#the o’donnell lee siblings

[unfortunate-arrow]

FANKIDS APPRECIATION WEEK, DAY 4: FANTASTIC FOUR

HARRY, COLIN, ANDREW, and MARGO PEMBROKE are the children of Maxwell “Max” Pembroke and Ivy Anders (@kc-and-co). Colin and Andrew are identical twins and all four siblings are fans of quidditch… albeit to varying degrees. They generally have a good relationship and good natured arguing about the best quidditch team. They all agree that their dad is the best seeker, though, and that dogs are great.

SIDNEY, NIALL, LOUIS, and OLIVER BATTERSEA are the sons of Simon Battersea and Nilüfer Sultan (@endlessly-cursed). They generally have a pretty good relationship, although Sidney and Niall are closer to their mother while Louis and Oliver are closer to their father. For the Battersea boys, life takes some major turns… the most dramatic of which is their father being the last earl of Wexford despite having a possible heir. Despite the complications that come with being the sons of an earl, the boys get along fairly well and don’t let the possibilities of an earldom breed resentment towards Sidney.

DORA, DECLAN, VIOLET, and BREDAN O’DONNELL-LEE are the children of Sara O’Donnell and Barnaby Lee. They have an interesting dynamic, with Declan often feeling like the odd man out and like he’s not a good brother because he doesn’t connect with Dora, Violet, and Brendan as well as they do with each other. However, they’re O’Donnells and family is extremely important, so they’ve always got each other’s backs and Dora, Violet, and Brendan would be quick to tell Declan that he is a good brother, if he ever commented about being a bad brother.

IRIS, FELICITY, NORA, and LEO EASTERBROOK-WHITTEN are the children of Benedict Whitten and Poppy Easterbrook (@cursebreakerfarrier). They usually have a good relationship, although the girls definitely have their fair share of fights and Leo occasionally feels like his sisters are tormenting him. Their relationships become much better the older they get, with smoother sailing once they begin to start at Hogwarts.

↳ for @endlessly-cursed’s fankid appreciation event

[typingtess]

NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Rewatch:  “Dead Stick”

The basics:  Aiden Hanna’s jet crashes and the team works to find out why it happened.

Written by:  Lee A. Carlisle wrote or co-wrote “Golden Days”, “Reentry”, “Into the Breach”, “Concours D’Elegance”, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, "Sundown" and “Pandora’s Box”.

Directed by:  Dennis Smith directed “Fame”, “Standoff”, “Rocket Man”, “Cyberthreat”, “Exit Strategy”, “Patriot Acts”, “Out of the Past” part one, “The Livelong Day”, Between the Lines”, “Deep Trouble” part two, “Black Budget", “Black Wind”, “Blame it On Rio”, “Defectors”, “Matryoshka” part one, “Granger, O”, “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Hot Water”, “From Havana With Love”, “Plain Sight”, the lighthearted “Monster”, “Superhuman”, “One of Us”, “Smokescreen” part one, “Decoy”, “Mother” (episode 250), “Alsiyadun”, “The Bear”, “Angry Karen”, “Signs of Change” and “Fukushu”.

Guest stars of note: Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier as NCIS Reserve Agent Shyla Dahr is back from season 14 premiere “Game of Drones”.  Richard Gant as Raymond Hanna returns from last week’s “Body Stitchers” episode.  Tye White as Aiden Hanna is back from “Watch Over Me”, the 17th episode in season 11.  Joanna Bacalso as Navy Lieutenant Commander Kristina Hirsch, Gabriel Burrafato as Navy Commander Jose Espinoza, Ryan Radis as Jake Primiani, Christopher Amitrano as Navy Maintenance Master Chief Brian Frazier, Sean Freeland as Marco Madsen, Brittany Freeth as Navy Air Controller, Erik R. Norris as Patrick, Linara Washington as Nurse Constance Harper.

Our heroes:   Work to learn why Aiden Hanna’s jet failed.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen:   Doesn’t think Aiden is at fault but needs to investigate fairly. Sam:   Son of Major, father of Sonic. Kensi:    See Deeks Deeks:   Absent. Fatima:  Praying in the burn room. Rountree:  Distracted by his issues with LAPD. Kilbride:  Running things in Ops with ease.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen:  Shares Raymond’s enjoyment messing with Sam. Sam:   May have found a caretaker for Raymond. Kensi:    Absent. Deeks:   See Kensi. Fatima:  Going out for a sad celebration with Shyla. Rountree:  Looking to the Admiral for guidance. Kilbride:  Offering guidance by telling Rountree the team has his back.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange?  Nary a mention.

Who's down with OTP:   Who knows.  They weren’t here but there weren't there together, so that's good.

Who's down with BrOTP:  Very little BrOTP time though the three generations of Hanna men were great. 

Fashion review:  Callen wore a black polo-style shirt (really more Chris O’Donnell than G. Callen).  Sam in a dark blue long-sleeve tee.  Fatima had a grey sweater over a white mock turtleneck.  Rountree wore a pale purple Carhart long-sleeve tee (great color).  As always, the Admiral wore a blue three-piece suit, pale blue dress shirt, blue tie.

Music:  “Sunday Morning Underground” by Faustus is playing during the opening scenes at the beach.  “Initial Mailing” by Cargo is playing while Marco is being questioned by Fatima and Rountree.

Any notable cut scene:   Four straight without a deleted scene.

Quote:  Sam:  “Oh, Callen told me something interesting...Sonic.” Raymond:  “Now, see, I'm confused again.” Aiden:  “Uh, it's my call sign, Grandpop.  Your squadron picks it for you, usually after you've done something pretty stupid.” Sam:  “Yeah, like, say illegally breaking the sound barrier?  Something like that?” Aiden:  “Well, let's just say that my plane wasn't the only thing that went supersonic that day.  I have never seen my CO use that many curse words.” Raymond:  “My boy.”

Anything else:    Some previously-s with Aiden telling Sam he’s going to fly for the Navy, Aiden flying for the Navy, the Rountree siblings traffic stop from hell.

On the beach, a hustler is scamming a fisherman into getting a fishing license for a public pier.  As they negotiate, a military plane passes over them but the jet’s engine blows out and the plane starts to fail.  The plane crashes but the pilot ejects just before impact.  As his parachute lands, the fisherman races over to see the pilot, who is alive but not conscious.  The hustler isn’t thrilled, especially since the fishing liecens thing may have been less than legit.  Ambulances are heard in the background as the hustler pulls the fisherman away from the pilot.  Best not to be involved.

The pilot’s uniform nameplate reads “Hanna”.

Walking through the office, Shyla gets a number of messages and calls on her cellphone.  Looking for somewhere quiet to take the call, she walks into the burn room only to find Fatima praying.  Shyla is surprised Fatima would pray in a place like the burn room but “anywhere is a place of prayer” for Fatima.  Well, not bathrooms and graveyards. 

Shyla explains the calls are coming from her soon to be ex-husband.  They have been separated  for three-years but just started with the divorce proceedings.  While her ex isn’t contesting the divorce, he also doesn’t want it.  All the papers have been filed, just waiting for the court to say everything is in order.  The phone rings again so Fatima leaves Shyla to deal with the soon to be former Mr. Shyla.

In wardrobe, Rountree is rummaging through his stored pants.  He is searching for his wallet – he thought it may have left it in one of his undercover outfits.  The Admiral arrives and finds the wallet immediately on a nearby table.  Seeing Rountree is out of sorts, the Admiral asks him what is going on.  According to Det. Whiting, LAPD wants Rountree to speak to their PR department.  The plans is for LAPD to give paid leave to the officers involved in the traffic stop where Rountree and Jordyn were harassed.  While Rountree didn’t know what LAPD planned to do with the officers, paid leave “sure as hell” wasn’t part of the plan.

Knowing it isn’t his place to comment, the Admiral says that things may not get better even if Rountree pushes it.  “Crooked cops have gotten less for doing worse.”  Rountree knows that.  He also thinks that if he wasn’t a federal agent, LAPD wouldn’t be interested in doing anything at all.  Again, not wanting to tell Rountree what to do, the Admiral reminds Rountree that NCIS works with LAPD and LAPD could make things tough for Rountree.  “Tough is what I do,” Rountree tells him.  Then the Admiral thinks it should be easy for Rountree to clean up his mess in wardrobe.

An annoyed Raymond walks into the boat shed with Sam as Callen sits at the boat shed table.  Seems pancakes are Raymond’s issue.  Sam’s mom would make Raymond’s pancakes with premade mix while his caretaker makes them from scratch and says she makes them from the mix.  And if she lies about that, what else is the caretaker lying about. 

Callen apologizes for not knowing Raymond was coming – he only got two cups of coffee.  It’s not a problem for Raymond, he take Sam’s coffee.  The coffee isn’t the only thing Sam lost that morning – Raymond’s caretaker quit.  Sam can’t believe this is all about pancakes while Callen disagrees – breakfast in the most important meal of the day.  Raymond teams up with Callen to mock Sam. 

Walking to the back of the boatshed, Sam is looking for someone to take care of Raymond that day.  Callen helpfully suggests Agent Castor.  Raymond and Callen share their mutual enjoyment of messing with Sam.  Sam’s phone rings – Aiden is in the hospital near Point Magu.  Sam and Raymond are on their way while Callen tries to find out what NCIS knows.

NCIS doesn’t know much, according to Fatima, except Aiden’s F-35 crashed.  Fatima and the Admiral meet Shyla and Rountree in Ops, Callen is on the big screen with Lt. Commander Kristina Hirsh, a JAG Officer.  Lt. Hanna is fine, being held for observation overnight.  The Admiral asks about the cause of the crash.  Hirsh is tasked with finding out what caused the crash.  The cause of the crash could be as simple equipment failure or pilot error or something worse.  Hirsh mentions the F-35 taken down by the drone swarm in “Murmuration” last season – nice callback show!  Since both crashes were in the OSP’s backyard, she’s asking for their help.  She is going to question Aiden but will need help looking for evidence near the crash site.  Rountree is all in.

Hirsh tells the team that Aiden was on a test flight out of Point Magu when the plane crashed.  The plane barely missed an apartment building.  The Admiral sends Fatima and Rountree to the beach to interview witnesses being held there by LAPD.  Shyla is going to the boat shed to meet Callen and interview the maintenance supervisor who got the plane in the air.   Hirsh makes it clear, Special Agent Hanna can’t be involved with the investigation into Lt. Hanna.  “I’m sure he’ll have no problem with that,” the Admiral says.

Callen calls Sam, who understands he can’t be involved with the investigation but isn’t thrilled.  Sam is arriving at the hospital with Raymond.  He asks Callen to keep in him the loop.  Walking into Aiden’s hospital room, Sam and Raymond find Aiden with a walking boot on his right leg, some bumps and bruises but a big smile and a promise that he’s just fine.  Aiden just finished a call with Kam.  Raymond is thrilled to see Aiden and the feeling is mutual – though it isn’t ‘grandpa’, Raymond is “Major”. 

The bruises on Aiden’s face are from the ejection.  He has a concussion and a sprained ankle from the landing.  Aiden is trying to remember what happened when Lt. Commander Hirsh arrives.  She apologies for intruding while Aiden struggles to salute.  He’s quickly told “at ease”.  After introducing herself to Sam, she’d like to get started on Aiden’s official statement.

In the boat shed, Navy Maintenance Master Chief Brian Frazier is answering questions about his responsibilities inspecting all aircraft for Aiden’s squadron.  If there is an incident with a plane, all logbooks and maintenance records for an aircraft are secured so they can’t be altered.   The records are available to be reviewed at any time. 

Aiden’s plane is a newer plane.  It wasn’t due for a full maintenance review for another 100-hours.  The plane went through the proper pre-flight inspection before “Sonic” took off that morning.  “Sonic” confuses Callen and Shyla but Sonic is Aiden’s call sign.  Frazier was shocked to hear about the crash – Aiden is a great pilot.

Callen asks about it being a test flight.  It was and it is classified but the company behind what they were testing is Starling Aeronautics.  Frazier really can’t say much but things with Starling are overbudget and behind schedule.  Frazier’s CO would know more.   Shyla goes to get the Admiral involved with contacting the CO.

Aiden tries to take Hirsh through the flight with Sam and Raymond sitting in on the interview.  Things went off without a hitch flying to the area where he was going to put the plane through an exercise.  All systems worked perfectly.  Returning to Point Magu, he’s not sure what happened next.  His memory is fuzzy.  He knows he had to punch out but can’t remember why.  Raymond suggests working backwards from what he can remember – that works for Raymond sometimes. 

None of this is working for Hirsh.  She notes that the autopilot was shut off before the crash – does Aiden remember doing that?  He does not.  Hirsh brings up that Aiden received several LOI’s – Letters of Instruction – for “pushing the envelope”.  He purposely broke the sound barrier while flying over the continental United States.  Raymond is shocked, Sam says Aiden would never do that.  One look from Aiden and he did do it.  Sam is not pleased but Raymond reminds his son that he wasn’t always “Mr. Perfect” as a kid.  While Sam doesn’t see what breaking the sound barrier has to do with the crash, Hirsh tells him that Aiden’s performance, including past incidents of “flat-hatting” (showing off), are a part of the investigation.  The Navy just lost a $94-million plane.  Raymond wants to know if the afterburners are jewel-encrusted at that price tag. 

Saying she only allowed Sam and Raymond to stay for the interview because they are decorated combat veterans, Hirsh tells them they have to stay quiet.  Sam is offended Aiden’s integrity would be called into question.  Hirsh orders the two senior Hannas out of the room.

At the beach, Fatima and Rountree learn nobody noticed anything until the plane crashed.  No signs of a surface to air missile, which would have left a smoke trail, or a drone swarm.  Some witnesses saw the hustler leave in his van.  The beach has a license  plate reader – they may be able to find him.

In Ops, the Admiral speaks to Master Chief Frazier’s CO, Commander Jose Espinoza.  Espinoza explains that Starling is providing software that upgrade the electronic warfare capability.  The plane, according to Espinoza, is a “flying computer” that can be improved by software upgrades.  The Admiral asks if the software test could have caused the crash.  Espinoza does not believe it could – the software test was not a part of Aiden’s return to base.  The Admiral asks if there is someone he can talk to at Starling.  Espinoza will tell the software’s project manager.

Outside of Aiden’s hospital room, Sam is outraged by how Hirsh is handling the case.  Raymond is more on Hirsh’s side – she is doing her job.  Sam is surprised by Raymond’s attitude – why was he cracking jokes?  Where was the hardass that made Sam call him “Major”?  Raymond is letting go of things he held so hard when he was a younger man.  He’s sorry – sorry for what he did to Sam and what he did to Sam’s mother. 

Sam didn’t appreciate Raymond’s tough love at the time but it made Sam the man he is today.  And he loves Raymond for that.  Raymond tells Sam that seeing the man he’s become allowed him to loosen his grip and now it is time for Sam to do the same thing for Aiden.  Because Aiden can handle it.

Testifying, Aiden said he was struggling with the controls.  The plane was no longer performing as it should.  Hirsh asks why didn’t Aiden call in the plane issues.  Aiden tells her he did.  When she looks confused, he wonders if he didn’t.  Hirsh asks if Aiden was trying to liven-up an otherwise boring flight back to Point Magu.  The flight was being monitored at Point Magu and according to the data, everything was working fine until the autopilot was turned off.  If Aiden turned off the autopilot, the cause of the crash would be pilot error – a likely career-ender.

Hirsh leaves Aiden, she has some paperwork to do.  Raymond asks if she knows where the cafeteria is.  She does and wouldn’t mind some lunch herself.  The two leave Sam with Aiden, who is up and trying to pour himself some water.  Sam asks how things are going  - “badly”.  Aiden tells Sam if the crash is due to pilot error, he’s done.  But he can’t remember.  Sam suggests going through what happened but Aiden collapses. 

Sam gets Aiden back to his bed – the concussion is an issue.  Raymond’s dementia may have been from concussions he received in the service.  Sam had them too from football and to SEALs.  Nobody knows for sure what happens.  Raymond and Sam were told to shake things off.  Aiden has to learn from them and take better care of himself.

A very impatient Shyla is waiting with Callen for the Starling Aeronautics project manager in the boat shed.  Callen actually thinks they is good – project managers usually make NCIS visit them.  Shyla asks if Callen thinks Aiden actually caused the crash.  Callen turns the question on Shyla – what if he did think Aiden caused the crash.  A good NCIS Agent looks past what they think to look at the case from every angle.  Pilots make mistakes.  The F-35 pilot program only takes the best and while high-end pilots hotdog it from time to time, it is all part of the job.  So if it isn’t pilot error, what is it.  Callen admits he doesn’t think it is pilot error but that’s not their side of the investigation.

Wandering into the boatshed is Jake Primiani, complete with his Starling Aeronautics embroidered polo shirt.  He wants to get this over with – a tad nervous.

At the beach, Rountree asks Fatima if she thinks he’s making a mistake pushing for more punishment for Officer O’Neal.  Fatima doesn’t think he is.  He doesn’t know what to do.  He was so angry that morning when he thought he lost his wallet.  He’s had moments like that since the stop.  Fatima sympathizes.  Whatever Rountree choses to do, she knows he isn’t weak for making that decision.  He doesn’t want this to define who he is as an agent.  Fatima says he can’t control what others think.  Some will always think badly of him if he fights.  Others will know the principled person she sees every day.  She wants him to do the right thing for himself – “tree may bend but tree don’t break.”  Rountree likes that.

Fatima gets info on the license plate for the van.  She asks the Admiral to run a Kaleidoscope search for the van.  He can do that and doesn’t need the pat on the back Fatima offers.  He’s no CYO soccer brat looking for a participation trophy.   The van belongs to a Marco Madsen, the fish license hustler on the beach.   He’s just a few blocks away.

Primiani is nervous – the software is being run in flight simulators to recreate what happened to Aiden but nothing matches.  Shyla asks why the project is running behind.  Primiani says they were not given enough time – there is never enough time for a project like this.  The normal glitches and bugs happened early in the project and while it took time to fix them, the deadline stays the same.  Primiani needs to get back to Point Magu to prepare another flight.  Callen and Shyla release him.

Raymond is having a hard time with a vending machine.  He wanted a Twinkie is told the machine is now cashless after COVID, according to a nurse.  She gets him a Twinkie with her credit card and refuses to let Raymond pay for it.  She also gets one for herself.

In his room, Aiden asks how “grandpop” is doing.  Sam mentions Raymond’s good days and bad days.  Aiden has a flash of memory – the engine flamed out.  When the engine flames out, the autopilot automatically switches off.  Commander Hirsh said the data says everything was working fine but it wasn’t.  Sam goes off to find Hirsh.

Discovered in his van, Madsen tries to run from NCIS.  That goes poorly.  Rountree mentions the plane crash.  Madsen says yes, a plane crashed.  With some prodding, he remembers that the engine was flaming out.  This confirms what Aiden remembers and disproves whatever data was given to Hirsh.  While Fatima calls this in, Rountree wants to know about the fishing licenses.

The Admiral has another conversation with Espinoza.  Another flight is testing the software so Kilbride wants Espinoza to know that an eyewitness confirms Aiden’s account of the crash.  The engine cut out and only restarted when Aiden punched out.  Behind Espinoza, the Navy flight personnel at Point Magu lost contact with the pilot of the second flight.  The plane is losing altitude.  Kilbride gets Aiden on the phone to try to walk Espinoza through what happened on his flight. 

Aiden remembers who he almost got the plane restarted.  He gives the instructions to Espinoza to give to the pilot – “Kegger”.  While Kegger falls off the radar screen for a few seconds, the instructions work and both pilot and plane are saved.  Hirsh witnessed Aiden’s heroics.  She wants him to finish his statement.  Sam asks about Raymond but Hirsh last saw him with the nurse by the vending machine.

Arriving at Point Magu, Callen and Shyla want to talk to Primiani, who does not want to talk to them at all.  Plus there is no proof the software is the issue.  Callen wonders how two of the best trained pilots in the world flying two separate cutting edge planes nearly suffer the same “never-before-seen” system failure.  Primiani said they knew there was a flaw but it was patched months ago.  The flaw – the new system can override the flight computer.  But unless someone bypassed the fix, it couldn’t happen.  And he wouldn’t do that.  Primiani’s entire career is about making this system work. 

Asked about who else could override the patch, Primiani says the computers are all air gapped and stored at Point Magu.  Everyone on the flight and maintenance crew would have access to the computers but like Primiani, why would they risk their careers to override the patch.  There is one computer that just records who logs in and out of the computers.  Callen, Shyla and Primiani are off to check.

Walking into Ops, Fatima asks Kilbride for a “sitrep” – saying she always wanted to do that.  The Admiral is not pleased.  They have to investigate every Starling employee to see who could be either taking part in terrorism or industrial espionage. 

Sam finds Raymond and his newly found nurse buddy walking back to Aiden’s room.  The nurse is kind to Raymond and to Sam.  Sam is surprised Raymond let the nurse help him.  Constance, the nurse, is per diem at the hospital and does some side work in home healthcare.  She passes Sam a card as she leaves.

Hirsh tells Sam that the investigation is moving from Aiden to Starling Aeronautics.  Sam has been released from the sidelines and can return to work with NCIS.  Raymond is going to stay with Aiden, Sam is on his way to Point Magu.

At the Starling Aeronautics office at Point Magu, one of the computer hard drives is missing.  The Admiral wants everyone at Starling investigated but Fatima has found only one person with irregular financials – Master Chief Frazier.  Frazier is walking to his vehicle when Callen and Shyla try to stop him. 

Shyla calls base security as Frazier carjacks one of the base’s work trucks.  Callen jumps into the flatbed and while Frazier tries to get away, Shyla chases in the NCIS vehicle.  Sam is arriving at Point Magu as Frazier tries to leave.

Frazier gets out of the stole vehicle and puts his gun to his own head.  Shyla tells him not to do it.  Frazier says Starling knew about the troubled software and he tried to tell everyone about it.  He allowed the second flight go take off to prove that Aiden’s flame out was due to the software and not pilot error.  Sam talks Frazier out of killing himself, saying that he forgives Frazier for what happened as he knows others will.  Frazier puts the gun down and is arrested.  Shyla is shocked Sam can forgive but he is being gracious and is willing to try.

Back at Ops, Shyla and Fatima talk.  Frazier wasn’t being quite so selfless.  He was paid by one of Starling’s rivals to help tank the project.  Fatima asks about Shyla’s earlier calls.  The divorce is finalized.  She’s surprised you don’t get anything official – it is just over.  Fatima offers a celebration drink to make it official.  Unless Shyla wants to be sad because Fatima can do that too.  Shyla decides on celebration with a little sadness and they’ll be doing that once the after-action reports are filed.

A calmer Roundtree has a very neat desk except for his football for when his team beat the Admiral’s Tigers.  Rountree asks the Admiral what would he do if he was Rountree.  The Admiral makes it clear, it isn’t up to him, it is up to Rountree.  That said, he’d like to see “the bastard’s hide nailed to the outhouse wall instead of just a slap on the wrist.”   Rountree is worried about making NCIS’s job harder.  The Admiral makes is clear that Rountree is a part of a very elite team and every member of that team supports whatever Rountree does.

Sam and Hirsh talk – Aiden will be back in the jet as soon as the flight surgeon clears him from his injuries.  She also says that Aiden staying with the plane so long saved lives – he got the plane to fire and when it did, it missed an apartment building.  Aiden saved lives and will be getting a commendation for it.  Hirsh is impressed - was a “stick jockey” herself. 

In his room, Aiden is playing backgammon with Raymond.  Sam arrives with a Martin Baker Squadron patch.   Martin Baker is the seat ejection manufacturer.  Raymond breaks out his flask and is willing to share but Aiden has a concussion and Sam is driving so Raymond had a swig while the other Hannas have some water.

Sam brings up “Sonic” which confused Raymond.  “Sonic” is Aiden’s call sign – a call sign is given to a pilot by the squadron after the pilot does something dumb.  Like breaking the sound barrier of the United States.  Aiden assures the older Hannas that he wasn’t the only one to go supersonic that day – he never saw the CO use that many swear words.

What head canon can be formed from here:  For an episode that had a lot of family storylines – the Hanna men, Rountree and Jordyn’s nightmare experience, Shyla’s divorce – it was a rather sterile hour.  Not a lot of emotion or passion about Aiden nearly dying or Aiden possibly ruining his career.  Rountree who was so full of righteous indignation over what happened to him and to Jordyn is now looking to walk away.  And Shyla seems more bothered that her soon to be ex is calling than their marriage is over.  I would have liked a little more passion or fire in any of those storylines.

The episode had a season 12 feel – Sam was largely siloed with the family, Callen worked with Shyla, Fatima, Rountree, the Admiral and a little Shyla in scenes. 

The random JAG officer was well played but why not find Bud or Sturgis or some other JAG series actors to play that role.  Manetti was out, Tamlyn Tomita played a DHS Officer in season six on the show. Admiral Chegwidden's multiple appearances would have totally made this work.

The burn room was back!  I missed that place.  It was a great piece to the super-secret office set-up over the years.

Episode number:     Episode 306, season 14’s fourth hour.

[kathrynalicemc]

SIV PROFILE - HPMA

IDENTITY

Name: Siv Arcano-Thorne

Nicknames: Dragon Girl, Sivvy

Pronouns: She/her

Birth Date: December 2nd, 2000

Species: Human

Blood Status: Pureblood

Sexuality: Lesbian

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality: Norwegian

Residence: Arcano House in Skalafell, Thorne Abbey in Britain, Fossan Cottage in Fossan Dragon Sanctuary

Languages: English, Norwegian (Norwegian accent)

APPEARANCE

Faceclaim: Hailee Steinfeld

Height: 5’8”

Physique: Average build, slight muscles

Eye Color: Gray

Hair Color: Black

Hair style: Long and wavy

Scars: Various scars and burns across the body from dragons and quidditch. Almost always has a bandage on an actively bleeding injury.

Clothing: Jeans, band t-shirts, jean jackets, flannel, hiking/combat boots. When flying on Zepheline, she wears tight black leather clothing and armor.

Tattoos: TBD

HOGWARTS

House: Slytherin

Wand: Chestnut, Phoenix Feather, 11 ¼”

“The wand of chestnut is attracted to witches and wizards who are skilled takers of magical beasts, those who possess great gifts in herbology, and those who are natural fliers.”

Best Classes: COMC, DADA, Potions

Worst Classes: History of Magic, Divination

Misc Magical Abilities: She wasn’t born with the Arcano Gift

Boggart Form: Zepheline being abused or killed

Amortentia: Cherry, fresh snow, rain, smoke, pine trees, engine oil

Patronus: Dragon

Animagus: N/A

Patronus Memory: Flying on the back of Ryoko for the first time with her father

Dementor worst memory: Getting lost for the first time in the forest behind Skalafell after a dare from Dayamanti. She had to spend the night alone during a storm before she found her way back in the morning.

Mirror of Erised: Seeing herself take over Fossan Sanctuary from her proud dad

CAREER

11-18: Hogwarts Student

18+: Dragonologist and Vigilante that stops Dragon Trafficking and Poaching

RELATIONSHIPS

Parents: Kaari Arcano & Semele Thorne @endlessly-cursed

Brother: Mikael Arcano-Thorne

Sister: Lennox Arcano-Thorne

Grandparents: Alatar Arcano & Else Lionette

Grandparents: Anne Crouch & Stefan Thorne

Uncle & Aunt: Annika Arcano & Tyr Fraye

Cousins: Dayamanti, Dafne, Dielle Arcano

Love Interest: OPEN!

Best Friends: Her siblings & cousins

Friends: Elio & Jupiter Durand @cursed-herbalist, Declan O’Donnell-Lee @unfortunate-arrow, Renee McClarnon @thatravenpuffwitch, more TBD

Dragon companion: Zepheline (Antipodean Opaleye)

PERSONALITY

Child: As a child, Siv grew up idolizing her father. She loved dragons and getting into trouble as much as he did, which was a headache for Semele. She also looked up to Artemis @the-al-chemist who was friends with and sometimes worked with Kaari. She also loved to play with her cousins, her favorite included trying to win in combat against Dayamanti. She never did. She also gained the trust of a really old and beat up Dragon that came to the Sanctuary to be healed. The dragon had lost her eggs to poachers and instead, she thought of Siv as her own child to compensate for their loss. They had an immediate bond.

Teenage: Her personality didn’t change much as she grew up. The dragon she bonded with was named Zepheline and they took to the skies together. During teen years is when she started to sneak off at night to go be a vigilante with her dragon. She would find dragon fighting rings or black markets and bust in, knocking them out or tying them up and leaving them for the Aurors to come get them, anonymously of course. She also dabbled in quidditch and even learned to fix up an old truck. She would be quick to a fight if anyone made fun of her, her dragons, her family, or friends.

Adulthood: She would shed her anonymous vigilante mask at adulthood as she then made it her career. Occasionally she would be hired by Aurors to help bust illegal dragon activity. Mostly, she just worked at Fossan (and would eventually take over as the leader once her father retired). She’s also known to occasionally show up to dragon activist protests with her father that may end up in jail time.

ATTITUDE

Most at Ease When: On dragonback. Playing quidditch. Listening to 80s or 90s music.

Stressed When: Doing schoolwork or tests. Away from her dragon. Seeing dragons being abused or killed.

Priorities: Dragons, family, friends

Strength: Ambition, boldness, bravery, physical strength, loyalty, persistence

Weakness: Recklessness, anger, impulsiveness, challenges authority

FAVORITES

Color: Red, opalescent white, black

Food: Cherry pie or candy

Drink: Mead, ale, or cider. Cherry drinks too

Weather: Snow

Book: Kaari’s old journal recording dragon species he’s discovered

Hobbies: Quidditch, hunting, guitar, automobile repair, sparring (hand to hand or swords)

[benscursedkid]

For the Valentine’s Day requests, what about my Hufflepuff girl Sara and Barnaby Lee, please? Maybe something with a meaningful gift, like Barnaby giving Sara something like a claddagh necklace or with another Irish symbol for a pendant, for a prompt. Thank you!! I enjoy your writing.

you got it! thanks for requesting!

happy valentine’s day! 💗✨

*please note, i did not have time to edit*

Barnaby sits quietly at his table, his lips sewn together tight. His nerves, however, remain frayed. Below the table, his leg bounces incessantly, his teeth digging into his bottom lip, and his hands playing with the silver ring on his index finger.

He checks the time on his watch, but he realizes there’s no point when he puts it back down to his side without actually having remembered what he saw.

Rationally, Barnaby knows he has no reason to feel this anxious. Valentine’s Day has always been one of his favorite holidays and his mind had been racing since New Year’s trying to come up with the best gift to give to Sara. It had been weeks ago when the thought to ask her siblings for help finally came to him. He had wanted to do it on his own, but he realized quickly that he would not let his pride supersede his desire to get her gift just right.

However, rationally speaking, Barnaby has never been the best at thinking rationally.

Still, as the entrance to the Three Broomsticks jingles pleasantly and Sara steps inside, a smile on her face and her cheeks and nose a cute rosy pink, Barnaby clutches the ring tighter in his hand.

Sara’s grin only widens as she makes her way over to their table, carefully unfolding the pink scarf from around her neck. “I’m so sorry I’m late,” She huffs as she sits down in front of him, keeping her jacket on as she rubs her hands together. “I wanted to finish up my charms homework early to clear the rest of the weekend and lost track of the time.”

Barnaby thinks back to moments ago. Yeah, he knows the feeling.

“It’s okay,” He shakes his head, a smile of his own cracking his lips apart though his anxiety makes it slightly harder than usual. “I haven’t been waiting long.”

Her blue eyes hesitate for a second, clearly catching the fleeting shake of his voice, but decides to ignore it in favor of reaching an arm across the table. Barnaby’s smile comes quicker this time and he mirrors her action to hold her hand. The iciness of her fingers don’t even bother him!

They stay like this for a moment, before Barnaby remembers himself and blinks out of his reverie.

Around them, patrons cheer and giggle, the romantic spirit of the holiday in the air. Quite literally, even, as Barnaby’s sure he smelt some variation of love potion when he stepped in the door. This, of course though, does not account for the amorous decorations strewn (rather tastefully) around the tavern. Banners and flowers and candles galore! It truly does make for a beautiful scene.

Though, not as beautiful as the one in front of him.

“So,” Barnaby starts, his voice cracking slightly already and he does his best not to wince at the sound. “I know we said no gifts, but.....”

“Barnaby!” Sara sighs, pouting a little, her tone somewhere between fond and reprimand. “You didn’t....”

“I did.”

The corners of her lips twitch as if they want to frown, but are simply not in the right state of mind to manage. It gives his courage a bit of a boost.

“Don’t worry! It’s nothing extravagant,” He assures, knowing it’s fairly likely she wouldn’t have accepted it if it were without gifting him something back. “But I did ask your siblings for advice since I’m not exactly an expert in this sort of thing and I wouldn’t have even known where to go for—”

Sara’s hand squeezes his tightly and Barnaby blushes, catching himself ranting.

“—Sorry,” She merely shakes her head, allowing him to continue. “Anyway, uh, here. I hope you like it.”

With a deep breath, Barnaby reaches up to drop the ring delicately into her open palm. Her eyes flick up to him in brief surprise before turning it over between her fingers, examining the thing with care. The Slytherin gulps, unable to take his eyes off the small piece of golden jewelry in her hand.

It’s a simple enough accessory. A heart in the front, a small crown on top of it, and the band wrapping around to connect on either side of the heart in the vague shape of hands. It was pretty, Barnaby mused, and he thought Sara would like it given that she had mentioned it once before.

“Barnaby...” Sara whispered, so quiet he had to strain to hear even from directly in front of her. “You got me a claddagh.”

“To be fair, I wasn’t exactly sure what it was when I heard about it, but...I figured you would’ve. Plus, the, uh, the symbolism I think fits us well! At least from what I heard anywa—”

“I love it, Barnaby.” Sara smiles and this time it’s softer around the edges, enamored. It makes his chest swell with pride and warmth.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Sara.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

[cinema-tv-etc]

The Dawn of Television Promised Diversity. Here’s Why We Got “Leave It to Beaver” Instead

Using original archival research and FBI blacklist documents, professor Carol A. Stabile pieces together the intersectional narratives that never made it on air. Smithsonian Magazine   Jackie Mansky

When “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” went back on the air for its final season in 2018 it was a triumphant curtain call for showrunners Aline Brosh McKenna and Rachel Bloom, who have spent the last three seasons lovingly unpacking the television show’s titular “crazy-ex,” and the oddball characters who inhabit her universe, under the rallying cry put forth in the show’s original theme song: “The situation is a lot more nuanced than that.”

If it feels like a small miracle that the ambitious musical-comedy-drama-you-name-it-it’s-not-supposed-to-fit-into-one-box show even made it on air, well, it almost didn’t. After Showtime opted not to move forward with the pilot, the project, termed a “risky proposition,” had to be saved by a pick-up from sibling network the CW. 

Now a critical darling, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is part of a new class of television shows, including the likes of “Insecure,” “Jane the Virgin,” “Chewing Gum” and “Transparent” that share a mission to deconstruct the tropes set forth by television shows past. An opening salvo: diversifying the writer’s room. But for all the work these shows have done subverting the narratives traditionally told from the straight white male point of view, something deeply frustrating underpins their existence—the promise of what could have been on television decades earlier.

At the start of the Cold War, a prominent group of women, who had worked their way up in broadcast media in the 1930s and ’40s, were poised to use the new medium of television to create the kind of inclusive, intersectional content that is only today finding traction. Then, the blacklist, a vicious, hearsay-riddled manifest of Hollywood talent with ties to Communism, silenced their creative output. It effectively turned back on the dial of progressive representations on TV by decades.

 “It's hard for me to watch things and to hear about [today’s] writers and directors talk about their work without thinking about that earlier generation,” says Carol A. Stabile, a professor of women’s gender and sexuality studies at the University of Oregon and the author of the newly released book, The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist.

A much-needed addition to television scholarship, The Broadcast 41 uses original archival research and FBI documents to piece together the stories of the 41 women named on the list.

 “The diverse group of people who are making television right now, these are the people that the Broadcast 41 dreamed of; they’re the people that they had hoped would be a more immediate future of television,” Stabile says.

Her book started with a question. A while back, she wondered: Why was it that when politicians talked about family values, they never used images of their own family? Instead, they used images pulled from television. “That's really weird, right?” she says. “The reference for family values is always this kind of mythic TV family.” She termed it the “Leave It to Beaver” syndrome, in reference to the 1950s program featuring a wholesome, suburban white family. “All these white [politicians], generations of them, had watched the sitcoms and watched reruns of the sitcoms, and they were really attached to them.”  

 It got her thinking, where did these sitcoms stem from? Were they reflecting the reality at the moment when television was just getting started? No, she found out, as she began her research; the situation really was a lot more nuanced than that. She started to unravel the stories of the women who were working in media industries at the end of World War II, some of whom, she realized, were very powerful. These successful career women produced content far different than the kind of sitcom representations of the world—of the career man, the housewife and their two children—that people wax nostalgic about today. And then, those women disappeared from the scene. “Why was that?” she wondered. The answer, she realized, was the blacklist.

  “You can't read about that moment, or think about that moment, without thinking about the impact of what happened in 1950,” says Stabile.

 1950 was the year that the American Business Consultants, comprised of former FBI agents, published the infamous book Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. The unscrupulous organization—whose ostensible purpose was “exposing the ramifications of the Communist party”— racked up many abuses, including spying on individuals, printing lies in its publication Counterattack and impersonating active FBI agents. 

Even the FBI’s New York Field Office called the American Business Consultants “highly unethical, irresponsible” and concluded they “should not be countenanced.” Despite that, the bureau did not put a stop to their activities. This was the rise of the Red Scare, after all. "Whatever the actual arrangement between the American Business Consultants and the Bureau," Stabile writes, "by 1949, the two groups had 'straighten[ed] out' any conflicts." The following year, the American Business Consultants published Red Channels, effectively ruining the careers and lives of those listed in it.

“This book, Red Channels, was known as the bible of the backlist,” Stabile explains. Of the 151 names it included, 41 were women. That felt like a large number to her, and so she began to dig into their lives and work in an attempt to understand the “threat” that they posed. 

 As she researched, she unearthed a prominent group of New Y0rk-based women who boldly challenged racist and sexist representation in media. “Things that we consider now to be intersectional, all of this was in the air in the 1930s and 1940s,” says Stabile. “There were queer women, cis-gender women, women of color doing these incredible things in theater, in radio.” She cites, for instance, Fredi Washington, an actress and journalist, who starred in an all-black cast theatrical production of Aristophanes' Lysistrata. “Something like that wouldn’t see the light of day again until Spike Lee’s [retelling in 2015’s] Chi-Raq,” she says. 

 Names you likely know are included on the list—the Dorothy Parkers, Lena Hornes and Lillian Hellmans of the world. But there are many names you probably haven’t heard of, either, like the Mexican-American actress and dancer Maria Margarita Guadalupe Teresa Estella Castilla Bolado y O’Donnell Alpert, who after being pushed out of the industry found a successful second life in arts education. Stabile also recounts the work that could have been—like writer Vera Louise Caspary's unaired pilots for "Apartment 3-G," which revolved around three single girls, and "The Private World of the Morleys," which followed the story of a woman striving to become a surgeon.

 The backlash against progressives in media spared no one, Stabile says. Even those who weren’t named, like Gertrude Berg, the pioneering force behind “The Goldbergs,” suffered. Her show, first on radio and then television, was beloved for providing an insightful look at what life was like for Jewish-Americans. In the wake of the anti-communist fervor, though, “The Goldbergs” became a devastating example of self-censorship, where producers and writers suddenly stopped writing about “anything that might bother people,” as Berg put it herself. Her character, who once provided such a complex take on the immigrant experience, was reduced to a punchline. 

When Stabile first started conceptualizing The Broadcast 41, she originally conceived it as case studies of several of the named women. But the more she researched, the more she wanted to use the sheer volume of them to make her argument. “That's a powerful block of women in the industry in New York City,” she says. She didn’t want to indirectly frame them as the exceptional woman of history, instead she sought to fold their story into the larger arc of women’s struggles. “This is a story about the collective loss of that group of really diverse women,” she says.        

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-dawn-of-television-promised-diversity-here-s-why-we-got-leave-it-to-beaver-instead?utm_source=pocket-newtab

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[unfortunate-arrow]

FANKIDS APPRECIATION WEEK, DAY 2: Double Trouble

DIANA and FREDDIE QUINTIN, are the children of Brianna O’Rourke and Elias Quintin (@amerrymystery). Diana is a protective big sister, sometimes smothering Freddie, but he loves her a lot. There’s also a seven year age gap between the two, which is definitely the cause of a lot of Diana’s protective moments and Freddie’s moments of jealousy. Ultimately, these two are a good representation of a relationship that Brianna always wanted between siblings.

MICHAEL and WINIFRED O’DONNELL are the children of Ryan O’Donnell and Penny Haywood. A pair of troublemaking siblings, these two embody the spirit of their father and his siblings with an age gap similar to their mother and her sister. Michael can be quite protective of his sister… much to Winifred’s displeasure. Both are a bit closer to their cousins than each other, but Michael and Winifred would do anything for each other.

NICKY and RUBY FITZGERALD-WILSON are the children of Huck Fitzgerald and Lyra Wilson (@cursebreakerfarrier). A sweet yet bickering set of siblings, who don’t quite get along until Nicky starts Hogwarts. However, despite their arguments, Nicky is quite protective of Ruby and he’s the only one who’s allowed to make fun of her. They’re also both named after their grandparents, with Nicky’s first name being after his paternal grandfather and Ruby’s first name being after her maternal grandmother.

NOAH and MAYA KINGSLEY-VALDEZ are the twin children of Camila Valdez and Jasper Kingsley (@cursebreakerfarrier), although they have different birthdays with Noah being born at 11:58 pm on August 1, 2015 and Maya being born at 12:03 on August 2. They grow up near the grounds of Hogwarts as their parents are both professors, so Noah and Maya have always been able to explore the castle, its grounds, and Hogsmeade. They generally get along, but of course, end up butting heads at times. They love each other, though.

FLORA and IAN MACKADE are the children of Finn MacKade and Scotty Rosier (@drinkyoursoupbitch). Flora and Ian generally get along pretty well, but they bicker a bit more than their cousins. A chaotic pair for sure, Flora and Ian love each other a lot… they just don’t always like each other. Despite this, there’s nothing that Flora wouldn’t do for Ian and vice versa. Ian just annoys Flora quite easily as he always has ridiculous questions, while Flora can be a bit critical of Ian, especially about quidditch, which annoys him.

KENNEDY and GUS BATTERSEA-PEMBROKE are the twin children of Luke Battersea and Sophie Pembroke. Kennedy takes after her parents, while Gus generally takes after his Granda John. They usually get along pretty well, although they have their fights like all siblings. Kennedy and Gus can count on one another, though, something that was instilled on them by their parents.

JEM and HARPER O’DONNELL-LEE are the children of Declan O’Donnell-Lee and Callie Black (@mjs-oc-corner). The two siblings grew up surrounded by love and cousins. Jem took after his paternal grandfather and generally has a good relationship with his sister. Their relationship mimics their paternal grandmother’s relationships with her own siblings, being protective and chaotic and kind and full of all the sibling contradictions.

↳ for @endlessly-cursed’s fankid appreciation event

[unfortunate-arrow]

HPHM Fankids: The O’Donnell-Lee Siblings

⤷ Sara and Barnaby O’Donnell-Lee had five children: Nolan Seán (b. 06/06/1998), Theodora Ailis “Dora” (b. 12/28/2000), Declan Ryan (b. 09/01/2004), Violet Cara (b. 05/03/2006), and Brendan Conor (b. 05/17/2008).

[unfortunate-arrow]

@endlessly-cursed’s HP Next Gen Appreciation Week | Day 1: Favorite OCs

⤷ DECLAN RYAN O’DONNELL-LEE was the first of my next gen ocs. born on september 1, 2001 as the eldest son of sara o’donnell and barnaby lee, declan has had many iterations before his current form came to be. he is obsessed with quidditch (and really, all sports), which makes him an outlier in his creature-obsessed family. well, that’s not completely true, ‘cause declan’s mother is a healer and not as into creatures as his father and siblings. that doesn’t do much to change declan’s feelings of being an outsider, though.

⤷ LUKE PERCIVAL BATTERSEA & SOPHIA JOSEPHINE “SOPHIE” PEMBROKE came about together, a packaged deal more or less. born on july 21, 2000 as a descendant of simon battersea and edmund kennedy, luke’s a strong kid with a tragic backstory. he’s going to find out who killed his family… and be the one to solve a centuries old mystery of the kennedy family. born on january 7, 2000 as a descendant of william devlin and max pembroke, sophie’s also a strong kid with an air of tragedy. being a primary person her family relies on after her father’s stroke, sophie is doing her best to hold everything together. this also means befriending and falling in love with luke.

⤷ QUINN ACHILLES POWER was another recent creation. another kennedy descendant, this time from minerva, quinn has a difficult backstory. born on december 1, 2004 as the middle of five children, quinn was bitten by a werewolf at the age of 6. it’s added a very frustrating complication to his life, which in turn, caused quinn to become private, withdrawn, a loner.

⤷ JUDE THOMAS COZENS is the most recent edition, and my hp hockey boy. born on june 13, 2005 as the only child of a single mother, jude spent the first decade growing up in canada, an hour and a half outside of toronto. he is obsessed with ice hockey, having played the game since he was 4. his team is the toronto maple leafs. jude also moved to england at the age of ten after his mother married an englishman.

[unfortunate-arrow]

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬

A/N: For @hp-12monthsofmagic’s May prompt (“Victory”). After going through multiple different scenarios involving the Battle of Hogwarts and Voldemort’s defeat, I settled on rewriting an old fic that I wrote a little less than three years ago. Set in November 2003.

“Who’s that, Momma?”

The little voice startled Sara O’Donnell-Lee out of her trance. She looked up from the photo album to see a small girl with reddish-brown hair and The Little Mermaid pajamas, her small girl. Sara pursed her lips, studying her daughter.

“What are you doing out of bed?” Sara asked.

“I want water,” Dora replied, offering Sara an innocent look that she did not buy.

“Uh-huh. Where’s Daddy?”

“He’s with Vi-vi.”

“Really?” Sara raised her eyebrow. Despite being only six months old, Violet was an incredibly good sleeper.

“Or maybe with Dec.” 

That sounded more accurate. Her son had recently decided that sleep was for the weak and the best thing that a two-year-old could do was stay up the whole night. He’d also quit napping, right around the time that Violet was born because of course he did.

“The people, Momma,” Dora exclaimed, sounding exasperated in the way that only a four-year-old could. 

Sara sighed, but pulled Dora into her lap anyways. She placed the photo album into their laps, flipping back to the first page of photos.

“Who do you know?” she asked, pointing to the first picture.

“That’s Unca Ryan!” Dora exclaimed in excitement, pointing to the sixteen-year-old form of her middle brother. “And that’s Unca Conor and Aunt Cara and Aunt Penny and Aunt Rowan!”

“Yeah. That’s right. And there’s me and Daddy.”

“The people?”

Sara stared at the next photo for a long moment, a bittersweet smile forming on her face. The photo had been taken in her sixth year, by Charlie Weasley with Penny Haywood’s camera. The five Hufflepuff girls were smiling widely, Tonks’s hair changed color every other moment. They had no idea what was to come, how much things would change, that in ten short years one of them would be dead.

“Well, that’s Momma and that’s Aunt Penny and that’s Aunt Rowan,” Sara began pointing to each of the girls as she said their names. “And this is Chiara. She sometimes works with Momma.” 

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “This is Tonks. She was probably my best friend. We were not the type of friendship that people expected. Tonks was kind of like Uncle Ryan and I was not. She passed away a while ago, so she’s with Grandma and Granda O’Donnell. In fact, Dora, we named you after her.”

There was no response and Sara looked down. Dora’s eyes were shut and she clung tightly to the plush bunny that Sara hadn’t realized that her daughter had brought down with her. She gently closed the photo album and placed it onto the coffee table, scooping Dora up to bring her to bed. Once Dora had been settled into bed, Sara took a moment to peak in on baby Violet, who was sleeping soundly. The nature of a third child, Sara supposed. She paused at the top of the stairs, smiling at the sound of Barnaby’s baritone, softly muted through the door of their son’s bedroom.

She stepped back into the living room and slid the photo album back into the bookcase by the fireplace. She stared at the photos on the bookcase. There were a myriad of photos, reflecting the many different points in her life. Herself as a child, grinning with her grandparents and siblings. Her time at Hogwarts. A photo of her and Barnaby after their lowkey wedding. A photo of her holding baby Dora and one with baby Declan and a third one with baby Violet. The newest family photo, with her siblings and new nephew, Michael, and her sisters-in-law. One of her and Barnaby at each of her siblings’ weddings. One of the cursebreaking crew members in the Order of the Phoenix. One of her and Tonks.

“Love?” Barnaby’s voice and arms wrapping around her waist startled herself out of the trance.

“Declan asleep?” she asked.

“Yeah. Kid conked out right after I started talking about the different ways to care for creatures.”

“That boy is not going to follow your footsteps into magiozoology.”

“No, he is not. What’s on your mind, my dear?”

“Dora asked about some photos from our younger days. I’ve been thinking about Tonks a lot tonight.”

“Oh, love.”

“Yeah. But you know, Barn, it feels like her death meant something. There’s been so many other pointless deaths in my life but hers felt different.”

“We won.”

“Yes. She helped to make it possible for us to give those kids a life where they aren’t afraid. To give her son a life where he isn’t afraid. And that feels like a victory.”

[unfortunate-arrow]

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥

A/N: For @hp-12monthsofmagic’s August prompt (“School’s out for the summer”). Set in June 1991.

The setting sun painted the sky with reds, purples, oranges, and yellows as it sank beneath the horizon and the edge of the Black Lake, marking the close of yet another year at Hogwarts. And for the cast of seventh years, it marked the final sunset that they would enjoy while students. Sara O’Donnell had never quite believed that she and her siblings would make it to that day. Their older brother hadn’t and the quadruplets had been sucked into the same mystery that their older brother had been. 

“We made it,” her brother, Ryan, announced.

“I wasn’t sure that we would m-make it,” her other brother, Conor, mused.

Ryan let out a snort of laughter, throwing one arm around Conor’s shoulders and the other around their sister, Cara’s shoulders.

“But we made it, and all in one piece,” Cara responded.

“Not all of our friends made it, though,” Sara muttered, not trying to bring the mood down but it was in moments like this that Ash Khanna’s absence could be felt so acutely. It was obvious with the way that all of their friends were gathered around the bonfire at the opposite end of the lakeshore. 

“Yeah,” Ryan echoed. “But, we can’t change the past.”

“No, we can’t.”

“We’re getting melancholy here, guys. For as much sadness as there was, there were some great times. I mean, at least one of us found a spouse,” Cara responded, elbowing Sara in the stomach. In turn, Sara’s face turned bright red as she found the shadowy form of Barnaby Lee. They’d been together for two years now, since the end of OWLs.

“Maybe so, but I’m not ready to think about marriage yet.”

“God, we’re n-n-not even eighteen y-y-yet,” Conor responded. 

“Yeah. I don’t want to get engaged until I’m at least 21. And anyways, I’m not the one off to university in the fall,” Sara said, turning to face her younger brother.

Conor grinned sheepishly, but didn’t say anything as he ducked his head bashfully. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Conor to even consider applying for university to study architecture. He had taken multiple correspondence courses over the summers, in math and physics and whatever else was needed to even be eligible for an architecture university program. But, the O’Donnells supported one another. It was what they did. It was how they convinced Conor to follow his dream and how they convinced Cara to pursue her interests in art. 

“Hey! O’Donnells! Are you going to join us or just be sadly sentimental over there?” Charlie Weasley called, as he jogged down from the beach.

“Like you wouldn’t be the exact same way,” Ryan retorted.

“Yeah, yeah. Come join us anyways.”

“We’re coming.”

Sara shook her head, but followed Charlie and her siblings to join the rest of their friends. She dropped down onto one of the logs next to Barnaby, who draped an arm across her shoulders. The yellows and reds of the fire flickered across everyone’s faces.

“We’ll stay in touch, right?” Penny Haywood asked, looking across at everyone.

“Yeah. We’ll try,” Sara responded.

“Well, Winger and I will both be entering auror training and I expect to see Sara at the hospital,” Nymphadora Tonks announced, grinning at Talbott Winger, who sat alone.

“Barnaby and I are going to be undergoing magiozoology training together,” Liz Tuttle added. 

“And Barnaby will be living with Conor and myself in Dublin,” Sara responded, grinning at her boyfriend.

“Yep,” Barnaby agreed. 

“We’ll do our best, but life acts in funny ways. We’ll drift apart and come back together,” Cara mused, sounding like Hufflepuff’s former quidditch captain, Orion Amari.

“To coming together again,” Penny echoed, holding up her glass.

“Slainte!” Ryan cheered back. 

[unfortunate-arrow]

HPMA Appreciation Week 2023 → Day 1: Favorite OCs of Mine

𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 “𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐞” 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐊𝐚𝐝𝐞

→ My OG HPMA kiddo and Hufflepuff boy. He’s changed a lot since his inception about two years ago. A new ship, three brothers, career changes, backstory changes. He’s still not perfect and rather underdeveloped, but when I think of my HPMA OCs, he pops up quickly. He’s just so *clutches shirt.* Nate was my first HPMA kiddo to stick around, as before him, I’d had multiple attempts at HPMA OCs. He’s probably my softest boy and I love the new complexities that have sprung up for him.

𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐎’𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐋𝐞𝐞

→ My newest HPMA and first next gen OC. The eldest son of Sara O’Donnell and Barnaby Lee, Declan came as a bit of a surprise. He popped up with a complication for his life and a faceclaim and never left. I love the way that he’s sort of an outsider amongst his siblings. He’s not overly interested in creatures and animals. He’s the token straight sibling. His passion is quidditch and he struggles with dyslexia. His internal conflict was influenced by the internal conflict in Benedict Bridgerton during his love story. Fun fact: I once attempted to make Declan (under a different name & faceclaim) a HPMA OC a while ago, probably summer 2020 when I was first experimenting with the idea of HPMA OCs. He didn’t stick until somewhat recently, though, and the only thing that has been constant is Slytherin, being born in 2001, and going pro for quidditch with the position of seeker.

— For @endlessly-cursed’s HP Magic Awakened Appreciation Week

[unfortunate-arrow]

𝐇𝐏𝐇𝐌 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄: 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐎’𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐥

warnings: mentions of death, illness, a car accident, child neglect & abuse, and premature births + related complications

✧ IDENTITY ✧

Full Name: Sara Ailis O’Donnell 

Nicknames: None

Name Meanings: Sara → Hebrew, “princess” ; Ailis → Irish, “noble” ; O’Donnell → Irish, “descendant of Domhnall.” 

Date of Birth: August 18, 1973 (at 7:41 pm)

Gender: Female ; she/her 

Sexuality: Heterosexual 

Blood Status: Half-blood

Nationality: Irish 

Residence: County Donegal, Ireland (birth to 5) ; Lynch Manor, County Donegal, Ireland (5 to 17) ; Dublin, Ireland (17 to 24) ; Yorkshire, England (24 to 25) ; Dublin, Ireland (25 to 33) ; The O’Donnell-Lee Creature Reserve and Rehabilitation Center, County Donegal, Ireland (33 to death)

✧ APPEARANCE ✧

Hogwarts Faceclaim: Malina Weissman

Adult Faceclaim: Elizabeth Henstridge

Height: 5’4” 

Build: On the leaner side of average

Hair: Dark brown hair that is either left down or pulled up into a ponytail or braid 

Eye Color: Blue

Scarring:

Childhood & Hogwarts: Sara has a few small scars scattered across her arms from the Ice Vault. They look like her arms brushed through a pricker bush. 

Post-Second War & Adulthood: None 

Modifications: (glasses, piercings, tattoos, etc.) Sara wears glasses and her ears are pierced. 

Other Distinguishing Marks: None

Clothing Style: Sweaters ; jeans ; t-shirts ; sundresses ; skirts ; blouses ; Barnaby’s sweater ; collared shirts ; converse sneakers ; boots ; Mary Janes

Accessories: A watch ; a claddagh ring that belonged to her late mother ; a heart key necklace from Barnaby ; her prefect badge 

What’s in Her Pockets: Her wand ; a purple change purse with coins 

What’s in Her School Bag: Textbooks ; quills and ink ; a muggle novel ; chapstick ; a small family photo album ; her frog choir folder ; her glasses case ; a small scrapbook with notes from friends and Barnaby

✧ SPEECH & LANGUAGE ✧

Voiceclaim: Malina Weissman ; Elizabeth Henstridge 

Accent: Irish

Dialect: Ulster

Languages Spoken: English, Irish Gaelic 

Languages Understood: English, Irish Gaelic, Latin

✧ PERSONALITY ✧

MBTI Type: ESFJ — the consul 

→ A Consul (ESFJ) is a person with the Extraverted, Observant, Feeling, and Judging personality traits. They are attentive and people-focused, and they enjoy taking part in their social community. Their achievements are guided by decisive values, and they willingly offer guidance to others.

Enneagram Type: 2 — the giver 

→ Twos are defined by their desire to belong and to be loved by others. They are helpful, nurturing and caring towards others. They are eager to involve themselves in others' lives. Twos rarely say no when others ask them for help, and want to prove value to others by always being there for them.

Positive Traits: Empathetic, intelligent, kind, warm, outgoing, organized, dependable, friendly

Neutral Traits: Loyal, stubborn, sensitive, protective, practical, conscientious, understanding, pragmatic, principled

Negative Traits: Inflexible, too altruistic, seeks approval from certain people, can be self-sacrificing, puts others ahead of herself 

Common Stressors: The Vaults ; exams ; her uncle ; low grades ; loved ones in danger 

Comforting Things: Reading ; pajamas ; Barnaby ; her siblings ; big sweaters 

Interests & Hobbies: Reading ; cooking ; baking ; hanging out with friends ; gardening

Description: Sara strives to see the best in others and in situations, but falls short with certain people. She has a very big heart, but has a tendency to forget to take care of herself and prioritizes others’ needs and approval above her own. As she grows older, Sara slowly begins to learn how to put herself first, and still remain a good and loyal friend. She has a soft and warm heart, which also leads to some people occasionally taking advantage of her (or at least trying to). Sara is rarely driven to anger, and tends to reserve her anger for people who hurt those she loves.

✧ MAGIC ✧

First Wand: Sara’s first wand is made of alder wood with a unicorn tail hair core and is 11 ½ inches with a stiff flexibility.

→ Alder was an unyielding wood. Garrick Ollivander had discovered that its ideal owner was not stubborn or obstinate, but often helpful, considerate and most likeable. Whereas most wand woods sought similarity in the characters of those they would best serve, alder was unusual in that it seemed to desire a nature that was, if not precisely opposite to its own, certainly of a markedly different type. When an alder wand was happily placed, it became a magnificent, loyal helpmate. Of all wand types, alder was best suited to non-verbal spell work, whence came its reputation for being suitable only for the most advanced witches and wizards.

Second Wand: Sara’s second wand is made of willow wood with a unicorn tail hair core and is 12 ¼ inches with an unyielding flexibility. 

→ Willow was an uncommon wand wood with healing power, and their ideal owner often had some (usually unwarranted) insecurity, however well they might try and hide it. They had a handsome appearance and well-founded reputation for enabling advanced, non-verbal magic. The willow wands there had consistently selected those of greatest potential, rather than those who felt they had little to learn.

Other Magical Abilities: None

Patronus: Lop-eared rabbit

Patronus Memory: The soft singing voice of her father, singing a lullaby. He’s not a good singer, but it’s the best memory she hand of him. 

Boggart: A corpse that belongs to someone that she loves 

Riddikulus: The corpse springs awake, dressed in a frilly costume 

Amortentia:

Sara smells like lavender, citrus, parchment, and clean.

Sara smells freshly baked bread, old books, the air after it rains, fresh dirt, and pine. 

Mirror of Erised: Sara sees herself surrounded by her family. 

✧ HOGWARTS ✧

House: Hufflepuff

OWL Classes:

Astronomy — Exceeds Expectations 

Charms — Outstanding 

Defense Against the Dark Arts — Exceeds Expectations 

Flying — Acceptable 

Herbology — Outstanding 

History of Magic — Poor

Potions — Outstanding

Transfiguration — Exceeds Expectations 

OWL Electives:

Care of Magical Creatures — Acceptable

Divination — Dreadful 

NEWT Classes:

Charms — Outstanding 

Defense Against the Dark Arts— Exceeds Expectations

Herbology — Outstanding

Potions — Outstanding

Transfiguration — Exceeds Expectations 

Extracurriculars: Prefect in her fifth through seventh year ; frog choir ; hospital wing assistant in her sixth and seventh years 

✧ EMPLOYMENT ✧

Affiliations: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry ; Leighis Hospital for Magical Illnesses and Maladies ; St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Illnesses and Maladies 

Professions:

Age 18 to 20 - Healer’s apprentice

Age 20 to 90 - Healer

✧ FAMILY ✧

Father: Seán Michael O’Donnell [deceased, 1936-1978]

Seán was born in Donegal Town, Ireland on June 30, 1936 to Lorcan and Rose O’Donnell. He was their only child and was raised Catholic. His family had always had a more liberal approach to Catholicism, though. Seán had a good childhood that was lively and full of joy. He had a close knit group of friends and his family was well off.

After unexpectedly receiving his Hogwarts letter on his eleventh birthday, Seán was sorted into Ravenclaw. He enjoyed his time at Hogwarts, joining the quidditch team and making a network of friends. His future wife was amongst that group. Seán was a fairly popular and handsome young man, who attracted attention everywhere he went. 

After graduating from Hogwarts, Seán began to pursue a career as an auror. He was successful and raised quickly through the ranks. However, he only did field work for ten years, switching to desk work when his eldest son was born in 1965. He retired from the ministry and auror office in January of 1975 after the death of his wife a few months prior. Shortly after, Albus Dumbledore offered Seán a position teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts for the 1975-1976 school year. Seán spent a long time deliberating before he agreed to the position, as long as Dumbledore would honor the terms and conditions Seán laid out. Seán retired after that one year, citing a desire to spend more time with his children.

In 1959, Seán ran into Ailis Lynch. Literally. He spilled his coffee over the both of them and something they began rekindling their friendship, which eventually turned to romance. On Ailis’s twenty-fourth birthday, Seán asked Ailis out to dinner for their first date. They would date for approximately two years before getting married on May 29, 1962. 

Their first years of marriage were tough, as both faced losses, including the death of Seán’s auror partner. However, it was filled with lots of love and patience. Three years into their marriage, their eldest son, Cian Jacob was born on January 18, 1965. Eight years and three miscarriages later, Seán’s youngest children, Ryan Michael, Cara Rose, Sara Ailis, and Conor Lorcan were born on August 18, 1973. 

The first year with the quadruplets went quite smoothly, but everything changed in July of 1974. His wife became incredibly ill and no one was ever able to diagnose her. Seán became a widower and single father on August 2, 1974. He would never remove his wedding band. 

In April of 1978, Seán was killed in an automobile wreck. It was wet and dark and something just went wrong. He was killed upon impact and his death was a significant blow to the family.

Sara adored her father, but unfortunately, she doesn’t have many clear memories of him. The one true memory she has of him, which is her patronus memory, is just his voice singing a lullaby. He was not a good singer, but Sara remembers his singing fondly. 

Faceclaim: Pierce Brosnan (1980s)

Mother: Ailis Ciara O’Donnell née Lynch [deceased, 1936-1974]

Ailis was born in Dublin, Ireland in March 24, 1936 to Conor and Ciara Lynch. She joined older brother, Doyle who was ten. She had a happy childhood that was full of love. Due to their age gap, her older brother was rarely around and she was shielded from some of her parents’ concerns about him. She’d share those concerns later in life, but never noticed it prior to starting Hogwarts. 

Upon starting Hogwarts, Ailis was sorted into Ravenclaw. She enjoyed her time at Hogwarts. She became a prefect and made a group of good friends. It wasn’t as extensive a network as her husband or youngest four children made, but they were still close friends. She also became good friends with her future husband, although she never would have called him a close friend and may have harbored a secret crush on him.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Ailis began her career as a healer. She spent her first few years working at St. Mungo’s in London, but would transfer to the Irish hospital, Leighis. She spent the remainder of her career at Leighis. 

In 1959, Ailis reconnected with Seán O’Donnell… after he spilled his coffee all over the two of them. Ailis was instantly smitten with the man and they began rekindling their friendship, which turned romantic when he asked her to dinner on her twenty-fourth birthday. Ailis married Seán on May 29, 1962. 

Their first years of marriage were a little rough as they both faced a series of losses, including the death of Ailis’s parents from dragon pox while she was pregnant with her first child. However, their marriage was filled with lots of love and patience. Three years into their marriage, their eldest son, Cian Jacob was born on January 18, 1965. Eight years and three miscarriages later, her youngest four children, Ryan Michael, Cara Rose, Sara Ailis, and Conor Lorcan were born on August 18, 1973. 

Their first year or so with the quadruplets went pretty smoothly, but everything changed when Ailis fell gravely ill in July of 1974. No one was able to identify what was ailing Ailis, and on July 25, Ailis and Seán agreed to end the search for a cure or diagnosis. The healers had discovered it was not contagious and Ailis was able to spend the remainder of her life with her husband and children. She passed away, peacefully, in her sleep early on August 2, 1974. 

Unfortunately, Sara has no memories of her mother. She wishes she had something beyond the photographs, and that she had a mother to talk to when things got difficult. Sara adored the few stories she remembered her father and grandparents telling her about her mother. 

Faceclaim: Stephanie Zimbalist

Brother: Cian Jacob O’Donnell [1965-2002]

Cian was born on January 18, 1965, making him a little over eight years older than the quadruplets. Upon starting Hogwarts, Cian was sorted into Gryffindor and became involved in the Cursed Vaults. He used them as a crutch to ignore the grief of losing his parents, grandparents, and a close friend. He also used them as an attempt to impress his uncle.

After he was released from the portrait vault, Cian fled from Hogwarts and sunk into hiding. He didn’t know how to handle the mess that he had made and he had an intense desire for acceptance. Cian spends most of his life hiding and generally being a bit of a vagabond. In 2002, Cian fell fatally ill and passed away on December 13, 2002 at age 37. 

Sara doesn’t have much of a relationship with Cian, mostly because he disappeared when she was only eight. She also doesn’t recognize him when he is released from the Vaults at the end of her fifth year. Unfortunately, Sara never gets the chance to try and form a relationship with her eldest brother, as he disappears after the Vaults are finished and she ends up being the one to identify Cian’s body after he passes in 2002. 

Faceclaim: Nick Robinson

Brother: Ryan Michael O’Donnell

Born on August 18, 1973, Ryan is the eldest quadruplet, thirty-six minutes older than Sara, and a Gryffindor. Sara probably has the most distant relationship with Ryan, but they are still close. They were both fairly invested in the Cursed Vaults and have somewhat bonded over that. They are very supportive of one another and they don’t have many arguments, even though they are rather similar in personality. 

Faceclaim: Jaeden Martell

Sister: Cara Rose O’Donnell

Born on August 18, 1973, Cara is the second quadruplet, twenty-one minutes older than Sara, and a Slytherin. Sara is very close to her sister, and they don’t often argue, although their spats can get quite nasty. Sara greatly admires Cara’s artistic talents, as Sara herself can barely draw a house. She is very supportive of her sister and they’re different enough in personality that they complement each other rather well. 

Faceclaim: Sadie Sink

Brother: Conor Lorcan O’Donnell

Born on August 18, 1973, Conor is the youngest quadruplet, twenty-one minutes younger than Sara, and a Ravenclaw. Sara is quite close to her brother and they rarely have spats. Their biggest spats are usually over Sara being protective over him, but those spats are generally pretty rare. Sara is very grateful for the fact that Conor can be very patient when explaining quidditch and other sports to her, even when he’s explaining it for the sixth time. 

Faceclaim: Jack Moore

Grandfather: Lorcan Ryan O’Donnell [deceased, 1905-1979]

Lorcan was born in Donegal Town, Ireland, on January 29, 1905 to Jacob and Mary O’Donnell, joining elder brother, Eoin (1899-1920). For the most part, Lorcan’s early childhood was calm and stable, as he grew up the son of a farmer. However, things changed in his early teen years, as when Lorcan was 14, the Irish War of Independence broke out. His brother insisted on joining the cause and was killed in 1920 at the age of 21, while participating in the raiding of a British supply train. From that point on, Lorcan’s parents forbid the 15-year-old from becoming further involved in the war. Lorcan abided by their wishes, grieving for his older brother, and settled into a world of history that had yet to be adequately told. 

After the war and the partition and at the age of 20, Lorcan traveled to Dublin to spend some time with his bachelor uncle Michael as he studied at a university. A few weeks into his stay, Lorcan met Rose Boyle and started up a friendship with her, which had always had a bit of a romantic tilt. That friendship continued, even when Lorcan returned to Donegal to help his aging parents with the selling of the farm. After the farm had been sold, Lorcan accepted a teaching position in Dublin for a year. He reconnected with Rose and they fell deeper into love. He married Rose in 1927, and they moved back to Donegal in 1936, with their first and only child on the way. They had struggled for some time to conceive, and upon finally conceiving, they decided to move back for the support of Lorcan’s parents as they had also received a small but hefty inheritance from Lorcan’s late uncle. Their only child, Seán Michael O’Donnell, was born on June 30, 1936.

Lorcan adored his son and did his best to raise his son into a good man, which he succeeded in doing. He was surprised to learn that his son was a wizard, but he continued to love and nurture his son, the best he could for a man born in the 1900s. While his son grew and studied, Lorcan spent a lot of time cataloging the history of his hometown and fostering his marriage with Rose. Lorcan’s parents passed away within a three year span, with his father dying in 1947 and his mother in 1950.  He adored them and eagerly welcomed Ailis Lynch into the family when Seán married her in 1962. He was also very excited when his first grandchild, Cian Jacob, was born in 1965, and his excitement quintupled when his quadruplet grandchildren, Ryan Michael, Cara Rose, Sara Ailis, and Conor Lorcan, were born in 1973. He was also incredibly touched to learn that Ryan and Conor were named after him. 

Lorcan adored being a grandfather and could often be found telling one of his grandchildren a long and complicated story, especially when they were babies. To Lorcan, moving in to help his son raise his children after becoming a widower was a no brainer and Lorcan adored doing so, even though he was heartbroken by his daughter-in-law’s 1974 death. It was also a no brainer to raise his grandchildren after his son’s death in 1978, which was shattering and Lorcan knows the only reason he lived through that painful time was because of his grandchildren. Unfortunately, Lorcan’s time with his grandchildren was limited as, in 1979 and only a few months after losing his son, Lorcan caught a fatal case of pneumonia. He passed away at the age of 74, leaving behind a legacy of love for his grandchildren, son, and history.

Sara adored her grandfather, but unfortunately she doesn’t have many memories of him. Most of her clear memories of him are associated with the scent of ink, as Lorcan often had ink stains on his hands. 

Faceclaim: Pierce Brosnan (current)

Grandmother: Rose Marie O’Donnell née Boyle [deceased, 1906-1979]

Born on November 18, 1906 in Dublin, Ireland, Rose was the only child of Patrick and Brigid Boyle. Rose’s childhood was spent in the city of Dublin and she enjoyed her childhood very much. Of course, things changed when the war for independence broke out and her family relocated to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in the countryside. Two of her cousins were killed during the war and the war made Rose grow up rather quickly. 

After the war and at the age of 19, Rose moved back to Dublin and she got a job at a bookstore, which allowed her to meet Lorcan O’Donnell. They struck up a friendship, which turned into letters once Lorcan moved back to Donegal. They reconnected, though, once Lorcan moved back to teach for a year. Rose married Lorcan in 1927, and a few years later they moved back to Donegal, as Rose was pregnant with their only child. Her son, Seán Michael, was born on June 30, 1936 and Rose adored her new baby boy. She loved him dearly and was surprised by the fact that he was a wizard. However, it didn’t make her love him any less. After he started at Hogwarts, Rose began a new project, retelling Irish and Celtic myths and legends underneath a pen name when she published. In addition, Rose’s parents also passed away when her son was still a child.

Rose was overjoyed when Ailis Lynch joined the family in 1962. She was also very excited to meet her first grandchild, Cian Jacob when he was born in 1965, and was overjoyed when her quadruplet grandchildren, Ryan Michael, Cara Rose, Sara Ailis, and Conor Lorcan were born in 1973. Rose was very touched to learn that Seán and Ailis had given her name to baby Cara. Rose was also heartbroken when Ailis died in 1974 and immediately agreed to move in to help her son raise his five children. Rose was also heartbroken by the subsequent losses of her son in 1978 and her husband in 1979, but she dedicated her time to her grandchildren. Unfortunately, like her husband, Rose only had a limited amount of time with her grandchildren as she suffered a fatal hemorrhagic stroke a few months after losing her husband. She passed away at the age of 73 and left behind a legacy of love for her grandchildren. 

Sara loved her grandmother dearly, but also doesn’t have many clear memories of her. Small things generally remind Sara of her grandmother, like the blooming of a flower, which inspires Sara to begin gardening. 

Maternal Grandparents: Conor Ryan Lynch [deceased, 1900-1964] and Ciara Mary Lynch née Mallon [dceased, 1900-1964]

Born on March 29, 1900 and sorted into Hufflepuff, Conor was the only son and child of Cillian Lynch and Orla O’Rourke. Conor was pretty much the opposite of his parents and never spent much time around them, but he was still shocked when his father was arrested in 1925. After Hogwarts, Conor became a healer. His youngest grandson was named after him.

Born in 1900 and sorted into Ravenclaw, Ciara is the second child of David and Mary Mallon. Unlike her husband, Ciara was a muggleborn. She was infinitely fascinated by the wizarding world and was eager to learn all she could. After Hogwarts, Ciara became a ministry secretary and bounced around the different departments, sating her infinite curiosity. 

Conor and Ciara married in 1924, after meeting in the ministry. They had two children together, Doyle Brannigan in 1925 and Ailis Ciara in 1936. They both contracted dragon pox and died on the day, hours apart. They never got to meet their grandchildren, which means that Sara never knew her maternal grandparents. 

Uncle: Doyle Brannigan Lynch [1925-1998]

Born on December 13, 1925 and a Slytherin, Doyle was the eldest child of Conor and Ciara Lynch and nearly eleven years older than his younger sister, Ailis. Despite having a kind and loving childhood, Doyle still became quite cold and ruthless. He was a terrifying combination of his grandfather and great-grandfather. No one has any idea how he ended up that way. 

At the age of 40, Doyle inherited the Lynch Manor and 40% of the family fortune upon the deaths of his parents. He was infinitely fascinated by the darkness the manor held and especially of the portrait of his great-grandfather, the abusive Bain Lynch. Doyle also was a bachelor, and was one for his entire life. 

At the age of 54, Doyle received custody of his nieces and nephews, much to his disdain. However, he did see potential in his eldest nephew, Cian. Doyle began to manipulate the boy, taking advantage of the grief-riddled teen’s desperation for approval. In doing so, though, Doyle neglected the quadruplets until Cian was expelled from Hogwarts. Then, he began to launch into tirades, and occasionally got physically violent. A common refrain was calling the quads’ father “your filthy mudblood father.” Doyle died at the age of 73, in 1998. 

Sara never liked her uncle. After the final summer between sixth and seventh year, Sara never returns to her uncle and only returns to Lynch Manor when it is converted to the O’Donnell-Lee Creature Reserve and Rehabilitation Center.

Faceclaim: Sam Neill

Pets: 

Childhood: Archimedes the owl ; Duchess the cat ; Kermit the toad 

Adulthood: A cat named O’Malley ; a cat named Casey ; a yellow Labrador retriever named Rosie ; a brown border collie named Murphy ; an owl named Wilbur ; numerous creatures that live on the O’Donnell-Lee Creature Reserve and Rehabilitation Center

✧ ROMANCE & CHILDREN ✧

Love Interest: Barnaby Abernathy Lee

→ Sara first met Barnaby Lee in her second year when she was helping Madam Pomfrey out in the hospital wing, but neither truly knew who the other person was. Therefore, they officially met the following year when Barnaby challenged Sara’s brother, Ryan to a duel. After that, they managed to become quick friends and that slowly began to transition into romantic feelings. This meant that they went to the Celestial Ball together and had a Valentine’s Day date at Madam Puddifoot’s in their fourth year, when neither really knew what dating meant. They remained friends until June of 1989, when the OWL exams had finished. That summer afternoon marked the start of their romantic relationship, when they decided to become a secret couple as they are both worried about ruining their friendship. In November of that same year, though, they became official and none of their friends were surprised. Their relationship remained steady throughout the rest of their time at Hogwarts and persisted beyond. In November 1995, they became engaged and on June 30, 1997, Sara and Barnaby got married in a low-key and tiny ceremony.

Son: Nolan Seán O’Donnell-Lee

Hufflepuff | Beater | Pansexual | Dragonlogist | b. June 6, 1998

Teddy Lupin’s BFF

Faceclaim: Oscar Morgan

Daughter: Theodora Ailis “Dora” O’Donnell-Lee

Hufflepuff | Prefect | Bisexual | b. December 28, 2000

Sara has a pretty good relationship with her older daughter. In many respects, Dora reminds Sara of Barnaby as they both have a shared interest in creatures and Dora is as dedicated as Barnaby is. Sara and Dora do butt heads sometimes, but those tend not to be very often and mainly happened when Dora was between the ages of 13 and 15. Sara loves her daughter dearly. 

Faceclaim: Sophie Nelisse

Son: Declan Ryan O’Donnell-Lee

Slytherin | Seeker | Dyslexic | Heterosexual | b. September 1, 2004

Sara has a pretty good relationship with her eldest son, who she’d describe as an interesting combination of herself, Barnaby, and her brother, Conor. Sara also feels like she struggles to connect with him, though, as they have fairly different interests. However, she loves him dearly and she tries her best to help him. In fact, Sara would say that getting Declan help for his dyslexia early was the best decision she ever made for him. 

Faceclaim: Kit Connor 

Daughter: Violet Cara O’Donnell-Lee

Ravenclaw | Prefect | Headgirl | Chaser | Demisexual | b. May 3, 2006

Sara has a good relationship with Violet. They’re both very similar in personality, and a lot of people describe Violet as a mini-Sara. She’s touched by that comparison, as Sara is very proud of her daughter. They occasionally have a spat, which was mostly concentrated when Violet was between 11 and 13. Sara adores her daughter and is very proud of Violet.

Faceclaim: Sophie Grace

Son: Brendan Conor O’Donnell-Lee

Hufflepuff | Bisexual | b. May 17, 2008

Sara has a good relationship with her youngest son. Brendan seems to be the true combination of Sara’s and Barnaby’s personalities, and Sara adores that. She doesn’t have many arguments with him, and Brendan was very much a momma’s boy when he was little. They’ve always been close, though, and Sara loves her son dearly. 

Faceclaim: Christopher Convery

✧ OTHER RELATIONSHIPS ✧

Best Friends: 

Penny Haywood

Rowan Khanna

Barnaby Lee 

Nymphadora Tonks 

Close Friends:

Wendy Gordon (@drinkyoursoupbitch)

Ellie Hopper (@thatravenpuffwitch)

Rohan Khanna

Chiara Lobosca

Marti Venturi (@smarti-at-smogwarts)

Bill & Charlie Weasley

Friends:

Badeea Ali

Callie Black (@cursedvaultss)

Julian Bennett ; Ira Janda ; Lizzie Parker (@slytherindisaster)

Ben Copper

Odhrán Donovan (@amerrymystery)

Marty Raymond (@hogwartsmysteryho)

Cato Reese (@catohphm)

Liz Tuttle 

Acquaintances:

Andre Egwu

Jae Kim

Talbott Winger

It’s Complicated: 

Diego Capla

Hogwarts Dormmates: 

Penny Haywood

Rowan Khanna

Chiara Lobosca

Nymphadora Tonks 

Rivals: 

Ismelda Murk

Patricia Rakepick 

Merula Synde 

Enemies: 

Death eaters

R

✧ HISTORY & BACKGROUND ✧

Place of Birth: Leighis Hospital for Magical Illnesses and Maladies, Dublin, Ireland

Hometown: County Donegal, Ireland 

Childhood: 

Born at 7:41 pm on August 18, 1973, Sara Ailis O’Donnell was the fourth child and youngest daughter of Seán and Ailis O’Donnell. She joined fellow quadruplets, Ryan Michael (born at 7:04 pm), Cara Rose (born at 7:19 pm), and Conor Lorcan (born at 8:01 pm) as well as older brother, Cian Jacob (then 8). Seán and Ailis were kind and loving parents, who did everything they could for their children, including spending countless hours at Leighis as Sara and her fellow quadruplets were born approximately ten weeks prematurely. Sara herself had weighed only three pounds and two ounces at birth but had no other health issues.

Brought home at three months old, Sara’s first few months at home were stable and loving and happy. Her parents doted on her and her siblings, even though Cian wasn’t quite sure what to make of the quadruplets. Unfortunately, in July, about a month before Sara’s first birthday, her mother fell deathly ill. Healers tried in vain to diagnose her and find a cure, but were ultimately unsuccessful. On July 25, Seán and Ailis agreed to end all attempts to diagnose and cure her. The disease wasn’t contagious, and it wasn’t worth it anymore. On August 2, 1974, in the wee hours of the morning, Ailis Ciara O’Donnell (née Lynch) passed peacefully in her sleep, leaving her husband to raise their five children… mostly alone.

A few months later, in January, 1975, Seán quit his job in the auror office and became a stay-at-home dad. However, that plan was slightly interrupted when Albus Dumbledore offered Seán the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, which Seán eventually accepted but only for a year. After that, Seán officially prioritized his children and raising them to the best of his ability, along with the help of his parents, Lorcan and Rose, who had moved in shortly after Ailis’s death. Unfortunately, in April of 1978, Seán passed away after a fatal car accident.

After the death of her father, Sara and her siblings were primarily raised by their grandparents, who did their best to handle four toddlers and one moody, grief-riddled teenager. It was hard, but both Lorcan and Rose thought it was very rewarding work. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long either as in January of 1979, Lorcan caught pneumonia and that eventually claimed his life. Only a few months later, in May of 1979, Rose suffered a fatal hemorrhagic stroke. 

Thus, Sara and her siblings were placed into the custody of their uncle, Doyle. He was their late mother’s older brother, whom Sara and her siblings had never met. The siblings were also relocated to Lynch Manor, which was a gloomy and loveless place where it seemed to echo with the misery of previous generations. However, Doyle generally ignored his nieces and nephews, especially Sara, Ryan, Cara, and Conor as they were not yet six. Sara rarely ever saw her uncle, which meant that she and her siblings more or less had a free reign over the manor and its grounds. 

However, everything began to change when Sara was eight and her older brother was expelled from Hogwarts. Doyle began to have violent outbursts, especially where his nieces and nephews were concerned. Yet, Doyle rarely ever laid a hand on Sara and her siblings as he preferred to give degrading lectures where he attacked anything that he perceived as a weakness.

Hogwarts Years:

Upon starting Hogwarts, Sara was sorted into Hufflepuff. She quickly acclimated to the house and began forming some lifelong friendships, including Penny Haywood, Rowan Khanna, and Nymphadora Tonks, and introducing them to her siblings. To most people, though, Sara’s close friendship with Tonks was shocking as the two girls were very different, but that didn’t stop their friendship from blossoming. 

For six years, Sara participated in an investigation into the Cursed Vaults alongside her siblings in a search to find out the truth about what happened to their older brother. Sara was never very passionate about the Vaults, but she was compelled to search for them and her older brother. She didn’t hate and could never wish that they didn't happen, as the Vaults let her make friends and led her to the love of her life. However, once the Vaults were done at the end of her sixth year, Sara breathed a sigh of relief that they no longer had to dominate her life and that no one else would need to be hurt in the search, as a few months prior Rohan Khanna had been murdered.

After finishing the Vaults in her sixth year, Sara devoted her seventh year to her prefect duties, her job as an assistant in the hospital wing, and her burgeoning relationship with Barnaby Lee, which had begun at the end of their fifth year. She also began to finalize her plans to become a healer by securing an apprenticeship in Leighis Hospital in Dublin. 

Adulthood:

Upon graduating from Hogwarts, Sara began her healer apprenticeship and shared a flat in Dublin with her brother, Conor, and her boyfriend whenever Barnaby was able to get away from his magiozoologist apprenticeship. Sara enjoyed her apprenticeship, learning so much and she stayed at Leighis until 1995, when she was transferred to St. Mungo’s in London.

In London, Sara officially moved in with Barnaby. They shared a small flat above a bookstore in Diagon Alley, and on the anniversary of their first official date in November 1995, Barnaby proposed and Sara eagerly accepted. They began slowly planning their wedding, and decided that they would have a longer engagement of about two years.

However, their plans changed when the second wizarding war broke out. Sara, alongside Barnaby and her siblings, had joined the Order of the Phoenix in 1995 when Voldemort first returned. They still kept a two-year engagement, but as things became bleaker by the day, Sara and Barnaby made the quick decision to get married in secret. Sara married Barnaby on June 30, 1997 which ended up being the day that Albus Dumbledore died and spurred the war into full speed. Sara and Barnaby had a simple honeymoon in hiding while running a safe house in Yorkshire, England. They were a temporary refuge for anyone with minor to moderate injuries, whether they were victims of snatchers or death eaters. Alongside her husband and siblings, Sara joined the fight at the Battle of Hogwarts but remained in the background as she attempted to heal those that were wounded during the fighting.

A few months after the war ended, Sara discovered that she was pregnant and was overjoyed, as was Barnaby when she broke the news. She had started working for Leighis again, and was quite content. Her daughter, Theodora Ailis “Dora” O’Donnell-Lee was born on June 6, 1999 and was named after Sara’s late friend, Nymphadora Tonks, and after Sara’s late mother. Sara and Barnaby had three more children: Declan Ryan, who was born on September 1, 2001, Violet Cara, who was born on May 3, 2003, and Brendan Conor, who was born on May 17, 2006.

In 2003, Sara and her siblings inherited Lynch Manor. None of the siblings wanted to move in to the manor or sell, so they decided to convert it into a reserve and rehab center for magical creatures that would be run by Barnaby and Liz Tuttle. The O’Donnell-Lee Creature Reserve and Rehabilitation Center opened in 2005, and that was when Sara and her family moved into a small cottage which had been constructed for the O’Donnell-Lees to live in. 

Old Age:

Sara retired at the age of 90 and devoted the rest of her life to her hobbies and grandchildren. She enjoyed retirement and cultivated a wonderful flower and vegetable garden, filled with both magical and muggle plants. She and Barnaby even did some traveling around Europe and the United States. She remained close to her siblings and mourned familial passings. 

Death: 

Sara passed away, in her sleep, at the age of 116 and approximately three months later, Barnaby would pass in his sleep. Sara had lived a long and fulfilled life and she left behind four children, eight grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren.

✧ MISCELLANEOUS ✧ 

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Food: Spaghetti with cheesy garlic bread 

Favorite Drink: Ginger beer

Favorite Weather: Cloudy days with the sun poking through 

Favorite Season: Autumn 

Favorite Book: the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery, romance novels, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen 

Favorite Music: Duran Duran, The Cure, R.E.M., Echo & The Bunnymen

Dislikes: Bullies ; blood supremacy ; spiders ; seafood ; pumpkin 

Trivia:

Sara knows nothing about sports and is easily confused by all the rules. With quidditch, Sara also never knows which team to support as she’s a Hufflepuff and her siblings, who all play, are in the other three houses. As an adult, though, she supports the Ballycastle Bats as that is the team that her son, Declan, plays for.

Sara is a mom friend. She is the reason that Tonks didn’t kill herself while doing something reckless. 

Sara is Teddy Lupin’s godmother, but never really interferes with what Harry and the Weasleys are doing with him. She’s just another support system for the young boy, one who was in a somewhat similar situation.

Sara’s middle name is after her mother, Ailis Lynch.

Sara’s claddagh ring belonged to her mother, and she absolutely adores it and the story behind it. Her father gave the ring to her mother for their first Christmas as a married couple and he had bought it in Galway, where the ring is originally from.

Sara’s mental state remained unaffected by the trauma of her life because of the love magic that dispersed when her parents died. That love magic managed to protect Sara’s, Ryan’s, Cara’s, and Conor’s minds from the worst of their trauma.

When Ailis O’Donnell died, an ancient protection magic wove itself into her five children. While it didn’t do all that much for her eldest son, who was nine at the time, it did provide much protection to her younger four children, aged eleven months. Its power wasn’t based on who was loved more. No, this magic’s power was influenced more by the children’s ages than anything else, really. Her eldest, at nine, never managed to recover from the grief and over the next seven years, her son’s destructive grief overpowered the magic. Her younger four, being much younger, had no memory of Ailis and so, the grief they held was different, less oppressive than her eldest son’s. Thus, it was able to be strengthened over time as it fed on the love and bond that always held steadfast for the quadruplets.

Sara is the great-granddaughter of Cillian Lynch and Orla O’Rourke. 

Important Links:

Sara’s tag 

Meddlesome — a Valentine’s Day story

More information about Sara’s children, Dora, Declan, Violet, and Brendan

[unfortunate-arrow]

𝐻𝒫 𝒲𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒲𝑒𝑒𝓀

Day Four: Mother's Daughter (Talk about a female fankid that you love) of @endlessly-cursed’s HP women appreciation week

Lucretia “Lucy” and Matilda “Mattie” Devlin → Two of William Devlin and Josie Edwards’s (@slytherindisaster) three daughters, Lucy and Mattie each take after one of their parents. Lucy has her mother’s passion for nature and creatures, while Mattie has her father’s creativity but channels it into both piano and painting. Both girls also have their parents’ reserved natures (Mattie is more outgoing, though) and are both twins. Lucy is an identical twin, while Mattie is a fraternal twin.

Catherine “Kate” O’Neill → One of Rory O’Neill and Ethel Malinda’s (@gaygryffindorgal) twin daughters, Kate is her father’s daughter. She’s quite similar in personality to him, without all the trauma. She’s passionate about quidditch, but has never loved playing the sport and instead follows her mother’s footsteps into journalism, focusing on writing about quidditch.

Theodora “Dora” O’Donnell-Lee → The eldest daughter of Sara O’Donnell and Barnaby Lee, Dora is her mother’s daughter coupled with her father’s passion for creatures. Perhaps one of the first fankids I have, Dora has had many different iterations over the past few years. She’s always remained soft and passionate about animals. She is the eldest of the O’Donnell cousins, having three younger siblings and six younger cousins. Dora can be quite protective of her younger siblings and cousins.

Flora MacKade → The only daughter of Finn MacKade and Scotty Rosier (@drinkyoursoupbitch), Flora is the second eldest MacKade cousin. She’s a fascinating combination of her mother and father and my only female character who goes on to play quidditch professionally. Flora is plays chaser on her quidditch teams and often keeps an eye on her younger brother and cousins.

Honorary Mentions:

Saoirse Lynch → Tadhg and Niamh’s younger daughter, Aisling’s sister

Margo Pembroke → Max and Ivy’s only daughter

Cecilia Kennedy → Edmund and Lottie’s younger daughter

Daphne Demiurgos-Kennedy → Minerva and Adonis’s only daughter

Reva Rovere-Parsons → Georgie and Angelo’s only daughter

Winifred O’Donnell, Keira Khanna-O’Donnell, Violet O’Donnell-Lee, Naomi O’Donnell → the four other girl O’Donnell cousins, daughters of Ryan and Penny, Cara and Rowan, Sara and Barnaby, Conor and Ruth

Maya Kingsley-Valdez → Camila and Jasper’s daughter

Nora Easterbrook-Whitten → Benedict and Poppy’s middle daughter

[benscursedkid]

👽 for my Hufflepuff girl Sara and Barnaby, please? Her profile & some tags are linked on the pinned post. Thank you!

👽 - costume shopping

“Remind me why we’re doing this again?” Barnaby calls out to Sara a few rows behind him, allowing his fingers to pause on a zombie costume, only to shake his head as he thinks better of it and continues on. “Isn’t dressing up for Halloween more of a muggle tradition?”

Sara huffs as she fingers through another rack that yields no results. “A. Just because it’s a muggle thing doesn’t mean us magical folk can’t partake, it’ll be fun,” Shuffling her feet in mild frustration and disappointment, she comes to a stop beside him. He offers her a dazzling smile. “B. Ben said he misses dressing up with his parents and we all need a break right now.”

Barnaby nods his agreement in earnest, his mind drifting back to all the unfinished projects and study guides sitting on his desk collecting dust. The thoughts nearly makes him dizzy.

Offering him an understanding smile, Sara sighs and takes ahold of his hand. “See that’s exactly what I’m talking about. It’s only October and everyone is so preoccupied that they’re forgetting to take time to breathe!”

“But O.W.Ls—”

“Are still months away,” She reasons, pouting slightly and Barnaby has no choice but to relent. She’s far too cute for her own good. “Madam Rosmerta is throwing a Halloween party this weekend and we’re all going to go.”

Having settled that, Sara nods proudly to herself and sets about helping him chose his own costume. With Madam Rosemerta’s plan now public, one of the shop owners in Hogsmeade has temoraily renovated their store to exclusively sell costumes after hearing from a few students that it is a muggle tradition.

“Can’t I just go as a wizard?” Barnaby muses, half-serious and half genuinely puzzled. “Muggles wear wizard costumes, don’t they?”

For a moment, Sara ponders this, her head tilting just slightly in thought. “Well, what’s the point of dressing up if you’re already a wizard?”

Barnaby hums in understanding. “Good point... what about a werewolf?” He saw a few werewolf costumes already and he recalls that Ben once said he could see him wearing a werewolf costume in the past.

“I thought about that actually, but I’m worried it might offend Chiara.” Sara frowns and Barnaby nods, deciding to opt for something else. But what?

Looking to Sara for help, Barnaby stops as he notices the subtle rays of sunlight framing her form, wrapping around her like ribbon. Suddenly, an idea comes to him.

“I think you should be a princess.” Barnaby suggests, not as steady but just as confident as he had hoped.

An amused smile tugs at the corner of Sara’s lips and she turns to face him, adjusting her glasses on her nose. “And why do you reckon?”

Chewing his bottom lip out of nervous habit, Barnaby shrugs and says as though it were obvious, “Princesses are always pretty so I thought it’d suit you.”

Blushing furiously, Sara grins toothily, her cheeks aching just slightly. She decides to take pity on Barnaby, who fiddles somewhat bashfully with a Hercules costume. She clears her throat.

“Well, Barnaby, I think that’s a grand idea,” Green eyes catch hers, shining in relief and satisfaction and she smirks slightly, handing him a costume she picked up after hearing his suggestion. “Try this one. Every princess needs a prince.”

[unfortunate-arrow]

The Journey

Day 1: The Journey for @cursebreakerfarrier’s Back to School Challenge ; also honoring Declan’s September 1 birthday

The year he turned eleven, Declan O’Donnell-Lee hated his birthday. He didn’t hate his birthday in general, but some of the magic of a birthday was lost when you were supposed to begin a new school on it. As he stared up at the scarlet engine, his stomach began to turn. The cake that he’d had for breakfast hadn’t done much to calm his nerves, but that had been a nice surprise. The previous two years they’d had cake after dinner, after they’d dropped Dora off at the platform. Except this year, it was Declan’s turn to climb onto the train. 

“Dec, sweetheart, everything will be fine,” Mum said, running a soothing hand through his auburn hair. 

“Your mother’s right, kiddo. You’ll find your place and make friends you never even thought you would. I had never expected to meet your mother and aunt and uncles,” Dad said, clapping a hand on Declan’s shoulder. 

“Plus, Dora can show you the ropes.”

A groan came from his thirteen-year-old sister. “I’m not going to babysit him. I have my own life,” Dora responded.

“I don’t need a babysitter, Dora.” 

“And, Aunt Ruth will always be there if you’re feeling a little homesick,” Mum added. Aunt Ruth was currently the part-time charms professor, teaching the first through fourth years. 

At that moment, the train whistled and Dora gave Mum, Dad, Violet, and Brendan each a quick hug before hopping onto the train. 

“Alright, kiddo, have a great few months. Mum and I’ll write at least once a week. And again, happy birthday, Declan. I know this probably isn’t the best birthday, but there’s a little something hidden for you amongst your trunks,” Dad said, pulling Declan in for a tight hug. 

“Barnaby! You weren’t supposed to tell him that. It was supposed to be a surprise. Anyways, have a great few months, sweetheart. I love you. And yes, happy birthday, Dec,” Mum said, pulling him into another hug. 

“Love you, too,” Declan murmured, hugging them back. 

He let out a slow breath and climbed onto the train. He leaned out of the window, waving furiously to his parents and younger siblings as they began to disappear from view. He started as a hand clapped his shoulder.

“Happy birthday, Dec. Now, I’m going to find my friends. Find somewhere to sit and I’ll cheer you on when you get sorted,” Dora said. “And relax. Everything will be fine. Mum and Dad are right, Aunt Ruth will be there if you have any issues.” 

[unfortunate-arrow]

Sarah/Barnaby + meet cute, please 💜?

13-year-old Barnaby Lee had never really known kindness. His parents and grandmother were cold and distant, aside from the moments where they pointed out his shortcomings. His uncle wasn’t around much. His friends weren’t exactly the greatest. Case in point, Merula had just goaded him into dueling a Gryffindor which had resulted in himself and the Gryffindor landing in the hospital wing.

“Is there anything I can get you?” a voice with an Irish accent asked and Barnaby looked up to see a girl. She had dark hair that had been pulled into two braids. She wore Hufflepuff robes and had kind eyes that shone through her glasses.

“Oh, nothing. I’m fine,” he replied.

“Well, how about some company? This is all Madam Pomfrey is letting me do.”

“Okay.”

“I’m Sara, by the way.”

“Barnaby.”

She smiled at him, and wow, there was something quite magical about that happened when she smiled. It made him want to smile too, even though there wasn’t much that had him smiling these days.

“Where are you from? I’m from Donegal, in Ireland,” Sara said.

“Oh. I live in Kent,” Barnaby replied.

“Any siblings?”

“Nope. It’s just me.”

“Really, what’s that like? I have four siblings, although my oldest brother isn’t around.”

Barnaby paused for a moment and looked into Sara’s earnest eyes. There was just something about them that made him want to say exactly what he felt. “Lonely,” he said finally. “What it’s like having siblings?”

“Wild. Crazy. Messy. Fun. I know that my siblings always have my back, even when I grow tired of having them around.”

“Miss O’Donnell!” Both Barnaby and Sara jolted at the sound of Madam Pomfrey’s voice.

“I need to go, but it was nice to meet you, Barnaby,” Sara said.

“It was nice to meet you too, Sara,” he added, waving as she left. But there was something familiar about her surname, and yet, Barnaby couldn’t place why that was.