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startanewdream · 3 years

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The fawn and the stag

Summary: When six-years-old James Sirius has a crisis about never showing magic before, a familiar friend comes to help him.

For @prettyflores whose prompt was "Harry and/or James Sirius' first magic", and then it turned out in this family feels story.

Read on AO3 or below the cut:

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The sounds of laughter and conversations were drowned away as James went around his house, leaving by the front gate; nobody noticed him. He was usually very good at avoiding being caught and even more so that day - all his parents' attention was on Al, little four-years-old Al who had just cast his first magic.

It was not a very impressive magic - Al was just upset because Lily didn’t stop crying and then he made some flowers levitate around her, distracting her. All grownups - Mom and Dad, Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur - had stopped to look and even Teddy seemed impressed with what he had seen. James didn’t think it was a big deal, but then everyone was applauding - Lily was giggling - and there was a light on Dad’s eyes that upset James more than anything.

His father had never looked at him like that.

Which was fair, because James had never shown any magic before.

He hadn’t been worried until then, but if his baby brother had performed magic, then so should James, right? He was older . And smarter - at least, Mom always said he was too smart for his own good.

So James had an idea and he had left them. It wasn’t like he could talk to anyone who had been there, there was no one who would understand him; he would usually come to Teddy for his questions, but Teddy had been unquestionably a wizard since birth, with that changing appearance of his. And he knew that Mom had been exploding things ever since she was younger than Lily (Uncle George always told this story with tears of joy in his eyes) and Dad… well, Dad was a hero. He didn’t know the full story because Mom told him he was still too young to understand, but he had seen Dad's Chocolate Frog Card and knew that his Dad had faced a Dark Wizard when he was just barely one-year-old.

It was only James that was lacking in the magic department in the family. Maybe there was something wrong with him.

‘There is nothing wrong with you’, he heard an amused voice say and he didn’t need to turn around to know his friend was there; James was already used to not noticing when he approached him, of not ever hearing his steps.

And James was already used too to how his friends sometimes seemed to read his mind.

‘I never did any magic’, James mumbled, annoyed, shame coming out of his voice at admitting it out loud.

‘Sure you did’.

‘How can you know?’, James asked. ‘No one ever saw me doing anything’.

His friend let out a small chuckle. When James turned to him, he was smiling gently.

‘Not every magic can be seen, Fawn’, he said.

James didn’t know what he meant by that, which was also normal. Sometimes his friend said things James couldn’t understand, like calling him Fawn, even though James had repeated a lot of times that his name was James.

‘Oh, I know’, his friend would say when James corrected him, and he sounded strangely sad about it, so James usually dropped the subject. He didn’t really mind being called Fawn.

It sounded affectionate, like something Mom or Dad would call him.

‘Where are you going?’, his friend asked, watching him with some concern as they got further away to James’ house.

‘The cliff’, James answered resolutely.

‘Hum’, his friend pressed his lips, his hand grabbing his own hair rather nervously. ‘That cliff where your dad told you not to go alone?’

James nodded. They would go down to the beach on weekends and there was a nice cliff where they could watch the sunset on a picnic sometimes. James had never thought much about it until a few weeks ago when he saw those teenagers jumping off the cliff in the sea beneath and that had seemed fun - and even more interesting when Dad had said it was too dangerous to jump like that and he shouldn’t do it.

But James never considered actually going there until now.

‘Fawn’, his friend sounded distressed now. ‘I know your expression very well. It speaks of trouble . What are you thinking of doing?’

‘Uncle Neville once told me a story about how he discovered he was a wizard’, James explained without stopping walking. He was near his objective. ‘His great uncle let him fall off a window and he bounced to the ground’.

‘And now you are thinking of jumping off a cliff? This is a terrible idea’, his friend declared, though James thought he sounded just a little impressed. ‘Wandless magic doesn’t work like that - and magic comes for everyone at their own time, Fawn. Go back home’.

‘I can’t!’, James cried, feeling his eyes burning with tears. ‘They are all gushing over Al and… I am older , I should have done magic already! What if - what if I can’t -’

‘Fawn’, his friend stopped in front of him, kneeling so their eyes could be at the same level. ‘I promise you are a wizard. But even if you weren’t, your parents would love you all the same -’

‘What do you know?’, James interrupted him, drying away the tears that insisted on dropping from his eyes, which only annoyed him more. Only Lily cried - and she could because she was a baby. ‘You don’t even exist!’

That made his friend blink, startled. James was breathing heavily; it seemed weird to accuse his friend of not existing, when James could see him clearly with that dark messy hair that reminded him of Dad and those hazel eyes that shined very brightly, a face so familiar that James thought he had known him since always; but James had heard Teddy talking about him.

Imaginary, Teddy had called him.

And James had realized how Albus always got confused when James mentioned his friend, even though he had been by James’ side on occasions that Al had to have seen him; even Mom and Dad, though they had never said anything about it, seemed amused when James mentioned his friend, sometimes accepting his presence only after James mentioned him, until James had finally accepted that his parents couldn’t see him at all.

A part of James had known what that meant, but he always ignored in favor of just accepting his company . He was the only one that James never shared with anyone; and he would play with James before Al grew up enough to join him, or when Teddy wasn’t near - and considering Teddy would be going to Hogwarts that year, James had wanted even more to keep the presence of a friend that never seemed to judge him; in fact, his friend seemed to approve most of the small misdeeds that James would do time from time.

He was always there when James needed him.

But now James had more pressing things to care about than the fact that his best friend was just on his own mind.

‘Let me go’, he asked, when his friend didn’t move. ‘I - I told you, you don’t exist. Go away!’

James knew how that worked. Sometimes when he was afraid of something under his bed or in his closet, his dad would come and show him that there was nothing there.

‘And let me tell you a secret, James’, his dad would say with a warm smile that calmed James more than anything in the world. ‘You are much more powerful than any fear. So you close your eyes and think very firmly “go away!”. When you open your eyes, there will be nothing there’.

But now it was not working with his friend, who was just staring at him with faint worry in his eyes. James supposed it only worked for things he was afraid of and, truth be told, his friend gave him the opposite of fear.

‘You always tells me to not give up’, James said then, sniffling. ‘Why are you not letting me go?’

‘Because it’s a silly idea, Fawn. Magic can show itself in moments of need, but not always. I don’t want you to be hurt’.

‘See? You don’t think I can do it’.

‘I think you are a kid who can’t control your own magic yet. Like… Teddy once was. He can change his hair, right?’ James nodded, thoughtful. ‘But he needed a lot of practice to learn. Like you will when you go to Hogwarts’.

‘I don’t know - what if I never get a letter - if I am not a Gryffindor like Mom and Dad -’

‘Fawn, I am telling you, your parents love you the way you are’. And when James opened his mouth, his friend touched the point of James’ nose. ‘I know what I’m talking about, I am a parent too’.

That made James pause. His friend never talked much about himself.

‘You are?’

‘Yes. And you know what? Every day I am proud of my son’.

‘You have a son? Do I know him?’

There was a smile on his friend’s face, one that suddenly reminded James of his own dad when he was talking to Teddy about Teddy’s father or when James had asked him where his dad’s parents were.

It was… wistful.

It made James feel sad for some reasons he couldn’t understand.

‘You do’, his friend said. ‘And he was older than you when made his first magic’.

‘Older?’

‘Yeah, he was seven. He didn’t know what he was doing, he didn’t know that he was a… anyway, he was going to the school and his… his aunt gave him a terrible haircut, really awful. And he made his hair grow back at night. He was sleeping when it just happened. His first magic’.

His friend sighed then; a heavy silence that reminded James of his parents when they were thinking about the war, of things that were lost and could never come back.

‘Did you think he wasn’t a wizard?’, James asked in a small voice. ‘Before?’

‘I never really thought about it’, he answered, and James could only hear the honesty in his voice.

‘Would you be upset if he wasn’t?’

‘I would be worried’, his friend said, again sighing. ‘But not because of what anyone would think, just because I knew his road ahead was difficult and it would be worse without magic. But never upset . The things he did that most made me happy and proud had nothing to do with his magic’.

James walked again, this time to sit on one of the benches in the small park they were. His friend sat next to him, his arms protectively around James’ shoulder.

‘What things?’, he asked curiously.

‘Well - lots of things. Once he went to face a very dangerous wizard and he did it because he knew he was the only one that could do it, even though he was just eleven. And, no, he didn’t cast a single spell for it. It was just him and his love that saved him’.

‘Love is the most powerful magic’, James recited. His dad always told him that.

His friend smiled.

‘Yes, but it’s not a wizarding magic, Fawn, Muggles love just as fiercely’, he said, and then he looked away at something James could not see. ‘I was proud of my son whenever he stood up to defend his friends. When he did the right thing no matter what. But I think the day I was the happiest was when he gave me my first grandson’.

‘You have a grandson?’, James asked, surprised. His friend looked even younger than his father, not all old like James’ grandparents or Teddy’s grandmother.

‘I look good for my age’, his friend assured him playfully, once more knowing exactly what was on James’ mind. ‘And I don’t have only one grandchild, but three. I love them all, but the first… was the first’. He threw James a furtive look. ‘He got named after me, so I may be a little biased. Don’t tell anyone’.

There was a mischief look on his face now, one that James recognized in the mirror every time he saw himself doing something he shouldn’t be doing.

He felt a sudden wave of warmth for his friend.

‘I am sorry I said you don’t exist’, he said sincerely. ‘I know you are real, even if no one else sees you’. James cocked his head to the side, a thought coming to him. ‘Why doesn't anyone else see you?’

‘You are thinking of the wrong question’, he answered cryptically. James tried to think what could be the right question, but nothing came to him. ‘And they may not see me, but your parents know me’.

‘They do?’

‘Oh, yeah. We’ve met before. I loved your father even before he was born. And your mother and I had a nice chat right before you were born, you know?’

‘That was ages ago’.

‘Six years mean nothing to me. Time flies by when…’

But his friend shook his head, not finishing his phrase. He looked away, past James, in the direction of his house.

‘Your parents are looking for you; they are rather worried’, he said, as if he could hear them calling, even though James thought it was too far. ‘Did you give up on your idea then?’

‘Yeah’. James shrugged, trying to pretend it was nothing much, though he knew his friend wouldn’t be deceived. He always seemed to know when James was lying. ‘It wouldn’t even be new. I would want my first magic to be far more exciting. Like Mom’s’.

His friend gave him a fond look.

‘I told you, Fawn, not every magic is a firework. Some are just as simple and quiet as crossing the barriers of life and allowing a grandparent a time with his grandson’.

James didn’t understand what he meant by that. But he thought that his friend was very nice and that he wished he had all the time in the world with the grandchildren he mentioned he had.

‘Your dad will find you soon’, his friend told him. ‘I think I will go - will you be okay?’

James nodded.

‘Tell him what’s bothering you. Your dad will always listen to you’, his friend said. ‘And Fawn… even if we don’t see each other, you know I will always be here when you need me, don't you?’

James smiled.

‘Thanks… what do I call you? I never knew’.

His friend gave James a lopsided grin that James had to share.

‘What do you want to call me?’

‘I don’t know’, James answered truthfully. It would be weird to call him Mister when James already thought of him too much as his friend and he didn’t look like one of his uncles. ‘What do your grandchildren call you?’

There was the most curious look on his friend’s face. James had never seen him so sad, almost crying.

‘I’d expect Grandpa’, he whispered.

‘Well, I could call you Grandpa then’, James said. He called Teddy’s grandmother as Grandma sometimes too; she didn’t seem to mind.

‘Yes, you could, James’, he said very softly, looking happy and melancholic at the same side, and James realized it was the first time he called him something other than Fawn.

He was going to note it when he heard someone calling him in the distance. He turned in time to see Dad coming in his direction, running, and James got up. When he looked back at the bench, there wasn’t anyone there anymore.

This was usual too. His friend would come and go without James ever noticing it.

‘James!’, his dad called him once more, and then he was giving James one of those bear-hugs that Dad always reserved for when he came home after a long mission for work. ‘I was so worried!’

‘You were?’, James asked, surprised, because he really thought no one would notice him gone.

‘Of course I was! Don’t ever disappear on us again, please!’

‘I am sorry’, James mumbled guiltily. ‘I just thought - you were so excited because of Al, I didn’t think -’

‘Oh, James’. Dad broke away a little to look at him. ‘Is that why you left?’

James bit his lips, not wanting to answer. Dad kneeled in front of him and James had a vision of his friend doing the same before; for the first time, he realized they actually look a lot like each other, though his friend didn’t use glasses and didn’t have any scar on his forehead.

‘James?’, his dad asked softly. James took a deep breath.

‘I was afraid of not being a wizard’, he whispered. ‘I never did what Al did’.

‘That was accidental wandless magic, James’, his father explained patiently, messing with James’ hair fondly. ‘It’s not controllable’.

‘But you looked so… proud of him and I wanted you to be proud of me too’.

‘I am proud of you’, his father assured him. ‘Al’s magic just reminded me of something I saw a long time ago. And you are my little mastermind genius, aren’t you? Or you think I don’t know who put those Canary Creams on your cousins’ cake last week?’

James grinned without controlling, not at all ashamed. It had been fun watching them all turn into little canaries and it was temporary, Uncle George had explained to him.

‘You are different from Al, just I am sure Lily will be different from both of you. And I love you all the same’.

‘Even if I happen not to be a wizard?’, James asked, the smile dying from his face as he stared intently at his father. His friend had assured him, but James needed to hear his dad saying it.

‘Even then’, his dad said and James looked in his eyes for any sign that he wasn’t speaking the truth, but there was none. He breathed easily, a huge weight coming out from his shoulders, and his father looked at him as if wondering if he should say something more. ‘I know you haven't shown anything yet, but... Strange things always happened around you, did you know?’

James shook his head. He never noticed anything.

‘I mean, even stranger for wizarding standards. Once we let you alone for five seconds, thinking you were safe inside your crib. It was magically protected to avoid any way of you getting out - only physical force would open. But you managed to open and then we found you coming in our direction, walking as if… as if someone was guiding you. We never understood what happened exactly’.

‘What do you think it was?’, James asked.

‘Maybe you have a guardian angel’, Dad answered, but James thought he was just joking.

‘Maybe it was Grandpa’, he said, shrugging. James didn’t remember since when he saw him, but he supposed he was there by his side ever since he was just a toddler.

‘Grandpa? No, Arthur wasn’t -’

‘No, Grandpa is… Never mind’.

James shook his head, giving up. His dad couldn’t see his friend anyway.

‘Okay… Well, what I meant, James, is that you have nothing to worry about. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever shown any magic until I was about seven. There is no age exactly’.

‘So it’s normal? I mean -’

‘Perfectly normal’. His dad raised, offering him his hand. ‘Let’s go back home? Your mother is worried too’.

‘I didn’t mean to upset you’.

‘I know. But next time you have any problem, you come to us, okay? We will always be here for you’.

James smiled more openly now.

‘What were you doing alone out here?’

‘I wasn’t alone ’, James answered, rolling his eyes because he knew his father wouldn’t understand this. ‘I just was… thinking’.

His dad threw him a look that told James he wasn’t falling for what James said, but he didn't insist. That look reminded James of his friend back ago; maybe it was a look that came with being a dad.

In any case, James considered that it was better for his dad to wonder than knowing for sure about that cliff-jumping idea.

‘What was it, Dad?’, he asked instead, to distract him. ‘Your first magic?’

‘Oh’, there was a faintly amused look on his face as if he thought the idea was laughable. ‘Something silly, I made my hair grow overnight… James?’

He’d noticed James had stopped walking and was looking at his father with a funny expression.

‘Was it because of a terrible haircut?’, he asked. His dad nodded slowly.

‘Yeah, how did you -’

‘Lucky guess’, James answered, walking again, biting his lips, his mind considering the possibilities. If what he was thinking was right… Mom had explained to him about ghosts and once Aunt Luna had said in that dreamy voice of her that people never really left their loved ones... ‘Dad, you are proud of me?’

‘Yes, like I told you’.

‘I think… I think your dad is proud of you too’.

Harry stopped at the front gate to look at James. There was that wistful smile on his face and James thought he could understand a little; he wanted his dad near him all the time and he couldn’t imagine growing up without him like it had happened with his dad.

‘It’s what I hope every day’, he whispered, then he sighed. ‘Now, go run to your mother, she is was concerned for you. If you ask nicely, I think she may even take you to a flight’.

James beamed and he ran to the backyard, allowing his mom to hug him; she was a little mad he’d been missing, but he could tell she was much happier he’d come back. Even Al and Lily seemed delighted he was back and James allowed himself to be a little pampered.

He looked over his mom’s shoulder to see his dad walking calmly towards them, and, for a brief second, James thought there was someone next to him, someone who had an uncanny resemblance to his dad, grinning at the scene. Then he blinked and, when he looked back, there was nothing there but his father, a smile on his face that James knew all too well.

#Family Feels #Harry Potter and James Potter #James Potter and James Sirius #James Sirius #James Potter dreamverse #sort of at least #More like James always comes in times of need #Harry Potter and James Sirius #I don't know how to write next gen #not really

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charlesboyfriendwasright · 3 years

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MY DEBT TO YOU

Chapter ONE

Me: "I'm going to write this and have it posted by Tuesday"

Also me: *does not do that*

I'm so sorry for the long wait and the fact that this chapter is shit 💔 the other ones will probably be better because they'll be straight porn

CW: DOM FEM Reader, reader uses she/her pronouns and is a literal monarch, Maxim is a subby medieval bitch boy, no actual smut in this chapter but the rest of the series is so just Minors DNI, poorly researched, historical accuracy? We don't know her, ik I said no smut but dildos, lots of dildos, also Maxim almost slips into subspace at the end if that counts as smut

Under the cut because of smut (not really but it rhymed so whatever)

Sir Maxim Walter was tired.

Not just physically, though exhaustion did seep through his bones, but mentally as well. This was the fourth time this week some old shopkeeper had been covering for a younger fellow selling contraband through the back of his shop. Six barrels of unregistered ale in the back room, and Maxim and his team had been called in to investigate and arrest the smugglers. Now, as Dresten and Quincy pulled the offending parties through cuffs and into the back of the cart headed to the prisons, Maxim was tasked with doing another run through the shop to make sure there were no hidden rooms with more ale.

He stepped through another archway, one hand rested gently on the hilt of his sword, the other running across the wall. A hard expression was settled on his face, eyebrows knitted together in suspicion. He had a twitch in his jaw telling him that the old man was lying when he said that there weren't any hidden rooms.

He stopped when he got to the biggest room of the shop, which had a large square display in the center with nothing around it all the way up to the edges of the room. Things hung on the wall of course, but it seemed off to Maxim that every other room in this place was stocked full but this one was so barren. He took one more step forward.

The floor creaked loudly.

It wasn't out if character, creaky floors. The whole building creaked. But that was different. Louder. More hollow. He stepped again. Same sound.

Kneeling at the ground, he placed a hand on the floor, feeling for some sort of handle to grasp. His leather-clad fingers found the loose board and he pulled, moving aside so the panel could lift, revealing a steep, narrow staircase down to a cellar.

Maxim unsheathed his sword and put one foot on the first step. Sturdy. Another step. Then the next, all the way until he wasn't the bottom. His face knocked into a cord hanging from the ceiling, and he pulled it, letting the light fill the room.

He stopped dead in his tracks. His sword fell to the ground.

Where Maxim expected to see a stack of barrels, or maybe even a person, he instead saw a huge display of-

His brain stopped on the word.

On the wall, laid out unmistakable and clear as day, were about a hundred toys. Polished metal plugs of every size imaginable, and then bigger than Maxim though possible. Gently blown glass phalluses were laid out, some skillfully attached to off rope contraptions, some not.

Maxim stirred in his leather chaps, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't supposed to like this. He was supposed to be the man of the relationship. Dominant. He closed his eyes and imagined a woman who's like to use those upon him. It was when the pleasure emitting from his crotch bordered on pain when his father's voice stirred in his mind.

Deviant.

Maxim's eyes shot open. He pushed aside all his thoughts, reached down to pick up his sword and resheathe it, and marched out of the room, yanking the cord for the light on the way. He closed the door to the cellar gently however, not wanting one of his fellow knights to find it.

He could only imagine what his face looked like to Quincy as he approached. Flushed in arousal and twisted in frustration because of his findings.

"Nothing sir?"

Maxim shook his head. Quincy nodded once and then bowed, then they both got onto their horses and went off, following the prison cart back to the palace grounds.

-~•~-

The House of Walter was not the largest of the noble homes, nor were the Walters part of the Dowster twelve, the elite nobility of Dowster. They weren't very well off either, with only a small fortune. But their two sons were both high ranking military officers, and while the other noblemen and women make faces at them as they passed in the street, they weren't out of favor with the Queen.

Arthur greeted him at the door, giving Maxim pause. His father wasn't usually one to show overt politeness towards his family.

"Hello to you too father." The words were stiff.

His father gestured to the table, set for a meal. Maxim's mother died when he was young, promoting his father to remarry. Elizabeth, who had the same name as his mother, was nothing like his mother, in looks and personality. She was nice enough, and though her and Maxim got along fine, she was Elizabeth to him, not mother. She didn't push their relationship though, and Maxim enjoyed that. And he could tell they really loved one another.

"Hello Maxim!" Elizabeth said brightly. That wasn't out of the ordinary. Elizabeth was perpetually smiling. "Dinner tonight is a pot roast." She placed the dish in the center of the table.

Maxim took a seat.

"Where's Castian?" Maxim pointed to the empty seat across from him where his brother usually sat.

Elizabeth and Arthur shared a glance.

"Arthur let the boy eat for ten minutes before telling him," Elizabeth chided, serving herself and Maxim each portions of food. Her tone wasn't off, she usually kept Arthur in check, but the concerned, almost sad expression was out of the ordinary.

"He deserves to know Elizabeth," his dad spat. Maxim forced himself not to flinch. That was where him and his dad differed. Arthur had a temper. He was quick to anger and always assumed the worst. Castian was the same. Maxim preferred to sit on the sides until he knew what was needed. Until he was perfectly posed to get in and out as quickly and quietly as possible. He'd be a good stealth guard if not for the heavy clanking of his armor.

Before Maxim could ask what, he got his answer in the form of a knock on the door. Whoever it was didn't wait for an answer though, before bursting through the door, swords drawn. Maxim reached for his own, only so see that he had left it across the room. There was no way he could been able to get it. Upon closer look, Maxim recognized their uniforms. Something about their faces was also familiar, but Maxim couldn't quite place them.

"On behalf of the Queen of Dowster by the Queen's Guard, you Maxim Walter are under arrest for your treasonous actions against the throne and the Queen. You will stand trial for these crimes in three days time at the palace-"

"WHAT?" Arthur roared, cutting off the lead Guard.

The lead Guard glared at Maxim's father for a moment, then began his speech once more, addressing Maxim only, instead of the house as a whole.

This time it was Maxim who cut him off, "I know the speech," he informed them. The lead Guard nodded to another guard and they placed Maxim in cuffs. Arthur was silent now, and Maxim glanced over to see a Guard had his sword drawn right near Elizabeth.

Maxim went in silence as the guards led him to a cage. For the sake of his family's reputation, he lowered his head so no one would recognize him. People stared. He ignored them.

He couldn't say it didn't get to him though. He had always tried so much through his life to be loved by his family, to be accepted. But Castian had always stolen the spotlight. As he thought of his brother, it suddenly clicked why the Guards looked familiar. This was Castian's group. But Castian wasn't with them?

"Where is my brother? Where is Castian?' he asked. The guards stayed silent. They wouldn't talk to Maxim. He was a prisoner.

A lucky one though, if you could really even say that, because the Palace was only a half days trip from his house so it went by quick. He spent a single, sleepless night in a cell in the dungeon, and by the next morning, he was being marched to the throne room to stand before the Queen.

Maxim had never met the queen before, had only heard her words regurgitated by her Guards. But as soon as he stepped into the room he was immediately aware of her presence.

It was hard not to be, she took up most of the room with her presence, even is she was only physically taking up a single person's space. She was sitting in her throne, dressed in the most beautiful garment of clothing Maxim had ever seen his life, draped with rich purple silk. She looked regal. Royal. Beautiful.

Maxim had to pick up his jaw from the floor.

His mind idly drifted back to the room at the Shoppe he found yesterday wondering what it would feel like to have one of those used on him, by her.

He pushed those thoughts away as she began to speak.

"Maxim Walter, you have committed a heinous act of treason against me and my country. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" There was a hint of something in her voice, something familiar to Maxim but so far removed from him he couldn't place it at first. Was she amused?

Maxim gave a cursory bow, taking a knee before speaking.

"Your Majesty, I do not know of what you speak of. I have not committed any crime."

"You presume to know more than I?"

"Of course not, Your Majesty!"

The Queen studied him for a long moment. Maxim felt like squirming under her gaze. He barely held himself still.

"Leave us," she gestured to her Guards. They all shuffled out, leaving Maxim and the Queen alone in the large room.

"Stand and approach me," the queen instructed, standing up in front of her chair. Maxim stepped forward, slowly at first, but at her impatient stare, sped up his pace. He stumbled slightly on his way up to her, but managed to make it so he was on the step right in front of her, the step making up for his height and bringing him to her eye level.

"Did you do it?" She asked. Her voice was soft, quieter, but still just as strong and commanding as before.

"No Your Majesty. I don't even know what crime I'm being accused of." The Queen nodded once before stepping back so her heels were against her throne. She placed her hands on Maxim's shoulders before sitting down, pressing gently so Maxim got the message. He knelt in front of her, head practically in her lap. She removed her hands.

"I see you aren't lying to me." Maxim nodded. "But I don't believe that the rest of the country, nor your family, will see it that way." She stared off as she spoke. "So I'd like to make you a deal." Her eyes snapped back to Maxim's, holding his gaze. Maxim didn't dare to look away. "You will come to me. Live at the palace. You can be my personal guard. You would be free to leave at any time, though I cannot guarantee your safety if you do."

The Queen continued talking, but Maxim's ears were ringing to loud for him to hear her properly. His brain became foggy, vision blurring around the edges. Something about her dominance, the way she spoke as if she'd already made up her mind gave Maxim a twisted high, one he clung to. He felt a hand on his shoulder and snapped back to the Queen, realizing she was speaking to him still.

"Maxim?" she asked. He was barley conscious enough to refrain from begging her to say his name again. The word fell from her lips beautifully, wrapping around Maxim and holding him tight.

"I'm sorry I-" she held up her hand.

"I know." Her tone was soft, kind. Understanding. Maxim was brought back to reality by her touch, allowing himself to focus on her skin against his.

She seemed to know when he was back to himself. "Do you want me to repeat myself?" She asked.

"No Your Majesty." Now that his head was clear, her words came back to him.

The Queen only nodded in response.

"Well then, what do you say?"

Maxim didn't have to think about it, really. He knew his answer.

"I accept."

TAGLIST: @whiiiiplaaaaash

#I FORGOT THE FUCKING TAGS AGAIN #maxim walter #medieval oc #i also forgot the taglist

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anotherharrypotterimagineblog · 4 years

Note

Can you please make a story about Sirius, James and Remus meeting the next gen?

I didn’t know when you wanted this so I am going to do a time-travel story (James, Albus, lily, rose , hugo and teddy timetravel) in 1979. James (the next gen one) is of age (17), Albus and rose are15 and hugo and lily are 13. Teddy is 23.They come from 2021.

Also, this is NOT wolfstar. As much as I love the ship, it would be kind of awkward because of teddy.

Warning: swearing

In the kitchen of a house in Godric’s Hollow were seated three young men. One had messy black hair, hazel eyes and glasses. Another had sandy-brownish hair and a lot of scars on his face. The third one, like the first, had black hair. But this man’s hair was longer and a lot less messy, it reached his shoulders, and he didn’t have glasses. His eyes were gray-blue. Their names were James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. They were 20 years old.

The men were laughing about something, though it sounded a bit forced. You see, they were in the middle of a war. And not just any war, it was the wizarding war against the dark lord that went by the name of Lord Voldemort. No-one dared to say that name out loud, fearing he might show up and kill the fool and his family.

But now, they were recounting stories of their years at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sirius, the man with hair that reached his shoulders, was telling a story Remus thought was amusing, but James didn’t.

“and that was when Prongs jumped of the table, right in front of Lily. And you know what he said? He said “I guess you could say I’ve vallen for you.” And Lily just walked away!”

“I nearly broke my arm doing so! That is not funny!” James tried to argue.

“wasn’t that when you tried to befriend the Giant Squid?” Remus said “you wanted to know his secret, why Lily’d rather go out with him then with you.”

Sirius snorted and opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly they heard a loud ‘bang’.

A bunch of children appeared, six of them. The oldest, who wasn’t really a child anymore, looked to be in his early twenties with turqoise hair with a streak of bubblegum pink. He looked a bit like Remus. THen there were two boys who looked a lot like james, but with a few differences. Both didn’t have glasses, and one of them had the green eyes the three recognised to be James’ wife, Lily. The other had lighter hair. The last boy in the group had red hair and brown eyes. Then, there were two girls. One of them had fiery red hair and brown eyes and the other thick brown curls and blue eyes.

The girl with the red hair yelled at the james-copy with light hair “Siriously James! Mum and dad told us to not go there! Hell even aunt Hermione told us to not go there! Now whe are Merlin-knows-where Merlin-knows-when!” At this point the boy with the red hair saw the three men and told the girl to shut up. The oldest boy saw them too now, and looked as if he was about to faint.

By this point, James spoke up. “I don’t know who you are or how the hell you got in here, but I suggest you give your wands here and no-one will get hurt.” The strangers quickly got their wands and gave them to James. Then the blue haired one said: “I swear on my life and magic we aren’t deatheaters and we mean no harm.”

The three man looked slightly more relaxed and an awkward silence came over the room.

“What are your names?” Remus and blue-hair said at the same time. Sirius grinned “Well, I am Sirius Black, the one with the glasses there is James Potter, and that one there is Remus Lupin.”

The strangers now looked as if they had seen a ghost. The girl with the brown hair asked “What year is it?” James and Remus shared a look before saying “1979”

“Well shit” James copy with lighter hair said.

“We come from 2021” The red-haired boy said after that.

Now it was James, Sirius and Remus’ turn to be shocked. Remus recovered the quickest and asked again “What are your names?” The blue-haired boy looked slightly uncomfortable at this, but James copy with light hair smirked and stepped forward.

“Well you asked for it. I am James Sirius Potter, prankster, best chaser Gryffindor has seen since my mom and eldest son of Ginny and Harry Potter.”

James and Sirius grinned and Remus asked “Is this Harry James’ kid?” The kids nodded. “I would love to hear a bit about your pranks but I would like to know the others first”

The brown-haired girl spoke up “I am Rose Granger-Weasley. Cousin of James here and Ravenclaw keeper. My parents are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.”

“Weasley? As in Molly and Arthur?” Sirius asked. “They are our grandparents” James II answered.

The other girl now decided to introduce herself “Hi I’m Lily Luna Potter. I am a Gryffindor, and unfortunately that idiot over there” she pointed to James II “is my brother. I am seeker on the Gryffindor quidditch team. It is a pleasure to meet you.” James II looked at her, offended “excuse me? I am the idiot? We all know Al is the idiot.” He gestured towards the other James-copy.

“Guys, stop bickering please” Remus came between. ‘Al’ looked relieved and opened his mouth to speak. “Thanks, I am Albus Potter, Slytherin” at this, Sirius dropped his wand and Lily and Rose glared at him. This shut him up. “yeah I am the first potter to ever be sorted in Slytherin. I am horrible in most classes.”

The red-haired boy then spoke up. “I am Hugo, brother of Rose here. I am a Hufflepuff beater and my favourite class is Astronomy.”

The last stranger had been strangely quiet throughout the entire conversation. James looked at him and asked “and what is your name?”

“well” the answer was “I am Teddy. Teddy Lupin. Actually Edward, but I will kill you if you ever dare to use that name. I am 23 years old, and I used to be the Hufflepuff keeper. I am the godbrother of these three.” He gestured to the Potters. Remus had become really pale at this. Sirius and James just looked at each other and grinned “so you are Moony’s kid?” Teddy nodded. “Are you a werewolf?” Remus turned even more pale at this question. Teddy was quick to answer “no, don’t worry. I am a methamorpmagus though.”

Just as Sirius was about to say something again, another man popped in. He looked worried and a bit angry, and exactly like James. The strange man spoke up. “get your wands. James, we are talking about this.”

He then turned to James, Sirius and Remus, and his expression turned into one of sadness. He pointed his wand at them and said “obliviate” before popping out with the children.

In the kitchen of a house in Godric’s Hollow, three men told eachother stories, completely unaware of what just had happened.

Sooooo… I guess I do this kind of story now to? Hope you like it!

#hp #hp series #harry potter #harry potter series #marauders #james sirius potter #albus severus potter #lily luna potter #hugo weasley #rose weasley #teddy lupin #hp next gen #hp next generation #harry potter next generation #harry potter next gen #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin

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booksandreadingismylife · 5 years

Text

An Incomplete List of Potter Family Headcanons

Harry looks like James but he has all of Lily’s facial expressions

He has her “duck and cover” temper too

And her sense of justice and her total obliviousness to the person crushing on him

Hegets his flying skills from James ofc but also his sense of humour and his loyalty

He inherits potions skills from both of them but doesn’t realise until he suddenly no longer has Snape as a teacher

His nosiness and investigative thing comes from Lily. The way he goes about finding out these things is all James

His Defense skills come from the Potter family even though his dad was actually better at transfiguration

He and his mum have the same “disgusted” face and he would be horrified to know that they share it with Petunia

His paternal grandmother was born and brought up in India until she was 21 - at which point she moved to England, promptly fell in love with Fleamont Potter and immediately married him bc like hell was she going to marry the racist piece of shit that her parents wanted her to

She was descended from a distant branch of the Avery family that moved to India following the British Invasion and never returned

He’s very bi.

He doesn’t notice this until he’s been married to Ginny for 10 years

Ginny is very surprised that Harry didn’t know he was attracted to men since she’s known since he was in fourth year (more on lgbt+ in the wizarding world later)

In a world where Harry is female he discovers that he’s bi a lot earlier due to neither Cho nor Ginny being shy about the fact that they find him as attractive as he finds them and bc Ginny is many things but all of them are Weasley

Harry’s kids have plenty of Nanas and Grannys (Nana Andy and Nana Molly and Professor Granny Minnie and Granny ‘Gusta and Nana Cissy (when she’s feeling generous and only bc her sister begged her) and Granny Tuney (once they’re all teenagers)) but only one living Gramps: Arthur Weasley (Nanny Lily, God-Nana Alice, Grandpa James, God-Gramps Sirius and Grandfather Regulus (Kreacher would not stand for a less dignified form of address) are all commonly mentioned and talked about and their graves are all visited but none of them talk back)

There are four Potter kids: Teddy, the eldest, who had other parents first but only ever knew his Nana and his Dad and his Mum; Jamie, the second eldest, who takes after both of his namesakes in terms of theoretical mischief making but neither when it comes to practice; Al, the youngest boy who takes after his God-Gramps and immediately befriends kids as willing to blow things up as he is; and Lily-Lu, the baby of the family, who uses this status to get away with murder and is the true heir of the Marauders and the Weasley twins

Teddy gets the Marauder’s Map when he goes to Hogwarts. Jamie nicks the invisibility cloak out of Harry’s desk when he goes. Al is basically indifferent but does occasionally blackmail his siblings for use of one or the other. Lily-Lu somehow has both when she starts. No one knows how. Jamie is very irritated by this fact. She lets her brothers use them if they tell her why and ask nicely.

Teddy is rebellious and mischievous. He is also somehow both prefect and Head Boy. Teddy is also the good child. Harry looks back on Teddy’s rebellious teenage phase fondly when his other kids reach teenagerhood.

Jamie is quidditch mad. He is not above pranks but his world revolves around quidditch. Harry has vivid flashbacks to his time playing under Oliver Wood.

Al cannot be left alone. He especially cannot be left alone with any combination of Rose, Scorpius, and Daisy. Harry despairs. He was surely not that bad when he was a teenager.

Lily is an angel. She doesn’t break rules and is always helpful without being asked doesn’t get caught. She is a terror but the only person who’s ever caught her in wrongdoing is Uncle Neville. She does not try to lie to him again. Her parents know. That doesn’t mean they can catch her. Harry knows she didn’t get this from him.

The Potter household is always noisy and none of the kids can be left unsupervised.

All four kids adore Kreacher. He adores them all right back and spoils them rotten half the time unless specifically told otherwise

Winky ends up as a Potter House Elf. Somehow. She isn’t as happy as she was with the Crouches but is a great deal happier than she was in Hogwarts. She’s a lot stricter with the kids than Kreacher is. But she has a soft spot for Master Al

The Potter family has three dogs and an owl. A German Shepherd-Labrador mix called Snuffles, a brown Husky mix called Moo (he was originally called Moony but Jamie couldn’t pronounce it properly), and a black Wolfhound mix called Paddy (Al couldn’t say Padfoot and the name stuck). The owl is a tawny owl and is officially called Lord Thomas Dark Lordiness Riddle Jr Jr but only answers to Tommy (Ginny thought it was hilarious and Harry went along with it after seeing the humour. Ron, Hermione, Neville and Andromeda were horrified. Luna earnestly told them she thought it was an excellent name. No one else ever found out the origins of “Tommy”. Nearly everyone who knows goes to great lengths to keep it that way)

Teddy gets his own owl when he goes to Hogwarts. He calls her Pandora

Jamie spends an entire year trying to convince his parents that he should be able to take one of the dogs with him to Hogwarts. They point blank refuse. The last day before the express leaves he turns up in the kitchen with Harry’s enchanted Hungarian Horntail model and asks if he can take her as his pet (he’s named her Thorns the Glorious). Ginny throws her hands up and basically yells “FINE!” like a teenager

Al is not allowed a pet. He nearly killed the owl by accident with one of his experiments. He is not allowed a pet. He’s fine with this. He’d forget to feed it anyway.

Lily-Lu spends a not-insignificant amount of time trying to decide between a cat and a snake. Both of them eat rats. She eventually decides on a part-kneazle that basically pounces on her in “Magical Menangerie”. She names her Tiger. Tiger is terrifying

Teddy is a Hufflepuff, like his first Mum. He’s a chaser like his second Mum. He has his second Dad’s temper but rarely lets it out. His first dad refused to judge people by their appearances or what other people thought and he does so too. This is something his other parents had to work at but that comes naturally to him.

He loves chocolate frogs more than almost anything.

He’s been in love with Victoire for longer than he’s known what that means

He is addressed as Mr Potter throughout his school years and the surname he uses for his Auror application is Potter. The Lupin in front is private and only used when his full name is required or if he’s in trouble

Jamie is a Gryffindor, like his parents, his biological grandparents and his namesakes. Sometimes he’s a little disappointed that he isn’t a Hufflepuff like Teddy

He’s a chaser on his house team and becomes captain in his fifth year

He always asks for Bertie Botts whenever they have sweets. He knows which ones are the nasty flavours but when his siblings are upset he’ll make sure that they only get the nice ones and he gets all the horrible ones. This never fails to make them smile.

He mocks and bullies Al quite a bit but the only time someone else tried they ended up in St Mungo’s and he was grounded for a year. He doesn’t regret this

He wants to play quidditch professionally and has always been lowkey disappointed that the Holyhead Harpies will never be an option for him

Al is a Ravenclaw. He follows Teddy and Jamie everywhere to the point that they want to scream and tie him up so he’ll stop and when he can’t follow them it’s his parents or his Nana Andy or his Nana Molly or his Gramps. His first word is “why”. This word also happens to be his favourite word. He is very confused when he is sorted into Ravenclaw. He is the only one.

His best friend is his cousin Rose. On the Hogwarts Express he sees a small blonde boy trying to avoid upper years. “This will be my person” he decides. This boy is Scorpius Malfoy. Rose is her parent’s daughter, so when her best friend decides to adopt the strange little boy that doesn’t want to make friends, she immediately decides to befriend him too. These three befriend muggleborn Daisy Dursley, fellow Ravenclaw, approximately 6 weeks into the year. There is a very hasty and strained family reunion on the platform at the start of the Christmas hols. The Potters end up at Privet Drive for New Year (conspicuously missing a walrus-mustasched man). The relationship quickly gets less strained after the first time Daisy goes to the Potter’s house and nearly blows it up.

Unlike his siblings and their friends, Al does not make mischief when left unsupervised. Al experiments. It takes exactly one visit from Rose, Scorpius and Daisy for such visits to always be supervised. There was fire. There were explosions. More than one person escaped harm by the skin of their teeth. No one likes to talk about it.

Experiments in the Potter, Malfoy, Granger-Weasley, and Dursley households are BANNED.

Al loves sugar quills. Victoire thinks it’s adorable. Al pointedly refuses to suck on them in her presence

Lily-Lu is in Slytherin. This surprises no one.

By the time she’s in third year she lowkey runs the dungeons. Professor Greengrass couldn’t be more proud

The Scamander twins are her best friends/loyalest minions despite being in the year below, nearly two years younger, and not in Slytherin

Her favourite sweets are ice mice. She tried to throw Jamie down the moving staircase once, when he transfigured them into real mice.

She’s been terrified of rats and mice ever since she was little when she found out that Peter Pettigrew was able to turn into one. No amount of convincing her that he was long dead ever helped

She’s the most stubborn person in the family and also unable to refuse a dare if it comes from her brothers. Teddy and Al are reasonable about this. Jamie abuses this fact mercilessly

She will continue with charades to the point of ridicule just to prove that she can

More Potter Family Headcanons here

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let-it-raines · 4 years

Text

Catch Me If You Can (29/40)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

a/n: You all remain the best! If you celebrate any holidays this week, all the best to you! This will probably be the only chapter this week because I’ll be traveling, so I hope you enjoy!

Thanks to @resident-of-storybrooke for her awesome work as my beta! ❤️

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-/-

“Isn’t that your second hot dog of the day?”

Emma stops in the middle of her bite of what is frankly one of the most delicious hot dogs she’s ever eaten – apologies to all of the vendors at Yankee Stadium because Fenway Park might have them all beat today – to look over at Robin and roll her eyes. At least it wasn’t Will who said it. He hates hot dogs, and while that’s probably good for the health of his heart, she is fully enjoying the fact that she’s devouring this thing even if it does mean that she’ll end up on the Jumbotron at some point.

That sick joke is never going to end. Being shown eating ballpark food is going to be her legacy. Maybe one day she’ll write a book about it.

It’ll be a horrible book, and the synopsis will probably read something about her being the woman who was asked out live on television by a baseball player and said no so that people will recognize her. .

But with very good food mentioned.

A segment on TV where she tries out all of the stadium food would probably be better.

“And what of it?” she mumbles to Robin, covering her mouth with her hand as she chews. “I’m hungry because I didn’t eat breakfast, and this game is going on forever. I want to go back to the hotel and sleep, and you guys are keeping me from it.”

“I’ll try to play faster for you, lass.”

“That’s all I ask. Throw your strikes in quicker succession. Allow a few less hits.”

Silence settles back between the two of them as they watch Will hit his third foul in a row. She should probably be writing that down or doing something with it, but honestly, Emma’s only really hiding out in the dugout because there’s shade and close access to air-conditioning. She already did all of her pre-game coverage and can pretty much chill to the end despite the fact that this the final Red Sox series of the season. A part of her wishes that she was up in a booth commentating, but she knows that she’s not going to get to do that too often. She’s mostly going to be the on-field girl for the rest of this season.

There’s always next year, though. David said it went over really well, especially considering what happened with Killian during the game, and all Emma can do is take a deep breath and let things play out. She can’t control any of it.

Easier said than done.

“Did he really not tell you?” Robin asks. She nearly chokes on her food. Maybe she shouldn’t be eating this. “Killian, I mean.”

Emma quickly glances around and sees that no one is paying attention, nearly everyone leaning up over the railing to watch the game, but it doesn’t keep her from leaning back into the bench and making herself smaller so that she’s as far away from everyone as possible.

“He really didn’t tell me,” she whispers, her fingers fumbling with the chain around her neck. “About any of it.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Robin is shaking the conversation off, but she’s curious. “What? You have to tell me now.”

He sighs, and Emma kind of gets the feeling that Robin sees Killian more like a younger brother than a friend sometimes. He and Liam should really make a club or something. They’d probably stress themselves out too much. She knows that she does, and she’s only been worrying about Killian’s overall well-being for five months. They’ve been worrying about it for decades.

“It really is nothing. I just – I’ve been around Killian for a long time. I was there when he cut his dad off, when he and Milah broke up, when all of the women happened after her. And I have so many vivid memories of taking Roland over to Killian’s apartment after the accident just so we could cheer him up, you know? Killian was there for me after my wife passed, and I always wanted to be there for him. So, I guess, it’s simply a bit difficult for me to understand how he couldn’t tell any of us this.”

Oh.

Oh shit.

In all of her own hurt, Emma never actually seriously thought about Robin or Will or Ariel and how this was affecting all of them. She knew that it was, but she was so caught up in her own mind that thinking about this giant support system that Killian has wasn’t really her biggest priority.

Her biggest priority was that bag of salt and vinegar chips.

“I think he was scared.” Emma shrugs her shoulders, trying to play off the little bit of lingering hurt that she still has. “I think that it doesn’t matter how much he trusts all of us because his fear was taking over him. He’s always so worried about being a disappointment, and he probably couldn’t bear to disappoint you again.”

A loud cheer erupts around the stadium, and Emma looks at the monitor inside the dugout to see Will’s ball being caught in the outfield just as he runs over first base. Damn. Five more feet, and he could have scored.

“How is he?”

“Hmm?”

“Killian,” Robin continues. “How is he? Actually?”

“I think,” Emma sighs, stretching out her legs, “that he’d feel a lot better if he got a call from you instead of the two of us talking about him when there’s baseball to be played.”

“Oi,” Will mutters as he walks down the steps to the dugout, everyone slapping his shoulders and his ass, “I hate Boston.”

“You’re from here, Scarlet.”

“Yeah, well, playing here makes me feel like the damn Joker.”

“To be fair,” Emma sighs as she gets up from the bench so that she can stand to watch the game, “the Joker is one of the best characters, and you do have that creepy smile going on.”

“And for that, I’m telling Belle to not serve you dessert at our wedding.”

“You can’t take dessert privileges away from me.”

“I’m the groom.”

“Yeah, but I’m friends with the bride, and that’s all that matters.”

“Scarlet,” Al yells over at them, “stop trying to get Ms. Swan to give you a better exclusive and figure out how to hit a better ball.”

“Geesh,” Will moans, dropping his helmet to the ground and wiping off the sweat from his buzzed hair, “I guess his date didn’t go well yesterday.”

Emma’s head quickly snaps around, and she steps down from her position next to Eric to walk back over to Will and Robin before whispering, “Al had a date last night?”

Will’s brow arches. “You didn’t know?”

“How the hell would I know that Al had a date?”

“Because it was with a teacher from your sister-in-law’s school. His nephew apparently goes there, and they met at some event. Jasmine something.”

A lightbulb goes off in Emma’s head, a slight memory of meeting a Jasmine at David’s birthday party back in March. What a small world. She’s going to have to text Mary Margaret after this because there is no way Mary Margaret didn’t know about that.

“Huh,” Emma breathes out, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at Al as he paces back and forth looking down at his phone. “Well, maybe it did go well, and he’s just in a bad mood because you guys are getting your asses beat.”

“Go back to your reporting,” Will mutters under his breath. Robin barks out a laugh at that, and even though it’s really weird not having Killian here, a little bit of the world rights itself then having the two of them teasing her like they seem to like to do.

Even if they do lose 1- 6.

It doesn’t matter. They’re 92-50 for the season with only a handful of games left. They’ll probably officially qualify for the play-offs next week even if everyone has known for a while now. Everything from here on out is basically a bonus.

A really damn good bonus.

-/-

They end up winning the next three games in the Red Sox series in what turns out to be some pretty boring games that have Emma struggling to come up with any more interesting questions to ask everyone. It’s easy to talk to the guys that she’s close to because of Killian, but sometimes it’s a struggle to talk to the others without feeling like she’s simply being repetitive. But August and Phillip smile and charm their way through their interviews, as they always do, and the three minutes that she spends talking to Arthur after he hits a grand slam are pretty much three of the most torturous minutes of her life.

There have been no more incidents with him, at least that she knows of, but a shiver still runs down her spine when she thinks of the words he said about her back in London.

Things like that change the way a person feels in their workspace, and even though she’s done a pretty damn good job at pushing the niggling fears down, sometimes they do come back to haunt her and make her worry about what other kind of disaster is lurking around the corner and waiting for her to get comfortable before it attacks.

But , despite missing having Killian to travel with even if the hotel beds are surprisingly very comfortable with just her in it, Emma would definitely count Boston as a success.

After all, their hot dogs were really good.

-/-

David: MM and I are going to Mom’s this weekend, and I know that you have the weekend off. Why don’t you come with us and ask Killian to join?

Emma’s phone dinged with that text five hours ago, before the game against the Tigers even started, and while it initially made her heart beat a little quicker than usual, she forgot about it as she got engrossed in work and trying to help Jeff with the camera issues they were having. It was pretty much a disaster, one that took about five years off of her life, and she ended up having to work next to one of the network’s cameras that films the game for the few times they went to her.

Jeff simply muttered a few curses under his breath and then said he was glad for the day off.

But the game is over now, the Tigers winning by one run in the bottom of the ninth, and even though the game didn’t really matter, it still stings a bit. Now she’s staring at this text, and even though she and Killian have talked about going to Portland so he can meet Ruth, it was supposed to be when the season was over. It wasn’t supposed to be this soon.

She wants to go, and she wants to take Killian. But the nerves over the whole thing are definitely still there. She’s no longer mad at Killian or worried about making future-type plans (okay, well, overly worried), but having him meet Ruth in three days is a bit overwhelming.

What if she doesn’t like him?

That’s a ridiculous thought. Emma knows that it is. But the demons in her mind stay active even if their presence is a little less obvious than it used to be.

Life is weird. Seriously.

And she should really bite the bullet and text David back that she’ll talk to Killian about it.

Everything will be just fine, and a weekend away full of home cooked meals and a place with a backyard sounds really damn nice even if her bed at home will have to wait for her return a little longer.

Emma: I’ll call Killian and ask him if he’s free this weekend.

David: You’ve been away for a week, and those are the days you’re coming home. He’ll be free.

Emma: How could you possibly know that?

David: Because I am a man who knows what it’s like to be away from the woman I love for a few days.

Emma: Ew, gross. Don’t go there.

David: How do you know I was going somewhere gross?

Emma: I had a feeling.

Emma closes out her messages and swipes over on her phone so that she can call Killian, pressing the option to FaceTime him since she’s apparently sappily in love and sentimental and wants to see that handsome face of his.

It’s a very handsome face. Seriously. She’s very happy with her life choices right now.

Killian answers the call, and when he comes into view, she can see that handsome face as well as the faces of approximately thirty stuffed animals surrounding him in what can only be described as a weird pop music video.

“Hello, my love,” Killian greets with an absolutely gigantic smile that has the lines around his eyes crinkling. Her heart is definitely doing that thing where it stutters whenever he calls her by that particular endearment.

“Hey.” Emma smiles into the phone and ignores how lopsided her bun looks in her little picture in the corner. “Who are all of your friends?”

“Ah, well, they all have names, but I’m remiss to say that I can’t actually remember them all right now. But I’ve been sequestered into Addy and Lucy’s playroom.”

“And where are they?”

“Elsa just came and got them for dinner. I meant to go join them, but then you called.”

“That seems like a pretty flimsy excuse. I think you just wanted to hang out with all of the stuffed animals.”

“You’ve bested me there, Swan.” He smiles again, and instead of her heart doing that stuttering thing, it aches a little bit. That’s ridiculous. She shouldn’t actually miss him like that. It’s only been a few days even if it feels so much longer since they barely got anytime to be back together before she was hopping on a plane to Boston. “What are you up to tonight?”

Emma shrugs her shoulders. “You’re looking at it. I think I might do a face mask because my skin feels gross. I also might paint my nails. Real exciting stuff over here.”

“I might help with Addy’s spelling homework, so it’s even more exciting over here.”

She laughs and shakes her head a bit before getting up from the bed and taking her phone with her to the bathroom. She might as well wash her face while she’s thinking about it instead of inevitably forgetting whenever it’s time to go to bed. Emma props her phone up against the vanity so that Killian has a particularly nice view of the underside of her chin and starts her routine by wiping of the makeup from today. Most of it has already sweated itself off, but the remaining is all of the product that likes to be stubborn about coming off. Killian tells her about his day, which pretty much consisted of physical therapy and picking the girls up from school before taking them to Liam and Elsa’s townhome and being smothered in stuffed animals.

As awful as it is for Killian to have to sit on the sidelines, he looks so damn happy just to be able to spend more time with his family. She knows that he sees them a lot, much more than most people do, but he’s always got some place to go or somewhere to be during this time of the year that the visits usually aren’t long. And Emma swears that he gets a few months of his life back every time Killian gets to spend time with Addy or Lucy.

It’s like magic.

That’s kind of how she feels when she gets to spend time with her family too.

Emma opens up the jar of her face mask and dips her finger insider before spreading the green clay over her chin.

“I didn’t know my girlfriend was secretly Shrek.”

Emma rolls her eyes. “I am not dignifying that with a response.”

“You look positively charming, love. I think the green is a very good color on you. Brings out your eyes.”

Emma scoffs and ignores the waggle of Killian’s eyebrows while she rubs the mask in the space between her own brows. “So, if you stop being an asshole for a second, I have something I wanted to ask you.”

“Is it how I stay devilishly handsome all the time?”

“No, I was saving that for our next conversation.”

“Ah, ah, gotcha,” he sighs, shifting against the stuffed animals until he’s sitting up and the hair that had been pushed behind him is falling in front of his face. “Go on then, Swan.”

Emma brings her bottom lip between her teeth before releasing it with a pop. “How do you feel about going to Portland this weekend with David, Mary Margaret, and Leo?”

“Are you not coming?”

“I was implied in that list.”

“Well, I don’t know, love. If it was just Dave, Mary Margaret, and Leo, I would of course go to spend some time with Ruth. Now that I know that you’re going to be there – ”

“Shut up. You’re lucky that you’re hundreds of miles away. I can’t slap you from all the way over here.”

“Kinky.”

Killian barks out a laugh at his own joke, his head thrown back with the joy of it all, and all Emma can do is shake her head at him. He’s in rare form tonight with his jokes and teasing and that ever-present smile on his face.

Well, no. He’s not in rare form. This is how he always is, but it’s been awhile since she’s seen him be carefree enough to actually feel this good.

It’s a beautiful sight.

“I will make it worth your while if you come.”

The downright dirty smirk that graces Killian’s face after she utters those words makes a shiver run down her spine and regret settle in her stomach for all of the things she just set him up for.

“Worth my while, then?” Killian prods, raising that brow a little further. “What does that entail, exactly? Are you going to come home early and immediately fall into bed to me? Or do you have a nice set of lingerie in that suitcase of yours that we’re about to put into good use despite the fact that you have a green face right now?” Killian gasps, something overdramatic and self-indulgent, and Emma can barely keep herself from laughing even if the tone of his voice is something close to sinful. “Are you going to seduce me in your childhood bedroom, Swan? Is that it? Is that what will make it worth my while?”

“I mean, I was kind of thinking we’d book a flight so we don’t have to spend seven hours cramped in a car together with the Nolans. They play very intense road trip games. Singing is involved.”

His face only falls a little bit. “Damn, okay. Yeah, I’m all for flying there, but I could also drive us. It wouldn’t be a big deal.”

“I’m pretty sure elevating your shoulder for that long is not what you’re supposed to be doing.”

“You make a good point.”

“I tend to.” There’s a knock at Emma’s hotel room door, and she tenses for a second before taking a step to the side and pressing up on her toes to look out the keyhole to find Ariel standing there in a pair of white pajamas with little red bows on them. Emma opens the door, forgetting about her face and Killian for a second. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“A few of us are going to eat pizza in mine and Eric’s room, and I was trying to invite you but I couldn’t get you to answer your phone.”

“Oh,” Emma sighs, looking back into the bathroom to the direction of her phone. “Sorry about that. I was talking to Killian, and I – ”

Ariel’s shoulders perkperk s up, and she steps inside the room without asking, which Emma has learned is pretty par for the course when it comes to Ariel. Emma closes the door behind her and walks into the bathroom to grab her phone, where Killian is still waiting in the screen, and she hands the phone over to Ariel because she knows that’s what she wanted anyways.

Plus, her face mask is starting to crack, and she’s got to get this gunk off of her. The water drowns out the sound of the conversation happening in the bedroom, but as soon as she turns it off, she can hear Killian talking.

“No, A,” Killian sighs, “I am not overexerting myself. Yes, I have talked to Rob this week. No, I didn’t watch last night’s game. You know you can just text me, right? You didn’t have to steal Emma’s phone.”

“I didn’t steal her phone. She handed it to me.”

“You basically stole it.”

“I did not.”

Emma laughs under her breath before walking into the bedroom. Those two are ridiculous. Their friendship makes no sense, but Emma knows they wouldn’t survive without each other.

Seriously.

“Babe, Ariel did not steal my phone. You’re just complaining because I gave you away to her without warning.”

“I am not,” he scoffs, and when she can finally see his face again, the tips of his ears are noticeably red. “Where’d your green face go?”

“Washed it off.” Emma settles down on the bed next to Ariel who scoots over for her. “So, what is this I hear about you talking to Robin? Did you guys finally hash out all of your emotional issues about your penchant for keeping secrets?”

“I still can’t believe he did that,” Ariel tells her, an exasperated look on her face.

“I would say welcome to the club, but you’re already an established member.”

“I feel like I could be co-chair or vice president or something.”

“You might be able to be president.”

“No, you or someone from his family gets that role, I think.”

“Really, because – ”

“The two of you are never allowed to go anywhere without me ever again,” Killian interrupts, and they both turn from each other back down to the phone screen.

“It’s funny you say that because I have planned a vacation with all of the women in your life, and all we’re going to do is plot ways to make you miserable.”

“You are not funny, A.”

“I think you’re hysterical,” Emma combats, winking at Killian. “But seriously. You talked to Robin? Did you tell him the whole ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ spiel?”

“Yes, love, I used the cliché breakup line to explain to Robin that it had nothing to do with my trust in him and everything to do with me being a cowardly asshole.”

“And he accepted it?”

“Yep,” he murmurs. “He accepted it, and we’re all sunshine and roses now. Seriously. We probably talked for an hour or two this morning.”

“Good,” Emma breathes out, a smile on her face. She’s so relieved that they talked. She’s kind of been far too worried about it since she and Robin talked about it in the dugout a few days ago. “I’m going to text you later, okay? I’m going to go stuff my face with pizza with everybody.”

“Yeah, Swan, that sounds nice. Have fun. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Bye, Ariel,” Killian says, waving his hand. “Please don’t plot my death while you guys eat pizza.”

“I make no promises.”

The phone disconnects, and Emma places it on the bed next to her before scooting away from Ariel to give her some space since their bodies were pretty much aligned during that conversation.

“He’s happy today.”

“Hmm?” Emma asks, not really hearing Ariel’s words, her mind still replaying all of the craziness of her conversation with Killian.

“Killian,” Ariel says, smiling at Emma. “He’s happy. Like, he’s got that fresh glow of a man in love. It’s just nice to see is all. I like that you make him happy.”

“Oh no,” Emma protests with a shake of her head. She gets up from the bed, too flustered to stay still, and reaches down into her suitcase for her moisturizer simply to have something to do with her hands. “I don’t – that’s not on me. That’s on Killian and how he’s got a lot of really good people around him. I know I wasn’t around for the last lay-off, but I know it was rough. I think he’s in a better headspace now, even if it did have a rough start.”

Emma dips her finger into the container and swipes the cream across her forehead while she tries to regulate her breathing. She knows where this conversation is going. Ariel is very much like Mary Margaret in all of her love and hope for good in the world, and she likes to talk about these things like big emotional moments aren’t a difficult thing to talk about.

“You’re one of those people he’s got around him, though,” Ariel continues, and Emma keeps rubbing her hands in circles across her face. “Killian is one of my best friends in the world. I know him almost as well as I know my own husband, and I know that he’s so much happier now because of you. That’s a good thing.”

“I know. I’m just – ”

“Scared?” Ariel gets up from the bed and walks over to Emma so that Emma can see her face and see the hopeful smile that resides there. “Does it make you feel better that I’m still scared?”

“No,” Emma laughs, something that settles her stomach a bit. “How would that make me feel better? That sounds like a nightmare. You’ve been married for half a decade.”

“Love is always scary. You never know what’s going to happen when you wake up in the morning. Like, ever. I don’t know if Eric and I are going to have a day where it’s like we’re on our honeymoon again or a day where the sound of him chewing is going to get on my nerves. But I love him, and I love getting to have him be by my side every day. He’s not the sole reason I’m happy, but he’s a big part of it. I think it’s the same with you and Killian. That’s a good thing.”

“Have you ordered a really nasty pizza? Is that why you’re trying to butter me up?”

Ariel laughs and walks toward Emma but seems to step back from giving her a hug. “No, I’m trying to butter you up because I hear you can do all kinds of braids, and I’ve never quite been able to figure out the Dutch braid.”

“Luckily for you, I am an expert in that.”

“Good. Now, come on. We’ve got to go before the boys eat all of the pizza.”

“Who all is in there?”

“Just Will, Robin, and Eric.”

“Well, shit,” Emma laughs as she grabs her phone and her hotel key. “You’re right. They are going to eat it all before we get there.”

Emma follows Ariel out into the hall and follows her down the hallway to the stairwell so they can walk up the two flights of stairs to everyone else’s floor. Before they even enter the room, Emma can hear the three of them laughing. Sure enough, once the door is open, they’re each spread out across the room – Will on the couch, Eric on the bed, and Robin sitting in the desk chair – and pizza boxes litter the room along with beer bottles. Emma has been around professional athletes for most of her adult life, and she’s never seen a group of them so consistently break their nutrition plan like this team.

Not that it bothers her. Though, tomorrow she is eating a hell of a lot of fruit and vegetables to make up for it.

She says that a lot. It usually works.

“Emma,” Will yells as she walks into the room. He holds up his half-eaten slice as a greeting. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I was almost afraid I was going to forget what you looked like.”

“Am I still as beautiful as you remember?”

“Eh, you’re looking a little rough right now.”

“Asshole,” Emma laughs, walking toward the desk and opening a box to grab a piece of pizza. “What about you, Robin?”

He points to himself. “Are you asking if I’m still as beautiful as you remember since I saw you last? Because I personally think I’ve become more attractive.”

Emma snorts, actually snorts, and she doesn’t bother trying to cover it up before plopping herself down on the bed next to Ariel and Eric, squishing herself down on the mattress. It’s not the best pizza in the world, not even close, but the company is top notch and not something Emma would like to ever trade for anything.

In the past, she’s never gained friends from a relationship. Neal had all kinds of people in his life, but they were always temporary. She’d meet them once, ask about them two weeks later, and then Neal would claim to not know who she was talking about. He was always onto the next thing and the next group of people who could help him get what he wanted. Walsh had friends, a group of people he’d met through some kind of club for antique furniture, but they were all obnoxious and unfriendly. She didn’t want to be friends with them, and they certainly didn’t want to be friends with her.

And maybe it has helped Emma now that she already knew most of the people in Killian’s life because of her work, but they’re all so welcoming and supportive that she couldn’t imagine them not getting along.

Usually it helps that Killian is around, but this past week, it’s been kind of nice to get to talk to all of them simply because they want to talk to her. For someone who isn’t used to that, Emma thinks that it could become a familiar feeling.

She wants it to.

Emma pulls out her phone later that night and takes a video of everyone talking and laughing. Will is telling some insane story about a caterer who they interviewed for the wedding who wanted to serve all raw food, including meat, and it’s caused an uproar in the conversation. She sends the video to Killian, making sure that the last frame is her smiling at him.

Emma: Wish you were here.

Killian texts her back five minutes later. It’s a picture of him in Addy’s bed, his legs hanging over the end, with both Addy and Lucy draped over him asleep.

Killian: Same here. I don’t think I’ll be moving for the rest of the night. They’re not quite as good of a bedfellow as you.

#catch me if you can #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan fic #captain swan

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atomicstrawbrys · 4 years

Text

A.K. (3/?)

Alfred is a high school star with everything he could possibly want- until a student comes from England and suddenly becomes priority number one. USUK. High school AU. //

Previous / Next

“You did what?!” Gilbert laughed, pounding his fist against Alfred’s bedroom wall as he laughed. “Jesus, Al, I always thought you lacked some common sense, but you gave him an allergic reaction?!”

Alfred felt his cheeks redden, and he turned away. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I meant to! I thought, I dunno, I thought it would be romantic!” He whined. Alfred had invited Gilbert over after school and confided both about his crush and his failed attempt to woo him, and he was beginning to think that doing so had been a mistake.

Gilbert’s shrieking laughter started up anew, and he fell back against Alfred’s bed. “Alfred, you are the biggest goddamned idiot I’ve ever met!”

Alfred exhaled, lying beside him on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, examining the faded and admittedly tacky poster of a ‘hot cheerleader.’ He remembered being attracted to this once, but the model’s candy-apple red lips and bright blue eyes didn’t do it for him anymore. His thoughts wandered to a radioactive green swathed in deep purples and mysterious blacks, and a blush rose to his cheeks. His voice grew soft.

“What if I’m in love with him, Gil?”

Gil paused, for once taking a moment to mull the idea over. “Well, maybe, but I don’t think so...I think that to love someone, you gotta know ‘em, and you don’t really know anything about this guy.”

“But I-”

“No, you don’t. You might think you do, you might think you wanna be with him forever, but that’s just called being horny, man.” Gilbert laughed, and Alfred elbowed him.

“Gilbert-!” Alfred groaned.

“Just hear me out! Listen, Antonio, Francis and I are going to a movie after school tomorrow. Tell ya what, you and Arthur can come along. We’ll even make sure you sit together, provided he wants to come. You can get to know him some more, see if you really do like him, and you’ll be with friends, so it won’t be as awkward.”

“That...sounds good, actually. What kinda movie is it?”

Gilbert smirked. “Horror.”

“You’ve GOT to be kidding me!”

Gilbert just laughed.

The next morning, Alfred approached Arthur’s locker before first period, clearing his throat to get his attention.

“Uh, h-hey,” He smiled, and Arthur acknowledged him with a nod.

“Andrew. I hope the morning’s been well.”

“Oh, uh, sure.” Alfred ignored that Arthur had managed to get his name wrong yet again. He could always correct him at the theater. “I uhm, wanted to ask you something.”

At this, Arthur paused, and though he still wouldn’t look at Alfred, his tone did seem a little more interested.

“What is it?”

“Do you...want to go see a movie with me? It’s uh, Attack of the Mutant Zombies Four. You’ll love it! So...will you come?” Alfred asked, wringing his hands in front of himself. “I think you’d have fun, a-and you should see the town some, with you being new and all..”

Arthur shut the door to his locker and turned to face Alfred, looking up at him. Alfred gulped.

“So...this is a date, then?” Arthur tilted his head, eyebrows furrowing.

“NO! Nonono- God, no, Some of my friends are coming too! You can meet some more people, have some fun, whaddaya say?” Giving him a crooked smile, Alfred crossed his fingers behind his back.

Arthur looked down, tugging on one of his many ear piercings. His lip drew into an adorable pout, but it disappeared almost as soon as Alfred noticed it. “I guess I could go. I’ll text my brother and tell him I’ll be late. Thanks for the invitation. I have to get to class- I’ll meet you here when school lets out.”

And with that he was gone, leaving Alfred to bask in the euphoria of acceptance.

He was going to hang out with Arthur!

True to his word, Arthur met up with Alfred in front of their lockers. Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio were there too, and Matthew had even decided to tag along, pretending not to notice the smitten looks Gilbert always gave him whenever he was around.

“Alfred? Do you and Arthur want to ride with me?” Matthew asked, jingling the keys to his truck. “We can split three up in each car, so no one has to ride alone.”

After looking to Arthur for a curt nod of approval, Alfred agreed, and when they climbed into the back seat of Matthew’s truck, he could only hope that his heart wasn’t beating too loudly.

Matthew was quiet as he drove- he always was, so Alfred took the opportunity to ask Arthur a few questions. He did want to get to know him, after all, and right now he had his attention all to himself.

“So! England, that’s pretty cool. Why’d you move to some dumpy old town in America?”

Arthur frowned at the question, looking out the window and watching the power lines go by. “Dad said the change of scenery would be good. I’m here with him and my older brother. His name is Alistair. My brother, I mean. Not my dad. His name is Calum.”

“So...what about your mom?” Alfred scooted a little closer, and Arthur tensed, quickly putting his hood over his face.

“She didn’t...accept me, I guess. She ‘n dad divorced over it and now I’m here. I don’t want to talk about her.”

“Okay, okay…” Alfred bit his lip, lightly patting Arthur’s shoulder. “M’sorry. I shouldn’t have been pushy. I hope you like it here, though.” Alfred gave him a small smile, catching Arthur’s gaze. “I uh, I think you’re really cool, Arthur.

For just a moment, Alfred thought he caught a hint of red blooming on Arthur’s face, but the hood was shoved down further and he turned away again.

“Yeah. Thanks, Arnold.” Arthur mumbled.

Alfred only sighed and shot an exasperated smile over to Matthew.

Gilbert and the others were already waiting for them inside the theater when they walked in, tickets in hand. Alfred had paid for Arthur’s, and though he was certain Arthur noticed, he didn’t say anything. He also got two sodas and a large popcorn, just in case, though Arthur did have to help him carry it all.

The ticket vendor took each of them in turn, tearing their tickets and repeating the same monotone “Second door on the left” whenever one of them passed through. Alfred and Arthur were the last to do this, the other four walking ahead of them. Arthur didn’t seem to be in a hurry, though, so Alfred kept pace with him. Once they reached the door he started to gesture to it, only to notice Arthur staring at the sign for another showing, which had started only a few minutes ago. “Love at First Sight” was the title, and Alfred supposed it must be a romance.

“...Do you....want to go see that instead?” Alfred asked, Arthur jolting as he realized he’d been noticed.

“No, no, I..it’s okay. You want to go to the other one, and all your friends are in there…” He rubbed his arm, suddenly seeming very small.

Alfred glanced back at the other screening room, then back at Arthur.

“...It’s okay.” Alfred smiled, his voice soft. “I like romance, too. We can catch up with them after.”

For the first time since he’d met Arthur, Alfred watched as his crush smiled fully, up to his eyes. Unlike the simple amused grins and smirks he’d caught before, this smile was purely genuine, and Alfred felt his heart ache over it.

“Well, then. I guess we’d better go in before we miss any more previews. I love watching the trailers.” Arthur waved him along and opened the door to the screening room, sodas still tucked carefully in the crook of one arm.

They found a seat in the center of the room. There weren’t many others around- apparently, the movie they’d given up was far more popular. Still, Alfred couldn’t bring himself to care. He shot off a quick text to Matthew to let him know that they’d catch up after, then turned his phone off so he could enjoy Arthur’s company, as well as the film.

In all honesty, Alfred didn’t remember much of the movie. He was sure it was good, though, as it kept Arthur entertained for the whole duration. Alfred, however, could only look at him, and when their hands brushed in the popcorn bucket, he couldn’t help but sigh at the way Arthur’s fingertips gently ghosted along his palm before pulling away.

Yes, he was very glad they’d seen this movie instead.

#please reblog/comment!!#reblogs > likes #usuk #ukus #usukus #hetalia #aph #hws #APH America #APH England #hws america #hws england #alfred f jones #alfred f. jones #arthur kirkland

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isidar-mithrim · 5 years

Text

Letter for beyond

It’s time to go to bed at the Potters’ house. This evening, though, instead of picking a bedtime story Lily wants to read to her father a letter for another Lily, one she’s never even met.

[Read it on Ao3]

___________________________________

Letter for beyond

“C’mon, kids, it’s half past nine, time to pick up the Gobstones and go to bed” said Harry, clapping his hands.

Al and James looked at him with wounded expressions – as always, nothing could make the two of them agree as fast as teaming up against him.

“Please, dad, five more minutes!”

“Yeah, I’ve almost beat Al!”

“You haven’t beaten me in the least!”

“I’m going to beat you, I’m going to beat you” chanted James with a smug grin.

“Cut it, boys” said Harry. “You know the rules.”

Unsurprisingly, the kids huffed and rolled their eyes, but they stop pleading. They were about to pick up the Gobstones from the floor, when Lily startled them all.

“I won!”

James and Al suddenly forgot their annoyance and looked astonished at their little sister: Lily was beaming with a toothy smile and her two missing teeth, the winning Gobstone held in one hand.

“Good for you” said Harry, amused. “I reckon you deserve a double bedtime story, then! But only if you’ll put your pyjamas on very fast” he added with a wink.

Lily stood up in an instant with a radiant smile, kissed Harry’s cheek and rushed upstairs.

Harry gazed for a long moment in the direction she’d disappeared, his heart swelling with affection, and then he turned towards the boys. They were putting the Gobstones away with pouting expressions, letting the marbles drop loudly into their box.

“I’ll give you the time of two fairy tales for the rematch, but when I’m back I want you on your feet right away, ready to go to bed. Understood?”

“Yes! Promised! Pinky swear!”

“You’re the best!”

“Don’t make me regret this” he said, pointing his finger at them while looking right into their eyes with a warning gaze. “Mum wouldn’t be happy to hear you didn’t behave while she’s away.”

They nodded eagerly, and for the umpteenth time Harry was amazed by how effective Ginny’s parenting could be, even from afar.

Harry opened Lily’s door to find her diligently under her cover, laying on her side to face the door, with only her bedside lamp light up.

“Here you are” he smiled. “I knew you’d be ready to sleep.”

“Ready to sleep?” asked Lily with wide eyes, jumping into a sitting position. “But you said you were going to tell me two stories!”

“Of course, of course. That’s way I’m here for” he explained with patience, while Lily relaxed. “I just meant that I’m very happy you were already under your blanket, exactly as I asked.”

She nodded pleased and laid again, her red hair spreading on the white pillow. It was a slightly darker shade than Ginny’s, but at least as beautiful.

Harry pushed the armchair in the corner of the room closer to the bed and leant in, kissing her temple.

“So, what fairy tales would you like?”

He laid his gaze on the piles of books piled up on the bedside table, wondering if she was going to choose <i>The Little Mermaid</i> for the third times in a week, and above them he spotted a little roll of parchment with messy inky fingerprints marks.

“What’s this?”

“Oh, that’s a letter for grandma. I’ve been practising with my writing!”

“Well, that’s great! But what do you have to tell grandma that can’t wait tomorrow?” he asked with amusement.

“It’s not for grandma Molly!”

Harry stared at her, his smile fading, and Lily frowned perplexed.

“It’s for grandma Lily” she spelled out, as it was the most obvious thing in the world and he was just being particularly thick about it – which was probably true, on hindsight. “I haven’t got one hundred grandma, have I?”

Harry shook his head, forcing himself to smile. “No, I guess you don’t.”

Suddenly, Lily’s expression brightened. “Would you like to read it? I can give up on one of the story if you do, so it won’t get too late, and it’s short anyway, ‘cause I haven’t that much to tell her because I don’t know her, and –”

“Lily.”

She looked at him with concern. “Yes?”

“I’d really, really love to read it.”

“For real?” she asked, her eyes wide in excitement.

“Of course. But, you know what? I reckon you should be the one doing the reading” he added with a soft smile.

“Oh, yes, that’s a good idea, I have to practise with that too!” she said delighted, sitting up again and adjusting her bedside lamp to point it to her lap. She then grabbed the parchment and unrolled it, clearing her throat.

“Dear grandma Lily, do you know that we have the same name?! Dad said it’s because of the hair, because it’s very long and red! He showed me a picture of you and you’re very very beautiful, and you have hair like mine but darker, and also a bit like my mum, even if you’re dad’s mum, not mum’s mum.

But I don’t have green eyes like you and dad and Al, and even if dad says he loves mum’s eyes and mine I think your eyes are beatifuler. Oh and if you don’t know that already Al is my middle brother and he looks a lot like dad, and my mum’s name is Ginny, and she’s a Quidditch journalist but she was a Chaser before James and she’s a Weasley even if now she’s a Potter like you and me, and then I have a bigger brother called James as dad’s dad (your husband). And then there’s Teddy who isn’t really my brother but it’s like he is, even if he doesn’t lives here but with his grandma Andy. And I also have a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles because mum has a lot of brothers, and also grandparents Molly and Arthur where we stay all together at the Burrow.

Now I don’t know what else to write because I don’t know you very well and I don’t really know what you do and where you are but dad says you’re beyond the veil with uncle Fred and Teddy’s parents and grandpa James, and mum told me Peanut can find anybody anywhere so I hope he can find you too, but I don’t know if you have ink and parchment so don’t worry if you can’t answer. You think we will meet each other one day? Dad says we all will one day and I’d really like to because I don’t know you and I’d like to know you, but I love you anyway because dad showed me your photos on his album and he loves you too, I can tell. Bye bye! Lily (as you!). Piss: I’ll say hi to Al and James from you if you want!”

Lily let the parchment roll on itself with a delighted smile, clearly pleased by her effort, then she looked at Harry, and her smile faded. “You didn’t like it?” she asked, her voice low and uncertain – wounded, even.

Harry swallowed, overwhelmed, and forced himself to put on a convincing smile. “On the contrary, honey. I loved it very much” he said, sincere. “You know, I think it’s one of the most beautiful letter I’ve ever read” he added, thinking of the letter he’d found years before in Sirius’ old room.

“Really?” asked Lily, a spark of excitement back.

“Really.”

“Then why do you look so sad?”

Harry sighed. “Not all the good things are cheerful, love.”

Lily squeezed his hand, looking at him with the same sweet, compassionate smile she had done to Ron when he’d said the fairy godmother had been the one to lose the crystal shoe.

Harry was reading a wizarding novel on the couch, but his mind kept going back to the letter Lily had wrote, and to his promise to send it on her behalf, a promise he was already regretting. He’d slipped it between the last page and the back cover of his book, and it was hard to resist the urge to read it over and over. He knew he was meant to share it with Ginny, and he hoped the match she was attending wasn’t going to last even longer that it’d already done.

He startled awake when the mantlepiece light up with green flames and Ginny appeared in their living room.

“Hello, Sleeping Beauty” she said, grinning, and Harry felt an immediate wave of affection and relief.

“Hey” he smiled, moving the book from his lap. He stood up to greet her with a kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist, and Ginny kissed him back, her fingers tracing the hair on the back of his neck.

“So, what happened to our agreement not to wait up after midnight?” she asked conversationally.

“I’m sorry, was it me or you first words to your lovely, lonely husband were to mock him because he was indeed asleep?”

“You forgot funny” she teased, raising an eyebrow. “And anyway, it’s the location that counts, not the actual sleeping. Bed beats couch, I’m afraid.”

“I reckon the outfit should count as well, though. The only reason I agreed was the prospective to find you in already your nightgown after a long day at work.”

“Well, I’ll concede you look sexy in this pyjamas too” said Ginny with a shrug, tracing a flashing lighting bolt with a finger.

“George will be very pleased to know that.”

“I’ll make sure to let him know” she said with a wink. “The kids?”

“Safe and sound, I send them to bed after a heated Gobstones match. I reckon James’ pride is a bit shaken, he was beaten by Lily and Al.”

“Ouch.”

“He’ll live” smiled Harry. “How was the match?”

“The Harpies trashed the Wasp” she said smugly. “Too bad that I have to pretend to be impartial.”

“Oh, that must be hunting.”

“Yeah, I bet I won’t be able to sleep for the whole night” she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Harry felt his heart pumping faster, even if he knew perfectly well that that had to wait.

His hesitation must have shown on his face, because Ginny smile faded, and she eyed him carefully. “Is everything ok?”

Harry swallowed. “It is. But…” he trailed off, unable to find the right words.

Ginny disentangled herself from the hug, intertwining their fingers to pull him gently towards the couch. Harry picked up the book and let himself drop near the armrest, resting his forehead on his fist.

Ginny sat facing his side, her legs crossed on the sofa, but she didn’t push him, and he couldn’t help but be amazed yet again by her ability to get him.

He sighed, letting go of her hand to take the letter from the book and offering it to Ginny. “It’s from Lily.”

Ginny glanced at him, half wary, half curious, and began reading with narrowed eyes – they were wide and shining when she’d reached the end.

She put the letter down, laying a hand on his thigh and squeezing lightly.

He shrugged. “I’m ok.”

When Ginny caressed his face he closed his eyes, relishing her gentle touch for a long moment before taking her hand in his, grateful that she hadn’t call him out for his obvious lie.

“It’s just… Do you think… do you think she should get an answer?”

She sighed, throwing a glance at the letter laid on her lap.

“I’m not sure she really expects an answer. And if she do expect it… Well, I think that if she’d get one now, when she’ll be old enough to understand she won’t be happy that we made it up.”

Harry hadn’t considered it in that prospective, but Ginny definitely had a point. “Yeah” he nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

“Unsurprisingly” she teased, but smiling softly.

Harry let out a low chuckle, but now that he’d start sharing, he needed more reassurances. “I thought… I mean, I was sure she’d understood that… that they’re all gone…”

Ginny considered it, her gaze wandering around the living room, and Harry circled his thumb on the back of her hand, wondering if she was thinking about Fred.

“I think she understands, in her own way” said Ginny eventually. “She just… imagines them all together somewhere else, somewhere where we can’t go.”

“It does’t seem like she thinks she can’t reach them, though, does it?” he asked, gesturing at the letter.

Ginny took a deep breath. “I think she just believes they can listen to her, somehow. And… she isn’t wrong, is she?”

Harry thought of the whispers behind the Veil, of the misty figures appearing from Voldemort’s wand, of the ghosts, of King’s Cross, of the Resurrection Stone.

“No… she’s not. But I… sort of promised her to send it?”

“Oh, Harry…”

“Yeah, I know, I know, I already regret it, but… she was so excited about it… I just…”

“Wanted to make her happy?”

Harry sighed. “Yeah.”

Ginny stay silent for a long moment and Harry waited, hoping she could help him figure out what to do.

“I don’t think she will be upset, if you’ll tell her the truth” she said eventually.

Harry looked at her, bewildered. “I should tell her that I made her a promise I knew I couldn’t keep?”

“You should tell her that we can’t reach them with paper and owls, but that doesn’t mean they can’t listen to us.” Ginny took a deep breath. “When you told me about the Stone, I was… it was difficult to know that something like that existed. And I know it doesn’t brings people back to life, not really, but the mere idea that I could talk to Fred again… that I could make George talk to him again, or that Teddy could meet his parents… There were times it hurt so much that I almost went in the Forbidden Forest to look for it, even if I knew I’d never find it…”

Ginny trailed off, but Harry knew she was gathering the strength to add something else, and he stayed quite, holding her hand tight.

“Sometimes… sometimes I even wished you’d never told me…”

He froze, feeling like she’d just squeezed his heart in her hand.

“… but then… after a while… I was glad you did, and not only because it meant a lot that you where sharing so much with me, but also because I realised that… it means they still exist, somehow, and they… I don’t know, keep an eye on us, or something…”

In that moment, Harry saw a clear imagine of his mother reading Lily’s letter, a radiant smile in her face, her green eyes shining. He felt his own eyes glistening and blinked hastily. He removed his glasses and pressed a hand on his face, but Ginny straddled his lap and moved his hand away with gentle firmness. She kissed his eyes, then his cheeks, then his lips, and Harry let her cherish him until everything became blissful oblivion, soothing tenderness and aching love.

***

“Good morning!” said Lily cheerful, her little feet stumping fast on the floor.

Harry had barely stirred when he felt the mattress wobbling under her daughter’s weight.

“Morning” he mumbled, taking his arm off Ginny’s waist so Lily could crawl between them. He kissed her temple, making her some room.

“Hello, honey” said Ginny, rolling over to face them.

“Hi, mummy!” exclaimed Lily, hugging her tight. “Do you know that I beat Al and James at Gobstones yesterday?”

Ginny chuckled. “So I’ve heard.”

“And I wrote a letter to grandma Lily, and dad was happy but also sad and he said he’d send it!”

Harry sighed. He didn’t expect this moment to arrive so soon, but he was glad Ginny was there too. They shared a glance, and she nodded encouraging.

“Yeah, about that…”

“You already sent it?!” asked Lily, sitting up, her eyes widened in delight. “How much will it take to get there?”

Harry sat up as well, laying an arm on her shoulder and pulling her to his chest. “Actually… well, er, I thought a lot about it, love, and I remembered that… that I’ve tried something like this before, when I wanted to talk to my godfather Sirius, but it… it didn’t work, and… I’m very sorry, but the truth is, I don’t think Peanut knows where to find your grandma.”

Lily lift her head to look at him, and his stomach clenched when he took in her trembling lips and teary eyes. “But… but I thought…”

“I know, love. I thought that too, but… I was wrong. I’m very sorry.”

Lily hide her face against his chest, her arms wrapping around his waist, and he hugged her tighter. “I just wanted her to know me” said Lily, her voice muffled.

Harry swallowed, a loss for word.

“She does know you, love” cut in Ginny with confidence. “And she may not be able to receive any letter, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know that you write to her, or what you wrote.”

Lily sniffed, but let Harry go to turn toward her mother. “How do you know?”

“Well, I know she loved daddy very much, and daddy loves both of you very much, and that’s enough to me. You see, the ones we love never really leave us.”

Lily moved her gaze between her parents, her eyes narrowed as she had to make sure she understood it well. “So… I can write her more letters?”

Harry swallowed. “If you want.”

“And she’ll know I did?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“And what should I do with the letters if I can’t send them?”

Harry was taken aback by the question, but as always, Ginny came in to help.

“You know… I think I may have an idea.”

“I want to buy lilies!”

“Merlin, I wonder how you could come up with something so original, Lils. Color me impressed.”

“Don’t be mean to your sister” scolded Ginny.

James rolled his eyes in annoyance, but mumbled an apology, and Harry suspected Ginny had instructed the boys to be particularly well behaved and accommodating.

“Can we buy lilies, then?” asked Lily, tugging at his sleeve.

Harry looked down at her. “Of course we can, honey. Why don’t you ask the florist to show you what they have?”

While Lily did so, Harry threw a glance at Al, who was staring at some beautiful red roses in a corner, rapt. Harry reached him, crouching down to level their faces.

“You can pick something too, if you want.”

“For real?”

“Of course.”

Predictably, when James realised Al was choosing something as well he wanted to do the same, and then Lily insisted that their grandparents would have been upset if only the kids would brought flowers. As such, the Potters eventually got out of the shop with five different bunch of flowers.

The cheerful bickering atmosphere changed as soon as they got into the cemetery. The kids got quite, sensing they had to keep their loudness in check. Lily and Al searched for Harry’s hands while they were stepping inside, but James put on a stoic attitude, offering to take Harry’s flowers which such unexpected thoughtfulness – ‘So you can hold their hands, dad’ – that Harry felt the urge to hug him tight.

They walked in silence, and Harry let the memories flow in. He recalled the first time he’d been there, on Christmas Eve, and the first time Ginny had gone with him and he ended up telling her about the Peverell and the Deathly Hollow, and then the time he brought Teddy. He wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of bringing his kids here, but he also hoped they’d appreciate his will to share something like that, as Teddy usually did. But Teddy situation was different, because he had an awareness of death that his kids didn’t possess, and if on one hand Harry didn’t mean to sugarcoat their life, on the other hand he felt a fierceness urge to protect them from anything that could hurt them, mentally even more than physically. It had pained him to crush Lily’s naive concept of life and death, but at the same time he wanted her to understand, to be prepared.

“Harry?”

Ginny’s gentle voice brought him back to reality, and only then he realised he’d stopped in front of his parents grave.

Lily tugged his hand, and Harry crouched beside her. “Can we put the flower down, now?” she whispered.

“Of course. Go on” said Harry, encouraging her with a gentle push on her back.

She stepped forward and kneeled on the ground, carefully laying the bunch of lilies with her magically sealed letter tied to it, then she studied the grave.

“Lily Potter” she read out loud, moving her index finger under the name. “Born thirty January, one hundred… one nine hundred…”

“Nineteen-sixty, Lils” said Al, his voice low. “It’s her year of birth.”

“Oh… She must be even older than you, dad!”

Harry was momentarily abashed by her statement, but when James chuckled he ended up smiling as well.

“Well, that’s really odd” he said, winking at James. Harry could swear Ginny was biting back a grin as well.

“I think that’s explain why you have grey hair” teased James, and this time Ginny barely stifled her laugh.

“What are you laughing for?” asked Lily, a bit annoyed.

Harry felt like he’d been caught doing something terribly inappropriate and cleared his throat, regaining his composure.

“I’m sorry, Lily. My mum and dad were both born in Nineteen Sixty, that means they were twenty years old when I was born. So, yes, they’d be twenty years older than me, if they were still alive.”

“Oh… that’s nice.”

“But they were younger than you are now, right? When they…” James trailed off, shrugging.

“When they passed away?” helped Ginny.

James nodded, his gaze on the ground.

“Yes, they were twenty-one” said Harry. “I reckon they didn’t have any grey hair yet” he added, playfully poking James, who smiled back, sheepish.

“Would they be as old as grandma Molly and grandpa Arthur, then?” asked Al.

“No, they would a bit younger” said Ginny. “Mum and dad already had all seven of us when it happened.”

“What does it mean, the last enemy that shall be desor… dersoyed” – “Destroyed.” – “destroyed is death?” asked Lily, her finger pressed firmly on the marble.

“I believe it means that when a person dies, the people that loves them keep loving them nonetheless, and for all their life.”

“Do you still love them, then?” asked Al, turning his head toward Harry.

He was taken aback by the question, and sensed Ginny’s worried gaze upon him. He took a deep breath. “I do.”

“Even if you don’t remember them?”

Harry nodded to James, fearing his voice would crack if he’d try to speak.

“You should put your flowers near mine, dad” said Lily with a gentle smile, standing up to take them from James an handing them to Harry before hugging him.

And so, all the Potters laid their colorful bunches on the ground, one by one. It was nice, thought Harry, exchanging a glance with Ginny, who reached his hand and squeezed it with affection.

“I think they will be very happy” said Lily cheerful. “I hope they’ll get the flowers very soon.”

Harry sighed, closing his eyes.

“Get them? How could they –”

“James” cut him off Ginny with a firm but kind tone, lowering to look Lily in the eyes. “Honey… we can’t really give the flowers or the letter to them, but… it’s like they’ve already got them. We can’t send them anything, and we can’t see them nor hear their voices, but they… they can feel us, and coming here we’re saying to them that we still love them very much, and that we’re still thinking about them, even after all this years.”

“But… but then they must be really sad that we didn’t come sooner… What if… what if they thought we didn’t love them?”

“Of course they didn’t thought that” said James, putting an arm on Lily’s shoulder. “Mum and dad came, and Teddy too, and I bet they told them everything about us, and about how much we wish to have known them.”

“Exactly” smiled Harry, pleasantly surprised by James explanation.

“Can we back, sometimes?” asked Al.

“Oh, yes, please, I’d love to!” said Lily with renewed enthusiasm. “Can we, dad?”

“Of course we can” said Harry, moved. “Now, who want to see where my grandparents are?” he asked with a grin.

“You had grandparents too?!” exclaimed Lily. “We should have bought more flowers!”

Harry couldn’t help but laughing, thinking how lucky he was to have two Lily Potter in his life.

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scrapyardboyfriends · 4 years

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Jenny’s Belated Live Blogging - 31st October 2019

- well that was boring

- First of all...not nearly enough Aaron and no Seb even though they talked about him a lot.

- Good on Seb for having like 3 cars by now though. He really is Robert and Aaron’s son. However, the fact that we yet again did not get to see Seb in a Halloween costume is a travesty.

- Since I’ve seen the anons on my dash already, I don’t know how I feel about the idea of Seb being with Aaron tomorrow for the visit either but I’ll wait and see what the scenes are I guess. I genuinely expect nothing. It really does feel like he’s just already gone and it has since friday of week 42 to be honest. I mean of course I want a final emotional scene and I want him to get a final shot of the episode or something if this is his last one but I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll be annoyed when it doesn’t go well and everyone here hates it but I just sort of expect it to be disappointing and for them to be the E plot even though that’s dumb but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. I just feel like we had our goodbyes in the woods and that phone call and everything after is really just fuel for Aaron’s story. As much as that’s frustrating from a Robert fan perspective. But we shall see tomorrow.

- I really hate that Luke is Lee’s brother. I mean obviously the family of a rapist is not inherently evil, see all the conversations surrounding Aaron and Vic’s baby etc but the idea that they might make Vic’s next relationship be with the brother of her rapist after also giving her the baby she always wanted through said rape, it’s just gross and I’m not a fan. But if that’s not where they’re going with it, then I don’t know what the purpose of Luke is. So...

- I do like Vic and Aaron being friendly though. Obviously the spiral is probably going to throw a spanner in that but I miss the friendship they used to have and when Vic isn’t being thrown under the bus for plot purposes, she’s actually a tolerable character and I like her and Aaron being there for each other in this sad sad post Robert world.

- As for the rest of the episode...ugh

- I mean I like Vinny with the Dingles but I have no clue where they’re trying to go with that. I feel like even if they found out he wasn’t her son, they’d be mad at Mandy for lying, not so much at Vinny who just wants to be part of their family. Although, I didn’t like the way he was looking at Belle. That was creepy.

- I’m glad that, on screen, Aaron and then Robert were the first people to drink from the Welly because now it’s so overused. And after Lachlan they should really be more discerning with who they let drink from it.

- The weed story...sigh...I’m glad it’s sort of mostly come to an end aside from telling Nicola and it did bring up some interesting stuff between Jai and Laurel that wasn’t immediately resolved so that has some mild potential. But I’m still just sort of confused by the whole thing and why it has gone on quite so long. And why would you just burn the weed in a barrel to get rid of it??? And then stand over the smoke and breathe it in??? Haha.

- All the kids were out in this episode again. The Arthur/Archie rivalry reminds me of when Arthur was getting jealous of all of the attention April was getting back in the Laurel/Marlon days. Similar thing with Archie having just lost his mum. Also...hi Dotty...you’re like a real little person now.

- As for Jacob...like, I’m glad they haven’t totally forgotten about Maya and that he’s still dealing with the after effects of that whole story, but I’m still really mad that they never properly resolved anything with him or had him make any kind of breakthrough. Even if he eventually does have one, it’s way too late. I do think it’s interesting exploring the possibility of a new age appropriate girl liking him though. There’s definitely good potential content there, I’m just still mad they messed up that original ending so badly.

- I just don’t know what to make of Kerry. She was back sort of being her quirky side character self in this episode and it worked apart from the fact that I’m still thinking about the Frank story and how they’ve done nothing to properly resolve that either. Same thing I felt with Amy and Cain before she left. It just doesn’t work. And Tracy has been MIA along with Vanessa so we haven’t even had them around to know the truth and Charity who does hasn’t been involved with them at all. And I still think the Sharma’s deserve to know the truth. I just really don’t get that story, especially if they never really do anymore with it.

- And then we have more convoluted backstories from the Home Farm gang! Hooray! I just...it’s so bad. I mean I want them to burn Home Farm to the ground so we never have to deal with these families again but god even the Whites worked slightly better for me. At least they had present day problems that didn’t entirely rely on convoluted off screen backstories. I mean there was some with Lawrence not being Chrissie’s dad but that linked back to Edna and Harold and there was just more there for me that made sense rather than just having Graham be a cryptic robotic exposition machine all the time. First with Joe, Kim owns everything. Then Kim and Graham had some on and off relationship for years despite the fact that they never really seem like they’re together. Then Andrea was suddenly working for Graham. Then Graham is possibly Millie’s father. Then Jamie was the one who got Kim sent to prison. Like...enough. Do something in the present. At least when Kim was taking control of the factory it was in the present. The rest of it is just not good. Not to mention they tried to give Jamie and Kim a little drama today and then she immediately went back on her threats and went to read Millie a story. At least do something with these revelations if you’re going to keep bringing them up. I don’t know. I just don’t get what they think they’re doing with that character group. They all work better outside of Home Farm and with other characters. Stop trying to force it or at least stick to something. Sigh...

- I mean I guess Kim is going to go after Graham now but since it’s all based on practically nothing, I don’t expect it will be very interesting.

- And Al is such a waste without the Ellis stuff. I don’t know what they’re going to do with him because him just hanging around Kim and becoming sort of the new Graham doesn’t work. I’d much rather they actually had a Kim/Al romance or something but like make it legitimate with real feelings. Something...

- Anyway....I’ll just reiterate that this episode needed way more Aaron.

#belated live blogging #emmerdale

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blog-of-a-multitude-of-fandoms · 5 years

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Crush- Scorpius Malfoy (2)

Pairing: Scorpius Malfoy x Reader

Characters: Scorpius Malfoy, James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter

Warnings: N/A

Request: N/A

Word Count: 403

Author: Charlotte

You had planned to keep your crush to yourself, never to let anyone know but for some stupid reason you confided in your eldest brother Teddy and it had honestly gone down hill from there. All three of your brother knew and you were sure that within a moment your sister and parents and the whole of Britain would be told that you liked Scorpius Malfoy. You had hoped that Teddy wouldn’t tell anyone, but he had told James, and James had told Albus and without realising they had all told Scorpius.

In all honesty you wanted to crawl under your bed and never leave or speak to another person as long as you lived. Or maybe your mum and dad would be fine with you going to live with your Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur in the middle of nowhere. Neither options seemed likely though.

James had a huge smirk on his face as he watched the colour drain from your face as you looked at Scorpius’ similar expression. Albus’ cheeks were red from his yelling and anger towards you and you hoped so dearly that he wouldn’t say anything anymore.

“Come on Al, let’s leave them be,” James grinned.

“But-“ Albus went to argue but James gave him a forceful shove to the shoulder forcing him out of the room.

“Good luck sis,” James smirked following your twin brother.

You smiled awkwardly at the blond boy whom stood before you. You never imagined you could ever tell him that you liked him and even in the fantasies where you did let him know, it never turned out like it currently did.

“Hi,” you smiled weakly trying to do your best to make it seem less awkward than it actually was.

“Hi,” he whispered, his cheeks becoming red.

You kept your head down not sure how to approach this topic. You had hoped he didn’t hear what you and your brothers had talked about, but it was impossible that he didn’t.

“Was… was what Al said true?” He asked softly, also unable to keep eye contact with you.

Your heart jumped into your throat. Should you tell him the truth or lie to him? Neither seemed to have a great outcome.

“Um… well… I guess… yeah,” you whispered, bracing for his laughter.

“Really?” He asked.

You looked up through your fringe to see his expression being hopeful.

“Yeah.”

“I like you too.”

#Crush #Part 2 #Scorpius Malfoy #Scorpius Malfoy Imagine #Scorpius Malfoy One Shot #Next Gen #Next Gen Imagine #Next Gen One Shot #Harry Potter Series #Albus Severus Potter #James Sirius Potter #Harry Potter Series Imagine #Harry Potter Films #Harry Potter Series One Shot #HP #HP Imagine #HP One Shot #Charlotte

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gokinjeespot · 5 years

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off the rack #1242

Monday, December 24, 2018

I was hit by a spasm of back pain on Saturday like the ghost of Christmas Past. That'll teach me for being such a Scrooge this time of year. I try not to be naughty but being nice is such a pain in the pants. I am slowly recovering under the gentle ministrations of Santa's Helper. Being around family and friends is better medicine than any pain pills I could take. My brother and sister-in-law hosted a brunch yesterday and seeing everyone together laughing and happy soothed me greatly. Just holding baby Oliver and making him smile eased my back pain.

I saw the Ottawa premiere of Aquaman thanks to my Jee-Riz partner Chris, who won passes from the comic book store Myths, Legends and Heroes. I can sum up how I felt about the movie in one word; wigs. I wish they had spent some of the Atlantis special effects budget on better wigs for the actors. Arthur's dad's toupee was glaringly obvious. I've seen better hair on Cosplayers than Nicole Kidman's wigs. It looked like Amber Heard/Mera was wearing a wig at times but even when it looked like her real hair the colour red they chose was too unnatural looking. The movie's saving grace for me was Jason Momoa. He makes a great Arthur/Aquaman. I'm glad I didn't pay to see this one.

Ugh. Stan Lee tribute covers. Terrible marketing idea.

Dead Man Logan #2 - Ed Brisson (writer) Mike Henderson (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). A couple of things really annoyed me this issue. Sin, the Red Skull's daughter, acted like a spoiled brat. It's not a stretch to foresee the villains losing at the end of this 12-issue story. Then we have Forge repairing a machine that can get Old Man Logan back home. They actually go there and he doesn't stay. I'm for super heroics as much as the next nerd and maybe I'm selfish, but that irked me to no end. Old Man Logan has been whining about getting home ever since he showed up in this timeline and now he wants to stay to prevent all the super heroes from being killed by all the super villains. There isn't even a guarantee that is what happens in the future. And why don't they use the machine to fix things? Man I hate time travel. I really like Mike Henderson's art but this looks like another travelling super heroes versus super villains battle every issue, and that's not very interesting to me.

Defenders: The Best Defense #1 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils) Belardino Brabo (inks) Dono Sanchez Almara (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). It's the big Defenders reunion to save Earth. Old Man Dr. Strange, Hulk, Namor and the Silver Surfer have to sidetrack The Train in order for Earth to survive. It's a bit complicated and I'm surprised that you didn't really need to read all the one-shots to get what's going on. I mean all those scenes where the stabby killer in the bed sheet is killing aliens isn't even mentioned in this story. So what was up with that?

Marvel Knights #4 - Vita Ayala & Donny Cates (writers) Joshua Cassara (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Here's where they explain why all the super heroes have forgotten who they are. T'Challa/Black Panther is featured in this issue that ends with him discovering the lair of villains. I'm wondering how the bad guys retained their memories.

Old Man Hawkeye #12 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Francesco Mobili (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). That was a very satisfying ending. What a great prequel to the Old Man Logan story where Clint and Logan go on a road trip. This is where Clint loses his sight for good. I loved the last page epilogue showing Clint tracking down someone who will help him to continue to fight the bad guys despite his blindness.

Runaways #16 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Reading this Christmas special is better than getting a lump of coal. Having Doombot as a dinner guest made this a treat. I wish he was a regular member of the team.

West Coast Avengers #6 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Daniele Di Nicuolo (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The good guys have been captured by the bad guys: Satana Hellstrom, M.O.D.O.K., The Eel and Madame Masque. Kate is still free however and she's not going to abandon her team mates. Too bad she gets waylaid on her way to rescue them. Her captor is a complete surprise, which will make the next issue a hoot.

Thor #8 - Jason Aaron (writer) Mike del Mundo (art) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This is an awesome issue with Thor fighting the Angelus. It ends with an ex-Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. being paid a visit by the Black Panther. I like how this book is being tied into The Avengers.

Season's Beatings #1 - Jason Latour (writer) Greg Hinkle, Chris Brunner, Veronica Fish & Mario Del Pennino (art) Rico Renzi, Jim Campbell & Veronica Fish (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I should have realized from the cover that this was a Deadpool Christmas Special. If I had known, I would have bought a pair of socks from the Dollar Store with the $4.99 US that this comic book costs. Unless of course, you're a big Deadpool fan or West Coast Avengers fan or even an X-Force fan. They're all in here too. Plus Squirrel Girl and Doctor Doom. Come to think of it, this is an everything but the kitchen sink gift for a Marvel Comics fan who will get a few chuckles out of it.

Freedom Fighters #1 - Robert Venditti (writer) Eddy Barrows (pencils) Eber Ferreira (inks) Adriano Lucas (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). This is some heavy duty patriotic poop right here. We start this 12-issue story in 1963 America that is ruled by Adolf Hitler and his "ratzi" party. The original Freedom Fighters meet to plot a resistance attack on a war robot factory. Things don't go well for the good guys. Jump forward to 2018 and the surprise appearance of the New Freedom Fighters; Black Condor, Doll Woman, the Human Bomb and Phantom Lady. All we need is Uncle Sam. Robert Venditti holds nothing back showing the Germans as ruthless racists. The art is really well done so I will give these Golden Age heroes a chance to see how they fare in modern times.

Middlewest #2 - Skottie Young (writer) Jorge Corona (art) Jean Francois Beaulieu (colours) Nate Piekos (letters). A new character named Jeb is introduced who helps Abel get out of a bind. Jeb reminds me of the first time we meet Gandalf. Abel's quest continues and we find out a bit more about the symbol on his chest. I predict he'll meet his mother down the road but unlike the talking fox, I won't be travelling down it with him.

Cover #4 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Mack (art) Michael Avon Oeming (Owen art) Zu Orzu (colours) Carlos Mangual (letters). This issue is a great example of how a comic book can tell a story with words and pictures. I felt like I was watching a TV show or a short film. Brian, David and Michael work together seamlessly

Hardcore 1 - Robert Kirkman & Andy Diggle (writers) Alessandro Vitti (art) Adriano Lucas (colours) Thomas Mauer (letters). Yeah man, it is. Agent Drake is a drone pilot but what he controls are other human beings. A new nanotechnology allows him to take over and move a remote body for 72 hours so he can complete wetwork missions. It's really cool. The big problem arises when the guy who invented the tech comes back to reclaim it from the government. That guy is not asking nicely. I like this concept and the predicament that Agent Drake finds himself in at the end of this issue. Therefore, this goes on to my "must read" list.

Klaus and the Crying Snowman #1 - Grant Morrison (writer) Dan Mora (art) Ed Dukeshire (letters). This $7.99 US one-shot tells the tale of how Sam the snowman helps Klaus save the Earth from murderous aliens. I loved how they wove in Norse mythology. You'd think a crying snowman would be doomed in the end and you'd be right, but fear not, 'tis a happy ending.

Betty & Veronica #1 - Jamie Lee Rotante (writer) Sandra Lanz (art) Kelly Fitzpatrick (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). The BFFs are back with a 5-issue mini that starts off their senior year of high school. I know that these slightly more mature Archie Comics want to draw in a new audience but Betty dating Reggie? Sacrilege. A few other things bothered me storywise that turned me off even more. Betty drinking a spiked punch without noticing? C'mon. Then there's the art. I didn't like the interiors compared to the nice cover that Sandra drew. I expected my girl Betty to be treated better than this.

Catwoman #6 - Joelle Jones (story & art) Laura Allred (colours) Josh Reed (letters). The finale of "Copycats" is a quick read so I read it twice. The first time was to see how Catwoman deals with the evil Mrs. Creel and her pumped up on drugs son. The second time was to see Catwoman in action and to savour the beautiful art and layouts. I wish Joelle Jones would do a Betty & Veronica mini.

Extermination #5 - Ed Brisson (writer) Pepe Larraz (art) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I tolerated this time travel tale because of the amazing art. I wish Pepe Larraz would do a Betty & Veronica mini. If you thought that the mutants being exterminated was a real threat then you haven't been reading X-Men comic books for very long. This story puts the young X-Men back in their own time and all is well again. The big surprise comes on the last page and I'm thinking "oh geez, here we go again".

Domino #9 - Gail Simone (writer) David Baldeon & Michael Shelfer (art) Roberto Poggi (ink assist) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Soldier of Fortune part 3. The ladies are asked to kill Longshot. Haven't seen him in a while. Might not see him for long though, since he's supposed to bring about the end of the world. This is interesting because both Domino and Longshot have the same super power. Who's luck is going to run out first?

Firefly #2 - Greg Pak (writer) Dan McDaid (art) Marcelo Costa (colours) Jim Campbell (letters). Mal and Zoe are being hunted by a gang of thieves and the Alliance. Darn tootin' there's going to be shootin'. I have been watching Nathan Fillion's new cop show The Rookie and I quite like it.

Batman #61 - Tom King (writer) Travis Moore (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Knightmares part 1. The "what the!?" appearance on the last page of #60 is explained here as a new story starts. I knew something was hinky when I saw the string of pearls around the dead body of Martha Wayne in the alley. I thought we were in an alternate universe and we sort of are but it came as a complete shock when what was going on was explained. Arkham Asylum is getting a new inmate. At least he's new to me unless I want to go back and read Batman #38.

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koolkat9 · 1 year

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To balance out the angst. GerEng Sugar daddy AU where Arthurs a single father of many kids he's older, he's rich, And Ludwigs's his workaholic sugar baby.

Anon... Anon... Do you know how long I've wanted to sit down and think about a sugar daddy au for GerEng?

Okay, so Ludwig is a down on his luck college student. Lost his job due to budget cuts and downsizing. Plus he's got an older brother who can't work and needs a little extra care after a serious injury. So he's in a tough spot.

Feeling hopeless he drowns his sorrows at a local bar where he meets Arthur. The two get to chatting, flirting, Arthur foots Ludwig's bill after hearing his recent financial hardships. Over the course of the evening, he convinces Ludwig that he could take care of him a bit. After all he's cute and a sweet guy and exactly Arthur's type. All he has to do for a steady cash flow is occasionally be Arthur's arm candy and hangout with him.

Ludwig is very reluctant to all this, but hey, he always liked his men older and Arthur was an absolute gentleman throughout the evening and he enjoyed talking to him. Plus Ludwig knows Arthur is loaded because I'm thinking Arthur might have got rich by being some big shot music producer or something. If he just has to go on dates and to events on certain evenings how can he say no. It would give him more time to study and take care of Gil that most part time jobs don't provide.

Anyway, Ludwig is absolutely spoiled. Both in affection and in material goods. And he doesn't know how to handle it but he also loves it. But I think it would be hilarious that Ludwig offers to do some manual work for Arthur like in his garden or something because he feels like Arthur gives him more than he deserves for just hanging out once a week on average. Arthur tries to tell him it's okay, but Ludwig is determined so he gives in. At least it's an excuse to gawk and Ludwig in a muscle shirt as he lifts heavy things.

I think Al, Matt and Jack are all out at college but Zee is still only 16/17 so they're still living with Arthur. And they fucking hate what's going on between GerEng. They know this isn't their dad's friend or partner. This is their dad's sugar baby. And they don't trust Ludwig for a second, thinking he's going to drain their dad dry.

Al and Jack are also not happy about it, but Matthew is able to keep them at bay by saying their dad is an adult and can make his own choices, though Matthew is also keeping a close eye on whole thing because he's also wary.

But Ludwig genuinely loves spending time with Arthur and they actually fall in love. And eventually the kids start to realize this. Though Zee is probably the last to come around because they hate change and they're a teenager with a bunch of hormones. But they and Arthur have a heartfelt chat and Zee starts to try being supportive or at least stops giving Ludwig death glares.

Even when they get into an actual relationship and Ludwig finds a reasonable part-time job, Ludwig is still spoiled even though he tries to protest. Omg Arthur paying for Ludwig's whole tuition as one last sugar baby gift before they get into an actual relationship

#hetalia #hws #gereng #engger #geruk #hws england #hws germany #sugar daddy au #hws new zealand

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chiseler · 6 years

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TIN PAN ALIAS

They're no longer the household names they once were. In fact their names were not really their names. But between them Harry and Albert Von Tilzer were two of the more successful and prolific songwriters and publishers on Tin Pan Alley, and many of their songs are familiar today as icons of the so-called Gay Nineties and early 1900s. One of them still gets played every day there's a baseball game.

Harry and his brothers were not born Von Tilzers. Harry was born Aaron Gumbinsky or Gummblinsky to Polish Jewish immigrants in Detroit in 1872. He grew up in Indianapolis, where the brothers were all born. The family shortened the name to Gumm, leading to the often-repeated misinformation that Frances Gumm, better known as Judy Garland, was Harry's niece. In fact, her father Frank Gumm was not one of the Gumbinsky/Gumm/Von Tilzer brothers, but a cracker from Tennessee (and predominantly homosexual, interesting when you consider Garland's complex personal and professional relationships with gay men later, not to mention Liza's).

At fourteen Harry Gumm ran away to join the Cole Brothers Circus. He played piano and wrote songs for a traveling theater troupe and changed his name on the road, taking his mother's maiden name and adding the Von for a touch of class. His brothers, all of whom went into the music business after him, followed suit. Making for more confusion, in 1929 a Helen Von Tilzer would marry one of the Marx Brothers -- Gummo, of course. Because of that preposterous-seeming coincidence she's often written up as Harry's sister, but in fact she was born Helen Theaman in New York. Von Tilzer was her first husband's name, and he seems to have been a real Von Tilzer, also not related to Harry and the fake Von Tilzer clan.

Harry worked in burlesque, with medicine shows and in vaudeville, specializing, naturally, in "Dutch" (German) routines. In 1892 he arrived in New York City by train as a groom for a carload of horses. He had one dollar and sixty-five cents in his pocket. For the next six years he struggled, playing saloon piano and writing songs that Tony Pastor and others bought from him at two bucks each.

According to David A. Jansen's Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song, Harry wrote his first hit under some duress. He and lyricist Andrew B. Sterling were sharing a furnished room on East Fifteenth Street in 1898 and were "three weeks behind on their rent. When a final bill was slipped under their door, they used the paper to write a chorus and then a verse of what turned out to be their first successful publication, 'My Old New Hampshire Home.'" It was classic barbershop quartet treacle. William Dunn of the Orphean Music publishing company paid them fifteen dollars for it -- a week's rent on the room -- and proceeded to sell more than a million copies in sheet music.

Then Dunn was bought out by Louis Bernstein and Maurice Shapiro, founders of one of Tin Pan Alley's longest-lived hit factories -- it still exists as Shapiro Bernstein & Co., with a catalogue that includes "Ring of Fire," "Yes! We Have No Bananas," "Walk on the Wild Side" (the original, not Lou Reed's song) and the immortal "Wolverton Mountain." They paid Von Tilzer four thousand dollars, a considerable sum in those days, to join them as a partner in the firm. A few years later he would leave them and start his own publishing company.

In 1900 he was relaxing in a whorehouse (or just at a party, depending on the source), noodling on the piano to some lyrics handed him by the British lyricist Arthur Lamb. When Harry saw the girls around him crying, he figured he'd noodled up a smash hit. It was. "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" sold more than two million copies of sheet music, and was one of the most popular weepers of the age, a song we still associate more than maybe any other with late Victorian mawkishness. This time Harry earned far more than fifteen bucks.

He and Lamb collaborated on two more tearjerkers in 1902, "The Banquet in Misery Hall" and the equally lugubrious "The Mansion of Aching Hearts," which a few singers made into hit recordings. That same year a scrawny Jewish kid from the Lower East Side went busking in the saloons on the Bowery, belting out "Mansion" in a raspy tenor to the pie-eyed sailors and hookers who tossed pennies at him. That kid, Izzy Baline, went up to Tin Pan Alley on Twenty-Eighth Street to meet Von Tilzer, who hired him as a song plugger and "boomer." A boomer was a plant in the audience at the music hall or vaudeville house whose job was to cheer and shout "Encore!" when the publisher's new song was performed. Von Tilzer, who was an expert plugger and boomer himself, showed Izzy the ropes. Izzy, who would invent his own German-sounding professional name, Irving Berlin, went on to eclipse his mentor's fame.

But Von Tilzer was no slouch. "Wait 'Til the Sun Shines, Nellie," "I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl Who Married Dear Old Dad)," "In the Sweet Bye and Bye" and "I Love My Wife, But Oh You Kid!" were all major hits, and he wrote thousands more. That was not unusual. In the crowded Tin Pan Alley milieu, where publishing companies were stacked four and five stories high door-to-door, the competition was brutal, the pace ferocious and the ruling business model crudely simple: Throw as many songs at the public as you can possibly churn out, and hope one sticks once in a while. The lists of songs published on Tin Pan Alley in its glory years, roughly the 1880s through the 1920s, are stupefyingly long -- tens of thousands of songs, hurled at the public in live performances, as sheet music and piano rolls, on recorded wax cylinders, in early versions of coin-operated jukeboxes, on phonograph discs after the introduction of the affordable Victrola in 1906, and eventually on radio. Almost all of those tens of thousands of songs are forgotten now. In fact the vast majority barely made an impression when they were new. You just kept cranking them out, praying for a hit now and again.

Von Tilzer was out there pitching with the best of them. Like all serious Tin Pan Alley composers he jumped on every band wagon that rolled down Twenty-Eighth Street. He wrote Irish and "Dutch" numbers when they were fads, beer-drinking songs when they came into fashion (including one called "Under the Anheuser Busch"), schmaltzy kiddie songs, and songs capitalizing on every new dance craze, from the bunny hug to the turkey trot to the hesitation waltz. He threw three of them together in one song, "You Can Tango You Can Trot Dear but Be Sure and Hesitate." He wrote novelty songs like "The Ragtime Goblin Man" and topical ones like "Old King Tut," a hit for Sophie Tucker the year after Tut's tomb was discovered in 1922.

He also wrote several hit coon songs. Coon songs spun off from minstrel shows in the 1880s. In the 1890s and 1900s hundreds and hundreds of songs with "coon" in the title were published, usually sung to ragtime tunes. They often replaced the Old Plantation nostalgia of the traditional minstrel song with ruder, more overtly racist stereotypes. They were hugely popular, and Von Tilzer wrote his share, songs like "Alexander" (familiar to audiences then as a hifalutin' name for a blackface minstrel character), "Mammy's Kinky-Headed Coon," "My Lady Hottentot" and "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown." Performers of old-timey music still record that one, though it may be best known for the 1970 funk version by the great Rufus ("Do the Funky Chicken") Thomas. In 1911, Berlin would upstage Von Tilzer's "Alexander" with his own ragtime-y coon song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Any similarity to his mentor's hit was purely intentional.

By the middle of the 1920s Von Tilzer had composed something like two thousand published songs, including a dozen million-sellers and as many as a hundred that sold half a million. His output slowed down in the later 1920s and 1930s, but he still credibly claimed to have written some eight thousand tunes. Like many Tin Pan Alley greats, including Berlin, he did it without ever learning to read or write a note of music.

Time and tastes moved on. Harry quietly lived out his last years in the Hotel Woodward, a Broadway establishment favored by show folk, and died there in 1946.

Meanwhile, Harry had brought Albert and the other brothers to New York. Jules worked for Harry. Will started a song publishing company, and Albert and Jack partnered in another. Albert was also a songwriter. He and vaudevillian Jack Norworth collaborated on the giant "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in 1908; according to an unconfirmed but persistent legend, Albert never actually saw a ball game until the late 1920s. Some of Albert's other hits include "Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey," "I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time," the minstrel song "Down Where the Swanee River Flows" (a hit for Al Jolson in blackface), the Prohibition lament "The Alcoholic Blues" ("No more beer my heart to cheer/ Goodbye whiskey, you used to make me frisky/ So long highball, so long gin/ Oh, tell me when you comin' back agin"), the Hawaiian-themed ragtime hit "Oh, How She Could Yacki Hacki Wicki Wacki Woo," and another novelty hit, the zany bum-diddy-bum jungle number "Oh By Jingo!" with lyrics by Lew Brown. ("We will build for you a hut/ You will be our favorite nut/ We will have a lot of Oh By Gollies/ And we'll put them in the Follies.") Born Louis Brownstein in Odessa, Brown had fled the pogroms with his family and settled in the Bronx. In a long career he collaborated with many Tin Pan Alley and Broadway composers on classics like "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries," "You're the Cream in My Coffee," "Sunny Side Up" and "That Old Feeling." It was guys like Brown, the Von Tilzers and Berlin whom the rabid anti-Semite Henry Ford had in mind when he ranted, "The people are fed from day to day on the moron suggestiveness that flows in a slimy flood out of 'Tin Pan Alley,' the head factory of filth in New York which is populated by the 'Abies,' the 'Izzies,' and the 'Moes'..." Ignoring him, lots of people recorded the moron suggestiveness of "Oh By Jingo!" -- Danny Kaye, Spike Jones, Stephane Grappelli and Chet Atkins among them.

Following the addition of sound to commercial movies, the studios lured more and more of the music business out to Hollywood in the 1930s. After all, the first hit talkie, The Jazz Singer, was really a singie. Albert went too. He worked in film and tv, mostly contributing to soundtracks of now obscure pictures. He died in L.A. in 1956. By that point much of the Von Tilzer catalogue, especially the older and mushier songs, had faded away, except at ball games. Then in 1958 Lawrence Welk, than whom no one loved old-fashioned schmaltz more, bought the catalogue and engineered a Von Tilzer revival. When the Songwriters Hall of Fame began in 1969, Harry and Albert were among the first voted in.

by John Strausbaugh

#John Strausbaugh #The Chiseler #Harry von Tilzer #Tin Pan Alias #I want a Girl Just Like the Girl Who Married Dear old Dad

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martyy-party · 6 years

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Next Gen HP Looks

James Sirius Potter; “Jamie”, “Jay”, “Jay-Jay”

6′4 height. Photogenic. Muscular and lanky. Messy thick shiny black hair in Cole Sprouse’s haircut. Perfect jaw and cheekbones. Plump lips. Great bone structure. Light freckles everywhere, specially on his nose, cheeks, shoulders and back. Olive skin, he gets extremely tan during summer. Can actually pull and grow facial hair, which it is more reddish than black. Teeth white af. Handsome and cheeky smile, with adorable dimples on each cheek. ‘Potter’ perfect smirk. Always smiling. His eyes are almond shaped and a light honey colour with some gold hints. Long fingers, perfect for playing the guitar and the piano. Gorgeous. Tallest guy at school. Looks like a mix of Harry, Ginny and James Potter Senior. Extremely handsome and good-looking.

Albus Severus Potter; “Al”, “Albs”, “Albie”

6′1. Photogenic. Black shiny hair, quite short. Cheekbones for days. Olive skin, but he can’t get a tan, tho. Emerald Green eyes. Muscular, beater type, with broad shoulders. He doesen’t have lots of freckles, only a few single ones in his arm and one over his left brow. Sharp features. Ironic smile. ‘Potter’ perfect smirk. Can rock a Sherlock Holmes costume. Looks great in Green and black. White teeth and a dimple in his right cheek. Extremely expressive face. Can raise a brow. Eyebrows on fleek. Looks a lot like Harry, but you can see a bit of Arthur Weasley on him. Very good-looking like his brother and attractive.

Lily Luna Potter; “Lila”, “Lily Lu”, “Lil”

5′8. Photogenic af. Dark red hair, that used to reach her bellybutton, but she choped it into a lob. Naturally skinny and slender, she has a thin hourglass figure. Legs for days. Almond shaped Green eyes, but instead of being emerald, the Green is more like an avada kedavra green. Thick eyelashes and red brows. Round-squared face shape, like her mum. She looks a hell lot like Natalie Portman. Perfect bone structure. Olive skin, Lily can easily tan. She has freckles on her nose, shoulders, boobs and hips, and then she has freckles and moles separated, creating constellations through all her body. She also has a single freckle over her lip, at the right, just like Marilyn Monroe, which Fleur loves. Her extremely pink and full lips are her signature look, usually painted a cherry red. She’s a blend of a lot of Lily Evans and some of Ginny Weasley. Sassy smile, Potter perfect smirk, cheeky smile with dimples. ‘Quite the little heartbreaker. Drop dead gorgeous and seductive, with a sweet delicate voice. A beauty.

Victoire Apolline Weasley; “Vic”, “Vicky”, “Toire”

5′6 and a half. Model looks. Long glossy golden blonde hair that used to be more reddish as a kid. Light freckles all over her face. Big bright pale blue eyes. Quite tan skin during summer. Her hair is fabulous and her skin is shiny af. Full pink lips and the cutest nose ever. Round-squared face shape. Great bone structure. Dimples. Always painted nails. Model Slim figure. Sweet and kind smile. Never wears make up even though she loves it. She looks like a blend of classical beauty and california girl. She has her veela charm and she’s crazy beautiful.

Dominique Belle Weasley; “Dom”, “Nick”, “Dommie”

5′9. Long wavy pale blonde hair, dyed baby pink (she changes her hair colour every year). Big ocean blue eyes. Freckles on her face but she covers them. Sarcastic smirk. Cute smile. Long legs and arms. Skinny figure. Ears pierced and a small tattoo on the back of her neck. Pretty pink plump lips. Perfect soft skin. Sharp and dark eyeliner and fabulous black smokey eye, like Effy Stonem. Rocks a leather jacket like no one else. Grunge and rock ‘n roll style. Can eat a lot of fast food without gaining weight. Pale skin, she can’t get a tan. Cheekbones and collarbones. Relaxing smile. Veela charm. Fucking extremely pretty.

Louis Charles Weasley; “Lou”, “Louie”, “Lous”

6 feet tall. Gold blonde hair, lighter in the tips because of the sun. Ocean blue eyes, like Dominique. Perfect eyebrows. Grateful that he’s blonde and not ‘another ginger’. Muscular without playing Quidditch. Freckles only on his feet. Dimples. Broad shoulders. Can’t grow facial hair. Baby soft skin. Uses a lot his veela charm. He’s very attractive and he knows it.

Rose Jean Granger-Weasley; “Rosie”, “Ro”, “Posie”

5′5. Middle back lenght copper hair. Big, chocolate brown eyes, like her mum. Thick eyelashes. Button nose. Great eyebrows. Petite frame. Pretty and cute. Her body is fully covered with freckles. They are everywhere. Perfect nail shape. Small hands. Very fair skin, if she isn’t wearing sunscreen, she burns. Pink heart shaped lips. Heart-shaped face. Clumsy but graceful. She looks a lot like Hermione.

Hugo Billius Granger-Weasley; “Hugh”, “Huey”, “H”

6′2 and a half. Curly brown hair. Pale blue eyes. Tall and lanky. Dark freckles all over his face, and loads of them on his nose. Not too muscular. His dad’s nose, his mum’s and Rose’s mouth. Heart-shaped face. Very long arms. Fair skin, with the dark freckles. On his body, they aren’t a lot of them but they’re everywhere. Bushy eyebrows. A cute blend of Hermione and Ron.

Molly Anne Weasley; “Molls”, “Annie”, “Moll”

5′5 and a half. Soft Copper hair. Pale blue eyes. Thin red lips. Long bangs. Few freckles on her cheeks and arms. Long fingers. Button nose. Really cute. She can raise a brow. Perfect teeth after a year of brackets. Ivory skin. Can’t get a tan. Needs sunscreen every day. Perfect body.

Lucy Audrey Weasley; “Luce”, “Lulu”, “Lu”

5′3. Shoulder lenght dark copper hair. Large Coffee Brown eyes. Bushy eyebrows. Thin lips. Athletic figure due to Quidditch. Fit legs and butt. Fair skin. Freckles on her back, because when she plays Quidditch is where the sun mostly reaches her. Quite cute. Big bright smile. Her nails are always short, because she bites them. Heart of gold.

Frederick Gideon Weasley; “Freddie”, “Freds”, “Freddo”

6feet tall. Copper hair. Carmel skin. Very bushy eyebrows. Dark Hazel blue eyes. Few almost invisibe freckles on his nose and forehead and lots of them on his arms. Builder built. Broad shoulders and muscular. Big hands. Imperial nose. Strong jaw. Cocky happy grin. He looks like KJ Apa, but with natural ginger hair.

Roxanne Kate Weasley; “Rox”, “Roxy”, “Katie”

5′4. Glossy wild ebony black hair. Dark skin. Fabulous hourglass figure. Full lips, always with lip gloss. Big dark blue eyes. Thick eyelashes. Pearl White teeth. Freckles on her face. Stunning. Photogenic. Cheeky grin. Looks like Angelina with some Weasley in her.

Edward Remus Lupin; “Teddy”, “Ed”, “Teddy Bear”

6′1. He always wears his hair turquoise but its natural color is a mousy Brown. Dark blue eyes. Eyebrows on fleek. Quite muscular. Clumsy af. Fair skin but he’s able to tan. Remus’ looks with Tonks’ metamorphomagi.

Note: English isn’t my first language so if there are any mistakes, plz don’t roast me.

#James Sirius Potter #lily luna potter #Albus Severus Potter #dominique weasley #rose weasley #hugo weasley #lucy weasley #molly weasley ii #fred weasley ii #roxanne weasley #victoire weasley #louis weasley #teddy lupin #harry potter next generation #next gen harry potter #next gen hp

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networkingdefinition · 4 years

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Veteran Quotes

Official Website: Veteran Quotes

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• “America’s Cold War veterans deserve every honor we can bestow upon them for their hard work and dedication to keeping our nation safe,”. “The Cold War Service Medal would allow military service members, veterans, and their families to receive the recognition and honor they rightfully deserve. I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure our veterans receive the support and care they and their families need. It’s the least we can do as a grateful nation.” – Blanche Lincoln • A broadsheet obituarist once pointed out to me that veteran soldiers die by rank. First to go are the generals, admirals and air marshals, then the brigadiers, then a bit of a gap and the colonels and wing commanders and passed-over majors, then a steady trickle of captains and lieutenants. As they get older and rarer, so the soldiers are mythologised and grow ever more heroic, until finally drummer boys and under-age privates are venerated and laurelled with honours like ancient field marshals. There is something touching about that. – A. A. Gill • A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. – Joseph Campbell • About a veteran player thrown out trying to steal second: There was larceny in his heart, but his legs were honest. – Arthur Baer • After several years in the league, when a player becomes a vested veteran in the NFL, they play under a different set of rules. For instance, if you cut a vested veteran mid-season and they don’t get picked up by another team, you owe them the remainder of their salary. – Brendan Daly • Alice thought, No. It wasn’t the War and the disgruntled veterans; it wasn’t the droves and droves of colored people flocking to paychecks and streets full of themselves. It was the music. The dirty, get-on-down music the women sang and the men played and both danced to, close and shamelesss or apart and wild…It made you do unwise disorderly things. Just hearing it was like violating the law. – Toni Morrison • All of my high school male teachers were WWII and/or Korean War veterans. They taught my brothers and me the value of service to our country and reinforced what our dad had shown us about the meaning of service.- Oliver North • America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat. – James Madison • America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise – that American promise – and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess. – Barack Obama • America’s veterans embody the ideals upon which America was founded more than 229 years ago. – Steve Buyer • Among gardeners, enthusiasm and experience rarely exist in equal measures. The beginner dreams of home-grown bouquets and baskets of ripe fruit, the veteran of many seasons has learned to expect slugs, mildew, and frost. – Roger Swain • and suddenly it hits you: Human skin is actually made up of billions of tiny units of protoplasm, called “cells”! And what is even more interesting, the ones on the outside are all dying! This is a fact. Your skin is like an aggressive modern corporation, where the older veteran cells, who have finally worked their way to the top and obtained offices with nice views,are constantly being shoved out the window head first, without so much as a pension plan,by younger hotshot cells moving up from below. – Dave Barry • And when they have done their job, America must look after and honor its veterans. – Adam Schiff • Any veteran can tell you it is already hard enough to see a doctor down at the VA and get the health care they were promised when they signed up to serve this country. – Nick Lampson • As a combat veteran, I know the cost of war. – Tulsi Gabbard • As a soldier and combat veteran, I believe American military forces should only be used in the defense and furtherance of our nation’s vital interests. – Joni Ernst • As a veteran, I believe we have a responsibility to take care of all our men and women who have served – and I will fight to fix the crisis at the Veterans Administration caused by negligent leadership in Washington. – Joni Ernst • As any war veteran will tell you, there is a vast difference between preparing for battle and actually facing battle for the first time. You can be told that reading Victor Hugo will sap your will to live, but you can’t understand what it means until you’ve read a few chapters and your eyes are glazed over and someone has to revive you with a defibrillator. – Kevin Hearne • As first time director, though, you’re like a new officer coming up to be in charge of very serious veterans, and you’re always going to have guys looking at each other for the first day until they realize you’re not screwing around. – William Monahan • As the days went on, I didn’t mind the games. In fact, I looked forward to them. That was the easiest part of all. I couldn’t wait to get to the ballpark I’d be the first one there and I was willing to do anything. I think that’s why the veterans liked me. – Al Kaline • As the field of coaching finds its way to becoming a mature discipline, James Flaherty’s dedicated field research, study, and sound articulation offers a definitive ground and a sensibility of genuine care. At the core this book offers a way of thinking about human beings that makes action and practice central to learning. This is a no-nonsense, generous, pragmatic book that belongs on the shelf every coach, novice or veteran. – Richard Strozzi-Heckler • As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. – John F. Kennedy • As we try to compete in this global marketplace, we need to rebuild our infrastructure. We need to rebuild our schools. We need to make sure that teachers and first responders and veterans who are coming home from serving our country so proudly have jobs waiting for them.- Valerie Jarrett • At Concerned Veterans for America, we’ve made the case that the defense budget could be targeted for spending reform, but in a targeted fashion that genuinely changes unsustainable spending trajectories while preserving U.S. defense capacity. – Pete Hegseth • At the same time, we’re going to take care of our military and we’re going to take care of our great, great, great veterans. – Donald Trump

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Veteran', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_veteran').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_veteran img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Because all of us believe and understand in the fabric of the common bond of why we call ourselves American is to care for the men and women who wear the uniform; and when they take off the uniform, we care for them when they are veterans. – Steve Buyer • Because Vietnam was not a declared war, the veterans are not even eligible for the G. I. Bill of Rights with respect to education or anything. – Ronald Reagan • Better than honor and glory, and History’s iron pen, Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men. – Richard Watson Gilder • Brave rifles! Veterans! You have been baptized in fire and blood and have come out steel! – Winfield Scott • But despite their heroic acts, the Vietnam Veterans of America continued to struggle to establish a combat badge in honor of these brave pilots and medics. – Tim Holden • But this Veterans Day, I believe we should do more than sing the praises of the bravery and patriotism that our veterans have embodied in the past. We should take this opportunity to re-evaluate how we are treating our veterans in the present. – Nick Lampson • By cutting critical domestic programs such as education, health, environmental protection, and veterans’ services, this budget reveals misplaced priorities. – Dan Lipinski • By interviewing at least one veteran, you can preserve memories that otherwise might be lost. My uncle was a downed fighter pilot and P.O.W. in World War II, and I am looking forward to recording his story for inclusion in the project. – Spencer Bachus • Caring for our veterans is the duty of a grateful nation. Unfortunately, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have not lived up to this duty.- Patty Murray • Chancellor [Angela] Merkel is perhaps the only leader left among our closest allies that was there when I arrived. So in some ways we are now the veterans of many challenges over the last eight years. – Barack Obama • Charles Barkley taught me a lot when I played against him. How he would use his body or use his dribble to get people in there and all that stuff. Veteran moves. – Tim Duncan • City’s effort to end homelessness among veterans is different than how things used to be in L.A. – John Carlos Frey • Congress should stop treating veterans like they’re asking for a hand out when it comes to the benefits they were promised, and they should realize that, were it not for these veterans, there would be nothing to hand out. – Nick Lampson • Disabled veterans are not a bargaining chip. – Jim Bridenstine • Does Trumpcare protect seniors and families? Does Trumpcare – is Trumpcare good for our veterans? Is there any caring in Trumpcare at all? – Nancy Pelosi • During their college years the oarsmen put in terrbily long hours, often showing up at the boathouse at 6:00am for preclass practices. Both physically and psychologically, they were separated from their classmates. Events that seemed earth-shattering to them– for example, who was demoted from the varsity to the junior varsity — went almost unnoticed by the rest of the students. In many ways they were like combat veterans coming back from a small, bitter and distant war, able to talk only to other veterans. – David Halberstam • Every #‎ Veteran is a hero. – Joe Walsh • First, separate ground, sea and air warfare is gone forever. This lesson we learned in World War II. I lived that lesson in Europe. Others lived it in the Pacific. Millions of American veterans learned it well. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • For a mile up and down the open fields before us the splendid lines of the veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia swept down upon us. Their bearing was magnificent. They came forward with a rush, and how our men did yell, ‘Come on, Johnny, come on!’ – Rufus Dawes • For every veteran who goes through a divorce, a wife goes through one, too. For every veteran alone in the basement, there is a wife upstairs, bewildered, isolated and in despair from the dark clouds of war that hangs over family life. – Karl Marlantes • Freedom is never free. – Maya Angelou • Giving a veteran a flag is not a substitute for giving our vets the quality health care they were promised – Dick Durbin • He [Osama bin Laden] is clearly an odd combination of a 12th-century theologian and a 21st-century CEO. He runs an absolutely unique organization in the Islamic world. It’s multiethnic, multilinguistic, multinational. He is a combat veteran, three times wounded. He has a huge reputation in the Islamic world for generosity and leadership. He’s a man who speaks eloquent, almost poetic Arabic, according to Bernard Lewis. – Michael Scheuer • He discusses his service in Iraq, the wounds he suffered there and he says to me in this ad, until you have the guts to call me a phony soldier to my face, stop telling lies about my service. You know, this is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said, and then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media and a TV ad, to walk into as many people as he can walk into. – Rush Limbaugh • He hasn’t lost his vision. That’s one thing. He’s good. The guy is smooth and knows how to set up blocks. He’s a veteran, too. It’s fun to watch him run. Hopefully everything works out all right physically, but certainly he looks good so far. – Jake Delhomme • He was a combat veteran from Korea, and he was a great father. – Mike Pence • Heroism is latent in every human soul – However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials – privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life-long hurts and losses, death itself – for some great good, dimly seen but dearly held. – Joshua Chamberlain • Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause. – Abraham Lincoln • I also believe our country made a promise to veterans and their families. Veterans have kept their end of the bargain, and now, the VA is looking to pull out the rug. – Ellen Tauscher • I am convinced that America’s great sea of goodwill can be, in fact, a rising tide, a tide that could lift every veteran and every family of our wounded and fallen. – Michael Mullen • I am not a veteran environmentalist. I don’t live in a house made of recycled tires, I’ve never handcuffed myself to a tree, and I don’t grow my own organic rutabaga. – Christy Mathewson • I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. – Martin Luther King, Jr. • I can’t imagine anybody disagrees with President Trump when he says, if we don’t take care of our veterans, who are we really as a nation? -Kellyanne Conway • I come from a district where the veterans are not the richest in the country. – Corrine Brown • I feel a sense of obligation to our troops and their families because of the decisions that I made. So I’m involved with veterans. – George W. Bush • I had lots of friends who were fighting in Vietnam and I am still friends with veterans of the war. – Gordon Lightfoot • I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That’s what I did. – Bernie Sanders • I have gone to all over the country and I’ve met so many veterans and I have tremendous veteran support. – Donald Trump • I have to say I have the most experience. I’m a veteran when it comes to that, [my brothers] they’re still learning. They have lots of potential. They’re like first-round picks right now in the game, they still have to develop. – P. K. Subban • I know the veterans. I know them well. And I know that they know that I’ll take care of them. And I’ve been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans. – John McCain • I love the veterans. And I’ll take care of them. And they know that I’ll take care of them. And that’s going to be my job. But, also, I have the ability, and the knowledge, and the background to make the right judgments, to keep America safe and secure. – John McCain • I love when I am around a veteran in [show] business. Because I can dig and ask questions, and find out the “who” and “what” of it all. – Jill Scott • I never thought of serving as a conflict of interest, that would have been a luxury! I just needed something to survive. Initial needs have to be met first, and then later things like patriotism come in. – Donna M. Loring • I offer a better way for America with ideas that actually work, a reformed tax code that rewards free enterprise instead of just enterprising lobbyists. A reformed health care system that operates by free choice instead of by force and doesn’t leave you answering to cold, clueless bureaucrats. A commitment to a renewed commitment to building a 21st Century military and giving our veterans the care that they were promised and the care that they earned. – Paul Ryan • I oppose U.S. military intervention in Iraq. I believe that we should not send troops or engage in air strikes-our nation’s military involvement needs to be over. The United States has already spent billions of dollars in Iraq while our nation has endured a crumbling infrastructure, cuts to our social programs, a lack of investment in job training and creation, and sadly, a failure to take care of our veterans. Let’s focus our resources at home. Over 4000 men and women have sacrificed their lives for Iraq. That is enough. – Janice Hahn • I personally found Donald Trump’s praise for Vladimir Putin troubling or even chilling, frankly. In a room full of military veterans, to be effusing about his great leadership and how strong he is and how popular he is, while disrespecting the American president and American generals, I don’t know. That was, I think, not just troubling to me, but to a lot of listeners and I think, frankly, to a lot of Republican listeners as well. – Philip Gordon • I play an 89-year-old man whose wife has Alzheimer’s in a movie called ‘Still.’ I play a World War II veteran, I acted with my son and it’s called ‘Memorial Day.’ – James Cromwell • I put the Vietnam War behind me a long time ago, and what I wanted to (do) among other things was help veterans also be able to come all the way home as some of our veterans have not been able to do. But I harbor no anger nor rancor. I’m a better man for my experience, and I’m grateful for having the opportunity of serving. – John McCain • I said you [Mike Pence] can’t give me this [Purple Heart]. He said, “Mr. Trump you mean so much to me and my family.” You know we’re doing very well with the veterans. I know you guys do not like to say that. – Donald Trump • I see what those people [veterans] are going through. To see a doctor, sometimes it takes six and seven days and then you finally get there and the doctor is gone on vacation. – Donald Trump • I started a theater called Steppenwolf. We’ve been very supportive of the veterans there. – Gary Sinise • I think America as a whole has come more to terms with separating war from the warrior. – Jeffrey Dunn • I think our veterans certainly deserve and have earned the best health care in the world. – Phil Roe • I think that the needs of the VA and the needs of the veteran community are very, very significant. Цe’re talking about a VA system in which, in the last years a million-and-a-half more people have come into the system. You’re dealing with 500,000 people have come home from Iraq an Afghanistan with PTSD and TBI. You’re dealing with an older veterans population from World War II and Korea who need some difficult medical help. We want to see it be more efficient. We want to see doctors go to where they’re needed.- Bernie Sanders • I think the choice option is critical to give the veteran an opportunity, if they choose to do so, to opt out. We have done that in this particular piece of legislation for those that have been waiting in line, and particularly for those that live 40 miles or more from a VA facility. – Jeff Miller • I think the President’s decision to withdraw the United States, to keep a campaign promise in Iraq, without leaving a stay-behind force was a mistake, and I hear that from veterans in Wyoming and from parents who lost children fighting in Iraq. We’re seeing it, though, around the world. When we, the United States leads a vacuum anywhere, that emboldens others to go in, when there is no sense of deterrence by the United States that lets bad actors move and fill the void. – John Barrasso • I think there’s where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let’s fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. – Hillary Clinton • I think we’re being laughed at all over the world. I think that if you look at our military, we can’t beat ISIS, General George Patton, General Douglas MacArthur are spinning in their grave. We can’t beat ISIS, okay? I think that our veterans are not taken care of, they’re treated worse than illegal immigrants, by the way. – Donald Trump • I want people to get involved and to connect with veterans. – Max Martini • I want to be sure…that nothing is done on these veterans. Is that understood?…Is the word out? That they are not to touch em, they are not to do a thing?…Get a hold of the district police; they’re not to touch them, they’re to do nothing: Just let em raise Hell. – Richard M. Nixon • I was a veteran, before I was a teenager. – Michael Jackson • I was born in Munich, and my father was stationed in Salzburg. For the first three years of my life, I lived in Austria back when the American Army was still in Austria. I grew up subsequently in posts around the country around veterans. – Rick Atkinson • I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee, which I’m very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. – Bernie Sanders • I was there. I saw your sons and your husbands, your brothers and your sweethearts. I saw how they worked, played, fought, and lived. I saw some of them die. I saw more courage, more good humor in the face of discomfort, more love in an era of hate and more devotion to duty than could exist under tyranny. – Bob Hope • I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of the things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I’m…very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families. – Jane Fonda • I would not call myself a veteran conspiracy theorist. Or an obsessed one. I pretty much peaked on the whole conspiracy theory thing in the ’60s, with the grassy knoll, who really killed JFK, and who ordered the hit on Lee Harvey Oswald. – Patti Davis • I’d like to give every young teacher some good news. Teaching is a very easy job. Administrators will tell you what to do. You’ll be given books and told chapters to assign the children. Veteran teachers will show you the correct way to fill out forms and have your classes line up.And here’s some more good news. If you do all of these things badly, they let you keep doing it. You can go home at three o’clock every day. You get about three months off a year. Teaching is a great gig.However, if you care about what you’re doing, it’s one of the toughest jobs around. – Rafe Esquith • If you listen closely to the voices of our veterans, you understand that yes, they all returned from war changed, but what never changed is this: They never forgot your generosity. They never forgot the power of opportunity. They never forgot the American dream. – Michael Mullen • I’m a veteran, and I’ve earned the right to be heard. I’ll lead by example and show that gay players are no different from straight ones. I’m not the loudest person in the room, but I’ll speak up when something isn’t right. And try to make everyone laugh. – Jason Collins • I’m ashamed that Congress finds billions for pork-barrel subsidies but fails to find money for veterans’ health care. – John McCain • I’m just one example of thousands of transgender veterans and people who are actively serving today. – Allyson Robinson • I’m sick of the cover-ups, I’m sick of the lies, and so are the bloody veterans, that come out daily of the department’s mouth. – Malcolm Turnbull • In a fire you have to be thoughtful, you have to have a certain kind of intuitive smarts that the veterans have. I’m not there yet, despite the Stanford degree.- Caroline Paul • In addition to demanding answers and accountability from the Veterans Administration, Congress had to act to ensure veterans do not suffer because of the actions of a federal agency. – Doc Hastings • In climbing, a fundamental thing is to want to do something you’ve never done before. That’s the beauty of climbing, whether you’re a girl or boy, seasoned veteran or beginner. You’re not sure you’ll be able to do this, but you try, and discovering you are capable is an amazing experience and an amazing feeling. – Chris Sharma • In mid-May, the House of Representatives approved the full amount of money that the Veterans Administration said was needed for next year – plus an additional $1 billion increase for veterans’ health care. – Doc Hastings • In researching this volume, I interviewed veterans who had been at the front during World War II. I read countless books, examined film footage, and listened to many detailed and intense stories firsthand, but the one comment that affected me the most came from a former soldier who lowered his gaze to the tabletop and said, ‘I never watch war movies. – Hiromu Arakawa • In spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful and I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me last night. – Jane Fonda • It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. – Dick Cheney • It is impossible not to recognise the Long March as one of the great triumphs of men against odds and men against nature. While the Red Army was unquestionably in forced retreat, its toughened veterans reached their planned objective with moral and political will as strong as ever… Their conviction had helped turn what might have been a terrible defeat into an arrival in triumph. – Edgar Snow • It is time to acknowledge the extraordinary sacrifice of all of our veterans. While many Massachusetts soldiers served our nation in a period technically dubbed ‘peacetime,’ they restored American pride in the wake of Vietnam and helped bring a successful end to the Cold War. The service of these men and women was not without cost. There are countless stories of soldiers who served with great distinction only to be denied veteran status after returning home. Every man and woman who volunteered to serve this country should be treated with the same degree of respect, gratitude and dignity. – Mitt Romney • It’s the only call…To have Christian Ponder as your third quarterback, a guy who started for you a year, to me it made it an easy call because you have a veteran guy who has played in this atmosphere before. – Bill Cowher • It’s horrible to think that a small cadre of people would manipulate that information. I mean, for God’s sake, we’ve admitted that we were experimenting on our veterans with mustard gas. So there is no security question. It can’t possibly be the reason. – Dwight Schultz • It’s important for me to highlight my views for veterans who’ve fought for America and at the same time don’t have anything to show for it. It’s kind of dear to me. – 2 Chainz • It’s quite a traumatic thing for a lot of our veterans that come back… You’re in a war zone, you’re dodging IED’s and bullets one day and a couple days later you’re back in society again with a bunch of people that have no idea of what you’ve been through. – Charlie Daniels • I’ve been described as a grizzled political veteran. – Joe Klein • I’ve shared meditation with a lot of hip-hop artists, inmates, and returning war veterans with PTSD, as well. I feel like this dharma, this service is part of my job. – Russell Simmons • Karl Malone used a lot of veteran stuff that I thought was cool. – Tim Duncan • Like the archers of Agincourt, John O’Neal and the 254 Swiftboat Veterans took down their own haughty Frenchman. – Ann Coulter • Lilian Ross was a – veteran writer for The New Yorker. She, in fact, brought me to The New Yorker many years ago. – Nat Hentoff • Love me or hate me, it’s one or the other. Always has been. Hate my game, my swagger. Hate my fadeaway, my hunger. Hate that I’m a veteran. A champion. Hate that. Hate it with all your heart. And hate that I’m loved, for the exact same reasons. – Kobe Bryant • Madison Square Garden, November 1984. I don’t recall taking too much fear into the ring. I knew I could fight. But I got a big shock. They put me in with this rough, tough veteran called Lionel Byarm. He tested me to the limit. But I fought my heart out and, in the end, I prevailed. The story of my life, in my very first fight. – Evander Holyfield • Makin’ veterans run for medicine, Cause I put out more lights in a fight than ConEdison.- Kool G Rap • Marriage – as its veterans know well – is the continuous process of getting used to things you hadn’t expected. – Thomas Mullen • Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that’s a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It’s a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it. – Pete Hegseth • More and more teams are using almost exclusively the draft to build their teams. And that means you have younger players to develop in those key depth positions. Younger players are more susceptible to streaks than veterans. They go up, they go down. – Ozzie Newsome • More importantly, if you are in a position to hire, hire a veteran. They will be the best employees you have. – Eric Shinseki • More often than not, you find players seeing something that they can help another player with or reinforce something the coaches are seeing. Veterans do that regularly with younger players. – Brendan Daly • Mortgage is one of the most popular deductions. It costs the Treasury about $103 billion a year. Now that’s money we could use to treat wounded veterans or reduce the deficit or fill the border. Instead, we give it a subsidy to homeowners, and it goes mainly to the richest homeowners in America, because only one third of Americans itemize their deductions. It doesn’t work. Many countries have gotten rid of the mortgage interest deduction. Almost all of them have higher homeownership rates than we do. – T.R. Reid • Muddy language is not confined to policies alone. Each of you has seen replies to simple questions in which the meaning was lost through hopelessly obscure wording. When a person writes to the Veterans Administration, he is entitled to an easily understood, frank, and courteous reply. If our replies cannot be understood, they are not only not worth writing, but they simply create additional work. – Omar N. Bradley • My daddy was a veteran, and it’s something dear to my heart. I helped him, he stayed with me until he passed away, and I’m not sure what kind of life he would have had if I wasn’t there for him. – 2 Chainz • My wartime experiences developing a code that utilized the Navajo language taught how important our Navajo culture is to our country. For me that is the central lesson: that diverse cultures can make a country richer and stronger. – Chester Nez • NBA has a selfish rationale. It saves the owners money by delaying the time a player gets to a second, more lucrative contract. Even the player’s union is on board. There are only 450 jobs in the NBA, and the one-and-done protects veterans’ jobs. – Sonny Vaccaro • No administration in recent times has been able to tackle the needs of our veterans. On that, I do want to see Donald Trump successful. But in terms of his travel ban and immigration policy, I don’t want to see him successful. – Nina Turner • No capitalists after any war were ever so well paid for money loaned to the nation that carried it on. No class of money-makers ever gained such prosperity by any other war, as our War for the Union brought to the money-getters of America. All this was due in great measure to the rank and file of the Union army. Now let no rich man haggle with a needy veteran of that war about his right to a pension! – Rutherford B. Hayes • Now therefore, be it Resolved by the Fiftieth Annual Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, That we hereby declare that we are unalterably opposed to any program which would entail the surrender of any part of the sovereignty of the United States of America in favor of a world government. – Unknown • Oklahomans value our children and our seniors. Oklahomans value traditions of faith. Oklahomans value our heroes, our veterans. Oklahomans value innovation and the creative arts. – Brad Henry On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind. – Dan Lipinski • Once over there [Balkans], I felt extremely patriotic. Here are these people, from 18-year-olds to military veterans, enduring real duress for the cause of peace. I don’t ever want to play for a regular audience again, only military folks who are starving for music. – Sheryl Crow • One of my favorite episodes in West Wing was the homeless man that died and they found, in the overcoat he was wearing, a card of the speechwriter, Toby. He had given that coat to the Goodwill and this guy had ended up wearing it, died in it and Toby went to his funeral. He turned out to be a Korean war veteran. It was our first Christmas episode and that was a true story – a member of the staff had done exactly that. So many of these stories were far better than any fiction. – Martin Sheen • One out of four people internationally believe if their country goes to war, The United States would be the opponent. As a veteran, I hang my head in shame over that. – Jesse Ventura • One third of the $15 trillion of mortgages in existence in 2008 are owned, or securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, the Federal Housing and the Veterans Administration. Wall Street buyers of repackaged loans didn’t mind buying risky paper because they assumed that they would be guaranteed by the federal government: read bailout from the taxpayers. Today’s housing mess can be laid directly at the feet of Congress and the White House. – Walter E. Williams • Our veterans are not being treated well. Our veterans, in many cases, are being treated worse than illegal immigrants, people that come into our country illegally. Our veterans are not being treated well. And, by the way, Hillary Clinton has been doing this for 35 years. Now she says she can do it? She doesn’t have a clue. – Donald Trump • Our veterans connect generations and Canadians. As a country and as individuals, we gain in pride and in purpose from their deeds and their service. – Paul Martin • Our veterans deserve the very best, and that means ensuring that America’s veterans receive high-quality services and cares when they come back home. – Elizabeth Warren • Our veterans know the meaning of service better than anyone else and they aren’t about to quit working when they come home. The best reward we can provide our vets for their service isn’t a medal or a check; it’s a livelihood and a means of supporting themselves and their families. – Mitt Romney • Outside of being a hit maker, I want to also be a star maker. Me being so young still as a veteran in the game, I wanted to give back to the youth and give back to my community. I want to find somebody that’s special and birth them to the world. – Sean Garrett People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.- Richard Grenier • Phil Gramm had a stump speech about how his mother’s devotion kept him from being an academic failure in life. She got him into a special school that turned him around – under a government program for the children of deceased veterans. He was repeatedly asked at press conferences why he would then turn around and support draconian cuts in federal funding for education. He never had an answer. – Gail Collins • Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. – Bernie Sanders • Romney still enjoys the Republicans’ traditional advantage among voters who are veterans, but the Obama campaign is confident it can chip away at that. – Mara Liasson • Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only as far as the guardsman’s cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club. – Thomas Huxley • Secretary [Hillary ] Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. – Bernie Sanders • Since the Revolution, eight generations of America’s veterans have established an unbroken commitment to freedom. – Steve Buyer • SNAP is a critical anti-hunger program that feeds millions of low income Americans, including children, veterans, and seniors who would not otherwise have the resources to buy groceries. – Dan Maffei • So when someone, a veteran stands up and say, “Here are the facts on the VA.” He [Donald Trump] says, “No, your facts are wrong.” Turns out her facts are right and his facts are wrong. – John McCain • Susan Campbell has brought Isabella’s fascinating forgotten story back to life with the deep research of a born historian and the vibrant readable prose style of a veteran journalist. – Debby Applegate • Thank you for the sacrifices you and your families are making. Our Vietnam Veterans have taught us that no matter what are positions may be on policy, as Americans and patriots, we must support all of our soldiers with our thoughts and our prayers. – Zach Wamp • That was not the biggest battle that ever was, but for me it always typified one thing; the dash, the ingenuity, the readiness at the first opportunity that characterizes the American soldier. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • That’s what makes America great; the fabric and the core of our beliefs and our being is we wrap ourselves around diversity. We say that the American flag represents our right to be free in every aspect of what that is, and every veteran who fought, fought for that freedom. So what we have to do is realize it’s not a choice between the country and racial justice; it’s about what we believe in at the core of our being, and that’s that we are free. – Jennifer Welter The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it. – Thucydides • The Bush administration has been doing everything it can to hide the huge number of returning veterans who are severely wounded – 17,000 so far including roughly 20 percent with serious brain and head injuries. Even the estimate of $500 billion ignores the lifetime disability and healthcare costs that taxpayers will have to spend for years to come. – Joseph Stiglitz • The Chinese soldier was tough, brave, and experienced. After all he had been fighting on his own without help for years. He was a veteran among the Allies. – William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim • The general’s staff is a handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs. There’s a former head of British Special Forces, two Navy Seals, an Afghan Special Forces commando, a lawyer, two fighter pilots and at least two dozen combat veterans and counterinsurgency experts. They jokingly refer to themselves as Team America, taking the name from the South Park-esque sendup of military cluelessness, and they pride themselves on their can-do attitude and their disdain for authority. – Michael Hastings • The issue of torture, connected to American soldiers, is not somewhere most people want to linger. We may not want to confront this issue so much in the U.S. because of how we want to think about our veterans. There’s the sense that we want to think of our veterans as – if they’re damaged, damaged by something glamorous, like a firefight. – Russell Banks • The last point that I’d make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? – Bernie Sanders • The last two years, nationals have been close to home for me, so I’ve had big family support from friends and club support. Especially last year in Ottawa, I had a whole section my grandpa got for all my family, and the skating club (supported me). I feel like I’m a veteran at this now. – Alaine Chartrand • The men and women of today’s VA are dedicated to caring for today’s veterans and stand ready to provide for our servicemembers who now defend our freedoms and our way of life. – Steve Buyer • The moon gives you light, and the bugles and the drums give you music, and my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans, my heart gives you love. – Walt Whitman • The most basic obligation we have to our veterans is that we keep the promises that were made to them. That is what makes the recent failures of the Veterans Administration so shameful. – Doc Hastings • The need for this clinic is clear to me, to the veterans who are currently forced to travel hours to receive care, and even to the Veterans Administration that itself identified creation of a clinic in this part of our state as a priority to be completed by 2006. – Doc Hastings • The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who’d really fought. – Kurt Vonnegut • The object of my relationship with Vietnam has been to heal the wounds that exist, particularly among our veterans, and to move forward with a positive relationship,… Apparently some in the Vietnamese government don’t want to do that and that’s their decision. – Ho Chi Minh Show source • The Republican tax cut threatens to undercut both veterans health care and the veterans educational benefits that have been recognized for decades as not only the long-standing obligation of the Nation to its veterans, but also as the best recruiting incentives we can offer to keep our armed forces strong and sharp. – Lane Evans • The rocks have a history; gray and weatherworn, they are veterans of many battles; they have most of them marched in the ranks of vast stone brigades during the ice age; they have been torn from the hills, recruited from the mountaintops, and marshaled on the plains and in the valleys; and now the elemental war is over, there they lie waging a gentle but incessant warfare with time and slowly, oh, so slowly, yielding to its attacks! – John Burroughs • The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth disputed whether John Kerry deserved some of his five medals. A large part of Kerry’s defense was an appeal to the authority of veterans who supported him-one of whom has now been revealed to have received a medal he doesn’t deserve. This doesn’t prove the Kerry detractors were right, but it certainly doesn’t weaken their case. – James Taranto • The United States government was proud that, although perhaps 100,000 Iraqis had died in the Gulf War of 1991, there were only 48 American battle casualties. What it has concealed from the public is that 206,000 veterans of that war filed claims with the VA for injuries and illnesses. In the years since that war, 8,300 veterans have died, and 160,000 claims for disability have been recognized by the VA. – Howard Zinn • The Veteran’s Administration is a disaster, the V.A., it’s a disaster. – Donald Trump • The Veteran’s History Project, a nationwide volunteer effort to collect oral histories from America’s war veterans, provides an avenue to do just that. Now in its fifth year, the Project has collected more than 40,000 individual stories. – Spencer Bachus • The way to balance the budget is for Congress to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, cut defense, Medicare and veterans pensions, while the states cut almost everything else. It would be tough but we could do it. – Howard Dean The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude. – Jeff Miller • The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation. – George Washington • The winning team has a dedication. It will have a core of veteran players who set the standards. They will not accept defeat. – Merlin Olsen • There is a massive problem with veteran suicides. – Eric Bolling • There is a sort of veteran women of condition, who, having lived always in the grand mode, and having possibly had some gallantries, together with the experience of five and twenty or thirty years, form a young fellow better than all the rules that can be given him. – Lord Chesterfield • There will be no veterans of World War III. – Walter F. Mondale • There would be a paragraph about some veteran digging tunnels for the Germans in a slave labor camp, or something like that. Finally I decided to look it up and go further into it. – Charles Guggenheim • These men were wrongfully rejected, the veterans. The fighting man should never have been blamed for Vietnam. – Neil Sheehan • This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. – Elmer Davis • This year’s Veterans Day celebration is especially significant as our country remains committed to fighting the War on Terror and as brave men and women are heroically defending our homeland. – John Doolittle • To the Cold War veterans here, know that your steadfast efforts preserved a delicate balance, and, because of you, the global war that many feared never came to pass. We are thankful for you, as we are for all the veterans here with us. – Michael Mullen • To those seniors, and especially elderly veterans like myself, I want to tell you this: You are not alone, and you having nothing to be ashamed of. If elder abuse happened to me, it can happen to anyone. I want you to know that you deserve better. – Mickey Rooney • Today at Pearl Harbor, veterans are gathering to pay tribute to the young men they remember who never escaped the sunken ships. And over the years, some Pearl Harbor veterans have made a last request. They ask that their ashes be brought down and placed inside the USS Arizona. After the long lives given them, they wanted to rest besides the best men they ever knew. Such loyalty and love remain the greatest strength of the United States Navy. – George W. Bush • Twenty-five million veterans are living among us today. These men and women selflessly set aside their civilian lives to put on the uniform and serve us. – Steve Buyer • Twenty-two suicides a day from our veterans. Do you believe that number? Twenty-two a day. – Donald Trump • Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. – Michel de Montaigne • Veteran art creates a meeting place between veterans and civilians, or simply between veterans with different experiences. – Phil Klay • Veterans get priority in the training room and better parking, but there is not a whole lot of difference in terms of how they’re treated in the competition for playing time. To me it doesn’t matter if a guy is a 10-year veteran or a rookie. If the rookie is better, he finds his way onto the field. – Brendan Daly • Veterans’ issues are quite close to my heart. I find it quite hard to talk about, actually. – John Oliver • Veterans report that service dogs help break their isolation. People will often avert their eyes when they see a wounded veteran. But when the veteran has a dog, the same people will come up and say, ‘Hi’ to pet the dog and then strike up a conversation. – Al Franken • We are dealing with veterans, not procedures; with their problems, not ours. – Omar N. Bradley • We can’t equate spending on veterans with spending on defense. Our strength is not just in the size of our defense budget, but in the size of our hearts, in the size of our gratitude for their sacrifice. And that’s not just measured in words or gestures. – Jennifer Granholm • We do not need to have a president who insults Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women and veterans and African-Americans, we need a president who brings us together, not divides us up. – Bernie Sanders • We don’t attack any veteran, at all, ever, for their service record. We thank them. And the fact that somebody wanted to do that for political gain, shows the desperation of which some people unfortunately in the Republican Party want to keep and seize power. – Matt Shea • We have a very large military community – veterans and others – who basically do believe in the militarism. – Julianne Malveaux • We have the greatest people on Earth in our military. We don’t take care of our veterans. – Donald Trump • We have to change that whole system [of veterans support]. It starts with management. We have to have a whole different set of protocols. And we have to get people off the lines. – Donald Trump • We have to have an aggressive, long-term plan to tackle our nation’s debt, but attempting to balance the budget on the backs of veterans who have risked life and limb in service of our country is unacceptable. I believe we can and should work together to find reasonable and common-sense cuts that will reduce our debt, but as a generation of warriors returns from two wars, our most solemn responsibility is to make sure they have the care and benefits they have earned. – Tim Walz • We know about General John Kelly’s military experience and his record there and being a decorated veteran of combat over in Iraq in particular. In fact, that’s where I first met him was when Ramadi was shot to shambles during the surge era. We took a ride around there, even a minaret was shot in half and he pointed to that and said we were taking fire from that minaret. My son took that down with a 20 milimeter cannon. That’s my first impression of John Kelly. – Steve King • We must do everything we can to help our service members and veterans transition into civilian life once they return home, and that means preparing them for the tough job market. – Kirsten Gillibrand • We need our veterans to set an example, like being the first ones there. A veteran is entitled to a bigger paycheck, but not a special set of rules. – Jim Leyland • We need to fix the military, help veterans, our inner cities are a disaster, you get shot walking to the store. We cannot take 4 more years of Barack Obama, and that’s what you get if you get Hillary Clinton. – Donald Trump • We respect everybody’s individual opinion, and we have so much respect for veterans. We’re probably one of the biggest movie employer of veterans. – Ian Bryce • We salute our veterans of Pearl Harbor and World War II, whose sacrifices saved democracy during a dark hour. In their memory, a new generation of our Armed Forces goes forward against new enemies in a new era. Once again, we pledge to defend freedom, secure our homeland, and advance peace around the world. Americans have been tested before, and our Nation will triumph again. – George W. Bush • We sit at our consoles and play “Gears of War”, but we don’t see images from war. We don’t turn on the news and see the evidence of war, the result of war. Maybe twice a year, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, we’ll go out, we’ll hang our flags, we’ll try to inculcate in our children some sense of national honor for the fallen. But really, we don’t see it. We just don’t see the pictures. There’s no drive-by on the freeway of death up close. So we don’t really see bravery. – Jamie Lee Curtis • We, too, born to freedom, and believing in freedom, are willing to fight to maintain freedom. We, and all others who believe as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees. – Franklin D. Roosevelt • We’ve got to continue to find ways to honor our 25 million veterans that have served our country with such honor and distinction. – Zach Wamp What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • What happened after World War I was disgraceful. Most veterans, like my great-uncle, were squashed back into place. Congress couldn’t pass an anti-lynching bill. The World War II generation, though, wasn’t going to take it. – Darryl Pinckney • What I do see is the right from the beginning that [Donald] Trump had an interest and was very persuasive in terms of talking about the veterans and needing to make changes there. – Kimberly Guilfoyle • What I think people should realize is that programs like Social Security, programs like Medicare, programs like the Veterans Administration, programs like your local park and your local library – those are, if you like, socialist programs; they’re run by [and] for the public, not to make money. I think in many ways we should expand that concept so that the American people can enjoy the same benefits that people all over the world are currently enjoying. – Bernie Sanders • When a guy running for president will not support the troops, not support veterans, not support teachers, that’s really important. – Tim Kaine • When I first went to jail in 1960 with seven classmates trying to use their public library against the backdrop of my father being a veteran of World War II, not being able to use – having to sit behind Nazi on American military bases, I lost my fear of jails and death. – Jesse Jackson • When I raise money for the veterans, and it’s a massive amount of money, find out how much Hillary Clinton’s given to the veterans. Nothing. – Donald Trump • When I was building the Vietnam Memorial, I never once asked the veterans what it was like in the war, because from my point of view, you don’t pry into other people’s business. – Maya Lin • When it comes to standing up for veterans, we cannot be the Republicans and Democrats, we have to be the red, white, and blue party. – Barbara Mikulski • When Sarah Palin goes out and says this [about her son] is because of this [ post-traumatic stress disorder], it`s actually not because of this. And now it sort of gives the idea that all veterans are going to pick up a weapon and shoot somebody, or all veterans are going to hit somebody. – Jon Soltz • When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn’t over for the veterans, or the family. It’s just starting. – Karl Marlantes • When the Veterans Affairs Department implemented a program to provide home-based health care to veterans with multiple chronic conditions – many of the systems most expensive patients to treat – they received astounding results. – Ron Wyden • When you have 8,000 veterans a year committing suicide, then you have a serious problem. – Johnny Isakson • When you run for president of the United States, everybody does the same thing in the campaign-they talk about veterans, how much they admire them, how grateful they are. – Mark Shields • Whether you’re a veteran like me or a high school athlete, the most important thing you can do is keep your body healthy. – Jason Terry • While millions of American families, including mine and yours, were working hard paying our fair share, it seems Donald Trump was contributing nothing to our nation. Imagine that. Not fair. Nothing for Pell grants to help kids go to college. Nothing for veterans. Nothing for our military. – Hillary Clinton • While only one day of the year is dedicated solely to honoring our veterans, Americans must never forget the sacrifices that many of our fellow countrymen have made to defend our country and protect our freedoms. – Randy Neugebauer • While we have made great progress in increasing funding for veterans’ benefits, we still have a long way to go in fully meeting the promise to our veterans. – Sue Kelly • You can take the best team and the worst team and line them up and you would find very little physical difference. You would find an emotional difference. The wining team has a dedication. It will have a core group of veteran players who set the standards. They will not accept defeat. – Merlin Olsen • You have to be a soldier and a veteran, or a soldier who sacrificed your life for your country. – Rashid Khalidi • You’ve been told that you’re broken, that you’re damaged goods and should be labeled victims. I don’t buy it. The truth, instead, is that you are the only folks with the skills, determination, and values to ensure American dominance in this chaotic world. – James Mattis

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Veteran Quotes

Official Website: Veteran Quotes

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jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Veteran', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_veteran').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_veteran img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Because all of us believe and understand in the fabric of the common bond of why we call ourselves American is to care for the men and women who wear the uniform; and when they take off the uniform, we care for them when they are veterans. – Steve Buyer • Because Vietnam was not a declared war, the veterans are not even eligible for the G. I. Bill of Rights with respect to education or anything. – Ronald Reagan • Better than honor and glory, and History’s iron pen, Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men. – Richard Watson Gilder • Brave rifles! Veterans! You have been baptized in fire and blood and have come out steel! – Winfield Scott • But despite their heroic acts, the Vietnam Veterans of America continued to struggle to establish a combat badge in honor of these brave pilots and medics. – Tim Holden • But this Veterans Day, I believe we should do more than sing the praises of the bravery and patriotism that our veterans have embodied in the past. We should take this opportunity to re-evaluate how we are treating our veterans in the present. – Nick Lampson • By cutting critical domestic programs such as education, health, environmental protection, and veterans’ services, this budget reveals misplaced priorities. – Dan Lipinski • By interviewing at least one veteran, you can preserve memories that otherwise might be lost. My uncle was a downed fighter pilot and P.O.W. in World War II, and I am looking forward to recording his story for inclusion in the project. – Spencer Bachus • Caring for our veterans is the duty of a grateful nation. Unfortunately, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have not lived up to this duty.- Patty Murray • Chancellor [Angela] Merkel is perhaps the only leader left among our closest allies that was there when I arrived. So in some ways we are now the veterans of many challenges over the last eight years. – Barack Obama • Charles Barkley taught me a lot when I played against him. How he would use his body or use his dribble to get people in there and all that stuff. Veteran moves. – Tim Duncan • City’s effort to end homelessness among veterans is different than how things used to be in L.A. – John Carlos Frey • Congress should stop treating veterans like they’re asking for a hand out when it comes to the benefits they were promised, and they should realize that, were it not for these veterans, there would be nothing to hand out. – Nick Lampson • Disabled veterans are not a bargaining chip. – Jim Bridenstine • Does Trumpcare protect seniors and families? Does Trumpcare – is Trumpcare good for our veterans? Is there any caring in Trumpcare at all? – Nancy Pelosi • During their college years the oarsmen put in terrbily long hours, often showing up at the boathouse at 6:00am for preclass practices. Both physically and psychologically, they were separated from their classmates. Events that seemed earth-shattering to them– for example, who was demoted from the varsity to the junior varsity — went almost unnoticed by the rest of the students. In many ways they were like combat veterans coming back from a small, bitter and distant war, able to talk only to other veterans. – David Halberstam • Every #‎ Veteran is a hero. – Joe Walsh • First, separate ground, sea and air warfare is gone forever. This lesson we learned in World War II. I lived that lesson in Europe. Others lived it in the Pacific. Millions of American veterans learned it well. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • For a mile up and down the open fields before us the splendid lines of the veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia swept down upon us. Their bearing was magnificent. They came forward with a rush, and how our men did yell, ‘Come on, Johnny, come on!’ – Rufus Dawes • For every veteran who goes through a divorce, a wife goes through one, too. For every veteran alone in the basement, there is a wife upstairs, bewildered, isolated and in despair from the dark clouds of war that hangs over family life. – Karl Marlantes • Freedom is never free. – Maya Angelou • Giving a veteran a flag is not a substitute for giving our vets the quality health care they were promised – Dick Durbin • He [Osama bin Laden] is clearly an odd combination of a 12th-century theologian and a 21st-century CEO. He runs an absolutely unique organization in the Islamic world. It’s multiethnic, multilinguistic, multinational. He is a combat veteran, three times wounded. He has a huge reputation in the Islamic world for generosity and leadership. He’s a man who speaks eloquent, almost poetic Arabic, according to Bernard Lewis. – Michael Scheuer • He discusses his service in Iraq, the wounds he suffered there and he says to me in this ad, until you have the guts to call me a phony soldier to my face, stop telling lies about my service. You know, this is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said, and then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media and a TV ad, to walk into as many people as he can walk into. – Rush Limbaugh • He hasn’t lost his vision. That’s one thing. He’s good. The guy is smooth and knows how to set up blocks. He’s a veteran, too. It’s fun to watch him run. Hopefully everything works out all right physically, but certainly he looks good so far. – Jake Delhomme • He was a combat veteran from Korea, and he was a great father. – Mike Pence • Heroism is latent in every human soul – However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials – privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life-long hurts and losses, death itself – for some great good, dimly seen but dearly held. – Joshua Chamberlain • Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause. – Abraham Lincoln • I also believe our country made a promise to veterans and their families. Veterans have kept their end of the bargain, and now, the VA is looking to pull out the rug. – Ellen Tauscher • I am convinced that America’s great sea of goodwill can be, in fact, a rising tide, a tide that could lift every veteran and every family of our wounded and fallen. – Michael Mullen • I am not a veteran environmentalist. I don’t live in a house made of recycled tires, I’ve never handcuffed myself to a tree, and I don’t grow my own organic rutabaga. – Christy Mathewson • I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. – Martin Luther King, Jr. • I can’t imagine anybody disagrees with President Trump when he says, if we don’t take care of our veterans, who are we really as a nation? -Kellyanne Conway • I come from a district where the veterans are not the richest in the country. – Corrine Brown • I feel a sense of obligation to our troops and their families because of the decisions that I made. So I’m involved with veterans. – George W. Bush • I had lots of friends who were fighting in Vietnam and I am still friends with veterans of the war. – Gordon Lightfoot • I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That’s what I did. – Bernie Sanders • I have gone to all over the country and I’ve met so many veterans and I have tremendous veteran support. – Donald Trump • I have to say I have the most experience. I’m a veteran when it comes to that, [my brothers] they’re still learning. They have lots of potential. They’re like first-round picks right now in the game, they still have to develop. – P. K. Subban • I know the veterans. I know them well. And I know that they know that I’ll take care of them. And I’ve been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans. – John McCain • I love the veterans. And I’ll take care of them. And they know that I’ll take care of them. And that’s going to be my job. But, also, I have the ability, and the knowledge, and the background to make the right judgments, to keep America safe and secure. – John McCain • I love when I am around a veteran in [show] business. Because I can dig and ask questions, and find out the “who” and “what” of it all. – Jill Scott • I never thought of serving as a conflict of interest, that would have been a luxury! I just needed something to survive. Initial needs have to be met first, and then later things like patriotism come in. – Donna M. Loring • I offer a better way for America with ideas that actually work, a reformed tax code that rewards free enterprise instead of just enterprising lobbyists. A reformed health care system that operates by free choice instead of by force and doesn’t leave you answering to cold, clueless bureaucrats. A commitment to a renewed commitment to building a 21st Century military and giving our veterans the care that they were promised and the care that they earned. – Paul Ryan • I oppose U.S. military intervention in Iraq. I believe that we should not send troops or engage in air strikes-our nation’s military involvement needs to be over. The United States has already spent billions of dollars in Iraq while our nation has endured a crumbling infrastructure, cuts to our social programs, a lack of investment in job training and creation, and sadly, a failure to take care of our veterans. Let’s focus our resources at home. Over 4000 men and women have sacrificed their lives for Iraq. That is enough. – Janice Hahn • I personally found Donald Trump’s praise for Vladimir Putin troubling or even chilling, frankly. In a room full of military veterans, to be effusing about his great leadership and how strong he is and how popular he is, while disrespecting the American president and American generals, I don’t know. That was, I think, not just troubling to me, but to a lot of listeners and I think, frankly, to a lot of Republican listeners as well. – Philip Gordon • I play an 89-year-old man whose wife has Alzheimer’s in a movie called ‘Still.’ I play a World War II veteran, I acted with my son and it’s called ‘Memorial Day.’ – James Cromwell • I put the Vietnam War behind me a long time ago, and what I wanted to (do) among other things was help veterans also be able to come all the way home as some of our veterans have not been able to do. But I harbor no anger nor rancor. I’m a better man for my experience, and I’m grateful for having the opportunity of serving. – John McCain • I said you [Mike Pence] can’t give me this [Purple Heart]. He said, “Mr. Trump you mean so much to me and my family.” You know we’re doing very well with the veterans. I know you guys do not like to say that. – Donald Trump • I see what those people [veterans] are going through. To see a doctor, sometimes it takes six and seven days and then you finally get there and the doctor is gone on vacation. – Donald Trump • I started a theater called Steppenwolf. We’ve been very supportive of the veterans there. – Gary Sinise • I think America as a whole has come more to terms with separating war from the warrior. – Jeffrey Dunn • I think our veterans certainly deserve and have earned the best health care in the world. – Phil Roe • I think that the needs of the VA and the needs of the veteran community are very, very significant. Цe’re talking about a VA system in which, in the last years a million-and-a-half more people have come into the system. You’re dealing with 500,000 people have come home from Iraq an Afghanistan with PTSD and TBI. You’re dealing with an older veterans population from World War II and Korea who need some difficult medical help. We want to see it be more efficient. We want to see doctors go to where they’re needed.- Bernie Sanders • I think the choice option is critical to give the veteran an opportunity, if they choose to do so, to opt out. We have done that in this particular piece of legislation for those that have been waiting in line, and particularly for those that live 40 miles or more from a VA facility. – Jeff Miller • I think the President’s decision to withdraw the United States, to keep a campaign promise in Iraq, without leaving a stay-behind force was a mistake, and I hear that from veterans in Wyoming and from parents who lost children fighting in Iraq. We’re seeing it, though, around the world. When we, the United States leads a vacuum anywhere, that emboldens others to go in, when there is no sense of deterrence by the United States that lets bad actors move and fill the void. – John Barrasso • I think there’s where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let’s fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. – Hillary Clinton • I think we’re being laughed at all over the world. I think that if you look at our military, we can’t beat ISIS, General George Patton, General Douglas MacArthur are spinning in their grave. We can’t beat ISIS, okay? I think that our veterans are not taken care of, they’re treated worse than illegal immigrants, by the way. – Donald Trump • I want people to get involved and to connect with veterans. – Max Martini • I want to be sure…that nothing is done on these veterans. Is that understood?…Is the word out? That they are not to touch em, they are not to do a thing?…Get a hold of the district police; they’re not to touch them, they’re to do nothing: Just let em raise Hell. – Richard M. Nixon • I was a veteran, before I was a teenager. – Michael Jackson • I was born in Munich, and my father was stationed in Salzburg. For the first three years of my life, I lived in Austria back when the American Army was still in Austria. I grew up subsequently in posts around the country around veterans. – Rick Atkinson • I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee, which I’m very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. – Bernie Sanders • I was there. I saw your sons and your husbands, your brothers and your sweethearts. I saw how they worked, played, fought, and lived. I saw some of them die. I saw more courage, more good humor in the face of discomfort, more love in an era of hate and more devotion to duty than could exist under tyranny. – Bob Hope • I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of the things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I’m…very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families. – Jane Fonda • I would not call myself a veteran conspiracy theorist. Or an obsessed one. I pretty much peaked on the whole conspiracy theory thing in the ’60s, with the grassy knoll, who really killed JFK, and who ordered the hit on Lee Harvey Oswald. – Patti Davis • I’d like to give every young teacher some good news. Teaching is a very easy job. Administrators will tell you what to do. You’ll be given books and told chapters to assign the children. Veteran teachers will show you the correct way to fill out forms and have your classes line up.And here’s some more good news. If you do all of these things badly, they let you keep doing it. You can go home at three o’clock every day. You get about three months off a year. Teaching is a great gig.However, if you care about what you’re doing, it’s one of the toughest jobs around. – Rafe Esquith • If you listen closely to the voices of our veterans, you understand that yes, they all returned from war changed, but what never changed is this: They never forgot your generosity. They never forgot the power of opportunity. They never forgot the American dream. – Michael Mullen • I’m a veteran, and I’ve earned the right to be heard. I’ll lead by example and show that gay players are no different from straight ones. I’m not the loudest person in the room, but I’ll speak up when something isn’t right. And try to make everyone laugh. – Jason Collins • I’m ashamed that Congress finds billions for pork-barrel subsidies but fails to find money for veterans’ health care. – John McCain • I’m just one example of thousands of transgender veterans and people who are actively serving today. – Allyson Robinson • I’m sick of the cover-ups, I’m sick of the lies, and so are the bloody veterans, that come out daily of the department’s mouth. – Malcolm Turnbull • In a fire you have to be thoughtful, you have to have a certain kind of intuitive smarts that the veterans have. I’m not there yet, despite the Stanford degree.- Caroline Paul • In addition to demanding answers and accountability from the Veterans Administration, Congress had to act to ensure veterans do not suffer because of the actions of a federal agency. – Doc Hastings • In climbing, a fundamental thing is to want to do something you’ve never done before. That’s the beauty of climbing, whether you’re a girl or boy, seasoned veteran or beginner. You’re not sure you’ll be able to do this, but you try, and discovering you are capable is an amazing experience and an amazing feeling. – Chris Sharma • In mid-May, the House of Representatives approved the full amount of money that the Veterans Administration said was needed for next year – plus an additional $1 billion increase for veterans’ health care. – Doc Hastings • In researching this volume, I interviewed veterans who had been at the front during World War II. I read countless books, examined film footage, and listened to many detailed and intense stories firsthand, but the one comment that affected me the most came from a former soldier who lowered his gaze to the tabletop and said, ‘I never watch war movies. �� Hiromu Arakawa • In spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful and I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me last night. – Jane Fonda • It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. – Dick Cheney • It is impossible not to recognise the Long March as one of the great triumphs of men against odds and men against nature. While the Red Army was unquestionably in forced retreat, its toughened veterans reached their planned objective with moral and political will as strong as ever… Their conviction had helped turn what might have been a terrible defeat into an arrival in triumph. – Edgar Snow • It is time to acknowledge the extraordinary sacrifice of all of our veterans. While many Massachusetts soldiers served our nation in a period technically dubbed ‘peacetime,’ they restored American pride in the wake of Vietnam and helped bring a successful end to the Cold War. The service of these men and women was not without cost. There are countless stories of soldiers who served with great distinction only to be denied veteran status after returning home. Every man and woman who volunteered to serve this country should be treated with the same degree of respect, gratitude and dignity. – Mitt Romney • It’s the only call…To have Christian Ponder as your third quarterback, a guy who started for you a year, to me it made it an easy call because you have a veteran guy who has played in this atmosphere before. – Bill Cowher • It’s horrible to think that a small cadre of people would manipulate that information. I mean, for God’s sake, we’ve admitted that we were experimenting on our veterans with mustard gas. So there is no security question. It can’t possibly be the reason. – Dwight Schultz • It’s important for me to highlight my views for veterans who’ve fought for America and at the same time don’t have anything to show for it. It’s kind of dear to me. – 2 Chainz • It’s quite a traumatic thing for a lot of our veterans that come back… You’re in a war zone, you’re dodging IED’s and bullets one day and a couple days later you’re back in society again with a bunch of people that have no idea of what you’ve been through. – Charlie Daniels • I’ve been described as a grizzled political veteran. – Joe Klein • I’ve shared meditation with a lot of hip-hop artists, inmates, and returning war veterans with PTSD, as well. I feel like this dharma, this service is part of my job. – Russell Simmons • Karl Malone used a lot of veteran stuff that I thought was cool. – Tim Duncan • Like the archers of Agincourt, John O’Neal and the 254 Swiftboat Veterans took down their own haughty Frenchman. – Ann Coulter • Lilian Ross was a – veteran writer for The New Yorker. She, in fact, brought me to The New Yorker many years ago. – Nat Hentoff • Love me or hate me, it’s one or the other. Always has been. Hate my game, my swagger. Hate my fadeaway, my hunger. Hate that I’m a veteran. A champion. Hate that. Hate it with all your heart. And hate that I’m loved, for the exact same reasons. – Kobe Bryant • Madison Square Garden, November 1984. I don’t recall taking too much fear into the ring. I knew I could fight. But I got a big shock. They put me in with this rough, tough veteran called Lionel Byarm. He tested me to the limit. But I fought my heart out and, in the end, I prevailed. The story of my life, in my very first fight. – Evander Holyfield • Makin’ veterans run for medicine, Cause I put out more lights in a fight than ConEdison.- Kool G Rap • Marriage – as its veterans know well – is the continuous process of getting used to things you hadn’t expected. – Thomas Mullen • Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that’s a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It’s a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it. – Pete Hegseth • More and more teams are using almost exclusively the draft to build their teams. And that means you have younger players to develop in those key depth positions. Younger players are more susceptible to streaks than veterans. They go up, they go down. – Ozzie Newsome • More importantly, if you are in a position to hire, hire a veteran. They will be the best employees you have. – Eric Shinseki • More often than not, you find players seeing something that they can help another player with or reinforce something the coaches are seeing. Veterans do that regularly with younger players. – Brendan Daly • Mortgage is one of the most popular deductions. It costs the Treasury about $103 billion a year. Now that’s money we could use to treat wounded veterans or reduce the deficit or fill the border. Instead, we give it a subsidy to homeowners, and it goes mainly to the richest homeowners in America, because only one third of Americans itemize their deductions. It doesn’t work. Many countries have gotten rid of the mortgage interest deduction. Almost all of them have higher homeownership rates than we do. – T.R. Reid • Muddy language is not confined to policies alone. Each of you has seen replies to simple questions in which the meaning was lost through hopelessly obscure wording. When a person writes to the Veterans Administration, he is entitled to an easily understood, frank, and courteous reply. If our replies cannot be understood, they are not only not worth writing, but they simply create additional work. – Omar N. Bradley • My daddy was a veteran, and it’s something dear to my heart. I helped him, he stayed with me until he passed away, and I’m not sure what kind of life he would have had if I wasn’t there for him. – 2 Chainz • My wartime experiences developing a code that utilized the Navajo language taught how important our Navajo culture is to our country. For me that is the central lesson: that diverse cultures can make a country richer and stronger. – Chester Nez • NBA has a selfish rationale. It saves the owners money by delaying the time a player gets to a second, more lucrative contract. Even the player’s union is on board. There are only 450 jobs in the NBA, and the one-and-done protects veterans’ jobs. – Sonny Vaccaro • No administration in recent times has been able to tackle the needs of our veterans. On that, I do want to see Donald Trump successful. But in terms of his travel ban and immigration policy, I don’t want to see him successful. – Nina Turner • No capitalists after any war were ever so well paid for money loaned to the nation that carried it on. No class of money-makers ever gained such prosperity by any other war, as our War for the Union brought to the money-getters of America. All this was due in great measure to the rank and file of the Union army. Now let no rich man haggle with a needy veteran of that war about his right to a pension! – Rutherford B. Hayes • Now therefore, be it Resolved by the Fiftieth Annual Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, That we hereby declare that we are unalterably opposed to any program which would entail the surrender of any part of the sovereignty of the United States of America in favor of a world government. – Unknown • Oklahomans value our children and our seniors. Oklahomans value traditions of faith. Oklahomans value our heroes, our veterans. Oklahomans value innovation and the creative arts. – Brad Henry On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind. – Dan Lipinski • Once over there [Balkans], I felt extremely patriotic. Here are these people, from 18-year-olds to military veterans, enduring real duress for the cause of peace. I don’t ever want to play for a regular audience again, only military folks who are starving for music. – Sheryl Crow • One of my favorite episodes in West Wing was the homeless man that died and they found, in the overcoat he was wearing, a card of the speechwriter, Toby. He had given that coat to the Goodwill and this guy had ended up wearing it, died in it and Toby went to his funeral. He turned out to be a Korean war veteran. It was our first Christmas episode and that was a true story – a member of the staff had done exactly that. So many of these stories were far better than any fiction. – Martin Sheen • One out of four people internationally believe if their country goes to war, The United States would be the opponent. As a veteran, I hang my head in shame over that. – Jesse Ventura • One third of the $15 trillion of mortgages in existence in 2008 are owned, or securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, the Federal Housing and the Veterans Administration. Wall Street buyers of repackaged loans didn’t mind buying risky paper because they assumed that they would be guaranteed by the federal government: read bailout from the taxpayers. Today’s housing mess can be laid directly at the feet of Congress and the White House. – Walter E. Williams • Our veterans are not being treated well. Our veterans, in many cases, are being treated worse than illegal immigrants, people that come into our country illegally. Our veterans are not being treated well. And, by the way, Hillary Clinton has been doing this for 35 years. Now she says she can do it? She doesn’t have a clue. – Donald Trump • Our veterans connect generations and Canadians. As a country and as individuals, we gain in pride and in purpose from their deeds and their service. – Paul Martin • Our veterans deserve the very best, and that means ensuring that America’s veterans receive high-quality services and cares when they come back home. – Elizabeth Warren • Our veterans know the meaning of service better than anyone else and they aren’t about to quit working when they come home. The best reward we can provide our vets for their service isn’t a medal or a check; it’s a livelihood and a means of supporting themselves and their families. – Mitt Romney • Outside of being a hit maker, I want to also be a star maker. Me being so young still as a veteran in the game, I wanted to give back to the youth and give back to my community. I want to find somebody that’s special and birth them to the world. – Sean Garrett People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.- Richard Grenier • Phil Gramm had a stump speech about how his mother’s devotion kept him from being an academic failure in life. She got him into a special school that turned him around – under a government program for the children of deceased veterans. He was repeatedly asked at press conferences why he would then turn around and support draconian cuts in federal funding for education. He never had an answer. – Gail Collins • Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. – Bernie Sanders • Romney still enjoys the Republicans’ traditional advantage among voters who are veterans, but the Obama campaign is confident it can chip away at that. – Mara Liasson • Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only as far as the guardsman’s cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club. – Thomas Huxley • Secretary [Hillary ] Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. – Bernie Sanders • Since the Revolution, eight generations of America’s veterans have established an unbroken commitment to freedom. – Steve Buyer • SNAP is a critical anti-hunger program that feeds millions of low income Americans, including children, veterans, and seniors who would not otherwise have the resources to buy groceries. – Dan Maffei • So when someone, a veteran stands up and say, “Here are the facts on the VA.” He [Donald Trump] says, “No, your facts are wrong.” Turns out her facts are right and his facts are wrong. – John McCain • Susan Campbell has brought Isabella’s fascinating forgotten story back to life with the deep research of a born historian and the vibrant readable prose style of a veteran journalist. – Debby Applegate • Thank you for the sacrifices you and your families are making. Our Vietnam Veterans have taught us that no matter what are positions may be on policy, as Americans and patriots, we must support all of our soldiers with our thoughts and our prayers. – Zach Wamp • That was not the biggest battle that ever was, but for me it always typified one thing; the dash, the ingenuity, the readiness at the first opportunity that characterizes the American soldier. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • That’s what makes America great; the fabric and the core of our beliefs and our being is we wrap ourselves around diversity. We say that the American flag represents our right to be free in every aspect of what that is, and every veteran who fought, fought for that freedom. So what we have to do is realize it’s not a choice between the country and racial justice; it’s about what we believe in at the core of our being, and that’s that we are free. – Jennifer Welter The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it. – Thucydides • The Bush administration has been doing everything it can to hide the huge number of returning veterans who are severely wounded – 17,000 so far including roughly 20 percent with serious brain and head injuries. Even the estimate of $500 billion ignores the lifetime disability and healthcare costs that taxpayers will have to spend for years to come. – Joseph Stiglitz • The Chinese soldier was tough, brave, and experienced. After all he had been fighting on his own without help for years. He was a veteran among the Allies. – William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim • The general’s staff is a handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs. There’s a former head of British Special Forces, two Navy Seals, an Afghan Special Forces commando, a lawyer, two fighter pilots and at least two dozen combat veterans and counterinsurgency experts. They jokingly refer to themselves as Team America, taking the name from the South Park-esque sendup of military cluelessness, and they pride themselves on their can-do attitude and their disdain for authority. – Michael Hastings • The issue of torture, connected to American soldiers, is not somewhere most people want to linger. We may not want to confront this issue so much in the U.S. because of how we want to think about our veterans. There’s the sense that we want to think of our veterans as – if they’re damaged, damaged by something glamorous, like a firefight. – Russell Banks • The last point that I’d make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? – Bernie Sanders • The last two years, nationals have been close to home for me, so I’ve had big family support from friends and club support. Especially last year in Ottawa, I had a whole section my grandpa got for all my family, and the skating club (supported me). I feel like I’m a veteran at this now. – Alaine Chartrand • The men and women of today’s VA are dedicated to caring for today’s veterans and stand ready to provide for our servicemembers who now defend our freedoms and our way of life. – Steve Buyer • The moon gives you light, and the bugles and the drums give you music, and my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans, my heart gives you love. – Walt Whitman • The most basic obligation we have to our veterans is that we keep the promises that were made to them. That is what makes the recent failures of the Veterans Administration so shameful. – Doc Hastings • The need for this clinic is clear to me, to the veterans who are currently forced to travel hours to receive care, and even to the Veterans Administration that itself identified creation of a clinic in this part of our state as a priority to be completed by 2006. – Doc Hastings • The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who’d really fought. – Kurt Vonnegut • The object of my relationship with Vietnam has been to heal the wounds that exist, particularly among our veterans, and to move forward with a positive relationship,… Apparently some in the Vietnamese government don’t want to do that and that’s their decision. – Ho Chi Minh Show source • The Republican tax cut threatens to undercut both veterans health care and the veterans educational benefits that have been recognized for decades as not only the long-standing obligation of the Nation to its veterans, but also as the best recruiting incentives we can offer to keep our armed forces strong and sharp. – Lane Evans • The rocks have a history; gray and weatherworn, they are veterans of many battles; they have most of them marched in the ranks of vast stone brigades during the ice age; they have been torn from the hills, recruited from the mountaintops, and marshaled on the plains and in the valleys; and now the elemental war is over, there they lie waging a gentle but incessant warfare with time and slowly, oh, so slowly, yielding to its attacks! – John Burroughs • The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth disputed whether John Kerry deserved some of his five medals. A large part of Kerry’s defense was an appeal to the authority of veterans who supported him-one of whom has now been revealed to have received a medal he doesn’t deserve. This doesn’t prove the Kerry detractors were right, but it certainly doesn’t weaken their case. – James Taranto • The United States government was proud that, although perhaps 100,000 Iraqis had died in the Gulf War of 1991, there were only 48 American battle casualties. What it has concealed from the public is that 206,000 veterans of that war filed claims with the VA for injuries and illnesses. In the years since that war, 8,300 veterans have died, and 160,000 claims for disability have been recognized by the VA. – Howard Zinn • The Veteran’s Administration is a disaster, the V.A., it’s a disaster. – Donald Trump • The Veteran’s History Project, a nationwide volunteer effort to collect oral histories from America’s war veterans, provides an avenue to do just that. Now in its fifth year, the Project has collected more than 40,000 individual stories. – Spencer Bachus • The way to balance the budget is for Congress to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, cut defense, Medicare and veterans pensions, while the states cut almost everything else. It would be tough but we could do it. – Howard Dean The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude. – Jeff Miller • The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation. – George Washington • The winning team has a dedication. It will have a core of veteran players who set the standards. They will not accept defeat. – Merlin Olsen • There is a massive problem with veteran suicides. – Eric Bolling • There is a sort of veteran women of condition, who, having lived always in the grand mode, and having possibly had some gallantries, together with the experience of five and twenty or thirty years, form a young fellow better than all the rules that can be given him. – Lord Chesterfield • There will be no veterans of World War III. – Walter F. Mondale • There would be a paragraph about some veteran digging tunnels for the Germans in a slave labor camp, or something like that. Finally I decided to look it up and go further into it. – Charles Guggenheim • These men were wrongfully rejected, the veterans. The fighting man should never have been blamed for Vietnam. – Neil Sheehan • This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. – Elmer Davis • This year’s Veterans Day celebration is especially significant as our country remains committed to fighting the War on Terror and as brave men and women are heroically defending our homeland. – John Doolittle • To the Cold War veterans here, know that your steadfast efforts preserved a delicate balance, and, because of you, the global war that many feared never came to pass. We are thankful for you, as we are for all the veterans here with us. – Michael Mullen • To those seniors, and especially elderly veterans like myself, I want to tell you this: You are not alone, and you having nothing to be ashamed of. If elder abuse happened to me, it can happen to anyone. I want you to know that you deserve better. – Mickey Rooney • Today at Pearl Harbor, veterans are gathering to pay tribute to the young men they remember who never escaped the sunken ships. And over the years, some Pearl Harbor veterans have made a last request. They ask that their ashes be brought down and placed inside the USS Arizona. After the long lives given them, they wanted to rest besides the best men they ever knew. Such loyalty and love remain the greatest strength of the United States Navy. – George W. Bush • Twenty-five million veterans are living among us today. These men and women selflessly set aside their civilian lives to put on the uniform and serve us. – Steve Buyer • Twenty-two suicides a day from our veterans. Do you believe that number? Twenty-two a day. – Donald Trump • Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. – Michel de Montaigne • Veteran art creates a meeting place between veterans and civilians, or simply between veterans with different experiences. – Phil Klay • Veterans get priority in the training room and better parking, but there is not a whole lot of difference in terms of how they’re treated in the competition for playing time. To me it doesn’t matter if a guy is a 10-year veteran or a rookie. If the rookie is better, he finds his way onto the field. – Brendan Daly • Veterans’ issues are quite close to my heart. I find it quite hard to talk about, actually. – John Oliver • Veterans report that service dogs help break their isolation. People will often avert their eyes when they see a wounded veteran. But when the veteran has a dog, the same people will come up and say, ‘Hi’ to pet the dog and then strike up a conversation. – Al Franken • We are dealing with veterans, not procedures; with their problems, not ours. – Omar N. Bradley • We can’t equate spending on veterans with spending on defense. Our strength is not just in the size of our defense budget, but in the size of our hearts, in the size of our gratitude for their sacrifice. And that’s not just measured in words or gestures. – Jennifer Granholm • We do not need to have a president who insults Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women and veterans and African-Americans, we need a president who brings us together, not divides us up. – Bernie Sanders • We don’t attack any veteran, at all, ever, for their service record. We thank them. And the fact that somebody wanted to do that for political gain, shows the desperation of which some people unfortunately in the Republican Party want to keep and seize power. – Matt Shea • We have a very large military community – veterans and others – who basically do believe in the militarism. – Julianne Malveaux • We have the greatest people on Earth in our military. We don’t take care of our veterans. – Donald Trump • We have to change that whole system [of veterans support]. It starts with management. We have to have a whole different set of protocols. And we have to get people off the lines. – Donald Trump • We have to have an aggressive, long-term plan to tackle our nation’s debt, but attempting to balance the budget on the backs of veterans who have risked life and limb in service of our country is unacceptable. I believe we can and should work together to find reasonable and common-sense cuts that will reduce our debt, but as a generation of warriors returns from two wars, our most solemn responsibility is to make sure they have the care and benefits they have earned. – Tim Walz • We know about General John Kelly’s military experience and his record there and being a decorated veteran of combat over in Iraq in particular. In fact, that’s where I first met him was when Ramadi was shot to shambles during the surge era. We took a ride around there, even a minaret was shot in half and he pointed to that and said we were taking fire from that minaret. My son took that down with a 20 milimeter cannon. That’s my first impression of John Kelly. – Steve King • We must do everything we can to help our service members and veterans transition into civilian life once they return home, and that means preparing them for the tough job market. – Kirsten Gillibrand • We need our veterans to set an example, like being the first ones there. A veteran is entitled to a bigger paycheck, but not a special set of rules. – Jim Leyland • We need to fix the military, help veterans, our inner cities are a disaster, you get shot walking to the store. We cannot take 4 more years of Barack Obama, and that’s what you get if you get Hillary Clinton. – Donald Trump • We respect everybody’s individual opinion, and we have so much respect for veterans. We’re probably one of the biggest movie employer of veterans. – Ian Bryce • We salute our veterans of Pearl Harbor and World War II, whose sacrifices saved democracy during a dark hour. In their memory, a new generation of our Armed Forces goes forward against new enemies in a new era. Once again, we pledge to defend freedom, secure our homeland, and advance peace around the world. Americans have been tested before, and our Nation will triumph again. – George W. Bush • We sit at our consoles and play “Gears of War”, but we don’t see images from war. We don’t turn on the news and see the evidence of war, the result of war. Maybe twice a year, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, we’ll go out, we’ll hang our flags, we’ll try to inculcate in our children some sense of national honor for the fallen. But really, we don’t see it. We just don’t see the pictures. There’s no drive-by on the freeway of death up close. So we don’t really see bravery. – Jamie Lee Curtis • We, too, born to freedom, and believing in freedom, are willing to fight to maintain freedom. We, and all others who believe as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees. – Franklin D. Roosevelt • We’ve got to continue to find ways to honor our 25 million veterans that have served our country with such honor and distinction. – Zach Wamp What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • What happened after World War I was disgraceful. Most veterans, like my great-uncle, were squashed back into place. Congress couldn’t pass an anti-lynching bill. The World War II generation, though, wasn’t going to take it. – Darryl Pinckney • What I do see is the right from the beginning that [Donald] Trump had an interest and was very persuasive in terms of talking about the veterans and needing to make changes there. – Kimberly Guilfoyle • What I think people should realize is that programs like Social Security, programs like Medicare, programs like the Veterans Administration, programs like your local park and your local library – those are, if you like, socialist programs; they’re run by [and] for the public, not to make money. I think in many ways we should expand that concept so that the American people can enjoy the same benefits that people all over the world are currently enjoying. – Bernie Sanders • When a guy running for president will not support the troops, not support veterans, not support teachers, that’s really important. – Tim Kaine • When I first went to jail in 1960 with seven classmates trying to use their public library against the backdrop of my father being a veteran of World War II, not being able to use – having to sit behind Nazi on American military bases, I lost my fear of jails and death. – Jesse Jackson • When I raise money for the veterans, and it’s a massive amount of money, find out how much Hillary Clinton’s given to the veterans. Nothing. – Donald Trump • When I was building the Vietnam Memorial, I never once asked the veterans what it was like in the war, because from my point of view, you don’t pry into other people’s business. – Maya Lin • When it comes to standing up for veterans, we cannot be the Republicans and Democrats, we have to be the red, white, and blue party. – Barbara Mikulski • When Sarah Palin goes out and says this [about her son] is because of this [ post-traumatic stress disorder], it`s actually not because of this. And now it sort of gives the idea that all veterans are going to pick up a weapon and shoot somebody, or all veterans are going to hit somebody. – Jon Soltz • When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn’t over for the veterans, or the family. It’s just starting. – Karl Marlantes • When the Veterans Affairs Department implemented a program to provide home-based health care to veterans with multiple chronic conditions – many of the systems most expensive patients to treat – they received astounding results. – Ron Wyden • When you have 8,000 veterans a year committing suicide, then you have a serious problem. – Johnny Isakson • When you run for president of the United States, everybody does the same thing in the campaign-they talk about veterans, how much they admire them, how grateful they are. – Mark Shields • Whether you’re a veteran like me or a high school athlete, the most important thing you can do is keep your body healthy. – Jason Terry • While millions of American families, including mine and yours, were working hard paying our fair share, it seems Donald Trump was contributing nothing to our nation. Imagine that. Not fair. Nothing for Pell grants to help kids go to college. Nothing for veterans. Nothing for our military. – Hillary Clinton • While only one day of the year is dedicated solely to honoring our veterans, Americans must never forget the sacrifices that many of our fellow countrymen have made to defend our country and protect our freedoms. – Randy Neugebauer • While we have made great progress in increasing funding for veterans’ benefits, we still have a long way to go in fully meeting the promise to our veterans. – Sue Kelly • You can take the best team and the worst team and line them up and you would find very little physical difference. You would find an emotional difference. The wining team has a dedication. It will have a core group of veteran players who set the standards. They will not accept defeat. – Merlin Olsen • You have to be a soldier and a veteran, or a soldier who sacrificed your life for your country. – Rashid Khalidi • You’ve been told that you’re broken, that you’re damaged goods and should be labeled victims. I don’t buy it. The truth, instead, is that you are the only folks with the skills, determination, and values to ensure American dominance in this chaotic world. – James Mattis

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