![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laliandraFirstly. The holidays are coming! I love picking/making cards, so if you would like one, tell me! Tell me what kind of card you would like. British? Fannish? Notable quotations of Shakespeare? Send me your address and I will attempt to fulfil your wishes. Please do, it would be fun!
Returning the favour is appreciated but in zero ways required. But I shall provide the location of my abode on demand.
Secondly. Mission 101. I need an update, yes I do. For if I do not update, I do forget..
1. Brush my teeth twice a day.
10. Write something for a writing challenge each week. See sq_drabblers and thremedon communities. And I'm working on fic for Annabanana, promise!
16. Cook something from scratch every month
Momos. They're a Tibetan delicacy, kind of like dim sum.
17. Bake something once a month. Helped make carrot cake.
25. See live music once a month. My housemate Wren playing in the Uni Philharmonic. V. proud
26. Join a dance group and attend all meetings. I haven't missed a meeting yet. I love it so much
28. Read a new book every month. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.
32. Donate 50,000 grains of rice to freerice.org. 7000/50,000
35. Recycle all plastics paper and glass.
36. Buy from Poverty Aid. A pair of earrings and a skirt to make into an apron.
37. Don't accept plastic bags at the supermarket.
38.Give blood at least 3 times. Went and gave in uni. Boys on either side of me fainted and I forgot what my blood type was and there wasn't enough space on the form for Countries Visited. Entertaining to say the least.
44. Learn 5 new French words a week. Translations to do every week, so its probably more like 10 words a week
58. Hoover the house once a week.
Complete the Guardian crossword 10 times with no help, and do it more often. 2/10. I felt such a sense of achievement!
101. Doing it now!
Thirdly, here is a little collection of Drabbles I wrote for SQ. One of them was the first fanfic I wrote, its not great, one was a joke prompt about Mary Sues and one is, I think, one of my very favourite things I've written. Can you guess which?
Hermione couldn’t think of a thing to say, but she prided herself on having perseverance.
“ Um, so, Molly says you’ve thought of a name?”
“We are zinking Victoire, in English it means Victory. To celebrate zis new era, it is a victory of love no?” Fleur smiled blissfully.
Hermione’s brain whirred “and in English yours is Flower, Flower of the Court. I bet you were,” she added, only nearly managing to mask her bitterness.
“Pah! At Beauxbatons? You know how girls react to me. I was regarded with a little awe and much resentment wherever I went, and some days I wished that I was beautiful anymore.” She flushed at her outburst then saw Hermione’s face.
“You think I am ungrateful, yes?”
There was another silence then Fleur asked, with startlingly directness, “Have you never wished not to be clever?”
“Maybe,” Hermione admitted.
“Even though you knew that many people would kill for your intelligence? It is just the way of things. We get jealous of zose who have what we think we lack. But just because I’m not as clever as you doesn’t mean I’m stupid, and just because you are not as beautiful as me doesn’t mean you are not attractive.”
Hermione smiled, Fleur’s simple frankness reminding her of Luna.
“So,” Fleur continued, “We are family now and I hope that maybe we can be, if not friends, then maybe allies. I love it, but it is not always easy being a young Mrs Weasley, hein?”
“Not always, no.” Hermione laughed. “After you’ve cooked something does Bill ever say ‘its lovely but its…’”
“Not quite like Mum’s” they finished together, and Hermione found that she could suddenly think of plenty of things she wanted to talk to Fleur about.
He smiles at her and steps forward and she knows that this will be it, that this will be their second kiss, just as important as the first, snatched in the middle of war, for this is a choice made in real life. And then, he hesitates, and in that moment she sees the fights, all those times she was snappy at him, the flight of sharp beaks in a fit of anger, her obsessions and her neuroses that he has seen all too many times and she wonders if he has realised she is not worth all that.
He smiles at her and steps forward and he knows that he can kiss her, and the enormity of finally being able to act on his desires hits him, and in that moment he sees a dazzling smile and a floating blue dress, smaller fingers interlaced with his in the night, the brilliance of her plan falling into place, all those many times when he just wanted to kiss her and he wonders what he can do to be worthy of her.
They look at each other and suddenly the gap is closed and the kiss has the passion of a blazing jealous row, the warmth of taking comfort in each others arms, the familiarity of 7 years of friendship and the marvel of first love, it is everything they are and a foretaste of everything they will be.
Dearest Mum
Well, fifth year is going great, though it is just as hard as you told me it was, if not more so. All the teachers are piling on the work and the pressure, except Professor Longbottom of course, he just told us that we should try our best but never to be afraid to ask for help. I swear half the girls who went up to ‘ask for help’ at the end of class were only doing it so that they could spent another few minutes gazing at him in that googly eyed way. Ick! I bet Hannah would hex them good if she knew!
Anyway, that sort of reminds me, you warned me about something else that kept happening in your fifth year and I think it may have started again. You know that plague of Dark creatures, those ‘Mary Sues’ that were such a nuisance to you and Dad? I’m fairly sure we’ve got one. She’s an exchange student from America, see, I remember the talk you gave me about what to watch out for. I also remember Dad’s talk about keeping an eye on ‘fancy foreign sporty types’ but I think that was another thing entirely… Oh, and her name is Silvena Salome Arwen Japonica Eurasia Skycor. Seriously Mum if I haven’t said it before Thank you for giving a nice sensible name, I really didn’t appreciate how lucky I am til I heard that monstrosity read out at the feast. And we thought Albus Severus was bad! (don’t tell Aunt Ginny I said that, I know she loves his name.) So that’s two of the things on the list you had, the one you said Luna made up for you. Its amazing that even at such a young age she was researching strange and abnormal creatures like these Sues. She and Rolf are in Togo at the moment aren’t they? Or was that the last trip? It’s so hard to keep track! Well third on this list is ‘ some form of striking physical feature.’ Someone has drawn an, interesting picture, or maybe anatomical diagram underneath, it looks suspiciously like Dad’s work. And is that your handwriting that says ‘ I think would be better next to the Curves in all the right places entry!’? I’m not sure children should be subjected to their parents’ old flirting, it’s a bit disturbing. Anyway, this Silvena Whatever-Whatever has the weirdest eyes, they’re a kind of lavender colour. I’ve always hated that shade of purple, isn’t that odd? Anyway, its very unnatural looking, and suggests some kind of retinal or pigmental dysfunction, I think I might see if there on any books on the subject. Or she might be using a glamour, she strikes me as the type. She also has a pet phoenix, claims to have skill that no one else does, and keeps dropping hints about her ‘mysterious past’. Big, huge, anvilly hints. She doesn’t seem to understand that NO ONE CARES! Sorry about the capitals, it just makes me a bit angry, though that’s no excuse for CAPS, I guess.
I think she’s affecting the boys worse than me, but if I’m not concentrating sometimes I find myself thinking ‘oh, Silvena is so nice, I think we should be best of friends’, even though we have nothing in common, I already have my own friends and frankly she is so, so, what’s the word, goddamn spunky that I want to punch her after about 5 minutes. No normal person can be that perky mum, it’s not natural. I see your theory was that this species emit sort of pheromone that attracts people to them, as they are too repulsively perfect to form natural friendships.
How did you deal with it? It’s becoming increasingly difficult to cope with her contstant enthusiasm.
All my love
Rose
Ps. Seriously, thank you!
Darling Rosie
Oh dear, it does sound like the school has been infected by a Sue, I just hope it won’t be the start of an epidemic, we had a few in fifth and sixth year. There are various methods of dealing with such a creature, and yes, they are Dark Creatures as they deliberately force people to behave in a way they never would normally. It can be a very disturbing experience for those badly affected, unable to stop themselves doing things that are completely out of character.
Keep an eye on James, Al and Scorpius especially, their fathers always seemed to be particularly prayed upon by the Sues that appeared. Luckily the Sues often get bored and wander off before the year is finished. However you may encounter some more resilient ones, which are much harder to get rid of. Your aunt Ginny tried to beat them at their own game in her fifth year, with varying degrees of success. It’s still difficult for her to speak about that time now, we all played our part in the charade of course but it was very wearing for everyone involved. It did seem to limit the Sues though, so I suppose it was worth it in the end. We tried using ‘incendio’, but even flames had little affect on the most hardy. In the end we found the best thing to do was simply to keep ignoring them, which seems to work well as these creatures are created specifically to get attention, they feed off it, so if you ignore them they tend to give up. Luna and I have done quite a lot of research on the subject over the years, which seems to suggest that these creatures may in fact be projections, representing being from another dimension!
Constant vigilance!
Mum
xxx
Luna had thought she was hidden, but Neville too knew the private hiding places of Hogwarts well and drew aside the curtain to the alcove.
“Finally, we’ve been worried sick about you. What are you doing in here, they’ve found your father, don’t you want to see him?”
“I don’t think I do. I don’t know what to say to him, and it would be strange and rude to sit in silence” she replied, hoping that she sounded calm and natural. It was no good however, Neville had spotted the magazine. And he always saw things clearly.
“Is this what you’re upset about?” he said, taking it from her, Harry’s face smudged but recognisable.
“Its all wrong. The Quibbler, it’s supposed to tell the truth. And Daddy, he let them fill our paper with their lies, he just let them” she said, knowing that words could never be enough to explain this betrayal, so complete it could only be felt.
“He thought he was saving you. You have to forgive people their mistakes if you love them. He’s just human.”
There were still no words to say it, to explain that Daddy had be always right and honest, and couldn’t be just human, for that would make him able to be lost, like Mummy. It was illogical, but there it was, the foundation her world had been built on.
“He did it for you, because he loved you and wanted you to be safe. That’s what parents do, they protect, whatever the cost.” Neville looked horribly worn out, and Luna was touched that he would face his darkness just to help her understand hers. She stood up, determined.
“You have been very helpful. I may still need some time, but love could be a good foundation I think.”
“I know some of you have doubts about me sort of, being the leader. But it’s just until Harry returns. Or Ginny. Or Luna. So, um, yes, until then we have to carry on making Hogwarts as safe and right as it can possibly be. We have to.”
“Do you think they will? Return I mean, Harry, Ron, Hermione and everyone?” A Ravenclaw asked.
“Yes” Neville said firmly.
“How can you be sure?”
“Well, I just, know.”
Neville looked so uncomfortable, I think that’s what made me do it, usually I hate making speeches.
“They’ll be back Katie, don’t worry. We’d better make the most of it while they’re gone cos before you know it Harry and Gin will be snogging everywhere and making Gryffindor unbeatable at Quidditch, Ron and Hermione will be having blazing rows in the Great Hall and Luna will be telling us not to eat Cauldron Cakes because they harbour Muffling Fraustlings.”
Everyone laughed, dispelling the tension that had been building and Neville finished his original task of assigning guard shifts then joined me in my customary corner by the fire.
“Thanks. It just all gets a bit much sometimes, everyone expecting me to have all the answers. Now I know how Hermione felt all those times we asked for help with homework” he said ruefully.
“Do you ever wish you could go back, you know, to when our biggest worries were about assignments and who to ask to Hogsmeade? I do, sometimes. Merlin, I can’t believe I’m getting nostalgic for my days of pig-tails and baby fat.Oh, come on, you were never fat. But, I do prefer your hair short.” He looked at me and my worries subsided, leaving only thoughts of a half shy half promising smile and a future full of, possibilities.
He sat in a shadowed corner with his hand on his shoulder, struggling to work out why it felt so strange. His fingers found and traced over the G sewed onto his robes that wouldn’t be needed anymore. This was a new world, the old one gone forever in a single moment of noise and flames. Here he would have to learn to be one person alone, the mere idea of it as overwhelming as suddenly having to learn to walk again.
He wrapped his arms around his chest, trying to shield himself from the thought of always being one syllable instead of three, never getting mixed up, not having his name prefixed by ‘and’, these simple things he had always taken for granted.
He rubbed his shoulder again and realised what was missing, the familiar pressure of another body pressed against it, transmitting comforting heat and support, another thing he had never appreciated until now, when it was gone. He tried to take a deep breath but it was all too hard, and the world was starting to go hazy when a steadying hand was placed on his shoulder and Professor Slughorn’s voice said
“Are you alright my boy? Greg isn’t it?”
He tried to explain but his throat was too raw from smoke and grief, so all he could manage was “Yes Sir, Greg Goyle.”
