#yeah the red is the iconic Fred look

[downtherabbitholewithlucy]

🩵💙HANDSOME FRED💙🩵

[marislittlestories]

Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Mature | Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Spy Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, Hogwarts Eighth Year

6/10 - one, two, three, four, five - read on ao3

january 1999 - may 1999

1999 starts with snow. It falls, slow and lazy, from a dark, overcast sky and covers the ground outside in a thick layer. It’s not quite cold enough to keep it in pristine condition, so it melts into an icy sludge by mid-morning, but for a few hours before the sun rises, the world is quiet and still and blanketed in glittering white.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Ginny shakes him awake while it’s still dark out, “We’re going to have a snowball fight.”

Draco stares up at her from his makeshift bed, “What time is it?”

“Nevermind that. Get up.”

He can’t refuse her. He hurriedly throws on his warmest clothes, including, of course, his very own iconic Weasley sweater, presented to him by Molly when he arrived at the Burrow a couple days ago. It’s a beautiful burnt-orange that brings out the nearly-invisible flecks of blue in his steel grey eyes. The crooked D is black and a slightly different texture. It’s possibly one of his most prized possessions, right up there with the aviators that Claire gave him over the summer and the copy of Darke Arts & Their Masters that he recklessly nicked from Bellatrix when he was sixteen.

They join the group outside. Hermione, Ron, Charlie, Bill, Fleur, and Percy are all huddled together, teeth chattering in the cold, brisk air. There’s just a hint of sunrise on the horizon, turning the sky brilliant shades of gold and red and pink. The flecks of snow drifting in the air gather on Draco’s shoulders and hair and stick to his lashes.

He crowds as close to Ginny as he can, watching as Harry and George make their way out of the house over to where the rest of them are waiting. George hasn’t been himself, not since the battle, not since Fred. Draco had known this, from what Ginny’s said over the past few months, but it’s different seeing it for himself. It’s different experiencing the force of George’s listlessness firsthand, face blank, strings cut.

In the time that Draco’s been here, just over two days, Harry hasn’t left George’s side for more than a few minutes. They’re always together, sometimes chatting quietly, but more often just sitting in silence. It makes some unnameable emotion surge in Draco’s chest.

It’s not quite jealousy, not quite pride. This is the person I have given everything to, Draco thinks, and he deserves it, he keeps deserving it. It’s a feeling resigned to its own fate, a burgeoning satisfaction made sharp by its hopelessness, made hungry by his bottomless desire. It’s a longing, a knowing, a vision of a future that will never exist, one where he could have that kindness, that unwavering loyalty and care for himself.

He thinks that if he had it, he may never be lonely again.

It’s such a bittersweet, maudlin line of thought that he stops it there. The rest of the world comes back into focus, and he only has to glance in Ginny’s direction to see the look on her face, naked concern and sorrow.

“You okay?”

She shrugs, and glances over at George and Harry talking, heads bowed together.

“I know it’s different for him,” she whispers, “But I’m worried, you know? He smiles and laughs now, which is a hell of a lot better than a few months ago, but… There’s this heaviness, like I can see the grief around him, and it just never leaves, not like it does for the rest of us.”

Draco sees it too, “Yeah. You were like that, during the summer. It won’t be like that forever, it might just take him longer to shake it, that’s all.”

She sighs and leans back into him. He breathes in the scent of her shampoo, something tropical and summery, at odds with the wintry landscape surrounding them, and he’s overwhelmed again, by love and despair and hope, by a million other feelings he couldn’t describe if he was asked to.

The intensity, the way it ebbs and flows, whiting out his physical senses for a moment, it’s all become familiar to him. After so much deliberate numbing, there was bound to be a little pain, a little discomfort when it all came flooding back in. It feels like his shower later in the morning, stepping under the hot water after being out in the snow. It’s a thawing, too sudden to be entirely pleasant.

The next time it happens, he breathes through it. He closes his eyes and he lets everything crash down around him and he catalogs everything he feels, bad things first. It gets easier and easier.

***

Pansy pulls him into an empty compartment on the train, throwing a tight smile over her shoulder at the rest of his friends, catching him off guard. He’s always been the one to turn back, to grab hold, to stay. He’s lost everything he hasn’t sunk his teeth into, and there is no better example of that than Pansy.

He doesn’t know what to do other than stare at her from the other bench. First year, Pansy had shown up to Hogwarts pale and almost disturbingly composed for an eleven year old. Her signature burgundy manicure was just one item on a long list of what set her apart, what made her instantly seem more mature, more sophisticated, more in control.

Her nails are neon pink. She looks anxious, but underneath it she’s well-rested. She even has a bit of a tan.

“Do you remember, in fourth year,” she says in a small, quiet voice, “We were talking about the Durmstrang students? You said it was sad to look at them, so sad that you had to look away.”

Draco does remember, so clearly, like it was yesterday, “Yes.”

“That’s how I felt with you, you know? I couldn’t see you without seeing the sadness, the misery, so I just… closed my eyes. I’m so sorry, Draco, I don’t know how I’m ever going to make it up to you, but I want to try.”

“It’s not your fault,” he replies automatically, “I knew what I was doing. I pushed you away.”

Pansy shakes her head as frustrated tears gather in her eyes, “But I knew it too. I knew something else was happening, even if I didn’t have the details, and I let you do it. I let you go off on your own, and it wasn’t because it was what you wanted, or because I was hurt. It was just because I was a coward. I didn’t want to face it.”

It stops him. Whatever platitude he was going to offer her dies on his tongue, and he just stares at her in shock and pain. His hands have always been empty, reaching. His feet have always been soft and bruised. He’s never thought about why no one has reached back, why no one carried him across the rough earth. He’s never had anything but the deep, abiding feeling that the loneliness that has plagued him for as long as he can remember is somehow his fault.

“I-” he takes in a long, shuddering breath, “If it makes you feel better, I didn’t want to face it either. I didn’t face it, not really.”

She sweeps him up in her arms and he spends the rest of the journey crying without shame or guilt or worry. He cries and he knows that Pansy will hold him, that she will shield him from the world for a couple hours, and when he is done she will not look at him differently.

***

They all sit together in the Great Hall, all of Draco’s people. Except Ella, of course, who is two tables over with her massive, eclectic group of friends. Ginny fusses over his bloodshot eyes and the general air of exhaustion around him.

“We only just got back to school. How have you already had a crisis?”

Draco laughs, “It was good, alright? I made up with Pansy.”

“Oh, thank Merlin.”

“You have no idea how close she was to locking the two of you in a broom cupboard somewhere,” Dean says.

“Hey,” Pansy starts with an air of nonchalance that immediately sets Draco on edge, “Where’s boy wonder?”

Ron frowns, “Harry? Something came up at the Ministry.”

“Whatever you’re doing,” Draco mutters, “Stop it.”

“If we’re going to have a mushy, Hufflepuff friendship, you have to let me scheme. For balance.”

“I absolutely do not!”

“It’s just your love life,” she whispers.

“Oh, if that’s all.”

“It could be worse,” she says, “Would you rather me interfere with your career prospects?”

“Yes!”

“Come on, it’s not so bad. You’ve got an in now. Mutual friends.”

“What exactly do you want me to do? Ask Ron to be my wing man? Have Luna say something vague and disconcerting about the love of his life being right in front of him?”

“Hmm,” Pansy drums a pattern on the table with her fingers, “I’ll have to think on that one.”

Draco peers at her with suspicion and terror, “What does that mean?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

He’s going to, obviously, but he lets it go for now because the feast is starting and Ginny is trying a little too hard to listen in.

***

“This is a great start, Draco,” Professor Islington beams, “Really, really impressive.”

He blinks at her, frowning, “Seriously?”

The report is a mess of disjointed research and half-developed theories. The bulk of it is a sort of annotated bibliography, if an annotated bibliography was meant to be full of expletives and strings of question marks in place of intelligent commentary. He likes to think there’s some of that, too, but it’s dwarfed by the rest, a stream-of-consciousness dumping ground.

“Seriously! I know you probably wanted to have turned in something more polished, but nothing is ever polished when you’re in the middle of it. The ideas you have, though, and your grasp on the historical and theoretical… it’s all excellent. I did take the liberty of consulting with Professor Flitwick on some of the more complex Charm work, and he agrees. If he’s to be believed, you’re some sort of prodigy.”

Draco thinks of the way his hands shake every time he casts a spell, no matter how benign, “I wouldn’t take his word for it.”

“I think you’re onto something with runic enchantments and sentience. You’re not taking Ancient Runes this year, are you?”

He winces, “No, I know I’m rusty.”

She smiles, “Well, this is your project. I’m trusting you to make use of the resources available to you, and that includes asking for help if you need it, alright? I know an excellent professor of Ancient Runes who is currently on sabbatical and would be happy to consult.”

Draco thinks about it, and then he thinks about last term, how he let the project consume him.

“I think I have a better idea.”

He steals Harry’s spot at dinner that night, right by Hermione, “I have two questions for you, one of which I think I know the answer to.”

“What are they?” she asks, already laser-focused on him.

“Have you started on your capstone project? And because you’re Hermione, and you’ve definitely started, how attached are you?”

Ron tries to shush him, “We’re at dinner, mate, that’s an off-limits topic until we leave the Hall!”

Draco raises his eyebrows.

“Don’t get me started,” Hermione glares down at her plate.

“Is that a yes, and it’s not going well, or a no, I don’t know what to do and I’m freaking out about it?”

“The second, if you can believe it.”

Draco pumps his fist, “Sick. Listen, I have a proposition for you. My project is turning out to require pretty extensive Ancient Runes expertise, and I dropped that-”

“After fourth year, I know,” Hermione narrows her eyes at him, “This is the thing that essentially turned you into a phantom last year?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“I’m in,” she says firmly.

Ron groans, “I wish you’d never become friends.”

“I can keep an eye on him,” she says, “Make sure he doesn’t actually disappear into the ether.”

“Wow, thank you so much for the vote of confidence,” Draco mutters.

Dean, Luna, and Ginny sit down across from them. Pansy takes the seat next to Ginny. Out of their usual group, Harry arrives last, and after a second’s hesitation, he sits next to Draco, even though there’s enough space next to Ron for him. Sure, it would have meant that he was facing a random sixth year, but he could have done it.

Draco is hyper-aware of the sliver of bench between them, just a couple inches.

“No one has confidence in your ability to take care of yourself,” Ron says, prompting laughter from everyone else.

“I’m still alive, aren’t I? Anyways, I’ve gotten better! Haven’t I?”

Dean answers his imploring look with a shrug, “Sure, but when you’re at rock bottom, you can only really go up.”

***

On a Sunday morning in February, he plays his first full game of Quidditch in years. It’s the last phase of try-outs for the school team, all of the candidates that passed the initial rounds of skills tests playing together in a rotating cast. Draco plays with three different combinations of players; Ginny is in all of them, on his team for two and against him for one. She is a ruthless Chaser, and he wants, desperately, to play for her.

“Thank you,” she says breathlessly, pulling him into a hug on the pitch, “I know you weren’t the most enthusiastic-”

“I had fun. I’m glad I did it.”

She beams at him. They both make the team, starting line. Ella manages to slide in as a Seeker sub, and she nearly tackles him when they get the news.

“I did it, I did it!”

Draco hugs her close, “You did. I’m so proud of you, El.”

“Thank you,” she says quietly, almost shyly.

It’s such an unfamiliar tone that it takes Draco a few seconds to respond, “For what?”

“For training with me. I couldn’t have done it without you, you know.”

Draco smiles dopily at her, “Aw. You don’t need to thank me. What are big brothers for?”

She scoffs, “You forgot the annoying.”

“Sorry, what are annoying big brothers for?”

The endless slog of training, conditioning, practice once again punctuates his week, sets a rhythm to his life that he hadn’t realized was important. He feels better, more real, for it. He goes to bed every night with aching muscles, and yet he somehow has more energy than ever. That ravenous hunger that used to consume him, the need to win, never returns but there is something relieving about pushing his body to its limit.

Sometimes, he’ll feel it becoming something else, a convenient way to punish the weakest parts of himself. He’s better at catching these things before they happen now, and he pulls himself back from the edge every time. He takes an extra rest day. He piles his plate full at every meal. He even takes Dreamless Sleep when he has to, and he doesn’t feel guilty or out of control.

“Has it always been this simple?” he asks, mostly to himself, as they’re coming back from Quidditch practice one evening.

Ginny glances at him, “What?”

“I don’t know, existing?”

Ella rolls her eyes, shoving at his shoulder, “Why does everything have to be some great big tragedy with you? Sometimes things are easy.”

Except that hasn’t happened to him, not ever. Everything has been a constant battle, a fight to the death, a sacrifice and a trial by fire. Ella ruffles his hair and jogs to catch up to the rest of the team. He lingers on the path behind them, Ginny at his side, looking down at the soft moss beneath his feet.

It doesn’t hurt to love Ella or Marcie or his friends, not anymore, and if he took his shoes off right now, the earth would welcome him and cushion his step. Another piece, falling into place.

They walk on towards the castle.

***

The Gryffindor common room is nearly empty by the time he starts to pack his things up. He’d been working on the project with Hermione, but Ron had dragged her away from it nearly an hour ago and they’ve both gone up to bed. There are a few students that Draco doesn’t know scattered in various armchairs, but right around the fire, it’s just him and Harry.

Harry’s bent over a stack of parchment, a colorful array of plastic tubes lined up on the floor beside him. They’re some sort of Muggle writing utensil, and Harry seems to always have them when he’s studying. He’s pretty sure that Harry isn’t studying right now, mostly because he usually doesn’t look so upset when he studies anymore.

“What are you working on?”

Harry looks up at him from his place on the rug, green eyes tired and slightly unfocused, “Oh, it’s just Wizengamot shit. I fucking hate politics.”

Harry goes back to swiping color over the printed text. Draco thinks about slinging his bag over his shoulder and going to get some sleep, but he can’t quite make himself do it. The two of them are very similar, in some ways, and Draco knows what it looks like when someone is working themselves into a hole. He knows how hard it is to claw your way out of it, too.

“I could help,” Draco offers, cursing himself in his head.

He doesn’t need another puzzle to solve, but it’s Harry. It’s Harry, and he looks like he hasn’t slept well in weeks, and Draco knows he hasn’t been to any meals today. It’s Harry and Draco will never be able to look at him struggling with indifference.

Harry frowns, “What happened to fuck the world?”

“There’s a big difference between reading over a bit of legal code and recounting the worst years of my life for an audience. In detail.”

Harry ducks his head, ears turning red hot.

Draco sighs, “What I mean is, this is something I can do. If you want.”

He reaches out, palm facing upwards, and waits. Harry hesitates but eventually does hand the folder over to him.

“What is it?”

“As far I can tell,” Harry says wearily, “Garbage.”

Draco scans the text, noting the color-coded annotations in Harry’s atrocious handwriting. It’s impressive, despite being barely legible, and he’s right, too. A lot of the language is vague, superfluous. He’d have to consult existing law to be sure, but it doesn’t seem to do much of anything.

“And you said Robards is the one doing it?”

“Well, he’s not writing the bills, but he is letting them through and I can’t imagine this is anything but a coordinated effort.”

Draco nods, recalling the dinner with Hestia, months ago now. Robards may be an asshole, but he’s not an idiot. If he’s letting this gibberish through, and not actually coherent legislation, there’s got to be a reason outside of pure pettiness. Surely he doesn’t believe it would actually pass under close inspection.

“No, it has to be…” Draco thumbs between the last two pages again, “When are you going to the Ministry next?”

“Tomorrow. I have a free period in the afternoon, and I’m just going to skip my last class.”

Draco winces. He has a meeting with Professor Islington that evening, and a full slate of classes besides, but he’s been willing to die for this boy. Ditching is nothing.

“Yeah, alright. I’m coming with you.”

Harry bites his lip, “Are you sure? I don’t want to make you do something you’re not comfortable with…”

“Relax,” Draco smiles, “I’m the one who offered. I think I can get some information for you, and it won’t cost me anything but a little time. No big deal.”

Neither of them really believe that, but Harry doesn’t call his bluff. Draco tags along on his pre-approved Floo trip to the Ministry lobby, where he splits off from Harry and takes a lift up to the DMLE. Oliver Travers is sitting at his desk, tucked into a corner with a few other cubicles, scribbling something on a legal pad.

Draco raps his knuckles on the yellowed wooden divider, “Hey, Oliver.”

“Dray,” Oliver greets, face alight with something long-familiar to Draco, “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

He winces, “I need something.”

“Ah. So not my dazzling conversation?”

“I’m sorry I haven’t stopped by earlier, I went away for a while, after everything,” Draco says, apologetic, “And I’m sorry that the first time I’ve seen you in almost a year is to ask for a favor.”

Oliver waves a hand in the air, dismissive, “Oh, don’t worry about that. You know I’m always happy to help, and I know you’re good for it. You always are. I’m assuming you need information.”

“Yes. It’s about the Wizengamot.”

Oliver glances around at the sparsely populated room, “I can give you something, but I can’t do it here.”

“I understand. Up for a field trip?”

Oliver follows him back down to the offices that line the corridors off of the Wizengamot chambers, and he’s clearly surprised when they pass Hestia’s and take another turn. Draco doesn’t bother knocking, he simply strolls into Harry’s office. Under Oliver’s watchful, heated gaze, it’s much easier to settle back into the smooth confidence that he’d worn like armor, back when he’d frequented the Ministry during the war.

“Oliver, Harry,” Draco gestures lazily, “Harry, Oliver.”

Oliver tilts his head, “Potter.”

“Travers.”

“Right,” Draco says slowly, “So you two have met.”

Neither of them seem to be eager to elaborate, so Draco shakes his head and drops it. This is above his pay grade, not that he’s getting anything out of this at all, besides a headache.

“Anyways, I looked over some of the legislation that Robards let out of committee last week, and if he doesn’t have ulterior motives, I have serious questions about his competence. And reading comprehension.”

Oliver laughs, “I’ve missed you, Dray.”

“Dray?” Harry mouths, expression dripping with judgment.

Draco rolls his eyes, “Any insights?”

He looks at Harry, gaze narrowed, “I don’t think I have to say this, but just in case, you didn’t hear any of this from me. I don’t know what’s going on, but I have my suspicions.”

“And are these suspicions supported by any observations, or…?”

“Robards has been meeting with a lot of Wizengamot members, but it’s an… eclectic bunch, to say the least. Not natural allies.”

“He can’t be courting votes,” Harry says, “He wouldn’t risk it.”

Robards’s position in the Wizengamot is powerful, but precarious. He acts as a gatekeeper, deciding which bills to put to vote and which to let die in committee. He is not an elected member, and he is strictly forbidden from engaging in political maneuvering, so if he is trying to influence voting he could be removed from his post and be in danger of losing his job as head of the DMLE as well.

“No, definitely not,” Oliver confirms, “The people he’s meeting with… the legislation he’s letting through… it doesn’t really add up, not to that. He’s not talking to anyone persuadable. I think he’s probably being very careful about that.”

“So what do you think he’s doing? I assume you’re not going to actually give us names.”

Oliver shrugs, “I’d give them to you, if I didn’t know you’d just tell him as soon as I left.”

Draco grins, unapologetic.

“I’ve heard some other chatter- I can’t repeat it exactly- but it makes me think certain factions within the Wizengamot are trying to test you,” he nods at Harry, “There have been some whispers, I guess, that you’re just a figurehead, that there are a group of people behind you, in the shadows, and you simply take the votes they tell you to.”

Draco gets so angry that he actually starts to shake, “Are you serious?”

“I mean,” Harry shrugs, “That’s not the most incorrect thing someone has ever said about me.”

Draco snorts, “Oh, yeah, because that’s a high bar to clear. Fourth year alone-”

“I’m just saying, that is essentially what’s happening. Hestia and Hermione are a lot better at this than I am, and I do rely on their judgment most of the time.”

“Don’t pull that shit with me,” Draco says, still incensed, “I’m not some decrepit politician whose brain has been rotted by twenty years in the Wizengamot. You did not stumble into this.”

Harry blinks at him, shocked into silence for a moment. He recovers quickly, opening his mouth, presumably to argue his point.

“No. I’ve seen your fucking annotation system.”

“That’s the thing, though,” Harry gets animated, and a thrill runs down Draco’s spine, “I basically copied that from Hermione, too. I didn’t do any of this myself, not really.”

Draco is alive, on fire, “Care to translate that for me?”

Harry simply stares at him, confusion and discomfort battling across his face.

“I think you’re forgetting that I have firsthand knowledge about Hermione’s note taking,” Draco says, “She hates writing on a text, even when it’s a copy, and she has to write down every thought she has or she can’t make them line up properly. She takes a truly insane amount of notes, but she doesn’t annotate shit. And yeah, they’re color coded, but based on a completely different set of criteria than yours. So, if I had to take a guess, I’d say that at some point, maybe when you got into politics last summer, you asked her for help with a legal text, and she taught you her system, which you then adapted.”

Harry doesn’t exactly confirm that Draco is right, but he does stop arguing.

“So,” Draco turns back to Oliver, who is clearly holding back a laugh, “What exactly is the objective here?”

“You know, that’s one of my favorite things about you. You take everyone completely seriously, and you make them take themselves seriously too.”

Draco sighs, “Focus, please.”

“They’re trying to trip him up with nonsensical legislation,” Oliver says, “They’re going to grill him in session, if I had to guess.”

“The only real solution, then, is to read through it all with fine toothed comb,” Draco groans.

“Yeah.”

Draco rolls his shoulders, “Ugh, to work we go then. Thank you, Oliver, I owe you one.”

Oliver stands and walks towards the door, pausing with his hand on the doorknob and turning back to Draco with a smile, small but no less dazzling for it.

“I think I’ve decided what you owe me, actually,” Oliver says, “A date.”

Draco tilts his head, smiling up at Oliver in exasperation, “I-”

Oliver holds his hands up, “You can say no, but it’s just one night. Give me a chance to convince you I’m perfect for you?”

They stare at each other. Oliver is earnest, sincere, and he understands Draco, all of the ugliness and dark, gritty truth. He’s seen the world Draco exists in, he’s been a part of it, lived it too. He knows what it’s like to plant your feet in the shadows.

Besides, Draco’s never been on a date.

“You get two hours,” he concedes, “Next weekend.”

Oliver’s grin widens into something triumphant and heated, “I’ll make a reservation.”

He leaves then, and Draco checks the time. He could make it back to Hogwarts for his meeting with Professor Islington, if he left in the next few minutes.

“I have to get back to the castle,” he says, “How many do you have left to read through?”

Harry answers reluctantly, “Eight.”

“Give me one you’ve already done, and five that you haven’t.”

“I can’t ask you to-”

“You didn’t,” Draco replies firmly, leaving no room for debate, “I said I would help, and I’m going to.”

He takes the folders from Harry’s outstretched hand. It’s not the first time Draco has wanted to take a piece of Harry’s perpetual burden, and it’s not the first time he’s reached out to grab it, but it is the first time Harry has given it to him, willingly, knowingly. It’s important in a way Draco can’t articulate.

Before he can make a move to leave, Harry clears his throat.

“It was during the war,” Harry ducks his head, looking down at the file open in front of him.

“What?”

“For a while last year, it was just me and Hermione, and we had to do a lot of research for,” he pauses, “Anyways. I’m not really good at this shit, you know, but I wanted to help. That’s when I started taking notes like this.”

Draco can’t fight the smile blooming across his face, but he doesn’t have to let Harry see it. He turns towards the door.

“I’ll see you back at Hogwarts,” he says, and closes the door softly behind him.

***

Pansy shows up in his dorm to drag him to dinner that night. Professor Islington had probably picked up on how distracted he was, because she cut their meeting short, after talking through the seemingly contradictory accounts of the Room’s relationship to Gamp’s Law. Draco wishes he could test his theories in real time, but if he could, he’d never have started on this project in the first place.

“I thought you weren’t going to do politics,” Pansy says, eyeing the folders spread across Draco’s bed.

Pansy knows better than to think that this change of heart is motivated by friendship. Draco is not that selfless.

“Shut up,” he mutters, “You know why I’m doing this. We really don’t need to talk about it.”

Pansy folds her arms, “Draco, we’re going to talk about it. I’m not going to lecture you, you know that, but… are you sure this is a good idea? That you want to do it?”

“I want to help.”

“And you promise this isn’t a power grab?” she grins.

He laughs helplessly, “Promise. Maybe it’s not very Slytherin of me, but world domination has lost its appeal. Besides, you’d probably be a better overlord anyways.”

“You’d be terrible. So inefficient.”

After dinner, she follows him back to his room and sits with him on his worn-in cotton duvet, handing him one of the fizzy Japanese drinks she always seems to have on hand, the ones with the glass marble inside. He breaks the seal of it with a pop.

“You don’t have to help, you know,” he says.

She picks up a folder, “Yeah, yeah. Explain Harry’s serial killer code to me.”

Harry goes to the next session of the Wizengamot armed with a stack of legal code, all annotated using his meticulous system. Draco hadn’t outsourced the reading beyond Pansy. He doesn’t know why Harry didn’t ask Hermione for help, and that wasn’t something he wanted to push back on.

When Harry shows up to breakfast the next morning, the storm raging in his eyes and in the tightness around his mouth have both vanished. He looks, for the first time in weeks, well rested.

He smiles warmly, incandescently, at Draco, “Thank you.”

Draco tries to remember that smile, when he has to go through the mortifying process of telling Pansy he has a date.

“I’m sorry, when did this happen?” she asks, delighted, “Was he really that grateful for your help?”

He frowns, “What?”

“Y’know, with whatever bullshit the ghouls in the Wizengamot were pulling?”

It takes him a second to understand what she’s saying, and then he giggles nervously, “No, no, Pans. The date isn’t with Harry. And if it was, I’d be extremely offended that you thought it was payback for a favor.”

“Oh, excuse me, sorry I assumed that you’d be going on a date with the only person you’ve been interested in since you were fourteen. What are you doing going on dates with random blokes? How do you get yourself into these situations?”

Draco winces, “As payback for a favor?”

Pansy is shrieking with laughter as she jumps onto his bed, kneeing him in the ribs in the process.

“Oh, fuck, ow, Pansy!”

She helps him select an acceptable date outfit, one of the few nice sweaters he has left and a pair of jeans without holes in them, and he ties his hair up while she yells at him to leave it down.

“It’s so pretty now, why would you even grow it out if you were just going to put up all the time?”

He tightens his ponytail, “I didn’t really mean to grow it out, it just happened.”

“Well, you’re certainly not allowed to cut it now!”

“It’s my hair,” Draco says.

Pansy stares blankly at him, “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“It’s not like I was planning on cutting it,” he mutters, “But I could, if I wanted to.”

“Uh huh.”

The date itself isn’t so bad. Oliver had made reservations at the Indian place in Hogsmeade, and he was perfectly polite. Charming, even. The conversation flows effortlessly, and Draco finds himself laughing more and more as the night progresses. They blow right through the mandated two hours and spend the rest of the evening wandering around the shops, not really buying anything. It’s really just an excuse to keep talking.

And then Oliver walks him part of the way back to the castle, all the way to the gate that is charmed to only let students and faculty pass through, and Draco remembers that it’s a date.

Oliver steps into Draco’s space, brushing a hand over the lapel of his peacoat, “So, how’d I do?”

“On?”

“Convincing you that we’re literal soulmates?”

Draco laughs breathily, “I’m sure you’re very persuasive, but…”

“Mh. Are you saying you need more information? Another date, perhaps?”

Oliver’s smile is soft, inviting. He wants Draco, and he knows what wanting Draco means, and he’s everything that a thirteen year old Draco imagined.

There is just one, glaring problem. Draco doesn’t want him.

“I don’t think another date is going to change anything,” Draco whispers, taking a small step backwards, “I had a great time, and you’ve been wonderful, I just…”

Oliver nods, ducking his head, “Right.”

He puts more distance between them, and Draco wants to broach it, wants to comfort someone that he’s come to see as a friend, but he knows that it would be counterproductive.

“I’m sorry.”

“Is this the part where you say it’s complicated?”

Draco can’t help but laugh, “It’s the part where I say it’s actually very simple. I’m in love with someone who doesn’t particularly care about me.”

“Ah. That is a situation I’m deeply familiar with,” Oliver says with a miserable twist of his mouth.

“I-”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s become something of a pattern for me. You are not the first, and you certainly won’t be the last person to tell me that they like me, just not as much as I like them.”

“Would it be awful of me to ask that we still be friends?”

Oliver shakes his head, as if dispelling the rain cloud above it, “No. I suspect we’ll be great friends, once I’ve found someone else to fixate on.”

“Let me know how that goes.”

“I promise, you will hear all about it. As long as I can hear about whatever tragic little story you’ve written for yourself.”

It’s not an inaccurate description. They part as friends, and Draco completes the trek across the grounds and into the castle, a little after curfew but not enough for him to be genuinely worried about getting caught. He slips into the common room with no incident and sleeps easily.

***

Ginny shoves her way into place beside him at breakfast, “What’s this I hear about you going on a date?”

“Would you let me eat before you launch the interrogation?”

“Late night?” she smirks.

“I was barely even late for curfew.”

“It was longer than two hours, then,” Harry chimes in.

Draco glares at him, which he silently congratulates himself on, “Fuck off.”

“What?”

“I agreed to two hours.”

“And Harry knows this because…”

“He was there.”

“Oliver Travers,” Harry offers, “Personally, he seems a little sleazy. I suppose there’s no accounting for taste.”

Draco considers homicide, briefly, and then thinks about all the work he’s put in keeping Harry alive. It would be such a waste to kill him now.

“The guy at the DMLE?” Ron asks, leaning across the table.

“Yeah.”

“He’s not the worst looking person you could go on a date with,” Ron says, considering, “I know he didn’t go to Hogwarts, but still, very Slytherin. I can see it.”

Draco appreciates the support, however pointless it is.

“It doesn’t matter,” he groans, “There won’t be a second one.”

Ron nods like he knows something, “Bad kisser.”

“No, what the hell,” Draco buries his head in his arms, hoping that he’ll wake up in his bed and all of this will be a bizarre, terrible dream.

“If he’s a good kisser, why aren’t you going on another date with him?”

Draco elects to ignore the rush of speculation that spawns from that comment, and goes back to eating his breakfast. He’ll wait until it dies down, and then he’ll set the record straight.

There is an inevitable lull, and Draco clears his throat, “Okay, here’s what happened. Oliver helped me out with something, I agreed to go on a date with him in exchange. I knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere, and it didn’t. We had dinner and talked for a while, and then I turned him down when he asked about a second date.”

“Because he’s not the person you’re in love with,” Ginny says, like this is a fact everyone is aware of.

The entire group goes silent. Draco gapes at her.

“What? Claire literally announced it at my birthday party. This is not news.”

“Is that true? Are you in love with someone? Like, right now? Actively?” Dean asks.

Pansy bursts into wild peals of laughter, head thrown back and everything.

“I hate all of you,” Draco spits, and takes a croissant with him as he abandons the rest of his food and storms out of the Great Hall.

No one tries to come after him.

***

Ginny manages to catch him with his guard down after Quidditch practice later in the week, “Hey, can we talk?”

“I don’t know, do you want to tell another one of my darkest secrets to a captive audience?”

“Is it a secret if someone literally already told everyone in the audience?”

“Claire made one off-hand comment that no one but you seemed to take as indication of anything!”

“How was I supposed to know the rest of our friends are dumb?”

Draco snorts, “I’m not really mad, you know. I just don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Ginny fidgets, plays with the tips of her fingers and doesn’t speak. Draco certainly won’t be the one to break the silence.

“I just… I get it, okay?”

Draco looks at her, really looks at her, and he sees it. All the scattered puzzle pieces come together, the hints of it he saw on her birthday, everything he’s seen since…

“It’s both of them, right?”

He couldn’t imagine Ginny loving Dean or Luna in isolation, not seriously, not now.

Ginny nods.

“Well,” Draco says, considering, “I don’t want to rain on your misery parade, but we know Dean is at the very least attracted to you. Or he was at one point. And Luna is… she’s Luna. I think-”

He can’t finish the thought, because he knows how painful it is to dream, to imagine.

***

Occasionally, Hermione will indulge Draco’s sentimentality and they’ll work on their project at his old spot, across from the entrance to the Room. It’s a small comfort, to feel the gentle ebb of its magic, though it won’t appear. It means that it’s not gone, and even if they don’t manage to fix it themselves, their research may serve as the foundation for someone else to do it.

It will serve the students of Hogwarts again, eventually. Some other lonely child will stumble across it and it will become a refuge for them, just as it was for Draco.

“You call it the Room of Hidden Things?” Hermione asks absently.

“I know some people make the distinction between the static version of the Room and the Room in general, but I like the name. I think it works, given that it is hidden most of the time. Besides, that’s what I was introduced to it as.”

Hermione looks up, her focus intense and sharp, a blade pressing but not breaking the skin, “So someone showed it to you?”

“Not exactly. I found it on my own, but Dumbledore knew I was using it, and he called it the Room of Hidden Things.”

“Hm,” her face screws up into something annoyed, “I was under the impression that he didn’t know about the Room.”

“Why?”

“He never acknowledged it to any of us, even when it could have been useful.”

“Well, he always was supremely unhelpful.”

Hermione snorts, “That’s an understatement. I mean, do you know how much shit could have been avoided if he just told us point-blank that you and Snape were on our side? Or if he tried to actually prepare any of us for what he knew he was going to ask us to do?”

“I think it was probably a little different for me,” Draco says, “At least I knew what was happening most of the time, even if he refused to help.”

“Honestly the most frustrating part was not knowing what was going on with you.”

Draco laughs, incredulous, “What? Why?”

“Harry wouldn’t fucking shut up about it. He would oscillate wildly between thinking you had never done anything wrong in your life and being convinced that you were the next Dark Lord. This was like, a day to day kind of thing.”

“What the hell?”

“Yeah. I think it really freaked him out when you just suddenly stopped giving a shit about anything. In fifth year? Your grades dropped and you stopped antagonizing him and you sort of just floated through the halls, not really looking at anything. At first, he really thought you were in danger and we needed to help you, but… you know what fifth year was like. Dumbledore basically shut him out completely, and then Sirius died, and Harry stopped caring for a while too.”

“But-” Draco cuts himself off. He shouldn’t want to hear more, not when it will inevitably become fodder for anxiety and nightmares later, but he can’t help himself, “Was there something I did? That flipped the switch?”

Hermione, for all her intelligence, takes it at face value. Simple curiosity.

“No. He just got… angrier, I guess, more combative. He started going back and forth a lot, on everything. His moods changed so quickly. And then, one day, it stopped. He settled a little, and he started saying you were being coerced. That’s basically how it stayed until the war was over and we found out that you were a spy the whole time.”

Draco is relatively sure what day it was that changed things. He doesn’t want to think about it. He directs the conversation back to the project, back to the Room and the magic that binds it together.

“Maybe we’re overthinking this,” Draco says, “We can’t test the boundaries of the Room because we can’t get inside, but we can do some diagnostic spells from the outside.”

“If it’s still there.”

“It is,” Draco frowns, “Can’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“I don’t know, there’s like a hum? A frequency? A tone? Like a television that’s turned on but not playing anything.”

Hermione blinks, “Okay, we’re going to move past the fact that you’re familiar enough with TVs to use that comparison, because the implications of what you’re saying are… Draco, is it a feeling or a sound?”

“Feeling, but they’re not that different, you know? It’s all vibration.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it. Have you felt it before?”

Draco narrows his eyes at her, “Um, is that a trick question?”

“It’s really, really not. Does all magic have a vibration to it?”

“Yes?”

“Holy shit,” Hermione breathes, “That’s not, Draco, that’s not something everyone can feel, not even most people. It’s very rare to be able to sense magic that way, intuitively.”

“Alright?”

“I have to… I need to think about this,” Hermione mutters, already stuffing loose sheets of parchment into her book bag, “I’ll see you at dinner.”

***

The last of the snow melts away and dead things start to grow again. Draco’s life becomes full to bursting, some of it good and some of it bad, but none of it empty. He and Harry orbit around the same people, and they never quite touch. It’s manageable. In a quiet corner of his mind, there is something that wants more. It’s like a living thing, insatiable, and Draco keeps it on a leash. He restrains himself the same way that Harry does. He restrains himself in a way that is visible.

Dean sometimes still sends him concerned glances over dinner. Luna leaves little glass bottles full of things that Draco doesn’t recognize in his pockets. When questioned, she says they’re talismans for happiness or luck or on one occasion, a healthy sex life.

In some ways, he feels the least lonely he’s ever been. He feels less like a bruised flower petal, just waiting to be crushed beneath someone’s boot. He’ll be sitting at dinner, surrounded by his friends, and his mind won’t turn to war or death or venom at all.

In other ways, the chasm widens every day. The sadness that has been his constant companion his entire life might be slipping away, but it still feels like a loss, like a thing he needs to grieve. He’ll catch a glimpse of Harry, still too tentative, reserved, and it’ll pull him right out of whatever conversation he’s in. He feels like he’s in some alternate reality, a world apart from the rest of their friends, none of whom seem to notice how quiet Harry has gone.

He wonders if this is normal, to the rest of them, and it’s just the absence of hostility that Draco is seeing. Maybe this is how Harry has always been, when he doesn’t hate you.

But then Draco remembers that laugh, the rest of fourth year, Harry fighting and, on occasion, fighting back. He remembers the first in a collection of things he loved about Harry, the one he kept close to his chest, clutched in shaking hands; the obvious fear in Harry’s eyes, the way it didn’t change him at all.

They’re all walking back from another Hogsmeade trip, in the middle of March, and Draco keeps peeking over at Harry, too concerned to be careful.

“Hey,” Ginny says, bumping into his purposefully, “What’s been up with you lately?”

Draco shrugs. He’s still distracted, trying to figure out if Harry is tired or upset at something specific, something solvable, something Draco could fix for him.

“Is it because of the thing?”

“The thing?” he repeats, amused.

“The big embarrassing thing we happen to have in common?”

Draco loops their arms together and tugs her properly into his side. He supposes it is. As always, he’s let himself get swept up in the tide of Harry’s need and he’s forgotten that fighting the current is something he can do, should do. Logically, he knows it’s not entirely healthy to be so consumed by another person, especially one who will never reciprocate, but he doesn’t really know how to do anything else. He’s trying, and failing more often than not.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I know you said that you didn’t want to talk about it, but I’m here if you ever change your mind, you know that, right?”

“Of course,” Draco says emphatically, “Gin, you’re the best friend I think I’ve ever had. It’s not because I don’t think you’ll listen.”

She brightens, “Can I tell Pansy you said that?”

“Fuck, no, she’d actually murder me in my sleep. But, I don’t know, Pansy’s my oldest friend and there was a time when we were more similar, it’s just… you and me, we’re the same person. It was kind of scary how well I knew you without knowing you at all.”

“It was the same for me,” Ginny chokes out past building tears.

“Please don’t cry, then I’ll start crying.”

“Okay, okay,” she takes a few deep breaths, “Just to be clear, this isn’t me asking you to talk about it, but why don’t you want to?”

“It’s quite tragic. Doomed. I think I just don’t want it to take up so much space in my life anymore.”

Ginny tries, successfully, to trip him. He doesn’t fall, but he does stumble over his own feet, cursing.

“Fuck, you know I got clumsy, that’s not fair.”

Ginny doesn’t laugh at him, which is the first sign that she’s a little annoyed.

“Gin?”

“You’re being stupid, aren’t you?” she hisses, “Self-sabotaging.”

“Genuinely, no. I’m actually trying to do the opposite. Promise. I’m not just saying that it’s doomed because I don’t want to be happy. It’s… really, really not going to work out for me, seriously, and I let it be my whole world for a long time anyways. I’m trying to move on from something that’s hurt me, a lot, or at least get rid of the most painful parts.”

Ginny doesn’t look entirely satisfied with his response, but she doesn’t push for more, and the rest of their friends go along pretending that they didn’t hear any of the conversation.

***

Hermione drags him back to the seventh floor more and more frequently so she can pester him with questions about how the Room feels. They do some diagnostic spells, but with little luck. Hermione tells him, cagily, that she has reason to believe the Room is Unplottable, which seems like overkill to Draco, as Hogwarts itself is Unplottable. There’s a reason why students get hopelessly lost within it, and it’s not just the sheer size or the staircases. It is impossible to map the inner workings of the castle. In any case, the complex tangle of shielding and cloaking enchantments that go into making it Unplottable and invisible also make it impervious to most examination they’ve tried.

They can’t even confirm Draco’s pet theory, that the magic of the Room is anchored with runic enchantments engraved deep in the stone, the entire reason that he now has a research partner in Hermione.

He doesn’t need it, not quite in the same way he did when he first took on the project, but it’s still a place he felt safe, another thing he loved that has been ravaged by war. Maybe he can’t fix his relationship with his mother, or bleed the darkness from the Manor, or make Harry’s grief and guilt and pain disappear, but he knows this is something that can be repaired. He wants to be the one to do it.

***

The weather continues to get warmer, and Quidditch starts to take up more and more of his time. They’re the underdogs of the season, brand new to the league and fresh out of a war, but they fight through April and May, and they win more than they lose. As they approach the end of term, they’re ranked fourth, with a real shot at the final match.

Draco is proud of himself, but he’s prouder of Ella, whose mind is outpacing her body- for now. She may not be as fast on a broom as Draco quite yet, but she spends hours pouring over plays with Ginny and she’s better than anyone at corralling the players, bringing different styles and personalities together into one cohesive whole. She’s going to make an excellent Seeker, and an even better Captain one day.

The last match before graduation is grueling. It’s the only game they’ve played at home the entire season, and Castelobruxo gets an astronomical lead very quickly. They spend most of the game catching up, and Draco spends it distracting the other Seeker and waiting for the lead to narrow enough that catching the Snitch would actually win them the game.

They win by ten points, in the end. He hits the ground with a little too much momentum and practically rolls off his broom, snitch in hand.

Ginny tackles him into a sweaty hug, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Draco laughs, “You were brilliant, Gin.”

“I think this is the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”

He catches sight of Luna and Dean behind them, hand in hand, wearing matching grins. He takes hold of Ginny’s shoulders, turns her around, and shoves her into their arms.

People are flooding the pitch, forcing Draco to fight through the crowd to get to Ella. She’s standing on the sidelines, smiling wide and beautiful. She does her best to deprive him of his hearing.

“You were so good! I can’t believe we made it to the finals!”

He tries to get some distance between his ear and her mouth, “Just think, next year that’ll be you.”

That seems to incapacitate her. She clings tightly to his hand as they start to look for Marcie. He isn’t afraid of losing her in the crowd. For a moment, he isn’t afraid of anything. The three of them, him and Ella and Marcie, collide and begin to jump around excitedly in a tangle of limbs. They’re laughing. Ella is crying a little.

He doesn’t know how to describe it. There’s a part of him that is deeply, deeply sad. He thinks maybe there always will be. It’s distant, though. There is so much more happiness in this moment, in most moments now, and it overwhelms the sadness. It drowns it out.

He heads off to shower and change, and then he meets them back at the path to Hogsmeade. Harry is there when he returns, chatting with Ella about how he thinks the match went. Marcie is standing beside them, looking bored. Her face lights up when she sees Draco.

“I have so much to tell you,” she’s smiling, but she says it very seriously.

He gestures for her to go ahead, and the four of them begin to make the trek to Hogsmeade. She regales him with the latest drama from her school. Lauren and the boy she likes- no, not Rowan’s ex-boyfriend, that was over weeks ago- went to the movies and he held her hand in the popcorn bucket.

Draco wrinkles his nose, “Wasn’t it greasy? That doesn’t seem very pleasant.”

“She said it was the best thing that has ever happened to her.”

He shrugs. Who is he to judge?

“And Becca got into a fight, like a real one, with punching and everything.”

“Becca? Sweet, sensitive Becca?”

Marcie nods furiously, “It was so cool. Not that hitting someone is cool, but it was a boy so.”

“Oh, that’s fine then.”

Andromeda and Teddy are waiting for them outside the restaurant, because Teddy is exercising his full lung capacity by shrieking very loudly. She hands him off to Draco as soon as they approach. He doesn’t mind a little crying.

He just bounces Teddy lightly on his hip, cooing in his ear, “It’s alright. It’s okay. You’re fine, aren’t you? Just a little upset. That’s okay.”

“You don’t mind, do you?” Andromeda asks, after she’s already passed him a burping towel and his teething beads.

Draco smiles at her, “Of course not. You can go in, if you want. If he doesn’t calm down in ten or fifteen minutes, we can take turns or something.”

She sighs in relief and kisses him on the cheek, “Thank you. My energy is not what it used to be. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“I’m sure.”

Draco walks the length of the little alleyway beside the restaurant and talks softly to Teddy. He’s calmer after a few minutes, but everytime Draco stops walking or bouncing him, he starts crying again, so Marcie comes to grab his order and they get his food to-go. Harry offers to switch off with him, but Draco politely refuses.

“It’s alright,” he says, “I’m happy to take this shift.”

Harry doesn’t protest, but he does linger outside the restaurant for a moment too long, looking back at Draco with something that isn’t quite a smile.

Draco spends the evening outside with Teddy in the balmy night air, looking up at the stars and telling Teddy everything he can remember about Remus Lupin. He thinks about the summer with Marcie and the fall with Ella, how desperately he wanted to erase all of the bad things they’d seen, how futile the wanting is. There are some things that love just cannot fix.

But he can do this. He can listen to Marcie’s gossip and read the books she tells him about in her letters, he can do core workouts with Ella that border on insane and let her make fun of him, he can give them a family. He’s done his part to make the world a little kinder, a little more inhabitable for Ella and Marcie. He’s made sure that Teddy will not have to see the same horrors they did, the ones Draco did.

He just has to care. The rest of it, he doesn’t have to do alone.

***

Ginny flings herself onto the pitch next to him, panting.

“Fuck, that was the worst two hours of my life,” Draco gasps, “You’re actually sadistic, oh my God.”

“Baby.”

She’s been ramping up their practices in preparation for the final match of the season, which they’ll play against Durmstrang just after the end of term. If he’s honest, Draco doesn’t completely understand the fervor. It’s not like they really have a shot at winning, however miraculous their season has been so far.

“Stretch, shower, eat,” Ginny chants under her breath like a mantra, “Stretch, shower, eat.”

Still, it’s several minutes before they move at all. Draco goes through the motions of stretching his worn muscles, starting at the neck and working his way down his body, until he’s warm and malleable, until he feels as if he could be pulled apart like taffy. The hot shower almost puts him to sleep, and dinner afterwards actually does. He and Ginny doze off, ridiculously early, on the rug in the Gryffindor common room.

Draco has no dreams.

Ron wakes him a couple of hours later with an apologetic smile, “Things are about to get loud in here, if you want to go sleep in your dorm.”

He peers around the room, which is obviously being set up for an improvised party of some kind. A couple sixth years are pushing all of the furniture against the walls, and Neville is levitating a case of Firewhisky down the stairs and into the common room.

He blinks the sleep from his eyes, and finds that he’s no longer tired. Or, rather, that he’s reached a level of exhaustion that’s tipped over into restlessness. He could go back the dungeons, but chances are, he’ll have a hard time falling back asleep.

“No, I’m awake.”

“Do you want to stay then? It’s someone’s birthday, I think. Not too sure who.”

“Is that alright? If I stay?”

Ron is unimpressed, “Obviously. No one cares who’s here.”

It’s true, really. No one questions his presence, and once Ginny wakes up, he doesn’t feel out of place at all. She slings an arm around his shoulders, and they pass the next few hours getting steadily drunk and talking about absolutely nothing. He drinks away the ache in his muscles, and Ginny drinks away the thin veneer of sadness that she usually carries around.

“We’re never going to be together like this again, are we?” Ginny whispers in the dark, “After term ends.”

She’s already had offers from half of the professional teams in the United Kingdom, and though she hasn’t signed a contract yet, Draco knows she’s set on the Hollyhead Harpies. She’s just waiting on the final details, including what date she’ll have to report to training.

“No.”

“Sometimes I wish we could live in last summer forever, even though it was shit.”

Draco smiles, “Me too.”

But he knows that Ginny’s right. It’ll never be like that again, not really. He still has no idea what he’s going to do after Hogwarts, but he has this inescapable feeling that going back to Crawley Down would be like trying to fall back asleep and continue a dream that’s already over.

“I’m going to miss you,” Ginny sighs into his shoulder.

Eventually, he has to make the mad dash to the dungeons without getting caught. Curfew has become increasingly relaxed, but he’d still get in a lot of trouble for wandering around the castle in the middle of the night while obviously intoxicated. The riskiest stretch is the stairs. There’s nowhere to hide when you’re stuck on a moving staircase.

It’s on the stairs that he runs into Harry, who is presumably going up to the common room. Harry peers at him in the low light, takes a sniff, and recoils a bit.

“Draco,” he says, scandalized, “Are you drunk?”

“No,” Draco answers honestly. He’s a little tipsy, but definitely not drunk.

Harry sighs, “Why don’t I believe you?”

“Probably because I smell awful. That’s not my fault, though. Ginny spilled her firewhisky on me.”

Draco leans back against the railing of the stairs and waits for it to stop moving. It’s making him a little queasy. He’s always gotten motion sickness easily, unless he’s on a broom. He threw up on the train to Hogwarts his first year.

The stairs click into place, and Draco starts to descend. Harry follows him.

“Are you going to go back to following me around everywhere?”

He’s thinking about what Hermione said, about Harry changing his mind every day, and he’s wondering if Harry is still unsure. Not about whether or not Draco is a Death Eater, just… Hermione hadn’t understood him until recently. Maybe Harry doesn’t really know what to make of him either.

Harry reaches out to catch his elbow, “No. I’m just making sure you get back to your common room alright.”

“Oh. That’s very nice of you. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, you know.”

“I don’t know about that,” Harry says softly.

“You are. Even though you’re sad right now.”

Harry shifts to take more of Draco’s weight. The line of his body is warm and solid against Draco’s side, “I’m not sad.”

“It won’t last forever, promise. I thought I’d never be happy again but I am. It happens all the time.”

Harry doesn’t really respond, and the conversation is seemingly over. Draco can’t imagine ever getting sick of this. He knows it doesn’t mean anything- Harry is selfless, good, in a way that Draco is not- but it’s still nice. It feels like eating a warm dinner, sinking into a hot bath. His limbs are heavy, in a good way, and he knows that Harry has him. He’s not going to fall.

Harry doesn’t keep his word about taking Draco to the common room. Instead, he takes Draco all the way to his dorm and deposits him on his bed. Draco remembers the lightning bolt carved into the frame too late, but Harry doesn’t notice it. He’s too focused on taking Draco’s shoes off and Conjuring a glass. He casts an Augmenti, makes Draco drink it, then casts it again.

“That’s for the morning, alright?”

Draco nods. He doesn’t think he could speak, even if he knew what to say.

“Goodnight, Draco.”

***

Draco sits by the lake, staring out at the endless expanse of water. It’s not really endless, and he knows it, but his vision is no longer good enough to see the other side so he imagines that the rest of the world doesn’t exist.

Only him, and the rocky beach, and the water.

Distantly, he can hear footsteps behind him. Harry’s distinctive scent, sandalwood and cloves and vanilla, washes over him as Harry lowers himself to the ground beside Draco.

“I think I owe you an apology,” he says, and the words are so startling, so incomprehensible, that Draco jerks violently.

His heart is already racing, mind telling him this is a trap, “Pardon?”

Harry sighs and drifts back, laying down and looking up at the sky, “I didn’t know.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Potter.”

“I haven’t brought it up, because Hermione said you might not want an apology and I felt like I owed you that much, but Draco…” he sits up again. Draco won’t look at him, but he can sense Harry’s restless movement, “I can’t keep not talking about it.”

“Hermione was right.”

He’s going to be sick. He doesn’t want Harry to say sorry. He can’t actually think of anything worse. It’s one thing to know that he didn’t deserve the treatment, it’s another to have someone actually say it. To have Harry say it.

“For sixth year, at least-”

“Does it matter?”

He looks at Draco with a strange expression, somewhere between confused and frustrated, “Of course it does. I almost killed you.”

Draco shrugs, “Like you said, you didn’t know I wasn’t really a Death Eater.”

“Even if you weren’t just acting on Dumbledore’s orders, and you really were a Death Eater, I’d still regret doing it. And what I meant was, I didn’t know what the spell did, when I used it.”

“I’m not upset about it,” Draco says, “If that’s any consolation.”

“It’s not.”

There’s a long silence, and then Harry manages to find something worse to say.

“I saw them. The scars I left. Last night, when I took you back to your dorm, your shirt rode up. I saw them.”

“Please. You don’t need to do this.”

“Look at me?”

Draco does, because he can’t say no to Harry. Harry’s eyes are so, so green. Right now, they’re sad and tired and a little desperate. He has the sudden thought that maybe Harry needs to do this, the same way Draco needed to sweat out the pain of last summer.

“I’m sorry,” Harry says, and then waits for a while before he says anything else, “I wouldn’t have used it if I knew what it did. I already had serious doubts about how much you wanted to be doing what I thought you were doing, and when I found out that you had been on our side all along… it made perfect sense to me. I know that you were never the person I thought you were in the first place, and you certainly weren’t then.”

He takes a breath and breaks eye contact. Draco can feel hot tears building behind his eyes and he tries to hold them off, but he can’t.

“I know that crucio wouldn’t have hit. I know you didn’t mean it.”

Draco cries. He cries for a long time, and when he’s done, Harry is still there, still sitting beside him on the lake shore. He feels raw in the worst way. He doesn’t understand why Harry couldn’t have just left him alone, and for the very first time, he thinks he hates him. He hates Harry Potter.

So he tells him, “I hate you.”

“Would it be easier, if you did?” Harry asks, voice soft.

Draco laughs, and it’s wet and grating, but it’s genuine, “No, I don’t think it would. Couldn’t you have just listened to Hermione?”

“Eh, I think we’re at the point where there’s not much left we can do to hurt each other.”

If only that were true. Draco peeks over at Harry, and he’s surprised to find that Harry is looking at him too, with warmth and understanding and kindness. There’s always been something contradictory about Harry’s eyes, a steadiness at odds with how wild his body and his magic are. It feels dangerous, like a beast on a chain. His wand is out, just resting in his loose grip. Draco realizes, with a start, that it’s his. It’s the wand that Draco got at Ollivander’s when he was eleven, the wand that he handed to Harry during the final battle, the wand that killed Voldemort.

He shivers.

“I don’t know why I haven’t given it to you,” Harry says, rolling the wand between his hands, “It’s been eating at me, a little.”

And then he stills, face conflicted, and slowly extends it towards Draco.

Draco shakes his head, horrified, “I don’t want it.”

“But-”

“No.”

Harry laughs, but it’s an awful, painful thing, “I don’t understand.”

Draco can’t explain himself. He likes that the last thing he did with it, with the wand that had seen so much death and darkness, was hand it over. He likes that no matter what else happens, no matter where life takes them, there will always be a part of Draco there in the knobby wood, forever waiting to be called upon, ready to serve.

Though it’s not enough, not enough to quell the insistent demand for more, not enough to slake his thirst, it’s a small comfort.

“I don’t understand why I-” Harry pulls the words from inside himself, and it doesn’t sound easy, “I think it would have killed me, maybe, to give it back. I can’t… I haven’t used another wand, even though I feel guilty every time I pick it up, thinking of you without your wand. Mine broke, while we were on the run, and it was like losing a part of myself, and I knew I was making you feel that way, but I just couldn’t let it go.”

Draco lowers his head until it’s almost between his knees, “I gave it to you. You should keep it. I’m not sure if it would even respond to me now, and I had to get a new one before last term anyways.”

He could obsess over what it means. He could spend every waking moment thinking about Harry reaching for the wand when he needs something, about it becoming a part of him.

But he sees the waves coming, and he lets them crash over him, and then he lets them wash back out to sea. The unpredictable torrents of emotion haven’t stopped, but they don’t bowl him over anymore. He knows how to keep his footing. He knows how to keep himself from drowning.

There will always be a line that connects them, that tugs at Draco’s heart, but he’s stronger than the pull of it.

[crimswnred]

these hc are so cute ! maybe what halloween costume the Li would wear individually and in a couples costume 💓💓💓

HI YES YES YES I LOVE THIS QUESTION

I'm so excited!! ok, ok, without any further ado:

what the season 2 lis would wear for halloween (individually and in a couple)

bobby.

individually: look me in the eye right now and tell me he wouldn't dress up as spider-man. especially now with the spider-verse movies.

couple: he's a silly guy so I'm thinking he could wear literally anything after a little convincing, but ultimately, I'm saying:

beast boy & raven or robin & starfire (teen titans)

scott pilgrim and ramona flowers (scott pilgrim vs the world)

shark boy and lava girl

this has gotten way too long!! pls check out more under the cut 👇

gary.

individually: most likely a star war reference. or something funny. definitely something tight

couple: again, another silly guy who would wear anything you ask him, but here are my picks:

han solo and princess leia (and he absolutely loves it)

bowser and peach, not mario tho because that's too basic

bob and helen parr (the incredibles)

ibrahim.

individually: violet man. ok, let's say violet man isn't a real thing (like, well, it isn't). he's DEFINITELY dressing as another superhero. my guess? either superman or batman.

couple: he's gonna rock the best geek couple costumes ever and he'll show off. together, you guys will either serve cunt or die trying. here are some ideas:

batman and catwoman (the batman)

wanda maximoff and vision (wandavison)

jean gray and scott summers (the x-men)

noah.

individually: he would probably wear something that's more halloween than costume party, if you get what i mean? he prolly loves the holiday 'cause of his siblings and REALLY commits to the bit. fred krueger, jason, chuck, ghost face...

couple: like I said, he commits to the bit and goes all the way but he's sticking to the horror pattern because that's how it should go. some ideas include:

emily and victor (corpse bride)

other mother and other father (coraline)

beetlejuice and lydia (yes, the red wedding dress)

lucas.

individually: something sexy but that he doesn't need to put much effort in, like a vampire or something. i can't see him going all out for halloween, i'm sorry 😭

couple: now, when in a couple, it's a tad different... he's making sure you look good together and when i say good, i mean GOOD. you guys would probably be the hottest couple at any halloween party, here are some ideas:

gomez and morticia addams (let's put that stache to use, shall we?)

mr and mrs smith

tony montana and elvira hancock (scarface)

henrik.

individually: TARZAN. and he loves wearing nothing but a thong the whole night.

couple: I bet on something fun and easy, but also cute! he just wanna have fun with you and party for a bit, so I don't think he would propose something super complex. some ideas:

johnny and mavis (hotel transylvania)

daphne and fred (scooby-doo)

lola and bugs bunny (space jam)

kassam.

individually: I'm thinking classic and boring. doesn't care much when he's on his own. classic halloween stuff.

couple: HEAR ME OUT — iconic moments from pop culture. what do I mean by that? well, I mean:

britney spears and justin timberlake in matching jeans outfits

xtina and eminem (at the ICONIC vmas)

sony and cher (like halsey did!)

carl.

individually: spock! a little on the nose for him but COME ON. he's always dressing up as a star trek character, switching up every year. I can see him wearing something marvel related too.

couple: yeah, some star trek reference for sure but since that's not my breed of nerd (sorry not sorry), I'm saying:

jessie and james (pokemon)

loki and sylvie (loki series)

link and zelda (the legend of zelda)

ahh!! this was so much fun to do!! thanks for asking, anon 💝 I had a blast with your question!!

(!) I don't know enough about the missing LIs to add them to this list. if you'd like to ask for a specific islander that didn't make the list, don't be afraid to drop your request in my inbox.

more headcanons.

[serendipnpipity]

ohhhh oh god ok, i'll go for a full set of 10 bc i won't be able to choose:

Do NOT Read These Cards Out Loud (DnP Play Incohearent #1): Fond memories of curling up in my bunk bed watching this & playing along for the first time... Getting floored by the iconic "hay null fish ding". "This one goes out to you Phil." "doggy style..." "GLORY HOLE."

Halloween Baking - SLIME AND SADNESS CINNAMON ROLLS: Be so for real. How could you NOT go wild over this one???

Dan and Phil Dress Each Other: This rounds out the 3 genres of dnp vids I seem to enjoy the most... card games, baking, and fashion. We got some ICONIC fits outta this one, and some iconic reactions, as well.

Date Night With Dan And Phil: God bless the Relatable sponsorship... every one of those vids is a banger, and this one especially. Surreal. "If your partner stalked you on social media-"

PINOF Reacts series: PINOF 10 was my one true gateway... of course this is gonna be a shining star. (And if I reallyyy had to pick, #1 is my fav in the reaction vids, but to be honest I tend to marathon these, so they're one giant video in my brain.)

This game ended our friendship - Bread and Fred: They uploaded this video 15 mins before my dad was supposed to pick me up from uni for holiday break! Kid you not, I slid down the wall laughing as I watched it.

Dan and Phil Get Married, Have Kids, and Retire: As a video? You get jealous!Dan and inexplicably-lucky!Phil in the saltiest combo imagineable. As a concept... y'all, I have had the Game of Life AU cooking in my brain for eight months and a day atp. I'm not stopping til it's written.

Twitter Reacts series: I cry laughing at these. Twitter 3 is probably my fav bc of the pasta incident? But it flip-flops so much that I cannot truly say.

Writing Phan Fiction About Ourselves: Bro, the medieval AUs this inspired!!! Including me to write my own?? Could not thank this vid enough.

Roasting our own Red Carpet Fashion: I loveeee it when they yap technical bts stuff about their business endeavors... coupled with reactions AND ratings of their past looks? Heck yeah.

@bewareofthenewphannie idk when you're gonna have time but this one is a fun one...

@nothoughtsonlytrance, @dnpbeats, @jonsaremembers, plus anyone else who wants to!! sorry if you've been tagged already

This is probably super basic, but I’m making a tag game! In honor of one year of DNPG comeback, what are everyone’s favorite DanAndPhilGAMES videos post-hiatus? Not in any order, any number of videos 10 or less

Mine:

- Halloween baking SLIME AND SADNESS

- THE PUBLIC WOOHOO INCIDENT (Sims)

- Dan and Phil React to Phan Twitter 2

- Date Night with Dan and Phil

- Forcing Dan to Watch Tiktoks

- Dan and Phil AND CATS

- DAN AND PHIL MASSIVE PIZZA MUKBANG 2

- Do NOT Make Me Say This (incohearant - I’m counting both incohearants here)

- Getting Deep at the Slumber Party

Tagging @jonsaremembers @ghoulish-art-tendencies @phregnancy @cheekyvank @zackstriker @bitchslapblastoids @danrifics @kat-aa @gamora-borealis @cactuslester @lavenderdnp @notsosaucystuff @purpurussy @astradyke @sleepyslag @thighguys @evermorepeyton @everything-is-as-it-was @blossoms-phan @emotoangel @emojackolantern and any of my other mutuals who want to join!’

[lucky-peoqle]

unwanted guests | d.m.

pairings: draco malfoy x hufflepuff!reader, somewhat platonic!weasley twins (fred is pretty flirty😁)x hufflepuff!reader, platonic!cedric diggory x reader, and platonic!zacharias smith x reader.

summary: y/n the hufflepuff american student promised her housemates, cedric and zacharias, that she would watch them practice for their next match, she was accompanied by the infamous gryffindors, the weasley twins. as watching her house, she starts hearing whooping and hollering, she soon gets annoyed with the group of slytherins and confronts them.

warnings: some swearing, blood, pansy bodyshames reader

a/n: hello, ive bee super busy with school !! im currently obsessed with hp again :) hope u all enjoy this,, its a bit longer than usual. this is set during goblet of fire !! :) very unedited and kinda rushed :/ sorry

the temperature was pretty cold on this particular fall day, as the y/h/c hufflepuff sat outside, writing in a journal she kept, looking up to answer her housemate and one of her best friend, cedric diggory's questions.

"so, will you come? zacharias thought it would be a good idea," he said, motioning to the blonde hufflepuff boy who was watching from afar.

"hm? oh, uh, sure! if it makes you two happy," she looked up from her journal, smiling at the brunette, then the blonde.

"great! i'll tell him when we get to lunch."

and with that, the bell rang, making the other people outside with you get up and head inside to the great hall.

the two of you got up, and started making your way to the great hall, colored robes passing you by. "did you ever open up the golden dragon egg?" you said, looking up at him.

"yeah! that reminds me, i have to tell harry about that. thanks," he smiled.

you smiled back, "potter? you're telling him how to open it?"

"why not, y'know. it's the least i could do," he shrugged.

"that's so sweet! i'm glad you two are getting along."

by now you were in the great hall, walking past the gryffindor table to your table, making eye contact with the golden trio and weasley twins as you passed by with your best friend.

you were in the same year as the golden trio, meeting them the first day on the train, them finding you american accent amusing, but they got use to it pretty fast. then they introduced you to ron's twin brothers, fred and george, they were drawn to you instantly, poking fun of your accent from time to time.

last but not least, you met cedric. you met cedric in the common room your second day of hogwarts. you had drifted to sleep, one of you housemates cats curled on your lap, and cedric had woken you, helping you back to bed. ever since then you had been best friends ever since.

you took your sear next to cedric, zacharias smith, another close friend of yours, sat across from the two of you.

"zach! good news, y/n is coming to watch us practice tomorrow," the brunette smiled brightly.

"great! i can't wait to show off to you, maybe it'll make you fall for me instead of that weasley twin," he said jokingly.

"who? fred?" she chuckled, "zach, you're kidding right? freddies just a friend. sure we flirt, but that's what friends do, right?"

"you have a weird interpretation of friendship y/n/n," zach stifled a laugh.

you rolled your eyes, turning your head towards cedric, who was looking at the ravenclaw table, that was standing next to your table. you followed his eyesight that was met with cho chang.

"ced is making googly eyes at his girlfriend again," you laugh, making him turn his attention to you.

"so what? don't act like i didn't see you smiling at fred weasley."

"i smiled at all of them! fred and i don't have feelings for each other," she huffed.

"suree," zacharias said in a sing song voice.

you shook your head, poking your food around your plate, looking across the ravenclaw table to the slytherin table. you saw draco malfoy joking with his friends, his cold grey eyes drifting to meet your warm y/e/c ones. his eyes grew colder once they finally met yours. you softly smiled at him and his eyes grew softer, and he quickly turned his attention back to his group of friends.

'huh, weird,' you thought, turning your attention back to cedric and zacharias.

the day quickly passed, ending like it always does. going into the hufflepuff common room, it being filled with muggle and non-muggle type plants, the warm fireplace going. you made your way up to your dorm you shared with hannah abbott. changing out of your robs and falling asleep quickly.

you woke up, the warm fall sun peeking through the window of your dorm. you looked over at hannah, who had been awake but reading, it was still a bit early so breakfast wouldn't be ready yet. it was saturday after all, so no need to worry about classes.

"morning," you mumbled tiredly to hannah.

"good morning!" she put her book down, "i came back late last night from study with ernie and you were out like a light!"

"yeah, last night was kinda of tiring," you chuckled, sitting up, "why are you up so early anyway?"

"i thought we could go down to the great hall together, we've been so busy and rarely get to talk, why not catch up on our way down there yeah?"

"sure! that sounds lovely," you smile, getting up from your bed.

the two of you got ready for the day, putting on your hufflepuff robes, and made your way down to the common room. only a few people were sat in the common room, a few waving and bidding you good morning as you passed by.

you two walked out of the common room and head up to the great hall. "so how have you been?" hannah asked beside you.

"i've been well! busy with getting cedric through the tournament, y'know..."

"yeah, that must be though."

"it isn't actually! im extremely proud of him, i know he'll win this."

"i really hope he does! finally a hufflepuff getting the recognition they deserve," hannah smiled.

"newt scamander is pretty cool," you smiled, "i take great pride in being as the same house as him."

hannah shrugged, "yeah, very interesting man, he is. isn't loony lovegood related to him?"

"don't call her that, she's very nice. but, i believe so, in some way."

by now, you're in the great hall, making your to your table. you continue to chat till hannah departs from you to sit with susan bones and leanne, who were chatting amongst themselves.

you quickly find cedric, who was chatting with justin finch-fletchley. you sat next to him and started putting food on your plate. he heard you and turned your attention on you.

"good morning y/n/n," he smiled brightly.

"good morning ced, how're you?"

"great! excited for practice today."

you two chatted for the rest of breakfast, by the end of it, you were stuffed. you looked at the slytherin table, remembering the look draco malfoy gave you. you spotted him, he was talking to crabbe, goyle, and pansy, laughing, smiling, he looked happy.

draco turned his head to answer someone's question, while doing so, he caught you staring. you blushed brightly, hesitating before giving you a smile. he returned the gesture with one of his iconic smug smirks.

you looked away, turning your attention to cedric, "practice starts soon, i should get ready. see you out there?"

you nodded with a smile, and he smiled back, getting up and leaving the great hall.

you got up after a bit of thinking, and made your way to your common room to grab your journal and scarf, since it would be chilly out.

once you did so, you made your way back up the stairs, going through corridor to corridor.

you were walking in peaceful silence, until you felt a pair of arms wrap around your waist, and lift you up, spinning you around.

you let out a laugh as the two head headed boys laughed loudly, "fred weasley! put me down!"

"what's the magic word?"

"please!"

"no, but close enough," he said, dropping you, making you land on your butt.

"ouch! fred! george! what were you thinking?"

"we weren't! so what are you up to?" george chuckled.

"i'm going to watch cedric and zacharias practice," you smile, "wanna come? i wouldn't mind the company."

"sure!" the boys said together.

you're little group of three walked to the quidditch posts, your yellow and black scarf clashing with their red and yellow ones. fred had thrown an arm around you shoulder.

you sat down in the middle of the twins, fred's arm sitting around you. you were right, it was chilly, but it was nice. this was your favorite time of year.

you watched as cedric and zacharias flew around, catching the ball or passing it to another teammate. zacharias caught sight of you, and winked, motioning to the arm around your shoulder. you just stuck your tounge out in response.

the time you spent was fun, until a certain group of slytherins decided to crash the practice. you rolled your eyes as the began to yell and laugh at them, distracting the players.

"ignore them," george said, "they have no brains, nor can they play fair."

you chuckled at that, "you're right on that one."

the four slytherins were still yelling, it was very annoying. fred and george reassuring you to leave them alone and they'll get bored and leave soon.

you kept your temper, watching your house practice. it was going fine, until draco yelled something towards cedric that made your best friend look at him, the ball hitting him right in the face, knocking cedric off his broom.

you gasp as you got up quickly, looking over the railing, watching cedric get up from his spot on the ground, wiping his now bloodied nose.

you turn to malfoy, who was staring in disbelief, but always laughing. pansy parkinson was shrieking out laughter, it hurt your ears. you walk up to the four, george and fred calling out to you to stop.

"hey!"

the four turned towards you, laughing still.

"what do you want, l/n?" draco asked.

"you ass! cedric could have gotten hurt! he's never done anything to you! you distracted him on purpose so that you wouldn't have to face loosing to him in our next quidditch match against slytherin!"

"and so what? it's not like you can stop us from coming up here during their practice," pansy laughed. "you're just a pathetic little hufflepuff, well i wouldn't say little... your robes make you look fat."

you took a step back, you had always been insecure about your weight and body image. you began to tear up. george and fred too far away to hear what was going on. you opened your mouth to defend yourself, but nothing came out except a small squeak.

pansy, crabbe, and goyle all let out shrieks of laughter. you couldn't let them see you cry, so you ran. you heard shouting behind you. draco yelling something, and the twins shouting after you, following you.

you had lost them though, finding yourself in moaning myrtles bathroom. you said down the wall, letting out sob after sob. you sat there crying for a while, until you heard someone come in.

"leave me alone, you're unwanted here." you choke out, looking away from them.

"sorry about what pansy said back there, i told her since the start of third year, you were off limits."

you turn around, seeing the platinum blonde slytherin. "off limits?"

"from us bullying you, she's been jealous of you since."

"jealous? of me? what are you talking about?"

draco took a seat next to you, "i've fancied you for a while, just never had the courage to tell you. i thought you liked one of the weasley twins honestly."

you shook you head, "or were you just too ashamed to tell me since im a pathetic hufflepuff?" you sniffed.

"what? no, no! that's not it, i was just scared. I didn't want to be rejected, i guess."

"the thing back there with cedric, you're an ass for that."

"i know, i didn't mean for him to get knocked off his broom, i deserved to get yelled at."

you sat in comfortable silence for a while, not knowing what to say. pansy's words making their way back into your thoughts.

"pansy was right."

draco laughed, "about?"

"me being fat, my robes look horrible on me."

"don't say that! y/n, you're on of the most beautiful people i've ever seen walk this earth," draco said looking over at you.

"why the sudden urge to tell me about your feelings?"

"because it felt right... like yesterday and this morning, you smiled at me and it felt like it was time," he sighed.

you smiled over at him, and grabbed his hand. he intertwined your fingers and smiled back. he began to lean in, until his lips met yours, fireworks going off. you pulled away, your face bright read.

"who would of thought, me, draco malfoy, slytherin prince, dating a hufflepuff..."

"the world works in crazy ways," you smile, "i'm glad you came looking for me."

"so am i, y/n, so am i."

end.

[harrypotter-imaginess]

Part 1 Here! /  Part 2 Here! <This is part 3!>

Commission info for a Love Letter from a HP character here!

A/N: This part is pretty short, but the next one’s will be longer :) 

- You muffle a yawn as you make your way to the great hall, your red and gold tie eschew

- You haven’t been worried with who to sit with at meals for a while- you’re pretty much past that age

- In fact you enjoy eating alone quite often

- Maybe you can sit with Fred and George

- “-and I’m saying it was a bad call!” A boy shouts at the middle of the table

- “And we’re saying the other guy knocked him off his broom!” The twins yell in unison, Fred’s fist banging on the table and sending porridge flying everywhere

- Or maybe you’ll sit somewhere else

- Your eyes linger on the boy sitting across from them, he’s got dark skin and hair in dreadlocks

- That must be Lee Jordan, the third part of their friend group

- You shrug, well it’s not like you could monopolize al their time

- People have other friends, besides they just met you, they might just be interested because you’re something new to look at

- No point in getting your hopes up

- You take a seat near the end of the table, across from a boy with his nose buried in a book

- You grab a piece of toast, looking at your meal companion

- You can’t make out much, most of them is hidden behind that massive book

- Their hands are large and white, with several scars and burns littered all over them

- They look super into that book. You peer a little closer wondering what it is-

- “Oh fantastic beasts and where to find them, that’s cool.”

- Oops you said that our loud

- Well hopefully your meal mate doesn’t notice since they seem so engrossed in their book

- To your utter embarrassment they do hear you, lowering the book to look at you

- Revealing a rather rugged jaw, and freckles splattered across his nose that spill onto his face.

- Flaming red hair hangs loosely down to his jaw

- A pair of bright blue eyes widen in shock, a pink tinge blooming across his face

- “O-oh so sorry, I didn’t notice you there-“

- “N-no I’m sorry for interrupting your reading!”

- Your both bow in apology, completely flustered for disturbing the other

- Silence fills the air as your collective apologies begin to die down

- Well this is awkward

- “So-um, you like Newt Scamander?” The boy finally says, fidgeting awkwardly across from you

- But he starts to feel a little more comfortable when he sees the excited smile on your face

- It’s like you’ve got stars in your eyes

- “Like him? I think that’s who I want to be when I grow up!” You admit

- “That quote about working in an office being his biggest fear-“ the boy in front of you starts

- “Absolutely iconic” you finish

- The two of you hit it off after that, recounting your favorite of Newt’s adventures

- “When he met that Kelpie-“ you start

- “Oh don’t get me started on the kelpie, what I wouldn’t have given to see it” The boy finishes, and then as if he’s remembered something awfully embarrassing he flushes pink again

- He sticks his hand out across the table

- “I’m Charlie by the way, well Charles technically, but everyone calls me Charlie.”

- You grin, grasping his hand and offering a firm shake

- “Nice to meet you Charlie, I’m (Y/N)”

- You don’t think to mention your last name, not when your mind is preoccupied with magical creatures

- You mean, they’re just like dogs or cats right? Only bigger. 

- You’ve never met an animal you don’t like. 

- “I guess there aren’t any Kelpie here on the school grounds” you say

- “Hmm I wouldn’t know the lake is pretty old, I know there’s mermaids in it but I don’t know if you would be-“

- And then seeing the star struck look in your eyes he laughs

- “Is taking care of magical creatures something that might interest you?” He asks, his voice a little lower

- Though the dazzled expression you make is really enough answer

- “Why are you apart of some secret society or something?” You whisper a grin arching onto your mouth

- You can already picture it - 

- Sneaking out at midnight from the forms, hands clutching onto oil lit lamps as you wander off into the dark forest

- Charlie’s laugh breaks the illusion

- “I’m afraid it’s not something so scandalous-“

- Alright, going off in broad daylight into the dark forest to befriend some animals

- You can work with that

- It’s probably for the best, you need as much rest you can get.

- Charlie grins when he see’s your expression has not dimmed in the slightest

- “ it’s really something of a club, we take care of some of the creatures out in the forest for Hagrid - that’s the groundskeeper if you don’t know you er, you are a first year right?”

- You nod, but you’re not about to tell him you know all about Hagrid and his fondness for creatures

- “He’s got a dog right? Fang?”

- Charlie grins, you’ve only just arrived but you know all about the groundskeepers friendly dog

- “I think you’re going to fit in just fine with our group (Y/N)”

- Charlie tells you to meet him at the clocktower after you’re done with your classes and he’ll introduce you to Hagrid and some of the other club members if they’re around.

- “Ah if you like I can show you the way to your class too if you need it, I know it can be pretty overwhelming at first”

- You’re about to take him up on it too, because you got lost five times last night just looking for the bathroom 

- And then the way back from the bathroom to the dorms.

- When you’re interrupted by your favorite pair of doppelgängers

- “Oi Charlie are you trying to poach our new protégé?” Fred starts

- “Because if you are we won’t spare you any mercy just because you’re family” George finshes

- Family?

- Oh

- OHHHHH

- This is THE Charlie Weasley

- Honestly you should have figured that out with the red hair and freckles

- You silently compare Charlie to his brothers while they’re arguing

- “Protege? What were you going to teach them? How to pull pranks and torment Snape?”

- “That’s exactly what we’re planning on teaching them” They reply in unison

- It’s probably the build, Charlie’s pretty stocky, with a muscular neck and wide jaw.

- The twins on the other hand seem a bit more dainty, tall and lanky with chiseled faces

- “C’mon (Y/N), let’s go, we’ll show you where your classes are” One starts

- “Plus we have a friend we want to introduce you to” The other finishes with a mischievous grin

- Before you can really process what’s going on there’s a pair of hands on your shoulders pushing you forward, and a hand hand pulling you out of the hall

- “I’ll see you after school!” You call out as Fred and George pull you out of the great hall

- “Well took you two long enough”

- It’s Lee Jordan

- “Lee, meet our newest recruit” Fred starts

- “The famous (Y/N) (L/N), they’re already giving the professors trouble aren’t you?” George says with a nudge

- “Oh um, yeah I guess. Snape seemed pretty upset last night.”

- Man it’s going to be rough when you have to go to his house.

- But not any tougher than standing in the hallway while Lee Jordan appraises you with a critical gaze

- Oh geez, is this like joining a fraternity where you have to go through a hazing period?

- Lee looks at you sternly for a second before his face breaks into a smile

- “Only teasing, glad to have you (Y/N)” he says with a clap on your shoulder

- And that’s how you became best friends with Fred, George and Lee

Tag List:

@parascape​ @imdoingathingmom​ @smileygirl08​ @awesomebooklover17​ @taferris@28cnn​

[mayday396]

Okay update on this....yes it indeed is a trash show, but uh....I would like to edit my point.

Well my point still stands, that I find the idea of the 'Velma' show have all the characters we know and love being OOC(Out Of Character), initially I thought it would be like, they take the most Negative traits of their personalities and Amplify it to an exaggeration or make them Opposites of what they are with their most positive traits being down to a Base level.

They did that....ish...but oh god they did it in the most mediocre way possible, the writing just doesn't slap, and the pacing is all over the place, if they wanted to put Daphne and Velma together, at least make it Slow burn and Fluff/Angst because going from the context of the show they were former Friends, WHERE IS THE EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE? WHERE IS IT

Because it just seems Daphne is just mean girl bullying Velma with no context and if they were going for that then it's not even on "Mean Girls" and "Heathers" Standards.They stripped Fred's ENTIRE Personality and turn him into a stereotypical Preppy, Flirtatious White Highschool boy, I mean they did the OOC thing of making him the opposite of what he is but holy shit THAT'S JUST....TOO FAR.

Norman/Shaggy out of everyone is the most Normal, it's like they put effort into him at first and then was like, "Fuck it lets not" like how did you just remove his Iconic Eating habits with High metabolism within him, like if you want a Shaggy character, do it right.

I'm not too mad about Scooby not being here, I have still have the lingering feeling they would introduce him later on and reduce his personality into atoms, like yeah make him a good boi but if you don't make him have the same insatiable hunger like OG Shaggy, I will write an entire fanfic Rewrite with drawings of the characters.

However props to Representation tho, like despite everything Daphne looks hot, I'm set on the possibility Daphne is Asian because of our Queen Constance Wu, and yes Asians can be Red heads look it up.The Design of the Characters and the Animation is something while shocking at first....I'm not surprised anymore, the art style has grown on me, I'm okay with it.But I feel terribly bad for the Animators and Voice actors on making such a trash show.

I don't hide under a blanket of Nostalgia and Willing to try new shows and incarnations of said show.But I'm gonna say that this indeed was still kind of humorous, ITS SO BAD THAT ITS FUNNY.

Imma share unpopular Opinion, I am hyped for the new HBO Max's Velma, I don't know why people are so harsh about it, like it's our Sarcastic mystery solving home girl that's all there is.

People don't like the Trailer for some reason because the Characters are Black and all the other Changes such as the Change in tone like it's for Adults now, almost as if people forgot Mystery Incorporated didn't exist.

Velma is Sarcastic and in the Trailer they Sprinkled everything in there, I like it, especially the possibility of making Daphne Asian cause as a Child a part of me always wanted Daphne to be Asian.

Shaggy is not looking like Druggy FOR ONCE, a total Inversion to the other Incarnations, They made Fred a Jock this time and quite honestly I love it because I'm tired of seeing him being an automatic Himbo.

I like the tone of the Trailer, it feels like if Mystery Incorporated was more for Dark Comedy instead of Thriller, Guys just don't judge a book by its cover we all seen what happened with ROTMNT, just because it looks different doesn't mean it sucks, get over it already.

Like y'all being like Velma's character being misinterpreted, by like I'm tired of seeing her character being the same over and over again, the only time I truly accepted her character as a change up was mystery incorporated, Velma being an asshole is what I want to see.

[georgeweasleysbabe]

birthday boys || f.w & g.w

pairing: platonic!fred x reader x platonic!george

word count: 966

warnings: underage drinking, partying, fireworks. not proofread sjdbjdbd. pls tell me if I missed anything<3

summary: it’s your bestfriends’ birthday and you thought of giving them the best present you could ever have

a/n: shebhdv hii!! since it’s my favorite twins’ birthday today and also since it’s april fools, I thought of writing something for them. happy birthday fred and george! you guys will forever be in my hearts<3

italics are flashbacks

you woke up at exactly 8:30 am this morning feeling very excited. Today marked your calendar as April 1st, which was none other than your best friends’ birthday. you had planned something a few days ago to surprise the boys. something you knew they’d love.

you, fred, and george had been friends since your first year at hogwarts when george bumped into you on the train.

“georgie come quick! the compartments are nearly full!” you heard a red head say.

“mom, dad, I've got to go. i love you guys!” and after one last kiss to their cheek, you left your parents and went into the train. you looked around to find an empty compartment, until you felt your head hit something hard. “ouch!” you heard someone say. you looked up and saw a red haired boy, one who looked similar to the boy you saw earlier.

“I'm sorry” you said. “it’s ok” the boy sent you a small smile and held his hand out for you to get up. “i’m George by the way! George weasley!”

“i’m y/n y/l/n! nice to meet you!” you said in a cheery voice. you saw someone approaching George, someone who looked identical to him. “George, come onnn! I've found a place” he said before looking at you. “and who might this be?”

“hi my name’s y/n!” “fred weasley!” he shook your hand before telling George to come with him. George looked at you and asked if you wanted to sit with them, and who were you to decline such an offer. the three of you talked about random stuff. you learned that they were in the same year as you, and that they loved pranking. they told you a lot about their stories from home and you told them about yours. you knew from there that you had made your first friends. Hogwarts would be fun.

And you were right. Fred and George became your best friends. Along with Lee, the four of you were the most iconic group at Hogwarts.

You went to the great hall for breakfast, sitting right in between the twins. “happy birthday!” you said to the both of them with a big smile. they both said thank you and gave you a kiss on the cheek.

While eating your breakfast and chatting a bit, you remembered something you had to do, which may or may not have something to do with the twins birthday present.

“i have to go now, I’ll see you later guys!” you said “whyyyy? it’s only been a few minutes and you haven’t even finished your breakfast yet” fred said with a pout. “I’ve got to go do something freddie”

“which is??” George asked. you quickly thought of an excuse and said “homework.”

“really? it’s a weekend and I don’t even think anyone’s assigned something for us to do” said fred. “how would you know? you always skip classes and when you don’t, you don’t even listen” you said unimpressed. Fred let out another pout and said, “m’kay fine. but be back soon!”

“okay bye guys!”

———

After setting up your present you went to the gryffindor common room. you saw fred, george, and lee at the couch and went to sit with them.

“Look who finally came,” George said with a smirk. “oh shut it weasley” you replied teasingly. george put his hand on his chest as he pretended to be hurt and said, “really y/n? and on my birthday *sighs* such a bully”. all of you burst out laughing.

you laid your head on george’s shoulder as you thought about how lucky you are to have both these idiots as your friends.

———

The gryffindor common room was loud. loud music blasting, and everyone either drunk, or dancing. You knew there was a party, of course there was. It was the weasley twins’ birthday for god sake. You just needed to find a way to be able to get the twins outside.

Once you thought of something, you went through the crowd, whispering a string of ‘excuse me’ s and ‘coming through’. you found fred and george dancing, both with drinks in their hands.

“boys I need you outside for a minute” you said. they both nodded and went outside to the courtyard with you. “what’s up?” George started.

“Well I’ve planned this a few days ago, and since it’s your birthday, I wanted to do something special, something the both of you would enjoy.” they both had a look of both confusion and excitement as you lifted a sheet off a fireworks set. “just look up”.

you then set the fireworks off, and it exploded in the sky, revealing a string of different colors. then the ‘grand finale’, as you liked to call it, finally came. it was a firework that said ‘happy birthday fred and george, i love you guys’. you looked at the boys and they both had wide smiles on their faces. they looked at you and each gave you a hug. “thank you so much for this y/n, we loved it. although there is one problem.” Fred said, looking at George who immediately got what Fred was talking about. “yeah? and what might that be?” you nervously said, “you set up fireworks without us, and that is a crime” George continued.

you sighed in relief and said “oh I’m glad you liked it. I did get extra fireworks though, it’s over there” you pointed to the extra fireworks, and they both ran towards it. “have fun with it. happy birthday guys! i love you both so damn much.”

“we love you too y/n” and just like that, you spent the entire night setting off fireworks, which may or may not have landed you in detention.

[naaa-mmmm-ice]

Fred Weasley One Shot

Fred Weasley find out you have a crush on him and teases you relentlessly. Turns out he had another reason to doing so instead of just trying to make you mad.                    

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

This mf would be soooooo cocky all the time. About the littlest shit too. Blew up somebodys’ potion in Potions? He’s laughing about it for hours, even in front of the kid. Made you blush while you were trying to perform a spell in front of the whole class? Teases you the rest of the day. Has a prank go wrong but ends up turning out better than expected? Get ready, because the rest of the week that's allllllll you’ll be hearing about.

You poor soul. When this asshole found out you liked him. He told

 e v e r y b o d y

It was a terrible week for you. George and Ginny were on your ass about it and even Ron knew and asked you if it was true. Given, Fred was a Sixth Year and you were a Fifth. But jesus can’t a girl have a crush on a dumb, tall, freakishly hot redhead?

But don't all bad things have a happy ending? No, not all bad things have happy endings. But this week of hell definitely did, and this ending you were     n o t prepared for.

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

By the end of the week, you were embarrassed. You were tired. You were mentally frustrated with yourself and everyone around you. Especially Fred Weasley. Everyday this week you had people coming up to you left and right. “Do you like Fred?”

“Is it true?”

It was fucking hell. Miserable. Absolutely the worst. Fred had already figured it out so what point was there in denying it to everyone who asked.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“YES NOW STOP ASKING PLEASE.”

You were done with this shit.

All you wanted to do was walk out of your last class unbothered, and march straight to your room. This would have been the case if George hadn’t pulled you into an (almost) empty hallway and halted your tracks of going straight back up to the Ravenclaw common area.

When George had finally stopped tugging at your arms you were met with the cold look of emptiness that the hallway gave you. He was behind you when he pushed so you couldn’t see anything behind your back until you turned around.

Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME -- You a l m o s t screamed. Thank god for internal dialogues amirite.

At first you were met with the strong build of Fred’s chest. How did you know it was Freds and not Georges? He was wearing Molly Weasley's iconic “G” sweater she had sent to George during the Holidays.

You didn’t even bother to look up. Although you did straighten your robes and fix your posture. Probably to seem more mature than him. (This wasn’t super necessary considering everyone already knows he has the maturity of a two year old).

“Can I help you Weasley?” You stared coldly, right into his chest. Not even batting an eye when he chuckles and states with his viscously mocking tone.

“Ouch (y/n), not even going to look me in the eyes?”

“Fuck you.” You stated plainly. No hurt and no anger (although it was completely there) was present in your voice. You would not give him the power of knowing he had such a big effect on you. You would not give him the satisfaction.

---silence---

You were not expecting silence. You thought he would say something, anything, to mock you or embarrass you further.

But he didn't?

You waited a couple more seconds and still no answer. This is when you decided to look him in his gorgeous brown eyes.

He looked stunned, mouth slightly agape, looking down at you with a crinkle in his forehead as he scrunched his eyebrows together trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

“Huh?” Was all he could get out, staring right back at you.

“You heard what I said. Fuck you. You made this week miserable. I had people coming up to me left and right asking me if I had a crush on you. I had incessant teasing coming from George and Lee. I had to sit in class, next to YOU, as YOU decided it would be a fantastic idea to whisper into my ear, loud enough for EVERYONE to hear,

Never thought a girl like you would be so into me.

I am tired and exhausted and if you and George just pulled me aside just to tease me even more about liking you I am going to hex the living hell out of you.”

By this point you had turned your head completely away from him in fear of him either laughing at you, being more confused, or panicking at the sight of the water droplets threatening to leave your eyes.

But he didn’t want this to happen this way. Definitely not this way.

You closed your eyes in hopes of shoving the water back down and almost forgot he was there. Up until you felt two large hands, around the size of your face grab the sides of your cheeks. Without your control, your head had turned right back into his direction and your eyes found his as a soft look had taken over his expressions.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, staring into you so deeply you thought he was doing a thorough examination of your soul.

“You’re kidding right?” Was ALL you could get out before a salty tear slid down your cheek and onto your lips.

But with this he wiped the tear with his thumb and repeated again.

“I am sorry.

I never meant to make you so frustrated. I didn’t mean to tease you so badly.

(although he though your beatred face was absolutely adorable)

To be honest I wasn’t even 100% sure that you did truly like me until you started admitting to everyone that you did.”

You were s h o c k e d

“Honestly, it was kind of a relief to hear you admit it so many times because if you hadn’t, I don’t think I would believe it even in the slightest.”

You didn’t know what to say. You were the confused one this time, and he could tell, so he took that as a sign and continued.

“I was really happy when I heard you liked me, and I teased you about it because I thought seeing your red face was cute. But I should’ve realized it had become too much when you started avoiding people more. I really am sorry.

But…

George didn’t pull you to this hallway just so I could make fun of you. He pulled you out here because I wanted a quiet place where I could say that I like you too. And I recently noticed just how much I like you when you started avoiding people. And not just the people in your classes, but me. When I realized how much I missed your presence around me. When I realized how often I look your way when I do something stupid or say something that I think is absolutely hilarious.”

You were weak in the knees. WEAK IN THE KNEES I SAY. This cocky mf just admitted that he likes you?? And not like--

“Oh yeah ig you're cute too”

--But really, really likes you. You kept your mouth shut because you definitely wanted to see where this was going.

“I… I needed a quiet place where I could ask you to be my girlfriend.

Hearing the words ‘fuck you’ come out of your mouth were unexpected but very well-deserved.” With this he did the awkward shrug with his shoulders and withdrew his hands from your face. Realizing that he might have kept them there for a little too long. Simultaneously withdrawing the warmth that you yearned so long for.

“So haha… uhm *cough cough*” He stuttered his words as he took both of his arms and reached behind his head to rub his neck. Hanging both hands there awkwardly waiting for you to react as you stood before him with an open mouth.

You reached back to grab both of his hands and moved them in between your bodies so you could hold them with optimal comfort. You took a second. Closed your mouth. And tried thinking of anything… anything to say. But the only thing that came to mind was

“Yes Fred.”

Praying to any and/or all the gods above, that he would understand.

“What?”

“Yes.”

“Cool.”

And he did.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Moriarty 5 - 7 | HypMic 10 - 11

Moriarty 5

Saito’s Moriarty and Gentaro voices are quite similar, now that I compare them.

“…he’s a good egg at heart.” – LOL, never thought I’d be reading subtitles that said that.

Oh, so that was Frida on the bridge?

I wonder, is Moriarty like Bon and nursing a weak leg with that cane? Or is the cane just a symbol of nobility?

Moriarty 6

The Titanic? Wasn’t there a Black Butler arc based on it?

LOL, these people in the foreground are CGI.

…is that the grapefruit guy? (Beats me, I haven’t watched this in weeks and am only returning to it because Scott keeps mentioning spoilers. The only thing I’m keeping up with properly is HypMic and my Kanon watch with #AniTwitWatches…and soon I’ll add the final episodes of Sailor Moon to it.)

Found him! Sherlock Holmes! I sort of triangulated from buzz around me that he appears in this episode.

What’s with the skull ring Holmes wears?

…ah, the golden ratio!

…Oh, this is gonna get interesting! You can tell this Holmes is adept in fighting due to his build, but…how did Moriarty figure out Holmes played the violin? Calluses on his hands?

Is this Holmes a womaniser…? I thought the guy was often characterised as an asexual, or at the very least aromantic. That’s part of what makes the guy so intriguing to me - because he still has Irene.

A colliery is a coal mine. It’s been a while since I heard that word.

Moriarty 7

The anime’s sense of colour is probably one of the most striking parts of this. Not just red, but blue and green where it counts too.

Not a fan of the 1st person cam…

That knife came out pretty clean for something so blood-stained.

I wanted to say “’Right,’ said Fred”…but Fred didn’t talk, so I can’t do that. (Dangit!)

I somehow found it slightly funny that France was ahead of Britain (America?) in forensic pathology, although I dunno what made it funny exactly.

I squealed (…just a little bit) when the iconic quote came up: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” I have it memorised from my Detective Conan days still, see?

Next time: A Study in S (according to stuff I read, the S stands for Sherlock this time).

HypMic 10

…I can’t believe it’s almost over already. I’ve basically been in a dream this entire season…but then what happens once the anime is over…? Waiting for the 2nd DRB to happen, I guess.

I didn’t even realise, but Jiro’s varsity jacket has an owl on the bottom of the logo.

…”[H]it the head”? Wassat mean? *checks up* Oh, so it means to go to the bathroom…Right. It’s US slang, which might explain a thing.

Notice Ramuda uses “Jakurai” and not “jijii” or something like that during his time with Ichijiku. Also, there’s a lot of his deep voice going around…

You can see MTR on the poster behind Ramuda at one point.

*anguished noises* Ramuda!!! Please don’t do this!!!

LOL, Sadamezuka and Kazuha.

Is “bum-rush” even an appropriate word for this situation…? US slang is weird…

…Doppo’s performance almost seems like a Rosho foreshadowing. Also, I love how Doppo’s screens disappear with his motivation.

…I saw a spoiler today on Twitter regarding Dice and meat…now I get it.

“detarame” – I know this word means “nonsense”, but for some reason I memorised it as meaning “s***” at one point due to the context of Scenario Liar. I find it interesting Hifumi used a word from Scenario Liar in the first place, even though it’s not necessarily meant to be taken in that context.

“the King of Normies” – For some reason, that made me laugh pretty hard. That is an accurate translation of “riajyuu no ousama” though.

Gentaro’s smile puts a smile on my face as well.

“colours you’ve dyed” – Note Shibuya is constantly referred to by colours, including how PCCS (in the Shibuya 1st DRB team song) apparently means “practical colour coordinate system”.

I find it interesting that Saburo was the one who mentioned holding hands as a sign of camaraderie first in the anime and then the Funi translation makes Ramuda use the same symbolism here. It may have been unintentional, though.

…the subbers keep using “OMG” and I’m like ????. Is OMG outdated slang in 2020?

…wow, that holy imagery…they really went all-in on Jakurai’s godliness there.

…even when knocked down, Jakurai’s hair is still 100% gorgeous.

I noticed one of the lyrics the translators cut out of Doppo’s rap was “borderline”.

Ahhhhhhhhhh! This anime just kicked me where it hurts! (<- As in, it used the trope I love so much – where the underdog causes a sudden turn-around in the battle and they’re not even aware of it!) This is why I love you, Doppo!

LOL, FP spent their countdown gossiping. That’s such a FP thing to do.

Hifumi seems to carry the beat in MTR’s Kizuna. Jakurai gets drowned out quite a bit, although Riou (who has a similar voice) was less drowned out.

“No pain, no gain.” – That’s a good saying.

HypMic 11

2 episodes until the end! (Yikes!)

I still take some issue with subbing the laughing. Well, then again I’ve been half-deaf lately with my ears being clogged (accidentally clogged my ear up again…), so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

If I’m hearing it right, Ramuda goes “nee-san” and not particularly anything to do with “Beauties” or “Beasts”, which seems to be exclusive to the subs.

Stone guardian? I guess this has to do with jizo in Japanese. Hifumi does go “namu” (short for “namu amida butsu”) towards Doppo at the end there.

That bed is…why is it so empty if it’s meant to be the room someone’s staying in?

Is Jyuto’s hair black or brown? I’ve been colouring it a deep brown because I think that looks nice, but it might actually be black…

I have a newfound respect for Komada ever since I found out his birthday is [secret censored – maybe if you follow the hints I leave behind, you might find out what I mean].

LOL, I spotted the fire extinguisher in one corner and was immediately reminded of how someone once translated “fire extinguisher” to “hand grenade”.

…how does Jakurai’s hair work from the back? There’s this coil of hair that seems to go places it shouldn’t be…

For some reason, the subbers keep translating “sensei” as “the good doctor”…or is that the first and only time it happened?

I think it’s appropriate they discuss bonds on the day Kizuna (the ED) goes out on streaming.

…*thinks about 2nd DRB, where BB vs. DH is going to happen next month* …Yeah, you better pay attention or your daddy’s gonna come spank you boys.

Jakurai summoning his mic is always freakin’ cool. Aspire to be like this elegant man.

The wolf hand sign again.

There’s a pun between kizukizu (wounds) and kizuna (bonds). Update: The phrase is actually gisugisusa (stiffness, unsociability, coldness [of atmosphere] etc.), but...there’s the same rhyming scheme, so it’s not wrong.

Doppo’s bit about Jakurai(-sensei) being a kasugai (hemostat) is, surprisingly, quite faithful, as you can tell from how those words rhyme. Hifumi’s verse mentions a monkey wrench, though.

…kasumitai ore ga yoi… - that translates to “…[Jakurai is] better than us, who are like scum…” It’s a very Doppo sort of line, noting that kasu literally means “residue”.

I didn’t realise this until now, but Riou has a piercing in one ear (his right). It’s just in an unconventional place in the upper curve, so I never spotted it.

Samatoki’s death aesthetic really contrasts against Jakurai’s healing one. I can see why people really liked the MTC vs. MTR fight now.

It seems the strategy to win in this series is to keep spamming your attacks. It seems hugely suitable for my pseudo-Pokemon AU, which emphasises attack over defence.

Oh! I never noticed the blue gem on Jakurai’s mic!

Note how Samatoki said “lightning rod” – Jakurai’s name means “lonely thunder”. It’s one reason why I fell head over heels for the guy – his stupidly awesome name.

“horse/rabbit/bush warbler” – These refer to MTC. Samatoki, Jyuto, Riou. On that note, ARB currently has an event where Ramuda hangs out with MTC and he calls Jyuto “usa-chan” as a pun. I find that so darn cute!

“And the winner is…Matenro!” - *cue the song, The Champion*

Notice how they put BB and FP before MTC and MTR in the ED…it’s foreshadowing!

[the-roanoke-society]

now i have a story that i’d like to tell...

about this guy you all know him, he had me scared as hell! / he comes to me at night after i crawl into bed / he's burnt up like a weenie and his name is fred!

horror aus part trois. part one can be found here, and two, here. all warnings and disclaimers still apply--as does the love.

do you dare dare journey below the cut...?

it’s a long way down, a long way down - a holy hell au inspired by the creep series

there are stories are stories on stories on stories about matches made in heaven. about two pure souls destined for the other, finally reaching a ‘happily ever after’ after going through trials and tribulations that, honestly, are played out and boring.

that’s exactly what fergus macleod would tell you, anway.

he’s been inhabiting his mortal coil for a few decades now, engaging in his favorite activity--serial murder.

but lately, something has--gone out.

he’s lost his light. his passion for killing.

so he gets an idea, and puts out an ad for a videographer.

he’ll make a documentary, he decides. a magnum opus to relight the blood and the violence that had brought him so much joy over the years.

what he didn’t expect was andi.

not her beauty. not her courage. not her wit, sharp enough to make a god bleed.

and not her fangs, and a thirst to rival his--even if her moral compass was a bit more lawful.

enough of stories about matches made in heaven.

talk to me about a match made in hell.

(these--particular films are not easy watches, though i personally enjoy them. the sequel is my favorite, but remember when i said ‘explicit sexuality’ in the first warning post? the especially applies to creep 2. when i imagined this au it was less in-line with the main narrative of the movies and more, say, a meet-cute story you’d overhear at an addams’ family function.)

mini soundtrack sampler includes: lovelytheband, ‘buzz cut’ + catfish & the bottlemen, ‘longshot’ + albert natural, ‘sara loves her juicy fruit’

red sun rises like an early warning - an ancient cares au inspired by sleepy hollow

sleepy hollow was often called a “sleepy” village, in the way that meant that nothing ever happened there. marie van tassel, daughter of the richest man in town--and immediately intrigued by the arrival of one police constable walter vaughn, sent all the way from new york city--would disagree. especially in recent years.

the headless horseman had returned.

and marie, for all the occult studying she’d done far from the gaze of her father’s watchful eyes, still so haunted after her mother’s brutal and untimely passing--couldn’t figure out why.

she knew exactly who he was. what he was. but why had he returned? what had woken him?

and could see really be that mournful, when it had sprung start the machinations of fate that brought walter right to her doorstep?

“i have shed my tears for boom... and yet my heart is not broken. do you think me wicked?”

“no... but perhaps there is a little bit of witch in you, marie.”

“walter, why do you say that?”

“because you have bewitched me.”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: frank sinatra, ‘witchcraft’ + creedence clearwater revival, ‘i put a spell on you’ + the rolling stones, ‘sympathy for the devil’

drunk and driven by a devil’s hunger - a safety nets au inspired by apostle, co-starring @agent-thorn​

it was only five years into the birth of an entirely new century, and her twin brother had been taken; her father, lost in his grief, was utterly useless.

it was all up to parker jensen.

she found a fake pass easy enough, slyly dancing her way through conversations with began with “you know, i don’t remember seeing you at any of the prayer meetings...” until finally, finally, they reached that accursed island.

she’d never been to wales before.

she had no idea what to expect.

what are you supposed to expect, when you’re all alone on a solo rescue mission going toe-to-toe with what can only be described as a cult?

but ivar--son of the enigmatic priest of the island, malcolm--was a nice surprise.

the only nice surprise that she’d find.

it wasn’t until she caught jeremy, sneaking home after what she could only guess had something to do with ffion, that she got her first flash of what would be a more and more grisly truth.

this island had its own god.

and something much more sinister than genesis had happened on this soil.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: bakar, ‘hell n back’ + mumford & sons, ‘little lion man’ + neil reid, ‘mother of mine’

let that fever make the water rise - a grace & choice au inspired by the ritual

it was supposed to be like a vacation. diana hadn’t had one in at least fifteen years. vida, even longer.

so why not hiking? why not the kungsleden--the king’s trail--in northern sweden?

the first two days were bliss. nothing but rolling hills, clear skies. up until:

“ah fuck!”

“vida--shit, vida, are you okay?”

“yeah, i’m--urk!”

“all right, that was not a reassuring noise, let’s have a look at that--”

vida’s left knee went from pink to a swollen blue to an agonized, deep purple tinged with green over the course of next day. diana couldn’t bear to watch her struggle to keep up, especially when this was supposed to be a romantic break, nothing as taxing as the fieldwork happening back home.

by the light of a campfire, diana studied their map, humming. “what if we just cut through the forest?” she asked. “if we just went as the crow flies... it cuts the time in half. and you need medical attention, vida, we can’t keep going on like this.”

“has the battalion cleared this area?” vida returned her question with one of her own, eyes shining. the reflection of the fire made them look like stones polished by a river. “we wouldn’t run into anything, would we?”

diana smiled. “nothing we couldn’t handle, love, i’m sure.”

and diana didn’t change her mind when they set off the next morning... up until they found the disembowled carcass of an elk, placed up high in a tree like a religious icon.

she thought of morgan.

“diana, what--what put that up there? something had to have put that up there!”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: billie eilish, ‘bury a friend’ + two feet, ‘i feel like i’m drowning’ + coldplay, ‘paradise’

you can hear the river from my burial bed - a secret gardens au inspired by the legends of slenderman & mercy black, co-starring @agent-hood​

she wouldn’t say she wouldn’t remember. she did.

it was just that caroline janson had been in therapy for so long... she was no longer sure what of shards of her memories were real, and what would be, as dr. ward would say, hallucinations.

but she knew one thing: she was glad to be coming home.

“i hope chicken’s okay for your first night back,” parker began gently. “i’m just now realizing i forgot to ask--”

caroline smiled at her, “chicken would be great.”

she watched parker’s profile, as she opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. finally, she inhaled, then began, “you know... carter’s missed you since you’ve been gone...”

caroline rolled her eyes. “parker. it’s been a decade and a half. i seriously doubt it.”

“hey, who knows my brother better right now, me or you?”

that earned a huff... and a grin. subdued, but still there. “... okay. fine. but... maybe not tonight.” parker glanced at her once, and nodded.

“i understand. besides, maybe i want you all to myself for the first few days, anybody think about that?”

and caroline laughed.

and she wished that it felt like she wasn’t still being haunted.

mini soundtrack sampler includes:  oingo boingo, ‘dead man’s party’ + shaed, ‘trampoline’ + corrina repp, ‘only a beat’

don’t let it shake your steady thread-cutting hand - a royals & robots au inspired by kristy

it was hardly tilde’s idea to spend thanksgiving alone harvard. but between the pandemic, the weather, and her own growing agitation at her father’s behavior...

it just seemed easier.

and it wasn’t all bad. she still had prudence, who opted to stay with her out of love (and perhaps a lack of family--but she didn’t ask). and they had run of essentially the entire campus--there were several buildings that stayed opened, even over the holiday. the library being one.

but it wasn’t until one night, when they made a late night trip to a convenience store not far from tilde’s housing that things became... strange.

“pru. ... pru!” she whispered, snacks in one hand, the other on pru’s elbow. “... i think she’s following us.”

“she?” pru asked, lowly, careful to keep her eyes down, as if they were just having a very, very difficult time decided on what kind of poptarts they wanted.

tilde, face oddly blanched, couldn’t find her voice, so she just nodded.

at the end of the aisle, a figure in dark hoodie and skinny jeans passed out of view.

one of pru’s arms went around tilde’s waist. “don’t worry. i’m sure she’s just here at the same time as us. it’s a small store.”

tilde would remember that when she got home in time to find a snuff film loaded onto her laptop.

“oh shit--oh shit, oh god--!”

this is why she preferred halloween.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: yeah yeah yeahs, ‘heads will roll’ + rihanna, ‘disturbia’ + nonono, ‘pumpin’ blood’

[angrylizardjacket]

Brian May Exclusive Enterview: Queen, Debauchery and Freddie Mercury (May 21, 2017)

Originally from The Times (which you have to pay to read) but found on SpearHead News (who republished the whole thing for free and I love them for it). Not sure if people had seen it much before but Rock Dad Brian May is v sweet, and the spearhead link has images attached. 

Tragedy, debauchery … and dwarves — the guitarist Brian May gives Krissi Murison an access-all-areas account of his life with Freddie Mercury and rock’s most flamboyant band. by The Sunday Times 

Brian May does a great Freddie Mercury impression. He leans forward in his chair, clasps his hands together conspiratorially and channels the high-speed, staccato delivery of the greatest showman of the late 20th century: “ ‘I had an idea … you know Michael Jackson did this album and it’s called Bad?’ Yeah, Fred. ‘Well, the album we’re making, we could call it Good.’ ”

May laughs. “He would always knock you sideways. Sometimes it was great and sometimes it wasn’t.”

The visitors to Freddie’s dressing room started to change from hot chicks to hot men. It didn’t matter to us — why should it?

May, the guitarist in Queen since their 1970 inception, remembers when Mercury finally announced to him that he was gay, “years after it was obvious”. “In the beginning, the band lived on a shoestring. We couldn’t afford individual hotel rooms, so I would share a room with Freddie … There isn’t a lot I don’t know about Freddie and what he got up to in those days — which was not men, I have to tell you. It was fairly obvious when the visitors to Freddie’s dressing room started to change from hot chicks to hot men. It didn’t matter to us, why should it? But Freddie had this habit of saying, ‘Well, I suppose you realise this, that or the other,’ in this very offhand way, and he did say at some point, ‘I suppose you realise I’ve changed in my private life?’

“And years later, he said, ‘I suppose you realise that I’m dealing with this illness.’ Of course, we all knew [he had Aids], but we didn’t want to. He said, ‘You probably gather that I’m dealing with this thing and I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want our lives to change, but that’s the situation.’ And then he would move on.”

Dredging through old memories has been the subject of May’s latest project: a compilation book of his personal collection of 3D photos from his time striding around the globe during Queen’s heady reign of stadium-rock supremacy. The accompanying words mark the first time any member of Queen has written about their experiences in the band.

It is harrowing to read of Freddie’s final days and the devastating effect the HIV virus took on his body before he died in late 1991. “The problem,” May writes, “was actually his foot, and tragically there was very little left of it. Once, he showed it to us at dinner. And he said, ‘Oh Brian, I’m sorry I’ve upset you by showing you that.’ And I said, ‘I’m not upset, Freddie, except to realise you have to put up with all this terrible pain.’ ”

Equally hard is May’s belief that the “magic cocktail” of drugs that has since stopped Aids becoming a death sentence was discovered just too late to save Freddie.

“He missed by just a few months,” May sighs. “If it had been a bit later he would still have been with us, I’m sure. It’s very …” he breaks off sadly. “Hmmm. You can’t do ‘what if’ can you? You can’t go there because therein lies madness.”

Brian May on his Queen picture book and Freddie Mercury

Honestly, I had expected to meet a sanctimonious old git. May has been dubbed “the world’s grumpiest rock star” thanks to his online blog, Brian’s Soapbox, on which he posts pious rants about politics, the press, badger culls and animal rights. There are flashes of the same hectoring tone in the book. But it must be a mean trick of the typing, because in real life he seems a terribly gentle and pleasant soul.

I meet him in Windlesham, Surrey, in the vast pile where he has his offices. The bookshelves are lined with antique cameras and 19th-century volumes of Punch. In the middle of the room is a female mannequin wearing a sweeping Victorian crinoline skirt — another of May’s esoteric interests.

He wanders in wearing clogs, gardening trousers and a woven red jacket, almost as arresting as his bright grey corkscrew barnet. Under the jacket is a white shirt, unbuttoned dangerously low for someone who turns 70 in July. Bohemian chain pendants clatter against nipple as he leans in to say hello. He is very tall — or maybe that’s just the hair — and frightfully easy-going.

Tea is arranged and he briefly excuses himself. I assume he’s gone to use the facilities or take an urgent phone call. But after 20 minutes I look out the window to see him tottering around the back garden taking pictures of his rhododendron. Has he forgotten me? When he finally returns, it’s with a box containing his treasured collection of “stereoscopic” (3D) cameras and some of the original slides he took.

He shows me one of his favourites: a picture of Freddie and the Queen bassist John Deacon on a private plane in 1977. A blonde woman gazes at Freddie from the seat next to him.

“That’s Mary, his long-term girlfriend.” Despite Mercury’s sexuality, Mary Austin was his longest relationship and the woman he called “the love of my life”. “They were still very close right to the end,” May nods. “He took care of Mary in his will.”

We look at another photo of Freddie having his make-up applied before a show. “You just feel he’s so close there, don’t you?” May smiles. “It’s almost painfully real. He was this strange mixture of flamboyance and shyness,” he says, remembering his first impressions of Mercury. “He had already built this image around himself, which was very confident and colourful. He was a rock star long before he made a record. In the old days they would have called him a dandy. And more recently a metrosexual. He was like a peacock, a person who brought his own fantasy to life.”

Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, east Africa, to Indian Parsi parents in 1946. He had already started calling himself Freddie before his family came to England, fleeing the Zanzibar revolution for Feltham in west London when he was 17. May grew up a few miles away in leafy Hampton, a studious only child who would later quit a PhD in astrophysics at Imperial College London to pursue his rock’n’roll dreams. (He eventually completed it 36 years later in 2007, specialising in zodiacal dust.)

May tells me about the day he met Freddie. The guitarist was already in a university band called Smile. One day Smile’s singer unwittingly brought his colourful, outspoken mate from Ealing Art College to watch a rehearsal. “Freddie was full of enthusiasm, really fired up,” May remembers. “He loved watching us. Then, on the other hand, he was: ‘But you’re doing all of this wrong. Why are you just standing there looking at the floor? Why aren’t you giving a show for people?’ ”

Was he angling for the frontman job himself?

“I think so. He was very complimentary to me. He said, ‘You should be my Jimi Hendrix.’ Freddie loved Hendrix, he followed him everywhere, he was like a disciple.”

A band, Queen, was born with Mercury as singer. I had no idea how revolutionary his crowd interaction was until May explains that most audiences going to watch a rock band in the early 1970s would sit on the floor, nodding. “These days groups encourage audience participation, but Freddie asking people to sing along was almost uncool in those days. It was viewed as something that might happen in cabaret. What we did, if you want to be crass about it, is we amalgamated rock with music hall. That’s why we wrote We Are the Champions, We Will Rock You and Radio Ga Ga — it was consciously allowing the audience to be part of the show.”

Then there were the outfits. May’s book features some beauties: early 1970s Freddie in flowing locks and Zandra Rhodes’s white pleated “winged” capes; gay-icon Freddie, barechested in black leather trousers and black leather biker hat; “Mediterranean prawn” Freddie with his porno moustache, bouffant wig and strappy red leotard.

Wasn’t he scared of getting beaten up?

“No, not really. There were times when we went, Fred, are you really going on in that? I think the maroon sequin shorts were close to the edge as far as we were concerned. But he loved to outrage people. We were very much a people’s band. If people stopped us in the street and got excited, it was generally bricklayers or truck drivers. Freddie had an amazing way of being in contact with everyone, making people feel like their inner selves were going to come out. We liberated a lot of people.”

Mercury the daring peacock, May the soft-spoken brainiac … it is hard not to see them as two polar opposites, but May disagrees. “We were all striding around the world being big-time rock stars, but actually we’re quite fragile inside. It’s probably the reason we’re rock stars, because it’s a big compensation thing, playing a loud guitar or strutting around singing. You do it because you want to feel confident, you want to find yourself and achieve your potential.”

It says much about Mercury’s light-sapping charisma that May spent much of his time in the shadow of the singer while he was alive. And it says much about May’s strategic brilliance that he hasn’t subsequently faded into obscurity, but become the figurehead of a band that is now even more successful than it was during Mercury’s lifetime. According to this year’s Rich List, May is worth £125m, while a recent survey named Queen the favourite band among fiftysomethings.

Next year will finally see the release of a long-awaited Freddie Mercury biopic, with Rami Malek playing the singer, and May and Queen’s drummer, Roger Taylor, on board as music producers. We Will Rock You, a musical based on Queen’s hits, ran at the Dominion Theatre for 12 years from 2002. Since 2012, Queen have toured live with the American Idol finalist Adam Lambert singing Mercury’s lines (heresy in my opinion, but apparently Freddie would have loved him). Nothing, though, can eclipse May’s 2002 moment astride the top of Buckingham Palace, playing a guitar solo of God Save the Queen for the jubilee. The roof was his idea; the organisers had initially envisaged him wandering through the state rooms for the performance, but he thought it lacked impact. Perhaps he is more like Freddie than we will ever know.

Absent from any of the post-Mercury Queen activity is the bassist, John Deacon, now said to be a recluse. “I don’t see him at all, no,” says May. “It’s his choice. He doesn’t contact us. John was quite delicate all along. He could be very outgoing and very funny, but I think some of the stuff that happened in Munich gave him a lot of damage, and I think losing Freddie was very hard for him as well. He found that incredibly hard to process, to the point where actually playing with us made it more difficult.”

Munich was where Queen holed up at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s to write and record. Things got out of hand. May coyly refers to it in the book as a period of heavy drinking in a local bar, “living in a fantasy world of vodka and barmaids”.

Today he is more forthright: “We all lost our minds … we were all in a perilous place where our emotions were out of control. It manifested itself in way too much drinking, a certain amount of drugs, which I didn’t share — but certainly an awful lot of vodka went through my body. We all fell to bits. That’s the moment Freddie wrote It’s a Hard Life. If you look at the video, it’s a metaphor. There’s all this wonderful, fanciful clothing and excess of food, wine and debauchery, but Freddie’s saying ‘It’s a hard life’ as the grapes are thrust into his mouth. The Freddie writing that song was actually in a very painful, emotional place.”

It inevitably also had an impact on the band dynamic. “We overreacted with each other at times. We all left the band at some point. The studio’s a hard place for a band anyway, but in our case all four of us as writers had had worldwide hits — and I think that’s unique, I don’t think there’s another band in history where that’s true. You have four writers trying to create the next statement of what we are, so what could that statement be except a fight between the different visions? The lifestyle we led magnified that conflict.” In Deacon’s case, it culminated in “John disappearing to Bali and seeing God or whatever”.

When it comes to legendary Queen decadence, May’s book does its best to brush over the carnage. So let me be the one to remind you: there was the Madison Square Garden aftershow party at which male guests were served by topless waitresses in stockings and heels and female guests by men in nothing but gym shorts (to avoid accusations of sexism). And the champagne bill for Freddie’s 35th birthday in New York in 1981, which is said to have been £30,000. Most outrageous, though, was a 1978 album-release party in New Orleans, involving “a flock of transvestites, fire-eaters, dancing girls, snake charmers and strippers dressed as nuns”, according to Mark Blake’s well-respected Queen biography. The tales of what happened next range from the lurid (naked mud-wrestling, public fornication) to the unprintable, but perhaps the most famous involves a fleet of dwarves carrying platters of cocaine strapped to their heads. Does May remember seeing them?

“We knew a lot of dwarves,” he concedes. “I’m still very friendly with the dwarf community because my wife, Anita, used to do pantomimes. I don’t want to sound big-headed, but I’m pretty big in the dwarf world. I’ve spent many long nights propping up bars with dwarves.”

Of New Orleans, he says: “We chose to launch the album there because it was completely broad-minded. We knew a lot of people on the ‘edge of society’, as you would have called it then. You wouldn’t call it that now, you’d call it LGBTBF or whatever it is now. To that party came all sorts of pretty outrageous performers of every sex — and there are a lot! It was fun, nothing sinister went on at all. Nobody was abused, nobody was taken advantage of.”

Fat Bottomed Girls — I was proud of that song. The nude photoshoot was fun at the time, but I wouldn’t find it amusing now. Attitudes change

He would rather distance himself from some of Queen’s less politically correct japes. “For instance, Fat Bottomed Girls. I am very proud of that song, but as part of the album packaging we had this nude [female] bicycle race for a photo session and it all seemed quite innocent and fun at the time. Now I wouldn’t think that was amusing. Attitudes have changed to lots of things.”

He was far from the hardest-partying member of Queen. He’s never even tried drugs, having decided while still a student that “I want to get to the end of this and know that everything I felt was real”.

His weakness was always “company”. He bemoans his sensitive and emotionally immature nature, which meant he was endlessly trawling the world for “the perfect bond with the perfect partner … the place where you could dissolve with someone to the point where you don’t know where they start and you end.”

Did he ever find it? “No, it’s impossible. I’ve glimpsed it. Various times, various moments. But it’s a wonderful fiction, really.”

Don’t feel too bad for him. While he was searching, his then-wife, Chrissie Mullen, was stuck at home with their three children.

“It was very different in those days. There were no mobile phones and phone calls were incredibly expensive if you were on the other side of the world. There was this feeling that life on the road was this separate bubble from your life back home. Nowadays you can’t even begin to think that because communication is so good. We lived in a time that was very exciting, but lonely because you were cut off. You were exploring the frontiers of what was around you, but also the frontiers of what was inside you. In the same way as people who went to look for the Northwest Passage in the 1950s. It felt a bit like you were an explorer in another universe.”

As justifications for adultery go, I suppose it’s a pretty classy one.

He met his second wife, Anita Dobson — aka Angie, the original Queen Vic landlady from EastEnders — in 1986 at a film premiere, while he was still married to Mullen. He and Dobson wed in 2000. There was much amusement in the early days about them both having the same huge poodle perms — though May’s is the real deal and Dobson has been platinum and straight for some time now. In his book’s acknowledgments, he thanks her for managing to live with “possibly the most infuriating man in Britain for 30 years”.

“I know I’m not easy,” he says. “I’m constantly obsessed with one thing or another — astronomy, stereoscopy, music, saving animals … Living with someone like that is appallingly difficult, so I think she deserves a medal. I’m not going to tell you she’s easy, either. She’s an artist and a fearsomely creative person, so our life has always been turbulent, but I suppose that’s what’s kept us young.”

He has previously spoken about the depression he suffered from in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as he dealt with the fallout from his first marriage breaking down and the deaths of both his father and Mercury. Last year he cancelled a tour due to a mystery “persistent illness”. And on Christmas Day he published an alarming blog on Brian’s Soapbox. “I’ve been going through some radical and painful changes in my life … if you had seen me a few weeks ago, you would’ve wondered if I was going to make it to Christmas,” he wrote, before publishing a “tool kit” of apps, a book and a prayer to help others struggling to cope “physically or mentally or spiritually”.

“I went through a very bad period before Christmas and cancelled everything, not just the tour, everything,” he explains. “I just knew I couldn’t handle it.”

Would he call it depression?

“Strangely enough I prefer not to call it depression now. I’ve recently got very much into the body and mind. All my life I’ve been pathetic at doing exercises. I now have a regime — every morning I do 40 minutes’ exercise, then I finish with meditation. It’s really enabled me to recentre. I feel like I’m in a much better place.”

He is an advocate of mindful meditation — a way of living in the present that he believes Mercury used in the final days of his illness. May is happy to speak openly about his own mental health. “I noticed Prince Harry opened up in a similar way. I’ve always thought it’s nice to be open and I get reinforced in that because I get tons of mail saying the fact that you talked about it has helped me feel like I wasn’t alone and wasn’t a freak. I don’t think all this taboo business is helpful at all.”

I wonder if it might be a better use of his platform than his zealous activism on behalf of badgers, which seems a rather niche concern. In brief, then: he is a fierce campaigner against the policy of culling badgers to try to eradicate bovine TB. It is his scientific belief that the cull isn’t working. But it is muddled by his more deep-seated conviction: “Martin Luther King said we hold it self-evident that every man is born equal. I hold it self-evident that every creature is born equal.”

He can point to numerous childhood traumas that led him to this conclusion: watching his mother pour boiling water over an invasion of ants on the path outside his house; squirting a bumblebee with the pesticide DDT, then recoiling in shame as it dropped to the ground, buzzing to its slow and agonising death. If he hasn’t yet had therapy for the latter, he really should.

The animal fanaticism is odd, because on everything else he seems so calmly rational. Perhaps he learnt some of that composure from Freddie. Despite his pain, Freddie was determined to keep working during the band’s final days together in a recording studio in Montreux.

“What we did was get on with business as usual, which is what Freddie wanted,” May remembers. “He said, ‘I don’t want anything to change. We just do what we always do and we love what we do, so it’s going to be fine.’ Certainly those days towards the end were fabulous, full of laughter and joy, Freddie as wicked as ever. He was incredibly matter-of-fact about everything. ‘Oh darling, I’ll just get on with it.’ There wasn’t any self-pity at all. He wanted a ballad, so I very quickly sketched something in the studio and Freddie liked it. He said, ‘Gimme some words’. It was a question of scribbling a few lines and he’d chuck a couple of vodkas down — because he could hardly stand at that point — ‘Oh darling, I’ll do it now.’ Then he’d prop himself up on the desk and sing the lines. We didn’t quite get to the end. I gave him the last verse and he said, ‘Oh darling, I’m not feeling too good now, so I’ll come back to it. In a couple of days I’ll be fine, we’ll do it then.’ And he never did.”

May finished the song after Mercury’s death. It’s called Mother Love, “an attempt from the two of us to look at life and sum it up, to reconcile the end with the beginning, although we wouldn’t have put it that way.”

What does he think Freddie would be doing now if he were still alive? “I don’t think he’d have the patience for social media, because I hardly do and he was much more impatient than me. I don’t think he would be tweeting, he would probably be still writing his little memos on pieces of paper. He was becoming more and more reclusive towards the end of his life. That was partly because he was becoming more and more visible, but partly not wanting his illness to be public. But he was very private anyway and I think that would have continued.”

He is adamant Mercury would still be creating music. “His creativity would have carried on. He was unstoppable and very lateral-thinking. Always coming up with things that were surprising. Often Roger and I, if we’re creating something for Queen, both of us have said that we feel like he’s in the room and you know what he’d say. You can tell if he would have been scornful or enthusiastic — although of course the whole thing about Freddie was that he wasn’t expected.”

We have touched upon May’s depression, infidelity, the painful death of one of his closest friends and the painful death of a bee. Yet there is one subject so sensitive, I have avoided raising it until the very end. His hair. He hates talking about it, but he must on some level like the attention it brings, otherwise why doesn’t he just cut it off?

“I’m comfortable with it,” he says. “It’s completely real. For a time when it was going grey I got very worried that I had to keep it a certain way or I wouldn’t be me any more. Anita encouraged me not to worry about it.”

Would he ever cut it off?

“If it would achieve world peace, I’d do it tomorrow. If it would stop the badger cull, I’d probably do it tomorrow. Because the badger cull is a worthless, senseless operation, it’s not working and sooner or later our government has to realise …”

The images in May’s new book are not just any photos, but 3D pictures, taken on one of the Queen guitarist’s prized “stereoscopic” cameras.

Alongside music, astronomy and badgers, May is deliriously passionate about 3D photography. He first became hooked, aged 12, when Weetabix gave away free stereoscopic picture cards. He petitioned his parents to send off 1s 6d for the photo viewer so he could see them properly in 3D. “It’s probably about £2.50 by today’s money. But we were poor in those days — £2.50 was a lot of heating and lighting.”

“Stereoscopic” photography was originally a Victorian phenomenon and May’s book is published through the London Stereoscopic Company, a 19th-century business he brought back to life in 2008. He has also designed and prototyped his own stereoscopic photo viewer, the Owl, to see the images in their full, 3D majesty; it comes with the book. “It’s just magic to me,” he says, “when you see a picture of Freddie in the viewer and he springs to life.”

[herocentral]

Possible Hero 6

Hi Folks I know times are hard right now and we are all confined to our homes but that has not stopped the creativity of everyone here, and so heres the long awaited seventh chapter of Possible Hero 6. 

Kim Possible and Big Hero 6 (c) Disney,2020

I don't own the characters in this story THIS IS JUST FOR FUN!

Chapter 7 Destructo Nightmare Part 2:

The Lucky Cat Cafe many years ago:

The City of San Fransokyo was buzzing with life on a warm summers day and at the Lucky Cat Cafe it was busy busy. In the home area of the cafe a much younger Hiro was on the bedroom floor working on a small robot. 

He places the head on and switches it on by a switch in its back. It starts walking putting a joyful smile on his face however after a couple of seconds the robot stops. 

Hiro develops a rather upset look on his face. “Oh come on that’s the tenth time and it still doesn’t work!” Hiro exclaimed on the verge of throwing a fit. 

“Hey hey easy bro.” Called a voice and Hiro looked up to see his older brother Tadashi looking down to him wearing a red shirt and brown pants and on his head was his baseball cap bearing the city logo in Japanese writing. 

“No need to start throwing a duck fit.” He said as he kneeled down to his height. 

“I give up I’m done I just can’t crack this issue with the power.” Young Hiro said rather depressed and panicked. However Tadashi’s comforting smile persisted he knew his brother would get upset when he fails but if given the right motivation and encouragement he could get past it. 

“Come on little brother it’s not like you to think like that.” Tadashi said ruffling his head. “Now let’s take a look and see what the problem is.” 

So Tadashi sat down with his brother they disassembled the robots body and took a look at some of the components. 

“I’ve looked at the servos and the connections to the batteries but, the problem of the robot still refusing to work is persisting.” Hiro explained to his brother. 

“Well there’s an easy fix start small and focus on one thing at a time.” Tadashi explained. 

The two brothers looked through the components including the batteries and by looking at the smaller components and the two Possible main causes the battery and the servos Hiro looks closer and soon discovers what’s wrong.

“Ah so that’s it.” Hiro said as he reassembled then robot and inserted the battery and when he switched it on it moved and this time didn’t stop. 

“Ah ha it works!” Hiro said joyfully. “So the problem was in the connections to the battery the wires were crossed wrong.” Hiro said.

“Yep see what happens when we focus on one small thing at a time.” Tadashi said with a smile. “Thanks Tadashi.” Hiro said. “Hey you’ve got the brains but when we work it out together we can overcome any obstacle.” Tadashi said with a smile. 

Just then they heard footsteps coming up stairs and it’s Aunt Cass carrying their lunch on plates which was pizza. 

“Afternoon boys who’s hungry?” She asked her two nephews who jumped up and took the pizza and enjoyed it to celebrate their success. 

Present day:

On Akuma island things have gone from bad to worse for our heroes, though they were successful in rescuing Hiro and destroyed the Destructo Yama robot, Drakken reveals he’s made an army’s worth of them and is already on route to attack the city of San Fransokyo. 

In the former Krei tech facility the teams of Big Hero 6 and Team Possible watch the army of robots fly towards the city. 

“Okay this is beyond not good.” Wasabi said in horror. 

“Yeah we destroyed what we thought was Drakken’s only robot but now it turns out he’s got an army of them.” Ron agreed. 

“Uh Uh not good.” Rufus squeaks. 

“Hey we lose when we quit and I’m not giving up yet.” Kim said against their negativity. 

“Kim’s right besides it’s not the first time we’ve taken on an army of robots and it probably won’t be the last.” Gogo agreed. 

“Great but we still need a way to take down those robots.” Honey Lemon said. 

“Hiro.” Kim turned to the young genius. “Drakken forced you to finish the robot is there anything that might help us?” 

“Yeah like any weaknesses?” Fred then asked.

“Well I did take a good look inside that thing and it’s incorporated an amalgam of the learning AI from Noodle Burger boy and some cybernetic components, which means there maybe a way to take them down.” Hiro explained. 

“Okay then. Head back to the garage and see if you my dad or the Tweebs can figure out something.” Kim suggested but then Hiro caught onto something to what she said. 

“Wait what? What do you mean your dad?” Hiro asked rather panicked. 

“Oh yeah you weren’t there well basically when we found Baymax and after he tried to kill us we found out his sensor was busted and since Wade couldn’t fix it alone Kim asked for her dads help and now both her parents know we’re Big Hero 6.” Fred explained. 

“WHAT!” Hiro said with a panicked look and his hands on his head. 

“Hiro relax they’ve agreed to keep our secret.” Honey Lemon assured him. 

“Yeah their the parents of a teen super hero they can keep a secret.” Fred said in his comic book wisdom. 

“Okay but I can’t let you guys take them on alone.” Hiro protested as he didn’t like the idea of his friends fighting the robots without him or Baymax. 

“Hiro.” Gogo said getting his attention. “Kim’s right we need you at the garage and Baymax is out of juice so he’s no good to us like this.” She gestured to the red robot that Fred was trying to hold up with Wasabi’s help. “we won’t stand a chance without a way to fight these things.” She said to him and Hiro took all this in still a little doubtful. 

“Your our leader, we trust you and you need to trust us.” Gogo then said and Kim couldn’t help but take in Gogo’s  words as did Ron they did trust each other as a team that was something to be admired. 

Hiro looked up to his friend and nodded in agreement. 

“Alright I’ll take Baymax back to the garage and see if I can find a way to stop these things.” He said. “Kim can you and the others go after them?” 

“No big we’ve got this.” Kim said then reached into her pocket and pulled out her Kimmunicator. 

“Here take the Kimmunicator with you Wade maybe able to help.” She explained as he handed it to Hiro which he took he nodded in response then he remembered something. 

“Before you go, if your going up against those Destructo Yama’s and Shego you’ll need an edge.” Hiro pulled out his phone and pressed a certain icon on it. 

A few moments later something was flying towards them Kim couldn’t make out what it was however as it got closer Honey, Fred, Gogo and Wasabi could see it was Skymax. When it landed it had a colour scheme of black and grey and bore Kim’s signature logo decal on its chest hatch. 

Kim was completely surprised as was Ron what did Hiro build. The hatch opened and inside it revealed two pairs of armour for two people. 

“No way?!” Ron exclaimed in excitement. “Oh way!” Kim smirked. 

(Music starts- BH6 The series theme song.) 

Kim and Ron take the armour from the hatch and put it on. Kim’s suit was grey coloured armour similar to Gogo’s which covered her chest and back on her right shoulder it bore her logo decal with gauntlets on her arms wearing grey boots with armoured boots round the top. Round her waist she had a black gear belt with a pouch that was strapped to her leg.On her face she wore a pair of visor goggles coloured in green and black the visor itself was coloured in yellow. 

Ron wore similar coloured armour but his looked similar to Hiro’s with grey dots on the shoulder plates and chest, like Kim’s he had a pair of gauntlets on his arms and grey boots with black and grey knee pads on his pants. His visor was more rounded than Kim’s and was coloured in black and grey and the visor was coloured in blue. A KP decal on his left shoulder pad. 

(Music ends)

Rufus hopped onto Ron’s shoulder as he admired his armour. 

“Oh yeah the Ron man looking good!” Ron said flexing his arms to look tough admiring his suit. 

“Hmm not bad Hiro.” Kim said admiring her suit. “Thanks” Hiro chuckled humbly. “I figured with Shego getting an upgrade you needed one too but the armour does more than make you guys look good.” Hiro said 

Gaining her curiosity Kim looked at her right arm and when she flexed it the collar area lifted up and revealed what looked like a grappling hook. 

“Retractable grappling hook.” Hiro said. “Bit more practical than a hair dryer and thanks to Wade there’s a number of other features too.” 

“Nice.” Kim said impressed. “and that’s not all.” Hiro then smirked. “Wings.” On command a pair of wings emerged from Kim and Ron’s armoured back packs. 

“Whoa these are jet packs!” Ron exclaimed. “Okay the visors are linked to our coms so you can keep in contact.” Hiro explained to the two of them. 

Just then a familiar ring tone beeped in Kim’s visor and just then a com line from Wade opens in the top left of the visor. 

“And has a built in Kimmunicator.” He said patching in. 

“Nice work boys.” Kim smiled at the two young geniuses. “Kim the Destructo Yamas are attacking the city the police are trying but barely holding out.” Wade explained as he showed the latest news cast and of people running away in fear. 

“Okay let’s go!” Kim said to the others and her jet pack roared into life and soured into sky. 

“You guys need a ride?” Ron asked. “No need.” Wasabi said pulling out his car keys and clicking the key fob then soaring onto land was his car which was recently upgraded with rocket jets and other devices for his birthday. 

With that Ron took to the sky with his jet pack as he flew he did hit a little turbulence which threw him off balance a little but soon got the hang of it. 

The rest of the team soon followed suit using the cars jet pack features. 

Meanwhile in San Fransokyo 

The city was in chaos people were running in panic as the Destructo Yamas were on the attack blasting everything in sight with missiles and laser blasts. The police were already on hand to help get the people to safety. Whilst other officers tried to attack the robots using their guns but sadly the bullets don’t make a dent. 

Meanwhile walking through the battle scene was the main Destructo Yama piloted by Drakken and Shego. Drakken could only smirk at the destruction his creations were causing. 

“Ah I do love some chaos in the morning Shego it smells like the victory I’ve longed for.” Drakken smirked. 

Shego had to admit this maybe the one time his plan actually works. However the words of the  mysterious man who gave her the new gift still lingered in her mind. Just then a beep sounds off on the control console and it was coming from the radar. She looked and it showed several dots were heading towards them. 

“I wouldn’t celebrate yet Dr.D.” Shego pointed out. “What why?” He asked as he looked at the radar and then turned round to look behind him he could see something was coming towards them he squinted his eyes and could make out a certain Teen nemesis of his. 

“Kim Possible!” Drakken exclaimed and noticed that she was in armour and... “wait she can’t fly, can she?”

As Kim flew in from the air she could see the destruction the robots were causing and the harm coming to civilians. A little girl was trying to find her mother practically crying her eyes out. One of the Destructo Yamas fired at a building and the blast broke off a piece of rubble that was heading right for her. 

But then zooming in Gogo grabbed the young girl and got her to safety. The rest of the team then join the fray arriving in Wasabis car and meet with Kim and Ron who land next to them. 

“Man this is just like a scene from Megazon four when the robots invaded!” Fredzilla said in slight amazement. 

“Oh yeah I’ve seen that film.” Ron said. “Guys not the time, we need to stop Drakken before this robot army takes over the city.” Kim then reminded

“Right we’ve got to help these people they’re getting caught in the crossfire.” Gogo said, “Until Hiro comes up with a way to stop these things we do what we can.” 

“Right Gogo you and Honey Lemon help civilians on the south of the city, Fred, Wasabi Ron take the west.” Kim instructed. 

“What about you?” Honey Lemon asked. “I’m going after Drakken!” Kim answered. “Now lets move!” 

Kim activated her armour jet pack and rocketed into the sky whilst the team split up to help the citizens being terrorised by the robots. 

In the west of the city a group of Destructo Yama’s are firing missiles at the buildings as people hurry to cover from the attack. One Destructo Yama on the right was ready to fire its arm blaster until.

“Hey robo boy!” Called a voice and it turned to see Ron hovering in place with his own armour jet pack. 

“Eat this!” Ron pointed his left gauntlet at the robot hoping for a cool gadget but instead it fired a grappling hook which the Destructo Yama caught round his left arm. Its eyes glowed with deadly intent.

“Oh no.” Ron said and the robot pulled on the cord and swung him round and round like a merry go round. 

“Guuuuyyyyyys helllllllp!” Ron cried. 

“Fred to the rescue!” Said a voice and Fredzilla jumps in and unleashed a blast of fire on the robot just barely melting the metal. 

Fredzilla lands but unknown to the Destructo Yama a sudden slice cuts Rons cable free from the robot and Fredzilla jumps and catches him. 

“Uhhhhh guys I’m feeling crummy in the tummy.” Ron groaned as all that spinning had a nasty side effect and just managed to stop himself from throwing up. 

“We gotta buy these people time to escape!” Wasabi instructed and so the three heroes hurried into the scene Fredzilla jumps in and picks up a man and woman before they were blasted by the Destructo Yama. A group of children were in the crosshairs of another one of the robots but just before it could fire its blasters….. SLICE!

Wasabi uses his plasma blades to slice off its arm blaster which forces the robot back but before it can respond Ron flies in and picks up the children with his jet pack before the robot fired its right handed arm blaster. 

On the South side of the city civilians were fleeing from the Destructo Yamas. However zooming in to draw their fire was Gogo on her mag lev skates doing her best to avoid the blasts.

“Catch me if you can!” Gogo smirked as the robots continued to follow her down the street away from civilians meanwhile a group of robots were about to fire on some civilians until suddenly a small cluster of chem balls flew into the scene and exploded on the ground creating a dividing wall between them and the attacking robots.

“Get to safety!” Honey Lemon exclaimed as the people fled the scene. 

The police were being overwhelmed by the attacking robots and one was about to fire at the officers but before the shot made its mark something zoomed in and saved him from the blast though the squad car wasn’t so lucky. 

The officer looked up to see Kim carrying him using her jet pack.

“Whew thanks miss Possible.” The officer thanked 

“No big officer.” Kim said “The rest of Big Hero 6 are doing what they can to protect the people of the city, you should do the same.” She then advised. 

The officer nodded as Kims jet pack wings swung out and she took to the sky. From her vantage point she soon sees her target Drakken’s Destructo Yama was flying over the city and is guarded by two Destructo Yama’s. 

“Found you!” She said and zooms towards the main Destructo Yama however before she reaches him a blast of Green energy brushes right past her. Kim turns to see a rather un pleasant surprise. It was Shego hovering using her enhanced powers to create jets in her hands in an Iron man like style.

“Guess what Kimmy your not the only one who can fly!” Shego said as she threw a blast at the teen hero who flew straight up to avoid her blasts and she gave chase using her powers to propel her forwards. 

Back at the Lucky Cat

At the cafe Aunt Cass was pacing round the room frantically worried about her nephew and then saw the news cast about the robot attack didn’t help either. She went and took a doughnut from her cafe stand whilst Mochi just sat on the counter cleaning himself. 

Just then the door opened at the sound of a bell and walking in was Hiro accompanied by Ann. 

“Hiro!” Cass exclaimed and wasted no time in enveloping the young genius in a tight hug. 

“Hi Aunt Cass.” Hiro said “Too tight!” He said nearly unable to breath. 

“Where in the world have you been I’ve been worried sick I even resorted to stress eating!” Cass said 

“Cass it’s okay, calm down.” Ann said calming her old friend down. 

“Yeah I got a little tied up at SFIT and I lost track of time and couldn’t get a ride home, so I had to walk from the campus then Kim found me and then these robot things started attacking so she asked her mom to pick me up whilst she was dealing with all this craziness.” Hiro said with an innocent smile not knowing if his aunt bought the story. 

“Hmm….” Cass thought “Okay just as long as you are okay, by the way where’s Baymax?” She then asked noticing the absence of a certain robot.

“Oh he’s on charge in the garage.” Hiro said. “Okay well I’m going upstairs, thanks for bringing him home Ann.” Cass thanked. 

“Not a problem Cass.” Ann said and Cass made her way to the upstairs living area. “Come on Mochi.” She said and the cat walked after her up the stairs. 

Meanwhile in Hiro’s garage Baymax was on his charging port recharging whilst the Tweebs and James Possible watched over him. Soon Hiro and Ann arrived. 

“Well that’s Aunt Cass taken care of.” Hiro said as he went to his computer and brought up the specs of the Destructo Yama. 

“Now there’s gotta be a way to stop these Destructo Yama’s” Hiro said looking at the specs. Just then Wade buzzed in. 

“Hiro I’m looking over the specs but it looks like they have no weakness its an amalgam of cybernetics and mechatronics including self learning tech.” Wade explained. 

“I don’t believe that Wade” James argued. “Just like rockets there’s a defect somewhere.” James said. 

“Yeah but the trouble is knowing where to look it’s clear Yama designed this thing to be unstoppable but its gotta have a weak spot.” Hiro said. 

He took a look at specs and knew from their encounter it had self learning abilities, heavily armed, and had data from Kim herself that he coded. At first glance it looked indestructible but he had a good look at the robot and there had to be a weakness somewhere. 

“Hey Hiro.” Jim said as he was looking at Baymax. “You said that this overdrive mode puts a massive drain on Baymax’s battery right?”

“Yeah so?” Hiro said. “Well you ever thought about putting a back up power supply in the armour so Baymax could recharge while on mission?” Jim asked. 

“Yeah saves the trouble of returning here to recharge.” Tim agreed. 

“I did, but it would only over cook the super capacitors.” Hiro said still looking at the specs.

“Hm true.” Tim then realised. “Well boys that’s what happens when you look at one small thing instead of working on the details.” Said their dad. 

Just then however something clicked in Hiro. “Work on the details.” Hiro thought. “THATS IT!” he exclaimed surprising everyone. 

Hiro brought up the specs on one specific area.

“Of course Drakken designed this thing to take commands sent directly to its CPU.” Hiro diagnosed “Hence the control bracelet. But if Rufus and Mini Max destroyed it….” Hiro realised something. 

Meanwhile in the city Kim is engaged in a dog fight with Shego who’s firing energy blasts at her while keeping in the air using her right hand. 

Kim is able to avoid the blasts with barrel rolls and thanks to the aerodynamic shape of her armour wings she manages to avoid the hits. 

Just then her visor beeped with her Kimmunicator ring tone. She answers the call and its Hiro. 

“Hiro? what’s the sitch I’m a little busy at the moment!” Kim asked 

“Kim when Drakken showed his robot army and left was he wearing a command bracelet like the one he used to control the one we destroyed.” Hiro asked.

“No now that you mention it he didn’t?” Kim realised. “So what’s controlling the robots?” Hiro wondered. 

“I’ve been wondering that too Kim.” Wade added on another screen . “If what Hiro says is true it’s likely there’s a secondary control for the robots.”

“Wait a minute.” James then realised. “If he’s not wearing the control bracelet maybe the robot is the controller.” 

“Of course that gives us a way to stop this thing!” Hiro said.

“Then you better work fast because….” Just then she got blasted in the back by Shego’s energy blast destroying her right wing causing her to spin out of control. 

“KIM!” Cried Hiro and Wade. “Guys come in!” Hiro called on the coms to his team. 

Gogo was the first to answer. “Hiro what is it?” “Kims been hit she may need help!” Hiro relays  “We’re on it!” Honey Lemon said. 

The Garage:

With the team out defending the city it was now up to Hiro and the Possibles to engineer a solution. 

“What do we do now?” Ann asked. “Now we get to work.” Hiro said.

(Music starts Hiro’s theme BH6 the series)

By working together Hiro and Wade start coding something that will help even the playing field. On his end Wade analyses the specs consults with Hiro and sends over his finding and begin coding. Meanwhile with Baymax recharged the Tweebs and Ann begin to place his armour back on ready for action, however due to Baymax’s rather marshmallow body it is rather difficult to attach the armour pieces to his body especially his rear end which Ann took a lot of strength to attach it causing a slight squeak. 

Meanwhile whilst the coding was still downloading Hiro was working on something else making adjustments to his helmet. James helped him by handing him the tools and under Hiro’s instructions is able to apply the right tools in the right place. 

The Tweebs manage to attach Baymax’s stomach component with some force whilst Ann checks everything over to make sure all the components are secured. 

(Music ends) 

Back in the city.

 Kim is still spiralling out of control in the air but thankfully manages to land on a nearby roof of a tall structure. She recovers and thankfully she hasn’t sustained any injuries thanks to her suit. However her relief was short lived as she turned to see Shego landing on the roof facing her. 

“Ooo sorry Kimmie did I wreck your new toys?” Shego teased with a sadistic smile. 

“You wish Shego!” Kim challenged in a battle stance. So Shego ignighted her energy and charged forwards, Kim does the same and they fight with Kim throwing punches at Shego who avoids them and slashes at her with her energy blasts. Kim is able to avoid them however one comes right at her. However much to her surprise she didn’t feel the impact she looked and saw what appeared to be a circular energy shield in front of her in blue. Shego was taken completely by surprise. Taking advantage of this Kim pushes the green villain away and performs a roundhouse kick pushing Shego to the ground. 

She looks to see the shield shrink back into her suit gauntlet and could only smile knowing who put it there. 

“So looks like that small brat is full of surprises!” Shego said knowing who was behind her enemies new advantage. 

“But that won’t help you, not this time.” She said as she formed a plasma blade from her gauntlets. 

However before she could attack she found she couldn’t move, she looked down to her feet and saw they were encased in blue goop. 

“One thing you forgot Shego!” Called a voice then coming to Kims side was Honey Lemon who jumped down from a raised tower of a blue solid compound and Gogo skating up the wall and slides to her left side. 

“She’s got help.” Gogo said readying her mag lev discs on her arms. 

However Shego could only smirk at this challenge. 

“Okay ladies I’m game, lets play!” She lit up her energy blasts as the three heroines charged forwards into battle. 

Meanwhile Fredzilla, Wasabi and Ron were keeping the remaining Destructo Yamas at bay but quickly loosing ground. 

“These things just don’t let up!” Ron exclaimed.

Wasabi charges forward and slices off the right arm of the first robot that charges towards them. Fredzilla jumps in and breathes fire on the Destructo Yama that’s about to attack Wasabi and Ron forcing it back but it soon raises an energy shield from its left arm. 

“Aw man even fire doesn’t work!” Fredzilla exclaimed. 

“Hiro, if you’ve figured something out NOWS THE TIME TO USE IT!” Wasabi panicked over the coms.

Back at the Garage:

Hiro was changing into his gear whilst his computer was encoding a data chip. 

“Hang on guys I’m on my way we may have a way to stop these things, just keep them busy until we get there!” Hiro replied. 

“Data transfer complete.” called a computer voice and Hiro moves to the computer and pulls out a red data chip from the burner. He places the chip into his belt pouch. 

“Time to go Baymax.” Hiro turned to his robot companion. 

“I am ready Hiro.” Baymax said and so James opened the garage door allowing Baymax to exit as he ducks under the doorway given his armour gives him added height. Hiro climbs onto his back and secures himself in place via the magnets in his boots and gloves. 

He looks to see the Possibles see the two off on their mission. 

“Good luck Hiro.” James said. “Take care and be careful.” Ann added. “Need us to do anything else?” Tim asked.

Hiro smiles and puts his helmet on. 

“Keep an eye on Aunt Cass.” Hiro said. “Baymax.” 

With that Baymax’s wings swung into position and his jet boots fire and together shoot off into the sky towards the danger zone. 

“Oh that is so cool.” Jim breathed in amazement. 

In the city:

Shego fired a huge blast of energy at her opponents, Kim flipped over the blasts whilst Gogo skated round them. Gogo slides in and performs a round house kick against Shego forcing her back only for Kim to jump and land her feet on Shego knocking her back. Shego is quick to stabilise herself and ignights her energy blades from her gauntlets and slices at the two Gogo ducks to avoid the blade then swings her disk at Shego’s face whilst Kim threw a few punches of her own at the green Villian. 

However Shego was getting more and more irritated and lashed out a massive energy wave which did knock the two back. However she was so focused on them she neglected a certain chem major, who jumped in and held her Chem purse like a gun and fired a number of blue balls which quickly encased Shegos hands in a compound. 

“Grr I am really getting tired of you!” Shego growled as she burned off the compound except when it melted it turned to a goop like substance that just encased her hands more and more. 

“What is this?!” Shego demanded. “Pop quiz Chem 101 what happens when you super heat a rubbery  compound?” Honey Lemon asked. 

“Answer, they contract!” 

The compound just contracts and shrinks in Shegos hands and then Honey Lemon runs in and kicks Shego to the ground with a round house kick soon followed by  Gogo and Kim who kicked Shego away and as Honey Lemon joined them they gave each other high fives. 

Shego landed on the far side of the roof and used her plasma blades to cut through and rip off the rubbery compound. She stood up and charged forwards with a sadistic smile.

“Buckle up girls this is going to take a while!” Kim said as she Honey and Gogo stood in a battle stance ready to fight.

Shego ran closer and closer with her energy blades at the ready, and as she leaps in to attack, suddenly an incoming object hits her and sends her flying to the right and into a nearby alleyway. The three girls all looked shocked Honey Lemon had her hand to her mouth whilst Gogo and  Kim looked wide eyed. 

“Hm never mind.” Kim said simply and looked to see the object that hit the green villainess was Baymax’s rocket fist that returned to him as he landed with Hiro on his back. 

“Glad you two could finally join us.” Kim greeted. 

“Hope I’m not too late.” Hiro said. “Nope genius your right on time.” Gogo said. 

Hiro reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out the data chip that he and Wade made. 

“You got a way to bring down the bots.” Kim said.

 “Yeah as far as Wade, your dad and brothers could tell from the specs Yama supplied to Drakken the bots are designed to receive all commands into a highly protected CPU hence the command bracelet.” Hiro explained. “But the robot he’s piloting is practically the main one controlling the robots and sending out the commands. This override chip should cancel the commands sent out to the robots rendering them useless.” 

“Why do I get the feeling there’s a catch?” Gogo guessed. “Yeah, the only way to insert this chip is in the auxiliary data port located on its back assuming it’s built like the others.” Hiro explained.

“Well its the only shot we’ve got.” Kim decided. “Baymax any ideas where Drakken is?” Kim asked. 

Baymax beamed out a holo map of the city showing a red dot showing Drakken’s location. 

“Drakken is converging towards San Fransokyo train station.” Baymax relayed. 

“Theres people on those trains we need to stop him!” Hiro said. 

“Right then lets go!” Kim said. “Ron how close are you and the others to the train station?” Kim asked over the coms. 

Meanwhile Wasabi and Fredzilla had just barely been able to fight off the Destructo Yama’s in their area. 

“We’re not too far away KP.” Ron answered. “Right meet us at the train station we’re going after Drakken.” Kim said. 

“We’re on our way.” Wasabi relayed as the three got into Wasabi’s car and drove away towards the station. 

San Fransokyo Train Station: 

The Destructo Yamas lead by the one piloted by Drakken continued their march through the city with people running in panic. Drakken could only smile evilly as his victory was at hand. Just then he heard thruster noises from behind him and saw it was a certain red robot and on his back was Kim, Gogo, Honey Lemon and Hiro. 

Baymax landed just as Wasabis car screeched to a halt with the other three heroes in the car Rufus and Mini-Max fly out of the car and float in place. 

“So I guess Shego didn’t do her job.” Drakken said scowling at the eight heroes standing before him. “But I guess my new robots are giving you more of a challenge.” 

“Drakken call the robots off, innocent lives are at stake!” Kim demanded. 

“Did you really think I would do that I’m the bad guy here!” Drakken exclaimed. “Now stay out of my way before I destroy you!” 

“Make us.” Gogo challenged with a smirk. 

“Destructo Yamas destroy Kim Possible and Big Hero 6!” Drakken commanded and the Destructo Yama he piloted glowed in its chest and the robots surrounding him marched forwards with their blaster arms primed and aimed at their targets. 

The moment they fired the team scattered into different directions Baymax took to the sky and targeted the front Destructo Yama and fired his rocket fist as he avoided the blasts from the robots knocking it back the robot whacks the fist away only to be punched in the face by Baymax’s free fist. 

The rocket fist returned to Baymax as he takes off into the sky again. Gogo meanwhile is weaving in and out avoiding attacks from the other Destructo Yamas rocket launchers. She jumps into the air then throws her mag lev discs from her hands into the rocket launchers slicing them off their hinges. The disks return to her as she skates away. 

Wasabi meanwhile is with Ron back to back facing a group of Destructo Yamas, Wasabi readies his plasma blades and slashes at the robots cutting off their arm blasters whilst Ron was running to avoid the blasts a robot was about to blast him however as it fired he found the blast didn’t hit him but rather a large energy shield on his gauntlet the shield took the full force of the blast. 

“Whoa energy shield.” Ron said but then the Destructo Yama was about to attack again but before it could Rufus flew in front of it with his armour jet pack. 

“Hi” Rufus squeaked and the robot tries swatting at him, but misses the small molerat flew away from him and landed on his back where he saw a small opening in the armour near its neck and scurries inside it.

Rufus rubs his hands together in a mischievous smile as it was time for him to do what he does best. 

Wasabi meanwhile was still trying to keep up with all the robots attacking him just barely able to hold them back whilst Ron was avoiding all the blasts with his running away skills. 

“Yow, yikes!” Ron yelled trying to avoid the blast. The two heroes were now surrounded. They were about to be overwhelmed when all of a sudden something blasted the two Destructo Yama’s the two looked to the source and surprisingly it was one of their own. 

“Whu?” Wasabi said confused. Even stranger the robot then turned to fire on the others then spinning like crazy blasting every robot in sight. 

“Hold on am I going crazy or is that robot attacking its own guys?” Wasabi said but Ron could only smirk knowing exactly what was causing this or rather who. 

Inside said robot Rufus was pulling out wires and rearranging them even chewing a few of them causing a chain reaction. 

Soon the robot began to buckle as it tried to stand up. Just then Mini max flies in and knocks the robots head off with on punch. Rufus then pops out and flies out just as the robot falls to the ground. The two then fly over to Ron and Wasabi. 

“Nice sabotage Rufus.” Ron congratulated. “Boyah!” Rufus replied. 

“Okay I now have a new found respect for hairless animals.” Wasabi said in amazement. 

Meanwhile Honey Lemon and Fredzilla were fighting back against the other Destructo Yamas. Honey Lemon bombarded them with pink Chem balls from her purse coating their legs with pink goop. Fredzilla then jumps in and kicks it into the incoming reinforcements who get covered in goop getting stuck together. Meanwhile Kim uses her agility to jump onto the backs of one Destructo Yama’s shoulders whilst the other tries to blast her but misses and hits his own bot. 

Kim landed on the ground next to Honey and Fredzilla who stand back to back as Baymax and Hiro land next to them. 

“Hiro we’re getting nowhere fighting these things we have to get to Drakken!” Kim exclaimed. 

“How these robo bozos stand between us and him!” Gogo said skating over. 

“We can’t keep up with them they learn from our fights with them!” Wasabi agreed hurrying over to them. 

Kim took a moment to think then came up with a plan. 

“I can get to him, give me the chip.” Kim said getsuring to Hiro to give her the chip.

“You can’t get through that it’s impossible!” Wasabi said 

“Impossible?, have you forgotten my last name.” Kim smirked. 

“He’s got you there dude.” Ron agreed. Hiro hands Kim the data chip. 

“You guys keep them off me whilst I get through them.” Kim said. 

“Right you got it Kim, alright guys lets show this mad scientist what happens when he messes with Big Hero 6!” Hiro said. 

“AW YEAH TO THE POWER OF SIX!” Fredzilla cheered. “Technically there’s eight of us but what he said!” Ron cheered.

So the eight heroes charged forwards as did the remaining Destructo Yamas Kim slipped under one of them then flips over another and using her skills as a cheer leader performs back flip after back flip over the robots then jumps over the last one landing just behind it and facing Drakken’s Destructo Yama. 

Whilst fighting the bots Baymax and Hiro were completely surprised. 

“That was not possible.” Baymax said simply. “Wha how in.” Hiro stuttered. 

Gogo whilst fighting the robots was also complexly amazed at how she was able to get through un harmed. 

“Whoa, makes me wish I took up cheerleading in High school.” She said amazed. 

Kim soon came face to face with the Destructo Yama piloted  by Drakken. 

“Your not stopping me Possible! Not this time!” Drakken vowed. 

“What part of the good guys win and the bad guys lose do you not get, ‘Drew?’” Kim cracked.  

Drakken thrusted the controls forwards and the Destructo Yama fired a blast from its right hand blaster Kim was quick to dodge to the right to avoid the blast. Soon Drakken fires a barrage of missiles from the robots shoulder missile launchers. Kim quickly avoids the blasts but the next flat knocks her flying into the air, before she hits the ground suddenly two small black discs emerge from the soles of her boots and then a small green light shines from the centre then enlarge and swing onto her ankles. Whilst surprised she knew exactly what they were and acting quickly on landing skates across the ground and slides to stop whilst maintaining her balance. 

“WHAT!” Drakken exclaimed .

“Hiro you never cease to amaze me!” Kim said to herself and takes advantage of her new found gadgets. She skates round the robot avoiding the blasts from its arm cannons. Suddenly she sees an opening whilst his backs turned and quickly jumps up and lands on his back. Using her visor she locates the data port and pulls open the panel and readies the chip. However before she can insert it…

She feels something pulling on her leg and drags her off the robots back. The robot had grabbed her by the leg and was now facing Drakken in the cockpit. 

“Nice try!” Drakken said as he moved the controls making the robot throw her to the side sending her crashing to the ground and sent the chip across the floor. 

“Did you forget this robot learns from its opponents, it knew you would pull a stunt like that, this time I can do anything!” Drakken exclaimed. 

Baymax was hovering above the ground with Hiro on his back and firing his rocket fists at incoming robots. From his vantage point however Hiro could see Kim was on the ground unconscious and Drakken was getting closer to her and the chip was a distance away from her.

“Oh no!” Hiro breathed. “Guys! Kim needs back up!” 

“Easier said than done these robots keep coming!” Wasabi said. 

“Thats the point there keeping us from helping Kim! who’s at Drakkens mercy!” Hiro said on the coms

“Hiros right forget these guys she needs back up!” Gogo agreed avoiding another Destructo Yama. 

“But how do we get to her?” Ron asked.

Hiro took a moment to think but then he thought of a brilliant yet crazy idea.

“I have a way everyone on me and Baymax!”Hiro said and Baymax landed on the ground knocking away a Destructo Yama as the rest of the team, Ron Rufus and Mini Max gathered to him. 

(Music starts: Team by TOVA)

“Alright everyone on Baymax’s back!” Hiro said and so everyone climbed aboard. 

“Now what?” Fredzilla asked. “This.” Hiro touches the forehead of his helmet and some lights emerged from it as small dots.

Then from a distance away came a swarm of some kind which brushed past the Destructo Yamas and gathered around the group. 

“What are those?” Ron asked. “Wait is that?” Honey Lemon noticed what the swarm really was. “Yep, Micro bots!” Hiro said and he commanded them to swarm around Baymax’s right hand and began making it into something and they revealed it to be a giant fist.

“WHOA!” Fred, Ron and Rufus gasped. 

“Baymax fist forward and full thrust!” Hiro said. “On it!” Baymax said.

Baymax took up a stance then his wings swung in and fired his jet boots charging forward and using the giant fist charged forwards crashing into each of the Destructo Yamas in their path like an unstoppable battering ram! Drakken’s Destructo Yama was looming over Kim who was just beginning to stir and was ready to deliver the final blow until…

He turned to hear a crashing noise behind him and saw a certain red robot charging towards him. 

“Boyah!” Baymax said as he delivered a devastating punch to the Destructo Yama sending it crashing into the pavement. 

Ron dismounts from Baymax and hurries to his friend and helps her up. 

“You okay KP.” Ron asked with concern in his voice. 

“Yeah I’m fine.” Kim said groaning as she stood up. 

Suddenly they heard the Destructo Yama getting up and facing the heroes. 

“Now you’ve made me mad!” Drakken exclaimed. 

“Well I hope that tin can of yours has learned something new!” Gogo smirked “Yeah cause now you gotta face all of us” Wasabi said smirking. 

“One or six it doesn’t matter I’ll still win!” Drakken exclaimed. 

“So not.” Kim smirked and so Drakken’s Destructo Yama fired a massive blast at the nine heroes  but scatter to avoid the blast Hiro acts quickly and grabs the data chip. Drakken orders the robot to attack but before it can Baymax charges in throwing several punches pushing him back but the Destructo Yama retaliates by throwing a punch of his own sending Baymax flying backwards, he quickly recovers using his jet boots. 

“SUPER JUMP!” cries a voice and Drakken turns to see Fredzilla with Ron on his back. 

“Saving throw!” Fredzilla cried as he launches Ron from his hand and the blonde sidekick fires a grappling hook from his gauntlet which wraps around the robots legs. 

“Gogo!” Ron cries as he disconnects the cable and tosses it to Gogo who catches it and skates around in a circle soon followed by Kim who both pull the cable with all their might tripping the robot up and Honey Lemon fires some chem balls from her purse creating a small blob on the ground, and as the robot lands it bounces it backwards. Wasabi leaps in and slices off the robots left hand with his plasma blades. 

“EH okay okay hand sliced off but I can still win this!” Drakken said starting to panic a little. 

“I’ll just order all the robots to destroy you!” Drakken said. However before he gave the order he found that the robot couldn’t move. 

“What, I can’t move!?” Drakken exclaimed “WHATS GOING ON!” 

Hiro used the neurotransmitter in his helmet to order his micro bots to hold the Destructo Yama in place so it couldn’t move, the bots crawled all over the robots legs forming clamps and chains on its arms too. 

“Kim it’s all you!” Hiro said and Kim quickly backflipped over the robot and landed on its back inserting the data chip into the exposed port.  

“WADE NOW!” Hiro yelled on the coms and on his end Wade pressed the enter key on his keyboard which activated the data chips programming. Suddenly Drakkens control console in his robot short circuited and when he looked to the other Destructo Yamas each of them shorted out and their heads blew up one by one rendering them powerless and useless they all fell to the ground with a loud thud. 

(Music ends)

The last one fell and Drakken rolled out of the cockpit flat on his face. He slowly got up groaning and when he looked up he saw his teen adversary, her side kick and Big Hero 6 along with Rufus and Mini Max standing above him glaring. 

“YOU THINK YOU AND BIG HERO 6 ARE ALL THAT POSSIBLE! BUT YOUR NOT!” Drakken yelled practically wining as he was being pulled into a patrol car by two police officers. 

“Looks to me like we are dude.” Fredzilla said as they saw the blue skinned villain taken away to prison. 

“Well looks like this situation” “Resolved.” Kim said finishing Rons sentence. 

“Couldn’t put it better myself.” Hiro said smiling. “Yeah and nice work with those micro-bots Hiro.” Kim said. 

“Yeah why’d you decide to use those all of a sudden?” Wasabi asked given what happened to them last time. 

“Well given the Destructo Yama’s could learn from their opponents and were programmed with Kim’s data, what happens if you give it something it wouldn’t ever see coming?” Hiro then explained. 

“It wouldn’t know how to react.” Gogo finished. 

“Yep.” Hiro said. “Tadashi was right, you are intuitive and clever.” Baymax said to which Hiro smiled. 

“So who wants a celebratory Noodle Burger breakfast?” Fred asked. 

“Sounds good to me, my treat.” Kim agreed. 

With that everyone headed home to get some rest before the next morning came. However Kim couldn’t help but wonder something, with all the chaos over and Drakken arrested where was Shego? She didn’t hear anything from the police about her being arrested could she have gotten away?

Elsewhere:

Meanwhile in a green lit room a news television broadcast was being played about last nights events of Drakken’s attack. 

“And so thanks to the combined efforts of Big Hero 6 and teen Hero Kim Possible, the robot attack to our city is in a way over and done with.” Duff Blunder said giving the news. “The mad scientist is carted away to jail and speaking as a grateful city this news man can only say one thing to our protectors thank you.”

The one watching the news cast was Obake who could only smirk at this prospect.

“What did I tell you, Drakken’s plan whilst brilliant was always doomed to fail.” Obake said to a shadow standing behind him. 

“This is what you get from amateurs.” He then said. 

“Yeah I guess you were right.” Said a familiar female voice. 

“And can I just say I am glad you decided to reach out to me.” Obake replied turning to the one standing in the shadows. 

“Well it was either this or get carted off to prison.” Stepping out of the shadows was Shego who managed to escape and decided to take up Obake’s offer. 

“So what exactly is your master plan?” Shego asked. 

“Oh lets just say it’ll change the course of human history and the face of this city forever” Obake smirked evilly as the left side of his face glowed neon purple. 

End of Chapter 7 

Well looks like while one evil plan is over another is about to come into play. I must admit I found the fight sequence for this chapter hard to write given my mind has been all over the place lately with uni assignments and everything else on top. In this battle I thought Hiro could make full use of his micro bots this was inspired by his abilities in the Disney Infinity video game, and by the season 2 Finale. I decided to give Kim and Ron armour for this chapter given how it would help them against Shego’s upgrades and the Destructo Yama’s (providing Ron uses it right.)

Anyway now we move to the Countdown to Catastrophe arc from season 1 I’ll have to re-watch the episode and analyse it to get an idea of what to do, but until then stay safe and stay home we will beat this virus.

To the Power of 6!

[buffyversefanfiction]

Tristan Tormented

Warning: I do not own the rights to the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its spin-off series Angel, its dark horse comics continuation series, or any of the characters created by Joss Whedon and others in the Buffyverse. 15 years +, Mild to Strong Violence, Sexual References. F/F, F/M, M/M, Other +

Finale Volume 10 - The Exorcism of Tristan Summers

Dawn Summers had come a long way from her days of just being Buffy’s little sister, from briefly becoming a giant then a centaur to unlocking her hidden power as the key as she travelled through multiple dimensions with Xander Harris leading to a surprise romance for the two resulting in the two of them having a child together, a child they called Joyce in honor of her mother. Yes, Dawn had gone through a lot of changes since her Sunnydale days and was now mostly enjoying life as a loving mother to Joyce and a loving partner to Xander, mostly being the correct choice of word. Deep down she missed the excitement that came from being a part of the scooby gang and often envied her spouse Xander especially when he went on missions so when she heard of her nephew Tristan’s current dilemma she was first to offer up her services, any excuse to escape from adulthood Dawn had never actually met her nephew who was now somehow around about the same age as her and she was not particularly interested in meeting him in the past with the whole killing spree he was on putting her off but she had heard he had come along with since then and she knew her sister would need as much support as possible if things did not go to plan with saving Tristan from the shadow demon. “I do not get it your performing an exorcism on a demon possessed by a demon, that is complicated even for us.” Dawn stated as she stood in the Livingroom of Willow and Buffy’s apartment, standing next to Willow. “I get this is Buffy’s boy and trust me I’m the last to complain about Buffy going to extremes for people but even she has to know when to quite some time right?” “Wrong!” Willow replied to the slayer’s sister, “Tristan’s complicated especially where Buffy is concerned and yeah he’s technically a vampire which is a demon but I am going to be aiming for the shadow demon the entire exorcism, I think.” “You think?” Dawn asked, noticing Willow’s uncertainty. “It has not been done before but hey when has that ever stopped me.” Willow admitted before going on to say. “And if I mess this up Tristan could wind up permanently dead and I’ve just let loose one hell of a demon.” “I hate to say it but at this point would it not just be safer for everyone involved to just kill him and get it over with.” Dawn reluctantly suggested. “I want to be a great aunt and everything but I am a mum first and I’d hate to think how worse of the world I am raising my daughter in will be if the thing strong enough to harness slayer strength returns.” “I am down for redeeming folk as much as the other girl I mean I do not even want to think where I’d be without people helping me at my worst but I got to say I am kind of on your side here Dawnie.” Willow revealed, making it clear she was more for Dawn’s suggestion than Buffy’s. “However, this is Buffy’s child and I already made her lose him once…if she loses him again then I got to know I’ve done everything within my power to stop it.”

“Please remind me why on earth we had to come all the way to San Francisco with a hostile Tristan instead of just getting Willow to come to us?” Fred asked Buffy as the two stood on a hill looking over to give a view of the iconic Golden Gate bridge. “It just seems to me like things would have been easier in New York.” “I do not think anything about this is going to be easy!” Buffy replied to her with a sense of dread in her voice. “I remember coming here when I first learned I was pregnant and all these thoughts about how I could never keep my child safe flooded my head…I guess I should’ve taken note then.” “The shadow demon was trapped by the shadow men and no offense to them, but they have nothing on all of us.” Fred boasted to reassure the slayer that things would work out perfectly, despite not entire believing it for herself. “All we have to do is get Willow to perform the right exorcism on the right demon and we can take it from there.” “And then we have a soulless Tristan which I guess is the best result we are looking at here. I mean the soul is the shadow demon’s not his so if everything goes to plan my son will be evil and trying to kill me again which is supposed to be better than expelling both demons and we kill Tristan in the process.” Buffy said, admitting her fears before Fred began transforming back into her goddess Illyria form. “I must admit an exorcism is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard off and by far the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard my somewhat intelligent vessel say before.” Illyria revealed to the slayer. “Take comfort in knowing that if it comes to the point of putting your child vampire down, I will oblige without hesitation.” “Weirdly enough not having to kill my own son is the only thing comforting I’ve heard in a long time.” Buffy honestly admitted to the goddess, weirdly comforted knowing if it came to it, she would not have to be the one to kill Tristan.

“Well if it is not mini B long time no see!” Faith greeted Dawn after Dawn walked into an abandoned warehouse within San Francisco. “Wish it were on better circumstances but then again these seem to be the only circumstances we all meet under.” “Must we live up every single horror trope I mean an exorcism and now we’re meeting in an abandoned warehouse the only thing more ironic would be if we had a priest coming to join the party too.” Dawn replied to the brown-haired slayer. “Here at least priests have more knowledge on exorcisms than Willow but saying that she had more knowledge on demons than any witch I have ever know.” Faith responded, making it clear she was far from confident about the upcoming exorcism. “Whose idea was this again?” Dawn wondered. “I feel like we do not even consider just killing the evil anymore.” “Tristan is not evil; he’s well he’s complicated like you and me.” Faith snapped back at Buffy’s mystical sister. “How the hell is he like me? Last time I checked my kill count was zero.” Dawn answered back, confused by Faith’s comparison. “Well I was the slayer who did not feel like she belonged and it led me down a murderous path and you’re the key who felt she did not wrong and sure you’ve never actually down anything wrong except for the whole being a key to a hell dimension which led to B having to sacrifice herself to save you.” Faith replied frankly and honestly. “I am not saying any of that was on you or that Tristan is innocent of all his crimes but he is sure trying to make up for his past and if your sister can sacrifice herself for you surely you can resist killing her nephew for a little while until there is no other option.” “You know you make a lot more sense when you’re not psychotically murdering a bunch of folks.” Dawn admitted, realizing that maybe just maybe she had been judging her nephew a little too harshly. “You know I have been hearing that a lot lately.” Faith responded with a soft laugh.

“Things sure would be a lot easier if you guys just faced the facts and dusted my sorry ass!” Tristan stated as he, Spike and Angel walked through the underground sewer tunnels underneath San Francisco City. “I do not think I have ever met a vampire with more of a death wish.” Spike claimed, before realizing. “Well except for me when I first got my chip.” “We are not killing you Tristan not when we can get this demon out of you.” Angel promised his son as the three vampires continued their walk through the tunnels. “Which demon?” Tristan asked sarcastically. “The slayer demon or the vampire demon because one is keeping me with a soul but wants to kill all slayers and the other has no soul and wants to kill everyone.” “Hey, I am just as confused as you kid, I for one think killing you would be a lot easier than getting Willow to play exorcist.” Spike answered the demonic slayer. “I have an idea Spike, why don’t we dump the demon in you and then we kill you and the shadow demon in one go.” Angel snapped at the peroxide blonde haired vampire. “If that is what is going to happen then I am totally down with killing captain peroxide.” Tristan chimed in, not sure if he was joking or not. “I think I liked you better when you were mini Dru because this mini Angel thing you got going is truly terrifying!” Spike told Tristan, clearly not amused with Tristan or Angel.

Willow Rosenberg knew the exorcism she was about to perform was one hell of a long shot, the likelihood of being able to get one demon out while keeping another was beyond ludicrous to her, an idea she was not surprised to having never heard of being done before because you tend to only get possessed once at a time or so that is what she thought until now. The red headed witch had done the impossible before, in fact many times before and if anyone was going to be successful at this particular exorcism it would be Willow, however, even if all things did go to plan she would then have to try and magically restore a soul for Tristan Summers which would require even more of her power. She knew the chances of Tristan surviving the exorcism were very slim but she also knew his mother Buffy, her best friend, would never forgive herself if everything within the realm of possibility was not done to save her son even if in truth nobody truly believed this exorcism would work out for the best but then again nothing ever did. “I am just saying if we leave him like this for the rest of eternity then that would be just fine.” Spike claimed as he tightened the cuffs that were tying Tristan down to a table placed within the middle of the abandoned warehouse, while Buffy, Angel, Faith, Dawn, Fred and Willow stood around the table all looking equally terrified. “Spike if you could stay shut up until this was all over, I think we would all highly appreciate it!” Buffy snapped at her former lover, as she looked down at her vampire son strapped to a table, a sight she had wished she would never have to witness. “I am trying really hard to say something soothing or even remotely confident, but I am not going to lie I am as freaked out as everybody else here!” Willow admitted to them all. “Well, here goes nothing I guess.” Buffy nodded to her redheaded best friend and with just one look Willow knew the blonde haired slayer had put all her trust into her, no pressure on the witch at all of course as she stepped forward getting closer towards a tied down Tristan and began chanting in an unknown language forcing herself to chant louder and louder as she heard Tristan’s muffled groans of pain caused by the exorcism she was now performing. “Be brave buddy!” Faith mumbled to herself, aiming her words towards Tristan as he began shaking viciously due to the exorcism spell Willow was still chanting in an unrecognizable language. “Be brave!”

The exorcism of Tristan Summers lasted a long time, nobody really knows how long exactly except for them all feeling like it lasted forever as Tristan’s body convulsed in shapes unknown to man as his face kept changing from it’s human form to it’s vampire form repeatedly, the mask of tape around his mouth having worn off early on leaving them all forced to endure Tristan’s screams of pain as Faith and Spike held him down while Willow continued to chant in a long forgotten language. Buffy and Angel held each other’s hand as they look on in terror, partly to support the other but mostly to restrain each other from stopping the exorcism as they were forced to watch their son being magically tortured by Willow, knowing what she was doing was Tristan’s only chance of survival. Suddenly a clearly drained Willow stopped chanting after noticing Tristan’s human face had changed once again but this time only his eyes, having changed from their normal color to pure jet black. “You cannot stop me witch,” A sinister voice coming from Tristan’s body announced. “If anything, you’re just torturing the vessel and I’m getting bored.” Faith and Spike’s hold on Tristan was compromised when they found themselves being thrown across the room by some invisible force crashing harshly onto the ground before Buffy, Angel, Fred, Dawn and Willow found themselves being thrown back to the ground too as the possessed Tristan began cackling manically. As the gang began slowly rising back onto their feet, they noticed the straps restraining Tristan to the table began undoing themselves and before any of them could get back on their feet a dark eyed Tristan was now fully on his. “I am going to enjoy killing you all!” The clearly possessed Tristan claimed as Fred quickly began turning into Illyria. “I am sorry slayer, I really am.” Illyria told Buffy before snatching a stake out of Faith’s jacket with force. Illyria wasted no time in charging towards the possessed vampire and plunging the stolen wooden stake into his chest ignoring Buffy and Angel’s screams of protest in the progress only to be met by a sinister smirk from Tristan before he exploded into dust. However, unlike most vampires turning to dust there was a whole lot more to Tristan’s death as a black smoke like fog escaped from the ashes before quickly levitating itself further and further into the sky and disappearing out of sight. Buffy, Angel, Faith, Dawn and Willow just stood there in silence, completely defeated by what they had just witnessed despite all of them believing it would end exactly like this or for some of them, believing it was going to end worse than this and then the goddess turned around to tell them something that made all of this seem like for nothing. “I fear that the shadow demon is now loose in this world,” Illyria admitted, looking far from pleased with herself. “I think I was fooled by it…that we were all fooled into releasing it.”

[nanna-melissa]

Nanna’s Record Collection #2: Queen

Now..me..a Queen fan? Unbelievable. So I started to get into Queen a few years ago but I was a pretty casual fan. When I was digging into their musical catalog a bit more, I was also getting into Placebo and they sort of took over. I didn’t listen to Queen proper until three months ago. I’ve listened to many of their bigger singles and had their Greatest Hits Vol. II on when I worked on projects. Now my order for this is not going to be chronological in which they were released but when I bought them. My top 5 are going to be first so enough explanation, let’s get onto..

This photo is so blue/purple compared to the others, gotta love my phone trying to white balance. So, I bought this and the next one I’m going to talk about at the same time. My first impression with this album was ‘okay, this is the one with BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY ON IT’ and that song isn’t my absolute favorite on this thing! I have to say listening to it in full for the first time was a ride. Death on Two Legs followed by Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon was like whiplash but then I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR...BITCH. I did not think Roger would go as hard as he did. I was taken aback...I was laughing...I was shocked....I had questions, comments and concerns. Like....TOLD MY GIRL I HAD TO FORGET HER, RATHER BUY ME A NEW CARBURETOR...then CARS DON’T TALK BACK, THEY’RE JUST FOUR-WHEELED FRIENDS NOW. Iconic. It’s got my pistons a-pumpin’. You’re my Best Friend was familiar territory. It’s John being fuckin’ wholesome but then came ‘39. It was love at first listen. I listened to that song on loop for like two weeks. Sweet Lady didn’t grab me as hard but with a line like ‘you call me sweet like I’m some kind of cheese’...I was missing out. I also skipped Seaside Rendezvous and listened to it on vinyl for the first time and wanted to kick my own ass for not letting myself listen to it sooner. I love that song. Prophet’s Song, I think..is kinda weak? But it’s ending transitioning into Love of my Life? OOH BB. GOOD SHIT. Then there’s Good Company and I love Brian’s voice in it and the Ukulele slaps. Then what can I say about Bo Rhap that people haven’t like come on. 

Favorites: Death on Two Legs, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, I’m in Love with my Car, You’re my Best Friend, ‘39, Sea Side Rendezvous, Love of my Life, Good Company, and Bohemian Rhapsody...(so nearly the whole album)

This boy? Right here? This is my favorite Queen album. Considering Radio Ga GA and I Want to Break Free were the first two songs I fell in love with...it was kind of meant to be, huh? But for real, this album has no dud. Radio Ga Ga? Banger and if you don’t clap along with it, I’m judging you. Tear it Up? It is such an 80′s Queen Brian song. That guitar is so...ooh 👌 It’s a Hard Life? THOSE OPENING LINES AND HOW FREDDIE SINGS THEM OWN MY ENTIRE ASS. With the video, Fred’s goddamn red and black winged liner look..........holy shit. Also Roger looks like a child on the verge of a temper tantrum and I live for it. Man on the Prowl is just fun. Now...Machines (Back to Human), people sleep on this one. The vocals, the synths, the guitar..perfection. I Want to Break Free, come on. The video. Rogerina. John writing yet another absolute banger like the icon he is. Perfection. Then it’s followed by another song people sleep on. Keep Passing the Open Windows just does something for me. The bass on that track cures my depression and it mixed with the drums? I’m done for. Hammer to Fall after? Again, another absolute banger. Is This the World we Created is such a fantastic closer. 

Favorites: Every. Single. Song.

I know Hot Space is a very hit or miss album for many people. For me, this is pretty much tied for second favorite album alongside a Night at the Opera. Hearing about this one, I heard this was Queen’s worst album. To that I say a couple things. One, the people saying that are straight. Two, they don’t like fun music. While gay club, disco/funk influenced, heavily due to Freddie and also John, this album is so much fun. Staying Power is such a strong opener. The sax, Freddie’s vocals and the more funky guitars make me just want to boogie. I love the little ‘yeah!’ Fred does after ‘See what I got, I got a hell of a lot’ in the beginning. Dancer is a bit out there for Brian and I appreciate. Now when I say Back Chat owns my ass, it truly owns my ass. It is the landlord of my ass. A diss track towards Brian written by John and then JOHN BOPPING AROUND IN THE VIDEO AND SMILING WHILE BRIAN LOOKS MISERABLE...that’s a level of petty I aspire to be. Now, Body Language fucks. That bass fucks. It’s a simple song, not too complicated but it works so well. Action This Day is alright. I enjoy the chorus but it’s a slight bore to me...and yet Body Language is not I might ruffle some feathers saying that. Put Out the Fire is very 80′s Brian. Can see some stepping stones from this to the Works. 

Life is Real grew on me. I’m a John Lennon fan (I know, prepare the pitchforks and the ‘he beat his wife’ comments) and it’s very John. It’s a wonderful creative tribute to the man. Calling All Girls grew on me. It’s video is questionable at best. Even Brian and Roger watching it back were like ‘what in the fuck is this’ and Roger forgot it was his song. Legend. Las Palabras De Amor is beautiful. Them harmonizing in the chorus does something for me. Now...Cool Cat. Cool Cat is easily in my top 3 all-time favorite Queen songs. Whenever I listen to this song, I swear I can feel the dopamine receptors connecting in my brain. Fred’s falsetto fucks me up. Also take a moment of appreciation for John Richard Deacon born on August the 19th, 1951. He wrote it and did the entire instrumental. The talent? Immense. Now the closer is of course Under Pressure. I wish they kept Brian’s bit in it but hey, what can you do. I can’t really say anything about the song besides it slaps and the highest note was not done by Freddie but Roger. 

Favorites: Staying Power, Back Chat, Body Language, Put out the Fire, Cool Cat, Under Pressure. 

This is an interesting one. She used to be a woman with a hotdog stand HOOP DIDDY DIDDY HOOP DIDDY DOO. Now, this one caught my attention due to the first two tracks. Innuendo mixes genres so beautifully. That spanish guitar section is stunning and the bridge gets me every time. I’m Going Slightly Mad after that? It’s a bit odd. The introduction on the track is an odd one and it used to slightly creep it out the first time I heard it. But the more I listen, the more I really appreciate how fun it is. The video is one of my absolute favorites. Freddie’s look. Brian WEARING CLOGS IN THE 90′s LIKE AN ABSOLUTE UNIT, and John just standing there with a yo-yo makes me happy. Headlong kind of makes me laugh now after watching the making of this album’s documentary. Roger talks about how it’s a serious album but then it cuts to the SHE USED TO BE A WOMAN WITH A HOTDOG STAND line. The next three songs I didn’t give a chance until about a month ago. Ride the Wild Wind is one I was not expecting to enjoy as much as I do but there’s something about it. Along with Don’t Try So Hard. Now...These Are the Days of Our Lives? Excuse me while I cry. The last song I want to talk about is Delilah. A song Freddie wrote for his favorite cat. The lines ‘you make me so very happy, when you cuddle up and go to sleep beside me...but then you make me slightly mad, when you pee all over my chippendale suite’. BUT THEN THE MEOWS AND BRIAN MAKING HIS GUITAR SOUND LIKE A CAT MY HEART MELTS. 

Favorites: Innuendo, I’m Going Slightly Mad, Headlong, I Can’t Live With You, Don’t Try So Hard, Ride the Wild Wind, Delilah, the Show Must Go On.

Holy shit number five. My fingers are in slight pain and I have four more to go after this. Now time for a confession, I guess? I used to hate Killer Queen. For some reason, I couldn’t stand it. Key words there are used to. That song is a bop and I was a dumb bitch I guess. Tenement Funster is honestly such a Roger track. The opening line makes me think it’s a nod to those glittery converse he used to wear. Those were a strong look. Flick of the Wrist is the grand pappy of Death on Two Legs. Or is the father? I don’t know. But it’s still a diss track for a manager who did them dirty. Anyway, this track does something for me. In the Lap of the Gods....Roger’s goddamn FALSETTO HOW DARE HE. Then when they did this song live and he did that shit...bitch. My jaw DROPPED. Stone Cold Crazy with that almost early punk sound? Hell yee. Now, Misfire. Learning the meaning behind it.....John....honey...oof. I mean it’s a bop about ending too early during sex, that you cannot deny. Leroy Brown was one that grew on me. I actually didn’t care too much for it for a while. It’s fun. Now, She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)...WHY ARE PEOPLE SLEEPING ON THIS TRACK???! Brian’s vocals are so fuckin’ beautiful, paired with that simple instrumental...it’s such a stunning track. Lap of the Gods (revisited) I slept on. I deserve to have my ass kicked for that. 

Favorites: Flick of the Wrist, Lap of the Gods, Misfire, She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos) and Last of the Gods...revisited.

This one is still growing on me. Father to Son when I first heard it flicked something in my brain and it’s one of those that I cannot skip when it’s on. White Queen didn’t really impress me at first and it required a re-listen. Then I actually properly listened to it and it got me hooked. Now, Loser in the End. That song FUCKS and it’s my favorite off this record. It sounds vastly different from many of the others and it felt like a breath of fresh air. Ogre Battle is a fuckin’ beast of a track. Along with it, most of the Black side just kind of reminds me of playing D&D with the boys. Am I alone in this? Probably. This one I’m still getting into for the most part. 

Favorites: Father to Son, White Queen (as it Began), Loser in the End, Ogre Battle, Funny How Love Is,  Seven Seas of Rhye.

This scamp was hard to get a good picture of. That cover is hella reflective. This is one I wasn’t expecting to add into my collection. It’s not my absolute top favorite, I do still rather enjoy it. Play the Game is pretty mellow but then goddamn DRAGON ATTACK. EXCUSE ME. The bass on that track? That guitar riff? I’m done. I am deceased. BUT THEN THAT’S FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST, BIIIIIIITCH. If you couldn’t tell, I love a good bass line. This one is so fuckin’ tasty. It’s simple but so goddamn effective. Need Your Loving Tonight seems like almost like a transitional song. It gives me a bit of a Hot Space Vibe. Crazy Little Thing Called Love is a song me and my mom bond over all the time. It’s her favorite Queen song and we often sing along to it in the car. Now. Rock it? Rock it (Prime Jive)? It slaps and it slaps hard. However, listening to it one night, the track faintly reminded me of Sword of Damocles from Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Vocals very much did and the instrumental as well but not as much.  Now with Don’t Try Suicide....it’s one song I’m really not a fan of. Having to do with childhood trauma dealing with suicide? Maybe so. The last three I still need to give a proper chance? I’m weird with albums. I sleep on songs then finally listen to them get regret for not listening to them sooner. 

Favorites: Dragon Attack, Another one Bites the Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Rock it (Prime Jive), and Save Me.

Damn alright, I’m starting to get tired of typing but this is the second to the last boyoo. My phalanges are literally going to fall off when I talk about the Beatles. OKAY NOW, another album I slept on for a while. I’m a dumb bitch, we established this. I listened to this album before in full but it didn’t do much for me. I gave it another go and found I actually enjoyed quite a bit of it. Tie your Mother Down brought me back to the days of listening to their Greatest Hits II album on their YouTube Channel. The Intro music was the guitar rift for this song. You Take my Breath Away is an interesting one. Very reminiscent of Love of my Life...almost a sort of lonely love song of sorts. You and I is sort of the complete opposite and it does sort of illustrate how lonely Freddie was. Somebody to Love and it’s harmonies water my crops, clear my depression, and give me a hug. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy is one of those tunes you just have bop to. Drowse is absolutely STUNNING. Not what I expect from a Roger song. I mean the last one of his on an album was what? I’m in Love with my Car? We love a versatile icon. Teo Torriatte and just the meaning behind it is so incredibly sweet. It’s so absolutely wholesome and reading how Brian and the boys worked with their translator to get it just right for their Japanese audience. My heart is full. 

Favorites: You Take my Breath Away, You and I, Drowse, Teo Torriatte. 

HOLY SHIT LAST ONE. When I sat down and started listening to their entire discography, this one really set the stage of what was to come. Keep Yourself Alive is such a strong opener in my opinion. Also DO YOU THINK YOU GET BETTER EVERYDAY?? NO I JUST THINK I’M TWO STEPS NEARER TO MY GRAVE...a bop. Doing Alright isn’t my favorite but is it fun to sing ‘doing alriiiiiiiight’?. Hell yee. Great Rat King fuckin’ SLAPS. Now...I am a simple woman and when I hear Liar..I get more turnt than a white dad at a barbeque in cargo shorts and crocs listening to Bruce Springsteen. It’s almost impossible for me to not sing along. To scream LIAR and of course MAMA I’M GONNA BE YOUR SLAVE ALL DAY LONG....ooh BABY. Solid track. Also that version of them playing it at the Rainbow is absolute perfection. Modern Times Rock n Roll comes out of almost no-where and damn...Rog really out here. It’s also far too short for my liking. Son & Daugher I have to say gives me almost Cream vibes? I dig it. The vocals goddamn kill me..straight up manslaughter, truly. 

Favorites: Keep Yourself Alive, Great Rat King, Liar, Modern Times Rock n Roll and Son & Daughter. 

This took me nearly two hours to write, holy hell. But hey, those are my 9 records that I wrote essays about. 

[jmeddows2]

Guaranteed to blow your mind  (Roger Taylor smut)

Notes: Bear with me, this is my first ever smut. I’m sorry for mistakes and bad writing. English is not my first languages. Inaccuracies can occur concerning the band. (including Deaky joining Queen).  I’m also planning on making more parts of this including sub!Roger. Let’s see how this goes :) Feedback is always appreciated, so I know how to improve my writing.. ALRIGHT let’s do it  Summary: Felicity is a well known and experienced groupie. Roger a rock star on the rise.    Words: 3.7k+ 

Warnings: cursing, sub!Roger  smut: a tiny bit of edging, blowjob, unprotected sex

Felicity, also known as 'fizz Fliss' in the Rock N‘Roll scene always knew what she wanted. She knew it since the day she moved out from her parent’s home at the tender age of only 16 years old. School had never been one of her interests, instead she loved getting in trouble and the feeling of adrenaline rushing through her veins.

Fliss had a big dream, as well as many fantasies. Being a groupie.

Chasing rockstars from city to city, spending the whole night in clubs, drinking, doing hard drugs and having the time of her life with the musician of the night afterwards. She followed bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, David Bowie, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, just to name a few.

At only 20 years old, she had already made a name for herself. Everyone knew her. Women/ girls wanted to be like her, and men longed to spend a night with her. The 'groupie chasing rockstar scenario soon changed to the opposite. It was the most famous men in rock that all wanted a piece of her and they somehow always gave her a piece of themselves in the form of presents. There would not pass a day without a few parcels delivered to her doorstep, containing the latest fashion, lingerie, makeup, booze, sometimes just money. Most of the parcels had a long journey behind them, many hadmade its way all the way from America and Australia to her flat in London. Besides the adoration and money that was spent on her, Felicity was the muse of many songs that later went on to become classics. When you asked her about how she attracted the attention of all the musicians, she simply claimed that it was all about the glam rock inspired clothes she wore. Beside her well known reputation as groupie, she wasn’t just a typical groupie you’d fuck and chuck. Felicity was often photographed alongside other rock musicians for magazines and ads.

Summer of 1971

 It was very hot day when Fliss stepped into the De Lane Lea Studios in London, to meet up with a band she’d been following since the beginning, which happened to be ‘The Who’.  They’d been there to record their fifth studio album titled ‘Who’s Next’.

 The room where the mixing board was situated was already filled with clouds of smoke, as she emerged and was quickly greeted with a hug.

“Ahh finally. Glad you could come. Missed you, love, how have you been?” Roger Daltrey, the lead singer greeted her with a quick peck on the cheek, while bassist John Entwistle beside them was just about to snort a line of cocaine from the tabletop, that was else covered in bottles of heavy alcohol. Glyn Johns, the producer had already been fiddling with some of the buttons on the mixing board, adding finishing touches to a record from a different band. It surprised her, knowing that Roger (D), John (E), Keith and Pete never liked sharing their studio time. They always used it to full extend, no matter what.

 “you really thought I would miss the opportunity to watch you guys record, huh? I wouldn’t even think about it. besides, I wanted to personally thank Keith here” she was pointed her finger into the drummer’s direction “ for the beautiful necklace. It must have cost you a fortune.” she laughed, clasping the little diamond that graced her decollete and she approached the drummer to place herself in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“yeah it actually did, honey.. but you‘re totally fucking worth it” he replied with a smug smile on his face, caressing her cheek with one hand.

“now come on, baby” Keith fiddled with the pocket of his jacket, only to pull out a pack filled to the brim with white powder. Fliss was quick to realize his intentions, so she pulled her top over her head and tossed it to the floor, leaving her in a red lace bra, another precious present.

 “fuck, see that‘s what I‘m talking about, baby” bringing his hand to lightly grope her breast

“I‘ll buy you 10 of those necklaces. No, I‘ll buy you anything you want, honey” he mumbled and managed to pour a line of the white gold onto the space between her breasts and rolled a 5-pound note to snort it from there. Keith didn‘t manage to catch all of the white powder at once, so he leant his head forward to lick the rest off and rub it on his gums. Their little get together was soon cut off by a loud thump as the door opened and 4 men stood there, totally caught off guard. 4 rather shocked faces. Newbies.  

 “seriously guys? Have you switched to male groupies now? “Fliss laughed sitting herself up in Keith’s lap, to get a better look of them.

 The men at the door seemed really embarrassed, with their heads turning as red as a tomato, except for one guy with long, dark brown hair and high cheekbones. He managed to step forward: “sorry are we interrupting something here? We can come back later?!”

“no, no, come in it‘s alright. Suit yourself” Roger (D) invited the men in with a gesture towards the little table with booze, cigarettes, pills and cocaine.

“Fliss, baby, may I present to you, her majesty: Queen, they‘re new, have some potential AND they are here to record some stuff today” Pete chuckled and winked at her.

 “oh really? And why haven‘t I heard of them yet?” she laughed while studying the men who were still stood by the door having not moved in the slightest. They seemed intimidated. It felt like a game for Felicity and hell, she loved to play. It was true, the band had only started to rehears songs for their first album a few months prior and received a little bit of recognition by playing rather small gigs. They were young, on the rise, seeking attention and where else could you get that from if not from one of London’s most iconic and definitely loudest rock bands of all time?

 “hey hey, I know you. Fuck dear, no I adore you... you are Felicity? Living the dream, right? damn... I bet this was also a present” he winked pointing at her bra. “I‘m Freddie by the way” he took a few steps forward to shake her hand, then heading back to his band mates who still haven’t moved in the slightest..

 “this is her Rog, the girl I told you about the other day” Freddie whispered to the blond-haired boy, gently nudging his side, he just nodded with flushed cheeks. His wavy, dirty blonde hair barely touched his shoulder and his bright blue eyes didn‘t quite know what to focus on, trying to play off the embarrassment. An awkward silence filled the room, until Freddie decided to plunge himself down next to Pete on one of the leather couches trying to lighten the mood. 

“and the others? Do you also have any names? “Felicity stood up from Keith’s lap and made her way towards the men as they introduced themselves to her as Brian, Roger and Mike. Mike was Queen’s bass player at the time and was very soon after replaced by our precious Deaky.

 As the tension and embarrassment settled, the "new boys" managed to get comfortable with a little booze. A magic recipe that always seemed to help loosen everyone up. Roger Daltrey was like the dad of the group, he didn’t take any hard drugs, just sleeping pills, but who didn’t? He also occasionally did a little pot. Roger Daltrey always felt the need to be the tough one, to look out for everyone. He had to, dealing with his bandmates which basically consisted of three addicts. Pete was an alcoholic, John (E) was an alcoholic. All three of them were doing speed and every other kind of drug you could imagine. Roger (D) never touched any cocaine, never had a try of it. He always felt responsible, as singing was his ‘instrument’ in the band and he felt like he would have never been able to master his skills while intoxicated. He tried to lead Fliss into another direction many times, away from her lifestyle, stating points that she would not have a future continuing like this, if she ever got out alive. He just wanted the best for all them, treating them like children of his own somehow.

 “what’s it like, darling?” Freddie asked curiously, he took a sip from his vodka-soda. “I want to know the details, any weird sex habits out there in the world of Rock ‘N’Roll? Any new kinks to know about “he asked flashing his unique, bright teeth at her with a smile. 

“Fred” Brian warned by shooting him a glare.

“Oh, come on Bri, stop acting as if you’re not interested in what this hot little thing here might have to spill” Freddie turned his attention back to Fliss.  “besides I think my good friend Rog here also might be interested” Freddie pointed in his direction, but his blond friend was too occupied having a chat with Keith.  It was obvious that one of his ears was always curiously listening to what she might have had to say. Roger’s eyes also betrayed him by stealing little glances, when he thought that she wasn’t looking.

“ok well... so sorry to disappoint you, but a lady never tells, but” she winked at Freddie and his eyes widened for more gossip as she continued.

“there’s loads of traveling, fine booze, the best cigarettes, expensive clothes and meals, you know the drill” she made a gesture at her body signaling great sex. “a real killer queen” Freddie smiled at her while pouring yet another glass for both of them and they clinked them together, getting lost in another conversation about antiques and all things expensive and glamorous. All of which Freddie admired. “Splendid! I already know we are going to get along perfectly, darling.”

 Freddie moved on to talk to his own band mate Brian again, but the spot beside her on the couch was soon filled by Roger. He clutched his whiskey on the rocks in his hand and was quickly caught off guard.

 -Aren’t you a little too young to drink, Roger? I mean how old are you? 16? 17??? - Fliss asked loud enough for the others to hear as she placed her feet onto his lap, resting them there, while the others started to laugh once they overheard her assumption.

 “no...no I.. I‘m actually 22”  he nervously stuttered.

“Hah I never thought to see the day that Rog can‘t get a word out to impress a girl” Freddie laughed, taking another sip from his alcoholic beverage.

 “no wonder. He‘s probably starstruck, keeps all your pics from the newspapers in his bedside drawer, ever since Fred told him about you” Mike laughed loudly while Roger was getting slightly embarrassed and his cheeks turned pink. No, not embarrassed, he felt humiliated.

 “oh, is that so Roger?”  Fliss said as she got up with a G&T in her hand.

“don‘t mind, do ya Rog?” batting her eyelashes at him, he shook his head and she placed herself onto his lap. Once she was situated comfortably, she smiled at him.

“hi” threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “hi” he smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist. Her touch burned into his skin and within seconds his semi could be slightly felt on her thigh. The effect she had on him made her want to play this game even more.

 “oioioi, someone‘s gonna get lucky, huh?” Pete teased, making her playfully shake her head and roll her eyes. “And he might be the only one tonight” she replied, making all of them go quiet. Felicity felt kind of bad for all the teasing Roger had to bear. It was meant to be her job. Hers only.

“I’m not making you feel uncomfortable, am I?” she asked the blond boy with a hint of concern in her voice, brushing his soft hair over his shoulder.

“nnn no, not at all. I’m fine, perfectly fine” Perfect.

 Roger was quiet and frozen as Felicity constantly shifted in his lap. It made him even harder, painfully hard. Of course, she knew exactly what she was doing, as teasing was her specialty. But this boy was different, quiet, nervous, a perfect prey.

 Roger’s eyes nervously scanned the room, silently praying that no one would notice his now throbbing bulge in his pants. Felicity saw it all and felt him violently throb against his pants as her core was pressed up against him. So, she decided to fuel the fire even more. Another specialty of hers.

 She scanned Roger‘s face with her eyes, then slightly started nibbling his ear, which earned a light moan from him.  She continued kissing along his jawline, making his eyes tightly shut. He was trying his best, not to buck into her. “you’re almost too pretty to be rockstar” Roger opened his eyes as she caressed his right cheek, while her other hand was playing with his hair.

Roger swallowed hard, trying not to moan any louder. He was frustrated that he couldn’t do anything about his miserable situation, the fear of getting caught any second creeping up on him. His only goal at this point was trying not to come in his pants right then there.

- Oh I.. I.. thank you.. you‘re p..pretty- he stuttered.

She continued lightly bouncing in his lap, purposely grinding her ass against Roger‘s clothed length, while the most innocent look on her face. A smirk was plastered on her face as she earned another groan from him.

"What‘s wrong, Roger?" she asked innocently.

"You alright, mate?" John (E) asked from the sofa on the opposite side, he answered with a little nod, trying to keep it together.

Leaning closer to Roger she whispered in his ear: "you‘re so hard down there, huh? Do I really have such an effect on you? I didn‘t even do anything."

Felicity kept tracing patterns into the skin of his neck and chest, which was exposed due to his unbuttoned shirt. It was cute how every little touch and pattern traced along his sensitive skin made him shiver.

 - let‘s go out to eat something, guys, we‘ve got the studio all day long, you can record later- Roger (D) clapped his hands together and jumped up from his seat.

 “Roger are you coming or you glued to that couch? “Freddie joked as Roger glared back at him. Roger knew that he couldn‘t get up, not like that, not with a massive hardon. That would be too embarrassing, and the boys would forever pick on him.

 “actually, we‘ll join you later, King‘s pub it is?“ Felicity asked, shooting them a wink.

 Keith nodded, leaning down to her: “alright, honey, take care” the brunette drummer said as he stole a kiss from her. 

 A wave of relief rushed over Roger as there was only him and Fliss left in the room. Well, as much relief as he could possibly get, despite the problem in his pants.

“so, are you a bassist? singer? “Felicity teased as she brought her face close to his, caressing his right cheek, lightly rubbing circles with her thumb.

 “no I‘m m.. 'm the drummer” he stuttered nervously. “you know it‘s not very nice to not look at me when you’re talking to me” she shifted even more back and forth in his lap, feeling his hard cock through his pants. “you’re lucky, I have a thing for drummers” speeding up her movement, adding even more friction.

 “uhh please” Roger groaned looking deep into her eyes. “what Roger, what do you need?” leaning forward, breathing into his ear. “Is this what you need?” she placed a kiss on his left cheek, he violently shook his head in response.

 “what have been doing with those pictures your band member mentioned earlier, huh? Have you been a naughty boy?” she teased, continuing to torture him further, pressing even harder into him.

“y.. yes, been naughty, touching myself to your pictures...want you.... wanted you since the first time I saw you” he whined, eyebrows knitted in frustration.

“oh really?” Felicity definitely had her fun with this. She often adopted the role of the submissive, in fact, a willing sub. But dominating a guy, making him practically melt in her hands, was just another level. Nothing could ever compare to that.

Roger didn‘t manage to get a word out so she grabbed his cock through his pants, palming him that it nearly made him jump out of his skin. He never felt like this before, never this intimidated by any girl, he usually was the one to charm them, tease them, make them squirm.

 “yeah, yeah” he finally admitted “was so bad, wankin’ my cock every time to you mmmm, please, please, want you so bad” Roger cried out, but she brought her face close to his, kissing soon turned into a quick but heated make out session. Her hand made its way between their bodies into his pants, slowly starting to pump his bare length with her hand, brushing her thumb over his tip, making his eyes roll back.

 “alright pretty princess, let‘s see”  

Felicity got off his lap, kneeled down in front of him, he lifted his hips for her to remove his pants and underwear all at once.

Roger’s cock sprung free, hitting his tummy, the red, swollen tip leaking pre cum already. He was slightly bigger than average with a perfect girth, which surprised her, due to his overall tiny frame.

“fucking pretty cock, princess” his cheeks turned pink once more. It was the most vulnerable state, being all exposed in front of her. She ghosted her hand over his length, making him squirm even more and buck his hips. He was frustrated. But she kept on admiring his cock, taking her time. “Please, please I’m begging you! DO something. I- I can’t take it anymore” Roger whined. 

He hissed loudly when her hand was suddenly wrapped around his length, his eyes falling shut.

“ fuck.. fuck feels so good mmm” he moaned in ecstasy.

Roger’s moans were music to her ears “look at me, princess” his eyes fluttered open and she leaned forward to kiss the tip of his cock gently, staring deeply into his eyes. “mmm more please”

She licked the salty pre cum off that was already dribbling off the tip due to his horniness and it spread on her lips. Licking it off, tasting him. Salty and sweet at the same time. Felicity used her tongue to gently lick his frenulum, making Roger cry out her name. She lowered her head once again, taking all of him into her mouth, rubbing his tummy with her right hand.

“oh yess, fuuuuck feels so good, your mouth... you do it so good I’m not gonna last.. mmm” Roger groaned.

Having him beg for her, motivated Fliss to go not even faster, but also deeper, bobbing her head up and down, having him down her throat. Thanks to much practice, her gag reflex was gone, giving him the full experience.

“fuck m’ gonna c..cum m’ gonna cum” she pulled away, earning a disappointing groan. “You didn’t think I was going to let you come that fast, did you?” his eyebrows knotted into a frown. “Please, I was so close” “aww look at you, all red and desperate to finally get off, princess” Rogers hair was sticking to his sweaty forehead as she was undressing herself. “Roger” he flinched,letting his cock fall from his hand as she caught him pumping himself in a fast motion while watching her naked frame.  “I’m so sorry, please, do something. It’s really starting to hurt now. It’s way too much” salty tears started dribbling down his cheeks. He was so desperate for her.  “ok baby” she climbed into his lap, taking his thick cock into her hand rubbing his tip through her folds and the tears kept streaming down his face. She sank all the way down on him, staying there a few seconds to adjust. Roger rested his head on her shoulder as she managed to swipe a few of his tears away with her thumb.  Fliss started bouncing up and down his cock, Roger’s breathing slowly got louder when he was nearing his orgasm for the 2nd time that night. He felt weak, too weak to be able to thrust up into her.  “Fuck Roger, I’m close. You’re filling me up so good” she groaned, speeding up the tempo and circling her hips with one of his hands resting on her hips for support, the other on her breast, toying with her nipple. “mmm coming, you need to get off” “Come for me, princess” tangling her fingers in his blond locks. He started to whimper at the feeling of her still on his cock, one final bounce and she sank all the way down on him, sending both of them over the edge. Roger came with a cry of her name as he released warm, thick ribbons of cum inside of her. His eyes were fluttering, head on her shoulder, as he slowly came down from his high, relishing every wave of pleasure, not wanting the moment to fade away.

 Roger was snapped out of his little trance when she released his cock, making his him squirm at the sudden loss of contact. Being the little tease Felicity was, she reached down between her thighs, capturing some of Roger’s thick, sticky cum and brought the finger to her mouth to taste it. “so good” she hummed against her hand. “Fuck, you look so hot right now” he watched her in awe, mouth slightly open, not believing his eyes, making his cock twitch one final time.

(kind of inspired by this min 3:00) “Marry me” Roger blurted out. She looked at him, expecting him to be joking but his face remained serious. “You’re fucking nuts, Roger” she laughed as they both dressed themselves again, trying to hide every evidence of their previous studio ‘adventure’. He took a seat on the couch and pulled her into his lap again, giving her a passionate kiss. “Will you at least stay with me tonight then?” “Sure, Roger." he held her close, making the throbbing problem in his pants reappear.