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#worse is I want to write it w/ percy
wtfgaylittlezooid · 1 year
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hot girl problems (wants to write a sickfic but has a special interest on the three plagues. you can probably guess where this is going)
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physalian · 1 month
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Crutch Tropes #1: “I just want to be normal.” 
One cannot write a sensical story that is completely devoid of tropes, much less completely immune to the audience presuming tropes whether you intend them or not. In short: Tropes are not, and have never been, the “problem”.
The problem isn’t even that some become clichés. The problem is when writers use tropes in place of actual character development and detail, because they think just stamping the trope on the page suffices. This isn’t usually done maliciously, either, it’s from inexperience at best, or ego at worst.
Every trope can be a writing crutch—as in, its mere existence gives the illusion of depth where there isn’t any—but there’s a whole subset of tropes that become annoying and exhausting clichés when they don’t have to be. I think they can still be implemented as solid story and character choices with a little TLC thrown their way.
I already wrote about lacking buildup for major character beats and how they’re clearly written to make the audience angry or scared or to pick a side or fall in love, and here is one of the most egregious.
No one who’s just been shown the secret otherworld of every fantasy reader’s dreams wants to be “normal”. This line gets thrown around to drive early conflict between the reluctant chosen one and their new badass friends, as if entering this new otherworld or accepting these new powers or responsibilities in any way makes their generic and “normal” life worse.
The writer knows this, otherwise they wouldn’t be banking on the super cool awesomeness of the world they just created to sell books.
The best instances of this trope are well into the story where the character can see and has likely suffered the downsides of this otherworld. Or, a seasoned veteran character comes to terms with the fact that they've given their life to this entity and never got the chance to be normal. By that point, the audience is already endeared to them and right in this mess with them. At the start of the story, we have no idea who this person is.
How to fix: These powers/attention/responsibilities are actually a serious threat and detriment to the character’s ability to live their life and being “normal” is something they have actually never known. “Normal” becomes a gift. Or, the character has a very clear idealized “normal” and the plot is in the way of it.
Without this addition, “I just want to be normal” feels empty and cheap, because most of us readers are “normal”, and can’t empathize with a whining protagonist who we all know will come around eventually.
This trope also loses its teeth when the character cannot define what “normal” they want. Many chosen ones are already written in the midst of their tragic backstory and already don’t live an average life compared to the average reader, but they don’t complain about not being “normal” until they’re dragged out of their miserable existence into the way cooler plot.
But many chosen ones are also just average people, who inexplicably turn down amazing adventures because they just… really want to be homecoming queen, or really love slinging burgers, or taking the bus to school, or doing homework. No one with that life wants to be “normal”, and none of those characters ever articulate just what’s so special about this life.
Perfect example of both versions of this solution:
Princess and the Frog: Tiana wants to open her restuarant and wants nothing to do with romance or an adventure. Naveen stands in the way of her "normal" every chance he gets. Tiana's quest is never for romance, it's to undo the magic spell that she got dragged into on accident, and romance is just a happy byproduct.
The Lightning Thief: Being a demigod sounds cool, but the survival rate of these tragic heroes into adulthood, much less 16, is very low, and the book narrative makes it very clear that these so-called heroes are really just beasts of burden doing the gods' dirty work. Percy may not want to continue living exactly the way he is, but at the start of the book, he doesn't give a damn about helping his deadbeat godly dad. When he yearns for normalcy, we can all see why.
What is their normal and why do they want it? What are they already doing, or what do they wish would happen, to obtain that idyllic normalcy? I wrote this post about humanizing your characters, and if you’re going to write this blip in the hero’s journey, this is your chance to get as vivid and specific as you can about what this character sees as their perfect life.
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ruegarding · 6 days
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hello! I hope your having a good day! If you don't mind me asking, what is your opinion on the Cupid Scene in Hoo? And if you could how would you change it?
my opinion on the cupid scene…well, i don't think a traumatic coming out scene is automatically bad. the problem i have w it is that rick capitalized on shock value instead of good writing. rick retconned a bunch of things to make nico alone and miserable so that he could have this scene, and it was completely unnecessary. ppl can have friends without coming out. and, as i’ve repeatedly said, the way hoo is written is literally a repeat of his arc in pjo but worse, because we’re acting like important events in pjo didn’t happen in a series that’s supposed to be a sequel to pjo and rick is inconsistent so the payoff is questionable.
the solution is…good writing. creating a cohesive and intriguing plotline where this scene is either necessary or scrapped if it isn’t.
thus begins an unnecessarily deep dive into all the retcons, inconsistencies, and general what-the-fuckery of nico’s arc in hoo bc i’m the verbose king and we've accidentally stumbled abt something i have a lot to say abt.
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first retcon. in son, frank explicitly says that nico does not make him nervous and describes nico as mysterious. not weird, creepy, off-putting, or anything similar. and nico is! he is clearly hiding things and shows up infrequently. this is a neutral description, and frank goes on to say that pluto’s powers, and specifically the underworld, isn’t enough to make him dislike pluto or nico.
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also this, showing nico is comfortable enough around frank:
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but then in hoh, frank thinks going somewhere with nico, alone, is terrifying.
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at worst, frank would’ve felt awkward. they’ve never had to talk alone bc nico is at camp jupiter for hazel and doesn’t have any reason to talk to frank by himself. if frank didn’t want to be alone w nico bc of that, it’d make sense. but that’s not what’s said or implied! and nothing has happened! nico got kidnapped, they saved him, and since then he’s been chilling on the boat, exactly as weird as before, if a little more understandably distressed. like, nothing happened to change frank’s opinion this drastically. even the difference between pluto and hades (wealth vs death) doesn’t matter bc nico uses his powers in son. also frank literally summons a skeleton guy in son and hazel is a zombie, like…
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(the source isn’t important but i've been quoting these five seconds for years)
oh! and that’s not all, it gets worse!
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these scenes from hoh are incredibly infantilizing. why are we treating nico like a feral dog that needs to be domesticated??? yikes. and once again, it’s not true! nico was fine talking w ppl in pjo (if a bit over-enthusiastic). and then in son he was perfectly civil and was fine having the conversation abt the quest. his issue w ppl was that his powers/parentage put ppl off, and, even in son, that he had to keep a secret.
nico is perfectly capable of speaking like a normal person and working as part of a team (see: final botl battle, final tlo battle, the sword of hades). like, nico’s struggle in hoh should be 1) that ppl are calling him creepy behind his back (and therefore has nothing to do w his social skills) and/or 2) that he just survived an incredibly traumatic experience and is understandably withdrawn. neither of these are properly addressed and instead the implication is that nico is hiding himself bc he’s gay and everything will be solved if he accepts himself.
second retcon. percy…as i’ve said many times before, percy explicitly calls nico his friend in tlo.
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this immediately makes hoo trying to act like they don’t know each other and were never close a retcon. they were friends, they saw each other frequently, nico made silly jokes w percy…and we’re ignoring all of this in hoo.
i've talked abt this previously (in response to tsats), but nico is the one putting distance between him and percy. percy reached out to nico repeatedly thru pjo.
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when percy notices that nico excludes himself, percy finds a private place to talk to nico and assures him that percy wants him around and offers solutions to his discomfort (this is not percy’s responsibility. percy is a child). when nico insists that he won’t stay, percy sees it from nico’s perspective and, instead of forcing nico to do something against his will that may totally backfire, says “i hope we don’t have to be enemies,” leaving room for nico to decide whether he’s willing to be friends.
bc percy understands the root of nico’s issue (that no matter the accommodations made at camp, there’s always going to be the implicit message that he doesn’t belong there), he addresses it and uses his wish to make sure that nico has a home at camp.
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and when nico tries to prove he’s useful, percy proves he would’ve invited him in whether nico was or not. bc he thinks nico deserves to be a kid.
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“i wonder if [nico] had ever had a birthday party,” percy thinks at his own birthday party where he didn’t invite his friends bc he felt it was too much of an inconvenience, in a story where he never had friends prior to these ppl he didn’t invite, and the only person he had for twelve years of his life was his own mother. and percy uses his own loneliness to empathize w how lonely nico is.
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percy is not some distant figure nico is idolizing. he's a kid trying his best to care for another kid at a time where no one else did, while experiencing his own trauma. all of their hang-ups exist bc of that.
going back to their relationship in hoo, even trying to make percy uncomfortable w nico’s powers (and therefore not wanting to associate w nico) doesn’t work bc percy has gone on record and said he thinks some of nico’s powers are cool and has neutral responses to others, not to mention percy is also a big three kid who makes other ppl wary (i could write a whole meta on how what percy finds disturbing w nico’s powers is directly tied to what percy finds disturbing w his own powers, but i’ll restrain myself. please clap).
and if that wasn’t enough, the entire reason percy stood up to hera in botl is bc she was willing to let nico die specifically bc he doesn't fit in bc of those powers.
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this plotline was tired before it even began.
you could argue that all of this changed w nico’s betrayal in tlo. but then why didn’t percy tell anybody when it happened in tlo (annabeth would’ve reacted to it if he had)? why did percy trust nico to come when he called? why didn’t any of percy’s animosity come out afterwards at camp? and in the throne room, percy didn’t have to single nico out w his wish. he didn’t have to watch nico to make sure he was settling in. but he did. and because he did, any writing that suggests percy doesn't trust or care abt nico bc of that is bad writing. maybe rick forgot this, but u can be angry w and hurt by the ppl you love and still love them.
even the justification that nico lied in son isn’t good enough to completely change their relationship, bc it’s pretty clear why nico lied and percy says he can’t stay angry at nico when they rescue him, and let me remind u, anger is a core part of percy's character. while nico lying might be enough for characters like leo and jason, who have no rapport w him, to doubt him, it’s not enough for percy. and why are we so obsessed w dismantling percy and nico’s friendship anyway? why is that necessary to the story? like i said before, ppl can have friends without coming out. isolating the only queer character (at the time) isn’t necessary.
this conflict doesn’t even work in hoo bc their distance is still one-sided…
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when did percy not give nico a second chance in hoo? the only times they’ve interacted prior to this was when percy remembered nico in son and tried to talk to him and then when they saved his life. and then nico brushes off percy's gratitude and tells him to back off. this is not nico idolizing percy who doesn't care abt him. this is percy reaching out and yet again nico putting distance between them.
and, obviously, this doesn’t work at all w pjo when the entirety of botl exists, you know, where percy chose to trust and protect nico and then went out of his way to make sure nico knew percy held none of nico’s anger against him. it’d be one thing if nico was supposed to be wrong, but considering how there’s an entire arc in hoo abt jason being the first person to trust nico, and tsats seriously acts like percy only ever talked to nico when he needed something, it’s safe to say this comes from a place of stupidity.
ok. this sections getting long, so i moved the it was stupid to have percy give jason a reason to doubt nico section to a new post. but know that i'm aware and i think it's stupid.
back to the point of all these retcons w percy. there's nothing in hoo that necessitates changing percy and nico's relationship from pjo. while percy in hoo is never cruel to nico, they just act like strangers for some reason. so, it's changed for no reason and it's written poorly.
sigh. and then all of chb is retconned (or recycled if you’re feeling generous).
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the ppl at camp accept him while his cabin gets built. pretty nice. then in boo nico reveals they got tired of him after a week–which is still summer–despite there being an influx of kids from all descents, some of whom would be weird or uncomfortable or whatever this justification is. that’s not even mentioning how percy’s own experiences (remember how he was ostracized…multiple times…) should have made them more accepting of nico.
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why…was this necessary at all…? especially when u have an entirely different camp that treats nico as weird bc they didn’t have that good experience w him? this is really what gets me. If rick wanted to be lazy and repeat nico’s arc, he could’ve done so without retconning things.
for example, with the seven, leo, piper, jason, and maybe annabeth (she doesn’t have much to say abt nico in pjo), i could understand having animosity towards nico, as well as camp jupiter, but retconning established relationships to make ur only (at the time) queer character isolated and miserable only to then have his coming out be violent and traumatic is. well. bad! especially when the person who is w him for that experience is not someone he has built any sort of camaraderie w. nico isn’t choosing to trust jason, he’s being forced to.
and the whole nico-needs-to-learn-to-trust-ppl plot doesn’t work anyway bc of rick’s inconsistencies.
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jason has a moment much like frank where he doesn’t want to go anywhere w nico bc nico is so weird and scary. nico has every right to pull himself away from ppl who treat him like he’s got something contagious. and there’s more:
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“since when does jason defend nico,” as in they have shit on nico before and jason has not, in the past, defended nico. as in nico had every reason to not trust jason prior to this bc everyone, including jason, were talking shit behind his back. why are we acting like nico is being unreasonable? oh no, y’all are talking behind my back…clearly it’s my fault bc i push everyone away and that has nothing to do w ur behavior or anything…yes this is good writing.
and we’re supposed to believe that jason (and reyna and hedge and will) is the first person to be kind/reach out to nico, but we have this scene from botl where percy comforted nico and gave him a piece of his childhood back:
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and this is after percy cleared the air to make sure nico knew he didn’t hate him and offered to make accommodations for nico at camp and then respected and understood why nico wouldn’t want to. like,
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woah, you’re telling me that a character reaches out to nico after a traumatic experience in an act of kindness and this helps nico grow as a person? and it happens multiple times?! yeah, apparently rick and fandom have completely forgotten abt this (also hazel exists???). they’re even phrased similarly! “maybe it’s time to take a risk and embrace something you’ve pushed away.” furthermore, they both support their point by helping nico, percy by inviting nico into his home to enjoy cake and ice cream, jason by drinking from the chalice. once more w feeling: nico has been loved the entire goddamn time!
i get what rick was trying to accomplish w the whole cupid scene concept. which is that it’s okay to be gay and that it can feel very “othering” to be gay. nico has to accept himself in order to make friends. that’s what this
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and this
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are trying to say, right, but this doesn’t work when you’ve blatantly retconned established relationships to have characters push nico away for his powers/parentage/whatever. nico’s struggle is not an internal issue that can be solved by accepting himself, it’s an external issue caused by how other ppl treat him for his powers/parentage (which he has never been shown to reject btw).
the thing is, the powers-as-queerness metaphor only works when you don’t have, you know, characters who aren’t queer going through similar ostracization. not only was percy ostracized at chb in tlt for his powers/parentage (very similar to nico!), percy has a moment in this same book where his powers terrify annabeth, and then piper in the next book, in which he, you know, lets himself almost die to poison bc he feels like he “deserved it” for using those powers. again, this is not queer-coding for percy (unless…?). moreover, like i said, nico doesn’t reject his powers, so the whole queer-coding w powers and needing to accept himself is already iffy (...rejecting powers...hold the fuck up…percy isn’t…unless…). even the out-of-time metaphor doesn’t work bc it’s something he shares w hazel, who is not canonically queer (unless…?!). so, already, we’re on shaky metaphorical ground. all of this could work, theoretically, if combined w strong writing, but combined w the retconning and inconsistencies, this plotline makes no cohesive sense.
we’re supposed to believe that nico is the one pushing everyone away while they are secretly super supportive while simultaneously being shown that everyone talks and thinks shit that affirms nico’s thoughts abt them that makes him want to pull away. and then in boo we completely ignore that these ppl have been pushing nico away and suddenly everyone (reyna, hedge, will, etc) is supportive.
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pick a struggle!
also nico’s coming out scene in boo sucked (yeah this is the segue).
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this is the culmination of nico’s arc in hoo. he’s finally accepted himself enough to speak the truth without pressure. we ruined percy and nico’s established relationship for this. and they don’t even have a conversation. then nico walks over to will bc percy, “regular guy” percy, is “not [his] type.” don’t look too deep into that.
so, how would i fix the cupid scene? well.
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there were a million different ways to write a better arc for nico and earn that cupid scene. for example, rick could’ve stuck to a plotline.
the trust plotline could’ve been good. bc this exact thing is what causes the accidental kidnapping situation in tlo. nico doesn’t trust percy enough to tell him the truth and chooses to manipulate and lie to percy instead. this choice is what sets up their conflict bc percy views this as betrayal (something that’s important to a guy who’s fatal flaw is loyalty).
it’s also interesting bc nico does choose to trust ppl in hoo; he eats the pomegranate seeds despite not knowing that someone is coming for him, he just trusts that someone will (we’re ignoring what boo says abt nico’s tartarus experience bc fun fact! that is also retconned). and it pays off, bc not only does he get saved, we see hazel and percy even willing to challenge the other members of the seven to make sure he gets saved. so, it’s not a lesson he’s already learned, it’s a lesson he’s learning. but, going back to the main question here, would the cupid scene still be necessary? was being dragged into tartarus and almost dying not enough spectacle?
regardless, my biggest problem w the cupid scene in all of this is that it gives the impression that u have to come out in order to have ppl love u and trust u. a much better message to send is that the ppl who love u will love u before and after u come out. no isolation necessary.
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gontagokuhara · 7 months
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OMG THAT LAST CHAPTER AAAAA my boys 🥹 if you hadn't said it on here, I would've never known you struggled w/writing Kokichi, it seriously feels so natural and I LOVE when authors include that clowny jester vibe to him!! But now that we're REALLY REALLY into the thicc of the story, I'm realizing how much I miss the camp!! idk about everyone else, but it was always the most interesting setting for me when I was into Percy Jackson! So basically I'm gonna annoy you with my barrage of questions that are 100% unrelated to the most recent chapter 😭
I know it was mentioned that Maki's cabin was undecorated for a long time, but did she ever get to personalizing it? I'd love to know about the cabins and their designs! I'd also love to know what kind of stuff they do at the talent shows? Idk if its the fact that the fic is based off the pjo musical, but I get theatre kid vibes from specifically kaede (even if she can't sing LOL) Speaking of her, since it was mentioned that she could play any instrument, I'm wondering if there were instruments /canon-specifically-talent-related equipment at camp for everyone? Also some of the dialogue had me questioning if they're even allowed to curse at camp or not 😭
HIIIIII im finally getting to this <3 first of all i love you im kissing u on the forehead every time i get an ask or comment from u it makes my whole day.
answers to ur questions beneath the cut as always!!
i also miss camp </3 i was talking about this with someone else yday (hiiiii evan) but in a universe where pointy objects reaches its end and i STILL want more.....there are little one-off scenes that dont fit into the main narrative of the fic but i'd still theoretically like to write......and the immediate reaction to the campers (+ hajime and nagito) realizing seven of them went missing along with an rv. it would be a lot of dialogue but the phone calls nagito had to make to all the parents of the missing (good and bad) kids. also the godly meetings where shit went bad, and then really bad, and then somehow even worse. pointy objects has always been very v3-centric given our main characters, but some of my favorite chapters so far have been when i've been able to feel out characters from the other games as well.
ok. THAT was a big tangent LMFAO ok re: maki: yes! it took a long time; she had very little interest in doing decoration shopping or really Anything in the first year or so after arriving at camp/her friend's death (she also did not see her situation as static or permanent — no point in something like that, y'know?). for her 14th birthday, kaede took the reins on planning with nagito a cabin design that she thought maki might like; and now presently, her cabin has a "red velvet" theme! DIY headboard for her bed made with literal red velvet that kaede and maki built themselves, plush red sheets, red walls (another eyesore of a cabin...), with a small collection of photos and trinkets and artwork and decorations she's amassed over the years since. she has a picture of her parents sitting in the bottom drawer of her dresser than only kaede knows about.
as for the others — i take a lot of inspiration from their research labs, but i haven't plotted out in my head exactly how they all look, y'know? miu's is definitely very lab-like, angie's paints her walls white at the beginning of every summer and over the summer months fills them corner to corner with new designs, kiyo's has more bookshelves than wall space, the like.
now: talent shows! it's very informal, with prizes like choosing the next camp-wide game, getting out of dinner duty for a week, etc. classic staples include himiko's magic shows (with tenko as a willing and eager assistant) (who also will at times retrieve less willing participants from the audience) (usually nagito). miu tries her own "magic tricks" that usually involve adding new features to kiibo and making them parade them around onstage; kiibo gets their comeuppance by forcing miu to learn kpop dance choreo and perform with them (as kokichi films, naturally). kaede can play instruments to get around the limitations of her power (also yes — 100% theater kid, alongside kiyo [+ kokichi, who wont admit it]), and there's a whole collection of instruments in the girls' common area that she's mastered/is working on learning (her most recent is a theremin that she and kiyo are both very interested in). it's a lot of repeats, because there are some kids who always prefer to chill in the audience rather than get onstage themselves, but everyone has lots of fun <3 (except nagito [usually made to suffer during them] and hajime [often tasked with tie-breaking the winner, also suffering])
as for ur last question: TRUST they are definitely allowed to swear. hajime would've exploded years ago if that wasn't the case. the barrier they erected following tsumugi's massacre is capable of a lot of things, but nothing can defeat the resigned frustration of wrangling a clusterfuck of the weirdest demigods they've ever dealt with (/fond)
WOW that got long again! good thing i love it <3
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malrie · 3 months
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hate to parallel them but u kind of have to for any semblance of analysis within rick’s writing lol but it’s funny how inverted jasiper is to percabeth simply bc percy and piper are always raging w jealousy (percy even worse at times) and sure annabeth has been written w her moments too but the scales tip to the darksided brunettes lmfao….sorry I just wanted to call percy and piper darksided
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lizzibennet · 5 years
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fics i’ve written that you all should be sad over the fact you’re never reading
percabeth royalty/magic au (started out inspired by historical fiction as a royalty au only but really, the only way to make it work was to add magic, so it became kinda high fantasy? there’s balls and pretty dresses and fake dating (yes, i did) and people controlling elements and pining over each other and it’s gr8)
reynabeth royalty au (kinda same concept as the last one, except it’s set in a world where the magic aspect is more prevalent, and it’s more focused on a political story (cause the percabeth one is totally self indulgent romance, lol). LOTS OF PINING i love this one sm it’s like the older sister of the first one. it’s also the first multi chaptered fic i ever finished so like. yeah)
percabeth new girl au BECAUSE NO ONE WOULD WRITE IT? LIKE??? THE CONCEPT IS THERE!!!!!!! IT’S SO OBVIOUS JUST PUT THEM IN A ROMCOM SITUATION IT’S NOT THAT FREAKING HARD. anyway human au, annabeth, percy, grover and juniper all live together basically when i started this i just really wanted to give juniper a personality and kinda started revolving around that and evolving into this MONSTER, it has like 50 chapters, i have a problem, i’ve been writing this for like 5 years)
jasiper/percabeth pride and prejudice au because SERIOUSLY! IT! IS! RIGHT! THERE! DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING AROUND HERE I JUST WANTED TO READ SOME P&P PERCABETH AM I ASKING FOR TOO MUCH NO I REALLY AM NOT. also it’s jasiper/percabeth because i’ve written two versions (please stop looking at me weird) jasiper is classic and percabeth is modern times. yh babey
#for more context if you're interested#first one: annabeth has a life debt to hera which means sometimes hera is like 'yo m8 gotta do this favor 4 me' annabeth is the stranged#daughter of athena which means she is ANGERY all the time. percy is the prince of pposeidon's land (which surprise is rivals with athena's)#and hera is like i want his kingdom. but she can't manipulate him with her EvIL MaGiC bc he's a cinnamon roll to good for this world#so she's like annabeth! distract him! make him fall in love w/ you so you weaken his mind! and annabeth's done worse things for hera so#she's like yh whatever i'll do it#you know what happens next lmao i love fake relationship So Much#why does annabeth have a life debt to hera??? why can't hera influence percy (or thalia...)??? why does athena hate annabeth???#GUESS U ALL WILL NEVER KNOW!#second one: reyna and annabeth are queens of kingdoms that have been at war for like eons and only recently became at peace w each other so#they try to navigate that#i did so much research for this one because i had no actual idea of what monarchies are like#anyway it's the slowest burn of slow burns. it's gr8 and it's kinda game of thronesy#which i didnt know cause i wrote it before i ever watched got#third one: ugh this one is too funny i loved writing it#i steal my friend's jokes for it all the time lmaoooo#basically: theyre all childhood friends who have to share a flat for reASONS (there are reasons but they're MSTERIOUS)#annabeth's a photographer percy and jason are part time models (i swear this has an explanation) grover is a teacher and juniper is reach#i lied this might be the slowest burn of all slow burns#AND THEY WERE ROOMATES! OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMATES#p&p au is pretty self explanatory#pjo
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purpleshaded15 · 2 years
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C1 The world has been so hard on Percy...
Looking back into C1, I can’t help but notice how hard the whole campaign has literally been for Percy. 
Tragic Past & Traumatic backstory is a given.
But the world itself has been hard on him. Like it’s always out to try and hurt him so much more than he already was.
The Legend of Vox Machina itself has the entire Briarwood Arc traumatize Percy over and over again. It’s almost half the season, 5/12 episodes, where he froze in PTSD. (Ep 3 Blue screen, Ep 5 Sun Tree, Ep 7 Cass, Ep 9 Archie, Ep 10 Cass.)
Campaign spoilers: 
Ripley made sure to distribute guns so he will lifelong suffer the guilt of what he unleashed into the world. 
His demon wants to eat him. Still out there.
His villains kept coming back even to C3. 
2 Gods he tried to put his faith in, (1 he asked for guidance/help in a moment of desperation, 1 he shared a vision/value of knowledge) has rejected him in favor of others. One called him broken, one called him mad. Well, at least he can say he tried.... (Also, can they really be Gods if all they saw in him was a broken madman? Not a man who’s clearly trying his best to become someone else than that...?)
---- rant on------ I’ve got pent up thoughts & emotions from before so I’ll just put it here...
1 RQ - telling a man who already thinks he’s broken beyond repair but still trying (at least the reason he sought her was to get guidance or answer on how) to fix it and this Goddess just reaffirms that he indeed is broken and there’s just no fixin it?! F#(k Off! 
2 - Ioun - Here’s a nerdy ass tinkerer who put so much value on knowledge and history that his INT is maxed at 20 (w/out magical things to boost it) purely because he’s a science guy. He knows the importance of knowledge. He tried to keep the spread of dangerous knowledge (guns) just like Ioun kept dangerous knowledge too. Then you brush him off because of his “secret” at the time (which eventually came out) while choosing a person who has been SO MUCH MORE SECRETIVE. Lying. Manipulating. Rolling so high in deception that no one could find out the truth. He never even confided in his supposed “bestfriend” his menial problem. (Compared to Percy’s problem/s, Scanlan’s is absolutely menial. Heck, it’s real world family problem that even I went through that shit and my case is actually worse than this bard’s family issues. Scanlan’s ARC is the best? Where his problem is about establishing connection w/ his daughter? Tell that to Percy who will never establish much more & deeper connection w/ his parents...)
And when others were insight checking him (Scanlan), he rolls for persuasion/deception instead of opening up! Then he guilt-trips them with it, saying VM don’t know anything about him, that they don’t care. The manipulation... before and after !!!
He does tell stories in song, but he doesn’t write them. He doesn’t sing the praises of knowledge. He doesn’t even understand nor appreciate the gravity of what was given to him... And more over, he twists the story & memories even of his friends. I will never be able to accept that choice!!! ----- rant over-----
Percy’s already been so hard on himself. Why must the world be so hard on him too?! 
The only thing in the world that wanted him was the darkness & evil. LOL 
If it weren’t for Vox Machina (& Vex especially), he might’ve literally become the devil. 
Oh, yeah, the contract is still out there too... XD
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comfortwriting · 3 years
Text
The Widow - F.W
Masterlist, Requesting rules, Writing Prompt Masterlist
Fred Weasley x Fem Reader
Requested/About: The reader and Fred have been married for a year,  they were supposed to be celebrating their anniversary - but instead they are fighting for their lives in the battle of Hogwarts. When Y/N is finally reunited with the Weasley's in the great hall, her life shatters completely.
Warnings: Mention of death, blood, corpses, open wounds, loss of limbs, bombings/explosions, mention of children dying.
Cloud Nine. Above the clouds. That's how you would describe your life ever since you and Fred moved out, got married, and lived every day together like it was your last.
Too many late nights messing around in the living room, dancing, coming up with pranks for when you have children and grandchildren to fool around and cause mischief with. Too many early, sleep-deprived mornings watching the sunrise and listening to the birds sing like they were the worlds biggest choir.
You were initially quite excited to celebrate your first wedding anniversary with Fred - you had planned to cook him a three-course romantic meal if he didn't beat you to it, you had already bought him gifts - a new dragon scale suit for work, a car (which you guessed it, could fly), and you had papers in the thick envelope waiting for him to open with the news of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes going oversees to please many other young witches and wizards.
Instead of all you had planned, tonight, you and Freddie, like many others, were fighting for your lives in the battle of Hogwarts. Your wand gripped tightly in your hand, on the lookout for death eaters - even Voldemort perhaps - you and Fred got separated when a loud bang broke out, followed by the screams of young children.
"Do what you must, my love!" Freddie winced, lifting himself off the floor, striking his wand out at the death eater in front of him, George and Percy fighting alongside him.
You wanted to stay with your husband, you wanted to see him make it out of this alive, you wanted to have the chance to give your life to save his if it came to it - but you also couldn't justify leaving young children and teenagers to suffer at the hands of the death eaters, who were hellbent on causing destruction and tallying up the death toll - you had already lost enough; your little sister.
You shook your head, coughing at the dust and dirt rising in the air from the blast "I can't leave you - I can't-"
A bright flash hit the death eater, killing them instantly, Fred turned and hurried over to you, his hands cupping your dirt and blood stained face "Y/N Weasley, my darling, you go now and don't look back! Those children need you, I promise I'll find you - you won't lose me."
Tears filled your eyes at his words, at the thought of leaving him without knowing if he would make it out alive to deliver on his promise, but Fred was right - children were counting on you - you couldn't leave them to die.
"Okay love?" he kissed your lips softly, for as long as he could before another loud bang rang through.
Pulling away you nodded your head "Okay Freddie, I love you-"
Before Fred could respond, another bright flash burst through and George shot out, slamming against the wall, Freddie instantly yelling and pointing his wand, swinging it through the air.
Your tears spilt down your face as you mustered the strength to stand tall and run, run towards the sound of the loud blasts and screaming children. The smell of smoke choking you, the dust, dirt and smoke stinging your eyes as you pushed further and further towards the children - most of them already dead and cold, whilst the others were seriously injured, losing blood and missing limbs.
The children who were holding on, you aided, stopping them from bleeding, stitching their wounds and leading them all to safety once Tonks and Remus showed up, both worse for wear.
"We'll take it from here, Y/N," Remus said, whilst Tonks lead the children to safety.
"T-Thank you," you choked, coughing.
"You need to get out of here, now and fast, before they come-"
"I need to go back to Freddie," you quickly limped, wiping your eyes.
Remus stopped you "Y/N, you can't go back there, it's too dangerous, you need to wait for them out of the way-"
"No! I can't, he's my husband-"
"What happens if a handful of death eaters find you on your own? Limping towards a path you may not reach - they will kill you! Think of what that will do to Fred!"
"I promise I'll find you - you won't lose me."
Your gut feeling screamed at you, telling you to ignore Remus and sprint towards your husband, even if your ankle wasn't ready for such a trial - but your heart kept telling you to wait for him, to go to safety and wait for him to return.
You went with your heart, ignoring the strong churning of your gut.
"Thank you, Remus."
You limped throughout the castle, facing stray death eaters along the way, your strength and motivation to find your husband pushing you further and further, escaping death and more serious harm - part of you felt a little better, less on the edge and more relaxed, part of you felt that deep down inside you would get to see those deep brown eyes, and feel those strands of ginger locks through your fingers as you cuddle your husband in bed.
Before the hope inside of you could spread any further, the final blast shook the castle, the boom making your heart and stomach drop - you didn't know how, or why, but this time a switch inside of you flipped, and you the hope inside of you shattered to pieces.
Bursting through the huge doors you once stood in front of with Fred in the first year, you limped past the many wizard and witches, dead, injured, and alive in mourning. Before finally reaching the Weasley's you looked down and noticed both Tonks and Remus dead, their arms outstretched to one another - moments before they were alive, coming to your aid.
Looking desperately for your husband, searching for his blinking eyes, his golden hair, and clear voice, but instead, you were face to face with George and Molly, their eyes red, cracked and glassy with tears. George's jacket coated in filth, and in large splatters and trickles of blood.
"W-Where is he?" you asked, looking for Fred between the Weasleys "Wheres Fred?"
Molly's lips quivered and George's voice cracked as he opened his mouth to speak.
"Y/N... my dear... he..." Molly trailed off, coming closer to you, her arm wrapping around you.
"He didn't make it." George cried out, moving to the left, revealing Fred's body.
You weren't standing up anymore, you couldn't remember how you found yourself on the cold floor, on your knees, bending over Fred's cold stiff body, crying and wailing on his chest, the drying blood crumbling and smearing at your touch when your hands went to stroke his hair, full of debris.
The wind had been knocked out of you, you couldn't breathe.
"We're so sorry," Percy cried, crouching beside his little brother's body "I tried to save him - the blast - it just - it happened so fast, I-"
George and Molly cuddled you from behind, holding you and keeping you grounded.
Opening your eyes, you looked into Fred's searching desperately for any sign of life, but nothing was there, not a flicker of gold, or mischief.
Cloud Nine. Above the clouds. That's how you once described your life when a lad named Fred, your best friend, first crush, first boyfriend, and husband was in it.
Not enough late nights messing around in the living room, dancing, coming up with pranks for when you thought you would have children and grandchildren to fool around and cause mischief with. Not enough early, sleep-deprived mornings watching the sunrise and listening to the birds sing like they were the worlds biggest choir.
Fred would never have a chance to cook for you, or you for him, you would never get to see him waltz around the shop floor of the joke shop looking dapper in his new suit, you would never have your heart warmed by the joy and pride on his face as he opens the envelope and reads how his future is going to be more than he ever could imagine.
Last year, you and Fred got married and had the rest of your lives together waiting for you, and now, one year on, you had become a widow, having no choice but to live without the man you prepared to spend the rest of your life with.
"I promise I'll find you, Freddie," you whispered, walking around his joke shop, handing the letter to George "you won't lose me."
taglist: @horrorxweasley @amourtentiaa @alwaysnforeverfangirl @inglourious-imagines @reeophidian @sebby-staan @onlyfreds @xmalfoyweasleyx @livvysnaps @supermassiveblackhope @youralternantpersonality @snivellouss @potters-heart @the-romanian-is-bae
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copadjacent · 3 years
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re-posting this bc tumblr’s update made the format wonky
current rp wishlist
- i really really want patrick to interact with a psychiatrist / therapist muse. either in lieu of his canonical psychiatrist shortly after his family is murdered or sometime after he joins the cbi. patrick doesn’t take therapy well and i think it would be interesting to write him trying to get into the therapist’s head as much as they’re trying to get into his… without the hostility.
- pre-series conman patrick! let him “”contact”” a muse’s dead loved one and take their money! let him use his psychic powers to dictate bizarre parts of your muse’s life! let him be a smooth-talking piece of garbage! who also loves his wife and daughter very dearly and shows you pictures in his wallet of his beautiful pride and joy. - amnesiac patrick who is kind of like conman patrick except he doesn’t know he was married and is extremely flirtatious because of it. life of the party patrick jane who will hold a séance for you, woo you into a seedy hotel, and then be gone in the morning with more money and valuables than you remember giving him. - i realize the people who are familiar with this series are few and far between, but a w man, curseworkers au patrick. he’s a memory worker, but instead of getting blowback that makes it hard to remember things, he gets blowback that makes it impossible for him to forget anything. sometimes that’s worse. - old west au patrick who works still as a professional psychic and sometimes something of a snake oil salesman. cashing in hard on the sudden interest in the occult and spiritualism during the 19th century. alternatively, old west au patrick who works like harry houdini, going around trying to debunk psychics and so on. - someone??? reminding patrick painfully a lot of angela and/or charlotte. - PATRICK WITH KIDS. LET HIM ADOPT YOUR CHILD IDC WHO THEY ARE. - i’m not sure how this would work but percy jackson au patrick who thinks he’s a child of hermes but plot twist his godly parent is actually aphrodite because he has charmspeak. - any excuse for a scary “do not get in my way” patrick jane who will break someone psychologically or otherwise if one of his friends gets hurt. - red john defeat canon divergence where someone has to try to talk patrick out of killing himself (because i really don’t think patrick intended on making it out alive when taking down red john; his relationship that had blossomed with teresa during canon at the time is one of the few things that saved him). - idk i kinda just want someone to get high with patrick. - patrick being prison cellmates with another muse. - anything with a young patrick jane who still works at the carnival as the “psychic boy wonder”. maybe your muse is also working at the carnival, maybe they’re a visitor, or maybe they’re a desperate soul that patrick and his dad are going to con. - college professor au. which i’ve talked about before here. but i wanna also say that in this verse, i’ve decided he’s probably some sort of criminology professor who specializes in mentalism. perhaps he also does a small literary class for the fun of it here and there, but it isn’t his focus. ANYWAY. he’s also lowkey trying to hunt down rj still in this verse, and occasionally does help the local police / cbi / whoever when possible. - i’d also really love to do more with jane during his period in the psych ward or immediately after, before he joins the cbi. i would say that it could be interesting to explore his time after his family’s murder but before his big breakdown, but... i feel like he’d just be kind of dead and not very interesting to write against. - on the flip side... i’d love to write him post-rj when he’s escaped to south america, living on the beach, trying to find his footing again. patrick working through all of his complex emotions, trying to find purpose again, and healing would be very nice. let him find his happiness again. or... at least let him find a reason to be a person again.
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Fred Weasley — Helplessly Part 1
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Summary: After the Battle Of Hogwarts, Fred was rushed to the muggle hospital for better treatment of his injuries. While on a coma, his soul stayed with you for a couple of months. He watches as you went through the stages. And he watches when you start to write a song, just for him.
Words: 1,459 words
Warnings ⚠ : Angst, Constant Pain™, PTSD, Genuine Heartbreak, Author Bawled so You Will Bawl Too, Happy Ending
Disclaimer: I'm just...... IN PAIN.
TAGLIST FOR HELPLESSLY: HERE
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5(COMING SOON!)
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CHAPTER 1: When It Went Down
The Weasleys were running.
“Move out of the way!” Arthur Weasley’s shrill shout echoed through the hospital, beside him was a hospital cart, with his unconscious son on board. Around the cart were the Weasleys, all looking ragged and dusty, but themselves were the last thing on their minds. 
The first thing was this one, on the cart. You were right next to it, holding the cold freezing hand of Fred Weasley, who had been crushed by the shattered walls during the Battle of Hogwarts. While being thankfully alive, Fred was critical, one more second and he could be… no, you don’t want to go there. Squeezing the hand back and forth, begging with tears in your eyes that the hand squeeze back, rather than remaining stoic and… cold.
Shouts of doctors and nurses were tense as they took in Fred to the emergency unit, some of them stayed back to hold Arthur, Molly, George, and you from going in. “You cannot go in there, sir! Leave this to the experts, please!” You heard the doctor who’s holding Arthur back firmly said, while the red-haired man begged the doctor to let him in. 
As soon as Voldemort had been killed by Harry, the Weasleys took no more risks and Apparated straight to a Muggle hospital, for their severely injured boy, Freddie. Ron and Ginny stayed back at Hogwarts to make sure everything was alright. But Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Molly, and Arthur couldn’t stay and wait. They have to come with you to send Fred's help.
Molly hugged you, relying on you for comfort, while simultaneously giving you comfort as well. Both of you needed it. Fred was your lover, and he was her son. “He’ll be alright, Molly. He’ll be alright.” You whispered sweet nothings to Molly, as the loving woman cried in your embrace. 
The embrace felt like hours, your tears mixed with hers ever so frequently, praying to whoever up there who listens to save your Fred.
The adrenaline slowly wore down from each of you, and you realized you were also severely injured. Every single one of you. Thankfully, there was a branch in the Hospital for Magical Healers, and so you received treatment. 
George’s ear injury had been re-opened, and he kept hearing high pitches and experiencing dizziness. Percy had bluish bruises in his arms, he was the one who dug Fred out of the shattered stones, most likely received cuts and bruises along the way. Bill had several injuries from the spells he was attacked with, yet overall, he was fine. 
Charlie had gotten a pretty deep cut along his abdomen, yet the dragon tamer had said he’s had worse. Molly and Arthur, while being relatively not injured physically, were emotionally traumatized by the sight of Fred earlier. Molly kept whispering under her breath, with a few stray tears in her eyes, “They’re just children…”
You… You had some injuries as well, but nothing could come over the fear of going back to the Great Hall and see the boy you’ve loved with all your soul, lying there almost lifelessly. 
“Y/N,” Harry called you, you were leaning against the wall catching your breath after combating with countless of Death Eaters. “What is it, H?” You replied with a wide grin, seemingly proud of your work today. Harry’s expression was grim, and he was avoiding your eyes by looking down, “It’s Fred.”
With that sentence only, you find yourself running to the Great Hall, several emotions swarming you at once. As if in slow-motion, your memories with Fred started to replay at the back of your mind. From the moment you first met him at the 9 3/4 platform, until the moment just yesterday, where he was hugging you from behind, trailing kisses on your neck while mumbling ‘I love yous’.
You can’t lose him. No, he was the light of your life.
Your breath hitched as soon as you arrived, you saw the Weasleys swarming someone, they were crying tremendously. Hermione saw you, and with teary eyes, she hugged you, and with a shaky voice she said, “I’m sorry, Y/N.”
You were frozen. No, no. It… It can’t be. You walked slowly to where they were, George was sobbing while hugging Ron. You had to drag your feet; they were suddenly very heavy to move. 
“… Freddie?”
The quiver in your voice. The pitching fear at the tip. The breathless gasp. Everything was overwhelming.
Fred Gideon Weasley there, lying on the ground, with his eyes closed, and his lips etched a soft smile.
Your legs gave in. You dropped to the ground with a silent thud. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from that face. That face that would make funny expressions to cheer you up. That face that would cry with you, so you won’t cry alone. That face that you would caress every night, counting every single freckle as if they were stars. That face, with a soft smile on the lips.
You scrambled to him, your hands were shaking, “No. No no no, Freddie. Freddie, wake up. Freddie, my love, wake up.” Trembling hands made their way to cup his cold face, the coldness made you let out a desperate, shaky cry. “Ahh, Fred... This- This isn’t funny, you git. W-wake up. Wake up, sweetheart.” 
One, two, three. And soon more tears follow. You almost couldn’t see him through all the tears clouding your vision. Some of them dropped onto him as you cradled his head, your trembling hands dusted away the dirt on his face, caressing the skin shakily. “Freddie please! Wake up! Wake up please, I’m begging you!” You were a wailing mess. You hug his head, kissing his forehead so many times, whimpering, “No... No, please. Fred, please don’t go. You’re- you’re fine, Freddie. You’re fine. I’m-I’m here. I’m here, sweetheart, you can’t leave me. You-you can’t leave me. Not like this, no Freddie, not-not like this…”
You didn’t realize somebody was sitting down across from you and Fred, you were too immersed with the emotions drowning you.
Too immersed that you didn’t hear the echoing voices around you. Until George shook you suddenly, “Y/N!!!” You faced him, still terribly crying, he cupped your face, wiping your tears. 
With teary, swollen eyes and a runny nose, he painted a giant, relieved smile on his lips, “He’s alive, Y/N. Madam Pomfrey said he’s alive!”
“W...What?” You couldn’t even let out a noise. And then you saw it. That somebody sitting across you was Madam Pomfrey, she had her hand on Fred’s left upper chest. She was smiling in relief to you, “He still has a heartbeat, dear. He’s alive.”
Your eyes opened.
A few hours ago. You didn’t realize you’ve been reliving the memories for several hours. you were now in a hospital bed, with long wires inside you, connecting you to several machines. The fluorescent lights made you squint your eyes, unfamiliar with the brightness.  
“Y/N?” A voice. There was a voice. You couldn’t move your head, it seems like your body was paralyzed as if you’ve been Stupefied. And then someone came into your vision, it was Hermione.
She let out the breath she held earlier in relief, she looked away from you and said, “Y/N’s awake!”
Your throat feels sandy, you couldn’t let out any voice. Hermione was attentive to you, she had reached a water bottle with a straw, “Here, Y/N. You’ve passed out for almost two days now. We’ve been worried sick for you.”
As you sat up, you groaned from the pain of not moving for several hours, and then you see the Weasleys, and Harry, and also Fleur. Molly was right beside Hermione, “Are you alright, dear?” You wordlessly nodded, scanning the people staring at you. Strange, everyone was in bandages. And why does it feel like someone’s missing-
And then it clicked. The main reason why you’re here in the first place. 
Your head had never turned so suddenly, your eyes widening in anticipation, dry lips moving to form coherent words, “How is he? How’s Fred?”
“Is… Is he alive?” Your voice was hoarse. The quiver in your voice was hard not to notice, and Molly quickly said, “Y/N, dear, have a drink first.”
“No, Molly. Where is he? Why is he not here?” You said loudly, you’ve grown anxious, at the back of your head you’re starting to feel the same as when how you felt at the Great Hall.
The fear was coming back, for sure, and rather fast.
“Y/N, calm down.” George reached out, putting a comforting hand on your leg. “Fred’s alright. But,” He trailed off, unsure of how to tell you.
“But what?” 
George’s eyes darted to Molly, who just reluctantly nodded before reverted his eyes to you. “He’s in a coma, Y/N.”
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PART 2: READ 
A/N: Just know that I sobbed terribly at this chapter, this is honestly how I think it would go if Fred has a lover in the Deathly Hallows pt 2, without the Madam Pomfrey scene. Damn, if that scene was there, I would be traumatized :D
This fic is a full fanfic btw. That means it’s going to have more chapter than 3, so I hope you love this one as much as I do! Until then! p/s: check out my other works in my masterlist, it’s in my bio!
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lizzielikeborden · 3 years
Text
A Heart?
Request: Hi I was wondering if I can please ask a request for the Harry Potter x reader where the reader is Harry’s secret Santa and he’s hers as well? I just feel that be very cute. You don’t have to write it if you don’t want to I understand.
Authors Note: This is so cute! Please continue to request Christmas and or winter themed stuff. 
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This was all your idea. And to be fair you didn’t think you’d get anyone complicated. In fact the only person you didn’t run through your head before you said anything at all was the one you got. Harry Potter was the most complicated friend you had. What made it worse was the tension between the two of you. Ever since you first sleepover with the gang at the Burrow there’s been this unexplainable nervous and undiscussed feelings type of tension. With what intuition you had, you could feel that everyone else in the room could feel it as well. And you spent weeks trying to find him something, but everything you saw that reminded you of Harry seemed too cliche or would end up being something someone else in the room would enjoy more. 
So, the day before Christmas you stood in the last store you hadn’t looked in yet. It was more of a travelers store. As you looked around you you found something that peaked your interest. It was a golden ball with a white piece, almost like a pocket-watch. The only difference the size and the the fact that when you gave it a location it would show the directions to get you there. On the the back was a stag, which made it even more perfect. You purchased it and got it wrapped. 
That same night you spent hours trying to write out a perfect note to put with the gift. The trashcan was full of thrown away notes by at least 9:00PM. Then it finally came to you, with your last piece of half cut parchment you wrote exactly what came to mind, marked it with your signature, and and a small heart. You couldn’t sleep all night waiting for Christmas morning. 
6:00 A.M. 
Christmas started early at the Burrow, everyone awake, and only a few chipper. Molly made coffee and hot chocolate for everyone and you all sat around the table. She passed out her gifts first and watched everyone’s grateful faces. Then it became time for the Secret Santa.
“Okay so the rules are someone who didn’t participate pass out the gifts we all put under the tree this morning.” You stated.
Arthur decided that since Molly handed out the first set of gifts that he would hand out the the others. Once the second round of gifts were passed out everyone, excluding the twins and Ron who ripped them open without care, shook and took a careful look at the gift. You could tell the handwriting was that of a boys because it wasn’t very neat and none of the boys at the table besides Percy had decent handwriting. The wrapping itself was messy, mostly tape, and the box was medium sized. You opened it up to find a Gryffindor quidditch jersey. It was one of Harry’s, number 7. It had a little note at the bottom of the box that read:
“To my favorite fan- With love, Harry.”
You felt as if you were going to faint. You didn’t even notice the wrapping paper fight and the screams guessing who got who. But then you looked up at Harry who looked so happy holding his gift and the note. He tilted his head toward the kitchen and you cocked your head back at him in confusion even though you knew what he meant. He then pointed as he got up from his seat, you followed in suite. 
“With love?” You weren’t facing him but no one was talking and you didn’t want it to get awkward.
“A heart?” He questioned back. You could hear him shuffling his feet.
“That is not an answer to my question.” You turned to face him.
“Well uh, yes, w-with love. Yknow because I.. Well. I really like you Y/N.” He stuttered and turned around. Before he could take a step away you grabbed his arm. 
“I like you a lot too, that’s what the heart means.” 
“Really?”
You shook your head and grabbed his face & pressed a kiss to his cheek. Suddenly a fit of clapping broke out but before you could fully turn your head Harry made it even worse. He put his hands on your face and kissed your lips. The house sounded like the crowd of a quidditch game. You pulled away and faced your crowd and took a bow. Harry laughed and shook his head.
“Well, shall we join Christmas again?” He took your hand and squeezed it.
“We shall.” You nodded and you walked into the living room....
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aloera · 2 years
Note
PJO for the character game! You seemed excited for that one :D
RUNE ILY I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS ONE
this is Strictly PJO bc. i have too many goddamn faves so i will not be including hoo!! (hint hint wink wink)
Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you my:
blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)
percy!!!!! tbh its magical how rick really made me like the Protagonist the most its monumental innit like hes so funny and so sweet and so powerful and the FATAL FLAW BEING LOYALTY?????? truly nothing has ever fucked harder i think hes incredible
scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)
annabeth chase...... i want 2 squish her into a little ball. shes like. idk. i have never not loved her shes so SMART and the way she is so aggressive and so shoot first ask questions later and the way her mind moves a mile a minute,,,, love her love her love her
scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)
CLARISSE!!!!!!! bc literally how could i not. her character arc is one of the most beautiful things of all time ever and shes so loyal like the way she stayed,, w/ chris,, when he was recovering from insanity after the labrinth,,,, i think shes so cool and so strong and put you in your place from the tlh musical murdered me in cold blood
TIED WITH THIS IS ZOE MFING NIGHTSHADE "i can see the stars my lady" HER LAST WORDS AND SHE STILL DEFERRED TO ARTEMIS????? AND ARTEMIS SAID "let the world honor you my huntress live forever in the stars" MY??? MY. THEY WERE GAY. THEY WERE IN LOVE IDC IDC. WRITING ARTEMIS/ZOE FANFIC RN LITERALLY AS WE SPEAK
glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)
paul my beloved <33 completely out of his depth. man is an english teacher. still was swinging wholeheartedly at shit he Could Not See during the battle of manhattan. king shit, i love him
poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)
ANNABETHS DAD LMFAO hes just so funny to me. had a baby dropped on his doorstep and said "no thank u" and he tried??? to give it back???? he tried to give a baby back to a Goddess. hes such an idiot i love him
horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)
tantalus lmfao the scene in sea of monsters where he couldnt eat anything was so fucking funny i would do that but worse
eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)
zeus. self explanatory i think.
ask prompt
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llendrinall · 3 years
Note
Hi I have a writing promt.
A story that is written from both pov's that shows Draco and Harry falling in love with each other. Little moments together where they fall a bit more in love. Things they do that make the other thing "Wow I'm so in love with him". Ect.
Harry had always been starkly aware of Draco, but it was after the war, in the Wizengamot, when he actually noticed him for the first time.
Draco was sitting next to Pansy Parkinson, holding her hand so tight that he was leaving white marks. Harry got a glimpse of them when Pansy was called to give her testimony.
Then the unthinkable happened. Instead of demurring, which she was allowed to do –was expected by everyone to do, was what every other member of a Death Eater family had done so far– Pansy answered all the prosecutor’s questions. She gave true testimony and denied her parents the imperius defence.
Draco was waiting for her when she came down from the stand. He grabbed her hand and led her away with measured steps so it wouldn’t look like they were running.
 *
The second time Harry noticed Draco like that, as a person rather than as an opponent, was, coincidentally, the first time Draco saw Harry as Harry. Not as a school enemy or a war enemy or The Boy Who Lived or The Saviour Of The Wizarding World. Not even as Harry Potter. He saw Harry as just Harry.
It probably helped that Harry was unrecognizable under a thick layer of soot and grime so Draco didn’t know who he was calling an idiot. Draco also yelled to stop immediately and step back and, miraculously, Harry did. No hesitance.
Not all Death Eater had been arrested and not every awful individual had joined Voldemort, which meant that there were plenty of terrible people out in the world. Someone, Death Eater or not, had attacked Wisteria House. The house where rescued and freed house-elves were hosted.
Draco understood that the house-elves weren’t the goal. They were just the bait, a cheap collateral. The point of the attack was to have someone (maybe Harry, most probably Granger), cross the door quickly, without looking around them, and walk straight into a deathly trap.
Draco saw the trap, called out a warning and Harry listened. He listened to Draco.
Both of them walked away with a different opinion of the other. No one comes out the same from a burning building.
 *
 The third time went like this.
“Occupied.”
“Je- Blimey!”
“Find your own corner in the shadows to hide, Potter. This one is mine.”
“I don’t have time to find another spot.”
“Too bad. W- wait! No, quit it!”
“Scoot over! We can share.”
“No, we can’t. This is my dark spot, go away.”
“Either we share or I make sure they find you too.”
“As if I care. I’m not hiding from your devotees. Go away.”
“It’s Clay Buckthorn.”
“… be quiet, then.”
They hid in there for an hour, talking in whispers and sharing a bottle of butterbeer, while Secretary Buckthorn, the most persistent and insufferable politician to ever crawl out of the Ministry, looked around for a popular face to join his campaign. They were about to leave when in came Rita Skeeter, pressuring Percy Weasley to answer her questions. They watched from the shadows as she pressed and cajoled and he resisted. It was a bit like watching some sort of fight sport, only after ten minutes they weren’t sure who they were supporting.
 *
Harry thought Draco was dating Pansy Parkinson and maybe he still was. Evidently, it was all for show. No need to read so much into it.  
There was this old witch complaining about tradition and values. Nothing no one hadn’t heard before many times. People these days had no respect, it was disgraceful and so on. But then she turned to Dennis Creevey and his boyfriend (some Slytherin kid, Harry didn’t know him), and she asked if their families weren’t ashamed of them. Two men together. They ought to be.
Harry wasn’t sure if she knew about Dennis’ brother or not. It was hard to believe that people could be so deliberately cruel to a stranger. The question stopped him from immediately jumping to her neck. He had been accused of blowing things out or proportion before. And by before, he meant that morning when he called out that rude shopper who cut the line before a goblin.
Meanwhile, Draco rolled his eyes in that magnificent way of his. For someone who acted so proud and proper, Draco had a very expressive face and the rolling of his eyes was a spectacle to behold. He stood from his table, grabbed Theo Nott by the lapels, and kissed him on the mouth long and hard right in the middle of the crowded restaurant. Afterwards he sat down, perfectly composed, and both Theo and him turned to look at the witch like the smuggest pair of snakes in the forest.
The witch left the restaurant soon after. Dennis lost the wretched look on his face and Harry paid the bill on Draco’s table, earning a nod from him on the way out.
*
The day Draco’s heart began to beat a different rhythm was a hot Thursday in summer and someone had tried to kill him.
It wasn’t a particularly well thought attack and Draco took precautions. He wouldn’t have gotten anything worse than an intense headache and maybe some sore muscles. Still, Harry felt the need to push him to the floor and shield him with his body from the sparks and shrapnel falling over them. Harry had stopped the hex in mid-air, which was admittedly impressive. Draco watched the purple rivulets of the failed curse slowly descending around them and wondered if he was in shock. That would be embarrassing. This clumsy attack on his life didn’t deserve any shock.
Harry jumped from him (so nimble!) and chased down the would-be murdered, on foot, like a muggle. He, he just ran down the street, didn’t even cast a spell until he caught up to him and brought him to the floor. Draco was sorry to miss that part, although there were very good pictures on the newspaper the next day. Harry looked amazingly heroic. One of the pictures had him jumping in mid-air.
Draco didn’t know if this was something Harry did for everybody or if it was just for him, nor did he care. His chest and stomach and… other parts, were confused enough about how to feel, and his heart, in particular was beating to a new tune.  
*
So Draco could make moving shadows to play stories and it was amazingly beautiful and Harry loved it, he loved it, and no, it was not the potion talking, he was perfectly sound of mind. St Mungo was about to let him go! But Draco had come visit him and when Harry complained about being dreadfully bored, Draco had put on this absolutely magical spectacle (yes, Harry knew they were both wizards, it was still magical; no, no potion talking, it was an honest opinion). In the end Harry stayed the night, just like the mediwitch had begged him to, and fell asleep with the shadows performing a dance before him.
*
Draco didn’t call it love because he was quite an obstinate young man, but he was at that stage where he would easily admit that he was willing to lay down his life for Harry. He only had trouble with the word, not with the sentiment itself and its manifestation.
They were at the Ministry. It should be a pretty simple and straight-forward process. Go in, Pansy signs the documents, Draco bears witness and signs his own documents, go out. But of course it wouldn’t be so simple. A pretty pureblood witch doing anything against her family was a spectacle. The press wanted photos, people wanted to see it live, and, of course, there was the ever present mob who just wanted to shout awful things. Usually Pansy dealt with the mob by herself, swiftly and with a sting.
But today was different, hence why Draco had informed Pansy he would be accompanying her before she could ask him to. It wasn’t like the day she gave her testimony, but it was close enough. In a way, it was worse. A year ago they had her testimony to think about. Today it was just signing a document. That could hardly distract them from the crowd waiting for them.  
A push. A yelp. A crash. And Harry Potter gallantly preventing a very old wizard from having a huge flower vase fall on top of him. Somehow, Harry didn’t cast protego in time, so he avoided being brained by the vase but was splashed by the water and stood completely drenched in the middle of the Ministry main hall.
Across the mass of curious people and reporters and workers and people who had come to shout awful things, Harry looked at Draco. He gave him A Look. If he had more time, Draco would stop and think of a suitable metaphor for Harry’s eyes, their colour and intensity. But he didn’t, so he grabbed Pansy by the elbow and together they crossed the hall without the crowd noticing. Everyone’s attention was naturally fixed on the way the Saviour of the Wizarding World’s wet clothes clung to his chest.
Afterwards, once he had seen Pansy safely (and discreetly) home, Draco went to find Harry. He was perfectly dry now, but he had a faint scent of flowers around him.
“The rose garden is lovely in June,” Draco said, which should be enough but of course Harry didn’t understand him. Harry was kind, brave, handsome and clever in the most useless way so Draco had to actually explain, with words, that Weasley and Granger must have realize by now the extent of their fame and what it would mean if they married at the Burrow, where anyone could break in. Hence, why Draco mentioned his lovely rose garden where they could get married if they chose to without anyone invading their privacy.
“Hermione’s extended family is muggle.” Harry said, and dear Merlin it was even worse than Draco thought. They were going to pick a muggle place. So not only people breaking in, but a violent attack against the muggles too. Just what you want for a wedding.
“The Malfoy family marries for power, not blood purity.” Draco explained in a whisper. “There is no repello muggletum in our houses.”
“What!?” Harry cried, drawing immediate and sharp attention to them so they had to leave quickly and find a quiet place where Draco explained that Grandmother Imogen –that is, Lucius Malfoy’s mother– was a muggle but, most importantly, a peer of the Realm.
Harry stood in shocked silence for a minute, and after a lot of “whats” and “hows” and “no, really, how could you join Voldemort?” he accepted to at least extend Draco’s offer to the happy couple.  
*
Draco said he didn’t plan on attending the wedding. Just because he was offering his summer house it didn’t mean he expected an invitation. He got one anyway, because Draco had showed them his summer house and two country houses belonging to his muggle cousins and was very careful not to mention Malfoy Manor at any point. Ron appreciated it even more than Hermione.  
He rejected the invitation anyway because he said he much preferred to sit by the gates and send stinging hexes to anyone trying to intrude. It was his one chance to curse people indiscriminately and he didn’t want to waste it.
He showed up later, during the reception, looking handsome and with a pleased smile on his face. He grabbed a glass of champagne, immediately transformed it from a flute to a pompadour without wasting a drop, and sat himself next to Aunt Muriel whom he proceeded to engage in a long and acrid dispute until Ron and Hermione had left. Dear Aunt Muriel didn’t get a chance to insult the bride, or the groom, or any of their families really.
It was right then, while Draco forged a lifelong enemy (her life, not his) by insulting her garden (how did he know so much about flowers), that Harry realized he was in love. He was in love. He was in love. He wanted to be with Draco and insult people together and scandalize prejudiced old bats until they themselves were old bats.
*
Harry picked up a fight with the officiant (to be fair, that comment about the goblins was very unfortunate) and they ended up getting married at a muggle register’s office and Draco was so, so, happy. His family was obviously displeased. Cousin Nerissa said that her fiancée could officiate and was very offended when Fred Weasley said no one wanted to be married by a man named Cuthbert. It was amazing. George Weasley sat next to Cousin George, the baron. Hermione and Ginny Weasley started a fight with the most traditional-minded relatives (from every side). Cousin Audrey came out to the family when she was caught propositioning Luna Lovegood. Pansy Parkinson got engaged to no less than three lords and said they could sort between themselves who got to marry her.
Draco was so in love. It was amazing.
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halothenthehorns · 3 years
Text
TLTNL- THE HEARING
Remus had to swallow hard to force himself into getting started. All of them were still wanting to go out and start smothering someone for what they'd tried to do to Harry, but this nasty hearing had been hanging over their head long enough, and Remus wanted an answer done with already, was Harry really going to pay a price for saving someone's life?
Harry was not encouraged when he stepped inside and recognized the exact room he'd once seen people sentenced to Azkaban in.
"That's an encouraging start!" Sirius squeaked while Lily continued shaking her head in disgust of Harry having to do this down there.
Dark stone benches rose high, the room only lit by torches and casting eerie shadows on the rows of occupants.
Lily had her head cocked to the side as her eyes continued narrowing in on this. She couldn't imagine why there would be an audience at a thing like this, but that would still make far more sense than...
The door closed with an ominous bang behind him, as a cold voice announced he was late.
"And who's fault is that?" James huffed.
Harry apologized, saying he hadn't realized the time had been changed, while the same voice responded that was not the Wizengamot's fault.
Lily felt her mouth open with a little pop that went unnoticed as the other boys shifted uncomfortably. They didn't need her to tell them this just couldn't be normal, had Harry stepped into the wrong room?
  An owl had been sent to him this morning.
Remus opened his mouth furiously to comment on that, but Lily quickly waved him silent and begged him to just keep going no matter how much she already hated where this was.
Harry dropped his gaze to the chair in the center of the room, the arms of which were covered in chains.
Sirius felt his teeth locking into place already, swearing he'd rip up something if those actually lashed Harry into place.
He sat gingerly on the edge and only felt slightly better they didn't bind him down, so instead he looked up at the watchers all of which were wearing plum coloured robes with a W embroidered on. Most had expressions mirroring Fudges, while others just looked confused.
Harry wished he felt more curious than nauseous like he did now thinking of this place. He'd never liked being watched, now he had a crowds sole attention with the distinct feeling he still wasn't going to walk out of there very happy.
In the middle sat Fudge, on his right a woman Harry didn't know wearing a monocle, and on the left someone sitting so far back the face was in shadows.
James' temper of this not withstanding, he still couldn't just sit there watching Harry sweat so he worked hard to pitch his voice in a silly whisper saying, "dramatic."
It worked for a whole four seconds while Harry grinned at him before turning back, his face somehow even darker upon hearing of this shadowed person.
Fudge testily got started by saying now that the accused was finally present they could begin, looking down the row a bit. An eager yes sir was his answer, and Harry felt a jolt as he recognized Percy Weasley.
"I'm not sure if I'd refer to him as a Weasley much anymore," Sirius grumbled.
Harry looked at Percy, expecting some sign of recognition from him, but none came.
"I think I'd be more offended if he did acknowledge you," Remus snipped, thinking that Percy meeting Harry's eyes and then Harry seeing any sort of smug expression there would only hurt him worse right now.
He instead was looking only at his notes, quill poised.
Fudge began by stating the time and date, Percy's quill at once moving along at high speed to keep up.
'He really has to write all that down?' the thought wildly flickered through Harry's mind as he found himself grasping such odd details, but still deciding he found this slightly more comforting than if he'd seen another Quick-Quotes Quill there.
Fudge was speaking of the reason they were all here, to discuss the break in the Decree, then Harry and his place of residence. Interrogators were himself, Amelia Susan Bones, and Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister,
'Well she got a promotion,' Lily randomly noted, only knowing her now as a woman who'd just been promoted into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She hadn't heard a lot of good things from the work she'd been trying to pass along so far, and now finding she'd been stepped to an even higher position was not at all encouraging for how this was going.
as well as Court Scribe Percy Ignatius Weasley-
as well as witness for the Defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the man himself cut in.
"Oh thank Merlin," Remus actually sat back in relief.
"I was starting to think you were going to have to handle the lot of them by yourself," James agreed.
Lily honestly did feel just as relieved as them, she couldn't have asked for a better defense than Dumbledore showing up and reminding them they couldn't be the ones to get Harry kicked out of school for the mess he was in, but that still didn't cover the pure outrage still simmering in her that her son was having to sit through a full blown trial for one act of underage magic! Just what had happened to her society!
Harry turned so fast he put a crick in his neck as his headmaster came sweeping into the room. The members of the Wizengamot were not as pleased, most looking annoyed, some even frightened, though a few in the back row waved.
"Brave of them, considering I half expect Fudge to turn and fire them on the spot after all I've heard," James huffed.
A powerful emotion had risen in Harry's chest at the sight of Dumbledore, a fortified, hopeful feeling rather like that which phoenix song gave him.
The four of them could remember this feeling all to well, it's how they used to feel in the middle of this war whenever they were at meetings and things were starting to look bleak. One glance at their leader though and somehow they felt just that little more assured of their task at hand. Even now, in the face of what all they feared and thought he'd done to their life in this future, that feeling still didn't leave them now as he came swooping in to Harry's rescue.
Harry tried to catch Dumbledore's eye, but he only held Fudge's attention as the man blustered that the Headmaster had gotten their message of the time and place changing then.
Lily now had the nasty suspicion that this whole thing may well have been done to in fact make it so Dumbledore wouldn't be in attendance any more than Harry. It did make his arrival all the more satisfactory at least.
Dumbledore corrected he had not received any such message, but as he'd happened to be here hours early, it was a lucky happenstance.
Still shuffling his papers in annoyance, Fudge barked at Weasley to go fetch the man a chair then, but before he could move Dumbledore drew one himself that fell beside Harry and sat himself down.
Fudge, clearly derailed, had to think a moment before going on track with the charges.
Sirius chuckled meanly to himself that the mere presence of Dumbledore had completely diminished Fudge into a dithering idiot again.
It took him a moment to go back and read out the full charges against Harry James Potter in breaking the Statue of Secrecy in the presence of a Muggle, reading out the whole section of where that could be located, before confirming Harry was this same person.
James had an odd look on his face, longing to mock the logic of this question being asked after the charges and not while the people's names had been read out, but still angry enough at this situation he didn't really want to be laughing at much of anything.
Harry agreed at once, and was reminded he had also received warnings against doing this same thing three years ago.
Harry agreed yes, but-
Lily caught his eye worriedly, wishing she were there to warn him that he would get his time to explain himself, and for now it would have just been best to answer simply and possibly more politely. Yet Harry was also being tried by the whole Wizengamot for this, so clearly societal rules had been torn to shreds for this meeting!
The back and forth continued with Fudge pressing in on all of his wrong doings, all while Harry agreed it was true, but-
When it got to the part of his full Patronus having been produced, he was this time cut off by the witch with the monocle booming it was fully-fledged?
"That's what she caught on!" Harry finally burst out angrily in here. "Not why I'd done the spell!"
"Well to be fair, that really is a feat of magic you seem to underplay a lot," Remus said conversationally enough while Harry rolled his eyes for Remus actually agreeing with this woman.
A corporeal Patronus?
Harry opened his mouth to ask about that now, but Remus shook his head slightly to show he'd be asking at that time.
Harry was distracted by asking what that even meant, and she elaborated that was the name for the animal your Patronus would produce. Harry impatiently agreed it had been a stag, it always was, and she cut off again to ask how many times he'd done this. Harry began that Professor Lupin had taught him back in third year- and was again cut off by her saying he'd been doing this since he was thirteen? That was impressive.
James honestly would have laughed at this under any other circumstances, but Harry continually being cut off from saying that very important reason just wasn't any kind of funny.
Some of the wizards and witches around her were muttering again; a few nodded, but others were frowning and shaking their heads.
"Well I'm so sorry it couldn't impress the crowd," Sirius sneered.
Fudge snapped back the more impressive the magic all the worse in front of that Muggle!
"A muggle who knows full well about magic with me living with him, doesn't that give me any leeway?" Harry demanded.
"Not really, no," Lily wished she could think of more to comfort him with, but so far this whole entire thing had only cemented their fears of Harry being railroaded in this place.
Those who had been frowning now murmured in agreement, but it was the sight of Percy's sanctimonious little nod that goaded Harry into speech.
"I'd like to do more than talk with him around," Sirius got out through gritted teeth.
He shouted for all to hear he'd done it because of the Dementors!
That brought a heavy silence down on them all as Madam Bones prompted what he meant by that?
"Do they really not know when they're around!" Harry burst out in exasperation.
"Sadly not," Lily shook her head. "The Ministry likes to pretend they've got tabs on the species, but in reality there are more than just at Azkaban and they go rogue running into Muggle neighborhoods from time to time. It doesn't excuse the absolute odds of them running into you," she finished with an eye roll.
Harry really wished he could get more clarification on what magic could and couldn't do, as apparently you could track when a specific spell was being used but not a specific creature?
He finally explained there had been two that night after him and his cousin.
Fudge gained an odd smile as he began looking around for someone to join in his joke and saying how he'd thought it would be something like this.
"If you actually thought Dementors were involved, things never would have gotten this far," Remus said, clearly joining in the laugh with his mocking tone.
Madam Bones began to say she did not understand, so Fudge explained for her how nice a story Dementors made as Muggles couldn't see them.
"I didn't know that at that time," Harry muttered, real fear starting to creep up in him. If they thought he was lying, than this premonition could be all too real, and he wasn't going back to school...
Which was entirely convenient. Harry burst back that there had been two of them, coming from opposite ends of the alley way when his cousin took off-
but was cut off by Fudge saying he was not going to listen to this rehearsed story.
"He still gets to tell his side of the story whether you believe it or not," Lily had to force everything in her not to shout that. "The rest of the Wizengamot get to decide if he's telling the truth!" She wasn't succeeding very well by the end.
Dumbledore cleared his throat causing the man to fall silent as Dumbledore pointed out there had in fact been a witness to this other than Dudley Dursley.
Harry scratched his mind in confusion on who this could be, and realized the only other possibility was Figg. Could Squibs see dementors? He supposed he was about to find out, and didn't bother asking as no one seemed remotely confused on this.
Fudges plump face seemed to slacken, as though somebody had let air out of it.
"I'd like to deflate several things on him," Sirius quipped.
He stared hard at Dumbledore before insisting no one had time to listen to dribbles from any old person, he wanted this dealt with quickly!
"Well it's not for him to decide how quickly something gets brushed to the side, thank Merlin," James said in clipped tones.
Dumbledore cut in that by their own laws, the defense could call for a witness, which Madam Bones agreed was true.
"She couldn't have said that before Dumbledore had to interrupt?" Lily seethed, finding Arthur's advice before about how fair this Bones woman was didn't seem to accurate if she was willing to let Fudge pummel her son until Dumbledore stepped in to say otherwise. James still had his arm tight around her waist and gave her a comforting squeeze, knowing her harsh words shouldn't really be taken full force now as she just wanted to be the one to protect Harry at this trial she should have had a hand in.
Fudge gave in and sent Weasley to go let whoever this person was in, and Mrs. Figg came shuffling inside looking more batty and scared than ever. Harry wished she'd at least changed out of her slippers.
"I suppose Dumbledore told her to come comfortably," Sirius amazingly had a twitching smile trying to creep up on him in the face of all this, but he couldn't seem to stay that mad with her back. He was to busy picturing her calling Fudge much worse than a useless lump.
Dumbledore offered her his chair and duplicated another for himself while Fudge barked at her for her full name.
"Least she didn't have to sit on the chained one," Harry huffed, half wishing he'd thought to ask Dumbledore for one of those as well, as the menacing clinking noise hadn't really stopped behind him this whole time.
She proclaimed herself as Arabella Doreen Figg of Little Whinging.
Madam Bones corrected that no wizard lived in the area, that had always been a closely monitored situation.
"That, is a really terrible oversight," Lily suddenly blinked as she realized this for the first time. "Is she living there now? I have no idea honestly, but the fact that we don't keep a record of where Squibs are living- I mean even if they aren't a magical threat I don't see why we wouldn't as they could be in just as much, honestly more danger from-" James cut her off with another squeeze, while she continued shaking her head for this glaring problem no one had ever seemed to realize, or care about.
Mrs. Figg said back she was a Squib, so she wouldn't be on any of those lists.
Fudge watched her curiously for a moment before turning and asking those around him if Squibs could even see Dementors?
"Why would he look at them, when she'd be the one to answer?" Harry demanded. Even not having a particular like for Mrs. Figg, he still found that beyond rude, quite a feat considering everything else the Minister had done of late.
"Confirming from a source he doesn't believe is a liar," Remus sighed after he guessed that.
She said back quite indignantly that yes she could.
Fudge gave in and told her to begin her story, and she prattled off as if from memorization the date and time of when this took place.
Lily winced for that, fearing Fudge could still throw this testimony out if he did claim this was rehearsed and given to her by Dumbledore.
She'd spotted the Dementors running- but was cut off by Bones pointing out no Dementor could run, they glided.
She quickly corrected herself that's what she meant,
"She's allowed to be a bit confused," James said sympathetically. "She did see Dudley running, and she's about to account for two things going on at once."
and then Bones cut in again to asked what they looked like?
She began that one was very large and the other rather skinny-
Remus had to fight hard not to release a snort of mirth, but failed and began giggling anyways along with both his friends to his rising pleasure. It was the first time he'd seen Sirius actually crack a smile while the mention of dementors had been brought up in here, so he knew he'd give Figg a thanks just for that.
No, no, Bones corrected, not the boys, the Dementors, she wanted them described.
Mrs. Figg began unsteadily that they were big and wearing cloaks.
"Well she's not wrong," Sirius said fairly even if he could feel that nasty twitching just below the surface of his panic again at the thought of feeling around those things for the next twelve years loomed over him again.
Harry could feel himself begin panicking at this, as she was doing a terrible job of putting into words that hopeless feeling that engulfed the very air around Dementors.
Sirius gave Harry a mock pat on the head, ignoring the fact his hand was shaking to hard for the gesture to come through right.
The audience wasn't any more convinced as Harry spotted two smirking and rolling their eyes.
"Well I'm so glad at least someone's enjoying the show," Lily said icily, wishing for more descriptions so she'd know who next to curse at work.
She continued on, adopting the proper shaky manner when speaking of those things and how they'd made her feel and remembered the most dreadful things, then her voice did shake and die.
"At least she got that part right," Remus said in relief as he tried to keep going with more confidence now the woman had established some credibility in this.
Bones' expression was unreadable as she asked what happened next, and she began to say the Dementors had gone for the boys. One of them had fallen to the ground while the other was trying to repel one with only smoke so far, that was Harry.
Lily pinched James to stop him making some dumb comment about how she could have gotten the boys swapped.
He tried twice more, and finally on the third time his stag came to his defense and chased them off, and that was what happened she finished a bit lamely.
Sirius was thankful he didn't have anyone in his immediate vicinity to stop him giving a polite little clap for that thrilling tale, so Lily compensated by chucking a pillow at him, not even trying to deny that she always did feel slightly better watching these two idiots make light of this as clearly it was giving Harry a distraction and he didn't look quite so pale while watching them.
Fudge began aggressively that's what she'd seen?
Mrs. Figg repeated in earnest that was what happened.
"Really do just love her for this," Remus agreed.
Fudge dismissed her then and she only left after a quick look at Dumbledore. Once she was gone Fudge began how unconvincing that was, while Bones corrected she'd gotten the properties of a Dementor down well enough and the woman had no reason to make anything up.
Fudge snorted it meant nothing as the odds of this happening to a wizard were astronomical.
"No one was trying to deny the possibilities," Lily agreed grimly.
Dumbledore lightly reminded no one found it a coincidence.
The two who'd been smirking before now stopped doing any such thing, and the person in the shadows gave an uneasy twitch as all attention was back on Dumbledore.
"What was that?" Harry asked sharply, not exactly wanting to turn his full attention back to Fudge doing this to him, but that had done it.
"Someone twitched," Sirius tried to pacify Harry's sudden intensity by giving a very obvious leg spasm that 'accidentally' hit Remus, and Harry lost track of his thread as Remus gave him an absent nudge back while still going.
Fudge barked what Dumbledore could mean, while he reminded that someone must have sent those Dementors there.
The Minister snapped back there was no record of any such thing happening!
While Dumbledore agreed, that meant that all Dementors were not under Ministry control as he'd always claimed.
Fudge gave a nasty retaliation that Dumbledore had made his views of that quite plain, but the Azkaban guards had still been doing their job!
"Including everything you don't ask them to," James said stiffly, he still hadn't forgotten the ones that had nearly gone after Harry, and to a lesser but more effective degree had done to Barty Crouch Jr., and no consequences had ever seemed to come from that.
Dumbledore went on more quietly but still calmly that everyone must ask themselves then what those Dementors had been doing there if not on Ministry orders.
Harry could feel himself starting to shake slightly, the now familiar pain of a memory ready to pounce leaving him sure this was no fallback excuse. Dumbledore had been wrong before, but was right now, but who on earth-
He was distracted by the flash of red hair from his mother shaking her head in disbelief, along with the boys rolling their eyes at Dumbledore's time for a joke. Clearly they at least had faith the Ministry would never fall that far, so he was probably misinterpreting something in him.
Only silence followed this for a beat before the person in shadows finally sat forward, and Harry got a look at her appearance for the first time. A wide, flabby, pale face that had bulging features along the eyes and mouth leaving the impression of a toad. Even the little black bow she wore on her head impressed a fly about to be snapped up by a sticky tongue.
"You truly have the loveliest descriptions of people," Lily rolled her eyes, wanting to scold him absolutely none of that had been polite, but as it was his private thoughts she resisted since she knew her son had better manners than saying that to a woman's face.
Fudge recognized her position to speak as that of before as Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. When she did begin, her voice came out in a girlish high-pitched way, causing Harry some surprise as he'd been expecting a croak.
Sirius couldn't resist anymore and snorted with laughter, all of the boys giggling childishly at Harry's thoughts now.
She began politely to inform Professor Dumbledore that she was being silly as it sounded like he was implying the Ministry of Magic had set an order to attack this boy.
Harry was swaying just slightly as memory of this woman tried to crowd him in on all sides at once. Her appearance, her words, her very attitude screaming at him right now to get a spit ready to roast her alive, but a hard shake from his head managed to clear the worst of it while Sirius gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, all of them worried Harry was fixing to pass out from stress for this still hanging over his head.
"This woman isn't leaving a very good first impression," James felt some of his amusement at Harry's description of her dying as clearly his son was getting a bad vibe from this woman, and that automatically put her in his bad books. The last person who had received that kind of intense look had been Marge.
Dumbledore explained their own logic, that if the Ministry had control of all Dementors, and the Dementors were there, then someone had to have done something for this chain of events to occur, otherwise there really were Dementors-
Fudge's face was turning burning red as he shouted back there were no Dementors outside Ministry cotrol!
"He is literally contradicting himself," Remus sighed as he never thought he'd meet someone so stupid to not take even the smallest out Dumbledore was trying to offer. He was going small, trying to give the man just a pinch of room in saying there could have been just a few rogues, but no, the man couldn't do anything that wasn't idiotic it seemed.
Dumbledore acknowledged this with a bow of his head before pointing out that this matter would then be looked into.
Fudge snapped back that was no longer Dumbledore's decision for the Ministry to be looking into anything!
"I feel like at some point it should be," Sirius snarled, as Dumbledore being Minister would solve at least a few problems at this point, Sirius' status included.
Dumbledore agreed mildly, and then pointed out his confidence that this matter would then be investigated.
Fudge said back none of this was relevant to the current charges! They were not here to discuss Dementors that were more than likely a figment of that boy's imagination, but his offence against the Decree!
Dumbledore said simply the matters were one in the same as Clause Seven clearly stated magic could be used in the presence of Muggles to save lives which was the exact occurrence-
but Fudge cut off to say they were all well familiar with Clause Seven!
"Clearly not, as the existence of this trial proves you need a look back!" Lily hissed.
Dumbledore pointed out that so long as that was true, this matter was settled as all agreed Dementors fell under this law.
Fudge still tried to say he didn't even think this had happened, and Dumbledore said to call the witness back then, she'd be more than happy to repeat herself.
Fudge was blustering now in frustration as he shouted he didn't have time for that, he wanted this over with!
"No one gives a damn about what you want!" Sirius barked.
"He's not even being subtle about showing how badly he created this just to do the worst he can to Harry," Remus agreed viciously.
Dumbledore's response was to point out the time shouldn't matter if the alternative was a serious miscarriage of justice.
Sirius let a bark of laughter escape him, and to his absolute pleasure saw the others get a bleak smile as well for Dumbledore's choice of words whether intentionally or not.
Fudge roared at the top of his lungs serious miscarriage his hat!
"I don't think I can have a miscarriage of anything," Sirius said as he glanced down in confusion at his stomach.
"You just ruined whatever amount of funny that once was Padfoot," Remus told him conversationally without looking up.
Had anyone been keeping track of the amount of stories this boy cooked up!
Sirius couldn't resist and began ticking on his fingers, "Dobby, then Marge, now this. Not counting what Arthur did while there, that's actually only three. I know of at least one Muggle-born who got at least as many," he finished with fluttering eyes at Lily who only grinned indulgently in response as she didn't bother to deny it.
Harry was still intrigued enough to hear about this, far more than his life in his opinion, but Remus was still to invested in finding out if Dumbledore could really win this thing as it was looking like he was doing and so didn't give Lily the chance to say anything, for now.
That Hover Charm three years ago had just been the start-
but Harry cut in to say it had been a house-elf who'd done that.
Fudge gaped at Harry before shouting that was his point! A house-elf in a Muggle house he says!
"It's not my fault these things happen to me!" Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.
"Apparently you're going to be hard pressed to get others to believe that," James sighed with true pity. In all honesty, if he hadn't sat here and heard the accounts himself, he'd think Harry was pulling his leg with some of these stories.
Dumbledore calmly said that the house-elf in question was employed at Hogwarts and could be here in this second to give his own evidence for that night.
Fudge had to stutter for a moment before saying he didn't have time to listen to a house-elf!
"He keeps going on about how he's too busy to be dealing with this," Lily sneered. "I can't wait for someone to point out how he created this problem by setting up this whole courtroom to be there for this, wasting everyone's time!"
He'd blown up his aunt for crying out loud!
"You do have to love the irony of it all though." Sirius sighed. "He overlooked that instance, and now he's trying to get Harry expelled for something of honestly lesser reason."
Harry gave a bleak, obligatory laugh no one felt.
Dumbledore reminded no one had pressed charges then as all had agreed at the time even the best wizards could lose their temper and emotions.
Fudge completely ignored this and tried to go on into what he got up to in school-
"Which in no regards is held in the Ministry's decision," Lily cut in with blistering tones, making Remus shrink back into his seat slightly and her anger wasn't even directed at him. He'd never had a problem chatting with Lily about politics, but he was starting to be very afraid for this book if it kept pushing her buttons on this topic.
Dumbledore sternly reminded now that the Ministry had no say over Harry's behaviour inside school.
Fudge gave a mean little laugh as he asked Dumbledore if he really thought so?
Harry felt a nasty tingling at the base of his spine at that.
Dumbledore kept his cool tone that Fudge had been given his evidence that nothing had happened on that night that did not fall perfectly legally under their own laws.
"I really think at some point the politeness is just another level of smugness," James shook his head.
"Least Dumbledore did what he did no matter what attitude he used," Lily sighed.
Fudge said savagely that laws could be changed!
Dumbledore gave this a slight head incline as well of acknowledgement before pointing out that for now they were what they were, such as those being used to hold a full criminal trial to deal with a single matter of underage magic.
Lily made an agitated noise that still managed to sound triumphant, finally someone other than her had said it.
He concluded that no laws had been broken, therefore no punishment should be placed, and it was not this court's decision to decide on every bit of magic Harry ever performed.
"Oh please stop giving him ideas," Harry muttered.
This specific offense had been presented and defended, now all that was left was a verdict.
Harry felt a thrill of fear as he realized Dumbledore was telling them to get a move on with a decision, when he'd hardly had a chance to say anything. This was too fast!
"I disagree," Remus frowned, "this is honestly a good thing him being quick about this. Let Fudge keep going much longer and he'll start trying to bring up things you don't have anything to do with but he'll still try to blame you for."
Harry gave an uneasy nod as he tried to believe Remus was right and it was high time he got his answer for this no matter how much he felt like vomiting in the meantime.
Harry tried to look at Dumbledore with a million questions, but again Dumbledore seemed oblivious to Harry's attempt to catch his eye.
They all got a little frown on their face for that. Was Dumbledore really so busy watching Fudge he couldn't spare a moment to glance at the boy he was defending?
He instead looked to his feet, his heart pounding away. He'd expected this to last longer, but in his opinion he hadn't made a very good impression so far.
"You really couldn't have even if you came in wearing a Support Fudge badge," Sirius sighed.
He hadn't said very much.
"True Dumbledore and Figg got your side out for you, but that's probably a good thing," James said fairly. "It's been made obvious nothing you say will get through to them, at least Dumbledore still holds some weight with his reputation you just don't have son."
Harry wasn't entirely sure he agreed, but as he'd always preferred action rather than letting others do this sort of thing for him, he doubted he'd ever fully agree.
He ought to have explained more fully, how both he and Dudley had nearly been kissed . . .
They all flinched as hard as Sirius at remembering that nearly happening to their Harry, again!
He fought with himself to add this on, but every time he got close he could feel the fear cutting off his words and instead kept a firm eye on the pattern of his laces,
"I found that a good idea when faced with McGonagall," Remus winced, "I imagine this is significantly worse."
until Bones declared the question all in favor of clearing all charges?
Harry's head snapped up just in time to do a quick count, of more than half!
Finally they all felt a breath of relief pass through them again. This had been dragged on far to long, they couldn't believe this had been a real threat on Harry and he'd barely escaped by the skin of his teeth!
Bones asked the opposite question of conviction, and while Fudge, and a dozen others voted so, including the smirking pair of before,
"I need names," Sirius said flatly, and Harry now had the absolute certainty Sirius was not joking, and was almost thankful he couldn't be of help with that.
it was not enough, and Fudge had no choice but to declare Potter was cleared of all charges.
Dumbledore stood abruptly, vanished the two chairs he'd created, and said how excellent this was while bidding them all good day. He then swept out of the dungeon without a backward glance.
"Hey!" They all yelped in protest.
"What's Dumbledore playing at?" Sirius demanded as he snatched the book from Remus.
"I know this wasn't a time to be sitting around congratulating each other," Lily agreed, "but would it really kill the man to at least escort Harry outside and say, anything!"
Harry sunk back into his seat heavily, his temporary moment of thrill and excitement he was free to go back to school at once dimmed by what he considered a very bad omen for the rest of this to come.
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alexandrablake · 3 years
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about the blog!
please interact with this to tell me you read this!
thems sure some words, huh?
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   ➵ i am a multi-multi-multi-shipper, like i have at some point (with a couple exceptions) probably shipped most couples (exhibit a: emily with...everyone)
   ➵ i don’t like labels! 
   ➵ i have a very, very poor memory. i tend to remember tiny, inconsequential things, and not big events
   ➵ i have a very strong habit of mimicking people i like, so if you see me suddenly pick up something (ie keysmash or an emoji i’m abusing) it’s probably from that! feel free to send me an ask and i’ll tell you who!
   ➵ i tend to call you guys terms of endearment. could be any of the following and more: mi amor, my love, babe, bub, babes, love, etc etc. if it makes you uncomfortable, tell me to stop!
 ➵ i like hanging out on y’all’s blogs because i like y’all. if i ever make you uncomfortable in any way or do something that i missed in the rules of your blog, just tell me and i will amend myself!
   ➵ techically i’m multifandom, but the majority of it will be criminal minds, 911 (lone star or normal), or law and order: svu.
other fandoms i talk about: mcu, veronica mars, harry potter (barely), taylor swift, percy jackson (on the occasion), b99, the good place, wonder woman, and more that i probably am forgetting.
 ➵ occasionally, you might see me incoherently babbling about something (most recently it was carrie underwood). feel free to fuel my fire or just ignore me. i’ll be back to normal in a bit.
    ➵ i operate on est, but really that doesn’t mean anything, i here at all hours and no hours. 
    ➵my name is pronounced “ee-vuh” but at this point i will probably respond to any variation of it
    ➵ i talk a lot. like a lot a lot. i don’t really talk to people irl, and as a result of this i developed this ramble-y style talk which is fun ! it extended to the internet which means that something i could say in six words is said in six paragraphs.
    ➵ although i personally ship most things, i know a lot of people don’t! therefore any ship thing will be tagged accordingly (ie with the ship name). i don’t really talk about most ships if not in reblogs (w/ the exception of morcia) so you should be safe from untagged rambles
   ➵ i bounce very quickly between things. this includes (but is not limited to): themes, projects, writing, my imposter syndrome, school work. one moment it is all i can think about, the next i simply could not be bothered to think about the thing.
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     ➵ this is a safe space. hate will not be tolerated towards anyone. you want attention by getting blocked, come to me, baby, i gotchu.
    ➵ we don’t do racism, transphobia, antisemitism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, misogyny, ableism, or anything like that similar here. 
    ➵ i’d rather you keep it sfw
    ➵ if you don’t think criminal minds, or any other show like it, is copaganda and shouldn’t be treated as such, read this post and if you are still iffy on the matter please come talk to me and i will tell you about this.
now, in no way am i trying to take away from your likes! you cannot choose hyperfixations, but you still need to see when something is at fault with it.
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    ➵ asks and anon is on! please send me stuff, i love talking, i just don’t initiate because i have mad amounts of anxiety 🧍‍♀️
    ➵ pms are open, but i am very slow to getting to these/ don't even get the notification for it in the first place, so take that into consideration!
     ➵i cross-post to my ao3 so there’s nothing there that’s not here, but it’s normally formatted better if you want to check that out. i may(???) be posting some multi stuff there but probably not 
   ➵ i don’t do well with great big blocks of text (this is ironic), my brain just kinda >>>>> over it and i just read the beginning and end. you can either bold important stuff, italicize it, break it up, anything. the main thing here is needing something to catch my eyes on.
    ➵ i am getting increasingly worse at reading tone in writing, so as a curtesy, if you see something that could be misinterpreted another way, if you could use tone indicators, i’d thank you!!
    ➵ tone indicators:
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  /nbh, /gen = nobody here, just a general statement
➵ i try to be as kind and as accepting as possible, but i am pretty privileged. if anything i say is offensive in any way, please! tell me!!
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skgway · 3 years
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1823 July, Tues. 22
7
12
1/2 hour in in the stable talking to the plasterer, and afterwards in the cow-house – Letter from M– [Mariana] (Lawton) dated yesterday,
“last Tuesday in coming downstairs my foot slipped and I fell down and sprained my right shoulder, till Saturday I was unable to use my arm at all, and even today I feel writing painful. xxxx has been my amanuensis but I am fearful of her, acting that part to you, lest you should fancy me worse than I really am” –
She thinks I “have exaggerated” her “feelings” on the subject of my last letter, “more than” her “letter warranted” – She seems to keep to her old opinions, yet so modifies them, that as she observes “to enter more upon the subject could do no good, therefore we had better drop it” –
She adds ‘I have never doubted your faith tho I have your prudence’ Wishes me to be circumspect. ‘I have a feeling on the subject which no earthly power can remove, and great as the misery which it would entail upon myself might be, I would endure it all rather than the nature of our connection should be known to any human being’ 
She had before observed that when she complained of my attentions to Miss Maclean I had owned they were foolish. I really don't remember this  – Both Isabella and Charlotte told her last summer I did Mrs. M[ilne] harm –
Letter also from Miss Henrietta C– [Crompton] (Esholt hall) Disappointed at my not going – The Gilbert C– [Crompton]s still there – To stay till tomorrow – 4 pages the ends, under the seal, and the top of page 1 crossed – Miss Fawkes of Farnley speedily to be married to Sir Edward Barnes, governor general of Ceylon – She is to go out with him almost immediately –  
“young Kaye is soon to marry Miss Arbuthnot with £60,000 – Accomplished and pretty, but I should hope weak for accepting him” –  “Pray read ‘Quintin Durward’ it is charmingly interesting, I think superior to Peveril”
The C– [Crompton]s are going to woodend – They are to be at Leeds as today to see the exhibition –  “Dr. Camidge has had a serious dispute with Mr. Greatorex where or how he is to stand” at the approaching musical festival –
Wrote the above of today, and went down to breakfast at 9 1/2 – At 10 3/4 in spite the perpetual showers (very rainy all last night) set off to H–x [Halifax] – A heavy shower at the top of the cunnery lane lasted till I stopt at Mrs. Wilcock’s door – Went in for 2 or 3 minutes to ask Miss Pickford if she would allow me to drive her to Haughend – (George rode Percy) – The Priestleys and Astleys, 2 Miss Butlers staying in the house, and Mr. John Edwards of Pyenest, all assembled in the drawing room soon after our arrival –
Sir John gave me 3 franks, for Mrs. Norcliffe tomorrow and for Miss Henrietta C– [Crompton] and Mr. Marsh on Thursday – Gave Mrs. H[enry] P– [Priestley] Mr. Marsh’s letter to read, and she instantly and handsomely gave me her name as a subscriber to Miss King’s poems – Lady A[stley] would have done the same, but Sir John, on reading the letter thought there was a particular etiquette to be attended to in these sort of applications – That he, as member for the county of Wiltshire, ought to have been applied to at home (at Everley) –
The printed names of the subscribers he knew well – Knew many of the people mentioned intimately – If Mr. Marsh applied to him, he would be happy to put his name down – Would be happy to do anything to oblige him – I might hint this when I wrote – Sir John had said I might hint this, before I asked his permission (it was granted) to tell Mr. M– [Marsh] that, if the thing was named to Sir John) I knew he would be a subscriber – The recent but worthy baronet took some pains to assure me, there was a certain etiquette in these matters, as member for the county, necessary to be attended to – He knew I was aware of this etc. etc. –
At this moment (5 p.m.) I am quietly smiling at all this importance – It might be a subscription for raising a Wilshire corps of volunteers, or for some great concern of vital consequence to the interests of the county and its members; instead of a 5-shilling subscription to a small volume of poems, published for the benefit of a poor girl and her family, reduced to indigence by agricultural speculations! ‘Tis but a little trait, but yet how biograph of Sir John! 
On coming away, it was more than I expected to hear lady A– [Astley] invite me to Everley with seeming cordiality – I might visit Mr. Marsh – Winterslow was only (16 or 20 miles I forgot which) distant from them (the A– [Astley]s) and they would be very happy to see me – They are not to have Haughend till the 11th of next month; of course, therefore, I expressed my hope of seeing them again –
The 2 Miss B– [Butlers] are vulgar looking girls – Miss A– [Astley] seemed much at home with them – Appearances made no very individual distinctions between them – I suppose his contested election cost Sir John £70,000; and he has 12 or 14 thousands a year – Lady A– [Astley] said to me when I dined there, “Sir John is of a very old family – They were barons in the time of tilts and tournaments” – Does not the present importance of the house of Everley restless upon the manners than the money of the family? Perhaps their county is yet but young – But they are very civil to me, and little ween this ink shed of my pen –
From Haughend drove to Mill-house – Gave Mrs. W[illiam] H[enry] R– [Rawson] the letter to read she said something about hoping I was not begging for a subscription – There were so many subscriptions – With their family . . . . . . . but, seeing it was only 5 /. [shillings] said she never thought of my asking for anything less than a guinea, and handsomely enough gave me her name – Wanted to give me the money but this, of course, must be paid when the book is received – Saw 8 of the children (there are 10), and drove off to Thorpe –
Gave Mrs. J[ohn] Priestley the letter to read – She hummed and ahed, asked what Miss King – If she was related to the Kings of Wakefield – It was a long way off – Many charities at home – Of course, I agreed – Said it was quite enough if she had taken the trouble to read the letter, and instantly turned the subject – Which must have been a relief to her, as she had turned red, and might have hammered and stammered a little longer but for my ready consideration –
I guessed their dinner was waiting – and after staying a few minutes drove off – Made no remark on the subject to Miss P– [Pickford] marvelling, however then, as now, that she never once named the thing, or made the least offer to subscribe – How can this be? They say, or I fancy Miss P– [Pickford] has seven-hundred a year – She must be poor – Perhaps all she can spare is given to her friend Miss Threlfall – Yet not 5 /. [shillings] for an occasion like this! Many people can do what I think I could not – I know the value of money as well as most; but ‘tis the dross of gold, and may it never draw its dirty line along my spirit! –
Talked a little of Miss Threlfall as connected with beauty, flirting sentimentality, etc. Real refinement of sentiment perhaps almost peculiar to the lettered mind – At all events I could not concede it to a flirt – Wondered Miss Threlfall had never married. ‘She must have had some good offers’. Miss P[ickford] made no answer. I did not like to look full in her face but soon after said, ‘Forgive me, it is a very odd thing to say, but you are the last person in the world I should ever have thought of marrying. Tho you are very agreeable and I like your society I cannot fancy you making anyone happy in married life.’ ‘I forgive you,’ said she. 
‘Have you’, I asked, ‘any objection to my making such a speech?’ She answered ‘no’. ‘I thought so’, said I. Convinced by her manner it was the thing to suit her, and persuaded that the connection between her and Miss Threlfall is most probably what I have all along suspected. The persuasion struck me. I laughed and said, ‘I can outwit you. I have more worldly nous than you.’ Said she, ‘I often think so.’ We smiled and parted. She must guess to what I alluded –
She had told me Doctor Macbride was not happy he married because he was young and his wife coquetted. In fact, he is a lettered man of fine and warm feelings which his wife cannot emulate or return. His good principles make him try to be happy, but he cannot. His wife is odd like a gentlewoman but not stylish not talenty. Her oddity is not of the gentle feminine king [kind] – 
Got home at 3 after setting down Miss P– [Pickford] at Mrs. Wilcock’s door – Talking to my uncle and aunt – With the latter in the stable for a little while – Came upstairs at 4 3/4 – Wrote all the last page and so far of this which took me till 6 –
Did nothing in the evening – Came upstairs at 9 at which hour Barometer 1 1/2 degree below changeable Fahrenheit 57 1/2º – Rainy day – Fair and tolerably fine in the evening (vide the last line of page 74) –
At 9 1/2 sat down to write – Filled 1/2 a sheet to Mrs. N– [Norcliffe] to ask if she would have 1/2 a bed to spare for me in her house in Petergate, during the festival, and told her the news I had this morning from Miss Henrietta C– [Crompton]. Then wrote 3/4 of a 1/2 sheet to Mr. Marsh – the following is what I have written about the subscription 
“Shibden Thursday 24 July 1823 
My dear Mr. Marsh – I received your letter on Sunday, and an only assure you, it is one of the most unlikely things in the world, that I should think any application you write can or will make, “impertinent” in any sense of the word. It will always give me real pleasure to do anything that can at all oblige you; more particularly when an obligation is, in fact, conferred on myself, thro’ the satisfaction that one always feels in doing the good, however small, which may be in our power – 
As far as I am individually concerned, your simple request would have been enough; but I can say this much for myself alone, and am sorry to add, that my intercourse with my neighbors is too limited, – too infrequent, – to give me any claim upon them in behalf even of so meritorious a young person while she is so distant and unknown –
I had a letter from Miss Marsh the other day, in which she mentioned having got you 48 subscribers – The paltry addition I can make, might not be named even with the widow's mite – But will you put down my uncle’s name and my aunt’s for one copy each, and my own for two copies?” –––– 
Unless my mind changes, I shall not trouble my neighbors much about subscriptions, however small – I shall explain the thing to Mrs. Henry Priestley – To Mrs. W[illiam] H[enry] Rawson, I shall probably never name it – It will be forgotten or if thought of at all, Mrs. R– [Rawson] with all her family may be well enough pleased to save her 5 /. [shillings] so easily –
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