#time: an owl giving king lectures

[minty-mumbles]

I love the call back to the owl from ocarina of time. That owl simply will not shut up and Time is sick of the lectures lol

(Art by@/linkeduniverse)

[tohisprettyc00l]

find out you get bullied

A/n: Author stops writing comfort scenrios challge (Impossible)

Amity: As a person who has been the bully she's honestly more pissed. While she knows people bully others for many different reasons she can't help but project how she was feeling when bullying Willow onto your bullies. And she does not like her past self. She doesn't know quite how to comfort you she just hugs you while rubbing your back. When she confronts them she didn't want to be too mean. But Amity also does not take others hurting the ones she loves lightly.

Luz: Feels horrible that you had to deal with that. She is also pissed at the bullies. But before she can do anything to them she has to make sure you're okay. She tells you how perfect you are and that the bullies were clearly lying. She yells at them like a lot. Depending on how bad the bullying was she either has a sore throat or completely lost her voice.

Willow: She hears that! Which made her fume. Plants slightly crack the floor when you're telling her about it as she's trying to contain her anger. Once you were done she calms herself down and reassured you that you are amazing. She soon leaves to confront them. The next day not only are they not bullying you anymore, but they are also extremely nice to you.

Hunter: The (wo)man was too stunned to speak. In his eyes you're perfect so how anyone can be mean to you is beyond him. Also, the people in the Empores Coven weren't exactly the nicest to him. So if he has even a slight idea of what you're going thru he's super upset. When he talks to the bullies he subconsciously uses some of the fear tactics he learned at the coven. Which works, to say the least.

Vee:  She feels horrible. She's not sure how to help but tells you how much she loves you and spends a bunch of time with you. She is too nervous to go to your bullies. But Masha looks suspiciously like they got into a few fist-fights.

Raine: Imdeate hugs and cuddles <3. They bring you many blankets. They don't want to yell at the bullies right away. So instead they just lecture them. It's surprisingly the second most effective tactic only second to Willow's. While it might seem kinda lame (Because it was.) But imagine getting "I'm not mad I'm just disappointed"-ed by the former head of the bard coven.

Eda: she is not great at comforting you. But she picks you up and finds your bully. She pointed to said bully and asked if it was them. When you told her it was she just straight-up hexed them in front of them. Like didn't even try to hide it. Which is made slightly weirder considering that probably would have left you alone if the Owl Lady threatened them.

Emira: Oh she is mc-fucking pissed. But before that, she gives hugs you and rubs a circle on your back. Also maybe a massage. She decides not to confront them, she uses a bunch of illusions to mess with them. Does it make them think they're going insane? A little. But they also did psychological to you, so an eye for an eye as they say.

Edric: He is very sad. He lets you speak as long as you want. Once you're done he leaves for a second and makes a call to Emira and Amity. He then cuddles and watches tv with you. He also keeps complimenting you. Once Em and Amity come back it's pretty dang obvious they got into a fight. Mainly because despite being roughed up Emira kept laughing.

The Collector: Frist of all if you bully the Collector's friend then you're the biggest idiot in the world. When Terra was even slightly mean to King They turned her into a puppet. But they bring you a bunch of plushies and play with you. Once the Collector goes to the bullies you have to tell them not to hurt the bullies. He pinky swears to let you know he really won't. Well, whatever he did it definitely worked. But just to let you know, if it wasn't for you the Venn diagram of people who are mean to you and people on the missing person list would be a circle.

Lilith: Oh no, oh fuck no. Not happening. She gets Hooty to comfort you while she leaves. Side note Hooty is weirdly good at comforting people. Any back with Lilith she is pissed and yelling at the bullies. She is not above threats. Anyway, they won't be going anywhere near you for a while.

Gus: He was also A victim of Boscha's and Amity's bullying.  Very upset. Y'know what Emira did but? Yeah, he does that but all at once. Like that one scene with Bria's illusions. Listen he is not going to tolerate any more bullying.

[milfcamilanoceda]

As a fellow Camila stan, I’m surprised there aren’t that many fans talking about the possibility of a AU where Camila goes to the Demon Realm instead of Luz.

Oh god that au would be amazing!!!! I personally think a lot and I mean a LOT of things would be different cause 1) yes Luz and Camila were similar but they are also two VERY different people and react to things differently. And 2) i really dont think Camila would like the Demon Realm at first or choose to stay there at the start, but i also feel like she would be atleast a bit interested in the magical creatures and learn to love the magic as well(remember that ep where owl beast was introduced for the first time? I can see her being more interested in King's lecture especially considering she also listens to Luz talk about her own interests)

I think it would start with something like this- at the start where Luz throws her book the bus arrives sooner. Camila sees the book and feels guilty (cause she doesnt want Luz to give up her interests especially not the one given by Manny! She just wants her to have friends and not get bullied like she did) goes to pick it up only for the book to be stolen by Owlbert and the rest of the ep is more or less the same.

At the end though is where i think things would diverge. Maybe she chooses to go back to human realm (cause magic or not she's an Adult Mother with responsibilities and cant really afford to stay) but does keep returning to Demon Realm either getting dragged back in due to shenanigans or because she recognizes that Luz would love this place so much so she can show her around once she gets back from camp.

And the whole is just Camila learning to be ok and love the weirdness whether it be the demon realm or her own and realizing that she doesnt have to conform to the world. She also like carries a lot of guilt because she keeps feeling that she pushed Luz away and wasnt being enough.

Also Vee snucked on the bus and befriended Luz and Masha and co. and pretending to be a human. Luz knows and is so excited about this dont know about the rest.

[yardsards]

image description: screenshots of the owl house with various headlines pasted onto them

image 1: odalia looking exasperated while trapping amity in a bubble (from the episode clouds on the horizon) with the headline "mom misses cute age when children were entirely beholden to her godlike authority"

2: edric, emira, and amity at the knee, with emira amd edric smiling and amity looking annoyed,(from the episode adventures in the elements) with the headline "6 ways to make your sister feel loved without letting her think she's better than you"

3: alador talking to odalia (from the episode clouds on the horizon) with the headline "husband wishes he had enough job security to voice opinion". the word husband is edited on

4: amity giving a blight industries presentation (from the episode escaping expulsion) with the headline "well, time to go out in front of a bunch of people and lie to them"

5: alador fighting during the day of unity (from the episode king's tide) with the headline "if i die, i want you to tell my wife that i wasn't really that super into her"

6: odalia holding up luz's wanted poster with amity in a bubble (from the episode clouds on the horizon) with the headline "homosexuality only thing parents can accept about daughter". the word daughter is edited on.

7: alador looking remorseful and reaching a hand towards amity (from the episode reaching out) with the headline "man with 3 kids going to make great father some lday"

8: emira, amity, and edric hiding behind a pile (from the episode clouds on the horizon) with the headline "quiz: are your parents divorced, or should they be?"

9: odalia scolding amity from behind as amity kneels down (from the episode escaping expulsion) with the headline "mom wishes you'd see things from her fucked up point of view"

10: amity trying to fix her cat communicator with emira and edric in the background (from the episode clouds on the horizon) with the headline "youngest sibling in family kind of thought mom would lose steam by now"

11: odalia gesturing and lecturing amity (from the episode clouds on the horizon) with the headline "oh, so i'm distant and emotionally abusive for several years, and all of a sudden i'm not good enough for you anymore?"

12: alador and amity facing off against odalia (from the episode clouds on the horizon) with the headline "everything a goddamn ordeal in area family"

The Blights + Onion/Reductress headlines

[fermented-writers-block]

PART 1 of 6 of the Owl Deity Hooty Theory

[NEXT PART]

[OWL DEITY HOOTY THEORY MASTERPOST] (in development)

(TLDR at bottom of post)

Over several long months of research and analysis since March of 2020, I have been following an utterly fascinating thread of potential misdirection and subtle details throughout The Owl House, and today, I would like to start weaving together of what I believe could become one of the biggest and most cleverly disguised twists in the entire show.

To begin, let’s take a look at the B plot of Understanding Willow:

On first glance, it’s an ultimately inconsequential sidestory with the sole purpose of justifying an excuse to keep Luz and Amity in Willow’s mind, as well as providing some well-needed room to breathe and release tension after the veryemotionally charged confrontation with Inner Willow. After half an episode of Eda and King outdoing the other in ridiculous ways to win Gus’ vote and Gus running off in frustration at the end of the episode from Hooty’s inane rambling, it’s easy to laugh off Gus’ pick and assume that nothing/of value was said when he closed the door for the interview.

However, if one pays close attention to that very scene, Hooty actually canstill be heard (if faintly) underneath Eda and King’s grumbling, interestingly talking about how “It all started with a hunt. Blood red skies. That’s right, I was created-.”

Now, while it may seem silly to focus on dialogue from Hooty of all characters, this A) tells us that there was an event in the past involving blood red skies and a hunt of some kind, B) that Hooty had been created close to said event, and C) implies that what he knows but can’t tell as a story worth a damn is EXTREMELY important to be included and be hidden in such a manner.

For comparison, the only other instance of dialogue being tucked away in the background in the entire show is in Wing It Like Witches:

During the lecture at the beginning of the episode, the history teacher openswith lore on Belos appointing a head witch to each coven over 50 years ago, immediately cluing in the audience to try and decipher the rest of the lecture as it moves to the background. Adding to this is how the musical sting when Luz shows off her movie obscures what he says even further, making it even more of a intriguing puzzle that the creators clearly intended for viewers to pick up on and attempt to solve.

In contrast, the hidden dialogue of Hooty’s interview is much shorter and not as hard to decipher as the teacher’s history lesson, but at the same time, there are few to no indicators whatsoever in that scene to clue in the audience to even check for something like that. It comes at the end of an episode where most viewers would have been paradoxically tired out and driven abuzz by the revelations of Amity and Willow’s relationship, doesn’t attempt to draw much attention to itself, and frames itself as a comedic subversion of audience expectations with neither the “greatest witch who ever lived” or the self-proclaimed king of demons being picked by Gus.

Instead, he picks someone that the show portrays constantly as an oblivious and gullible idiot after being described as a “state of the art defense system” at the very beginning of the series. Someone who, despite it being played for laughs, is scarily capable of casually subduing Lilith offscreen one episode and then beating her and an entire squad of Emperor’s Coven members without even the slightest change in personality or temperament.

Someone who, due to being the Owl House itself, could be considered the titular character of the entire show, yet is taken for granted by those who inhabit him and barely gets any respect from even the cutely patronized King - including when Hooty could be interpreted as having potentially been full on DEAD for a time given the use of extremely cartoony X eyes and a lack of vital signs in The Intruder.

And someone who Eda at best tolerates and at worst abandons in personal interactions and only occasionally acknowledges him when he’s actually doing his job. Yet at the same time is so implicitly trusted beyondprotecting her home to the point where - when up against the closest person Eda has to an equal outside of likely Belos - the only actually recognizable spells Eda used in combat were 1) stereotypical energy blasts, 2) a single shield spell in Covention, and 3) a noticeably large reliance on imitations of Hooty above any other spells she could have decided to use instead.

In short, the show repeatedly tells us he is just an idiotic gag character through and through, but at the same time demonstrates he has immense power through both onscreen and offscreen demonstrations, implicitly tells us his importance ahead of time through Eda’s imitations in actually serious situations, and treats his interview and origin story as - if not even more- important to keep secret than a long lore dump about how Belos’ reign works.

After all, there being only two instances of hidden background dialogue in the entire season is already intriguing on its own, but for one to get plenty of clues to draw in people’s attention and for the other to be treated as just another gag about a “mere comic relief character” - aka a good way to draw away attention and lower one’s guard - heavily suggests a far deeper significance buried under layers of misdirection, comedy, and conditioned audience expectations.

I mean, when Eda bragged about being “a bad girl living in a secret fortress,” Hooty followed with a remark about how “I’m the secret.” While that line may sound like Hooty simply being confused as part of a one-off on the surface, it’s an odd dialogue choice for the writers to pick when you think about all the other reminders of his nature as the house itself throughout the season. With the precedent these moments set, it would have been much more appropriate for him to latch onto the “fortress” side of “secret fortress” AND it would have been just as equally funny of a joke about his awareness skills, but instead, Hooty broke away from the established trend to say something that would make people suspicious were it to come from anyone else.

In a way, this reminds me much of the many subtle bits of foreshadowing strewn across the show, like Luz unknowingly describing Amity in Witches Before Wizards and Eda burning a hole through Luz’s coven type quiz that coincidentally selected the same track she had taken at Hexside as “a punky potionist.” At the time of airing, these initially seemed like one-off jokes, but eventually came back in full force several episodes later with Amity’s hidden sensitive feelings and love for the Azura books becoming clear in Lost in Language, and the reveal of Eda’s school track in Something Ventured, Someone Framed with her school misdemeanor pictures.

That said, compared to these individual bits of minor foreshadowing, the jokes about Hooty in Understanding Willow appear to simply be the most obvious pieces in a giant puzzle, implicitly and outright telling attentive viewers that there’s a major mystery to be uncovered here.

In fact, I feel bold enough to say that we could be looking at a twist on a similar scale to that of the Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz and Stanford Pines twists in Steven Universe and Gravity Falls respectively, what with this particular puzzle piece coming from how Gus wanted to make THE greatest interview of all time, and how he was looking for someone who was “interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy:”

Note the emphasis on the ‘and’ here, as Gus had made a big deal that “people aren’t meantto be all those things” at the beginning of the episode, so as a result, stripping away all the comedic framing of his subplot leaves the intriguing implication that whoever - and, perhaps, what- Hooty is, they really are the most interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy person out of everyone.

I could go further and talk about why I suspect the mystery surrounding King’s origins, whether true or not, is partially meant to misdirect us from paying attention to Hooty, or how the TOH crew’s could be disguising legitimate clues to his nature among made up and highly meme-able joke answers in order to proliferate said concepts throughout the fandom - thus letting us do all the dirty work of getting ourselves used to the ideas and used to dismissing them at the same time - but to bring things to a close for now, I’d like to leave you all with a question that I’ll start answering next time:

What does it mean when both the most powerful and notorious witch on the Boiling Isles and the possible actual king of demons/the Titan itself/something don’t match up to a house? And what do you think it is that makes him so special to warrant such misdirection?

TLDR: Between Eda’s golem spells, the show stressing his nature as the titular house, his implicit strength, and the odd dialogue and structure of Understanding Willow‘s subplot in relation to him, I believe I have good reason to suspect the show has been giving us many hints towards Hooty being much, much more important than it would like us to currently believe or even joke about. Particularly, through clever uses of comedy to establish and enforce a strong audience bias against looking closely at him or unironically taking him seriously, and to potentially plant the seeds for something I will start exploring in Part 2.

[bethansfandoms]

I have a quote prompt it is “if the world ended tonight I would be glad your by my side” .

As Remus sat on the astronomy tower, the pleasant summer evening slowly turning into night, he wondered how long he could get away with sitting there before anybody found him or noted him missing.

It had been the full moon the previous night. His last one at Hogwarts. In four days the train would pull into kings cross station like it did at the end of every year. Except, this time, Remus wouldn’t be catching it again the following September.

He stayed sat against the wall, hugging his knees as the final dregs of daylight faded away and were replaced by darkness. The moon was clearly visible and reflected its pearly image into the black lake. Remus smiled slightly. How strange it was that something so beautiful could do such terrible things.

“There you are.”

Remus snapped out of his daydream and turned his head. Sirius was standing there in what appeared to be his pyjama t-shirt and school trousers, as though he had been half way through getting ready for bed and then changed his mind.

Sirius smiled and sat down next to him. “What’re you doing up here?”

“Thinking.”

“About?”

“About how I was quite enjoying the peace and quiet before you showed up.”

Sirius laughed and gently nudged their shoulders together. “Very funny. Feeling sentimental yet?”

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “A little. I don’t think I’m ready for the real world yet.” It was so truthful that it scared him a little bit. “I think Hogwarts has given me a very deluded view of how easy it’ll be for people like me.”

“People like you?” Sirius questioned. “What? Smart? Top of the class? Passionate? Give me a hint.”

Remus sighed and looked at Sirius’ profile, his skin slightly illuminated by the moonlight. “None of that will matter to anybody as soon as they find out I’m a werewolf.”

“Do you know what I think, Moony?”

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”

Sirius smirked slightly. “I think you spend so much time belittling yourself that you fail to see that not everybody in the world will judge you for that. Case and point, moi.” He clutched a hand to his chest for emphasis.

“Potential employers will. I just... I wanted to have it all figured out by now, I wanted a plan.”

“If you could do anything, imagining there wasn’t a war on, what would you do?”

“Imagining I wasn’t a werewolf, too?”

“Remus,” Sirius said, sadly.

“No, don’t pretend it isn’t an issue. If I could do anything... I’d teach. Here. And that’s never going to happen because nobody will want me anywhere near their children so... yeah. I’ll join Dumbledore’s order and I’ll fight in a war and if it’s ever over, then I’ll be left with nothing.”

“For the record, you would be an excellent teacher. And don’t say that. When the war is over, you won’t have nothing. You’ll have me for a start.

Remus sighed. “Living with me can’t be your life plan, surly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... James is moving in with Lily, isn’t he? One day you’ll find your Lily too.”

“You say that like you won’t.”

“Sirius,” Remus said, his voice laced with the faintest traces of frustration. “Dating means telling them what I am. I can’t conceal it from someone, that isn’t fair.”

“Merlin, Moony, how many times? You are more than that stupid affliction. You’re smart and you’re funny and you’re caring and you... fuck, Remus, you’re one of the best people I know. Not everyone will care about the werewolf thing, I don’t, do I?”

Remus hugged his knees a little closer and rested his chin on them. “You’re sure you want to live with me?”

Sirius turned his head, studying Remus before looking back up at the stars and huffing. “Did you listen to a single thing I just said? I want you by my side, Remus.”

Remus nodded slowly, glancing at Sirius. “Sorry for being all... pessimistic. It just— leaving Hogwarts, fighting in a war. It just feels like the end of the world, you know?”

Sirius shrugged. “The world is always ending. And if it did, if the world ended tonight, I’d be glad you’re by my side. Got it? You’re not this... unemployable unloveable person, Remus. You’re you. So just... don’t forget that.”

Remus didn’t quite understand what Sirius had meant but he smiled and pointed up at the night sky. “That’s you,” he said.

Sirius looked to where his finger was pointing. “How’re you always so good at finding that star, huh?”

“The only reason I took OWL level astronomy was so I could perfect that talent. There was a question about Sirius in my astronomy paper, did I tell you?”

“No?”

Remus chuckled slightly. “Sirius is the brightest star in what, was the question. I put quidditch for a laugh.”

Sirius rotated himself so he was sat facing Remus’ profile, Remus turned to face him too. “You didn’t.”

“Hand on heart,” Remus said, placing his hand on the left of his chest for emphasis, “it was one of two marks i dropped on that whole paper. Professor Merak confronted me about it, said it was funny but exams were no laughing matter. Got an O anyway.”

“I guess now would be a good time to tell you about my defence against the dark arts NEWT exam...”

“Oh no, what?”

“You know the question about how werewolf attributes were different to normal wolves?”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“I put that they were cuter.”

Remus shoved his shoulder. “I would lecture you about that but given what I just told you... I probably shouldn’t. Also, cute?”

Sirius bit his lip slightly and broke eye contact. “Yeah... well. You’re quite cute.”

“Cute like adorable or cute like good looking?” he teased, regretting the question the moment it was out of his mouth.

Sirius shrugged. “Why not both?”

“Sirius...”

Sirius clearly thought for a moment before announcing “Fuck it.” He turned his head to look at Remus slightly.

“Look, we’re leaving Hogwarts this weekend and you’re right, the real world is going to be terrible. There’s a war and I’m trying to stay positive about it but it’s really hard. Do you want to know why I asked if you wanted to get a flat with me?”

“Because I have no money?”

“No,” Sirius laughed. “Because I meant what I said earlier. You’re right, it’ll feel like the world as we know it is ending but the one thing I think could make it bearable is having you by my side so... do with that what you will. I just thought you should know before we left.”

“Know what?”

“That—” Sirius stopped and laughed nervously. “Haven’t said it out loud before,” he muttered. “That i’m in love with you, Moony. I have been for a while. Even if you don’t feel the same, there’s your proof, I guess, that there are people in this world capable of loving you and if you don’t want me to be that person for you then—”

Remus had to stop him talking and so he took his face in his hands and kissed him, hard. Sirius did nothing for a moment before tugging at the front of Remus’ robes and trying to pull him closer. When they broke away for air, Sirius had a grin plastered on his face.

“Sorry for dropping the L word on you like that,” Sirius mumbled.

“I love you, too.”

Sirius looked at him with another smile, this one brighter than the star named after him or the moon or even the sun. “You do?”

“Yes. For a long time.”

“Shit. I should’ve said sooner...”

Remus smiled and rested his head on Sirius’ shoulder, Sirius quickly wrapping an arm around him. “Oh, Padfoot?”

“Yeah?”

“If the world ended tonight I’d want you by my side, too.”

[lumosandnoxwriting]

Match Made in Heaven - Harry Potter

Title: Match Made in Heaven Pairing: Harry Potter x Granger!Reader Summary: Harry spends most of his days living amongst muggles to avoid the fame that follows him in the wizard world. Concealing his identity isn’t a problem until he falls in love with a muggle that seems all too familiar. A/N: For the anon that wanted Harry falling in love with a granger!reader without knowing she’s Hermione’s sister. This is noncanon compliant, as Hermione never obliviates her family. Feedback is always welcome and requests are open!

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

Harry spends far more time in muggle London than he ever imagined he would. He rents a decent sized flat in a muggle apartment building, shops in muggle clothing and food stores, and he even finds himself taking the tube or bus over apperating or the Floo Network. Harry loves magic and he loves being a wizard, but after spending the first 18 years of his life in the wizard world limelight, he craves a sense of normalcy.

In the muggle world he isn’t Harry Potter the boy who lived. He’s Harry Potter, the guy I sat next to on the tube. Or Harry Potter, my quiet neighbor who always says hello. In the muggle world he’s just Harry Potter, and he really likes that. He likes being able to go to a restaurant for a meal without being asked for his autograph, and he can buy his boxer briefs without being stopped for a picture.

Of course, he’s still fully involved in the Wizarding World. He pops into Diagon Alley for all of his magical shopping from time to time, he has a drink at the Leaky Cauldron with the boys from school every Saturday, he has a job at the ministry that he loves and every Sunday he conceals a random field in the country side so he can spend hours chasing around a golden snitch on his firebolt. Harry has even popped into Hogwarts for guest lectures or just to see Hagrid.  And of course, he’s at the Burrow frequently, whether it’s for a major holiday, birthday or just for dinner on a random weekday.

Harry doesn’t hate the wizarding world he just prefers the anonymity living in the muggle world gives him. So, it really only makes sense that he falls in love with a muggle girl too.

“If you ask me there’s far too many options for something as simple as milk. Milk is milk, is it not?”

Harry turns to look at the young woman standing next to him at the grocery store, and his jaw practically drops when she does the same. This woman is by far, the most beautiful woman Harry has ever seen. There’s something familiar about her, and yet he can’t quite figure out what it is. She gives him a warm smile, and Harry does his best to return it.

“I agree wholeheartedly,” he says with a nervous chuckle. “I sometimes grab a different brand hoping to notice some kind of difference and there never is.”

She laughs, turning to look back at the milk. “Well what’s your go to then? I’ll try yours if you try mine?”

Harry bites his lip. This is by far the strangest interaction he’s ever had with a muggle, but he finds is quite enjoyable. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Harry and the woman both reach into the cooler case, and their hands brush when they reach for the same bottle of milk. Harry pulls his hand away quickly, a slight blush painting his cheeks. The woman turns to look at him, the warm smile still on her face.

“Clearly you have great taste in dairy products,” she says playfully, and Harry can’t believe that a woman this beautiful is flirting with him. She grabs the bottle they both had gone for and hands it to Harry.

“You know what they say, great minds think alike,” he jokes, nodding in appreciation as he grabs the milk. He places it in his hand basket and watches as she grabs her own bottle. “I’m Harry,” he introduces.

The young woman turns to face him as she places the milk in her own basket. “I’m Y/N, it’s wonderful to meet you Harry.”

Y/N stretches her hand out and Harry grabs it, trying to ignore the spark of electricity that runs up his arm at the contact. As their handshake ends the woman gives him a wave, but Harry grabs her arm lightly as she turns to leave. “Wait, Y/N. Would you like to get dinner with me? Tomorrow night.”

Harry is just as surprised by his boldness as Y/N is. He’s usually not one to be so outgoing, but he’s become fascinated with this woman in the few short minutes they’ve known each other, and he has to see her again.

“I would love that,” she responds, the warm smile that Harry is already fond of returning.

“Brilliant,” he says, smiling back at Y/N. “There’s this diner that I love that’s not far from here. It’s called Barney’s, maybe you’ve heard of it?.”

Y/N chuckles. “I know Barney’s. I go there like, once a week.” She pauses. “Same favorite milk brand and same favorite restaurant? I think maybe we’re a match made in Heaven, Harry.”

Harry blushes and scratches at the back of his neck. “Perhaps so. I’ll meet you there tomorrow? Say 7:30?”

“I’ll see you then.”

-

“You’re going on a date?” Ron asks Harry in surprise the next day at work.

Ron and Hermione are always trying to convince Harry to move to Diagon Alley above Flourish and Blotts so they can be neighbors. They’re always telling him how quiet it is, how their owl doesn’t seem out of place to their neighbors and how nice it is to be surrounded by people that are like them. One of their efforts to convince him to move is to invite him over for dinner at least once a week. Ron has just invited Harry over, and he respectfully declined.

Harry rolls his eyes at Ron. “Why is that such a surprise.”

“No offense mate, but you don’t exactly have the best track record with women,” Ron points out with a chuckle.

Harry narrows his eyes at Ron. “Either way,” he says, not wanting to admit Ron is right, “I’ve got a date tonight so I’m going to have to skip out on dinner.”

“Fair enough, mate. So, who’s the lucky lady? A bird we went to school with?” Ron asks, knowing Hermione will want all of the details.

Harry shrugs. “Just a muggle I met last night at the grocery store.”

Ron gives Harry a look of surprise. “Last night? You met a girl and asked her out in the same night? That’s definitely a first for you.”

“Oh, shove it. You act like you’re the king of romance or something. How many years did it take you to grow a pair and ask Hermione out?” Harry teases, dodging the rolled-up ball of parchment Ron tosses at him. “We bonded over the fact that we like the same type of milk.”

“Muggles are weird man,” Ron says with a laugh, turning back to the pile of work on his desk.

-

“So, what do you do for work?” Y/N asks, taking a sip of her drink.

Harry takes a sip of his own drink to give himself time to think of an answer. This is the only downside of living amongst muggles: trying to figure out how to explain the magical parts of his life. He somehow managed to stutter through a decent explanation as to why he keeps an owl as a pet, but he always gets nervous when it comes to his career.

“I work in law enforcement,” he responds a moment later. “I’m a detective of sorts.”

Y/N raises her eyebrows. “Wow, that’s quite impressive. Being a detective at such a young age. I bet you’re a natural.”

Harry blushes, and takes a bite of his food to hide it. He’s almost glad that Y/N can’t know the truth about the more magical bits of his life. Being an Auror is less impressive when you know that Harry didn’t even graduate from school and was able to walk onto his job because someone decided that Harry would be his downfall when he was only an infant. “What about you? What do you do for work?”

“I’m working part time at the public library while I finish up medical school,” Y/N explains with a smile.

Harry scoffs playfully. “You’re sitting over there knowing you’re in medical school and calling my career impressive? You are far too humble, Y/N.” Harry feels a sense of pride when Y/N blushes and looks away. “So why medical school?”

Y/N shrugs, trying to brush off Harry’s kind words. “Both of my parents are dentists, and I wanted to make them proud. I spent a lot of time with them growing up, hanging out in the office. I watched them help person after person and it was inspiring. Made me realize I want to do the same thing.”

Harry absolutely melts at Y/N’s words. Harry has lived his whole life trying to make his parents proud. They gave their lives to help keep the wizarding world safe and all Harry wants to do is the same.

He clears his throat. “Seems we have that in common as well.”

“Your parents are dentists?” she asks with a laugh.

Harry laughs as well, shaking his head slightly. “My parents worked in a law enforcement type field. They were killed, when I was young because of it. They dedicated their lives to keeping me, and countless others safe. And all I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid was make them proud and do the same.”

Y/N gives Harry a sad smile as she reaches out to touch the hand he has resting on the table. Harry allows her to intertwine their fingers, smiling when she squeezes them lightly. “That’s amazing, Harry,” she says softly. “You seem like an amazing person, and I’m sure they’re proud of you.”

That night when Harry gets home he pens out a quick letter to Ron, the feeling of Y/N’s lips on his as they kissed goodnight still fresh in his mind.

I think I’m in love.

-

“Harry? What are you doing here?” Y/N whispers, unable to keep herself from giggling.

It’s been a few days since his date with Y/N and Harry hasn’t been able to get her out of his head. He recounted the date several different times to both Ron and Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley had even asked him about it when he went to the Burrow for dinner. Each time he thought back to what happened he found himself getting happier and even though he and Y/N were going to see each other that night, Harry needed to see her again. So, on his lunch break he picked up some coffee and headed to the London Public Library.

Harry holds up the cups of coffee, a smile spreading across his face. “Got time for some coffee?”

Y/N returns his smile and nods. She comes out from behind the desk she had been working at and gestures for Harry to follow her. Y/N leads him out of the library and over to her favorite bench in the courtyard. It’s under a great big willow tree, and Y/N often spends hours out here, just enjoying the warm summer breeze, thinking about nothing.

“I didn’t think I’d see you until tonight,” Y/N says, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled around them.

Harry shrugs, taking a sip of his coffee to keep from getting flustered. “I wanted to see you again, and I couldn’t wait until tonight,” he admits honestly.

In lieu of responding, Y/N touches Harry’s cheek lightly and leans in to kiss him. Their lips move together softly, and when their kiss breaks both of them are blushing slightly. “I’ve been dying to see you again as well.”

Harry bites his lip before he leans in to kiss Y/N again briefly. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind,” he murmurs, pressing their lips together again.

There are only a few people in his life that Harry has ever immediately felt comfortable around, and not very many of them are female. Whenever he’s around a woman he has a romantic interest in, Harry tends to get all clammy, and he works himself up so much he doesn’t know what to say. But he’s never felt that same awkwardness with Y/N. Ever since they first locked eyes Harry felt a sense of familiarity with her, and he feels like he can say anything around her.

Y/N smiles against Harry’s lips, her brain fuzzy. She hasn’t stopped thinking about him since that night at the grocery store. She wasn’t one to usually strike up a conversation with a stranger, but when she saw Harry just standing there she felt this need to talk to him.

“I’m gonna be honest with you,” she says with a quiet chuckle when their kiss breaks.  “I never thought we’d get this far.”  When Harry knits his eyebrows together in confusion, Y/N brings a hand up to cup his cheek. “When I saw you in the store that night I thought you were cute, and I had to say something to you. And then I just started waffling on about milk. I figured it would freak you out or something.”

Harry laughs, and grabs the hand Y/N had placed on his cheek so he can intertwine their fingers. “I’m not gonna lie, I did find it a bit odd. But in an endearing sort of way,” he adds, not wanting to make Y/N feel insecure. “You are by far the most interesting and beautiful person I’ve ever met before. And I’ve met some weird people, so I’d take that as a compliment.”

“You don’t really mean that,” Y/N responds playfully, lightly shoving Harry’s shoulder. “You’re just trying to get in my head, throw me off my game so you win at minigolf.”

Harry laughs and squeezes Y/N’s hand. “You’re on to me, love. You’re bloody on to me.”

-

“Do you think I should tell her?” Harry muses, looking up at Ron and Hermione. They’re eating lunch together in the cafeteria at the ministry, and Harry’s mind keeps wandering to Y/N.

“Tell who what?” Ron asks, his words muffled by the food in his mouth.

Hermione hits Ron’s arm, rolling her eyes playfully. “Harry’s obviously talking about Y/N, Ron. Considering she’s all he talks about these days.”

Harry blushes. “Anyway,” he drawls, not wanting to acknowledge that Hermione is right. “I’ve been thinking about telling her about me. Ya know, that I’m a wizard.” Hermione drops her fork and Ron looks at him wide eyed. “What?”

“Harry you know you can’t do that,” Hermione scolds. “It’s against wizard law to reveal yourself to a muggle.”

“Well you can if you marry them,” Ron adds, causing Hermione to pinch his arm. “Ow, what was that for?” he asks, rubbing the spot.

“Harry hasn’t even asked Y/N to be his girlfriend yet, marriage is certainly not an option for him right now and I don’t want you putting ideas into his head, Ronald,” Hermione retorts.

“And who said the idea wasn’t already in his head,” Ron responds, gesturing wildly towards Harry. “He’s been in love with her since their first date.”

Hermione turn to Harry then. “I’m sorry, what?”

Harry shrugs his shoulders, a sheepish look on his face. “She’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met, Hermione. How could I not be in love with her?”

“You’ve only been seeing her for a few weeks, Harry,” Hermione says softly. “I just think it’s far too early to say you’re in love with her.”

“I know what I feel,” Harry insists, his tone becoming harsh.

Hermione gives Harry a look. “If you really love her then why not make things official? Then you can revisit the whole wizard thing in a year or so.”

Harry looks down, picking at his napkin. “It’s not that I don’t want to make things official. But the more I let her in the harder it is to explain away the magical parts of my life.” When Hermione places her hand on top of his Harry looks up at her. “I already have to hide so much from her. I’m afraid that if I lie even more she’ll just get tired of it and leave.”

“Harry,” Hermione says sadly, squeezing Harry’s hand. “I know, it’s scary. But I don’t think now is the right time to reveal everything to her. And if she feels as strongly for you as you do her, then you have nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, okay,” Harry agrees reluctantly, wanting to move on. “So, how are the plans for the engagement party coming along?”

-

“What’s on your mind, love? You’ve been awfully quiet tonight,” Y/N comments, looking up at Harry.

Harry leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead. It’s been a few days since his conversation with Ron and Hermione and he hasn’t stopped thinking about it. Deep down he knows that Hermione is right, that he should wait to tell her about him. But he also knows how strongly he feels for her already, and that he wants to let her in to every part of his life.

“Just been thinking about you. Us,” he says a moment later, pulling her closer into his chest. They’re cuddled up on Harry’s couch, watching some film he hasn’t paid an ounce of attention to.

Y/N hums and sits up so she can properly look at Harry. “Thinking good things, I hope.” Her tone is light, but Harry can tell there’s a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Harry reaches out and lightly grips Y/N’s chin so he can bring their faces together and press a sweet kiss to her lips. “Always good thoughts when I’m thinking of you,” Harry says softly as he pulls away. “I know we’ve only been seeing each other for a few weeks but,” Harry pauses, taking a deep breath. “I love you, Y/N. Even if it’s far too early to say that and you don’t feel the same quite yet.”

“Oh Harry,” she whispers, before closing the gap between them. Y/N kisses Harry slowly, trying to reassure him and convey all of her feelings for him at the same time. “I love you too,” Y/N murmurs when they finally break apart. “I knew we were destined to be together the moment we reached for the same milk,” she jokes.

Harry chuckles and kisses her again briefly. “If you’re going to be with someone for the rest of your life it’s imperative you have the same taste in dairy products.”

“Rest of your life?” Y/N asks quietly, a pink blush on her cheeks.

Harry sputters, his face heating up as well. “I. I well. Um. Y-you know. I um.”

Y/N giggles at how flustered Harry is and presses a kiss to his cheek. “It’s okay, love. While I’m not saying we should run out and get married right now, I’m not opposed to that happening with us someday in the future.”

Harry smiles at Y/N, his heart fluttering in his chest. While it’s not a marriage proposal, it’s the promise of something more and it’s good enough for Harry. “Are you busy Sunday evening? I’ve got this party thing to go to in the afternoon but there’s something I want to show you.”

“I’ve got this family thing for most of the day. I’m not sure when it’ll be over, but I can sneak away, make time for you,” Y/N responds sweetly.

Harry kisses Y/N hard, the movie they had put on long forgotten.

-

“Harry! There you are!” Hermione greets excitedly, coming over to hug Harry. He arrived at The Burrow for Hermione and Ron’s engagement party well over an hour ago, but both of his friends had been busy talking to their other guests. So, he just grabbed a drink and milled about, occasionally stopping to talk to people from school.

“Hermione,” Harry greets, returning her hug. “You look wonderful. You’re glowing.”

Hermione blushes and releases Harry from her hug, choosing to grab his hand instead. “Come with me. I want you to meet some of my family.”

Harry follows behind Hermione dutifully, finishing off the rest of his drink for a bit of liquid courage. He would have been happy sticking to the shadows for the rest of the afternoon so he could slip away to meet up with Y/N, but he’s going to be the best man at the wedding in a few months, so he should probably mingle for just a bit before he heads out early.

“You remember my parents, right?” Hermione asks as they reach a small group of people.

Harry nods and releases Hermione’s hand so he can shake her parent’s hands. “Of course. Dr. Granger, Dr. Granger. It’s wonderful to see you again.”

“And this is my sister,” Hermione says, causing Harry to look at the girl who has just arrived.

Harry turns to shake her hand, but all of the air gets sucked out of his lungs and his mouth runs dry. “Y/N?” Harry asks, surprised.

“Harry?” Y/N responds, sounding just as shocked as he does.

“What are you doing here?” They both ask at the same time, causing them to erupt in a fit of giggles.

“I went to school with Hermione and Ron, they’re my best friends in the entire world,” he explains, trying to ignore the fact that everyone around them is starting. “Hermione’s your sister?” When Y/N nods Harry continues. “That’s why you seemed so familiar when I first met you. You guys have the same eyes.”

“Care to let the rest of us in on what’s going on?” Ron asks, looking between Y/N and Harry.

Harry reaches out and grabs Y/N’s hand, intertwining their fingers. “Y/N is the girl I’ve been seeing the past few weeks.”

After Y/N and Harry explain their whirlwind romance to Ron, Hermione and the small crowd of Weasley’s and Grangers that has gathered around them, they sneak off together to the corner of the large tent, leaving quite a few perplexed people behind them.

“I can’t believe you’re the Harry. The one I’ve heard about practically non-stop since I was 13,” Y/N teases as they take a seat at an abandoned table.

Harry blushes, squeezing Y/N’s fingers. “I can’t believe Hermione never mentioned having an older sister.”

“From what I remember you three were always getting into trouble back at school. She probably just didn’t have the time,” Y/N muses with a laugh. Y/N pauses, reaching up to cup Harry’s cheek. “I can’t believe that out of all the times we could have met, we finally met in the milk section of our local Tesco.”

Harry laughs at that and he turns his head so he can press a kiss to Y/N’s palm. “I’ve been stressing for weeks about whether or not I should tell you the truth about me. About what I am and who I am. And as it turns out that was all for nothing because you already knew all about it, even if you didn’t realize it.”

Y/N leans forward and kisses Harry lightly. “I kind of had a bit of an inkling that you we’re just some normal bloke,” Y/N admits sheepishly.

“What gave it away?” Harry asks in shock. “I thought I was pulling it off quite well,” he huffs.

Y/N rolls her eyes playfully. “Harry, love you have a pet owl in the middle of London. That’s a bit of an odd pet to keep. Unless you’re a wizard.”

Harry chuckles. “Alright you got me there.” Harry pauses, frowning slightly. “Although this ruins my plan of sneaking off early to see you so I could tell you I’m a wizard. I guess we’ll have to just stick it out until the end of the party.”

Y/N glances over her shoulder at Hermione and Ron. “I dunno, my sister and Ron seem quite busy,” she comments with a grin. “There’s so many other people here, do you think they would notice if we slipped away?”

Harry returns Y/N’s grin before he kisses her briefly. “Even if they do, who cares? I’m sure I’ll get an earful from them tomorrow either way.”

Y/N and Harry sneak out of the tent hand in hand, ready for whatever curveball life throws at them next.

[onlyfreds]

TRP Prologue - Welcome to the Story of Y/N L/N

Summary: To others, being princess is living the dream. To Y/N, it’s a living nightmare. But, that was until the day that she received the letter that changed her life and met the people who love her for her true self.

Warning/s: use of the word “damn”

Series Masterlist

Anybody else would think that being the first-born Princess is literally living the dream.

Let me tell you, it’s not.

“Y/N, put down the book and head downstairs for the Family portrait.” My mother, Queen Ahnica, snapped as she entered my room.

I sighed, placing a bookmark on the page I was currently reading, “Do we honestly have to do this mother? We already did this last year.”

She glared at me, “Do you always have to ask? Now stop this nonsense and give them a smile when we get down. We don’t want the press giving a bad image, don’t we?”

I mentally rolled my eyes as I followed her out of the room, “Yes mother.”

We headed down to the lounge where the royal photographer, my father (King Michael), and my younger sister (Princess Christel) were waiting for us.

I sat down beside my sister, who gave me a sympathetic smile as she placed her hand on top of mine.

“Don’t worry.” She reassured, “This’ll all be over in a minute.”

And boy did that minute feel like an hour.

When we had finished, Clark, our chief of staff approached us.

“Your highnesses,” he greeted, giving a small bow, “There is someone wanting to see you.”

My mother and father exchanged a confused look, before we followed Clark into the guest lounge.

Standing there was a middle-aged woman, her hair in a tight bun and a stern but gentle look on her face.

“Good day Mr. and Mrs. L/N, or should I say your highnesses.” She said, giving a curtsy,

My father smiled, “Good day Ma’am. What assistance could we offer you?”

The woman chuckled, “My name is McGonagall and I’m just here to give your daughter, Princess Y/N, a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

I looked up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time, “Me?”

My sister looked at me excitedly.

The woman nodded, handing me an envelope with the words, Princess Y/N L/N, Montenaro Palace.

Christel nudged my shoulder, “Go on, open it.” She encouraged.

I opened it and pulled out the letter inside.

Dear Mr/Ms. L/N,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

I looked up again at the woman, my parents were both stunned into silence, “Am I really going to learn magic?”

McGongall nodded, “Indeed dear, and at the best wizarding school Britain has to offer.”

“But magic isn’t real.” My mother interjected.

McGonagall brought out a thin, stick and with a small wave of her hand, bubbles erupted from it. She then pointed to a teacup on a nearby table, turning it into a teapot.

“So magic is real?” Christel asked in awe.

McGonagall nodded, “It is.”

I turned to my parents as I gave them a pleading look, “Please mum, dad. Can I go.”

My parents exchanged a silent argument before my father said, “You may go. But if this is some sort of scam. You will regret dragging my daughter into this.”

The woman nodded, “You will regret nothing your highness.”

She then turned to me, “I’ll be meeting up with you next week to get your school supplies.”

As soon as she left, my mother turned to my father, “How could you let her? She’s ten! She should be attending finishing school, not some sort of magic school with a bunch of idiots!”

My father sighed, “We’ve taught her everything that she could be taught in finishing school ever since she was five. She’ll be fine.”

--

When September first rolled around, McGonagall brought me to King’s Cross Station and she had instructed me how to board on to Platform 9 and 3/4. Thankfully, I was able to leave before my parents realized that I was wearing “normal” clothes. Because if they did, I would’ve received a full lecture about maintaining an image for the press.

To be honest, jeans and a shirt were a lot more comfortable than a corset and a gown.

At first, I thought it was absurd. But after seeing the serious look on her face, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and run into the barrier in between Platforms 9 and 10.

I closed my eyes, braced myself for impact. But a cold chill came over me before I heard the chatter of a lively crowd, I opened my eyes, seeing a red and black train with a sign that said, Hogwarts Express.

A hopped onto the train, looking for a spare compartment. I didn’t expect anyone to recognize me as the princess, and I wish they wouldn’t.

I found a compartment that was occupied by two identical looking gingers.

I gently knocked on the compartment door, sliding it open a bit before asking, “Excuse me, but is it okay if I sat here? Everywhere else was full.”

One of them nodded, “Of course you may. I’m George by the way.” He said, offering his hand with I shook, giving him a small smile.

He then nodded to the boy sitting opposite of him, “That’s my twin brother, Fred.”

Fred stared at me, his mouth slightly agape, “Bloody hell, you’re gorgeous.”

I bit my lip, feeling my cheeks heat up as Fred was snapped out of his trance by George laughing.

“Oh, sorry.” He apologized, grinning sheepishly.

I giggled, “It’s fine.”

The three of us bonded over the train ride and became fast friends.

Despite the fact that Fred and George were identical twins, I had absolutely no trouble telling them apart, though something about Fred made my heart race a bit faster and the butterflies to rise up to my stomach.

--

It’s been three years since I first met the twins. I was now in my fourth year at Hogwarts.

Before I headed down to the Great Hall for Lunch, I adjusted the necklace I was wearing.

Once I arrived, I immediately slipped into the seat between the twins.

Hermione took a sip of her pumpkin juice, looking up from her book, “Where did you get that?”

I looked at her, slightly confused, “Where did I get what?”

“That necklace.”

I looked down and realized that I wasn’t able to hide my necklace in my blouse properly.

“My mum gave it to me.” I managed to stutter out.

“Why? What’s wrong with her necklace?” Ginny asked, “It seems alright to me.”

Everyone in our group was watching me and Hermione, obviously interested in the exchange.

“Well, it’s not just any necklace.” Hermione stated, “There’s only one necklace like that.”

Fred chuckled, “Hermione, I’m sure that necklace is one of billions.”

“No.” She insisted, “There is only one necklace like that and it belongs to the first-born princess of Montenaro.”

She stared at me intently, I could almost see the gears turning in her brain. Besides, she was called the “brightest witch of her age” for a reason.

“Oh Godric!” She gasped and I knew she had come to her conclusion, “What was your last name again?” She asked.

I sighed, “L/N.”

“How did I not notice it before?” She said, most likely to herself, “It makes so much sense now.”

“Hermione, not all of us are geniuses here. So, mind catching us up on what exactly makes sense?” Harry joked.

“The reason why Y/N has that necklace, even though it’s super rare, is because she is the first-born princess of Montenaro. She’s part of the L/N family, she’s basically royalty.” Hermione explained excitedly.

The group looked at me for confirmation.

“Is it true love?” Fred asked softly, “You’re a princess?”

I nodded, letting out a quiet, “yes.”

Everyone was dead silent; you would have thought that someone had just dropped dead in front of us.

Angelina was the first one to break the silence, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

I sighed, “I didn’t want you guys to treat me differently. Because when your royalty and others see you, all people can think about is: she’s the princess, she’s next in line for the throne. And being princess, I’m never free. Every decision is made for me, every word, every moved has to be supervised because there’s always some sort of protocol that’s against it. You guys love me and care about me not because I’m the princess. But because you see the real me. You don’t see me as ‘Princess Y/N’, you guys see me as just Y/N.”

I felt Fred hold my hand under the table as I continued, “Here, I am able to be myself, without having to worry about the damn rules or the press. That’s why I spend every holiday I could at the Burrow. Because I like being free. Because I’ve felt more at home there that when I’ve spent a portion of my life at the palace. That’s why I kept my identity a secret. I feared that when you guys learned the truth, you would treat me differently.”

Fred and George encased me in a “Weasley twin hug” as the former kissed the top of my head.

“We’ll always love you darling.” He whispered, “Whether you’re royalty or not.”

I smiled, “Really? You’re not mad that I kept all of this a secret?”

George chuckled, “Of course we’re not.”

“Fred’s right. To us, your being a princess is just a title, but what matters is the side of Y/N that you want to show us.” Ginny added.

I laughed as all of them wrapped me in a group hug, “What did I do to deserve friends like you guys.”

Fred laughed, running a hand through my hair, “What did we do to deserve being friends with an actual princess?”

“Way to ruin the moment, Freddie!”

“Did you have to bring it up now?”

The rest of the group chimed as they playfully scolded Fred.

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝:

@lumosandnoxwriting @gostupid-godumb @famdomhideout @nova-darling @gaycatlord-stuff  @pandaxnienke @escapingrealitybyreading @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts @lunylovelovegood @thefallengodesse (Send a Message/Ask or fill out my taglist form if you want to be added!)

𝚂𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝:

@dobbys-leftsock @freddiemylovelg @georgeweasleyswhre @gostupid-godumb @robinisfreddieshoe​ @potters-heart @evieevergreen @fandomscombine @messagesinthesky @the-romanian-is-bae @thefallengodesse

[endlessly-cursed]

Happy FFWF!!

What are some Headcanons about primrose grey as a parent you have ?

❤️❤️❤️

She has some goals she wants them to reach, though for that she is patient and invite them to feed their knowledge instead of pushing them to do it

Unlike many women of her rank, she is a close, warm and loving mother who rarely leaves them more than two hours with tutors and other staff. She normally educates them herself in subjects she is well instructed, and turns out to be her children's favourite mother

She also breastfeeds them herself instead having a wet nurse

She reads them classics and plays the piano for them from a young age so their intelligence is more acute

She's also the one to personally nurse them and must always be present when the doctor's examinating them

She teaches her son and daughters similar educations so they don't feel inferior or superior to one another, but equal with some differences between them

She teaches her daughters that a life without marriage or children is possible should they want it and that they are the owners of their destinies, not other people, must less men!

She also teaches her son to understand the best he can what it means to be a good man and treat women right

She also insists that all of her children must know how to shoot and fencing, oratory, rethoric and the basics of politics should women be allowed to vote one day so they vote with the head and not the will of their possible husbands

She also takes her son to Parliament – not because he is a man, but he is her heir – and makes him take notes and listen intently to everyone speaking, even if he disagrees, so he can have a good idea of how Parliament works

They all have a broad knowledge of languages, history of Europe, North America and some countries of the world, philosophy, music, court etiquette, the wizarding world, politics, the estate's finances and ancestry, literature, mathematics, sports and fashion trends

Every time a child of hers is learning a new language, she buys them a book she knows they'll like so they learn the language in a fun way

She loves to kiss and hug her children and let them know how much she loves them

She also takes them to visit all of their surrogate families and her husband's relatives to keep family ties tight and well-built; she frequents the Seymours (@gcldensnitch ) the Alderlies (@gaygryffindorgal ) and the Berkeleys (@beloved-bucky ) the most

She also takes them to travels to experience these cultures they constantly learn about and to see the culture with their own eyes

During Hogwarts, she writes them a letter every Sunday and expects a reply by Wednesday, though if they're with the OWLs and NEWTs, she leaves them to answer whenever they can

She also presents her son and daughters to the King and Queen. Alexandra was presented twice, once as the daughter of Primrose, and the second time as Lady Fersen

She also gives them lectures of how important it is to choose one's life well and meticulously, for divorce during that era is frowned upon and wishes the best for them

She also insists that all of her children have a good hygiene and health, which makes them frequent the doctor and have a bath twice a week at least

She also doesn't hire ladies in waiting for her daughters so they trust their judgement. She dismissed her own after Gia was born

Speaking of, her son has a valet of Irish origin, and her daughters have one lady's maid to help her with garments, though when they grow up they no longer need them

She always defends them and talk them up, proud of her descendants and doesn't hesitate to cut ties should it be necessary: her family comes first

[sonnetsnerdstuff]

✧ Got7 as random boys in your town pt.2 ✧

✧  pairing (memberxreader) ✧  genre (common people!AU, fluff)

Im Jaebeom (재��)

The designer at the local gallery

You don’t know anything about him except that he has a job in the creative field and that he’s a regular at the local city gallery. As you work there, you started recognizing him by the third time he came. He usually comes alone, writes down things on a little notebook and thinks deeply on it afterwards sitting on a bench near the entrance. On rare occasions he brings other people with him and you smile as you get glimpses of them from the glass-doors starting arguments about who knows what, pointing at a painting then at another, heated cheeks and gleaming eyes. It seemed like watching two different people. With one thing he remains consistent though: the strange habit in which he always wanders on the same route inside the gallery -despite of the type of exhibition it is- not really minding if it means going in reverse sometimes. He also always snacks on all different types of food; once you're sure to have seen cat food in his bag too. Lastly, you never really saw him giving attention to other visitors apart his companions; his eyes neither really smiled when greeting you buying tickets. That’s why today, as he’s been sitting in front of a really pretty blue painting for half an hour already, you pass by him and get impressed by the deep, longing stare he has on his face. You cannot help but wonder if it’d be like that how he looks at someone he finds as intriguing as those difficult-to-decipher strokes... and blush.

✧ ✧ ✧

Choi Youngjae (영재)

The boy on the same train

You were skipping through your music, disgruntled as nothing matched your mood this morning while you were looking from the scenery passing out of your train’s window to the cabin door and backwards. It had been days. You switched to the audiobooks app and put on the book from yesterday lecture, just praying to not fall asleep. Not much later on, what woke you up was not your fear of missing your stop but a big, loud laugh. You opened your eyes fighting off the instinct of springing up. There was only one person that took that train and could be that impossibly happy at 7:50 in the morning. You tilted your head towards the usual seat and there he was: big sweater, coffee in one hand and a huge smile while talking to his friends. You paused your audiobook, his happy voice now filling your ears with no distractions. Now that was relaxing. A little smile came up on your face. To you, he looked as everything you’d ever wanted to be like as a student: content, put together, with a bright future. Not like the lonely, grumpy night owl that you had become deciding on following that crazy course. You looked again at the scenery outside, peacefully this time. Well, if you couldn’t be that happy student you dreamed of, at least you had someone to impersonate yourself as. When you sat up to get off the train, you asked yourself again if you’d also look especially bright like his friends if you had a personal sunshine always with you too.

✧ ✧ ✧

Bam Bam (뱀뱀)

The popular kid in college

He was known among campus. May it be because of his money, something funny he had done during class, his parties or the mistery of how it was literally impossible to enter his circle of friends. He just naturally gave off that “cool kid" vibe that set him apart. At least, that’s what you mostly heard about him since you didn't know the guy or didn't intend to mind him at all. Except that one time he was doing the college marathon in Gucci and man, that was a sight you couldn’t miss. The truth was, you've never been into popular guys; you liked your boys to be interesting, so apart from envying his life from time to time you never really gave a second thought to BamBam. Until now, with him tripping down and scattering a bag of presents at your feet. They were wrapped in red paper with hearts pattern and photos of "pudding, cupcake, latte and king" -his cats, you supposed- respectively wishing you a "purrry christmas" as greeting cards. You lifted an eyebrow. That was unexpectedly... dorky. You sneaked a look at him while helping retrieving the six presents but he undoubtedly still was giving off that cool-guy aura. Then you also noticed the obviously home-made lunch box, the chipped black nailpolish closing the designer bag and the slightly embarassed blabbering, and you kinda got it: why he didn’t have many friends despite his notoriety. And, for a moment, you thought you’re screwed.

✧ ✧ ✧

Park Jinyoung (진영)

Your bestfriend’s older brother

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you, you could easily get charged”. You shut the door and jerk back from the brand new car you found in front of your best-friend’s house porch, to see her brother coming towards you; now you get why you didn’t recognize it. He’s back for vacations you suppose. “But it’s yours!”- “That makes it even worse, I’d say: unauthorized invasion of a stranger’s propriety” You scoff: "I don’t know if I should be more disappointed in you calling me a stranger or you already abusing others with your lawyer attitude”. “We see each other a few times a year... surely we’re not friends”. Ouch. Yes, yours is indeed that type of forced acquaintance where you don’t know each other but end up being somewhat close, as you kinda replaced him in his family since he was off to uni and their parents missed a child. “I was sorta hoping on distant cousins on good terms” you blurt out. As he gets closer you take a better look at him and notice two things: he got more buffed -again- and he’s holding a Polaroid camera in one of his hands. Then you remember that his room is full of photos of every nice moment of his life. “New car, new photo?” - “Of course”. After shooting his car he looks towards you, gets closer and put the camera up, as for a selfie: “And new family member, I suppose?”. He was aknowledging you. In response, you smile so big your cheeks hurt and while the flash blinds you, you admit you’d always wanted to become a real part of this family.

✧ Part one ✧

Masterlist ツ

[e350tb]

The Owl House: A Blight on Gravesfield (Chapter Four)

Four

A trying day comes to an end.

So what happened to Philip Wittelsbane?

The Wittelsbanes have always maintained that Philip and John were set upon by a roving band of ‘Indian Braves’ - their words. That John fought bravely, but Philip’s head was ‘cleaved in twain’ by a tomahawk, and that he had no recourse but to abandon his brother. That was, until recently, the generally accepted story. Except in the 1970s, historians actually bothered to ask the Pequot people what their histories said, and they were adamant that Philip could not have been killed by them.

Assuming the oral history of the Pequot is correct, and given the near total lack of any settler-Pequot contact in Gravesfield at this time in written record, we can safely assume that, what actually happened?

Another theory is that John murdered Philip, or that they fought a duel and that John emerged the victor. That’s currently the most likely theory, although the Wittelsbanes fervently deny it, but it can’t be confirmed. Archeologists have never found any human remains that might have belonged to Philip, and there’s been a few digs over the years, mostly related to the Battle of Gravesfield. Of course, the body could have been moved or dumped in the river - we don’t know.

There’s a theory that Philip lived a little longer and died of disease; but if so, why does he disappear from the record? And why would Thomas Goodfaith Masterson write that John and Philip went into the woods, and only John came back?

Then there’s the fun theory, which I love, but which is almost certainly false; the theory that the Earth opened up and Beezlebub dragged Philip to hell for his congress with witches. That theory started being popular in the late 1760s, when John’s descendent, Matlock Wittlesbane, donated Philip’s writings to the public library, but it had been suspected by Gravesfield residents as early as the 1660s. Often this story includes a nice little fight between John and Philip, which gets framed as a great battle between good and evil, and ends with a blood-covered John arriving back home, falling into Thomas’ embrace, and proclaiming; “It is done! By the Lord, it is done!”

Demons, fights, blood, this story has everything! And it’s almost certainly false.

So what is the truth? The answer might be in the personal journal of John Wittlesbane, which we know exists, but is in the care of the Wittelsbane estate, and they’ve never let anybody look at it. They say it is a private, family document.

Which doesn’t help dissuade us from the whole ‘murder’ hypothesis.

Now I want to have some time for discussion, so we’ll close the lecture here. I want to raise a question for you; apart from what I’ve mentioned, what other possible explanations are there for Philip’s disappearance?

 ....

The living arrangements were tight, but not uncomfortable.

Certainly, the pair of air beds were close, but there was enough of a gap between them (and the couch) that there wasn’t a lack of personal space. A pair of pillows and a few old, warm blankets completed the ensemble; Camila had even fished out an old plush bunny from the bottom of the closet.

Camila, who had just finished pumping the pair of beds, sat on the couch, mopping her brow.

“It’s always harder than it looks,” she muttered.

Amity rubbed her arm, looking a little embarrassed.

“You didn’t have to do this, Ms. Noceda,” she muttered.

Camila smiled.

“You’re a guest,” she replied. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Yeah, Amity, this is the Castello Noceda we’re talking about!” exclaimed Luz. “We’ve gotta keep our AirBnB rating up!”

“...Air B and what?”

The door opened; Vee walked in, carrying a fluffy red blanket and an extra pillow under her arm.

“So, uh, since you’ll be wanting your room back and all…” she said.

“Vee, no!” exclaimed Luz. “It’s okay, you can stay up… wait, hold on, don’t I have a bunk bed?”

She glanced at the two air beds in confusion.

“I thought you’d want to keep your friend company,” Camila said, shrugging. “I mean, it is her first night in a strange place.”

Luz smiled.

“Thanks, mami,” she said, giving her mother a hug. “You always think of these things.”

Camila smiled, but then frowned.

“We still need to talk tomorrow,” she said.

Luz sighed and bowed her head.

“I know,” she replied.

“And not just about the Boiling Isles,” added Camila. “Vee’s been going to school in your place. We need to work out how she can keep going now that you’re back.”

Luz tilted her head.

“Does she… want to?”

“Of course!” replied Vee. “I wanna see my friends every day, you know?”

Luz looked at her like she’d grown an extra head.

“...friends?”

She swallowed.

“Yeah, we’ll talk about that tomorrow,” she said. “I just…”

She yawned loudly.

“...today took a lot outta me,” she muttered.

“Cariño, I feel like I’ve aged twenty years in the last few hours,” sighed Camila. “I think we all need to get some sleep.”

She smiled.

“Goodnight Vee, goodnight Amity.” She turned to her daughter. “Goodnight, Luz. I am so glad you’re back.”

“I…”

Luz’ eyes shot down to the floor.

“Me too, mami.”

Camila flicked off the light, and she and Vee departed. Luz sighed, collapsing onto the air bed - then she squealed a little as she bounced.

“Forgot how bouncy these things are,” she muttered.

She turned on her side. Amity lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Her expression was hard to read.

“Amity?”

“I miss Ghost,” sighed Amity.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know where she went,” she added. “I guess I was just so focused on helping you that I forgot to look out for her. Look at me; top student and I can’t even look after my Palisman.”

“Hey, I’m sure she’s okay,” Luz replied. “She’s probably just waiting for you in your room. Or maybe using Edric as a scratching post again.”

Amity snorted.

“Honestly, I kind of hope she stays away from there,” she admitted. “I don’t think my parents are going to be in a particularly good mood at the moment.”

Luz frowned. “They wouldn’t hurt Ghost, would they? I mean, they’re strict but they’re not-”

Amity turned, looking her in the eyes, and Luz trailed off.

“I feel like I’m missing something here,” she said.

“I… honestly I’d rather not talk about it,” sighed Amity.

Luz nodded.

They lay in silence for a few minutes. The rain still pattered on the window - it was starting to die down now, and the wind had almost stopped completely.

“Belos has Eda, doesn’t he?” asked Luz. “And King?”

Amity nodded.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t do anything…”

“Amity, I’m not gonna be mad because you couldn’t stop Emperor Belos,” said Luz. “He’s Emperor Belos. You don’t get to be an evil emperor without getting really good at magic and junk.”

She lay on her back, scratching her chin.

“Or maybe you do? I dunno, I didn’t really listen to that history class on Napoleon.”

“Napole-who?”

“Human thing.”

She sighed.

“We’re gonna get through this,” she said. “For Eda, and for King, and for Lilith and Raine and… I dunno, whoever Belos has messed with. And then…”

She ran a hand through her hair.

“...then maybe I can get mom to understand… everything,” she said.

“Well, you’ve got a better chance than with my parents,” said Amity.

“I dunno, it’s still… I shouldn’t be this scared, you know?” Luz shrugged. “She’s my mom. I love her. So why does the thought of actually talking to her make me so anxious?”

Amity shrugged.

“Families are hard.”

Luz snorted, turning back onto her side.

“At least I’ve still got you,” she said.

Amity’s face turned red, and she rubbed the back of her hair.

“I’m not that great,” she replied. “Eda or King would’ve been better.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short!” said Luz. “And besides…”

She blushed, smiling.

“...King doesn’t have pretty eyes like yours.”

Amity laughed, her face becoming redder still.

“Hey, uh, they’re, uh, they’re not as pretty as yours…”

The two snorted and broke into giggles.

Outside, the rain stopped completely, and the world was still. Tomorrow awaited, with all it’s myriad uncertainties, but for now, they had each other.

That was enough.

[aguagua]

here. have a Chunk of a danror thing I was doing because im stumped on writing dialogue for the second half. started just typing this in my notes when I was sick.

its about the comfort of a bacon egg and cheese sandwich but I didn’t even GET to the bacon egg and cheese sandwich part. so it’s also about post keene, like maybe a year after, Ror and Dan lol. I’m not good at writing so be nice to me. enjoy

Patrol drove into later hours than anticipated. Certain gangs needed handling. Certain people needed apprehending. Rorschach’s lost track of time more often than he wants to admit. Time isn’t that important to him anymore, and who wouldn’t put off the time that came to tear off his face and put on a disguise for the day? But, the nite hours give Rorschach the blanket of protection he needs to operate and exact the justice this city so desperately needs. The daylight seems to frighten a specific type of evil back into whatever holes they crawled out of for the evening. But Rorschach will soon be vulnerable to the curiosity from crowds of 9 to 5’ers making their morning commute. He needs to get away from prying eyes. Normally he’d take to the sewers, climb down the nearest manhole, but, the gash on his leg needs serious tending. Unfortunately, he can’t risk getting an infection, not when the responsibility of protecting New York has now fallen solely on Rorschach’s shoulders. Not a single costumed hero is left to care for this dying community. His kind is, in fact, a dying breed.

Canal Street, where his apartment is, too far. The alley he normally leaves his things, too exposed. Time was short as the sun lazily climbed up into the sky, soon it would be a spotlight all on Rorschach. He’s in Bryant Park now. Which means the brownstone is only a few streets away and Daniel isn’t normally awake yet. Rorschach can go down to the basement, fix himself up, and eat a bowl of cereal before Daniel would ever notice. Smart idea. He’ll be safe there. The vigilante begins his trek, limping slightly but he distracts himself from the pain he feels in his calf by digging his fingers into his palm.

************

Daniel and Rorschach have not spoken to each other since the night after the Keene Act was passed. When Daniel decided to quit. Maybe it was better that way. No words needed to be shared anymore. What would even be said? Some poor attempt at reminiscing about the good old days? Good old days that Daniel chose to end? Or maybe it would be some long lecture about how Rorschach should hang up the mask. “There’s still a chance to get out.” A lecture that would sound more like a desperate plea. Ridiculous.

Through their lack of conversation, raised an unspoken agreement. It’s an uncomfortable thought to Rorschach, to know someone is thinking of him. That Daniel still has his concerns and wants Rorschach to be safe. That he cares.

When Rorschach sneaks in through the kitchen window (He’ll save Daniel the humiliation of breaking his lock again. Ha ha.) and makes his way down to the Owl Nest, he finds just some of the terms of their agreements. Replenished first aid with plenty to spare, just begging Rorschach to take them with him. The cot, back by the super computers, with fresh sheets. Always fresh. Rorschach has rested his head there more than a few times.

And Rorschach knows when he goes upstairs to eat, he’ll find the surplus of canned foods he knows Daniel did not buy for himself. The leftovers in the fridge that are tucked in the fridge, in kitschy owl casserole dishes. The cherries that Daniel does not like eating. The sugary cereal. The occasional cola. Any and all of the foods in the Rorschach diet.

Rorschach initially thought this was a method for Daniel to catch Rorschach and sit him down for a long lecture, that all this stepping out of the way had an ulterior motive, it was bait. But, he’s heard a handful of times when Daniel was awake and about upstairs and he never came down the Owl Nest steps. He never hustled into the kitchen when Rorschach was there, scarfing down cold, canned soup. Rorschach would come here and take care of himself, with food, medical supplies, and rest that Daniel provided and will always provide. Daniel respected their silent agreement and Rorschach’s space. Perhaps, Daniel, too, didn’t know how they could hold a conversation. Maybe he felt conversation was worthless but still felt the need to provide his ex partner some kind of reparation for leaving. Maybe Rorschach scared him now. All avenues made sense.

He wishes Daniel would see him. No he didn’t. Yes he did. No he didn’t.

*******

Rorschach grabbed the first aid kit, took his place on the cot, rolled up his torn pant leg (will have to repair later) and went to work. In a skirmish with one too many Knot Tops, one of the few that remained standing managed to knock Rorschach down and dig into his calf with a knife. The perpetrator didn’t succeed in incapacitating Rorschach, to say the very least.

Rorschach bit his lip to hold back a hiss as he cleaned the injury with antiseptic. Such an outward expression of pain is a weakness (it’s human) and Rorschach isn’t weak (or human).

It frustrated Rorschach to no end that he had Walter’s limitations. He couldn’t just brush off an injury, ignore the hunger pains, stave off sleeping, at least not for so long. He always pushes his body to its absolute limits. But, avoidance to these Human needs (Walter’s needs) would lead to burn out, poor performance and he can’t allow that.

So, Rorschach properly cleans and stitches the cut, with a nice tight stitching. He sits back on the cot, letting the pain dully throb in his leg while he stares out at the Nest.

A layer of dust covered everything except Rorschach’s small corner. Archie was covered in a large tarp. A whole world was down here, locked away, covered up and left to rot. Rorschach could replay dozens of memories in this space, in every little corner. The back of the workshop where Daniel broke his arm in the exo armor. The workbench, where they sat and shared colas, strategizing for their takedown of King of Skin. By Nite Owl’s locker where Daniel found a rat chewing at his uniform and Rorschach chased it down the tunnel. Beside Archie, after taking down the Big Figure, celebrating a little too closely of each other. On the steps where Nite Owl revealed himself to be Daniel Dreiberg and opened the door to share his private life with Rorschach.

How was it so easy for Daniel to close out this part of his identity? Easy, maybe, considering Daniel had the privilege to turn away. He had another life. Rorschach did not.

Best to not harp on the past, he thinks. Rorschach permits himself a pause. Lets the thoughts stop racing, a period to sit in the silence, and rest his eyes.

The quiet is cut short by the sound of footsteps upstairs. Daniel’s awake early. Why? He’s never been an early riser. Rorschach walked over to the stairs, listened close to the footsteps. Sounds like he’s still on the second floor. Rorschach could take his chances, grabbing some canned food and run back down to the tunnel. No. Not a smart move. Will be caught. The footsteps are down in the kitchen now. Something is placed down on the table. Cabinets are being opened. The fridge. It’s time to leave.

But he doesn’t want to. Yes, he does. No, he doesn’t.

Maybe the pain and exhaustion loosened Rorschach’s restraint, could be the excuse he tells himself later. Body betraying his usual code, Rorschach walks up the steps and opens the door.

*****

“Rorschach?”

[mxtcha-tea]

Lines.

✎desc; how I would rate haikyuu character's drawing.

✎team[s]; fukurodani, inarizaki

✎genre; crack

✎language[s]; english

✎chef note; okay, first off, I'm not a professional drawer but I can still rate drawings. This idea just came to me like a minute ago and I had to do it now, so enjoy :)

fukurodani.

Bokuto

Aight, I see that we started off greatly.

In all honesty, he have no idea how to draw,

And of course his drawing would look,,,, quite terrible i'm so sorry bokuto lovers

He's that kid in art class where's when the teacher already told them what to draw,

Bokuto sat there on his chair, staring at the canvas

Like, what is he suppose to do? Draw?

Well, yeah technically but what???

I can totally see him frustratingly erase the sketch if it can be called as a sketch

And then proceed to try to copy other people's work

Keyword; try

It's bad but at least he had an effort to finish it

4/10, there I said it

Akaashi

His drawings are not that professional but it's pretty

Have you ever seen a drawing that you wanted to stare at it for hours until you're satisfied?

That what's his drawing are like

Not typically an art kid so he's fine when student's from his art class asked him to draw for them

And is feeling pretty neutral with his talent (he actually won't call it a talent but more like a hobby or sum)

And just say 'thanks' if peoples compliments his drawing

Let say his drawing is, a good 8/10

A decent drawer in conclusion :)

Konoha

Not a bad drawer but he rather keep it basic

Konoha's prolly too lazy to draw something over the top so he's just gonna draw flower or something ksndnzkj

Sometimes sleep during art class and had to ask what they had to draw

Proceeds to decently draws a scenery

He's totally not the creative kid so whenever the teach tell them to draw something, he'll always go with basket of fruits, like,

Man, I appreciated the drawing but at least put some effort on thinking what to draw

The art teacher also kept telling him that he have raw talent and should enhance the skill more,

But that never happened, no

"Sorry ma'am, I'll just stick to volleyball, thank you,"

One part of the art room has a section of konoha's basket of fruits drawings but in different mediums

Rating is 7/10

Washio

IS actually an art kid and you cannot convince me otherwise

Has a small sketchbook with him and he'll always doodle when he's bored or in a middle of a lecture (while taking notes of course)

His main skill in drawing tho is painting

The colors blends in so well with one another and he's good at picking color palettes

Also, he doesn't really get that annoyed if some kids from his class ask him to teach them how to draw

Or even look through his sketchbook

He'll just nod and hand it to them without a second thought

Ajsjdhsijsi Washio get so blushy when someone compliments his drawing,,,,

I’ll give a 10/10 :), congrats

Sarukui

The best that he can do is doodles of owls and other shits but other than that, he cannot do

But the doodles are kinda cute doe ngl

He’ll have his moment where he’s in class and have no idea what to do, and just doodles a bunch of stuff

Once he draw his whole teammate including his coach and himself, he thought to himself,

“Huh, this looks good,”

And then take a picture of it for memories (cause he might throw the book he’s doodling in away)

Speaking of that, he doesn’t have an official book for drawing and just draws in his english or math’s textbook or sum

His juniors eyes are blessed when they got his textbook

Sarukui just vibes in during art class, draws and that’s pretty much it

The drawings,,,,,eh,,,, not that good, he only specialize in doodling as I said

so in conclusion,

drawing? 2/10

doodling? I’ll give a solid 5/10, good job

Komi

I’m gonna say this and I’m prolly gonna say it again

He hates art class

Like, even with him trying his best to draw, it’ll always gonna look strange than what he planned

mf cannot draw a straight line in art class

This dood can draw a nice straight line in any other class whether it’s for a graph or others,

And then proceed to shakily draw a straight line during art session

Totally not an art kid and will never be one

His drawings,,,,

I’m so sorry but it looks so bad

It’ll prolly look a lot better if he put more effort, but it’ll still look bad no matter what

Komi hates art class and can’t draw even a decent doodle so unfortunately, I’ll have to rate it 0/10, sorry :(

Anahori

His drawings are eh

It’s not good but also not bad?

Sometimes you’ll just stare at his drawing for a good minute and be like, what did he just draw just now?

What I’m saying is that his drawing’s are unexplainable

Maybe if you stare at it a little bit longer then it’ll make sense and you can see the beauty in it

But honestly I can’t really see anything, not in a bad way, but like, literally nothing

You’ll be staring at his canvas as the mario kart rainbow road music started playing inside your head

But Anahori is always proud of his drawings no manner what

So, I’ll rate confusion/10

Onaga

Just like Komi, he sorta hates art class too

But lemme tell ya, his sketches are GODLY, like, have you seen those pinterest hand sketches?

That’s what his sketch would look like

It’s so yummy to look at what

But he sucks at lineart so JAHGSDSHD

Onaga cannot properly hold the black pen and do the lineart, it’ll always turn wonky and he had to throw it away

Like, if he spend even hours tryna outline it all, and then erase it

It’ll look so trash

And he’ll just stare at it for a couple of minutes before crumpling the paper

He’ll also suck at coloring

Mans cannot understand how the color blend in together

And I think I’ll rate,,,,,6/10 just cause he suck at coloring and lineart lmao don’t worry i suck at coloring too

Kaori

Another decent drawer and her drawings are almost the same as Akaashi’s

But instead of it looking pretty, it looks cute

I have a headcanon that Kaori have a journal and does journaling so that’s prolly the reason why her drawings are cute af

But honestly, her drawings sometimes depends on her mood,

If she’s mad or frustrated, her drawing would look kinda rough and not that cute anymore

If she’s feeling happy tho, It’ll look so nice and cuddly does that even make any sense

Isn’t necessarily an art kid but would love to try be one

And she totally have drawing sessions with Washio aaaaaa,

Just imagine both of them sketching in the same sketchbook while talking about the volleyball club or anything else

She’s getting an 9/10 just cause her sketchs looks clean <33

Yukie

She doesn’t draw at all

Like, you’ll never see her drawing at any kind of time so you have no idea what it looks like

Yukie would still attend art class,

But never draws

She said that she’s pretty lazy to draw it and said to draw it at her home later

But no one even saw that drawing after that

Yukie doesn’t show her drawings nor EVEN draw for once

So I technically can’t rate :/

inarizaki.

Ginjima

LISTEN

The only reason why I started with Gin is because he have some amazing drawing skills

He admit that he’s not an art kid but draws godly as if he had been thought since he was a kid,

Well, actually yes

I think Ginjima actually wanted to be a drawer when he was still a little kid way before he started his 3rd year of middle school

So he practiced a few and became a nice drawer since then,

But he kinda quit being a drawer and decided to go with volleyball

And guess what?

His drawing talent is still there

He totally specialize in pencil drawing cause that’s the first thing he started learning

The lines are smooth and the shading are so yummy what is wrong with me

The Miya twins and Suna are so sh00ked when he saw his drawing during art class

ngl he’s pretty smug about it too but doesn’t brag about it

I’ll give this boy 12/10, mwuaah

Suna

I hate this man for this sole reason

Suna is too LAZY to draw so he doesn’t give any effort in his drawing

I can guarantee myself that I’ll get an eye strain when I saw his drawing

And...

*wipes away tears*

He draws too many dick

–2/10

Don’t come for my head Suna lovers

Atsumu

OMFG

OKAY, OKAY, I KNOW THAT ATSUMU MIGHT PUT ON SOME EFFORT IN HIS DRAWINGS,

BUT WHY IS IT STILL SO BAD?????

He’ll prolly think his drawing would look good but no, it’s not

No matter on what perspective you look his drawings at, It’ll still look bad

AND HE DOESN’T EVEN NOTICE IT

Osamu laughs a lot at his drawing and they started fighting for that only reason smh

Atsumu, I appreciate your effort so SO much,

But please, just stick to volleyball

–10+/10

I put a plus there because of his effort and because of pity

Osamu

He draws in ms paint, with a mouse

But he can draw some foods tho

But all of it looks wonky af

1/10

Akagi

A pretty decent drawer

Akagi always draw happy and cute drawings so you’ll also get happy when you saw his drawings

Puts on a big smile when people compliments his drawing and shyly scratches the back of his neck

“Nah, this just look normal!”

But he draws oddly thick lines sometimes

Sometimes it looks good in some drawing

And sometimes it looks, bizzare in others...

But I think his drawing would look nice <3

Overall, I’ll give a,,, 7.5/10, keep up the good work

Oomimi

He’s from class 7 AND I really think that he’ll be good at drawing

Well, he can draw a few things but he struggles drawing other things he never accustomed to

But!

Oomimi is that kid who’s good at drawing scenery

He knows basic color palettes and which is cold and hot colors

So the scenery drawing would always look good

He get a lot of compliments for the drawing (50% of it from Akagi)

I think he doesn’t have that many time to relax and draw freely but when he does have it, it’ll just be small and simple doodles

um, let’s go with 8/10 <3

Aran

I truly believe that Aran can draw peoples face but in a pretty decent amount

He’s also good with anatomy teach me your ways king

But as much as he’s good at that, he kinda sucks at drawing any kind of background drawings

Mans can’t draw a scenery I’m telling you

As if the background doesn’t even exist in his mind lolol I’m sorry Aran lovers, I didn’t mean that in a bad way

Mainly uses copic markers to color and color pencils to shade

The first time he use the copic marker, he got really frustrated that the marker stain the other pages lmao

And he never uses digital drawing applications or softwares

Aran just doesn’t

I think I’ll rate him, 8.5/10

Kita

Okay, I know that Kita’s a top student and never fails in anything

But he’s not typically a good drawer that much

His drawing still got good marks but when you look at it, it just looks normal

I just know that the Kita lovers gonna get me after this

It’s not that bad and not that good, just a nice balance in between

I personally think Kita’s not that godly in drawing but rather a neutral drawer

He draw what he can and does shading and coloring when it’s needed

The colors are all basic colors, no pastel, no neon

And the shadings are pretty basic

Just a normal drawer here

Ya’ll gonna fight me for this but I’ll give Kita’s point,

7/10

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Jokers Wild Pt 1

This is rated T for Violence and Blood

Luz is sitting at her desk, working on her homework from her plant track class.

She has a pretty easy time in plants, it’s a lot like gardening most of the time, though the plants have a lot more eyes… or teeth...but she digresses. She has Willow too, who is at the top of the track and is always willing to repeat spells for her so she can try to glean glyphs from them. She’s managed a couple, she’s still working on perfecting them so it always does what she wants, the part that makes plant magic so hard is plants are living things, and the ones on the Isles sometimes have wills of their own if you don’t exert the right kind of control. She’s had a few go haywire and nearly strangled herself with vines last week trying to get them to form a net.

That one still needed work…

All part of living in the Isles though. With every week that goes by in the Boiling Isles, she finds herself more and more acclimated to it, sometimes it feels like she's lived here all her life.

Her bedroom, which once was just a spare room where she slept on the floor in a sleeping bag, now looks like she's been there for years.

All of Eda's junk is gone, replaced with a bed and a desk, covered in framed photos of Gus, Willow, King, and Eda; even Lilith. Her photo of her and her mom sits on the bedside table, close by, along with the photo of her and Amity she took on their first date and a new one of all of them on the beach at Amity’s birthday a couple of weeks ago.

A dresser sits in the corner, filled with new clothes because she could only keep wearing the same ones she brought for 'summer camp' for so long, especially now that fall is here. She's pretty sure she's having a growth spurt too. She realized last week she now has no problem reaching the cabinets in the kitchen, unlike almost five months ago when she first arrived.

For the foreseeable future, she is a permanent denizen of the Isles, so it only makes sense to pick up on her home's history too.

She’s started taking extra lessons with Lilith about the general history and culture of the Isles while they all learn glyph magic together. Lilith will lecture about the history of things and Luz is enthralled by it, which is probably the only reason Eda only rolls her eyes and lets her go on. Though she does throw in her own brand of commentary often. Usually saying why something Lilith is saying is dumb or outdated, much to the older’s annoyance, but they very rarely get into anything truly heated so it's become a kind of Sunday night routine at the owl house. King usually joins them too. Adding in his own two snails whenever he sees fit.

Much to her delight, when she can, Amity has started to join them. She's started practicing some of Luz's glyphs; the portals are especially useful.

Things are still very tense between her and Lilith, who keeps trying, and Amity mildly accepts the efforts, she's still very terse and short with the older witch much of the time, which makes Luz frown, but she keeps it to herself.

She and Amity have had this talk. Amity will try, but by no means has forgiveness been given, which Lilith seems to understand and accept.

They had a private talk after Amity's birthday weekend, she doesn't ask Amity about it, much as she wants to, and Amity doesn't offer an explanation.

Sometimes she wants to talk, and sometimes she doesn't, that's fine. She and Amity have come to that understanding well over the last two and a half months they've been dating.

They know the other is there and will come if they need them.

It's weird to Luz sometimes, having someone she knows is always in her corner, that she can come to without question.

Before she came to the Isles, she had her mom, even though she never really understood her and was gone a lot, and now she has Eda, but that's different. She knows Eda will always back her up, protect her, but it's different from Amity. She looks up to Eda, and while it's not that she doesn't admire Amity, she does, it’s just in a different way.

She would try to protect Eda just as much as she does for her, but it's just a different dynamic, she's not sure how to put it into words other then Eda is like her mom, while she and Amity are equals, they depend on each other, Eda, as much as she loves her, doesn't depend on Luz.

She has Gus and Willow too, and that’s a lot closer but still different. She can’t really explain why. Eda says it’s because she doesn’t make out with her other friends, which makes her make a face. While that’s true, she’s pretty sure that’s not it either. As much as she trusts Gus and Willow, which is a lot, sometimes she just doesn’t feel comfortable sharing some things with them, or anyone, except her girlfriend.

Something she’ll have to puzzle out another day.

“Hey Luz, Amity’s here!” Eda yells up the stairs and Luz grins, jumping up.

“Coming!” she yells back as she pulls on her shoes and grabs her new Hexside hoodie off the hanger on the back of the door before she runs out. Her jeans make loud scratching noises as she runs down the stairs, not that her loud thumping wasn’t going to alert everyone in the house she was coming already.

She hops over the last few steps to land on the floor and smiles at Amity who is standing in the living room with her arms crossed but smiling at her in black pants and a matching black hoodie with a bright purple pentagram on the front surrounded by runes.

“Hey, cutie.” She grins, trotting over to kiss Amity hello before she pulls her hoodie on.

“Ready to go?” she asks, her blush at the complement tempered by watching Luz struggle to put her head through the right hole. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the hem, helping right the blue hoodie till Luz’s head popped out with a grin.

“Yup!”

“You two have fun, don’t do anything I would do, and if ya do, don’t get caught!” Eda smirked and the two grin.

“Bye, Mom.” she only pauses slightly when the word comes out of her mouth but Eda just smiles and gives them a little two-finger wave from the couch.

“See ya later, Kids.”

They leave the owl house, walking away quickly before Hooty can really get going about the squirrel he ate that morning.

Luz takes hold of one of Amity’s hands and shoves the other in her hoodie pocket, it’s chilly today and the leaves are falling from the trees more and more every day.

“So…, do you want to talk about that?” Amity asks after a few seconds, that’s the first time she’s seen Luz make that slip in person, though she knows it's happened several other times. Luz just shrugs. She still feels selfish for it, thinking of Eda as a parent, for never wanting to go back to the world of her birth, regardless of whether or not it's actually possible at the moment, but she's working more and more every day to come to terms with her feelings about never wanting to leave the Isles; about considering this her real home.

“I mean, I still feel a little bad when I do it, but it’s been happening more and more lately… and I dunno, I guess I’m just starting to get used to it? Seeing Eda like an adopted mom. She is a lot like my mom… I mean, you know, kinda,” she laughs.

“Your personality would make more sense if Eda was your mom.” Amity smirks.

“And what does that mean?” Luz grins, nudging her playfully.

“Your general disregard for rules and danger are very ‘Eda’," she says matter of factly with a grin.

"I don't know what you're referring to," she says with mock haughtiness, sticking her nose in the air.

"Oh? I have a list prepared then." Amity clears her throat dramatically and holds up her free hand and begins counting off on her fingers.

"You broke into the conformatorium to steal a paper crown when we first met you snuck into Hexside pretending to be an abomination…"

"You're the one who almost got me dissected that day, otherwise it would have been fine." Luz cocked a brow at her. Amity pursed her lips.

"Okay, I'll give you a by on that one, but then you animated the entire owl house and took it on a joyride, you tried to fight Odabin as 'Luzura'." She smirked, glancing at her out of the side of her eye, and Luz pinked. "You tried to steal from the Emperor, then fought him and Lilith, challenged Boscha to a grudgby match when you didn't even know how to play the game, you stole…"

"Borrowed!" Luz corrected.

"...my training wand and shot a Slitherbeast with a fire spell…," Amity continued as though she hadn't been interrupted. "Speaking of Slitherbeasts, you almost got yourself eaten picking thornberries for my birthday cake!"

Luz chuckled, guess she was still mad about that one.

"Then you deliberately put yourself in danger by taking my place as grom queen…"

"You let me!" Luz accused.

"I didn't want everyone to see my worst fear was getting rejected by you and know I had a crush on you!" she argued while Luz just grinned at her.

"Aw, you had a crush on me."

"We are literally dating…" Amity gives her a deadpan look and holds up their intertwined hands.

"Yeah, but still…!" she laughed as Amity rolled her eyes, but she's smiling too.

"So, yes, you have a tendency to ignore danger and rules, just like Eda."

"Well, I guess I picked the right teacher and adoptive mom then." She grins. Amity just shakes her head as they walk through the woods toward town.

"Where’s Ed and Em?" She asks as they get closer to town.

"They said they'd meet us there." She shrugs. She tries not to worry about all the trouble her siblings have a tendency to get into when left to their own devices.

When they're just outside of town Amity reluctantly pulls her hand out of Luz's and misses the warmth immediately. Luz pouts and shoves her hand into her pocket with the other.

They meet Ed and Em just outside town on the main road.

"Hey, Luz," the twins call in unison as they approach and Luz grins sticking up a hand to high five both of them.

The twins view Luz like another little sister, she’s good to Amity and means a lot to her, which means she means a lot to them.

They also like to privately tease Amity that they may as well start now since she's gonna be their sister-in-law someday. They delight at how impossibly red she turns when they say it, but say nothing about how happy the idea seems to make her simultaneously even as she yells at them that they haven’t even been dating a year yet.

It's a chilly Saturday as they follow along behind the twins through the market. It's not their first choice, their first choice would be of course, to be able to go anywhere they want and be an obvious couple, impossible as that is right now, but they wanted to go to the market, and they'd been to town alone together several times this week already and the twins needed some stuff anyway, so it makes a good cover.

They decide to stop and eat lunch at the Redstone bakery, which also sells a variety of sandwiches. Luz still doesn't know what's in it exactly, but she's had it several times and knows she can eat it, and it's tasty; so it really doesn't matter to her. Amity still stands by, watching her carefully anytime she tries something new in case she has some kind of reaction, which really, has only happened three times but it is a possibility, and Amity is nothing if not prepared, and one has to be extra prepared when it comes to Luz.

Both Clawthorne sisters think she might grow more tolerant the longer she lives here and her body grows accustomed to it.

She hopes so, for all the weird foods, there are just as many tasty looking ones she wants to try. It's not like she didn't have allergies in the human world, being lactose intolerant.

They eat and talk, Ed and Em talking animatedly about a prank they played on two other upperclassmen earlier in the week.

Apparently they embarrassed them in front of the entire illusion track during a presentation that had them running from the room to the entire classes laughter.

Amity rolls her eyes at that and Luz nods along, half-listening, distracted by her food and her girlfriend, who's holding her hand under the table, slowly running her thumb back and forth across her knuckles.

Luz is stuffed by the time her sandwich is gone, as well as the second half of Amity's, she'd slid to her when she was done. Where Luz ate like a horse, Amity did not, but she still has the thornberry muffin sitting in front of her, and as much as she wants to eat it, she might pop if she does. It won't go to waste though.

She slides it across the table to Amity, who looks at it before smiling at her and takes it. They must be looking at each other in what Eda calls 'that gross gooey way' because Emira pipes up.

"You two need more couple friends," she says, rolling her eyes at them.

Amity frowns at her.

"Ignoring the fact that we literally can't tell people we're a couple, why do we need more couple friends?" she looks at her sister skeptically. Before she can say anything Edric jumps in with a witty remark, or at least what he thinks is witty.

"Because you're on a double date with us," he teased.

Amity scowls at that and Luz smirks. Normally, she stays clear of these back and forths between the Blight siblings, she's not as quick-witted as the twins or Amity, but today she can't help herself.

"Well, if this is a double date, you're the only one here on a date with their sister," she shoots back.

Edric's face drops, while Amity and Emira burst into peals of laughter.

They laugh at him for a solid minute before they can even speak.

"Oh, that was a good one. You walked right into that," Emira cackled, wiping at a tear. Edric crossed his arms and pouts.

Amity is still snickering when she glances back at Luz, who winks and Amity's hand squeezes hers under the table.

"Anyway, I was going to say, so Ed and I don't have to watch you two be so sickeningly romantic, but now I think I just need to meet someone so I don't have to be Ed's date," she snickers and Ed scowls at her.

When lunch is finished they wander back out into the market. It's crowded the way it usually is on Saturday.

Just as they cross a street Edric stops and smirks, looking at something across the street.

“See those guys over there?” He points across the market at two guys standing at a stall looking at something. One is tall and blonde, the other a little shorter but he has a bright green mohawk that Luz doesn’t know how she missed, but then again, this is the Boiling Isles. Just ten minutes ago she saw a guy with wings and a briefcase shopping for pet demons, so…

“What about them?” Amity asks.

“Those are the guys we embarrassed Friday,” Emira laughs.

“Oh boys!” Edric yells waving and the two look up and see them. The twins just grin and wave as the other two scowl darkly at them and walk off into the crowded market. The twins snicker and Amity shakes her head. Someday her brother and sister are going to give themselves problems with their tricks and mean pranks.

They continue browsing for a while, looking over the different wares offered at the stalls, there are a lot of regular merchants in the same spots every day but there are always a bunch of new ones too, selling all manner of weird and exotic things that some days Luz can’t even guess at. It's become a game for her and Amity to wander around and Luz to guess at the uses for things and Amity to affirm or correct her. Just something fun they like to do together at the market.

Some large guy with horns and two mouths is shouting across the market, advertising his wares for something that makes light with no magic.

“Pfft, I have glyphs for that.”

“That’s still magic, Luz.” Amity glances at her.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t take energy like when you cast spells. I can make glyphs all day long so long as I have paper.” She goes to emphasize this by pulling out her pad, but as she pats her pockets, she realizes she doesn’t have it.

“What’s wrong?

“I guess I left my glyphs and pad at home, didn’t think I’d need them for our date,” she says with a shrug and then grins. “I know you’d protect me.” She nudges Amity who rolls her eyes even as she smiles and nudges back as the four walk along the street.

There are few people in this section of the market, so they don’t have to whisper to each other.

“I thought you were MY fearless champion?” she teases, and then snorts as Luz stops suddenly to pose, one fist on her chest and the other on her hip, chest puffed out.

“Amity Blight, I will always be your fearless champion!” she declares and Amity giggles at her even as her heart flutters in her chest.

“I guess we’ll just have to protect each other.” She smiles adoringly at her and Luz grins back.

“Congratulations,” Edric says suddenly, crossing his arms. “You two are officially, that couple.”

“What couple?” Luz looks at Ed over her shoulder.

“That nauseatingly, romantic couple who are always doing cute things,” Emira explained, hand on her hip.

“At least I have a girlfriend…,” Amity huffed at them, arms crossed and nose in the air. Luz stuck her tongue out at them.

The twins frowned before smirking and simultaneously twirled their fingers.

Both their hoods suddenly pulled down over their heads, drawstrings pulling tightly closed, making Luz yelp and Amity snarl as the twins laughed.

Amity yanked the hood off and glared at the two as Luz’s head popped out of her hood.

“We’re going to the bookstore…," she growled, grabbing Luz’s arm and turning them in the right direction before having to drop it again.

“We’ll meet you there in a little bit!” Edric called after them, still grinning.

Amity grumbled to herself, fixing her hair before looking at Luz, whose dark brown locks had been mussed as well.

They were nearly alone now, and she reached up and carefully smoothed it out, making Luz grin as Amity fussed over her. She was fine if it was a little messy, but it was easier to just let Amity do her thing. Besides, she very much liked the feeling of her fingers running through her hair, and the warm affection it made tingle across her skin when Amity fretted over her.

She wanted so badly to take her hand but held back.

“I heard the bookstore got the newest Azura book in just yesterday,” Amity says after a minute and Luz brightens.

“I’ll race you there!” Luz suddenly shouts, taking off down the sidewalk, laughing. Amity grins, taking off after her. Luz turned the corner up ahead and Amity pushed herself to go faster but when she turned the corner her girlfriend was nowhere in sight. She stops, looking around.

Luz is fast, she knows, but not that fast.

“Luz?” She walks a few more feet, passing an alley as she looks around.

Suddenly a hand on her shoulder drags her roughly into the alley and she yelps.

Amity grimaces as she falls to the ground on her backside. She looks up and finds herself staring back at the snarling face of the upperclassmen with the green mohawk her brother had pointed out earlier.

“Amity!”

She turns toward the call and her face pales.

Luz is pressed back against the alley's stone wall, while the other student, the blonde, holds her there, a hand fisted into the front of her hoodie, but Luz is looking at her.

She looks like she starts to move over toward her but the blonde, draws a spell circle with his free hand and flames erupts from it, which he shoves next to her face, making Luz flinch back against the stone.

“Don’t even try,” he snaps, and Luz glares defiantly at him.

“Luz!” She jumps up but stops short of dashing over when Mohawk steps right in front of her, blocking her view of Luz and the blonde witch.

“If it isn’t the twin's precious baby sister and her little human friend, what a coincidence," he hissed, quite literally as a serpentine tongue flicked out between his lips.

Amity glared right back. Her arm starts to shoot up, index finger extended but stops short as she catches sight of Luz, back up against the wall, helpless against the other student without her glyphs as he teasingly shoves the fire closer to her face. Slowly, she lowered her arm and swallowed; If she fought back Luz would pay for it. She clenched her fists.

“What do you two want?” she growled.

“To get back at your rotten shit siblings!” he snarled, stalking closer to Amity, who takes a step back for each of his, till they've stalked past Luz and the blonde toward the back of the alley until she had no place left to go.

"It's not enough they're top of the class, they have to harp on the rest of us all the damn time too with their stupid jokes and pranks!"

His arm shot out and he grabbed Amity's wrist, tight, and she cried out in pain as he yanked her forward and she slammed to the hard ground, it bit into her palms as she tried to cushion the fall. Her knees still knocked hard against it and Amity glared up at him.

"They think they're so funny and clever?" he spat, standing over her. He spins a finger and a dark blue spell circle appears before fire crackles in his palm. "We'll see how clever they are when we send their little sister home fried!" He kicks her for good measure making her yelp.

"Amity!" Luz jerks forward but the fire crackling near her face is shoved closer and she can feel the heat licking at her cheeks and swallows thickly.

"Don't even try human, or I'll cook you!" The guy barks. She stiffens, but she’s focussed on Amity, lying on the ground. They've both turned to look back at her and blondie, and Amity's pained expression turns scared as she stares back at her, and it's like ice water running down Luz’s spine when she realizes that Amity isn't scared for herself, she's scared for her. Scared to fight back because Luz might get hurt; she knows Luz doesn’t have her glyphs.

Her fists clench, white knuckled.

Maybe she doesn't have her magic right now, but if they think she's going to stand by and let them beat up her girlfriend, she's going to introduce them to the good 'ol human version of a ‘witch’s duel’. She takes a deep breath and too fast for blondie to react, her fist flies upward and she connects, fist cracking against the underside of his jaw.

Blondie reels backward, stunned, the fire in his hand dissipating but Luz doesn’t wait for an invitation, and jolts forward, swinging again, ignoring the pain in her hand and nails him in the nose.

“Argghh!” She must have gotten Mohawks attention again because despite her heart pounding in her ears she hears Amity’s voice somewhere behind her,

“Abomination rise!”

She wants to go to her, but Luz knows damn well that so long as she has her magic, Amity can defend herself; and she has her own hands full already.

The guy looks up at her, eyes filled with rage and suddenly Luz’s world is awash in pain as his fist connects with her face and she stumbles backward. She rights herself quick enough to see him coming, but not to stop the next punch that topples her to the ground, and then he's on top of her, a hand fisted into the front of her shirt.

Adrenaline is coursing through her veins and Luz kicks him in the gut.

He doubles over and she kicks him again, sending him sprawling to the ground before she turns toward Amity, who has an abomination shielding her from the fire spells the other upperclassman is firing at her while she rapidly draws spell circles, flinging back spikes of ice.

She runs forward but only gets two steps before she's yanked back roughly by her hood.

Blondie swings her by the hood into the alley's stone wall. Her face and hands scrape against the stone, but she manages to cushion most of the blow with her arms. His hand grabs the back of her head and grinds her face into the wall and Luz winces under the pressure, crying out.

“Get away from her!”

A spear of ice fires down the alley out toward the street, and Blondie lets her go, jumping out of the way before he's impaled. Luz has to capitalize on the opening.

She turns and flings herself at him, toppling them to the ground, and she just starts swinging, he raises his arms to fend off the wild, rapid punches. She knows she needs to keep his hands busy because she isn't going to be any match for his spells without her glyphs, though in a fistfight she can, apparently, hold her own.

A few of her hits connect, but then he hits back, getting in another punch that sends Luz reeling and her head spinning as he throws her off and she thumps to the ground.

She only just managed to scramble to her feet, still a little dazed, her face is throbbing and she can taste blood. He grabs the front of her shirt in both hands and lifts her off the ground, feet dangling.

“You shoulda just kept quiet you stupid, little bit-”

Anything he was going to say is cut off as Luz flings one of her legs up, hard as she can, nailing him where the sun doesn't shine and he groans, dropping her instantly and falling to his knees. He’s curled up in the fetal position, cursing.

She spins around, looking down the alley where Amity is still fending off the upperclassman, but he’s backed her into a corner. The sleeve of her hoodie is burned away and she’s favoring her left arm; she’s hurt.

With a strangled scream of rage and fueled by adrenaline, Luz sprints down the alley and throws herself onto his back.

“Leave her alone!” She wraps her arms around his neck and he chokes staggering backward.

“Luz!” Amity yells as he thrashes around, clawing at her, trying to get a hold of the human as she squeezed her arms tightly around his windpipe. He finally gets hold of her hood and hauls her over his shoulder, back smacking the ground with a sickening smack. She groans, rolling into her side.

Blondie is back, his face is covered in bruises and blood is dripping from a bloody nose and a gash over his eyebrow as he runs toward them, but before he can get there a blast of magic shoots him in the back sending him to the ground, followed by several more as Edric and Emira appear in the alley’s entrance, scowling and drawing spell circles furiously.

The twins heard Amity’s yell as they were passing by on their way to meet them at the bookstore. The twins move down the alley against the wall, firing spells so as to maneuver themselves between the two younger teens and their classmates. The two battered witches turn tail and run, outnumbered. The twins give chase.

Amity lets her abomination fall as the twins continue to fire off spells at their attackers retreating backs as they race toward the alley's exit, and quickly turns, looking wildly at her girlfriend.

"Luz!" She shouts the second her eyes land on her.

Luz groaned, blood is coming from somewhere, she's not sure where, but she's watching it drop to the ground, in blotches on the dirt, staining it crimson beneath her as she tries to right herself, stumbling to her shaky feet. The adrenaline has begun to fade and the pain in her entire body makes itself known in throbs, in sync with the quick beat of her heart, but especially her face.

Amity races over to her, eyes wide with fear, hands raised in the air but she's still lost in an adrenaline-filled haze that makes it hard to think straight, and she doesn't even know where to start with Luz's injuries as she looks at her.

Her left eye and the skin around it is starting to turn a deep, ugly purple as it starts to swell shut. Her bottom lip is split open and blood is running freely from her nose.

Luz's legs begin to tremble as the fight induced adrenaline leaves her and she lets them give, dropping back to her knees in a heap. Amity's hands shoot out to grab her arms, trying to slow the fall as she kneels next to her. She shakily digs through her pocket and pulls out a handkerchief and starts gently wiping at the blood still coming out of Luz's nose, but it just keeps coming and soon the thin white material is stained crimson.

The twins run over once they're sure the other witches are gone.

"What happened?!" Emira shouts.

"Why were they attacking you?!" Edric looks wildly between the two.

Anger flares up in Amity like demon fire as she turns to glare at her siblings, lips pulled back in a snarl.

"They were attacking us for what you two did to them at school!" Amity practically screams at them. "They were after me and they were trying to use Luz so I couldn't fight back!" She spits and the twins' recoil, complete surprise, and horror are painted across their faces. Amity wants to yell at them more but she has more important things to do. 'Take care of Luz.' is her prevailing thought.

She turns back to Luz who seems to finally be responsive after hearing Amity scream at the twins.

She reaches up to grab the hand dabbing at her face, her one still open eye on her. Amity glimpses the bloody knuckles as she does.

"I'm okay…," she says, squeezing it.

"You are not okay, Luz, you're hurt!" She chokes as the rest of her emotions start catching up to her, drowning out her anger with a sea of fear and Pain.

Fear for herself and for Luz, and pain, in her arm and in her chest as she looks at her beaten bloody girlfriend.

"I know… but I'll be okay. Are you okay?" Her one open eye roams over Amity and lands on the burn on her arm. The skin is red and looks raw with dried blood and soot around the edges from where the left sleeve of her hoodie had been burned away to create the injury when a fire spell had struck home.

"Forget about, me! You're bleeding everywhere!" She holds the crimson handkerchief to Luz's nose and pinches it shut. Luz winces.

"We need to get her home…," Edric says quietly as he walks up and kneels down to help pick up Luz but Amity snarls and shoves him away. He falls back, looking at her with wide, surprised eyes.

"Don't touch her! This is your fault, both of you!" Tears are dripping down her angry face.

"Amity…" she hears Emira's pained voice.

Luz grabs her hands, forcing her attention back to her.

"Shhh, mi amor…," she soothes, which only makes Amity cry harder as Luz tries to comfort her with blood still running down her lips and angry purple bruises blooming across her face.

"Please, Amity, we need to get Luz home, and you're hurt too." Emira's voice is tight, sounding on the verge of tears as she kneels next to her sister.

Edric bites his lip turning over onto his knees.

"Please, Amity…," he begs.

The hands wrapped around hers squeeze and Amity looks at Luz who nods tiredly.

"Let them help."

Amity jerks a nod and Luz let's go as Edric wraps an arm around her back and holds her arm over his shoulder to help her stand.

Emira moves to help Amity but she flinches away from the touch and stands on her own. That stabs at Emira's chest.

Luz winces with every step. It's a long thirty-minute walk to the owl house, made all the worse by the intense stifling quiet, as no one says anything.

Amity's burnt arm hurts, badly, but it's overshadowed by her intense worry, watching Luz wince. It looks like her nose has stopped bleeding but her face is a bloody, black, and blue mess and though she makes no sound, tears are still dripping down her face. Emira trails behind her, watching her carefully but says nothing.

When they finally arrive Hooty sees them coming and stretches quickly around the house, sticking his head in one of the windows for a minute before pulling back and a few seconds later the door slams open and Eda and Lilith come running out.

"What happened!?" Lilith yells first.

Eda meets them in the yard, but other than the panicked expression on her face, says nothing as she takes Luz from Edric, gathering the beaten girl in her arms and hurrying back into the house. Lillith takes one look and Amity and ushers her toward the house as well.

The twins move to follow but Amity stops.

"Go home," she sniffles, barely looking at them over her shoulder.

Ed and Em just stand there, they say nothing, just looking at their sister sadly as Lilith looks between Amity and the twins, before turning to them.

"I will tend to her injuries," she says, before continuing to lead Amity into the house. The door shuts on the twins still standing in the yard.

Luz is sitting on the couch when they walk in just as Eda hurries up the stairs, still not saying anything. Lilith leads Amity to sit next to her and looks over her burnt arm and the bruise forming around her wrist in a distinct hand-print shape before she also hurries to the kitchen, leaving the two teenagers alone in the living room.

The front of Luz's new hoodie is spattered with blood, the hood is ripped and theirs some small tears in other places, as well as on her jeans, while Amity's is singed, the whole left arm burned away to reveal her burnt arm. Ash and soot cling to the skin around it and the front left side is blackened.

They don't say anything, and soon enough both sisters return and Eda, face tight with anger and worry, begins gently cleaning Luz's face.

Lilith helps Amity gently pull off the ruined hoodie and starts cleaning her arm, making her tears start anew as she wipes at the tender and raw, burnt skin.

Luz's hand finds hers on the couch and holds it. Amity sniffles and runs her thumb over bruised knuckles.

When they're finally cleaned up and bandaged Eda leans back and lets out a long, tense sigh.

"Someone tell us what happened, now." She finally speaks, looking between the two teens.

They spend the next fifteen minutes explaining the events of the afternoon to the sisters. Eda looking, angrier and angrier with every word as Lilith's frown deepens and her brows pull together between her eyes.

"Those stupid little…!" Eda growls

"Edalyn" Lilith stops her with a word, drawing her sister's angry gaze but she's looking at Luz and Amity. "Why don't you two go upstairs and we'll call you when dinner is ready?" They nod and head for the stairs, the sisters watching them go.

Luz plops on her bed tiredly, back against the headboard. Her whole body hurts, but not nearly as much as her head, she's got a headache.

Amity sits next to her, leaning her head on her shoulder and they sit there quietly for a while.

Luz never could stand the quiet.

"Aren't you glad now I have that general disregard for danger?" Luz smiles weakly, trying to lighten the oppressively, heavy mood. Amity looks at her sadly, glassy eyes roaming over her face. Her left eye has finished swelling shut and it's an ugly black color. Her split lip has stopped bleeding but it's swollen too, closed with dark, dried blood. She has a rash of scrapes on the right side of her face from being slammed into the wall and several dark bruises dot her face, and Amity's lip trembles.

"I'm sorry…," she mumbles thickly, tucking her face into Luz's neck.

"Hey, it's okay. This wasn't your fault," she says, wrapping her arms around her and holding her tight.

At that Amity's anger returns stronger than ever, and she pulls away, scowling.

"No… it was my stupid brother and sisters fault!" she spat through fresh tears, looking away.

Luz wants to argue with that, she really does, but can't, because it's true. If the twins hadn't needlessly pranked and then provoked those two upperclassmen in the market, this wouldn't have happened.

"They didn't mean to," she tries weakly, but it sounds feeble even to her own ears.

"That doesn't make it any less their fault, them and their stupid pranks!" she rages. "They're always provoking someone, and now you're hurt because of it!"

"So are you," Luz reminds, her one eye flickering to the bandage wrapped around Amity's left arm from wrist to elbow.

"That doesn't matt-"

"It matters to me," Luz cuts her off sharply. "I'm supposed to be your fearless champion… and you still got hurt… you had to save me," she mumbled, looking down. She hears Amity sigh, and the bed shifts and Amity's head tucks back into her neck, arm around her tightening.

"You were my fearless champion," she mumbles, snuggling into her and Luz squeezes back, burying her nose in mint hair.

"And you were mine."

[flowersandskeletons526]

“Doubts” - Lumity Fanfic

This was a short drabble I banged out in a few days so please forgive me if it’s a little shaky or rushed. It has been quite a while since I finished a fanfic

----

Amity presses her thumbs together, leaning forward with her elbows on her desk. A textbook sits beside her, untouched for the past three discussion topics, and a pencil rests idly between her fingers. The abomination professor drones on at the front of the room. Were it any other day, her attention would be on him as she diligently took her notes, but not now. 

To her right, Luz carefully draws more glyphs in her notepad for future use. Her tongue sticks out the corner of her mouth, and her eyebrows draw together as she finishes another. Amity thinks it’s the cutest thing she’s ever seen. She watches Luz from the corner of her eye and tries her best to make her staring look like anything else. She counts her lucky stars that the human girl is so fixated on her drawings.

“Miss Blight!” the professor barks. Amity snaps upright and drops her pencil off the side of her desk. The entire class turns to look at her, Luz included, and her face becomes hotter than the surface of the sun. “Is my lecture not interesting enough to warrant your attention?”

Amity swallows hard. “No, sir. I’m sorry.”

The teacher narrows his eyes. “See me after class.” 

A chorus of oohs goes up from the class. Luz stares at her quizzically. Amity sets fire to the paper of the boy closest to her and effectively silences all of them. 

She forces her eyes to stay forward for the rest of the period. While everyone else leaves, she clutches her books like a shield in front of her and goes to face the professor. 

He raises an eyebrow at her. She clenches her jaw. “You haven’t been paying attention in class lately,” he says. “What is going on with you? You’re always a model student.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” she says. “I’ve just been distracted.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed. You’re not very subtle, Miss Blight.”

Her face goes red. “Y-You have?”

“Yes, I have.” He pauses, and Amity’s stomach turns over. “You’re nervous about the exam on Friday!”

Amity feels a weight lift off her shoulders. “Right! The exam! Yes, I am very nervous about that.”

The professor laughs. “With your grades, you don’t have to be. Study like you normally do and you’ll do excellent. As long as you pay attention for the next few days, that is.”

“I will. Thank you.” 

Amity spins on her heel and all but runs out of the classroom. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she lets go of a heavy breath. She can’t imagine the embarrassment if her teacher of all people had outed her crush. 

She looks up and is greeted with wide brown eyes. “Amity!”

Amity squeaks and falls on her backside. “Can you stop doing that?!” she snaps. 

Luz flashes a beautiful bashful smile, grabbing Amity’s scattered books and offering a hand. “Sorry about that,” she laughs. The sound lifts Amity’s heart. “I just wanted to wait for you. Getting held after class is usually my deal.” 

Amity sighs. “It’s been a long day.” She reaches for her books.

Luz pulls back. “I’ll carry them for you! Sorry again for scaring you.”

Turning aside, Amity hides her red face. “It’s… fine. Thanks, Luz.” 

“Of course!” 

Amity starts down the hall with Luz bouncing along beside her. She keeps her head down, hiding her blush and avoiding Luz’s little glances in her direction. 

“Hey, so,” Luz begins, “I was looking around some of the old parts of the library and I found a book that I think could help me with finding more glyphs. I don’t really understand some of it, so I was wondering if maybe you could help me look over it?” 

“Oh, um, sure! I just need to make up an excuse for my parents.”

“Oh yeah. Owl house is forbidden. Right.” Luz stops in front of Amity, their faces inches apart. Amity’s heart jumps into her throat. “You will come over though?”

“Sure.” 

You know it’s not like you hope. Why would it be?

“Awesome! I have to go meet Gus and Willow, but I’ll see you tonight!” 

“Y-Yeah…” 

Amity takes her books numbly and watches Luz take off down the hall. Her lips curl into a smile as her heart flutters, but the feeling only lasts for a moment. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts and heads off to her next class. 

---

Sitting in her window, Amity pulls her legs to her chest and rests her head on her knees. The day had continued to crept by, and she has yet to find an excuse to sneak away to the owl house. It’s not like she can tell them she’s going to visit the wanted criminal and the human witch. 

Amity takes a breath and steels her resolve. A simple illusion spell shouldn’t be too hard, just enough for her to sneak out and sneak back in unnoticed. She runs headfirst into Edric and Emira standing outside her door. 

“Going somewhere, Mittens?” Edric chirps. 

“Study group,” Amity says, “if you two would get out of my way.”

“Study with who?” Emira asks. 

“Friends.” 

“Friends?”

“Yes, friends.”

Edric grins. “It’s the human, isn’t it?”

Amity bristles, going bright red as she looks down. The twins share a look. She rubs the back of her neck and swallows her pride. “Will you two please, y’know, cover for me? I just can’t-”

“Mittens, we get it.” Emira’s smug grin softens. “If you wanted to go hang out with your girlfriend, you could’ve just said so. I mean, study group? You couldn’t come up with something better?”

“S-She’s not my girlfriend!” Amity splutters. 

“With the way you two were at Grom? Could have fooled me.” 

“That wasn’t, I mean, we were just… ugh, shut up! And we are studying. I’m helping her understand a textbook.” She sighs and bites the inside of her cheek. “She doesn’t know, okay? And if either of you tell her, I’m going to drown you both!” 

Edric puts his hands up. “Hey, we’re not that cruel!”

Emira smirks. “And it’s not like we need to. If she hasn’t caught on by now, I don’t think she would believe us if we spelled it in twenty foot tall letters.” 

“Yeah, you’re not exactly subtle.”

Amity sighs. “That’s the second time I’ve been told that today.” 

If she hasn’t noticed by now, she doesn’t want to.

“We’re not surprised.” Edric ruffles her hair and nudges her down the hall. “We’ll cover.”

“Be home before nine,” Emira adds.

“Thanks, guys.” 

Amity gives them a grateful smile before hurrying out of the mansion. She does her best to keep out of sight until the owl house comes into view. Thoughts of Luz pop into her head, from her cheerful grin to her sparkling eyes to her excessive affection. She thinks of Luz’s hands on her waist as she catches her and spins her around. She thinks of pressing her face to Luz’s neck as she carries her to the healer’s. Her mind conjures the thought of Luz holding onto her, hands cupping her face as her chest tightens and their lips meet and-

Amity stumbles.

You’re making a fool of yourself.

Shaking her head, she squashes her racing heart and approaches the house. She somehow manages to forget about the bird tube until it flies out of the door at her.

“Hiiii Amity! Luz is inside!”

Amity squawks and falls back. Growling, she lifts a leg to kick the stupid guardian in the face. 

“Hooty! Stop it!” Luz waves him away, and he retreats back into the door. Flashing that sparkling smile, she takes Amity’s hand and pulls her to her feet. “Sorry about him.”

“I told you, I’m going to destroy it the next time it talks to me,” Amity snarls. 

Luz laughs nervously and takes Amity’s hands in hers, stopping her from casting any spells. Amity’s face grows hot as she avoids those wide puppy dog eyes. “Yeah, how about we save the destruction for another day?” 

“Next time you’re not stopping me.” 

“Heard. Come on!” 

Luz pulls her inside and leads her to her bedroom. She plops down on a mat in the middle of the floor. Amity sits beside her. 

“I still don’t understand how you sleep here,” she remarks.

“It’s really not that bad,” Luz says. She opens a dusty book with a cracked cover in her lap. “I’m guessing it doesn’t compare to Blight Mansion, though.” 

Amity shrugs. “You’d be surprised.” 

Luz hums, drumming her fingers on the book. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure.”

“Is your family the reason you work so hard to be top student?”

Amity sighs and pulls her knees up to her chest. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Yeah.” Luz bumps their shoulders together and offers a gentle smile. “I’ve got you.” 

Amity smiles. “So, this is the book you wanted to show me?”

“Oh, yeah!” She brushes off the cover and opens it to a brittle yellow page marked with a folded up drawing of King. “So, I was looking it over and found all these weird drawings in it, but I can’t really understand the captions. This one sort of looks like the glyph for fire magic but it doesn’t quite fit, and this one I tried to draw but it didn’t do anything and the picture is faded so maybe I just didn’t…”

Amity can’t quite focus as Luz goes on. She finds herself staring as Luz’s eyes shine, alight with curiosity and excitement that lifts Amity’s heart. Resting her head on her knees, she watches Luz ramble, not listening in the slightest until Luz stops. 

“Hey, Amity, you listening?” 

“Hm? Oh! Sorry, I got distracted.”

“Man, you’re spacey today.”

“A little.”

Luz scoots closer. Amity freezes. Planting one hand behind the green haired girl, Luz leans over her shoulder and balances the book on their legs pressed together. “This is the one I couldn’t get. I tried drawing it but it didn’t do anything.” 

“What does it do?” 

“I don’t know.”

“You’re going to blow yourself up. Again.”

“Maybe!”

Amity laughs and looks at the page. “I can’t really tell. Maybe try drawing in more lines?”

“I don’t know if that will work, though. I don’t think they’ll do anything if I don’t draw them exactly right.”

“How do you draw them?”

“Here! I’ll show you.” Discarding the book, she grabs her pad and pencil and places that on Amity’s knee instead. “This is the light glyph that I showed you the first time. You just draw the circle and make a few shapes, add these lines, and once it’s done, you press it.”

She taps the drawing. The paper curls up into a ball of light that rises into the air above them. Amity watches, awestruck despite the simplicity of the spell. Luz sets the pencil on her leg and draws her back in.

“You try.” 

“Okay.” 

Amity draws the circle and makes the shapes, adds the lines and then erases them as Luz’s correction. She presses one finger into the center of the drawing. It glows and rises between them. Luz cups the light in her hand like she’s holding the sun, right beside Amity’s heart, and lifts it up to her. It casts gentle shadows across her face. 

She grins. “Magic.” 

Their eyes lock. Amity’s mouth outpaces her mind and readies her tongue before she can stop it. “Hey, Luz?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever feel like you’re doing the wrong thing?”

Her grin disappears. Amity wishes she had kept her mouth shut. Luz lowers her head, but she doesn’t pull away. “I do. A lot. I… don’t really fit in, in the human world. They think I’m weird. I’m not actually supposed to be here. My mom thinks I’m at a camp that will teach me how to act normal.” 

“Humans have that?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how I’m going to explain all this to her when I go back and I haven’t changed like she wants me to.” 

“You don’t have to.”

“I do have to go back eventually, Amity. I don’t want to, but I can’t disappear on her once the summer is over.”

Amity’s stomach drops.

You aren’t from the same world. You always forget that.

“I meant you don’t have to change.” 

Luz looks up. Their faces are inches apart. Amity cages the butterflies in her stomach and takes a deep breath. 

“I like you the way you are. I wouldn’t ever want you to change.” 

Luz doesn’t respond. She presses her face against Amity’s shoulder and sighs. Amity wraps an arm around her shoulders. She closes her eyes and buries her face in Luz’s hair, trying to keep her composure as the human girl shifts until she’s practically laying on Amity’s chest. 

“I like you, too,” Luz mumbles. “You’re my best friend.”

Ouch.

“You’re mine, too.” Amity holds her tighter. “You fit in here.”

“Amity.” Luz untangles from their embrace and lifts her head. “Do you ever feel like you’re going the wrong way?”

Amity avoids Luz’s eyes. “I go where I’m supposed to. Right or wrong doesn’t matter.”

“But what if you could choose?”

Luz catches Amity’s gaze and holds it. Everything feels too warm between them, and Amity struggles to align her thoughts. She could hardly function with Luz simply smiling at her, and now here they are, inches apart with Luz refusing to let her look away. 

“I would want to come here.”

“I want that, too.”

Without warning, Luz cups Amity’s cheek and presses their lips together. Amity bristles, eyes wide and disbelieving before she finally relaxes into the kiss. Her hands find Luz’s waist as Luz tangles her fingers in her hair. 

They stay close together when they break apart. Amity watches Luz with her eyes half closed as she holds her tight. 

“I like you,” Luz says. “I want to stay here with you. I don’t want to go.”

Amity tilts her head. Her face burns red as she presses another gentle peck to Luz’s lips. “You don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do.” Luz closes her eyes. “This is a bad idea, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.”

She’ll only have to leave in the end.

“Do you think we can just stay here for now? No more picking where we have to go?”

You know that.

“Okay.” 

You’ll only get hurt.

Amity focuses on the girl in her arms, fears and paths and goodbyes and magic set aside for the moment. Luz wraps her arms around Amity’s neck and pulls them as close together as possible. Amity’s face burns. Her heart hammers away in her chest and drowns out all the doubts in her mind. She kisses the top of Luz’s head, and the human girl giggles against her chest. She grins. She can barely hear the nagging voice in the back of her mind, but still, she closes her eyes and prays.

Please, don’t let this hurt.

[lifeofkaze]

An Art of Balance #13

A/N: Nothing like a (not so) little Christmas chapter at the beginning of spring. As always, KC belongs to my beautiful friend @kc-needs-coffee

Word Count: ~ 4.000

______________________________________________________________ 

Chapter 13: Topaz & Jasmine

Lizzie wasn’t sure if she had ever been as happy to pack up her bags and board the Hogwarts Express as this year around. Running from her problems wasn’t going to solve them, but taking a break from them for the holidays was a welcome change.

Slumped into one of the plush seats of the Hogwarts Express Lizzie leaned her head against the cold window frame, idly drawing tiny swirls on the fogged glass. She listened to Tonks and Tulip loudly discussing the possible damage they could wreak with a Christmas cracker while Penny, Skye and Rowan played a game of Exploding Snap. Murphy had ditched them to sit with someone else this time.

The warm air streaming from the fully turned-on heaters made her eyelids grow heavy and she fought the urge to fall asleep. Snoozing around Tonks and Tulip was never a particularly good idea.

When the train finally pulled into Kings Cross Station, the emotional mess Lizzie had left behind at the castle already seemed far, far away.

As she saw her mother waving at the incoming train amongst the mass of other parents picking up their kids, a big smile stole onto her face. It widened as she noticed the tall young men standing next to her. Jacob and Duncan hadn’t been supposed to arrive before the day after tomorrow. Lizzie literally jumped off the train and into her brother’s outstretched arms, her woes all but forgotten. She was looking forward to catching up with them over a cup of her father’s famous hot chocolate in front of the fireplace; she had earned herself a few days of peace.  

 *

Apparently, the snow had followed them all the way from the Scottish Highlands down to England. When Lizzie opened her curtains on the morning of Christmas Day, she squealed in excitement like a little girl upon seeing their garden and everything else in sight covered in a layer of powdery snow.

They were no stranger to snow, of course; they got plenty of it at Hogwarts every winter. But having a white Christmas at home wasn’t something they got to experience every year.

Lizzie opened her window and scooped a handful of snow off the windowsill. She formed a ball from it and aimed carefully. With the deadly precision she had acquired over the years of being a Chaser, she threw her snowball against Duncan’s head, who had just stepped out of their front door to observe the winter wonderland as well. She quickly ducked with a shriek as her brother’s boyfriend shot a snowball of his own back at her. It sailed into her room through the open window, hitting Mouse, who was snoozing on Lizzie’s bed, square in the face.

The huge grey cat startled awake and shook herself, glaring at Lizzie accusingly. She hurried to shut her window and offered the grumpy pet a treat as compensation.

“Sorry, darling,” she cooed and scratched the cat’s chin. “Merry Christmas to you.”

Mouse blinked at her slowly before turning a few times and snuggling back into the warm blanket.

 *

Lizzie returned to her room from the extensive breakfast with her family, arms laden with gifts of all kind, and carefully placed them on the bed around her cat. Mouse lazily raised her head, eyeing up a ribbon still attached to one of the boxes. Lizzie let her chew on it and sat down on her carpet, pulling the huge bag with gifts she had exchanged with her friends on the train towards her.

Ever since Tonks had gifted all of her friends little dancing Christmas trees shouting festive obscenities a few years back, Lizzie resorted to opening her presents in private.

Half an hour and a mountain of wrapping paper later, Lizzie was admiring the wonderful gifts her friends had picked out for her. Like every year, Skye had equipped her with a full set of the newest Wigtown Wanderers merchandise, including a jersey, scarf and sweater. She just wasn’t giving up on converting her to what she deemed the only acceptable choice of Quidditch team.

Penny had given her a beautiful new quill and a notebook bound in an intricately patterned leather to write down her thoughts. Godric knew, that was something that would come in handy.

Tonks’s present – a black-and-yellow mug – had looked perfectly inconspicuous at first, but luckily the little prankster had forgotten to remove the ‘Zonko’s Joke Shop’ label stuck to the bottom of it. Apparently, it was meant to spit its boiling contents into its owner’s face at random intervals. Lizzie placed it gingerly back into its box, shoving it under the bed with her foot.

Rowan’s present was arguably the most thoughtful of them all. She had chosen a beautiful picture of Lizzie and herself goofing around. It had been taken at the end of last year down at the Black Lake. She had put it into a simple silver frame; turning it around, Lizzie could read the small dedication written in Rowan’s neat hand on the back of it.

“For my best friend.”

Lizzie swallowed the lump building inside her throat and placed the picture carefully on her desk, next to the one of her Quidditch team. She hesitated, eyes lingering on Orion’s beaming face as he had one arm around Skye’s shoulder and the other around hers. She resolutely placed her hand on the frame and upended it, front facing down as if she could shut out her thoughts that way.

‘No’, she chided herself inwardly, ‘not now, not ever.’

She joined Mouse on the bed, who was enjoying herself immensely inside the pile of crinkling paper, sipping her tea and watching the small dragon miniature Charlie had gotten for her flap around the room; from what she remembered of his lectures, it seemed to be a Hebridean Black.

A gentle tapping on her window distracted her from the tiny model circling her lamp. A grey owl sat perched on the windowsill and ruffled its feathers to free them from the snow. Lizzie got up and let the grumpy looking bird hop in. It carried a small package, neatly clad in minimalist brown wrapping paper. A note and a twig of small white flowers were secured to it. Lizzie stared at it for a moment in confusion before she remembered. It had to be from her Secret Santa.    

She procured a handful of food for the bird that was staring warily at her cat. Gulping it down, it hopped back to her open window and took to the air on its way back home.

Lizzie turned the present around in her hands and removed the branch. She recognised the distinct fragrance of the flowers immediately; it was jasmine, one of her favourite flowers. It usually bloomed in summer; the bush this was cut off from must have been standing in a greenhouse somewhere. She thought she had seen one back at the castle.

Her curiosity sparked, she removed the wrapping paper, revealing a small box clad in green velvet. Lizzies eyes widened in surprise as she opened it, revealing a beautiful pendant lying on its dark cushion. It was a sheer yellow stone, set in a golden, unregular circle. Her mouth went dry as she carefully removed the necklace from the box, running the delicate gold chain through her fingers.

That was certainly not what was supposed to be a Secret Santa gift.

Perhaps the note that had come with it would give her a clue as to who had decided to be so generous to her. She opened the envelope and took out the card; there was only a few words written on it:

“Unfogging The Future: Page 394. Merry Christmas and Happy belated Birthday, Chaser.”

Lizzie furrowed her brow and turned her head searching the room for her trunk. Thankfully she had taken her copy of the textbook with her instead of leaving it at the castle. She quickly flicked through the pages until she found the one required. Her confusion turned first into wonder and then into the softest smile.

“The Yellow Topaz is a birthstone for those who took birth in the month of November. It was believed by the Egyptians that it contained the rays of the sun. It is meant to provide its bearer with inner peace, bringing calmness to the mind and soul. Eradicating evil, it helps those destined to bear it to overcome regrets of the past and increase the power of focus and concentration.”

She closed the book again and picked up the necklace. She held it against the light, marvelling at the unusual colour before stepping in front of the mirror and putting it on; the pendant rested just below her throat.

Lizzie didn’t have to think twice whom she had to thank for this. Her hand went to her throat, touching the smooth surface of the stone. She was unable to contain the smile on her face. Her cheeks were already hurting and she covered her mouth with her hand.

She thought about what the book had said. This stone was supposed to help her let go of things she regretted. Apparently, this was Orion’s way of cleaning the slate and letting go of the unspoken things that had hung between them.

Lizzie wasn’t sure if she was happy or troubled about this, but she felt giddy, suddenly buzzing with energy and the urgent desire to let it out. She grabbed her clothes and almost skipped out the door with a bounce in her step.

Time to show Duncan how to properly throw a snowball.

 *

New Year’s Eve had come and gone as the Christmas break slowly drew to an end. It was almost time to board the train that would take them back to Hogwarts once again. Shutting out all and everything for a few precious days filled only with the love and warmth of her family had been like a dream, but now Lizzie felt reality silently creeping up on her again, firmly knocking on the door to remind her it was still there.

The sensation hit her every time she walked past a mirror and saw the yellow stone resting against her neck. She had rarely taken the necklace off since Christmas Day; although she didn’t really believe in the concept of birthstones, the feeling of the cool stone against her skin had something weirdly reassuring about it. She had quickly developed a habit of toying with the pendant, moving it back and forth on its chain.

It was the last day at home before they were set for their journey back when Lizzie and Penny finally managed to meet up for a trip into town. Both girls being half-bloods, they knew their ways around the Muggle world. They spent their day roaming around the shops and enjoying their last free moments before classes, homework and the general daily madness that was Hogwarts were to rope them in again.

They were still laughing when they entered a small café off to the side of a busy street, stowing their bags away under the table in front of the French doors leading to a small patio at the back of the room.

The small seating area was full but not crowded; as soon as the door closed behind them, the bustling of the town was shut out, the atmosphere peaceful above the quiet conversations of the other guests.

They were chatting about how they had spent the holidays, sipping on their tea and nibbling some biscuits.

“Seems like you and your sister were spoilt rotten by your parents,” Lizzie laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of somehow being showered with presents like that.”

Penny chuckled. “Look who’s talking. That new necklace you’re wearing is stunning; was it a gift from your parents?”

Her necklace must have slipped out from under her shirt somehow. Blushing lightly, Lizzie started fiddling with the pendant once again; she had done this so often over the past few days, she didn’t even notice.

“Not exactly,” she mumbled sheepishly.

Penny furrowed her brow. “Then who is it from? Charlie?”

Irritated, Lizzie shook her head. Charlie would never give something like jewellery to her.

“We always play Secret Santa with the team before the Christmas break, and whoever got my name,” she explained, “sent me this.”

She held the stone into the light for Penny to better see it, its translucent yellow colouring darkened to amber by the little light washing in from the snowed in windows.

Penny’s eyes widened. “But that is not a gift to give someone over a game. Do you have any idea who it might be from?”

Lizzie tucked the necklace underneath the collar of her shirt, gripping her tea cup with both hands. The warmth stinging her fingers distracted her from the fuzzy feeling creeping up from her stomach.

“I’m pretty sure it’s from Orion,” she sighed. “He is really interested in Divination and Astrology; we had a conversation about birthstones a few weeks ago.”

She was careful to emit what had been written in the note that had come with the package.

Penny inhaled sharply. “Really? That’s so thoughtful! Fits him, I suppose.”

Lizzie concentrated on sipping her tea, only humming vaguely in response.

Sensing her friend being preoccupied with something, Penny tried to catch Lizzie’s gaze that was fixed on the grained wood of the table. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”

Lizzie looked up hastily, subconsciously putting her hand to where her the topaz rested under her shirt. “Of course I do.”

“What’s the matter then?”

Lizzie sighed deeply and shook her head. “I don’t know; can we talk about something else?”

But Penny’s curiosity was stirred. “Is it because of what happened at the Weird Sisters concert?” she asked gently.

Lizzie’s head shot up. “Is there anyone who hasn’t seen us?” she cried in dismay, drawing glances from the other tables. She quickly lowered her voice. “How come you never talked to me about it?”

Penny only shrugged. “You know how it is; I see everything, I know everything.” Her eyes sparkled and she lowered her voice as well. “So, out with the facts: is there something between you and him?”

Lizzie raised her eyebrows and made a point of slowly taking another sip of her tea, looking at her prying friend over the rim of her cup. “I thought you knew everything,” she remarked wryly in the hope of buying herself some time.  

Penny didn’t let herself be distracted though. She was burning to get confirmation on what had crossed her mind more than a few times by now. “Is this why you were acting so anxiously lately?” she asked eagerly. “Something happened?”

“No,” Lizzie mumbled, now avoiding her inquiring eyes.

“But?” Penny prodded further. She could sense there was something her friend wasn’t telling her.

“No ‘but’,” Lizzie hissed angrily. Why couldn’t Penny just leave it at that? She had absolutely no desire to deal with her emotional mess sooner than she had to. “Nothing happened, nothing’s going on, nothing more to talk about.”

Penny was taken aback by Lizzie’s sudden change of mood. She knew her friend to always have an open ear for gossip and had more than once displayed her own relationship problems in front of her.

“Alright, I got the message; no need to snap at me,” she soothed her, still bewildered. “But you would be really cute together,” she couldn’t help but add cheerfully.

“Great how everyone seems to have an opinion on this,” Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Charlie said so as well.”

That took Penny by surprise. “He did? I thought he’d be jealous.”

Lizzie sighed again, but now she sounded more resigned than angry. “Why would he be? I don’t know what else I can do to convince people we are nothing more than friends. Why does no one understand?”

Penny could see how deeply Lizzie felt about this topic. “Maybe because it just doesn’t work very often, you know,” she answered softly. “There is almost always one wanting more than friendship.”

“Not with us,” Lizzie insisted.

“Are you sure? I mean, you actually kissed.”

“That didn’t mean anything.” Lizzie’s anger flared up again. Would they never give it a rest? She wished she hadn’t told them when they had been playing that stupid game in the first place.

Penny chose not to dwell on the subject to not ruin the mood any further.

But now it was Lizzie’s turn to rant on about it. “No one gets why we’re friends; I’m honestly sick of it. If Charlie was a girl, no one would bat an eye about our friendship. But a boy and a girl being friends is something nobody can even imagine working out. They just can’t see the bigger picture of it all.” She was talking herself into a rage and knew it, but she didn’t care.

“Take Skye, for example. I know she hates every moment I spent with Charlie with a passion, but not because he’s on another team; she’s perfectly fine with me and KC being friends. No, she is just dead set on getting the House Cup and afraid someone might distract me, so it would diminish our chances at winning,” Lizzie huffed.

Penny had gone silent at the mention of Skye. Lizzie remembered how Skye had told her she and Penny were still having issues.

“But that’s her, isn’t it?” Penny spoke softly. “It’s what makes Skye; she fastens onto something and doesn’t let go, for better or for worse.” She sounded incredibly sad.

Lizzie recalled what Skye had asked her to do after their last practise. As aggravating as she might be sometimes, she was still one of Lizzie’s closest friends and she wanted her and Penny to finally get over what had happened.

“It’s still strained between you, isn’t it?” she asked sympathetically.

“Yes,” Penny sighed. “It’s not the first time I’ve been in a situation like this, but never with such a close friend. Talking to her is so awkward; I don’t know how to act around her anymore.”

“Just act like you did before. All Skye wants is for things to go back to how they were, so she can concentrate on what matters to her. She gets a lot of pressure from home, you know?”

Penny looked up in surprise. “You think so?”

“I know it,” Lizzie corrected her. Ethan Parkin wasn’t the most pleasant person, but Lizzie knew how much Penny adored the star of the Wigtown Wanderers, so she kept her thoughts on him to herself.

“Skye thinks she has a legacy to uphold, which is why winning the House Cup means so much to her,” she elaborated instead. “And everything distracting her makes it harder for her to focus on her goal. Skye just wants things to go back to normal so she can be her old, over-ambitious self again.”

“And you think acting like nothing happened might work?” Penny still sounded very doubtful.

Lizzie shrugged her concerns off. “What do you have to lose? Many problems tend to solve themselves given some time.”

“So, your advice is, act like nothing happened and be friends with her again?” Penny asked again pointedly.

“Basically, yes.”

“Sounds like an advice you should listen to yourself then,” Penny muttered. “You running from Orion can’t be particularly good for the Hufflepuff team, can it?”

Lizzie groaned at her bringing Orion up again. “This is something very different.”

“Is it though?”

“Yes, it is!” Lizzie insisted stubbornly. “There is nothing wrong with him and me.”

Penny shook her head. “We’ve known each other for too long now, Liz; this doesn’t work with me.”

“But it’s true though; Orion and I aren’t a thing right now and we will certainly never be in the future.” Lizzie clarified with a finality she hoped would discourage Penny to prod into it any further.

But the other girl was an expert at picking up the underlying emotions in her voice. She had made out the hint of frustration that had stolen into Lizzie’s determined statement. It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than Penny.

“Why?” she simply asked back.

Lizzie blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, why?”

“Why won’t you ever be a thing? Seems a bit harsh to completely rule things out forever.”

Lizzie’s eyes flickered to the side. She had subconsciously pulled her necklace out from her collar again, her nimble fingers toying with the yellow stone absentmindedly.

“No, it’s not,” she muttered. “We just can’t.”

Penny didn’t respond to her. If she knew one thing, it was people that needed to get something off their chests were best left to talk on their own accord.

And really, after a moment Lizzie let go off her necklace and picked up her teaspoon instead, nervously running her thumb over the shining silver over and over again.

“I really shouldn’t tell you,” she tried one last time.

Penny remained silent, giving the other girl time to figure out her next words.

“Alright,” Lizzie finally caved. “You know the tutoring sessions Rowan and I have with Orion?

Penny raised her eyebrows. “Yes, I never understood why you of all people are needing them in the first place.”

“That’s the point,” Lizzie replied. “Neither of us does. It was all Rowan’s idea.”

Now Penny was visibly confused. “Why would Rowan fake bad grades?”

Lizzie looked at her intently before she continued. “You must promise to keep this  to yourself, alright? Not even Rowan must know I told you this.”

Penny nodded in agreement.

“See, Rowan has had a crush on Orion for ages now. I know,” Lizzie added at Penny’s apparent surprise, “I had no idea as well. I offered help in setting them up and we needed a framework to do it.”

“So you’ve been taking lessons with Orion to get him interested in Rowan?”

Lizzie nodded. Coming out of Penny’s mouth it all suddenly sounded utterly ridiculous.

“This is why Orion and I could never be more than friends, you know? I could never betray Rowan like that. She is my best friend after all.” Lizzie raked her hand through her hair erratically, leaving her ponytail looking worse for wear.

“It all such a mess. I’m just glad she seems to be the one person who didn’t saw us dancing.”

“Yes, I believe she was at the bathroom when it happened,” Penny hummed in confirmation. “My goodness, I had no idea.” She seemed perturbed at the idea her friends had been able to hide such a major piece of information from her.

“What do you want to do now?”

Lizzie shrugged. “I don’t know. Follow my own advice maybe? Try to act as if nothing happened and hope things go back to normal. Or do you think I should come clean with him about what has been going on?”

Penny contemplated it for a moment. “I’m not sure this would be a good idea. You would have to rat Rowan out and Orion would probably be mad at both of you. That would actually help no one.”

“What then?”

“Have you thought about talking to Rowan about all of this?”

She saw Lizzie wince at the thought of confronting her friend. “Think about it, you could come up with something different together. And I would also advise on cancelling the tutoring,” she added.

Lizzie looked uncomfortable at the thought. “But what if I don’t want to?” she asked sheepishly. “Orion is a really good teacher. My grades shot through the roof since I started studying with him.” Lizzie chuckled wryly. “Who knows, I might come to actually enjoy Herbology in the end.”

Penny remained firm though. “I still think it would be for the best. At least until you have sorted yourself out.”

Lizzie didn’t reply; she seemed to be deeply lost in thought at her words.

“Believe me,” Penny told her gently, “it is never worth to risk a friendship over something like that.”