#seeing the way molly's mother acted with her made me cringe | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

queenxxxsupreme · 3 years

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I 've recently found your writing and I'm so glad I did!! You're incredible, and I absolutely love the way you write Arthur in an established relationship. There's so much fic about the excitement and will-they-wont-they of a new relationship, but it's so sweet to see a dynamic with Arthur and someone who just knows him so well. New love is fun and world shifting, but there's nothing like the old comfort of a love that it backed by time <3 Idk if you still take requests but consider this one!

A/N: I wasn’t too sure if this was what you meant or not, but I did an established relationship with Arthur. This is just fluffy morning softness with him. If this isn’t what you meant and I completely got it wrong, please let me know! I’ll definitely get to work on a new one! It won’t hurt my feelings at all if I did interpret it the wrong way and you would like another one! (I love writing for Arthur he makes me happy)

***

The sun was just beginning to shine through the thick treetops that surrounded Horseshoe Overlook. Birds chirped in the trees and a few squirrels scurried around just to your left in the bushes.

You sat at a table with a cup of coffee and one of your favorite books in hand. It was early in the morning, far too early for most of the camp to be up but a few of the older members such as Mrs. Grimshaw and Herr Strauss were awake.

Over the years, you’d grown accustomed to waking up bright and early with Arthur Morgan. You liked to see him off on his busy days when Dutch or Hosea had him running half away across the state for a job. And on the days where he wasn’t needed immediately, you enjoyed sitting with him for breakfast or coffee.

“Good morning, Y/N.” Hosea greeted you as he passed by your table to get to the pot of coffee.

“Morning, Hosea.” You gave him a smile.

He migrated back to his tent, choosing to sit at the table nearest to the tent while he looked over a map. You silently wondered if whatever it was he was planning would involve Arthur.

The sudden feeling of something big behind you almost made you jump. But the hands on your shoulders let you know exactly who it was. He rubbed circles into your shoulders with his thumbs, leaning down to kiss the top of your head.

“Mmhm. Your hair smells good.” Arthur hummed.

You tilted your head back to look at him, a smile coming to your lips.

“Good morning, handsome.”

“Good mornin’, pumpkin.” He dipped his head down to kiss between your brows. “How’s the coffee today?”

Arthur began to reach for your cup of coffee sitting on the table.

“You won’t like that.” You tried to warn him, but he was already taking a drink of the hot beverage.

He cringed, placing the cup back on the table and bringing the back of his hand to his mouth.

“Now you know very well that you wouldn’t like that, Arthur.” You looked up at him. “I put sugar in mine.”

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t like sugar.” He muttered, pulling a chair around the table so he could sit closer to you. “I was hopin’ after all these years you’d come to your senses.”

“And drink that bitter shit you drink? No thank you.” You giggled. “You want me to get you a cup?”

“I’ll get one here in a second.” Arthur shook his head, looking around camp. “Who’s awake?”

“Strauss and Susan are up and chatting over by the cliff.” You nodded towards the north end of camp. “Hosea’s over there at the table and earlier I saw Dutch come out of his tent for a minute but I think he must’ve gone back to sleep. It’s been pretty still all morning.”

Arthur nodded.

“You didn’t sleep much last night.” He spoke quietly, leaning forward on his elbows. This put him closer to you.

“Tossed and turned a lot.” You closed your book and picked up your coffee.

“I know. I could feel the bed move every time you threw yourself around.” He chuckled a little. “What kept you up?”

You shook your head, not wanting to bother him with your worries.

He reached over to take your coffee from you, gently prying it out of your hands.

“Come on, pumpkin. What was it?”

“You know how I get.” You shrugged your shoulders. “When Dutch mentions his ideas and plans at night, I don’t sleep. Don’t think neither of us really do but I…. I just…. Since Blackwater, I haven’t been able to sleep.”

Arthur’s brows were furrowed together softly as he looked at you.

“I’m worried about us, Arthur.” You admitted.

He stayed silent, lips pressed together in a line.

“I got a bad feelin’ in my stomach. Blackwater was bad, Arthur.”

He nodded a little and reached over to take one of your hands away from your coffee. He brushed his thumb over your knuckles, eyes focusing on a scar that ran across the back of your hand.

“Blackwater went sour, but sometimes that happens, pumpkin. Sometimes jobs don’t go how we planned. You remember that job we did back in Montana in ‘82?”

A small smile crept on to your lips.

“That was ages ago.”

“Sure feels like it.” Arthur chuckled. “We found a rancher to steal from.”

“If I remember correctly, I found a rancher to steal it from. You messed it up.” You poked his chest, your tone teasing.

“I know. I know.” Arthur muttered, adjusting his hat. “Just ‘cause you had to flirt with the old bastard didn’t mean I was gonna sit by and let him about you like you were some saloon girl.”

You spent a week flirting your way into the pocket of a rich rancher in Montana while Arthur played an up and coming rancher from out of town. On the night that you were supposed to rob the mark, Arthur went out for drinks with the rancher and you while you accompanied the rancher as his date. Soon, the rancher and his friends were drunk and their gentlemanly charm had vanished. The second they started practically harassing you, Arthur dropped the act and start throwing his fists.

“You walked out of there with a broken nose” You reached over to cup his face, brushing your thumb along the bridge of his nose.

“And somehow, you managed to get that scar on the back of your hand and another on your arm.” Arthur sighed. “Didn’t mean for it to happen like that, but sometimes jobs go sideways and we can’t always see it until it happens.”

“But Arthur, that was back when it was just us and Hosea and Dutch. Now we have three times that many people to worry about and look after.” You furrowed your brows together. “Dutch has got to see it ain’t all about the money. Sure some of us may not have much more time left on the clock, but we got some young people too. Jack, Tilly, Mary-Beth, Lenny, Karen, Sean, and now Kieran too…. We need to think about how what we do will affect them in the long run.”

Arthur chuckled softly, looking down for a moment.

“What are you laughin’ at, Arthur Morgan?”

“You, pumpkin. I think it’s adorable when you play mother hen.” He kissed your forehead. “Pumpkin, they’re young but they are grown ass people. They can make their own decisions.”

“Just like you did when you were their age?” You raised your brows. “Look where it’s gotten you, Mr. Morgan. Sitting in a bum camp living like someone who ain’t got nothin’ to live for.”

“And look who’s sittin’ right beside me in this bum camp.” He tapped the outsides of your thighs. You laughed softly, knowing you walked straight into that one.

“I’m sittin’ here ‘cause I followed some fool with blue eyes and a heart of gold all the way from out west” You muttered. “Ended up findin’ the love of my life too.”

Arthur gazed at you for a few moments, his chest warming up with your words.

“Anyways, I wouldn’t change any of the choices that I made when I was their age.” He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his nose and crossing his arms.

“Oh yeah?” You stood up to get him a cup of coffee. “Why not?”

“‘Cause I found the biggest pain in my ass in the whole damn country when I was their age.” His eyes followed you.

You handed him the cup of coffee, warning him that it was still pretty warm. Before you could move back to your seat, his hand took yours, keeping you by his chair.

“My pumpkin….” His eyes focused on that scar on the back of your hand again. “She’s been with me through thick and thin, and even when I haven’t been so kind to her.”

“We all make mistakes, Arthur.” You reminded him. You knew he was talking about the few times you two had broken up and he started a relationship with Mary Linton. “Only thing that matters is you came back to me.”

You took his hat off of his head so you could kiss his forehead.

“Love you, pumpkin.” He spoke quietly, letting your hand go so you could return to your seat.

“Love you more, Arthur.” You gave him a smile, replacing his hat on his head.

You sat down and picked up your cup of coffee to take a sip.

Arthur’s eyes flickered over to Dutch’s tent. Molly was pinning the lapels back, meaning that the two were waking up.

“We’re gonna be just fine, pumpkin.” Arthur told you, nodding his head a little.

“I know. We always are. Just doesn’t come easy sometimes.”

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If your name is in italics, it wouldn’t let me tag you :(

#arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan x reader fluff #arthur morgan fluff #arthur morgan fluffy fic #arthur morgan #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #arthur morgan ask #kacey answers

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15-dogs · 3 years

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chapter 2 - burning pile

pairing: fred weasley x reader

series masterlist

summary: your son asks you a tough question about his father, causing you to reflect on the exact moment you decided what you were going to tell him

warnings: children, the war, mentions of death, getting disowned, description of broken limbs, very light swearing, pregnancy mention

guide: (Y/N) = your name, (Y/L/N) = your last name

word count: 2.4K

a/n: if your url is crossed out that means i couldn’t tag you! if you want to be added to my taglist for this, either comment or send an ask :) hope you like it!!

●chapter 2●

“Everyone at school has one,” your son stated, “how come I don’t have a dad?”

You clenched your eyes shut. You knew this was coming at some point, but 8 years old seemed far too soon. You smiled softly at your son, Daniel, as you patted your lap. He clambered onto you and you ran your hand through his fiery red hair, wondering how you could explain something so broken to someone so young.

●●●

You ran into the war alone. You were part of no affiliation, no friends by your side, you only knew who you were fighting for.

Your son, nearly 2 years old at the time, was at your muggle neighbor’s flat. You couldn’t bring him to your muggle parents, not when they disowned you for finding out about your accidental pregnancy.

That’s why you were fighting. For him. For Danny. He needed to grow up in a world where blood status didn’t matter, where he didn’t need to be concerned about having a future or not. For Danny. You had to repeat it to yourself over and over again. For Danny. For Danny.

The war, like wars often were, was ugly. Rubble coating the grounds and bodies peeking out from under it. Being at such a broken place that was once filled with hope and joy was like seeing a photo go black and white.

You did your best to assist where you could, seeing people you went to school with falling lifeless onto the ground. They had families, they had parents that loved them. That was somebody’s child who was chasing death, and you were not about to let them get caught. You would jump in just in time to save them, feeling that was your best bet at contributing to the cause.

So you wandered the halls of the castle, seeking trouble. But, as it always does, trouble seems to find you. A Death Eater appeared from behind one of the many staircases, firing a spell at you. You barely dodged it, slipping behind a pillar, your heart pounding in your ears. You imagined what it would be like to have someone beside you but you couldn’t dwell, you were facing life and death.

You readied your wand before popping out from your hiding spot, firing a stunning spell at the man. He blocked it, but it sent him skyrocketing backwards into another hallway.

You had just found your target, there was no way you’d let him escape. You charged after where you had left him, only to find him missing. Your eyes locked onto a trail of blood that dotted from where you stood to a hallway, which just so happened to have sparks flying from it.

You rounded the corner to see two redheads battling two Death Eaters, your feet bolting to the ground.

It was Fred.

He was laughing at something Percy had said as they battled the men. He looked so...grown up. It had only been 2 years since you last saw him, but he looked different. He seemed genuinely happy.

But it wasn’t the time to focus on such trivial things, not when the Death Eater you were battling was sneaking up on Fred. Both men were unaware of the cloaked person sneaking up on them, so you decided you needed to take action.

Fred was Molly’s son. If she lost him, she’d be devastated, broken beyond repair. You knew what it was like to have a child, and if you lost him, you didn’t know what you’d do. Danny was all you had and Merlin forbid anyone were to take him away from you.

As those thoughts coursed through your mind, adrenaline coursed through your veins. You watched as the Death Eater you were tracking snuck up on Fred and Percy, your wand readied as you waited with bated breath for the two to move out of the way. However, as the man approached, the brothers didn’t move. Your whole body was itching with anxieties, your eyes flickering towards the shadows. But as the man raised his wand, you couldn’t wait any longer; there were human lives at stake, one of which just happened to be your ex boyfriend.

“Fred, Percy! Get down!” you shouted as you revealed yourself from your hiding space.

The Death Eater was distracted by your declaration, pausing in his mission to cast the spell. Fred, too, was distracted by your presence, leading to Percy dragging him onto the ground alongside himself. As soon as they were clear, you shot a spell at a pillar beside the man, the cracked tiles crashing down on his legs, trapping him underneath. He let out a shrill cry of pain, his face contorting into something awful that made you almost sorry for him. However, you didn’t want to take the risk that he was the devil in disguise, putting on an act just to garner sympathy from you.

“Stupefy!” you cried, freezing the man in his place.

As soon as the area was clear, you pocketed your wand and ran to the Weasley brothers. You slid onto the ground beside Percy, helping him up.

“Lovely to see you again, (Y/N),” he commented.

You cringed but put on your best smile. “Been a long time, Percy.”

You recalled the last time you’d seen the stern boy, the one time that Fred took you home for the holidays. His family had welcomed you in open arms and made you quite jealous; your family wasn’t so affectionate.

When you got kicked out of your own house at 18, you weren’t really shocked. Your mother had never truly approved of you and Fred so she had been expecting something of that “sinful nature” for years now.

When she had kicked you out, you couldn’t even gather most of your things as you found her burning them in the backyard in an old fire pit. You were only slightly shocked that time. Your mother had a saying: put all your troubles on a burning pile because when it’s all lit up, you’ll start to smile. That saying, of course, wasn’t true, nor did you think she took the meaning literally. When you walked outside to speak with her one last time— a regretful decision, you knew— her tears were illuminated on her cheeks from the flames that kissed her.

“You look good, seeing as how you helped Fred and I narrowly escape death, so thanks again for that.” Percy glanced down at Fred, kicking him with his foot. “Suppose you want to hear it from him, too.”

You half expected Fred to say something smart or, at the very least, notice that it was you who saved his life but he didn’t say anything. Come to think of it, he didn’t even move.

Your heart stopped beating in your chest. You fell to your knees, hovering over Fred’s lifeless body. No, no! You were supposed to be saving him! What did you do?

“Oh, Merlin,” whispered Percy, his pale skin turning even paler. He, too, sank to his knees, shaking Fred’s body. “Oh, shit. Fred! This isn’t funny! Wake up, please!”

As a parent, you had to be aware of your surroundings at all times. Danny was rarely out of your sight, and if he ever got hurt you knew the play by play of what happened. That little skill came in great use as you stared at Fred’s body in the patch of rubble.

“He wasn’t hit,” you assured Percy, “this is shock.” You held your middle and pointer fingers close together, pressing them under his jaw in search of his pulse. As soon as you felt the soft beating against the pads of your fingers, you let out a happy gasp.

“What is it? What are you doing?” Percy scrambled to replicate your actions, pushing your hand aside and replacing it with his.

“That’s his heartbeat. It’s faint but it’s there. We need to take him to the Great Hall so he can get patched up.”

Percy let out a relieved sigh, tears falling down his cheeks carelessly. With the sparks that were being shot from outside the castle, it illuminated his face just right so that it reminded you of your mother. In his hands was Fred— your problem— and the glaring reality became apparent that you desperately wanted to run away from it.

With the wards down at Hogwarts, you could apparate inside the castle. Unable to pick Fred up, you and Percy pushed him up against a wall, his head drooping onto his chest and back slouched.

“I’ll meet you in the Great Hall, if that’s okay?” Percy asked. You frowned. “I want to check on George, he’s been missing for a bit.”

“Yeah, go check on your brother, I can take care of Fred.” The words left a sour taste in your mouth but you couldn’t help but feel a familiar sense of warmth blossom in your chest as his name rolled off your tongue.

You reluctantly slid up next to him and slung his arm around your shoulder before apparating away. When you arrived in the Great Hall, nobody even realized you were there. You let Fred rest against a wall while you tracked down Pomfrey, who was hurriedly mixing some salve together, an unpleasant earthy aroma drifting your way.

“Madam Pomfrey, Madam Pomfrey!” You waved your hand wildly in the air, the color draining from her face at the sight of Fred behind you.

“Oh, Godric.” The words escaped her lips like a dying man’s last breath as she ran up to you two.

You took her wrist and ducked to meet her eyes, shaking your head. “He’s not dead, he’s just unconscious.”

Pomfrey gripped at her apron as she let out a shaky sigh. She lifted her head up to the sky, hoping that Merlin himself would dry her eyes. Once she had regained composure, she chuckled slightly at the insanity of the situation.

“Unconscious,” she repeated, pointing at you, “that’s something I can fix. Help me get him to that cot right there, dear.”

You nodded and helped Pomfrey drag him to the sheet on the ground right beside you. She rifled through her apron, the many pockets holding vials of wonders.

“I haven’t seen you in quite some time, Miss (Y/L/N),” Pomfrey noted. She paused, her eyes flickering up at you for just a moment. “Or is it missus, now?”

You flexed your hand in silent rage— you hated those questions. “No, I’m not married, but I appreciate your concern.”

Pomfrey frowned slightly, her eyes moving down towards your stomach before drifting back towards her pockets. She whispered a quiet “aha!” and pulled a long tube full of amber liquid out, uncorking and pouring it into Fred’s limp mouth.

You sank onto the floor beside Fred, resting your back against the wall. Pomfrey looked at you like a mother staring at a lost child. You finally met her gaze, brows knit together.

“How’s your kid?” she asked.

Your eyes flitted to Fred; he was still asleep. “He’s good. He’s safe. Staying with a muggle neighbor at her flat for the time being.”

“He?”

“Yeah, Daniel— Danny. He hates when I call him Daniel.”

A reluctant grin tugged at the corners of your lips. You reached into your pocket, pulling out a wallet-sized, moving photo of you and your son. He was a small boy with fiery ginger hair and loads of freckles covering his face. You spun him around before shrugging him onto your back, him hiding his laughter into your hair.

Pomfrey snorted. She glanced between the photo in her delicate hands, the sleeping boy beside you, and your sunken eyes. “He takes after his father.”

You pocketed the photo, scoffing. “He doesn’t need to know that.”

“Mr. Weasley or Danny?”

“Both.”

Pomfrey shook her head but not truly disapproving of you. You avoided her stare and your eyes happened to get caught on a person waving, causing Pomfrey to turn around as well. She nodded, understanding that they were beckoning her. “Would you stay here with him? I need to care for some others.”

“Won’t be a problem.”

She nodded a quick thanks before scurrying off to the other side of the Great Hall.

And then you were alone with Fred.

Your eyes roved over his body, mentally taking pictures of how he changed. No matter how hard you tried, the images of Fred the night before he left were seared in your mind. He looked different, like he’d seen things he never intended to. His eyes had a slight depth to them and his skin coarse with dirt.

You didn’t really mean to, but your heart has a funny way of dictating things. You reached your hand out, linking your pinky with his. As soon as you touched, you felt a spark in your chest. No sooner did you touch him than you jumped away.

Your mother might have been right. Problems need to be thrown away because there was no other way that you’d escape them. You needed not to feel such a thing— you were supposed to hate Fred— but a simple touch disproved that.

You spotted every member of the Weasley family at the other end of the hall, their eyes scanning the room for Fred. You looked down at your ex, a sense of sympathy tugging at your heart as you slipped out of the Great Hall unnoticed, leaving Fred to be in the care of people who actually loved him, or at least could admit it.

You needed to burn every memory, every thought, every feeling that was Fred Weasley. Because if you didn’t burn them, he’d be the death of you.

●●●

“It’s rare, Danny,” you began, dotting every freckle that lined his arms, “but some people just don’t have dads. They weren’t born with them.”

“But Ethan has a dad and he also only lives with his mum!”

He yanked his arm away from you, an oncoming tantrum arriving. You sighed, tugging him closer to you and brushing his unruly hair with your fingers.

“But we’re special,” you whispered, “some people don’t have dads because they don’t need them.”

His displaced anger mellowed, his wide, amber eyes staring up at you, full of hope. “So we don’t need a dad?”

“No, we don’t need a dad, so we don’t have one.”

You never thought that you could do it, but you had; you had erased Fred Weasley from your life. It was then you knew that your mother was right: seeing everything you had with him burn into ashes really did make you smile.

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

taglist: @whiz-bangs78 @the-romanian-is-bae @witch-and-a-half @pineapplesandpinas @bellaiscool @gsvshsjsbs

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avatarvader · 3 years

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A New Year’s Resolution

So this was made for the Romione Secret Santa Event in the HPRomione Discord (It’s a lot of fun and there are some great people in the server.). I was the secret santa for @be11atrixthestrange Hope you enjoy and happy holidays to all!

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Resolution

noun

A firm decision to do or not to do something.

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The night was waning upon the Burrow as snow trickled down upon its brightly lit windows. 2004 was coming to a close in about two hours. Ron was excited for the new year, another one in which he would get to spend with the most amazing and interesting person in the world to him. Ron felt his breast pocket for the box he had shrunk while Hermione was in the shower and grinned to himself.

He had it all planned out, when the clock would strike twelve everyone would cheer and Hermione would turn to give him a New Year’s kiss. He’d already be down on one knee, in one hand the ring he had purchased for her and roses in the other. He’d mastered the summon flowers charm when he learned that she’d gush over roses.

He had his speech already written down and he’d gone over it twelve times in the last week alone. Truthfully that’s why he worked at the Ministry so late recently. That and he was scared of blurting it out in the middle of dinner.

Thinking through everything and knowing it was finally happening tonight had made Ron parched. He made his way into the Burrow’s where he heard Angelina chatting with Ginny about their pregnancies while George was howling drunkenly about Verity to Harry.

“I can understand the need to make Christmas special,” George slurred “But Christmas is already a special time!”

“You don’t think that proposing on Christmas isn’t sweet?” Harry laughs, he too is on the tipsy side. “Better than what I did.” Harry lamented as he remembered his attempt to make his proposal to Ginny special. Harry had wanted to take her on a fly around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, before stopping on a cliffside overlooking the Black Lake. However, when he had gotten to The Burrow and saw her grinning face he panicked and proposed right there, in the Burrow’s kitchen…. as Molly was cooking. To say that his mother-in-law was enthused was an understatement.

“Well at least yours was memorable,” George nudged. “Verity won’t be able to remember whether it was Christmas or her proposal in a few years. Holiday proposals are stupid and overrated.” George declared.

Ron felt a sinking feeling in his stomach hearing his brother’s words. Of course, it was stupid. Why did I think this would be special? Ron picked up his drink and walked into the family room, his mood shot to hell.

Ron sat down on the love seat and stared at the fire that was roaring in the family hearth.

“Ronnie, you alright dear?” His mum asked with a smile. “You seem down.”

“I’m fine, mum.” Ron glanced away to see Hermione talking with Percy about a policy she was trying to pass. “Just- not feeling great is all.”

He felt his mum’s cool hand press on his forehead without warning. “Well, you don’t feel warm. Is it your stomach?”

It’s my heart, I really wanted to do this today.

“I’m sure it’s nothing Mum, how was Bermuda?” Ron replied, deftly wanting to change the subject.

“Oh it was lovely,” Molly gushed, “Your father and I had so much se-“

“Is that Charlie?” Ron cut in, blushing at what his mum was about to say. “I really don’t get to see him enough. Oi Charlie!” Ron got up and made his way over to Charlie and his lady friend he brought from Romania.

“5…4…3…2…1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!” The Weasleys shouted as the clock chimed midnight, George and Angelina popped off some fireless fireworks in the house. They bounded from person to person pinging off of their noses before zooming away. Around them, couples turned into their respective partners and kissed in the New Year. Hermione turned to him and sank into his arms, her head pressing against his chest.

How perfect it would have been.

Hermione’s hands rested on Ron’s chest as she stood on her tiptoes to capture his lips with hers. Her hand pushes the small box in his breast pocket in his chest.

Oh fuck me, she’s going to find out!

“Ron, what’s that in your pocket?” She pressed his chest to feel the object again.

“N-Nothing.” Ron lied. Make this work in your favour, old boy.

“Did you forget to clean out your pockets?” Hermione scowled. “You KNOW they put cardboard in there so the shirt doesn’t wrinkle. I swear if our brand-new washing machine gets clogged up by cardboard you left in there, I’ll make sure you sleep on my side of the bed…” Ron cringed knowing her side was lumpy and stiffer than he cared for.

Execute this properly chap, timing is key.

“Hermione,” Ron sighed as she reached into his pocket and pulled out the deep blue box.

Ron watched Hermione’s eyes as she gazed at the box, he saw her eyes widen as she realized what it was.

Now old boy!! On your knee!

Ron sunk to his knee as he flicked his right hand to draw his wand from its holster. (Auror technique that makes for easy drawing.). He swooped it high over his head, never once letting his gaze be torn from Hermione’s eyes.

Rose petals appeared from nothingness and fell gently like snowflakes around them. The pair of them, despite being surrounded by the Weasley’s felt like they were alone in this one instance in time. All distractions unseen, all voices tuned out.

“R-Ron?” She gasped. “W-What are… What is this?”

“Hermione.” Ron’s heart was thumping in his chest. He held the box out for her to take from him. "Open it, love."

She opened the box and saw a beautiful, yet simple ring. It was the home to three (rather small) stones, Aquamarine and Sapphire on either side, with a slightly larger diamond in the middle. The band was silver, and woven in a lattice pattern. It was simple yet elegant.

“I-is that our birthstones?” Hermione said as she turned her attention back to Ron.

“I've wanted to ask you this to ask this for a long, long, time.” Ron swallowed thickly. “I love you. I love you so much a-and I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” Hermione’s free hand covered her mouth to stop herself from blurting out her answer, he clearly planned this for her and she wanted to make sure he said what he wanted to.

“As daft as it may be to ask this question-” He took the box from her hand and took the ring out and held it just over her left ring finger. “-Hermione Granger. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

“Yes, of course, Ron. Of course!” She said, her eyes brimming with tears. Ron slid the ring onto her finger and she crashed into him, hugging him as tightly as she ever had before.

Ron stood up and leaned in to kiss her again, which she happily responded to.

Reality snapped back, all of the Weasley siblings were watching the newly engaged couple.

Bill and Fleur hugged each other and smiled knowingly, they had seen how tenderly and affectionately Ron cared for her during their stay at Shell Cottage during the war.

Charlie grinned at his little brother, he knew that Ron would eventually get the courage to ask her. Charlie had helped Ron move into their place together and when Ron took Charlie out for obligatory drinks afterward, Ron couldn’t stop talking about how amazing Hermione was.

Percy smiled at the couple, reminiscing at how he watched their friendship blossom, growing up and becoming friends together during their first three years of Hogwarts. Hermione would come to Percy in a huff to ‘Sort out that brother of yours! He doesn’t care about his studies!’ Percy would never say it to her face, but he always thought Ron was a calming force for Hermione.

George was crying. The combination of a generous amount of alcohol and seeing his brother proposing had sent him over the edge. He wasn’t crying because he thought Ron was making a bad decision, or that Hermione and he weren't compatible. He was crying because of the bet he lost all those years ago. Fred bet him during their 6th year that Ron and Hermione would get engaged at a family function and that Ron wouldn’t hesitate for even a moment. George thought that Ron would be a mumbling and stumbling mess. He owed Fred now and his twin wasn’t around to collect.

Ginny was surprised to find Ron on his knee, he was talking to Hermione in low tones, so only they could hear each other. It was quite clear what he was doing though. Ginny’s heart leaped as she saw her brother, her closest friend growing up, slide the ring on Ginny's best friend. She muttered a quick “It’s about time isn’t it?” To her husband jokingly when she realized. Harry was crying. She rubbed Harry’s back soothingly.

Harry took off his glasses as he watched his best best friend in the whole world propose to his other best friend who was like a sister to him. Harry knew they’d be happy together. Despite all their bickering and arguments at Hogwarts, it seemed that dating and living together seemed to ease the tension between them. Admittedly, there was PROBABLY another factor, but Harry didn’t want to think about their intimate life that deeply. It was bad enough walking in on them in the kitchen the one time. Harry knew they would make each other happy. That was all he wanted for them. His best friends, who gave him so much joy and happiness in his life when he needed it most. The pair that had almost acted as parents to him during school. They had a certain way with each other, their love for each other came naturally, all they had to do was get there. Harry only wanted the best for his closest friends, and the fact that they seemed to choose each other filled Harry’s heart with so much emotion.

Molly turned after kissing her husband to see Ron on his knee in front of Hermione a ring of rose petals shower down upon them and Ron slipped a ring on her finger.

“What just happened?!” She squeaked to her husband. “Oh, Merlin I missed it!!” She lamented as Hermione sank into her now Fiancé’s arms. The newly engaged couple kissed, both smiling into each other's lips. Ron pulled back and looked around the room and flushed red with embarrassment.

“So, erm…. Happy New Year?” He said sheepishly. Molly squealed with joy and rushed to wrap her youngest child in her arms. She kissed his forehead before she moved over to her future daughter in law.

Arthur smiled at his youngest boy as he was congratulated by his siblings. Ginny, Fleur and Molly were cooing over the beauty of the ring. Ron was being pounded on his back by Charlie, and George had slung his arm around Ron’s shoulders singing a hearty and happy song.

Arthur made his way into the crowd. “I believe an official 'welcome' to the family is in order, Hermione. We're so excited it's finally official.” Arthur opened his arms wide as she hugged him rather tightly.

“There’s no other family I’d want to join,” she said with a beaming smile as she pulled out of the hug. Hermione was soon distracted by Molly fretting over wedding plans so Arthur turned to his boy.

“Ronnie.” Ron looked up and saw his dad with slight tears in his eyes, “You’ve found your perfect person. I’m so happy for you, my boy.” Ron gave his dad a big hug and Arthur almost broke down then and there.

“What can I say, I know what a good match is after all.” Ron nudged his dad's side, “After all, I got to see how happy you and Mum were all this time. Gave me something to look forward to, y’know?” Arthur gave his son another hug.

The night progressed rather quickly after that. Soon enough it was two in the morning, and Ron and Hermione had flooed home. They were both dog tired after the events of the night and just wanted sleep. Ron had changed into his pajamas and laid on his side of the bed looking at the ceiling. He was remembering every little detail about his proposal, but he kept coming back to seeing Hermione’s eyes during his speech. They were the perfect shade of chocolate brown and he watched her eyes as they smiled at her new ring.

Hermione came in from the bathroom and sat down on her side of the bed. She snuggled up on Ron’s chest, her left hand resting on the other side of his torso. She looked at the ring again and her heart did flips at how perfect it was.

“So I have to ask,” She started, “How much of that went as planned?”

“Honestly? Pretty much exactly as I wanted it to.” She could hear the grin on his face without looking at him. “Didn’t expect you to find the ring, but after that, it went right as I wanted it to.”

“I'm so happy right now, Ron.” She sighed.

“Well good, It was my New Year’s resolution last year to make you happy and in typical Ron fashion I got it done… just a tad late is all.” Ron placed a hand against her back and she pressed against him closer.

“If that was last year’s then what is this year's?” She looked at him coyly.

“This year’s? Propose to you.” He laughed.

“Well, that job's done then, isn't it?!”

“Gotta be early for some things, right?” He ran his hands down her arms. “How about you? Any resolutions?”

“Marry the love of my life.” She kissed him deeply and tugged at his trousers. “And I fully intend to enjoy married life with him, as well.”

THE END

#2020 hpromione discord secret santa exchange #romione #ron weasley #hermione granger

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thelittlestcheshire · 4 years

Text

Self Para 004: But I Sympathize, and I Recognize, and I Apologize That I Got the Good Side

TWs: Cancer (Brain Cancer - Gioblastoma specifically), Abuse, Seizures (only absence seizures are shown but others are mentioned / implied), Surgery and Medications (mentioned), and depictions of eating!

1:03pm

Ches glances over to the clock in the pizza place yet again, not sure why she’s quite expecting for the time to tick onto the next minute. It hadn’t the last ten times she checked. She’d confirmed it wasn’t broken already, it shifted at the same moment as her phone did - entirely too accurate. It was time itself that was currently moving too slow for her as she tried her hardest to shove down the nausea rumbling in her stomach. The urge to flee had already kicked in, and she hadn’t even been here five minutes yet.

As she glances away from the clock, she reaches towards her phone, taking a deep breath as she opens the Message app to reread her last text message for what felt like the hundredth time. Perhaps it’d actually been more.

From James Ruth: OMW, princess.

Of course, meeting up for lunch when she was home had been planned weeks ago. After he told her what was going on, why he was trying so hard to get ahold of her this time. If it’d been for any other reason, she’d have told him to fuck off. But it was her soft spot, her kryptonite, the one reason she’d never be able to shove the door in someone’s face. His mother was dying, slowly, painfully, as her glioblastoma got worse. There was no survival, only elongation. What kind of person would Ches be if she turned him away?

She only stops rereading the text when she hears the door to the restaurant open, the clinking of the bell as an all too familiar person walks through the door. Of course, James had gotten taller, he was about Elliot’s height now. “Well, well. Look what the meerkats dragged in.” She teases him as he comes over to sit down.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes, welcome home.” There’s something off as James says the words, a giggle escaping her lips as she tries to figure out what she’s even supposed to do. Perhaps a two-hour-long conversation on the phone hadn’t been enough to completely erase the tension. “Where’s the boyfriend?”

“Elliot had plans already, so I didn’t want to bother him.” Maybe he would have come if Ches had asked him, but she didn’t think it was fair to ask that of him. They weren’t official, he didn’t want to be official. Why should he have to deal with the pressure of having to decide if he was going to come with Ches to see her ex or not? And the last thing she needed was him to worry after the information Emmett let slip. Zander was blowing up her phone to make sure she was fine enough for the entirety of Luxor. “Maybe next time.”

“Is there going to be a next time?”

It was a good question, one Ches didn’t quite know the answer to so she just simply ignores it. “How are you holding in? How’s mam doing?” That was the entire point of this lunch, after all, to support James through a hard time and dance around any feelings that could possibly linger. It felt like eating pizza in a minefield; one slip up away from exploding - allowing James the opportunity to spill his guts again.

“I think she’s doing as well as can be expected. They’re giving her till mid-October, not that she’s... I’m not sure how much she knows is going on anymore.” James’s voice cracks as he finishes his sentence, and she reaches out across the table to place a palm on his arm across the table, about to tell him he doesn’t have to talk about it when he starts to continue. “I wish she was stable enough to move, she’d be in better shape back home, but I visit her every chance I get. She thought I was the sperm donor last week.”

When James rests his hand on top of hers, it takes everything not to yank it away and text Elliot an apology, but she takes a deep breath and stays put. “I can’t imagine how hard it is for you, I know how much she means to you.”

“She’s all I have left. I mean yeah, Uncle Alastair is great and all, but...”

“He’s not your mam.”

“Exactly.” James pulls away when someone brings over their pizza, the slightest hint of a smile appearing briefly when he sees what she’d ordered. “You still remember my favorite.” He notes as he grabs a slice.

“Well, we dated what, two years. I remember way more than that, Jem.” She rolls her eyes as she takes a slice as well, it wasn’t that big of a deal. She remembered he didn’t like toppings on his pizza, that wasn’t anything to pull out the confetti cannons over or whatever he was thinking. Although as she watches his expression shift, she tries to figure out what she said that would cause him to make that face.

“It’s still appreciated.” He says after a few minutes, “you didn’t have to grab lunch with me, and you didn’t have to answer my messages - after everything I did to you... this does mean a lot, Ches.”

She takes a bite of her pizza as she tries to even think of what to say. Every plan she’d already had for this conversation had gone out the window the second he walked in through that door. The food feels heavy in her throat as she swallows, and she’s forced to find the words to say. “What kind of person would I be if I left you alone during this?”

James takes a deep breath, “after I put your head through a wall? A completely justified one.”

“It was an accident.” She protests, immediately, the excuse sliding off her tongue almost as easily as it had after it happened. The uneasy feeling creeps back upon her as she hears the words leave her mouth.

“Don’t make excuses for me, what I did to you wasn’t okay and if I could go back and change it, I would. You didn’t deserve what I put you through,” James’s voice starts to raise for a moment, and her hand is quickly darting back into her lap as she waits for what’s to come next. But instead, he simply takes a deep breath and picks his slice of pizza up again. “But, I’m glad you’re here. I think you’re the only one who understands what I’m going through, after what happened with-”

“My maman.” Ches interrupts, reaching into a bag to pull out her water bottle, ignoring the look he gives her when she drinks out of it. “I can empathize, watching someone you love fade away...” She glances down at the table, “I’m sorry. I hate that you’re going through this.” Perhaps that was the worst part, his mother didn’t deserve this, even James himself didn’t deserve this. Sure, she’d be the first to say karma should bite him in the ass one day, but this was much too brutal. “At least you have time to say goodbye, right?”

“I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse. You haven’t seen her.”

For a moment, she almost answers it’s a blessing. After all, wasn’t that something she wanted? A chance to say goodbye to her mother. But, she holds back the words, taking a bite of her pizza.

Silence settles in the longer she doesn’t talk. The chatter of the other tables around them, the clinking of dishes, filling the air as they eat. After a few minutes, Ches finally says something. “Am I allowed to see her?”

“I think she’d like that, she asks for you sometimes. But are you sure you want to see her? She’s not always acting like herself, we never really know when she’s going to have seizures, and she’s bedbound. This isn’t going to be pretty.” As much as she appreciates James’s warning, Ches wanted to go see her. She wanted to say goodbye.

“I’m positive.”

“We’ll go see her after we finish the pizza then.” James goes back to eating, and Ches allows the silence to settle back in as she plays with her food. She was doing the right thing, she knew that going to grab lunch and making sure James was okay.

As long as he understood that was all there was to it, things would be okay.

Ches takes a deep breath as she walks through the door to the hospital room, and she can feel her heart start to shatter in her chest when she sees James’s mother. “Mrs. Ruth.” Even she wants to cringe at how broken her voice is when she says the words, completely unsure if his mother was going to recognize her. For a moment, it doesn’t look like she will, but Molly smiles after a few minutes.

“Come here, let me get a good look at you.” She sounds so tired, and Ches immediately complies, pulling up a chair beside her bed and sitting down. “How’s my future daughter in law doing? I swear that school of yours keeps you far too busy.”

For a moment, the redhead glances over to James, hoping for some guidance, but all he mouths is the word memory, and she realizes she’s mostly on her own in this situation. “It keeps me busy, but it’s worth every penny. I really miss everyone here, but I know in the long run I need to do this now to get to where I want to be.” She forces a smile on her face, “I’ll have to come down to visit more often.”

She nods slowly, glancing over to her son after a few minutes. “You two will need to get married before we go home. I don’t want to fly twice.”

“We’re not heading back to Virginia until the doctors say it’s okay, there’s no rush.” James dismisses as he pulls up his own chair. Ches knew that tone, it still made her want to take a shower after hearing in hopes of cleaning herself of just how slimy his lies sounded. “We’re young, we’ve got all the time in the world.”

Ches frowns a little, “I want to focus on school a while longer. I just graduated Valedictorian of my class.”

“That’s great, but I still think we should talk to your...” Molly trails off as if she’s not exactly sure what the word she’s looking for is. After a few moments, frustration fills her features, “anyway we need to start planning.”

“We’ll discuss it later, mam.” James agrees, giving Ches an apologetic look. “But right now, we’re here to hang out with you. Are you hungry?”

“I’m fine.” Molly answers, “but I don’t know who ran off with the remote to the telly.”

“I’ll look for it, mam!” Ches immediately offered, getting up to look around the bed for the remote and thankful she wasn’t going to have to hear about her marrying James any longer. Did his mother forget they’d broken up years ago? The last time she’d seen Molly, she’d heard all about how sorry for her son’s behavior she was - now she was trying to marry her off to him. “Found it!” She exclaims the second she spots the white remote. She picks it up and offers it to her.

But instead of taking it, the woman doesn’t even seem to see her or what she’s offering her. “Mam?”

After a few minutes, Molly blinks, confusion crossing her features. “Why are you handing me the remote?”

“Petit mal.” James answers before he mouths the word seizure. “Ches just thought you might want to watch television, mam.”

“Oh, thank you.” She takes the remote, turning on the television to watch it. Once she settles on a channel, Ches moves to sit down next to James again, setting back in and giving him a confused look.

“That wasn’t what I was expecting.” She whispers to him. After all, everything she’d heard about seizures over the years had her imagining uncontrollable movements.

“Give it a few hours, it’s a bit too early for clonic seizures. She has those in the evenings.” James leans in to whisper back, “she seems to be having a good day, though..” After a few moments, he pulls away, making a face when he sees what his mother had put on. “No, we are not watching The Golden Girls again.”

“I love The Golden Girls.” Ches quickly interrupts, giving him a look. “But if you don’t want to watch it, you’re more than welcome to leave, Jem.” He gives her the strange look again, and it’s only this time she realizes what she said to cause the reaction. She was using her nickname for him.

“Fine, I’ll watch The Golden Girls.” He grumbles, and the three of them settle into silence.

4:15 wasn’t Ches’s definition of evening, she’d barely had time to process what was going on before James and her were in the hallway, and nurses were rushing into the hospital room. “Holy shit.” She whispers to him.

“It happens every day now.” Were those tears in James’s eyes? The redhead reaches out to pat his arm, not quite sure what to say. What could she say to make this better? “And it’s only going to get worse. Sometimes I wonder if it’d be kinder if we stopped fighting it. I’m only prolonging her suffering, aren’t I? Every surgery, all the medications...”

“She’d smack you upside the head if she heard you talking like this.” Ches reminds him, for as long as she’d known his mother, she was a fighter. Even if her time was limited, she’d want to fight for every moment she had left. “You’re doing exactly what she’d want you to, James. It’d be more selfish if you went against her wishes for the sake of mercy.” The words sound awful on her tongue, but she knows they’re the truth. If Molly was making the decisions, this was what she’d be doing.

“I hate it when you’re right.” James sighs, “come on, I’ll walk with you to the subway station. They’re not going to let us see her again today.” He starts to head to the exit of the hospital ward, and Ches follows. She stays silent as he wishes the nurses a goodnight and says he’ll see them tomorrow on their way out, and she still doesn’t speak when he calls the elevator. “Thanks for coming with me today, Ches.”

“Thanks for letting me see her.” Ches responds, after all, he could have simply said no. “I wish it’d been under different circumstances, but it was nice seeing her again.”

“If you ever want to come down for a weekend to visit, you’re welcome to stay in the flat. Maybe we could go grab dinner or something?” He suggests. He wasn’t dumb enough to suggest what she thought he just suggested, was he?

“I have a boyfriend.”

“And your boyfriends never last.” James shrugs, “I’m just saying when you’re tired of this one, you know where to find me if you want to give this another try, princess.”

She rolls her eyes, stepping out of the elevator when it opens on their floor. “I’m really not interested, James. I’ll be here as your friend, but I’m not interested in anything romantic. I love Elliot, he’s not going anywhere.”

For a moment, he looks annoyed as he starts in the direction of the hospital doors. And as they begin to head in the direction to the nearest subway entrance, Ches thinks they’re going to walk in silence until they go their separate ways, but after a few minutes, he finally speaks. “We’ve never given friends a try before.”

And it was for good cause, but his world was pretty upside down right now, and her own wasn’t exactly going the way she’d like it to. Maybe she had no intention of sticking around forever, but for now, while he was going through the worst thing in his life, she was willing to give it an attempt. “You know this means you can’t say anything romantic or make a single jab about my boyfriend. In fact, I’d rather Elliot completely stay out of your mouth.”

“I can do that.” James’ lack of argument is surprising, and she has to shove down her sneaking suspicion before she questions him. If he was playing the game she feared he was, she didn’t need him aware she thought he was playing along in an attempt to just win her back down the line.

“Good. Anyway, I just realized I have something to do on this side of town. So you should head out without me! I’m going to get an errand or two done fast.” She doesn’t even realize the excuse she’s making until it’s out of her mouth. While he seems a bit disappointed, he nods and waves goodbye to her before he continues on his way.

To Elliot Electric ⚡️💘 [Unsent]: Guess who just saw her ex! Reminded me just how lucky I am to have you, though, I really... To Elliot Electric ⚡️💘 [Sent]: If you’re at the mansion when I get back, can I steal a hug? I had a rough day, and you really do give the best hugs.

She sends Elliot a text quickly, slipping her phone into her pocket before she ducks into a coffee shop. James should be through the subway station by the time she’d got a cup, and then she’d head back to the mansion and hopefully be able to find someone to steal a hug from. Maybe take a couple showers in hopes she’d feel clean again afterward, and try to avoid discussing where’d she ran off to today.

#after months of planning I finally can drop this bless #cancer tw #brain cancer tw #Gioblastoma tw #abuse tw #surgery tw #medication tw #food tw #seizures tw #npc ( james ruth )#a hundred thrown out speeches i almost said to you ( self paras )#all of my heroes died all alone ( musings )#brain injury tw

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punkscowardschampions · 4 years

Text

Jac & Amelia

Jac: Can you believe this girl? Amelia: No, you're right, she's unbelievable! Jac: I can't believe she thinks so much of herself Jac: who told her she was so great and was it April fools when they lied to her face? Amelia: it'll be sir from now on and she'll be loving it Jac: As if she didn't get it just because she's so loud and he couldn't bother with the tantrum Amelia: he had no idea what to do when Ciara started crying, we all saw that Jac: Exactly, she just made him feel uncomfortable Jac: not cool Amelia: it's really not Jac: Not to mention not cool in the literal sense Jac: so lame Amelia: yeah Amelia: did you see how Connor and his friends looked at her? Amelia: I'm 😳 for her Jac: She has no shame Jac: It's no wonder Keeley doesn't want to be her friend any more Jac: I heard she like, ruined her last birthday party Jac: not surprised Amelia: showing off at the ice rink does sound like something she'd do Jac: Probably 😭 she wasn't the next Michelle Kwan Jac: she thinks she's good at EVERYTHING, which is cringe when you can't back that up Amelia: and when you put that much effort in, to impress sir of all people Amelia: he's not someone she should have a crush on Jac: Talk about daddy issues Amelia: my parents know everyone, they probably know hers Jac: OMG, I wonder what they're like Jac: she has a sister too, right? Jac: but she doesn't seem as nightmareish Amelia: I think she's in the year below but I've never heard anything about her Amelia: she must not be so Savannah-ish Jac: Poor thing is probably suffocated Jac: have to be so extra to get any attention with a sister like that Amelia: thank god I've never been to any family dinners at her house Amelia: who is she friends with now? Jac: You'll have to corner your mum, find out what their deal is Jac: I think she goes 'round with that Molly girl and her friends Jac: but I don't think they're like HER friends, you knoq Amelia: come over tonight, I've already sent her a text and it's totally fine Jac: Cool, I can sleep? Jac: anything to get away from my own annoying sister for the night Amelia: absolutely! Amelia: hopefully she'll have less boring gossip than when I asked her about that new girl last year Jac: Yay 😚 Jac: I'm sure she can be relied upon for the tea Jac: if not we'll look up their tragic old people socials Amelia: being on the board of school governors is such a middle aged in Amelia: that'll be where she knows Savannah's parents from if they are anything like her Jac: Why else would you do it? Jac: There's no funding to allocate 😂 Amelia: 😂 Jac: Though, your mum has to tell us in advanced for the next fundraiser, so we can actually get in there before Savannah just takes it all over Amelia: if people would pay her to 🤫🤐 that'd be a charitable act to us Jac: That's SUCH a good idea though actually Jac: watch her flop a sponsored silence 😂 Amelia: her sister would be 💔 Amelia: thinking it's her moment Jac: Awh 😬🤭 Amelia: oh god, I'm too stupid, I did not click her last name Amelia: her dad is a self proclaimed big deal, it all makes sense now Jac: Gross 😫 Jac: links? Amelia: they're like 🤑 Amelia: [links] Jac: She does have such wannabe richgirl vibes Jac: and she looks like him Amelia: she does 😬🤭 Jac: awkward Jac: also that there's barely any sign of her mum on these socials... Amelia: I wonder if he's flirted with my mum Amelia: she won't tell us Jac: but we'll know from what she DOESN'T say 😏 Amelia: this afternoon is going to drag so hard Jac: What even is social skills Jac: such a non-class, so dull 🙄 Jac: we should go to the shops before going to yours though, get snacks Jac: AND if we get dinner your mum will be thrilled with us 😇 Amelia: 💐! Amelia: you're onto something Amelia: do you think I should tint my lashes? Jac: I know 😋 Jac: Are you serious? but your hair is SO dark Amelia: exactly, they should be naturally thicker than this Jac: Okay but make sure you get a good kit Jac: Poppy Masters in the year above us got a cheap one and they all fell out Jac: her eyebrows too 😱 Amelia: oh no Jac: She's too ginger anyway, it would have looked ridiculous if it went right Amelia: is she the one who usually looks orange? Jac: Yeah...it's unfortunate 😬 Jac: she's not allowed to dye her hair because her mam reckons she'll regret spoiling her 'natural beauty' Amelia: her mum gets botox though Jac: Seriously? Jac: I thought she was a young mum too, like you know, had her TOO young young Jac: what a state Amelia: she thought my mum got it too and was asking her where and everything Amelia: because wherever she went cut her off for wanting to keep going like all the time Jac: The cheek of some people Jac: that's like Savannah levels of no shame Jac: your mum must've been SO embarrassed for her Amelia: I was standing right there and then she gave me a talk about our natural beauty, since I owe it to her, sorry dad Jac: Well you are super beautiful 🤷 Amelia: but yours was a model and you look just like her, neither of you are in people's faces about it Amelia: 😳 stop it please mother Amelia: I don't wanna turn into Savannah Jac: You could NEVER Amelia: have you seen her socials? She really loves herself Jac: I'll go look now Jac: I bet it's all selfies though Amelia: EVERYTHING she wears is designer Amelia: we get it 🤑💸 Jac: 🙄 like way to show you have no friends or real hobbies Amelia: does she do anything but shop and study? Amelia: 🥱 Jac: Clearly not Jac: She can't be that rich or she wouldn't go to our school Jac: or live in the catchment area even Amelia: maybe her invisible mum is trying to make her more humble Amelia: she goes on holiday constantly if this feed is anything to go by Jac: we might have to help her with that goal, honestly Amelia: what are you 🤔? Jac: Well, she needs teaching when to be quiet and when to just stop Jac: so we need to find something that she wouldn't wanna overshare Amelia: but now she's sir's favourite, aren't you worried we'd end up in trouble? Jac: it can't come from us, of course Jac: it won't be hard to just get out there Jac: anyway, how long is he actually going to be able to deal with how much she is Amelia: if you tell Is anything she'll spread it around Jac: and she never remembers where she heard it Jac: maybe we can think of something that will stop her being favourite Jac: hmm Amelia: like she's 😍🥰😘 for him Amelia: if he can't handle tears Jac: I mean, it isn't even a stretch Jac: we all saw her so Amelia: and the daddy issues are real Jac: Exactly Jac: like, it's not Sir's fault your dad is the worst Jac: do you wanna facetime her later? Amelia: should we? Jac: Is, I mean, obvs 😅 Jac: she might be a bit jealous she wasn't invited but she'll still be happy we called her Amelia: what if she wants to come over though? Jac: we'll have to pretend we've got somewhere to be after Jac: so she doesn't go on and on Jac: some club, a reservation with your parents 🤷 Jac: it'll be better to tell her, I'm not messaging it, I only trust you like that Jac: she could turn on us and say we were gossiping or whatever, some pettiness Amelia: I do wanna take you somewhere cool since my dad's working late Jac: That sounds fun Jac: do you have somewhere in mind already? is it a surprise? 😋 Amelia: it doesn't have to be a surprise but yeah, my cousin gave me the idea, so I know you'll like it Amelia: the one you met at my parents anniversary party Jac: I like surprises Jac: it sounds intriguing Jac: Isabelle is definitely not coming Amelia: follow my lead with my mum, okay? Amelia: she'd only say no if she knew where we were actually going Jac: Of course Jac: I know how to play it Amelia: I trust you Jac: ❤❤❤ Amelia: if Is feels left out she can come with us when we go to Savannah's 🏠 Amelia: I've worked out where it is Amelia: she seriously does overshare on socials Jac: As if Jac: you're as smart as she is dumb, seriously Jac: probably wants people to show up, so she can show off some more Amelia: yeah Amelia: Is wouldn't spy as subtly as us, maybe I'll uninvite her Amelia: before she like falls into their recycling bins Jac: 😂😂 Jac: Bless her Jac: she had a bit of salad stuck in her teeth ALL afternoon yesterday lunch Jac: it's like she never looks in a mirror sometimes Amelia: I can't believe Declan asked her out! Amelia: nobody's ever asked me Jac: I just hope for her sake she hasn't got a reputation with the boys already or he'll be expecting something Jac: loads of them fancy you though Jac: like Luke H Amelia: he cares more about French verbs than French kissing and he knows I'll let him copy a few of my answers Amelia: which is fine because unlike Isabelle I don't know how to 💋 Jac: It isn't hard Jac: can't be if she can master it, no offence Jac: and boys LOVE a teaching moment don't they 🙄🙄 Jac: don't want a girl who's clearly done it too many times already Amelia: that isn't a rep I want Amelia: so for now, maybe it's a good thing I freeze up around boys Jac: You're so cute Jac: the boys our age are so immature anyway, there is NO point Amelia: yeah, it's no wonder I can't think of any of them that I'd let 💋 me Jac: What about Leo? Jac: everyone fancies him Amelia: and he knows it Amelia: just like Savannah Jac: Yeah Jac: do you think she's even that pretty? Amelia: she is, but I think you're so much prettier Jac: you're just saying that 'cos you're my best friend Jac: but I appreciate it anyway 😚 Amelia: I could be her best friend instead but I'm not Jac: Imagine Jac: glorified bag holder sounds more legit Amelia: she'd hate where I'm taking you tonight Amelia: not enough mirrors and selfie lighting Jac: 😏 Jac: dark corners and 🚫📸 is way more fun Jac: that's why we're friends Amelia: best friends Jac: forever Amelia: and ever Amelia: do you wanna skip social skills? Jac: didn't you like, JUST get out of detention with Hilary? 🤔😆 Amelia: yeah Amelia: the timing's right Jac: to book yourself back in? Jac: I do HATE that lesson Amelia: we can say you're ill if you're worried about joining me in detention Amelia: Savannah's display was sickening Amelia: and you're 😇 enough to get away with it Jac: I hate that I can't escape her Jac: you know she's in EVERY one of my classes, literally Amelia: whenever you want to, we'll just go Jac: I will need to get an outfit Jac: as you're taking me somewhere Jac: I was going to ask to borrow your new top but this way, we can go shopping somewhere more exciting than just tescos for the dinner Amelia: my new top would look better on you but there'll be other dark corners for you to wear it in Jac: Not even, you looked so good in it on Friday Amelia: 😳 Amelia: I did feel good on Friday, we should do that again Jac: Definitely Jac: Where do you think Declan is gonna take Is out? Amelia: his sister works at the bowling alley, doesn't she? He'll use her discount Jac: the shoes are SUCH a look 🤭 Jac: guess she can't get burger and chips stuck in between her teeth though so that's a plus Jac: romantic ❤ Amelia: annoyingly, because I'm quite good at 🎳 Jac: Who's he friends with, you could make it a double date Jac: if you beat her though she'd be so mad 😠 she's the sporty one !!! Amelia: I'm not going unless you do too, who would you want? Amelia: Ross maybe Jac: He's not too annoying Amelia: did he get with that foreign exchange girl? Jac: He SAYS he did Jac: but I don't know if that's actually confirmed Amelia: still, I don't love that for you Jac: Hayden is part of that group too but he takes Classics and he's like, the male equivalent of Savannah Jac: he does not shut up, even though he's usually wrong 😒 Amelia: 🎤 drop Amelia: even if it makes me a bad friend, I'm not invested in Is' love life Amelia: there's a million things more fun than 🎳 we could be doing Jac: Yeah, it's not remotely worth it just to spy on her Jac: she'll tell us EVERY detail anyway 💁 Amelia: 😬 Amelia: I hate hearing about her boy drama Jac: maybe we'd care if there was more to it Jac: or she didn't always make herself look like a total idiot for some boring boy with nothing going for him Amelia: maybe Jac: or maybe not 😉 Amelia: I love her but I can't help feeling I loved her more when she wasn't so boy obsessed Amelia: but don't tell her I said that Jac: Of course I won't Jac: I know exactly what you mean Jac: it's like nothing else matters to her anymore Jac: she'll get over it though 🤞 Amelia: if she doesn't, I'm not going to have anything to ever talk to her about because it's the only thing she wants to Amelia: but that's probably true of most girls in our class anyway Jac: It's so tragic Jac: do you not have any ambitions of your own Jac: like it isn't the 50s Jac: not to mention boys think that's like, deeply unattractive anyway Amelia: at least you don't think I'm weird Amelia: or the tragic one Amelia: do you think the boys are obsessed with what we're doing? Jac: You're the coolest girl I know Jac: I'd be your friend no matter what Jac: like sometimes, I think I'm only friends with Is because I always have been Jac: like, I love her but Jac: what do we have in common now Jac: and no, boys fascination with girls starts and ends in the one place Amelia: I will be your friend no matter what Amelia: and if Savannah Moore or anyone else gets in your face like that again, I will be back in detention Amelia: would I risk it all for Is in the same way, not right now, no Jac: I'm glad I've got you on my side, Meels Jac: even if she's got Sir Jac: not for long, right Amelia: if she keeps this up she won't have anything Jac: 💪😍 Amelia: ❤❤❤ Jac: Okay, where do you wanna meet? Jac: I'm fake en-route to the sickbay now Amelia: [a location that makes sense] Jac: IOU a coffee Amelia: I should be treating you after everything that's happened today Amelia: you put in loads more work than she did Amelia: sir only recognises her big mouth Jac: But you've been so helpful and lovely, a per Jac: he's always been like that Jac: it's not my fault I don't like to shout out all the answers all the time Amelia: he didn't know you when you were younger and so shy Amelia: but I remember Jac: Clearly it'd be better if I was a loudmouth and said everything that came into my head though Amelia: for that lesson, but you don't have to go any more Amelia: we're only going to the ones we can be bothered to Jac: Sounds like a good idea but my grades would disagree Amelia: when Nessa was being bullied she didn't have to go to like any lessons Jac: Well I'm not being bullied though Jac: and I don't want her thinking I'm like, threatened by her Amelia: sir is close to the line, you don't have to mention her Jac: no, let's deal with it how we said first Jac: just her not being as smug will be enough Amelia: okay Jac: Trust me Jac: and you can still ditch as much as you want Jac: not gonna get in trouble with me Amelia: I'll ditch the lessons you're not in Amelia: I don't trust her and I'm not going to just leave you with her Jac: You're like half-girl half-pitbull Jac: not art though, you love art Amelia: maybe your mum and dad will adopt me and we can share a room instead of you having to deal with Jude Amelia: well then can I 🎨🖌 you? I've pushed this deadline extension as far as it'll go Jac: Ugh, don't even, that'd be the best Jac: she actually drives me insane sometimes Jac: you wanna 🎨🖌 me? Amelia: I'm thrilled my parents didn't make any 🧫🧪 siblings for me Amelia: and IVF is 💸💸 Amelia: yeah? if you'll let me Jac: You're so lucky tbh Jac: alright, but if I have to pose you can't make me laugh Amelia: 😏 Jac: You'll be the one that ends up with a dodgy painting if you do 😅 Amelia: if I asked Is to let me paint her with 🥑🥦🥬🥒 in her teeth then maybe Amelia: you're too good of a subject to mess up Jac: be so avant-garde Jac: the teacher would probably like that more Amelia: I don't care what she likes Amelia: not a teacher's pet like Savannah is Jac: you're only 🐶 part time Jac: and for a worthy cause, got it Amelia: for you, exactly yeah Amelia: 🦺🐶 Jac: what would I do without you? Amelia: you'd have less paint in your hair Amelia: 😂 Jac: Not very natural of me Jac: but I think I suit it Amelia: I think you do too Jac: I'm [different location] that nosy secretary was doing the rounds and I had to change direction Amelia: I'll be right there 🏃 Amelia: but let Is think she's the sporty one Jac: 🤐 Jac: be bit rude of you to take artistic and sporty Amelia: no way, you're good at everything Jac: but you don't think I'm unbearable like Savannah? Amelia: NEVER Jac: Good Amelia: she's pretending to know what she's doing anyway Amelia: all mouth and no talent Jac: You reckon? Jac: Probably Jac: if you're that showy, you're making up for something, anyway Amelia: even if I'm being unfair I guarantee she's not on your level Amelia: nobody is Jac: You're too nice to me Amelia: too nice like 🤫😳 or you don't think it's true? Jac: A bit of both, I suppose Jac: I do work hard but I don't need to shove that in everyone's face Amelia: you're the anti-Savannah Jac: getting into the uni I want is reward enough Jac: besides, not as if it's endearing to be a total know-it-all-show-off Jac: you don't have to dumb yourself down to be chill about it, you know Amelia: yeah, I'm chill about it, but still smart enough to follow everything she was saying Jac: Exactly Jac: all mouth no talent is not the lasting impression I wanna leave Amelia: me either Jac: not that I care what anyone here thinks Amelia: I know you don't think that about me so same Jac: I only think the best things about you, of course Amelia: you love me even though I don't have a uni picked out and I love you even though you do Jac: That's a pretty good summary, yeah Amelia: 🤓❤😎 Jac: I don't think I'd go that far 😏 Amelia: 😂 Jac: if I was such a 🤓 I wouldn't be waiting for you right now Amelia: maybe I'm that 😎 and persuasive Jac: really Jac: 👌 Amelia: you don't look like that in your glasses though, if we're being real Jac: Good to know Jac: don't need to have a makeover Amelia: I look like this 👧🏻 Amelia: I can't come for you or at you with a makeover Jac: Listen to your mother Amelia: NEVER Jac: okay, okay 😎 Amelia: [probably should actually show up gal so we can leave this here]

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aftermoviethings · 5 years

Text

My thoughts on the After movie.

Warning, this post contains spoilers.

So like many of you I was very excited when they announced, that they were making a movie based off the After book. Although I wasn't 100% happy with the casting, the movie convinced me with every person that was casted.

Like Inanna as Molly, Khadijha as Steph everyone did a great job on portraying the characters.

The chemistry between the two main characters Hardin and Tessa was amazing. It wasn't awkward or cringe to watch these two fall in love. They were very cute. Jo has done a phenomenal job on playing Tessa. Her acting was spot on, she was 1000% Tessa. Unbelievable.

I know people always say, that you can't/shouldn't compare a movie to the book. That's right, because in this case you can't fit every single detail in a 1h 46 min. long movie. It is impossible.

Anna said from the beginning, that they had to change a few things in order to focus more on the love story of Hardin and Tessa. And that was done. The whole movie was concentrating on their love story.

Tessa is like the Tessa we know from the books. A good girl, doing what her mother says (to a certain point in the movie) is good in school and has good grades. Her behaviour around Hardin and his friends was exactly portrayed like from the book. Very good. I really liked that.

Hardin on the other side has undergone some changes. Throughout the trailers and teasers we could see, that he was a lot more softer and calmer than we know him from the books. Which is kinda good, I mean at some points in the books he was too aggressive or too moody. Idk.

But they toned him down too much. Like that wasn't Hardin from the books at all.

Due to the pg13 rating, swearing wasn't allowed. Which for me is such a big part. That's Hardin. It's okay if he is not as aggressive as in the book, but let him swear at some points. It just fits with his character.

Another thing that annoyed me was, that the movie was very rushed. They were so many scenes. But then the scenes were so short and sometimes really unnecessary. Like at the beginning, where Tessa is sitting in the cafe a studying. Hardin, Molly and Zed come in and order something. Tessa and Hardin look at each other for a little bit and that's the scene. That's wasted time for me. I hoped, that there would be more scenes at the beginning where they would talk, simply just getting to know each other. The frat party was like the third time they had seen each other. The first two times were very short and they didn't speak that much. How can you already feel so much for someone if you don't know them. And for us, as the audience it was like I blinked and they were already almost kissing. For me that was too rushed. I get it, they don't have that much time to develop their story but they could've made some changes to make that happen.

Also I feel like some of the scenes,that we have seen in the trailer or teasers were missing in the movie.

Just a side note.

What also bothered me is that Zed had such a small role in the movie. I know the movie is focusing on Tessa and Hardins love story but for those who have read the books, you know that Zed has a big part in Tessas life. If you could say that. Well movie Zed had what, 3 lines? Not more. He seemed very unnecessary. I mean Jace had a bigger part in the movie than Zed. Even a bigger part than Karen and Ken.

I was sad that we didn't see them much. Only at their wedding.

Well.

As we all know, there are a few scenes that aren't in the book, like the library scene or the aquarium scene.

I liked those scenes. They were cute. It was a nice touch.

Overall the love story seemed a little rushed, they were some montages of the two of them which were funny but they could've used that time for them to show us more of their story. To show us the depth of their love and love story.

What was also missing were the erotic scenes if you can say that.

A big part of the book is Tessa discovering her sexuality. The sexual side of a relationship. I thought, because It was a big part of the books it would be a big part of the movie too.

Well it wasn't. I don't know if they cut it out, or if they didn't want to do it from the beginning. But they weren't many hot scenes. For example the lake scene. Where Hardin is pleasuring Tessa. Well that was done in 5 seconds. I didn't realise at first if he was doing what I thought he was doing. Because it wasn't clear. I know it is a pg13 movie, but again I wonder if they knew it from the beginning. Meaning if they wanted it to be that way. Because that's not it. It was poorly done and not really sexy or anything like that.

Also their first time at the wedding wasn't filmed that great. The making out and undressing part was done good. But then they showed they faces for a few seconds and done. Like they could've left that out. To leave it to us, to imagine it or whatever. That aspect overall was really missing.

I hope if they do a second movie, that they will change that.

The movie should've been more mature and in depth. It was too much of a teenage romance movie.

What I disliked the most was the bet. I mean if you can even call it like that.

We all know, that in the books Hardin makes a bet on taking Tessas virginity. We know its cruel,m but we have read it. It isn't as shocking if it would've happened in the movie.

They changed the freaking bet. At the frat party when they were playing truth or dare (when Tessa left) Hardin said that his dare is, to make Tessa fall in love with him and then break up with her. Therefore breaking her heart.

Wtf. That isn't it.

I felt so disappointed. Cheated.

It seemed like Anna was ashamed of what she wrote and wanted to make up for it.

Or maybe like I said before, they wanted a pg13 movie from the beginning so they changed a lot of things. So that many more people could watch it and therefore earn more money. At the end it's all about the money.

For me they didn't stay true to the books. I know you can't have everything in a movie, but these big parts like the bet, their character overall the story. It shouldn't be changed.

For me it looked like a different movie. Meaning it had almost nothing to do with the book.

It wasn't the Hessa love story that we fell in love with.

I was, am disappointed. Maybe I had high hopes. But I didn't think, that they would change such important parts which are the "soul of the book".

Ahh what I forgot to say, Hardins nightmares weren't included. But that's something we knew beforehand. What I didn't like at all was when and how Hardin told Tessa what happened to his mother(which he also explained very vaguely). They were at the wedding sitting at a table and everyone was listening to Ken's speech.

I thought that this was the worst way possible how and when he told her. And as he told her idk it didn't seem like it would have a big deal in their story or his life.

It was weirdly done sadly. Another important part not done right in my opinion.

I would rate it a 6/10

So these are my thoughts, if you have seen the movie tell me your thoughts! Or tell me after you see it in the next few days. I am very curious to hear your guys thoughts.

Thanks for reading all of this, excuse me for any mistakes, english is my third language.

Love you. 🥰

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canon-notcanon-warriorcats · 5 years

Text

Submitted by: roguelesbiab

Sorry for the long thing, got a little carried away ^^; just wanted to write a thing based on my trio of evil kitties (tho they don’t even show up until later)

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Loud, pained yowls echoed through the Thunderclan camp, causing many of the camp’s inhabitants to wince in sympathy. A thick-furred tom paced back and forth in front of the den the noises came from. The heavy sprinkling of grey on his otherwise dark brown muzzle was the only thing to place him as an older cat, but his movements were as smooth and calculated as they were when he was in his prime. Had he have been a regular warrior, he would have made plans to retire as an elder once this litter became apprentices.

As it was, he was a leader with several lives left, and his second litter of kits being born.

A piercing screech had him pause and dig his claws into the ground underneath him. Every muscle in his body ached to go into the den and comfort the queen who was bringing his newest kits into the world. It was only due to the bulky body of his deputy sitting in the nursery’s entrance that he remained out.

“Bearstar, calm down. You know Addergaze won’t let anything happen to her.” The amusement in the deputy’s dark green eyes was hard to miss, though she did cringe away from the nursery when another screech echoed from the den.

Bearstar turned an angered amber glare at her, before furiously resuming his pacing, casting worried glances at the den. “There’s always something that can go wrong…excuse me for being concerned.”

He flicked his stub tail, before letting out a heavy sigh and moving to sit next the dark grey molly, his ears flattening against his head. “I’m sorry, I just…”

She just blinked warmly at him and turned her gaze to the light blue morning sky. “You haven’t offended me in the moons we’ve known each other, Bearstar, I doubt you’ll do it anytime soon.”

He gave a quiet purr, only to realize that it was the only sound in the camp. His warriors were staring at the den with wide, excited eyes, while even his deputy had begun to fidget once she was done speaking. His purr fading away, he turned around slowly to see the skinny brown medicine cat of his Clan looking at him softly. Her fur had been sticking up on end, especially around her chest and shoulders, and her white muzzle was tinged a light pink, but she still looked happy and eager for him to go into the den.

“Come on, you overgrown hairball, your mate has someone she wants you to meet.” Not even waiting for a response, Addergaze disappeared back into the darkness of the den. Bearstar swallowed the lump that quickly formed in his throat and exchanged a nervous look with his deputy. She nudged his shoulder and nodded towards the inside of the den, expectantly.

The dark brown leader took a steadying breath, before standing up to follow the medicine cat into the den, his large paws shaking more and more with each step. The thick, yet quickly fading scent of blood mixed with the fresher scent of milk and it slammed into his scent glands relentlessly. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his senses, but continued forward, a deep-rooted excitement starting to spread through his limbs.

It didn’t take him longer than a heartbeat to reach his mate, but it felt like an eternity. When he saw her grey spotted pelt, though, he knew it was all worth it in the end.

Curled up against his mate’s stomach were three beautiful little kits, two spotted grey tabbies like their mother, and one who had their father’s dark brown pelt. His awe drove out the breath in his chest, and grew a smile on his face.

The dark grey tip of a tail gently touched the side of his face, bringing his soft gaze to the brilliant blue eyes of his mate. She purred quietly and used her tail to guide him closer just so that she could press her nose against his. “I was wondering when you’d come in. I could hear your worry all the way in here…”

“Dawnblaze kept me out. She got it in her head that I’d just stress you out more…did you tell her that?”

There was a spark of mischief in her eyes. “I might have been cursing your name to Starclan and back.”

Bearstar pulled back, his ears turning back in mock offense. “How could you? It was your idea to have the kits!”

“Perhaps…but it does take two to make them.” She leaned forward to nuzzle into the thick fur on his neck, before she gestured to the kits who squeaked quietly amongst themselves. “And it takes two to name them…”

He purred quietly and looked down at his kits, lying down on the other side of his mate. Together, the two looked down at the three, all of whom had finally managed to wiggle around and latch onto their mother, silently kneading her stomach to coax out more milk.

“Hm…well, I can’t name them without knowing who’re my sons and daughters, Ashcloud.” She nipped his ear for that.

“Well, maybe I was waiting for the right time to tell you.”

“Were you?”

“…I said maybe.” She let out a quiet mrrow of laughter at his playful glare. “The brown kit and the grey kit with the white muzzle are toms, the last one is a molly. I was thinking…Stonekit for her.”

The tiny kit was a little bigger than her brothers, which Bearstar silently hoped would mean she’d inherit his size. It would make it easier to keep unwanted toms away from her in the future. “I like it. She’ll be my good strong warrior, so she’ll need a good strong name.”

Ashcloud rolled her eyes at that, before pointing to the grey tom with her nose. “What about him? Maybe he’ll inherit your charming badger personality.”

Now it was his turn to nip her ear. “A personality that had you tripping over your paws for me.”

“Hm, nope, sorry, you’re confusing me for one of your countless fans. I never tripped over you.”

“Sure you didn’t, but we’re getting off-topic. I say…Rainkit, for the way the spots look on his coat.”

“Not as strong as Stonekit, but I guess it’ll do.” She nudged his cheek to show that she was joking, before gesturing to their last kit. He was chubby and was already doing his best to get the most milk he could from his mother. “What about…Barkkit? For his fur?”

“No…maybe something a little stronger…or more specific, anyway. What about…Maplekit? Or Oakkit?”

“Hm…let’s go with Oakkit, Shadowclan already has the Maple name right now and I’d rather my son not be confused with any of them.”

Bearstar had to dip his head in agreement on that. While it wasn’t uncommon for two Clan cats to share the same name, Shadowclan was essentially Thunderclan’s continuous enemy, with Thunderclan having problems with the marsh cats greedily pushing for more and more territory, as though the cats of the forest don’t need their land. Though there hadn’t been much activity along the borders for nearly half a moon now, Bearstar was still waiting for the second snake to bite.

Resolving to worry more about it later, the tom laid down fully next to his mate, resting his head on her shoulder so that he could watch his kits as they continued to squirm against their mother. His heart swelled with paternal love and he knew that they’d always be his forever, just like how his mate had managed to take up a permanent presence in his heart.

Sighing contentedly, Bearstar closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep with his recently expanded family. The comforting scent of his mate and the soft snores of his kits relaxed his mind easily enough that his dreams were just starting to dance behind his eyes when a voice snapped him awake.

Jolting up, the leader looked toward the entrance of the den, only to see Dawnblaze standing there, her ginger pelt bristling with tension.

“What is it?” The time for relaxing over, Bearstar’s voice was hard and sharp, cutting straight to the point.

“Shadowclan. Three of them were waiting at the border. Thornpelt’s patrol found them and brought them back. One wants to talk to you.” Her claws were digging into the ground in her agitation, and Bearstar could easily see that she wanted to rush back out to chase them off.

Letting loose a low sigh, the thick furred tom stood from where he lay, carefully to keep from waking up Ashcloud. She was already asleep, and he didn’t want to disturb her rest.

Nodding to his deputy, Bearstar slipped out after her, his fur prickling with unease. What business would Shadowclan want with Thunderclan? Yarrowstar had lessened patrols around their borders, and none of the clans had had any trouble from the marsh cats in a moon. Have they finally decided to act?

His stern gaze turned to the three marsh cats, only barely to hide a flinch at the state of their beings. There were two toms and a queen, all older warriors that he’d often seen at the Gatherings and on patrols when they’d catch wind of each other. Usually, they walked with that typical Shadowclan confidence, their tails up and their muzzles screwed in a scowl. Right now? The three of them were all covered in scratches that oozed out blood. Their pelts were disheveled and the frantic look in their eyes was worrisome. The stocky brown tabby who was presumably in the lead of them threw Bearstar off the most.

“Duskheart? What has happened? Why has Yarrowstar sent you here?” The Thunderclan leader might have his own prejudices against the marsh cats, but he would never turn away a Clan in need.

Duskheart looked at him with eyes so wide, anyone could see the whites. The tom stumbled forward, stopping only when Dawnblaze let out a vicious snarl. “Y-Yarrowstar…”

He didn’t get any further when the molly burst forward, a wild look on her face. “Yarrowstar has been murdered! And the younger warriors have gone mad!”

_________________________________________________

Bearstar shook his head, the sharp, sour scent of Shadowclan stinging his nose and laying thickly on his tongue. It never failed to make his fur prickle with unease. He turned to lock eyes with Dawnblaze, questioningly, asking without words if she and the rest of the patrol were ready and only moved forward when she gave him a nod.

Duskheart, after being patched up by Addergaze and given half a mouse to calm himself down, had volunteered to go with the patrol to show them to the camp. He walked side by side with Bearstar, and the leader had to admit that he admired the deputy’s strength. Duskheart had been the most heavily injured, with four long, deep scratches stretching along his side. They oozed blood heavily, and Addergaze had had to use most of her cobwebs to fix him up, yet he was ready to go.

He lead them through Shadowclan territory, weaving in and out of the pine trees and across the marshy ground, his paws managing to glide over the mushy ground. Bearstar felt a rare moment of envy for Shadowclan, if only for the fact that his paws kept sinking in so deeply into the ground.

“Not far now…the new warriors have taken up the old tradition of sleeping during the day, and patrolling at night. We won’t run into anyone.” There seemed to be a hint of distaste in his tone as he spoke, his lip curling up over his teeth.

Moons ago, Yarrowstar announced that Shadowclan would no longer follow the tradition of being cats of the night. They would rise at dawn and fall at dusk like the rest of the Clans. Understandably, it had caused outrage in his own Clan save for a few, but the marsh cats had no choice but to follow their leaders rule, for her word was law.

Bearstar had to wonder if this was the reason that these young warriors chose to rebel and overthrow their leader.

Before he could think on that too much, however, Duskheart raised his tail for the patrol to stop. “We’re here” was all he said before slipping into a thorn bush Bearstar hadn’t even noticed. Looking back to exchange a glance with Dawnblaze, he followed the other tabby, mentally cursing as his large frame caught on the sharp thorns that lined the side of the tunnel.

Thank Starclan he praised as he saw the light of the end finally shining through the tunnel, where the dark brown tip of Duskheart’s tail slipped through and disappeared. Bearstar quickly slipped through and paused to wait for the rest of his patrol as he surveyed the supposedly empty Shadowclan camp.

Save for a golden young molly sleeping in a sunny patch of the camp, there was no one else seemingly in the camp, not even the warriors Duskheart said took over. Save for a few scattered bits of fur on the ground, it didn’t even seem like a rebellion had happened. It was almost peaceful…

Duskheart didn’t seem to share the same opinion. Fur bristling and claws out, the dark tabby tom let out a loud yowl that seemed to shake the dens of the camp. The apprentice jolted awake, her eyes wide as she looked around camp before narrowing as she sees the deputy and the Thunderclan patrol.

Snarling, she raced to a den Bearstar hadn’t even seen, tucked away in the base of the gnarled tree which sat closer to the back of the camp. She’d only been gone a heartbeat when she came back out, with a shockingly white warrior right behind her.

Bearstar felt the fur on his spine raise.

The warrior’s eyes were a disgusting pale pink that highlighted just how thin the fur on her muzzle was. They seemed to bore into his soul as the pupils narrowed and their owner sat, neatly, at the entrance of the den, the shadows falling from the tree failing to cover up those unsettling eyes.

It had only taken one look at her eyes for Bearstar to know who she was, and it really made him wonder how none had seen a possible coup brewing before.

She’d only been seen by the Clan’s as Snowbreeze, due to an unfortunate condition that had caused her to become sick during most of the gatherings. While the gatherings themselves happened at night, her mentor, the unpopular Yarrowstar, would take her out during the day, when the sun would burn her fragile skin and invite illness to take root in her body. It was a surprise to most that they were able to see her reach warrior status.

Duskheart spat fiercely at her, when she appeared in the den. “How dare you claim residence there as though you deserve it!”

Snowbreeze’s gaze locked into him, her fur unruffled by his harsh tone. “It seems I have…StarClan gifted me with my name just last night, if you recall? I would trust our ancestors to know what they are doing in chosing leaders.”

Bearstar’s eyes widened. Leader? She was barely bigger than an apprentice. The golden molly who’d gone to fetch her already stood over her head!

“Besides…” Her gaze swept around them “they will still listen to my word.”

Suddenly feeling incredibly uneasy, Bearstar looked around in shock for the camp had filled up with several bristling, narrow eyed warriors, who all seemed to be begging for an excuse to attack the patrol.

Upon seeing the force that opposed them, Duskheart seemed to lose some of his confidence, shrinking in on himself just a bit and stepping closer to a Thunderclan warrior. Something which did not go unnoticed by Shadowclan.

A large, thick-furred molly walked up, her crooked yellow fangs bared in a twisted grin as she leered at Duskheart, seemingly amused by his sudden cowardice. “Aw, what’s the matter, tough guy? Don’t you wanna put your mouse where your muzzle is?”

Her claws dug into the ground and her muscles tensed, but she was stopped by a dainty black paw that rested on her flank. The short black molly it belonged to padded up confidently to the bigger one’s side, her pale blue eyes glinting in a dark amusement. “Perhaps he doesn’t wish for a second beating under your claws, my love.”

Bearstar felt his pelt grow cold. Blizzardstrike and Nightfang, two dangerous mollies. Blizzardstrike was brutal, while Nightfang was cold, and together…they were unstoppable. What had Duskheart’s group dragged Thunderclan into…?

Snowstar let out an almost silent meow, quieting her warriors with terrifying ease. The fact that she was confined to the shadows of the tree should have been comforting, yet it made her all the more harder to read.

“So…” Her eyes locked into Bearstar’s. “What brings the rest of Thunderclan to my territory? Surely, it’s not the words of a fool?”

Bearstar could hear his clanmates shuffling uneasily behind him, knowing that her words rang true. But one couldn’t fault then for listening to Duskheart’s word. He was a senior warrior, and had been the deputy of Shadowclan. He was known by all the forest to have a noble and loyal heart, and many looked up to him for his wisdom.

As he stood, looking to be a mere shell of his usual self, Bearstar found himself wondering if his clan should gotten involved. Steeling himself, the leader stood to his full height and walked forward, doing his best to ignore the hisses and jeers of the Shadowclan warriors. Snowstar stood up as he got closer, yet she didn’t move from her shadowed haven.

He stopped due to a warning growls from Nightfang, who’d padded forward with him, her tuft of a tail twitching in agitation. Puffing out his chest, he glared down at Snowstar, who met his gaze coolly. Despite his intimidating size and muscular build dwarfing the smaller leader…Bearstar felt as though he was the one who should watch his words, to not cause offense.

“We have come on the request of Duskheart, Rowanpatch and Honeycloud. They claim that you and a group of your followers murdered Yarrowstar in order to secure the role of leader for yourself. Is this true?” As hard and demanding as his voice was, Bearstar felt a part of him quiver in nervous anticipation. As disastrous of a leader as Yarrowstar was, he’d been young and full of skill. He had a cunning mind in battle that he didn’t use anywhere else. Bearstar had a difficult time whenever the two faced in battle….and to hear that this tiny scrap of a warrior with her hellish eyes managed to kill him…it shook him to the core.

Snowstar let out a dry chuckle, turning around so that her back was to him, yet keeping one pink eye on him. “It was such a shame that Yarrowstar met his untimely demise. Though I must admit, it was not at my claws. Yarrowstar was a great fighter, despite his foolishness. And he taught me everything he knew. How could I hope to beat a leader with eight lives with skills he perfected himself.”

Her words were so thickly layered with honey that she clogged his ears, causing him to only hear what she was saying. It made sense, Snowstar was smaller than than Thunderclan’s youngest apprentice. There was no way she’d hope to beat Yarrowstar.

“If he did not die by your claws, then what was it?” After all, something grave had to have ripped away her remaining eight lives.

Snowstar blinked and looked towards the forest, turning her body to face him once more. “He met his end at Snow’s Claws.”

A chill ran through his body and his eyes widened. Every cat in the entire forest knew of Snow’s Claws. It was a treacherous piece of land that overlooked the lake on Shadowclan territory. The predecessor to Yarrowstar, Shatteredstar, had warned the other Clan’s of it when a tiny kit snuck out of the camp and fell off of a cliff, losing her life to the jagged rocks that lay at the base.

It was a cruel twist of irony that Yarrowstar perished at the Cliff’s that claimed his own sister’s life.

Bearstar dipped his head, forcing his raised hackles to lie flat. “My condolences. And my apologies. It would seem as though an alarm was raised for nothing.” He turned a stern glare to Duskheart, who only gave him a look of disbelief in return.

Snowstar returned the nod, raising her head up stare at Duskheart as well. “Indeed. Perhaps it would be best if Duskheart and his cohorts stated in Thunderclan with you.”

Bearstar looked back to her with a suspicious glance.

“The rest of the forest may respect them, Bearstar, but my warriors would only be all to eager to sharpen their claws on their pelts. They made enemies of my warriors when they attempted to conspire and attack me. It was only thanks to my brother and sister that I escaped with minimal injury.”

“You wish for me to be the one to take in a trio of traiters? And what am I to do when they turn their ire on me?”

Snowstar flicked her tail, sitting down with her back to Bearstar, and began to wash a tiny, delicate paw. “Surely, the big strong warriors of Thunderclan can handle three weak scraps of fur that even Sparrowflight could beat.”

There was a hiss of outrage, before it was sharply cut off by a pained grunt.

Snowstar paid it no mind as she flicked her tail, dismissively, standing up to pad slowly into her den. “While this has been an enlightening conversation, Bearstar, I do believe it’s time for Thunderclan to take it’s leave. Your warriors make mine very uncomfortable, and I’m certain that you don’t want to risk angering them, do you?”

Ignoring the rising anger that came with being so casually dismissed, Bearstar turned to his patrol, only to see one of his warriors, Poppyheart, attempting to wrench his ear from the mouth of a dark tabby Shadowclan tom. The tabby suddenly let go of Poppyheart and backed away, chittering mockingly. The Thunderclan warrior almost charged him, but stopped when Dawnblaze ran in front of him, baring her fangs in warning.

Frowning, Bearstar walked back over to his patrol, narrowing his eyes as the mocking of the Shadowclan cats grew around him. Nightfang shouldered past him, the tiny black molly seeming to have no care for the fact that he was a leader. Had been one for countless seasons…

“Well, my love, it would seem that I need to make sure these…warriors find their way out of our territory. I will return later…make sure my spot on our nest stays warm.” Nightfang placed a paw on the side of Blizzardstrike’s muzzle and pulled the massive warrior’s head down enough to lick the other side. It was enough to get the terrifying grin on the silver warrior to grow…softer.

Once she was done, Nightfang purred at her mate before turning to the Thunderclan patrol, any hint of warmth gone as a blank expression took over her face. Wordlessly, the warrior nodded towards the clan’s entrance and began walking there purposefully. Bearstar flattened his ears at the silent order, but complied nonetheless. There was clear danger in not following, what with Shadowclan pressing in closer and closer to the patrol.

“Thunderclan. We’re going home.” The leader growled out, glaring at Duskheart as he passed the former deputy. It was that tom’s fault that Bearstar had been…humiliated. That every single thread of his authority was stripped in the fast of a new leader that couldn’t even walk out into the sun. And for what? A false cry for mutiny.

The tom had better be grateful that Bearstar was willing to let him and his banished clan mates stay in Thunderclan…for there was a new rule over in Shadowclan, and the Thunderclan leader doubted that they’d ever be able to adapt to it.

#warrior cats ocs #i hope you also don't mind i put it under a read more lol #submission

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erroneouslygrey · 5 years

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Cringing, Whinging, and Present-Giving

A 3k~4k-word fic for HP Joggers Fest 2018 - Festive Drarry by @erroneouslygrey

Summary

What Harry loves more than anything (well, other than Draco, of course) is giving presents.

...not just ANY kind of presents, though.

Harry loves to give Wonderfully Terrible Presents™ as he calls them – the kind which are terribly cringey at first glance, but upon closer inspection are actually quite lovely & personal; the kind which you pour your heart & soul into, then ruin juuuust enough so you can get some sort of exasperated reaction from the receiver; & the kind which make the receiver want to do all these at once: (a) burst out laughing, (b) cry a bit, (c) throw something, & (d) hug the gift-giver.

This year, Harry is impatient to give out his best set of Wonderfully Terrible Presents™ at the first Christmas he & Draco will be spending at the Burrow with BOTH of their families in attendance. He's managed to keep the gifts secret for about a year, & is beyond excited to reveal his thoughtful monstrosities to the wild mix of people who would be packed into the Burrow this Christmas.

With lots of meticulous planning & scrambled forgetting from Harry, lots of scolding & whinging from Draco, & lots of help from a young Teddy Lupin, Harry is finally, FINALLY able to reveal his best & most cringey set of presents.

Read on AO3

or, read below the cut

Chapter One

In his scramble to get himself out the door, Harry nearly forgot his carefully thought-out presents – the things he was most proud to be taking over to the Burrow this year. He had the idea planned since last holiday season, had ordered them partway through the year, and then had received and wrapped them a couple months ago. He had poured his heart and soul into these gifts in a way that he knew everyone would both appreciate and despise at the same time, which was always his favorite type of reaction to cause in people when he gave gifts. There was something that was extremely satisfying to him in giving a thoughtful, meaningful gift and ruining it just enough that people don’t quite know how to react to it. The gifts this year were his best of this type by far, and he had been desperate to see his family and friend’s faces upon opening the packages. Despite all of this, he was still about to leave without them, a fact he was not aware of until he saw Draco storming out to the car carrying the box that held the individually (and obnoxiously) wrapped gifts.

“Oops,” Harry said under his breath.

“Potter, you absolute fool! Were you honestly about to just drive us over there without these being in the car? You have been acting ridiculously obsessive and secretive about these packages for months, and then you just up and leave them on our bed?? Honestly, Scarhead, you are such a disaster,” Draco huffed, trying not to let his affection show through and failing miserably.

Harry grinned and winked, “Yes, dear, but I’m your disaster.” Draco rolled his eyes, face pinking slightly.

“Thank you so much for grabbing those, babe. I thought I’d put them in the car already, so yeah, I definitely, definitely would have left without them, and I would have been pissed about it.”

“Ugh, this, Potter – this is why I have a list and why I check it twice!”

“I thought that was because you–”

“Shut up, Potter, you very well know that I have no desire to be Santa Clause, and I do wish you would stop flinging such wild accusations at me. It’s rather rude, you know.”

“Oh come on, Malfoy, you can’t just say that you like to make lists and check them twice and then not expect me to make a Santa reference! It’s just not something that I could do, because not acknowledging it would go against everything I believe in” Harry argues, kissing Draco softly on the cheek.

“Whatever, Potter. You are utterly ridiculous, you know that? Especially with those horrendous Christmas joggers on!” Draco’s words are ones that he wishes came across as insult, but despite his disgusted expression, both he and Harry knew that they come across in much the opposite manner. Figuring he might as well just embrace his emotions for a moment, Draco wraps his arms around his disaster of a wizard and kisses him atop his nest -er, hair. After the extremely brief moment of affection, Draco breaks away and immediately begins lecturing Harry.

“Now, go fetch the keys and get your arse in the car! I want to help Molly with last-minute prep, and if I miss out on the first year of being able to do that because of you, I will hold it against you for the rest of our lives! Go! I will check the trunk again to make sure we have everything while you do that.”

Harry dashed inside and began looking for the keys, but couldn’t seem to find them anywhere. Suddenly remembering that he was a wizard, and that there was a simple solution to this issue, Harry cast a quick accio, which revealed as they shot into his hand that they had been in his pocket the entire time. Shaking his head at himself, Harry hurried back outside, casting a locking charm at the front door as he did so. Draco was waiting in the car for him already, so Harry quickly started the car so that they could set off for the Burrow.

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

The drive to the Burrow took about 30 minutes, and most of it consisted of holiday music and Draco whinging at Harry to reveal what his presents were. After months of practice at not revealing the secret, Harry was in no danger of accidentally falling for Draco’s traps now. As they got closer to the Burrow, though, their conversation turned to the last two Christmases that they spent together.

“Isn’t it weird to think that two years ago today, we had only been dating for two weeks, yet were already celebrating Christmas with your mum?”

“It really is...though I suppose we had been dancing around each other for so long that it didn’t seem that weird to us then. Mother made a comment to me after that about it being ‘about time’ or something like that,” Draco said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Harry huffed out a laugh before exclaiming, “I’m so excited for today! Last year at the Burrow was nice, but it felt strange to not also have your mum there, too. I’m glad that she and Andromeda took that holiday together, though, since it’s put them on good terms so we call all celebrate together this year,” Harry said.

“You’re such a sap, Potter.” Draco continued with a vulnerable type of honesty, “I agree though, it will be wonderful to have all the people I love be together at once. It has not happened in a long time, and even then, not quite like this. That’s why it’s been so important for me to help Molly with her holiday prep – both because she is so good at making me feel part of the family, and because I want to take some time with her to explain how much today means to me and to thank her for all she has done to make it happen.”

“Of course you do, Draco,” Harry said as they pulled up to the Burrow, “which is why I told you the incorrect time for when she starts preparing.”

Draco’s face immediately began to turn angry, but before he could open his mouth to say anything, Harry grabbed Draco’s hand and said, “Look, I wanted to give you two some extra time to talk before other people joined in to help her.”

“Oh!” Draco breathed, clearly pleased and a bit flustered.

“I knew you would have fret yourself silly about it if I had told you beforehand, and I didn’t want this to be something for you to stress about. It’ll be about an hour before she begins any of her prep for today, so let’s get in there, and I’ll take care of some things in the family room and check in on Arthur while you two have a nice chat, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Draco said in a small, shaky voice.

Chapter Two

“Oh hello, Draco, dear! Hello Harry!” Molly exclaimed through the window as she caught sight of them unloading the car. “I wasn’t expecting anyone for an hour yet, I’m afraid I haven’t began any preparations, but do come in!”

They made their way inside, Harry giving Molly a quick hug before disappearing and Draco suddenly seeming to become shy.

“Um, Molly…”

She raised an eyebrow at him and said, “Aren’t you going to give me a hug, dear?”

He immediately did just that and admitted into her chest “I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed is all.”

Unexpected tears began to form in his eyes, and he held onto her a bit tighter as he tried to fight them. Molly rubbed his back and told him that it was alright to cry if he needed to.

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

A few minutes later, with a hot cup of tea in his hands, Draco was calm enough to actually begin talking. He explained how he was really excited about today, but how he was also extremely nervous. The togetherness that he and Harry had been discussing in the car was so important to him, and it felt as though his whole world was going to shift today with the importance of it all. He felt so happy and full of love in a way he never had before, and the combination of everything had him feeling overwhelmed. Molly talked him through all his worries, calming him down and reminding him that receiving love was not something to be scared of. They talked the whole hour through, the conversation naturally shifting to lighter subjects as they began to take care of the holiday preparations.

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

Meanwhile, Harry set out his packages in the family room, helping to rearrange the furniture in the way he knew Molly liked it to be for the holidays. That finished, he seeked out Arthur, quickly locating him in his shed.

“Happy Christmas, Arthur!” Harry greeted.

“Happy Christmas to you, too, Harry! And to what do I owe the honor of such an early arrival?”

“Erm,” Harry shuffled his feet, hand unconsciously going to nervously rub at his neck, “I have a secret to tell you.”

“Oh, really, now?”

“I’ve been bursting to tell someone for months, now, and I need just one other person to know before tonight…” Harry trailed off, clearly unsure on how to continue, when Arthur’s gasp cut into his internal prodding of himself to “Just spit it out, damnit!”

“Oh...my...goodness!”

“What?” Harry demanded, immediately defensive.

“Harry James Potter, you have always been told that you have your mother’s eyes, no?”

“Um, yes, Arthur, but what exactly does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, it would appear that right now, the color of your eyes matches her’s, but the look in your eyes does not. That look is exactly like the one your father had when he approached me with a suspiciously similar look in his eyes once upon a time ago. Say no more, Harry I know what you’re going to say, and I know what you’re going to ask, and my answer to you is that there is no way that this is going to end badly in the long-run. Whether your exact plan goes as desired or not, the result will be a good one.”

Harry looked as though the weight of the world was lifted off of his shoulders from this alone, and he gave Arthur a hug.

“Thank you, Arthur. I needed to hear that.”

“Of course, Harry,” Arthur smiled kindly. “Now come help me figure out the meaning of these muggle tennis shoes! They have a wheel on the bottom, and I can’t seem to make sense of it. I can’t charm them until I understand them, you see.”

“Oh my gosh, these are Heelys!” Harry squealed. “I always wanted a pair of these when I was younger. Yeah, let’s take a look at these!”

Chapter Three

As they all squeezed themselves into the magically expanded, but still too small of a room, Harry felt his excitement growing. It was almost time for them to see what he had gotten them! However, he had insisted that all of his presents be the last ones to be opened, and that they get opened individually. Harry had Arthur on duty to make sure that Draco opened his present last. He wasn’t sure exactly what Arthur’s plan was, but he didn’t want to think about that now. Harry could hardly contain himself as all the presents from everyone else were opened, as he was too excited about his own. When it was finally time, Teddy was in charge of handing out the packages from Harry. Everyone had a package with their name on it. Everyone, expect for…

Harry glanced at Draco and saw his crushed look. Arthur had hidden it? That was a terrible plan! Harry knew he should have given more explicit instructions.

Leaning towards Harry’s ear, Draco whispered, “What happened to my present? You’ve had these ready to go forever and you have been particularly mysterious about the one for me.”

“Teddy probably just couldn’t find it. He’s not the most observant kid, you know. We’ll make our way over to check once everyone else has opened theirs. I don’t want to interrupt the whole process now.” Harry whispered back.

“Ugh, fine, Potter, but if your present turns out to be not having a present for me, I will be very, very angry,” Draco whinged.

Harry rolled his eyes and turned towards Ron as he began opening his present. Ron look utterly bewildered as he pulled out an ugly looking pair of joggers that looked suspiciously similar to Harry’s own pair.

“Er, thanks, Harry. I’ve been meaning to get–––” he noticed that the joggers had more than just obnoxious holiday decorations on them. They also, in fact, had pictures of chocolate frogs and corned beef sandwiches on them. “Bloody hell, Harry! You can’t just surprise a bloke with something sentimental like this. That’s too much, mate, I think I might cry a little bit,” Ron said as he moved to give Harry a hug, “All the way back from our first train ride, when we first met. I really do love them, mate. They’re pretty much the ugliest, thing I’ve ever seen, but I love them.”

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

All around him, Harry kept hearing and seeing similar reactions, as people discovered the ugly Christmas joggers within the packages, only to find an image of something quite sweet and rather deeply personal included in the design.

For Hermione, the pictures were of little trolls and of fire in a jar. For Molly, it was a picture of a trolley that was part-way onto Platform 9¾, the first sweater she made him, and postage stamps. Arthur’s joggers included batteries and the Ford Anglia. Narcissa’s joggers were of a slightly more elegant design, though they were still horrifically ugly. They included pictures of a tea cup of hers that Harry had accidentally broken out of nervous clumsiness the first time he visited the Manor as Draco’s boyfriend, as well as pictures of stacks of mail for the countless letters that she and him sent each other throughout the early stages of his and Draco’s relationship, before they were comfortable enough to talk much in person. Andromeda’s personalization came in the form of a fireplace, for the all of the late night talks the two of them shared there, and in the form of a crib, for her taking care of Teddy and allowing him to help whenever possible. Teddy’s joggers had the most personalized items on them, despite him being the smallest person. They had werewolves and full moons on them for his father, a bubblegum pink blob with a silly-looking pig nose in the center to represent his mother, a dragon for his favorite cousin Draco, and a drawing of Harry that Teddy had made himself at one time, that mostly just looked like a scribble of black with glasses and a lighting bolt in the center of it.

Everyone’s joggers were full of similarly beautiful and personal designs on them, as well as designs of reindeer, lights, trees, presents, Santa, candy canes, and the like.

Chapter Four

At Harry’s insistence, as soon as the gifts were all opened, everyone scattered to put on their joggers so that they could get a group photo in them.

Harry was quite proud of himself, but it was not over yet. He grabbed Draco’s hand. “C’mon babe, let’s go find your present! I’m sure Ted just overlooked it.”

As Harry pulled Draco along, Arthur walked by the tree, and subtly nestled the present within the branches, making it seem as though he was just struggling to carry some of the wrapping paper out of the room.

Trying to stall until everyone was back in the room, Harry purposefully lead Draco to the wrong side of the tree. They both looked all over the floor, and couldn’t find it.

Draco looked increasingly frustrated and hurt as they continued their search until they heard a little voice cry out “This one says Dwaco! You haffa nother present, Dwaco! Open it! Open it!”

Teddy had found the present before Harry could lead Draco over to it. Luckily, mostly everyone was back in the room by that point. As Draco opened the paper to find another set of ugly holiday joggers, he looked a bit disappointed, though he tried to hide it. Harry had kept telling him that his gift was much different from everyone else’s, but apparently not. It didn’t even have any personal images on it the way that the other pairs did!

“Draco, babe, you should really put them on so that we can all match in our sweaters from Molly and our joggers!” Harry said, pretending not to notice Draco’s disappointment. Draco sullenly went just behind the wall of the next room over to swap out his slacks for joggers. He didn’t want to move too far away from everyone or he might begin to cry from disappointment. He stepped around the wall as he was most of the way done pulling them up, when he felt something bump his leg from within his pocket. Looking bewildered, Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, like the kind that necklaces come in. He looked over at Harry, who blushed deeply. Draco quickly made his way over to his red-faced boyfriend before opening said box. He looked down, and what he saw inside was...nothing. He looked at Harry again, who said quietly, “Look inside the lid.”

Draco looked inside of the lid and found that a note had been taped inside it.

My darling Draco,

I wasn’t sure if you would remember this box or not. A year or two before we began dating, there was a time when I gave you a necklace, as an attempt to ask you out. You thought I was playing some kind of prank when you saw that it was a necklace box, and you threw it at my head. The necklace flew out of the box and I couldn’t find it. I was devastated to have been rejected by you, and upset that I couldn’t even find the necklace so that I could try again. I have held onto the box since then anyway, because it makes me think of you. As much as I look back on this memory fondly now, it wasn’t a very positive experience at the time. I’m hoping tonight will be different.

Draco looked up from the letter and saw Harry, who had gotten the attention of the room while Draco was reading.

“Why? Why are you hoping tonight will be different?” Draco asked softly.

“Well, you see, love, I have another box with me right now.” Harry reached into his pocket as he got down on one knee, “and I was hoping that this time it would be a positive experience from the start as well as a good memory later on.”

He opened the box to reveal a platinum ring with the image of a green dragon set in stones across the band, but Draco was too focused on Harry to really look at it.

“Draco, love, I want to keep making memories with you for the rest of my life, and I’m hoping with everything in me that you do, too. So, Draco Lucius Malfoy – my best friend, partner, and former arch-nemisis – will you marry me?”

The room went silent other than Draco, who was both laughing and crying a bit as he let out a strangled “Yes! Yes of course I will, you bloody idiot! Now stand up and kiss me already!” as he held out his hand.

Grabbing on, Harry stood up and wrapped his arms around Draco, giving him a chaste, but very loving, kiss. The family all began to cheer and gush at each other about how cute (or obnoxious) they thought the whole proposal was.

“So, are you going to put the ring on, or what?” Harry asked, half nervous, half joking.

“Oh! I hadn’t really even looked at it! Harry, this is beautiful. How did a scarhead like you come up with something like this?” He joked, slipping the ring onto his finger. “Wow, and it’s a perfect fit! how did you manage that?”

“Well, I wanted the design to be personal, and so I asked what they could do to personalize with a dragon, and then I made sure that the band was one of the ones that adjusts to the perfect size the first time that someone puts it on, and then stays the exact size needed for that person at any point in time.”

“That’s cheating!” Draco accused, laughing. “I love it, though. I absolutely love it, and I love you even more.”

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

It went unnoticed by Draco for a little while, but eventually his joggers revealed themselves to having been personalized to match Harry’s. They had been charmed not to reveal the personalization until Harry removed the charm. They showed pictures of engagement rings on them, with the words “Mr. & Mr.” written over and over again, along with a picture of Hogwarts robes with pins stuck in it, a nod to when they first met each other. After some excitement over the design being revealed, a timer was set up on the camera so that they could get group photos in the Wonderfully Terrible™ Christmas joggers. Later on, Molly took some engagement pictures for Draco and Harry. Some were staged, while others she continued to take throughout the night when they weren’t paying attention. All of them turned out lovely...well, as lovely as they could considering the horrible look of the joggers, anyway.

Epilogue

The wedding invitations were incredibly dorky, and Draco whinged endlessly about them. He had always imagined having much classier wedding invitations, with professional engagement photos on them. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would (grudgingly) agree to send out invitations that contained dorky, unprofessional pictures of him and Harry in Weasley sweaters and matching, atrocious Christmas joggers. But, here he was, doing just that. What could he say? He loved Harry, and if the stupid joggers being on the invitation made Harry happy, then Draco would go along with it.

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

It became a tradition in the Malfoy-Potter household that they wear the joggers every year after that. While everyone else did not wear their lovely gift every year the way that Draco and Harry did, there would always be at least another person or two who ended up in them as well (usually Teddy, until he outgrew them beyond the point which they could be magically enlarged). It was dorky, and it was wonderful, and it was Draco’s favorite part of the holidays, though he would never admit to it out loud, not even to Harry. He didn’t need to, though. Harry could tell from the way that Draco’s eyes shone as he tried to make his whinging over them convincing enough, and he could tell from the way that Draco was unable to hide the way that he lit up each when Harry declared it time to put the joggers on again.

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hopevalley · 5 years

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S6E2: Phone Rings & Heartstrings (Episode Write-Up)

You can also read this on my site here.

And here we are at the beginning of another new season! How do you feel? Like it’s been forever? Like it’s been little more than the blink of an eye? I know for me it’s a combination of both. It’s crazy to think a year has passed since S5! But we’ve made it to the next chapter of When Calls the Heart! I wonder what this season will have in store for us?

Plotlines for this episode:

Motherhood

Laura & College

The Telephone Comes to Hope Valley

Rosemary Plays Cupid

Jesse and Clara

The Saloon Closes

Not related to the episode exactly, but I noticed they didn’t reference Jack’s death directly in the “last time” clip. For a second, I thought they weren’t even going to let him have a speaking line, but they gave him half of a sentence. Also unrelated, the new part of the intro is great! I just wonder why they didn’t take the time to do new character bits for the characters, while they were at it. Some of these are pretty outdated.

So here we are at:

Plot #1: Motherhood!

I’ll admit that I was dreading this part a little bit. It’s hard to say where the line is between “teacher” and “mother.” I was afraid one might eclipse the other (and you know which one would be doing the eclipsing, because this is Hallmark). That said, I think overall they did a pretty good job of including the baby without making him this big overwhelming part of the actual story.

So, we find out that Jack Junior is four months old, making it almost May 1916.

The general ‘plot’ here is as follows: Elizabeth has to go back to work and finds it difficult. Molly, Rosemary, Florence, and Clara have agreed to take turns watching the baby, but it bothers Elizabeth that little Jack won’t have a more concrete schedule; she’d rather have a more stable arrangement.

This isn’t a very long or detailed plot, but it works. Everyone I know who had to go back to work bawled their eyes out when they had to drop their babies off at daycare. I know I would! Elizabeth finding it hard to balance being a mother and a teacher makes sense, but the best part about this is that she doesn’t consider quitting teaching for even a second.

First, I think it’s fair to say she needs the money, but second…she loves it! How can she balance Jack with teaching in a way that feels satisfying? That tells her that her child is getting the best arrangement she can afford while also allowing her to work to provide both the necessities and fun things?

Elizabeth’s slight clinginess isn’t really a shock or a surprise to me. It’s natural. She spent four months doing whatever she wanted with her life and her baby, and to have to hand him over to someone else every day for hours and hours… Well, it wouldn’t feel good.

I think the best part of this plot was that, like I said earlier, it wasn’t overdone. Nothing about it felt overdramatic or unnecessary.

And it wrapped up neatly with the next plot on the list:

Plot #2: Laura & College

Laura is out of school, now. In my opinion, it’s definitely that time. She’s gotta be about 15 or 16 by this point, and that’s when education ended for the majority of people. And it’s nice to get to see that transition, because with characters like Gabe, we just didn’t get it.

Free from the constraints of having to be in the classroom, Laura’s taken a job to help out her dad: working part-time at the mercantile. She loves to read, and devours the books Elizabeth loans her, but she’s given up on the idea of college. It costs too much money, and her dad needs her help.

Elizabeth, determined to find a way to make it work, writes to an acquaintance of hers who is an administrator of a preparatory school in Hamilton. She includes Laura’s grades and a recommendation letter.

Laura is accepted as a corresponding (or correspondence) student! It’ll let her study at home and send in her work (or maybe let her do it under Elizabeth’s supervision), so she’s still free to work and help her dad around the farm.

Unfortunately that leaves her little time to do her schoolwork…

So Elizabeth offers a solution that will benefit them both: Laura can be Jack Junior’s nanny! Then she’ll have a little downtime to work on her schoolwork, and it’ll pay more because it’ll be full-time.

Laura accepts the deal!

Again, this plot wasn’t huge or convoluted; it wasn’t dramatic. It was nice! And I loved how the general ‘motherhood concerns’ plot tied into this one. It didn’t need to be heavily intertwined at all. They just needed to connect. Which they did, and quite well.

That said, I don’t know if I’d trust a 15/16-year-old girl with no real babysitting experience to be full-time nanny of my baby! In that way, the solution is…maybe just a pinch too convenient? Wilma was established as being poor, and with a school-age child, maybe she would have been a better choice.

But I can’t deny that there’s a lot of room for future drama with this, too. Laura will have the opportunity to grow as a student and as a nanny! Maybe she’ll make mistakes. Maybe she’ll almost regret accepting it. Maybe… Well, it just leaves things open for some good future potential!

Plot #3: The Telephone Comes to Hope Valley

This plot isn’t really a very big deal, mostly because they skipped through all of the potential drama that would have happened when Abigail had to get people to actually bring the telephone to town. I guess at least Henry mentions that it couldn’t have been easy—and, on the plus side, too, it seems that any of the drama Abigail went through to get the phone there? Was kept from everyone else.

So… the telephone is coming to Hope Valley! There will be a line in the mercantile, the mayor’s office, the jail, and Lee’s office. As Henry says, that’s a good start!

The drama here is all good-natured. Ned tells the company he can definitely figure out the wiring, but uh…he can’t.

He really can’t. He has no idea what he’s looking at, and the directions are confusing…so the big reveal for their four o’clock call is an awkward silent mess. Embarrassing, but also funny in a mostly good-natured sort of way.

The telephone company sends Fiona Miller to straighten things out, which she does, and not without a little sass (or uh, flashin’ a li’l ankle)! She’s easy to like. I hope she sticks around past the second episode, personally, but I can’t quite figure out if she’s meant to be a longstanding cast member or just one of those “couple of episode” characters. It’s easy to imagine it going either way.

Anyway, she fixes things right on up, the phone rings, and Abigail answers it.

Again, another…rather calm plot. It’s giving us a nice set-up for future plotlines by giving the cast access to a telephone. So who knows how things might go? It could be interesting.

That said, the one thing about this plot that I didn’t care for? Bill’s role as a curmudgeon. Was that really necessary? S1 through S4 Bill was a little tactless/thoughtless sometimes, and not emotionally open, but S5 and S6 Bill have been almost unbearably awful. I’ll talk more about this later, but the slight role he played here in this particular plot doesn’t even make sense for his character. He lived in the city for the majority of his life.

I’ll forgive this particular folly if the writers take it in an interesting direction—like Bill being phone-shy (because, for example, he relies a lot on body language/facial expression to have a conversation and gets super awkward on the phone, so he prefers wires due to it giving him the ability to think through what he needs to say and write it down to send). Otherwise it just comes off as more of the same with regards to the figgy pudding plot in the Christmas film: he’s just there to laugh at.

I’m worried that that’ll be the new norm, though. Incoming horrible joke: Bill shouting loudly into the telephone like he’s never used one before. (UGH. Just typing that gave me hives.)

Plot #4: Rosemary Plays Cupid

Now this plot was fun. It was also quiet, kind of muted, not really long, and definitely not meaty. But it served its purpose well. It also gave us some seriously awkward stuff to cringe over that wasn’t Bill’s character. Thank goodness!

So the gist of it is pretty simple: Rosemary decides that Faith and Carson have good teamworking skills, so she ambus—I mean, uh…sets them up! At her house, for dinner! Where everything ends up being awkward and weird, and all Faith and Carson talk about are…beans.

That’s right.

Beans.

Faith eats lots of beans because she can’t cook worth anything, and Carson…does not consume beans. Because they make him gassy. Great dinner conversation!

Afterward, Faith and Carson start to bond a little over how awkward the dinner was (I mean, nothing brings a couple together like complaining about being set up, right?), but Carson gets carried away and says, “Doesn’t she realize how ridiculous that would be?”

Carson was probably trying to make things not-awkward, but all he did was make things…extremely awkward. The worst part (or best part, if we’re talking about the great acting these two did) was how Faith’s face the entire time is kind of like, “Oh crap, I can imagine it…and it’s not bad at all” and Carson drops that “ridiculous” line right on top of it, hurting Faith’s feelings and making everything between them vaguely awful.

Which we didn’t get too much of in this episode. They literally run into each other in the clinic and it’s awkward, but Carson just seems confused about it, and Faith is the one being avoidant.

Rosemary thinks her entire plan was a disaster, but…

Well, we know she got the ball rolling. ;)

Plot #5: Jesse and Clara

I love Jesse and Clara, and here they get a nice, simple little plotline that feels like it’s getting solved in a reasonable amount of time. They’re also both very cute the whole time.

Jesse purchases some land, which comes as a (pleasant) surprise to Clara. He takes her around pointing out where he’d like different buildings to go, and uses the pronoun ‘our’ to describe the barn. When Clara brings it up (“Our barn?”) Jesse responds in the affirmative (“Of course…our barn.”).

Unfortunately Clara thinks this is the beginning of a marriage proposal, but…it’s not. Jesse says it’ll happen eventually, but he wants to be more stable. Clara accepts this, but…it bothers her, so she talks to Abigail about it. Abigail’s advice is mostly to just…talk to Jesse about it, so Clara makes the effort, and Jesse pretty much just repeats himself: he wants to be in a better financial state.

Clara isn’t persuaded by this, because Jesse has a good job already, and gets kind of short/snippy with him. Jesse ends up coming forward and confessing that when he was younger he stole from a general store with some friends and he’s still paying the man back (the parts that his friends got away with).

All is forgiven when he admits that he wants to start with a clean slate: the real reason he hasn’t proposed yet. He doesn’t want something like that marring the beginning of their marriage together. He wants to prove that he’s a better man by making things right where he should, first.

All in all, a pretty good plot. Reasonable. Clara’s disappointment in not getting a proposal was more than understandable. They’ve been courting a long time, so I don’t blame her for thinking it had finally arrived only for it to just be generalized talk.

That said, this could have definitely been a bigger plot? So I’m surprised they left it as just this little thing. Him sending away $10/month could come across as a lot of things if anyone saw him doing it. But props to keeping this storyline simple! The only thing I think I would change is…maybe having Jesse talk to someone else in town he trusts (could have been just about anyone; if Dottie were around I’d probably suggest her, but Lee or Bill would be a good choice, too) to get the incentive to confess the truth to Clara. Even just a small scene where he looks thoughtful, maybe talks to himself a little in that ‘do I tell her’ ‘do I not’ way and then decisively puts down his tools and walks toward town would have gone a long way into making it seem like he was telling her for more reasons than because she’s being snippy and short with him.

Overall, though, a sweet and enjoyable plot. Jesse calling Clara m’dear was so cute it nearly killed me instantly.

Plot #6: The Saloon Closes

This was the meatiest plot of the episode by far, and with good reason: Tom Trevoy’s mother took ill (in a long-term sense), so he and his wife moved to Union City, but he keeps traveling back to Hope Valley to oversee his saloon, but the commute is awful and he isn’t with his family as much as he’d like, so…he decides to sell.

It’s an incredibly profitable business—or at least it has the potential to be, being the only saloon in town, as Henry mentions to Lee—so the fact that it’s going up for sale is a Pretty Big Deal.

Or at least, it is to Bill and Henry.

The short of it is that they both have half the funds ($4,500) and try to get Lee to cough up the other half for a partnership. Lee tells both of them he’ll have to discuss it with Rosemary first. Rosemary (more or less) talks both men into making this venture about her, because of course doing so will get them her approval (even though it’s clear neither of them really want to do these things for her). In the end, she and Lee are split about who they should choose. Rosemary thinks Bill is the safer investment; Lee would like to trust Henry. They disagree so thoroughly that they decide together to not partner with either of them, which leaves Bill and Henry to, uh, partner with one another. They hate the idea but end up talking about it. Unfortunately, they get their money together too late; Tom sells the bar for $1,000 over asking price to an out of town buyer.

How did the out of town buyer even find out about it in less than two days? Who knows.

Suspension of disbelief? Sure, okay. I can buy it easily enough.

Anyway, overall this plot is pretty good. Bill and Henry both make great points about one another: Bill might do the books for the café (we’ve seen him doing this), but he doesn’t oversee daily operations; he’s more or less a silent partner. Henry is definitely a businessman, but he’s had past issues with honesty and, uh, money.

They’re both risks for very different reasons.

But also, they don’t like each other, so it makes sense that they’d make these kinds of digs at each other in order to try and get the upper hand.

I think my favorite part about this plot was at the end when they were working together to try and buy the saloon. I wish we could have gotten that conversation on-screen, though; it would have been great. I’m sure it was mostly about the fact that the investment is pretty sound, they almost can’t lose with it, and do they really want to wait and let someone else buy it? At least if they own it, they can control what happens/how the space is used/et cetera.

Henry and Bill disagree on most things, but neither of them is stupid.

Henry doesn’t know enough about that type of business to be of much use actually doing the physical work involved in keeping it up and running, but he could be great at striking deals and keeping track of profits/loss. Bill knows enough about balancing books to see if Henry’s up to no good, but he’s also a very hands-on kind of guy, so I feel like he could do all right with the ground level kinds of things.

Still, I feel like a partnership between them would go belly-up pretty fast. They just don’t get along in other capacities enough to…make it work long-term, I think.

It’s definitely for the best that someone else bought it up.

But hey, for a second we were able to see Bill and Henry getting along!

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

Molly…had a hair appointment…in…Benson Hills… What? These women are not rich. That was a bad line. Literally anything else could have sufficed. She went to Benson Hills to get a pretty fabric she couldn’t get in town, for example. Or she went there to drop off donations for a church drive. There are so many other things they could have picked that wouldn’t seem ridiculous (not to mention unbelievably shallow in this time period).

Tom…HAS A WIFE???? We’re probably meant to think she’s been around from the beginning, but now it makes me sad she wasn’t around… The saloon owner’s wife could have been a really fun role for somebody to play!

Now, I promised I’d get back to it, so here we go: Bill was easily the worst part about this episode, and the sad thing is, like I’ve said before, he’s my favorite (regular) character! I don’t know why they decided to suddenly swerve Bill into old grumpy-gus curmudgeon territory, but so far there’s been no reason for it; it makes him hard to like and undoes all the character development he went through in the first four seasons. I don’t want to spit out a 3,000-word essay rant about why I hate this, but I figure it deserves a serious mention here, too. I hope this series isn’t going in the direction of making Bill the go-to laugh-at character. That isn’t good humor writing. It’s cheap and lazy. Please don’t let me down, writers.

Also, can I just say how cringey the weird “charming” parts were with Bill in them? You know what I’m talking about. These parts. UGH. They were terrible and weird. I’m not sure what was going on there; it almost feels like bad stage direction. Bill hasn’t done that since Season 2, and even then it was part of a persona he eventually ended up shedding (along with his job as a Mountie). Why bring it back now? It, too, undoes character development. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this.

There were so many random children…I’ve never seen before. I just wanted to point it out.

Why does only Abigail get the ‘modern’ looking telephone?

Baby Jack was cuter in this episode than in most of the stills, and Elizabeth’s nightgown was lovely.

Florence’s expressions aimed at Elizabeth for not leaving fast enough? Priceless. I mean, that’s a good spot of humor there. Nobody is mocking Elizabeth for having feelings, but we can have a good little chuckle at it.

Lee getting busted pretending to take a phone call was so cringey but mostly in a decent way? I don’t think Bill is so tactless he wouldn’t realize what Lee was doing (see my rant about Bill above) but it’s a situation we can all probably relate to a little bit. Nobody likes getting busted for practicing! A better way of doing this scene would be for Bill to look concerned, or amused? Like, “Who are you talking to?” or, “Talking to yourself?” to start out, with no condescension in his tone of voice. But…that’s just me.

Overall Thoughts:

This was a good first regular episode to the season. It definitely gives me hope about the episodes to come! Bring on the good content!

#Season 6 Spoilers #season 6 shenanigans #when calls the heart

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made-from-starlight · 7 years

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Blast from the Past, or How Not to Write a Query Letter

It has been a WHILE since I’ve been on Tumblr and I’m sorry for the disappearing act. The best news, though? I got a book deal! My YA Fantasy novel, Ash Princess, will be out from Delacorte in Spring 2018 in the US and in ten(!!!) other countries so far. I think everyone who knows me knows that this has been a long time in the works. Eight years, to be exact, from finishing my first book when I was eighteen to selling this one.

Which also breaks down to nine manuscripts. You read that right. Nine manuscripts. In hindsight, most of these could more accurately be called drafts since it took me quite a while to get the hang of editing (and relatedly, asking for help from critique partners and beta readers). So if I could give any kind of general advice, it would be that: get other eyes on your work. Ask for help from people who you trust to be critical. Listen to them and REwrite.

More specific advice? Write a compelling query letter.

One important thing to remember is that agents WANT you to succeed. They’re hoping a query will grab them, they’re hoping they’ll read material they fall in love with. But they also see a lot of queries and writing a query that stands out is a lot of work and often requires several drafts and getting critiques from others to point out things that you might be too close to notice.

I’ve interned at two different literary agencies and at one, my main job was going through the query inbox. At the other, I read submitted manuscripts, which is a topic for a different day. I had already sent my queries for Ash Princess when I started my first internship and shortly thereafter, my agent (the incomparable Laura Biagi) offered me representation, but I learned so much about writing query letters in those months that I wish I’d known years earlier because my queries pre-Ash Princess?

They sucked. You want proof? Behold: the very first query I ever wrote, at eighteen, for a YA fantasy novel in the vein of Gail Carson Levine in all of it’s cring-y glory.

To __________,

Undoubtedly youve grown up hearing fairytales. Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast; classic tales full to the brim of magic, love and happily ever afters for all those who deserve them. Stories about dainty, delicate princesses, peasant girls with their heads in the clouds and heroes that are all charm and no flaws. But in reality, no one is quite so perfect, even in the realm of fairytales.

Anything, my first full novel, is the story about three girls who live in the fantastical country of Vairleigh. Theres Violie, the blunt, brash and beautiful princess silently rebelling against a life she has no control over, Bindi the Cinderella-esque heroine who has both feet firmly on the ground, thank-you-very-much and more sense than to pine over princes and then theres Tippa, the wide-eyed, romantic village girl who proves shes made of tougher stuff than everyone seems to expect of her.

When Bindis mother dies, leaving her orphaned at seventeen, a stroke of fate sends her to the palace on the whim of Prince Lucas, a boy she didnt recognize a few weeks before when they met at Market Day. Once there, Bindi is ostracized by the other ladies who attend to the princess, ridiculed if shes lucky, ignored completely if not. She finds friendship in an unusual place, the princess herself who is just as much an outcast as she is, but by choice. She also finds herself falling for Prince Lucas, despite her hardest efforts to be practical.

After Bindi left her best friend Tippa behind in their village, Tippa relied more than ever on her fiancé Peter, whom shed been desperately in love with since they were twelve. But when another girl turns up pregnant, claiming Peter as the babys father, Tippa finds herself wholly alone for the first time. She makes it through, closing herself off from romance for the pain it had already caused her. But where does that leave Jory, the scar-faced, kind-eyed knight who has been faithfully delivering letters to and from Bindi since she left?

Violie, on the other hand, needs no one. Shes grown up with only her older brother and his despicable friend, Raif for true company. One day, she knows, shell be shipped off to a foreign country to secure an alliance of truce. Its not a future shes ever openly begrudged, though she quietly fights it in any way she can. When Raif goes from being despicable to being surprisingly alluring, Violie finds herself unwilling to part from him. Though at what cost to her country?

Anything tells the story of three radically different girls from opposing backgrounds as they pass into adulthood and learn what love and friendship really mean.

As stated before, Anything is my first full novel (currently just over 97,000 words), though Ive written several unfinished stories and a few plays including one that won Critics Choice at the Florida District X Thespian Festival. Im currently a freshman at Savannah College of Art and Design and aspiring to major in Performing Arts and minor in Creative Writing and British-American Studies. Thank you for taking the time to look over this and let me know if youd like to see the full manuscript.

Sincerely,

Laura Kathleen Sebastian

A couple of side notes: I did not, in fact, end up minoring in Creative Writing or British-American Studies. Eighteen-year-old Laura was an ambitious but lazy creature. Secondly, this query could have been phenomenal and this book wouldn’t have gone anywhere. It was a godawful mess on so many levels, but let’s pretend for a second that it wasn’t. There are so many things wrong with this query alone. I’m also pretty mortified by the names I chose.

The most troubling thing about it isn’t even the embarrassing mess of typos (but check your typos, guys) it’s that there is nothing compelling about any of this. There is no sense of what the characters are working toward or what’s at stake for them if they fail. I don’t think anyone reading this would want to know more and therefore, it’s not a successful query.

The beginning paragraph could, honestly, be cut. It’s cliche and boring and I would bet most agents stopped reading one sentence in. Not that it gets much better after that.

There’s just too much happening here. Now, I had three main characters with different things going on and one of the many problems with the manuscript itself is that there wasn’t really a through-line connecting the stories. The characters knew each other and interacted, but their stories weren’t really connected. As a result, the query was impossible to write in any sensical way.

For comparison’s sake, below I’ve pasted the query I sent out for Ash Princess:

Dear __________,

Theodosia’s mother was known as the Queen of Flame and Fury, but after their country was conquered by seafaring savages and her mother executed, Theo became the Ash Princess. Taken hostage at the age of six to prevent rebellion, she has been ridiculed and abused by the Kaiser and his court for more than a decade. Though she is surrounded by those who use her country’s once sacred magic sacrilegiously, the only power Theo possesses is her sharp, conniving mind. She pretends to be broken and empty-headed in order to survive, but Theo has never stopped gathering intelligence and planning her revenge.

When the Kaiser forces her to execute her last hope of rescue, Theo vows to save herself, even if that means hurting the enemies she’s come to love. She throws herself into a plot to seduce and murder the Kaiser’s warrior son with the help of a group of magically gifted and volatile rebels, but her developing feelings for him and her close friendship with a spoiled but kind socialite blur the line between the naive girl she pretends to be and the shrewd queen she needs to become.

Cornered into impossible choices and unable to trust even those who claim to be on her side, Theodosia must stand on her own as a queen in order to to liberate her people before there is nothing left of her country but ashes.

ASH PRINCESS is a YA Fantasy novel complete at 91,000 words. It is perfect for fans of Marie Rutkoski’s THE WINNER’S CURSE and those who root for Sansa on GAME OF THRONES (but wish she had a little more gumption).

I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2012 and am currently living in Manhattan and working as a babysitter. Previously, I interned at Housing Works Bookstore and I still volunteer there. I also have a play published with Playscripts, Inc.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Laura Sebastian

Even rereading it now, there are little things I want to change, but overall the query does it’s job. It introduces a main character (Theodosia) and shows what she wants (to reclaim her country) and it makes it clear what’s at stake if she fails (her life and the lives of her people). It also hints at complications that will arise on her journey without giving an overwhelming amount of information right up front. My agent ended up using bits and pieces of this query in my pitch letter and it still lives on in my Goodreads summary. I also can’t understate the importance of good, accurate comp titles, but again, that’s another post for another day.

In an early version of this query, I’d made the common mistake of throwing too many fantasy names of places and people right up front but an amazingly kind agent (Molly Jaffa at Folio Jr) pointed this out early on and my query became instantly better.

It’s worth pointing out that my Ash Princess query is significantly shorter than my first one, but that it accomplishes way more. This is something to think about when you write your query as well. Having seen a query inbox from the other side, I can say that agents do get a LOT of queries and that keeping things concise and compelling is the way to go.

I got no interest at all in my first query, no partial or full requests. For Ash Princess, I got quite a few requests, including one from Agent Laura!

So if you’re currently querying or getting ready to start, I hope this helps out a bit and I’m happy to answer any questions. It’s a rough path, I know. I have email folders with over 200 rejections, not including the agents who don’t reply if they aren’t interested. But hang in there. Write. Rewrite. Rewrite some more. It’ll be worth it, I promise.

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