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weelittleweasley · 4 years

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Little Lion | Ron x Reader

Prompt as requested by 2 anons: Naturally as a Slytherin, you exude confidence and intimidation. Ron Weasley, on the other hand, not so much. But that’s what made you so attracted to the other, much to everyone else’s surprise. Question is will he muster up the courage to ask you to go to the Yule Ball with him?

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 3.8k

A/N: IMPORTANT NOTE: I know, I know, I know, the Yule Ball is only around for the Triwizard Tournament, but let’s pretend like it doesn’t exist just then!! I wanted to age everyone up to year six and give Ron and opportunity to redeem himself from the robes his mother sent him hehe. I literally am a fucking fiend for Ron Weasley, my love for him should be ILLEGAL. Ron content on here is MINIMAL TO NONE! If anyone has any great fic recs for Ron, PLEASE SEND THEM MY WAY. LOOK AT THAT MOTHERFUCKER!! I AM IN LOVE WITH HIM!!!!!!!!!!!

All it took was for you to walk down the hall to get people to look at you and start whispering between each other. It wasn’t a bad thing at all, in fact you quite liked it. You were a confident girl and sometimes that confidence intimidated people. It gave you this sense of power that you liked to use when you needed something out of someone. Not to mention the people you surrounded yourself with in your house were also quite intimidating people, one of them being Draco Malfoy.

You and Draco were best friends, a dynamic duo of sorts. People thought that you two would end up together, falling madly in love. But Draco was like your brother. He took you under his wing when you got Hogwarts and he was the person who helped you unlock that unfaltering confidence within you. Besides, Draco and you’s personalities clashed too much for it to work with you. You were both dominant, confident, intimidating people; Both of you needed to be in control at all times. Far too similar.

Instead, you took a liking to people who were more reserved. People who thought before they acted upon their impulses. You needed someone who balanced you out. But someone who could dominate you and keep you at bay when you needed it. Only problem was people like that were scared of you or found you unapproachable. Which you understood, but at the same time, you wished that those people could suck it up and make a move.

As you walked down the hall today, Draco made his way next to you. “We should skip Potions today,” he states as you roll your eyes. Sometimes Draco kept this cool boy act up too much and you knew he was a big softie on the inside and he actually enjoyed school more than he liked to admit. “Seriously. We could ditch Slughorn’s class and hang out in the common room or by the Black Lake,” he tries to tempt you.

“Dray, we’re going to class whether you like it or not,” you speak as you continue to walk to class, Draco groaning when you tell him this. “Slughorn is may be old, but he says valuable things,” you push his shoulder.

The blonde boy just sighs. “I hate when you’re right.”

The both of you walk into Potions class, your face lighting up when you see that your other friends from Slytherin were already in class, awaiting your arrival. You grab a seat with Draco on your right and Pansy on your left. Pansy already starts gossiping about people who you could honestly care less about, but you give her the attention she wants anyway, her being one of your closest girl friends in the school.

As she blabs on about some poor girl from Hufflepuff that she picked on during lunch, you watch as some Gryffindors enter the classroom, your eyes sticking on the Weasley boy. Ron Weasley was someone who you watched from afar. He was one of those boys who had that boyish charm that made you blush. The ginger was funny, for sure, but he had thoughtful and kind mannerisms that made your heart flutter when you watched him. You picked up on how he would notice when Granger would get distressed and he would offer her a sweet from his backpack that he had stored for occasions like this. You watched how he always packed more than one quill because Potter always managed to forget his. You watched how his eyes widened with fear when Slughorn would talk about how Potions can go wrong quickly, the Weasley boy fearfully concocting his. All of those little ticks made you develop a little crush on him after months of watching him.

Ron sat down in his typical seat next to Hermione and Harry, but he could feel a set of eyes on him from the moment he walked into the classroom. “Is she looking at me?” he nervously asks Harry.

Harry glances over in your direction, watching that your eyes were glued on Potter’s best friend. When you notice Harry looking at you, you quickly turn away and pay attention to Pansy who continues to ramble. “She was,” Harry reports back. Ron nervously groans. “Oh come on, maybe she has a crush on you.”

“I highly doubt it. I bet she’s planning how to rip my heart out of my chest and then serve it to Malfoy on a silver platter,” his voice cracks. “She scares me.”

Hermione rolls her eyes, “Oh, please, Ronald. Just because the girl is confident and knows what she wants doesn’t make her scary; it makes her smart. I don’t know why she would have a crush on someone like you.”

Ron just looks at Hermione. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he exclaims.

With a huff, Hermione turns to Ron and Harry. “It means I’m surprised that she doesn’t have a crush on someone like Draco or Blaise Zabini. She likes someone like you, Ronald. Merlin, I didn’t think I would have to spell it out for you,” she turns back to the board, ready to start class.

Your conversation with Pansy is interrupted when Professor Slughorn appear in front of the classroom and starts class, telling you to get into pairs. You turn to Draco, who was always your partner, Pansy with Blaise, Crabbe with Goyle. Everyone in the class regardless of their houses worked with the same people. Slughorn notices this and asks, “How about we switch it up and work with different people?” This earns a chorus of groans from the class. “I’m glad all of you are so eager to work with each other,” he says sarcastically. “I’ll assign the partners.” This earns more groans from the class.

Slughorn starts to pair people up with each other. You start to think that Slughorn is trying to make drama in the class when he starts. “Parkinson and Potter,” he announces.

“You’re bloody joking,” Pansy huffs making you laugh with Draco, making Pansy turn beet red. She grabs her things and moves to a work table in the back of the classroom.

Slughorn continues to rattle off names of unlikely duos. “Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy,” Slughorn continues as you have to stifle your laugher and Draco whispers multiple profanities, slapping your shoulder, him grabbing his things in a huff. Hermione was definitely not happy about this pairing either as she has a scared look on her face as she looks at Ron before she moves to the back tables. “Miss (Y/L/N) and Mr. Weasley,” Slughorn announces.

Your heart quite literally stops and Ron looks like a deer in headlights. You did not expect this pair to happen. You can hear Draco cackling in the back of the classroom as you whip your head around. “Shut it, you nitwit,” you spit at him as he continues to laugh. You grab all of your belongings and make your way to a back table as Ron follows. Draco is still laughing, so you waste no time, slapping him upside the head, him letting out an ow! as you do so. “Bloody moron,” you huff at him before plopping down at a table with a shy Ron next to you. It is awkward.

Slughorn calls out the last few partners before giving you the assignment for the day. After he finished speaking, the class is silent for a long beat before the small chatter beings. You turn to Ron and offer him a small smile which he nervously reciprocate. The poor bloke is afraid of me, you think too yourself. “-so-”

“-um-”

The both of you talk at the same time. “You go,” you insist to Ron.

He shakes his head. “No, no, go ahead, I don’t even know what I was going to say, something stupid probably,” he tells you. His comment makes you lightly laugh. You suggest how you should start the task given. “Yep, much smarter than what I was going to say.”

You laugh again, “I’m sure what you were going to say was not stupid, Ron.” You had him a few vials of liquids needed to craft this potion. He carefully takes them from your hands and you notice how he actively avoids touching his hands against yours as if they were poison. Your heart kind of sinks at this. Were you that intimidating to him? You start, “You know,” you grab a pair of gloves, “I don’t bite. I know other people in the school say otherwise, but I’m not that bad.”

Ron gives you a genuine smile and laughs, looking down as his feet. “I’m sure you don’t,” he tells you as you blush lightly. “I guess pretty girls scare me.” Your heart rate picks up at the compliment, gulping a little bit, not making eye contact, too scare to. This was so unlike yourself. Ron clears his throat, “Anyway, let’s start, shall we?”

Within thirty minutes, you and Ron have completed all of the assignments for today’s class. You still had thirty minutes left of class, but Slughorn comes over. “Everything looks right to me!” he exclaims with excitement. “Well done, Miss (Y/L/N) and Mr. Weasley! Since you’ve completed your work, I can dismiss you early from class!”

“What? That’s rubbish!” yells Draco from the other side of the room. You stick your tongue out at him before grabbing your things and thanking Slughorn for the great class.

You and Ron exit the class. “Job well done, indeed,” you laugh as you nudge Ron’s shoulder as he laughs. The two of you walk side by side down the hall. “Um, well, I guess I’ll see you around, Weasley.”

Starting to walk in the opposite direction, you hear Ron call, “Wait! Uh...” You turn around to see Ron behind you. “I have nothing to do for the rest of the day, and I was, um, do you wanna hang out by the Black Lake? I had snacks that I stole from the kitchen this morning.”

You cannot prevent the smile that forms across your lips. “Yeah, sounds fun.”

Ron’s lips form a cheeky grin. “Wicked.”

The two of you made your way to the Black Lake, making small talk here and there until you reached your destination. The both of you sat side by side on the grass as Ron handed you a bag of crisps from his backpack as you thank him for the snack. “So,” he starts, “this might be a weird question, but...why are you friends with people like Malfoy and Parkinson?”

You smile and lightly laugh at the question. “Draco and I are like siblings. He’s the brother I never had. When I got to Hogwarts, as hard as it may be to believe, I was really shy. I didn’t talk to many people and he took me under his wing. He helped me find my voice. I owe that to him. But that’s all that Draco and I are. Friends,” you stress, trying to express that you and Draco’s relationship was simply platonic. Ron nods. “Pansy on the other hand, she and I became friends because of Draco, but to be honest, she annoys me more than she does entertain me.”

This makes Ron laugh. “I thought I was the only one who found her dreadful,” he chuckles.

“What about you? Why are you friends with Harry and Hermione?” you ask him before munching on a chip.

Ron takes a deep breath in. “Like you said, Harry’s my brother. He gets me into deep shit, but he’s my brother.” You laugh at his passing joke, Ron looking at you out of the corner of his eye. “But seriously, Harry and I met on the train to Hogwarts. He and I have been inseparable since. Hermione, on the other hand, butt her way into Harry and I’s friendship. Again, she gets me into some deep shit, too, but here I am...The two of them are much braver than I am though, so I don’t quite understand why they think I’m a good addition to this team.”

You nudge his shoulder. “I disagree with that,” you speak truthfully. “You’re a Gryffindor! You’re like a lion,” you shimmy your shoulders, making him laugh.

“A little lion,” he retorts.

“More of a lion than I am,” you counter, making him blush.

-------

More classes like this came along. You and Ron partnered up and finished your assignment for the day early, escaping class to hang out by the lake, eat snacks, and clown around. The more time you spent with Ron, the more comfortable you were with each other. But most of your interactions were limited to Potions class and your Blake Lake encounters. Other than that, you hung out with different people, spend your free time doing different things. This made you both cherish your private moments more.

You sat by the Black Lake today, eating biscuits that your mom sent in a parcel to you. As you munched, you spoke, “The Yule Ball is coming up.” The mention of the Yule Ball makes the both of you tense. Neither of you had dates yet and you both secretly hoped the other wanted to go with each other. “You reckon you know who you want to ask?”

Ron munches on his biscuit quietly before swallowing. “Not really,” he lies through his teeth. I want to take you, Ron thinks. “What about you?” You shake your head no. I want to go with you, you think. “I’m sure you’ll have someone ask you, (Y/N). How could you not get a date? Look at you,” he tells you as you blush.

You wanted to scream at him to ask you. That you wanted him to take you to the Yule Ball so you didn’t have to go with someone like Crabbe or Goyle. But you don’t. You just sit and finish your biscuit. “I think I’m gonna head back,” you confess, not really wanting to stay any longer with Ron no matter how much you actually wanted to capitalize on your time with him.

As you rise, Ron watches you gather your things. You bloody idiot, just say it, he thinks to himself. Mustering up all of the confidence he has, Ron stands up and stops you. “(Y/N)?” he asks, stopping you from walking away from him. You look at the Weasley, waiting for him to say something. Anything. Ron takes a deep breath in and then says, “Go to the Yule Ball with me.”

Your heart flutters and the biggest smile appears on your face followed by beet red cheeks. Ron stares at you, relishing in how beautiful you look in this moment with kind eyes and rosy cheeks. “Okay. Yes,” you shake your head, making Ron smile wide.

“Brilliant,” he whispers, picking up his bag, walking back to the castle with you. “I’m glad you said yes.”

Nudging his shoulder, you tease, “Well, you didn’t make it a question, little lion.” Ron chuckles. “I would have said yes either way,” you admit.

-----

The Yule Ball rolled around and you were ball of nerves and excitement. You couldn’t wait to just go downstairs and see Ron and spend the evening with him. You looked at yourself in the mirror one last time, smoothing your hands over the satin crimson fabric of your dress. You smiled to yourself, you chose this dress mostly because of how beautiful it was, but also knowing it was the colors of Gryffindor. You wanted everyone to know who you were at the dance with. You were wearing these colors with pride tonight.

Before you made your way to the ball, you met up with Draco. “Wow,” he claps as you walk towards him, you rolling your eyes. “You look stunning,” Draco tells you as you smile.

“You look fine,” you shrug as Draco teasingly slapping your shoulder. “I’m kidding, Malfoy, you look great.”

Draco offers you his arm as you both make your way to the hall where the Ball was. “I never asked you,” Draco says, “who was the lucky bloke who asked you?”

As you turn the corner to the hall, there Ron was, dressed in a black suit with a jacket that was a smidge too big on him. Probably a hand-me-down from Fred or George. Regardless, Ron looked handsome as ever. Your heart thumped out of your chest when you saw him. “Him,” you whisper breathlessly.

Draco chuckles at first because he thinks you’re kidding. “You’re going with a Weasley?” he asks in disbelief. You ignore his snide comment, disjoining you from Draco, and you walk over to Ron. Draco turns to Zabini, “Did you know she was going with Weasley?” Zabini shakes his head. “What has gotten into her?”

Ron feels as if he may faint. You looked absolutely breathtaking in your dress of crimson, hair perfectly falling to frame your face. He felt like a fish out of water in his older brother’s old suit, but his thoughts were pushed aside when you approached him. “You are gorgeous,” he blurts, making you blush. “I can’t believe you’re my date,” he lightly laughs, grabbing your hand. “I’m the luckiest guy here.”

Smiling at the boy in front of you, you squeeze his hand. “I can’t believe you’re my date,” you confess. “I have the kindest, handsomest boy as my date to the Yule Ball.” Ron blushes a deep shade of red, almost matching your dress. “You want to go in, lion?” you call him his nickname. Ron nods and guides you inside to the ball.

-----

The Yule Ball was fun for the first hour and a half. But soon enough you grew tired of dancing and jumping around. Ron looked over at you and spoke over the music, “You wanna get out of here?” You don’t even have to answer him, you just grab his hand and start making your way out. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he laughs.

When you are outside of the hall, Ron tells you, “Give me one minute. I need to grab something from my room before we go. I’ll be right back.”

You watch him leave, a big smile on your face as you smooth out the material of your dress. This night felt nothing short of magical. Ron was a gentleman, making you laugh, dancing with you the whole night, making sure you were comfortable. He was perfect.

“You went to the ball with Weasley? (Y/N), you can do so much better,” Pansy laughs from behind you. “He’s a complete git.” Anger starts to rise in your chest. “You really could have anyone in this school and you chose the man who wears his brothers’ old clothes. He can barely stand up for himself, he has to let Granger fight his battles for him.”

“Will you shut it, Parkinson?” you snap. “Just because Draco didn’t ask you to the Yule Ball doesn’t mean you have to pick on everyone else’s dates because you are unhappy that you had to settle for Goyle. It’s not my fault that you get upset when people are happier than you. So how about this? Keep your opinions to yourself, because I can assure you no one wants to hear them. Not me, not Draco, no one.” Pansy’s face turns sheet white. “I like Ron. I think he’s brilliant. And I’m going to enjoy my night with him.”

The silence between you is deafening when you finish. Pansy just stares at you as you catch your breath from yelling at her. You hear someone clear their throat behind you. Spinning around, you see Ron behind you. You wished you could feel embarrassed right now, but you don’t. You just grab his hand and leave a shocked Pansy behind. “Merlin, remind me not to make you angry,” Ron diffuses the situation, brilliantly. You laugh at him before intertwining your fingers, leaving the Ball behind and escaping to your signature spot.

Draco leaves the hall and sees you leaving with Ron, hands clasped together. “Can you believe her?” Pansy asks Draco.

Draco just looks at Pansy. “I don’t care who she’s with. As long as she’s happy and they make her happy. That’s all you should care about too,” he speaks before walking away from Pansy with Crabbe and Goyle not too far behind him.

Soon, you and Ron arrive to Black Lake and sit beside each other on the grass in your ball attire, not caring if it gets dirty at this point. You look out at the lake as it shimmers in the moonlight. The night was beautiful. Just chilly. Ron immediately notices you shiver and without hesitation, he takes off his suit jacket and places it over your shoulders. “You don’t have to,” you insist.

“Yes, I do. Don’t want you to get sick now, do we?” Ron smiles at you, wrapping an arm behind you carefully as you lean into him.

The two of you sit in a comfortable silence, you resting your head on his shoulder as he lays his head on yours. “What did you have to grab from your room?” you curiously ask him.

You can feel Ron smile against your hair. “Reach into my jacket pocket. The left one.” You do so and pull out a small red rose. Its petals were lightly crushed from being pushed into his suit jacket pocket. You look up at Ron, eyebrows furrowed as if to say what’s this all about? “I wanted to get you a whole bouquet, but they wouldn’t have fit in my pocket,” he jokes as you laugh. “I like you, (Y/N). A lot. I like spending time with you and being around you. You make me happy. So, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to be my girlfriend?”

His confidence is palpable. You’d been rubbing off on him. He must have been rubbing off on you because there is a deep shade of red on your cheeks, you feel almost unable to speak. You finally find the words and say, “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, Weasley.”

Ron smiles big and just gawks at you. “You’re my girlfriend now?”

“I’m your girlfriend,” you repeat as he laughs. “And you’re my little lion now.”

The two of you just look at each other for a moment before he speaks, “I’m going to kiss you...if that’s okay.” You nod your head and close the gap in between you two. The kiss is gentle and his lips are soft against yours. He kisses you like he is afraid of breaking you. His hand cups your cheek, pulling you in closer. You smile lightly into the kiss before pulling away slowly. “Bloody hell,” he whispers, inches from your face. “I’m so glad that this went better than I expected,” he admits as you laugh at your boyfriend.

#ron weasley #ron weasley imagine #ron imagine #ron x reader #ron x you #ron weasley x reader #ron weasley x you #ron weasley oneshot #ron weasly x reader #ron weasly imagine #ron weasly #hp #harry potter #harry potter fanfic #harry potter imagine

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ravenwolf1132 · 5 years

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Family Matters

Ok everyone! Here we fucking go, my HP/SD crossover! For those of you who are not aware, I posted this on my fanfiction account a while ago then decided to rewrite it. This is the rewritten version. If you want to read the original, it's still up on fanfiction.net but I'm not posting that one here.

Now the story follows Harry when after his third year at Hogwarts ends, his relatives are out of commission thanks to a car crash. Which lands him at the Mystery Inc household cause, low and behold, one of them (a certain Norville Rogers) is his distant cousin. For there shenanigans ensue. The Mystery Inc are in their mid to late 20s and we have a nice heaping helping of Poly Gang since all four of them are married. Also, Shaggy is a werewolf and the entire Gang knows about magic, unbeknownst to Harry who is actively trying to hide his magic from them and does not realize they already know. So that's going be a trip and a half for Harry when it's finally revealed.

On with the show!

(Ok, I tried to put this in a read more but I can't find the HTML option. So uh, enjoy the long post I guess??)

Chapter One - Welcome to America

It was odd when Harry was waiting outside King’s Cross Station and the Dursleys had yet to arrive. Maybe they had finally given up and stopped caring? Fat chance, though, there were two parts of him that both felt relieved and almost betrayed. For the longest time, all Harry had wanted was a family that cared about him and when he was younger, he did everything in his power to try and earn a real place in the family. Of course, early on he realized that was never going to happen, so he just stayed quiet and did as he was told. In hindsight, perhaps he should have fought back against the Dursleys, do everything he possibly could to defy them, show them that he wasn't a failure or a waste of space, and if they wanted a monster, a demon, a devil, they should have gotten one. Though that might have landed him in Slytherin by the time he got to Hogwarts, maybe it was worth it, just to get some payback. Ron would’ve never believed him had he heard Harry's thoughts, though he was sure, at least, that Hermione would be on his side.

Though, Harry would never get the chance to get any form of payback since, on the way to pick up Harry from King’s Cross, they had gotten into a car crash. Vernon perished on impact and Petunia was fatally injured. Dudley managed to get out alive with only a few injuries, but would never manage to remember anything about the crash and quite possibly, a lot about his life. Harry wrapped the leather jacket that Sirius had given him around his body as he waited for the Dursleys who would never arrive. It was nearly lunch when Harry finally gave up and started to walk. He slung the bigger-on-the-inside satchel that Hermione had charmed for him that held literally everything he owned in and continued on his way.

He never took the time to admire London, despite how many times he had been here and the fact that he lived just outside the city in Surrey. Hedwig was perched on his shoulder with her head tucked under her wing leaning against the messy curls on Harry’s own head. As they walked, Harry glanced at the tall buildings and marveled. Sure, magic was impressive, but sometimes, what the Muggles do, what they can make and build, and what they take for granted and seems mundane to them, is even more impressive. They built all of this without the aid of magic, and perhaps that was a good thing. While Harry was eager to leave his past in the Muggle world behind, it still fascinated him to no end. Same for Hermione and even Ron.

Hermione, of course, grew up in the Muggle world, but still wasn't content on leaving that world altogether. She went to summer school to catch up on the courses they don't have at Hogwarts and even started up a little tutoring club in third year for muggle-born and half-blood students, occasionally the odd pure blood, for Muggle classes. She did extensive research on how to be a teacher for certain classes and eventually had to ask the upperclassmen for help. The older Ravenclaws, especially the muggle-borns, took to the idea immediately. Contrary to popular belief, most of the ravens don't actually care about grades, what they value is the knowledge. Through hanging out with them, Hermione started to pick up their philosophy as well. She began to prefer her own study and learning methods over the teachers, only after she did some research on them to make sure it does work. She gained a particular hatred towards Snape, because while he may be a great potions master, he was no teacher.

When he and Ron joined her little group, which had attracted attention from across the entire school, Ron was of course a little apprehensive. Ron grew up with an all Gryffindor family and a very biased one at that, especially towards anything that wasn't strictly light side. Sure the twins were an exception and perhaps Charlie and Bill, but still, whatever way you look at it, no matter how good they are, the Weasley’s are a biased family. However, slowly but surely, after being exposed to so many different people, from different alignments and houses and mindsets and even religions, Ron slowly began to let go of the biases he grew up with. It even got to a point where he could tolerate Slytherins and understand not all of them are bad, begrudgingly, but still. He found that there were many like-minded people he found in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses that were fascinated by Muggle tech and wanted to find some way to get it to work around magic. When Hermione saw the work he was putting into it and he found the motivation to actually do his homework from it, she left him to it, even encouraging him.

Last year, Ron would babble on and on about the things that he and his little tech group found out about, he even told his dad about his findings which helped him to finally get noticed amongst his family! Watching Ron be so happy and relishing in the feeling of finally being noticed for once, made Harry and Hermione happy for him too. They encouraged his behavior and it helped mellow him out too, no longer did he feel the same amount of jealousy or envy from being Harry's friend because he was being dotted and fawned upon now, and Harry happily took a backseat to this since he never really cared much about his fame. When he did feel stressed or had a bout of jealousy coming on, he'd smile and wait it out, trying to think about other things and often retreating to his work. Harry and Hermione could easily pinpoint what causes him to retreat, sometimes he's had a rough day, others he needs to cool off before he blows, and sometimes he just has this random bout of inspiration and has to get working on it before he loses the idea. He's grown accustomed to carrying around a sketchbook and notepad in classes so he can write down and sketch out his ideas.

A new dynamic had taken root among them. Ron had turned into the inventor, the strategist, he was the one to come up with plans and give advice should they need it. Hermione became the researcher, the one who keeps the others informed, not much changed here. However, while Ron may be good with long term and more permanent plans, and Hermione was their walking library, both of them had weak points. Ron's plans were great and all, but you can't change them on the fly easily, and Hermione, while amazing when it comes to knowledge, didn't know how to handle a stressful situation well. That is where Harry comes in. Harry is a quick thinker and very observant, he can work well under pressure and is at his best helping others. Each member of the golden trio balances the others out. Without Ron, Harry and Hermione won’t know what to do with themselves. Without Hermione, Harry and Ron wouldn’t have a clue what they're doing. And without Harry, Ron and Hermione would end up in situations where they can't get themselves out of.

As he dwelled on this, reminiscing about how far he and his friends had come, he realized he had gotten lost, and hungry. Pulling himself back to reality and the present, he looked around for somewhere to eat and get directions from. Noticing a small corner cafe, he walked in and up to barista.

“‘Ello there, lad,” the barista welcomed, “welcome to Cali's Corner Cafe, my name's Sally, what can I get for ya?”

Harry turned his head up to the menu, feeling Hedwig's soft feathers brush against him. “May I have a BLT club with Turkey, ham, provolone, and extra bacon? Oh, and a couple of cucumbers? No dressings, please.” he asked shyly.

“of course, lad,” Sally said, “Any drink? Soft sodas or juice?”

“Just water is fine.”

“Coming right up!” She chirped. “Why don't you go find a seat? We'll call you up when it's ready for you.”

Not wanting to move very far, he sat down at the bar table. Thankfully, this cafe didn't sell alcohol, so he was allowed to sit up there. While he waited, he reached into his bag and pulled out a notepad for him to pass the time with. The spell Hermione had bewitched the bag with didn't require any sort of wand-waving to summon things from it, all you had to do while having a clear picture of the object in mind, was stuff your hand in and pull out once you grasped it. Though sometimes it doesn't always work, so you grab something that's the wrong thing. Thankfully, he pulled out the notepad and not something like one of his school books, summoned a couple pencils, erasers, and sharpeners, and started to work on the first thing that came to mind. Since he was hungry, he worked on a new recipe that he had been dying to try out. Sally came back over with his food and Harry pulled out his wallet with a Gringotts bank card and paid quickly. While Sally was handing him his recite, she looked over at the Tele.

“Oh dear, how awful.” Sally bemoaned, Harry looked up from his half-eaten a sandwich and feeding Hedwig some of the extra bacon strips. “That intersection is quite dangerous, I hope everyone made it out ok…”

Harry glanced over at the Tele and saw it depicting a crash just a few blocks from Kings Cross. Maybe that's why it was taking the Dursleys so long? The more he watched, the more he began to recognize the victims of the crash. There was a walrus of a man hanging out the windshield of the car, obviously dead and very familiar to Harry. The two just barely surviving members of the crash looked strikingly similar to his aunt and cousin. But the thing that made him realize that they didn't just look like his relatives, was the license plate number, it was his uncle Vernon's car! He jumped out of his seat, startling Hedwig from her perch.

“What's wrong, sonny?” Sally asked worriedly. “Do you know them?”

“‘Know them’?” Harry echoed, “They're my aunt and uncle! I live with them! Oh god, if they're gone, where am I gonna go now?!”

He started shoving his things into his bag and Hedwig tried to comfort him by perching back on his shoulder and nuzzling him.

“Alright, alright, sonny,” Sally said, trying to calm him down. “We'll call a constable to see what to do, ok?”

“Yes, please do!” Harry begged, “And hurry!”

Harry didn't know how this had happened. The constable was a nice man named Constable Wright and was able to confirm that Harry was their nephew. Unfortunately, with no living relatives, they had to search elsewhere in order to find him someplace to live. However, they did find out Harry had a distant cousin in Ohio, America. They quickly arranged a short-notice flight to America after contacting his relative, a man named Norville Rogers, and having him agree to take Harry in. So, Harry went from a 10 hour train ride from school to Kings Cross, be in London for only a couple hours after finding out his aunt, uncle, and cousin are dead or badly injured and in no fit shape to take care of him, to an 8 hour flight from the UK to Ohio in less than twenty-four hours. What a great way to kick off the summer.

Harry was determined to let sleeping dogs lie when he got to America, but he couldn't help but feel nervous. What if his new caretaker was like the Dursleys? When the plane finally touched down, Harry grabbed his satchel, which managed to convince the constable that it was all he needed, and headed down to the baggage claim. Standing there, holding a sign with his name on it, was a very tall man, well over six feet, waiting for him. He had long light chestnut hair pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck and his eyes were a honey golden color, he wondered for a moment if he were a werewolf. He looked ragged, like a more clean-cut version of Professor Lupin just without all the scars. He had a small beard on his chin and a bit of a five o'clock shadow. He wore a white tank top underneath a green flannel and had beige cargo pants and a set of black leather dress shoes. Sat patiently at his side was a large brown service dog sporting the signature vest and collar leashed to the man. That had to be Norville. Funny, he was expecting a lasso swinging cowboy or lumberjack redneck, not a scruffy bohemian hippie man.

With Hedwig perched on his shoulder, Harry cautiously began to walk up to the man, silently praying that the dog wouldn't attack him on approach and that this man, his other cousin, was nothing like the Dursleys. The dog stood and with the sudden movement beside him, Norville also looked to the side. He gave Harry a friendly smile, but Harry's body had already frozen still and tense. The dog began to move forwards slowly and Harry could feel his heart racing, was it going to attack? His body hunched over, his shoulders coming up and he lifted onto his toes, keeping his arms tucked into his body and his knees loose should he need to run or fight the dog off. Hedwig noticed this and spread her wings enough so she could easily take flight and kept a glaring golden eye on the dog. The dog, whom Harry could see was practically his height on all fours, faltered a little when it saw Hedwig prepare to strike, but continued to come closer. Eventually, the dog sat in front of Harry and bowed its head looking up at him. So, the dog wasn't going to attack him? But all the other dogs attack him, why didn’t this one? Is it because it's a service dog? But aren't they known for protecting their master’s too? Looking down at the pooch, it was waiting for Harry to do something. Holding his hand out slightly, Harry reached for the dog’s head and went to pat it, he hesitated for a moment before his hand came into contact with soft, fine, fur. He visibly relaxed at the touch and scratched the pooch's head, its tongue poked out of its mouth and its tail swung lazily side to side with content.

“Sorry, Pooch,” Harry said, “I'm just not comfortable around big dogs, I thought you were going to attack me. Looks like your a better dog than all the ones I've met.” Of course, that didn't count Sirius or Lupin since they were actually people.

“Well, like, looks like you made a new friend, Scoob ol’ boy.” The man, Norville, Harry guessed, his cousin. He smiled at Harry, giving him a wide goofy grin. He held his hand out to shake, “Nice to meet ya’, kiddo. Name's Norville Rogers, but just call me Shaggy.”

“‘Shaggy’?” Harry echoed, tasting the word, it left a sour taste in his mouth, “Sorry mate, but no matter how good you are with the ladies, I am not calling you that.” Harry didn't care whether he was being rude to the man or not, he wasn't going to call someone the equivalent of having sex.

“Eh? What do ladies have to do with anything?” Norville inquired innocently.

“What? Do you prefer blokes, then?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. Scooby snickered as Norville’s face reddened. Though through the look on his face, it was surprise and embarrassment, not anger, that caused it. Norville chuckled.

“Well, it seems there's, like, a cultural difference here, cause in America, the word “shaggy” means scruffy or messy.” He explained.

“Oh,” Well that made more sense, but it also made this next bit more complicated to explain. “well, in England it kind of implies you like to…” he looked around as if he were about to tell a secret. “That you like to have sex.”

“ah,” Norville stated simply, his eyes widening a bit. “Well then, I guess we need to find something else for you to call me then.”

At that moment, both their stomachs rumbled, Norville's louder than Harry's. Harry rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, and put a hand over his stomach. Both of them laughed softly.

“After we get something to eat,” Norville said. “I'm starving and I'm sure you're hungry too from your flight. C'mon, I know a place downtown.”

Norville turned and started walking towards the door and Scooby looked back at him, gesturing for him to follow. These guys didn't seem too bad, maybe things will turn out alright.

#scooby doo #harry potter #fic: family matters #crossover #tw: long post

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heartofaquamarine · 7 years

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Slytherin and Eton: A Primer on the British School System.

Slytherin occupies an odd place in the Harry Potter fandom. In canon, while it is the house with the second most development, that development is almost entirely negative, with the house and a large quantity of its students acting antagonistically throughout the piece. Heck, Hagrid, the lovable gruff figure who acts as Harry’s (and thus the audience’s) introduction to the magical aspects of the series explicitely calls them the most evil house before Harry has even seen the castle. This, along with Draco Malfoy’s terrible introduction (Malfoy will be covered in detail later in the piece) and the fact that Harry is already having to distance himself from Voldemort by the time of the sorting, is the major reason that Harry chooses anything but Slytherin. While the house, or rather its representatives, are sort of given more naunce later with Slughorn, Malfoy’s Draco and Narcissus, and Snape, the core example of how it is treated in the series comes just before the final battle, when the entire Slytherin student body either sides with Voldemort (Crabbe and Goyle, and to a lesser extent Parkinson who is willing to hand over Harry to save herself) or refuses to fight the good fight at all.

The weirdness comes from the fact that Slytherin is probably the most popular house to self identify as within the active fandom. Aside from having traits many consider positive associated with it (cunning, loyalty and ambition), it is also treated as the outcast house to the rest of the school, particularly the Gryfindors. The treatement of Slytherin therefore sticks in a lot of fan’s nerves, and understandably so. The notion of Houses, defining people at age 11, is already a weird way to handle things, after all, and defining an entire group of them as evil from the start? Yeah that’s not great, particularly if you identify with aspects of them. I myself would probably be a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw, so I can understand this distaste. But...here’s the thing. The reasons for treating Slytherin this way are not entirely diagectic in nature. The house is the centre of a massive pile up involving world building, characterisation and most importantly some fairly blunt and pointed social commentary about the British School system and society at large.

It’s been a running gag that what racism is to the American political discussion, classism is to the British. This is not entirely true (for one thing we are certainly not over racism or xenophobia here), but there is a nugget in there. British society is heavily class stratified society. We have some of the worst mobility in the developed world, and much of our political system is dominated by a very small part of society.

Perhaps the most obvious example of this is that there is a particular branch of the schooling system that dominates government, known as the Public Schools. That name can be confusing at first. The original group of Public schools vastly predate the mandatory schooling system; the oldest of them predate Columbus’ birth by over a decade. Not his voyage to the Americas, but his birth. The original idea was that they would take promising boys who normally would not get an education, due to them not coming from families who could afford them to be educated, hence the name Public Schools. Nowadays these are all elite private schools, not linked to the department of education. While approximately 7% of the population attend these schools, 33% of the members of Parliament (MPs), 50% of the Peers in the second chamber of government and 70% of the top judges are educated here. Heck, of the 54 Prime Ministers who have led the country, 32 were educated at one of three Public schools; seven at Harrow School, six at Westminster School and nineteen at Eton College. Compare that to the 9 prime ministers educated, as I was, in state schools. These institutions form part of the basis for a web of connections that defines a lot of the elite parts of British society, not just in politics but in business, in media and in higher education as well; the “old boy’s club” that provides a barrier to entry for a vast swathe of society. While supporters of these systems will note that efforts have been made to overcome this, with around 310 of Eton’s pupils receiving financial assistance, but that means that the remaining 1,000 students come from families that can afford the £12,000 per term fees, and these students are only male. The idea that this system is anything close to meritocratic is not just laughable, it is the equivalent of starting a discussion on orbital dynamics with the word’s “assuming a heliocentric universe”. Another point to make? The entire House structure comes from these schools. Eton has 25 Houses, and in this case they are literally houses; they are where the boy’s sleep at night, since it is a boarding school. While not unique to Public Schools, they are heavily associated with them in British culture. I’m adding this in because Rowling didn’t just make up the concept of splitting the children into groups. As a teenager she attended Wyedean School, which notably historically had a four House system (oh look it’s almost as if there might be a connection), before abandoning it as the school grew (I can’t find anything about when this happened, but it could well have been after Rowling studied there). Hogwarts itself, while it is an individual school, is also a condensation, celebration and condemnation of the British School system as a whole, being the only wizarding school in the UK. Umbridge isn’t just a single throughly unpleasant inspector, she is a stand-in for OFSTED, the body responsible for school inspections. It’s notable that in Harry’s year in Gryfindor, you have, among others, the dirt poor Ron, the muggle born Dean and Hermione, the Irish half-blood Seamus Finnigen (and given that this was written in the 90′s holy shit is UK and Irish relations another can of worms I am not going to open here because this already too long but will be glanced a bit at in a later bit of this essay). It’s honestly hard for me to not read Gryffindor and Hufflepuff as stand-ins for the UK state schools, Ravenclaw for the private schools, and Slytherin as the public schools. Remember what I said about how Slytherin is treated as the outcast part of the school? Well, it is honestly treated much like the rest of the UK school system treats the private school. How is that? Well, when it snowed in my school days and we all went to the main park, the one thing that would immediately unite all the state and a lot of the private schools was the arrival of the public school kids (particularly since they tended to try and pick snowball fights with everyone while throwing classist insults around). Slytherin is in many ways the house of privilege, and not necessarily earned privilege. Lucius Malfoy, until his ousting when he plays his hand too hard in the second book, is the leader of the Board of Governors and escaped Azkaban despite his crimes, while it is explicitely stated in the first book that Slytherin has won the House cup for repeatedly in the previous years, mainly due to Snape bestowing preferential treatment on his own House (and yes I do think it was fine for Dumbledore to pull that last minute switch, since Harry Ron and Hermione had just legimately just prevented Voldemort from returning. That kind of deserves some credit. The Neville bit might be pushing it but again, the timing was just pretty tight). But there’s more to what Slytherin represents, and this comes back to what I was saying about how charactisation is involved in this pile up, particularly the characterisation of Slytherin himself. Specifically the characterisation of him as a rascist shitfucker. I know that’s blunt but so it is the characterisation. He left a giant monster behind for the sole purpose of having it one day unleashed on a load of kids for the crime of not being born to magical parents, and Slytherin the house has historically been defined as much by its stated qualities of cunning and ambition as it has been by this continuing tradition of racist ideology. The Sorting Hat song is not the full picture as to what defines the Houses; they have grown beyond that, both in universe and in fandom. This characterisation comes back into social commentary because, yes, the UK has had and still has a long history of racism and xenophobia, from our imperial history to the Troubles in Ireland to how Eastern European and muslim immigrants are treated now. So why does Slytherin House still bare a stain from Slytherin the man? Well, in a word, it’s tradition. Remember what I said about the age of these institutions? Yeah, that’s not a joke. The Public School system, the Oxbridge higher education that it feeds into, are heavily influenced by traditions that have grown up over the ages. Heck, it used to be that in Eton, the youngest boys in the House were basically servants to the older students and staff, a practise known as “fagging” (I am not even joking). Wizarding society in general is also heavily steeped in the past; the steam train of the Hogwarts express, for instance, or the very concept of the Houses themselves. Heck, while it is never confronted directly, quite a few characters talk about how the Sorting isn’t the best idea, most notably the Sorting Hat itself. Slytherin the house has passed down the ideals of Slytherin the man in its culture, just as the UK has passed down racism, classism and xenophobia in ours. If Voldemort is the embodiment of these issues at their most violent, then Parkinson is them at their most passive; she is willing to go with Voldemort’s demands to save herself, and is willing to accept the racism and classism throughout the books. This is what I meant by a collusion between characterisation, world building and social commentary. The books were written while Rowling was viturally penniless, and a lot of the social commentary in them reflects this, including the way Slytherin is portrayed. Is it fair to the characters of Slytherin? Should she have been more naunced about it? Well, yes. There’s a reason I called it a pile up, but if you are treating the resulting mess as simply being in universe, you are going to miss a lot of important aspects about why she created it the way that she did.

#Harry potter #Slytherin #Public Schools #British Culture #Eton #long post #HP

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fanfictnarchive · 7 years

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harry potter | Trajectories by Aja

Link. Rembrandt's phrase in describing his painting: "Die meeste ende di naetureelste beweechgelickhijt", can be translated as greatest, most natural movement (emotion or motive).

[Post-Deathly Hallows, eighth-year-at-Hogwarts AU, all canonical character deaths.] Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione. Ron and Harry return to Hogwarts, where portraits have been commissioned of all the fallen students, including Fred Weasley. Ron isn’t handling it very well, and neither is the portrait of his brother. Meanwhile, Ginny won’t talk to Harry, and Malfoy is going to get Harry’s help whether he likes it or not. Also, the entire plot would likely have not been possible without Hermione’s absence, although she shows up at the end to steal the show.

i loved so many, many things about this, including but certainly not limited to:

Hermione beamed at him. "Oh, Ron," she said, and Harry took his cue, the owl, and the envelope, and fled. (this is the most Hermione/Ron sentence i have Ever Read)

sir cadogan’s Finest Moment™

He wished Hermione had come with them. She'd agree with him, he knew, and maybe she'd even tell him why.

And because they were all, he thought, different since the war. But he and Ron never really talked about that stuff when they were together. YOU ARE BOTH SO DUMB, & THIS IS WHY YOU NEED HERMIONE

They were still laughing when Hermione looked over his shoulder, started, and pulled her hand out of his grasp. "Hey, Ginny!" she said. Harry. Harry. Hermione understands your girlfriend, how is she totally incomprehensible to you?

also, i liked how much more enmeshed ginny is with the hogwart’s student body than harry is, which i think is a dynamic that doesn’t get much attention in either fanfiction or canon. also interesting is that much of the dysfunction in their relationship here comes from ginny asking harry to (essentially) socialize w/ Hogwarts students he doesn’t know very well, and her taking his reluctance as a personal rejection.

the problem of course, is that to harry, friendship is inextricably linked to near-death experiences and sacrifice, so whether he realizes it or not, he actually has very high standards for people he considers his friends. draco malfoy qualifies, most hogwarts students do not. also, i know the fandom likes to joke that harry is absurdly unobservant because he doesn’t seem to know his classmates’ names, but i would argue that when your classmates refuse to treat you as anything besides a pariah or a celebrity-cum-hero, and vacillate wildly from one extreme to the other depending on whatever nonsense is written in the press, forming genuine relationships with any of them would prove difficult. so he’s like, i literally died for these people, but i don’t want to hang out with them because they have spent my entire school life treating me like an exhibit at the zoo, and ginny is thinking: i fought Death Eaters with these students; what makes them less deserving of harry’s consideration than ron or hermione? (what makes me less deserving of harry’s attention than hermione?)

like remember the time seamus finnegan told harry to his face that his mother didn’t want him to come back to hogwarts because she thought harry was crazy? or the time the entire Hufflepuff House thought harry tried to kill justin finch-fletchley? or this gem from the OotP: “He heard whispers all around him as he sat eating between Ron and Hermione. The funny thing was that none of the whisperers seemed to mind him overhearing what they were saying about him. On the contrary, it was as though they were hoping he would get angry and start shouting again, so that they could hear his story firsthand.” anyway.

The mass of Slytherin first-years quickly sorted themselves out by cliques. Much to Harry's amusement, most of them seemed to like Malfoy. Sometimes, when he walked past Malfoy and the portrait, a handful of younger Slytherins would be gathered around him like wayward ducklings, and Malfoy would be doing his best to pretend they didn't exist. oh my g o d

Malfoy watched as Harry sat down, unrolled the map, tapped it, and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Then Harry watched as Malfoy's jaw slid gradually lower and lower while the map revealed its contents. When the last of the names — their own, the words H. Potter and D. Malfoy squinched together in minuscule print in the Great Hall — had formed, Malfoy looked up at Harry, his face holding about twelve expressions at once."This explains a lot," he said coolly. "Cry me a river," said Harry. ahahahahaha

“Thanks," Malfoy said. He said it easily enough, but his eyes glanced off Harry's shoulder as if he were afraid a direct hit might injure him. i Can’t Deal w/ this

i’m not sure i agree with harry about paintings of the dead not really being people anymore; i think their lives change by virtue of being portraits, but i think the portrait of fred weasley probably loves george weasley as much as fred did when he was alive

more things we were tragically deprived of in canon due to draco not being allowed to grow out of being a giant prat: his reaction to luna being virtually identical to hermione’s reaction to luna

he felt even stupider trying to stick up for Ron when he was being an idiot, but it was Ron, and Harry would always stand up for him in the end; he couldn't stand not to. I LOVE THEM BOTH, BUT THEY ARE SO STUPID, THANK GOD FOR HERMIONE

Draco had to swallow twice before he spoke, and when he did Harry could tell the effort he was making to keep his voice level. "I've a feeling I was a kid a lot longer than you were, Potter," he said. Something about the way he said it made Harry's throat tighten. this is the only draco malfoy i have Ever Wanted

hermione’s return is the most amazing, loving depiction of harry, hermione & ron’s friendship that i have read in fanfiction, and i would absolutely marry it if it could

#Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy #harry potter fic recs #ron weasley/hermione granger #aka my real hp OTP #also harry's friendship with ron is [kisses fingers] in this #it is also deeply amusing to me that harry is so awful with ginny and so good with malfoy #like what is going on w/ ur emotional intelligence #wtf harry #harry will be friends with ron and hermione in every universe & i will fight u if u disagree

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