#more doodles from my harry potter lit class | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reneehearts · 3 years

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1: Top 3 ice cream flavors - mocha, cookie dough, s’mores

2: Top 3 Disney Movies - the lion king, frozen, 101 Dalmatians

3: Top 3 vacation destinations - key west, San Antonio, Germany

4: Top 3 places to shop - target, Victoria’s Secret, Etsy

5: Top 3 subjects of study/classes to take - English lit, memoirs, child development/social work

6: Top 3 make up products - glitter eye shadow, brown eye liner, mascara

7: Top 3 music artists - pierce the veil, jonas brothers, Taylor swift

8: Top 3 spices/herbs - cinnamon, garlic, salt

9: Top 3 drinks - coffee, iced tea, water

10: Top 3 apps to use - tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat

11: Top 3 months of the year - December, august, November

12: Top 3 clothing items - leggings, sweatshirts, bralette

13: Top 3 binge perfect tv shows - new girl, himym, friends

14: Top 3 romantic dates - intimate dinner/drinks, beach at night, hot tub

15: Top 3 kinds of flower - lilac, sunflower, tulip

16: Top 3 christmas movies - the Santa clause, the grinch, Christmas with the kranks

17: Top 3 OTPs - nick and Jess, Winston and ally, Ted and Tracey

18: Top 3 quotes to describe your life - spread kindness like confetti, and idk

19: Top 3 characteristics you love about yourself - friendly, kind, caring

20: Top 3 kinds of candy - dark chocolate nonpareils, Milky Way, maple cream

21: Top 3 ways to exercise/ be active - abs, dance, walking my dog

22: Top 3 spirit animals - monkeys, bailey, lion

23: Top 3 petnames - babe, boo, my love

24: Top 3 books read outside of school - water for elephants, the likeness, gone girl

25: Top 3 most used websites - gmail, google, target

26: Top 3 people you last texted - Jamal, Christian, chris

27: Top 3 hashtags you use - I really don’t

28: Top 3 instagram accounts you follow - Aussiesdoingthings, xomissdanielle, sophieturner

29: Top 3 guilty pleasures - old school Selena Gomez music, beets, asparagus

30: Top 3 summer activities - walking bailey, driving with the windows down, beach

31: Top 3 things to draw/doodle - hearts, flowers, stars

32: Top 3 aesthetics - pastel, rainbow/bright, princess

33: Top 3 things you'd buy if you gained three million dollars - house, private jet, pay off student debt

34: Top 3 ways to treat yourself - shopping at target, new underwear, Starbucks

35: Top 3 celebrity crushes - chris evans, ryan gosling, Aaron judge

36: Top 3 books from your childhood babysitters club, baby sitters little sister, Disney girls

37: Top 3 accents to hear - British, Australian, italian

38: Top 3 scents - pine trees/Christmas trees, lilacs, apple candle

39: Top 3 "Friends" quotes - PIVOT, they don’t know that we know that they know, soup I mean noodle soup, I mean soup!!!!

40: Top 3 cupcake flavors - yellow, chocolate, funfetti

41: Top 3 fruits - banana, strawberry, raspberry

42: Top 3 places you've had amazing pizza from - little Vincent’s, rosa’s in penn, Timothy’s

43: Top 3 sports teams to watch - Yankees, Yankees, Yankees

44: Top 3 crayola colors - I only really remember one specifically, razzledazzle, the pink one!

45: Top 3 things you hope to accomplish in college

46: Top 3 fanfictions you've read

47: Top 3 people you miss right now - Nick, Tony, Emily

48: Top 3 fears - burning alive, house fire, heights

49: Top 3 favorite literary devices - foreshadowing, symbolism, irony

50: Top 3 pet peeves - ppl who don’t use their blinkers, bad grammar/spelling (two, too, to etc.) ppl being late

51: Top 3 physical things you find attractive - abs, calves, smile

52: Top 3 bad habits - ED behaviors, over drinking when out, getting too attached

53: Top 3 pets you've had/wish to have - more Aussies, a monkey, lion

54: Top 3 types of foreign food - Italian, German, French

55: Top 3 things you want to say to someone in your lifetime - I just want to be able to talk to NG again 😔

56: Top 3 dog breeds - Australian shepherd, yorkie, German shepherd

57: Top 3 cheesy romance movies - pretty woman, the notebook, the last song

58: Top 3 languages you speak/wish to speak - Italian, French, Spanish

59: Top 3 series (book, movie, television) - friends, new girl, svu

60: Top 3 pizza toppings - just cheese please

61: Top 3 youtubers you're subscribed to

62: Top 3 tattoo / piercing ideas - astrology/Leo tattoo, finger tattoo, peacock feather

63: Top 3 awards you want to win - I don’t really need an award lol

64: Top 3 emojis - 😂🙈😍

65: Top 3 cars you dream of owning - pickup truck, Dodge Charger and 🤷🏼‍♀️

66: Top 3 authors - Tana French, Gillian Flynn, Sara gruen

67: Top 3 historical figures - MLK JR., Abraham Lincoln, Rosa parks

68: Top 3 baby names - hazel, violet, Ella

69: Top 3 DIYs - 🤷🏼‍♀️

70: Top 3 smoothie combos/flavors - peach, pineapple, strawberry banana

71: Top 3 songs of this month - mr. Perfectly fine, shake it out, dark horse

72: Top 3 questions of this post you want to be asked

73: Top 3 villains - scar, hades and 🤷🏼‍♀️

74: Top 3 Cities you want to see - Berlin/Munich, Sydney, Montreal

75: Top 3 recipes you want to try

76: Top 3 dream jobs - ice cream/candy store owner, school social worker, stay at home dog mom

77: Top 3 lucky items - my dog, my rings, my pop pop’s pocket watch

78: Top 3 traditions you have - Christmas Eve matching pjs with sister, reindeer food, and gingerbread cookies

79: Top 3 things you miss about being a kid - carefree, no bills, no responsibility

80: Top 3 harry potter characters

81: Top 3 lies you were told - only teenagers have acne, adults know what they’re doing/have it figured out, you can achieve anything you want with hard work

82: Top 3 pictures in your camera roll right now

83: Top 3 turn ons - hot body, nice smile, good sense of humor

84: Top 3 turn offs - disrespectful, rude, inconsistency

85: Top 3 magazines/news papers/ journals to read

86: Top 3 things you wish you had known earlier - what I wanted to study in undergrad, how bad heartbreak hurts, how complicated life/relationships can be

87: Top 3 spongebob episodes

88: Top 3 places to be in the world - northport, key west, Bahamas

89: Top 3 things you'd do differently - look more into options besides college, go to grad school right after AmeriCorps, have “the talk” with Nick

90: Top 3 TV shows from your childhood - Lizzie McGuire, Hannah Montana, Gullah Gullah island

91: Top 3 meals you love - ice cream, acai bowl, fries

92: Top 3 kinds of tea - just black please

93: Top 3 embarrassing moments - putting my foot in the muddy tree, getting sick from drinking while out, car accident

94: Top 3 holidays to celebrate - Christmas, New Year’s Eve, thanksgiving

95: Top 3 things to do in the rain - read, watch tv, snuggle with my dog

96: Top 3 things to do in the snow - stay inside and read, have hot chocolate, watch tv

97: Top 3 items you can't leave the house w/o - phone, ID, keys

98: Top 3 movies you'd like to see - last Christmas, hot tub time machine, zoolander

99: Top 3 art mediums - dance, watercolor, singing

100: Top 3 museums you've been to - museum of natural history DC, MOMA, Alamo

101: Top 3 school memories - leaving lmao

102: Top 3 things you don't/Won't miss - I’m not really sure

103: Top 3 pick up lines

104: Top 3 sports to watch - baseball, basketball, hockey

105: Top 3 taylor swift songs - mr. Perfectly fine, happiness, august

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aidanchaser · 4 years

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Everyone Lives AU

Table of Contents beta’d by @ageofzero, @magic713m, @ccboomer, @aubsenroute, @somebodyswatson

Chapter Eighteen Birthday Surprises

Ron did not particularly enjoy hearing about Harry’s lessons with Dumbledore. He knew that they were useful, and he thought they were interesting, he just didn’t like them very much. It made him uncomfortable to think of You-Know-Who as a student at Hogwarts, or an orphan in some dark, gloomy institution. It was like being told a Hidebehind had a nice rock collection.

This latest lesson had a bit more intrigue to it. You-Know-Who murdering his father and framing his uncle fit in better with Ron’s expectations of You-Know-Who. The Slughorn memory was especially interesting.

“Never heard of it — what was it? A Horcrux?”

“I wouldn’t expect you to have,” Harry said. He washed his eggs down with a glass of orange juice. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to get a memory like that out of Slughorn.”

Ron snorted. “He loves you. Won’t refuse you anything, will he? Not his little Potions Prince. Just hang back after class this afternoon and ask him.”

Harry frowned, and looked about to say something else, but Ron’s vision went dark just then, and he did his best not to grimace as a familiar and grating voice said, “Won-Won! Guess who?”

He wasn’t sure when exactly Lavender’s voice had become obnoxious to him. He’d enjoyed the time he spent with her, but somehow, over Christmas, his affection had waned. Or maybe it had been waning for a while and the nail in the coffin had been her Christmas gift.

When Ron “guessed who” correctly, he was rewarded with a very nice kiss. He did at least like her kisses. When she pulled away, she pouted, “You’re not wearing the necklace!”

Ron struggled to recall what necklace she was talking about. It was hard to remember much of anything after Lavender kissed him. That part, at least, hadn’t faded. “Er — didn’t want to lose it,” he said. He turned to look at Harry, but Harry was already gone. Ron didn’t exactly blame Harry for disappearing each time Lavender appeared, but he was starting to feel a little guilty about it.

After a dismal Defense class — Ron still struggled to cast nonverbally, and it didn’t help that Hermione seemed to be the only one with any mastery — Ron said goodbye to Lavender so that he could go to Potions. It was a very lengthy goodbye kiss, and Ron hurried to Slughorn’s classroom. He had only just set his bag on the table when the bell rang. Sharing a table with Harry and Hermione wasn’t exactly pleasant these days, but today, Hermione moved her cauldron to sit with Ernie instead of Harry.

He knew why Hermione was irritated with him — he didn’t think he deserved it, but he at least knew — but he didn’t know what was wrong between Harry and Hermione.

“Blimey, Harry, what’ve you done?” Ron asked as he got out his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. It was secondhand, like Harry’s, but it did not have any writing in it. At least it didn’t look like it had been puked in, like the one Slughorn had loaned him in their first term.

Harry didn’t answer Ron, either because he didn’t want to, or because Slughorn started the lesson.

“Settle down, settle down, please!” Slughorn called. “Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! Golpalott’s Third Law — who can tell me — But Miss Granger can, of course!”

Hermione, as she did so often and easily, recited the answer verbatim from the book. “Golpalott’s Third Law states that the antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components.”

“Precisely!” said Slughron. “Ten points for Gryffindor! Now, if we accept Golpalott’s Third Law as true…”

Ron lost track of Slughorn’s meaning. He wasn’t sure he’d had it at all to begin with. Theory was never Ron’s strong suit. Quick reflexes, strong hexes and charms — that was where he excelled. Transfiguration and Potions were headaches to him, and always had been. They relied too much on interaction rather than reaction.

“... and so,” Slughorn said, “I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don’t forget your protective gloves!”

Ron looked up from the picture of a bubbling cauldron that he’d been doodling in the corner of his textbook — maybe someday some poor Potions student could get excited about his notations, only to find them utterly useless — and saw everyone was getting a phial from Slughorn’s desk. He hurried forward and picked out something viscous and bright green.

“It’s a shame that the Prince won’t be able to help you much with this, Harry,” Hermione said with a confident smile. “You have to understand the principles involved this time. No shortcuts or cheats!”

Ron dumped his phial into the cauldron and frowned at Harry. “You didn’t tell her —?”

“What, so she could tell Snape? No way.”

Ron lit a fire under his cauldron, because that was what Hermione had done, then looked to Harry for the next step, but Harry did not seem to know what else to do, either.

“You sure Snape didn’t leave us any tips?”

Harry flipped through the textbook and opened to the chapter on antidotes. While the page was crammed with notes, none of them were especially helpful. Ron recognised a curse that Harry had tried on Crabbe last week, which stuck his robes to the floor and caused him to trip. Ron had thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle.

Harry turned the page and Ron saw a series of words crossed out, like Snape had been inventing a spell and had trouble with it.

“Sempra?” Ron asked. “Like the Tickling Charm?”

Harry shrugged. “Haven’t tried it yet. Thought about using it on McLaggen, though.”

Ron suddenly tasted bile and returned to his cauldron, leaving Harry to work out Snape’s notes. He tried Specialis Revelio because that’s what Ernie Macmillan was doing, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Hermione was doing something right, separating the ingredients in her cauldron into different crystal decanters. Ron thought he had to try something, so he threw in a handful of slugs. The reaction was unpleasant.

Harry didn’t seem to be faring any better. His cauldron was smoking and smelled of rotten eggs. Then Harry hurried suddenly to the supply closet. Ron didn’t dare follow. He tried the Revealing Charm again.

“Times… Up!” Slughorn shouted. “Well, let’s see how you’ve done! Blaise, what have you got for me?”

Slughorn made his way around the classroom, pausing briefly to inspect each cauldron. He nodded approvingly at Hermione’s work, though she was not quite finished. He did not linger over Ron’s at all, throwing his arm over his face to hide the stench. Ron did not blame him, and wished that he could back away, too.

“And you, Harry,” Slughorn said, a note of apprehension in his voice. The star Potions student bearing a cauldron that smelled of rotten eggs seemed an unfortunate portent. “What have you got to show me?”

Harry held out his hand to reveal what looked like a palm-sized pebble.

Slughorn stared at it, and Ron wondered for a moment if Harry really had gone mad. Then Slughorn burst into laughter.

“You’ve got nerve, boy!” he laughed, and held the rock up for the class to see. “Oh, you’re like your mother. I can’t fault you — A bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these potions!”

The smugness on Hermione’s soot-marked face faded into fury.

“And you thought of a bezoar all by yourself, did you, Harry?” she hissed at him.

“Snape taught me,” Harry answered with a shrug.

Ron would have enjoyed the comeback more if he’d been in on the joke. Instead, it was just Harry who got the praise as Slughorn continued.

“That’s the individual spirit a real potion-maker needs! Just like his mother — she had the same intuitive grasp of potion-making. It’s undoubtedly from Lily he gets it. Yes, Harry, yes, if you’ve got a bezoar to hand, of course that would do the trick, although they don’t work on everything, and are pretty rare, it’s still worth knowing how to mix antidotes….”

The bell rang before Ron could express his distaste for Harry taking all of the glory and not sharing the Prince’s trick with him.

“Time to pack up!” said Slughorn. “And an extra ten points to Gryffindor for sheer cheek!”

Harry was slow to pack up his bag. Ron did not care to stay and see how it all worked out for Harry.

And when Harry told him over dinner that evening that it had failed, and Slughorn had refused to tell Harry anything, Ron wasn’t all that upset about it. In fact, he really couldn’t complain when, while Harry remained Slughorn’s favourite student, Slughorn’s fear of being left alone with Harry had appeared to result in the Slug Club being disbanded. Harry had no more invitations to late night suppers to turn down, and Hermione had no more parties to invite McLaggen to. Between that and some excellent Quidditch practices, Ron thought that things were looking up, and just in time for his seventeenth birthday.

Before that, though, were Apparition lessons. For the Saturday lessons, Apparition protections had been lifted from the Great Hall. Unfortunately, Lavender had also signed up for the lessons. Though Ron thought he would have much preferred to go down to the Great Hall with Harry, instead, he walked arm-in-arm with Lavender, and stood beside her as the very frail and almost translucent Ministry Apparition instructor walked them through his three D’s of Apparition: Destination, Determination, Deliberation.

Ron, honestly, was not sure that he had any of those three things, but he stood beside the hoop as everyone else did and stared at it — his destination. He thought at least he was determined to succeed so that Fred and George could not mock him, for they had passed their Apparition exam on their first try. And finally, on Twycross the instructor’s direction, he deliberated with a slow and careful turn, but nothing happened.

Nothing happened for anyone, actually. it was not until their fourth attempt that someone actually Apparated. Susan Bones stood in her hoop, wobbling, and Ron saw her left leg several feet behind her.

Ron’s stomach turned, but the sight didn’t last long. Sprout, Flitwick, Snape, and McGonagall were on her in a moment and had her set right, but she was unsteady, and, between sobs, asked to be excused.

“Splinching,” Wilkie Twycross said, “or the separation of random body parts, occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continuously upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation… thus.” Twycross, as if to make everyone else feel terrible about their lack of success, turned from his spot, and reappeared at the other end of the Great Hall.

Nothing more exciting, however, happened than Susan’s Splinching. Ron had until next Saturday to think about Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. When the lesson ended, he hurried to catch up with Harry, pretending not to hear Lavender calling after him.

“How did you do?” he asked Harry. “I think I felt something the last time I tried — a kind of tingling in my feet.”

“I expect your trainers are too small, Won-Won,” Hermione’s voice came from behind them.

She moved past with a smug smile, which Ron thought entirely unwarranted, as even she hadn’t been able to so much as Splinch herself.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Harry said. “But I don’t care about that now —”

Ron frowned. “What do you mean, you don’t care? Don’t you want to learn to Apparate?”

“I’m not fussed, really, I prefer flying.” Harry glanced over his shoulder, but Ron wasn’t sure what for. “Look, hurry up, will you, there’s something I want to do.”

Ron followed as Harry ducked into the secret corridor they normally used to head up to Gryffindor Tower after late Quidditch practices. However, Harry did not continue on to Gryffindor Tower, however. He dug into his bag and pulled out a worn piece of parchment. He unfolded it, pointed his wand at it, and said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

“What’s going on, Harry?”

“Malfoy’s using Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts.” Harry spread the map of the castle out on the floor. “He was arguing with Crabbe just now. I want to know what he’s up to. Help me find Malfoy.”

Ron bent his head over the map and searched alongside Harry. They had not gone far from the Great Hall. Surely Malfoy could not be far, either.

“He’s just there, Harry,” Ron pointed. “Looks like he’s heading down to the Slytherin common room with Parkinson, Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle.”

Harry sighed. “I’ve been trying to follow him for weeks on this map — I swear he’s leaving the castle, but I can’t work out how.”

“Wait — Harry — is that — that one right there, next to Malfoy. Does that say what I think it says?”

Harry turned the map and squinted at the dot that seemed to be circling the cluster of Slytherin seventh years. “Yeah, that says Regulus Black.”

“What’s Black doing in the Slytherin Common Room?”

Harry frowned. “He did make a comment about Malfoy having detention during our Hogsmeade trip. I wondered how he knew, but I didn’t get to ask…. But if he was spying on Malfoy like Snape, why didn’t he say so?”

“You should tell Dumbledore.”

“Why? So Dumbledore can tell me that it doesn’t matter?” Harry ran his hand through his hair and his green eyes seemed alight with the determination that Twycross had tried to impart to them. “Do you think if the two of us became Animagi, we could slip down there and see what Malfoy was up to?”

“Blimey — Harry — are you mad?”

“Mischief managed,” Harry sighed and the ink sprawled across the parchment seemed to curl into itself and vanish. “We’d be mad to try it without Hermione, anyway. Maybe that’s what I should’ve asked my dad to teach me last summer.”

Ron shook his head. He didn’t trust Malfoy anymore than Harry did, but he thought that Harry was becoming a bit obsessive.

It only got worse as the month wore on. Harry started disappearing between lessons, and instead of reading Advanced Potion-Making each night before bed, Harry was scouring the map for Draco Malfoy. But if Harry found any answers on the map, he didn’t communicate them to Ron.

Before long, Ron’s birthday arrived. It was dreary for the first of March, but the weather hadn’t been pleasant since their Quidditch match against Slytherin. To make matters worse, the Hogsmeade trip that day had been canceled.

“It’s not a big surprise, though, is it?” Harry asked. He was digging through his trunk as Ron opened up his gift from Charlie. “Not after what happened to Katie?”

While Ron was sympathetic to Katie’s plight, and did not wish anyone else to spend six months in St. Mungo’s, he also did not wish for his birthday to be ruined. “But now all I’ve got to look forward to is stupid Apparition! Big birthday treat…. Oh! Charlie got me a real dragon fang necklace!”

“Just don’t let Lavender catch you wearing that instead of ‘My Sweetheart.’” Harry said, and tossed a package from his trunk at Ron. “Happy birthday.”

The package landed neatly in the pile of other gifts that had been brought by house-elves that night. Harry settled back into bed with the Marauder’s Map, presumably to continue the search for Malfoy and Regulus Black.

Ron opened the gift from Harry, pleasantly surprised to find a brand new pair of Keeper’s gloves. “Nice one, Harry!”

“No problem,” Harry said. “Hey… I don’t think he’s in his bed….”

Ron had very little interest in whether or not Malfoy was in his bed, and opened his gift from his parents. He stared in shock at a gold pocket watch. Ron was no expert in gold, but it felt heavy enough to be solid, not plated. He opened the watch and inside, tiny gold stars moved around the edge to tell the time, instead of watch hands.

From Bill and Fleur there was a bottle of French Cognac, which Ron tucked into his bedside table to enjoy with his friends later. Ginny had smuggled in a box of Weasley Wizard Wheezes Magical Moustache Miracle Stubble Grow, which was both funny and insulting. From Neville, he received a new jar of broom handle polish. There was nothing from his brother Percy, which Ron found unsurprising, and, honestly, if there had been something, he might’ve chucked it.

There were, however, two gifts that Ron did miss, and it surprised him how much it hurt that they weren’t there. There was nothing from Hermione and nothing from Fred and George. He dug through the wrappings one more time, just to be sure. He didn’t find anything on his bed, but he did see a wrapped box that must have fallen to the floor. It was heart-shaped, and wrapped in a pink bow, and Ron realised he also had not gotten a gift from Lavender.

Reluctantly, Ron picked up the box and opened it. He breathed out a sigh of relief when it was only Chocolate Cauldrons. Far more sensible than the necklace she’d given him for Christmas.

Ron ate one eagerly, and held the box out to Harry. “Want one?”

Harry hardly looked up from the map. “No thanks. Malfoy’s gone again!”

“Can’t have done,” Ron said, and took another Chocolate Cauldron and thought he really ought to find a way to keep Harry from obsessing over Malfoy. “Come on, if you don’t hurry up, you’ll have to Apparate on an empty stomach.” Ron slid out of bed and felt oddly light as his feet touched the ground. He frowned, noticed that the label said they were filled with Firewhiskey, then reached for another.

He pulled on his t-shirt in a bit of a haze. Perhaps it was the Firewhiskey in the Chocolate Cauldrons, or perhaps they hadn’t been from Lavender at all. Maybe they were a gag gift from….

Ron had hardly finished the thought when it was replaced by a single, all-consuming thought. His hand was halfway to his jumper, but he stopped, and leaned against the window, staring out at the pouring rain. It was beautiful.

“Ron?” Harry’s voice cut through his daydream. “Breakfast?”

“I’m not hungry,” Ron sighed.

“I thought you just said —?”

Ron sighed again, dramatic and moody, and grabbed his jumper. “Well, alright, I’ll come down with you, but I don’t want to eat.”

“You’ve just eaten half a box of Chocolate Cauldrons haven’t you?”

“It’s not that…. You… you wouldn’t understand.”

Harry frowned, but said, “Fair enough.” He started to open their dormitory door, but Ron suddenly felt as if he were going to burst if his feelings were not understood.

“Harry!”

“What?”

“I can’t stand it!”

“You can’t stand what?”

“I can’t stop thinking about her!”

Harry’s frown was briefly washed in disgust, but he hid it quickly. “Why does that stop you from having breakfast?”

Ron pressed his hand against his chest, afraid his heart was going to burst out if he did not act on his feelings immediately. “I don’t think she knows I exist.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “She definitely knows you exist. She keeps snogging you, doesn’t she?”

Ron was unable to think of anyone except the object of his affections, and could not recall having ever snogged her, nor even spoken to her. “Who are you talking about?”

“Who are you talking about?” Harry asked, as though it were not plainly obvious, when Ron was certain that it was.

“Romilda Vane,” Ron said in a breathless whisper. Just saying her name made his heart race faster. “I think… Harry, I think I love her.”

Harry stepped closer and examined Ron’s expression. “This is a joke, right? You’re joking.”

“No, I love her,” Ron insisted. “Have you seen her hair, it’s all black and shiny and silky… and her eyes? Her big dark eyes? And her —”

Harry frowned and stepped back. “This is really funny and everything, but joke’s over, alright? Drop it.”

Ron, who had been so determined to make his feelings known, could not handle his best friend doubting him. He balled his hand into a fist and struck Harry on the ear.

Harry, for having never taken one of Ron’s punches before, recovered spectacularly. Ron had hardly pulled back for another strike when Harry’s wand was out and he had Ron hoisted into the air by his ankle. Ron yelped and struggled to free himself, though it was impossible without his own wand.

“What was that for?” Harry shouted.

Ron still floundered. “You insulted her, Harry! You said it was a joke!”

“This is insane! What’s got into —” Harry’s gaze finally slid past Ron and onto Ron’s bed. “Where did you get those Chocolate Cauldrons?”

“They were a birthday present! I offered you one, didn’t I?”

“You just picked them up off the floor, didn’t you?”

“They’d fallen off my bed, alright? Let me go!”

“They didn’t fall off your bed, you prat, don’t you understand? They were mine, I chucked them out of my trunk when I was looking for your present. They’re the Chocolate Cauldrons Romilda gave me before Christmas, and they’re all spiked with love potion!”

Ron did not hear every word of Harry’s half-shouted tirade. In fact, there was only one word in there that he cared about at all.

“Romilda? Did you say Romilda? Harry — do you know her? Can you introduce me?”

He was beginning to feel very lightheaded, and he thought that if Harry would just let him down and take him to see Romlida, he would feel much better.

“Yeah, I’ll introduce you,” Harry said. “I’m going to let you down now, okay?”

The spell ended as suddenly as it had come, and Ron crashed onto the dormitory floor. He hardly felt it, though, and pulled himself to his feet. He smoothed the wrinkles out of his clothes and looked expectantly at Harry.

“She’ll be in Slughorn’s office,” said Harry.

Ron hurried down the stairs after Harry. “Why will she be in there?”

“Oh, she has extra Potions lessons with him.”

“Maybe I could ask her if I can have them with her?”

“Great idea.”

The common room was largely empty, and though Ron knew that she wouldn’t be there, he looked to see if perhaps Romilda were sitting by the fire, but of course she was down at Slughorn’s office, as Harry had said.

Lavender was waiting for them at the portrait exit. She grabbed Ron’s arm as he passed. “You’re late, Won-Won!” she said. “I’ve got you a birthday —”

Ron tore his arm away from her and pushed open the Fat Lady’s portrait. “Leave me alone. Harry’s going to introduce me to Romilda Vane.”

He walked downstairs to Slughorn’s office so eagerly and confidently that now it was Harry who hurried to keep up.

“Er, let me do the talking,” Harry said. “Got to present you right and all.”

Harry knocked on the door and, after a moment that seemed to last an eternity, it opened, but it was not Romilda Vane. Slughorn wore a velvet dressing gown and nightcap, and squinted through bleary eyes at Harry.

“Harry… this is very early for a call… I generally sleep late on a Saturday…”

“Professor, I am really sorry to disturb you….”

But Ron did not have any interest in what Harry and Slughorn were whispering. He was not much taller than Harry, and he stood on his tiptoes, trying to look over Harry and Slughorn to get a glimpse of Romilda. He could not see her in Slughorn’s office.

“I’ve never mixed an antidote for a love potion, sir —” said Harry.

Ron had lost his patience, and tried to elbow past Harry and Slughorn.

“— and by the time I get it right, Ron might’ve done something serious —”

“I can’t see her,” Ron moaned. “I can’t see her, Harry — is he hiding her?”

Slughorn’s mustache twitched as he pursed his lips and took a closer look at Ron. “Was this potion within date? They can strengthen, you know, the longer they’re kept.”

Ron struggled to get past Harry, but Harry held him back. Ron didn’t understand. Hadn’t Harry promised to introduce him to Romlida? Why was Harry keeping him from her?

“That would explain a lot,” Harry said. “Please — it’s his seventeenth birthday, Professor.”

“Oh, alright, come in, then, come in.” Slughorn stepped aside for them and Ron hurried into the room. “I’ve got the necessary here in my bag. It’s not a difficult antidote….”

Ron stumbled over a footstool and crashed to the floor. He did not feel the pain of crashing into the floor a second time, so much as the embarrassment of falling flat on his face. He also was beginning to feel extremely warm, but perhaps that was just Slughorn’s office.

“She didn’t see that, did she?” he asked Harry anxiously, and picked himself back up.

“She’s not here yet,” Harry said.

“That’s good.” Ron tried to smooth his hair. “How do I look?”

“Very handsome,” said Slughorn. He handed a glass of something thin and clear to Ron. “Now drink that up, it’s a tonic for the nerves, keep you calm when she arrives, you know.”

“Brilliant!” Ron said, and gulped down the drink.

It did help his nerves, as Slughorn had promised. He felt better and then, suddenly, he felt worse. He went from feeling light and airy to as heavy as a sack of stones in a single breath. It was not unlike being punched in the stomach, or having a slug-puking curse rebound. He also recalled, with sheer terror, just how rude he had been to Lavender in the common room. He was not interested in dealing with that fallout on his birthday.

“Back to normal, then?” said Harry. Harry, at least, was grinning, an expression Ron couldn’t quite comprehend at the moment. The stark contrast between the euphoria of the love potion and the weight in his stomach made him wonder if he’d ever feel happy again.

“Thanks a lot, Professor.”

“Don’t mention it, m’boy, don’t mention it.”

Ron sank into one of Slughorn’s plush armchairs with a groan.

“Pick-me-up,” Slughorn said. “That’s what he needs.” He turned from his potion kit to a small table full of drink bottles. Ron recalled the bottle of French Cognac that was upstairs and wondered if he might ask Harry to Summon it for him, because he did not feel much like any magic at all.

“I’ve got butterbeer,” Slughorn mused, “I’ve got wine, I’ve got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead… hmm… meant to give that to Dumbledore for Christmas… ah, well, he can’t miss what he’s never had! Why don’t we open it now and celebrate Mr. Weasley’s birthday? Nothing like a fine spirit to chase away the pangs of disappointed love….”

Slughorn poured three glasses of the mead, and lifted his in a toast, but Ron was entirely uninterested in a toast. He threw back the glass and swallowed it in one gulp.

It had hardly hit his throat when the glass fell from Ron’s hand. He vaguely heard it crash into the chair but he was far more concerned with his inability to breathe. He struggled for air, but his body seemed intent on ignoring his wishes. Something that was both shaped like a rock and tasted like a rock was shoved into his mouth. Ron managed one more shuddering gasp and nothing more.

#ron weasley #harry potter #Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince #hp everyone lives au #hp everyone lives #hp fic #hbp

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daily-rayless · 4 years

Text

20 Years of Art

2000

(OC / Celes from Final Fantasy 6 / OC / OC)

The influence of Final Fantasy 6, off of the Anthology collection, and Yoshitaka Amano caused a significant shift in my art, leading my human figures to be very slender, graceful, and frequently pale. Most of it was of women, some of it was of horses, and by then I was very self-consciously starting to draw men. I mostly worked in pencils and colored pencils. Faces were oval with high hairlines and long, sharp, narrow noses. Also note my evident fear of mouth-seams and lower eyelids. I was pretty terrible at coloring, often feeling that coloring one of my sketches ruined all the nice linework.

2001

(Quistis from Final Fantasy 8 / Rosa from Final Fantasy 4? / Schala from Chrono Trigger / Dark Knight OC from Final Fantasy 4)

This is where more anime influences came in, and I consciously took on a semi-anime, semi-realistic (in my own mind) style. My ideal of beauty was overbig eyes, overlong nose, and oversmall mouth, and I stuck to it pretty relentlessly. Trying to figure out shadows and face structure. Still bad at coloring. I was incredibly proud of that charcoal picture. Was also going through my mandatory Dark 'n Edgy phase, with a big helping of Phantom of the Opera, Sarah Brightman, and my attempts at designing supercool clothes, many of which I wouldn't have actually worn, even given the opportunity.

2002

(Me trying to recreate “Flaming June” / OC, who incidentally looks almost exactly like Sarah Brightman and whose diadem was bodily lifted from a Jodi Lee painting / angsty symbolic wet chain lady / OC)

Deep in the Dark 'n Edgy. Faces are still very heavily made-up, with big lashes, defined upper eyelids, and dark lips. Trying very hard to be a good artist though, have high expectations for the future. I was so proud of that final pose and worked so hard on it. Lined paper? So not a problem. Besides, how else am I supposed to draw during class? A sketchbook would've been even more obvious than the incredibly obvious I already was. I'm able to listen while drawing pretty reliably, and I did manage to take detailed notes while doodling, so at least I had that going for me.

2003

(Celes / OC / OC / Hermes-inspired wing lady)

I was focusing (at least some of the time) on backgrounds and trying to make my work detailed and polished. Coloring is still hopeless. Often when I colored, I would go super light, even when I was using dark or intense colors. It would give my pictures a sort of faint, half-assed hazy look. I remember an art teacher urging me to use more color, but I probably resisted because I knew that way lay total destruction. I'm sorry, well-meaning art teacher. You are unversed in the ways of my pencils. I have killed too many sketches to take those kinds of risks.

2004

(Rosa? / Meliara from Crown Duel / willow-dress lady / Geddoe and Queen from Suikoden 3)

See the Meliara picture? That's supposed to be a night scene in a forest. Front-lit by blazing firelight. I was too afraid to make the colors darker. This is dark enough, okay? Anyway, this year, along with being utterly obsessed with Suikoden 3 and Crown Duel, I was letting my art head in a more realistic direction...

2005

(OC / Queen / Queen / part of Zetta and Salome from Makai Kingdom; I remember deliberately copying those swoopy Ss from one of my friends’ handwriting. Wishes ended up being the first longform fanfic I posted online.)

...that really flourished this year. It's not actually realism, but I made a point to give my characters, especially the women, more realistic bodies. Faces are very round in this period, often with soft features. Noses are prominent. I'm also, finally, using more vibrant colors. I probably got my first Prismacolor pencils around this time. I also got some really cheap markers, but had no idea how to use them so mostly stuck to pencils.

2006

(All OCs)

I look back on this as a good year. I was learning better coloring techniques. (Bold colors! Press that pencil down! Okay, I still had much to learn.) I got an Elfwood gallery while the site was doing its slow mosey into oblivion. But that was an important step, not just looking at other people's art online, but putting my own up as well. There were downsides though. I began to feel more insecure – or maybe more realistic? – about my art, on this site with so many highly talented artists. Still, 2006 is a good year. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.

2007

(vampire and hunter / Fleur from Harry Potter / OC / Avril from Wild Arms 5)

The year of Fleur Delacour. This is when I was writing Kindred. I think it was because I was trying to depict Fleur as distinctly non-human that my art shifted away from that more realistic style. Fleur, and my other figures, became very tall and slender. The anime DNA is still there though. For a long time, I felt the lying-down picture of Fleur was my best work.

2008

(Revya and Gig from Soul Nomad / my attempts at being “abstract” / OC / OC)

This was the year of Soul Nomad and, towards the end, Tales of the Abyss. Unsurprisingly, the anime influences start moving back to the fore. The eyes are becoming larger again, the features a bit more angular and stylized, mouths are shrinking. I'm still desperately trying to figure out markers and wondering why it's so darn hard (I don't try to educate myself, I just flail), but I was proud of that blue OC picture. It made me feel like I was getting somewhere. 2008 is when I started my deviantART gallery, right when everyone else was moving on to Tumblr.

2009

(teacup lady / Persona 4 noir-style comic / Revya / OC)

Then Persona 4 hit. Shigenori Soejima was a huge influence in this period, especially in eyes and faces. Pupils, chins, and jawlines shrink, eyelashes are sparse and stylized, noses are simplified. 2008 and 2009 are about as pure anime as I've ever gotten. Meanwhile, I'm really exited about my dA gallery and trying lots of different combinations of media. I'm super active on dA and FFN at this point, writing Elysion and then a slew of shorter Persona fics.

2010

(Minako from Persona 3: Portable / concept-art-version Minako / lady with dragon ferret thing / other lady with dragon ferret thing)

I'm still drawing with a lot of Soejima influences. Additionally, bodies are becoming even longer, taller, thinner, and bendier. Some of them look absurd to me now. On the other hand, a lot of pictures from this period have a nice elegance to them. I was still using colored pencils a fair bit, but more clumsy markers are showing up. Persona 3: Portable came out, and this is when I was writing Death and Ker.

2011

(mask lady / hat lady / Archaya, Duphaston, and Iryth from Eternal Poison / symbolic autumn lady and her winter baby)

Midway through this year, I hit a breakthrough when I got my first set of Copics – and skin tones, no less. Even though I was still flailing, I was so thrilled with my results. That Eternal Poison picture left me enormously proud, as did the mother and child one. My style hasn't changed all that much, but it's starting to feel less extreme. The focus on big eyes and tiny little mouths remains.

2012

(Elza from Suikoden 2 / Daryl and Setzer from Final Fantasy 6 / Killey and Lorelai from Suikoden 2 / Lyssa, Greek goddess of madness)

This is the year of Elza. Lots of delicate sketches of this lovely scarred lady, and lots of colored pictures too. I've definitely shifted away from pencils towards markers. The Daryl and Setzer one was an attempt to use both, and I was very happy with it. These pictures show their age, but there's still a lot here I like. Mouths are larger too. However, my online activity was starting to lag.

2013

(Rydia from Final Fantasy 4 / Nia from Infinite Space / the prophet and Schala / Argos and Io from Greek mythology)

The mid-2010s weren't entirely great for me, marked with a lot of frustration and discontent. And that definitely carried over to my art, making me feel very disappointed with myself. There was lots of marker work this year. Probably the standout picture is Argos and Io. This is also when I played through all three routes of Fate/Extra, and my art was suddenly full of Hakuno and Emiya.

2014

(Minako / butterfly lady / Marta and Tenebrae from Tales of Symphonia 2 / Elza)

Looking at it now, this was a good year. Lots of nice marker art. The butterfly one was a big step up for me in terms of coloring. The Marta and Tenebrae has a really cool stylized look to it. But I was becoming less enthusiastic about sharing my art with others. I started to post less and less.

2015

(evil Hakuno and Emiya from the Fate series / Mitsuru from Persona 3 / half moon cookie lady / Hakuno)

I barely posted anything this year, though I was still drawing a ton. As far as making strides, this is one of my better years. Coloring will never be my strong suit, but it's a lot more fun, and it looks a lot better. It's almost entirely marker-work at this point. Despite my, er, angst, a lot of people are smiling this year.

2016

(OC / doodle lady / Luna from Roman mythology / hair bow lady)

At this point, it's feeling too recent for me to really see what's changed. I did a fair bit of eraserless work. One problem I still have – and, yes, it involves coloring my pictures – is losing some of the image's personality after I've inked it and erased the initial pencil work. The picture's still there, but not as nuanced as it originally was. The results often feel stiff to me. Doing the first linework in ink, or not inking at all, allows me to keep that sensitive, spontaneous quality. Luna and the bow and doodle ladies were done without erasers. Another thing I did a lot this year was fill backgrounds with busy shapes and colors, which is a trend I’m still following today.

2017

(flapper and dog / Alcyone and Ceyx from Greek mythology / flower hair lady / Kida from Atlantis)

Not a good year. Not that the art is bad, there just isn't a lot of it, and what there is often isn't very finished. I was still mostly dark online, wondering if I should take down my dA gallery. Drawing and knowing I wasn't going to post something took off some of the pressure of my own expectations, but I was still unhappy.

2018

(Altera from the Fate series / Elizabeth Bathory from the Fate series / OC / Aranea from Final Fantasy 15)

This was a really important year for me. I wrote a novel I'm really proud of, and it's done a lot to give me confidence and a sense of creative direction. I also decided that after New Years, I was going to start a Tumblr gallery...just as everyone who was still on the site was jumping off of it. Much of my 2018 work is still sketchy and unfinished, but I also think it's loosening up some. It feels less stiff than the stuff from the middle of the decade.

2019

(Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn / medievaly lady / Red from Transistor / Red)

The year of Supergiant Games, which led me to focus more on bright saturated colors. It's really hard for me to analyze these objectively. Coloring is better? I worked more on details? I used my metallic gel pens a ton and did shape-cluttered backgrounds? These aren't new things, but I think they paid off okay. I'm more at peace with my level of ability, I've finished more complicated works, and I crawled out of my den and started posting regularly online again. So that's all good. Curious to see what the art looks like in twenty more years.

#art progression #20 years of art #2000-2019 #i'm not tagging all the characters #this is a terribly long post #and shouldn't clutter up too many search results #thank you if you read the whole thing #i apologize for typos #art meme #art summary

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magnetarmadda · 4 years

Text

My Decade in Books Tag

@lexi-rose-studyblr tagged me for this--thanks!!

The rules: respond to the prompt “my decade in books” however you want, & then tag some ppl! I chose some of my favorites from that year along with a brief description of what I was doing (which is different than what the person who tagged me did). You can do that or make up your own response

I had to do something I never do to make this post: use Tumblr on my computer. I forgot what it looks like in a browser instead of mobile--it’s weird

Lucky for me, I joined Goodreads in 2009, although I didn’t use it regularly until 2015. So I had some help to remember, but let’s just say I left a lot of blanks for myself

2010: This was the end of my sophomore and start of junior year in high school, and because of the coursework at the time, I still had the ability to read in every spare moment. I read a lot of the Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer, a lot of e.e. cummings, and Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

2011: Junior-senior year of high school, and I was so concerned with first AP tests and then college applications, I know goodreads snuck off my radar a lot. I finally read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, which was one of my grandpa’s favorite books (he died in 2003), and many other classics as I prepped for my AP Lit test. I actually enjoyed many of the ones I read, but I no longer remember which ones I read from the 2010-2012 period, so I thought I’d mention a couple of them here: The Great Gatsby, Cry the Beloved Country, Go Tell it On the Mountain, Sons and Lovers, and Pride and Prejudice

2012: Senior year of high school and starting my freshman year of college. I really had no idea how much my life was about to change--I regularly stay in touch with only a tiny handful of my friends from high school now, which is weird. I do remember, though, in prep for my AP Lit test, my teacher gave us a list of prompts from previous years, and I made it my mission to find a way to use Harry Potter for all of them. I ended up writing the actual test essay on the Scottish Play--which I dearly love--but it was fun anyway. I again have a mostly empty goodreads, but I really liked The Macho Paradox by Jackson Katz and The Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale

2013: Ending my freshman year and starting my sophomore year of college, I started dating my now-husband, and I used goodreads much less than before. Of the few books I included on goodreads, I enjoyed Deadly Persuasion by Jean Kilbourne and The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill, which was a reread (and still one of my favorite books ever).

2014: This year were some of my hardest physics classes in undergrad, so I almost never used goodreads, which means my memory of what I read is limited. I did enjoy A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix, but that’s the only rating I left

2015: Junior-senior year of undergrad, when I realized I didn’t want to go to astro grad school, but wanted to be involved in science education somehow. Some of my favorite books were: The Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (and so began my love for Queen Leigh), the Alex and Ada comic book trilogy, Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman, Ash by Malinda Lo, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, 1421 by Gavin Menzies, and House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple

2016: I graduated with my undergrad degrees, and while I waited to be able to apply for the next round of grad school openings, I worked part-time at a library--so, so many good books were found that way. We adopted our sweet fur babies that year. Books I loved included: The Imposter Queen by Sarah Fine, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, Heartless by Marissa Meyer, When the Moon Was Ours by Anne-Marie McLemore, The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero, The Paper Magician trilogy by Charlie N. Holmberg, Everything Leads To You by Nina LaCour, The Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace, Isabella: The Warrior Queen by Kirstin Downey, and a variety of girl-lead superhero comic books for my women’s and gender studies senior thesis

2017: I started grad school that fall, but spend the first half of the year still working at the library, so I read a whole lot. It was also the year my now-husband proposed. Highlights include: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, Wild Beauty by Anne-Marie McLemore, Wicked Like a Wildfire by Lana Popovic, A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie, To Be Or Not To Be by Ryan North, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Radium Girls by Kate Moore, Young and Damned and Fair by Gareth Russell, The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, and The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

2018: I finished my first year and started my second year of grad school, getting married smack dab in the middle of my summer term. The time for reading drastically went down, but I managed to read way more than expected. Some favorites include: The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Peril at End House by Agatha Christie, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, Sea Witch by Sarah Henning, the Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daughters of the Winter Queen by Nancy Goldstone, and Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

2019: This was a Hell Year for me, with my migraines reaching new heights, and I spent a lot of time listening to audiobooks because it was the only thing I could do. Some books I loved last year were: Beyond the Hundred Kingdoms by Rod Espinosa (The Courageous Princess #1), Sera and the Royal Stars #1-5, Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, Over the Top by Jonathan van Ness, At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie, Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen, Code Girls by Liza Mundy, In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, and god, so many more, so I’ll leave it there because I could go on for a long time (2019 was a good year for books for me because I stuck by my policy of putting down books I wasn’t enjoying, even if it was just because I wasn’t feeling them at that moment)

For a more complete list of 2010-2019, feel free to check out my goodreads (and send me a friend request if you want)!

I like to use my notes to tag recent people, so here goes: @takemegnome, @abby-doodle-books, @anassarhenisch, @elenajohansenauthor, @bookphile, @dr-dendritic-trees, and @the-girl-who-lived-to-read. Feel free to do or not do, and anyone who wants to jump on, feel free to take this as your tag!

#my decade in books #wow that was a lot #about me #tagged in #Madison tags people in stuff #long post

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colorofyourhair · 7 years

Text

In the Margin

Prompt:

Prompt Rating: K

Note: Requests are open again so please see [this] post for rules if you’d like to make one! As tumblr is the only site that will let me list an individual rating per chapter I’ll rate them as content demands. However the larger compilation on both FFN and AO3 are rated M.

Also posted here:

FFN

AO3

Her bag was a mess. Papers were wrinkled, folded, and mashed together in an order not even Erza understood. She huffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder in frustration.

“You know,” an irritatingly casual voice said from across the table. “If you'd just keep digital notes, this wouldn't happen. Has anyone ever told you that before?”

Erza pursed her lips and studiously ignored the smug smirk she just knew was directed at her. “Probably.”

“Well, they sound like a smart person. You should listen to them more.”

“Kagura.” The warning in Erza's tone was ignored – it was always ignored. “I hate digital notes. I hate lugging my laptop around.”

“And your shameful example of a Hermoine Granger bag is so much better?”

“I didn't know you were a Harry Potter fan,” Erza muttered, turning her eyes back to the mess in front of her.

“I'm not. It's overrated drivel and would've been handled in three books instead of seven if Hermoine had been the main character. Even fictional men are useless.”

Erza growled and pulled a crumpled roll of handwritten notes from her bag. “I was looking for these last week.”

“You're hopeless, Erza. Please let me help you set up a system of files on your laptop. It's painful watching you struggle study this way.”

“I'm not –” Erza dumped the remaining contents of her bag onto the table top and flopped into a shoddily padded library chair. “Struggle studying.”

“If you say so.” Kagura poked at the mess of papers with the tip of her pen and sighed. “Let me know when you decide you need help. I need to get out of here.”

“Hot date?” Erza asked, still sifting though her papers and notebooks.

“Actually yes. Well –” Kagura grinned and stood. “I'm always a hot date. We'll see how it goes for her.”

“I live vicariously through your social life. Text me later.”

“Erza, I don't understand why you don't get out more. Half the male population of this university has a stiff sock under their bed with your name on it.”

“That's disgusting. I don't want a guy who has a stiff sock under his bed.”

“I'm joking.” Kagura reached out to touch an errant strand of Erza's hair. “I just worry about you being alone with a bag full of messy papers. Promise me you'll notice things beyond books every once and a while.”

Erza smiled up at her friend. “I promise. Now go home and blow out your hair for your date. Nothing less than a high gloss will do. And don't forget to text me.”

“I won't.” Kagura tugged on Erza's hair once before leaving her alone in the library. Erza sighed and turned back to her papers – they really were a mess and maybe Kagura was right about her laptop.

The decision to take over an outside table had been an impulsive one. With only a low breeze the weather would be perfect for a morning of transferring looseleaf notes. Traffic in the library and courtyard was oddly vibrant and Erza found her gaze easily distracted. She didn't notice the other occupant of the table until he spoke.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have great hair?”

Erza's eyes snapped to the bench beside her. “I'm sorry?”

“Your hair. It's an unbelievable shade.” He smiled and Erza tried her hardest to be offended but she'd always been a sucker for dimples. “I could spend the rest of my life trying to get the blending right but it would be a waste.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she said with a smirk.

“What other girls?” he continued to smile and leaned his chin on the palm of his hand. “You're in my classical lit class, right?”

“Am I?” Erza said in an uncharacteristically flirtatious tone. “If my hair is so memorable, shouldn't you know?”

He laughed softly but didn't falter. “Touché. You normally sit in the third row on the end.”

“I've never seen you in that class before.”

“I slip in at the last minute and leave before you.”

“Why?”

“The classics aren't my thing.” With what seemed like practiced ease, and with only cursory awareness, he swiped the pencil from behind his ear and began to doodle on the edge of her stack of notes. Erza couldn't quite bring herself to be annoyed. His movements were fluid and almost effortless.

“Not much of a reader?”

“Oh, sure.” He glanced up at her and the corner of his mouth twitched adorably. “I, uh, I actually took that class in high school. AP stuff.”

Erza's eyebrow quirked. “Then what are you doing in there now?”

“Well, as it turns out, you don't actually get the credit for a college course unless you show up – no matter how good your grade is.”

“So you wasted your time and money?”

“Pretty much. That class was just part of a deal I made with my dad. I'd take college courses early and he'd let me major in whatever I wanted. I wouldn't say it was a total waste, though.”

“Wait so your dad gets to make rules like that?”

He shrugged and adjusted the angle of her paper. “He who has the gold makes the rules. I'm here on my family's dime so I have to jump through his hoops.”

“So why wasn't it a waste of your time if you failed and have to take it again?”

“Because –” His eyes flit to hers quickly before falling back to the paper. “If I hadn't've failed that class, I never would've ended up in yours.”

Erza snorted. “You're an ambitious flirt. I don't even know your name.”

“It's Jellal.”

“Jellal what?”

“Fernandes,” he muttered, focusing on the paper now.

“Wait –” Erza leaned closer to him. “Fernandes? As in Fernandes?” He pursed his lips and slid the pencil back behind his ear. “Like the-new-research-wing-of-this-library Fernandes?”

“That's my dad. I'm sure you think I'm a sad little rich boy now.”

Erza smirked and leaned back. “Nah. My mom's name gets me into a lot of doors, too. She doesn't tell me what I need to be studying, though.”

“You lucked out then.” He leaned his chin on his hand again and smiled in the sappy way she was becoming used to. “Are you going to tell me your name now?”

“Erza Scarlet.” She bit her lip and grinned. “And before you try and figure out who my mom is, don't bother. We don't have the same last name.”

“I would never. That's third date material.” He grabbed his pencil again and flipped through her papers to find a clean margin.

“Third date? You're assuming a lot.”

“Am I?” Jellal glanced up at her again before he began to doodle.

“These are my notes, you know. I actually need them.”

“So... you weren't transferring them to your laptop just now? I don't like digital notes either. I can't draw on my laptop.”

“Are you an artist or something?” she asked with mild irritation exasperation.

“Or something.”

“You're annoyingly cryptic.”

“I've taken some art classes but it's not what I want to do.”

“If your goal is to be a renaissance man, I think you should add some culinary classes and maybe some fencing to your schedule.”

“I'm no good at fencing.”

“Well, if you decide to take on cooking, I hope all your soufflés fall for ruining my notes.”

He opened his mouth to reply but his phone interrupted. Jellal fished the phone from his pocket and frowned at whatever message he'd received.

“I gotta go, but we should get to work on that third date soon.”

“Excuse me?” Erza blurted, her cheeks flushing pink.

“Call me,” he said with a grin as he stood. Before he walked off he flipped her papers back around to face her and smiled.

Erza watched him disappear into the flow of students before glancing back down at her notes. He'd drawn a series of pointless doodles but the depiction of her profile and curls of her hair were embarrassingly detailed and skilled – and pretty.

Scrawled in the top corner of the bottom page was his phone number.

#Fairy Tail #Jerza #Jellal Fernandes #Erza Scarlet #prompt requests

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