case, it really has some merit.

According to attachment theory, the basis of how we form attachments in adulthood is dictated by learning it from experiences with caregivers in the first two years of life. We know Tom was born in an orphanage, and that he didn’t cry much as a baby, and subsequently, probably received very little attention. Compounded with possible genetic factors and his caregivers being afraid or wary of his magical abilities, he later struggled to form attachments because of this -- I would actually go so far as to say that by the time Dumbledore meets him, Tom Riddle is severely depressed. 

And that flat affect and anhedonia, I think, comes over very well in Dillane’s portrayal. There’s kind of this resignation -- a very deep sadness and loneliness to his character.

Of course, he doesn’t derive any comfort or fulfillment from human interaction, because (to borrow the description from the Wikipedia article on ‘Reactive attachment disorder’, which Tom meets all the criteria for) he has a “grossly disturbed internal working model of relationships.” In other words, he is unresponsive to all offers of attachment because of this unacknowledged trauma.

(You could arguably class Tom as having an avoidant attachment style, but I think in his case the trauma and its effect on him are severe enough to call it disordered.)

RAD isn’t particularly well-characterized (especially neurologically) and quite new in the literature, but here are some links if anyone is interested in doing a bit of digging: Link 1 | Link 2 | Paper 1 | Paper 2

And, instead of trying to resolve this conflict in a healthy way, or at least recognize that this is why he can’t be happy and try to learn how to cope from there, he (a) represses the desire for human attachment and (b) funnels that negative emotion into being the fault of Death, the Grim Reaper (again, to borrow Freudian terms). 

And we all know how that turned out...

(And now, this should go without saying, but psychoanalyzing fictional characters has nothing to do with assigning a morality to mental disorders. Mental illness is neither a cause nor an excuse for criminal behavior -- in the same way that the cycle of violence is a phenomenon, not an excuse. Tom Riddle did not become a genocidal murderer because, in common parlance, he was a ‘psychopath’ -- he was not necessarily ‘predisposed’ to evil and could just as easily chosen to not follow the path that he did -- instead, he willingly made poor choices. This is a descriptive analysis, not a justification -- a ‘how’, not a ‘why’)

Here’s a Carl Jung quote that articulates it better:

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Yes, he’s a bit stiff (and a lot more formal than in COS during his *conversation* with Harry). But, and here comes the controversial bit, this is appropriate for a portrayal of a schoolboy in the 1940s. The upright posture is accurate -- respectful, polite -- everything Tom Riddle would have been expected to be (and even Coulson, in that scene with Dumbledore in COS, is quite stiff). Even the way he looks at Slughorn and maintains eye contact is very *respectful.*

And, Dillane (I think he’s seventeen or eighteen here) actually looks like a believable sixteen-year-old. I’m sorry, I love Coulson’s portrayal as well, but he looks around nineteen in COS; so in HBP, he probably would have looked at least twenty-two or so. (Sorry, not sorry).

This may be influenced by my own interpretation of the character (because I imagine Tom always looks young for his age, and Dillane fits that archetype, but I don’t think that’s very popular), but I think young Tom Riddle is supposed to be *cute* and a bit stiff/shy/awkward (being charming and awkward is very much possible), if you consider the way Dippet and Slughorn treat him. 

To support this, he says very few words to Hepzibah Smith (in the book, that scene’s not in the movie), and is very... bashful and coy during the whole interaction? I think yes, he’s charismatic, but he’s not loud, suave, openly flirtatious or particularly verbose. Tom Riddle should have a quiet magnetism, and to me, that came across in Dillane’s portrayal.

"I'd be glad to see anything Miss Hepzibah shows me," said Voldemort quietly, and Hepzibah gave another girlish giggle.

...

"Are you all right, dear?"

"Oh yes," said Voldemort quietly. "Yes, I'm very well. ..."

Even the ‘ugly, greedy look’ described in the books, when Slughorn starts spilling his secrets, is there. This is how he’s supposed to look! Slughorn glimpses it, but doesn’t understand its significance. Harry does. 

“Slughorn looked deeply troubled now: He was gazing at Riddle as though he had never seen him plainly before, and Harry could tell that he was regretting entering into the conversation at all.”

Remember the context of this moment, as well: He’s just discovered how to create multiple Horcruxes. Excuse him for looking a bit creepy (if not now, then when?).

Here’s two direct quotes of Harry’s impression of Tom Riddle in that scene: 

“But Riddle's hunger was now apparent; his expression was greedy, he could no longer hide his longing.”

“Harry had glimpsed his face, which was full of that same wild happiness it had worn when he had first found out that he was a wizard, the sort of happiness that did not enhance his handsome features, but made them, somehow, less human. . . .”

Tom Riddle’s Horcruxes are a direct metaphor for his refusal to allow himself to heal from his trauma -- instead, he continues to inflict destruction on himself and others.

His desire to continue creating more Horcruxes sort of resounds with the fact that self-harm can also become a compulsion.

I’d also like to digress a bit to discuss the Gaunt Ring, while we’re at it. While we’ve talked about his attachment issues in general, this discussion is particularly pertinent to father figures. And while Tom’s attachment issues are extensive, I think there’s ample evidence that as a child, he craved acknowledgement and acceptance from a father figure -- the man who gave him the only thing Tom truly owned -- his name. He would have had a vaguely defined mother figure in Mrs. Cole, perhaps.

"You see that house upon the hillside, Potter? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was.... He didn’t like magic, my father ... He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born, Potter, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage ... but I vowed to find him ... I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name ... Tom Riddle. ..."

We know that by June of 1943 (COS flashback) Tom has already uncovered the truth of his parentage; he knows he is the Heir of Slytherin via the Gaunt line, and he describes himself to Dippet as ‘Half-blood, sir. Witch mother, Muggle father.’

In Part 1, I discussed the high probability that as a presumed ‘Mudblood’, Tom Riddle was treated rather poorly in Slytherin House. But by this scene in the fall of 1943, he is surrounded by a group of adoring hangers-on. Why?

In my opinion; the Gaunt Ring. We know that Tom stopped wearing it after school, so its sentimental value couldn’t have been that great. We know he likes to collect objects (which I believe stems from his attachment issues -- he seeks comfort in things instead of other people).

Signet rings (such as the one belonging to Tutankhamun seen above) were used to stamp legal documents and such, in order to certify someone’s identify -- like an e-certificate, if you will. Like Tutankhamun’s ring, the Gaunt Ring bears an identifying symbol -- Marvolo Gaunt tells us proudly that it bears the Peverell family crest.

By the Middle Ages, anyone of influence, including the nobility, wore a signet ring. Rings in antiquity were auspicious -- they signified power, legitimacy, and authority. And so, I believe that all the Sacred Twenty-Eight families would have worn these, too.

And so, bearing the Gaunt Ring would have established Tom Riddle, symbolically and in the eyes of the Sacred Twenty-Eight (his future supporters and followers), as the legitimate heir to the House of Gaunt. This is why, I believe, Tom coveted the ring as soon as he saw it -- not just because it was a family heirloom, and not just because he thought it was a pretty toy for his collection.

(He curses it so that no one else but him can wear the Gaunt Ring safely.)

This is why, to make the legitimization literal as well as symbolic, Tom murders his father and grandparents. It’s not just an act of vindictive, murderous rage due to his perception of being rejected by his father (although it is that, too). And so, Tom, abandoning his search for a father figure (and possibly also giving up on the possibility to allow himself to heal from his own personal trauma rather than continue to inflict it on others), ‘cleanses’ his bloodline, to make himself truly legitimate. It’s rather telling that instead of affirming his legitimacy as a Riddle, which would have put him in line for a nice inheritance, and hey -- money is money -- (thus accepting his half-blood status), he simply kills them all. He has done all the murdering he needs to become immortal (and he hasn’t had the discussion about multiple Horcruxes yet); but yet, he does it again. Frightening stuff. 

(Just look how the others look at Tom. All but the one to his left -- possibly Nott, Rosier, or Mulciber -- have their torsos turned towards him. Their attention is on him, while he knowingly regards the viewer/Harry. Tom seems a little uncomfortable with the attention.).

“And there were the half-dozen teenage boys sitting around Slughorn with Tom Riddle in the midst of them, Marvolo's gold-and-black ring gleaming on his finger.”

...

“Riddle smiled; the other boys laughed and cast him admiring looks.”

...

“Tom Riddle merely smiled as the others laughed again. Harry noticed that he was by no means the eldest of the group of boys, but that they all seemed to look to him as their leader.”

The ‘gang’ are true hangers-on; Tom doesn’t seem to pay them much attention. 

So, if not via careful flattery or charisma, the attraction must be status.

And perhaps yet more telling...

"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.”

That, in my opinion, is as good as we’re going to get as proof that Tom’s shiny new signet ring (and by extension, his new status) made a big impression on his fellow students.

So, when he returns to Hogwarts, he is ‘pureblood’. He is cleansed of his Muggle roots, and becomes the legitimate heir of the House of Gaunt, now well on his way to becoming Lord Voldemort...

Watch the scene again, with a critical eye, and imagine Slughorn’s perspective, instead of Harry’s. There’s nothing creepy about Tom Riddle... unless you know what he is...

Strip away all the effects of Harry’s gaze (and notice, here he’s still looking at Harry), and he’s quite the charmer, actually.

(I will concede that I don’t like the promotional images where they have him looking like he’s up to no good. And I do wish he blinked once in a while.)

My challenge to you: Rewatch the scene with an open mind, and let me know if you agree that Dillane’s portrayal comes off as depressive rather than ‘creepy.’ And if not, why do you dislike his portrayal?

[anac-arb]

Now sixth year:

Harry, the Weasleys and Hermione getting a short letter from Theo telling them not to write to Draco in the summer.

Draco through his DA coin: Well, here goes nothing.

Harry: what? What did you do??

Hermione: Are you all right?

Ron: Mate?

Ginny: give us more bondie!!!

None of them getting anything back and Theo only knowing he’s alive. All being worried especially after seeing him on the prophet. Harry, Ron and Hermione seeing him in Diagon Alley and following him.

Harry via coin: WTF Malfoy

Draco: You’ll get me killed idiot

Harry being Harry following him on the train anyway. Pansy and Blaise knowing something is off with their friends but not knowing what exactly. Draco throwing Harry a light jinxing spell after everyone is gone.

Harry: hey! What was that for!?

Draco: You are as sly as wounded erumpent Potter.

Harry: They didn’t know I was here...

Draco: They are 16 year olds with gossip on their mind.

Harry: Point. You ok?

Draco: Not here. R.O.R. After dinner.

Draco explaining what his mission is.

Hermione: It’s madness! It’s a suicide mission.

Draco: Yeah well, I’m sure he doesn’t expect me to succeed.

Ron: Bloody hell..

Harry: So what now?

Draco telling them about the cabinet, Hermione offering to help him fix it and planning the next steps.

Dumbledore telling Draco to go along with his mission and not to worry (like that’d be possible).

Hermione spending a lot of time with Draco in the room of requirements. After Ron starts dating Lavender, Hermione starting to realize she has feeling for Draco. Draco knowing he’s in love with her but being too afraid to make a move and thinking the timing couldn’t be worse.

Theo developing fake spells to simulate the unforgivables. Pansy and Blaise finally confronting them after catching them practicing the spells in a deserted classroom.

Pansy: Ok. What in Merlin’s saggy balls is going on here!

Draco: Seriously Pansy, your mom knows you talk like that?

Pancy: You bloody well know she does not.

Blaise: You are both acting weird since last year.

Theo (in a pitchy voice): Have we? Have we really?

Blaise and Pansy just raising one eyebrow at the same time.

Draco: Just stay out of it.

Blaise: When have you ever stayed out of our problems mate?

Pansy: Are you dating some mudbloods or something?

Draco’s wand racing to her face.

Theo: well fuck.

After some fighting and a lot of cursing and complaining on Pansy’s part, Blaise and her reassuring them that they would keep their secret and assist if completely necessary.

Pansy: You think I’d side with my parents? My father would probably sell me off to the biggest buyer and my mother only notices me when there is something to chastise me for.

Blaise: You had my back first year when people teased me about my name or becoming my next stepfather. You have mine now.

Pansy: Let’s face it Draco, the only one with decent parents around here is you, and your dad’s in prison.

Theo: Poor little rich kids, huh?

Blaise: Well, one day we’ll be emotionally unavailable billionaires. So there’s that.

Draco being questioned on christmas break about his progress. Being afraid he’s been cought, living in constant fear and worry for his mother and not being able to save her or his friends when the time comes. Feeling in his soul every unforgivable that Bellatrix makes him practice even if is on rats. Being subjected to constant leggilimance and feeling his aunt’s doubts of him.

Harry finding him in the bathroom having a panic attack. Draco telling him they need to enact more fight, like they did last year when he was in the I.S.

Harry stupidly using the sectumsempra while they stage a fight in the bathroom. (Not sure about this). Snape saving Draco.

Harry sneaking to the infirmary and begging him to forgive him.

Draco: Hey, is payback for mocking you, Scarface.

Harry: I bet you wish you could tell your thirteen year old self not to tag along with us, huh?

Draco: Actually...I’ve been thinking the exact opposite lately.

Harry: Why?

Draco: Think about it. I mean, what if we were still on opposite sides. I’d still be where I am, but for all the wrong reasons.

Harry: I don’t think you’d ever want to kill someone Draco. Even back then you were just an insufferable twat, but never evil.

Draco: He has my mother at his mercy Potter. I would have tried my best. Before third year all the people I cared about were on the other side. For her, I would have done it.

Harry: Doing something for love is not the wrong reason, Malfoy.

Draco: Maybe...I guess I just...this has been the worst year of my life Potter, but at least, if I survive this..

Harry: When.

Draco:...when I survive this, I’ll know I was on the right side, that it was for something other than fear. And if I don’t at least she..you all know the truth.

Harry:Don’t worry, I’m sure Hermione know you’re secretly stupidly brave.

Draco: How..

Harry: Please, even I’m not that dense!

Draco disarming Dumbledore because he doesn’t fight back as “planed”. Snape killing him. Draco following him in shock and fearing the worst.

All the others freaking out and scared shitless thinking Snape can rat Draco out, sad about Dumbledore, planning next year’s horcrux hunting and all that.

Draco via coin: Alive.

(I tried color again, some of the background came from photos and I know it doesn’t look great but my patience for little details sucks. Hope you enjoy it anyway! Love to all)

[lomlmarvel]

Only You Pt. VI

Only You Series finale.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three I Part Four | Part Five | Finale 

Cedric Diggory x fem!reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Summary: The result and ending of the Triwizard tournament leaves Y/N heartbroken and at loss, or does it? 

A/N: It’s so short and I am so sorry. I hope you enjoyed reading this series and it has been an honor to have shared this story with you all.  

The Hogwarts orchestra began to play their victory song. Cheers came from every row of the arena. Everyone was so excited and proud of the last two standing Hogwarts champions, one of whom was the winner of that year's Triwizard Tournament. Hermione and Ron felt relieved when they saw Harry apparate to where he stood in the arena. Arthur Weasley and Hagrid felt a fatherly sense of pride at the thought of Harry being one of the last two standing champions. Dumbledore waited in awe at how far Harry had gone; even as a minor, he managed to meet and match his older classmates' skills. The smile on Y/N's face was wider than when she found out that Remus and Sirius were her and Harry's godfathers. 

However, that smile faltered when she saw Cedric on the floor, with bloodstains on his jersey. Harry was on his knees, holding onto Cedric as the goblet fell from his grasp. Something told Y/N that there was something wrong. Whether it was intuition, blood relation, magic, or fate, she raced from her feet and smoothly passed Hagrid and Mad-Eye, who stood in as guards of the arena stairs. 

It all happened in slow motion. Dumbledore quickly stood from his feet and chased after the young witch, who was moving faster than the golden snitch. Y/N harshly pulled Harry into her arms while he remained frozen on top of Cedric. 

"Are you alright?" She whispered into his ear, hoping that he could hear her through his painful cries. Harry nodded in response but held his grip on Cedric. 

"Harry! Harry!" Dumbledore shouted, a gathering of professors, headmasters, and the acting-minister of magic, formed a circle around Harry. 

Dumbledore, a much stronger person, managed to pull Harry away from Cedric. "Tell me what happened!" Dumbledore pleaded to the younger wizard. While Harry pushed through the encounter with Voldemort, Y/N shakingly moved to look at Cedric. 

She reached to touch the hand on his chest, feeling the freezing touch of his frozen skin. The color on his face no longer displayed the pink-flushed cheeks he proudly showed the world each day. His plump red lips were now a blue tint. The glimmer and glow in his eyes were no longer there. Y/N didn't know when or how long she screamed for before she was wrapped into Mr. Weasley's arm as he tried to pull her away from the body. At the same time, he was trying to console his dear friend on losing his son. 

"He's back, he's back! Voldemort's back. Cedric, they hit him with a curse, and I-I couldn't leave him, not there," Harry sobbed into Dumbledore's arms. 

                         "That's my son! My boy!" Amos, Diggory cried. By now, the word has spread that something had happened to Cedric. The crowd of students had gathered in the arena ground. No one knew what to do, and all they could hear were the painful cries of Amos, Harry, and Y/N. 

Y/N can't remember when it happened, but she woke up in the infirmary. She was wrapped in a warm blanket but was still in her clothes from the challenge. She looked to her right to see Harry asleep in a bed next to her. Arthur sat asleep in what looked like an uncomfortable chair. His hat shielded his face, but the snores coming from his mouth told her his state. 

She sat up in the bed and reached for the cup of water on the nightstand next to the bed. It was past midnight. She could tell. The castle felt much colder at night, despite the season. This was the time of night when she and Cedric would sneak off to spend the night together. Regardless of what they were doing, Y/N always wanted the time to freeze, and they could just stay frozen in time, in each other's arms forever. A cold chill ran down her spine at the thought of the love of her life no longer with her. It was a foreign feeling. The water didn't help her dry throat. She had screamed and cried for too long. It would be a while until she was fully healed, her throat before her heart. 

There was a loud growl that came from her stomach. She looked towards Harry and Arthur to see their unfaltering states. Y/N quietly got out of the bed and walked towards the infirmary office, where she hoped she could find Madam Pomfrey. Instead, she was met with a locked door and a sign saying she would be back before breakfast. 

Turning to head back to the bed, she saw another figure asleep on a chair. The figure rested with their head against the stone wall and their jacket across their chest as a blanket. Y/N's feet quietly padded towards the figure before she made them out to be Amos. She was contorted; what was he doing in the infirmary? Her heart stopped when she saw the figure lying on an infirmary bed. Cedric. 

She stood next to his bed, her hands shaking. She couldn't believe it. A few hours ago, his face was pale and cold. Yet, here he was a few hours later, peacefully asleep with his red splashed cheeks for her to see. She wanted to reach out to touch his cheek and awake him, but she was afraid that when she did, she would wake up from the dream she was having. She couldn't bare to live in a world where he wasn't there, and she didn't want to face reality yet. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts when someone grabbed her wrist. Her head darted to the hand, holding on to her. She let out a muffled cry that was quickly covered with her vacant hand. 

Cedric sat up in his bed and happily smiled at his girlfriend. It broke his heart to see her so devastated. Her eyes were red and puffy, along with her nose. He pulled her onto the bed and laid her on his chest--quietly to not wake his father or the other men in the room. 

"How?" Y/N whispered, looking up to stare at his face. Cedric smiled at her once again and closed his eyes.

"I'll explain later.  Let's just rest, okay?" Y/N nodded in agreement. She and Cedric leaned in to press a longing and passionate kiss. He pulled her closer to his chest and held a tight embrace on her. Y/N held tightly onto the hand, intertwined with hers, afraid that it would disappear when she woke up. 

A few hours later, when she woke up, it was because the sound of muffled conversations disturbed her dreams. She was scared to open her eyes and be met with a harsh reality, but instead, she heard George's laugh, followed by the sound of something coming in contact with his head. She opened her eyes to see George and Fred, with Arthur and Amos gathered around the bed. They were in their conversations and didn't see her sit up. Across from her, she saw Harry listening intently to something Hermione was explaining to him and Ron. Ron muttered something she couldn't quite hear but heard Harry laugh in response to his comment. Hermione annoyingly rolled her eyes and turned to speak to someone next to her. Cedric sat next to Hermione in his house robes. 

"Hey, Cinderella! Look who finally woke up!" Fred greeted Y/N, turning the attention in the room on her. Harry rushed from his bed to his sister's side and reached for her hand, asking if she was okay. Y/N nodded in response. 

"It's Sleeping Beauty, Fred," Y/N replied to the twin. His lip twitched to the side, trying to hide the smile from being corrected on his muggle reference. "How?" She managed to breathe out while turning to sorely look at Cedric. His charming smile showed as he sat down next to her. 

"You're my lucky charm, remember?" Cedric stated. He reached to look for the accessory hidden underneath his layers of uniform. He pulled out a matching pendant to the one she had around her neck. 

"Remember when you were practicing the protection spell Remus showed you?" He asked her. The rest of the group listened in with patience. 

"The one I kept getting wrong? The one I didn't even manage to cast, right?"  Cedric smiled at the thought of the memory. Earlier in the year, after Cedric had given her the necklace, he wanted to surprise her and reveal his matching pendant that he was finally able to afford. He had gotten hers first, deciding that he could buy his later. He had hidden it in the dueling room, somewhere where she would be able to spot it, but not right away. However, after a few failed attempts at a protection spell, the spell had deflected from the subject and struck the pendant. Y/N became frustrated after that, still not having seen the charm, and gave up on practice. After that, Cedric figured he could just surprise her with it after the tournament was over. Unknowingly to both of them, the protection spell had been cast onto the pendant, and when Cedric was struck with the death curse, the young witch's spell had sent him into a state where his body received the curse and killed him. Her protection spell had saved his body, barely. This led to his body, shutting down to hold onto the magic that was sheltering his soul from leaving his body. Fred was the one to notice the color returning to his skin when Dumbledore was trying to get him sent to a private room in the infirmary. Snape had taken the pendant to inspect it, finding the protection spell still alive on the piece of jewelry. 

"You saved me, Y/N," Cedric revealed. The proud smile on his face made her body melt. 

"Snape said he hadn't seen anyone our age cast such a powerful enchantment spell," Ron blurted out. Y/N turned to smile at the people in front of her. From the Weasleys to Harry and Hermione and her boyfriend and his father. Her family. 

The end of the term ended with a weird celebration. Harry and Cedric were crowned Triwizard champions, but the tournament was then banished by Dumbledore. Whispers about Voldemort's return spread through the castle. Many believed that Harry had lied and had tried to kill Cedric himself to win the tournament. Others stated that Harry just wanted the attention, but many believed him. 

The last day of the term was spent saying goodbyes and exchanging numbers and addresses with students from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang. It had been a successful tournament; its purpose had been fulfilled. The three schools socialized and were united by a terrifying thought that Everything would change in the near future. Something terrifying was coming. 

-

"How about spring?" Cedric asked, placing another centerpiece onto the round tables. 

"Spring is too rainy. Summer? Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione have to be there," Y/N replied, following his steps, but placing neatly folded napkins on the dinner plates. 

"Right, and everyone else from Hogwarts that we want to invite," Cedric added. He finished his task and turned to spin around the decorated room. The dance floor had been arranged a few hours before, and the band was setting up their equipment. The two proudly smiled at their finished assignment when the popular Weasley of the day stepped into the room. 

"Merlin's beard! This looks incredible; thank you, guys!" Bill shouted in excitement as he approached Cedric and Y/N. "Thank you so much for your help." 

"It's our pleasure, Bill," Y/N replied, taking in his elegant groom attire. He looked nervous. "Everything will be fine, Bill. You love each other, and that's all that matters," Y/N added. The oldest Weasley smiled in return, pulled her in for a hug. 

"You two can go finish getting ready. People should start arriving soon," Bill informed them, pushing them out of the room. 

Mrs. Weasley ran around the kitchen, making sure everything was prepared for Fleur and Bill's wedding. Even if she didn't entirely like her future daughter-in-law, she wanted her son to have the best wedding possible. 

"Hey Mom, Bill said everything looks great. It smells delicious in here too," Y/N stated, walking into the kitchen. The Burrow kitchen was a working factory. Dirty dishes were being washed on their own, while the floor was being mopped, and food was being cooked on the stove. 

"Oh, dear! Look at you two, you're not even in your clothes yet!" Molly walked over to Y/N and Cedric and shook her head disapprovingly. "The wedding starts in a few minutes, and you two need to get changed quickly!" Molly pushed the two upstairs. Y/N showed Cedric to Ginny's room, where she was currently bunking with Ginny and Hermione. 

"Can you help zip me up?" Y/N asked Cedric, who quickly found his way to her lower back. He slowly zipped the material as he stared at her reflection in the mirror. 

"So, we agree on summer?" Cedric asked her. She spun around to help him put on his suit but saw him already tying his tie. 

"Yes. Summer it is," She replied. She crossed the distance between them and straightened his tie. She kept her arms around his shoulder as she stared up at his beautiful smile. 

"You're gorgeous, and I can't wait to marry you next summer," Cedric whispered, leaning down to press a kiss to her glossy ones. The two stayed entranced in their little bubble before their moment was interrupted by George.

"Afternoon," George snickered with a sly look on his face. Y/N shot a glare in his direction before she tossed a nearby shoe at his body. He managed to duck out of the room before it came in contact with him but popped his head back in to snicker another comment. "You love birds better race to the ceremony before Fred and Alicia win over everyone as the 'second cutest couple' at the wedding," George winked in their way and walked out of the room. 

"We should get going," Y/N stated, reaching to put her heels on. 

"We'll still be the cutest couple at the wedding, in my opinion, of course," Cedric commented. Y/N stood up and rolled her eyes.

"Don't you start, Ced," She chuckled at his comment and walked past him to the stairs.

"What? It's true, darling!" He called out after her. The two would wait until after the war to get married. Harry walked Y/N down the aisle. Molly and Arthur sat in the front row, with proud and smiling faces. Ginny, Hermione, Alicia, and Angelina as her bridesmaids with Fred, George, Ron, and one of Cedric's best mates as his groomsmen.

As the two shared their first dance as bride and groom, McGonagall sat proudly watching the couple. After so much loss and years of darkness, times like these reminded her of the years of peace and happiness that were to come. She scoffed for dramatization as she handed Professor Sprout and Flitwick a few galleons each. 

"But just to be clear, I am thrilled to be celebrating their love and union tonight," Minerva commented. Pomona giggled in response, and Filius followed her suit. It was the start of a happy ending. 

Tags: 

@lilulo-12 @malfoys-demigod @ladyblablabla @truly-insatiablem @dottirose @lovinnholland @ziggyspurplehaze  @firefliesindaylight  @inmygardensuit  @bebana-7913 @suixdal-dreams29 @onebatch--twobatch  @degeathesaviour @sunles @calaryssia​ @dancingforalltosee​ @whitejeans​ @spcncershybrid​

[nifflersgelt]

My initial reaction to the Secrets of Dumbledore trailer is that it doesn't seem like it'll be bad, but it also just doesn't seem like it'll be as magical as the first Fantastic Beasts film. It seems like they'll be relying heavily on nostalgia (with all the scenes at Hogwarts, the Room of Requirement appearance, Aberforth, and the "five points to Hufflepuff" quip). Although it's possible they just emphasized that for the trailer. I wonder if it's also that they sense they're losing us so they feel they need Hogwarts nostalgia to keep us interested. I have to admit it's working on me to at least some extent; it did make me happy to see Hogsmeade and Aberforth.

But I don't think it's really the best way to go; I think the introduction of new characters and a new little world (art-deco 20s NY) was what made the first film so compelling. If this is just trying to be a ninth HP film that just doesn't have the same oomph. Also, I didn't see Tina in this at all. Nor Nagini. They introduced Eulalie, which is good, but cynically I wonder if it's just because they know they need to have a woman of color or they'll be (rightly) called out. On that note, they should not have killed off Leta. They could have had two (or three) women of color but 🤷🏻‍♀️

In general if they're trying to pull the series back to the magic of the first film they need to stick with the main four and focus on the beasts. Seems like they're trying to steamroll us into the Dumbledore/Grindelwald plot though. But to be fair that was already obvious from the second film.

The costumes were great, as usual. The visuals were not as exciting as in the first film, and there seemed to just be a lot of action and explosions, but again maybe that's just the trailer. One good thing though is they don't seem to be making things weird and bringing up Nazis/the Holocaust, which I kind of expected since they did it in the second movie and also this one was supposed to have been set in Germany, but uhh... this is an incredibly low bar. Like it's in the ground.

So all in all I think it'll be fine but I wasn't wowed and am not expecting it to be especially compelling. But, this could entirely be because I'm coming into this with mixed feelings about engaging at all because of JKR's terfery. It's certainly dimmed my excitement about anything Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts related. I'm sure that colors how I'm approaching this. I don't imagine getting involved in the fandom again after this, mostly because of the terfery and also because this movie doesn't seem like it'll be compelling enough to pull me back in. I'm still going to see it (by lying and buying tickets to a different film, so that I can avoid giving JKR any money), but, meh.

[sincerlypadfoot]

Invitation (Chapter One)

Dumbledore sends Dobby to retrieve a old student who left year one after her brother died, Dobby brings the girl a letter, begging with her to come back with him to a place, Grimmauld Place.

A/N I love triangle between Eliza, Charlie Weasley and Sirius Black??? I think So?

Word Count-1.8K

Send Requests Here

“Simple really,” Eliza Miller, a long blonde hair, twenty three year old girl smiled, landing back on her bed and looking up at the roof. She was born June 29th 1972, only attending hogwarts for less then a year.

She heard a bark, then her bed shifting a bit, then slobbering kisses. Her small pup of a german shepard sat on her chest, liking her cheak.

“What shell we do today pup?” Eliza had lived by herself, dog included since she was nearly thirteen, trauma really, is what she told people, shrugging her shoulders.

No one tend to question her, as everyone thought she was crazy. Not lasting a year at Hogwarts before she had ran away, leaving the friends she had made in the nine months.

Pup let out a little bark, rolling off of Eliza and running out of the room, she smiled, pinning herself up with her elbows and looking around her room.

Nineteen Ninety Five was a lonely year, is was the month of August, the trees slowly starting to turn into the pretty colors of fall, having to wear comfortable jumpers outside, well still wearing shorts acceptiply.

Eliza grabbed a random album from her stand, pulling out the recond and tossing it on her recond platter, her room filled with music.

She smiled, tossing all her windows open, the blinds were up and wind was blowing into her room. Music was her happy place, the place she had gone when she had no one, the one thing she had left was music.

Eliza moved across her room, letting her hair down as she started tossing her clothes into a basket, flicking her fingers, letting the basic levitate on it’s on. Continuing to toss her dirty launders.

“Oh I just wanna be free!” 

Pup sat back on her bed, watching as Eliza danced around her room, her sleeves falling down revealing her shoulders. Her golden hair flaying as she danced.

“Please just dance with me!”

The record came to a end, letting Eliza breath, her room was now spottless, she moved from her room, letting her laundry basket follow her, flicking her fingers again, now moving away to her laundry room.

“What a good day to be a witch isn’t it Pup,” Eliza smiled opening her fridge and pulling out a bottle of water.

Pup ran across the room, zooming a bit before stopping at the door. Eliza watched him curiously, before pouring out her large living room window, seeing a unfamiliar little thing walking up her steps.

“Protect me now,” Eliza whispered, gripping her wand beside her as she walked to the door. She waited a couple seconds before opening, swinging the door opened, pointing her wand down in front of her and squinting her eyes.

“Who are you?!” Eliza shouted looking around, a short house elf stood infront of her. She crooked her head looking down.

“Dobby the house elf,” Dobby smiled, walking passed Eliza, coming face to face Pup, who looked at Dobby for a couple seconds before licking his face.

“What are you doing here Dobby, I don’t associate with the Wizarding world no more,” Eliza shut her door, turning around and looking at Dobby, who now held a letter in his hands.

“Dobby has been requests to bring you home,” Dobby smiled walking towards Eliza and holding the letter out.

Eliza took the letter out of Dobbys hand, addressed to her and all. “Who send you?” She asked crossing her arms.

“Dumbledore, you must come with me now, we don’t have any time spare, Dobby has been told to get you back as soon as possible,” Dooby put out his hand, trying to grab Eliza hand.

“Go back to where you came from, i’m not going back,” Eliza walked passed Dobby, tossing the letter on her counter before shaking her head.

“Dobby is very sorry for this,” Dobby followed Eliza, Pup falling behind her. Dobby jumped onto Eliza's back, causing her to fall to the ground.

“Get off me you stupid elf!” Eliza cried out, grabbing Dobby, Pup parked jumping and placing his paws on Eliza's back, parking in Dobby's face now.

“Dobby is sorry,” Dobby repeated, flicking his fingers, disaparting Eliza and Pup. 

Eliza screamed in angry as she fell on a hard floor, Dobby jumping off Eliza back and moving away from the angry girl.

“I’m going to kill you!” Eliza cried out jumping to her feet and turning to Dobby who stood looking at Eliza.

“That is enough!” Dumbledore shouted, causing Eliza to turn and face the grey haired man.

“I wanna go home, you bring me home now!” Eliza cried out backing away from the man. “I don’t belong here!”

“Quiet down!” Dumbledore yelled once more, tears fell down Eliza face in fear, her heart was racing. “He is back don’t you understand,”

Eliza shook her head in fear, cowering herself on the wall. “He killed my brother, I can’t Professor,” 

Dumbledore shook his head, then looked over at Dobby. “Fetch her some nice clothes now Dobby, presentable,” 

Dobby nodded his head, taking off from the room, then Dumbledore looked at Eliza. “You're a very powerful wizard Eliza, now i’d appreciate if you went and changed, we’ve got a meeting to attend,” 

Dumbledore walked off, leaving Eliza speechless, Pup was laying on the couch across from Eliza, asleep and having not a care in the world.

Not a word could come out of Eliza mouth, so she sulked her head down, walking out the door where Dobby had just walked out and up the stairs.

“In here,” Dobby chimed opening the door to a room, there as Eliza walked in laid a outfit, fit for her. “I’m sorry, Dobby really is, he thought that you wouldn’t get so angry,”

Eliza shook her head, smiling down at Dobby. “I don’t belong here, and I appreciate your thoughts, but i’m going home tomorrow,”

Dobby didn’t say anything, but walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Sirius and Remus looked at Dumbledore as he sat down, interlocking his hands with a smile, everyone that sat at the table looked at him.

“Whats got you so happy?” Sirius mocked curling his lips and shaking his head. “This isn’t a time for smiles,”

Dumbledore leaned back in his seat, letting out a sigh. “I’ve brought someone here, someone who can help us, so if you’d like to continue bannering me, i’ll just send her home and we can do it ourselves,”

Sirius raised his hands in the air, leaning back in his seat and rolling his eyes, Remus nudged him under the table annoyed.

“And who is this mystery person, that is so special she’ll help us?” Sirius said crossing his arms.

“Shut it Sirius, you’re going to cause trouble,” Remus muttered under his breath, kicking Sirius under the table once more, causing him to snap his neck.

“She’ll be down in a moment, you’ll know her as the girl who ran away, not out of fear, but out of anger, it took me a long time to find her, and she won’t like being here, so if you guys could be kind,”

Sirius leaned more back into his seat, looking at Remus with a fake smile. Then at Molly who had a real smile on her face.

“I’ve heard of her before, went to school with Charlie, isn’t that right?” Molly looked at Charlie who was home from Romania, jointing the order.

“Yeah she was pretty weird, after her-,”

“Enough,” Dumbledore shouted shaking her head. “She won’t like bringing up her past, you lot will just scare her away,”

Molly tossed the rest of the vegetables into her pot then looked at Dumbledore. “When will she be down here, i’m sure she’d love to meet everyone,” 

“Come out Eliza,” Dumbledore huffed looking towards the door, everyone's heads turned to Eliza who opened the kitchen door, she had been standing and listening the whole time.

“Why am I here?” Eliza asked looking around the room, not recognizing anyone but Charlie, professor Snape and Dumbledore who all looked at her.

“You, produced a full body patrumon, can do spells without your wand, so we think,” Dumbledore suggested looking around the room. “You could help us with Voldemort, i’m sure you’ve heard he’s back,”

“I’ve read something about it, but i’m not interested, i’d like to go home, i’m sorry Dumbledore but it’s really not my thing,”

Molly walked over with a smile. “Molly Weasley dear, are you hungry? I’m sure Dumbledore hasn’t been the kindest host, come sit down,” Her hand went onto Eliza's back, guiding her to a seat, right across from Charlie.

“Eliza,” Charlie said with a smile nodding his head. 

“Charlie,” Eliza smeared, leaning back in her seat.

“Eat up love,” Molly placed some soup infront of Eliza, placing a spoon in the bowl, then passing everyone else theirs.

“You Eliza, are a very powerful witch, and i’d like you to sleep on your decision, think on it please?” Dumbledore asked standing up and looking around. “It was nice to see you all but i’ve got some business, Harry Potter trial, he’ll be here soon, be kind to our guests,”

In a second, Dumbledore disapparate and Eliza was left, without a way to get home, the only thing she’d not be able to do without getting horrible sick, or splinched was apparate.

“I think I need to lay down, or do something, this was really good thank you Molly,” Eliza nodded her head, standing up and apparting her bowl to her sink with a smile, without a word.

“Sick,” Sirius smirked at Eliza walked out of the room, coming face to face with pup who looked at her wagging his tail.

“Thats a pretty cute dog you’ve got there,” Charlie smiled coming up behind Eliza, looking over her shoulder at Pup, who looked up at Charlie.

“Yeah, got him only a couple months ago, was tired of roaming my home alone,” Eliza hadn’t fancied Charlie after he lit her hair on fire the first week of meeting.

“Glad to see you, thought you’d never come back,” Charlie moved to Eliza's side, leaning against the wall. “You know I actually did work with dragons, going back to Romania in the summer,”

Eliza smiled leaning against the opposite wall. “Not surprised, that's all you talked about at school, even aced all the tests about them, not sure about the transfiguration ones,”

Charlie and Eliza both shared a laugh before the front door opened, Pup went running, Charlie was faster then Eliza to hold him back.

“It’s okay dude,” Charlie whispered lowering down and stroking teh dogs head at Tonks and Kingsley came into view, smiling at Eliza and Charlie, then Madeye who double looked at Eliza, without saying anything. Then Harry Potter.

“Hello there,” Harry smiled looking at Charlie then the dog. Then looked up at Eliza who gave a slight smile.

“Harry dear,” Molly chimed interrupting the moment and bringing Harry into a hug. “Go upstairs, first door on the right now, you’ll have to wait tell after the meeting to have something to eat,” 

Harry was shipped upstairs, not before giving Charlie and Eliza a slight wave.

“You’ve got any dog food for him?” Charlie asked smiling at Pup, still petting him up and down.

“At home, but i’m sure I can find something around here to feed him until tomorrow,”

“No worries Eliza, i’m sure my mom will let you go home to get your things, you’ll stay won't you?”

Eliza stayed quiet. “I’ll sleep on it, but i’m sure they’d let me go to my house and grab some things, thank you Charlie,”

[buckysdove]

The Hero & Lover

Request: yes or no

Word count: 4,801

A/N: This is a request from @artiza-n​. You should definitely check them out. they’re a fantastic person. They are really sweet and offer excellent writing advice! Also, i took some inspiration from the twilight movies since Robert Patterson played both roles. I also took some inspiration from the books. NGL Edward in the books is a simp 😳 and I live for it!!! 🤭 (also typing on computer sorry if it looks weird.)

Warnings: Just a lot of fluff hehe (might be some cursing idk) Also name calling.

Pairing: Cedric x Hufflepuff!reader/fem!reader

Just for reference: Bold italics are flashbacks! And you have a dress in this story so i mean here’s the reference pic: 

Really it was a day like any day. Only today was the day the first challenge took place. You were quite worried because a dear friend of yours, Cedric Diggory, was participating in the tournament. A few days ago in the courtyard, you had overheard Cedric and Harry talking. At the first mention of dragons your heart dropped. After their conversation, You didn’t even let Cedric return to his group of friends. “What in the bloody hell did I just hear?” Your concern seeping through every poor of your body. “What do you mean?” He nervously laughed and you couldn’t tell if it was from the news he had just gotten for his first task or if it was from your almost yelling. “The fucking dragons!” Now about everyone was staring at you. He drags you further into the castle stepping away from the onlookers. “Y/N listen, I don’t know what you heard but-” He looked around before continuing. “You have to trust me ok? I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you? Have you ever even seen a dragon? I mean a real dragon. One that flies and breaths fire?” he just laughs, licks his lips, and looks back at you. “Y/N I already have a plan. Don’t worry.” He placed a hand on your shoulder that trailed up to cup your face. “I just don’t want you to get hurt Ced.” He just smiles and leans in. Your heart started to pick up its pace. You stayed still making sure not to move. He placed a soft kiss on your forehead and whispered a sweet “Thank You” to you before pulling away. “Y/N, it makes me happy to know that you're worried about me but I’ll be fine.” he smiles sweetly at you before telling you that you have to go or you’ll miss your next class.

——————————————————————————

Your heart absolutely melted at the sight of Cedric. Whenever he touched you or kissed your head lightly, you always had butterflies in your stomach, and your heart rate would quicken. So when the possibility of Cedric getting hurt sprung up, you couldn’t help but worry. He’d tell you he was fine and well prepared but, you still felt uneasy. What if the plan didn’t work? Or it backfired in some way. To be honest you were the only one to object to Cedric putting his name in the goblet of fire. And when he was chosen your heart dropped, the only thing that was echoing in your mind was the one moment.

“Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the champion selection.” Dumbledore's voice roared over all of the students. it immediately getting quiet after he spoke. Waving his hand around the room the lighting dimming with the movements. He walked up and placed his hands on the goblet then stepping back. The fire turned a pinkish-red color before spitting out the first name to be chosen. You sat beside Cedric hoping he wouldn’t get picked. You crossed your fingers and toes hoping and wishing it truly wouldn’t be him. You guessed he saw you tensed up because he grabbed your hand tightly squeezing to get your attention. You looked up from your feet to be met with his soft smile. You relaxed some until you realized that the moment had come. The first to be chosen was Victor Krum, the next was Fleur Delacour, but the last one was definitely your worst nightmare. Your heart sank and your face turned white at the name that was spoken. “The Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory.” Everyone cheered as he stood up and left but the only thing you felt was fear. The fear of losing your best friend and your crush made you immobile, frozen. You stared as he walked off into a dark corridor. After he was gone a tear fell down your check. Wiping it away quickly before anyone noticed.

He hadn’t returned to the common room until late. Talking to one of the other Hufflepuffs before finding you sitting on the couch with your head in your hands in front of the fire. “Oh Y/N? What's wrong?” he had come over to sit next to you and now had his hand on your back. “I truly wish it wasn’t you.” your words caught him off guard and it was truly a surprise he could understand you from the quivering in your voice. You turn to face him your eyes red from the tears that are still streaming down your face. He stares at you for a moment before he took you in his embrace. You sobbed against his chest while he whispered sweet nothings in your ear. After you had quieted down he took your face in his hands and spoke. “Try to be happy for me ok? You know i really wanted this.” you stared at him in disbelief. “Ced people die in this tournament. I don’t want you to end up like those people.” you grasped onto him hugging him tightly. “Oh come on Y/N, you really think this tournament will kill me?” You nodded into his chest before you spoke. “Ced, you can still get hurt.” He just smiled down at you giving you that “I’ll be fine” look. you weakly smiled back at him before putting your head back on his chest and listen to his steady breathing.

You had snuck to the tent that held all of the champions hoping to catch Cedric before his turn to do his task. You peak into the tent catching his eye quickly. You run up and hug him tightly. Since he was taller than you, when he hugged you backed he sorta picked you up. your feet hovering over the ground slightly. He kissed the top of your head lightly like always before he put you down and let go. “Ced, how do you feel?”

“I’m fine, nervous, but fine.” you laugh slightly and hug him again. “You’ll do great. You’re going to be fine. But I swear if you get your ass roasted by one of those dragons I will personally kill you myself” You joke earning a hearty chuckle from the boy in front of you. “But seriously Cedric... Please be careful.” he just looked down at you. Then he flashed you his signature smile. Your face also lit up and you hugged him once more before kissing his cheek and quickly leaving. Once you had realized what you had done you quickly left out of embarrassment catching a glimpse of Cedric’s surprised face.

——————————————————————————

Right after the tournament you had taken Cedric to the infirmary so Madam Pomfrey could look at his wounds. “Y/N they’re just scratches and bruises.” You were more worried than infuriated but you were still mad. “Oh really?” you poked one of the bruises that were on his side. he grimaced in pain instantly going to hold his side. He hissed while doing so. “Ouch...Ok fine. maybe some aren’t just bruises but there isn’t anything you can do about it. It’s not like you can fight the damned thing.” He said jokingly but somehow you took it seriously. “Hey no. You aren’t fighting a dragon. Especially not alone.” You cross your arms and pout. “I wasn’t going to.”

“No, but you were thinking about it.”

“Well, it hurt you.”

“What are you? My Guardian Angel?” At his words, you blush slightly and smile. “I don’t know...Maybe? I mean you are still alive, right? Maybe my being there helped you live.” He pulls you down on the bed he’s sitting on and starts to tickle you. Your laughs echoed through the halls. “Ced...please...stop...you’re gonna...hurt yourself.” Between almost every word you had to catch your breath or laugh. “What is going on here?” When Madam Pomfrey came in he immediately stopped. “N-Nothing Madam Pomfrey.” You stand up and correct your uniform. “I was just hoping you would check out Ced’s wounds.” you smiled sheepishly to Cedric who was also blushing. “He looks perfectly fine to me if he can move around like he just was.” Your smile dropped. “Please, don’t you see these bruises and cuts. What if he broke something.” she looks at you and smiles. “With the way, he’s moving I'm sure he hasn’t broken anything dear. But I’ll clean his open wounds and he can go back and rest.”

Eventually, she was finished and I was stuck staring at his half-naked man in an infirmary. “What? Is my spine poking out my back?” He joked which brought you out of your daze and you chuckled lightly. “N-no it's just um...I’ve never seen you...like this...” He blushed slightly as he pulled the cover up some. Covering the bandages on his torso. “I-I’m sorry!” Blushed a great deal before turning around. “It’s alright. Um...so you know about the yule ball right?” Your heart sped up. Was he really going to ask you to the Yule ball? “Um, yeah? why?” You waited as he paused. “Well, I was thinking...if I should ask Cho.” Your heart sank. It was your dream for Cedric to ask you to the Yule ball. Instead, he wants to go with Cho Chang. “Oh...” He looked up at you. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah..”

“oh well do you have anyone in mind?” you paused to think. It took everything in you to not blurt out ‘You’ but you didn’t. Instead, you said something that surprised you both. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe George?” the sat up quickly. “George Weasley?!”

“Yeah”

“No. Definitely not.” Now you were...Mad? Protective? “Why not?” he didn’t have an answer ready. “W-Well because...He’s a git.” You scoffed at the name given. “Well it's none of your business who I date now is it Cedric?” after your thought was exclaimed to had left him dumbfounded in the infirmary. Him staring at your back as you marched away.

——————————————————————————

It had been a few weeks since then. Everyone knew something was up because you hadn’t talked to Cedric or been near him. It was unusual because you were basically joined at the hip. you had also heard from some of your friends that some of his were hinting at him asking you. “Sorry I can’t. I already have a date.” Was now a frequent phrase of yours. A lot of the guys from Durmstrang had asked you and you replied with the same thing. You were surprised so many guys would ask you. Of course, you had a date but...it wasn’t really a date. You were going as friends with George and you two were going to go with Angelina & Fred. You remembered the way you asked him. It was sorta embarrassing. It was also the night you and Cedric got into a fight.

“Hey gorge? Can we talk for a minute?” You caught the group of people's attention. it wasn’t like a Hufflepuff to be in the Gryffindor common room. “Of course.” He’d bid his farewells and “I’ll be right backs” as you dragged him out into the hall. “Well, I was wondering...If you’d like to go to the Yule ball with me? As friends?” He raised an eyebrow. Of course, he had been asked out by girls before but never did a Hufflepuff summon up the courage to ask him. “Well, why would I do that darling?” He exclaimed with a mischievous smile on his face. “I thought Diggory would have asked you?” Your face fell and so did his at the sight of yours. “Well, he’s asking someone else and...I wanted to go with you because...” You paused but before you could finish he cut in. “To make him jealous?” The smile was back on his face. he bent down closer to you to hear your answer since your voice had become hushed. “Y-Yes.” he smiled and chuckled. “I’ll tell you what...I’ll do it but...You have to do something in return.” You looked up at him a small smile on your face.

“What is it?” you asked your voice a little higher at the acceptance of your proposal. “I want you to...” he paused moving slightly to pin you to the wall. He looked around. His eye caught something then he turned back to you. “Kiss my cheek.” His smile was now a smirk and your smile was now flustered. “W-What?” You stammered out just loud enough for the two of you to hear. “Right here Right now, I want you to kiss my cheek.” You looked at him. Scanning his eyes to see if it was a joke but he seemed serious. “If I do this you’ll go with me?” He just nods and you swallow a lump in your throat. “Fine.” That was all you said before you leaned in and lightly pressed a kiss into George's cheek. He smiled and stepped away from you. You ran off and he went back to his common room.

After a few hours, you got a string of aggressive knocks on your door. “It’s open!” you yelled out maintaining a safe distance from the door. Cedric came in before closing the door behind him and locking it. “What is this I’m hearing about you kissing George Weasley by the Gryffindor common room?” You were surprised not only that he knew this but also by the anger in his voice. “How do you know about that?” you stood from your bed. “So it's true?” He came closer to you. “One it was just his cheek and two why in the bloody hell do you care? It's not like we are dating.” you snapped back. He just stood there staring at you. He inhaled a sharp breath before speaking. “I don’t...do whatever with him.” Then he left. You just stared at the door. Sooner or later you go back to your bed to go to sleep.

Now you were shopping for a dress. You were looking at the yellow dresses but they found the most beautiful laced, open back dress with a floral engraving in the lace. The only thing was it was in red. You didn’t have anything against it, but your mother did say it didn’t fit your style, whatever that meant. You picked it out anyway. Also getting some other dresses in other colors. When you got back to the castle you put it on to see how it fit. I was perfect. It showed off all the right curves in all the right places. You couldn’t look away but that was when you saw him standing in your door frame. “You look...wow.” He started to come up behind to finish the tie off that held the traps together since it was hard to do by yourself. “Thank you, Cedric.” You look back in the mirror. His hands had now fallen around your waist.” Y/N? I’m sorry for my behavior lately.” He put his head on your shoulder. After everything, you would be lying if you said you didn’t like Cedric anymore. You unwrapped his hands from around you and turned around. You took him in a short hug before pulling away and going back to your bathroom. “So have you asked out Cho yet?” You have said through the door while he explored around your room. “Um yeah...She said yes.” You had a small smile on your face. Of course, it hurt you to know that he was with another girl but...at least he was happy right? You had opened the door and come out by now so you go up to him and take one of his hands in yours. “That’s good...but it’s getting late and I should head to sleep.”

——————————————————————————

It had been a few weeks since that night and tomorrow was the night of the Yule ball. It was rare that you sat at other tables but today you sat at the Gryffindor table. You sat between George and Fred, George’s arm around your waist. You weren’t really listening to the things they were saying around the table. Your focus was completely on Cedric. “Y/N?” Your head snaps back to the table. “What?” You asked confused.

“Have you gotten a dress for the ball yet?”

“Oh yes. Yes, I have.”

“Really? What’s it look like?”

“It's a beautiful open back with floral design weaved into the lace. It goes just above my knee...and it's this beautiful shade of red.” They all looked surprised. “I’ve never seen you wear red.” you blush just a little. “I wanted to try something different.” George gets closer to your ear. “Did you get it for me?” he said quietly so you could hear but it was harder for the others unless they really focused on what he’s saying. “No...I got it for myself.” You look at him. His eyebrow was now raised and he had a smirk on his face. You stand up and grab your books. “I’m going to head to class but ill see you later.” you were talking directly to George. He nods and you bend down to kiss his cheek. Everyone else’s eyes go wide. Georges as well as it was unexpected. You just left after hearing one comment. “I didn’t know you two were going together like that.” A girl said but you were too far away to even remember whose voice it was.

——————————————————————————

It was later that evening and you had just finished the homework for Charms. You went down to the common room to head to see George but you were stopped by a strong arm wrapping around your waist. “Are you and George Weasley dating?” The familiar voice is clear in your mind. “No Cedric. We’re just friends.”

“How could you say that? I saw you kiss him in the Great Hall.” 

“I kiss you don’t I? And we aren’t dating.” He just looked at you. You could see the sadness in his eyes at his words. “No. No you aren’t.” He lets go of you. You look up at him and take his face in your hands. “Are you alright Ced?” He just smiled weakly before nodding and heading to his dorm. You then leave and head to the Gryffindor common room. 

It didn’t take to long but as you got closer you heard a few girls talking while they were coming down the hall. You weren’t one for gossip but when you heard your name it intrigued you. “Wasn’t she throwing herself onto that Cedric guy?” 

“Yeah but I heard that she’s going after George Weasley now”

“Wow. She moves on quickly.”

“I heard that she kissed both of them.”

“Geez what a slut.” You felt tears in your eyes as you stepped out into view. Their faces went white as you trudged back in the direction of your common room. In the quickness of your rage and the blurriness of your vision you bumped into someone else. “Y/N? Oh god whats wrong?” It was Georges twin Fred. His grip tight on you making sure you wouldn’t fall. “There were these girls. They called me a slut.” you said, the tears now flowing down your cheeks. He just takes you into an inviting hug. “You don’t think I’m a slut do you?” He pulls you away from him to look you in the eyes. He takes his thumbs and wipes away your tears. “Y/N, never in a million years would I ever think of you like that. George told me everything. And to be honest Cedric Diggory is blind if he can’t see how much you are madly in love with him.” You sniffle and smile lightly at his words. “Come on, I’m sure George is waiting.” He leads the way with his arm around your shoulder in a comforting manor.

——————————————————————————

Tonight was the night. You had your beautiful dress on and your beautiful (Y/H/C) hair was pinned up into nice curls. You had your makeup done by another hufflepuff and you had your matching heels as well. The only thing you needed now was you “date”. When you walked down your stair case you were met with a very handsome George and Fred Weasley and Angelina. They were dressed in very nice robes. Fred's hair was as wild as usual but George tried to at least maintain it. And to be honest he looked like a tall red haired Malfoy. When you reached the bottom of the stairs they just starred at you. Their jaws hung as their eyes fluttered over you. “Wow you look...” his voice trailed off as he kept staring and his brother finished his sentence. “Heavenly? God-like? Ravishing?” You giggled at Fred’s words and just saw George nod. “All of the above.” was all he said before he came and took your hand in his.

You smiled as he led you to the great hall. Almost everyone’s heads turned in your direction. Having so many eyes kind of embarrassed you because truly you only wanted one pair. His eyes on you and that's all. Only Cedric’s eyes. You entered trough the doors and immediately headed for the food table to grab a drink and sit in a corner. You didn’t really expect George to hang out with you all night. “Hey, where are you off too?” Georges voice of course startled you. It wasn’t like the place was so quiet you could hear a pen drop but not many people were talking. I’m sure it was mainly because the champions would be coming any minute and starting off the ball with their waltz. “I’m going to go get a drink and probably sit down.”

“Oh no, you’re not bailing on me.” He grabbed your hand and pulled you back towards him. “Godrick George! Don’t be so rough!” with your last few words you laughed and caused him to laugh as well. He wrapped his arm around you and just gave you a hug. “G-George?” 

“Shh. Just for a moment.” By this time they were already dancing. You hadn’t even noticed. “George is everything ok?” you asked worried. His face was tucked between the nook in your neck between your shoulder. He inhaled a deep breathe before looking back at you. “Yeah I just had to get my head in the game. And im sure Cedric is boiling with rage at how dangerously close i am to you right now.” You looked over at the dance floor. George was right. A small scowl was now on Cedric's face as he Watched you and George. He was barely paying attention. He was just staring at you and...Glaring at George. “Do you want to make him more mad?” The question caught you off guard of course. It wasn’t often you saw Cedric mad. But when you did...It was terrifying. The last time he was mad...He basically broke anything he could his hands on. You didn’t know what he was mad about but he was furious. It took a whole hour for you to calm him down. “I don’t know...” He just smiles playfully and takes a hand in his. He leads you to the dance floor where you as well start to waltz. “George, how doe this make him mad.”

“Oldest trick in the book. Deception.” You look at him confused. “Just smile and laugh. But not maniacally. Laugh like I told you a really funny joke or maybe that I gave you a really nice complement.” You giggle slightly in response and continue dancing. “There ya go! You’re a natural.” You smile not really understanding how this would make Cedric mad but you were still having fun. “Thank you George! This is amazing!” he smiles back at you and gives you a “You’re welcome.” Before you both head off to get something to drink. 

——————————————————————————

The ball lasted quite the while. You mostly laughed at jokes with the twins and their friends and danced to the band that played but it finally came time when you were to tired to even walk back to your dorm. You went to go sit down before a tall figure blocked your way. “Where do you think you’re going?” The voice echoed. You knew it anywhere. The voice sickeningly sweet but in a good way. A voice that could put an angels song to shame. A voice as soft and smooth as velvet. His voice. “I was going to sit down. I’m tired.” 

“Why not go to your dorm room and rest?”

“I’m to tired to walk.” The next thing you knew your feet were floating above the ground. The Hufflepuff had taken you in his arms bridal style and started carrying you to the Hufflepuff common room. You weren’t mad or embarrassed to be carried by him. You just wished that your heart wasn’t beating so quickly in your ears so you could enjoy it. It didn’t take long to reach the common room. The password was spoken and the panting swung open and closed. He carried you up the stairs and through your dorm room door. Surprisingly none of your dorm mates were there yet so it was just you and Cedric. He placed you gently on the bed before taking off your shoes. “Ced?” he looked up at you from where he knelt. Out of no where your lips touched his softly. Shock and worried filled your face as you jerked back and covered your mouth. You gasped before you felt him grab you wrist and move it away. In an instant his lips were back on your’s but it wasn’t rough or needy. It was slow and passionate. He stepped up and dragged you to lay on top of him on your bed. You could hear his heart beat to a steady rhythm. “Why so sudden? The kiss” 

“I-I’m sorry I just-”

“Don’t apologize. I liked it even though it caught me off guard but...I guess my main question is, if you liked me why did you go to the ball with George?”

“Why go to the ball with Cho?”

“Because I didn’t think you felt the same way.” You sat up and looked at him. “Of course I did. You almost broke my heart when you said you wanted to go with Cho. I went with George to make you jealous.” He just chuckled and took you back into his arms. “I think your plan worked out. It was very hard to try and not beat up George for having his hands all over you.” you just laugh. “You wouldn’t hurt him. I know you wouldn’t” there was silence for a minute. “We’ll see.” Was all he said before he leaned back down and kissed you more passionately than before. 

——————————————————————————

The week had gone by in a blur. You were having the time of your life being with Cedric even though you weren’t to public yet. Really the only ones who knew were Fred, George, and Cedric’s friends. It had been later than you thought. The charms homework was a little tougher than usual and you had to take more time to do it. That’s when everything went black. The next thing you knew the only thing you felt was cold. You also felt like you were floating. Like you were submerged in something. Water? Dear Godrick what did you get yourself into?

The next time I opened my eyes i was surrounded by my friends and I was in Cedric's arms. When he saw me open my eyes he immediately hugged me. It was tight, desperate. I hugged him back before coughing a little. “Merlin I got so scared.” His voice was low, almost a whisper when he spoke. When everyone had come up safely the scores were announced before everyone headed back to the castle. “Cedric are you alright?” You asked worried about him. “Y/N, I keep thinking about what would have happened if I didn’t make it in time. If I got you but it was too late and you drowned. Or if I didn’t get you at all. I was scared when i hadn’t seen you that day and my fear only deepened when I saw you in the water. You didn’t even look alive. You looked like you had frozen to death.” He was now sitting on your bed. His head in his hands as he spoke. “Cedric I’m fine now see.” You took his face in your hands and pressed a kiss to his forehead like he used to do to you. He placed his hands on your waist before standing up and leaning down to press his soft lips of yours. “Just don’t do that again ok?” he smiled after he spoke and you giggle before wrapping your arms around his neck and placing your hands in his hair. His kissed you once more, and this time deeper, before you both had to go and get changed from your wet uniforms.

[krreader]

BTS (Hogwarts!AU) → soulmates, but from rivalry houses.

pairing: bts x reader fandom: bts warnings: non idol!au ; hogwarts!au ; soulmates!au ; language genre: angst ; fluff word count: 2.3k+

a/n: you are a treasure @jminacious​ and I really hope you like this ♥

kim seokjin (you touch your soulmate, your respective color appears on them)

It wasn't usually this hot. If you had to guess, you'd say someone messed up a spell and changed the weather, but according to your friends, that wasn't possible (they've never met Hermione Granger then.)

Nevertheless, you and your group of friends, not caring about the rules of not bathing in the Great Lake, obviously did just that and were having the time of your life, until a group of Gryffindors came along and decided to ruin the mood.

“You can't be in there,” you knew the guy. Kim Seokjin. He was one of the top students, one of the most liked students and the one that every girl fell for. And he was handsome, but he was also a little stuck up in your opinion.

“Oh, come on, Jinnie,” you giggled, getting out of the water and pushing your hair back.

“Don't call me that.”

“I know you like that, though,” you grinned and touched his cheek, your eyes immediately widening when you saw green on his skin, then sparks flying out from under your hand before you finally pulled it back.

And then the awkward silence began and the only one who didn't know what was going on was Jin, because he hadn't seen it himself.

“What's going on?” he asked.

“Oh my god, I can't believe HE'S your soulmate!” your friends said, even Jin's friends staring at him weirdly.

“Stop playing around, you guys, this isn't..-” but when Jin wrapped his hand around your wrist, red lines appeared on your skin and traveled all the way up your arm until Jin let go again.

You didn't hate each other, you just didn't really like each other very much either, so being soulmates was.. weird. You didn't understand it and neither did any of your friends, but you couldn't stop thinking about that day for weeks after.

You pretended like you didn't care, but the reality was a much different one.

A few weeks later you waited for him, made sure he was alone this time to have a little talk with him.

“If you have a problem, then just..-”

“Can I..-?” you weren't sure how to even ask this. Can I touch you? That sounded very wrong. But while Jin was surprised, he seemed to know what you meant, you raised your hand and waited for his small nod to gently place it on his cheek like you had done the last time.

And even though the light was green, something that Jin could see in the reflection of your eyes.. he didn't hate it.

It.. made your eyes look.. beautiful.

min yoongi (telepathic communication)

'God, I really need a drink,' Yoongi thought to himself as he watched countless of couples laugh around him, while he sat there on his own, drowning in self-pity.

The Yule Ball was supposed to be a fun event, but Yoongi hadn't asked anyone to go with him because he had pretended like he didn't care and now he was here on his own and really regretted his decision.

'Didn't anyone ask you, Min?'

He immediately rolled his eyes, 'I thought we agreed not to talk to each other like that anymore. Or at all. I don't want you in my head, (Y/L/N).'

'Aw, admit that you're lonely and that you like this.'

Out of every single person in this world, his soulmate had to be a Gryffindor.

'Leave me alone.'

“No, I think I'd rather join you.”

For a moment Yoongi was confused because he thought he had really heard your voice and when he turned his head you were indeed standing there with two drinks in your hand.

“What are you doing here?”

“You said you needed a drink, so I brought you one,” you sat down next to him and gave it to him, “These balls suck anyways. All you can do is drink.”

Yoongi looked at you for a long time and even though you didn't say it, he heard you say in your head: 'But only if nobody asks you to go.'

Yoongi didn't respond, he simply sat there with you in silence and the two of you drank.

And drank.. and drank.

Until everything was black and the next thing you remembered was waking up in bed next to him.

And even though he was still asleep, you could hear his dreams.. and he was.. dreaming about you. Positively.

So you laid your head back down onto his chest with a smile and stayed until he woke up.. and then even longer.

jung hoseok (you remember your past life together when you touch)

You've never talked to Hoseok before, so you were pretty indifferent towards him.

He was incredibly handsome, but he was from Hufflepuff and there was this unspoken rule that nobody talked about but everyone knew, which is that it's best to stick to your own house and not befriend, let alone fall in love with, someone from Ravenclaw. It was kind of like the dynamic that Slytherins had with Gryffindors, but less hostile.

It happened every now and then and people obviously didn't kill you for it, but you'd get weird looks from your friends for sure.

You had class one day, the only empty seat being next to you and Hoseok came in last – even though still on time and ended up sitting next to you.

You didn't even look at him, even though he said hello, you just kept your eyes on the board and waited for the teacher to come.. which unfortunately took longer than expected, because she was running late.

People started talking to the ones next to them, most of them laughed, while you and Hoseok just sat there awkwardly.

You turned to your left, wanted to grab the chapstick out of your jacket but ended up dropping it instead.

You wanted to lean down and grab it, but Hoseok did the same, your heads colliding with each other.

And you'd think that minimal pain would be the issue, but no.

Because suddenly there were flashes. Flashes of you and him in a life that wasn't yours but.. seemed to have been at one point.

You were laughing, his arms were around you, a girl, not older than two, ran into your arms, you turning around and smiling at him, him smiling at you and saying that he loved you and..-

“I'm so sorry, I ran into Professor Trelawney on my way here and she had some new visions she wanted to tell me,” the professor said with a laugh as she closed the door, everyone else in class laughing.

Everyone but you and Hoseok.

“She said that..- oh!” the professor watched you run out of class with furrowed eyebrows, “What's gotten into her?”

Hoseok sat there as stiff as a stick, not moving even an inch.

He just met his soulmate.. hadn't he?

kim namjoon (when you touch each other, you die)

“I always wondered, Professor.. why did you put me in Gryffindor?” Namjoon and Dumbledore were in the Astronomy tower, just talking.

The two had a good relationship with each other, so this wasn't anything out of the usual.

“Why? Don't you like it?”

“On the contrary. I love it. It's just that I had always assumed I would end up in Ravenclaw.”

Dumbledore thought for a moment, then he let out a sigh, “You know, Namjoon.. sometimes us teachers have to intervene with what happens at Hogwarts for the sake of our students. No matter the situation.”

“So.. you're saying I'm right?!” that genuinely surprised Namjoon. He thought he'd get an answer like: Because you're a great leader with great potential but.. Dumbledore just admitted that he was the reason he ended up in Gryffindor? He kind of manipulated it so he’d be sorted into a different house?

“I can't tell you why I did it, just know that I did it for your safety. For yours and that of someone else.”

Dumbledore had known about yours and Namjoon's soulmate connection the moment the two of you entered the halls of Hogwarts as children. He had seen how Namjoon had smiled at you and how you had smiled back at him and he instantly knew that if he didn't do anything to stop this, the two of you would not survive the first week at Hogwarts due to your.. connection. Or rather, curse, in his opinion.

He put you in Slytherin and him in Gryffindor, hoping the long rivalry between the two houses would prevent you from ever speaking to each other.. and his plan had worked perfectly.

Now, the two of you didn't even look at each other when walking down the hallways anymore, you were strangers.

Dumbledore regretted not being able to do more, somehow fixing the connection between you two, but keeping you two alive had been his priority. So until then, this would have to do.

park jimin (you get a symbol on your body that represents your soulmate)

Everyone at the age of 17 got the tattoo, the fun part was figuring out what it meant.

Well, for everyone but you, because on your 17th birthday, you got a tattoo that made all of your friends gasp, because your soulmate was the enemy.

You got a fucking snake.

“Stop this,” your friend pulled you back from the sink, “You'll rub off your skin at this point.”

“I want it gone!” you cried, “Please, make it go away!”

“I can't,” she sighed, gently patting your arm dry, then pulling down your sleeve, “I know this is not what you wanted.. but remember, just because that person is your soulmate doesn't mean you have to be with them. A lot of people decide not to be with their soulmates. And if you really hate it so much, there are a lot of people who specialize in changing the tattoo. We can go during our next break. I'll go with you.”

You were so determined to do that, really. 

But then you ended up going for a walk that same day and found a guy from Slytherin sitting on his own, staring at his tattoo with a heavy sigh.

He seemed to be as unhappy about it as you were.

And only when you got closer did you see the lion.

Jimin noticed. He got up and pulled down his sleeve, staring at you with wide eyes, as if you had just found out about his great secret that nobody should have known about.

“You’re Park Jimin.. aren’t you?”

“And you’re (Y/N).”

You let out a sigh and pulled up your sleeve, exposing the one thing you were so ashamed of. Just as much as he was.

“I think you and I are in the same boat.”

And when Jimin pulled up his sleeve, both of you just knew.

But for some reason, neither of you felt resentment in that moment. It was more like.. home. 

kim taehyung (colorblind until you look into the eyes of your soulmate)

You knew of Taehyung, but you had never really spoken to him before, there was just never a reason as to why. He had his friends in Hufflepuff, you had yours in Ravenclaw.

But today, Professor Trelawney had decided to pair him up with you.

She had said it was time that ‘the rivalry houses see that there is nothing to hate about the other’.

She had told everyone to start out with closed eyes and then when she'd say the word, everyone should open them and try to look ‘into the soul of the person in front of you’.

Everyone had laughed, probably thinking what you and Taehyung thought as well.

‘This is some major bullshit’.

But, see.. sometimes it is best to trust the teacher. At least in your case it was.

Because once you opened your eyes and Taehyung opened his, your vision suddenly became clearer and you started to see, what you only assumed to be, colors.

“THERE! THERE IT IS! THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!” Professor Trelawney said with excitement as she pointed at you and Taehyung staring at each other with open mouth's, “THEY'RE LOOKING INTO EACH OTHER'S SOUL! THEY’RE SOULMATES PEOPLE!”

She hit the nail on the head with that one.

jeon jeongguk (same injuries as your soulmate)

When Jeongguk had signed up for the Triwizard Tournament he surely hadn't thought about anyone but himself. Bringing glory to the house Ravenclaw and to himself.

God, he had been so proud at first, walking down the halls of Hogwarts with his head held high as every single person now looked up to him.

But it was right after the first challenge that he realized it wasn't as simple as it all seemed.

He had defeated the dragon, had gotten the egg, but he had injured himself badly.

And as he was lying in the bed of the hospital wing, he overheard Dumbledore and McGonagall talking to his right.

“How is this possible Albus? She wasn't even there!”

“The same? The exact same?” the headmaster asked.

“Yes, sir. Exactly the same as him.”

There was a moment of quiet, Jeongguk furrowed his eyebrows and sat up straighter, trying to figure out what was going on there, but there was no need for it, because the two professors were about to tell him himself.

“Jeongguk.. do you know a girl by the name of (Y/N) (Y/L/N)?”

“I don't really talk to people from other houses.. she's Hufflepuff isn't she?”

“She is,” Dumbledore put his hands behind his back, “And I suggest you talk to her once she wakes up. It seems like the two of you have more in common than any of us would have assumed.”

The soulmate phenomenon was incredibly rare to happen between two students, especially not from different houses. But Dumbledore knew that this was the only option.

“Wait.. why?!” Jeongguk tried to ask, but the two professors were already leaving.

And all he could hear was Madam Pomfrey say: “Poor girl.. you never signed up for this, haven't you? Us girls are always the ones who get hurt involuntarily because of a man's pride.”

Jeongguk gulped down hard, suddenly not feeling proud at all anymore.. but.. he didn’t know why yet.

[ninjakitty15]

Chapter 22: Deader is Better (Loki x OFC Pairing)

It was exactly one day before the greatest holiday of all time, and not just because I was the most powerful I'd ever be that year. The streets were packed with people, every parking lot was booked solid, every parking space even, residents were even renting out some of their spaces for pocket money. Loki and I helped out Zari with her little store in exchange for letting us crash at her place, Loki was both surprised and delighted by how accepting people were of him even after asking if he was who he was. I explained to him that while the country as a whole has a longass way before it can be completely progressive and welcoming, Salem, being one of the first historical places here that destroyed itself in fear and intolerance, was probably the first to turn that around. It went from burning, hanging, crushing, and torturing people that were considered different and therefore dangerous to welcoming the different and weird as one of their own. No one even cared he took over New York, what they saw was an alien army attacking the city and a god that brought a bunch of heroes together to stop them.

"If Asgard were still around, I wish it had a city like this, celebrating magic and welcoming the weird as you'd say," mused Loki.

"Isn't there a realm entirely like that? Where the Light Elves live?"

"Look at you, trying to learn my culture," he teased. "It was where my mother learned magic and passed it onto me, yes. But we didn't go there often enough for me to call it another home. Most of the time, if we went anywhere it was to beat the natives into submission thanks entirely to Thor."

"For all the advancements your people had on us, the technology, the magic, the fuckton more years in a lifespan, you're not that far off in some idealogies from us. Rarely does peaceful methods end a dispute between peoples. Oh sure, there's been tons of times we tried that, it rarely works in our favor though. Peaceful rallies or marches are usually ended with police brutality they claim is the right way even when they're throwing tear gas grenades at unarmed civilians, tazing random protesters they later claim as dangerous, or just blasting them with high pressured firemen hoses. It always ends badly, with injuries, false claims, and injustice. I'd seriously love to meet Odin just to tell him he ain't special."

Loki smiled at this and kissing the top of my head. "I shouldn't be proud of you despising him like I did, but I am anyway. I am glad you met my mother in some form though, I had a feeling she'd like you."

"She told me to trust you and that in doing so, you'd stay with me as no one else besides Thor if even that, has trusted you since you came here indefinitely. A lonely existence that is, everyone keeping you at arms length. I can understand that, outside of Salem, skin color alone is an excuse not to trust someone, people see someone that looks like they're past their expiration date like me and they go running. Hell, even hair color or skin ink can keep you from getting jobs here, we're still an extremely regressive country. Not worth saving anytime soon."

"Then why bother?"

"Because unfortunately I'm one of the idiots inhabiting it with no way to some place better."

"I asked Thor why he fought so hard to protect this speck of a planet once, don't recall him giving me a good answer but yours shall suffice, if nothing else, because you're part of it."

"Whoa, hold your eight legged horses, you really don't need to do that...at all. Just find a way out of here if we can't at least save this city, the Avengers can handle this planet and if they can't...well at least they tried right? We don't need to get involved when neither of us signed any kind of hero contract like they did."

"You sure?"

"I'm not just sure...I'm HIV positive."

"You'd have to be alive to contract that disease and I'm not quite sure it would transmit to something already dead."

I opened my mouth to retaliate but something else stayed my tongue for a moment, something felt wrong, unnatural even. "Listen...do you smell that?" I asked curiously. Loki didn't get a chance to answer as a great surge of necro-power struck me full force and I was sent flying back several feet away, breaking several trees of the park we were enjoying till then along the way before my back slammed against a particularly thick one and I stopped flying. A dull pain exploded from my chest mere inches from where the stone was protecting my important bits and cool black blood lightly dripped from my lips. I looked down at where the pain came from and blinked in surprise.

"Oh look I've been impaled," I mused before breaking off the branch sticking out of my body and stepped away from the tree behind me. I looked for the source of the power surge and glared as I spotted the culprit walking toward us.

"Are you hurt?" asked Loki warily.

"Just a flesh wound," I assured him, gathering power from behind into my arms and fists. "You might wanna sit this one out though."

"No no, let him try," the attacker taunted as he got closer to us.

"I knew I smelled something rotten in the wind," I muttered. "What is it this time? First the heart, now the brain rotting away, would make sense if it was you that sold us all out."

The man before us glowered at me then flashed rotting, blackened teeth, while for the most part he looked alive, he was essentially rotting from the inside out. "You aren't the only one with a stone organ, my head will remain just as much as your heart does till I rip that out of you."

I arched an eyebrow. "Lemme guess, one of your Hydra buddies was a brain surgeon or so he claims. They all think themselves doctors of something that organization, not one medical degree posted when I was with them though, kinda makes you wonder."

"They don't need doctors for corpses," he snapped.

"You sure you're not braindead? Cuz I'm sure coroners and morticians both require a medical degree to be licensed with the job."

"Have a few run-ins with those folks have you?" he sneered. "You know the best part about you was at the very least being a warm body at the end of the day, now you don't even have that."

I snorted at his attempt to insult me. "Oh hun, the best part of you ran down your mother's legs. You gonna bark all day, you little bitch, or are you gonna bite?"

He held his hands to his head and another ball of smoke and lightning came hurtling at us but this time it was aiming for Loki at breathtaking speed, he was essentially pulling an Azula on me thinking I'd either let Loki get hit or take it myself but I saw his Azula and raised him a Dumbledore, telling my guiding spirits to yank him away from the path of the ball as I wouldn't be fast enough to help myself. I waved my hand toward Loki and he was suddenly swept aside and away from the direct battle ahead. Loki scrambled to his feet, a dagger in each hand and returning to his battle armor swiftly, glancing at me in shock. I mouthed a sorry to him before focusing all my attention to the rotten necromancer in front of me.

"Targeting what's mine isn't your best move when you really don't need to give me more motives to decapitate you than you already have," I warned.

"I know he's your weakness though. I want to see just how weak he really makes you," he sneered. "If what doesn't kill you makes you strong, what about when you're already dead."

"You're well on your way to finding that out yourself, hun. I can help answer that for you though." I thrust out a hand and black lightning flew from my fingertips. My rival managed to shield some of it with his own magic but as he wasn't a demi god the impact of that much power still sent him flying back. I didn't wait for him to get up though as I charged at him with a ball of power around each fist.

He rolled away right before I could punch in his head and destroy the stone inside it and got to his feet as I stood up, charging at me as I straightened up so we were suddenly toe to toe trying to kill each other. For a solid few minutes it was just dodging and exchanging blows and balls of energy before he decided to get sneaky and tried to slash me with his ceremonial dagger hidden in his boot. I dodged it just enough to not actually cut me but it did do some damage to my hoodie which had me glaring at him as I loved my hoodies. From there, it was throwing either each other, balls of power, or punches at each other with him occasionally trying to throw power at Loki who quickly learned to keep an eye on his attacks as much as I was without interfering, this wasn't his fight anymore. The ground around us was starting to look barren and dead from the effects of our powers used against one another, the grass brittle and brown. We both paused for a moment, both battered and frustrated neither of us were getting the upper hand with what we were doing.

"Why won't you stay down?!" he demanded.

I scoffed. "What is dead can never die. What's your dilemma here? What did Hydra even offer you to make you switch sides?"

"A chance to be something greater than this, the other necromancer, to be a demigod."

"And how's that working out for you?" I asked in bemusement. "They aren't higher powers, they're hired powers, there's a difference. There's no cutting corners on that one, ask nicely or die trying. How did you know where to find me? On the plane?"

"I had a spook tail you, not all the spirits are on your side you know."

"The good ones are, the rest are usually locked or exorcised so kudos on finding one of the select few willing to help a brother out."

He narrowed his eyes at me, collecting powers as he did. "If I'm not given what I want, then I'll have to take it myself just like I did with the other necromancers that went against me."

"And that's why no matter where that stone is surgically implanted in you, you will never be one of us, going against your own kind for something you'll never get." I lowered one hand to the ground and reached into the earth with just death magic alone, calling for something very specific as I waited for him to make the first move this time. "Especially not from me."

"And what makes you so special?" he demanded.

"Come here and find out." He lunged forward, taking the bait and I dropped to one knee at the last second, dodging his power-fist at the same time a rotted hand burst from the ground with my own dagger I snatched up and sliced into my enemy's rotted guts. He stumbled back, his free hand going to his stomach as he was weakened but not done for, the stone keeping him barely alive inside him. "Almost seems pointless since you're already decaying inside."

He looked at the wound I gave him from my dagger and glared at me as it was already speeding up the process. "You little cunt."

"Let me guess, you're gonna kill me, right? Join the line of people with empty threats they never finish."

Black lightning danced around his head and down to his body, staving off the spreading death from reaching his neck but not healing the blade wound either. "Should I rip out your soul first or your stone?"

"You say that like you've actually gotten the upper hand in this fight but who here has the unhealed wound and who here has survived worse?" I retorted.

He sneered at me with his rotten teeth and lunged forward once more but being the slimy little bastard he was, pulled his dagger apart so there were actually two identical ones and threw one at my leg while making a bee line around me with the other dagger at Loki. I gritted my teeth as the dagger hit its mark in my thigh and not wasting time even to take it out of me, threw a power ball at him from behind so he couldn't dodge it and sent him off his course to my lover. I then took out the dagger in my leg and limped over to the bastard despite the agony burning through the entire limb. I didn't wait for him to get up and kicked him hard in the head right where I guessed the stone was before aiming for the wound I gave him with my blade. "Silly asshat, kicks are for ribs." His snapped under my leather boots. He tried to throw the other knife he still had at Loki but I caught it this time and dissolved the twin dagger like I did the one in my leg. I grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up, and slamming into another park tree while holding him in place.

"You really wanna know why you can't kill me after all this time?" I challenged.

"You don't scare me, Nell," he choked out.

I recalled what the Wiccan seer had told me and let go of everything holding me back. "I can fix that. You can't kill a Horsemen." A different kind of power rippled throughout my body, not necromancy, but something stronger, eternal and deadly and incomparable. The entire arm and hand holding him up was skeletal as was half my face and that's when fear started to leak into his. He fought and wiggled in my grasp, trying to pry my bones off his neck but my finger bones just dug in deeper while he kicked at me. I raised my free hand, also all bones, and went for his head, aiming for the stone still managing to keep him alive when his throat was slowly being punctured and torn. And then the world seemed to pause, everything went silent and still, everything was frozen even including most of me as I couldn't seem to reach the stone in his head but was poised to grab it out of his forehead. And then something else happened, something that only happened to me when something very specific was coming. I got what Peter Parker would call the "the Peter tingle" and chills ran up and down my body despite the whole lack of nerves and feelings thing I had being a skeleton.

[bush-viper-cutie]

“Talk Over Tea” || YEAR 3 – Ch.27 (HP au)

                              Chapter List

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Day posted: 10/13/2020

Word count: 3, 283

Relationship: EVENTUAL severus X oc (slow burn)

Rating: E for everyone

Warnings: none

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A/N: This is my first fan fic I’m writing mainly as a way to practice. This is a retelling of the hp books with an inserted character. Although most every character will be written about, this is mostly for the pro snape fandom. Please do not fear, although this is a severus x oc story, it is an incredibly slow burn as I do not intend for them to get together at all until after the final book events. Chapters will be posted twice a week.

This derivative work follows the events of the Harry Potter books by Jk Rowling and is intended as a fun way to practice my writing. Thank you for reading :D

Sorry about the late upload, my internet is practically nonexistent right now DX 

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“WHAT happened?”

Ron grinned at Heather as she sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. “I’ll tell it again. Gladly.” He stood up again and everyone around him leaned closer to hear his version of events one more time. “I was sleeping in bed when a weird noise woke me up. I sat up and then – SLICE – Sirius Black had split my curtains in two with a MASSIVE knife. There he was screaming over me yelling AAAAAAAAARGH – ” Ron towered over them like a scary bear with his claws out, “and seeing as I was awake and screaming too, he ran off.”

Everyone gasped and started whispering about how brave Ron was. Harry was looking uncomfortable, sitting beside Ron as he told the story over again to anyone who asked. Heather folded her arms. It was true what people were saying, about Sirus Black having broken in, gotten into the boy’s dormitories – INCHES from Harry – and had escaped again. But it didn’t make any sense.

“Ron! Tell it again for Sean!” A Hufflepuff came running down with his friend right behind him.

“Gladly.” Ron set down his fork over his cold eggs and stood up once more.

Heather rolled her eyes and pulled Harry up with her. They both walked down to where Hermione sat hardly touching her breakfast as she read, eyes darting left to right frantically.

“Hermione, what do you think of what happened last night?” Heather sat down in front of her. Harry drummed his fingers on the table and Heather pulled the book down to get her attention. “Hermione?”

She sighed. “What IS it? I’m studying! I have to read this by Monday and I have two hundred pages to read today!”

“Did you hear about what happened? To Ron?”

Hermione looked at Heather and glared towards Ron. “I heard. I’m glad he’s not hurt.”

“Same,” said Harry.

Heather nodded. “But it doesn’t make sense… Does it.”

“What doesn’t make sense? Sirius Black is a crazed maniac on the loose again. Everything he does is dangerous and insane, isn’t it?” Harry pulled a bowl closer and started scooping in some cinnamon porridge from a center pot. “Only I don’t see how he keeps getting past the dementors… Fudge was right about him being more dangerous than everyone thought and wrong about him seeming sane.”

“But that’s not what I’m getting at.” She pulled Hermione’s book back down to get her attention again. “He didn’t hurt anyone… And… Especially not you, Harry.”

They were all quiet as they thought over Heather’s words.

“Look,” Hermione pulled her book out of Heather’s hands. “I don’t know what Sirius Black was thinking, or why he didn’t just kill Ron and then Harry or whatever it is that mad man wants to do… That’s the business of Professor Dumbledore, the Ministry, and the dementors. That’s why Ron talked to them this morning and why they’re doubling down forces around here. What IS my business is finishing up this book and the essay that goes along with it so that I don’t have to drop this class.” Hermione propped her ‘Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles’ text book back up and flipped the page.

They sat in silence for the remainder of breakfast and ended up leaving Hermione and her unfinished porridge and dragged Ron off with them. They decided they were all still too shaken up about what had happened to Ron to do any homework and started walking around the castle where extra security was being put in.

They followed Mr. Filch around at a distance as he boarded up every crack in the stone walls, every mouse hole – to Mrs. Norris’ dismay – and almost every secret passage that the map showed; all but the one-eyed witch passage into Honeydukes. After being told off for snooping, they followed Professor Flitwick as he taught several of the large doors around the school to recognize a giant picture of Sirius Black.

Professor Flitwick liked the company and let them watch how he charmed two small but large-armed stone troll statues to guard the portrait of the fat lady. She had accepted guarding Gryffindor tower again after Sir Codegan had failed so horribly, demanding extra security measures be taken around her painting.

They sat in the corner of the courtyard looking over Harry’s firebolt, shining it with a clean rag, while Heather drew beside them on the ground. She was trying to get the right color of a small bird pecking at the grass growing between the stones when Harry spoke up, scaring it away.

“D’you think they really don’t know about the one-eyed witch statue? D’you reckon we should tell someone about it?”

Ron leaned in closer to the broom handle and breathed onto it, wiping away a smudge with the rag. “Nah. We’d’ve heard if Honeydukes had been broken into. Besides, no one but us knows about it. He doesn’t have the map.”

Heather was glad Harry was nodding, though she knew she should be the voice of reason right now. Of course they should tell Professor Dumbledore that the secret passage exists… but she’d just gotten to a very interesting part in the banned potions book and wanted to go into the apothecary in Hogsmeade to buy some ingredients for it. That and she wondered if the plant shop there had certain seeds she could grow in that charmed pot Hermione had got her. If the passage was sealed, then she wouldn’t be able to go into Hogsmeade until possibly next year… or whenever they finally caught Sirius Black.

A group of second year girls spotted Ron from across the courtyard and came running up to him, begging to hear the story from his lips. Ron blushed and began retelling it.

“Well… I was asleep and I heard a weird noise – a giant TEAR like a SLICE, and so I woke up realizing it wasn’t in my dream! I looked up and saw him… Sirius Black standing over me with his dirty long hair and a knife as long as my arm! He yelled – about to plunge the knife into my body – when I yelled and he SCAMPERED. Ran right out and escaped.”

The group of girls squealed and huddled together like a pack of scared sheep. They made their way back into the castle corridor, pleased to have heard it and waved goodbye at Ron with giggles.

“You know you tell it different every time?” Heather rolled her eyes and kept mixing more white into her dark blue water color.

“Well I don’t like remembering last night. I’m still scared about it. I almost died!” Ron let Harry take back his broom and crossed his arms. “Why though? Why’d he run off?”

“I’ve been thinking about that… About what you said, Heather.” Harry sat down next to her, followed by Ron. “Why did he run when he saw Ron and not just slice him up and then me and the others? Well I had my curtains pulled closed because of the moonlight that night, and so had Ron. So he had a half chance of getting it right and guessed. He saw it wasn’t me right away, got mad, and then Ron yelled. He must have gotten scared that Ron screamed and he knew people would be waking up, so he ran. I mean, it’d be harder to escape out the castle after everyone had been woken up – and running into the teachers and all that.”

They agreed with Harry on his take on what happened.

“Except… Ron didn’t you say Sirius Black screamed first?” She remembered a version of his story where he said Sirius Black had yelled angrily.

“I don’t remember much of how it all happened. I just try to tell it how I remember telling it to Professor Dumbledore.” Ron went a bit red but shook his head and went back to shining Harry’s broom with the servicing kit.

In the distance they saw Neville walking behind Professor McGonagall on their way to his detention. Apparently it had been Neville who had lost a slip of all of the secret passwords for the week, the very slip that Black used to get in. Whatever detention he’d been given was nothing to the one his grandmother was going to give him. The next morning he’d received a Howler and had seized it and ran with it out of the great hall at once.

It exploded out there and his grandmother’s voice could still be heard clear as crystal telling him about how he’d horribly dishonored his family and brought shame to them all. The Slytherin table was howling with laughter and Heather rolled her eyes at Draco who gave his best impression of Neville sprinting down the great hall with a howler cupped in his hands.

“Harry, you’ve got a letter too,” Ron pointed out.

Heather had just noticed Hedwig sitting patiently in front of them. “Oh, thank you Hedwig. Take my bacon.” Hedwig traded the letter for the bacon and flew back out the tall windows. “‘Dear Harry and Ron. How’s ‘bout seeing me this afternoon for tea ‘round six? Meet me by the castle doors. Wait for me inside the entrance hall. Inside by the doors. Not outside by the doors. Inside. Hagrid. Oh and Heather, come along too if you’d like. Cheers, Hagrid.’” She folded the letter back up. “What a strange invitation…”

Ron shrugged. “He wants to hear about Black from us. You weren’t there, Heather, which is why you were an afterthought. Don’t take it personally.”

The attention was getting to Ron’s head. Harry, however, took the note and pinched his lips closed, probably also noticing Hermione wasn’t invited. They both knew from previous Dursley experience – more precisely among Petunia and her group of wifely friends – what that meant.

Heather had finished her essays early and decided to meet Ron and Harry by the main stairs of the ground floor corridor and together they walked down to the entrance hall. Hagrid was already waiting for them.

“Hagrid! Want me to start telling the story? How Black almost attacked us but my scream drove him off?” Ron took the lead as they left the castle.

“I’ve ‘ready heard ‘bout that.” Hagrid didn’t look down at Ron and kept his eyes on his hut in the distance.

Ron fell behind and walked with Harry, crossing his arms. Harry looked at Heather and she knew he was thinking the same thing.

The air was cold but the grass was greener than it had been a month ago and the small buds that had been closed all winter long were now opening up wide. The lawn was looking shiny and glittery with dew drops and the flowers speckled the green with color. She remembered Professor Sprout saying how she didn’t care that the flowers were weeds, some weeds were pretty, even if Mr. Filch didn’t think so. Heather felt she was right. Flowers were flowers even if some called them weeds, and all flowers were pretty.

They entered Hagrid’s cabin and saw Buckbeak sleeping by the fire with a large plate of dead ferrets by his head. Fang was curled under one of the wings while the other was pulled tight around Buckbeak’s body for warmth. On Hagrid’s dresser door hung a large patchy, fur suit with a long orange and yellow tie draped over the shoulder.

Harry ran his hands down the matted fur and turned to Hagrid. “What’re these for?”

“Fer Buckbeak’s case. M’wearin’ that this Friday, tryin’ to look nice and what not. We’ll be goin’ down ter London on the Knight Bus together.” Hagrid motioned for Buckbeak.

Heather bit her lip. She’d completely forgotten they all promised to help Hagrid with his case. With Quidditch and the broom and the cat and matches and school, she hadn’t even thought of Buckbeak once. Harry pressed a hand to his mouth and Ron looked uneasy; they too had forgotten.

Hagrid offered them lumps of what looked like bread with berries baked inside and Heather accepted with the condition of warm tea to dunk it in. She knew it’d be hard as stone otherwise. They sat at the table and Heather dunked her berry bread in the tea when the moment had finally come

“Ron, Harry. Got somethin’ ter discuss with you two.” Hagrid looked at them both very seriously, which was uncharacteristic of him. He never looked too serious about anything, always preferring a lighthearted environment.

“Us two? But not with Heather?” Harry frowned.

“No. Not with Heather. YOU two. And yer behaviors these last several months.”

Heather crossed her arms and tried not to smile, covering her mouth with the tea cup instead as she sipped.

“About what?” Ron frowned as well.

“About Hermione and the way you two’ve been holdin’ grudges with her and even Heather.” Hagrid sighed. “Firs’ of all, Harry. She’s yer sister and when she fell of her broom yeh should’ve been there.”

She knew instantly that Hermione had been coming down to see Hagrid. Though she was even more confused now why Hermione had been telling her she didn’t have time to hang out. They could have both been coming down to see Hagrid and complaining about Ron and Harry together… Though maybe she came down during Heather’s practices? But she always said she was working on essays and studying arithmancy charts in the library during those times. Heather frowned into her tea. Hermione’s times weren’t adding up and haven’t been all year.

“And in case yeh also haven’t noticed. She’s been in a righ’ state ‘bout you two and a lot more. Comin’ down ter visit me fer a while now, talkin’ ‘bout feeling lonely. Firs’ you two weren’t talkin’ to both Hermione and Heather ‘bout the broom, an’ now yer not talkin’ to her because her cat – ”

“The one that ATE Scabbers!” Ron interrupted. “She won’t even apologize!”

“Well… And she’s been cryin’, yeh know. Things are seemin’ rough fer her at the moment. I think she’s bitten off more’n she can chew, all the work she’s doin’ – still found time ter help me with Buckbeak’s case even! She found some really good stuff fer Buckbeak… Could even stand a chance now I reckon…”

Harry looked at all the files and open books with marks and closed ones with little scraps sticking out in them. “We should’ve helped with that – Sorry, Hagrid – I – ”

“Oh, I’m not blamin’ yeh fer that. Merlin knows how busy yeh all are too, with Quidditch an’ school an’ classes. An’ Harry, you with far more than you should be dealin’ with.” Hagrid shook his head. “No, I ain’t blamin’ you fer that… Jus’ thought yeh two’d value yer friendship with Hermione more than brooms and rats… Jus’ not talkin’ to her is – ”

“Well she won’t apologize!” Ron insisted. “My pet is dead because she was careless and kept the door WIDE open for her cat to come in and eat him up – even though I TOLD her to be careful! If she just apologized and admitted her cat murdered Scabbers, then I’d talk to her again.”

“Well… some people can be downrigh’ foolish ‘bout their pets…” Hagrid tried to reason with Ron a bit more but it made no difference.

They spent the rest of their time with Hagrid talking about Buckbeak’s case. Hermione had done real thorough research and they agreed with Hagrid that Buckbeak did have a chance. At nine he walked them back to the castle and they waved goodbye to him.

“So are you going to talk to Hermione again then?”

Ron curled his fingers into a tight fist. “Maybe.”

“We should, I think.” Harry started up the stairs.

“Oh alright,” Ron gave up. He climbed the stairs higher and turned. “But on a trial bases.” He turned back and kept climbing out of sight.

Harry came back down and stood next to Heather. She hadn’t noticed until now that he was slightly taller than her. She looked at the top of his head and wondered how much was just hair. She didn’t want to be shorter, so maybe she should start stretching out her back with her exercises, or even just willing her body to grow more overnight. Anything.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t talking to you.” Harry crossed his arms. “Will you tell me next time you decide to tell on me?”

Heather smiled. “Yes. I’ll give you at least an hour’s warning so you can hide either yourself or whatever thing I’m having a teacher confiscate.”

Harry smiled and stuck out his hand. “Deal. But same goes for me…”

She took it and shook. “Fair.”

He looked into her eyes and hesitated for a second. “And no secrets?”

She looked around, confused by the question and why he was asking her that and quickly looked back into his eyes. She wanted to lie, open her mouth and say ‘deal’, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to tell him about going over to Draco’s house, and what she recently realized was the start of a friendship with him, so she just squeezed his hand tighter and shook it again, keeping her lips closed.

“Alright.” Harry let go and climbed the stairs. “Night!”

“Night,” she called after him.

She looked down at her hand and frowned. It wasn’t just Draco though… Was it? She had known about the map before him… She had broken into the library and not told him… She was keeping Professor Lupin being a werewolf to herself… She had Ministry banned books under her mattress and he knew nothing about that…

She started walking towards the dungeon stairs at the end of the corridor, keeping her eyes on her hand. What was the difference between a secret and just something personal? She reached the bottom of the stairs and turned a few corners to reach the entrance to the common room. She whispered the password and entered.

Her attention was drawn towards the group of students standing around the bulletin board. She walked over to Draco and sat next to him.

“Professor Snape’s just been in to pin up the next Hogsmeade trip.” He motioned behind him to the crowd without looking up from his book. “I’ll probably be going, most likely. That Sirius Black business might have made McGonagall forget about our detentions and I doubt Professor Snape will remind her. Especially since the Quidditch Cup is on the line.”

“Don’t remind me,” Heather groaned. “What’re you going to do about Harry? Has Marcus talked to you at all about it?” Draco was no match for Harry, even before the firebolt. Heather had worked hard to get him up to Harry’s flying level and the Nimbus two-thousand-and-one is a lot faster, making his jitters on it visible again. Of course she couldn’t mention any of that.

“No. He’s still upset about getting knocked back by Harry… What spell did he use anyways?”

Heather shrugged.

“Well you can tell Potter that I’ll hit him back with it harder.” Draco stood and placed the book back on the shelf next to the fireplace. “Maybe I’ll have Father send some books over.” He looked at her and smiled.

She rolled her eyes and headed into the girl’s dormitories for bed. She laid down and thought about Hogsmeade and about the books tucked under her mattress, about the potion and the recipe she had in mind. If by some miracle Harry decided not to go… then she wouldn’t either, and so it was up to ‘the Universe and Fate’ – as Professor Trelawney liked to say – if they stayed or went this weekend.

~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

                          Chapter List

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[im-a-meteorite]

i’ve been marathoning the harry potter movies since im in quarantine and i’ve been taking some notes. i’ll post them all bc why not 

sorcerer’s stone

harry knowing that there’s no post on sunday,, a genius

hedwig’s theme playing when harry looks out of the window and sees an owl flying by, very nice

hagrid doing magic at the house on the rock thing,, wouldnt the ministry be able to track that?? since there’s no wizard that lives there, they should be alerted?? or did they remove the trace from hagrid once he got expelled?? like does it work by the trace only or? bc if it doesn’t work by location then how would they know that a muggle witnessed the magic?? idk anymore

the kids staring at the nimbus 2000 and saying its the fastest model yet,, then the camera zooming on the handle w/ the background blurred -> the most straight forward foreshadowing

hagrid is actually the worst person to take harry on his tour situation,, like bro literally left him in the middle of a train station

the weasleys and harry going to the platform while theres a shit ton of ppl walking around,,, statute of secrecy where??

the great hall is on the first floor?? i thought it was on the ground floor

ew the hats

i wish the movies had dumbledore’s weird few words speeches

“theres not one witch or wizard that went bad that wasnt in slytherin” broooo

mcgonagall is so savage i love her

snape is an asshole

a crap ton of chessboards in the great hall study hall scene,, foreshadowing the challenges?

madam hooch really yeeted herself out of neville’s way

✨🥰 oliver wood 🥰✨✨

harry really wiped the troll buggers on his robe,, disgusting

snapes hair is lowkey on fleek tho,,

making most of the slytherins ugly bc they’re the “evil” house is just a disservice to all the inbreeding

hermione setting snape on fire is truly iconic and very extra tbh like sis why tf would u know a spell like that

seasonal transition wasnt that great tbh

overall the directing style is kinda basic

“not in the restricted section,,” rule breaking hermione is the best hermione

dumbledore’s handwriting is so extra and loopy like tf?? but it fits his character

the hedwig flying season transition was good

“immortal?” “it means you’ll never die.” “i know what it means!”

50 points each for being out of bed??? wtf is this point system

filtch saying there’s werewolves in the forbidden forest,,, thats illegal sir

hagrid calling the trio by their first names but draco by his last,, we love favoritism

harry’s thoughts r so ridiculous,, “snape doesnt want the stone for himself, he wants it for voldemort!” lmaoo wtf,, evidence pls sir,, u don’t even know he was a death eater. was it the bad vibes?? bc same

harry figuring out that the person who gave hagrid the dragon egg is voldy,, a genius

“kill us faster?? now i can relax!!” ron is so iconic i love him

“lucky we didnt panic!” “lucky hermione pays attention in herbology”

how is it that harry’s hand burned quirrel but not the skin on harry’s neck?? that shit makes no sense

yeah i really cant imagine this dumbledore fighting voldy in movie 5

hermione’s headband in the reunion scene is so cute i love it

chamber of secrets:

how is dobby even allowed to just jump on the bed?? like is it bc harry isnt his master that he can do smth like that

“dobby has heard about harry potter’s kindness” or whatever,, bro u work for the malfoys either the elves gossip or draco is waxing poetry about harry

aunt petunia saying “we have ice-cream” after that whole affair is just ridiculous

DIAGONALLY

this seems like the extended version bc i dont remember the borgin and bruks scene to be that long

the close ups with lucius and ginny’s books r insane lmao like chris columbus made it so obvious

also mr weasley’s acting is so funny like its so exaggerated

lucius malfoy is so dramatic and extra we love it

also lucius knowing hermione’s name and “draco’s told me all about you”??? bro whats with draco?? lmaoo

snape really got mad with the whole car business

mandrakes r fucking weird bro how did jkr come up with that

PERCY WALKING WITH PENELOPE CLEARWATER??? HOW DID I MISS THAT??

omg colin had so many lines?? wow

omg erol with the fucking howler,, iconic

ron’s facial expressions?? pure comedy, rupret is so good

LOCKHEART REALLY SAID “GOOD GIRL” THEN WINKED AT HERMIONE

“pesky piksy pescinomy” this bitch dumb

“why is it always me?” poor neville

omfg ✨🥰 oliver wood 🥰✨

ahh using the seeker position for fighting

ew draco used the m-word

the shit the basilisk is saying is so lame lmaoo

how does harry not recognize that he’s hearing a different language?? or does parsaltongue act weird

HOW IS THE WHOLE SCHOOL IN THE SAME CORRIDOR???

“i know the counter-curse that could’ve spared her” bitch the dirty looks he got?? omfg

the movies would’ve been 500% better if they had lee jordan’s iconic quidditch commentary

“scarhead” “TRAINING FOR THE BALLET, POTTER?”

“what did you expect?? pumpkin juice??” madam pomfery is a queen

dobby is dumb dumb

“who am i, hedwig? what am i?”

“reading? i didnt know you could read?”

“look at my face” “look at your tail!”

“you can’t cancel quidditch!”

“oh harry, if you die down there, you’re welcome to share my toilet”

lockheart: do you live here? ron: no *smacks him in the head with a rock*

“voldemort is my past, present and future” are all slytherins this dramatic??

the tension between hermione and ron in the last feast was insane

justin filtch fletchy is so ugly im so sorry i cant

prisoner of azkaban:

im sorry but harry doing underage illegal magic pisses me off every time

aunt marge 🤢

“do they use a cane boy?” “oh yeah, i’ve been beaten loads of times”

that whole scene is so chaotic

“you cant do magic outside of school!” “oh yeah? try me”

sirius really dumb for barking at harry like it makes no sense

the knight bus is probably one of the best things in this movie

“whatcha doing down there??” “i fell over” “whacha fell over for?” “i didnt do it on purpose!” “well come on then, lets not wait for the grass to grow”

harry leans over and looks for the grim, stan: “whatcha looking at?”

“yeah take it away ernie,, its gonna be a bumpy ride”

this whole thing is written and directed so perfectly

i hate how they replaced tom bc it really made no sense

all the bits of magic in the leaky caldron is so genius

fudge reminds me of trump but like dumber

the blue lighting and coloring is just great, it fits the colder vibe of the story (not like HBP with the hazy/blurry effect)

ugh the glass and mirror transitions are one of my favorite things,, alfonso curon really did that 

i love the weasleys,, also everyone looks great in this movie

omg the scene with arthur talking to harry about sirius with the sirius poster always being in sight?? amazing

contrast of light and darkness just echos the whole dementor vs patronus situation

i dont even understand why remus took the train other than for the nostalgia

the lights slowly turning off in the different carriages?? amazing

the visual representation of the dementors’ effect is great

REMUS!!!

i wish there was more emotion from remus when he’s talking about sirius,, like that was one of his only friends

snape clapping literally twice for remus,, ajhshsh

ahh the placement of the slytherin and gryffindor tables right beside each other to increase the tension and further the plot

oh yea the new dumbledore, also cool hat he has

omg the new fat lady painting

omg the candy scene?? so cute i love lads being lads. that scene just echo’s dumbledore’s light in the dark quote bc its storming outside at night and they’re creating a happy environment within the dark especially with the dementors

ah yes the clock references + following the bird to show us important parts of hogwarts and putting the whomping willow in the forefront

ron’s reading of harry’s tea leaves,, still on point tho. ron really has a knack for divination

buckbeak! omg drapple

draco is so hot especially with that ring also the slytherin pins??

“oh yeah, terribly funny, really witty. god, this place has gone to the dogs”

the kids look so messy i love it + harry’s uneven tie

HERMIONE CLINGING TO RONS ARM!!

“its killed me! your gonna regret this, you and your bloody chicken”

omg the boggart lesson

“riddikulus!” “this class is ridiculous”

fuck snape!

draco really pushed someone with his bandaged arm

remus is such an amazing professor i love him and i just miss him so much

ugh harry in this hoodie?? amazing

remus and harry’s conversation with the music :(( lily :((

wtf is that eye painting??

percy screaming about being head boy,, bro stfu

sirius is such a dramatic little bitch i love it

seasonal changes marked by the wimping willow

“turn to page 394”

what a fucking rude ass bitch,, i hate snape

harry really be seeing the grim everywhere

i wish they had “wheres wood?” “trying to drown himself in the shower”

winter transition with hedwig! + clock tower

“come and join the big boys”

i just adore this scene of the twins giving harry the map (bro i really want a series about the marauders)

whos that skinny bitch with draco???

harry’s way too rash tbh

also mcgonagall being also too nonchalant about the whole marauder’s situation?? like those werent your students

remus is a soft boy dark academia icon

if only dumbledore wasnt a dumbass,, remus could have been uncle moony raising harry with sirius

ron’s nightmare scene?? iconic

“my dad didnt strut. nor do i” umm james potter was also a drama queen sooo probably strutting

“you, YOU FOUL LOATHSOME EVIL LITTLE COCKROACH” “hermione no, he’s not worth it”

sirius’ dog form really looks like a rabid dog omfg

the part where hermione grabs harry while she’s on the wimping willow omfg

“only one will die tonight” YOU DRAMATIC BITCH UR NOT MAKING THIS BETTER

“finally the flesh reflects the madness within” “well you’d know all about the madness within, wouldn’t you remus?”

why the fuck is the shreaking shack is swaying in the wind??

QUARRELING LIKE AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE

why the fuck didnt they knock peter out?? like tf?? they’re actually dumb dumb there were so many ways for this to go right

this man really sent 2 13-year-olds on this dumbass mission

buckbeak really beat up remus,, “professor lupin’s having a really tough night”

harry’s a fucking psycho with this patronus bullshit,, i cant

can they stop screaming while flying on buckbeak?? someone might hear them

im still mad sirius didnt get his name cleared,, so much would’ve changed

“we did it” “did what? goodnight” i fucking hate dumbledore and his mindlessness omfg sometimes i wanna punch him in the face

fuck snape for outing remus as a werewolf,,, but also he really didnt have to resign. like istg wheres the marauder energy when it comes to defying everyone??

i wish the movies had went into the marauders’ history :(( its one of my favorite aspects of the series

[pulaasul]

Phantom Thieves at the Battle of Hogwarts

The final battle is at hand, the Phantom Thieves assist Hogwarts's combatants in repelling and fighting against Voldemort's horde of Death Eaters and Dark Creatures.

[ FFN ] [ AO3 ]

---------

Anne, Makoto, Haru, Yusuke, and Morgana crossed their paths as soon as it was apparent that the Death Eaters were attacking, they discussed a plan of action before going their separate ways.

"Makarakarn!"

All five of them raised layers of reflective shields on top of the shield charms that Hogwarts's staff erected around the school to buy everyone enough time to do what they needed to do.

For the lower years and those who don't want to battle to evacuate the school's premises.

For the combatants to finish laying down the traps for the would-be invaders.

Voldemort's faction was momentarily sent to panic as a number of their spells were reflected towards them, some of them were even hit by their own spells while others were quick enough to block all of them.

Voldemort himself shrugged off the spells that returned to him by simply recasting the same spell a few more times.

Eventually, the shields went down and Voldemort's forces invaded Hogwarts grounds and battled against the school's teachers, students, and staff.

---------

Makoto pointed her wand towards the number of Death Eaters coming her way and cast a single spell that blew her enemies to the school's walls.

"Mafreila!"

The Ravenclaw continued to cast the same spell and put all of the Death Eaters she was facing to the walls unconscious.

----------

Haru was surrounded by several Snatchers, all of them were grinning thinking that she was the meekest and weakest witch they were faced so far.

"Myriad Arrows."

Haru calmly uttered her spell as a myriad of arrows appeared behind her floating.

"Oppugno"

Haru smiled as the arrows she transfigured to appear behind her started to fly towards the snatchers that surrounded her, even to those who were behind her. Sooner all of the snatchers she was facing were now stuck to walls courtesy of the arrows, some were dripping with blood as some of the arrows grazed parts of their body.

-----------

"Maragidyne!"

Pillars of fire appeared in front of Anne as a combination of dark creatures tried to approach her. Most of the creatures that went through the fire pillars were burned to cinders while others swerved and evaded the pillars that appeared before them.

"Maragion!"

The werewolves and other dark creatures that managed to escape a fiery death from the fire pillars were greeted by smaller explosions to their faces that badly burned their faces, leaving them screaming in pain.

----------

"Mediarahan!"

Futaba was at the Great Hall, being the first of her group to arrive as soon as everyone was informed of Voldemort's plans, casting multiple target healing spells left and right to keep every Hogwarts' combatants from gaining a critical injury that would lead to their deaths. She kept it up until a few werewolves made their way towards her.

"Flippendo! Depulso! Bombarda!"

Futaba cast three spells in succession, successfully throwing the werewolves coming towards her outside the Great Hall where they were knocked unconscious by the snatchers that fell on them.

"Mediarahan!"

Futaba continued to cast the healing spells to help everyone fighting the side she was on.

-----------

"Mabufula"

Yusuke uttered the spell calmly as he froze the limbs of the Death Eaters coming his way. He also managed to freeze the Death Eaters' wands and were effectively disarmed of their weapons permanently.

"Mabufu"

Yusuke cast another spell as the small ice he summoned towards his frozen opponents lulled them to unconsciousness.

-----------

"God's Hand!"

Ryuji exclaimed as he swatted several of Voldemort's army out of his way easily with the golden hand he conjured in front of him.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" Ryuji ushered the children that were stopped by Voldemort's army earlier.

The students, who were as old as fourteen years old nodded and ran towards the direction of Hogsmeade.

Ryuji soon noticed that a few Death Eaters managed to escape his God's Hand spell and chased after the children anyway.

"Mazionga!"

An electrical arc was shot out of Ryuji's wand that diverged into different directions, hitting and paralyzing every Death Eater who decided to chase after the young children.

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

"Magarula!"

Morgana was busy summoning the wind to blow away any would-be invaders that would dare approach the infirmary, where a lot of the wounded were stashed.

He knew that the casualties and injured were reduced significantly as soon as Futaba provided support and cast healing spells towards every combatant in the area.

His duty was now to keep the wounded safe, so that all of Futaba's efforts weren't in vain.

"Magarula!"

Another few snatchers were blown towards the broken window.

-----------

"Avada Kedavra!"

Akechi seemed to point his wand at a downed student but the light of the killing curse hit the Death Eater that was a few paces ahead of him.

Akechi was part of a force designated to infiltrate the school through the Quidditch field. This worked in his favor as he can cast the killing curse on his supposed fellow Death Eaters and eliminate many of their numbers while he can pretend to cast the same curse that would have hit the school's combatants.

The Death Eaters who witnessed everything did not bat an eye when a fellow Death Eater died under the killing curse as they mostly continued with their mission.

"Hamaon"

Another Death Eater fell as soon as he stepped onto a paper that momentarily glowed yellow.

-----------

"Maeiga!"

Ren pointed his wand at the Death Eaters approaching the castle as red-colored skulls shot out of his wand and hit blew the approaching Death Eaters back towards where they came from.

-----------

The battle raged on between Hogwarts's combatants and the army under Voldemort's command. It raged on until the Dark Lord began speaking in their minds for the surrender of one Harry Potter.

Ren, Ryuji, and Anne were frantically trying to find the boy in question but to no avail, even the boy's closest friends were unaware of his whereabouts after they were separated.

As the Hogwarts's combatants licked each other's wounds, with the former Phantom Thieves casting healing and revival spells on anyone that needs them, Voldemort strut towards the castle with a captured Hagrid carrying the lifeless body of one Harry Potter.

"Look alive," Ren whispered to his teammates. "It's not over yet." He glared at the Dark Lord as they mocked Neville for standing up against them.

----------

"Never underestimate a mother's protection." Ryuji nodded as one Molly Weasley killed Voldemort's right-hand person.

"You know, if she were here, I don't think the Death Eaters would stand a chance," Futaba commented.

"No!" Voldemort exclaimed as he witnessed Bellatrix's death.

A shockwave of magic blew everyone near the Dark Lord away from him.

"Protego Totalum!"

Both Ryuji and Futaba cast the protective charms, defending everyone behind them but they were still forced to back away while keeping the protective charm in place due to sheer strength behind the shockwave.

As soon as a good radius around Voldemort was cleared, Nagini's slay at the hands of one Neville Longbottom happened right in front of the Dark Lord. In fury, he immediately pointed his wand at the Longbottom and cast the killing curse.

"Oppugno"

A table intercepted the killing curse that was meant for Neville as Ren revealed himself to the enemy.

"A boy managed to intercept the killing curse, impressive." Voldemort praised.

"Before you start, you don't want me," Ren cut the Dark Lord off. "I'm a muggleborn and you'd soon kill me as soon as you knew."

"Tell me boy, from whom did you steal such powerful magic?"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Everyone was stunned that the killing curse was cast and it was going straight towards the Dark Lord, who just sidestepped the curse and let the audience that surrounded him, take a hit.

"Oppugno"

Makoto was quick to react and sent a slab of concrete that used to be a part of the castle to intercept the killing curse that Akechi cast.

"Oh please stop with that drivel about muggleborns stealing magic." Akechi removed his mask.

"You really didn't have to infiltrate his ranks."

"Unlike you, I am willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish the job," Akechi rolled his eyes. "If it weren't for Potter's good acting and someone else betraying the Dark Lord, we would've failed.

If I wasn't there I wouldn't have the chance to save the boy had everyone there were loyal to this sad excuse of a human being."

"Good try, Akechi was it?" Voldemort grinned.

"Ren, let's leave this to Potter," Futaba voiced out. "I don't know how to explain it, but Voldemort's wand is giving me weird vibes."

"That's the Elder Wand!" Anne gasped. "I thought that was buried alongside Headmaster Dumbledore?!"

"The most powerful wand in existence."

Before anyone else could even respond, Harry stepped forward and faced Voldemort once more.

"Nagini's dead, there are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me now, Riddle. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good."

"One of us? You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?" Voldemort scoffed.

With the discussion out of the way, both wizards cast their respective spells that met at the center. Voldemort cast the killing curse while Harry cast the disarming charm.

It took both Voldemort's and Harry's concentration to keep their spells intact as they dueled for dominance.

A few more moments passed with just Voldemort and Harry batting it out for dominance. The Potter's red beam of disarming clashing with the Dark Lord's green beam of death.

Soon after, the red beam began to overwhelm the green light before Voldemort was promptly disarmed with his wand.

The light of the killing curse briefly wrapped around the Dark Lord's form before Voldemort was on his knees.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Ren and his friends quietly surrounded the pair as they dueled.

As soon as the Dark Lord was on his knees, Akechi immediately pointed his wand at the fallen Dark Lord and uttered one spell, in such an insidious manner.

"Die for me!"

"Akechi!" Ren and his friends exclaimed.

Seeing as there was no stopping the spell, the former Phantom Thieves turned their backs on the fallen Dark Lord and pointed their wands at the crowd in front of them.

"Protego Totalum!"

A dome of layered protective shields was erected and protected everyone else from the spell Akechi cast.

As soon as the dome was erected, animated stuffed bears and giant playing cards with limbs fell from the sky and exploded as soon as they made contact with the dead Dark Lord.

That was when Ryuji realized that Harry was still in the line of fire from the ultimate curse spell, he immediately made a beeline towards Potter and pointed his wand in front of him.

"Protego Horribilis"

Ryuji cast a protective charm for both himself and Harry, protecting them both from the ultimate curse spell's destructive effects.

"Akechi! That was overkill!" Ren growled.

"Naïve as always Amamiya," Akechi scoffed. "What insurance do we have that he'd stay dead this time?"

"Still dude that was overkill," Ryuji handed Harry towards his best friends. "A simple mudoon would have done the job."

---------

Unfortunately for everyone, the people who perished during the Battle of Hogwarts remained dead, even with the help of their recarm spells, too much time had passed since they were killed for the spell to take effect.

Not to mention that most of the fallen were hit by the killing curse, making their revival spells moot.

Ryuji punched a wall so hard that his knuckles bled, once he saw the corpses of the Creevey brothers. Haru rubbed the Hufflepuff's back, in an attempt to comfort her grief-stricken former phantom thief.

"Why did they have to join the fight?!" Ryuji growled.

"We both know the reason Ryuji," Haru comforted. "It's the same for the both of us, for the Phantom Thieves, because it was the right thing to do."

"They didn't have to die."

"I know Ryuji, I know."

"First Cedric, who never cared that I was friends with Ren and everyone else now the boys who I viewed as little brothers."

"You bonded with them while you were on the run, didn't you?"

"If you want, I'll tell their parents." Ren offered.

"No dude, I need to man up and do this," Ryuji shook his head. "I promised to protect them and I failed, I should face them."

"We're with you all the way Ryuji." Morgana squeezed Ryuji's shoulders.

"Thanks, Mona."

[garazza]

Action Comics #1023 Review

“The House of Kent: Part 2″

Action Comics #1022 “House of Kent: Part 1″ Review

Hoo-boy.

I actually appreciate this recap page, I really do, but it just rubs me the wrong way. I’m not sure if it’s the content of the recap that pisses me off or if it’s for the fact that they literally just took a page from the previous issue and slapped in some new dialogue (see Bendis’ Man of Steel mini for this to be taken to the extreme).

Most likely the latter, but there’s a good argument for the former because reading objective statements about what Bendis has done tends to do that. I guess what they could be going for is for something similar to when Svengoolie comes back from commercial break and it’s a still from the movie with Sven’s face superimposed somewhere and he makes a quip about the movie before it starts back up again.

But I digress. It fills me in on what’s been happening in the book and that’s what I needed it to do.

The art really goes down in quality since last issue. Romita, Jr.’s pencils aren’t as good, Janson’s inks are heavier and a lot more boring, and Anderson’s colors are bland and flat and not as lively. There are a few good spots and I’ll point them out, but they’re infrequent, and overall, the quality of the art is much more similar to the art in the Metropolis Doom arc than it is to last issue. This leads me to believe that editorial only gave the art team enough time over the pandemic-induced break in publishing to produce one good issue before forcing them back into a deadline where Romita, Jr.’s work is not as good and tends to suffer.

Red Cloud attacks and attempts to kill Jimmy Olsen instead of Lois Lane to send an even greater message to her and Clark.

For those of you that don’t know, the Invisible Mafia speak in code to avoid detection by Superman’s super-hearing and meet in areas surround by lead to hide from his supervision. In the beginning of this confrontation, no one says anything that Superman would respond to if he hasn’t already tuned it out, which is why Lois says out loud her nickname for her husband to get his attention.

It’s a sign of affection for them and could be utilized for such a scenario, but I don’t see why she had to say his nickname over anything else to get his attention. Maybe because since he revealed his identity to the world his real name is being said a lot more often in non-criminal ways, so he doesn’t respond to it as much as he has in the past. I’m not sure if I’m trying to come up with a rational excuse for what is actually a writer’s weird and out-of-character creative choice or if it’s what an actually competent writer intended for a discerning reader to infer and get joy from a successful analysis.

Regardless, it’s what got Superman’s attention at the end of Superman segment in the last issue. I don’t think what was supposed to be conveyed with those panels last issue was accurately conveyed by the art. Either Romita, Jr. didn’t sufficiently depict (but still beautifully rendered) what Bendis had directed him to draw, or Bendis had poorly directed Romita, Jr. in what he wanted him to draw. With this added context, however, these panels do make a lot more sense, but only with the added context. Without it, the scene is a little unclear.

You can clearly see the change in art with the two issues side by side like this. This issue, the art just doesn’t look as good. It’s just kinda blegh. It accomplishes what it needs to convey the story, but in a very boring and unspectacular way.

Also, this panel is very Harry Potter to me. Superman’s more subdued face is similar to that of book!Dumbledore in Goblet of Fire, but the almost hyperbolic dialogue is more akin to that of movie!Dumbledore. It’s very dissonant.

I really want to hate the humor of this panel, but it’s just so fun, so I won’t.

This is a really cool panel, one of the few standout moments, but I have issues.

First, I may have enjoyed the humor in the last panel, but Bendis’ attempt at humor with Jon here just makes me want to cringe. Whenever Bendis makes Jon talk, it just pisses me off and makes me want to stop reading.

Second, I see what they were going for with the glowing eyes, but this is some more of that dissonance between the art and the writing. It actually looks quite menacing, but the dialogue has a more humorous tone. Also, the actual effect for the glow is just two red circles, making their eyes look more like flashlights than radiating energy. I also want you to keep this moment in the back of your minds, I’ll refer back to it in a second.

I think the dissonance is the result of the Bendis-speak, where some of the characters are quippy, but other characters are playing the situation straight and are reacting accordingly to the incorrect behavior. There’s nothing wrong with a superhero comic being light-hearted, but it just doesn’t quite fit here. All the right ingredients are present, but they’re not all in the right proportions.

Another panel I really like. The smoke and its color are really well done, especially in contrast to the all black silhouettes except for their back logos of the Supers.

The eye glow effect looks much better here. It’s simple yet powerful.

I don’t know how important this revelation is actually supposed to be, so I’ll defer to the depiction of the comic instead of playing the fool and acting upset about something I’m ignorant about simply because I’m not a fan of the writer.

This moment is cool and all, but I don’t think Conner has super-breath. He doesn’t actually have the powers of Superman, he uses his tactile telekinesis to mimic some of the powers of Superman.

The “extreme high-velocity super-speed” was this issue’s first indication that Bendis might not know anything about this character he has stewardship over, but that can just be chalked up to Superman not remembering the powers of Conner. We don’t know the upper limit of Conner’s tactile telekinetic flight, nor should we care, it’s supposed to be a fun line.

The second indication is that Conner is shown to have heat vision when his eyes glow alongside Clark and Jon’s. He only has heat vision when he wears special goggles or a visor. Again, he doesn’t have all the powers of Superman. Tactile telekinesis only covers so much of Superman’s powers. But this can be forgiven because it is a pretty cool image.

“Once Is Chance, Twice is Coincidence, Third Time Is A Pattern.” This panel is the third instance of Bendis’ lack of understanding of Conner’s character. If this was the only instance, this would be fine, but it’s not. The moment is cool, but it’s a bridge too far.

Refer to my review of the first issue for more of Bendis not knowing anything about Conner.

EDIT: Thanks to @thebartallenblog​ for pointing out to me that Conner does in fact start developing more Kryptonian powers outside of his tactile telekinesis in the 2003 Teen Titans  book by Geoff Johns, so Bendis does in fact know more about the character than I give him credit for, which is more than I can say for myself in this instance.

Also, this moment goes on for way too long, almost two entire pages. Beautiful, the art of decompression and wasting reader’s time and money.

“Should I super-inhale?” Shut up, Bendis.

Also, why is Red Cloud is so fixated on Superman’s family instead of just Superman. Does the Invisible Mafia have something against his family as well? It was my understanding that they have it out for him specifically, anything that is ancillary to him is extraneous and not worth their time.

“Hey! It’s not my favorite super-move on a good day.” Then why the fuck did you even make him suggest it, Bendis?

I don’t know if loved ones referring to Lois as Ma is something Bendis has been trying to push as a character quirk or if it’s some sort of weird one-off. Either way, I don’t like it. It’s not bad in of itself, don’t get me wrong, it’s just not my thing and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Again, I’m not sure how significant Jimmy figuring out Red Cloud's identity is supposed to be to the plot and the narrative, but this seems to be a bit of lampshading from a writer who literally has no right to be lampshading.

Couldn’t give a shit about the plot, I’m just here to nitpick. Next.

Feels a bit janky in the art department, but the dialogue is surprisingly in character. They all feel like they have their actual voices. It’s a nice little moment.

I would address all the instances of Bendis making Jon talk, but that would make this longer than it already is, so I’ll only do it when it’s particularly egregious.

Red Cloud comes back and attacks not!Jon and I couldn’t care less. Kill the bitch. Please.

The next two pages are a lot of nothing, just a boat load of Bendis-speak.

I’m pretty sure this played out a lot differently and more humorously in Bendis’ head when he wrote it down and Romita, Jr.’s art makes it all the more funny but for all the wrong reasons.

Who’s his partner? Officer Tomasi?

You know when I said that one panel with Lois, Clark, and Jimmy was written really in-character? This panel with Conner and Jon is the exact opposite of that.

Red Cloud and Ms. Leone have a fun back and forth for two pages. It’s a good example of Bendis-speak working well.

“Black Label Club?” One meta-reference is enough, but two is stupid. I actaully feel a little conflicted nitpicking this, but Black Label is in such a weird place right now, so why reference it?

But “Clark Kent walked into a bar...” is a pretty bad ass line, very John Wick.

A very cool sequence, but it’s full of Bendis-speak and very decompressed.

Why the fake-out of the Superfamily executing a gangland-style shooting with Jon being the one pulling the trigger? I get it’s a story beat the narrative is supposed to hit, but still.

The reveal is pretty funny, shrinking the club, so it’s a little forgivable, but the set up and the pay off don’t quite match. It’s just another example of that dissonance I’ve been mentioning.

I know that “supersons” line was put there by Bendis as a deliberate dig at his detractors, so I’m not going to take the bait and get pissed. Nice try, big guy.

All in all, this issue was not as bad as I initially thought. It’s series of some really big highs and lows.

[harry-potter-nerd]

Was that the Mudblood?

(Warning: Main character death, also, Harry and Hermione’s relationship in this is completely platonic- Hermione and Ron are in that weird, pre-confession faze”

Harry stood next to Sirius, jinxing and stunning Death Eaters left and right. The prophecy had been smashed, so they no longer had leverage, Voldemort’s followers were aiming to kill.

Lupin had been nocked down by Lucius Malfoy, and was just getting up with the help of Hermione. She slings his arm around her shoulders, and starts helping him limp to the side of the vast room, her right hand shakely holding her wand.

Bellatrix drew back her wand, aiming at her Blood Traitor of a cousin.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” The shrill voiced witch screeched

Just in time, Harry lunged at Sirius, nocking him to the ground, but out of the way of the killing curse.

The green flash wizzed across the room, striking Hermione square in the chest

Everything seemed to go in slow motion, Remus felt her go stiff. Both fell, Remus not being able to stand without the assistance from the girl next to him.

“Hermoine!” Harry yelled out, trying, and failing to release himself from Sirius’s grip

“Was that the Mudblood?” The same shrill voice that cast the curse asked

Harry whipped around, seeing red, anger coursing through him

His hand flew to his wand

“Crucio” He yelled, and the Witch fell to the ground, twitching and writhing in pain

He steped twords her, casting the curse again, a monster in his chest purring as he took revenge

“Harry- stop” Sirius said firmly , as Bellatrix fell unconscious, but he kept inflicting pain on her

“Harry, Stop!” He yelled, yet Harry pressed on

“Stupefy” Sirius said, reluctantly, making Harry seize up, and stop hurting the Death Eater

“Sirius...” Remus called from the other side of the room

By this point, all of Voldemort’s followers had either run, or been nocked unconscious and lugged to the side of the room.

Sirius had Tonks come over, and bind up her aunt, and tend to Harry- she said that she would move him to where Ron was; the Weasley still being unconscious from the Brains attack.

Sirius went over to Remus, reluctant to look down at the young witches body, but he had to.

There she lied, expression twisted with fear, her eyes looked grey and cloudy. Her brown bushy hair famed out eavenly around her head, her wand still clutched in an iron grip

Remus had grown quite fond of top-of-the-year Hermione Granger, always polite, very understanding about his condition, even discussing with him about S.P.E.W. And how she’d like to like to expand it to all marginalized magical groups, including werewolves.

Sirius knew that Hermione had been the reason why he had escaped the Demontor’s kiss two years back, and had always found her to be very pleasant and kind.

Both Remus and Sirius knew how much this would hurt Harry, both Remus and Sirius knew how close, almost like a sister, the two were

(Time skip to after the battle is over and the minister sees Voldemort’s back)

They had carted of the 8 death eaters that they were able to capture out of twelve off to Azkaban, Bellatrix had regained consciousness and started a terrible sound in between a girlish giggle and deranged cackle

“I killed the Mudblood, I killed the Mudblood” She sung to herself

Tonks punched her in the temple for it, nocking her out again.

Sirius and Tonks carried a stretcher with Ron, who’s arms were still bleeding.

Kingsley and Remus were left with the unpleasant task of carrying the stretcher with Hermione’s corpse.

The pair disaperated, going to the morgue in Saint Mungos

Harry was still unconscious, but not hurt aside from a few cuts and bruises, so Moody floated his body using a simple spell.

Luna and Neville were wrapped in blankets, being treated by ministry workers for shock. Ginny sat next next to them, a cream colored bandage around her right bicep and over her left eye.

“Alestor?” The voice of Arthur Weasley came as he and his wife apperated into the hall

“Aurthur, Molly, don’t worry, your boy’s alive” He said, as Molly’s eyes filled with tears as she saw her youngest son

“We’re taking them all to Saint Mungos” He says, jerking his head at Luna, Neville, Harry, and Ginny

She scanned over the children, starting to form a question, but then Aurthur beat her to it

“And Hermione? Is she already there?” He asked

There was a long beat

“Dead- the Granger girl is dead- was help’n Lupin” Moody grufed

Molly’s eyes swam with tears, Aurthur grasped his wife’s shoulders

(Time skip to when everyone is at Saint Mungo’s)

Harry woke up, lying in a cot, surounded by those who were at the ministry, and the Weasleys.

He sat up, scanning through all the faces, then everything came flooding back

“Hermione” He said quietly, it wasn’t a question, it was a statement

Suddenly moved to anger, he jumped out of his bed

“Harry- Harry, stop” Lupin said, forcing him back into the hospital bed

“Bellatrix- Malfoy-” He stammered

“All in custody” Sirius said, stepping forward

Harry stoped struggling

Then, one of Saint Mungo nurses came in and ushered out the visitors, saying that he needed rest.

As the group of adults left, Harry heard Remus say to Molly

“Dumbledore just finished writing a letter to her parents, they should reply by tomorrow”

Harry only then noticed, that Ron was sharing a room with him, he was lying on an identical cot, looking off in nowhere in particular. His eyes were looking red and puffy, but Harry pretend not to notice. Both his arms were thickly bandaged, and he had an arra of empty potion bottles on his side table

Before harry could ask, Ron said

“Luna and Ginny are fine, there in the next room over being treated- Neville’s being treated, but they got permission for him to stay with his parents”

Whith that, he turned away from Harry, on his side, and shut his eyes

Harry did the same, but nightmares clouded the rest instantly

The shrill voice of the caster of the curse

The flash of green light

The horrific facial expression as Hermione went stiff

He woke with a start, drenched in cold sweat.

He looked to his side, there Sirius was sitting in an uncomfortable looking looking chair, half awake.

After a moment, Sirius blinked awake, and gave a sad smile when he saw Harry was awake.

“You’re cleared to leave- I talked to Dumbledore, you’ll be spending the summer with me at Grimald Place” He said

Harry nodded numbly

He changed back into his normal robes, Sirius suggested that he stop by Ginny’s room, Luna had already left earlier in the morning.

He could only manage a sound from his throat then walked away.

Over the next few days, Harry didn’t leave his room, Sirius brought him meals, but he hardly ate. He hadn’t said a word to anyone.

Order members still came and went, but everything was more subdued.

Molly, Aurthur, Tonks, Lupin, and even Moody had come to check on him, he still didn’t speak.

Apparently Ron had been acted similarly.

One evening, however he got his hand on a Daily Prohet

On it, it read

“Muggle-born Hogwarts students dead”

He crumpled the paper in rage after reading the article

They didn’t mention her name once, they just wanted the head-line. They didn’t care that she was a top grade student, the founder of S.P.E.W., the most loyal friend, the co-founder of the D.A.- all she was to them was a title

(Time skip to Funeral)

Harry was coaxed out of his room by Sirius, they used the Flue network that had been temporarily connected to a muggle church.

When he got there, six of the Weasleys were there- Ginny and Ron, both had visible scars.

Ginny had a thick maroon line across her eyebrow and eyelid, and a slight bulge on her uper arm indicating it was still thickly bandaged.

Ron, on the other hand, had bandages all up both of his arms, only a small bit was visible though, just around his wrists.

Tonks and Lupin were standing together, even though they hadn’t arrived together.

Lupin was dressed in a black muggle suite, he actually was the only person who looked completely normal by non-magic standards. The rest were in black wizard and witches robes, but all forewent the pointy hats that really would have stood out.

Tonks had puffy eyes, her hair was an ashy black, and she had a very subdued tone, very different from her normal chirpy tone.

Neville was there, with his grandmother, who had a black veil draped over her extravagant hat draping infront of her face.

Luna, and wispy looking man, who Harry assumed was her father stood there, both wearing robes in dark navy’s. Luna didn’t look like her normal self, less bright, less flowey

Dumbledore, Moody, and McGonagall all showed right before it started.

Dumbledore spoke, talking about how brave she was, about all of her accomplishments.

When Mr. Granger was thanking for everyone coming, Moody’s eye started whizzing around.

“Tonks- take the Grangers back to their home, I see somthing they won’t like” He said gruffly

She nodded and escorted both distraught parents out of the grave yard.

Moody jerked his head, they all followed to behind the large church, except Ron and Harry, who both seemed to be planted in their spots

That was until they heard

“Percy!” The quivering voice of Mrs. Weasley exclaimed

They both walked to where the rest were

There, the Minister for Magic,his assistant, Percy Weasley, a man with a comically large camera and Rita Skeeter, who had a Quick Quotes quill hovering next to her.

“Minister, I didn’t realize you had received an invitation” Remus said coldly

Cornelius Fudge shifted uncomfortably, Rita’s quill scribbled uncontrollably

“Well- I- uh...” He started

“Well you what?” A harsh voice asked- Harry only then realized that it was him who said it

Everyone turned around to Harry who had been at the back of the group.

They all stared at him- he hadn’t spoken since it happened

Harry fell the numbness get replaced by something- anger, rage

He walked forward, all the way to the Minister, so he was almost nose to nose.

“You know, I did learn one thing from your little spy at school” He said codly

He showed him the back of his hand- where the bright red carvings on the back of his hand that were just starting to scar over.

“My dear boy, I” Harry cut the Minister off again

“I must not tell lies. So I’m telling the truth when when I say that I don’t think you’re here to give condolences. I’m telling the truth when I say you ought to be sacked. And I’m telling the truth when I say that Hermione Jean Granger is dead because you, are a power hungry- paranoid- coward” He finished, poking him in the chest for good measure.

There was a charged silence, only punctuated by the clicking of the large camera.

“How dare you-” Percy started, but the minister put his hand up, sciencing him

“I see you’ve taken your position Potter” He said, glaring, then turned on his heel, and dissaperated once he was a few paces away

“Harry, are you okay-” Sirius started

“I’m fine” He said, quietly, only then realizing that his eyes started to sting with tears

“Harry-” Sirius started again in a delicate tone, about to put his hand on his shoulder

“I said I’m fine” Harry snapped, and jerked himself out of Sirius’s grip

(Time skip)

On the last day of school, Harry, Ron, and Ginny came back to Hogwarts to get their trunks.

When he was hastily shoving books into his bag, a photo slipped out of a book.

It was of himself, Ron, and Hermione in the hospital wing, right after she had been woken up during second year.

He felt tears sting his eyes again, they’d been doing that a lot lately

He tucked the moving picture into the inside of his robe

He didn’t know how- and he didn’t know when

But he knew

He’d make her sacrifice worth it

[plutodexay]

Proving his Innocence

Chapter 2 (2185 words) Ao3 link (Please click on for triggers) 

I found myself at Godric's Hollow later that night. The air around it had changed from the last time I was here. Grey storm clouds filled the sky, rain just barely starting to fall. The leaves surrounding the home started to fall off the limbs even more wildly now. 

Once a sight for sore eyes, now a reminder of everything that had gone wrong. If I closed my eyes I could see them, the night Harry was born. One by one we all rallied into the home, James happily greeting everyone, Lily just watched him in awe. Later she told me she’d thought he’d never stop crying like he apparently was the entire hospital trip. 

There was muggle decor everywhere, streamers of multiple colors loosely hung up on walls, some even hanging down from the ceiling. All the lights had been changed to a soft blue color, making every single thing in the house look annoyingly blue. Baby blankets were tossed onto the backs of every chair, Sirius whispering about how that makes it look like we can’t sit in them. 

James had dragged us around the entire house, which had seemed to be decorated even though nobody was going to leave the living room. Streamers in the kitchen had been continually wrapped around the hanging light feature, James saying he was too scared to change the lights blue, a fear of the whole thing falling down with the pressure. Sirius had whispered to him about how he could just use magic; and next thing I know James is knocking down Peter to go grab his wand. We all laughed when we heard Lily yell at him to be careful as he practically fell up the stairs. 

The moment he came back down blue filled the room, he’d changed the light bulb colors and had little bulbs of blue light flying around by themselves. It made the room look almost perfect, as if it was something out of a muggle fairytale Sirius loved reading to me after a full moon. Dragging us upstairs he showed us all the nursery, which we had seen a multitude of times, seeing as we helped decorate it. Little broomsticks hanging around the crib, a snitch in the middle of them. The walls a pale blue and green, the white border making it all stand out. Stuffed animals were in the corner, apparently far too dangerous for a newborn.  Minute whispers coming from Sirius as Peter and James talked about how the brooms stayed floating; saying that he did an insane amount of research so the dog plush he’d gotten Harry was baby safe, he continued to grumble even after I told him it was James and Lily’s decision. 

We’d all brought our gifts, all of us stocked up on baby gifts since Frank and Alice had their son the night before. The greetings almost paralleled one another, we all knew the kids would be born close together but never suspected that close.

 The night before had been just like this at the Longbottoms, only Frank recognized that wizards don’t need muggle tape to hang things on the wall. Instead of the blue and green Jame and Lily chose, they went with subtle red and yellows, Alice apparently not liking the idea of boys being in blue. Their nursery was the complete opposite of the Potters. There were no broomsticks or snitches laying about, but rather an abundance of plants and flowers. The walls had been a light white color, yet all but one had living vines on them. Frank had told us they had a self watering spell on them, making them perfect for the room. They’d already had little frog plushies everywhere for the boy, along with the frog onesie, blanket, and little hat that you put on newborns. Frank had obviously decided his love of frogs would be his sons too. 

 They were the only ones who hadn’t shown, not really feeling comfortable hauling around a baby so soon. James had told us it was best to stay home for a few days after anyway. It seemed a bit weird for them not to be here,but I’d heard chatter that they’d planned ten playdates anyway. 

The house had been filled with so much love and happiness.Nobody stopped smiling for hours that night; talks of how the boys were going to grow up was on every mind. James bragging about how he’d grow up exactly like him, and Sirius gladly agreeing. Lily and I secretly hoped that’s not what would happen.  

It was like nothing was wrong that night, we all felt invincible.

Yet, here it sits. Abandoned. Proving the security we all felt that night to be false. All the memories made here were gone, destroyed. Lives were taken here, something I’d never thought possible. 

The living room we’d all stayed up til hours of the night talking in, about the future, how we all would protect this kid with everything we have, was destroyed. His silhouette was practically still on the floor. The reminisce of dark magic still filled the room, the once blue light had now shown green. 

The sweater Sirius and I got him that fathers day, laid abandoned on the stairs. As I went to pick it up I saw it, a hole burned through it, right about where his heart would be. Some threads glimmered the green I hadn’t been able to look at all day, the color burning whenever I see it. It almost looked as if it was on fire, and it just started to calm.

Walking upstairs the same feeling filled my mind, the tensity of dark magic. My chest felt heavy, and every single scar I barred burned as if they had been reopened. Up here looked no different than the last time. There was no faint outline, no shimmering green, no burned sweater. It just felt, painful. The knowledge of what happened making it all seem so much worse. 

My own mind was tricking me. If I closed my eyes it was as if I could see her lying there. Like I could see Harry screaming like Dumbledore said he had been. I could hear the thump against the floor, Lily screaming as she knew it was James. Her whispers to Harry as she put guarded him from the door. The last words she spoke as he killed her. Bright green shown as Lily protected Harry that night, killing her murderer. 

Quickly opening my eyes I knew none of it was there, anxiety attempting to cause me more pain. Nobody else was here, they were no longer here. Harry was safe, they’d be okay with him being with Molly. He’d end up okay. 

It was all I could do to calm myself. I know they wanted Sirus to take care of him, “Uncle Siri” or “padfy” already being in Harry's vocabulary. But he can’t, Sirius can’t take him, and neither can I. 

…

After staying in the nursery for a bit, trying to calm myself, I walked back downstairs. Mcgonagall thinks he’s innocent. To prove that I’ll need evidence. Evidence that James might’ve had, that he might’ve hidden. 

Going towards the bookshelf Lily had kept downstairs, I noticed something on the floor. It was a picture of us all, back at school. 

It was after James' last quidditch game, he’d won against Hufflepuff. Our new seeker just barely got Gryffindor to win by a measly twenty points. James had been ecstatic, the game was a tough one, it started raining shortly after the game commenced. Both teams working against one another in a weirdly friendliest way possible. Multiple sorrys thrown from both teams, and even more nice jobs. 

He was completely drenched when he came to meet us, simply not caring that the rest of us had managed to stay dry. After hugging each of us, even twirling Lily up in the air much to her dismay, he insisted we go take a picture on the field. We all of course protested originally, but after a few minutes he left us with no choice. 

Another 7th year offered to take it for us, making sure we were all in frame before snapping the photo. Sirius had jumped onto James back right before he did, both of the cackling while it was going. Peter stood off to the side with a wide smile, always happy to take group photos Lily and I were looking at the both of them being idiots. The rain came down harder than before, the ground beneath us turning to mud instantly. I could practically see James sinking with the weight of Sirius on his back. 

The moment the picture was done Lily and I ran into stadium cover. The one taking our photo followed us, giving us Sirus’s camera back before smiling and walking away. Looking back onto the field, James had somehow been thrown to the ground. Both of them struggling around, trying to keep the other down longer. Mud was being thrown around and getting all over their clothing, making them look like absolute children. 

Lily nudged me as I was staring at the two of them. Pointing at Peter I’d noticed he was still standing there, looking almost lost. Before Sirius reached his hand up, as if asking Peter for help. Happily Peter grabbed his hand, only to be dragged down into the mud with the both of them. The moment he’d hit the ground set mud flying everywhere, James screaming about how he’d gotten it in his mouth. 

All of us started laughing at him in that moment, and I’d made the stupid decision to try and get them to stop. Moments, it only took moments before Sirius grabbed my ankle and dragged me down with them. My arms flailing as an attempt to get up, only for him to pin me down. His hands gripped mine as he pushed them farther into the mud. 

Reaching his head down slightly, kissing me in the gentlest way possible for our surroundings. For that moment everything stopped. It wasn’t the first time and it definitely wasn’t the last. Yet, every time his lips touched mine, the world seemed to stall. 

As soon as I’d stopped fighting James yelled. Throwing a handful of mud at the side of Sirius’s head, effectively knocking him off of me. Before he then attempted to climb on top of me. Instantly I started trying to push him off, I could hear Peter's laughter as James started making over exaggerated kissing noises as he leaned into my face. 

Lily’s laugh resonated with me right before I heard Sirius yell at James to get off of me, and then James being tackled off of me by him. Peter quickly helped me up as we watched them wrestle with one another again. Lily ran over and wiped the dirt off my face while we watched our idiots be idiots. 

That picture was one of James' favorites, he’d carried it around with him for the rest of the year. Hell, he even brought it to his wedding, telling the whole room the story behind it. 

It just laying there hurt, it looked like it had fallen off the wall he’d framed it on the moment they moved in. The glass from the frame scattered all around, the frame itself broken in two a distance away. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes as I reached down to grab it, one tear falling onto the moving photo. It was ripped, one side completely missing. Not being able to think I started looking everywhere. 

Throwing books off the shelves, flipping through pages and even tearing some out, the rough edges cutting my fingers slightly. Kicking the broken glass around hoping it was buried, only to find more glass. One piece had blood on it, dried blood. 

Quickly I noticed a small drop on the carpet next to the photo, so I followed it. The went from that small corner to the kitchen, then to the dining room, then from the kitchen to the-

To the- the um-to the

Fuck!

The stairs. The blood lead to the fucking stairs, it stopped at the first one. Right next to the- 

Right next to the sweater. 

Taking a few deep breaths I went to grab it once again. The threads still shimmering with green. Closing my eyes I-. I felt around it before I noticed a paper in the pockets. Reaching in to grab it, I cut my finger on it once again, causing me to drop it. 

Moments later I looked down and saw it. It was Peter, his face almost unmoving, the picture had blood smeared all over it. The rip seemed quick and jagged.

I sunk down unto the ground, my hands shaking and my chest feeling unbelievably tight. I just let go, letting the wrack my body as I looked down at the picture once again.

Why?

Why was Peter ripped off the picture?

But I guess what was more important was who?

Who did it?

[rosie-janeposie]

Demon Child

PART 5 of the Stolen Moments Collection https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594610

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Summary:            

Ellie's eyes widen, what was Murphy doing? He was going to rev up the child and then leave her to manage the mess.

Wizard's chess apparently calms a demon child.

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Notes:    

Hello, my Lovelies!

I am back sooner than expected. I had this idea in my head that I couldn't pass it up. Yes, it was inspired by "Meet the Malfoys."

I took some liberty with the fact the Merula had to go to classes some point, while they were babysitting Draco. I had to have fun with Ellie being awkward around children.

This is during Ellie’s Third year.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hogwarts Mystery characters.

I do, however, Ellie Bennett.

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 Ellie groaned as she tried to peel the dry paint from her hair, really orange. They couldn't fight with blue or green. She liked the color green. Honestly, Merula and Draco were worse than siblings. She could only imagine the scene that was happening before she entered the courtyard. At least they didn't get her glasses. "I'm bored!"

 "Of course you are…" Ellie whispered, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She looked down at her red plaid dress, which now had orange paint on it! This was her favorite! Ellana sighed. It had been her turn to watch the demo- she meant child. Merula had to head off to her double herbology block, meaning she was alone with Draco. "Well, what do you want to do?"

The platinum blond boy wrinkled his nose, "You're supposed to entertain me!" He motioned between the two, "Think of something."

Ellie sighed; it was evident Draco had a very structured home life leaving little time for unstructured fun. "Do you like gobstones?"

 "Gobstones are stupid…" He whined, stomping his foot. "This is boring! Find something for us to do!"

Ellie huffed, remembering what McGonagall had told her. Treat him with respect. Don't talk down to him, even though he is a little kid, he has opinions. "There must be something you do for fun at home, right?"

Ellie looked up to see a blond in a wheelchair roll into the Clocktower Courtyard followed close behind by two of the Ravenclaw chasers. It was odd seeing everyone in their school uniform. Strange in the sense of how relatively normal they all looked. Though, Skye's blue hair stuck out enough for her to be noticed.

 "Told ya she was 'ere!" Skye spoke, sticking her tongue out at the boys who were in tow. "We've been searchin' all over the common room for ya. This one," she pointed accusingly at Murphy, "was about to have a conniption."

 "I was not!"

 The dark-haired boy chuckled, running his fingers through his hair. His arms went to rest behind his head, "He was worried. Whether he will admit it or not."

 "Is there paint in your hair?" The Scottish girl asked as she grabbed one of her friend's curls.

 Ellie smiled, she was about to reply before, "Bennett!" a young voice yelled, "Who are they?" The young blond's sneer accompanied his face.

 "Draco, these are my friends," Ellie replied with a small smile on her lips. An idea struck her, he was raised in the wizarding world it was worth a shot, "We play Quidditch together!"

 "I don't like Quidditch!" The blond states as he stomped his foot, "Besides, how can he play? He's in a Wheelchair!"

 Ellie and Skye looked at one another exchanging an eye-roll, this kid certainly did not know tact. If one thing was for sure, he spoke the first thing on his mind. Sooner or later he was going to get in trouble for it. McNully however, gave him a sly smile, leaning to rest his hand on his cheek, "No, I don't play Quidditch in the traditional sense. But, I do something better than them…"

 Draco paused, his curiosity stirred, "If you don't play, what do you do?"

 Orion rolled his eyes, the kid opened a can of worms. "I provide the strategies," McNully said, his suspense broken.

 "Sounds boring…"

 McNully smiled as he started to turn away with his chair, "That's fine. You wouldn't be able to handle it anyway."

 Ellie's eyes widen, what was Murphy doing? He was going to rev up the child and then leave her to manage the mess, "Wait!" Draco shouted as he ran in front of McNully, "What do you mean I can't handle it?"

 McNully let his chair roll back slightly, his hand coming up to rub his chin, "Well, it takes an extremely skilled wizard to plan ahead. Something that 78.6 percent of people don't think about."

 "And the other 21.4 percent?" Draco asked, looking curiously at the blond in from of him.

 "Play Wizard's chess."

 Ellie braced herself for the temper tantrum. There was a quiet pause, as though Draco was thinking. After a moment, he responded, "I like Wizard's chess."

                                                      xXx                                             

 The redhead watched down the table a few meters away the two blonds were engaged in what had to be their third game of Wizard's chess, "Hm, not a bad move there pipsqueak."

 "As though I care what you think," the smaller blond muttered, staring intently at the board. He actually appeared to be relaxed, "Why do you like Quidditch if you can't play?"

 Orion looked back at the girls as he put his long hair into a man-bun, "So Ellana, how did you end up watching Draco?"

 "Dumbledore asked me, and Merula, to watch Draco," Ellie sighed, straightening other glasses. "Well, actually, Dumbledore asked me to help find Mr. Malfoy's wand and make sure that Merula doesn't kill Draco in the process."

 "Bummer," Skye muttered as she tried to balance a pen on her nose,

 "You are to find Mr. Malfoy's wand." Orion asked curiously, "why?"

 "Knight to E5."

 Ellie sighed, putting her hand under her chin, "Because I'm the Curse-breaker. I'm the only one Lucius wants to find his wand."

 "Double bummer," Skye muttered, rolling her eyes.

 "Real helpful there, Skye," Ellie responded in kind.

 Skye grabbed the pen before it fell from her nose, "Lucius Malfoy is a right git. He was after my father for years, saying that he was a disgrace to name pureblood." She shrugged as she turned to the pair in front of her, "All because my mother is a halfa. Sometimes things like that make it hard to respect a person."

 Ellie smiled politely as she patted her teammate's arm, Skye always talked about her father, the famous Ethan Parkin. But it seemed that Skye had just as much respect for her mother. "I'm not doing it because I like Lucius…" Ellie commented. "I'm helping because Dobby, his House-elf, is being accused of something he didn't do."

 "Bishop to C5."

 Ellie turned her head to watch the pair of blonds. Murphy had a smile on his face as he continued to talk with the young Malfoy. Murphy paused slightly, as though he felt someone watching him. Murphy turned his head to nod politely down to Ellie, a sly smile on his face.

 Skye huffed before she chuckled, "Not that it matters." She and Orion shared a look, "Malfoy has probably already condemned that poor elf."

 "We can not be sure of that, Skye," Orion stated, crossing his arms to stare at his fellow chaser, "Though it does have some standing. I think we should help Ellana in her search."

 "Do you always have to tranquil while you talk?" Skye quipped.

 "Do you always have to be so stubborn?" Orion rebutted. Ellie watched the brief staredown; after a moment, the two silently stood down from one another. It was weird watching the odd dynamics of their friendship. "As I was saying...One set of eyes can only do so much."

 "You don't have to," Ellie started waving her hands, "Rowan, Ben, and Penny are helping as much as they can. I really couldn't…"

 "No, He's right," Skye spoke "We'll try and help the best we can. We are teammates, after all. But, I can't make any promises."

 "Rook to A4."

 Ellie gave her thanks to the pair. She turned her head to see Murphy blushing and looking away from Draco. She wondered what the young boy had said to cause Murphy to become that shade of pink.

 "Since we are in agreement," Orion stated, he turned to Ellie, "We will be sure to examine the Charms classroom and the Transfiguration classroom. Perhaps it is somewhere in there."

 "Okay, thanks, you guys."

 Skye stood up, dusting off her school skirt in the process. All while tossing her school bag over her shoulder, "Before we do anythin', I need to stop back by Ravenclaw Tower."

 Orion smirked an odd twinkle in his eye, "I take it I have to come with you?" He asked airly, "Do I need to hold your hand too?"

 Skye glared across the table at him, "If you dragged me into this, you are stuck with me." She stated, holding his glaze.

 "Fine. Fine. Fine," Orion tutted lightly, "I shall accompany you to Ravenclaw tower."

 "You are insufferable," Skye muttered, stomping away with Orion, who was smug, in tow.

 "I guess I have to go with her to make sure she doesn't snap Lucius' wand in half. If you don't make it to practice tonight. I'll assume you are a little preoccupied," Ellie nodded as she stood towards the young Malfoy. Orion turned, placing his hand holding up his hand to pause Skye in stride, "Murphy, are you coming with us?"

 "Pawn to F5, and I capture your knight…" Murphy lifted his head momentarily from his game, looking over to his friends and back to Ellie, who was moving to sit next to Draco, "I think I'll stay here. Finish the game, you know."

 Orion smirked, rolling his eyes before he simply waved. Ellie was grateful that Murphy decided to stay and keep Draco occupied. "Thank you! I'm simply dreadful at Wizard's Chess."

 Murphy stuck his tongue out at Ellie, "I know."

 "Rude!" Ellie joked.

 "But, you put up with me." He retorted. Murphy reached his hand up towards Ellie's hair, "By the way, orange is not your color."

 "I thought we were in the middle of a game," Draco noted abruptly crossing his arms. Murphy brought his attention back to the board in front of him. "So if those other two were chasers. What position do you play?"

 Ellie blinked, surprised, "Oh, I play Beater." She tried to peel the dry paint from her hair.

 "Beater, huh?" Draco replied as he told another piece to move on the chessboard, "I'm going to be a seeker when I come to Hogwarts." Draco gave a snotty reply.

  "I thought you hated Quidditch?" Ellana replied sneakily, knowing full well the sudden mood change. The cause of the shift was sitting across the table with a sly grin on his face.

 Draco shrugs, "I did because I didn't understand the appeal of flying. It seemed boring to me." Shrugging, he moved his tower towards Murphy's pawn. "Besides, Father says that I'm not allowed to fly yet. He also said Quidditch was pointless."

 "Uh, huh?"

 "But, McNully says if you want to be noticed, Quidditch is the place to be." Draco shrugged, "And that was how you get all the pretty girls."

 "All the pretty girls, Murphy?" She nudged Murphy in the side playfully.

 "And handsome guys," Murphy shrugged, retreating his queen, "I don't judge."

 "THERE YOU ARE!" Merula screams, walking briskly into the Great Hall. Students turning their heads to look at her. She matched towards the table she had some dragon manure across her cheek, "I thought I left you guys in the Courtyard."

 "People tend to move," Ellie replied off-handedly.

 "Har-Har," Merula stated as she crossed her arms. Merula turned her head as if noticing Murphy for the first time, "Why is your boyfriend here, Bennett?"

 "He's not my boyfriend, Merula." Ellie turned red looking away from Murphy, her ears began to match her hair, "yo-you can't simply say things like that…"

 Merula smirked, "Touched a nerve, did I, Bennett?"

 "We are not arguing about this here…" Ellie muttered, turning even redder than before. Murphy and Draco simply watched the tension grow between the girls.

 "Fine." Merula huffed her cheeks, puffing out, "But, why is he here?"

 "Just…." He muttered quietly, paused, looking over the chessboard, "Just playing some Wizard's Chess." Murphy noted as he made his next move, "Checkmate."

 Draco's jaw dropped as he stood up in outrage, "No fair!"

 "Sorry, Draco," Murphy noted as he collected his chess pieces, "Better luck next time."

 Merula stared flabbergasted at the older blond, "Where do you think, you're going McNully?"

 Murphy reached behind him to pull his wheelchair closer to the bench, "I'm going to get change out of my school uniform. I hate cardigans." He stated as he lifted his legs over the Ravenclaw bench seats. "Then there is 59.7 percent chance you'll find me in the commentator's box."

 "I should probably get going too," Ellie noted, standing up. She did not look at Murphy as he pulled himself into his wheelchair.

 Merula stomped her foot. "Oh no, you don't!" she started pointing her finger at Ellie, "You are not leaving me alone with him again!"

 "Merula," Ellie replied lightly, "I have to find Lucius' Wand. If I stay here, I can't find it. The longer it takes for me to find it. The longer we have to babysit…"

 "Girls…" Murphy stated.

 Merula huffed, dropping her schoolbag, "So you are saddling me with Draco again. Bennett obviously whoever took Malfoy's wand knew it was in his cane…"

 Murphy spoke, "Ellie…"

 Ellie pinched the bridge of her nose, "I know that, but I am telling you Dobby didn't take it!"

 "Guys…"

 Merula huffed, "Then it had to be Ben. You said Malfoy called him a Mudblood."

 "Snyde…"

 "Funny," Ellie spoke, glaring at Merula, "Ben thinks you took it…"

 " HEY!" The girls became silent at the booming male voice, "Great now that I have your attention." He stated as he rolled to sit between the fighting Ravenclaw and Slytherin, "You are kinda missing something…" He started pointing to Draco's now-vacant seat, "Something significant."

 "Where did he go?" Merula asked, snapping her head at Ellie, "He was right there."

 "You're asking me?" Ellie snapped, glaring at the Slytherin.

 Merula sighed, cocking her hip, "It was your turn to watch him, so yes!"

 Murphy spoke up, causing the girls to look back at him, "He left when the subject of his father's wand was brought up…" He tried to cough inconspicuously.

  Ellie and Merula's eyes widen, "The wand!" Merula whispered.

 "It disappeared shortly after you cast the jinx on my legs…" Ellie snapped her fingers. Following Merula's line of thought. "He wanted to try it!"

 Merula's hands were sprawled out in front of her, "You told him he needed a wand!"

 "We find Draco…" Ellie started.

 "We find the wand!" Merula finished, "And no more babysitting duty!"

 Ellie spun and lightly pecked Murphy's cheek. The touch was so subtle it was barely there, "You're amazing, Murphy! Thank you!" Merula and Ellie were moving at such speed. No one dared stop them.

 Murphy sighed as the girls quickly gathered their school bags, "You're welcome."

 The girls practically ran out of the hall on the hunt for a child, "Are you sure he is not your boyfriend?"

 "Not now, Merula!"

 "I'm just saying you could do worse…"

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Alright, my Lovelies!

I hope you enjoyed this short. Please leave your kudos and comments.

Until next time!

~Rosie 🌹