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etherrreal · 4 years ago

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“the things you do for charity”

Pairing: kenma x gn!reader Genre: fluff Summary: kenma's always been a private person, but it was getting increasingly harder to keep his partner off his streams while you live together; so, he decided to join his two loves together for a 24-hour charity stream extravaganza. Word Count: 3,408 Warnings: some swearing, i suppose there are some spoilers from the manga about adult kenma's job? A/N: i'd give my left tit to play some minecraft or mario kart with kenma tbh -Luna

Kenma's career as a popular streamer was one of the many facets of him that shocked you when you’d started dating two years ago. The two of you had first met in an Animal Crossing discord for your city meant for trading and making friends.

After you had gone over to his island to adopt Raymond from him, he let you keep all of your Nook Mile Tickets with the stipulation that you kept in contact with him to "give him updates" about how the cat villager was doing in his new home. His dorky way of trying to flirt with you was what made you pursue him in the first place, and somehow it had led to a very fulfilling relationship.

It was revealed early on that he was a streamer, but he never expanded on it regarding the actual numbers. Curiosity got the best of you one night, and you decided to google him. Besides also learning that he was a YouTuber, you found yourself in awe at the numbers he managed to accumulate across all of his social media.

And if that wasn’t enough, he was also apparently the CEO of his own business.

Once you moved in together around the one-year mark of your relationship, you got to properly witness the amount of work put into streaming and maintaining a social media presence. This also meant that you got to read the wild comments that were left on all of his platforms–and see the occasional surprise nude picture whenever he opened up his DMs around you.

Because of this, Kenma sat you down to have a conversation about your potential appearance on his social media. You both decided by the end of it that his audience would get to know that he was in a committed relationship, but you agreed it would be best to not show your face or reveal any identifying information of yours.

It had been a year since having that conversation, and you’d both stuck to the agreement closely. The most his audience had ever seen of you was your hand whenever you refilled his water bottle for him.

Of course, it was hard sometimes, especially when you had to remain extra quiet around the house and refrain from yelling out a 'baaaabe' whenever you needed something from him, but since he had his own soundproof office, it lessened the room for any accidental error.

Overall, you were content with never showing your face to his audience for the rest of his career. You knew how nasty the internet could get because of their parasocial relationships with influencers and streamers alike, especially when they discovered those influencers and streamers had a partner who wasn't them, even if they knew they never had a chance. You weren't sure your skin was thick enough to deal with rabid angry stans.

Which is why it was so shocking when Kenma decided one day to nix the agreement.

You were in your shared bedroom answering some emails when he came in. He was dressed in a baggy hoodie, sweats, and tied-up hair; his typical look for a stream.

After some time, you noticed that he was still standing in the doorway, not saying anything. When you glanced up at him, you found him awkwardly toying with the strands of hair that had fallen out of his bun, looking down at the ground like he was just waiting for you to notice him.

"Is there something you need, baby?" you asked. "You're just standing there all adorably shy."

"Yeah, so, um, I'm going to be doing a 24-hour stream this weekend to raise money for charity."

"Oh, really? Cool! I guess that means I'll be going to bed alone that night," you joked.

"Yeah, I guess. Um..." He started before scrunching up his face like he was uncomfortable with what he planned to say next.

"What is it? Do you need me to stock up on snacks and energy drinks? Just send me a list. I can pick them up tomorrow."

"No, that's not it. I was thinking of making a stretch goal be you coming on stream so we can play Minecraft or Mario Kart or something...I mean, I totally understand if you don't feel comfortable. I could always replace it with something else. I know they've been wanting to see me dye my hair a bright color and dress up like an e-boy, so--"

"Really!?" you nearly yelled.

"What? That they want me to dress like an e-boy? Yeah, Kuroo said it would–"

"No, I mean..." You tried to fight the confused expression that was growing on your face, but your squinted eyes gave you away. "You really want me on your stream? Like face and all?"

"....Yeah, I really want to be able to share this with you. But don't feel like you have to do it just to make me happy."

It was a large ask when looking at the full picture. Kenma had his fair share of fans and "stans" who lacked boundaries, as seen from a select few who visited your home several times this year, or the handful that found you on social media already just from seeing a glimpse of your college ring on the hand wrapped around Kenma's water bottle.

There could be a chance you could receive direct hate on your social media just because you were a person who dated a popular streamer. You would then be in the public eye with little privacy and have a magnifying glass on all of your actions and words. Anything you did would then reflect on Kenma.

What if you messed something up and then Kenma lost viewers? Would they try to cancel you or him for it?

You backed away from all the negative thoughts before you could spiral and looked at the metaphorical 'pro' column.

If you agreed to appear on his stream, you would no longer have to sneak around your house in fear of being heard or showing up in his face cam. You both wouldn't have to feel guilty playing games off-camera with each other because you knew Kenma could be streaming it instead.

And who knew? Maybe his fans would like you. You had to admit, it would be a nice ego boost knowing that you were accepted by so many people.

And, most importantly: you could physically ask him in person what he wanted for dinner instead of texting him and waiting an hour for a break so he could respond, while you sat in the next room, starving, stuck in an endless cycle of wondering whether you should make a snack or if you should just hold off for dinner.

Maybe this was a good idea.

"Okay,” you decided, “I'll do it."

"Oh... alright. Cool." Kenma was trying his hardest not to show how excited he was that you agreed. When he saw the contemplative look on your face, he was sure you would decide that it'd just be too much work and say no. But hearing you agree made him giddier than he would ever admit to.

Despite the cool and collected façade he thought he was putting on, you saw the smile that threatened to break through and the red tips of his ears. You wondered if he felt the same weight being lifted off his shoulders as you did, knowing that, after this weekend, you'd both be finally out as an official couple to the world.

And, of course, the nausea of having to do all of it live in front of thousands of people. No biggie.

Saturday afternoon came and at 12pm sharp, Kenma began his grueling 24-hour charity stream. The bar had an overall goal of $150,000, and it began filling up at a constant pace right from the start. Donations ranging from $5 to $500 were flowing in rapidly, and you were trying your best not to feel nervous.

You both agreed that if he reached $50,000 within 5 hours, you would join him for an hour or two of Minecraft later that night. Part of you hoped that the donations would slow down and plateau for a bit, but when you saw Kuroo had donated $1000, specifically with the message that he hoped to see you on stream soon, you realized that it was a pipe dream.

So, you had to be your own hype person for now, to get prepared to show your face to thousands of people and not disappoint Kenma.

Whether it was the promise of your face reveal or the people who genuinely adored charity, it took only four hours for Kenma to break $50,000.

When he saw the number update live on stream, the viewers witnessed the most amount of expression Kenma had ever shown: eyes wide as saucers, mouth slightly agape, body frozen. You could see the gears struggling inside his head struggling to turn and comprehend what they all managed to do so early on in the stream.

"Thanks so much, everyone, for being so generous today... I guess this means we'll be having my partner on later tonight," he announced. You watched his chat explode with excitement, his special emotes flying in the chat.

You picked up your phone to shoot Kenma a quick text.

[you]:: hope you're ready to put our minecraft beds together in front of thousands of people 😏

Unsurprisingly, he left you on read. But dating him for this long meant you weren't even a little bit afraid of double or triple texting.

[you]:: maybe we can kiss under the light of an exploding creeper 😫

[you]:: or have a romantic walk through our rainbow sheep while a phantom looms overhead 🥰

It was after the third text when you finally saw him pick up his phone to text you back. You eagerly awaited his response, only to cackle when you read it.

[my sugar daddy]:: im going to replace you with hinata as my partner if you dont stop

Instead of annoying him any further, you set your phone to charge on your nightstand and went into the bathroom to get ready for the stream later.

Once you emerged, you picked up your phone to check the percentage and noticed a text from Kenma stating that he'd have you on at 8pm. You decided to spend the time until then cooking up some dinner for the both of you.

It seemed like time flew by because by the time you were done eating your food, it was 7:45pm. Only fifteen more minutes before you were live in front of all of Kenma's supporters. You refilled your water bottle and sat on the couch, staring at the blank T.V. as you practically dissociated from reality until Kenma came out of his office to retrieve you.

You noticed that he looked just as nervous as you did, despite his face not showing it the way yours did. His shoulders were up to his ears with tension, and his hoodie drawstring was pulled almost all the way through due to him fiddling with it.

He turned briefly to you after he brought you into his office, gesturing to make sure you knew to wait until he gave you the cue. He sat down, unmuted himself, and took down the 'away' screen he had for his audience.

This was it. Everything was going to change in literally ten seconds.

"Well, everyone...please welcome my partner, (Y/N)."

You walked cautiously around his large gaming chair and sat next to him in your modest desk chair that he had rolled into the room for the occasion.

Okay, you thought to yourself, now don't fuck this up.

"Hi, everyone."

Nailed it.

There was a painful moment of silence before the stream finally caught up, and you both heaved a sigh of relief when you saw nothing but declarations of excitement. Amongst the 'AHHHs' and spam of emotes were sweet comments about your appearance and how cute you two looked as a couple. You peeked over at Kenma and saw the ghost of a smile on his lips, elated to know that he was just as relieved as you were.

"Okay, let's start with the gameplay while we answer some questions," he said.

The questions and gameplay started out mild; when did you both start dating, how did you meet, who asked the other out first. They even asked a few simple questions about you specifically, like your favorite anime and your star sign. And while you did see a few bans in the chat after some inappropriate questions –no, you will not tell them the color of your underwear– most were easy and simple enough to answer.

Then they started to get a bit spicier.

"Bokutoslefttit donated $69.69 and asked, 'what is your main pet peeve with Kenma?'" he read, muttering a 'wow' under his breath at the username.

"Ooh, how can I be polite when exposing you?" you pondered while beating a cow to death with your sword. "It's probably how loud he gets whenever he's playing games with his good headphones on."

"I don't get loud," he defended.

"Oh yeah, you do. I've had to come in here several times to tell you to shut up like I'm your mother. I did it literally two days ago when you were playing with Lev."

"... Next question."

You rolled your eyes at his lack of comment but glanced over at the chat to pull up a new question. You stifled a laugh when you read, "Girlboss420 asked 'who has a fatter ass, Kuroo or (Y/N)?'"

"I'm not answering that."

"Come oooon, this is a Q&A. Can't have the Q’s without the A’s."

"Nope."

You were about to start reprimanding him for implying that Kuroo's ass was fatter than yours when you noticed he ran past you with a group of pillagers following closely behind. You turned to head into the house but when you opened the door, you noticed it was blocked off by obsidian.

"You are the absolute worst!" you exclaimed.

You made a break for it, sprinting past the shooting pillagers and around to the front of the house. You made it inside with only 2 hearts to spare. You turned, in real life, to Kenma to see him tight-lipped to avoid smiling about his betrayal.

"I'm moving my bed downstairs for the rest of the stream."

You both carried on with the stream without another incident, turning to the chat every now and again to answer some questions. Kenma even apologized to you by bringing home a horse that was named "I'm sorry."

It was about an hour and a half after you sat down when Kenma decided that he needed a bathroom break. Your heart fell to your ass when you realized that you'd be all alone to entertain his chat. You considered saying that you needed to pee as well, if it meant not having the spotlight on you.

Instead, when he got up to pee, you smiled and asked him to bring you back a snack and a refill. Oh, how the turns have tabled.

In the meantime, you decided to scroll through the chat and some of the donations to pick out another question to answer since Kenma was gone. You were initially looking for a funny or vulgar comment when you saw one that had a completely different vibe.

"Kermithateblog donated $25.00 and asked, 'what's your favorite part about being with Kenma?' Wow, that's a really sweet question. Let me think for a moment."

You paused to reflect on your relationship with Kenma over the two years you’d been together. You'd had your fair share of highs and lows like any other couple, but, in the end, you both learned how to work things out so you were both equally as happy in the relationship.

"So, as you guys know, he's a busy boy with streaming, creating content for YouTube, and also being a CEO of his own company, which all takes up the majority of his time," you began. "But when he finally can shut off his screens and crawls into bed late at night, I know that he's 100% there with me at that moment. He is able to give me his undivided attention and make me feel like his love for me comes above his love for gaming."

You gave a pause, trying not to get too emotional. You rarely got the chance to gush about Kenma because you knew how much he hated having attention on him, so if this was going to be your only opportunity to do so for a while, then you were going to take it.

"What y'all don't know is that he is the biggest baby when it comes to cuddling," you laughed. "He is absolutely the little spoon most of the time, and he loves when I stroke his hair and love on him all night. In a weird way, it makes me feel special and loved knowing that he trusts me enough to be vulnerable with me. I cherish the amount of time we have together because of that."

What you didn't know was that he had come back from refilling your water bottle rather quickly and stood outside the doorway to hear your speech. His heart almost burst when he heard your tender words describing how he made you feel. He knew that you rarely got to hear how much those quiet moments at night meant to him because he was guarded with his feelings.

Which is why he started into the room on a mission.

You smiled as soon as you saw him. "Welcome back, babe, we were just talking about--"

He approached you swiftly and leaned down to press a gentle kiss on your forehead. You hardly even got to bask in the moment before he was pulling away, setting down your water bottle as he sat back down with his controller in hand like he didn't just expose to his audience how much of a softy he really was.

It was in that moment when you realized how glad you were that you’d decided to appear on stream because you'd be able to look back at that clip over and over again to relive the intimate moment.

Noon on Sunday came at last. Kenma would finally be free from the prison of his office. Not to mention he could finally get off his ass and stretch.

Between your official appearance on stream and the sign-off, you popped in a few more times to say hello to the chat when you brought him some snacks and drinks. You stayed up through most of the night, although you accidentally napped for a few hours during the dead of night which gave you a little boost in energy.

In the end, the stream was a monumental success. Kenma had even managed to blow past his goal of $150k and make it to over $200k, which meant that he'd be getting the full e-body makeover for his next week of streams.

By the time Kenma came into your bedroom after freshening up and having a small snack, you were already dead asleep with your laptop propped open to show his now offline stream.

He tip-toed around the bed quietly, closed your laptop, pulled the covers up and over your curled-up body, and slipped in himself. As he settled, he felt you shift and grab at his worn t-shirt, opening your eyes slightly just to confirm that it's him.

He pulled you against his chest tightly, his body finally able to relax. He was sure it wouldn't be too long before he completely fell out.

"That was more fun than I thought it'd be," he heard you utter quietly.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." His fingers gently danced across your shoulder blades as you mushed your face into his clean shirt. "I can't believe we raised so much today so quickly."

"I'm so proud of you, baby. You worked so hard on this."

"I also donated $2000 anonymously to speed up the process," he mumbled sheepishly, pressing a gentle kiss on the crown of your head in hopes to lessen the blow of his secret.

It was quiet for a moment, and he wondered if he’d genuinely pissed you off before he felt the vibrations from your laugh against his chest.

"...I can't wait to ruin your hair, e-boy."

Written by: Luna

#kenma x reader #kenma kozume x reader #haikyuu x reader #kenma imagines #haikyuu imagines #kenma x y/n #kenma x you #haikyu x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #hq x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu!!#our writing #kenma fluff #haikyuu fluff #luna writes

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pugh-bug · 3 years ago

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Scott Lang x Reader Chapter 13

This chapter follows directly on from chapter 12 I REALLY need to make a master list I know. Ended up way longer than I expected but I hope you enjoy! :)) and let me know if you want to be added to my tag list <3

Warnings: smut, age gap, swearing as fucking always

‘Oh fuck,’ his eyelids fluttered as he rode into you. You wanted to take his shirt off and take all of him in but the pleasure was keeping you lay down. Scott felt your walls tightening as you struggled to decide where to look and what to do with your hands. He seemed to sense the indecision because in a surprisingly wholesome twist, Scott’s hand found its way in your hair before caressing your cheek. All you could hear was both of your heavier breaths matching each other’s rhythms. You’d known before (and of course said before) that you loved Scott but having him look at you with such compassion in bed made you know for certain.

You both let the pause continue but Scott’s impatience was obvious, despite him trying to hide it for your sake. ‘You’re wearing too many clothes,’ you finally said before smirking up at him. The atmosphere took an instant shift as the two of you fought with the fabric and felt it rip off of his chest. And oh fucking hell was the sight of Scott shirtless a treat. You knew he worked out, Tony had a gym everyone used for training, but you never knew he had actual ab muscles. Scott chuckled as he watched you stare at them in awe. Fuck fuck fuck. You couldn’t believe what was happening.

Scott’s finger below your chin guided your gaze back to his green eyes. There was no hesitation after that. As the two of you kissed with lust filled ferocity, you postured up and pushed down on Scott’s shoulders so you could sit in his lap. You tried to continue devouring each other’s taste but the sound that slipped from you as you sank down onto him was pornographic and distracting as hell. You rode him slowly because after such a long wait why not tease him? He could have made this happen ages ago. Selfish of him really.

‘Jesu-fuck Y/N,’ the poor man struggled to keep his head facing you and not back looking at the ceiling. ‘You feel amazing,’ you couldn’t help but beam at his praise. After spending so many nights touching yourself to the fantasy of riding him, having it happen in real life was overwhelming. His large hands gripped your waist while you continued your torment of slowly filling yourself up and down. You didn’t want this to just become another memory in the past that would never happen again. Scott’s firm hands digging into your waist brought you away from the nagging thoughts. ‘Fuck you’re so tight.’ He felt so good it was driving you insane. As he hit your g-spot dangerously slowly you let out a whine.

‘You..can go,’ he already sounded wrecked which made you smug as anything. ‘Faster than that Y/N.’ His eyes were closed but you were determined to keep yours open to look at his face. The obvious pleasure he was feeling. You decided to oblige him and speed up, never once did his cock grazing your g spot not send wonderful shivers down your spine. Your face felt hot- your whole body was on fire.

It was your turn to throw your head back. No one had made you feel as high as Scott, not even close. The man was fucking addictive.

All you could focus on was the full feeling you had in your stomach, Scott’s wrecked voice and his firm grip on your waist. Part of you wished they were around your neck. Maybe next time. ‘Scotttttt….’ you moaned. He fucking adored hearing you moan and hearing you say his name was going to send him over the edge. You wanted to see it. With desperate, yet shaky hands, you thought about crawling his back but it felt forced for a moment. Once again he sensed your minor uncertainty and handled it for you. ‘Come here,’ his voice was husky but breathless as he pulled you into a kiss while you rode him faster and faster.

Your walls were tightening and your toes began to curl on the bedsheets but you felt a sudden impulse to move so you pulled him on top of you. It broke the kiss but it meant on Scott’s next thrust you felt him even deeper and a prolonged moan left your open mouth as you came. Your eyes closed and your body jerked and writhed underneath Scott’s panting chest. He didn’t move for a moment, completely lost in witnessing you enjoy every second of your orgasm. It hit you in waves that felt endless for a moment before your entire body stopped its uncontrollable writhing that pushed Scott over the edge.

He came inside you and, for a moment, almost lost balance. You were so in shock from the huge mass of pleasure you’d just felt that your chest was rising and falling heavier than it did after a run. That orgasm had hit you like a brick. You struggled to sit up as you felt Scott, to your surprise, move down your body. How did he have any energy left? You were exhausted.

One more feeble attempt to sit up was not needed because Mr Scott Lang had decided to surprise you by inserting his fingers in your pussy and smugly licking your clit. Without the much needed warning. ‘Ah- too sensitive!’ You squealed, backing away from Scott on the bed to escape. He was definitely amused. ‘You okay over there?’ Wow. After the sounds he had made?! He was going to make you out to be overwhelmed? However his confident side made you wet and you were not one to complain after sex so:

‘I’m great.’ You smiled coyly and closed your legs as if you weren’t leaking his cum all over the bed and just there to talk. Scott smiled and made his way back over to you like a panther on some sort of sick hunt. ‘You’re trouble.’ He responded, almost judging but still humorous. When you didn’t respond you saw his face change to show some insecurity about his actions. ‘Are you already regrett-‘

‘I regret not getting you to slam me against a wall to be honest.’ You hugged your knees, your breath had returned to normal and you were grinning at Scott like a cat that had gotten its own way. Finally.

‘Well shit,’ he paused with his hand on his forehead and a raise of his eyebrows. ‘That can be arranged.’

Yes but not now, you thought, too tired for that. Must sleep. Must lie down.

The bed, despite being wet, was so inviting and Scott following your lead and wrapping his arms around your waist even more so. You felt safe next to him. At peace. You heard Scott’s breathing normalise but neither one of you spoke. There was no awkwardness like you’d feared and apart from the horrible intrusive thought ‘Am I better or worse than his ex wife’ you felt calm and… happy. Really happy. Tentatively, Scott’s hands found themselves stroking your hair. He ran his fingers through it gently and you smiled and closed your eyes. The smell of sex had filled the room but your arousal was somehow being overpowered by the calm. And there was one question you were curious about.

‘How long for you?’

You expected a brief silence or atleast a ‘Huh’ due to your vagueness but Scott just knew exactly what you’d meant.

‘Atleast a year,’ you quietly turned to face him so he knew he had your full attention. ‘But I really knew when you came to comfort me, on my anniversary.’ You couldn’t help but raise your eyebrows and scoff. ‘You mean when I came to annoy you on the roof?’ Scott’s smirk grew into a full grin at you. ‘And why is that so surprising?’ To be quite honest you’d felt like an intrude that night and not much help to him at all but it was nice to know he felt differently. He looked so pretty lay opposite you, your hands found their way into his hair ruffling it even more. ‘I don’t know.’ You lied.

‘What about you?’ It was his turn to play with your hair again. Oh that was easy. Too easy. ‘First day I met you,’ it was growing harder to look Scott in the eye as you admitted it. ‘I kept thinking about y- I only ever asked you dumb questions as an excuse to talk to you until- well until we were friends.’ He was listening intently which you were not used to men doing. “Were?” Scott questioned knowingly, he waited for your response and you could practically see his ego growing by the second. Of course ‘were’.

‘Well would you call this friendship?’ You laughed, gesturing to the two of you in bed slightly sweaty from moments earlier. After a second too long for your liking passed your eyes widened at the sight of Scott’s hoodie on the floor. You’d forgot he’d brought it with him and it looked comfy as anything. ‘Hold on I’ve always wanted to do this,’ you grinned excitedly like a little kid and Scott watched you in amusement. Struggling for a moment, you pulled the black hoodie over your head (because your hair wasn’t messy enough already) and gestured proudly to your new (stolen) outfit. It smelt like him which just made you giddier.

‘You’ve never slept with a guy and stolen his hoodie before?’ Scott raised his eyebrows clearly not believing you or understanding the appeal. ‘They’ve been out the fucking door too fast.’ You shrugged trying not to let that harsh fact sink in. Oh well. You were feeling good now at least. Scott frowned but once again you couldn’t help but not wait for his reply- just in case it hurt you in some way and brought your high down. ‘Kinda hungry not gonna lie.’ You hadn’t even eaten yet but that wasn’t what you were really thinking about as you stood over Scott as he sat on the bed.

Slyly, he ran his calloused hands under his hoodie and up your torso making you gasp. He couldn’t help but grin at the strong reactions you had to his mild touches. Deciding to really tease you, Scott’s hand traveled down to your pussy so he could finger you but being overstimulated you whined and grabbed his wrist. The man just thought you sounded pretty. ‘Fuck- you’re dripping sweetheart.’ You grinned once again at his words and clenched your thighs together. ‘Who’s fault is that?’

Tags: @supraveng @thottio @wandamaximoffshoe @aliceblxck @merleisapartygod @brianmayscurls

#marvel #marvel fandom #paul rudd #scott lang #fan fic writer #antman #scott lang x reader smut #scott lang slow burn #scott lang x y/n #scott lang smut #scott lang fanfiction #scott lang x reader #x reader #smut #riding #antman x reader #antman smut #marvel x y/n

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whynoteswhispered · 4 years ago

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Tales of a Loved Ninja (pt 1)

Idk; I’ve been in such a Jiraiya mood recently that this was bound to happen.

(Very fluffy, uhhh idk)

word count: 4,930 (oops)

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The warm sun beamed on to your skin as you walked down the path to Icharuku. You couldn’t help but emptily smile at each person you came by; waving and speaking to most as they passed by.

Minato didn’t allow you much time for lunch, so grabbing ramen to go was the most reasonable way to go – plus you had a phone call to make before lunch was over.

“(y/n) Sensei.” You felt a hand tap the back of your shoulder. Swiftly turning around, you looked down to see Kakashi. Every time you saw him you couldn’t help but feel proud; you had watched him grow into an incredible shinobi – and though against your wishes, he made a great ANBU member as well.

“Hey, Kashi!” You patted the top of his head - watching the small amount of cheek above his mask turn red.

“Can I eat ramen with you today?” He reached up to the counter grabbing his to-go bowl of ramen, and then swiftly turned back to you.

You heard your name called as well so you quickly grabbed your container, looking over at the clock to see how much longer you had on lunch.

Fifteen minutes. It took at least five minutes to walk back to the academy which then only gave you ten minutes on the phone; if he answers.

“Sensei?” Kakashi was waving his hands in front of your face, you finally snapped back to reality and smiled at him, “So?” he questioned.

“You know I have to make a phone call; you can hang out in my classroom while I make that call if you would like.” You turned around and started the trek back to the academy, you could hear Kakashi’s feet trek quietly behind you.

“He isn’t worth your worry.” You kept your eyes forward – this wasn’t the first time he’s tried to start an argument over him.

“Kashi, don’t you think it’s wildly inappropriate for you to meddle into my personal life?” Sadly, you knew the answer to this – he cared about you as if the two of you were family.

“Don’t you think it’s wildly inappropriate to be throwing yourself at someone who is nearly double your age.” His voice was annoyed; making fun of you with each word that came out of his mouth.

Was it wildly inappropriate? You didn’t think so. Sure there was a large age difference, but meeting Jiraiya was one of the best things that had happened to you.

“How has ANBU been?” You switched the subject, knowing that there was no winning the conversation about Jiriaya “Are you still having nightmares?”

“Shh,” He hushed you; you could hear the embarrassment in his voice. “ANBU has been fine; yes, the nightmares still happen.” His voice was defeated. He sounded as though he was an old man who had lost everything, instead he was just fifteen and had lost everything.

“Kashi,” you turned around meeting his glance, you could tell he was uncomfortable. “I can talk to Minato about letting you out. You have to take care of yourself too.”

He shook his head, “I’m fine (y/n) Sensei.”

“You haven’t been acting fine.” You turned back towards the academy, “Guy came and spoke to me the other day – Kashi, he’s worried about you. He says you’re reading books about honorable death, that you won’t speak to any of them, and that you just aren’t acting like yourself.”

You had been worried about him for a few years now, but he never let you talk to him about his problems. He always acted like everything was fine; but you could see the subtle differences: the bags under his eyes, the way he would throw himself in front of danger regardless of circumstances, you’ve caught him crying to himself several times. He didn’t tell you about the nightmares until you went to check on him one day and walked in on him washing his hands and sobbing over the sink; saying Rin’s name repeatedly, staring at his hands as if he was witnessing that moment happening on repeat. After that, Kakashi opened up to you a bit – and you checked on him more often, buying him groceries and occasionally bringing him dinner to ensure he was eating.

When Minato told you he was going to suggest ANBU to Kakashi you begged Minato to listen to your concerns, but as his Sensei he thought what he was doing was the best way for Kakashi to deal with the death of his teammates. The following months after he joined you watched him break down further and further; he is a mere shell of the person he was just a few years prior.

“I could be doing better.” Kakashi’s words shocked you, but you kept your eyes forward knowing that looking back at him would likely embarrass him. “I just, I can’t shake it (y/n) Sensei. Every time I close my eyes I see Rin’s face looking back at me in shock? Anger? I could never understand the emotion she gave me and it haunts me in every passing moment. I deserve it though, I killed her. I couldn’t keep my promise to Obito – I couldn’t keep her safe.”

Everything in you wanted you to turn around and hug him; to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. “Kashi, it wasn’t your fault. No one blames you for that incident. Not even Obito would see it as your fault.”

You could hear him start to sniffle, but you were certain he was holding back tears – regardless of how broken he was, he was still one of the strongest shinobi you had been around

“I, I know.” He stumbled over his words, letting out a large exhale once he finished speaking.

You opened the door into the academy, letting Kakashi walk in front of you.

As soon as he got in front of you, you placed your hand atop his head, rustling his hair.

“You can always talk to me; my door is always open – you know that.” You patted his head as the two of you began to ascend the stairs. “And if you don’t want to talk to that’s fine as well – but just know you aren’t alone, okay?”

Kakashi stopped outside of your door, turning around to meet your eyes; through his mask, you could see a small smile coming across his face. “Thank you (y/n) Sensei.”

“Mhm.” You nodded, unlocking the door so he could immediately run in to sit on the beanbag beside your desk.

Looking over at the clock you realized that you only had about five minutes left of lunch to call Jiriaya and eat. You couldn’t help but look over at Kakashi and wonder if he would be okay for those five minutes. Even though he gave you a hard time, you knew he enjoyed seeing you happy. He was like a younger brother to you, and he looked to you as an older sister.

“Do you mind?” You pointed towards your closet; which is where the phone was kept, “He hasn’t answered in the last few days – so I at least want to attempt to check on him.” You gave him a slight smile – waiting for him to inevitably roll his eyes at you.

“Go ahead.” And as you started walking towards the closet you watched him roll his eyes at you just slightly; you couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

The closet was small but you had found comfort in its existence when you started to call Jiraiya during lunch. He would forever be considered a Legendary Sannin of the Leaf, but he was rarely ever in the village itself. Most people speculated what he was up to; but you knew the truth – that he was constantly watching and keeping track of Orichumaru’s movements and writing. He also tended to drink a bit too much when he was out, but you couldn’t blame him considering all he puts on himself.

You grabbed the phone and began dialing the only number you had memorized. Placing the phone up to your ear, you took a deep breath in – fully expecting him to not answer once again. And though you knew he was safe, it was hard not to worry about him when you never got to see him.

You listened to the phone ring. Once, twice, three times; you were almost certain that he was probably once again too busy to answer. Then you heard the click of the phone.

“Jiraiya?” You questioned.

“Hey (y/n).” You immediately felt a smile come across your face; you hadn’t heard his voice in several weeks – you only told Kakashi a few days so that he wouldn’t worry for you.

“Where are you? Are you okay??” You couldn’t help but immediately overload him with questions. The feeling of tears beginning to form in the corners of your eyes made you immediately wipe them away, knowing if Kakashi heard you crying he would only think the worse.

“I’m fine, but hmmm where am I? That’s a good question, isn’t it? Want to take a guess?” His tone was playful; oh how you had missed his voice.

“Are you in the Sand village?” You knew you had no option but to play the game with him or he wouldn’t tell you.

“Think closer.” His voice was giddier this time.

Closer? “Are you in the Land of Fire?” You didn’t want to be hopeful, but you couldn’t help but hope that he would be swinging through for a visit.

“I’m in the office.”

“The office?” Your mind began to run at max speed. Did he mean the Hokage office?

“Mhm, the office.” You could hear him let out a light chuckle.

Without thinking you immediately hung up the phone, nearly dropping it from excitement. As you opened the door, Kakashi’s eyes immediately turned to you; curiosity filling his eyes.

“He’s back?” He questioned as you placed your ramen on the desk.

Turning to answer him, you couldn’t help but let a huge smile spread across your face. “Yes, he’s with Minato.”

“And you’re going? Isn’t lunch almost over?” he went back to eating his ramen; he knew your answer before he even asked it.

“I don’t have a class after lunch and I’ll be back before the next class; you can hang out in here if you want.” You started to turn towards the door but stopped yourself, “Will you be okay? I can stay if I need to?” You loved Jiraiya and had no idea how long he would be in the village, but Kakashi needed someone to be there for him and you couldn’t take that away from him.

You immediately felt your heart warm as you watched a smile spread across his face, his eyes never leaving his bowl of ramen. “I wouldn’t stop you from seeing him; even if I don’t like him. But if you aren’t back by the time your class gets here I’m going to make them go to the training grounds.”

“Okay Kashi, you can torture my students if I’m not back in time.” You let out a laugh as you started to make your way out the door. “You’re sure you’re okay?” you couldn’t help but question him again.

“You better get going before I change my mind.” He threw his hand in the air, gesturing for you to leave.

As soon as you stepped out of the classroom, your pace quickened tremendously. You couldn’t help but nearly run out of the academy.

It had been nearly a year since Jiraiya had been in the village; and you had only been talking to him for a few weeks at that point. You had met him at a bar after the Chunin exams; he hit on you instantly. But you weren’t interested – at least not interested in what he was interested in. Both of you drank quite a few drinks, and he attempted to invite you back to his place but you couldn’t help but laugh in his face. You’ll never forget his face when you did that; he looked shocked as if he had never been turned down in his life. Before leaving the bar you gave him your phone number and told him to call you the next morning if he was still interested. To your surprise, he called you shortly after you woke up the next morning. The most shocking part was that the phone call wasn’t awkward – it felt as though you were talking to a friend you had had your entire life. You both laughed and told jokes, he talked about Orichumaru and you talked about the death of your parents; it was like talking to someone who understood everything even if they hadn’t been through it. He listened when you talked, and you hadn’t had someone listen to you in what had felt like years. The two of you stayed talking on the phone for hours, it was dark outside before the two of you decided it was time to hang up but before that Jiraiya initiated setting up a date to Icharuku.

You couldn’t help but feel your smile growing bigger with each passing step towards the Hokage building.

You had never been to Icharuku before Jiraiya took you; ramen just wasn’t something you ever thought about when looking for restaurants to eat at – plus your parents weren’t the biggest ramen fans so it wasn’t something you were used to eating.

As soon as you got to Icharuku, Jiraiya was waiting outside the curtain for you. As soon as his eyes met yours, his face filled with a smile. The two of you went in and ordered ramen; you let him pick out what you were going to eat since you had no clue what to order – and it did not disappoint. The two of you drank and ate ramen as you talked just as you did the day prior on the phone; this time with more emotion. The booth filled with the noise of the two of you laughing for hours. He walked you home that night; he never tried to do anything funny – he stopped outside your apartment door and kissed the top of your head. As soon as you unlocked your door he began to descend back down the stairwell.

You opened the door and began to sprint up the stairs to get to the Hokage office. Several visitors gave you awkward glances as you passed by them with a huge smile spread across your face.

There were two ANBU members stationed outside of the office, but they didn’t even give you a second glance as you walked up to the door. Without much thought, you pushed the doors open without even knocking. As soon as the doors creaked open, your eyes met Jiraiya’s and you couldn’t help but move quickly. You could feel Minato watching you, but not an ounce of you cared. You opened your arms and threw yourself around him as soon as he got in touching distance.

In a blur, the two of you fell backward onto the ground – Jiraiya immediately holding you tightly to ensure you wouldn’t get hurt.

You both busted out laughing; you could even hear Minato let out a chuckle.

“I’m sorry.” You said softly as you pushed your head deep into his shoulders; his arms pulling you tightly against him.

“You know, Minato and I could’ve been talking about information that you didn’t need to hear.” You could hear the teasing tone in his voice.

You pushed yourself up so that you could look at him, his hand immediately moving up to your face to push the hair away from your eyes. “Oh shit, I’m sorry.” You hadn’t thought much when coming in, your only thought was seeing Jiraiya.

“You know you’re kind of cute when you miss me.” His arms wrapped around you again, pulling you tight against him once again.

Before he left, the two of you held each other for hours in bed; talking about how you were going to stay in contact, you listened to his worries for the missions he was out to complete, he listened to your worries about him going out on missions by himself. Though the two of you mostly just stayed silent – enjoying each other’s presence while you could. When you dozed off in his arms, you woke up to him having already left. A note rested upon the pillow where his head was laid up hours prior.

You could feel the tears well up against your eyes; you hadn’t realized how much you had needed this hug.

“Jiraiya.” Minato’s soft voice echoed through the room.

Jiraiya laughed as he picked you up off of him; placing you back on to the ground as he stood up to address Minato.

“Sorry Minato.” Jiraiya smiled at him. “Am I good to leave?”

You began to stand up and Minato laughed, “Get out of here you two; what has it been a little over a year?” you shook your head. “Go.” He gestured towards the door and Jiraiya immediately grabbed your hand in his, nearly tugging you behind him.

“You’re still coming over later though, right? I’ve already told Kushina the two of you would be there for dinner.” You looked back at Minato who was smiling ear-to-ear at the two of you.

“We will be there.” Jiraiya never turned around, instead he kept tugging you forward out the door; Minato waved at you as made your way through the door.

You managed to find your pace in his, and instead of being tugged behind him, you were happily walking in stride with him. His large hand completely wrapped around yours; his thumb rubbing small circles on the back of your hand as the two of you walked down the stairs.

“I missed hearing your voice.” As you made your way to the bottom of the stairs he wrapped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you in towards him. The people around you watched the two of you; it wasn’t as if people didn’t know who Jiraiya was – he was a hero of the village, and people knew who you were because you were a teacher at the academy; most though weren’t aware of your relationship.

You could feel the judgment through most people’s eyes; it was to be expected. Jiraiya had himself sold around the village as a pervert and you were sure most people were likely imagining that you were just his next prey. But honestly, he had never made those types of advances towards you – you set up boundaries and he respected them. He would occasionally make a dirty joke, but it was nothing more than a way to make you laugh.

“You were the one who wasn’t answering the phone.” You gripped his hand tighter. Those few weeks without hearing from him were rough; you could only imagine the terrible things that could’ve possibly happened to him – but you kept your hopes up, thinking if something had happened to him that the village would eventually find out.

He pulled your hand into the air, spinning you in a circle and pulling you into a hug. “I’m sorry.” His hands moved from yours and he placed them gently against your face, pulling you towards him.

You could feel your heart rate accelerate as he guided your face to his; his lips opened slightly and you couldn’t help but smile as your lips crashed onto his.

Before he left you hadn’t even kissed him yet; your relationship wasn’t much of a physical one. He was used to one-night stands and he didn’t want your relationship to be the same as the others.

His cologne lingered on you; the smell of oak and musk; as he slowly released his hands from your face, letting his lips fall off of yours. As you met his eyes you could see a smile spread across his face.

“I’ve wanted to do that for quite some time now.” He pulled you back under his arm, your face turning red with embarrassment as you notice the several onlookers the two of you had.

“How long are you here for?” You couldn’t bring yourself to look at him; the rush of euphoria that you experienced from your lips meeting his vanished and was replaced with panic – this could be his only day in the village.

“I’m back for a while.” He looks over at you, wiping the singular tear that you weren’t able to keep held in, “Minato needs me here for some things, so don’t worry about me leaving quite yet.”

The two of you continued walking hand-in-hand until you got to the riverfront. Jiraiya took his time stretching and then sat beside you on the grass; watching the currents in the water.

“I can’t stay out here for long, I have to get back to my class- “

He cut you off before you were even able to finish your thought, “Don’t worry about your class – Minato got it covered for you.” He laid back onto the grass, stretching his arms behind you and staring up at the clouds moving through the sky.

“Sorry again for interrupting in the office earlier; I just, I wasn’t thinking.” You shook your head in frustration at yourself when you heard Jiraiya chuckle behind you. His large hands wrapping around your waist and pulling you down to lie beside him.

“(y/n), Minato knew as soon as I answered your phone call that our conversation was over; really, he knew as soon as your lunch break started that our conversation was as good as over.” You couldn’t help but laugh with him.

“Wait,” it finally hit you that Minato knew of your relationship – “did you tell Minato?”

Jiraiya cocked his head slightly to look at you, his face calm. “Well, I knew you would be calling me; and considering I was there on official orders I felt it was best to let him know. I wouldn’t worry about him though, he’s just happy to see me happy.” His hand found yours, his fingers interlacing with yours. “Should it be a secret that we are together?” he seemed to be slightly upset at the idea of this.

“I, I just haven’t told anyone.” You pondered this thought for a moment, “Well, expect for Kakashi.”

“White Fang’s kid?” Jiraiya perched himself up a bit; curiosity was written across his face.

“Mhm,” You smiled as you let your gaze leave him and you returned to looking at the clouds. “I’ve watched over him since he died; he’s like a brother to me. He eats in my classroom nearly every day so he’s known since the beginning.” Laughing, you couldn’t help but continue, “He doesn’t like you much though, especially with your reputation.” Jiraiya knew you were only joking; though he did have quite a reputation in the village.

“Ahh, I see.” You could hear him lie back on the grass, “How is he after the incident with Rin?”

You were taken aback by this question. He was rarely in the village, and though that incident was quite horrific you didn’t imagine that he had heard about it. “He, uh –” You tried to think of a way to answer this question without completely disrespecting Kakashi, “He’s as good as you could be after losing one teammate and accidentally killing the other.”

“So, not too good?”

“No, not so great at all.” You pondered if you should drop the conversation, but you had at least one more thing you wanted to bring up, “Minato put him in ANBU after Rin.”

“Yeah, I recall him telling me about that.” You could tell by the tone of his voice that he must have also disagreed with that decision.

“It’s made him worse; they call him ‘Cold-Blooded Kakashi,’ he won’t talk to anyone, well except me – but I have to force it out of him most of the time. But, he won’t leave ANBU.” You could only hope that Kakashi was okay; you had left him in your classroom – but hopefully, he had left and gone on home. Maybe Kushina would have leftovers you could take him.

“I can’t do anything about what Minato does, even if I was his Sensei, he won’t listen to me – especially when it comes to his team. He’s gone through the same losses as Kakashi; he didn’t take any of those events easily. I’m sure he imagines himself in Kakashi’s position, and for him maybe ANBU sounded like the best healing mechanism.” He paused for a moment, “I’m sorry I can’t help him (y/n).”

You shook your head, “It’s fine; I didn’t expect you to able to, but I had to at least try.” His hand tightened around yours.

“I could talk to him though; I won’t tell him I know anything – “

You cut him off before he could even go any further with that thought, “No, you can’t do that. He would immediately know I told you something. He’s incredibly smart; I would go as far as to say that he’s the best shinobi the Leaf has ever had.”

That piqued his interest, he sat up beside you, watching your face. “The best shinobi of the Leaf, huh?”

“Maybe I’m biased, but I’m almost certain Minato would agree.”

Jiraiya laughed, shaking his head in agreement. “I would say I know for certain he agrees.”

The two of you stay by the riverfront for hours; talking about the past year as if you hadn’t talked on the phone for a good majority of it. He told you that he finished his book; Tales of a Gutsy Ninja. He didn’t have a copy on him, but he promised he would give one to you. You told him about your class this year. You had told him about Shisui Uchiha; the most promising student you had. He was years above his class; he would likely be allowed to graduate early if he kept at the pace he was going. You both couldn’t help but get lost in conversation with each other. He continued, telling you about what it was like training Minato, he brought up the three kids he taught from Amegakure; Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko. He talked about them frequently, even during your phone calls. He couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing and if they were still alive; surviving the war-stricken land. Jiraiya talked about them as if they were his children; it made you upset that he wouldn’t go visit them.

“When need to get going,” he stood up beside you, offering his hand to aid in helping you up. He lifted you from the ground with ease. “Kushina will get upset if we are late.” He patted down his legs to remove the dirt that was spread across them; you did the same to yourself.

“Are you sure it’s okay if I go?” you reached out for his hand; you didn’t want to be a burden on Minato and Kushina.

“Trust me (y/n), if you didn’t show up Kushina would not be pleasant to deal with – plus, she’s excited to have another woman to share the evening with since it’s normally just myself.” He grabbed onto your hand.

You shook your head, still nervous at the idea.

The two of you walked as the sky began to turn orange and the sun began to make its descent for the evening. The air was brisk, but Jiraiya kept his arm wrapped around your shoulders; laughing and making jokes through the entire walk.

As you arrived at the walk path to their door, you could feel your heart rate quicken; but as if he could tell, he wrapped his hand tightly around yours, squeezing it with comfort.

This was the first time the two of you were going out as a couple – at least a known couple; your first outing had to of course be at the Hokage’s residence.

“It’ll be fun.” Jiraiya pulled you along with him, stopping at the door, he turned to you and kissed the top of your head.

His knuckles hit the door with several loud strikes and you could hear Kushina yell at Minato to go answer the door; within seconds you could hear the door being unlocked. Minato immediately glanced over at you, as if to ensure that you had indeed come with Jiraiya; a smile spread across his face.

“Hi!” he opened the door up for the door of you, “Come on in!” he exclaimed.

You took a deep breath; hand still wrapped tightly in Jiraiya’s. The two of you followed in-behind Minato, who seemed happier than normal – which was saying something considering how bubbly his personality was.

As soon as you made it into their living area, you could hear Kushina moving around in the kitchen.

“I’ll be there in a moment!” She exclaimed as you heard the sounds of dishes being tossed about.

Jiraiya had let go of your hand to walk over to Minato; the two of them deep in conversation. Both of them with smiles spread across their faces; Minato occasionally blushing. You could only begin to imagine the things that Jiraiya could be saying to him.

“Oh!” you looked up to see Jiraiya staring at the doorway; your eyes naturally following his.

“Oh!” You couldn’t help but let out a sound a surprise.

Kushina was standing in the doorway; her belly round with child and her face bright with joy.

#naruto #jiraiya #jiraiya x reader #minato namikaze #minato x kushina #fanfic #this is on wattpad and ao3 but like here you go #kakashi

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magnoliasinbloom · 5 years ago

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Crash Course Love

Infinite thanks to @lcbeauchampoftarth and @anna-swims for being awesome betas.

AO3 :: Previously

5: Awkward [Claire]

Somehow, that kiss Jamie gave me right before he left made me feel stupid and giddier than waking up next to him. Even though nothing had happened. Maybe I kind of wished something had happened.

I wasn’t the type for one-night stands. I’d been in a committed relationship with Frank for so long… even if it was only really committed on my part. The wanker.

I pulled into Sainsbury with these thoughts in my head. I grabbed a trolley and scouted the aisles for the groceries I needed. I pulled a milk jug from the refrigerator and suddenly remembered Frank’s photographs, torn and burnt, covered in Weetabix and sour milk. I wondered why Jamie had refused breakfast that morning. Was he more of a Cookie Crisp kind of fellow?

I realized I knew practically nothing about him, other than his name, his ex-girlfriend, and his penchant for Laphroaig. I took my phone from my bag, hoping he had at least put in his last name. My thumb scrolled down the contact list. There he was.

Fraser. Jamie Fraser.

I had vaguely heard of the family name. I recalled he had mentioned they ran a distillery. I felt better, as though he wasn’t a perfect stranger anymore.

Jamie was handsome (alright, just plain bloody beautiful), fun to hang out with, had a steady job, a family. He danced, had blue eyes, and was willing to beat Frank with lead pipes.

I tossed in some instant macaroni and cheese, water crackers, a hunk of cheap brie. I considered an equally cheap wine bottle, but settled on sparkling water instead. I wondered what Jamie had thought of my sad food staples at home. I decided to go looking for cereal options and turned abruptly, accidentally bumping my trolley against another.

“Oh, sorry.” I pulled it back hastily and was about to drive away when I heard my name.

“Claire? Mon Dieu, is that you?” Before I could react, I was engulfed in a tight hug and lots of fluffy brown hair in my face. I recognized the accent—French, but thankfully not Annalise’s.

“Louise?” The trolley’s handlebar was really digging into my stomach. I pushed her away gently and met her luminous grin. I hadn’t seen her since we graduated 6th Form College.

“Comment ça va? What have you been up to?”

“Oh, well, you know, work. The usual. I own a flower shop.” I shrugged. She might have known, although we were not following each other on social media, but we had friends in common, like Geillis. I should really give Geillis a call to tell her about Jamie. Then I realized that Louise was talking.

“That is great! I think us meeting today was meant to be! I’ll be needing a florist soon. Guess what? I’m getting married!” Louise shoved her left hand in my face and wiggled it around. A white gold band with a brilliant diamond sparkled on her third finger.

“Congratulations!” Jesus H. Christ, another engagement. I faked a smile for her. “Who is the lucky fellow?”

“Charlie, Charles Stewart. He’s a banker, very well-off financially.” She lowered her voice. “Works at Coutts, you know.”

“Oh.” I did know. His name caught my attention. “Did you say his name is Charles—”

“Ah, yes! Like Bonnie Prince Charlie! Family name, and all that,” Louise said proudly.

“Well, whenever you have time, look me up. It’s Beauchamp’s Blooms, I’m on Facebook and Instagram.”

“Of course, merci! You know, I’d just been thinking about you.” We both moved out of the way of an elderly lady who wanted to go by. I dragged the trolley out of the middle of the aisle and nodded absently. “I would like for everyone from our class to come to the wedding. So, expect your invitation in the mail soon, oui?”

“Absolutely, thanks!” I smiled and went to push my trolley away. Everyone in our class? But that would mean…

“Oh, Claire?” Louise’s tone was careful, curious. Oh, fuck.

“Yes?” I turned, gripping the handlebar with white knuckles.

“I was recently catching up with Frank Randall—works with the Duke of Sandringham, you know, close friend of Charlie’s—and he happened to mention that you two were no longer together.” It was a question.

Frank still found ways to humiliate me.

“Um, no, we’re not… together. Anymore,” I stammered, blushing to the roots of my hair.

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that. I only mention it now because the invitations are at the printers and are labeled ‘plus one’. But if you are not comfortable with that, I mean with Frank there, you do not have to—”

“You know, Louise? That is perfectly alright. I’d be delighted to come to your wedding. I appreciate the thought and I will be there. Plus one,” I said brightly, manufacturing a smile and pasting it on.

“Bien! Well, I will call you about the flowers soon. I cannot wait for you to meet Charlie! He is really wonderful.” Louise smiled.

It was then that I realized I was being a bloody bitch. God, could I be more cynical, that I could begrudge Louise her happiness when it took nothing from me?

I relented and caught her by surprise when I leaned in again for a hug of my own. “Congratulations again, Lulu,” I said, using her old nickname. “I look forward to meeting your Charlie.” I let go of her quickly and made my way to the next aisle, no doubt leaving her a bit confused.

In that moment, I understood Jamie’s breakdown in front of Annalise. Were we so incapable of moving on that we resorted to feeling attacked and vulnerable every time someone else was remotely happy around us?

Jamie’s breakdown. Jamie.

James Fraser.

Bloody hell. Now I needed a date for Louise’s wedding. When we had given each other our numbers for emergencies, I didn’t realize I’d be having one five minutes later. How desperate would it be if I called him? Did it qualify as an emergency or just pathetic and sad? There was about a month to go before the wedding, I calculated.

I went through the check-out line and put the carrier bags in the back of the van. I raced home as fast as I dared in the slick streets to stash the groceries away.

I went to my room and flopped onto the unmade bed. I caught a whiff of scent on my sheets. It was part delicious cologne, part stale cigarette smoke, and a little bit of whisky fumes. It was strangely enticing.

I yanked my phone from my bag again and found Jamie’s contact information. I put my thumb over the name, barely touching the screen. To call him, or not to call him, to ask him for a major favor. I should call him. Just do it. And say what? Hey, it’s Claire. Remember me? The half-naked girl from this morning?

The phone rang.

Jamie Fraser flashed on the screen.

Bloody hell. Was he psychic? What could he be calling for? I had just seen him a couple of hours ago. The phone kept ringing. I dropped it on the bed and my clumsy fingers fumbled among the sheets. Quick, answer before he hangs up!

“Hello?”

#outlander #outlander au #fanfic #jamie and claire #CCL5 #here we go #fake dating au

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purrincess-chat · 7 years ago

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When the Day Met the Night CH1

yes it’s a panic at the disco reference fight me SO I finally finished this chapter! It was slow coming cause I actually combined chapters one and two cause they weren’t gonna be long enough on their own, but anyways that’s neither here nor there. I’m finally getting around to writing something for the boys! I hope you enjoy this one just as much as my other ones. I promise I will be finishing all of the things I started recently, don’t judge me. I’ve got it!

Read on AO3

Chapter 1

Adrien watched the houses pass out the window of the car, leg shaking anxiously as Gorilla drove him to his first real band practice. Finally he’d made some headway with his father and was being allowed to do something he wanted with his friends. Nathalie had even worked a rehearsal schedule into his normal routine! He actually looked forward to playing the piano for once and couldn’t wait to hang out with everyone again, especially Luka who seemed really awesome. Adrien could sense that they were going to be good friends, and the thought of it only made him giddier.

Gorilla parked in the allotted spaces above the Seine just a little ways up from where the Couffaine’s houseboat rested, and Adrien heard the distant sound of Juleka tuning her guitar, picking up the pace a little to make it there faster. He had a good feeling about this and hoped that this would be the start of an upward climb in his relationship with his father. If he could show him how much getting to hang out with his friends benefited him then maybe it would open the door for other things along the way. Just maybe his father would start to let him have a little more freedom.

“Yo, Adrien!” Nino called, waving from his place at the sound mixer, and Adrien perked, rushing over to meet him. “Look who’s out of the house for once.”

“My father has allowed me to continue playing in the band, so hopefully I’ll get to come here a lot,” He said, embracing his friend tightly.

“Whoa, and you didn’t have to perform some voodoo ritual to get him to agree to that?” Nino’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “That’s surprisingly cool of your old man.”

“I’m just enjoying it while it lasts.” Adrien shrugged as Nino steered him in the direction of the group where Ivan and Myléne were chatting with Juleka and Rose. “I’m not late am I?”

“Nah, we haven’t even really started yet just getting set up,” He assured him, and Adrien relaxed a little.

“We’re so glad you could make it, Adrien!” Rose said as they joined them.

“Yeah, it’s cool that your dad is letting you hang out with us,” Ivan added, draping his arm over Mylene’s shoulders.

“I almost feel like it’s too good to be true,” He chuckled as Luka appeared from under the deck with an extra cable.

“Adrien! Glad you could make it.” He grinned, ruffling his hair as he passed and stooping to plug up his guitar. “You guys ready to practice?”

“Yeah!”

Adrien turned to the keyboard set up in the back, a giddy grin curling on his lips. He’d never been so excited to play the piano before. Normally his practice was all done in his room, sitting for hours at the keys rehearsing the same exercises until his brain went numb, but this time he’d get to play something new for a change. He couldn’t wait to start-

“Whoa!” He gasped as his foot found a loose cord, sending him flying face first toward the deck. He closed his eyes and braced for impact, but it never came as a pair of strong arms caught him before he made contact, and Adrien found his face buried in soft fabric.

“Careful. There’s a lot of cables lying around,” The voice belonged to Luka, and Adrien quickly righted himself, fixing his hair with a mortified expression. “You okay?”

“Yeah! Sorry. I should probably watch where I’m going,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Totally. Wouldn’t want to hurt such a pretty face,” Luka said, brushing Adrien’s cheek with a coy smile, and Adrien felt the temperature on the boat rise several degrees before he stiffly made his way back to the keyboard.

Luka’s comment left him dumbfounded throughout the rehearsal, and he played mostly on autopilot, stealing glances up from his score every now and then to gaze at Luka swaying in time with the song as he strummed his guitar. Adrien was used to getting complimented by all kinds of people, girls, boys, grown men doing his makeup, the occasional mom of a friend whenever he said something polite, and he’d gotten accustomed to accepting them graciously. But something about Luka made his pulse quicken and his palms clammy.

Maybe it was just that Adrien thought he was incredibly cool and that he looked up to him in a way. Luka was incredibly talented and kind, a little mysterious at times. He and Adrien hadn’t spoken too much at the music festival, and overall, he seemed kind of quiet like his sister. It made Adrien all the more eager to know what was going on inside of his head. What Luka truly thought of him. Did he really think Adrien was good-looking? Was that all he thought about Adrien?

The longer he thought about it, the more curious he became about Luka, and he determined that he wanted to know more about his new friend and to show him that he was more than just a pretty face.

He was granted such an opportunity the following day during his photoshoot in the park when Luka happened to walk by and decided to stay until he was finished. Adrien felt a little self-conscious with him watching, but nevertheless he pressed on without it showing. When he finished, he approached Luka who offered polite applause with a friendly grin.

“You’re really good at that,” He complimented, and Adrien felt his cheeks flush.

“I guess so, since everyone goes so crazy over all of my ads.” He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. “So what are you up to?”

“I was just out for a walk to clear my head and noticed you having a photoshoot, so I thought I’d stick around for a bit,” Luka said casually then, seeming to consider it, curled his shoulders. “I hope that’s okay.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Adrien assured him, waving his hands. “I’m pretty used to it. I was just a little surprised to see you. N-Not in a bad way or anything, but just-”

“Yeah.” Luka nodded understandingly, and an awkward silence fell between them.

“Are you doing anything right now?” Adrien asked finally, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Uh, not really,” Luka said with a shrug.

“Do you…wanna hang out for a bit? We can go get macrons at Marinette’s bakery.” He cocked a brow, and Luka perked up.

“I’d love that. I want to get to know you more, Adrien,” He said with a smile, and Adrien felt his shoulders relax.

“Same. You seem really cool, and I was hoping we could be friends,” Adrien said shyly, rubbing his arm.

“Totally. I’m just not the best at social interaction, so I’m sorry if I’m a little awkward,” Luka admitted with a wince, but Adrien offered him a friendly smile.

“No worries. I’m not exactly the best either. When you get kept inside for most of your life, and your only friend is the mayor’s daughter, you don’t really get a lot of practice,” He said, curling his shoulders as they walked.

“You weren’t allowed to go outside?” Luka’s eyebrows furrowed in concern, and Adrien shrugged his shoulders.

“My father is…protective of me. He doesn’t want me getting into trouble, so he keeps me where he can see me,” He said, kicking at the pavement a little as they stood in line outside the bakery.

“At least your dad is around,” Luka said with a distant gaze, and Adrien recognized that look well. Disappointment, loneliness, a hint of anger, but Luka masked it just as quickly as Adrien noticed.

“It seems you and I have more in common than we thought.” Adrien pursed his lips, and Luka cracked a sardonic smile.

“Dead-beat pieces of shit for dads?” He cocked a brow.

“Yep.” Adrien nodded in affirmation, warranting a chuckle from Luka.

“So it seems,” Luka admitted, glancing over the selection of macarons. “Flavor preferences?”

“I like pistachio and raspberry,” Adrien said, and Luka stuck out his tongue in disgust.

“I’m allergic to pistachios, so can we get raspberry and chocolate?” He requested, and Adrien gave a permissive nod.

“Fine by me.”

“Oh, hello, Adrien,” Sabine greeted when they made it up to the counter. “What can I get for you boys?”

“Just a few macarons, Mrs. Cheng,” Adrien replied smoothly with a friendly smile, waving to Mr. Dupain who was busily wrapping croissants in the back.

“You know them pretty well,” Luka remarked once they were back outside.

“They’re Marinette’s parents and super awesome. Her dad gives us baking lessons at school sometimes. She’s really lucky to have such a cool mom and dad,” Adrien said enviously, and Luka offered him a macaron with a sympathetic wince.

“To dead-beat dads,” He said, holding up his cookie, and Adrien tapped it with his own.

“To a better future ahead.”

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #luka couffaine #lukadrien #lukadrien june #my writing #when the day met the night

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halothenthehorns · 5 years ago

Text

DIAGON ALLEY

"Harry, I don't know what all you remember so far-" Remus began.

"Basically what you've read is all." Harry said sadly, eyeing Remus curiously. He looked like he was about to vomit, but at his words the man relaxed slightly.

"Well the nicknames and the sneaking off at school, it relates to me." He said slowly watching him very carefully.

"And the werewolf thing?" Harry interrupted again.

"Wha-how," he began.

"You mentioned it a little earlier," Harry said, looking about the room to the others who all looked just as stunned. "I didn't think much of it at the time. Why would I?"

Remus blinked spastically for several moments before shaking his head and finally letting out a weak chuckle and saying, "Yes well, I guess I never had bothered to censor myself around my friends."

Harry grinned at him and then prompted, "So the nicknames? What does that have to do with sneaking off?"

"How about this," Lily said. "It really is a rather long story. How about we read two more chapters then stop for the night?" She looked around at all of the boys in the room in a rather maternal way. "It's been a long, exhausting day for all of us. Hopefully by then we'll be at a good stopping place. We can get some rest, and then before we continue Remus can tell you the whole story."

Harry nodded, accepting this rather glumly as yet another feeling swept through him. He felt he knew this story, had heard it once before. But like everything else when he tried to dig for the memory a sharp pain was all he got.

The people on the couch were suddenly startled as Sirius called from the fireplace, "Heads up you two." He said as he chucked the books their way.

Harry instinctively ducked, while James reacted by catching it, then snapped. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Well it's one of you two's turn," Sirius said brightly. "I figured who ever got hold of it would have to read next."

"That's absurd," Lily glared at him. "What if you'd hit one of us?"

"Come on Lily," Sirius sighed, "I was a beater, I do have better aim than that."

"It's my turn anyways you nitwit," Remus rolled his eyes.

"It's fine," James chuckled, flipping to the correct chapter, "I've already got it, so I'll read."

When Harry woke the next morning, he tried to convince himself he'd dreamed the whole event last night.

"Harry, really?" Remus chuckled, "I don't think anyone has that kind of imagination."

"I once had a dream that I was abducted by mermaids," Lily told them with a shrug. "Surely you've had strange dreams."

"What's this have to do with mermaids?" Sirius frowned. "I think we're getting just a bit off topic huh?" Then he kept going to ignore the glare.

He heard a tapping noise, and was convinced that it was his Aunt knocking on his cupboard. He closed his eyes and tried to linger on his dream.

"Who can blame you," James agreed. "I'd dream about escaping that place as well."

He hears the tapping noise again and sighs then decides to sit up only to have Hagrid's jacket fall off of him. Hagrid was still asleep on the sofa, and the noise was coming from an owl at the window, tapping its talons to come in with a newspaper in its beak.

"The best morning of my life really," Harry smiled at now having such a good memory to look on.

The others all grimaced slightly at that, finding this more than depressing. Harry on the other hand seemed in such a good mood that none of them wished to ruin it.

Harry got happily to his feet, giddier than he'd ever been in his life as he opened the window and the owl swooped in to drop the newspaper on Hagrid. Then began attacking Hagrid's abandoned jacket. Harry tried to shoo the bird away, but it merely snapped at him.

Sirius laughed at that, "I remember one time I tried to get away with not paying the owl, bloody thing left scratches on my arms for weeks."

"Why would you do that?" Lily asked, genuinely curious.

"Wanted to see what would happen," he answered honestly.

"Of course you did!" Remus said to the ceiling, shaking his head in disbelief.

Harry asked Hagrid, who was still half asleep, what he should do? Hagrid grunted that he wanted to be paid, so Harry began to look in his pockets.

"That is the opposite of descriptive." Lily said, thinking about all the things Hagrid had already pulled out of those pockets.

Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets, but after sifting through several of them he comes across a handful of strange-looking coins.

"Strange looking?" James asked.

"I've shown you muggle money James," Lily reminded him. "Does it look anything like wizard money?"

"Fair enough," James sighed.

Hagrid tells Harry to give the owl five Knuts, but Harry was confused and asked what Knuts were?

All four again flinched, hating Harry's ignorance and seeing it almost as a sign of their failure. They knew the longer this went on, the worse this feeling would get.

Hagrid told him the little bronze ones and Harry gave the owl the due money. The owl flew away as Hagrid stretches and sits up from the couch.

Sirius snorted, "If he was just going to get up why did he make Harry do that?"

"To teach him I suppose," Remus supplied.

"Right," James drew out the word in disbelief.

Hagrid told Harry that they should head off to London soon. Harry was now looking at the coins and had just thought of something that would put a real damper on their day.

"Right," James said, nodding sadly. "He won't know about the vault then?"

"Vault?" Harry asked curiously.

Both Lily and Remus opened their mouths but Sirius butted in first, "I am positive Hagrid is about to explain." James read ahead a bit and then agreed, so read out loud.

Harry reminded Hagrid that Vernon won't pay for him to go to this school and Hagrid told him his parents left money for him. Harry asked about their house being destroyed.

"Why would you think that?" Remus asked. "Even muggles don't keep money in their house."

Harry thought back and answered, "Well Hagrid had that money on him. I suppose I was thinking more about how wizards had a way to keep bunches of money on them."

Sirius chuckled and said, "Ah, ignorance really is bliss eh?"

Frowning severely at him, Lily looked about to tell Sirius off for this, but James was already reading again.

Hagrid told him that wizards have their own bank called Gringotts, that was run by

goblins, where they stored their money. Hagrid boasts slightly saying that the only place safer to store something then Gringotts was Hogwarts. He remembered he has to visit Gringotts today anyway as a favor to Dumbledore, because Dumbledore knows he can trust him.

"Knows you can protect things," Sirius disagreed.

"Come now Sirius," Remus frowned at him. "Hagrid has proved to be very trustworthy."

"Oh I'm not disagreeing with that," Sirius quickly explained. "I'm just saying Hagrid is the

opposite of subtle. If Dumbledore needed something done, secretly important I mean-"

"So not the point right now," Lily interrupted the two.

The two finished getting ready and headed outside. Harry looked around and did not see another boat so he had to ask how Hagrid got there . Hagrid simply says 'flew.'

"I guess he couldn't apparate." Remus said thoughtfully, "Without a proper wand and all."

"Don't think any kind of model broom would hold him." James said, running his hand through his hair in thought.

"Thestrals!" Lily and Sirius said at the same time.

"What?" The other three all said at the same time.

Sirius was grinning wickedly at Lily while saying, "Remus, remember our care of Magical

creatures class, Professor Kettleburn mentioned the Thestrals that roam the grounds. I do believe he mentioned something about them having been raised by Hagrid."

"Oh that's right," Remus agreed, smiling now. "Though I find it hard to believe that you

remembered that and I didn't."

"Always liked magical creatures," Sirius said primly, while eyeing Remus with a devilish smirk.

Lily said loudly to Harry, before a familiar round could start. "Thestrals are magical creatures that can carry immensely heavy loads. It's not out of the realm that Hagrid could have used one to get to Harry, and then sent it back to the castle."

"But how are they going to get off the rock?" James asked.

"Well you have the book," Remus said, still eyeing Sirius as if he was about to chuck something at him, though with the baby still in his arms his options were limited, "you tell us."

Harry repeated 'flew' back in shock, but Hagrid didn't elaborate and instead said that

they'll have to borrow the Dursleys boat for now, he's not supposed to use magic anyway.

"Bummer," Sirius sighed.

As they settled in the boat, Harry was watching Hagrid while trying to imagine him flying.

Lily chuckled and agreed, "Picturing Hagrid flapping his arms about, yeah I can't imagine that much either."

Once they are both in, Hagrid gave Harry another sideways look and mentions how much of a shame it would be to row, so perhaps if he did a bit more magic Harry wouldn't mention it?

Now all five of them were chuckling, none of them blaming Hagrid one bit. One of the drawbacks to constantly having magic was a bit of an impatient side.

Harry agreed at once and Hagrid pulled out his pink umbrella again and taps the edge of the boat. Now out on the water, Harry asked why Gringotts is so safe. Hagrid explained that there are all sorts of spells guarding it, and rumor has it that there were dragons in the lower levels.

Lily blinked several times in shock, "I've never heard that."

"It's true," Sirius and Harry said at once, and then gave each other startled looks.

"How would you know?" James asked him curiously, "my vault isn't that far down."

,"I, err-" Harry muttered rubbing his temple again in frustration. He'd had only a brief moment of being sure that was right, now it was gone as quick as it had come. "I've no idea," he finally admitted in frustration.

Still frowning in concern at Harry, Sirius answered, "Well my cousin, Bellatrix, her vault is that far down. We don't get on much anymore, but when I was a lot younger I went with her and her family to Diagon Alley, we had to ride down there. Poor beasts, they weren't any happier to be down there then I was."

"You mean to tell me, there are dragons underneath Diagon Alley?" Lily yelped, looking

suddenly fearful. "How on earth are they kept down there?" She frowned in concern.

Sirius frowned as he thought back, "Um, they were chained up, but they used these things to keep them back. Honestly I stayed in the cart, so I can't give too much detail."

"Is that even legal?" Lily demanded, now frowning in anger.

"How should I know?" Sirius threw his hands up in surrender, while all eyes turned to Remus.

Remus frowned while rubbing his jaw before answering thoughtfully. "If the Goblins purchased the dragon legally, then by their right they can technically do whatever they wish to it, so long as it's being fed properly. The Ministry doesn't have much control, or say what Goblins do."

They were all frowning by the end of this, while Lily huffed, "That still doesn't make it right."

James reached over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder before saying, "Well, you are in the Magical Law division, I have high expectations you'll have something to say about this then."

Lily nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly, before James went on.

While Harry sat and thought about it , Hagrid flipped open his newspaper and began browsing through it . Harry was itching to ask more questions, but experience from Vernon had taught him to never interrupt someone reading the paper.

James turned to Harry and said with the sternest face any of them had ever seen, "Rule number one for the rest of your life, forget anything and everything those Dursley's ever taught you."

Harry gave him a slight nod, not bothering to correct him that this rule was already a moot point no matter how you looked at it.

When Hagrid huffed about something the Ministry of Magic was messing up , Harry couldn't help the next question that burst out of him about there being a Ministry of Magic.

"If you can call it that," Sirius said in disgust.

"You didn't ask about that now?" Remus asked Harry.

"Honestly, I've just learned to let you guys talk, and pick it up as I go along," Harry laughed.

Lily shook her head and said, "Remember what your father just said? If you have a question, please speak up."

Harry looked around at all of them, before nodding sagely, promising to remember that. "Guess I shouldn't bother asking what the ministry is again though?" He asked, as he looked at the book,

"Since Hagrid's most likely fixing to say." James nodded and decided to keep going.

Hagrid says of course there is, and that they wanted Dumbledore himself as Minister, but he turned the job down, and it turned to a man named Cornelius Fudge.

"Really," all four adults said in genuine surprise.

"Here I thought Crouch was a shoe in," Sirius said in surprise.

"Well I'm happy anyways," Lily said brightly, "that he didn't. I find his methods, almost

medieval."

"Oh come now Lily," James said, frowning at her, "he's strict, and he feels that's the only way to get through and show people there's still a ministry at all." Lily shrugged, she wasn't taking it back.

Despite what Harry had just promised, he smothered the question of who Crouch was, as he had an inkling he should know that name himself, but he still didn't feel up to asking them for such details.

Harry asks what a Ministry of Magic did and Hagrid said their main job was to make sure Muggles didn't find out about the magical world. When Harry asked why, Hagrid explains that everyone would want a magical solution to their problems, and it would be best for Muggles to just leave them alone. Then the boat bumped against the shore and they climbed out and began heading into town.

James suddenly let out a rather vindictive snort, causing Lily to look at him in concern and ask, "What on earth was that for?"

Answering with glee, but without looking up he responded, "I would like to briefly point out that it in no place does it say that the boat made its way back to that rock."

While Lily had a sneaking suspicion that Hagrid must have put a charm on the boat for it to return to the island, which Harry may not have noticed it floating back out. After a moment the others all burst into dark laughter as well, but James quickly decided to press on, knowing his luck wasn't so good and that those Dursley's would be trapped there forever.

Passerby's stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the town to a train station.

"Well that wasn't much of an explanation," Remus pointed out when it became clear that Hagrid wasn't going to continue.

"It's fine for now," Harry said quickly, simply wanting his father to keep going. He felt no real feelings towards any ministry, so he didn't find it too important to learn about right this moment.

Harry couldn't blame them since Hagrid was so huge he stood out all on his own, plus he kept on pointing at ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly how odd they were. Harry delayed him by asking if he had really meant what he said about there being dragons in Gringotts. Hagrid admits it is only a rumor and then admitted his wants of a dragon of his own.

"He'd like one?" They said in shock.

Harry repeated back that Hagrid would really like a dragon and Hagrid said he's always wanted one since he was a kid.

"Why?" Lily gaped, "They're completely unmanageable."

Remus simply shrugged, finding it as odd as everyone else.

Then they reached the train station and walkway where people continued to stare at Hagrid as he pulled out knitting supplies.

"Suppose that would be a sight," Lily said, smiling to herself at the image.

Hagrid asked Harry if he's still had his list and to take a look at all of his supplies, so Harry looks at the second page which consists of all sorts of textbooks about potions and charms.

"You can always tell a lot about the teachers you're going to have by the books," Sirius said sadly.

"And judging by the few new ones, Harry should have a few interesting teachers," Remus agreed.

"We know that there's going to be a new Defense teacher," Lily agreed thoughtfully. "Do you think any of the other teachers would have changed?"

"Won't know until he gets there then," James pointed out.

Requiring things such as a cauldron, dragon hide gloves, and a wand. Then ending with a reminder that you can only bring one of three pets, an owl, a cat, or a toad.

"Remember Barney, he brought his newt all seven years, and no one said a word," Sirius laughed.

"You would think they would enforce that pet policy a bit more," Remus agreed.

There is also a note of reminder that first years are not allowed their own broomsticks.

"Which is a horrid rule," James grumbled, "first years should be allowed to join the Quidditch team if they choose."

"They're supposed to be focusing on their school work," Lily disagreed.

"You could apply that to all seven years then," Sirius said, siding with James on that.

"What's Quidditch?" Harry butted in, before the argument continued further.

James and Sirius looked faint all of a sudden, never having thought such words could come from any person's mouth, let alone their Marauder Junior. Before either boy could jump and go into absurd detail Remus gave Harry a quick general idea of it. When he was done Lily smiled at him and said, "Thank you Remus. If we'd let these two answer, we'd be here for hours."

"But he didn't even mention," James began at once, but Lily cut him off with a firm glare and said, "you can go on all you like later dear, for now how about we keep going on this." Sirius and James shared exasperated looks, but James decided to agree, for now.

Harry asked if they could really buy all of this in London and Hagrid mysteriously says 'if you know where to go.' They exit the train and go out onto an ordinary street, and Harry begins to wonder if there really was wizard money hidden beneath the street.

"It is quite a lot to take in," Lily agreed, remembering back to her first time, wishing with all she had she'd been the one with Harry at this moment.

Could this all be one big joke cooked up by the Dursleys?

All three boys gave derisive snorts at that, while Sirius growled, "Please, those three wouldn't know a joke if it bit them in the-"

"Language," Lily reprimanded at once.

"Oh please Lily," James sighed, "Sirius has been talking like that this whole time."

Lily frowned severely at them both before reminding them, "There is still a child in the room, and I don't want him to be growing up around that kind of talk. Now I can't stop you every time, but I will for the minor things." Huffing and grumbling, both boys agreed, it wasn't worth the argument right now.

Yet for some reason he couldn't explain to himself, Harry trusted Hagrid.

"Maybe it's because Hagrid is a trustworthy person," Remus said frowning, "and you're not used to being around that kind."

Harry gave him a sad smile, not really wanting to agree, but not disagreeing either before pointing out, "I am now."

Feeling a bit warmed, James continued.

When they do stop, it's in front of a grungy little place called the Leaky Cauldron. Harry looked around and saw that no one else seemed to notice this place, their eyes skipping from one shop to the next without even glancing at it.

"They can't," Lily explained for him, "it's magically protected that way."

For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby.

"That's part of its charm though," Sirius laughed, having gotten drunk a fair few times in that place.

They entered and found it with only a few occupants, noting the bartender in particular who had a walnut shaped head.

"I just love the way you describe people," James laughed, never having thought of Tom that way.

Hagrid calls out a greeting to him, calling him Tom, but when he asks if Hagrid will be staying for a drink, Hagrid says he can't because he's escorting Harry Potter today. This draws the attention of every person in there.

All four adults frowned at this, having recognized in the first chapter that this was the reason that Harry had been kept away from most magical folk, but still not liking this attitude much.

Then suddenly they were all lined up in front of him, shaking his hand.

"Jeez, pushy much," Sirius said frowning; suddenly wishing he was there to keep them all back.

"They could show a bit more decorum," Lily agreed, hoping Hagrid would do something about this soon.

Remus and James were frowning and shaking their heads, remembering all over again just what exactly Harry was now famous for, and not liking the reminder. Harry could sense how upset this was making them, and while he didn't like it anymore than they did, he did venture to ask one thing, "How did they even recognize me? Hagrid I'll give, Dumbledore surely was the one to tell him, but them?"

"Most likely they had a picture of you," Lily sighed, "if your name is so famous then I'd bet there would be pictures of at least James and I floating around, and you do resemble your father enough it's not hard to miss." This only seemed to depress the lot of them all the more, so Harry didn't press for more details, admitting they wouldn't know anyways.

They were all introducing themselves to Harry, and he even recognizes a man who introduces himself as Dedalus Diggle, who Harry had once seen in the street and had bowed to him.

"Well we were right before," Sirius said, taking a brave stab at their normal conversation again. "The members of the Order are still hanging around him a bit."

"Fat lot of good it did," James grumbled, having hoped that all those dark feelings from being around the Dursley's wouldn't have been brought up again, at least this soon.

"It does make me at least thankful that it was an Order member, and not someone else," Remus scowled, still thinking any of Voldemort's supporters were likely to want revenge on Harry and his tucked away life with the Muggles held the smallest glimmer of good.

One woman kept coming back to shake his hand again and again.

"Really now," Lily huffed, "this is getting ridiculous."

Another stand out comes edging up, and Hagrid introduces him as Professor Quirrell, a teacher at Hogwarts.

"Oh," they all brightened at this change, "What do you suppose he teaches?" Lily asked eagerly.

"Won't find out till I read now will I?" James asked cheekily, while Lily reached around and smacked him lightly. Harry wasn't listening; he was blinking in surprise as he realized that name should mean something to him, something he definitely didn't like. Perhaps he was just a really bad teacher?

Quirrell stutters out a greeting.

"Is he going to stammer like that the whole time?" Sirius asked with a frown, "because it will get quite annoying."

"You're quite annoying, and we put up with you," Lily reprimanded.

Harry politely asked what class he teaches, and Quirrell stutters out Defense Against the Dark Arts, then shudders at the idea of his own subject.

"Not the best teacher for the subject then," Remus said sadly.

"Remember Kimbell? That woman couldn't read a book right side up properly, can't think of many teachers worse than her," Sirius laughed.

Then he gives a nervous laugh and stutters out that he had to go pick up a book on vampires, clearly going paler at the thought of that.

"Dumbledore must be really desperate by this point," James sighed.

"I don't get it?" Harry finally asked, there was clearly something going on here

"Oh," Remus said in surprise, "yes well, there's a rumor that the Defense Against the Dark Art's teaching post is cursed."

"Slytherin supposedly cursed the position centuries ago," James added on.

"And as no teacher ever held the job for longer than a year, for various reasons, most of us are inclined to agree," Remus finished.

Finally Hagrid waved everyone away who was still trying to talk to Harry.

"About time," they all huffed.

Hagrid bustled Harry out the back door into an alleyway. Hagrid grinned at the look on Harry's face and reminded him that he's famous, and made a light joke that even Quirrell was trembling to see him, then he corrected himself and said he was always like that.

Harry asked why he was always that nervous, and Hagrid says that he went out on a sabbatical a year ago, got into some trouble with vampires and hags, and didn't come back the same.

Remus nodded sadly, "I suppose if you don't know how to handle those instances they could have an effect on you."

"But he's the DA teacher," Sirius said in exasperation, "he should be exactly the one to handle those things." The other three all agreed, and guessed that this wasn't going to be a very good start to Harry's magical education in that class.

Harry's head was beginning to swim with too much information.

"You're feeling alright now though?" Lily asked quickly in concern.

Harry however was leaning comfortably back against the couch, and nodded quickly to her, "I can't explain it, but this all seems perfectly normal to me now. New still yes, but ordinary."

"And you'll tell us if you do feel overwhelmed?" James reminded, feeling almost overly

concerned.

Harry promised that he would.

Hagrid pulled out his umbrella again and opened the door to get into Diagon Alley. Once inside, Hagrid started pointing out all sorts of shops, and Harry wished he had a dozen more eyes to look around with.

"I don't blame you," Lily laughed, remembering her first time in, "I couldn't stay in one spot."

"Bet your first stop was the apothecary," Sirius teased. Lily's blush was enough of an answer for them.

As they passed people on the street Harry heard scraps of passing conversations, including one woman complaining that the price of Dragon liver had gone up to sixteen Sickles an ounce.

James let out a throaty whistle, "boy prices sure went up in the passing time."

"Unavoidable that," Remus laughed.

They passed a few more shops that caught Harry's eye, including one that had a broomstick in the window.

"The best shop in the Alley," Sirius agreed.

The two boys gawking in front of the store were going on about a new model that had come out called a Nimbus Two Thousand.

"Nice," both boys chanted at once. "Oh I wish we could see it," Sirius added on.

"Probably not anytime soon," Remus gently reminded.

They made their way to Gringotts, and on the front doors was an engraved plaque that read:

Lily actually said along with James.

Insert Gringotts Plaque

All the others looked at Lily in shock; James was finally able to ask, "How on earth did you

memorize that?"

"I love poems of all kinds," Lily told him, "I memorized that the first time I saw it."

"Nutter, honestly," Sirius laughed, but quickly stopped when Lily gave him a sharp glare.

They made their way to a free goblin and requested to go to Harry's vault, and the goblin asks for Harry's key.

"At least the goblins are professional," Lily grumbled, still smarting slightly from the Leaky

Cauldron.

Hagrid had to dig through his many pockets before coming up with the tiny object.

"How though?" James suddenly asked in surprise, "If that's the key to my vault, how did Hagrid get it?"

"Dumbledore most likely," Lily reminded him, "he seemed to have taken responsibility over for Harry."

She threw Sirius a pained look, who had paled a bit before continuing, "he probably held onto it, and then gave it to Hagrid when he went to fetch Harry."

James nodded absentmindedly, thinking of the other possessions he had in his house, wondering what had become of certain items. He suddenly shook himself as he got off track, deciding he'd have to think about it later.

Then Hagrid hands over a note, stating it was from Dumbledore, and they needed to visit another vault as well.

"Could he be any more vague?" Sirius frowned.

"Honestly if he'd just come out and said what it was, Harry probably wouldn't even know,"

Remus agreed.

"Why wouldn't he want Harry to know anyway?" James asked.

"Search me," Lily sighed.

After the goblin read the note he had no problems summoning another goblin, Griphook, to take them below.

"Were you expecting anyone else at this point?" Sirius chuckled.

Harry didn't answer, as he felt it again. An insistent niggle telling him there was a connection to that name, and one he was sure he didn't like, and this time he had no idea why that could be.

Harry asked what's in this special vault Hagrid has to visit.

"My point," Remus interrupted, James just ignored it.

Hagrid says he can't tell Harry, it's top secret.

"If it's so important then why did Dumbledore send Hagrid to get it at the same time as getting Harry?" Lily asked severely, "He couldn't have gone to get it some other time."

"Convenience I suppose," Sirius shrugged.

They pass through another door into a dungeon-like area, with a cart waiting. When they climb inside it b egan moving on its own in all sorts of twisting and confusing patterns through the caverns.

"Of course it is," Remus laughed, "considering the route magically changes every time anyways."

The goblin wasn't even steering. At one point they go over an underground lake with stalactites and stalagmites growing all over the place. Harry tells Hagrid he forgets the difference between the two and Hagrid says stalagmites have a 'm' in them.

All five of them burst out laughing at this. James managed to recover first, wiping slight tears from his eyes as he gasped, "well he's not wrong."

Remus was still snickering slightly as he began, "stalactites grow from the ceiling, stalagmites grow on the floor. That's the basic answer anyways."

"Is there anything you don't know?" Sirius demanded.

"How your mind works," he responded without looking over.

Then he told Harry not to ask him anymore questions, he's feeling sick.

James grimaced in disgust, "that wouldn't be a pleasant trip."

"I'd imagine it happened all the time though," Lily agreed, having a bit of a weak stomach for roller coaster type things herself.

The cart came to a stop outside an unnumbered vault and Griphook requested the key and opened it. Inside is a treasure trove worth of money all for Harry.

"That should hold you till school's over anyways," James said sadly, wishing he could have left his son with something a bit more than gold, "after you turn seventeen, you'd inherit the whole of the Potter vault, so this is practically nothing."

Harry went a little cross eyed at the thought of such riches, but couldn't think of anything to say to it really. 'Thank you' just didn't seem to quite cover it.

"Assuming you're not like your father and try to buy a new broom every year. Or buy all of your supplies in solid gold," Lily said scathingly throwing James a bit of a dirty look.

James was quick to defend himself, "hey, can you blame me; I was trying to impress a pretty girl."

Lily just rolled her eyes, and pointed at the book before he could keep going.

Harry was understandably a little overwhelmed. The Dursleys had complained his whole life of how much he cost them, and there was no way they could have known this existed, or surely they would have taken this away from him as well.

"No, they couldn't," Remus snapped, seeing red for a brief second at such a thought, "it's

magically protected."

"Thankfully," Lily said quickly, "I think Harry's right, and they just don't know it exists. So it

shouldn't even be a problem." Privately she was thinking that, legally, yes the Dursley's very well could have rights to this, if anyone informed them that was.

They complained all the time how expensive Harry was.

A bit deeper grumbling, but thankfully, no outburst this time.

Hagrid helped Harry pack away a bit of the money that he could use today to get his school supplies while explaining the wizard currency to him. Then they got back into the cart and Hagrid requested if the cart could possibly go slower.

"One speed only," Remus chuckled, "it's magically enchanted that way."

"You know a bit too much about this stuff," Sirius told him, giving him an eye.

Remus blushed a bit before saying, "yes well, I briefly considered a career in curse breaking. So I studied up quite a bit on the subject," all the other occupants gave him startled looks before James said with hurt in his voice, "you never told us that."

"Remus, you'd be traveling all the time," Lily said sadly. Sirius looked akin to a kicked puppy.

"Considered," he repeated quickly, "I figured, you know Goblins wouldn't mind me much and-"

,"So what changed?" Sirius asked quickly, seeing his friends line of reasoning, though still not liking it much, he could hardly fault him.

"Harry," he answered, smiling down at the baby in his arms, and then looking at the adult

squished between his parents. "When I found out Lily was pregnant, I decided to stay local for at least a bit longer. I wanted to be there while both of your parents were still getting their feet together, their own careers you know. Sirius is pretty busy with the Order, and Peter has been moving around just as much lately, restless I suppose," he gave a half shrug at all of their looks and said, "I figured I'd bring it up eventually."

"We will discuss this later," James said, giving his friend a stern look, though unimaginably warmed at the thought behind it.

Harry briefly considered interrupting to ask what the 'Order' was, since this was mentioned several times before, but James was already reading on and he decided to save it for later.

Griphook told him the cart had only one speed. Now they were heading even deeper underground, at one point going over a ravine, and Harry pokes his head out of the side of the cart to see what was below.

"Not safe," Lily said at once, "not safe at all, you could have gotten your head knocked off."

"Relax Lily," James laughed, "I did that almost every time I went down. Those tracks won't hurt you."

Hagrid pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.

Despite James assurance, Lily still felt relieved at this.

When they reac hed Hagrid's requested vault, number seven hundred and thirteen, it had no keyhole. Griphook goes over and runs his finger down the wall instead, and then turned to Harry and told him if anyone but a Gringotts goblin did that, they'd be trapped inside.

Harry asks how often they check for that, and Griphook says every ten years or so.

"Pleasant," Sirius grumbled.

"That's murder," Lily said in shock.

"Do you really think they care?" James asked curiously.

"Goblins live by their own rules, remember?" Remus reminded Lily, "they see this as just punishment for trying to steal their stuff, and the Ministry doesn't interfere in Gringotts."

Harry was sure there must be something really fascinating in here, but when he first poked his head in there was nothing to be seen. Then Hagrid grabbed up a small little package wrapped in grubby paper and tucked it away in his jacket. Harry wanted dearly to ask, but knew better.

"I don't," Sirius said at once, "but I suppose you don't know that answer." Harry shook his head, rubbing his temple in agitation again.

Now that they were all done in there and back out in the bright sunshine of the alley, Harry had a pocket full of money and he wanted to go around and look at everything all over again. He was carrying more money than he had his whole life, possibly even more then, Dudley ever had.

"That can go to your head," Lily said, not quite reprimanding, just cautioning.

"Relax," Remus told her, "he's with Hagrid; he won't let him go crazy."

Hagrid requested if it was ok if he went and got himself a drink, the cart ride had really messed up his stomach. He told Harry to go into a place called Madam Malkin's robe shop by himself. Harry agrees, though still nervous.

"What?" All four adults yelped in shock.

"He really shouldn't have left you alone like that," Lily said at once.

"It's fine," Harry soothed, "I wandered around by myself on my own all the time. The only reason I was nervous was because of the magical part." None of them were really very happy about this, but they also knew Madam Malkin was a professional type of woman, so they figured it was better than somewhere else he could have been left.

Harry entered and was escorted to the back to be fitted with robes and finds another boy already back there with pale blond hair. He started the conversation by asking if Harry was in Hogwarts too.

Lily smiled sadly, knowing this was Harry's first interaction with a boy his age, from the magical world. It was still depressing to think her son didn't have any friends all this time.

Harry agreed that he was, and the boy continued by saying his father was out getting his books, and his mother was out looking at wands.

"See," Harry spoke up, "he was left on his own. It's not that odd."

"Still," James grumbled, considering in the first five minutes of discovering all this, he kept imagining Death Eater's around every corner. He held himself back from saying that, it was clearly on the others minds as well, but no need to startle Harry about it when he was almost relaxing around them.

"Why would his mother be looking at wands?" Remus asked, "it wouldn't do him any good."

"Maybe she needs a new one," Sirius suggested with a shrug.

Then he continued in a bored voice that he was going to bully his father into getting him a racing broom and try to smuggle it in.

All four adults suddenly frowned at this, suddenly deciding that they'd rather Harry didn't continue talking to this boy. They didn't much like his attitude.

Then he kept going by asking Harry if he had his own broom, and when Harry replied in the negative, he asks if Harry knows anything about Quidditch, which again Harry denies.

"Don't," Remus and Lily said at once.

"But you didn't even scratch on-" Sirius began.

"You can talk about it later," Lily repeated, growing rather annoyed that they just wouldn't let it go.

Begrudgingly, James decided to keep going.

The boy is now boasting slightly by saying he's positive he'll be a shoo in for his own house team, and asks Harry if he knows which house he'll be in, and Harry once again says no, feeling stupider all the time.

"My poor dear," Lily sighed, running her hand through his hair in sympathy.

"Don't smother him Lily," James laughed.

"What are houses?" Harry asked before Lily could respond hotly.

"The four Hogwarts houses," Remus said at once, not wanting Sirius to get a biased opinion in, "Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. When you get to school, you'll be sorted into one of the four houses depending."

"Depending on what," Harry inquired, when it seemed Remus wasn't going to keep going.

"It's up to the Hat," Sirius said honestly.

When Harry's blank look continued James jumped in with, "well, when you get to Hogwarts, then you'll fully understand. Besides, I want to see the look on your face when you, err, remember it for yourself."

Harry sort of wanted to keep arguing, but then Remus said, "it really is tradition that we don't tell you. It's a secret, so that no new students can be thinking of it ahead of time." Harry finally nodded his acceptance and let it go.

The boy said he's positive he will be a Slytherin, all his family was. He stated that he'd be so ashamed if he ended up somewhere else. Like if he landed in Hufflepuff he'd leave the school.

"I am liking this kid less and less," James said frowning. Sure he was loyal to his own house, and would admit to being a bit biased towards Slytherin for personal reasons, but he knew deep down that he would love whatever house his son wound up in.

Harry had nothing articulate to say to that. Then the blonde boy notices Hagrid outside of the shop holding two ice-cream cones, which is why he hadn't come in. The boy exclaims who that is.

"Well at least he went and did something nice for Harry," Lily said smiling.

"Assuming those aren't both for him," Sirius quipped.

Harry's pleased to finally contribute something to the conversation and informed him who that was and his job at the school, and the boy scathingly replied how he's heard of him, he was some sort of servant.

"No," all five said at once severely.

Harry corrected him at once as saying he was the gamekeeper, his opinion of the boy dropping every second.

"Thank Merlin," Sirius agreed, "I'd hate for him to be Harry's first friend."

Harry was beginning to feel his head start to pound again, the longer this conversation went on, the more he felt like he knew this boy. However, it was nothing good, so he said nothing and let the reading continue.

The boy hardly acknowledged the correction, going on to say how he's heard he gets drunk all the time and attempts to do magic and ends up setting his house on fire. Harry coldly retorts how he thinks he's brilliant.

"Thank you for defending him," Remus said smiling, seeing a bit of both his parents there, neither would have stood for someone insulting their friend.

The other sneers at him asking why that was, and asking why his own parents aren't with him. Harry truthfully answered that they're dead.

James stuttered a bit at reading this, it didn't seem to be getting any easier the more he said it, but quickly pushed on.

The boy says he's sorry, without sounding very sorry at all.

"Great," Sirius snarled, "he escapes one Dudley only to find another the same day."

"I'm hoping they won't have much to do with each other," Lily said quickly.

He goes on to ask if they were 'our kind.' Harry answered back that they were a witch and wizard.

"That's not exactly what he meant," Lily said sadly.

"But Harry's answer is perfectly correct," James said hotly.

The blond boy says he doesn't think the school should let the 'other kind' in.

"Well that cinches it," Sirius sneered, "he's a pureblood, bigot."

"A what?" Harry asked curiously, not understanding such a violent reaction.

Sirius tried to explain as best he could, "There are different 'types' of wizards if you will, though there's really no difference when you get down to it. By this boy's attitude, I'd wager anything he's a pureblood, which means both of his parents have wizard parents and they were both pureblood wizards etcetera. Then there's muggle-born, which is what he's referring to when he says 'the other sort' and that's a witch or wizard who comes from a muggle family, with no witch or wizard blood immediately traceable."

"Like me," Lily put in quietly for Harry, as Sirius finished.

"Then there's half-blood, which is a muggle parent and a wizard."

"Which is what I am," Remus input, "my mother was a muggle."

Sirius nodded before finishing, "a lot of pure-blood wizards think they're better than the lot

because of well, their pure blood statutes. Which is bogus, and-"

"It's alright Sirius," James cut in, when it became obvious his best friend was about to go into a full blown tangent, casting Harry a sideways look he summarized, "and this boy seems like the first kind."

Harry nodded in understanding, and decided against asking what had upset Sirius so much, saving that for later. He also refrained from asking what that would technically make him, if his mother was a muggle born but his dad was obviously a pureblood, would that make him a half blood or three quarters or... He let the matter go and decided against asking because he decided he didn't care one way or the other, he just wanted to know more which he decided he'd learn as this continued.

Saying how they just weren't the same, and weren't brought up in 'our' ways. He thought they should keep the school only in the old wizarding families.

"That would make attendance at school, like twenty, tops," Lily balked, "if they went by that."

"Then it's thankful they don't do that," James consoled.

Then he asked for Harry's last name.

"Don't tell him," they all said at once.

"He'll just throw himself at you, pretending and junk," Sirius grumbled in disgust.

"Can't do anything about it now though," Harry reminded them, smiling slightly.

James quickly read on, wanting to know.

But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin declared Harry was done.

"Thank Merlin," James breathed.

"Why was Harry done before him?" Lily asked curiously, "the other boy was already getting his done when Harry walked in."

"Maybe he's getting something special done to them," Sirius offered.

Harry is more than happy to stop talking to the boy, and began to walk away, only for the blond boy to call out that he hoped to see him at school.

"Hopefully not," the others all muttered. Harry declined to mention that he had a bad feeling that, yes in fact he would.

Harry remained quiet once he rejoined Hagrid, and when Hagrid asked why, Harry lied and told him it was nothing.

All four frowned at this, wishing for what like the hundredth time that Harry had someone to open up to. They were each tempted to ask now what was really on his mind, but held it in for the uneasy frown lingering on him. They'd really been asking a lot of him lately, and he was allowed to his own thoughts, even if they wished he didn't want to.

Once they traveled through a few shops, Harry decided to ask him what Quidditch is.

"Don't even," Lily said.

James gave her a pout before muttering, "I wasn't going to."

Hagrid was at first shocked to hear Harry hadn't heard of it, and Harry mutters that just made him feel worse. He decides then to tell Hagrid about the conversation he'd had with the other boy. He finished at the end with how the boy had said muggles shouldn't even be allowed in. Hagrid corrects him at once, saying Harry wasn't from a muggle family, and points out to him that Lily was one of the best witches there was and look what she had for a sister!

"I think that was a backwards compliment," Sirius snickered.

"But true all the same," Lily agreed, smiling at the flattery.

Harry repeated his question of what Quidditch was, and Hagrid said it's a wizard sport,

like soccer from the muggle world.

"I'm impressed Hagrid knows what that is," Remus approved.

He explained that it was played up in the air on brooms and that there are four balls, but the rules were kind of hard to explain.

"No they're not," Sirius huffed under his breath, though had the sense to keep his mouth shut this time.

Then Harry asked what Slytherin and Hufflepuff are, and Hagrid explained the concept of the four school houses, beginning to say that most people say Hufflepuffs are the worst, and Harry cuts him off to say he thinks he'll be in that house.

"It wouldn't matter to us if you were," Lily said at once.

"And there's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff," James finished what he was sure Hagrid was fixing to say.

Hagrid huffed and said that Hufflepuff would still be better than Slytherin . Since it was the house known for turning out the worst and darkest of the wizards, rumour had it that You-Know-Who was one himself.

"Really?" Harry asked the room.

They all exchanged looks before Lily answered sadly, "That's a stereotype dear, all the houses have one. Not everyone in Slytherin is awful-" she stuttered off for a moment, looking pained before pressing on, "but the bit about Voldemort is true, at least as far as rumors go."

"Considering no one really knows anything about Voldemort, including his school years, or even if that's supposed to be a real name, yeah it's sadly just a rumor," Sirius agreed.

Harry nodded to himself sadly, again feeling that awful ache of where an answer was supposed to be, but as with every other time, forced to let it go.

Harry was shocked to hear this and asked if You-Know-Who went to Hogwarts, and Hagrid confirmed that yes, but years ago.

"If no one knows anything about Voldemort," Harry asks, feeling a funny little feeling at saying that name for the first time but quickly brushing past it, "how does Hagrid know that?"

"As Voldemort was trying to conquer this part of the world," Remus offered, "most assume he went to Hogwarts. After all if he came from say Australia, why would he be here?"

Harry nodded in understanding and let the matter go.

They went inside a bookshop next, where there were all sorts of interesting books, including ones as small as stamps.

"Why would you buy books that small?" Sirius asked.

"It's a joke," Lily told him, having asked the shopkeeper herself at eleven. "you're supposed to use an engorgement charm on it to make it bigger, and then learn about shrinking spells in it."

Sirius just shook his head but kept going.

James did butt in this time by asking, "What are stamps?"

"Something Muggles have to put on their mail so it'll go through their postal system, they're really tiny like the size of your thumb," Harry happily explained, finding it pleasant he was getting to explain something back to his father for once.

Some of the books didn't have anything in them at all.

When Sirius opened his mouth Remus quickly jumped in with, "same basic principle as the last book."

"It's still dumb," Sirius huffed.

"You think all books are dumb," Lily snapped.

"Not this one," he defended at once, unable to think any book about his pup was dumb.

Harry begins looking through a book on curses, but Hagrid drags him away. Harry tries to protest, saying he wanted to curse Dudley.

"Do not blame you," Remus agreed, while James and Sirius looked beyond pleased this was Harry's first instinct, it was certainly there's. Lily found them so repugnant she couldn't even deny a slight feeling of the same.

Hagrid pointed out to him that he's not supposed to use magic in the muggle world and he won't have the ability to do that quite yet.

"Sad but true," Sirius sighed.

Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either, pointing out that it said pewter on his list.

"Thank you Hagrid," Lily agreed, "since a lot of potions can react to the material they're being brewed in, even some first year potions. It would be irresponsible for anybody to let their child do that."

"I'm sure the potion teacher wouldn't let them," James smirked, remembering Slughorn's reaction when he tried the same thing.

Then they went to an apothecary where Hagrid got Harry some basic potion supplies.

"You know I never thought about that," Sirius cocked his head to the side, "but how would

muggles know to do that? If Hagrid hadn't been there, I mean that's not on the school list."

"We're allowed to use the school's cupboards until we mail for our own," Lily grumbled, having mentioned this several times to many teachers, but nothing had ever been done about it.

They went to several other shops after that, until finally they reached the last thing on Harry's list, a wand. Before they headed there though, Hagrid declared he hadn't gotten Harry a birthday present yet.

"I can't thank Hagrid enough," James vowed.

Harry goes red with embarrassment and began to mutter Hagrid didn't have to do that.

"That's the point of birthdays Harry," Sirius said in an almost stern voice, angry enough that he had to actually explain this, "you do deserve it."

"Ten times over," Remus muttered, giving the baby in his lap a little tickle to his tummy.

Hagrid scoffs and says he'd buy Harry his pet, and decides to get him an owl.

"Aw," Lily cooed, "Hagrid is the sweetest."

When they exit that shop, Harry is now the proud owner of a snowy white owl, her head currently tucked up under her wing as she slept.

"That's fascinating," Remus beamed, "though a little flamboyant."

"It's the one I would have picked," James agreed.

Lily frowned, worrying her lip a bit, not wanting to think of how the Dursleys were going to react when Harry was forced to go to them with an owl. Petunia hated animals. Hopefully the fear of Hagrid would loom over them enough they wouldn't say anything. This thought didn't seem to have crossed any of the boy's minds as they kept going.

Harry was stuttering out his thanks about as effectively as Quirrell would have.

Lily brightened up at once at her boy showing some proper manners.

Hagrid was getting a little embarrassed himself, saying he didn't mind, and mentioned he didn't think the Dursleys gave Harry many good presents so he deserved it.

Now they all frowned at this, suddenly wondering just how much Hagrid knew about what the Dursleys had done to Harry. Harry quickly jumped in, "I've never asked, but Hagrid doesn't know much. I really don't know for sure," he trailed off and James sighed in defeat before forcefully pressing on.

Then said they just had Ollivanders place left, so that Harry could get his wand. Harry was instantly excited again, a magic wand was what he'd been looking forward to the most.

"I don't blame you on that one," Lily chuckled weakly, slightly bringing the mood back around.

They come across a small shop near the end, where the title of the store is embossed in gold, and a wand was lying on a pillow in the window.

"Whose wand is that?" Harry asked curiously.

"Rumor has it that it's supposed to be Merlin's," James said in a mysterious tone of voice.

"But that's just a rumor," Remus said smiling.

When they entered the shop they saw that it was piled high with boxes scattered every which way, and the hair on the back of Harry's neck began to stand on end, as if he can just feel the magic in the air.

James beamed with pride at that, "that shows that you're very aware of magic in the area. Highly useful skill that."

Hagrid sat down on a little chair to the side, and when a quiet voice greets them from the shadows he jumped so hard the chair collapses beneath him.

"I'm impressed it held his weight to begin with," Sirius snickered.

The old man greets Harry formally, stating that Harry looked very much like his father, but had his mother's eyes. Then he describes his mother's wand, ending with how it was good for charms.

Lily smiled as she fingered her wand lovingly.

Harry notices how little he blinks, and can't help but find the man slightly creepy.

"He has that effect on people," Sirius agreed with a slight shiver.

"I always thought he did it on purpose," Remus chuckled, "he likes to leave an impression."

He then describes his father's wand in the same fashion, ending with how powerful it could be in transfiguration.

"Came in handy for that too," James agreed with an obvious wink at Remus, who just smiled indulgently at that.

Then he spotted the scar on Harry's forehead and touched it.

All four adults huffed a bit at that, Lily even muttering, "that's going a bit far now."

He stated who he sold that wand to, and how very sorry he was to see the damage it wrought.

All four of them balked at that, stunned to learn that Ollivander knew Voldemort's real identity. "Do you think Dumbledore knows about that?" James asked.

"Oh I'm sure he does," Remus said at once.

Then he spotted Hagrid and goes through the same treatment of describing his wand, but

noting at the end how it was snapped. Hagrid shuffles his feet with unease and admits they did this indeed, but he still kept the pieces.

Remus snorted with laughter, "now why would he admit to something like that?"

"Why shouldn't he?" James asked, lips twitching, "It's not like he could still be using them of course."

"Oh of course not," Sirius agreed, fighting back laughter.

Mr. Ollivander asked Hagrid if he still used them, and Hagrid quickly said of course not, while clutching his umbrella.

At this all three boys finally broke and cracked up laughing a bit, while Lily simply shook her head in fondness.

Ollivander turned his attention back to Harry and asked him which was his wand arm and Harry responds he's right handed. Then the old man begins measuring Harry from shoulder to finger, knee to armpit, and so on all around his body.

"Why though?" Sirius asked, still chuckling slightly. "Exactly what does the length of knee to armpit have to do with wands?"

"It's a magical item," Remus reminded him, "after the first measurement, it kind of just wanders off with a mind of its own, and Ollivander lets it while he thinks."

While he measured he continued informing Harry about wands, stating what magical cores he used.

"I once met a chap who had tried to use centaur hair," James laughed, "now that had some disastrous problems."

Sirius was snickering as he said, "remember that time when someone tried to use a mermaid scale as a core. That wand flooded the whole floor." After a bit more laughter, James finally went back to his reading.

Then he got down to business and handed Harry a wand, but he'd hardly held it when it was taken back. Then he handed Harry a different wand, with the same results.

"Wow," Lily said in surprise, "he got mine on the second try."

"Got mine on the first," James and Sirius both said laughing.

"It took him five tries to get mine," Remus remembered.

He tried several, but none seemed to gain Ollivanders acceptance, while the more he tossed aside, the more excited he seemed to become.

"Wow," they all said in surprise this time, while James carried on, "I don't think he's ever had this much trouble before."

"Yes well, just like all professionals in a field, at least he's enjoying the challenge," Remus said, still smiling.

Finally Harry was handed one of holly wood with a phoenix feather core, and Harry felt the warmth spread through his fingers once he grasped it .

"There you have it," Lily cried with joy.

"You know they say the type of wood you get says something about your personality," Sirius said, smiling a bit.

"I don't put much stock into wandlore," James waved him off before he could keep going.

While Mr. Ollivander took the wand back and began wrapping it up for Harry to take, he kept muttering over and over how curious this was.

"Why's that so curious?" Remus asked, just as bewildered.

"Why do you do that?" Sirius demanded, "None of us knows the answer."

"It's called a curious nature Sirius," Remus replied back a bit snippy.

Harry's curiosity wins out, and he asks why's that so curious. Mr. Ollivander explains that he remembers every single wand he's ever sold, and the phoenix whose tail feather resides in Harry's wand only gave one other feather, the brother of which ended up in You-Know- Who's wand.

Despite the shock they all felt at hearing this, they were far more concerned at Harry's reaction.

As James read this out, Harry gasped in pain, suddenly clutching his skull as if it were about to burst in two. "Harry dear," Lily said at once, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

James quickly put the book aside and leaned down, trying to look his son in the face, as he was now doubled over and pressing his face to his knees. Sirius got wearily to his feet, heading

towards the kitchen he called, "I'm going to-" but quickly cut himself off when Harry muttered something.

"What's that dear?" Lily asked in as calming a voice as she could manage.

Finally looking up, and blinking several times as if coming out of a trance he gasped, "I knew that- but there's more, there's something really important about that! Argh-" he cut himself off and clutched his head again.

Getting off the couch and leaning in front of him James said in a stern voice, "Harry, stop trying to strain yourself. Memory charms are some of the trickiest there is, and your memories will only come back with time. Trying to force them back like this could cause you serious harm, so quite fighting it."

Still panting slightly, Harry nodded and bit by bit relaxed until he could finally look up again and look around at all of them, upon seeing the concern and fear etched into their pale faces he muttered, "Sorry."

After a short stunned pause Sirius burst into laughter, clutching his stomach, while looking pityingly at his pup, "Just what are you apologizing for? Giving us a heart attack? I'm sure there will be plenty more where that came from."

Still looking slightly abashed, Harry nodded and leaned back against the couch again, rubbing his temple in agitation but not looking in quite as much pain now. The four adults exchanged uneasy looks, but Remus finally said, "suppose we can go on yeah? You alright with that Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry said quickly, wanting to deflect the attention off of him.

As James got up and picked the book back up and began flipping pages to find his place. Sirius made his way causally over to the love seat, sprawling himself out on it, and being much more able to keep an eye out from this angle. He wasn't even tempted to mock James for his use of the word serious, this was more important. While they all deeply wanted to discuss what they'd just learned, Harry still looked so out of it they were far more concerned at keeping him away from this topic for a while.

Ollivander half praised that dark wand, saying it had done terrible things, but great powerful things all the same. He finished by saying he expects great things from Harry.

"Great and terrible," Sirius grumbled, "yeah, that about covers it."

They exit Diagon Alley altogether and stop for a bite to eat before Harry gets on a train. Harry's now looking around in awe, thinking how strange it all looks now.

"By product of switching from muggle to magical," Lily agreed, "the transition is a bit weird."

Hagrid asked Harry if he was alright once again, stating how quiet he was.

"Well that was quite the bombshell," James deflected for his boy, still a bit in shock over both the news, which he hadn't even had a chance to fully think about, and his son's severe reaction to said news.

Harry confessed how uneasy this trip made him, how everyone seems to expect such great things from him because of what Vol- then corrected himself saying what You-Know-Who did to him.

"How come you keep accidentally slipping on the Voldemort thing then?" Remus asked.

"It's his natural genes," Sirius said proudly, "no one in this family is afraid to say his name."

Harry chuckled slightly at this, but was honestly unable to answer. He'd always felt from the very beginning that it was silly to call him You-Know-Who, but for some reason couldn't put it into words then, or now.

Hagrid reassured him, saying Harry would learn his way fast enough, but knows Harry will do fine in school, exclaiming he still had a great time there.

All of the adults smiled at this, trying to push away for good that feeling of loss they had at not being there for him, and instead being so happy that Hagrid had said the perfect thing to him.

Hagrid helped Harry onto the train that would take him back to the Dursleys and then handed him an envelope.

"What?" Lily yelped in shock.

"He's not going back with you?" James said in disappointment.

All of them were dreading what kind of reunion Harry would get when he showed back up on Private Drive alone. "Don't worry," Harry comforted at once. "They didn't do anything awful, they were too afraid of Hagrid." He stopped and chuckled briefly as he did remember that reunion. He had walked from his stop and come through the doorway with his stuff, and Uncle Vernon had stopped him at the door and demanded to know if the man was still with him. When Harry had told him no, but he had given him the owl to keep in touch, he had gone very pale white indeed, and simply stuttered that he should go to his room now. After telling them this, they relaxed a bit, though all majorly disappointed Harry had to go back at all.

It had his ticket to get to Hogwarts, stating the train would leave on the first of September, at King's Cross station. If he had any problems with the Dursleys, write him a letter using his new owl, she'd know what to do. Harry boarded the train and tried to watch Hagrid through the crowd, but he blinks and he's disappeared.

"How do you think he managed that?" Sirius asked, "He can't apparate."

"Magic," Remus said in a goofy, mystical voice.

"Maybe he's had a Portkey this whole time to get back to school," Lily shrugged.*

"That's the chapter over," James announced, offering the book to Harry. "Would you like to read now?"

Harry took it eagerly, bypassing the question of what a Portkey was in favor of wanting more than anything to get his memories of such a wondrous school back.

*At least, that's the only thing I've been able to come up with after all these years. Let me know how you think he did it.

#The Life That Never Lived #bookhater95 #HP fanfiction #complete #harry Potter

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