#aunt Alicia mentioned | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

frostbytemyrik · 4 months

Text

Danny Phantom Required* Watching

*It isn't actually required. I know there are a ton of phans who have never even seen a single episode of the show, but it's a fun watch and I would recommend at least catching some.

Sorting the episodes into colors (with the first letter in parenthesis by the title for those who might be too colorblind to tell). Note that this is all just my objective opinion, and everyone is free to leave their own thoughts on this!

Green (G) - Introduction of an important character or major plot development, such as a new power for Danny or another major shift in the status quo. If you can only watch a few of the episodes, watch these.

Pink (P) - Introduction of a side character or minor plot development.

Red (R) - Introduction of a new character worth mentioning or other general status quo change, but the episode is generally considered to be...not great by most people. (But hey, nothing wrong with liking these episodes!) They'll be summarized at the bottom of each episode description for those who can't be bothered to watch them.

Blue (B) - Nothing important happens to the overall plot, but it's a fun episode that fleshes out the characters.

Season 1

Episode 1: Mystery Meat (R) - Establishes the show and its main characters: Danny, Sam, and Tucker, as well as a lot of other important characters such as the Fenton parents and Jazz, and minor recurring characters like Dash and the Lunch Lady. The writers are still getting their footing so the main trio is unfortunately among the flattest they get here.

Episode 2: Parental Bonding (P) - Introduction of Paulina and Dora, first look at Valerie, and most importantly, Danny's power to overshadow people. Fun episode in general, Tucker makes a weird comment at the start but this is one of Sam's absolute best episodes as a character. (Tucker and Sam actually getting to be fun characters instead of just "butt-monkey comic relief" and "selfish asshole" is rarer than I'd like, so I always like pointing out the episodes where they get some love.)

Episode 3: One of a Kind (G) - Introduction of Skulker, a recurring major antagonist, and his motivations.

Episode 4: Attack of the Killer Garage Sale (P) - Introduction of Technus, Ghost Master of Technology and Destroyer of Worlds, Manipulator of Machines, Lord of all Gadgetry, Wizard of Integrated Circuitry, Master of All Things Electronic and Beeping.

Episode 6: What You Want (P) - First appearance of Danny's Ghost Ray and introduction to Desiree and the Ghost Catcher (a Fenton device with an unfortunately rather...culturally insensitive name and design), explores Tucker and his relationship to Danny. I went back and forth between making this green and pink because I'm biased in my love for this episode, but it isn't necessary to comprehend later episodes. (If you can watch it, though, it's a lot of fun as we get to see how close Danny and Tucker are and how Tucker feels about Danny's powers.)

Episode 7: Bitter Reunions (G) - Formal introduction to main series antagonist, Vlad Masters, and his relationship with the Fentons and the ghosts of the Ghost Zone. (Antisemitism tw: Vlad has hired ghost hitmen that are vultures with Yiddish accents, hooked beaks, and fezzes. They thankfully don't show up anywhere else, as far as I can remember.)

Episode 8: Prisoners of Love (P) - Introduction to the Ghost Zone itself and Walker, a side antagonist. Shows Alicia, Danny and Jazz's maternal aunt who never appears again after this episode.

Episode 9: My Brother's Keeper (G) - Gives Jazz a focus and formally makes her a major player in the plot through a certain discovery she makes. Also introduces side antagonist Dr. Penelope Spectra.

Episode 10: Shades of Gray (G) - Valerie Gray, a background character from Episode 2, gets new motivations and becomes an important part of the series going forward.

Episode 11: Fanning the Flames (P) - Ember is introduced, and she hypnotizes the entire town to fall for her with her music. To keep Danny out of her hair, she makes him fall for Sam. Whether this episode is a Pink or a Red depends on whether or not that bothers you. (Racism tw: there's a sequence towards the end of the episode that shows people around the world watching Ember, and they're all very stereotyped appearances of Japanese, Eastern European, Arabian, and Indigenous Australian people. Thanks, Hartman.)

Episode 12: Teacher of the Year (B) - A fun episode with Technus. It does have some of that early 2000s "don't underestimate me because I'm a girl" stuff, but it's still a good episode with a lot of heart.

Episode 13: Fright Night (P) - Introduces Fright Knight. A Halloween special that has its ups and downs (eating underwear?) It's just really funny that an actual ghost, who has been to the maddeningly twisted and alien world of the afterlife, still can't scare anyone to save his life.

Episode 14: 13 (P) - It's a shame this isn't actually the 13th episode. Anyway, it introduces Johnny 13 and Kitty, while Tucker and Sam get to hang out without Danny while trying to solve Tucker's new run of bad luck and the fallout for his reputation.

Episode 15: Public Enemies (G) - Walker's back and he's making a major shift in the status quo: ghosts are confirmed to exist as he stages a major invasion of the town. Things don't go well for Danny, and the repercussions will be felt for well into the series. Also introduces Wulf, a ghost who looks like a werewolf, exclusively speaks Esperanto, and has the ability to tear the fabric of reality to create portals between Earth and the Ghost Zone. He's putting this power to use for Walker, but it's clearly not by choice...

Episode 17: Maternal Instinct (B) - Maddie notices her son is growing distant from her and tries to take him to a science symposium to bond with him, but disaster strikes and leaves them in the woods, with the only shelter available being...a cabin owned and occupied by none other than Vlad. Meanwhile, Jack tries to understand Jazz, who doesn't seem to want anything to do with him or ghost hunting. Lots of great character moments for the Fentons.

Episode 18: Life Lessons (B) - Danny and Valerie, arriving late to class because they both were out ghost hunting, get paired up in home economics class to raise a flour sack baby together. We get more insight into what Valerie's life is like after Shades of Gray, and she learns to get along with both Fenton and, temporarily, Phantom, after an excursion through Skulker's part of the Ghost Zone. As a B-plot, Tucker makes money babysitting other students' flour sacks while ignoring the one he has with Sam, and Sam tries not to get attached to the sack. It's not important to the plot AT ALL but I'd put this as a must-watch if I could. Alas, I made the rules and must follow them.

Episode 19: The Million Dollar Ghost (B) - A million dollars is placed on the head of the ghost boy, Public Ghost Enemy #1: Inviso-Bill, known to us in the audience as Danny Phantom.

Episode 20: Control Freaks (G) - The circus is in town! New villain Freakshow gets introduced, and he becomes important later. Kinda. Depending on how much you like a certain blue episode that comes on down the line. The trio go to this cool new goth circus, but there's a string of ghostly robberies in town and Danny has been acting strangely lately...

Season 2

Episode 1/21: Memory Blank (R) - Danny and Sam have a fight, Sam wishes she'd never met him, Desiree makes the wish come true and now Danny has no powers and neither he nor Tucker remember her at all. Sam gets him fried by the portal again to get his powers back, but this time with a new logo she designed slapped onto his chest. Really all that happens is Danny gets his logo. This can be skipped...if you wish. ;)

Episode 2/22: Doctor's Disorders (B) - There's a bug going around - literally - getting the kids at Casper High sick. Symptoms include sneezing, chills, coughing, congestion, and various ghost powers depending on the student. The only ones immune seem to be Danny (thanks to his ghost powers) and Tucker (wearing his new homemade cologne that smells awful in a different way to everyone). A new hospital opens up to treat them, but something fishy is definitely going on. ...But Tucker is afraid of hospitals. Great Tucker episode.

Episode 3/23: Pirate Radio (P) - Introduction to Youngblood, an occasional antagonist. A new radio program pops up, and every adult in town (and Jazz, who's 16 but sees herself as an adult) is enraptured by it and the one song that it plays on loop. Then one day, every single adult in town leaves behind a note that they're going on a cruise, and it's up to Danny to rally the teens of Amity Park to discover what's so fishy about the cruise and get their parents back.

Episode 4/24-5/25: Reign Storm (G) - The creepy castle in the Ghost Zone Danny accidentally freed Fright Knight from in Fright Night holds yet another secret: the coffin of the Ghost King, known as Pariah Dark, whose goal is to rule over the Ghost Zone and the human world with an iron fist. Vlad frees him hoping to snatch the powerful artifacts on him, but it backfires and now the King is free and follows the fleeing ghosts to Amity Park, which he promptly invades. Danny, Valerie, and various enemies including Vlad need to team up to seal King Pariah back within his sarcophagus and save both Amity Park and the Ghost Zone as a whole. Major status quo shifts happen here.

Episode 6/26: Identity Crisis (B) - Not my favorite episode, but I'm including it here because it was popular with the Phandom a decade ago. Danny gets tired of trying to balance his human and ghost lives, so splits himself in two using the Ghost Catcher that was introduced in Season 1 episode 6: What You Want. That also, unfortunately, divides his personality to two extremes; the human half ("Fun Danny") is lazy while the ghost half ("Super Danny") is an absolute ham of a superhero stereotype, and Tucker and Sam struggle to put their friend back together so he can stop Technus in a way only he can (and also because both halves are honestly really annoying them).

Episode 8/28-9/29: The Ultimate Enemy (G) - This is THE episode of all time. Maybe not the best episode, but it's great in its own right and, more importantly for this list, introduces another major status quo shift. It's also basically required viewing for the comic that came out last year (at time of writing), as that comic is a direct follow-up to this episode. Clockwork, a ghost that is essentially a deity of time, has a mission to eliminate the greatest threat to Earth and the Ghost Zone that has ever been before he comes into that role: a ghost named Danny Phantom. Danny comes face-to-face with a version of himself that caused a doomed future, and needs to fight to ensure that future never comes to pass.

Episode 10/30: The Fright Before Christmas (B) - The boy Danny Fenton, a Grinch to his core, finds the holiday season to be quite a chore. Into the Ghost Zone to blow off some steam, he accidentally causes a scene: the Ghost Writer's finished manuscript in ashes, and with Danny's indifference he clashes. He traps him in a book that warps space and time, and forces all events in his life to rhyme. You're in for a treat if you like all these rhymes, but if they annoy you, then don't waste your time. (This factoid may not matter to you, but this is where we learn of the Christmas Truce!)

Episode 11/31: Secret Weapons (R) - Jazz is overbearing, Danny doesn't like it, so Jazz decides to go to Vlad. The episode's latter half isn't bad, but it's R because Jazz's constant invasions of Danny's privacy and the repetitive thermos jokes grate on me. If you plan to skip, the thing that makes it a red episode is this: Vlad learns that Jazz is in-the-know.

Episode 12/32: Flirting With Disaster (G) - A lot of the more plot-relevant episodes in season 2 (and one in season 1) have been building romantic tension between Danny and Valerie, and here's where it comes to a head: they actually start dating! However, after some jealous stalking thorough investigating, Sam finds that there's someone pulling the strings, and manipulating their real feelings for each other to pull them together and get them out of the way... Valerie especially undergoes a lot of major character moments, and we learn a lot more about her as a person. One of my personal favorite episodes (and I don't just say that because I'm a Danny/Valerie truther) (the "engraved" ring and Sam being a stalker about it aren't great, but honestly I just try to ignore those parts. Yes, I know I'm biased).

Episode 17/37: Kindred Spirits (G) - While Danny's busy being an asshole to his friends leaving Sam and Tucker to take the blame for property damages during his fights, he finds a strange girl named Danielle (or "Dani") who claims to be his cousin and shares an eerie resemblance with him. The similarities go more than skin deep, as she quickly reveals that she's ALSO half ghost. Tucker and Sam warn Danny that there's something suspicious about the whole ordeal (in between being left behind to be blamed for collateral damage more times than I'm bothered to count right now), but when Danny winds up in trouble anyway, they still skip detention (that he got them in) to save him before it's too late. Danny's a dick, but despite that, it's still a good episode and we get introduced to Dani before her next appearance.

Episode 19/39-20/40: Reality Trip (B) - Freakshow gets the Reality Gauntlet: an off-brand Infinity Gauntlet that can warp reality to anything he desires. He gets Danny's secret revealed to the world, causing the government agency the Guys In White (from Million Dollar Ghost in season 1) to relentlessly pursue him. Luckily, thanks to knowledge Sam gained from a book on the gauntlet, the main trio manages to warp the gems to different parts of the United States, severely limiting Freakshow's power. Unluckily, Freakshow retaliates by kidnapping their parents and Jazz, forcing the three to go on a cross-country road trip to get the gems back to Freakshow and save their families while evading the law. No permanent shifts of the status quo, but one of my personal favorite episodes. It's a fun ride!

Season 3

Episode 1/41: Eye for an Eye (R) - A prank war between Danny and Vlad ends in Vlad becoming mayor and passing a lot of horrible laws specifically to spite Danny. The laws are undone by the end of the episode, but Vlad stays mayor.

Episode 2/42: Infinite Realms (R) - In trying to map out the Ghost Zone, the main trio end up meeting Frostbite: leader of a realm in the Zone known as the Far Frozen, filled with spirits that take the form of peaceful, yeti-like monster folk who revere Danny as the chosen one who defeated Pariah Dark. Frostbite is also keeper of the Infi-Map: a map that can take the user anywhere in the Ghost Zone. Now for the bad news: Vlad is here, he wants world domination now for some reason, and he wants the map to help him do it. Vlad steals the map, the trio needs to get it back. It's not the worst episode, but Vlad's villain decay is...tragic. Tl;dr: Frostbite is the leader of a tribe of friendly yeti spirits and keeps the Infi-Map, which can take the user to any point in the ghost zone.

Episode 5/45: Forever Phantom (B) - One of the only actually fun filler episodes in season 3. Introduces us to Amorpho: a ghost with the power to shapeshift into anything and anyone, who uses their power to cause mayhem for attention. They bite off more than they can chew when they impersonate Danny Phantom, however, and a Fenton device gone awry locks both Amorpho and Danny into the form of Danny Phantom. Wacky hijinks abound.

Episode 6/46: Urban Jungle (G) - Haha green. Like plants. Anyway, Danny has been cold lately. No matter what he does or where he is, he's consistently freezing. It gets worse: while Danny's in this weakened state, a giant plant ghost named Undergrowth takes over Amity Park and possesses Sam. Unable to fight the constantly-regenerating Undergrowth or to keep himself from freezing, he flees into the Ghost Zone to seek Frostbite's aid.

Episode 9/49: Frightmare (B) - Danny wakes up one night to learn, to his horror, that Nocturne, the ghost of dreams, has put all of Amity Park into a deep sleep to feed on their energy. He enters the dreams of his friends to wake them and get their help taking Nocturne down. A good episode for people who ship Danny/Sam, and a GREAT episode for people like me who like to pretend that all the episodes I left off the season 3 list were just bad dreams.

Episode 10/50: Claw of the Wild (B) - The students of Casper High are ending summer with a camping trip in a foggy forest. All seems normal until, one by one, campers go missing. Danny, Tucker, and Sam go investigating and find their ally Wulf, who seems to know something about the disappearances...

Episode 11/51: D-Stabilized (G) - Regarded by most as the final good episode of Danny Phantom. Dani had been on her own in the world since we last left her, but over time, her form has been getting unstable, causing her to be slowly melting into a puddle of ectoplasm. She tries returning to Amity Park to get help, but is now being hunted down by Valerie, who Vlad commissioned so he could melt Dani down and study her remains to make a superior clone. (Valerie thinks he's just going to keep her contained for the safety of Amity Park; she isn't informed of the cloning.) Valerie turns Dani in to Vlad, but Danny manages to form a shaky alliance with Valerie to get Dani back, since Valerie knows that Dani is half human.

Episode 12/52-13:53: Phantom Planet (R) - The only reason this is here is because the comic continues from where this episode left off. If it didn't, I'd suggest ignoring it entirely. Rapid-fire summary: an asteroid is about to hit Earth, Vlad reveals himself to the world and demands unquestioning rule over Earth (and one trillion dollars or something) in exchange for turning the asteroid intangible. Vlad can't turn it intangible since it's made of Ectoranium, an anti-ghost substance we never hear of until now. Jack leaves Vlad in outer space. Danny gets every ghost he knows to help him turn Earth intangible, it works somehow, and Danny reveals his secret identity to the world. Statues of Danny are built all over the world, Sam and Danny start dating, and Tucker becomes mayor of Amity Park. A bunch of other stuff happens too but it's all stupid. Valerie gets thrown into a dumpster on live TV and that's her only appearance besides clapping for Danny at the end. I'm still mad. Don't watch Phantom Planet.

The Comics

Book 1: A Glitch in Time (G) - Danny's life is perfect: his secret identity is out, and the world accepts him not just as a part of it, but as its savior. His parents and former bullies fight on his side now, he's in a committed relationship with Sam, and Amity Park seems to be at peace. There's just one problem: his powers are getting weaker by the day. Unbeknownst to him, there's another problem in progress: Dan Phantom, the evil future Danny from The Ultimate Enemy, is released and fuses with Clockwork, causing present Danny and those near him to experience unstable glitches in time. Vlad returns to warn Danny of the threat of Dan, and they all team up to venture into the depths of the Ghost Zone to find a way to stop Dan and get Danny back to full strength. Meanwhile, Jazz and Valerie hold down the fort at Amity Park, holding Dan off for as long as they can while the trio and Vlad search for answers.

Book 2: To be continued in 2025!

Danny Phantom can be watched on Paramount Plus, but if you don't have a subscription, there may be DVDs at your local library! Other people may also have resources on how to watch the show, so feel free to ask around!

Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time can be found anywhere books are sold! Abrams Books Amazon Barnes and Noble Google Play Waterstones

#danny phantom #danny phantom agit #a glitch in time #dpagit

358 notes · View notes

little-pondhead · 5 months

Text

I Need More Fentons

Currently, the phandom wiki only contains mentions of the main Fentons, plus John Fentonnightingale (ancestor), Dani (she got adopted in canon, apparently), and Grandpa Fenton. The line for Grandpa Fenton does not have any additional information linked to it. Alicia, Maddie's sister, is also there but she's not technically a Fenton.

I need more ideas for Fenton family members for a writing project I'm putting out in December. (Which is tomorrow.) So far, I'm gonna steal the idea of Uncle John from this post. I also have Jack's parents and one aunt fleshed out already, so I don't need ideas for them.

Does anyone care to share their headcanons on Fenton family members? Even if you make it up on the spot, I'll take it. Siblings, cousins, great uncles and aunts, etc. I'll make sure to credit you for the idea once the project is released if I end up using your character.

Thank you in advance (╥﹏╥)

Edit: Thank you so much, guys!! I've got a decent cast of Fentons here now, and I've learned more about family trees in the past two days than I ever had in grade school. I'll publish a complete family tree and details once I'm done with my Christmas project :)

#danny phantom #pondhead rambles #phandom assemble!#if i can't use your idea as a member of the fenton family i'll probably try to sneak them in some other way #i didn't even realize i had no fentons until i was trying to write them into the story #edit: holy shit i'm having more fun with this than i should be #seriously thanks for your help y'all

265 notes · View notes

halfagone · 7 months

Note

Is Good Parents Maddie and Jack Fenton even possible?

Specifically, would they be able to change their mindset after over twenty years of bigotry and scientific curiosity?

If they saw their human son turn into Phantom, would they still think of him as their kid? Would they love him, accept him and support him?

I, personally, can't see the canon reveals as anything but a kid friendly compromise of giving the viewers the satisfaction of a reveal and keeping the status quo of the light-hearted show going.

But with everything the Fenton parents did, said, and invented... is it possible for them to turn their backs on their research and start from scratch? To admit that they were wrong after decades of being called quacks, crazy and idiots?

The only thing they were right about was the existence of ghosts, but now they endangered the whole world by building their portal that half-killed their son and traumatised millions of people.

So. Is it possible to write a Good Parents Jack and Maddie fic that doesn't shy away from all the awful things they did and how would you go about it?

Thank you for your time!

The short answer: Technically? Yes. Realistically? Probably not.

The long answer: Everyone is capable of change but not everyone will. For all intents and purposes, they are capable of growing as people and learning to recognize their mistakes and biases and leaving those behind... It just likely wouldn't be a simple flick of a switch. At the same time there is reason to believe that the Fentons wouldn't change their minds.

You said it yourself, over twenty years they've acted like this and so logically you would begin to assume that's just how they've always been and always will be. That shows this goes far beyond their parenting style and skills, and has everything to do with who they are as people.

(Buckle up, this one's a long post.)

We don't actually know all that much about the Fenton parents in canon. We don't see any grandparents or relatives other than Aunt Alicia. Although we have headcanons as a fandom that Jack and Maddie have ghost-related trauma, or it's a family tradition from the Fenton side with Jack Fentonightingale, to explain why they've always been like this, that is still no canon confirmation. (Fentonightingale was a witch hunter, not a ghost hunter after all.)

As far as we are aware, for one reason or another, one day Jack and Maddie started to believe ghosts were real and not just real but malicious. I may not be a scientist by career but even I can tell you they've failed in their duties as scientists the moment they chose their hypotheses over the evidence. That is literally something they teach you in high school science class; you ask a question and then research for evidence supporting that question. (Otherwise known as the "if... then" statement.)

Sometimes that means your first assumption was incorrect, but the evidence cannot be changed. So to me, the Fenton parents aren't ghost scientists, they're ghost hunters and those implications have connotations all of their own. And those connotations reflect poorly on them. And this isn't even to mention their general lack of workplace safety.

When we look at their friendships- they have no friends. They had Vlad in college, but they fucked up that relationship and don't even seem too broken up about it. They hadn't spoken to each other in twenty years until the reunion, and they obviously knew he'd made something of himself; Jazz recognized his name from Billionaire of the Year I think the magazine was supposed to be or something.

When Jack explains what happened to Vlad in "Bitter Reunions", he literally mentions how he thinks Vlad has forgiven him now. So obviously he acknowledges that what happened between them was due an apology.

Do you know something that's noticeably absent? A single apology from either Jack or Maddie. Yes, Jack might be more at fault in his accident, but Maddie ignored him for twenty years too. Vlad can talk whatever crap he'd like about Jack, but Maddie is just as culpable in his 'abandonment' as her husband is. We have proof from "Masters of All Time" that Maddie isn't afraid to go behind her husband's back and do what she wants. If she truly cared about him, she would have made an effort and she never did.

But of course, now we have to talk about them as parents. That's where things get... a lot more complicated.

In "Maternal Instincts" at one point Maddie is shown carrying Danny piggy-back style. It's never explained, it's not played off as a joke. Danny isn't injured and neither is he faking an injury. It's literally just something Maddie did, probably with the idea that she's taking care of and protecting him. And Danny isn't embarrassed by it at all, even when he's been shown to be ashamed of some of his parents' other antics.

In "Girls Night Out", Jack takes Danny fishing as a father-son bonding activity. And I mean that literally, he got the idea from a book called 'Father/Son Relationships For Stupids!'. That might imply that he's a bad parent but that also goes to prove that he's aware of his shortcomings as a father and is genuinely trying to do more for his son. Not everyone comes to parenthood naturally, so for Jack to actively search for advice- even if it comes from a book- says that he wants to do this parent thing.

But in my opinion, the episode that best reveals how the Fentons function as a family is "The Fenton Menace" (and no, that's not just because my blog description references it lol). In that episode, we see Jazz's failings as a supportive sister almost from the very start; in her opening narration, she talks about how she knows his secret and yet when he insists through and through that he sees a ghost, she still thinks she knows better/otherwise. We also get a touching moment where Maddie talks about spending quality time with the people you love (which is a line almost word for word from the show, by the way).

However, there are two things that stand out the most from this episode. This is the episode where we get the line: "Whether it's air, land, or sea I won't stop until we capture a ghost and tear it apart. Molecule by molecule." In response to this, Danny gets visibly upset. It is probably one of the most damning pieces of evidence in the entire series that his parents' behavior genuinely bothered him. He makes jokes about them shooting or experimenting on him, but humor can and often is used as a coping mechanism. After that quote? Danny didn't try to hide his reaction until later on when Jazz asked him. And even then he dismisses it with a quip.

The second thing from this episode also so happens to feed into my main point for this entire argument: This is the episode where Jack and Maddie attempt to 'spin the crazy' out of Danny. That kind of behavior is something you'd find in places like Arkham Asylum, which is notorious for their inhumane treatment of its patients. Decidedly not something you expect to see from supposedly loving parents. That absolutely constitutes as cruel and unusual punishment and yet it's not even meant to be a punishment.

They sincerely think that they're trying to help him by doing this. And that's the heart of the issue, in my opinion. Jack and Maddie don't think about other people. They don't think about their feelings or their safety or their privacy. They are so caught up in the idea that they are doing good that they never stop to think that they're part of the problem. Or the entire problem altogether.

The only time that we get some decent self-reflection is during Reality Trip, when Danny's identity is revealed by Freakshow and the Fenton parents and Jazz are taken as hostages. While they're stuck and trapped, they question why Danny had never told them his identity before, which is when Jazz comments about the poor way they used to treat his ghostly side. It's only then that it clicks for them that oh yeah we did that. That's what it took for them to recognize that their actions have consequences and even with good intentions, you are capable of hurting the people you love.

And I think that's one of the best ways to go about it. You need to give them the time and opportunity for that self-reflection and reclamation. Jack and Maddie are- naturally- a shoot first and ask later (if ever) type of people. One way or another, there needs to be a way for them to pull back and sit and look around for once.

There are many ways to address this too and make way for the possibility of Good Parents Jack and Maddie. One of the fics that immediately comes to mind for me is @akela-nakamura's Not Everything Is As It Seems. In this one we focus on Jack's perspective, and this fic made me So Unwell with its quiet gravitas, I can never recommend it enough. But if you want something from Maddie's perspective, then you can read @peachdoxie's incredible Trust Your Instincts fic. It is 36 chapters, already completed, and it's this beautiful journey through Maddie's Outsider POV.

As for me personally, I explored the subject in Chapter 51 of my fic lex luthor's ascent from supervillainy to fatherhood, Interlude III: Dynasty. We actually get two different reactions from the Fenton parents, one that is more from a 'Good Parent' and one from a 'Bad Parent'.

I think the most important part is to never shy away from talking about and exploring all the horrible things they did and have done. It's difficult to discuss, but the subject is complicated and to address it as anything less than complicated wouldn't be fair to those moments where the Fentons genuinely did want to be there for their children.

Does it make any of their behavior right? No. Does it prove that they can change? Yes. Will they? ...That will have to be left up to each individual writer.

If you found yourself in a similar family situation, of course you're gonna want your family or your parents to grow or choose you. Because you love them, and you want to keep them in your life. But at some point you have to think about yourself and your own safety and health. That doesn't mean you give up on them, but you protect yourself from the fallout in case they don't change.

Every person is capable of it, but not every person is willing to. The Fenton parents are no different in that regard.

#halfagone replies #bad parents jack and maddie #danny phantom #character analysis #i guess???#character study #that's more like it

312 notes · View notes

millylotus · 1 year

Text

DeadLights [Danny x Duke | DP x DC] Masterpost

THE WINNER OF THE POLE IS DEADLIGHTS!!! FUCKING LOVE THAT!!! Here's the masterpost for all the contestants, all of them will be posted in due time :]

So this post is going to have all the AUs in a line, and if you don't wanna be jumping around on Tumblr, I'll be posting these on Ao3 and Wattpad soon.

Spotify Playlist

GENERAL NOTES

Just the things that are gonna be consistent across all the AUs unless I say so.

Pt.2 [Claim Sheets]

THE FICS | AO3 SERIES

I SEE ALL OF YOU & YOU ARE MAGNIFICENT - monster x monster :

Danny and Duke see each other for the first time and are absolutely mesmerized by how gorgeous the other is. They fail to realise that being around another monster has made them both more comfortable letting their glamours fall.

MEMES!!!

WRITTEN IN THE STARS, BEFORE WE WERE EVEN BORN - betrothal au :

Light and Time met at the beginning of existence and made a deal. To make sure the other wouldn't back out and take everything, they invested in a collateral. Two of their kin to be born, will be wed. Betrothal contracts were not what Duke or Danny wanted for breakfast.

MEMES!!!

"YOU TAUNT ME, I CHASE YOU" "YOU CATCH ME, THEN LET ME GO" THEY DO IT AGAIN THE NEXT DAY - bat x cat :

Catwoman has a Kitten following her around, and that Kitten just so happens to like messing around with Batman's Sunshine Birdy. No Duke isn't a furry, Tim shut the fuck up you still haven't confessed to Kon! He and Bruce don't have the same type! Besides, the new kid Danny is much prettier than Selina's nephew. Tucker and Sam say Danny has a "vigilantes who can beat his ass" thing, which is stupid cause it's more of a "people who can beat his ass" thing. Cause like Duke Thomas from Algebra is hot.

MEMES!!!

MESMERIZED BY A BANSHEE'S SCREAMS - rockstar au :

Ember, Johnny, and Danny decided to fuck off to Gotham and start a punk-rock band. The new band that Dax found is fucking amazing, but Duke's eyes keep drifting to the pretty bassist.

No Memes, but there's a Spotify playlist on the post!

RASBERRY & LEMON DELIGHTS - countryboy!danny x emopunk!duke :

Duke and Damian go to the Kents for the summer, just for fun. The cute boy from the farm on the edge of town is definitely making the summer less lonely and more fun, they get to make sweets together. Danny is taking a gap year and has been staying with his Aunt Alicia since last summer. Things are boring until their closets neighbors the Kents get visitors. Hanging out with the pretty punk boy is making farm life fun.

MEMES!!!

THE CORPSE GROOM - corpse bride au :

Duke makes the mistake of playfully preforming wedding vows while playing pretend, and just so happens to put one of his rings on a branch that is not a branch. Now he's stuck in the underworld with a clingy new husband who insists that they're made for each other. TW: KIDNAPPING, NON-CON TOUCHING, OBSESSIVE BEHAVIOR, THREATS ON ONES LIFE - when you think about it the Corpse Bride is a fucked up story, this Au doesn't get anywhere near the topic of sex or anything sexual, but Danny is mentioned and stated to be overly touchy with Duke when he doesn't want it

MEMES!!!

What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas - drunk vegas wedding :

It's completely on accident when they wake up in each other's arms thinking they're married. Danny was just so nice to get that creep away from Duke. Duke was happy to have a new friend to hang out with. Neither where all there during the wedding. The dress and suit are very pretty though. TW: DUBIOUS-CONSENT - both Duke & Danny where kinda drunk when they have sex, even though I didn't right the scene it's literally stated as INSERT SEX SCENE

MEMES!!!

"LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOV~" - love pollen :

The Everlasting Trio is visiting Gotham for a nature convention/meet up thing. A villain just so happens to attack and Poison Ivy takes great offense to them attack the few humans who care. During the scuffle Danny gets hit with a boat load of experimental pollen Ivy was making. Signal just so happens to be the hero who finds him among the rumble. Also being the first person Danny lays eyes on.

DANI DOESN'T HAVE TO WORRY BUT ACCIDENTLY CALLING MR.THOMAS DAD ANYMORE - teacher x single parent :

When Danny & Ellie where traveling around the world, Dani makes the mistake of accidently drinking some Lazarus water. With his daughter rapidly de-aging to a six-year old, Danny runs and finds his sister. Jazz suggests getting Ellie enrolled in a night school, and for Danny to get a job gooning for a bit. It's a plus that Mr.Thomas isn't all that hard on the eyes.

MINI FICS

I WANNA BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, NEVER FEELS LIKE I AM - popular boy!duke x loner new kid!danny :

The portal to the Ghost Zone has finally closed and The Fenton's decided that it's better for them to just start anew and move to Gotham. Danny's never been the new kid, but he can be the weird loner. People have always adored Duke because of the way he shine like no other, and Gothamites had never experienced that before. Duke never got a big head about it, his mother never let that happen. But that doesn't mean he didn't become the most popular boy where ever he went.

MEMES!!!

MESMERIZED BY A BANSHEE'S SCREAMS - rockstar au :

Ember, Johnny, and Danny decided to fuck off to Gotham and start a punk-rock band. The new band that Dax found is fucking amazing, but Duke's eyes keep drifting to the pretty bassist.

No Memes, but there's a Spotify playlist on the post!

GHOSTLIGHTS EVENT FICS - @dcxdp-ghostlights

To See Your Face Again, is to remember you're not really there - 'I thought I knew you' :

Join Me, he beckoned. Stay With Me, he cooed. Love Me, he demanded.

He didn’t need to ask for the last one.

PENDING FICS THAT MIGHT HAPPEN

Myths

Hades x Persephone : Either or really

Eros!Danny x Psyche!Duke

Atalanta!Danny x Meleager!Duke

Noble Boy!Duke x Kitsune Servant!Danny

Dynamics

Rivals to Lovers

Guardian Angel!Duke x Demon!Danny

Bodyguard!Danny x Famous!Duke

Actor!Duke x Techie!Danny

General

Secret Identity Shenanigans

Royalty

Hanahaki Disease

Dancing

Roommates

Neighbors

Coffee Shop

Fairies

Space Things

Fake Relationship

Swapped Phones

Haunted Houese

POV Outsider : Who's your boyfriend? | Those two are so weird | Accused of cheating with your partner's secret identity

Messy Relationship [I like Drama] : Stalking | Kidnapping | Break Ups | Cheating on each other | Cheating on their partners with each other

ngl I am so fucking proud of this banner, worked so fucking hard on this bitch MM!

They're free to use with credit btw [with like a few minor nonos]

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dp x dc fanfic #danny x duke #duke x danny #danny fenton #duke thomas #dc #batman #signal #the signal #danny phantom #crossover #crossover ship #master post #millywrites #long post #hub post #Spotify

210 notes · View notes

gracexthoughts · 1 month

Text

of violent delights chapter 1

duties and dementors

1 september 1995

Euphemia's POV

"Ugh, I have to get changed and go to the prefect meeting," I groan, leaning my head on Fred's shoulder. I had been secretly hoping the duty would pass me by and be handed to someone else, but of course Dumbledore had other plans. As if I don't have my hands full with school work and Quidditch. Not to mention trying to keep my brother from getting himself killed, again. Last year, he nearly died because he decided taking on a basilisk by himself was a smart idea.

My little brother is Harry Potter, yes that Harry Potter. Oh, and my name is Euphemia Potter. I am two years older than Harry and, since our parents passed away, he is the only real family I have. Although we were technically raised by our Aunt and Uncle Dursley, really all they provided was the most basic necessities, often in the form of hand-me-downs and locking us in the cupboard under the stairs when we misbehaved. This summer, Harry accidentally blew up our Aunt Marge (she deserved it) and, anticipating the beating of a lifetime, I decided it was time to leave once and for all. I turn 18 in January and I was already planning on petitioning for custody of Harry at that point anyway. We spent the last of the summer living off the inheritance left to us by our late parents and staying at the Leaky Cauldron. When we leave school next summer, I'll find us a real apartment but the old inn was good enough until we left for Hogwarts.

"Poor, Mia. She's all the teachers' favorites," Lee says leaning forward to sarcastically pat my knee in fake sympathy.

"Shut up, I am not," I scoff, pushing his hand away and standing to pull my robes out of my trunk.

"Don't lie to yourself , Mia!" Angelina laughs. "What's so bad about being a prefect anyway?"

"It's just more work that I didn't ask for and everyone is going to assume I got it just because Dumbledore plays favorites. And Kenneth Trowler is the other for our year," I state turning around.

"Ooh! Awkward!" Fred whoops. I swat down at his face, which he ducks easily, pushing himself into his twin, George.

"Oh, is he still hung up on you?" Alicia asks, looking up at me. Kenneth and I dated for 4 months last year. It didn't end badly but he definitely didn't want it to end at all and had sulked for the last month of the term.

"Let's hope not," I say, rolling my eyes. "I just hope I don't get paired with him for rounds. I've gotta change, I'll see you guys after the meeting," I call over my shoulder as I exit our compartment, robes in hand. After I change, I head to the front of the train. As I near the front, suddenly a body steps out of a compartment right as I am passing, making us run into each other.

"Uh! Sorry, I-" I start with my hands out in front of me, moving away from the body in my way, as I look up into the eyes of none other than Mattheo Riddle, the son and heir of the most evil dark wizard of all time, Voldemort. Mattheo Riddle always has such a knot in his wand and makes it everyone else's problem. He is always getting into fights and intimidating others. Most of the other students are terrified of him, but I have never been. In my opinion, he is just a spoiled rich kid who throws a punch when he doesn't get his way.

"Watch where you're going, Potter," he spits, glaring down at me.

I scoff, irritated by his tone. "I was, Riddle. You stepped out in front of me. Maybe it's you that needs to watch where you're going," His jaw clenches, as I notice a shiny green prefect badge on his chest. Great, I think, this will be fun. Riddle has had it out for me for years and makes his distaste well known.

"Hi Mia," a kind voice says to my left. I turn and see Astoria Greengrass, standing in the door of the compartment Mattheo came out of. She is wearing a green prefect badge as well.

"Hi Astoria, how was your holiday?" I say, stepping back so she could exit the compartment. Astoria is one Slytherin I actually tolerate- even like. While most Slytherins' attitude towards me ranges from cool distaste to outright hatred, Astoria has always been kind. We were potions partners last year so I actually know her fairly well. She steps between Riddle and I and pushes him forward by the shoulders.

"It was lovely! How was yours?" She asks over her shoulder, throwing back an apologetic smile over her shoulder.

"Yeah, it was alright," I respond simply, not wanting to get into all the details. I hear Riddle scoff ahead of me and I roll my eyes. Astoria and I chat while we walk through the train; Riddle continues to sulk ahead of us.

We arrived at the first car to most of the other prefects already there. Percy Weasley was chatting with Penelope Clearwater who's wearing the Head Girl badge. According to the Twins, Percy had been insufferable since he got his Head Boy badge in the mail, wearing it at all times and constantly polishing it. The twins told me they had changed the wording and hid it a few times earning Percy's wrath and quite a few scolding's from their mother.

Percy gives me a small nod as I move toward the table with the other Gryffindor Prefects. Kenneth is already here as well and lifts his hand to wave eagerly to me. "Hi, Kenneth. How are you?" I ask, sitting down across from him along with Harper Crane and Jaden Filly, the sixth year prefects for Gryffindor.

"I'm good, Mia. Excited to be a prefect?" Kenneth asks eagerly.

"Uh yeah I guess," I shrug, looking around the car.

"Don't worry. It's not really as much work as it seems," Jaden says, leaning his head towards me, oddly conspiratorially, his eyes trailing over me.

"I hope not," I say politely.

"Alright, everyone!" Percy calls, getting the meeting started. Percy and Penelope talk about duties and such and go around handing out the common room passwords and the round schedule for the year. I scan the schedule looking for my name. "Oh, bloody hell," I whisper, wanting to bang my head against the table. Under Tuesdays and Thursdays my name is written with my partner being Mattheo fucking Riddle.

"I can't believe they'd pair you up together, I mean c'mon. He's dangerous." Kenneth shakes his head, disbelieving.

"Its fine," I say curtly, pushing the paper away from me. Looking around the compartment, my eyes meet Mattheo's who glare at me. I narrow my eyes back and he turns his head, eyes leaving mine. The meeting drags on for an hour; Percy is very... thorough. Finally, it's called to an end and everyone gets up to leave. Grabbing my papers, I say goodbye to Kenneth and the others. Before I can move through the door, Riddle moves into my path blocking my way yet again. "Excuse me," I say looking up.

"Meet me outside the Slytherin Common Room tomorrow at 8:45," Mattheo says before going to turn. I scoff, and head out the door behind him. He thinks I don't know where it is, probably hoping I will be late so he can rub it in my face. Lucky for me, the twins and I found the Marauders' Map four years ago which is a map of the entire Hogwarts castle. I head back to the compartment my friends occupy and groan, sitting down heavily and laying my head on Fred's shoulder.

"What's wrong, Mia?" Alicia says as Fred moves to rub my shoulder.

"I've been assigned perfect rounds twice a week with none other than Mattheo Riddle." I sit up in the seat, pushing my hair out of my face and wave the schedule. "I'd rather have Kenneth." Everyone's head whipped around to me, their eyes wide.

"What?!" the twins said in unison.

"You're joking!" Lee says, as Angelina takes the paper with the schedule on it out of my hands.

"Why would they pair you two together, of all people?" she questions, looking over the paper.

"Ask if you can get it changed! I'm sure McGonagall would understand you not feeling comfortable around him." Alicia suggests, looking over Angie's shoulder to look at the paper.

"No, I'm not going to fuss about it. If I do that then, Riddle will just think I'm afraid of him like everyone else in this school. Fuck that, I won't give him the satisfaction" I shake my head and pull the paper back, standing to put it in my bag.

"No, Mia, it's not safe. He isn't safe, especially not for you!" Fred says, pulling me back down to sit so he can look at me.

"Please, Riddle is just a spoiled brat who's never been told no in his life. He doesn't scare me any more than Malfoy does." I say, looking down at Fred while I try to convince my friends I can take care of myself. Fred and George have always been protective of me. When I started at Hogwarts I was a shy, nervous kid. All I'd ever known was protecting myself and Harry, from our aunt and uncle, our cousin, the kids at schools. Fred and George found me on that first train to Hogwarts and never let me go. They were my first friends and the first people, besides my brother, who were willing to stand up for me.

"Phe, you can't be serious! I mean now that Black escaped, do-"

"Freddie, Riddle is not going to kill me in the middle of the bloody school!" I cut Fred off, not currently of the mind to be lectured by one of the most reckless people I've ever met. I can't deny how his mention of Sirius Black sends a chill down my spine, though I'll never admit that to Fred. This summer, a Death Eater known as Sirius Black escaped the most secure prison in the world. Just this morning, Mr. Weasley had pulled me aside to tell me the Ministry believes Black has escaped to come after Harry and I.

"Mia, c'mon. He's the last person you should be around," George adds.

"It'll be fi-" Before I can finish my sentence, the train grinds to a halt.

"Oh thank god, we're here. I hate how long the train takes," says Lee jumping up.

"We can't be there yet," I shake my head and look at my wrist watch, "It's only 5:15, we should have almost another hour." George and Alicia, who are sitting in the window seats, peer out the windows trying to see through the gloom and rain surrounding the outside of the train. The train jerks again and the lights go out.

"We must have broken down," Angelina says, pulling out her wand to provide light to the compartment.

"I think someone is coming aboard!"

"What, Ali, who would be coming aboard? We're in the middle of nowhere," Fred shakes his head.

"Guys, look," I whisper, pointing to water laying on the bench between Angelina and Lee. It was frozen solid when it had just been liquid minutes ago. We all looked around noticing the windows had an icy layer on them and our breath was visible in the air. "I gotta find Harry."

I bolt up from my seat and move out of the compartment as quickly as I can, moving quickly towards the back of the train. I vaguely hear one of the twins following me but I'm more focused on finding Harry. Finally I reach the last compartment and burst through the door. "Harry!" My brother stands, confusion written on his and his friends faces.

"Mia, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"I don't know, but I-"

"Mia, seriously, how are you so fast?" Fred says, panting slightly as he steps into the now cramped train car. I look around the car at the other. Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom are inside as well as a man sleeping in the corner. Besides the mystery man, I know all the others well, even Neville. I eye the man in the cloak. I've never seen an adult taking the train that didn't work on it. "Who is that?"

"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione says, pointing up at a case. The train jerks again causing Fred and I to lurch forward. I turn back around to look out the compartment door. Suddenly, a dark figure emerged in the hall outside our compartment, its long bony hand reaching for the door pulling it open. Its face was completely hidden by the dark cloak it wore and it made my stomach twist in knots. Fred reaches his arm towards me protectively as an intense cold swept over the already frigid room. What sounded like a raspy breath was coming from the creature as it flouted closer into the compartment turning towards us. I feel my breath quickening and my eyesight disappearing; feeling as if I'm being dragged downward as a rushing in my ears takes over all my other senses, growing louder and louder. Then I heard a voice, a voice I only hear in my nightmares, a voice long lost to this world.

"No! Please! Take me, leave them be! Please!" The voice pleaded as a bright green light erupted and a baby's crying took the place of the screams.

"Mia! Mia, wake up!" A different voice breaks through the cries and I realize I'm being shaken. I open my eyes to see Fred's face hovering over me, shaking me. The lights were back on and the train seemed to be moving again.

"Freddie?" I move to sit up but a wave of nausea overcomes me and I lean forward. Fred catches my shoulders as I dry heave slightly. "Harry?" I look up, fighting the nausea as I look for my brother. I turn, seeing him sitting up between Hermione and Ron. "Are you okay?" I ask, pushing myself up and hovering over my brother. He nods, looking behind me. I turn to see the man, R. J. Lupin, sitting across us, a distant but caring look in his eyes.

"Was that a-"

"Dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban, looking for Sirius Black." Lupin says.

"What happened? I-" I ask, still confused as to what had happened after the cloaked figure, the dementor, appeared.

"You and Harry passed out," Ron says, holding tightly to his rat, Scabbers, who is squirming in his hands.

"Here, eat this, it helps," the man says, handing me a small piece of chocolate and splitting the rest of the bar between everyone else. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a little word with the driver." Lupin stands and moves to the door, pausing only to look back for a moment, "Eat, you'll feel better," before turning back and disappearing from view. I sigh, taking a bite of chocolate and turning back to Harry. "You okay?" he nods.

"You?" Harry asks me and I nod. "Did you... hear anything?" He asks, looking down at his feet. I look up at our friends surrounding us, and pull Harry to standing, nodding for us to talk in the hall.

"Did you hear something?" I ask, afraid he will hear the same things I did and hoping desperately I was wrong. He nods, looking at me through his eyelashes. I pull him back into a hug. "I did too, it's okay. It's just the dementors, horrible creatures."

"I heard screaming. Was it-" his voice breaks slightly, "Mum?" I take a deep breath and nod.

"Dementors, they feed on horrid memories. I heard her too, just before..." Harry nods looking down at his shoes. "It'll be okay, Haz," I say, putting on my best brave face. My eyes find the lighting scar on his forehead peeking out from underneath his hair; the one that matches the one on my left wrist.

No one really knows why Harry and I both have curse scars from that night when Voldemort came after us. Best guess I have is that Harry was sitting in front of me when it happened, and my arm had been wrapped around him, covering his eyes or something similar. Although his pains him whereas mine never has.

I say goodbye and leave Harry and his friends to go back to my own compartment, ready to get off the train, Freddie following in my wake. For the rest of the ride, Fred lets me lay on his shoulder and I try not to think about my mother's last words.

Once we were off the train, McGonagall pulled Harry, Hermione and I into her office. Madam Pompfery checked to make sure Harry and I were okay and then talked to Hermione about her schedule before the three of us could head to the Great Hall. Hermione was upset we missed the sorting but I was secretly glad. I never liked the Sorting Hat's song and the ceremony drags on for what seems like hours. I take a seat amongst the other fifth years, sitting between Fred and Alicia, as Harry and Hermione move down to the third year table in the Gryffindor row. I whisper to my friends that they were just checking to make sure Harry and I were okay as Dumbledore stands up for his welcome speech.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast...." Dumbledore clears his throat and continues, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises -- or even Invisibility Cloaks," he comments blatantly. I look ahead at Harry who is staring at Ron wide eyed.

"It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors." The twins scoff as Percy, who is sitting down with the seventh years, puffs out his chest very importantly. I can't help the anxiety settle in my stomach as Dumbledore speaks.

"On a happier note," Dumbledore continues, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There is mostly scattered applause for the man who gave me the chocolate. I watch him as he stands and bows slightly in greeting. He looks weary and tired and ill, scars marring his face and peeking out from his clothes. "As to our second appointment, well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs." At this a few laughs ripple through the student body. "However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

"That explains the biting book Ron and Harry had to get," I whisper to Fred and George, laughing.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," finishes Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!" At this, the goblets and plates in front of us are suddenly full of food and drinks. It is a delicious feast as it always was. Fred and George started brainstorming pranks ideas with Lee while Angelina, Alicia and I started talking about Quidditch. It's Oliver's last year at Hogwarts and we are certain he will be vying for the Cup this year; probably pushing us harder than ever before. After dessert, Dumbledore excuses everyone and students start scrambling to leave the hall.

"I have to escort the first years. Password is Fortuna Major. I'll see you later," I say to my friends, standing up from my place. I wave goodbye and find Kenneth to walk the first years to the common room.

"Hey Potter!" I hear a familiar voice call from my left. I turn and see Elladora Lestrange leaning over the Slytherin table looking at me. Next to her standing Evan Rosier Jr, Theodore Nott and Lorenzo Berkshire; the rest of Riddle's friend group.

"What do you want, Lestrange? I'm busy."

"Is it true you fainted on the train? Were the big scary dementors too much for you?" She mocks and the boys laugh. I turn and throw her the middle finger over my shoulder, not bothering to come up with an insult. Their laughter follows me as I walk away.

32 notes · View notes

ghost-pasta · 3 months

Text

Realized 2 likely reasons for the "Aunt Alicia's Absence In TUE" issue

(Outside of the writers just forgetting she's a useable character after the divorce episode)

All apart of the fact that Vlad is a horrible person. Even with the best intentions to help Danny in mind, he could've seen relying on someone else to help him help Danny as too much of a personal failure and/or embarrassment; and Danny never asking to fire whatever personal reasons. This option hurts so bad but it feels pretty correct as far as character motivations go. I'd say "except for Danny" but insurmountable grief does things to people so if he's seemingly "ooc" that's just the suffering™ really.

Aunt Alicia never existed in Dan's timeline in the first place. Going off of the idea that, despite being similar timelines, they are inherently different. (And Dan just either had a poor concept of that, or it's simply a variable in Clockwork's 5D chess he was playing so he didn't have to kill Dan. Either way) So there very truly was NO ONE for Danny to fall back on. Maddie and Jack being single children in their respective families and no cousins and grandparents to choose from (save for Vlad's barely mentioned potential sister)

The second one has the potential for a kind of funny interaction with Dan if anyone curiously were to ask him why he didn't just live with Alicia.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #TUE #the ultimate enemy #dan phantom #dark danny #aunt alicia #alicia walker #<that's a headcanon maiden name dw 'bout it)#vlad masters #vlad plasmius #dp headcanons #Dan: who the fuck is ''Alicia''

24 notes · View notes

lexosaurus · 11 months

Text

Everything Was White: Part 21

[see all chapters]

read on: [ao3] [ffn] (please read tags)

Summary: After being accidentally revealed to the public and taken away by the government, Danny deals with the aftermath of his time with the GIW.

****

It had only been a few days since his core access had returned to him, but he still wasn’t used to the buzzing under his skin, cool and constant, pure comfort against the blistering pain of his nerve damage.

Looking back, he wasn’t sure how he had managed to make it this far without his core. His parents, his sister, his friends didn’t understand—they couldn’t, they were just human. But Vlad understood. Vlad was like him. Even if he was a complete asshole in every other way.

Danny flicked off the TV and stretched. Grabbing his walker, he made his way over to the kitchen where Jazz was sitting at the table, her attention devoted entirely to the book in her hand.

“Hey,” he said, dropping into one of the chairs.

“Hi, Danny,” she said absentmindedly.

He peeked at the cover. The History of Boston, it read with fancy, gold letters. Danny rolled his eyes. “You haven’t even…moved there yet. And be—besides, isn’t Harvard in Cambridge?”

“Cambridge is right next to Boston, and they’re both on the same transit system. They may as well be the same city,” Jazz recited as if she’d said it a thousand times before. “And anyway, it’s always good to learn about a place before you move there.”

“Yeah, but it’s ways away.”

“I start school next month, Danny.”

Danny blinked, whipping out his phone. Sure enough, the end of the year was fast approaching.

Shit, Christmas is coming up…

He hadn’t even begun to think about the holidays. Then it hit him…Aunt Alicia hadn’t come over for Thanksgiving, had she?

Why hadn’t she come this year? He tried to remember, tried to think back if anyone had mentioned anything, but he drew a blank.

It wasn’t…because of him, was it?

“I need to be prepared,” Jazz rambled, oblivious to any internal crisis Danny was having at the moment. “I’ve heard that the train system is unreliable, so I want to have a good understanding of the city in case of emergency. I don’t ever want to get stuck in an area that may be unsafe for me. And learning the historical context of different neighborhoods is key to understanding the city as a whole.”

“No one’s going to be asking you for tours.”

“As I said, preparation is key.” Jazz placed her bookmark—a plastic green ghost—in between the pages and set the book down on the table. She eyed him for a moment. “I talked to Mom and Dad about the whole chip thing, and, well…”

He was so thankful for having two years of Phantom to hone his acting skills. “They’re still—still building the new one.”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, grimacing. “But they assured me it was just temporary. They really do want this to work, you know. They want you to have your independence back too.”

“I know, I know,” Danny said flatly because he really didn’t know. They wouldn’t be jumping through all these hoops if they wanted him to gain his independence.

But ultimately, that didn’t matter because he had Phantom back. He had his core back. He had full access to his flight, intangibility, invisibility, everything.

He was free. Even if nobody else could know about it except Vlad.

“Sorry,” Jazz said.

“Thanks for trying.”

Jazz seemed surprised by something if the way she was studying him was any indication, and he wondered if maybe she was expecting a bit bigger reaction. Maybe she was waiting for the meltdown of emotions, for the yelling, crying, cursing.

And perhaps he would have done that before. Back when he was just an unstable, half-finished person. Back when he couldn’t tell Monday from Tuesday, when he was relying on drugs to get him through his day.

It was different now. Gone was his emotional instability, now he was turning a new leaf. He was going to be stronger in every way. He was going to be a better son, a better student—one who didn’t end up crying in Mr. Lancer’s office every week.

He had his core, so everything was going to be alright.

“I’ll be up in my room,” he said, pulling himself back up. “Gonna—gonna play video games for a bit.”

Jazz picked her book back up from the table. “Okay, have fun.”

He made his way up to his room and collapsed on his bed. The stairs almost seemed insulting now that he could fly, but he knew he needed to keep up appearances. He was just thankful he didn’t need to go through the humiliation of completely relying on a stairlift anymore, (even as the words of his therapist reminded him that stairlifts aren’t embarrassing, Danny, they’re an accessibility tool, plenty of people of all ages need them for all sorts of reasons, Danny, it doesn’t make you a failure).

But that was fine. If there was anything he had perfected over the years, it was the art of hiding.

Once he had recovered his breath enough to feel like moving again, he felt for the wash of cold under his skin. It was still there, same as it had been for the past few days, calling to him to switch, switch, switch.

So he did.

There was little fanfare this time. No battle cry, no profound moment where he threw his arms at the heavens and jumped into the air. He was just a human, and then a flash of rings passed before his eyes and he was a ghost.

And then he was gone, invisible, jetting through the window with such force that nearly gave him whiplash.

God, he hadn’t moved this fast in…he didn’t even know how long.

He swooped through the air, his muscles stretching as he weaved loop-de-loops around invisible barriers. More than likely, he was flying a far cry compared to when he had been in his prime. But that was okay. He would get there again.

For now, this was wonderful. Exhilarating. Everything. This was happiness, a concept that seemed so foreign to him, he’d all but forgotten what it felt like. But then it sparked in his chest, expanding out to the tips of his fingers, and he couldn’t help but face the sun and laugh.

The world had tried to knock him down. First the portal, then the ghosts, then the government, then his parents. But he was still here.

“Take that,” he shouted at the sky. “Take fucking that!”

He had never been a religious person. His parents were scientists, and he was fairly sure his sister prayed to her favorite authors before she went to bed every night. But just in case there was some asshole looking down, he wanted them to see him now. Flying here, invisibly flipping them the bird. Even after everything, Danny was still here.

“You can’t get rid of me,” he added for good measure.

Deciding his time of yelling at the clouds like some kind of crazy person was more than over, he flew into the city, passing by buildings, cars, trucks. He soared over apartments and dove into the ground, whizzing through foundations and pipes.

Some people reacted to his presence, glancing over their shoulders as a chill hit their skin. By now, most of Amity Park likely could recognize the telltale ecto-chill of a ghost core.

But he was invisible, and he had no intention of changing that. So eventually, the people shrugged and carried on, likely assuming that whatever ghost was passing by was too weak to be of much harm.

He couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but eventually, his core pouted, and he felt his strength puttering out under his skin. His weaves weren’t quite as fluid, and staying in the air seemed like more effort than it was worth.

Strange. He didn’t remember tiring so easily before.

But then he thought back to when he first acquired his ghost powers, and…yeah, maybe he did fatigue quickly back then.

It was okay. Like the rest of his life, he would just rebuild from scratch again.

He had help this time. Real help. One that felt…

Like bliss.

He opened his eyes. He was sunbathing on the roof of some building. Had he napped? Maybe he was more spent than he thought he was. Well, that wouldn’t be unheard of. He had passed out after his first ghost fight too.

God, that felt like another lifetime ago.

Two years as Phantom. Dozens of fights under his belt. A reputation across his sect of the Ghost Zone. And yet, he felt as new as he did back then after his first real fight against the Lunch Lady.

He would need to train. Work hard. Push himself. Do everything he could to get back to how he was before. He couldn’t let the public see just how badly the government had hurt him.

Right. He had a plan, then.

****

“Where’s Jason?” Star asked, writing what appeared to be an attempt at his name on the whiteboard.

Ms. Perez, the learning center teacher, sighed and checked her watch. “He’s got another five minutes before I phone the main office.”

In a singsong voice, Star said, “He’s gonna be in trouble!”

“Why don’t you sit down and start your math homework?” Ms. Perez asked.

“I can do it later.”

“Girl, no, you can’t,” Ashley said from her table across the room. She squinted at the board, twirling her coily hair in her fingers. “That’s not even how you spell his name.”

Star took a step back from her mirage of bubble letters and guffawed. “Oh my god, I wrote the J as a d! Haha, his name looks like ‘dason’ now!”

“You’re dyslexic,” Ashley said.

“Ashley, stop,” Ms. Perez ordered.

But Star was cackling too hard to be insulted.

Danny simply dropped his head onto his paper, having given up after writing his name in the top corner. He was supposed to start a new academic goal this week. And he was still committed to that, truly, but right now if he had to do one more fucking math problem, he was going to scream.

“DASON!”

“Danny, come on. Head up,” Ms. Perez said. “Mr. Lancer’s coming in twenty minutes and I want you to have that worksheet done before then.”

Danny did like Ms. Perez, but most of the time, he just felt bad for her. The learning center was chaotic on the best of days, even with the small class sizes and few students. Usually, there was a para teacher there as well, a man whose name Danny’s brain couldn’t commit to memory. But on days when the aide was called to a different class or he was absent such as today, even Danny had to admit he hardly got work done.

Not for lack of effort either. It was just so hard to stay focused when his brain took one look around the room and decided to go on vacation.

“Danny.”

“I’m tired,” he responded.

“What’s up, did you not sleep well last night?” Ms. Perez asked.

Danny shrugged. In fact, he had slept wonderfully. Just as he’d been sleeping for the past week. The problem wasn’t his sleeping patterns, it was when he woke up. His body still wasn’t used to all the ecto-energy he’d been recently expending on his little escapades all over town. He was sore and sluggish in a way he hadn’t felt in years. The hydrocodone he’d recently started taking in the morning dealt with his soreness, but it too had its own set of drawbacks. Though it helped his body not burn in pain at all hours of the day, it also made him want to crawl back into bed. Which, when surrounded by teachers who knew all about his little habit of falling asleep at his desk pre-reveal, was obviously not ideal.

“Let’s try to do five more problems, and then you can take a break,” said Ms. Perez.

Reluctantly, Danny pulled his head up from his desk to see that Star had begun to write ‘dason’ in various fonts all over the whiteboard.

Ms. Perez made her way over to Danny’s table and sank into a chair next to him. Her dark brown hair bobbed at her shoulders, tickling the floral designs of her shirt. “Alright, come on, let’s tackle a few of these math problems.”

Danny crossed his arms. “I don’t get it.”

“Yes, you do, we did these yesterday.”

“I forgot how to do it.” That wasn’t even a lie. If Danny had trouble in school last year, everything was just so much harder now.

Thank you, blunt force trauma to the skull.

“Then let’s go over them again.”

Danny groaned but did his best to pay attention anyway. He tried to ignore how Ashley was almost definitely doodling in the margins of her notebook instead of doing her readings, Star was still writing ‘dason’ all over the whiteboards, and Jason was…

Well, he was probably still roaming the halls somewhere.

True to her word, Ms. Perez only made Danny do five tortuous problems before she let him take a break so she could call the main office to report her missing student. And Danny wasted no time sinking his head back down onto the table and closing his eyes.

“Jason Cleaver, please report to room 101. Jason Cleaver, to room 101.”

Just another day in the learning center.

“Star, sit down. You need to start your math homework too. Mr. Bryan told me you didn’t turn in yesterday’s assignment.”

“Mr. Bryan didn’t collect the assignment in class.”

“Yes, he did, Star, and he told me yours was blank.”

“I forgot to do it.”

“I understand, so why don’t we take the time to do it now?”

Danny closed his eyes, letting fatigue wash over him. He stretched his fingers out along the table, and his body relaxed.

Just a few more minutes…

The door crashed open, and Danny snapped up, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. For a moment, his eyes flickered over to the white walls, and his throat tightened as imagery of the white halls of the compound flashed at him. He dug his fingernails into his palms, forcing the images away to be met with the stocky form of his missing classmate at the doorway.

“Dason!” Star exclaimed, jumping out of her chair once again. “You’re here!”

The boy—Jason—hardly glanced at the whiteboard before he stalked inside, flipped a chair against the floor, and stomped back out of the room.

“Take a chill pill, Dason,” Ashley called after him.

Ms. Perez simply sighed and picked up the phone once more.

Danny put his head back down on the table.

“Danny, head up. Break’s over.”

Curse these small classrooms.

He knew he wasn’t subtle about his displeasure at being called out again as he pulled his head from the table and forced his pencil back into his hand.

“Hey, Danny?” Star asked, blinking owlishly at him. “Why don’t you walk at school? I see you do it outside of school.”

Because school had long hallways and he was still too weak, too self-conscious.

“I have walked at school before,” Danny retorted instead. “You just haven’t seen it.”

“Really?” Star asked.

“Star, focus on your own work,” Ms. Perez said.

“She’s just trying to get out of doing her homework.”

“Ashley, you too.”

“Where’s Dason?” Star asked.

“Mr. Lancer is handling it.”

The door opened again, and Kwan stepped into the room.

“Back already? How did the quiz go?” Ms. Perez asked.

Kwan shrugged. “It was fine.”

Kwan dropped his bag next to Star and sat down. He briefly made eye contact with Danny, who immediately dropped his gaze back down to his paper.

He wasn’t ready to acknowledge Kwan’s existence yet.

“Hey, why is ‘dason’ written all over the board?” Kwan asked.

Star launched into another fit of giggles.

“Star did it,” was Ashley’s only explanation.

“Danny, Star, how’s that math homework going?” Ms. Perez asked.

Danny stared at the swirling mess on his paper. His brain just really did not want to do math today. “Fantastic.”

“Do five problems and then you can take another break until Mr. Lancer gets here.”

Danny lazily saluted the learning center teacher and tried his best to focus on the squiggly numbers and symbols before him.

Find f(x)...that’s all I need to do…

But who was he kidding? This was all pointless. His dream of working for NASA was as good as dead because his stupid brain didn’t hold information like it used to.

Not that he was ever particularly good at school. He wasn’t like Jazz. It felt like his brain was a colander and school was a pot of water. It didn’t matter how hard he tried, none of the information stayed in.

It didn’t take that long—or it took far too long—before footsteps were at the door and Mr. Lancer was carting Jason-Dason alongside him.

“Dason! Welcome back!” Star waved at him.

“...because you have to stay in class,” Mr. Lancer was saying quietly. “I’m not going to repeat this again, Mr. Cleaver.”

“Whatever.” Jason-Dason grabbed a chair on the other side of Danny’s table, dropped his backpack on the floor, and immediately put his head down into his arms. Ms. Perez didn’t even try to get him to pull out his notebook.

Turning around, Mr. Lancer’s expression morphed into something far brighter. “Alright, Mr. Fenton?”

Danny rolled his eyes and gave him a weak thumbs-up. “Can’t wait to learn about books.”

“I’m sure.” Mr. Lancer dropped into the chair beside Danny and glanced at the pitifully attempted math assignment. “Would you like me to go over anything else first?”

Danny was quick to stuff his assignment into his folder. Out of sight, out of mind. “No—no thanks.”

“Alright, let’s go over the reading from last night. Did you do it?”

Danny shrugged. “I tried.”

He honestly had. But as soon as he looked at the pages, it was like his brain turned into a zombie.

Mr. Lancer, presumably, got the not-so-hidden meaning. “That’s alright, let’s go through the passages, then.”

Danny opened his backpack and began shuffling around for his assigned book when a distantly familiar chill wormed up his throat. He dropped the book back in his bag and sat erect in his chair.

Wild eyes met Mr. Lancer’s, and then he opened his mouth, a puff of frost expelling from his lips.

Mr. Lancer’s eyebrows furrowed. “Mr. Fenton, are you—”

The ghost alarms went off, filling the classroom with green lights. Jack Fenton’s voice blared through the speakers, suffocating the air with, “WARNING: GHOST ALERT. GHOST ALERT.”

The small class was on their feet at once—even Danny, who wasted no time in letting the adrenaline course through his body. He wouldn’t be able to do much, but maybe some scary eyes would be enough to ward off the potential ghost from his territory.

“Damn!” Ms. Perez cursed. “Students, we need to evacuate to the ghost shield in the gym!”

Next to Ms. Perez, the bottom of the wall distorted with a green glow. Danny grabbed the table and braced himself to defend his classmates against—

“Arf! Arf!”

A figure shot through the walls and bounced, wagging its tail. Its purple tongue hung loosely outside of its mouth, and green-tinted ecto-saliva dripped onto the floor.

It took a second to spin around in a circle before it spotted Danny.

“Arf! Arf!” it exclaimed, bouncing through the chairs and quite literally jumping up Danny’s legs.

“Cujo?” Danny said, finally getting enough of a grip to speak.

“You know that dog?” Star asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t understand…” Danny pulled his brows in as he sat back down in his wheelchair, letting Cujo climb onto his lap and start lapping at his face.

It made no sense. His parents said that the emergency ghost alarms—the ones that ordered the complete evacuation of the building—only went off for ghosts that were level four or above. In his small form, Cujo was hardly a level three.

So either the ghost alarms were faulty, or Cujo wasn’t the only ghost here.

“Babypop!” a new voice sang out over the prerecorded wails of Jack Fenton.

A blue blur of a ghost rushed down from the ceiling and halted right in front of him. Her teal hair was pulled up behind her, accentuating the bluish tint of her pale skin. She wore her usual ghostly getup of a black top on black bottoms, and her purple and blue electric guitar was slung across her back.

Ah, that would explain the emergency alarms.

Ember McLain slugged his arm, grinning widely. “You’re back!”

Danny was more than a little aware of the audience watching the interaction. And, from some insecure ghostly part of himself, he was also more than aware that this was his first ghostly encounter where he was—well—forced to be human.

Not that the humans would understand the ecto-psychology at play here, and he would rather die than explain it to anyone, but Ember certainly would understand.

Which sucked.

“Hey—hey, Ember,” he said, trying to play it cool.

“Hey, what the fuck is up with this fire alarm thing?”

“Mr. Fenton?” Lancer asked from beside him.

“Holy shit, is that Ember McLain?” Kwan stared dumbfounded. “I listen to your album all the time!”

Star’s jaw dropped. “Ember’s a ghost?”

“WARNING: GHOST ALERT. EVACUATE. GHOST ALERT.”

Jack’s voice was starting to get more than a little piercing.

“Hey!” Danny called to Lancer. “Can we turn the ghost alarm off?”

“Mr. Fenton, you know we have to wait for your parents—”

“She’s an ally, she’s not going to attack! And this is my—er, uh. Well, my ghost-dog friend. He’s harmless.” So long as he doesn’t feel threatened, at least.

“I’m sorry, but you know that I can’t do that.”

“I promise there’s no need to evacuate.”

“You guys were going to evacuate on my account?” Ember repositioned her guitar on her back. “Well, I’m flattered that you think so highly of me. But no, if I wanted to start something, I wouldn’t have brought the dog.”

As if to prove the point, Cujo leaped off Danny’s lap and began bouncing over to everyone else in the room, lapping their shins and sniffing their shoes.

“Arf! Arf!”

Lancer sighed and walked into the hallway. A moment later, the ghost alarm was off.

Danny let out a breath of relief and turned his attention back to the two ghosts in front of him.

“Jeez, Danny, you better have a real good explanation for this.” Ashley folded her arms.

“No, it’s—” Danny sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ghosts weren’t good at deciphering boundaries on the best of days. To them, the whole of Amity Park was Phantom’s territory. So if they wanted to see Phantom, they just entered his territory.

And that included places they shouldn’t go, like the school.

“Well, alarm or no, Ms. Ember and, erm, her dog are trespassing, and I will have to ask her to leave,” Lancer said, reappearing at the doorway.

“Okay, can I just talk to her in the hall for like two minutes first?” Danny asked.

“No, Mr. Fenton. Absolutely not.”

“But she’s—“

“I’m more than aware of your little scuffles before,” Lancer said, crossing his arms. “Besides, your parents will be arriving shortly. Ms. Ember, if you would?”

Ember huffed, scooping up Cujo. “Whatever. Babypop, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” Danny said awkwardly, glancing around at his classmates. “I’ll find you in—in the spot.”

Ember nodded and left, disappearing through the ceiling.

There was a beat of silence before Kwan broke it. “I can’t believe you know Ember!”

****

The moon was bright later that night. Nearly full, Danny realized, and its light along with some wispy clouds blocked much of the glittering night sky from view.

He thought back to the Reddit post where the Amity Park astronomy club had told Sam and Tucker to pass him an open invitation. His friends had presumably forgotten about that comment, but Danny thought maybe he should check out the club anyway. Maybe it would be good for him to get back into his hobbies.

He hovered on top of the Nasty Burger building. He remembered the first time he and Ember had somewhat mended their differences. It had been here too, atop this building, when Ember had come to Earth for just a few hours to listen to a band’s new album.

Damn, it was so long ago. So much had changed.

Danny looked over where a burn mark had scorched the cement. He smiled to himself. Much had changed, sure, but some things were still the same.

A breath of cold air hit his lungs, and he turned around to see Ember holding a chip bag with one hand and Cujo with the other.

Cujo didn’t hesitate to wiggle out of Ember’s hold and bound over to him, tongue flopping. Danny sank onto the roof, holding his arms out. The little dog leaped into them and excitedly licked his neck.

“Hey, buddy,” Danny said, tilting his chin up to avoid the wrath of Cujo’s tongue on his face. “I missed you too!”

Ember snorted, touching down on the roof. She opened the potato chips, and the smell of salt and oil immediately permeated the air.

“Did you even pay for this?” Danny asked.

“What are you, a cop?” Ember munched on a chip. “I swear, this is like the one thing the Zone can never get right.”

Danny raised his brow, giving her an are-you-kidding-me look.

She rolled her eyes and held out the bag, rattling it. “Come on, I know you want some.”

“Whatever.” Danny rolled his eyes but nonetheless grabbed a handful. “You still need to pay for this, though.”

“Never change, babypop.”

Danny chomped on the (stolen) chips, basking in the two a.m. salty taste. And for a moment, the two of them just sat there unbothered, eating chips and throwing pebbles across the roof for Cujo to pounce on.

And when Cujo eventually tired, he snuggled between them, facing Danny. His paws pressed into Danny’s ghostly tail, and his nose nuzzled into where his thigh would be.

It hurt more than Ember would ever know that he couldn’t feel the dog against his legs. But she didn’t need to know the extent of his injuries, at least not right now.

“So, you’re back,” Ember started, failing to hide the curiosity in her tone.

He tried to give her a carefree smile as he responded with, “Yeah. Finally, right?” But he was sure he looked as uncomfortable as he felt, and he knew that the way his core faltered and tensed would not be lost on Ember.

“I mean…okay, I’m just going to say it. The hell happened?” asked Ember. “What did they do to you? When you didn’t come back right away, I figured they fucked with your core somehow. And I was right. Your core doesn’t feel right anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Sure he was weaker, but he didn’t feel any different. Not like…before. When the scalpel had first pierced him. Not like that. Disgusting, violated.

Ember squinted at him, and Danny tried to quell the anxiety that he was surely projecting onto her.

Stupid ghosts and their stupid emotion-sensing abilities.

But then she snapped out of her scrutiny, rolling her eyes, saying, “Jeez, chill. I don’t mean like you’re a whole different ghost now, I’m just saying that your core feels weaker.” She punched his arm lightly. “Been a minute, huh? What took you so long to get back in the air?”

“Oh.” Danny flushed, embarrassed. Because of course, she didn’t mean it like that. He was just being anxious and insecure again. “You know, I—I wanted to…lull you guys into a false sense of security. Make you think I was—wasn’t protecting Amity anymore. Just some classic ghostly manipulation.”

“Yeah, sure. Totally believe that.”

“I know.” The grin fell off Danny’s face, fickle as it was.

Well, there was no use trying to sugarcoat the truth. Not with the ghosts in danger of this happening to them too.

“Courts decided I was human enough to exist. Cause, you know—” Danny held up his hand and shook out his wrist. “—I got a—a pulse and stuff. When I’m human, I mean. A heart—heartbeat too.”

He waited for the implication to process, and when Ember’s eyes sparked with recognition and her face immediately dropped to a scowl, he shrugged and let his hand fall back to his side.

“Oh, wonderful,” said Ember. “So you’re safe, but there’s nothing stopping the rest of us from getting messed up like that?”

Well, ouch.

“Sorry.”

Ember snorted. “Well, if you wanted ghosts to stay out of the human realm, you’ll probably convince most of them.”

“Haven’t they…everyone’s been avoiding Amity anyway, right?” Danny asked.

“Well, duh, idiot. You getting captured was kind of a big fucking deal in our little sect of the Infinite Realms. You should have heard the rumors.”

He wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to hear them. Because he wasn’t sure how much he could lie to the other ghosts, and he didn’t want to be the one to tell them just how many of their rumors were true.

He looked up at the sky, noting the sprinkle of stars that had won their fight against the city’s light pollution and the full moon. “I heard Skulker tried to bust me out.”

“Yeah.” Ember’s tone was off, and when Danny looked over, some speckles of green had appeared on her cheeks.

…huh?

“The idiot’s ego can be too much sometimes,” she said, a hint of a smile curling on her lips.

Danny didn’t know what that look meant, but he was also a hundred percent sure that he did not want to know, thank you very much. “Well, tell him I said—uh, said, you know, thanks. For trying. It meant a lot.”

“I’ll pass it along.” Ember shifted, and suddenly her face was serious again. “What did they want from you?”

“The Guys in White?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…” Danny gently rubbed behind Cujo’s ear, trying to crush the sudden anxiety that was threatening to spike him. “Power. They wanted power.”

“Like, from you?”

“Yeah. My core. Ectoplasm.” Danny took a shuttering breath. Despite the relaxation help he had pumping through his veins, just the mere mention of the topic had him suppressing the onslaught of memories that were trying to breach the metaphorical thermos he’d crammed them into. “The government liked my—my ectoplasm because it’s more dense than the blob ghosts they—they had. They…would hook me to these…these…these machines, and they’d take the ecto—ectoplasm from me. Just every day. And eventually—I don’t know. I don’t really remember how it escalated.” He touched his prickling chest, trying to cool the misfiring nerves above his core.

“Like…” Ember tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. “They cut you up?”

Danny squirmed. This was quickly getting into personal territory, and the ghosts and he didn’t exactly have the same relationship that he had with his therapist.

“Sort of,” he responded as evenly as he could.

She didn’t hold back. “They wanted your core.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he said a little too bitterly.

There was a pause between them, and tension crackled in the air as Danny raised his aura to mask the shame that was crawling up his throat.

“Well, did they get it?” asked Ember.

Like hell was he going to react in front of a ghost.

“Why does it matter if they did? Since when do you care?”

“Of course I care.” Ember crossed her arms, frowning. “If the enemy got your core, who knows what they’ll do to the rest of us.”

Oh. Right.

Of course.

How could he be so stupid to hold even a flicker of hope that anyone actually cared about him? Least of all Ember, a ghost that he’d fought on more than one occasion.

But instead of snapping, he shrugged, defeated. Maybe disappointed. Who knew? Not him.

“Then don’t get caught,” he said simply.

Ember was already probably pitying him enough. He didn’t need to add ‘crybaby’ to the list of reasons why he wasn’t a good protector of Amity anymore.

The silence stretched on between them. Because duh, “don’t get caught” was a stupid, obvious thing to say. And it wasn’t exactly like Danny had been trying to get caught either.

He had never exactly been close with any of the ghosts, but this social divide between them? Yeah, that was new. Before, he at least had his strong core to go off of. Ghosts liked strength; they could respect him for defending Amity so well. But now…

Cujo yawned beside him, shifting around so his back was curled into Danny’s tail and his paws were outstretched to graze Ember’s thigh.

“So…they did get it, then,” said Ember. “Your core.”

“That’s—that’s not—” Danny stumbled, his brain once again more than acutely aware of the social dynamics at play. He grunted, frustrated, before pushing through. “That’s not why my—my core is…” He took a deep breath. “I know I’m out of practice, but I—I really am fine. My core’s not…you know, suffering permanent damages or anything. I’ll be—I’ll be back to normal with a little bit of training. It just…I couldn’t access my powers for a bit. That’s all.”

And he really hoped that was clear, because fuck no he didn’t want ‘Phantom is a weakling’ to spread across the Ghost Zone.

He felt a light tap on his arm again, and he looked over to see Ember’s glowing fist hovering just above his skin. “Well, you’re back now. Fuck those guys.”

“Right,” he said. “But seriously, you have to tell the ghosts what…I mean, it’s dangerous to be here right now. The Guys in—the government doesn’t—”

“Chill. I know I’m in danger by being here. Jeez, let a girl live a little.”

The only reason why the Guys in White went “easy” on him was because he had a human half at all. The full ghosts? The government didn’t have a reason to cater to their afterlives. If Ember was caught…well, she was disposable enough for the Guys in White to not give a crap about taking her whole core.

But Danny couldn’t say this without sounding like an asshole. “Just tell them. Please.”

“Sure, whatever, babypop.” Ember popped another chip in her mouth. “But don’t expect the others to listen, you know. They’ll probably just think I’m keeping you all to myself or something.”

“I’m not a toy, Ember.”

“But you’ve got the portal.”

“It’s not my portal.”

“But it’s in your territory.”

Yeah, by the unwritten ghost rules, that did actually make it “his” portal. “Even more reason for—for the others to leave me alone.”

Ember shrugged and poked Cujo. “Hey, lazy. If you sleep right now, you won’t be tired later and then you’re going to want to play when I’m tired.”

Cujo blinked up at her with sleep still in his eyes. Then he stuck out his tongue and lapped her fingers.

“Ugh, gross!” Ember shook out her hand. “The chips aren’t for you.”

Now with the taste of chips on his tongue, Cujo perked up and sniffed toward the bag.

“No! Not for you!” Ember scolded him, swiping the chips from the ground before he could make his attempted pounce. “You’ll throw up if you eat these. Hang on…I’ve got…”

Danny smiled absentmindedly, scratching Cujo’s back. Seeing these two interact…yeah, Danny was glad that he’d managed to convince Ember to take in Cujo last year after one of Cujo’s escapades into the Human World landed him too close to being captured by Jack and his Fenton Ghost Catcher. It was clear that Cujo needed an owner, and Ember needed some company other than Skulker.

Ember pulled out a glowing plastic baggie from her pocket. “Carrots! Here you go.”

“Carrots?”

“You never heard of that? Carrots are really good for dogs,” Ember said. She shook the bag, now addressing Cujo. “You want these? You want the carrots?”

Judging by his drooling mouth and the small whine that escaped his lips, Cujo did, in fact, very much want the carrots.

“Hang on, wait…” Danny guffawed, putting a hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter. “Wait, wait, wait. Ember, did—did you cut up the carrots?”

“Of course I did!” She said, pelting him with a tiny chunk of carrot.

It rolled off of his head, and he clutched his stomach, rolling into the air in a fit of giggles.

“It makes it easier for him to chew!”

“Oh my god,” he wheezed. Never in a thousand years would he have guessed Ember of all ghosts would be catering to a puppy.

Ember tossed a carrot piece in the air, watching as Cujo leaped up and caught it in his mouth. “You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first.”

“Sure.”

“Whatever.” She turned to Cujo again. “Is babypop jealous of me? What do you think, little guy?”

Danny grabbed the carrot chunk from the ground and threw it back at Ember. Ever the ghost, she turned intangible, letting it sail through her.

Cujo, however, prevented it from hitting the ground again.

“Good boy!” Ember praised him.

Danny rose, stretching. “Anyway, I gotta get home before—before anyone realizes I—I’ve been gone. Uh…thanks for coming.”

“Yeah, nice to see you, dude. I’ll relay your message to the others. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks.”

“And babypop?” she said, her brows knitting together as she studied him once more. Her eyes lingered on his chest.

“Yeah?”

She was silent for a moment longer. Then the spell broke, and her easygoing smile was back on her lips. “Heal up quickly, alright? Skulker’s ego’s too high right now. Someone needs to take him down a notch, if you catch my drift.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Danny gave her a two-fingered salute and flew off into the night, glancing back only once to see their receding forms. Like with most of his rogue gallery, Danny didn’t think any relationship between them would ever become a true friendship. An allyship? Certainly, but there was still too much history combined with a cavern of differences between Danny and the rest of the ghosts to get much closer than a few minutes of awkward conversation. All of them, Ember included, were ghosts—full ghosts. And Danny? Well…he wasn’t.

Even if the media still tried to pin that label on him. When they weren’t calling him a mutant freak, that was.

A few minutes later, he was invisibly crossing through his window. Muscle memory was kind to him, and the motions of closing his curtains and checking his surroundings before popping back into visibility and transforming back into his human form were hardly more than an unremarkable thought in his mind. The government could take away much, but not everything, it seemed.

He settled into bed, his eyes lingering on his nightstand drawer. Maybe he could…

But no.

He was turning a new leaf.

He was the model halfa now. Someone who did well in school, who didn’t fall asleep in class, who was a good son, nice to his family, and wasn’t a failure in every way. He was better, he was going to be better.

He could be even better if he just opened the drawer…peeked at the inside…what’s one more pill, Danny? What are you afraid of?

No, he was better now.

He was better now.

****

Huge thank you to @imekitty for being an amazing beta for this chapter and honestly the voice of reason here. Ended up taking her direction a LOT during the writing process and I'm really glad I did!

****

previous / next

#danny phantom #everything was white #my writing

42 notes · View notes

justlookfrightened · 2 years

Text

Father's Day

“You sure you don’t want to come, Bits?”

Jack was standing by the door with his golf bag slung over his shoulder.

“It wouldn’t be any problem to add a third,” Bob said, with the confidence of a man who always got what he wanted from service workers, no matter how many twenties he had to slip them.

“No, y’all go and enjoy your game,” Bitty said. “They’re sure to be busy on Father’s Day. I’m sure they’ll pair you with another twosome.”

“No, they won’t,” Jack said. “I paid for a foursome. Avoids the awkwardness of getting paired up with fans.”

“Or worse, people who aren’t fans,” Bob chimed in.

“Of course you did,” Bitty said, shaking his head. “You go on. I’ll have everything ready for the grill when you get back. I gotta call my dad anyway.”

“If you’re sure,” Jack said. “Say hi for me.”

“Will do!” Bitty said, knowing his enthusiasm sounded forced even as he said it.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Bitty took a deep breath in and blew it out. Bob had been in town since Friday, on his own since Alicia had some board commitments, and the level of togetherness had been a bit … much.

Which was weird, because Bitty loved Bob. Jack was usually more likely to be annoyed by Bob’s big personality and the way his gregariousness drew people to him like a magnet.

This time, Jack and Bob had gone running together (with Bitty) and skated together (with Bitty). They’d gone out for meals and visited a history museum (with Bitty). When Jack had to go to a meeting with Falconers management, Bitty and Bob had made sourdough and whole wheat breads before Bitty showed Bob how to make pitas. Bitty, frankly, was ready for some time alone.

Bitty connected his phone to the Bluetooth speaker, selected a playlist and got to work.

He cleared the brunch dishes from the table, loading plates and flatware into the dishwasher before tackling the pans that were soaking in the sink.

He stripped the sheets from his and Jack’s bed, threw them in the washer, and took a load of T-shirts, socks and underwear from the dryer to fold them.

This was a chore better done without an audience, he thought to himself with some satisfaction. That wasn’t fair, though. Bob wouldn’t mind; he’d probably help.

Once the clothes were put away, Bitty gave both bathrooms a once-over, wiping down surfaces and refreshing towels. He straightened the sofa cushions, shelved the books scattered on the coffee table, watered the plants and ran the vacuum.

There was still at least an hour and a half before Jack and Bob would get back, and Coach and Mama would have been home from church in Madison for hours now. If he was going to call, now would be a good time.

Bitty turned the music off and found the contact for his parents’ landline. It wasn’t like he needed it; it was the first phone number he ever learned, the one that was written inside his jacket when he was in kindergarten and the one he had called for rides home from the rink more times than he could count. But he hardly used it anymore. Now when he talked to Mama, it was almost on her mobile, so they could switch to videochat while they baked together or when he wanted advice for what to do about the ailing tomato plants in the tubs on the terrace.

The phone rang once, twice, three times. Maybe they had gone out? Neither of Bitty’s parents’ fathers were alive anymore – hadn’t been since Bitty was a very small child, and really, his father wasn’t much older than Bitty was now when Grandpa Bittle had passed – but maybe one of the aunts was hosting something for Father’s Day?

But Mama probably would have mentioned it when they talked on Thursday.

Four rings, and then the click of the receiver being picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Coach,” Bitty said. “Er. Daddy. It’s me. I called to say happy Father’s Day.”

“Thanks, Junior,” his father said. “It’s nice of you to call. I got your card, too. Do you want to talk to your mother?”

Bitty bit back the response that formed in his mouth, the “Why don’t you think I want to talk to you?” Or maybe it was, “Why don’t you ever want to talk to me?”

“Not just yet,” Bitty said. “I called to talk to you. Are you having a good day?” “I suppose,” Coach said, like it might be a trick question. “It’s hot, so I’m sitting here in the den watching the Braves. I cut the grass yesterday, in the morning, before the heat got too bad. And of course it rained in the afternoon. Probably not so hot up north.”

The weather?

“No, it’s not,” Bitty said. “It’s actually a beautiful day today. Jack went out to play golf with his dad. He said to say hi.”

“He’s doing all right?” Coach asked. “Not too down about not making the final this year?”

“He’s good,” Bitty said. “He’d rather be playing – of course – but they had a good season, and he could use the downtime.”

Silence.

“So, how’re the Braves doing?” Bitty asked, desperate for a new topic.

“Winning today,” Coach said. “But there’s still time for them to blow it. Your mother just came in from the garden, let me get her. Suzanne! Junior’s on the phone.”

His mother picked up the phone in the kitchen and his father hung up the phone in the den, and Bitty asked, “Everything okay down there? It’s hard to get much out of Coach.”

“You know he’s not big on talking on the phone,” Mama said. “But he does miss you. Your coming for the Fourth of July, right? You and Jack both?

“Yes, ma’am,” Bitty said.

“What did you settle on to make for dinner?” she asked.

“We’re just going to grill some kebabs,” Bitty said. “Easier to get meat and veggies in that way. And I made some pitas with Bob the other day. But I should get going – I wanted to get a pie in the oven before they get back from their golf game.”

“Alright, then,” Mama said. “Say hello to Bob for me, and to that handsome man of yours. I love you, Dicky, and your father does, too.”

“Love you too, Mama,” Bitty said, and ended the call. Then he started putting together dough for a pie crust, to make what he told his mother true.

By the time Jack and Bob came back, sweaty and tired and a little flushed with the sun, the pie was baking and the kebabs were marinating. The condo was as clean as it ever got, and Bitty was clean in a fresh polo shirt and pressed shorts.

Jack glanced around, waited for his father to head to the guest room to freshen up, and said, “Everything go okay?”

“Great,” Bitty said. “We managed to talk for five whole minutes before he got Mama on the phone.”

“That must be some kind of record,” Jack deadpanned.

“You know, I think it might be,” Bitty said.

Just then, his phone dinged in his pocket. It was a text from Coach, who hardly ever used his mobile when he was at home.

Braves won.

And if I forgot to say it, I love you, son.

Or read it on AO3

#zimbits #omgcheckplease #omg check please #my fic

228 notes · View notes

raccoon-eyed-rebel · 11 months

Text

Part 24 - Sy

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Part 23 -- Part 25

Pairing: Sy x trans!ofc (Alicia)

Summary: The guys throw a New Years Eve party at 179th Crescent Street...

Warnings: SMUT, NSFW, 18+, MINORS DNI, oral (m and f receiving), anal fingering (m receiving), an interesting case (if I do say so myself) of phone-moaning (look it up if you have to). Brief mention of transphobic parents and mention of (child) abuse.

ETA: PLEASE, if I missed any tags/warnings, let me know. (Always let me know, but let me know for this one in particular. It's way more likely I accidentally missed something that can be triggering for someone here.)

Word count: 3.6k

A/N: I'm on the verge of having a panic attack over posting this. Not because I think it's bad - I personally love this chapter - but because Sy is such a crowd favorite and I'm a little nervous about how this will be received. Also: Liz is the first trans character I've written at this point. So much research went into this, which is part of why I struggled with writing this so much. We're still horny on main, though, as always.

It's obviously a first for Sy, too, and he says some stupid shit - he also really likes this girl, which doesn't help with foot-in-mouth-disease, obviously. Bear with him, please.

@deandoesthingstome @geralts-yenn @summersong69 @peaches1958 @fvckinghenrycavill @keanureevesisbae @livisss @sillyrabbit81 @ellethespaceunicorn @ylva-syverson @poledancingdinos

Charles punched a guy. We’d all love to get through a night out - or in, apparently - without something like that happening, but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards for us. That said, I think he was right to do it, and if I’d been within arms reach of the guy, he’d have had me to deal with, too. Harassing Dani was wrong, but to do it right in front of our eyes… That’s just plain stupid. When everyone’s back to their business, I turn back to Alicia and watch her as she takes a sip of her beer.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing,” I say. I huff quietly when I hear myself speak. Little too much emphasis on that ‘g’ at the end. I’m hiding my accent. I like this girl.

I first noticed it when I talked to Mike after the chaotic house meeting from a few days ago. I say ‘chaotic’, but it wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for us. It’s not our fault! Who puts eight guys our age in a house and calls it a day? Anyway, he told me one of Dani’s roommates wanted to find out if Dani had been lying about my… Let’s go with ‘skills’. Apparently, the review was pretty good. Now, I’ve seen Sloane. She’s on the hockey team, and I normally wouldn’t dream of passing up an opportunity like that, but I just… Couldn’t care less, to be honest. And then Liz texted me and Mike caught me grinning at my phone like an idiot. Which he pointed out while also grinning like an idiot. And now here we are.

“Say that again,” she teases. Fuck, I’m busted. How about I don’t answer her, and just shake my head instead? Will that work? “I like the way you talk, Sy.”

There’s a hint of a drawl to her voice. It’s definitely subtle, but it’s there. At first I wonder if she’s messing with me, but when she asks where I’m from, I have my answer. She’s not mocking me, she’s from Georgia. Which my stepfather would say is even worse, but I stopped listening to him right around the time I turned six. The longer we talk, the clearer her accent becomes. Makes me wonder when she lost it. And why. Takes me a while longer than I care to admit to ask her that…

“My aunt from New York took me in when I was twelve,” she answers. “Parents kicked me out for… You know… What about you? What made you move away?” It doesn’t bother me that she doesn’t finish her sentence, because I have a perfectly good idea of what she would have said if she had. I feel like everybody would have known. When Mikey found out Liz and I were texting, he asked me if I knew. I told him I did. Then he asked me if I cared, and I told him I didn’t. I meant what I said.

“The short version is that I tried to hit ma’s scumbag boyfriend back, hit ma instead. Can’t come home unless I apologize to him. Which I ain’t gonna do.”

“Ouch, you win. More beer?” She’s on her way to the kitchen before I can even answer.

Now that I’ve got nothing else to do, I look around the room. Charles has disappeared - probably with Sloane - and Leon is still chatting up Ariel, Dani’s other roommate. They seem to know each other, which means she might be the same Ariel he always competes with to be first in his class. Marshall is up to something that involves Vivienne Chase. I know the type. We all do. I know Marshall has referred to her as a ‘puck bunny’ before. He seemed pretty annoyed by her at the time. Guess that’s over now. I don’t know what’s been bugging him, but it can’t be good. I reckon there’s an eighty percent chance that this ain’t the way to solve it, either, but it’s none of my business, and I’m gonna treat it that way.

Alicia and I play a few more rounds of horrible childhood bingo, until people around us start counting down. It’s a countdown to a first kiss I’m shockingly nervous about. Luckily, she’s braver than I am, putting her bottle down while reaching for mine. Then, when that’s put to the side as well, pulling me closer to her by hooking her fingers into the pockets of my jeans. I expected to not have to lower my head: she’s nearly six feet tall. What I didn’t expect was that I’d be looking up slightly. She’s wearing heels, too, fucking hell. It takes everything I’ve got to keep with a certain level of decency. Yes, practically everyone in this room is doing the same thing I am, but that don’t mean… Alright, she doesn't seem to care about propriety half as much as I do.

“I’ve got a perfectly nice room upstairs, with a lot less prying eyes.” Why am I not surprised she’s coming with me?

Goddamn, this girl can kiss. I’m already dizzy, and something just tells me I ain’t seen nothing yet. The way she’s clawing at my back makes me think she likes it rough. I don’t mind it one bit: I ain’t exactly built to be gentle. She moans loudly when I pin her against the door. Her dress was already creeping up her thighs when I walked her upstairs, but is now only inches away from exposing that gorgeous ass completely - I didn’t let her go first on the stairs for no goddamn reason, and now that we’re in private, whatever fabric stands between me and that ass is frustrating me to no end.

“Hm, eager,” she chuckles as my hands push her dress up further. I groan as she makes a point of grinding her hips against mine.

“Well, you’re a hot piece of ass, so…” She laughs when I pull her away from the door, towards my bed.

That dress comes off easily, but not before she pulls my shirt over my head. That look in her eyes as they glide over my chest, the way she takes her bottom lip in between her teeth… This chick is driving me fucking nuts. I enjoy the way she looks at me for a while too long, apparently, because she reaches behind her back to undo her bra and tosses it aside. Now it’s my turn to stare and her turn to revel in the attention. ‘Great tits.’ That’s it. That’s the only thought I have. Anything else, my brain just refuses to process - like the ringing of her phone, which I hear faintly in the background somewhere. The only reason I know I’m not making it up, is because I watch her pull it out of the purse she dropped next to my bed, and hang up on whoever is on the other end. Other than that faint notion, that rack is really my whole world right now. Fucking magnetic. I mean it. It’s as if gravity in this room has somehow shifted, and everything is now pulled towards her chest. Alright, maybe not everything, but God knows I am, for sure.

The few quick kisses on her neck are out of a kind of twisted courtesy - pure pretense, to separate myself from a fucking caveman by a hair or two. As much as I hate to admit it, all I really want right now is to get more closely acquainted with these boobs. They’re far from the biggest I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t say they’re the nicest, either - although they’re definitely up there. But, damn, I’d be lying if I said there had ever been a pair I’d been more curious about. I have a strong feeling she won’t appreciate it if I say something about that, but unfortunately there just ain’t enough blood going to my brain right now for me to think straight…

“Can’t believe these are fake.” Once I realize what I’ve said, I look up at her like a deer in headlights.

“No worries, you’re good,” Alicia laughs when she sees my face. “I mean… They are fake.”

“How ‘bout I just try ‘n’ keep quiet from now on?” It’s gonna be tough, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if I accidentally say something really stupid and ruin this.

“Oh no. They say you’ve got a dirty mouth. I wanna hear it.” That’s all good ‘n' well, but I’m gonna keep my mouth otherwise occupied for the time being. I sincerely hope she won’t mind.

My nerves about saying something stupid end up on the back burner when her phone rings again. I fucking hope it's a protective friend or something.

"Jesus, who keeps callin' ya?" This is the third time in ten minutes. I gave it a pass the first two, but now… Why doesn’t she turn the damn thing off?

"My ex," she groans. Not what a man wants to hear, honestly. The phone stops buzzing for a minute, and then it picks up right where it left off with call number four. The good news is that she seems as annoyed as I am. The bad news is that continuous phone calls from the ex of the girl you're trying to nail are a really effective boner killer. Liz sighs and hangs up again, while I give up on trying to ignore this issue.

"Bad breakup?" I ask lightly, barely taking my lips off her skin. I'm fixing to get as much quality time with these tits as I possibly can, ex be damned.

"The worst," she groans. "She cheated." There's two words in that sentence, and I have no clue which one confuses me more.

"Cheated? On you? Now that's just stupid." She laughs in reply - a sound that turns into a moan when I bite down on her nipple.

I’m a little disappointed when one of her hands reaches for my chin and pulls me back up. I was having a great time! Must’ve looked sad, too, because she laughs and looks at me with feigned pity in her eyes before kissing me. I wonder if that’s the only great way she has to cheer me up… My hands continue their exploration. It’s almost impossible to move on from her boobs, but I eventually make it further down, and my hand finds its way between her legs. Hm.

"Sy," Liz has clearly picked up on my… surprise? Is that the right word? It's a good thing there’s a hint of a chuckle to her voice, because I'm just confused at this point.

"Yeah?"

"This vagina was brought to you by the wonders of modern medicine. Doesn't get as wet as you’re probably used to." That actually explains a lot - and nowhere near enough. It sounds like lube would fix most of that problem, and I have some, so we’re good there. Thing is: it tastes horrible. Luckily, Liz manages to solve my dilemma before my indecisiveness really gets to me.

“I’ve heard too many good things about that allegedly incredible head game of yours,” she says coyly. I chuckle as a grin spreads on my face. Knowing her expectations are high should probably make me more nervous than I already am, but it doesn’t. I know what the girls I’ve been with say about me, and I take pride in that particular skill. Does that make me a cocky jerk sometimes? Absolutely. They don’t seem to care when they’re screaming my name, so why should I?

I kiss my way down Alicia’s body. Slowly. I may be impatient but I enjoy teasing ‘em a little too much to skip that part… She clearly disagrees, trying everything in her power to push me down faster. It’s cute, and it makes me laugh.

“Ain’t gonna work, sugar,” I say in between kisses pressed to her stomach. “The more you try, the longer I’m gonna drag this out. Be good for me, okay?” She agrees - reluctantly - meaning I can continue my journey south.

Not being able to use my hands is going to be a challenge. One I’ll gladly accept, that’s for sure, but a challenge nonetheless. It takes me a minute to find something she likes. Thank God she’s not shy! Actually, she’s pretty loud, which is fantastic. I love a woman who just offers up the intel on what she likes unprompted. Makes me look like I know what I’m doing, because… well… I’ll know what I’m doing. She’s all moans and whimpers and ‘right there’-s and breaths hitching as my fingertips dig into her hips. Her hand is on the back of my head, pulling me closer to her… I can’t wipe this smug grin off my face - she’s gonna cum in no time.

Fuck! That goddamn phone again! I stop what I’m doing, raise myself up on my elbows and look at Liz.

“Pick up the phone,” I growl. I’m done with this bullshit.

“What?” Liz asks me, slightly dazed. I understand her confusion, but I’m seriously over this.

“Pick up the goddamn phone,” I repeat. My grin widens as I watch Alicia accept the call and put the phone to her ear.

“Kelly. Hi," she says. She’s clearly not happy to even speak to her. Doesn’t matter. I’m gonna try my best to make this the best phone call they ever had. I can’t help but chuckle as my mouth finds its way back to where it was a minute ago, and goes right back to doing exactly what it was doing before we were so rudely interrupted. When I look up, Alicia stares back at me, eyes wide with shock, begging me… to keep going.

“Eh, no. I - ah - I’m not home.” She’s trying hard to keep her voice steady, I’m trying hard to break her. Neither of us have it easy right now. And ultimately we’re both still playing for the same side.

“Why do you even give a - fuck!” Honestly? Nice timing. Kelly’s voice - which I can barely make out from where I am - starts to sound more agitated. Apparently, the answer to that question is a long one, because Kelly keeps talking for a while. That gives me just the right amount of time to really drive Liz nuts.

“It’s literally - hng - none of your business - hmm - what I’m doing,” Liz suddenly snaps. “Or who I’m doing.” I almost choke on my own spit when she adds that last bit.

“Because we broke up, remember? Jesus.” There’s no way she can last long now.

“Kelly, seriously, stop bothering m-oh my god, Sy!” It’s a good thing she can’t see my face, because I’m grinning like crazy.

“That was fun,” I tease when I lie down next to her again. “Turn that thing off.”

“I doubt she’ll be calling back,” Alicia says, but she turns her phone off anyway before turning to me. “You really are as good as they say.”

It’s a reputation I never asked for, but I can’t say I mind having it. And I certainly don’t mind honing my craft, so to speak. Besides… most girls are willing to trade good head for good head - in my personal experience, at least. I can't complain about that.

Her fingers leave goosebumps on my skin wherever they move - and they move absolutely everywhere but the place I actually want them in, while she kisses me fiercely. It’s far too easy to lose myself in her touch, especially when she finally does go where I need her most.

I’m prepared for the soft gasp I hear when she wraps her fingers around my cock - anything else there is to notice gets lost in the sensation of her lips all over my chest and abs as she makes her way down. Her tongue feels amazing as she slowly swirls it around the tip of my cock before taking me all the way down with no issues.

I'm staring. I know I am, and I don't give a damn. It's been a while since I've been this impressed with a girl's skills. Fuck me, she's good. Her eyes are on me the whole time she's down there, slobbering all over my dick - pardon my French - and I'm in absolute heaven. Until…

"Whoa!" Those fingers are headed directly where no man - or woman, for that matter - has gone before. Not on me, at least.

"What's the problem, Sy?"

I curse softly under my breath and pray Geralt isn't listening in. "I'd say somethin' along the lines of me not bein' used to a girl tryin'a stick a finger up my ass," I mumble. Judging from the grin on her face, she heard perfectly. She slowly climbs up until she's lying next to me again.

"I strongly recommend that you give it a try," she says in a sultry tone, with eyes that put 98 percent of pornstars to shame.

"Normally I'd ask ya why I should trust a girl on this," I sigh, "but I reckon you would know…"

"First-hand experience," she replies. I don't know what it is, but something about this is intriguing.

"Is it good?" I ask carefully. I'm not saying I will… just that… I might.

"Like you wouldn't believe," she purrs in my ear. That's it, I'm blaming her. It's her. She is impossible to resist.

"Alright, I'll bite," I say, and I can't believe my own ears. "I'll try it." She's made me fucking curious. Dammit. Oh well. If I don't like it, I don't ever gotta do it again, right?

"Told ya," she grins. I'm still dizzy. That was hands down the best fucking orgasm of my entire life. Fucking hell. And there she is: smug smirk firm on her face, and soft lips torturing my earlobe.

"Gimme a break, sugar," I moan softly as I gently pull her head away from my face by her hair. She seems to like that.

"That good, huh?" Yeah, yeah, missy, you're awfully proud of yourself. Well… she's not wrong. It really was that good.

"Yeah," I sigh. "But why not go for the… more traditional…" What I want to know is why she didn't…

"You want to know why I didn't let you stick me." That would be one way of putting it, yes.

She takes a deep breath and looks at me.

“Cards on the table, Sy: There’s no way you’re gonna fit,” she says. Are my eyes deceiving me or does she look embarrassed by that?

“Alright, that explains that,” I say, pulling her into a hug.

“You’re not disappointed?” she asks, her voice as full of disbelief as the expression on her face. I shrug. Of course not! Why would I be?

“Nah.” It’s the truth, however hard that may be for her to believe. It’s not even the first time this has happened. You never know what the reaction is going to be when girls first find out what you’re blessed with. At this point, I’ve seen everything from nerves to sheer terror to excitement - sometimes on the same face, within the same minute. This ain’t nothing new to me. But it bothers her. And it bothers me that it bothers her.

“Hey,” I say as I put a finger under her chin and make her look at me, “I’m okay with it if we don’t have sex.” That’s not what I should have said, but I hope she doesn’t jump on it…

“We are having sex,” she says, one eyebrow raised. Fuck.

“Yeah… I know that. Sherlock pointed that out a few days ago, I’m just… I’m still… adjusting my vocabulary.” The grin on her face spreads slowly while I scramble for words, and I glare at her.

“I’m sorry, Sy, I shouldn’t be teasing you like this,” she laughs.

“No,” I reply, “you shouldn’t. You’ll have to make it up to me.”

“Well, there’s always anal,” she says. There’s no way she doesn’t actually hear the record-scratch in my brain. That whole thing came out a little too point-blank for her to be joking. I think. At the same time, I’m not even sure she said what I think she said. I have to have made that up, right? There’s no way…

“What?” I blurt out. And lo and behold: She repeats herself. There it is again. ‘There’s always anal.’ She really said that. Alright.

“Hold on… Your pussy can’t handle me, but your ass can?” I don’t mean to sound as surprised - or crude - as I do, but I can’t help it. This is very… counterintuitive to me. To say the least.

“The downside of designer pussy is that it doesn’t really… stretch easily,” she says softly. I can’t stop myself from letting out a chuckle when she says ‘designer pussy’ - two words I’d probably never expected to hear that close to one another.

“Hey, I’m not opposed to the idea,” I say. It would be another first for me. Definitely something I wouldn’t mind crossing off the list. But not tonight. Not after that blowjob - that's what we're gonna call it for now, I'm still getting comfortable with that other thing that happened. Not after that orgasm. Not after all those beers. She seems to understand perfectly.

"Do you want me to leave?" she asks. I look at her, completely confused.

"Literally not even one bit, darlin'. You're stayin' right here."

#179cs #179 crescent street #henry cavill characters #henrycavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #syverson #captain syverson #syverson x ofc #syverson fanfiction #captain syverson fanfiction #syverson smut #syverson x trans!ofc

23 notes · View notes

disorganizedkitten · 1 month

Text

We'll Take Our World By Storm Chapter 2

Harry Potter | 2021 | 9,191 | Ao3 | Previous | Masterlist | Next

You may remember, reader, that last chapter I said I would often ignore the rules of time-space for the sake of the story. This is another of those situations, so please follow me backwards and sideways, to Kings Cross Station, early in the morning of September First, Nineteen-Eighty-Nine.

This is another beginning, and again, you'll have to guess of what.

There's a family of three, all female, all redheads, who are some of the first through the barrier.

Amelia Bones, whom you met last chapter, and her girls, Susan and Delphi. Right now, Susan is all of nine years old, and Delphi is eleven.

Amelia, since I didn't tell you earlier, has russet curls and a stress-aged face. She’s only fifty-six, which in wizard years is extremely young, but, as I said.

Personally, I think she looks more refined.

Susan is her niece, and Delphi her… cousin-ever-so-many-times-removed? Daughter? I mentioned that maps were wonky here? Try family trees. It wouldn’t be a problem, except everything is adoption.

On topic though! Susan has the orange shade of red hair, but not very bright. She also has an adorable half-up ponytail with bangs, which Delphi helped her put in that morning.

Susan’s eyes are blue, like Amelia’s, but Delphi’s are not.

Have you figured out who is who yet?

No?

Let’s go.

Delphini doesn’t plan to tell anyone her name until she has to, so neither will I. It’s this thought that keeps her from panicking as Amelia takes her to the train station. She knows no one will look at her and think Evil, but she's worried about what they'll do when they hear her name.

She clings to Amelia when they arrive. Since they’re so early, Delphi is one of the first to reach the Hogwarts Express. She takes her trunk with her, and in a deliberate move against her parents, keeps her artificial octopus in the crook of her elbow.

She had lain awake with her younger family, most of them coming to Hogwarts in two years, for many nights, wondering how she would survive going into this alone. None of her cousins, even the adopted magicals, were going to be at Hogwarts when she would be. Well, that’s not true, strictly, but Delphi hasn’t had contact with Alicia in a year and she worries that with age comes hate.

It’s not an unfounded worry. But in this case, it just means Delphi has to use her own plan, the one made with the help of stubborn nine-year-olds and a single creative fourteen year old. The only hole in this plan of hers is that it won’t work after the sorting, so Delphi has to hope the old belief that you’ll meet your best friends (and sometimes your worst enemies) on the Hogwarts Express will turn out to be true.

It has so far; I’m rooting for her.

The family reach the carriage door in time for Amelia’s watch, a portkey with a protean charm and a few other surprises, to begin chiming. Amelia jumps and fumbles to look at the screen, while Delphi and Susan share a look. Delphi feels her heart sink.

See, Delphi remembers Amelia more than her blood parents, and she knows her caretaker, aunt, mother- she knows Amelia, and so she knows that Amelia will ensure the girls’ safety and then return to her duties. It hurts, even though she knows instinctively that Amelia loves her anyway.

Amelia, meanwhile, was scanning the crowds for someone she could entrust with Delphi. Sadly, the number’s really, really small. See, I haven’t said her name yet, and I won’t confirm any guesses until her friends know too, but suffice to say that Delhpi’s name carries weight, just of the kind no child wants to bear.

“Andromeda, thank goodness!”

Delphi’s aunt and cousin hurry over at the call. Dora is going into her sixth year, and is the only other metamorphmagus Delphini knows. “What happened, Amelia?” Andromeda Tonks asks as they converge.

Andromeda is tall, with long, dark brown curls, white skin tanned by days chasing her daughter in the sun, and the hereditary grey eyes.

“They’re trying to call me in, can you make sure Delphi is okay for departure?” Amelia asks.

“Of course.” Andromeda assures. Delphi tries to smile, but it falls flat.

Amelia crouches down to look at her eldest child, blue eyes soft. Delphi’s eyes change from inherited grey to the same navy blue, the only thing belaying her nerves. “It’ll be okay. The teachers shouldn’t allow any attacks, and if they do, write me. I’ll take care of it, I promise.” Amelia leans forwards to kiss Delphi’s forehead. “Listen to the sorting hat, I don’t care what house you’re in, as long as you’re happy.” Delphi nods, eyes stinging and vision blurring. “I love you,” Amelia says seriously.

Delphi surges forward to hug her, before pulling away to wipe her eyes. “I’ll make you proud.”

“Only by doing your best, I hope.” Amelia’s watch buzzes more urgently, and she relinquishes Delphi to Andromeda. “I’ll look for letters tomorrow.”

Delphi nods, curling into her aunt’s side. As soon as Amelia and Susan have left, and Delphi is done mournfully watching their backs, Dora nudges her with a grin. “You know, I’ve always thought it would be great fun to have two metamorphs in the Sett.”

Delphi grins back, a little brittle, but trying to reciprocate her cousin’s optimism. “Not afraid of me stealing your schtick?”

“As if you could,” Dora challenges, hair popping to a brighter pink and streaking yellow and black through it. Dora has always been more free with her metamorph abilities. Today, the sixteen-year-old has blue eyes like her father, fair skin like her mom, and once-pink-blonde-hair gone bright. In contrast, Delphi keeps hers close to her chest unless she’s challenging Dora.

Dora’s grin is wider, so Delphi streaks her own ponytail with all four house colors - a dark green, a bright yellow, a solid blue, and a lighter red. Gryffindor’s is hardest to see against her usual chosen color of cherry.

The girls continue like this for a few minutes, until one of Dora’s friends arrives. When Charlie Weasley pops up, Delphi yanks her features back into herself and leaves her cousin to it.

She finds a compartment quickly. She knows nothing about it, and as she runs her fingers across the leather seats, she breathes deeply because it was her choice . She doesn't know which compartment her parents used, and even if this one is it, it does not and will not feel like it.

Growing up, her cousin Regulus offered to tell her stories of her parents, or even of her cousins, but Delphi refused. She didn't want to hear about the bright children who grew up to be monsters, and she still doesn't. She listens when Uncle Regulus tells stories to the rest of the children, because she knows those are for entertainment and not an attempt to connect her to parents she doesn't want to know.

(Regulus, naturally, stopped trying when she told him that outright, merely saying that if she changed her mind to tell him. He has rarely brought up stories centering on her mother since).

Delphi sits down in the seat by the window instead of the door, with her trunk in the overhang, and feels at peace because she is going to learn the castle mostly on her own. She's not going to look at a window and think 'this is where my parents were caught torturing a cat' or 'this is where my parents' first kiss was recorded'. She'll never think 'So many carriages away from the engine, this is where my mom rode her first year'. No. She'll think 'this is the hallway Uncle Regulus and his friends once saw turned into a swamp', and know that it was funny once but doesn't concern her.

This makes Delphi smile, and she looks out the window with Leonis on her arm and hope in her eyes.

Dora and Charlie are still talking on the platform, and there are a bunch of redheads around them who Delphi assumes are Charlie's family. She is right. The Weasleys, remember them? They, as they are wont to do, are seeing off their children with as much of the family as can come, even little eight year old Ginevra. Their red is more of a shaggy orange, like carrots or cheese chips. Or Arnold, if you remember the original Magic School Bus cartoon. I suppose references like that depend on the reader.

Delphi's is, as mentioned, cherry. She looks rather more like Lily Potter, if you also remember.

I’m beginning to hope you have a decent memory.

The platform fills and empties in turns for the next three hours, and Delphi spends most of that time watching out the window and changing the colors of her nails. Contrary to what Dora would suggest, Metamorphi aren't all the human equivalent to mood rings. Some, like Dora, were morphing as infants and have strong magic tied into their looks, strong enough that they have to change often to use it up. A biological form is debatable, and usually built from what they see in family. Some, who you probably won't meet here, have to always focus on their current look, and can revert back to a biological form when either their focus fails or they spend their magic. And others, like Delphi, don't have a biological form. Any shifts they do will require matching effort to undo, for they are permanent.

Delphi has spent most of her life practicing for precise morphs. She doesn’t have streaks in her hair anymore, because she willed the strands back to red. So as she turns her nails blue and then spirals white through them, it’s not a spell, but focus that she uses.

At two hours to departure, Delphi is joined by twin girls. They’re identical twins, as happens so often in pureblood families. The genes are already strong, and twins rarely have more visible individuality than other siblings would. These two are brunette, with smooth, collarbone-length hair that Delphi finds unfairly cute. She thinks her own ponytail makes her look a little too drawn up for her age, but it’s her favorite hairstyle and she can pull it off much better than she can pull off Hannah’s pigtails. Or put it in quicker, at least.

Delphi stops thinking about how cute their hair is, and instead smiles at the twin closest to her. “Hello.”

“Hello,” the closer twin replies, sounding wary but open. “I’m Hestia Carrow, and this is Flora. May we join you?”

The wariness makes sense, very suddenly. Delphi nearly stumbles over her words as she replies. “Of course! There’s plenty of room, as I’m sure you noticed.” She doesn’t even consider turning them away, because Carrow was a name ruined in the war, much like Delphini’s own. Hestia smiles tightly, and Flora smiles awkwardly, but they do come inside.

They place their trunks in the overhead compartments, and then sit down, Flora across from Delphi, by the window, and Hestia beside her, too close to be in the middle of the bench. It’s quiet for a few minutes, and Delphi nervously changes the color of her nails again. This time, they turn seashell pink. She finishes smoothing the color, and darkens it by her cuticles, and then decides to fill the silence.

She’s pretty sure being allergic to awkward silences is a Bones trait.

“This is Leonis,” she announces, holding up the artificial octopus she’s had since before she lost her parents. His original name had been something like Luslus, but Delphi was able to rename him last summer with Uncle Regulus’ help. “I think he’s the only good thing my parents gave me, other than my name and life.” Delphi sets him back on her lap. He’s a faded orange, looking like a transfigured fox more than anything, but she loves him. She plays with his articulated tentacles as she continues speaking. “I turned him purple once, because my sister spilt grape juice on him and I hated the way the colors mixed. Another time, my cousin turned him blue because she was trying to remember the word for water and all she could remember was the color and that octupi live in it.” She moves to pet his crown, increasingly happy she brought him with. He had been there for a long time, and she hopes he will be for longer still.

There’s another moment of quiet between the trio, as the twins digest Delphi’s word vomit. “How old is your sister?” Flora asks.

Delphi smiles, feeling elated and accomplished because her olive branch is being returned. “She’s nine! Her name is Susan and she says if she’s not a Hufflepuff she’ll transfer to Beauxbatons.

“What about you? Any siblings aside from Hestia?”

“No,” and this time, it’s Hestia who speaks. Delphi feels giddy. “But we have a cousin who’s eight.”

Delphi beams. “We could be their guides to the school!” She loved showing Susan any secrets she found in Bones Keep, and this could be that but on a much larger scale. She winces though, because Flora and Hestia look a little stunned and a little afraid. “That is, assuming we’ll still be friends when they arrive?”

“Well,” Hestia begins, looking at Flora.

Flora nods, and continues. “I’d love to be friends, but we don’t even know your name yet.”

Delphi holds out her hand, wondering with a dropping heart if it’s worth breaking her rule for them. She decides to only do so if pressed. “Delphini, but most people shorten it somehow.” The twins look at each other suspiciously, so Delphi continues. “I’m trying to make friends before anyone can judge me for my last name.”

That, at least, is something Delphi knows the Carrows can relate to, so when they smile and it’s still a little wary, Delphi takes her win.

“Favorite chocolate frog card, go!”

Hestia startles into a laugh, and Delphi thinks that she’d like it very much if the rumors are true.

Let’s slide over for a moment, to another incoming student. Chester Norman doesn’t consider hiding anything about himself, except perhaps that he’s never as happy as he wants people to believe. He pulls his trunk behind him as he boards the train, and wonders if it’s a size issue that causes trunks to be allowed instead of suitcases. He thinks it’s a little sad, because his uncle has a really cool suitcase, but Chester’s has wheels and means he’s going to magic school, so he is okay with it.

I find it a little sad how many muggleborns will give anything to be given their basic magical rights.

Chester knocks on the first compartment that doesn’t look crowded or super rowdy, as he thinks the girls inside seem intent on their conversation, but not overly loud. And they left the door open. All three look up at the sound.

You’ve already met them, of course.

The Carrows’ mouths snap shut quickly, both looking a little hostile but mostly nervous. Delphi though, smiles. “Hello! Can we help you?”

“I was wondering if I could join you?” Chester asks.

The three girls look at each other, each making sure to meet the eyes of both of their fellows, before Delphi nods resolutely. “Absolutely. I’m Delphini.”

The twin closest to the window waves loosely. “Flora.”

“Hestia,” the twin closer to the door says.

“I’m Chester,” he introduces himself, lugging his trunk inside. He gets it into the overhang with the girls’ before sitting down in the corner by the door. He doesn’t consider the lack of last names. He’s eleven, as are the rest of them, and he’s a muggleborn. He doesn’t know the Wizarding emphasis placed on last names, and again. He’s eleven. Chester couldn’t care less. Sometimes I wish more people thought like him.

Other times, he lights the school banners on fire and I’m thankful they don’t.

Anyway. The silence as they settle together is shorter this time than it was the last. Delphi introduces Chester to Leonis, and Hestia opens the conversation again by outright stating that all copies of Grindlewald’s Chocolate Frog Card should be banned. “There are too many people who think breaking the law and harming others is a worthy ticket to fame, and all the lists of the most violent, or gruesome, or downright sadistic people encourage that idea!”

Chester doesn’t know who Hestia is talking about, hasn’t learnt of Grindelwald yet, but one of his cousins was killed by a serial killer (a terrible, sadistic man, who would rip out the hearts of children) and even though the serial killer died two years ago, it’s his name that’s known, not Chester’s cousin’s. “They should have more memorials for the people killed by those types of monsters, instead,” he pipes in. Despite the conversation having been about chocolate frog cards for the past half hour, the girls follow the topic change well, throwing out ideas as to how that could be achieved.

Chester doesn’t know this, but I as the Narrator do, and see fit to tell you here. Hestia has a point. Her point is a wonderful one, one that others will realize in the next half century and work to remedy. But underneath her logic is a child’s wish. A wish to be known for something other than the sins of her bloodkin. To not have people insult her for something she had nothing to do with.

“I bet we could find old newspapers,” Delphi says, trying not to let her voice twist. I’m sure I don’t have to say so, but she has the same wish. “If we go by the killer or attackers’ names, in the archives. We could make a list of the names, if nothing else.” She reaches up to her trunk and digs out eight different quills - four real, and four sugar. She holds most of them out to her carriagemates, her own sugar quill already in her mouth. “I’m going to actually do this. Do you want to help?”

Flora and Hestia take a candy and a quill each, and Chester slowly follows their example. “What’s with the white ones?”

“Sugar quills,” Hestia says. “I think the trolley lady has some in other colors if you’d like to try, later. These ones aren’t flavored.”

Delphi sniffs, some of the seriousness of the previous topic wearing out. “Of course they aren’t. Who wants flavored sugar?”

Sadly, this is exactly when Dora pokes her head into the compartment. “What do you think Cotton Candy is, Elfy?”

Delphi sticks her tongue out. “I stand by what I said.”

Dora rolls her eyes, the roots of her hair turning yellow in amusement. “Good for you, then. I’m glad you made friends, if something explodes, Charlie and I are a few carriages down.”

“Yes, Dora,” Delphi says, a little exasperated, even though she knows it’s just because Dora cares. Dora fake salutes, closes the door, and promptly lands on her face when she turns around. Delphi flinches at the noise. “Are you okay?”

“Always!” comes Dora’s muffled reply.

Flora is looking at Delphi, but it’s Chester who speaks first. “Someone you know?”

“My cousin, Nymphadora,” Delphi admits. She’s still not using last names. “She always threatens to curse people who call her that though, so we all call her Dora.”

Hestia hums. “Might be better for us to call her Tonks though, right?”

Delphi doesn’t flinch. Flora and Hestia understand, she reminds herself. “At least until she gives you permission, probably.”

“What do you mean?” Chester asks. “What’s a Tonks?”

The girls look at each other in momentary panic, before Delphi takes the lead. “Muggleborn?” Chester nods. “Okay, so,” Delphi begins, unsure of how much he knows. The only muggleborns she personally knows live with wizards now, and the adults were always in charge of explaining the important bits. “Has anyone told you about addresses in the Wizarding World?”

“I read the section on Floo addresses.”

Delphi blinks once. Twice. Hestia takes over. “Definitely not what we mean. Unless someone has given you permission, it’s polite to call them by their last name. Sometimes titles, but not while at school. Delphi and Tonks are cousins, so by default they can call each other by their given names.”

“Untrue, actually,” Delphi interrupts, finding her tongue again. “I have to call my other cousin by his last name, because his branch of the family nearly never interacts with ours.”

Hestia stares. “That is so sad!” She bursts out. “We’re not super close, but our parents ensure us kids get together every few months!”

Chester is a little lost, but he is obviously doing his best to follow along anyway as the conversation devolves into a discussion of Delphi’s odd family dynamics. “My mom wasn’t disowned but she is in Azkaban, and most of the rest of the family forsook… well. You know. My aunt and her husband… didn’t.”

Hestia still seems disbelieving in the wrong ways, or perhaps of the wrong thing. “That’s still terrible.” She doesn’t say anything about how her dad and aunt escaped Azkaban and fall into the same category. “Have you even met him?”

“Only once, since...” Delphi makes a face, a sort of half shrug grimace because Hestia and Flora know what she meant. Growing up, Amelia didn’t talk about the war in earshot often, and with plain words even less. Uncle Regulus, Aunt Vivian, and Uncle Adrian were very candid about it, but Aunt Andromeda wasn’t. Delphi wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be or not. She still isn’t. Sometimes she isn’t sure she even knows what happened. “Well. I went to his fifth birthday party with my Uncle, and it was…” She makes another face, this one just distressed. “A disaster.”

Hestia winces. "We're talking about Malfoy, right?"

Delphi doesn't respond. Flora purses her lips instead of wincing, knowing the misstep Hestia just stumbled into.

"Sorry," Hestia cringes.

"It's fine," Delphi says. And it is, because it’s not like Delphi expected them to not figure it out. "But yes, they are my cousins."

"So," Chester cuts in, wanting to understand what’s going on again. "Unless you're close to someone, you call them by their last name? Kind of like Vous vs Tu in french?"

Delphi turns, smiling brightly. "Yes, exactly! It's mostly done by wizarding families who have assimilated or are traditional, and it's because surnames carry the weight of your ancestors. A given name implies you know the person for themselves, and a surname is for someone you know by their family."

"I think…" Hestia pauses, and Delphi waits so she can gather her thoughts. "I think that's part of why so many people look down on muggleborns. Because we don't know the history of their names, so to us it doesn't mean anything. Do… Chester, do muggles care about surnames?"

Chester shrugs. "Some do, some don't. The Americans are so anti-last name it’s almost funny." Hestia hums.

The conversation continues. Chester asks questions, his fellows try to figure out if they know the answers. Once, Delphi asks Dora for the answer, and the four of them get a twenty minute tangent from Charlie Weasley on how magical gifts don’t have actual affiliations, only societal ones.

He’d know.

Delphi licks her sugar quill, waiting for – she’s not sure. Something. Probably the guts to start her list.

Obviously, it’s slow coming. It is not easy, readers, to admit connections to someone so terrible. She closes her eyes, and focuses on thinking of names. Who does she know who were horrible people?

Her parents, obviously, count. A few cousins had been in the same terrorist gang. Who was that one Amelia always complained about? Something Macnair? Warden? Waldo? Walden? Delphi isn’t sure, so she just writes a W. and then the last name.

It’s Walden, but again. Delphi isn’t someone I can pass my omniscence onto. So instead W. Macnair starts off her lists on one side. Then she writes down, only shaking a little, Regulus Black, followed by The Lestranges (B., Ro., and Ra.), Avery Rosier, Helinora Fawley, Antonin Dolohov, Igor Karkaroff, and Amycus Carrow. She thinks it’s probably sad that she can fill in Regulus’ list the fastest, but at the same time… Regulus learned. His list of victims was small, and Delphi knew it because Regulus regretted them and was candid about his sins.

She doesn't know the others. But she knows they exist. She will know, one day.

"Is that your list?" Chester asks, leaning across the compartment to look. Delphi nods. "Huh," he hums. "All wizards?"

"I grew up in a wizarding family," Delphi admits with a shrug. "I'm not versed on Muggle criminals. Or french, for that matter." She adds, because that was how Vivian and Regulus always explained it. Magic and mundane have their own cultures.

"But we can do muggle criminals?"

"Of course!"

Delphi doesn't notice, but the other three are all turning to her for permission. For guidelines. They won’t always, but right now it’s a group project in a group she started, and Chester is recently aware of his newfound opportunities to grievously offend someone.

Chester takes her permission and starts scrawling names across his paper, the script messy and blotted, but readable. If you concentrate. Ian Bradely, Gregory Hallows, John Christie, Thomas Cream/Lambeth Poisoner.

"I swear dad talks about Dolohov when he gets drunk but I can't remember anyone he actually killed," Hestia huffed.

Delphi looks up, moving her quill over. "Um. He went to Azkaban for his involvement with the McKinnons' murders, we can narrow that down later… Smith? There was a Smith. And Prewetts, I think."

"Were there really?" Hestia asks. "I thought the Prewetts were killed by McNair."

"No," Flora says softly. "McNair is an aim and fire. 'Bloodtraitors' usually had actual fighters sent after them, because as much as they'd hate to admit that there are powerful wixen who aren't bigots, he knew they wouldn't be easy to kill." There’s a wry twist to her lips.

Pop back barely a minute, to the hallway between compartments, and I can finally introduce you directly to a Weasley. Two, actually. See, Hestia and Flora Carrow aren’t the only twins coming to Hogwarts this year. George and Fred Weasley are also here, and while they’re not twins, Hana Griffiths and Clementia Doe might as well be. Teddie and Cairo Murray are also actual twins.

Fred leads the way through the train, watching as the few other students not yet sitting down scurry around. He's followed by his twin brother, George. They haven't found anywhere to sit yet, and are coming down for the second time. They worked their way up earlier, but none of the compartments had energy Fred is looking for.

Well, to be fair, Fred isn't sure what energy he's looking for, but he knows he hasn't found it.

The train left a few minutes ago, and Fred and George were almost late because of their mum fussing.

She loves them, and it always makes her nervous to see them leave.

They're in between two carriages when he hears it.

"I swear dad talks about Dolohov when he gets drunk but I can't remember anyone he actually killed."

Fred looks back at George, but George is pushing him forward. They both want to hear the end of this. They've been warned that Death Eater kids would be at Hogwarts, and if they find whoever is bragging about Dolohov they can avoid or hex them. The twins aren't sure which to do yet. Fred takes the next steps quickly. The hallways have nearly cleared out, after the rush of the train pulling away. They reach the door the sounds are coming from and stop, quietly.

"-e can narrow that down later… Smith? There was a Smith. And Prewetts, I think."

"Were there really?" The first voice comes again. It’s Hestia, if you forgot. "I thought the Prewetts were killed by McNair."

The twins almost miss the next response, it's that soft.

"No. McNair is an aim and fire. 'Bloodtraitors' usually had actual fighters sent after them, because as much as they'd hate to admit that there are powerful wixen who aren't bigots, he knew they wouldn't be easy to kill."

"What's a bloodtraitor?" A fourth voice asks.

"A slur," says the second, harshly. "It was the- ugh. Um. Muggle Grindlewald, what was his name?" It’s quiet. Fred moves just enough to peek through the door’s window. "Right, no one knows both. Um, Chester, who was the dude who tried to kill all the jews this century?" The speaker is a redhead. Delphi.

"Hitler?" Says the only boy in the room, Chester. He's the fourth voice.

"Yes, him. Bloodtraitor is what the last dark lord called people he didn't like, trying to justify killing them."

"Like the slavetraders did," says Chester, nodding knowingly. "After all, they're lesser, who cares if they're hurt?" The derision from his voice is strong.

"Exactly. Warped reasoning."

"It's still used as an insult," says one of the twins across from the redhead. (This is also Hestia, if you can't tell). "But now it's frowned upon."

"Okay," Chester says.

"Yeah," agrees the other twin. This is the first she’s spoken yet, at least during eavesdropping hours. She's sitting beside the window, has a quill behind her ear and another in her hand, parchment on her lap, and is, of course, Flora Carrow. "Delphi, do you remember the Prewetts' given names?" Not that either Weasley recognizes her.

Delphi makes a face and pulls a quill out of her mouth. "I should, but I don't. Sorry."

"Well," and window twin's tone is distinctly wry, "by the time we're done, you'll know their names."

George knocks on the door. Fred jumps when he does, which means he misses the four inside jumping too.

"Yes?" Asks Delphi, sugar quill still in her hand.

George slides the door open. "We heard you talking about the Prewett murders."

The reactions are instantaneous. The Carrows stiffen and jolt, Hestia shifting like she's ready to bolt. Chester nods, and Delphi narrows her eyes. "We were," she agrees. "What's it to you?"

"Their names were Gideon and Fabian," George says.

Flora relaxes, realizing this isn’t someone tracking them down to bully them, and Delphi’s eyes blow wide as Flora bends down and starts writing. "How do you spell those?"

Delphi is surprised so many people want to help.

The Weasleys don’t know any of this, but George knows how to spell Gideon and Fabian, which… technically Fred can do, since he and George are named after them, but Fred knows the names as his name, not his Uncles’. Beyond that, Mrs. Weasly talks about her brothers sometimes, but not often, and Fred was never very interested in family history anyway.

"Thank you," Flora says when George finishes.

"What are you writing?" Fred asks. Usually he knows exactly what George is thinking, or close enough to fool people, but right now he can't tell what's going on in his brother's head.

It's Chester who answers. "Victim lists. We know the names of famous killers, but not who they killed, and that's wrong," his voice breaks on wrong, and suddenly Fred feels terrible for assuming this carriage was full of Wannabe-Death-Eaters.

"Can we help?" Fred asks. He hopes George agrees.

"Sure," says the redhead. She stands up and digs through her trunk for a moment before offering four quills to Fred. He takes one bundle of two, and realizes one is candy. "I'm Delphi and this is Leonis." She holds up a plastic octopus.

"Flora," says window twin, but she's almost absent as she writes something down.

"Hestia," says the other twin.

"I'm Chester," says the boy. "Do you think it's possible to make a list of every victim of Hitler?"

"Considering how many he wiped out, probably not," Delphi says. "There are probably people no one remembers." She doesn't say why people would be forgotten. It makes her sick to think about it. "But you can list a lot of them, I'm sure."

"Delphi, do you know who killed Edgar Bones?"

"Helinora Fawley is who confessed, but Amelia thinks that it was actually a Rowle."

Hestia writes something down. "Thank you."

Fred puts his and George's trunks up while George stands and talks to Flora. After a minute, Delphi scoots away from the window. "Here, George, sit down."

"Thanks."

Fred sits on her other side, unsure of what to do with this. "So, what's the idea behind this?"

Delphi looks at him and launches into an explanation of what they were talking about earlier that morning. Fred listens, and feels… grateful? And apprehensive. He doesn't like the dead, but he knows honoring them is important. And he would like people to know how much the Death Eaters' claims to fame hurt.

The train ride is long, readers. So is the story itself; so I’m going to mostly drop my habit of smooth scene changes, and constant commentary. Sometimes you have to jump, and taking the time to explain loses the storyline. Such as today.

I’ll still be here though, don’t worry. Someone has to tell the story.

"What do you mean you don't collect Chocolate Frog cards?"

Chester looks over and gives the purebloods his driest look. He's eleven, so it's iffy. "Why should I?"

"B-because! They're chocolate frog cards!" Says George, as though Chester is speaking in code.

"Susan builds card decks out of them," Delphi says casually. She’s on her third sugar quill, still plain. "For everything," she emphasizes.

"Huh," Chester hums. He’s on his second, but it’s blue because there is a witch with a lunch and snack trolley on the Hogwarts Express, and he bought a flavored pack from her. "I'm not sure how many more I can come up with without help," he says, changing the subject back to their project as he taps his parchment.

Delphi stands up to get into her trunk, as she does almost every half hour, and then drops her history book on Chester's lap.

"Thanks."

"I know we agreed no last names-"

"We what?" Fred asks flatly, looking at Hestia instead of George. He looks at her because she spoke, is in his line of sight, and he doesn’t want to glare at his brother.

Chester shrugs. "I hadn't noticed."

"Some of us are purebloods," Delphi says sharply. "And I, for one, want to stave off the prejudice for as long as possible."

George squints, trying to dissect his new friends. It could matter. It usually mattered. But he is enjoying his day, and Delphi is right. Their dad had told George and Fred to avoid the Rowles, Carrows, Goyles, and a lot of other names, because of the war and how people didn’t like each other because of the divides - some from the war, and some from tradition. “That idea has merit.”

The girls’ smiles are a little too relieved for them to be from Light families. George puts it out of his mind, and Fred puts it in a box to review later.

Hestia takes the conversation back. “Yes. But, Delph. If you are who I think you are, you-” her eyes cut to Fred, who had not quite relaxed like George did. George watches as she changes what she’s going to say, and he can guess the original. “-weren’t raised by your parents. So who raised you?”

“Amelia Bones is who has guardianship, but my cousin and his co-parents helped. Uncle Regulus got to do most of my family education.”

George blinks. Once. Twice. And then he catches sight of Fred’s face, a little less accepting and a little more confused. Which is when he realizes, oh yeah; their mom might have a hard time keeping track of them, and therefore assumed they both liked everything either of them did, but Fred didn’t like family history. Which meant it was probably only George who knew the second name. But Fred knew the first. Their dad and Amelia weren’t friends, but they did have a friendly relationship. Which meant he knew who Delphi was.

So will Fred, actually, once he takes a minute to think.George definitely understands her reluctance now.

“You mean you’re-” Fred starts.

George jumps in, taking over before it could go in a direction that would sour this. “-our cousin too!” He injects more of a smile into his voice than usual.

“I am?” Delphi asks. She looks genuinely surprised.

George nods. “Yeah. Pretty sure our great aunt Lucretia is your grandpa Cygnus’ cousin.”

Delphi tilts her head, going over her own family tree. “Grandfather Cygnus does have a cousin Lucretia. I haven’t visited her in a few years, though.”

George nods. Fred is staring at him, confusion and hurt on his face. When Delphi looks away, George mouths ‘does she act like her parents?’ Fred shakes his head, and that is that.

“Cool,” Hestia says. “I bet that means you know a lot of laws.”

“Yeah,” Delphi agrees cautiously. “A lot.”

“So what hoops will we need to jump through to publish these things?”

Delphi grins, and the atmosphere returns to the slightly mournful but laid back air of before.

"Frederick Gideon-!" George starts, in his best imitation of their mom.

"Remember, no last name!" Chester calls before George can finish.

George snaps his mouth shut, the light atmosphere dampered by the reminder that they're likely to split up once their family names and alignments become obvious. Flora obviously remembers it too, as her gleeful smile drains away.

“Should we use middle names, then?” Delphi asks. Leonis has been relocated to her shoulder, then her neck, and is now affixed to her hair like a crown after a sticking charm was requested from the sixth years.

George shrugs, and looks to Fred. Fred shrugs back. “Sounds good to me. George just told you all my middle name, and his is Fabian.”

Delphi, Hestia, and Flora all seem to make the connection. Flora sneers for a second, but then checks her reaction. “Flora Eden,” she admits.

“Hestia Paige.”

“Delphini Cygnus. Although I’m liable to hex you if you call me that,” she warns.

“We consider ourselves-”

“Forewarned, cousin dearest.”

Delphi laughs. Her friends join in.

“You guys should change into your uniforms.”

Chester jumps, spilling the Bertie’s Bots beans in his hands across the carriage floor.

“Here,” Hestia says as the door closes behind the prefect. “Accio.”

“Summoning spell?” Fred asks, impressed. Hestia looks over and grins.

“It’s not, you know, easy, but I could teach you later?”

“I’d like that.”

“Hey Delphi,” Flora says softly. They’ve deboarded the train and the gameskeeper is calling them forward, but they still huddle together.

“Yeah?”

“Why’s your middle name Cygnus, instead of Bellatrix?”

Delphi is quiet for a few steps, thinking. “I’m not… sure. There are theories, and I do qualify for my family heirship so I’m not the second child, but,” she shrugs, the motion hard to see in the dark. “A lot of people say…” Delphi takes a heavy breath, unsure if she’s willing to gossip about her own parents. She doesn’t like them, but it makes her feel gross inside to trashtalk them. “It’s because despite being heiress… you know; my mother had a child for another family.”

“So they would’ve gotten the name?” Chester asks. “Is it a big tradition?”

“Yeah,” Hestia confirms. “The oldest child’s middle name is meant to follow the parent of their gender. Sometimes the first of the other gender will also get the other parent for a middle name, but the firstborn is really important. It's a way of being named after the last matriarch or patriarch without the confusion of two Lord Charlus Potters happening in congruence, and when families are large it's a way to show which line you're from."

“Yeah,” agrees George. “Our oldest uncle is Dominic Septimus, but our dad is Arthur Edward, so our big brother’s William Arthur. Our little sister is Ginevra Molly."

“Huh.”

“Exactly,” Delphi agrees. “Which is why being named after my grandfather is odd. Uncle Regulus is named after his, but he’s also the second child. His big brother was named after their dad.”

“Have you ever met the probable-at-least-half-sibling?” Chester asks next.

Delphi shakes her head. “I don’t think so.” She kind of wishes yes, but she also worries about what they’d be like, hypothetically.

“The other option, depending on how happy the marriage was, is that Delphi’s big sister died young, or was stillborn,” Flora says, just to offer an alternative.

The conversation ends as the crowd of first years come upon a large, dark lake. “Ooh,” Fred murmurs. The six of them link hands.

Not much later, Hestia is becoming increasingly nervous. That’s not surprising, even she knows, but… well. The first professor they met, a Professor McGonagall, had finished her introductory speech by telling them to all be a credit to their houses. Hestia knows what house she is going to be in, but she’s starting to doubt her will to be there.

She knows exactly what will happen when she sits down under her banner of green. (Sadly, the same thing can happen if she wears blue, or yellow, or even red. Perhaps especially red.)

She sticks with her friends as they move towards the Staff table in the Great Hall (and how pretty it is! She absolutely needs to look around more later) glad that McGonagall hadn’t seen the need to make them get in a line.

She takes a breath at Flora’s nudge, straightens her back, and smiles.

Fred raises an eyebrow beside her. “You look like someone’s being murdered in front of you,” he mutters. Hestia closes her eyes.

“Dangit.”

“Crinkle your eyes a bit more,” Delphi mutters from right behind Hestia. “Wide eyed smiles freak people out for some reason.”

“You can’t even see my face,” Hestia hisses.

“General rule,” Delphi mutters back. “George, how’s Flora’s smile?”

“Shy, but not creepy.” George responds. Their little huddle is in pairs and rows, going Hestia and Fred, Chester and Delphi, and George and Flora.

Hestia smirks as she realizes what she should do next. “Chester, what about Delphi’s smile?”

“She has too many teeth. Literally.”

“I do not!” Delphi hisses, but the panic in her tone belies her protest. She had shifted.

Hestia hides a laugh, both in response to Chester’s deadpan delivery and to Delphi’s response. They reach the front of the Great Hall, and since none of the other students spread out, neither do they. Hestia’s worry hits her full force again. She knows Delphi’s family ties, but despite Delphi being friendly on the train, if given the chance Hestia wouldn’t be surprised (or offended, she fruitlessly tells herself) if Delphi cut ties from them to try and protect herself.

After all, if she isn’t friends with any other Death Eater kids, maybe she could convince people she isn’t her parents easier.

It’s what Hestia and Flora should do, but there was no possible way they’d survive that in Slytherin. She doesn’t want to lose the other four either.

The Sorting Hat (Hat! Hestia wants the history on that Hat and she wants it before Yule) starts to sing, something long and winding about the houses and the founders and how “Alas, by the time lost Slytherin returned, all his friends but one were gone. Beware, young ones, of letting wounds fester for too long.”

Hestia loses her composure for a moment to grab Flora’s hand as the first name is called.

“Adolf, Caroline.”

Flora looks over at her. Hestia knows her smile has vanished. George reaches up and nudges Hestia, before the sorting Hat shouts out “Hufflepuff!”

“It’ll be okay,” he says softly.

Hestia really doesn’t think so, but she was raised a Slytherin and is willing to wait for him to abandon her himself. Flora squeezes her hand, and Chester grins lazily. Hestia glances over at Delphi, who is evidently nervous enough to try and break Fred’s hand, anxiety clear on her face.

The boys are the only ones who didn’t seem super worried. Hestia wouldn’t be surprised if they were just good at smiling through things, though.

Hestia is right, actually, but they get even better at it later.

Ah, I realized you have no idea what the colors or houses are, or mean. Especially considering I skipped the Hat’s song. They will come up many times, but for now I have to give you the basics. The houses are split by values. Loyalty, Daring, Curiosity, and Ambition.

The rest you’ll see later. A lot of it has been twisted by society over the years, and I still have a sorting to walk you through.

“Hey. Let’s meet in the haunted bathroom after classes tomorrow- anyone who wants to stay friends.” Hestia finds the words impulsively as the third name was called, this one beginning with a B. She doesn’t want to lose her friends, and so she’ll make opportunities to keep them.

“Deal,” Delphi nods.

The next name is Flora’s. Hestia’s heart seizes as she lets go of her sister’s hand to the tune of booing. Flora smiles at them, tight and too emotional, but Hestia can’t say anything about it. Hers is just as bad. As far as she is concerned they are in front of way too many enemies to be open like this but she physically can’t do anything else. And she doesn’t know it yet, but that’s okay. Children don’t have to grow up too fast.

“Isn’t Carrow bird meat?” Chester asks quietly, squinting up at the hat as Flora sits down primly under it.

“No?” Delphi says, turning to look at him instead. “You might be thinking of Carrion, but Carrow is a name that means something like hill-dweller.”

The booing quiets down enough for McGonagall to set the hat on Flora’s head. Hestia doesn’t want to look away but right now is a crucial time. She waits until Flora’s eyes are covered.

“How do you remember that?” Chester asks. Hestia watches Fred and George. “Do you just know a million of those?”

“No,” Delphi says, tone going softer as she too watches Flora. “But one of my cousins is a Dunbar, which means fort on top of a hill, so I remember Carrow too.”

The other twins are making faces at each other, but-

“Slytherin!”

-when the verdict comes, they both break into uproarious applause. Hestia relaxes just a little. A few more people boo, and then George starts yelling.

“Go Flora! Attagirl!”

Hestia thinks her chest will explode.

A moment later, George looks over at her and grins, still clapping. It looks as awkward as Hestia had felt a few moments before. Delphi obviously catches sight of the exchange, because she reaches over and nudges Hestia’s shoulder.

“Friends, right?”

“Carrow, Hestia!”

Hestia waves, but before she moves she purposefully meets both Fred and George’s eyes. “Thank you.” And then she’s up, walking as prim and poised as her sister had been, ignoring the jeers.

Hestia is sorted quicker than Flora had been. Relatively. People are still booing, although Fred is happy to see Charlie reach over and shut one of the other older years up. The wait for them to quiet down means the Carrows are up around the same amount of time, but Hestia spends less time with the hat actually on her head.

“Slytherin!”

Again, Fred and George are uproarious. Hestia waves lowly as she passes them on her way to the Slytherin table. George grins at her and Delphi shoots her a thumbs up. Chester mimes smiling wider, and Hestia breaks character long enough to stick out her tongue. Fred just smirks.

As the rest of the sorting commences, Fred starts answering Chester’s questions of why some people booed in a low voice, while George and Delphi stare and make faces at each other, trying to make points without getting another reprimand to be quiet.

When Fred catches sight of them, he’s a little miffed that it only took one day of knowing them for these four to have the same silent conversations he and George often have, but then he thinks of all the pranking opportunities and is elated instead.

He’ll enjoy staying friends with them. As long as the bathroom isn’t a trap, he’ll cause as much chaos as needed to ensure older students and teachers don't get in the way of their friendship; not for house divides, not for last names, and not for grudges that should stay in the generation ahead of them.

“You’ll be at the bathroom too, right?” George asks Delphi, as "Jordan, Lee!" goes into Gryffindor. Fred looks over, ready to open his mouth because she already said so, but snaps it shut when she actually answers.

“Unless I’m in the hospital wing.” She says it with a smile, as though it’s just a given. Or a joke.

Fred decides then and there that he’s going to learn curses this year. Jinxes were all well and good for squabbles and playfights, but as he had apparently befriended dangerous people now, or people in danger, he needs to catch up.

George stops smiling at her comment. “You won’t be. None of you will be.”

“We could be,” she looks away, staring firmly at the hat. “Wouldn’t be surprised if we were cursed before we went to sleep tonight.”

George reaches for her, but Chester gets there first. “Then we can drag beds together in the hospital wing, can’t we?”

Delphi laughs, a little wet and a lot genuine, leaning into him a bit. “You better know some curses you can teach us,” George says, looking over Delphi’s shoulder to Fred. Fred nods. “Freddie and I were planning on being pranksters, but we can do revenge too.”

“Nah, best to get revenge with pranking spells. Annoy them to death.” She smiles, one that was more brittle than the last. If she were anyone else, she’d agree, but Delphi hasn’t been at Hogwarts for a day and is already desperate to be seen as better than her parents. Fred doesn't protest, for now, because he can’t see her face but it sounds like she’s trying not to cry. His little sister, Ginny, does that too.

“Sure,” Fred says, even as he catches George’s eye to tell him absolutely not. Maybe for the first offense, George offers, but Fred can tell he’s hesitant too.

Chester huffs and hip-checks Delphi. “Turn all their hair their least favorite color, and then make all their food taste like boiled eggs.”

She snorts. He grins.

“Lestrange, Delphini!”

The booing starts up immediately. George reaches over to high-five Chester, but Fred only notices that peripherally, instead focused on how he needs to change what’s acceptable in this school. He looks for the angriest faces, but he won’t be able to remember them as more than houses yet.

He gets better at it, later.

The booing doesn’t stop, so only a few people hear the Sorting Hat’s verdict. Fred, Chester, George, Dora, Charlie, Hestia, Flora, and Alicia all find this disgusting.

Four of them had only spent six hours with Delphi, but they know she deserves better. They all do. Charlie especially only realizes the hat said something when Delphi stands up.

In the middle of the Gryffindor table, clad in red, black, and gold, a host of redheads are trying to quiet people down. At the Slytherin table, anyone jeering shuts up quickly from glares. In Ravenclaw, no one is able to do much. At the Hufflepuff table, Dora is throwing low-level hexes that shouldn’t get her detention, but if they do she doesn’t care much. That’s her baby cousin!

A few people among the unsorted jeer too, and a black girl with a determined twist to her lips kicks the legs out from under three and punches a fourth.

Delphi stands up, carefully places the hat back on the stool, and starts walking.

The House Tables are set so that Gryffindor is on the left from the doorway, with Hufflepuff beside them, and Ravenclaw on the other side of the center aisle. Slythern gets the far right.

Instead of going towards the Ravenclaw table and past it to Slytherin, though, Delphi stops on the edge of the Hufflepuff table, and waves to Dora. Dora grins back at her, pretending she isn’t hexing tentacles onto a seventh year.

Up among the unsorted, George cackles. “Go Delphi!” he starts cheering and hollering, and Fred and Chester join in after a minute. So does the girl from earlier.

Delphi turns to look at them, and then turns her hair bright yellow. Fred grins, thinking her spellwork is impressive. He’ll figure it out later.

Chester turns to the girl with blood on her knuckles, and holds out his hand. “Chester.”

“Alicia,” says Alicia Spinnet, a muggleborn who spent six months with the Dunbar-Blacks and loved it. She shakes his hand.

Alicia hadn’t realized Delphi would be here this year, and she hadn’t recognized the girl either. Of course, it makes sense.

See, Bellatrix Lestrange Née Black at her prime, also known as how everyone expects her daughter to look, looked very different from Delphini Lestrange.

The differences, dear reader, that Fred, Alicia, and anyone else with eyes see, are ones I can now openly point out. Bellatrix Lestrange has hair black as her birth name, which crackles with magic like lightning and frizzes like a storm. Her eyes are large and unnerving, the same color as her daughter’s, but that’s not why Delphi kept the resemblance.

No, Delphi’s hair is red and smooth, darker than that of the family that raised her, but a reference all the same. Her eyes are silver, but that’s a family trait that goes beyond her mom. Regulus has silver eyes, and so do Andromeda and Fay. That’s who she keeps them for. Her eyes aren’t as wide of a shape, and her nose is blatantly stolen from Vivian. (Her cheekbones are from Caspian though.)

Fred watches as Norman, Chester, goes to Ravenclaw, and he and George cheer just as loudly for him as they did the girls.

Spinnet, Alicia, their new friend, goes to Gryffindor, but only after George invites her to the bathroom meet up too. When Fred sends him a look, George sends one back that essentially says ‘if she fights like that, I want her on my team’.

Two names after Alicia, George turns to his brother seriously. “If we can’t get into Gryffindor-” he starts, voice low.

“-we’ll be fine.” Fred assures him. Earlier, Fred wouldn’t have been so sure, but George made them friends and Fred knows their brothers will be there for them no matter their house. “We’ve got a friend in every house now, remember?”

George grins at him. “We’ll be fine,” he echoes.

“Weasley, Frederick!”

Fred looks back at his brother. “If we’re in different houses, I’m going to steal your tie.”

George grins even wider and clasps Fred's hand. “Deal.”

#Harry Potter #WBWL #Cathy The Narrator #Not (our parents') children #NOPC #WTOWBS #Jaymeow writes #Crossposting Spam #George Weasley #Delphi #Delphi Lestrange #Delphi Cy #Delphini Lestrange #Fred Weasley #alicia spinnet #Hestia Carrow #Flora Carrow

3 notes · View notes