#I heard it's wizard wednesday today

[gayforrosadiaz]

After School (Peraltiago)

Summary: Your parents pick you and your brother Mac up from school, and since it's a weekend, a fluff-filled day ensues.

Peraltiago x Fem!Child!Reader

Age: 4

Warning: Tooth-rotting fluff- ---

You sat on the steps of school, waiting for your parents to pick you up. On Fridays, it was a very spoken rule by you that both your parents had to come and pick you up from school. The routine was simple: Mondays, and Wednesdays, your mom picked you up. Tuesdays and Thursdays, your dad picked you up. And Friday, your favourite day of the week, both your parents always picked you up. No leeways, no excuses.

Your brother, Mac, sat next to you, blabbering away about Pokémon, and you listened intently. You saw your parents at the gate and jumped up, squealing. You grabbed your brother's hand, before running up to the gate, your teacher following close behind.

"Hey there, princess," grinned your dad, lifting you up in the air, grinning. He put you down and proceeded to do the same to your brother, grinning, "There's my boy!"

"Hello, Mrs. Santiago and Mr. Peralta," smiled your teacher, greeting your parents as your dad set you down on the ground and took your bag off your shoulders to put them on one of his.

"How were the twins today?" Asked your mom, smiling politely.

"An absolute gem as always," laughed your teacher. "However, if they could refrain from replicating NYPD protocol during recess it'll be better, because there is a considerable amount of confusion about certain...actions."

You immediately remembered playing cops and robbers with your friends that day, and thought it'd be a good idea to tackle Tommy Green, pin his hands behind his back, and scream at the top of your lungs, "NYPD you're under arrest!" While Mac did the same to Elizabeth Myers.

"Oh," said your mom. "We'll try our best, Miss Lake. It might be difficult because of both my husband and I being in the NYPD, but I'm sure we can manage."

"Nice one," your dad whispered and high-fived the pair of you.

The teacher bade both your parents and you a hearty goodbye, and walked back to the school while you held your mom's hand and happily talked about your day.

"Mommy, guess what! Tommy was the robber on the playground and I did what I saw Daddy and Uncle Sarge do!" You said very proudly.

"So did I!" Chime in Mac. "I tackled Lizzie cause she was his partner in crime!"

Amy looked at Jake, who was grinning very, very happily. It had been take your kid to work day, and both you and Mac had accompanied Jake and Sarge on an arrest, and the perp had tried to run. The pair of them had chased him to right in front of the car, and you guys had been sitting in the back snacking on the cheese sandwiches your mom gave you, and heard Terry say the proper police line.

"Is that right, baby?" Laughed Amy, death-glaring her husband at the same time.

You nodded excitedly, "Yeah! I did the 'NYPD you're under arrest' thingie! I felt like a police cop, mommy!"

"That's amazing!" Smiled your mom. She looked at your father and said in a low, threatening whisper, "They are never going with you on take your kid to work day. Never."

You four finally reached home, and you were quick to go to the kitchen, looking through the fridge. Your mom walked up to you and kneeled to your height, asking, "What're you looking for, hm?"

"I put the sandwiches you made for me and Mac here this morning, mommy! I can't find it!" You looked at your dad in accusation, "Daddy, you ate it!"

He looked attacked and gasped, "I would never! The food rules of this house are sacred!"

"It was a yummy sandwich!" Mac frowned.

"Yeah!" You agreed, glaring at Jake, "Daddy ate it!"

Amy stood up and looked through the fridge, finding the two sandwiches very securely hidden behind a box of salad. She produced it and earned loud gasps from both you and Mac.

"Mommy's a wizard!" You both gasped, taking the sandwich and looking at it with amazement as Amy placed two plates on the table.

"Holy shit, you're a wizard," Jake mimicked your tone.

"Jake, language," Amy said in a warning tone, glaring at your dad.

You sat next to Mac, both of you talking over each other and to each other, while Amy and Jake tried their best to understand.

After the tasty sandwiches were fully devoured, Jake scooped you up and said, "Bath time!"

"No..." you groaned, dropping all your dead weight on him, nearly making him stumble. "I wanna take a bath with Mommy..."

Amy picked Mac up, who whined, "I wanna take a bath with Daddy..."

"Kids, come on, please, let's not be so specific," sighed your mom. She looked at your brother, "I'm gonna be giving you a bath, baby boy."

Jake kissed your head and grinned, "And I will make your bath as fun as possible, princess."

You grumbled, "Fine."

Your dad looked at you with wide eyes and whispered, "Abort mission, Code Manners, Code Manners-"

"How have we taught you to reply, sweetheart?" Your mom said calmly, walking over to Jake and standing in front of you so you could meet her gaze.

"Okay, mommy..." you said, apologetically. "I'm sorry..."

Amy's face broke into a smile and she kissed your forehead, "See? That wasn't so hard, was it? Now, if you do cooperate with Daddy and Mommy to take a bath, maybe we all can go out for dinner and ice cream tonight."

At the mention of ice cream, you let go of the dead weight and immediately let your dad take you to the bathroom to bathe.

"So, any homework for you, my little cuties?" Amy asked, getting both of you to sit at the dining table.

You and Mac looked at each other, confused.

Jake produced the little notebook your teacher had given you from Mac's bag, and flipped through it, finding the page with the day's date marked on it.

"They have some handwriting work and...colouring," he said, looking at his wife. "Man, I miss kindergarten."

"I wanna do it tomorrow..." you and Mac whined, practically draping yourselves against Amy's legs, looking up at her with pleading eyes. "Mommy, can we please do the homework tomorrow?"

Jake and Amy both took a deep breath, gunning up their patience to deal with two very fussy 4-year-olds.

"No," Jake said firmly. "And if I see a struggle here, then no ice cream after dinner."

At that very real threat, you and your brother were at the table and finished your homework as fast as possible.

"Can we play now, Mommy?" Mac asked, sitting in Amy's lap, proudly showing her his work, while you did the same with Jake.

"Sure, baby," she smiled. "And that's some impressive colouring work, you guys!"

"Seriously, I did not know you birthed twin Picassos," Jake laughed, "That homework looks amazing, you guys. Keep it safely in your bags and then you can go play."

You got an idea and suggested, "Let's play hide-and-seek!"

In unison, you, your brother, and your father yelled, "Mommy's it!" and made a mad dash for your hiding places, while Amy laughed and counted loudly to ten.

You hid with your brother in the supply closet, while Jake hid somewhere in the guest room. Amy prowled around soundlessly, catching Jake first, who yelled loudly, "Oh no, she got me! Kids, save yourselves!"

You and Mac giggled loudly, but hastily covered your mouths. Unfortunately, the supply closet door was wrenched open, and you were scooped up by your mom, and your brother was taken up by your dad.

"Gotcha!" Both Jake and Amy grinned. You squealed and laughed as your mom began tickling you, and tried escaping.

"There's no escape from the tickle monster!" Jake exclaimed, taking you and Mac to your room where he and Amy gently pinned you down on the soft carpet, tickling you nonstop.

Once you and Mac were worn out, your parents put you down for a nap, just to keep you both rested.

Before you knew it, it was dinnertime. You woke up, shook your brother awake, ran to your parents' room and leapt on the bed, crawling under your dad's hands which had his phone in them. You grinned broadly and said, "Daddyy..." dragging out the 'y' to grab his attention.

"Yes, princess..." he mimicked your tone, putting his phone away.

"It's dinnertime..." you suggested.

Deciding to trick you, Jake looked at Amy and frowned, "Weren't we having baked beans for dinner, Ames?"

"Yeah," she replied, messing with you.

You gasped in absolute shock, before Mac pulled on your dad's shirt in irritation, "We were gonna go out for dinner!"

Amy laughed and slid out of bed, saying, "Alright, let's all get changed and wear some nice clothes."

"Yes!" you squealed, running after her, as she went to your room to get you something nice to wear.

She settled on dressing you in comfy clothes, on request of Jake, who did indeed like dolling you up, but still prioritized comfort over anything else. With Mac, too, even she agreed dressing him comfortably would be the best option.

"Pizza for dinner?" Jake asked, earning a loud 'yes' from you and your brother.

"Alright, in the car then, kids," smiled Amy.

"Race you!" Mac said, dashing off.

"Not fair!" You whined, running after him. You parents lagged behind a bit, watching as the pair of you chased each other, racing like mad.

After pizza and ice cream, you and your brother fell asleep in the car, with you resting your head on his shoulder, and him resting his head atop yours.

"They're so cute," cooed Amy, looking at you both. Jake smiled through the rearview mirror and replied, "The cutest."

At home, you and your brother refused to sleep in your room, and so, the day ended with you sprawled atop Amy, and Mac laying atop Jake.

"All in a day's work," chuckled Amy, kissing your forehead.

"All in a day's work," smiled Jake, leaning over to press a quick kiss to his wife's lips, and to his son's head.

#amy santiago #jake peralta #peraltiago #brooklyn 99

[kuumara]

Will the Wise Wednesday

Michael Jacob Duncan Wheelistovsky is walking through a dense wild forest, cutting his way through with his sword and knife.

He doesn't understand why he has to always go on these missions, he's a prince, not a knight! He should be laying on his couch, reading some random book, or playing chess with someone. He actually can't remember anything fun that royal people do. But anything would be better than getting scratched in the face by thorns, poking at him from all around, and his chest piece is getting more uncomfortable by the second.

Still, if he doesn't at least try to finish this mission, his dad might make him an outcast. Banish him from the manor. Take away everything. Treat him like just another peasant.

So, he's going to steal that damn heart from that damn wizard if it's the last thing he does.

Finally, the trees started getting less dense, transitioning into a field, and Mike could walk normally. He could see sunshine peeking through the trees on the sides of the field, for the first time today. It was evening already. For the first time today, realization hit him, as well.

He's basically going to his death. Sure, he's good in knight tournaments, and not because his opponents let him. They only listen to his dad, and if anything, his dad would tell them to do their best and hurt him, or something equally as bad. His dad really didn't like Mike; always either too lazy, or too hard-working for him. "You're not diplomatic enough, not social enough, blahblahblah."

Whatever. He can do this. This wizard can't be that powerful, no one even knows their name. Except if they've killed everyone that could've told others their name...

No, he's not going to do this.

He turns around, and starts walking back. He doesn't mind being a peasant. Maybe he could get a job as a gardener at the manor, even, and his dad couldn't avoid him any longer, and guilt would be too much for him, and he's take Mike back as his son-

The ground starts shaking. Earthquake? Maybe. Mike stands still. He's not sure what to do when there's an earthquake. Then- a straight-up wall rises from the ground, preventing him to go back into the forest.

"It's not an earthquake. It's me."

Mike screams and jumps to turn around. There's a wizard standing there. A real wizard, wooden staff and purple robes and potions strapped around his torso and waist and all.

Is this the wizard Mike's supposed to go steal from? Maybe, wizards don't really live around every corner. But he doesn't look menacing. He looks endearing, even, with his big eyes and weird haircut.

Mike figures he should say something, he's been staring for a long time.

"Uhhh- Yes, hi! I'm, uhm-" Woah, so prince-like.

"You're the prince, I know," the wizard says. His voice is unlike anything Mike's heard before. He doesn't like other people's voices that much, but this one he can appreciate.

"I also know you're here to steal my heart,"

Okay whoa- Not like that, Mike thinks.

"I know 'not like that'." The wizard says, noticeably bored. Mike feels nervous all of a sudden.

"Stop looking at my thoughts! Do y'know what privacy is?"

Wizard just blinks.

"Okay, well- Hi, my name's Michael Jacob- um... Dustin Wheelerstovsky, nice to meet you," Mike bows and shakes the wizards hand. The wizard snorts.

"Duncan, Wheelistovsky," he corrects him. Mike flushes, but wizard just looks at him. Perhaps with a little bit of endearment showing on his face. Mike flushes even more.

"Yeah, that..."

They stay in silence for a bit, the wizard still watching Mike. He feels himself getting warmer, and his heartbeat becoming quicker.

The wizard suddenly turns around, and starts walking away.

"What- are you just going to leave this wall here?!" Mike yells after him, confused. Without the wizard turning around, the wall starts crumbling and turns into a pile of dirt and stone. He's free to go.

But, Mike doesn't want to go anymore. He's intrigued by the wizard. The wizard is interesting, odd even. Mike likes that.

He stares at the wizard, who is walking to the other side of the field, where there's a much denser forest then the one on Mike's side.

The wizard, getting smaller and smaller by the minute, stops and turns around. He stares back at Mike. The prince tries to shrug it off and quickly looks to the sky, pretending to guess what time it is.

When Mike looks back (which is soon, because he wants to look at the wizard, which is stranger for him) the wizard is still looking at him. But then he waves at him, motioning him to follow him. Mike does that without a second thought.

He soon catches up to the wizard, who's watching him with his big eyes again. He starts walking through the forest, and Mike wonders how he'll get through it without a sword and is already saying something to offer help, but the second wizard comes in close proximity with the plants they evaporate. Literally turn into a cloud of steam.

The wizard turns to look at Mike with a big smile on his face. He sees that he's speechless.

"Liked that? I have a lot more tricks I can show you,"

Mike's gaping mouth turns into a grin.

"So you want me around?" He jokes.

"As long as you don't steal the heart, or start becoming annoying," the wizard says with a serious face, and starts walking through the now much less denser forest.

"But until then, I don't mind. Yeah, it gets pretty boring around here."

Mike is happy with that. He can't walk home through that forest, at night and expect to come out of it, period. So, he follows the wizard.

"At least tell me your name if you're taking me home with you, then," he teases. The wizard looks at him. Mike thinks he's said something wrong, or that there's some traumatic thing tied to his name that he just triggered and the wizard's gonna smite him with a fire ball now or something.

"Will," he says. "William. Byers." Okay, no fire balls today, then.

"William. Byers," Mike repeats. "Will," he repeats again.

Will snorts. "Yeah. Michael,"

"Weeliam,"

"Minychael,"

"Willer,"

"Moochael."

And so on and so on they went. Until Will stopped.

"We're here," he looked up at the tall trees. Really tall trees, way taller than Mike remembered them.

That shaking started again, and Mike's fight or flight instinct kicked in and he wanted to run out of the forest to protect himself from the earthquake.

Will noticed this and looked at him with that look again.

"Don't worry, just wait,"

So he didn't worry. And then he noticed that a tree was bending to them- bending until the tip of it was touching the ground. It didn't even snap in half, it was like it was made of clay or something.

Will stepped on one of the bigger branches. He offered out a hand to Mike, and he took it.

Will pulled Mike into a sitting position on the branch, and told him to hold on tight. They were still holding hands.

The tree started returning to it's regular position, with Mike and Will sitting on a branch. Mike was terrified. Aren't they going to fall off??

Will squeezed his hand, and he felt tingling over his body. Then, he felt as if he was a part of the branch, of the tree; and when they reached the top, they didn't slide off it. It was like they were branches themselves.

They were hanging upside-down, and they could see the whole forest. Mike saw the forest he came from initially, and the forest Will told him to follow into, seemingly stretching into infinity.

"You feeling alright?" Will asked from beside him. His robe was being pulled down, and he had to clutch onto it. Mike noticed jewelry on Will's hands- wooden and metal rings, appearing to be made out of scraps. A lot of bracelets from different materials, and a chain attachment connecting two rings and a bracelet. Mike's never seen a guy wearing jewelry before, but he decided he liked it.

Mike noticed he started staring at Will's fingers, and Will apparently did, too, since he was smiling shyly, eyebrows brought together.

"Yyyeah! Sorry," he cleared his throat. He was getting warm. "Is this how you sleep, huh? Like a bat?"

Will laughed. "No, here-" As soon as h said this he brushed over a weird carving on the tree swiftly, and the branch got pulled inside the tree. Mike screamed, he thought Will was about to kill them both.

They didn't die. Mike felt goosebumps, like when you dream and you fall from a tall building, and his vision went black for a second. A heartbeat went by, and instead of sitting on a tree he was laying on a pile of thick blankets and pillows.

Once his heartbeat calmed down, he looked around. Next to him was a laughing Will. A maniacally laughing Will.

"Hey!! You didn't give me a warning or anythi-"

"You screamed like a witch!"

Mike threw a pillow at him, but to no effect. He was still laughing his ass off. Mike rolled his eyes, despite the big smile on his face, and stood up from the- landing pad? Pool of pillows?

There was a storm outside, Mike could see it outside a roof window. Weird, he doesn't remember there being a storm at the forest.

"Yeah, I teleported us. Welcome to my cottage! If you tell anyone about it- it wouldn't matter, they wouldn't know the spell I used to get here, anyways." Will untangled himself from the blankets and stood up. Watched Mike for a bit more.

The cottage was great, Mike thought. Through the thick fog and rain outside he could make out the edge of a cliff, and a little garden outside. He could imagine Will gardening on it, sitting on the edge of the cliff and looking down at the forest, or the sea, or whatever was below this cliff cottage.

The inside walls were made of wood and occasionally some stone thrown in there, with a fireplace on one end of it, a solid staircase beside it and a kitchen on the other side. Rugs all over the floor, and a giant chandelier in the middle. Not on the ceiling, on the floor; made into an improvised table.

Everything was lit up warmly by the fireplace and some strange light particles floating around- it almost looked like glowing dust, or really small fireflies.

"This is a really nice house, Will," Mike said, sincerely.

"Oh- thank you! I wasn't really expecting anyone, y'know, so some stuff might be out of place, or whatever-" he eyed the floor chandelier. "-but It'll be alright for the night... You do want to stay the night right? Or did I mess up with the mind reading again-"

"No, no! I do, don't worry," Mike smiled at him lightly. Will smiled back, with a fond look in his eyes again. They just stood there and smiled at each other, like they've done so many times in just one day already.

"...and you don't have to mind read me, you can just ask," he said. Will laughed and put his potions and his robe on the chandelier, then went to the kitchen.

Mike remembered what led him here in the first place. The heart. Does Will even have it? He could try looking around. But what would he even be looking for? He doesn't even know what the damn thing looks like.

"It's just a regular heart," Will said from where he was boiling some water. Right, Mike has to watch his thoughts or Will might actually fire ball him. He hopes Will hasn't read any- incriminating thoughts he has about him.

"A cow's heart, really. I use it for potions, witchcraft stuff. Mainly strength potions," he explained.

"Cow's? There's a bunch of cows around where I live. Why did my dad send me here to get it?"

Will shrugged. "I don't really do long-distance mind reading. My sister, Eleanor does- she's living in Rome right now, though."

They fell into silence again. A comfortable one. It's weird, Mike's always found silence awkward, but with Will everything he dislikes turns into something he likes.

"So- he only sent me here to be in danger? Or to get rid of me for a few days? Why would he do that?"

Will looked at him across the room with a worried look in his eye. He walked towards Mike and sat next to him, on the pillows. Very close, Mike thought.

"Y'know- ugh... Sometimes just someone being your parent, it doesn't mean they're really your parent, yeah? My dad is also a jerk. I don't even wanna call him dad, because a dad would love his son, y'know? To me he's just some guy, really,"

They sat in silence for a little bit, thinking. Knees and elbows brushing, only their breathing and bubbling of water being heard.

"Well... what can I do to get him to like me, then?" Mike asked, sadly.

Will immediately replied, a little bit angry. "Nothing."

Mike looked at him.

"You- you shouldn't change. Not for him, or anyone. I don't know what you're like at the castle, or wherever you live- but a dad shouldn't send his son on a pointless mission just for fun, or for making him build character, or something. Especially not sending him to steal something from a wizard. You're lucky I found you, and not my neighbor. She would turn you into a frog, or a chicken. Just for fun,"

Mike laughs at that. The thought of becoming a frog has always been disturbing to him, actually, but not right now. With Will.

Mike showed Will how to play chess that night.

Why do you even have this if you can't play?

It's from my neighbor!

Will showed Mike how to summon spirits and talk to them, and they spent solid two hours talking to a random hiker that fell off the cliff Will's cottage is on.

In short, they had a great time. When Will showed Mike his room in the attic, Mike almost asked Will to stay with him. He didn't, but he's sure Will read his mind, since he could see his face become red even in the dim light of the fireplace from downstairs.

It's morning.

Mike yawns, stretches his arms above his head and opens his eyes.

But wait- this isn't the room he fell asleep in. This isn't Will's attic.

He stumbles out of the bed. The window is open, and a rope is untying itself from Mike's wardrobe.

He clutches the rope and hastly pulls it back up. There's a grunt from under the window.

Mike looks where the grunt came from. It's Will- looking up at the window, confused. When he sees Mike poke his head through the window, he beams at him.

"HI!" Mike yells.

"Hey!" Will greets back.

"Wait right there!-" And Mike goes rushing out his bedroom, down the stairs, still in his clothes from yesterday. Will has removed his chest plate- the thought makes Mike definitely red.

He runs past the dining room, where he can hear his parents arguing. They probably noticed him- they shut up when he passes. Did Will carry him to his room through his window, or something?

Will really is waiting right where Mike left him at. He's already smiling at him.

"You thought you'd just get rid of me, just like that, huh?"

"No! I just- saved you the walk home, y'know," Will rushed to apologizing, eyes wide.

Mike looked at him. "Don't worry, I was just joking. I know you'd never get rid of me. We're stuck together now," he joked. Will laughed lightly.

"I guess I... I thought you would rather be at home already, than staying with me for even more time," Will said after a while, nervously. He stared at his shoes, while Mike stared at him.

"I'd never feel like that," he says in disbelief. Will peeks at him, still looking down.

"I mean that, read my mind or something. You'll find nothing but even more of what I've already said,"

Will laughs at that. Blushes a little bit. Mike feels accomplished.

And here they are again, smiling at each other in silence. Mike could stay like this forever, really.

"Mike!"

Oh, that's his mom. He should've thought she would come after him after he had casually showed himself in the manor while she thought he was getting ripped apart by trolls and dragons.

Will's smile faded, and he looked scared. "I should go," he whispered. "I'll come soon."

"Will-" Mike wanted to reach out to him, maybe grab his hand and hold him there, but in just a heartbeat Will held his palm over his stomach and evaporated. Just like those plants.

"Mike!"

Mike's mom was now right behind him. She hurried to hug him tightly. His dad, surprisingly, right behind her.

"We sent people after you, just for you to show up here!" dad scolded, just like he always did.

"How did you get back here? Did no guards see you come in?" mom asked, worried. She rarely paid attention to Mike. "What are you doing outside?"

"I-" Mike had to come up with a lie. If Will was scared of his parents, he probably had a good reason for it. And the last thing Mike wants to do is get him in trouble.

"I- I thought my book fell- A- and I came back, but it was late at night! The moon was high up already, and the guards were sleeping. Not my fault you guys overwork them!"

His parents looked at him weirdly for a second. Then his mom scolded his dad, "I told you you should make their shifts shorter! And now they're sleeping on the job,"

They weren't paying much attention to Mike anymore, and started going back inside the manor.

Mike stood there for a bit more, waiting to see if Will would come back. After a while of nothing, he turned around and started walking back to the front doors.

All that he could think about that day were clouds of steam, carvings on trees and an odd haircut that he grew to love over time.

--

alright finally this is finished i been writing this all day smh hope u enjoyed😝🤘 happy will the wise wednesday

#will the wise wednesday #byler #will the wise #cleradin #will byers #byler fic #mike wheeler #byler ficlet #mike the paladin #cleradin fic #byler au #byler fluff #strangers to friends etc etc etc

[isabellafoster13]

Chapter Fourteen: Sting Eucliffe

Lucy ran toward the crowd of people and pushed through, trying to see what was going on. She broke through the crowd and found two large men standing in front of a damaged building, a large hole settled in the front with rubble surrounding the spot of impact. Lucy crept forward, trying to see what, or rather, who had caused the large hole. She had taken a few quiet steps forward when she spotted a head of blonde hair that belonged to a small figure laying on top of the rubble. The celestial wizard gasped at the sight of two grown men beating up a child. 

Lucy stomped forward, placing herself between the two men and child. She shouted in anger, "what are you doing? You're picking on a child! How could you do such a thing?" 

The two men, who were bald, dressed in black, tan-skinned, and were obviously identical twins, had chuckled. One of them responded callously, "that brat was picking a fight. We just smack some sense into him." 

The other man followed up with his own question, "do you want a fight too?"

Lucy gritted her teeth. She unhooked Cancer's key, only to freeze upon the instant realization that today was Wednesday. She couldn't summon Cancer on Wednesdays. As the two men cracked their knuckles and smiled menacingly at her, she knew that they were going to attack her. She hooked Cancer's key back on her keyring and wrapped her fingers around Aquarius' key. She looked around, searching for water. Any amount of water. 

Her brown eyes soon fell on a puddle, left there by Juvia and her rain. Lucy turned her gaze back to the two men, seeing that they were both engulfed in red fire. Great. They're fire mages. The blonde woman waited for the two men to launch themselves at her, sending a blast of fire toward her. The celestial wizard jumped out of the way, landing with a pained yelp and groan next to the puddle. While laying on her stomach, she unhooked Aquarius' key and placed the blade in the water, calling, "Open! Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!" 

In a burst of water and from the puddle and a flash of golden light, Lucy found Aquarius glaring down at her with disdain. Lucy smiled and gave a nervous chuckle. The mermaid spirit sneered, "you interrupted my date with my boyfriend!" She then drew back her urn.

Lucy scrambled to her feet and raised her hands into a defensive position, quickly saying, "wait! Wait, Aquarius! I know that you're mad, but those two men just beat up a child! I need you to teach them a lesson!" 

Aquarius scoffed and turned to the two mages. Upon seeing them engulf themselves in red fire again, she yelled, "you dare to threaten me with fire?!" She then raised her urn, releasing a stream of many water bubbles that hit the two mages with great force. Though, these bubbles also hit bystanders, sending the crowd of people running away for safety. 

Lucy smiled at the sight of her strongest spirit fighting and not attacking her. She then heard a groan behind her, causing her to turn around and see the child stumbling out of the rubble-filled hole in the building he had been thrown into, quickly collapsing onto his knees. Lucy ran toward him and looked him over quickly, seeing that he was covered in burns, scrapes, and blood. Fortunately, though, he didn't seem to have too bad injuries. He would likely be better with bandaging and about a day of rest. 

Not wanting the boy to get injured further, Lucy stood up and pulled off of her keyring, Horologium's key. She pointed the key at the surprised and pained boy, calling out her spirit, "Open! Gate of the Clock Constellation: Horologium!" With a flash of light, the boy was inside the grandfather clock. Lucy instructed her defensive spirit to keep the boy safe before she turned around to capture the two fire mages. 

Sting walked through the streets of Crocus, scratching his dirty and itchy scalp as he ignored his aching feet and the looks of disgust that were thrown at him by the people around him. He didn't know where he was going. He no longer had his dragon and didn't have anywhere to go. He just wandered Fiore aimlessly, looking for something that he couldn't name. I didn't know what he was going to do. He had heard of guilds, groups that you could join if you were a wizard. He was a wizard. Maybe he could join a guild. He just had to find one. How was he going to do that?

The blonde boy looked around, searching for an opening to snatch some money or food, when he ran into someone. He stumbled back and looked, seeing a pair of what were obviously identical twins. They had tan skin, no hair, and were dressed entirely in black. They glared down at the young mage, one sneered, "watch where you're going, kid." 

Sting didn't want to appear as though they had scared him, so furrowed his brows and responded with a forceful tone, "why don't you watch where you're going?"

The two men chuckle darkly, which sent a chill down Sting's spine, but he steeled himself. They then stared down at him with menacing grins. One asked, "you picking a fight, kid? We're mages, so I wouldn't talk back like that, if I were you."

Sting balled his fists, getting into a fighting stance and preparing himself for a fight. He spoke with a raised voice, "I'm a wizard too!" 

The two men howled with condescending laughter. In a sudden burst of magic, the two men became engulfed in red fire. Sting jumped back to avoid being burned, but he still remained. He refused to be intimidated and run away. He was going to fight if he had to. 

One man jumped at him with a fist raised, but the punch didn't land because Sting had jumped out of the way. He raised a clenched fist, engulfing it in light. He was about to attack the man that had attempted to punch him with White Dragon's Iron Fist when the other man teleported in front of him in a burst of fire. The blonde boy couldn't react fast enough when the second twin delivered a fiery punch to his abdomen, knocking the air out of Sting and launching him into the building that was directly across the street from him. 

He groaned as he lay on the rubble that had been created from the impact. His eyes were screwed shut in pain as he floated in and out of consciousness. He could feel the burns and open wounds on his body, and the blood that poured from those wounds. He heard gasps from the crowd that had gathered and the laughter of the two men. 

He had managed to bring himself back to complete consciousness, but wasn't able to open his eyes or sit up when he heard a woman shout in anger, "what are you doing? You're picking on a child! How could you do such a thing?" He listened to the sounds that followed. Angered talking and the sounds of combat. 

"That brat was picking a fight. We just smack some sense into him." 

"Do you want to fight too?" 

The jingling of what he guessed was some kind of metal or keys followed by the crackling of fire, a fiery attack, and the woman shouting, "Open! Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!"

After a burst of water and the chiming of a large bell, a second woman said with anger, "you interrupted my date with my boyfriend!"

The first woman responded hastily, "wait! Wait, Aquarius! I know that you're mad, but those two men just beat up a child! I need you to teach them a lesson!"

The second woman, Aquarius, scoffed, and after the sound of the men engulfing themselves in fire, she shouted, "you dare to threaten me with fire?!" This was followed by the sound of a watery attack and people screaming as they scrambled away from the attack. 

By this point, Sting was able to pull himself up and out of the hole that he had created, albeit painfully. He collapsed to his knees once accomplished this. He looked up, only able to open his left eye due to his right being forced closed from blood, and saw a beautiful, young woman kneel in front of him and look him over. He simply stared at her face, a look of concern evident. He had never seen someone direct a look of concern toward him. He breathed deeply, smelling her scent of strawberries and vanilla.

The woman then stood up and pointed what appeared to be a silver key at him. She called, "Open! Gate of the Clock Constellation: Horologium!" 

In a sudden burst of sliver light, Sting found himself inside a grandfather clock. He heard Lucy tell the clock, named Horologium apparently, to keep him safe before she turned to join the fight. The boy felt his heart skip a beat. Nobody except for Weisslogia had ever shown genuine concern for him. He had only been met with disdain, disgust, and pity. He watched with interest as the blonde woman fought one man while her blue-haired partner, Aquarius, he assumed, fought the other man. 

Sting pressed his hands to the glass, watching the blonde woman intently. She dodged every fiery attack that was thrown at her and lashed her whip at the man, managing to land good strikes that had the man howling in stinging pain. The young dragon slayer couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was very pretty and great at dodging attacks. If she was having any difficulty, she wasn't showing it.

The blonde boy felt his heartbeat pick up its pace and he held his breath when the woman let out a pained scream when the man she was fighting landed a flaming punch on her side, causing her to get launched several yards away. Sting pressed his face against the glass, trying to see if she was alright. His fists were balled and he felt anger envelop his entire being. For a reason he did not know, he wanted to beat up the fire mage. As the man made his way toward the woman that had pulled herself up to her hands and knees, her bare side burned and bleeding, Sting struggled to wrench open the glass door of the clock he had been trapped in. 

Horologium crossed his arms over his front, preventing the boy from escaping. Nevertheless, Sting still tried, ignoring the increased pain that the action inflicted upon his injured body. He eventually stopped, breathing heavily and shuddering in pain. He looked down at himself with one eye that he could open. He observed that his already tattered clothing was torn and covered in blood. Open wounds and burns were visible through every ripped part of his clothes. They weren't too bad, not life-threatening, but he sure as hell was in pain. 

He turned back to the glass door of the sentient clock, peering through as best he could with the clock's black arms keeping him inside. He watched with anger and panic as the blonde woman was picked up and kicked toward him, landing only a couple of yards in front of him with a pained yelp. 

Sting banged his fists against the walls of the clock, shouting, "let me out! I need to help her!" 

Horologium responded, "I cannot. Miss Lucy had instructed me to keep you safe." 

Lucy? Was that her name? Sting continued to hit the clock's inside walls, hoping that the clock would get annoyed and let him out. The young dragon slayer then heard what sounded like a timer go off. Horologium announced, "I have reached my time limit." With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

Sting landed on the ground with an 'oof.' Realizing that he was free, he observed the scene before him. Aquarius was no longer around, but the man she had been fighting was laying on the ground, hopefully unconscious. He turned his dark blue eyes to the other blonde, seeing that she had gotten back to her feet and was lashing her whip at the second man. Her opponent was blocking each lash with flaming shields. Sting knew that the woman, who he assumed was named Lucy, was tired and in pain, causing her to be slower than she was when she started fighting. 

The boy stood up, groaning in pain, and managed to rush to the side of the fire mage, balling his fist and engulfing it in light. He shouted, "White Dragon's Iron Fist!" He punched the fire mage in his abdomen, sending him flying a ways away from them. 

Breathing heavily from over-asserting himself, Sting collapsed to his knees. He then felt himself getting picked up. Surprised, he looked up at the blonde woman that had managed to lift him into a bridal-style hold. Seeing that she was in pain from the action, Sting said with a panicked tone, "I can walk on my own! You don't have to carry me!" 

The other blonde shook her head as she walked away from the site of the fight, responding breathlessly, "you shouldn't be walking much. Besides, I'm fine. Only one burn." 

Sting felt his cheeks warm greatly and he turned his head away, not wanting to see his reddened face. They eventually reached an apartment. The blonde woman shifted Sting in her arms so that she could open the door. Once pushing the door open, she shifted Sting back to how she was originally holding him, the boy biting back pained groans due to not wanting to make the other blonde mage worry even more about him and feel bad about hurting him. 

The woman carried Sting into a living room and sat him on the couch. The boy watched her walk into an adjacent room and closed the door. He strained his enhanced hearing to listen to what she was doing. He heard running water, the sound of the woman rummaging through a cabinet, and the sound of containers being opened. 

After a few minutes, she returned with her side bandaged. She picked up Sting again and carried him into the room, revealing that she had started a bath for him and laid out items to wash his body and hair and to tend to his wounds and burns. 

The young woman stripped Sting of his clothes and helped him into the warm bath water, receiving a pained hiss from the boy but no verbal objections. Sting allowed the woman to bathe him, washing away the dirt and blood, and tend to his injuries, hearing her mutter to herself, "it's a good thing I learned how to treat wounds." All while this was happening, Sting kept his head turned away, a blush evident on his cheeks. 

Once the other blonde was finished, she dressed Sting in clothes that were slightly too big for him. He was then led back into the living room and sat on the couch that had a surprisingly small amount of blood on it, causing him to feel bad about staining it. The woman stood in front of him, a kind smile on her face. The dragon slayer looked away, his cheeks burning. He balled his fists that rested on his lap, silently cursing himself for his sudden shyness simply because a beautiful young woman was showing genuine concern and care toward him. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when the woman spoke with a soft tone, "I'm Lucy. What's your name?" 

Sting cleared his throat, an unsuccessful attempt to alleviate his suddenly dry throat, before he answered, "Sting Eucliffe." 

Lucy then asked another question, "are you hungry, Sting?" 

The boy felt his heartbeat increase at the sound of her saying his name. It sounded very nice when she said it. Before he could utter a verbal response, his stomach growled loudly. Lucy laughed, a beautiful sound in Sting's opinion, and instructed him to stay on the couch. He nodded and watched her walk out of the room. 

The boy then ran his hands through his clean hair, trying to figure out what was going on with him. He hadn't before felt this way about someone. He wanted to stay with Lucy. She was beautiful, kind, a great fighter, and could cook. Just merely looking at her lovely smile and hearing her melodic voice made his heartbeat become faster, his cheeks heat up and become red, and his gut become filled with a fluttering feeling that he was unfamiliar with. He was also suddenly shy and couldn't look her in the eye. He had never been shy before and could always look people in the eye. He ran a finger over the bandage above his right eye. It covered a fresh cut that Lucy said would most likely leave a visible scar. 

He continued to question why he was having these new feelings when Lucy popped in to tell him that she was done cooking. The blonde boy stood up and slowly made his over to her, careful to not cause himself too much pain. 

As he ate the delicious food that Lucy had made for him, the older mage asked, "what kind of magic do you use? That attack of yours was really cool." 

Sting blushed at the praise, continuing to stuff food into his mouth. He swallowed and answered as he stared down at the half-eaten plate, "I'm a White Dragon Slayer." 

He glanced up at Lucy to see her cross her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. She smiled as she responded, "Wow, really? You're what? Twelve? Thirteen? You're strong for someone so young." 

Sting nodded, gaining some confidence back. He shoveled some more food into his mouth before exclaiming, "yeah! I've been a dragon slayer for as long as I can remember!" 

Lucy chuckled. She then said, "I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage."

Sting swallowed a mouthful of food and raised his unbandaged eyebrow, asking, "Celestial Spirit Magic?" 

Lucy nodded, explaining when she unhooked her keyring and raised it for the boy to see, "I use these keys to summon celestial spirits. They can perform all kinds of tasks." 

The dragon slayer across from her questioned, pointing his fork at her, "Is that what the mermaid from earlier was? A celestial spirit?" 

Lucy nodded, setting her keys down on the table. "Yes. That was Aquarius. She's my strongest spirit, though she isn't much of a fan of being summoned." Sting chuckled, remembering that he had heard the spirit yell at Lucy that she had interrupted a date with her boyfriend. 

The blonde woman then asked, "are you a part of a guild?" 

Sting shook his head, looking down at the food he started to pick at. He answered, "I've been on my own for a while. I heard about guilds. It sounds like a great idea, to join one. I don't know about any, though." 

He took a few more bits of the food in front of him before he heard Lucy state, "there's a guild called Sabertooth not too far from here, only a few towns over. How about you join it? It's also new, so you should fit right in." 

Sting looked up at her, an excited smile growing on his face. He asked, "are you in that guild?" 

Lucy shook her head, explaining, "I'm not in any guild at the moment." 

This caused the boy's excitement to deflate a little, but he quickly regained it. He would've loved to be in the same guild as Lucy, but if he joined a guild and become one of the strongest members, then he could impress her as she had impressed him. Not just that, but he could also protect her from anybody that would want to harm her, just as she had protected him earlier. He didn't know why, but he had this urge to stay with and protect Lucy. He knew that he couldn't do that now because he wasn't strong enough, however, if he joined a guild and became stronger, then he could do exactly that. It was settled. He would join Sabertooth. 

With that decided, Sting asked, "you said that Sabertooth is a few towns away? That shouldn't be hard to find." Lucy smiled at him, causing him to look down again, butterflies erupting in his stomach. 

The two mages talked some more until Sting finished the food that had been given to him. With his stomach full, he yawned, suddenly tired. Lucy chuckled and commented, "It's pretty late. You can sleep in my bed with me, but first I need to change your bandages." 

Sting nodded and followed her back into the bathroom. He sat on the rim of the bathtub and watched Lucy discard the bloodied bandages, dress his wounds again, and wrap him in clean bandages. She then led him into the bedroom. The celestial wizard instructed him to stay on her bed before she walked into a connecting room. When she emerged again, she was wearing a tank top and shorts. She helped Sting to lay down comfortably before she turned off the lights and snuggled into the bed next to him, muttering a "goodnight."

Sting responded with a "goodnight" and watched Lucy fall asleep. He breathed deeply, enjoying her sweet scent, and marveled at how beautiful and peaceful she looked when she was sound asleep. He didn't want to leave, but he knew that if he wanted to get to Sabertooth and begin working on getting stronger, then he had to leave. So, when he was sure that Lucy was sound asleep, he crawled out of bed, ignoring the answering searing pain as he did so. He looked through the apartment for a piece of paper and pencil. Once finding what he was looking for, he wrote a thank you note and left it on her desk. 

Taking one more look at the sleeping Lucy, Sting made a silent promise to return to her, stronger than his guildmates, and protect her from any harm. He then turned and walked out of her bedroom, leaving the apartment and setting out on his way to find Sabertooth. 

Lucy yawned as she sat up and stretched, yelping in pain when she stretched her side too much and received a stab of pain. She looked down at the spot next to her to make sure she didn't wake Sting, but found that he wasn't there. 

Thinking that maybe he was already up and was waiting for her in the living room, the celestial wizard got out of bed and began walking over to her bedroom door, but quickly spotted a piece of paper on her desk. She walked over to the desk, picked up the piece of paper, and read what had been written on it. 

She frowned at the piece of paper. Apparently, Sting had decided to leave during the night and travel to Sabertooth. In the note, he said that he wanted to become stronger and be a great mage, like many other mages that are often told about in conversation and newspapers. 

Lucy was sad that Sting hadn't stayed a little longer, and she was a bit worried about his safety, however, she knew that he would be alright and would become a strong mage rather quickly. She could tell that he had a lot of potential and determination. She silently wished him luck and hoped to meet him again as she went on with her day. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed Sting developing a crush on Lucy. It was fun for me to write. 

Here is a hint for who is next: First Generation Dragon Slayer.

#fairy tail #lucy heartfilia #sting eucliffe #sting x lucy #stilu #sticy #stinglu #child sting #aquarius #fighting #canon typical violence #mentions of blood and injuries #one sided crush #chapter fourteen #multi chapter story

[fenimores-book-nook]

Day 2 of self care :)

November 15th ~ 2023, Wednesday

Good morning to whoever decided to lay their eyes on this. Or, good afternoon or evening, whatever time it is for you. For today's self care writing, I think we'll start out with the lil' things I've done today already.

6:30 am - woke up, did some yoga, and got dressed/ready for the day.

7:00 am - got *one of* the books I am reading, Trouble by Lex Croucher, and read for a while before I had to leave for work.

7:30ish am - left for work! I say "ish," because I was running a few minutes behind. (but that's okay!)

7:45 am - arrive at work and open the shop at 8.

8ish 'til now (9ish) - done some tasks for work and chilled with coffee and writing this. :)

I've learned that I love annotating my books as I read them and I also love reading advanced reader copies, because it makes me feel as if I'm in on a fun secret. :) (this book comes out March 2024, by the way) I'm only about 40 pages in and I love it, it's hilarious and adorable.

Flash forward into the day a bit ~

3ish pm - picked up one of my besties and we had a blast together, going around town, having a lil' shopping trip and taking cute photos. :) (I got sooo many grandma thrift store Christmas sweaters- I LOVE THEM)

Our lil' signatures at a bakery downtown. :))

6:30 pm - came home and ate some dinner and watched Wizards of Waverly Place. <3

And now, 8:23 pm - listening to Lauren Daigle's self-titled album while I write this. Usually I wouldn't be able to listen to music with words and write but since I haven't heard all the songs, I can multitask..mostly.

Now, onto more of the *self care things.*

I am continuing this writing series for the second day! To not only keep a consistent writing life but also to focus more on my mental health. <3

I talked to my mom about some things I was really struggling with that I was planning on mentioning to my therapist at my next session, but I know myself well enough to know that I needed to talk to someone about it now. So, I did. And it was kind of hard but it was extremely helpful. It reminded me, as cliche as it sounds, that I am not alone, no matter what. And that there are people who see me and the hard work that I am doing, even if it doesn't feel like they do.

Some end-of-day mindful journaling:

(pinterest)

I am better than I was yesterday. Not perfect, but well enough to say okay. And that's something. :)

That there is always someone who really sees you and how brave you've been and just how hard you've been working. Even if you don't see it yourself, someone sees you.

To listen to what feels good and right to me and to my brain. Not feeling guilty if I just want to sit down and enjoy a good tv show or a good book (no matter what book)*. Rest is important.

I'm grateful for a fun day out with one of my friends! It was nice to do that again. I'm so grateful for my mom, that she listens and shows her care for me. AND I'm grateful for crazy Christmas sweaters. :)

I am working hard on myself! This right here is working on myself and I should be proud of that. It's hard to let yourself feel proud for yourself sometimes, but it's necessary.

*cause I've been trying to get into Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing was amazing) but I'm more focused on the romcom I am loving. And THAT'S OKAY. 'Cause I should read what I'm enjoying at the moment. ;)

One more peaceful photo from pinterest to sign off. :)

I hope that whatever you're going through, you will also see that someone does see you. (I do!) And that you aren't alone. It's a journey and a struggle, but we're all here together.

Until next time,

Thalia <3

#self care #blog #romcom book #pinterest #lauren daigle #wizards of waverly place #journaling #mindfulness #you are not alone #self care writing series

[avaguenotion]

11/15/2023 - caffeine.

Aight so it's Wednesday the 15th, yesterday I took a little "blue coughing coffin trip" and as usual I kind of peaked out quick with some horrid creative writing and then sleep the entirety of the day afterwards. I think that might have carried over into today as I slept pretty late into the day as well. But who knows? On Sunday the 12th I decided to experiment with going caffeine free after a conversation I had with my mom. We kind of realized that perhaps my caffeine consumption might be one of the underlying reasons for my strange sleeping patterns as opposed to Abilify entirely. I made it 3 days ( sun, mon, tues ) and today like I said not only did I sleep a lot again I also had some mild headaches, so I decided to get the smallest 12oz cup of coffee from wawa's just to help me get through. That should be all for the rest of the week inshallah. I'm not really sure what to be expecting other than more steady sleep which I have noticed. But there is that one wrench in the equation - the coffin - that did not help. Anyway. I should be back by the end of the week if not sooner to take notes. I really do love this blog. And I find it amazing that there are people who consistently like my posts. This form of self reflective writing I find is a lot easier to do than creative fiction. Matter of fact. Here is a small passage I finished up recently. This is early on in the novel "The Pillars of Autumn" where Omar one of the central characters rooted in the author's identity and the guitarist who put out a craigslist ad for a drummer meets with Raven the drummer girl from Brooklyn: . : [ The Pillars of Autumn ] : .

It was a Friday and I was on my way to meet a drummer in Brooklyn. I had put out a craigslist ad a little while back and she was the only one to reply. She sent me some of her recordings and videos and told me she liked my work and that we could meet up at a practice studio not far from where she lived.

Her name was Raven.

I was nervous for sure, but I needed this. My love hate relationship with music was taking me nowhere and I thought it was a shame given how much I had already produced. I knew I was good, just not good enough.

I arrived to the address and in the distance I saw a girl with purple hair smoking a cigarette. I figured that must be her.

Omar: Raven?

Raven: Yup. You must be Omar. You made it. I was worried you wouldnt be able to find it.

Omar: it wasnt too bad.

Raven: Nice case. Is that a black dahlia sticker?

Omar: yup. You like them?

Raven: Nocturnal majesty, sworn to black we'll always be.

Omar: damn. Well then.

She put out her cigarette against the wall and flicked it.

Raven: Let's get to it?

Omar: sure.

Raven: I listened to all of your music and what you have on your soundcloud.

Omar: and?

Raven: some of it is actually really good.

I wasnt used to being complimented on my music let alone being told that anyone had listened to it.

Omar: you know I produced a lot of that while sitting at mt computer and cant play most of it again.

Later that Night

The two of them were sitting in a 711 parking lot in Omars car with Funeralopolis by Electric Wizard blasting.

Omar was munching on some taquitos and Raven was sipping on some coffee. She swore it wasn't too late for coffee. Caffeine barely effected her anymore.

Raven: such an epic riff.

Omar: I think this is the first song I heard by them. Yea. We should cover it.

Raven: what if I told you we could play some shows with them?

Omar sat in silence chewing on his taquito.

Omar: really?

#daily #schizoaffective #abilify #life #music #the pillars of autumn #creative writing #electric wizard #funeralopolis #death #metal #coffee #tea #caffeine #the mars revolver #journal #writing #muslim writers

[lesfeldickbiblestudy]

  Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 78 Christ as the Rock of Scripture – Part 3 Various Scriptures Okay, it’s good to have everybody back from their break.  We’re glad you’re back.  And for those of you joining us on television, you don’t know what you’re missing by not being able to come in on a Wednesday afternoon.  Because we just have a good time, don’t we?  It’s a good afternoon, well spent. But again, we want to thank those of you out there for all your support and your kind letters.  My, how we love the letters and your financial support and your prayers.  We can’t do it without it.  Now that’s all there is to it. All right, we’re going to continue our study, for the third time now, on the various descriptions of the Rock or the Stone of Scripture, which is always Jesus Christ.  Not Peter.  It’s Jesus.  We have to keep that straight.  Because there is only one verse that we looked at in the first half hour, where there is a possibility of confusion that it could be Peter.  But it isn’t.  Again, I always tell people on a lot of these things—even though Scripture may not affirmatively say something, what does the big picture tell us? That’s what we have to learn.  What’s the big picture in Scripture?  The same way with this Rock and Stone deal when you look at the big picture.  How often all through Scripture under various circumstances Jesus Christ is the Rock and the Stone. We’re going to look at the Stone of Judgment this half hour.  We’re going to start back in Daniel chapter 2 with Christ as the Stone of Judgment.  At the end of days it’ll become a reality.  When the final seven years have run their course, and it’s time for His Second Coming, then He will fulfill this symbolic prophecy. All right, Daniel chapter 2 and, again, just for a little background, you want to remember that Daniel was one of the young Israelites taken captive after Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion. The Temple was destroyed, and they were taken captive down into Babylon, present day Iraq in the area of Baghdad.  That is why all this is in the news.  We’re coming full circle as we’re going to see in a little bit. Daniel was a young Jewish lad and was part of the slave system in the palace of the king.  Nebuchadnezzar, of course, as you all remember, had a dream.  He had no idea what it meant, but it disturbed him.  So that meant it must be serious business.  He tried to recover the dream, and, of course, none of his wizards and magicians could do it.  But somebody thought about little Daniel down there.   So they bring Daniel up, and Daniel not only recovers the dream but interprets it.  It becomes, then, the benchmark of prophecy as we understand end-time events. So we’ll drop down to chapter 2 verse 31 as he recovers the dream.  We’re going to take the time to read it. Because even though most of you have heard it a dozen times, we know there are a lot people out there in TV who have probably never heard it. Because these things aren’t covered in church in Sunday school, are they?  No.  I’ve never heard of it.  So we’re going to take advantage of our audience out there.  Daniel is speaking. Daniel 2:31-32 “Thou, O king, sawest, (in his dream now) and behold a great image. (Or likeness or we would say today a statue.) This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. (Or frightening—for whatever reason)   32. This image’s (Or this statue.  Now picture in your mind the statue of a man—probably a military type.) head was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass.” Now we’re coming down through the torso.  Just picture this in your mind.  If I were an artist, I’d love to put it on the board.  But I’m not an artist.  But you start with the head, and you come down through the torso all the way down to the feet and the toes. Daniel 2:33-34a “His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. (And Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar,) 34.

Thou sawest (Or you watched in this dream) until that a stone (Here it comes now.) was cut out without hands,…”  Now, whenever the Bible speaks of something as being done without hands, what does it indicate? Well, it’s a work of God.  Whatever it is.  Whether it speaks of the Temple up in Heaven that was not built with human hands, or something else.  It’s something that was constructed by God Himself.  All right, the same way here.  Nebuchadnezzar sees a stone. Daniel 2:34b-35a “…which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.  35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together,…” In other words, it starts at the feet.  So, you’ve got to put all of this in your mind’s picture now.  This stone cut out without hands strikes this statue on its feet, rolls it over, and like a steam roller crushes it to pieces. Daniel 2:35b “…and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone (Here we come back now to the crushing stone.) that smote the image became a great mountain, (And a mountain in Old Testament language is a Kingdom.  So here this stone now becomes the head of a great kingdom.  Doesn’t just fill the Middle East, but what?) and filled the whole earth.”  It’s going to be an earth-wide kingdom. Daniel 2:36-37a “This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37. Thou O king, art a king of kings:…” Now, again, you have to know your ancient history.  Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar was the first great military consort.  There had been tribal wars, sure, for hundreds and hundreds of years.  But Nebuchadnezzar ruling there in Babylon became the first visible Gentile Empire.  And, of course, they had conquered many of the countries around them. But they were the first.  He had absolute dictatorial rule.  He didn’t have a Congress.  He didn’t have a Cabinet.  He had nothing.  He was absolute in his own power.  All right, so consequently he’s called: Daniel 2:37b-38 “…art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.  38.  And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, (In other words, he had absolute control like no one had ever had before.) and hath made thee ruler over them all.  Thou art this head of gold.”  All right, then you come down.  It’s just a quick review of the unfolding of Gentile history. That’s why history and Bible study go so well together.  You’ve got to get a little glimpse of history, or this is “all Greek” to you.  But as soon as Babylon became a great, glorious nation—an empire with one of the most beautiful cities of the then-known world with all of its hanging gardens—then naturally what boils up amongst the enemy?  Envy.  Jealousy.  They’re going to want it. That’s why I am a proponent of defense.  If America was to lay down our defense with all of our natural resources, with our system of living; the world would come in and take us in a minute.  Because that’s the way it has always been, beloved.  And these pacifists can go fly a kite.  They’re as wrong as wrong can be.  You have to defend what you’ve got, or you will lose it. All right, it happened to Babylon.  The greatest empire at that time, but bubbling underneath was this envy from the other areas. Up comes another empire, the Medes and Persians, right next door. Daniel 2:39 “And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another (We skipped over the second one, which was the Medes and the Persians. We jump right over to another one, which was down to the brass part of the image, or the statue, the Greek Empire.) third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.”   Now, let’s just reconstruct.  After Babylon became the great beautiful city and empire, then next door, which is present day

Iran and those Arab nations—they rose up, defeated the Babylonians, and established their kingdom—the Medes and the Persians, Artaxerxes and Cyrus and some of those guys. But as time went by, according to the dream, a third empire would come up and overrun the Medes and the Persians.  And that was Alexander the Great.  You’ve all studied Alexander back in grade school.  Well, he was the third of these prophesied Gentile empires.  Alexander conquered everything clear to the Ganges River of India and all the way back west as far as Turkey and Greece.  He didn’t get to Rome, but he got as far as Greece. Then what?  Well, his empire held for a couple to three hundred years, and then it began to weaken. Up came the Romans.  That is the fourth empire.  All right, now that’s the next one in verse 40, the fourth empire. Daniel 2:40 “And the fourth kingdom (Speaking of this statue in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar’s.) shall be strong as iron: (Now I think you all are aware of the power of the Roman military.) forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.”  And then verse 41: Daniel 2:41 “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, (In other words, it was fragile.  It did not have the strength of pure iron itself.  But it was an admixture.) the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron,  forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.” Now if you know anything about metals, you know that iron mixed with clay is like trying to mix cement with plain ordinary dirt.  It just won’t work, will it?  If you’re going to mix concrete, you have to have the right kind of sand or you won’t have concrete that’s worth anything.  Well, it’s the same way with metals.  If you’re going to mix iron and clay, it’s absolutely impossible to have any strength.  It’ll crumble.  All right, so this is a picture of that particular empire.  Now verse 42: Daniel 2:42 “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.”  All right, now Bible scholars and the people who teach eschatology are convinced that the fourth empire was the ancient Roman Empire. But this next empire is what we see coming on the scene today, and I still hold to Western Europe. A lot of the prophecy people are now moving to the Middle East because of Islam.  But I refuse to do that.  I still maintain that Western Europe is going to be this final empire—the mixture of iron and clay—because even the original ten nations that started right after World War II have all been so nationalistic that they cannot work together.  They have various ethnic backgrounds.  They all have different languages. They finally got a common currency, but they are still an admixture of people.  So consequently, they will not have that singleness of purpose like the Nazis did in Germany and so forth.  And that’s what I feel will be the end-time empire. A lot of people are getting the idea that the anti-Christ has to be a Muslim because of the increase in all they’re doing.  Well, it could well be. Because what is Europe fast becoming?  Muslim!  It’s so fast, it’s scary.  England especially.  So, if I’m going to hold to these Ten Nations of the Common Market as they first came about, and I still do. Even though there are 15 or 20 others, those original ten still have the core of power in that European Community.  All right, if indeed the anti-Christ comes out of that and he’s a Muslim, no problem, because Europe is mostly Muslim already.  So don’t fall for the idea that it can’t be the Ten Nations of Europe anymore because it’s going to be a Muslim anti-Christ.  No problem. Now I’ll tell you, while I’m on that, because I’m getting so many letters.  They’re beginning to ask me now, “Well, Les, is something else going to come up besides the European Community?”  No.  I do not think so.

  I didn’t intend to do this, so this is free for nothing.  Come over to Daniel chapter 9.  I want to set people straight.  Don’t fall for all of these little gimmicks.  The final empire is still going to be Western Europe, because it’s out of Western Europe that the anti-Christ will come, albeit, he may be a Muslim.  And we understand that that’s no problem.  But come down to Daniel chapter 9.  Now this may be throwing me off schedule, but I can’t help it. Daniel chapter 9, here we have the final 490 years of prophecy concerning the Nation of Israel. Most of you know all about this.  Come all the way down to verse 26.  We’re getting ready now to be introduced to the anti-Christ for the first time, if I’m not mistaken, in the Old Testament. Daniel 9:26a “And after threescore and two weeks, and Messiah is cut off, (In other words, after 483 years of the 490 years of prophecy, which still leaves7 years.) but not for himself:…” He didn’t die for anything He had done.  Now here it comes, and we take this slowly. Daniel 9:26b “…and the people of the prince that shall come (Now who’s the prince that’s coming?  The anti-Christ.  All right, the anti-Christ is going to come out of this people. And what is that empire going to do to Jerusalem?  Destroy it!) shall destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary; (the Temple) and the end thereof…” Which happened in A.D. 70. All right, so what that verse tells us is that the coming anti-Christ will come out of the same empire that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70.  Well, anybody knows what empire did that?  Rome.  No doubt about it.  All right, even though Rome as an Empire went into the dustbin of history, as I usually put it.  Yet since World War II what are we seeing?  It’s coming back up.  Only it’s not coming back up as a Roman Empire headquartered in Rome under a Caesar. Instead, it’s coming up more or less as a democracy of Ten Nations.  And that’s where the ten toes come in. All right, now they’re already up to what?  Twenty-eight or thirty nations?  But you know what?  Those original Ten are still at the core of everything with the European Community.  I read one time not too long ago that they have veto power.  So they’re still in total control.  All the others are just satellite nations.  All right, so here we have it. We have to have a revived Roman Empire coming out of Western Europe. And out of that empire will come the anti-Christ.  He, in turn, of course, will become a world ruler.  All right, so much for that. Come back with me to Daniel chapter 2.  So what Daniel is really prophesying here is the unfolding of the Gentile Empires beginning with Nebuchadnezzar in 606 B.C.  So between 600 B.C. and Christ’s first advent, all four empires came and went.  Well, Rome hasn’t gone yet, but they will.  The Babylonians came and went.  The Medes and Persians came and went.  The Greeks came and went.  And Rome was holding forth during Christ’s first advent, and then they disappeared. All right, but now here we are 2,000 years later. And if you know anything about everyday news, what four empires are again in there?  Iran.  That was what?  That was Persia.  That was the second empire.  Baghdad—our boys are over there fighting every day.  What is it?  That first empire.  And then what was the third empire?  Greece—and Syria was the key player so far as Israel was concerned.  Syria is in the news every day.  And then our Common Market or the European Union is the fourth, and it’s in the news every day.  So here we are 2,000 years later, and we’ve come full circle.  All these empires are now evident in the business and the production of the world.  They’ve all got their fingers in the pie. Okay, now let’s read on in chapter 2.  Let’s see, I got down to about verse 41, I think. Daniel 2:41 “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it the strength of iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.”  All right, now verse 42:

Daniel 2:42-43a “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.  43. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men:…” In other words, those nations are coming together and making a loose-knit democratic government.  Then come down to verse 44. Daniel 2:44 “And in the days of these kings (In other words, when all these Gentile Empires are back in the news every day, as we see them as I stand here.) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Daniel 2:45 “For as much as thou sawest that the stone…” Here we go again, the complete repetition of what the first part of the chapter talked about – that this coming Stone will hit that empire that is ruling at the time, which will be the Revived Roman Empire headed up over in Western Europe under an anti-Christ that will come out of it someplace. Then all these others—Iran, Assyria, Iraq—they’re all going to be smashed to smithereens like the dust of the threshing floor. Daniel 2:45 “Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, (The Common Market as we now know it, which will be ruling during the Tribulation under the anti-Christ.) the clay, the silver, and the gold;…” And it will be completely annihilated, so that now you can come over to chapter 7 verses 13 and 14.  As a result of that crushing stone coming down on these end-time governments and economics or economies, whatever you want to call it, the world’s system under the anti-Christ is at its final end.  This is the crushing of the stone. Daniel 7:13-14 “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.  (God the Son comes before God the Father.  And the Father now in turn--) 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” All right, now in the few minutes we have left, let’s jump all the way up to Revelation chapter 19.  Now we see the same stone, but we have different language.  Revelation 19—but it’s the same crushing stone of Daniel.  And my, we can get excited.  Because I think we can just about see it coming over the horizon.  Revelation 19 verse 11 and this is just another way of putting the “stone cut out without hands.” Revelation 19:11 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”   Oh, it’s going to be totally fair. You know, let me stop a minute.  The unbelieving world—they hear this and they think—what kind of a God is this anyway?  A God that’s going to kill millions and millions of people, that’s not a God of love.  Well, of course not.  He’s been a God of love for 6,000 years.  He has never brought in that kind of judgment until here. Now even the flood—you know, I’ve said this before. The flood was a judgment, absolutely, because of their ungodliness.  But I read again the other night in a scientific journal where their description of the flood was almost identical with what I taught in Genesis 6.  Twenty years ago, wasn’t it?  It was a long time ago. You remember how I made the point that it wasn’t the forty days of rain that drowned the people, for goodness sakes.  But what happened?  Within the first 24 hours the fountains of the deep opened up.  It was instantaneous destruction.  Instant!  They never knew what hit them.  Well, this scientist was explaining it. How the tectonic plates were moving underneath and all this.

  You know, I just get goose bumps.  Well, that’s what I’ve always said.  It wasn’t the 40 days of rain.  It was that breaking up of the fountains of the deep. All right, now here we have the judgment of God, because His Grace has run its course.  Nobody has to go to that horrible place we call the Lake of Fire.  Nobody.  Everyone’s sin is already paid for.  And all they have to do is believe it.  But they will not.  I mentioned in my seminar in Charlotte the other day, and I made it a point. Don’t get discouraged when we realize that people who think like we do are in a small minority.  It’s always been that way.  God has never had the majority. Eight people in the flood.  Isaiah said, “a very small remnant.”  And the other one – Elijah – he thought he was the only one.  And so it’s always been.  God has never had the “many.”  But anyway, here we come to that Smiting Stone.  Who is going to now come, not as the “stone rejected of the builders,” but He’s going to come as the Stone of Judgment. And the Second Coming, of course, says it all.  I haven’t got time enough to read it.  But you can read Revelation 19 when you get home.  The Second Coming of Christ is when He’s going to come and become absolute Sovereign King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not just over Israel, but over the whole world.

[yarpell]

The 3rd campaign starts in a week?! 😱 Here is a Yussa I’ve never posted here✨

#critical role #critical role art #critical role fanart #yussa #yussa errenis #the mighty nein #my art #digital art #dnd #dnd character #I heard it's wizard wednesday today??? 😂

[ddejavvu]

Y/n finds out she's pregnant the day after her husband Sirius dies. Remus finds the test on the table my the door then finds her in a ball in tears mumbling about how she's gonna raise a child alone.

Today is weepy wednesday! Request some angst and make me cry :(

Remus hadn’t even wanted to leave you alone long enough to get groceries. You swore you’d be fine, that the tears on your cheeks wouldn’t flood the little reclusive room in grimmauld place that you’d holed yourself up in, and Remus had reluctantly agreed.

After all, you were completely out of food.

He strode back into the dreary house with bags clutched tightly in his hands, setting them hastily on the counter and calling out for you, “Y/N? Y/N, I’m home, can we-”

He heard something clatter to the ground when he took his hands off of the bags, crouching down to see a pink plastic stick. The muggle-educated side of him panicked, knowing exactly what the piece of plastic was, but the naïve wizarding side of him pretended it was a foreign object.

He reached for it with a shaky hand, fingers pausing just before they could glide over the smooth plastic surface. He exhaled deeply, a knot of anxiety already in his chest at the potential outcomes.

Either he had to live with his late best friend’s child and see Sirius in his eyes every single day, or face the fact that Sirius’s bloodline had ended with him. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

He gently gripped the stick in one hand, flipping it before he could change his mind. His stomach dropped at the little window, seeing a pink plus sign burned into the white background.

All of his senses shut off. His vision went fuzzy, he toppled to the ground, his hearing tuned out. All he saw was the little pink plus mark, flashing through his brain on rapid speed.

The image of Sirius’s child, a toddler with a mess of black hair and eyes as piercing as his best friend’s began racing through his brain. He steeled himself, tossing the test aside and stumbling into the hallway, calling out your name.

“Y/N! Y/N, where are you? Come on, we need to talk.”

He heard soft sobs coming from Sirius’s old room, taking a deep breath before pushing his way in.

Everything in the room reminded him of Sirius, and apparently it did the same for you. He found you curled up in Sirius’s closet, tears pouring down your face and sobs heaving your chest.

“Y/N-”

“Alone, alone, alone, all alone,” you mumbled, hands wrapped tightly around your knees, “Gotta kid, ‘m all alone.”

Remus felt his cheeks warm with tears, kneeling beside you and prying your arms away from your legs. He let you fall back into his chest, his arms around your waist as you cry into each other.

“You’re not alone,” Remus rasped, throat already torn from his anguish, “I’m here. I’m here Y/N, I’m here.”

“But he’s not!”

“I know,” Remus cried, chest weighted with grief, “I know, but we have to keep going.”

“Promise me Remus,” You gasped, turning to grip his shirt in your fists, “Promise me you won’t leave me like he did?”

“I promise, Y/N.”

#Remus Lupin #sirius black #remus lupin x reader #sirius black x reader #Marauders #marauders era #the marauders era #the marauders #ddejavvu’s weepy wednesday #weepy wednesday #Mei’s 1K celebration!! #Mei’s 1K follower celebration!! #Mei’s 1000 follower celebration!! #Mei’s 1000 celebration!! #mei's moots :3

[wicked-hg]

Empire || o.w.

This is a part of @iliveiloveiwrite​ song fic challenge.

Oliver Wood x reader

Song prompt: Empire by Elle Henderson

Summary: Oliver has an interview with a quidditch reporter who wants to know more about the “quidditch empire” he has built. Oliver reflects on the life he has built with Y/N.

WC: 3.9k

A/N: I am so excited to finally post this! I’ve been working on it for a while and it went longer than I thought it would, but that’s okay. I hope you all enjoy it. Please please please check out the song! I tried to keep it in mind writing this, but overall it is just a fantastic song and one of my favorites. I found the below image when looking for an Oliver Wood gif, and this was so cute!!!! Plus it goes with the story. Italics are the interview.

“Mr. Wood, thank you for sitting down with us,” the reporter greeted. “I know many people are dying to know more about you and your growing quidditch empire.”

“Empire?” Oliver chuckled. “I wouldn’t call what I ‘ave an empire.”

“What would you call it then? You are a renowned quidditch player and now a coach for Puddlemere United. Your wife was a former strategist for the Pride of Portree and is the granddaughter of Kennilworthy Wisp and Devlin Whitehorn. You also have seven children. If that isn’t a quidditch empire, then what is it.”

“Me family,” Oliver answered. “Aye, me wife comes from two great lineages and aye quidditch did bring us together, but I love her for so much more than that. Quidditch was only an excuse to talk to her. It isn’t our relationship.”

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

You had friends at Hogwarts. There were people who enjoyed your company. They were always there to talk quidditch to you, but that was about it. Once you tried switching the subject they suddenly had to go work on homework that had already been turned in. You knew though captains of quidditch teams didn’t lie that they wanted to be your friend. They were straightforward that they wanted your analysis of their team, and the other teams, and what strategies they should use to be successful. Each one came on the same day at the same time like clockwork. Today was Wednesday. That meant Oliver Wood would find her around 6:55. Oliver was the one captain who would seek you out no matter where you were in the castle. You had to always be in the same place for the others. 

The clock chimed 7:00 when Oliver found you today. “You’re five minutes later than normal, Wood,” you commented. 

Oliver shrugged as he sat next to you. “I knew you’d be here, but I wasn’t sure how loud it would be,” Today’s spot was the clock tower. “So I wanted to wait until after the clock rang.”

You sat in silence. Usually you jumped quickly into the quidditch talk, but Oliver sat silently. “You alright, Wood? You’re quiet today. You play Hufflepuff next week if I recall. I wouldn’t really worry about them. They’ve had a devastating losing streak so far. Their beaters aren’t doing well. They’ve been on injury rotation. Fleet also doesn’t have your skills.”

Oliver smiled. “Me skills? You notice I’m quite skilled, Y/N?”

You tried to keep yourself from blushing. Something was different about how he said this. “Of course I do, Wood. I’m Hogwarts residential quidditch analyst.”

“Oliver,” he said. You glanced at him, confused. “Call me Oliver. Not Wood.”

You nodded. “Okay then...Oliver.” Silence washed back over the two of you. “Do you have any other questions? Or do you want info about the new Nimbus? The rest have wanted that.”

Oliver shook his head. “Why don’t you play? Every house goes to you for advice, yet you don’t even play for your own. Why is that?”

No one had ever asked you that. In fact, no one had ever asked any questions about you yourself. “I used to when I was younger with my siblings. I have six older ones.”

“Me too,” Oliver said. “Poppy, Daisy, Juniper, Ivy, Violet, and Flora. They thought I was gon’ be a girl. When it turned out I was a boy, I was named Oliver instead of Olive. That way all they had to do was add an ‘r’ to everything. Sorry for interrupting you. The Weasleys are the only other ones I know with a family of seven siblings.”

You smiled. “It’s alright. Sounds like your family went for a theme.” Oliver nodded. “I think that’s cool. My parents didn’t. I’m the youngest. I have four brothers—Dorian, Finnigan, Simon, and Leon—and two sisters—Evangeline and Benjamina.”

“So you played quidditch with them. Why not anymore?”

“I got hit in the head with a bludger,” you told him. I know that happens a lot to players, but I was about five. Gramps and PopPop were fighting again. They don’t get along at all, and my parents were out celebrating their anniversary. I don’t know why they had those two watching us instead of just picking one. Granny and Nan were trying to calm them down. We were playing quidditch on PopPop’s prototype of the Nimbus 1650.”

“Nimbus 1650? I’ve never heard of that one.”

“That’s because it was never released to the public. It had too many flaws. Anyway, I played seeker. It’s how I learned to analyze patterns besides listening to Gramps. The bludger hit me upside the head and as I fell it hit me again in the jaw. Honestly though, it felt like two hits to the head because my head was the size of a bludger back then. I couldn’t get on a broom after that. I tried. I tried so many times. I just was never able to fly. The brooms wouldn’t listen. Besides, the healer says one more bludger to the head will kill me.”

“We can’t have that then. I’ll get ya on a broom, but I’m not letting ya anywhere near a bludger.” You grinned at his comment. “You belong in the air though. Every time I find you, you're usually high up. The wind will be blowing through your hair soon enough. I promise.”

“You can’t make promises like that, Oliver.”

Oliver shushed you. “Tomorrow. We start tomorrow at this time on the pitch. You’re not meant to be caged, Y/N. Let me help you fly free.”

“What makes you think that you will be the one to do so?” You asked him, trying not to gain any hope from Oliver’s promise. Your family had done everything they could. How could Oliver be successful?

He smiled and grabbed your hand. “I won’t let you fall. I’ll catch you. Do you trust me?”

There was a fire in his eyes now. He had hope he could do this, and you did too. “Absolutely.”

—————

“And what about having seven children? A quidditch team is made up of seven players. One could assume you are breeding your own quidditch team.”

“Well, one can assume all they want. The truth is, life just happened this way. Y/N and I both came from large families; both of us are the youngest of seven. We were fine having that many kids. Just know though there aren’t any more Wood children coming,” Oliver grinned. “And don’t believe that rumor that all of our kids are named after types of wood unknowingly or fun. It was the result of losing a series of bets.”

“What?”

“What?”

The reporter paused in thought. “Oh my Merlin. Your children are all named after types of wood. You did that on purpose? Because of bets?”

Oliver blinked. “No…”

“But you just said—” Oliver stared at the reporter, daring him to continue. “So when did people pick up on it?”

—————

He was so small. Granted, Rowan and Willow had been too. Perhaps he was bigger than them though. He was definitely louder. “He’s got quite the lungs to him,” you murmured to Oliver as you handed him your new son. “Rowan and Willow were quiet and pensive. He’s loud and ready to fight. Has been since the womb. Hopefully the bruises will go away now.”

This third babe had been a handful—constantly moving and kicking the bruises actually began to appear on your abdomen. “Reckon he’ll be a beater if he plays some day,” You chuckled in agreement with your husband. “Hello there, Al. Glad you’re finally here. Your brother and sister are so excited to meet you.”

“Al,” you sighed lovingly, “I like it. Al Wood. Is it short for anything?”

“Alder.”

“Alder. That’s nice,” Silence washed over the room until your eyes flew open. “Alder? Did you just say Alder? As in the tree? Oliver, is our son named Alder Wood?”

“Yes…”

“Rowan and Willow are going to ma—” Realization hit you. “Rowan and Willow. Rowan Wood. Willow Wood. Oliver Wood, are our children named after types of trees? Have you named our children after types of trees when I am in a state of fatigue after birthing them?”

“Yes and no,” he replied. He carefully held the newborn close to his chest. “All of these names I suggested to you when we discussed it, and you liked them. I just suggested them in a different light. Rowan is a good Scottish name, and Willow is an old English name and a well respected magical tree. Alder...I don’t think I ever did mention Alder to you. I was hoping to get away with that one.”

You reached for your son. Looking down at him, you couldn’t imagine him being named anything else. “I can’t imagine him being anything else now. If we have more children, we will discuss this first. I just didn’t realize you so desperately wanted a theme. I thought you hated the name theming after your parents have done it to you and your sisters.”

“I do!” Oliver argued. 

“Then why name our children after types of wood and trees?”

Oliver sighed. He knew there was no lying to you anymore. “I lost a bet back in Hogwarts to Weasley.”

You sighed. “I’m gonna yell at George when I get out of here. I can’t imagine our children being named anything different now, but still. I don’t care if it was his or Fred’s fault.”

“Actually it was Percy.”

—————

“You were married right before hell broke loose in the Second Great Wizarding War, and if I recall you even participated in it.”

“Aye. I did. Many witches and wizards in the league did once it got shut down in ‘97.”“Did this affect you and your wife?”

“Of course it did. It affected everyone. Plus we were still young and so was Rowan.”

“Rowan?”

“Me eldest boy. How did you not know that? I would’ve thought you’d know the names of me kids the way you’ve been going on.”

The reporter shrugged as he jotted this all down in his notebook. 

——————

Oliver had done what he could to help the light in the war, but his priority was his family. He had a wife and a son now. His wife was also expecting their second child. He laid down next to his wife. “Rowan’s fast asleep,” he whispered. “He went down quickly tonight.”

You smiled as you snuggled into him. “She’s being quiet tonight too.”

He smiled and glanced down at your protruding belly. “How do you know it’s a she?”

“I just do,” You were quiet for a moment before asking, “Oliver, do you ever regret how we did things?”

Everything was on track for you and Oliver when you graduated. You had both taken big jobs in the world of quidditch. You were young and everyone knew your names. Then in the late spring of 1995 you found out a baby was on the way. Rowan was born that December. A year and a half later you two finally got married in the early summer of 1997. Now in May of 1998 you were almost 8 months pregnant with the second baby Wood.

“I will never ever regret us or our kids,” he told you. “This is I guess just how it was meant to be. Do I wish that the world was safer for them? Absolutely. I wish we would’ve had more time to fight to give them a better world. I will do anything to make sure they don’t live under these conditions. I hope every day that Rowan doesn’t remember living in a time of such fear and chaos.”

“I am terrified, Olli,” you admitted.

“Me too,” he agreed, “But I will always be here to protect you. No one will destroy what we have created.” 

Hours later he was summoned to Hogwarts for one last battle. You waited for him to return. When Rowan woke, you acted as if everything was normal. “Daddy just had to go take care of some business,” you told Rowan when he asked about Oliver. An owl from St Mungo’s arrived close to bedtime. You flooed your mother to stay with your son as you rush to the hospital. Oliver, with his confunded eye, grinned at you. He had a gash on his forehead and was covered in dirt, yet he smiled because they had won.

——————

“So did helping in the war aid your career at all?”

“That’s a stupid question.”

“I just didn’t know if it helped your skills.”

“My skills are and were fine both prior and after the war.”

—————

“Sweetheart, I think you need to get your sight checked out,” You told Oliver one morning before he headed off to practice. “You’re missing more shots on your right, even though you’re right handed. People are starting to pick up on that.”

“I still catch the quaffle,” Oliver muttered. “That’s what matters.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t. I’m just saying your reaction time is slower and more have been slipping through. You know, as an analyst for an opposing team I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”

Oliver sighed. “That’s the eye.”

Your eyes widened. “Oh. I forgot it was the right one. I thought you got it healed?”

During the Battle of Hogwarts, Oliver had taken a confundus charm to the eye. For a while his eye was completely confounded and unable to focus. Eventually the healers were able to resituate it back to normal; however, Oliver’s vision had not quite yet returned back to normal.

“It can still get a bit blurry and spinny.”

“You need to talk to the coaches, Oliver. That can be a danger for you,” you said. You wrapped your arms around him. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I know you will overcome this and learn to play with it, but I need you safe. You have a family to come home to.”

Oliver nodded and hugged you. “I promise, leannan. I promise.”

—————

“Was there ever tension or conflict when you played the Pride?”

Oliver shrugged. “Y/N and I had a deal. We would note interfere between Puddlemere and the Pride of Portree. Teams have multiple strategists, and while, aye, she was their main one there were others to take care of handling strategies against Puddlemere. As for me, in my entire career, I never played a game against them—even after she retired and took over the broom business. The main keeper during my early years and reserve in my later years always played.”

“Seriously? Not even after she retired? You could’ve. It would’ve just furthered your career.”

“Perhaps, but I also knew that if I did it would make me wife choose between her husband and the team she grew to love. I couldn’t do that to her. Plus it kept me in shape.”

————

You saw Oliver walk down the stairs carrying your newborn girls and Al clinging to his back. “I thought you had a game today,” you asked as he set Al down and tried to put Holly and Hazel into the highchairs. Rowan and Willow followed behind them.

“”Play quidditch, daddy?” Willow asked. “We go watch a game?”

“Puddlemere plays Portree today. I never play against them.” Oliver sat down and started to feed the twins breakfast.

“But, Oliver,” you said confused, “That was when I worked for them. I don’t work for them anymore. You can play if you want to.”

He shook his head. “Today is for us.”

“Us? Like you and mum or the whole family?” Rowan asked.“

The whole family,” Oliver answered. “I’ve gone this long not playing Portree. No reason to start now. Besides, the team means so much to you, Y/N. I can’t put you between them and me. It’ll be a good day for us all to hang out too. Be a proper family.”

You smiled as you set the rest of breakfast in front of your children and helped Al get his food while WIllow and Rowan snatched theirs up. “That actually sounds amazing. Thank you, Oliver. Anything in mind for us to do today?”

“Perhaps the beach? The sun is out for once.”

“You just want to even out your tan line,” Rowan chuckled. Oliver glared at his son, knowing he was absolutely correct.

————

“You could’ve had another few years to your career. Why did you retire? Your retirement came before your predecessor’s exit.”

Oliver thought for a moment, wondering if he should tell the whole truth. “I was a father to six. I had just found out Reed was going to be born—“

“Is Reed your sixth kid?”

“No he’s the seventh and final.”

“Can you tell me who all your kids are. I’m getting them confused.”

Oliver huffed. “In order there is: Rowan, Willow, Alder, we call him Al, the twins, Holly and Hazel, followed by Ash, and ending with Reed.”

“One more time.”

Oliver sighed. He couldn’t take much more of this. “Rowan, Willow, Alder, Holly, Hazel, Ash, and Reed.”

The reporter finished writing those down. “Got it.”

“As I was saying, I had just found out my youngest child was on the way and I had also found out some other news.”

————

“Pregnant?”

You nodded. “I know we hadn’t planned this. It’s kid number seven,” You sat down next to him. “Oh Merlin, it’ll be our seventh child. We’re going to have a full team, Oliver. Al starts Hogwarts next year. Willow is starting her second year this year. Rowan takes his OWLS this year! The twins just started nursery school. Ash is finally no longer scared of the loo.”

“I’m going to retire,” Oliver said suddenly.

“What?” you gasped. “Oliver, darling, you don’t need to do that. Dorian and I run PopPop’s business just fine. You don’t need to give up your career. We support you. I support you.”

Oliver kissed your cheek and rested his hand against your stomach. “I’m almost 40, Y/N. I’ve been missing goals at practice for a while. Coach sent me to a healer during practice. There’s no more quidditch for me. Too many bludgers to the head. We make quite the pair. They found that part of my brain is swollen. I have to have treatment for a few more weeks and I’ll be good as new.”

You threw your arms around him and held him close. “Oh Oliver. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t want you to act differently in front of the kids. I found out all the details today though. I’m telling Coach tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe you have to do this, Oliver.”

He smiled and kissed your forehead. “I’m getting old anyway. This was going to happen eventually. I missed parts of my kids' lives because of quidditch. No more of that.”

“They’ll be heartbroken, you know.”

Oliver nodded. “What about you?”

“I just want you safe and happy. I will always support your choice. I can’t lose you, Oliver. You’re silly to think I’d ever let you near a bludger again now.”

Oliver chuckled remembering his promise to you all those years ago. “Poor Al. No more bludgers for the Woods. We’re gonna need to find a place to send him.”

“I ran into an old classmate of ours. She’s married to Marcus Fli—”

“I’m not sending me son to play with a bludger at Marcus Flint’s place! I’d rather take him to Weasley!”

————

Oliver watched the reporter go with a smile on his face. That was the last one. He couldn’t handle continuously doing those. His agent was right; he just needed to write a damn book. 

“Is the reporter done?”

Oliver turned and his smile became a grin as he kissed you. “Aye. Thank Merlin too. That was an imbecile. I’m gonna have to write that book so I don’t have to deal with any more of them.”

You grinned and hugged him. “I told you so. Come on now, sweetheart. They’re all waiting for you.”

“Can you believe Al is off to Hogwarts tomorrow?”

You shook your head as you snuggled into him. “That leaves us with four though. We’re not quite at an empty nest, Oliver.”

“I know. It’s just,” Oliver paused. “As I answered questions I just thought back to different moments in our life. Did you ever think we’d get here? That we’d build this...this...this empire of ours?”

You smiled. “I always hoped. I couldn’t imagine living my life with anyone else. Though our life is full of quidditch, in so, so many ways, you still made sure it was about so much more than that. Now come Oliver. Our little empire is ready to eat dinner.”

————---------

“Are we almost there?” You asked Oliver. “I feel like we’ve been walking forever. Why couldn’t we have just apparated?”

Oliver chuckled as he gripped your hand tighter to make sure he didn’t lose you as you climbed higher on the hill. “That would ruin the magic of it all, leannan.”

“Can you give me any clues, Oliver? Besides the fact it must be a decent spot for a picnic,” You glanced down at the picnic basket in your hand. When Oliver had invited you to his home, you were excited. Never before had you been to his family home in the highlands. You had met his family at his sisters’ homes. “You know the only thing I know about the highlands is that you are from here, and you don’t even live here anymore!”

“We’re almost there anyway,” he answered. “This is a place me dad took me mum when they were like us. When I told them about you, he brought me in case you were my gu bràth. We’re in the midst of Loch Katrine. It can be a popular place for muggle photographers to come take photos but they’re quite intimidated by this mountain, thanks to magic.”

Oliver helped you climb up a few more meters. You saw the giant grin on his face. This must be someplace special. He was just as excited as if they were about to jump right into a game of quidditch. You set the basket down and felt his hand squeeze yours. “Look at it, leannan. It’s beautiful.”

Finally you turned to join him, and he wasn’t wrong The area of Loch Katrine was gorgeous as the leaves had started to change. “This is beautiful, Oliver. It is absolutely gorgeous here.”

His smile grew and he pulled you closer. Your head rested on his chest and listened to the sound of his beating heart. Afterwhile he whispered, “I have found strength in your arms. We have built the foundation for an amazing love, and you will always rule my heart. Nobody can or will ever destroy what we have.”

You burrowed closer into his chest and felt his arms wrap around you more. Oliver had always been a ray of hope, and you knew he would continue to be one for you. You knew, you could feel your relationship growing in many ways at that moment. You hoped to Merlin, as you looked across the Scottish highlands in the arms of the man you loved, that someday you would build an indestructible empire with him. It is what you both deserved.

#oliver wood #oliver wood x reader #oliver wood imagine #oliver wood one shot #oliver wood x y/n #oliver wood reader insert #hp imagine #hp one shot #harry potter imagine #harry potter oneshot #my own work #iliveiloveiwrite3.5k

[rainydayhogwartsimagines]

Fred with a Muggle!reader:

Warnings: swearing, sexual innuendos

He met you after the battle of Hogwarts.

He needed something from Charlie and Charlie wanted to meet in a muggle bar

"I can't get over the fact that you frequent a bar. With a muggle running it. And she knows you're a wizard." Fred admitted.

"I'm not the only one that frequents here, a lot of ministry members come here too." Charlie shrugged.

Fred had heard a lot about you, Charlie saying you often listened to people's problems, occasionally giving them free drinks if they've had a lousy day.

He'd never actually seen you. Charlie was always shit with descriptions

That's when a glass was put in front of Charlie and Fred looked over

Your hair was in a ponytail, a dishrag over your shoulder and a black cami that seemed to make your eyes pop.

"The usual?" You asked Charlie.

"Thanks dear." He nodded as you poured a glass.

"And you?" You asked Fred.

The second your eyes met his you felt something similar to a shockwave go down your spine.

"....Uh.... I'm... Not much of... A drinker.." Fred said making Charlie raise a brow.

"We have different sodas. If you want any of that." You said.

"... Root beer." He finally said making you nod.

From that point on, Fred showed up every Wednesday, it being the most empty so he could talk to you in peace.

"Hi Weasley." You said not even looking up from the book you were reading.

He sat at the bar.

"interesting story?" He asked.

You lifted the book so he could see it's title "Fantastic Beasts and where to find them"

He rose a brow. "How'd you get your hands on a wizard book?" He asked.

"It had a muggle release. I bought it after finding out it was real." You admitted.

Fred chuckled. "Curious about the wizarding world?" Fred asked.

"how can I not be? This world I live in... It's boring." You said.

"Surely it's not that bad." Fred said.

"Oh but it is. See I'm supposed to be a productive member of society. This isn't considered that apparently." You said.

"screw society." He shrugged.

"I think I'm beginning to really like you Weasley." You said with a smile.

He gave you a smile and your heart pounded.

Since then Fred basically visited you every day now.

He'd watch you work if you were too busy but on the empty days you'd sit at the bar with him.

Today was an empty day, much to Fred's luck.

"Hello there." You greeted.

"Helllooo" he said sitting down.

You sat next to him, a look of obvious exhaustion falling over your face the second you made contact with the chair.

"long day?" Fred asked.

"Long. Long. LONG. Day." You sighed.

"the ministry men just kept coming in. And that's not a problem. The problem is they all order the same damn drinks and I'm always on my feet" you groaned.

"prop your legs up on me, I really don't care." Fred suggested. You did, moving the chair closer.

"I have a question." Fred said.

"I have an answer." You replied.

"Do you own this bar?" He asked.

You nodded. "Used to be my brother's." You said.

"What happened?" Fred asked.

"...There's a reason why I'm allowed near magic." You said.

It registered with Fred what you meant.

"Your brother's a wizard?" He asked.

"He was." You said.

Fred frowned.

"He died in the battle for hogwarts." You said softly.

Fred realized your last name... Your brother saved his life.

"Sorry... Was Charles L/n your brother?" Fred asked.

You nodded.

"Your brother saved me." Fred said.

You blinked.

"You... You're the wizard he...."

You swallowed looking in Fred's eyes.

"Fred.... Thank you." You said.

"For what?" He asked.

"For not letting my brother's sacrifice be in vain. Charlie tells me how much you've helped people after the war... I'm glad you're living your life." You said sincerely.

He almost expected anger from you. But instead you were grateful.

He looked in your eyes and you looked in his.

Fred finally got the nerve to kiss you.

You looked forward to seeing him every day now, always smiling as he entered

He'd kiss you from across the bar making you smile as you worked.

One day you decided to close early though and Fred wanted you to actually see the wizarding world.

So he took you to the burrow to meet his parents for the weekend.

You were nervous the entire time but he kept reassuring you that Molly would fucking love you

Spoiler alert: she did.

Harry didn't seem to mind you either, you shaking his hand.

It felt nice for him to meet someone and not have them go "OH MY GOD YOU'RE THE BOY WHO LIVED!"

"So what do you do for a living?" Arthur asked.

"I uhm. I own a pub." You admitted.

"So that's where Fred has been running off to." George chuckled.

Percy walked in and you rose a brow.

"....Wait you're their brother!?" You said.

Percy gave you a "Don't you say a word" look but George blinked.

"How do you know Percy?" Fred asked.

"He comes to the pub every now and again." You admitted making him facepalm.

Fred and George gaped.

"Our brother. In a bar? Have you no shame Percy?" George said.

"Fred's girlfriend owns that bar, which he goes to everyday, and I'm the spectacle here?" Percy asked.

"Yeah because you have a constant stick shoved up your--"

"OKAY GINNY!" Percy cut her off making you laugh.

Fred wrapped his arm around you with a smile.

You ended up really enjoying your time there, answering questions Arthur had about muggle objects.

You went to bed early your first night there Molly sitting down with Fred

"We love her." Molly said.

"Really?" Fred asked.

"She's amazing Fred. Truly." Arthur agreed.

Fred felt relieved hearing this.

He showed you all sorts of things in the wizarding world

Your personal favorite was butterbeer.

When you had to return back to the muggle world you were kind of disappointed.

But you started making weekend trips to the Burrow a regular thing.

There was this one night you were really busy though.

This time the Weasley's came to you.

"What are you all doing here?" You asked.

"Y/n, I need an ale!" Someone yelled making you groan.

"Give me a table." Fred said. Him helping out wasn't uncommon.

"Five." You said, handing him a notepad

The family watched you two in action, both of you working around each other in impressive yet strategic ways.

"Can we help?" Ginny asked.

You whipped around and nodded.

"If you come across any empty glasses, clean them." You said. Molly and Arthur sat watching their children all assist you.

"Shit!" You grumbled as the jukebox glitched again.

"Repairio." Hermione said making it work.

"You are a godsend Granger. Truly." You said with a laugh as you sped past her.

Your balance skills with treys of alcohol was honestly impressive

Along with Fred and George's speedy order taking.

Before you knew it the bar was empty.

You finally turned off the open sign and hugged Fred.

"Thank. God." You whined.

He chuckled and Ron gaped.

"This is what you do? All day? No magic?" Ron asked.

You nodded.

"Goddess. Your girlfriend is a goddess." Ron said making you snort.

Fred kissed your head and you sighed pulling off the apron.

"Alright. Tell me we're going home, I am exhausted and looking forward to Molly's cooking." You said making Fred's brow raise.

"Did you just call... The burrow home?" George noticed.

"...I guess I did." You shrugged.

Fred already was forming wedding plans in his head.

George, Fred and you all rode separately from the rest of the group.

"Alright. Be real with me. How many times have you shagged on the bar?" George asked making you choke on air.

"Christ George!" Fred gaped.

"I'm just saying, it's right there!" George said.

"....Like three times, but that is besides the point!" You answered.

"I knew it!" George said.

"and how, pray tell did you know that?" Fred asked.

"One of your shirts were behind the bar." George said making both of you groan.

Fred didn't mind helping you out during the busy days.

A secret passage to the wizarding world being right next to it didn't hurt either.

Fred and you now had been seeing each other for about a year.

The Christmas season was a nice one, spending it with his family

Molly made you a sweater, which during the winter never came off.

Fred however was gearing up to ask you to marry him.

You already moved in with him after your six month anniversary.

Now he was fidgeting with a ring in his pocket as you worked.

"So this would go... Here." You muttered to yourself.

Fred just had to find the right time.

"Fuck, why is the scotch missing a cap?!" You groaned.

When it was just you and him.

The bell on the door rang, indicating the last customer left and Fred used a quick spell to shut off the open sign.

"thanks." You sighed as you found the missing Scotch cap.

"Hey. Why don't you take a break?" Fred suggested.

When was the right time to even ask you?

You nodded and sat next to him.

"What's in your pocket?" You asked noticing him keeping rather close to it.

Well. Now was the perfect time!

Fred swallowed and leaned forward taking your hands into his.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too. Are you dying or something?" You asked concerned.

"what? No-- no." He shook his head.

"I love you so much and I want to make you happy for the rest of our lives." He said making you raise a brow.

"What--"

He pulled out the ring and your eyes went huge, looking at him and then the ring.

"Fred..." You breathed.

"Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" He asked.

You looked at him almost the exact same way you did a year ago, the same shocked and vulnerable expression on your face as you held his hands.

"...Yes Fred!" You said before he slid the ring on your finger and kissed you.

He called his brothers-- all of them, telling them with no context to get their asses to the burrow.

They all did, now standing confused in the living room.

"Why are we here fred?" Bill asked, Fleur equally confused.

"I'm waiting on mum." Fred said as she finally walked down with Arthur.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked.

"I asked Y/n to marry me." Fred said.

"and I said yes." You said making everyone gasp.

Molly was a happy crying mess, hugging you saying she gained a new daughter.

Harry was happy that you weren't going anywhere along with Ron and Hermione.

Charlie was cracking a massive smile.

"This happened because of you Charlie." You said with a laugh.

"Finally! She gives me credit!" Charlie said making you laugh.

"welcome to the family Y/n." Arthur said with a smile.

A few months later you were married, the bar eventually making it's way into diagon Alley

You closed down the original location but made the second one equally comfortable.

Every night without fail, Fred would find his way to a seat at the bar and would watch you work.

Harry would occasionally visit with Ginny, you two being the first to know about their engagement.

"I've got the coolest in laws ever!" You'd say making Fred chuckle.

You would have days where the family would sit around after closing, telling you stories of hogwarts before the war as you sat in a chair with Fred, him holding you in his arms with a smile.

You wouldn't trade any of this for the world. Because this is where you belonged.

This was your home.

#fred weasley x you #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley

[a-singleboat]

Locked In

Word Count: 4.1k

Request: great! you’re a really good writer! could I get a Shayne Topp x Reader where they end up doing a bunch of romantic scenes together in a sketch, like slow dancing and a nice dinner and the cuddles, and you guys have been flirting constantly for months and after the shoot Damien, Court, Ian and everyone lock you two in a room because they’re TIRED of it not going anywhere - @mrtopphaasmyheart​

A/N: this actually turned out a lot longer than i thought it would... sorry not sorry!

It was Saturday night when they emailed out the filming schedules for the upcoming month. You were sitting at home, reading a book and being “insanely boring” as your friends had so eloquently put it. 

But as much as you had wanted to go out with your old college friends, that week of filming had really taken a toll on you and your body. Now, as a YouTube personality, you weren’t required to do your own stunts due to the fact that stuffed dolls could easily take your place for comedic effect. However, being a former stuntwoman for a few months during college, you loved the adrenaline crashing through a window or two gave you. 

As Smosh’s stunt coordinator, that meant you weren’t on screen as often as your coworkers. Which is why the upcoming month’s filming schedule shocked you. Aside from a Try Not to Laugh and a few Smosh Gaming videos, you were also scheduled in an Every Blank Ever. Namely, the Every Valentine's Day Ever video. 

Considering Valentine’s Day was a little less than a month out, it wasn’t weird that they wanted to get this video recorded and on its way to editing. What was weird was the fact that most of your filming blocks aligned with Shayne Topp’s. 

It wasn’t a secret that you were the group flirt. Next to Courtney, you were both the most notorious for flirting with your coworkers on screen and, in your case, off. 

But with Shayne… It started five months ago. Five months ago, your harmless flirting turned into something a little more than for-good-fun. 

Five months ago, the flirty little winks you sent in his direction meant more than something friendly and the words exchanged turned into something more than just words. But you were sure that was all you. 

There was no way Shayne felt the same for you. After all, he was an extremely friendly guy and he acted that way to everyone. That was your best defense. That he was just really nice. 

You shook your head as if the motion would shake the thoughts from your mind. You closed your book and laptop, shoving both items off to the side. You reached over and clicked your bedside lamp off, settling in for the night. 

You’d figure it out in the morning, you decided, closing your eyes and letting sleep take you off to another world.

The next morning, you met up with Courtney and Olivia for your weekly Sunday brunches. You had settled on a new place, rather than your regular brunch spot. The only difference was this place offered outdoor seating, which was nice despite the fact that it was still January and it was sixty degrees Fahrenheit. 

You guessed you could blame the warmer-than-average weather on global warming. 

“What’d you do yesterday, Olivia?” you asked as Courtney wrapped up her recount on the movie night she had with one of her many siblings. They had gone out to watch The Turning, much to her sister’s amusement and to Courtney’s torture. 

“I just hung out with Sam,” Olivia revealed, shrugging. “Wrote in my filming schedule in my planner.”

You took a sip of your mimosa, nodding along. “Yeah, I had a mellow weekend too.” 

Courtney kicked your foot under the table. “But did you see who you were paired with for, like, eighty percent of the scenes, Y/n?”

You shrugged, setting your drink down. “Shayne? Yeah, I saw it.”

Courtney poked you this time. “For the Valentine’s scenes. You know, the romantic stuff!”

She wiggled her eyebrows as you fought to keep the smile off your face. “We won’t even be shooting those until Wednesday.”

You and Shayne had about three or four romantic scenes in the Every Blank Ever, marked ‘Breakfast in Bed,’ ‘Dinner,’ ‘Proposal’ (which was a continuation of ‘Dinner’), and one unspecified scene. You figured they’d tell you what the unspecified scene was when it came time to film it. 

“So that means you have until Wednesday to fantasize all about it,” Olivia said, wiggling her fingers like she was a wizard spreading magic. 

You laughed slightly, shaking your head. You held up a hand and asked your waiter for your check. You thanked them when they brought over the little black book, shooing off your two friends as they tried to poke fun of you. 

As the baby of the group, you figured a little teasing was warranted. It came with the territory. 

But by the time Wednesday rolled around, you figured your status of the baby of the group wouldn’t help you much. 

Sarah Whittle, one of your bosses, stood near you as you did up your own makeup. She was waiting patiently for the curler to heat up so she could do up your hair, making you feel much like she was your mom helping you get ready for Prom night. 

“You ready for today's scenes, Y/l?” she asked in a teasing manner. 

You rolled your eyes and took a break from applying your mascara to stick your tongue out at the older woman like the child you were. 

“It’s the breakfast in bed scene first,” you complained as you nearly poked your eye out with the wand. “Why do I need to have my hair curled if I just woke up?”

Sarah picked up the curler after sliding on the black cloth glove that was designed so that she couldn’t burn herself too badly with the heated stick of metal. 

“Well, you’re going to be wearing a hair covering for this scene so your curls can set for the dinner scene,” Sarah explained before winking. “Plus, it’d be less work for me later.”

Since Sarah had already sectioned off your hair, it made it easier for her to curl the pieces and then pin them up with bobby pins to keep them secure. Once she finished, she reached over and grabbed a patterned shower cap and slid it on over the little bundles of curled hair. 

She explained that the residue heat would essentially act like one of those giant hair dryers that you would sit under at a hair salon, but with less health risks. 

After you were finished with hair and makeup, you were ushered off to costume where you were given a nightgown and a robe.

You thanked whatever deity was up there that you had been provided a robe before making your way to set, passing a dressed up Courtney, who waved enthusiastically at you. You resisted the urge to jokingly throw up the middle finger at your friend, instead choosing to wave back and give a tight smile that showed off your discomfort. 

Thankfully, Ian was the scene’s director, which immediately put you at ease. It wasn’t that you had anything against the others. In fact, you loved being able to work with Ryan. It was just the fact that since coining Ian as your Smosh dad, you found it easier to perform better in scenes like these if someone you had already been emotionally vulnerable with was the one behind the steering wheel.

“Okay,” Ian said, clapping his hands together. “Y/n, you’re going to wake up and maybe yawn a little, and then Shayne is going to come in with a tray of food. I want you to take a bite, and chew through it while pretending you like it. You got that?”

You shucked your robe, handing it off to one of the assistants that were on hand. You gave him a thumbs up before settling into the bed, moving down so it looked like you were sleeping. 

You waited, counted three breaths, before you heard Ian call, “Action.”

You waited two more breaths before ‘waking up,’ yawning and groggily rubbing your eyes. You sat up in bed, moving yourself so that your back was flush to the headboard. 

“Good morning, Sweetie,” Shayne said, pretending to have come through a door. He made his way over to the bed and set the tray over your lap. You smiled at him, imagining what domestic life with Shayne would actually be like.

“Good morning,” you replied, remembering that this was a scripted moment. “What’d you make for me?”

Shayne settled into the bed next to you, pointing at each item as he listed them off. “I made the pancakes I made you on our first morning together, as well as the scrambled eggs that I know you love so much, and I got you some orange juice in a mug with a heart on it that I found from our local flea market.”

You acted like it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for you. Putting on a face that would read to the audience that you two were madly in love. “Oh, honey. I love it, thank you!”

You kissed his cheek, thinking nothing of it as you moved onto the next part of Ian’s directions to you. You put a spoonful of eggs into your mouth, making a face at the ‘taste.’

“Do you like it?” Shayne asked, still in character. 

You made a face that was halfway between joy and disgust, acting like it was the worst thing you’ve ever eaten. “It’s great, Steve.”

Ian called for a cut and you reached out beside you as the assistant from earlier rushed to hand you a bucket. You spat out the food, scraping your teeth along your tongue to get the residue egg out of your mouth. 

She handed your your robe next, to which you replied, “Thank you, Julia,” before pulling the article of clothing on. 

Shayne threw an arm around your shoulders as you got out of bed, pulling you back and wrapping his arms around you. You laughed, feeling your cheeks burn with half embarrassment and half oh-my-God-what-is-he-doing. 

“They got us up this early, they can give us a few minutes to nap,” he declared, settling his head atop yours the best he could in the awkward position he had put you in. It was nothing new, Shayne being touchy with you, but this time was different. You couldn’t exactly pinpoint what, but you knew something had changed. 

Maybe it was the fact that you had just filmed a scene in which you both were a couple. The fake engagement ring that sat on your finger reminded you of that. The fact that this was fake. 

“Come on,” Ian scolded, a laugh also written across his face. “The sooner you both get through the next three scenes, the sooner you can go home.” 

You wriggled out of Shayne’s grasp, laughing as he tried to tickle your sides. It wasn’t the fact that you were insanely ticklish, no. It was the fact that his hands on you felt so undeniably right, that your brain had thought of no other reaction but to laugh. 

“Alright,” you surrendered, “I’ll go. I’ll see you at dinner, Mr. Topp.” 

He kneeled on the bed, raising up from his sitting position. He bent at the waist jokingly, a goofy grin on his face. 

“Until then, Ms. Y/l.” 

You gave him a two-finger salute in farewell before disappearing from set, making your way back to hair and makeup. There, Sarah awaited you, anxious to take out the pins and reveal her ‘masterpiece.’

Once your hair was revealed, which did look insanely good, you set to work on applying a modest amount of makeup, knowing that the amount of lights on the set would even out your complexion. 

From years in show business, you’d learned that a healthy medium between your normal everyday makeup and stage makeup was the way to go when filming in a closed set. As far as you knew, you wouldn’t be filming outside or in any dark or enclosed spaces. 

When you were carted off to costume, you were glad to trade out your nightgown and robe with a red dress that really did flatter your figure in the best ways. You gave Lindsay a spin when she asked you to before being carted off to set for the second time that day. 

Luckily, you’d be in the same outfit for the next three scenes you had to film that day, which meant no more back and forth between departments. 

You thanked whatever deity was up there because ten minutes in and the heels Lindsay had put you in were already cutting off circulation to your toes. 

“Okay,” Ian said, and clapped again. It was a habit of his that didn’t look like it was going anywhere soon. “For this scene, we’re going to film the dinner and proposal all in one and splice it in editing and whatever. I’ll stop you if I want to give a little more direction, but you know what you’re doing and so does Shayne.”

You smiled at Ian’s attempt at easing up your nerves. No matter how fake, getting proposed to was always a nerve-wracking experience. 

Shayne walked up to set next, dressed up and looking a little extra fancy. 

You bumped his hip as they set up the scene, threading your arms through his. “You clean up nice.”

He smirked. “I could say the same for you, Y/n.”

You felt the heat rise into your cheeks, hating that Shayne could get any kind of reaction from you. 

You heard Ian call action and immediately started walking. The two of you gossiped about the “hot new Italian restaurant” your boss recommended before arriving at the entrance. 

“Hello,” Damien greeted them, an Italian accent gracing his lips. “Do you have a reservation with us tonight?”

Shayne stepped forward a little. “Yes, Copper. That’s C-O-P-P-E-R.”

“Copper,” Damien repeated, though his accent botched the pronunciation a little for comedic effect. “Ah, yes. C-O-P-P-E-R. Right this way.”

Damien ‘led’ you to your table, though in all reality, the cameras cut as the set changed slightly, the restaurant tables coming in and some of your coworkers coming in to fill the seats around you. 

Damien asked for your order in proper waiter fashion before dashing off to ‘fetch your drinks.’

You leaned in, tucking some hair behind your ear as to not obscure your face from the cameras. “Babe, this place is really fancy. Are you sure you can afford this?”

Shayne scoffed and brushed you off. “Of course, I can afford this!”

He made a joke loudly, and you laughed nervously, looking around and apologizing to the other patrons of the bar as scripted. 

“Babe,” you hissed. “Quiet down, people are staring!”

He scoffed again, doing his little bit before returning to the script. 

“Let them stare!” he announced, climbing onto the table. Your eyes widened as you held onto the table, even though you fully well knew that it was bolted down to the set. 

“Ramona, I am in love with you and have been since I first swiped right,” he declared, putting his hand to his heart. He jumped off the table and leaned over to another table, taking the engagement ring right off an extra’s finger. 

You watched as she acted offended, storming off with her fiance. 

You returned your attention to Shayne, who was down on one knee in front of you. “Ramona, will you marry me?” 

You looked around, acting shocked and repulsed by what had just taken place. You gave it a few moments, waiting for the comedic timing to line up, before bursting out into fake tears and saying yes. 

The crowd around you burst into cheers, you could hear your coworkers clapping and calling out congratulations as Shayne held you in his arms. 

Ian called cut but Shayne didn’t let you go, holding you around the waist with one arm instead of two. 

You saw Ian and Courtney exchanged glances with Damien, but thought nothing of it, enjoying the feeling of Shayne’s arms around you. You looked up at him, staring into his bright baby blues. 

“What do you think the next scene is?” you asked him, leaning into his side. His arm tightened around you.

“I don’t know but I hope it's something to do with dessert,” you said excitedly. 

Shayne cocked an eyebrow at you, causing you to realize the secondary meaning to your words. You slapped his pec, unsurprisingly meeting the hard muscle there, before slapping yourself in the face for not realizing it sooner.

“That’s not what I meant,” you insisted, separating yourself from him. You crossed your arms over your chest as he laughed at what you had said. You ended up laughing a little as well, walking away from the set and kicking off the heels. 

While they were absolutely beautiful, they also made your feet hurt like hell. The assistant, Julia, offered you your casual shoes and you took them, making a mental note to get the woman a gift basket or something sometime in the future. 

Ian came up to you as you were sliding on your Crocs, clicking the toes together happily as your feet were enveloped in the surprisingly comfy croslite. 

“You ready for this next scene?” Ian asked, taking a sip out of his mug. It was nearing lunchtime now, meaning they had less than an hour to film this next bit. 

“Does that mean you’re going to finally let me know what the scene is?” you asked, quirking an eyebrow. He chuckled and patted your back. 

“You’ll figure it out,” he said, clapping your shoulder. “It’s all improv but you’re both extremely great at that!”

You winced at his tone of voice, not believing him at all yet you allowed him to lead you and Shayne into one of the prop closets, already decked out with studio lights and everything.

The presence of the lights put your mind at ease and considering you were wearing a red dress paired with your bright yellow crocs, you crossed your fingers in hopes that they weren’t about to record anything past waist level. 

Ian pushed Shayne into the closet slightly, causing the man to tumble into you. He caught you around the waist while reflexively grabbing hold of a shelf fixed to one of the walls. You felt the heat rush to your cheeks once more, glad that his attention was more focused on making sure the two of you weren’t about to collapse onto the floor right then and there. 

Once he got the two of you back on your own two feet, you wheeled around, ready to confront Ian but was met with a closed prop door. 

You approached the door knob and twisted it, to find that it was locked. You shook it in hopes that this was one of the closets that would just slide open to no avail. You and Shayne were stuck in the closet with one of the hottest stage lights the company owned. 

“We’ll be back in thirty minutes,” you heard Ian call out, the sounds of Courtney and Damien snickering coming from beyond the door. 

“You’re dead, Hecox!” you shouted before resigning. “They’re not gonna let us out in thirty, minutes, are they?”

Shayne chuckled, trying to make the best of the situation. He had already made himself comfy on one of the wooden chests. 

Then, the stage light shut off and that’s when the panic set in. 

“Oh, my God,” you freaked, eyes going wide. The only light was now the half-dead emergency bulb in the ceiling of the prop closet, leaving the both of you in what was essentially the dark. You turned around and started to pound on the door, calling for your boss, Courtney, anybody. At one point, you found yourself calling for the assistant that had followed you around all day. 

“We’re going to die in here,” you lamented, leaning up against a wall. 

Shayne hopped off the chest and came over to you, grabbing your arm and pulling you into his chest. 

“We’ll be fine,” he comforted. “It was probably just a blackout. We’ve been getting them around the studios pretty often recently. They’ll probably come back for us in a few minutes when they realize that the building’s powerless.

You nodded, calming yourself down in his arms. He was right. The crew wouldn’t leave you in here during a blackout… would they?

You started to think about how much of a safety and fire hazard leaving the two of you in here would be and started to panic again. 

“Shayne,” you whimpered. “What if they can’t get back to us? If the building is on lock down then they wouldn’t be able to use their key cards to get us out and I don’t even think Ian remembers where he put the backup keys and--”

You were cut off by a pair of lips covering yours. You let out a muffled noise of surprise, before closing your eyes and leaning into the kiss. Your hands flew to his hair as he pulled you even closer, if humanly possible. 

Now, when someone tells you that the fireworks aren’t real, they probably weren’t doing it right because here, with Shayne, it was like the Fourth of July. You felt the lust, the passion, the absolute adoration for the man that held you in his arms well up inside you until you had to pull away for air. 

You pulled back, struggling to regain control over your breathing. You looked up into his brilliant baby blues and searched for a reason behind what he had just done. 

“Uh,” he licked his lips, “you were panicking and I had to do something so that you wouldn’t pass out or--”

You cut him off that time, standing up on your toes to meet him with another kiss, just as passionate as the last. 

“What was that for?” he asked, when you finally pulled back. 

You bit your lip. “I’ve liked you for a long time,” you finally admitted. “And it sucks that it took our coworkers locking us in a room together that I finally grew up and did something about it.”

Shayne glanced at the still-closed doors. “Yeah, those assholes. Forcing me to get kissed twice by the woman that I am deeply infatuated with.”

He kissed you again, laughing as your lips met. You pulled back and kissed his cheek and then down his jaw, settling one last kiss over his lips for good measure. 

“You know, we should totally fuck with them,” you proposed, a hint of playfulness behind your eyes. “And then go home and figure this out on our own terms.”

Shayne’s eyes met yours with the same intentions behind his eyes as yours. “Are you thinking that I’m thinking?”

You nodded before kissing him again, and again, and again…

It was forty-five minutes later until your coworkers came to your rescue. 

Putting your plan into action, you crossed your arms and turned your head away from him. You were sure there were still black tear marks down your face from when you had started crying earlier, after realizing the power in the building had gone out. 

Ian was the first to apologize upon seeing your disheveled state. Thankfully, he had taken the state of your hair and makeup as a sign you were actually distraught. He apologized, along with the others, for locking you in the prop closet in the first place. 

You told them it was okay and that you just wanted to go home after the ordeal you had been through. 

Surprisingly, you had managed to escape the building an hour later. You met Shayne by your car, giggling as he grabbed you around the waist. He peppered your face with kisses before setting you down, allowing you to unlock your car. 

He entered from the other side as you thanked whatever deity was up there for making today one of the days he had decided to carpool with Damien. His excuse was that he was just going to Uber back to his place, seeing as it wasn’t that far from the studio.

Although that was a load of bull, the two of you were heading back to your apartment to work things out. 

“Those idiots,” Shayne joked as you pulled out of the lot. “They were none the wiser.”

You laughed as you drove away from the building. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out by tomorrow. After all, I’m your ride in tomorrow.”

Shayne shrugged, reaching over the console to grab your hand. “I’m fine with that. As long as I get you all to myself for tonight.” 

“I’m fine with that,” you said, a grin on your face. You would spend an eternity with him if it meant you got moments like these in the future. And you were fine with that.

#shayne topp #shayne topp imagine #shayne topp x reader #shayne topp fanfiction #ian hecox #Sarah Whittle #Courtney Miller #olivia sui #damien haas #smosh #smosh games #every blank ever #every valentines day ever #valentines day #shayne #topp #reader #reader-insert #Female reader #y/n #female y/n #Ryan Todd #fake dating

[pregnant-piggy]

Back again - part II

Sirius Black x reader

Words: 3600+

Warnings: swearing

part one

A/N: I’m back! Stressed af, but I could not leave you without part two! So I’m doing this instead of learning for my exams :) It’s the final part, but don’t worry cuz I have more Sirius content for you! XXX

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The street you walk in is completely dark. Every curtain is closed and only four street lanterns are working. You squeeze your eyes to see what the house numbers are. Afraid anyone will see you, you don’t use your wand, but it lies steady in your hand, hidden in the pocket of your coat. You take a few steps closer to a house and read that it is number 14. You step back and walk further. After a few minutes you come to the right house, number 38. You walk to the door and knock.

Nerves rush through your veins as you wait for the door to open. You had never been here before, but Dumbledore had told you this was the right address. You weren’t sure though, it didn’t really seem like a place that-

The door opens, interrupting your thoughts. You look into the light brown eyes of Remus Lupin. He looks shocked; his jaw is dropped and his hand is clasped around the door frame. After a few seconds his confusion changes into a small smile then into a big grin. He pulls you in his arms and holds you tight. You sigh happily; it had been years since someone hugged you like that. A tear rolled down your cheek and you wiped it away with the sleeve of your coat.

‘Come in, come in,’ Remus says with a throaty voice. You step into the small house. You enter a small, dark hall filled with a single coat rack, where you hang up your coat. The living room is just as dark as the hall, but there is a fire burning fiercely in the cold.

‘I’ll get you something to eat…’ Remus mutters and you feel he needs to take a few deep breaths alone in the kitchen.

It is not a very big room and it is filled with a brown couch and a bookcase full of books. Waiting for Remus to return, you walk to the bookcase and look at the books. A summary on vampires; Magical creatures: dangerous or not?; Five ways to defend yourself in front of trolls. Your eyes scan all the books and they stop at a big book without the name on it. You smile when you see it is a photo album filled with pictures of you and your friends. Pictures of sleepovers in the boys’ dormitory, trips to Hogsmeade, photos of birthdays and other parties. On one of the pages you see your favourite photo.

All of you on Halloween in you third year, dressed up as each other. Sirius had gone as Peter and had filled his backpack with candy; Peter dressed up as James, with huge glasses and really messy hair; James had painted his hair red to be Lily; Lily had stolen a big sweater from Remus and was holding up five books; Remus was you, he wore a (y/h/c) wig and your favourite dress; you dressed up as Sirius, wearing his huge T-shirt and you had painted your hair black. You look at your bag that is lying on the ground. That T-shirt is in there. You had never given it back to Sirius, you loved it too much.

You are browsing through the album and your attention is taken by a picture of you and Sirius. You have fallen asleep on the couch in the common room and Sirius is sitting next to you looking at you. Under the picture someone, and you recognise Lily’s handwriting, has written: If you only knew what you feel for each other. You look back at the picture and realise that it is taken in your fifth year. You and Sirius weren’t dating yet but you had told Remus and Lily about your crush, and apparently so had Sirius. You start to cry; you can’t wait to see Sirius.

Remus enters the room and you turn around wiping away your tears. He looks from your face to the book back to your face.

‘I didn’t know you had this,’ you say to Remus. You sit down next to him on the couch.

‘Well yeah, Lily and I made it. I haven’t opened it since she and James died.’ You see the sad look on Remus’ face and you close the album. ‘When did you got here?’ Remus asks you.

‘This morning. I wanted to come to you, but Dumbledore insisted that I came to him first. I met Harry and he told me about what happened since Sirius escaped.’ You sigh; it had been a long day and you were tired, but you still want to hear Remus’ side of the story.

You rest your head on Remus’ shoulder and close your eyes. ‘France sucks you know? Stupid French people with their cheese and baguettes. They ruined baguettes for me!’ You hear Remus chuckle and continue your rant. ‘The only good thing there were the pastries. But they were expensive as hell! And the French wizards! Merlin, are they annoying! I never understood a word they were saying, which is not very nice when you’re duelling. Luckily that only happened a few times.’

Remus suddenly turns to you and looks you in the eye. ‘You haven’t changed at all have you?’ he asks with a  smile. ‘I missed you. I could have used your enthusiasm and positivity, it has not been nice…’

Seeing your questioning face, Remus begins to tell you about the things Harry didn’t. About the new Order, about his time with the werewolves, about the night at the ministry previous summer.

He talks all night and is finished when the sun already starts to rise. You have listened to him without interrupting. Your eyes are red from the sleep you are lacking, but you wouldn’t have wanted this night to be any different. It was nice to talk to Remus again. You had missed him so much. His smile and sarcastic comments, yes, but also the way he listens to your stories and how he trusts you even after this much time apart.

‘The next meeting is next Wednesday. Are you coming?’ Remus asks you while cleaning up his coffee table, that was covered in coffee mugs and candy-bar-wrappings, and you shrug.

‘I don’t know, I think I need to think about what you told me and what Harry told me, but I don’t think that will take until Wednesday. And to be honest I could really use some sleep right now. I haven’t slept for like two days.’ Remus laughs softly and gets up.

‘I have a guestroom,’ he simply says and walks upstairs. You grab your bag and run after him.

- -- -

You are lying on your bed, looking at the ceiling. Despite not having slept in 48 hours go can’t seem to fall asleep. The things you heard today are spooking through your head. Every time you close your eyes you see Sirius’ face, but he is talking to you, saying that he doesn’t recognise you, asking why you took so long to come see him, why you haven’t freed him.

You look at the clock hanging on the wall. It is 4 o’clock. You turn on the bedside lamp and sit on the edge of the bed. After minutes of doubting to grab your bag and take out a notebook. It is filled with letters that Sirius wrote you, during summer vacations and later when he was away for missions.

Sweet (Y/N),

It has only been two weeks since the vacation started but it feels like I haven’t seen you in months! Here at home everything is acceptable. Mum and Dad haven’t noticed I sneak out at night.

I know that you would say I shouldn’t sneak out and that I should be careful. But you don’t have to worry, I came up with a perfect system that I am not going to tell in case this letter falls into the wrong hands.

Next week I am going to James. He is back from his holiday then and he asked me to spend the rest of the vacation there. Maybe you can come over sometime?

Yours, Padfoot

You smiled at the letter. Sirius had written it to you in the summer before fifth year. It wasn’t unusual for him to write letters but every time you got one you had felt special.

Sweet (Y/N),

Please come save me from Prongs. All he can do is talk about Lily, about her hair, her eyes, her face, her skin, her fucking everything! I know you probably have better things to do but I don't think I am going to make it until the first of September if someone doesn't save me!

You smile at Sirius' words. You remember going to James after you got that letter and Sirius literally hugging you so tight that you couldn't breathe. You had blushed and stepped back, softly smiling at the situation.

Browsing through the letters you lose track of time. You cry and laugh at the memories in your love’s handwriting. You haven't read them in a long time, but still remember every single one of them.

Slowly the letters get more and more personal and romantic. Sirius wrote you about everything, every small detail of his life. You get to the period after Hogwarts. The letters he wrote to you when he was away for missions. Or when he was away with James, Remus and Peter on their monthly ‘Man-Break' (for Remus).

You are still smiling when you reach the last letter in your notebook.

My love,

Only two more days and I'll be back. I miss you and I know you miss me too. Everything is alright here, though James is stressing because he thinks he is going to miss Harry's birthday. I have tried everything to calm him down but so far nothing worked. I'll come up with more ideas.

Have you already got a gift for Harry? James said he maybe we could get him something quidditchy (he came up with that word! Don't let Remus see it!). I know Lily wouldn't really like it, but she cannot refuse it if we give it.

I really want to see you. I miss you so much. I know you think this is dangerous and it is, but we’re trained for this. I promise you I’ll come home. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms again and kiss your lips and watch every stupid, cheesy, romantic film you want to see.

James is calling for me. Probably to ask what he should write to Lily.

I love you, Sirius

That had been the last multiple-day mission Sirius had gone on. He had promised you that he could never leave you for that long. He would still go on missions, but they were less dangerous, mostly because Lily had forbidden James to go on life-threatening missions, and never for more than two days.

You close your notebook and look at the clock. Two hours have passed since you started reading. You fall back on the bed and close your eyes thinking about your friends and how much you miss them.

When you wake up two hours later you don’t remember falling asleep. You slowly get up and walk down. In the kitchen you find Remus drinking his coffee and reading the paper.

‘Morning,’ he says when he sees you. You mutter a ‘good morning’ back and fill a cup with coffee.

‘So how did you sleep?’ Remus asks when you sit down.

‘Fine,’ you lie and take a sip. Remus squeezes his eyes.

‘Then why do you look like shit?’

You laugh. ‘I have been thinking, and I think I am going to the meeting Wednesday.’ You take another sip of your coffee. ‘So what is the plan for today?’

‘Well since it is such nice weather-’ You laugh; it has been raining since you got here. ‘I thought maybe we could take a walk or something and I have to go to the library to bring back some books.’ You smile, that is such a ‘Remus’ way to spend the day and honestly, you are up for it.

- -- -

You have so much fun with Remus and the two days go by fast. Together with him you feel home. It brings back memories of after Hogwarts, when you and Remus stayed home together while Sirius went out on missions. The both of you then only fell asleep at sunrise, your night filled with worries.

And even now you stay up late with Remus, but not to worry about Sirius, or at least Remus doesn’t; you are still scared what will happen if you see Sirius. You spend your nights talking about your time in France and his time here back home. You learn more about when he was a teacher at Hogwarts and he tells you about Harry and all the ‘adventures’ this one has been on.

Staring at your bag on the floor on the floor of the room Remus gave you, you try to take dep breaths. When you agreed to go to the meeting, you didn’t expect to be so nervous. What if Sirius doesn’t want to see you? Or worse, what if he found someone else? You feel nauseous, like you haven’t eaten enough.

‘Are you ready?’ Remus asks. You get up.

‘Yes, let’s just get it over with,’ you say.

Outside Remus gives you his arm and you take it. After looking around to be sure no one sees you, Remus disapparates and are being pulled with him. You hold in your breath and close your eyes. The familiar feeling makes you even more nauseous and light-headed. When you land on the sidewalk of the street you open your eyes and take a deep breath. Remus is standing next to you also looking a little sick but when he opens his eyes he smiles at you.

In front of you appears the house you had only been to twice. One time when you picked up Sirius with the Potters and a second time after you graduated at Hogwarts to pick up some stuff for Sirius. You had gone with James and Remus and luckily Sirius’ parents weren’t home. When you look at the house you notice it has not changed at all. The front door is still the same black colour and it looks like it is the same paint it was twenty years ago. All the curtains are closed and it looks like there is no one home.

You and Remus walk up to the door and Remus knocks on it. You take deep breath and your legs are shaking. The door opens and Mrs. Weasley appears. She smiles at Remus and her eyes widen when she sees you.

‘(Y/N)!’ she gasps. You smile softly at her reaction and let her take you into a hug. ‘I haven’t seen you in so long! How are you?’

‘Shall we discuss that inside?’ Remus asks, while looking around the street and Molly nods. You follow them inside and look around.

You are standing in a dark hall. The walls are painted dark grey and the floor is black. On the ceiling there is a chandelier with a lot of dust on it. It gives you the feeling you are in a haunted house. Even the Shrieking Shack would be a better place to live.

‘Cosy,’ you mumble and Remus laughs. Molly walks to a door that leads to the kitchen. There are a few people already there but no one notices you.

‘How long have you been here?’ Molly asks you as you sit down and slowly people start to recognise you. Their eyes widen and some jaws drop. Swiftly you are surrounded by people who ask you questions and want to know how you are.

‘But I thought you were in France?’

‘What was it like there?’

‘Weren’t you banned from England?’

And then someone asks a question that makes your stomach turn upside down.

‘Does Sirius know you’re here?’ You look at Remus and then shake your head.

‘No, he does not, I got back here Sunday and I haven’t had the chance to contact him,’ you answer. You answer all the other questions but the later it gets, the more nervous you feel.

After half an hour you hear a familiar voice.

‘What is going on here?’

You recognise the voice. Of course you do. It is a voice you could never forget, not even if you tried. It is the voice with a little rasp, a deep, heavy sound. It is the voice that makes your head spin. The voice that makes you shiver. The voice that you haven’t heard in fifteen years. The voice of the man you loved, still love.  

The people around you step aside so Sirius can see you. With every person that steps aside you can see more and more of the person you came for. The man with the long, black, silky hair and the stormy grey eyes. You see his feet, his strong legs, his hands. Merlin, his hands. His beautiful muscled hands that used to touch your body every second you were near him. Every time you were near him his hands instantly found your body. His hands on you back, your hips, your shoulder, your thighs, your hands. His hands were everywhere.

You hesitate. You are afraid to look him in the eye. You are afraid he is not the person he used to be, you are afraid he has changed. Not that change is bad, but what if it is?

Slowly you look up. Sirius is still looking at the other people around you. He hasn’t noticed you. Yet.

He follows the direction everyone is looking at. You can feel your heart beating and you are pretty sure everyone can hear it. Finally his gaze meets yours and he doesn’t move. He drops his hands alongside his body and stares at you, with an open mouth. You form a little smile when you see his face.

‘Hi,’ you say softly but loud enough for everyone to hear it. People around you look between you and Sirius; you can see their heads moving, but all you can focus on his the man in front of you.

Sirius closes his mouth and then opens it again to say something. But nothing comes. The fear in your head gets worse. This is what you imagined. He doesn’t want to see you, he probably moved on from you, you are nothing but an ex for him. The girl he used to date.

You feel tears coming up, but you refuse to look away. You want to see his reaction, no matter how much it will hurt you. Sirius shakes his head and you feel like you have been stabbed. Your nails scratch on the table when you move your hand and you hear it. Everyone does. The room is absolute silent. Nobody makes a sound. Everyone is staring at you or Sirius.

You keep staring into Sirius’ eyes. Then slowly you start to notice a glimmering in his eyes. No metaphorical one, but a physical one. Sirius is crying, or on the edge of. The corners of his mouth go up and the slightest smile appears on his face. You feel the relieve falling off you. Your heart starts to beat harder, but more lively. The blood rushes through your body.

The little smile turns bigger and bigger, until Sirius is grinning. You let out a laugh from relieve and people around you start to smile carefully. Sirius walks towards you and you get up. When he is in front of you, he takes your hand and places his other one on your cheek. You look him in the eye and you feel like an idiot smiling so much. You start crying at the sight of Sirius’ tears. The tears roll down your face but Sirius keeps looking at your eyes. Your faces are now inches away from each other and you could easily lean in and close the space but something is keeping you from doing that. The fear is still in your body. Fear of being rejected after all these years.

‘Stop crying,’ Sirius whispers and you feel his breath against your skin. ‘Everything is alright, love.’

You kiss him immediately when you hear his words. And without hesitation he kisses you back. It is a rough, but passionate kiss and you wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Feeling Sirius’ lips on yours makes you relax. Your hands on his chest, his hands on your back and in your hair.

People around you start to cheer and you smile into the kiss. Before pulling apart Sirius bites your lip and you moan softly so only he can hear it. You can see the arousal in his eyes and you grin. You take his hand and pull him out of the room. You drag him to the nearest room and close the door behind you. You stare into Sirius’ eyes and he kisses you again, rough and passionate, but also soft, like he is trying to express his feelings through his kiss.

‘Fuck,’ he breathes when he breaks the kiss. You rest your heads together and you giggle. The tears are still running down your cheeks but you don’t care. You relax when you feel Sirius’ hands on your back. You stay like this for a long time until Sirius says:

‘I missed you so much. I thought I would never see you again, where were you?’

‘France.’

‘France?’

‘Yeah, the ministry apparently doesn’t appreciate weekly letters about how much they fucked up.’

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

Taglist:

@with1love1anu @somethingcedric @transparentttttttttt @sirius-satellite @arundhati-1082004 @figlia--della--luna @heavenly-ascended-melodies @princess-kiwiii @bumbelbeeesblog @mymindisweirdpwp @ronniethelost @girllety @cheoco @malikinglove @alwaysinmydaydreams @eateraa @bi-andready-tocry @ikik44 @scnkhnkejkvgfjlkgg @fangirlofbooksandpasta @littlemissgothgirl @doitforthevine67 @sporadicsportswombatcolor @kitkatkl @yuptha-tsme @mrs-moony @secretsthathauntus @teheharrypotter

#sirius black #sirius #sirius black x reader #sirius black imagine #sirius black fanfiction #harry potter x reader #harry potter #marauders imagine #marauders x reader #remus lupin x reader #marauders #sirius black x y/n #marauders fanfiction

[misssophiachase]

For @klarolinefallbingo “Broomstick” 

What a month it has been! Thank you @eliliyah for organising this (and all your stunning graphics) and all of your hard work! I don’t think I have any more left in me but thank you everyone for being so supportive and kind. 

I also got 3 BINGOS (almost 4 if I do one more) which isn’t too bad I thought lol. I’ll do a master past soon : )

Thank you also to @helpfulfairy for her awesome quidditch knowledge, whatever would I do without you, luv?

Everything She Does is Magic

Witch and wizard Caroline and Klaus can’t stand each other according to school gossip. Although, news of her addition to the quidditch team is going to make things much more interesting and complicated.

Wednesday

“I think I misheard you,” he offered, a slight smile playing on his crimson lips from across the wooden, dining table. “You’re starting in this weekend’s quidditch match?”

“Did I stutter,” Caroline shot back, rolling her blue eyes in his direction.

As someone who made over-achieving an art form, Caroline was determined to master everything the school had to offer, including quidditch. She figured that all the pain and bruises from an extra circular activity would be worth it to secure good, future job prospects.

She was always thinking ahead. 

Obviously, Klaus Mikaelson didn’t share her view. Not that she was surprised given he’d made it his main aim in life to terrorise her since she started attending Hogwarts School of Magic two years earlier.

Just because he came from a rich and powerful family didn’t give him the right to make her life difficult.  

“I just wouldn’t want you to falter and fall off your broomstick, Forbes, that’s all,” he chuckled, a stray dimple appearing without notice.

Why did he have to look so good insulting her?

Ass.

“Funny, I thought that would be you, Mikaelson, given last week’s pathetic loss,” she muttered, trying to avoid the urge to throw a french fry in his direction. “Gryffindor is going to wipe the floor with Slytherin this weekend and clearly you’re worried.”

“Me? Worried? Highly, bloody unlikely.”

“We’ll see about that,” she argued. “I’ve got moves you haven’t seen before.”

Caroline wasn’t sure she was talking about quidditch anymore and given the way his dark, blue eyes clouded over briefly she wasn’t sure he was thinking that either.

“Bring it on, love.” His husky tone only confirming her suspicion. He was gone before she could reply, no doubt on purpose. 

Maybe it was a ploy to distract her before the match but Caroline was struggling to decipher whether they were enemies or something else completely. 

“He wants to nail you and I’m not talking in a competitive sporting type way.” 

“Why thank you, Lorenzo,” she drawled, swatting her best friend away from her personal space. “I’m just glad he didn’t hear you.”

“Why would you care if you didn’t think it was true?”

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

“Which translates to you wanting to jump his bones,” he teased. “If he swung my way I’d have joined the quidditch team myself.”

“I did not join the team for him,” she huffed, gathering her books and attempting to make her getaway. 

“Whatever you say, darling.” His unconvincing tone wasn’t lost on Caroline. Either way she was going to wipe the floor with him and enjoy doing it. 

Saturday

“Niklaus? Hello?” The repetitive sound of his inquisitive, and annoying, younger brother’s questions were wearing on his last nerve. 

He was trying to get into the zone before the quidditch match. Seated in the Slytherin locker room, it wasn’t something he struggled with usually but today was very different and he knew why. 

Caroline Forbes.

He teased her, sure, and pretended he hated her but that wasn’t the case. Not by a long shot. He was head-over-heels and pathetically in love with the blonde witch who’d stolen his heart when she turned him into a toad during charms class. 

Not the love at first sight scenario most would imagine.

Sure, he should have been furious, and he’d acted that way, but it only made him want her more. 

Then she decided to join the Gryffindor quidditch team. 

Klaus wasn’t averse to anyone playing the game but he’d been surprised when she’d admitted it during study hall. He’d been arrogant, because that was his defence mechanism, but only really to mask his real feelings. 

It didn’t help that she was a chaser just like him. 

“Niklaus!”

“I heard you the first time,” he barked, looking at Kol in frustration. 

“Wow, I was only letting you know the game was about to start,” he joked. “If I’d known you were going to be so uptight, I’d have stayed away.”

“I’m not uptight,” he uttered through pursed lips. 

“Oh, that’s right,” he offered. “You’re scared your girlfriend is going to whip your ass.”

“I am not.” Klaus didn’t mean for it to come across so abrupt and childish but decided to blame it on his brother’s bad sense of humour. “Enough talking, I’m ready.”

Klaus wasn’t sure if he was but decided that bluffing was his best way of deterring his annoying brother. 

45 minutes later 

Slytherin had the lead, although Gryffindor was attempting to even the score. Caroline felt the wind whip through her hair as she competed, her attention solely focused, well except for the annoyingly handsome idiot on the opposing team. 

If she knew playing was going to feel this good she would have taken it up two years ago. She’d always been competitive but this was next level. 

Her persistent opponent was certainly not going to let her forget it though. He was so close she could smell his spicy scent So much so, that after a particularly rough tackle, Caroline felt herself spinning out of control. 

The blue sky above and green grass below were playing on uncontrollable  repeat, Caroline not quite sure what was happening until she felt someone catch her before she hit the ground.   

In fact, she dropped onto something which helped cushion her fall and she was madly trying to get her bearings. Feeling her surroundings, Caroline could make out a set of toned arms, not to mention the hard abdomen she was straddling. 

The sound of a muffled groan was enough to wake her from her daze. Caroline’s eyes opened, not expecting Klaus Mikaelson, of all wizards, to be lying beneath her. 

“If you wanted me, all you needed to do was ask, love.”

“You wish,” she growled, attempting to stand but failing miserably given their hard fall. “Hang on, why are you here?”

“Because I’m stupid obviously,” he groaned, his pain evident. Then she remembered the strong grip that caught her fall. 

“Did you, of all people, really break my fall?” She waited for his response, not realising she was holding her breath. 

“If I wasn’t in so much pain, I’d argue you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, sweetheart.” 

Clearly that was a yes. 

Caroline wanted to argue because that was her immediate instinct when it came to him but he looked so vulnerable. It also didn’t help that she was straddling him in a not so innocent way. 

But the way he was staring up at her, dark blue eyes trained on hers, was causing her to falter. 

She hated him.

Or so she thought. 

“Caroline?Klaus?” She was broken from her trance by their teacher, clearly concerned about their wellbeing splayed out on the field. “Are you both okay?”

Their gaze hadn’t deviated at all, both clearly okay with their current and extremely close predicament. It took another question for them to finally separate. 

“Can I help you?”

Caroline immediately felt lost when they did eventually separate. Given the look on his face, she knew Klaus felt the same way. 

Slytherin won that match but Caroline promised to avenge the result the following week, secretly hoping she’d find herself wrapped around her opponent again. 

Not because she liked him at all but so she could tell him what an ass he was. 

Or that’s what she told herself. 

#klaroline fall bingo #klaroline drabbles #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline #dramione #fusion

[daydream-disposal]

SOULMATES

Read chapters 1 2 3 4 5

Chapter 1. Not yet

Arcadia was weird. Everybody knew that. Alongside with trolls, aliens and wizards, they also had the red threads of fate. It connects two people who are entwined in, well, fate. They will have a special connection, almost like soulmates. It could be platonic or romantic, it really depends.

But you'll know when it happens, they say.

It's an amazing feeling, they say.

Eli never saw his red thread of fate. It was fine really. He would just wait... It would happen eventually, right?

It is said that you will see it when the bond between you and your soulmate gets strong. Or when you need each other the most. Or when you finish your chores. Or when you get all your homework done. Or when you eat your vegetables. Ok, that's getting ridiculous.

"Stop, I know you're lying mom. I'm not 5 anymore" Eli said laughing.

"Ok but seriously, vegetables are good for you! Eat up kiddo!" She messes with his hair and goes to the kitchen.

Eli scrunched his nose in disgust at his plate but ate it anyway. If he didn't his mom wouldn't let him hang out with Steve tonight and that just COULDN'T happen okay they were soooo close to getting somewhere on the ghost thing.

Except they weren't. They've been on night patrol for a while and nothing happened. Eli was pretty sure there wasn't any ghosts. But he didn't say anything because... because... look, he just wanted to go creepslaying with Steve okay? He likes spending time with him. It's not enough to see him on weekdays. Steve was kinda dumb to believe in EVERYTHING Eli says, but he's also very funny and spontaneous and cute and h– Eli was pulled out of his daydreams by the sound of the doorbell.

"I'LL GET IT!" Eli shouted to his mom, abandoning half of his dinner and running to open the door.

"Sup Pepperbuddy! Where you going like this?" Steve asked jokingly, looking at Eli up and down.

He was wearing his pijamas aka an oversized tshirt and boxers. His cheeks started burning, he couldn't even think about how red his face probably was.

"N-nowhere! You weren't supposed to be here for another hour!"

"Is that so?" Steve checked his phone. "Huh. Weird. Oh well, now I'm here. We can start early today" he suggested.

Eli rolled his eyes and grabbed him by the arm to guide him upstairs. Not that he needed any guidance, he was there almost everyday anyway.

"WHO WAS AT THE DOOR ELIJAH?" his mom shouted from the kitchen.

"IT'S JUST STEVE. WE'RE GOING TO MY ROOM. PLEASE KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING" He didn't want his mom entering when they had his conspiracy board out, that's all. She would freak out. No reason at all besides this one.

He heard his mom muttering something along the lines of "again" and "alone" before replying.

"OKAY. YOU BOYS BEHAVE!"

"Moooom!!!!" Eli complained in a tone that could only translate to oh my god mom stop you're embarrassing me in front of my crush but Steve didn't seem to care.

As soon as they entered his room Eli couldn't even look at him when he started to apologize because what was that about really lol mom's these days am i right haha crazy

"It's alright." Steve interrupted him. "But like, have you been misbehaving with boys in here for her to think that?"

Eli choked on his own spit, shocked at the question. It almost sounded like Steve was jealous. But why would he be? Steve is straight. That much he knows for sure. Eli dared to look at his friend only to notice a mischievous grin. Oh okay. He's joking.

"What? no. Well it's not like there's boys lining up to hang out with me" – They laughed – "Besides, you know I'm looking for them..." Eli showed Steve his hand and wiggled his pinky. Steve got serious all of sudden.

"Any signs?"

"No. Nothing." Eli opened his wardrobe and picked his usual Creepslaying outfit, black tshirt and black pants.

"Maybe you just didn't look in the right places..." Steve said quietly sitting down on Eli's bed.

"Yeah, or maybe I just didn't meet them yet." Eli sighed, voice getting lower. Steve was talking again but he couldn't listen.

All he could think of was the fact that if Steve wasn't his soulmate then maybe he didn't want one. They've come so far, from enemies to creepslayerz to friends and they were so close now.

They've come up with excuses to see each other everyday by now. They have a few classes together of course but aside from that, every tuesday Eli has chess tournaments and Steve goes with him. Just like Eli goes to Steve's football training on wednesdays. "For support" they say. On thursdays they help each other with homework. Movie night is on fridays. They eat popcorn and laugh at weird CGI movies. Sometimes Steve falls asleep on Eli's couch, head on his shoulder and Eli just enjoys it while it lasts. And there's all the Creepslayerz adventures on the weekends.

Point is, they're too deep in this friendship now.

He isn't ready to let him go. Not yet.

"You okay Peppers?" Steve touched his shoulder sounding worried.

"Yeah. Sorry, zooned out a bit. I'm gonna go change" Eli says as he heads to the bathroom and locks the door behind him.

Steve lays down and closes his eyes.

#friends to lovers #misunderstandings #oblivious boys but they're in love! #soulmate au #red thread of fate #first chapter! hope you guys like it! #steli #steve palchuk x eli pepperjack #creepslayerz #trollhunters #tales of arcadia #Soulmates has 5 chapters! I'll post the second one tomorrow night! im so excited #Soulmates #my writing

[melanoradrood]

wip wednesday

For something a little different today, I offer you the prologue to what will be a much longer fic. I likely won’t start posting it for some time, and in fact, I have something I plan on posting later today, but for now, I offer you a sneak peak to my Slytherin Hermione fic...

..........

Standing in the middle of the Slytherin Common Room, Hermione Granger was unable to take her eyes off the portrait of Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Hogwarts and her new house. The portrait, which was able to move, was staring back at her. He said nothing, and she knew that portraits could talk, as she had heard a few speak on the way from the Great Hall to the common room. It was strange, then, that he simply stared back at her… almost as though he knew her.

He looked older, mature, with wrinkles around his temples. He was slightly balding, but he still looked strong in his robes, with a beard that was beginning to lengthen, and a locket sitting on his chest. He was the reason why blood purity seemed to still matter. He had only wanted those pure of blood to study at Hogwarts, as he believed that muggles and muggleborns were dangerous to the wizarding world.

Given the era in which he was born, it made sense that he held such beliefs… but the idea that, as the world progressed, the wizarding world had not? It made Hermione sad. So many things in the muggle world had changed, particularly since the turn of the century and after two world wars, one in particular which was centered on the idea of purity and race, but it was nearing a new millenia…

And yet, there was a house within Hogwarts that only allowed those with wizarding blood admittance… until now.

“She has to have at least one pureblood parent,” one of the girls behind her whispered. Greengrass, Hermione thought. 

She had not paid too much attention, before or after her name was called. She had been too busy worrying about her own sorting, scared she might somehow screw it up. She was destined for Ravenclaw, knew that she was not kind enough for Hufflepuff, nor foolhardy for Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw… Pursuit of knowledge had always been forefront in Hermione’s mind.

And yet, she had been named to the house of Slytherin before the hat had even been placed upon her head. No, it had been hovering, not even fully over top, when it was announcing to the room that she was to be a Slytherin. The hat had dropped almost immediately onto her head, likely due to the shock to the Professor that had been holding it, particularly when Hermione had let out a squeak and asked the hat to repeat itself.

No muggleborn had ever been in Slytherin. It simply was not done. And yet, she, a muggleborn, had been sent there.

“You, my Lady, are a Slytherin,” the Hat said in response to her outcry, and then went utterly silent.

The Great Hall was silent as well. No one moved. There were no hisses coming from the Gryffindor table. The Ravenclaws looked around confused. The Hufflepuff table looked at her sadly. She looked towards the head table to see a professor dressed in all black standing, his brow raised as he looked at her, and then the table. And the table in Green, where she was to go…

It was silent. Absolutely silent.

She tried to be brave as she approached, sitting down at an empty spot on the bench. An older student leaned towards her, and she saw what looked to be a Prefect badge on their chest.

“Dagworth-Granger?” he asked, and she saw a bit of tenseness hit a few shoulders around her.

“Ah, no,” she said, shaking her head. She did not recognize the first part of the name. “Just Granger. I’m a… I’m a muggleborn.”

Everyone still looked at her in shock; the Prefect leaned back slowly, then gave a small nod.

“Welcome to Slytherin,” he said politely, and rose from the table, moving to sit near a few older students. They were all looking her way as they began whispering, leaving Hermione to sit in solitude.

No other first years sat around her, leaving her relatively isolated until the end of the meal. When everyone had then filed out, following the prefects towards the new common room, Hermione had been the very last one, knowing already that she would be excluded. She had barely heard a word anyone said, until finally, the first years were left in the common room for the First Night tradition of staying up and talking.

It looked as though they all knew one another, which made sense - if they were all Purebloods, then they would have grown up together, while Hermione knew no one, nothing. While they all sat around the fire, Hermione had instead started looking around, until her attention was caught by the portrait of the founder.

“Maybe her parents are squibs,” one of the boys offered, and she could practically feel the entire group shudder behind her. She had no idea what squibs were, but they must be something terrible.

“Think about what was happening when we were all born… who was in power…” 

It was one of the girls that said it, and a hush settled over the group. She knew about what had happened when they were born. That, too, was in one of the books. Lord Voldemort. The Dark Lord. The Wizarding War. She knew Voldemort had been captured in a portrait, how he had tried to attack the Potter family, but Dumbledore, the Headmaster, had trapped the Dark Lord. There had been attacks, attacks by Death Eaters on muggles and muggleborns and…

That had nothing to do with her, though. Why would that change her parentage?

“I’ll write my father,” one of the boys said, and it sounded like something final, a final decision. “And we do as he advises. Until then, she’s a Slytherin. She was placed here for a reason. Remember, muggleborns cannot be Slytherins.”

She wanted to argue with him, argue with all of them. She was a muggleborn. There was no doubt about it. It wasn’t a question, wasn’t something up for discussion. 

And yet… the rational and logical part of her brain told her to keep silent. She was scared, scared that one of them might act against her, hurt her, if they thought she was a muggleborn. What was the worst that could happen, if she just… didn’t say anything against it.

“That’s Salazar Slytherin,” a voice said beside her, and Hermione turned towards the boy, raising her eyebrow. He was short and thin, with dark hair, and had been quiet while the other Slytherins talked about her. “He was our Founder.”

Hermione gave a nod, wanting to tell the boy that she knew, that she knew all sorts of things, knew all sorts of spells, knew all about the founders… but something told her to remain as quiet as the portrait, and to that inner voice, she listened.

“I’m Theodore Nott. Theo,” he said, offering his hand towards her.

Looking down at his hand, Hermione paused for a moment, then reached out and took it, shaking once. “Hermione Granger. I know the name is a mouthful, but I don’t really like nicknames.”

The boy, Theo, gave a shrug. “It’s a name. Just wait until you hear some of the names for plants in herbology. Those are a real mouthful.”

Hermione gave him a smile, pleased that, well, maybe she wasn’t going to be excluded entirely.

“Why don’t you come join us?” he offered, and he turned towards the rest of the First Years, all sitting there looking at her. “None of us have been out of the muggle world before, but I’m sure we can find something to talk about?”

She looked towards the group, all quiet, just looking back at her. They did not look too welcoming, but they were also not shunning her, and no one was hexing her. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

“Of course,” she said with a smile, and she gave a glance back towards the portrait to see Salazar Slytherin still staring at her quietly, before turning to join the others.

Welcome she heard behind her, and she froze.

It had come from the portrait, of that she was certain.

“Did you hear that?” she asked Theo, and she turned again to see Slytherin smirking at her, a look in his eyes that told her he knew something, a secret.

“Hmm?” Theo asked, turning to look with her. “Oh, Lord Slytherin. He rarely speaks, but sometimes he… well, he’ll speak in Parseltongue. It’s something only he and his line could do. It’s gone now, I think. The Bloodline died out. Sounds like a snake, or so I’ve heard.”

She didn’t know what Parseltongue meant, but it looked as though her first stop was the library. A snake? She knew that was the emblem of Slytherin, but… what she had heard was not a hiss. She had heard words.

Her hand went to her chest, where her locket was hidden under her chest. Her eyes were locked on the portrait, staring at what Salazar Slytherin was wearing… There were green stones, organized to look nearly serpentine, all in the shape of an S. Although they did not shine in the portrait, Hermione knew that they were gems. Emeralds. She knew because she had seen that locket before. She knew, because she was wearing it.

#dramione #dramionefic #unfinished fic alert #wip wednesday #[ title : tbd ]

[ais-for-alex]

The RIDER Nature Reserve: Chapter 2

So I’m probably just going to upload this as I edit which might end up with several chapters a day then nothing for awhile 😄

James Potter was a picture of contentment. Currently he was burrowed into one of the well-worn holes in his parents’ old loved couch, propped up by countless throw pillows and buried somewhere underneath several plush Sherpa lined blankets. Opposite him James younger sister Lily was reading a dense looking book while simultaneously trying to shove her foot into James’s face.

Within the Potter household Wednesday night dinners had become the traditional family gathering once they had all graduated from Hogwarts. Every week they would gather in their parents’ cozy home for their mum's delicious cooking, everyone throwing lighthearted jabs at each other over the dinner table. These had become James favorite night of the week. So far only James and Lily had made it back to their childhood home that night.

Ginny Potter was currently in the kitchen humming tunelessly as she banged pots and pans on the stovetop. Wednesdays were her normal days off from her job as head coach of the Holyhead Harpies, so she had been cooking when James and Lily had arrived not long before collapsing onto their respective sides of the couch.

At the sound of the flue activating James looked up from his warm bubble just in time to see his dad stumble through green flames. Still clad in his velvet Auror robes James noted that his dad seemed a bit disheveled. His dark unruly hair was more of a mess than usual like he had been running his hands through it for the past hour, and unless his eyes deceived him there was more gray shot through his beard than the last time James had seen him.

Harry sighed in relief when the green flames calmed down back to their soft yellow warmth, he paused for a moment warming his hands seemingly lost in thought. James watched his dad pull off the heavy velvet cloak and send it sailing upstairs with a quick flick of his wand. Harry was so distracted he was completely oblivious to the fact that two of his kids were sitting quietly behind him. That is until Lily let out a giant sneeze making Harry jump, his hand twitched towards the wand holstered at his thigh as he turned only to relax back to his side once he saw who it was.

“Sorry, flue powder, always makes my allergies act up,” she said mildly.

“Jeeze! You scared the crap out of me! Out of the three of you, you two are not the ones I expect to be quiet, make a noise every once and awhile, God damn!” Harry said in exasperation placing a hand on his racing heart. Finally calming down Harry sat on the arm of the couch next to Lily, “Why are you guys so quiet anyway? It’s weird.”

Lily looked up from her book for a moment before responding, “I, unlike this overexcited puppy,” she jabbed her socked foot in James’s face again for emphasis “have the capacity to be calm at any given time.”

“I’m sleeeepyyy,” James moaned, pulling a knit blanket over his head.

Harry scoffed at James’s whine, “Speaking of quiet, where’s Al? Not here yet?”

James’s muffled voice came from under the blanket, “That traitor ditched us because Scorp is off from St Mungo’s and he would rather spend the evening shagging his boyfriend rather than enjoying some wholesome family fun with us. That’s what he said right Lil’s?”

“Oh, yeah you got it verbatim, those were his exact words.”

Rolling his eyes Harry leaned over and kissed the top of Lily’s head before standing, “Mum in the kitchen?” he asked only to receive two mild affirmative answers as he headed out of the living room.

“Why are you so tired tonight you weirdo? Normally, you would be forcing us to play exploding snap until dinner, but now you’re just a quivering mass of pathetic over there.”

“Muf mnr smrm” James’s voice came, now completely muffled as he had pulled a pillow under his blankets and on top of his head.

“What?”

“Vmdf kjr fjbvd”

“Oh, for fucks sake!” she groaned, stretching her leg out and lightly kicking her brother in the head knocking the pillow and blanket to the floor.

Sighing dramatically James repeated his statement again, “I said I’m not pathetic you're pathetic.”

“Ooo, what a snappy comeback, totally worth the wait,” She said sarcastically.

“Ugg, I’m just super tired from training,” James said, finally answering her question, “I think my coach is officially trying to kill us. I don’t think I have been this sore since last season’s finals.”

“I don’t know why you guys are training so hard, I mean considering Mums team is going to whoop your arse anyway.”

“Yo! A little support here would be nice!” James cried in outrage that his sister had sided with their Mum rather than himself.

“Meh, I don’t want to inflate your ego. Not that you are short of adoring fans who will do you the honor.”

“Aw come on Lil’s you know that your support is worth what like five of theirs.”

“Only five!? James you have thousands of fans and I am only worth five! I’m your own flesh and blood for fucks sake!”

“Well I mean it is only you, Al and Dad are probably about fifty each but you, your kinda meh.” James laughed at the indignant look of outrage in his sisters’ face then promptly threw one of his pillows at her head.

“Rude!”

From the kitchen they could hear their Mum shout to them, “Offspring! Dinners ready!”

The two got up to head into the kitchen, as they walked James wrapped a strong arm around his sister catching Lily in a headlock.

“Oh, come on,” he said at her now sulking expression “you know I’m kidding.”

Rolling her eyes she replied exasperatedly, “Yeah I know, now get off me you oaf.” She punctuated this with an elbow to the side. The two were still locked in a bit of a wrestling match as they stumbled into the kitchen.

The Potters sans Albus were sitting at their dining table bickering good naturedly, wrapping up the end of their meal together, when a huge gray owl soared in through the open kitchen window and deposited himself on James’s lap. A small smile played at his lips when he noticed the familiar elegant script on the envelope, he gently removed the letter from the bird’s leg who let out a low ‘hoo’ then took off out the window once more.

“Ooo, who’s that from?” Lily asked in a faux scandalized voice, “another admirer?”

“Shut up,” he groaned at her teasing, “it’s from Teddy.”

“Oh,” she said, seeming genuinely interested now, “well go on then, what’s it say? Haven’t heard from him in ages.”

James rolled his eyes at his sister then looked down to read the front of the envelope and scoffed a bit in amusement at the words.

Jamie,

Open With Care

‘Open With Care’ had been his and James’s secret way of letting the other know that their letter was to be opened in private as it contained something sensitive or less than appropriate to read in front of other people.

“Lils, if you want to know what he has to say so badly, write him yourself you twat.” He said gently tucking the envelope into his pocket.

“Rude!” she cried.

“Well,” he said, taking a last sip of wine before getting up from the table, “I think it’s about time I head home. I have an early practice tomorrow.” Harry and Ginny looked up from the hushed conversation they had been having at the other end of the table.

“Hey Jay, wait up” Harry called out, “Before you go I wanted to talk to you all about something.” His dad's eyes darted from James over to where Lily and Ginny were still sitting at the table, his face was grim and pale. James vaguely recalled his mum mentioning his dad had been working extra hours lately on a nasty case and it looked like it was taking its toll on him.

“Alright, what’s up?” James replied sliding back down into his chair.

There was a pause as Harry took a deep breath before speaking, “Jay, I know this will sound a bit weird but I need you to start being a bit more cautious when your alone.” James blinked a bit taken aback by his dad's request but the serious tone with which he spoke made it clear he wasn’t joking. “Strictly speaking I’m not supposed to talk about this but screw it. Over the past couple months the Aurors have been looking into a sting of some pretty grizzly murders. We had another one today, and it's officially been classified as a serial killer.” Not knowing what to say James remained silent hoping his dad would continue speaking. “I don’t really want to go into details but we do know that they are targeting people who seem to have higher than average magical abilities. Now the Auror department has been keeping it under wraps to avoid panic for the moment but it won’t be long before the Profit gets ahold of it. One of the jackasses in the department as dubbed them the Wizarding Reaper.”

There was a beat of silence while Harrys words settled over the table James shot a look over to his sister who shrugged in response before turning back to their dad.

“Uh Ok, I’ll make sure to double my warding and keep an eye out for anything off,” James said, his demeanor serious.

“Thanks kid,” his dad sighed, sagging a bit in relief for a moment before he got up and wrapped James in a hug that quickly turned into a light headlock. Harry rubbed his knuckles into James’s already messy auburn hair, “Now just try not to kill yourself on the pitch and everything will be fine,” his tone had completely changed from that serious one back to his usual joking demeanor.

“Yeah, yeah alright” James said, breaking out from under his dad's arm, “I’ll see you two on Saturday,” he said to his dad and Lily. “And you,” he turned to his mum, “I’ll see you on the pitch,” his voice lowered a bit in a faux challenging tone.

Ginny, never one to be outdone, turned on her best taunting voice, “That you will baby boy, don’t forget to bring some tissues for when you're crying in the locker room after the Harpies demolish you.” His mum’s words would have been cruel but she said them in that same faux challenging tone James had used and had a teasing smile on her face. It was a little tradition of theirs before matches their teams played together, they would go back and forth with smack talk until their taunting insults turned into statements of love.

“Oh, you’re going to be the one crying, sobbing into dads’ shoulder when we put you out of the running for the world cup.”

“We are going to whip your ass, same as I did when you were a child stealing cookies from the kitchen.”

“I still steal cookies, but that’s cause you’re amazing at baking,” James said still in a taunting voice despite the complement.

“Thank you, I left a plate of them on the counter for you.”

“Thanks, love you mum.”

“You’re welcome and I love you too,” the two kept up the charade of acting the bitter rivals their teams were. James slowly crept over to the counter grabbing the plate of home baked cookies she had left all the while meeting her exaggerated glare with his own, an utterly ridiculous attempt at looking intimidating. As he backed out of the kitchen, he paused in the doorway taking two finger pointing to his eyes then pointing to his mum in the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture, he then relaxed his posture and waved them all good night before disapparating away to land in his own entryway.

James sighed in relief at finally being home after an extremely long day. His small apartment was sparse with only the essentials to live comfortably only decorated by the occasional bits of Puddlemere United paraphernalia he had picked over the years. With a couple swift wand strokes James reinforced the warding on his front door, then dropped his gym bag full of dirty practice clothes off his shoulder to the floor. Wandering into his small kitchen James slid his plate of cookies onto the counter; he would save them until after the match this weekend. Snagging a water from the fridge he made his way into the living room to flop down onto his old couch.

James pulled Teddy’s letter from his pocket, once again smiling at the familiar writing on the front, he opened the envelope and read its contents, a warm fond feeling spreading through him with every word.

Jamie,

Guess what! One of our dragons is pregnant! Or sort of, she technically incubating her eggs, but still! I am so excited! Charlie has been trying to find her a mate for ages, turns out she took a liking to that dragon I told you about, the one I went to fetch from the U.S a while back. I am so curious to see what the babies will look like, it’s an interesting cross. Anyway, I digress. It’s just so exciting I had to tell you.

So, how’s training going? Your coach still acting like a drill Sergeant? You excited for the match this weekend; I know you’ll do fantastic. I know I’m supposed to support both of you equally but honestly, I hope you beat the Harpies. You’ve been working your arse off, you deserve it. Just don’t let your mum know I said that.

On a side note I got the ‘present’ you sent me, and god damn Jamie are you trying to kill me? God you are so gorgeous I don’t even have words; I will let you know that they have officially been added to my personal spank bank so thank you.

Good luck on Saturday. I know you’ll crush it, I wish I could be there but you know how the ministry is about travel on and off the reserve. I’ll be watching on the live stream though and rooting for you.

-T

P.S. The picture of you polishing your broom was my favorite, that little wink at the end makes my blood go south just thinking about it.

James groaned at the mental image that last comment had invoked. In his last letter to Teddy, James had included a couple risqué pictures that had been taken for the Puddlemere United’s annual charity calendar. The whole team had them done and after his session with the photographer he had been sent several of the shots with instructions to choose which one he would prefer to have in the final product. James had thought he looked silly in most of them so he sent them to Teddy for a second opinion, including the one of himself in only a jockstrap in the team’s colors polishing his broom, as his hands stroked back and forth on the wood suggestively. In the picture his eyes would close as he tipped his head back, mouth open slightly, slowly he turned to the camera with a sultry look then winked as the image looped back to the beginning.

James moaned quietly turned on by the thought of Teddy getting hard and wanking to his picture, the concept was still a bit weird for him to wrap his mind around. He and Teddy had been friends for ages they had practically grown up together.

Teddy had always been James’s person, the one he could confide in or complain to about his siblings or even just hang out with and enjoy each other’s company. Through James’s last couple of years at Hogwarts Teddy had been working to finish his Auror training but just before he was due to be inducted as an official Auror Teddy decided that ultimately it just wasn’t the job for him. The constant strain of being surrounded by dark wizards, surrounded by murderers and rapists, it had worn on his mental state.

Eventually Teddy settled down in a position working at the Nature Reserve James’s uncle Charlie ran, and he absolutely loved it. That had been in the last year before James graduated, after Teddy left for Romania, they began writing to each other and they were just as they had always been, friends.

This last Christmas though Teddy had come home. He had only been back a handful of times since leaving and it had been years since James had seen his best friend face to face. That Christmas Eve though James had opened his parent’s front door and was greeted to the sight of Teddy, his turquoise hair lightly dusted in snow and smiling brighter than the sun. In a split-second James’s entire demeanor changed though normally energetic he seemed to almost start vibrating with excitement.

Teddy had the good sense to drop his duffle bag quickly as James nearly tackled him in a bearhug. The two men stumbled backwards across the Potters front deck from the momentum until they fell backwards into a snowbank. Teddy hugged back just as enthusiastically, causing them to roll in the snow until he was straddling James' hips. Both of them were laughing heartily ecstatic to finally see each other again Teddy stood up and pulled James up from the snow with enough force to lift him off his feet and spin around. James locked his arms around Teddy’s strong form not wanting to let go as they stood now completely soaked and cold from the snow.

Still in Teddys strong hold James breathing in deeply, intoxicated by the crisp smell of fresh cut pine, campfire smoke, and strong coffee that seemed to cling his skin. Suddenly the porch light flicked on making the men look up, Harry was standing in the open doorway having come to investigate to cold breeze leaking into the house as James hadn’t bothered to close the door when he tackled his best friend. The two began laughing again at the silliness of rolling around in the snow in subzero temperatures then headed back towards the house where Harry was still watching with an amused look on his face.

After the onslaught of warmth and greetings from the rest of the Potters it was like Teddy had never left at all. He effortlessly fit back into their family easily slipping into each conversation on quidditch with James and his mum, Albus and Scorpius’s deep discussions about wizarding folklore and how bits of it could fit into their D&D campaign, he talked Ministry politics with Harry and even seemed to take an interest in Lily’s newfound love of all things Muggle as she had decided to seek further education at a Muggle university. Throughout the night James could feel Teddy's eyes frequently coming to land on him, he would look up to find Teddy staring a small grin playing on his lips as he held the eye contact before turning back to his conversation leaving James feeling warm from his gaze.

Back when Teddy had left neither he nor James had anything other than friendship in mind, each was preoccupied with their own struggles. Teddy trying to make it work with the Aurors and James still in school then starting his own career in the Quidditch world after graduation. That Christmas eve though felt different somehow, their eyes seemed to always find each other, leaving behind a charged feeling in their stomachs. It was odd after being friends for forever neither was sure what to do with this new energy that seemed to be pulling them together.

Their evening was filled with friendly familiar chatter until everyone was exhausted and ready to head home into bed. Teddy was chatting with Harry and disclosed that he hadn’t really thought too much about where he would be staying while he was in England. At that exact moment James had been meandering by the couch, not eavesdropping on their conversation at all, when he plopped down and slung his arm around Teddys neck insisting he stay at his flat.

They left the holiday festivities soon after that, both collapsing into a heap on the old beaten up couch in James' sparse living room. For the first time in years they had the freedom to tell each other everything that never translated well into letters. The night wore late as they spun tales of their lives, talking animatedly about quidditch and dragons sharing the last years of their lives with one another.

Teddy had been telling a captivating tale about one of his coworkers who had gotten a bit too comfortable around one of the dragons and ended up getting his arm torn off, however, James wasn’t listening. Teddy had pushed up his shirtsleeve revealing intricate tattoos that swirled and moved with the motion of his arm and James was utterly distracted. His eyes traced the magically moving ink from where it began at the wrist up his forearm until it disappeared under the sleeve of his shirt.

Eventually Teddy stopped talking, realizing that James was no longer paying attention to his words, the silence prompted James to let his gaze wander slowly back up to Teddys face, bits of glinting metal caught in the dim light as he finally met his burning eyes. James watched in awe as Teddy’s eyes darkened from their natural hazel color to a deep midnight blue with lust. He barely had a moment to gasp at the intense look before Teddy’s mouth was on his, body pressing him back into the worn couch cushions. They moved together gasping, moaning, James whimpered at the feeling of skin on skin. Mouths sliding together, hands exploring, both trying to get as close to the other as possible. The next morning, they woke in bed Teddy had wrapped himself around James’s body every inch pressed together both filled with warmth and contentment.

Even now laying alone in his flat, if he closed his eyes James could almost still feel the tingling trails of Teddys fingers caressing his body as they talked that morning. The two ultimately deciding against starting anything more between them, after all Teddy would leave in a couple days back to Romania and James would once again throw himself into Quidditch training, there was no point. So, from that point they went back to normal, aside from the occasional salacious fantasy they were simply friends.

James had gotten caught up in the memory of that night when he looked up at the time it was nearly one in the morning and he had to get up early for practice. With another dramatic groan he pushed up from the couch and headed to bed.

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#james sirius potter #albus severus potter #harry potter #teddy lupin #writing #RIDER #jeddy