alupinebear-blog

[alupinebear-blog]

Aww, c'mon Molly. I do listen, I just have to make the right judgement, that's all.

I would have loved to have stayed in. It was all a bit showy for my tastes.

It’s not like you’ll listen to what I have to say anyways…

Perhaps you should be the one staying in during the celebrations, and not me.

[alupinebear-blog]

I wouldn't dare mock you.

Hmm, yes. James is absolute hell to keep under control. Lucky I'm not doing it for the credit, then. I'd be doing a terrible job.

The mocking begins?

Tch. And my stupid cousin takes blame for your great doings. They all think James is the leader. He has — code, the kid will have a brilliant life.

[alupinebear-blog]

You have such a hard life, Vic. 

Oh, I love my code. 0. I guess it means they couldn't give a toss about me, whatever I do. 0 is a brilliant code.

Psh. I’d love to hit her with a dictionary.

Glad to know your life is peachy. I guess mine is too. Though, they could give me a better government code, since I destroy ‘evil darkness’. But I guess I’ll never be satisfied.

[alupinebear-blog]

What a vocabulary.

Life is just peachy. You know, the usual. Work, Visiting people and...other stuff. What about you?

Anyone can have such ways with words if they use ‘light’, ‘darkness’ and ‘illuminated’ in every sentence.

Ah, never mind. Who’s life?

[alupinebear-blog]

Oh, I wouldn't miss a word of it. It was very illuminating. Ms Light has such a way with words, doesn't she?

What sarcasm?

I hope you were still able to listen to the incredible speech.

I wonder sometimes why I even bother using sarcasm.

[alupinebear-blog]

The fireworks were pretty and all, but I think my eardrums have burst. If you talk to me in the next few days or so, you'll have to shout.

This might be a sign that I'm getting old.

[alupinebear-blog]

He was glad that he'd managed to get even the tiniest of smiles out of her, even though he wasn't convinced about how sincere it was. In the very least, it showed that she was being strong despite her suffering. The Potter children were all coping in different ways. James was wrathful and reckless, not even bothering to hide his opinions on the Luminous. Albus had ostracised himself, cutting ties like he could forget that he was a Potter and be someone else. And Lily...Lily was almost a normal apathetic teenage girl, multiplied by one hundred. Teddy wished he could help in some way greater than everything he was trying to do. He'd been ten when she was born to the family he was closest to, old enough to remember clearly her entire life. He guessed that made him an awkward cross between an uncle and a brother. Both meant that he had to watch out for her. 

"Oh, yes, it should be just spectacular. I can't wait. Jolena's so very generous to be putting it all on for us. She's an absolute saint." Teddy replied, keeping the feigned excitement in his voice. In all honesty, Teddy was apprehensive about what Jolena Light had been talking about when she said that she had 'wonderful things' planned. It could mean anything and everything. The Luminous was technically a charity, or at least they called themselves that, so they could very well be planning a harmless show of goodwill to the people. Or they could be plotting interrogations, or deaths. Or worse, if there could be any worse. Who the fuck knew. He didn't particularly want to find out, but he had to be on his guard. He made his smile bigger and waved a little as a fellow teacher walked past and said hello, and then turned back to Lily.

But before he could say anything more, a bright yellow firework whizzed up and around, zooming over the spectators and showing them with golden glitter. People ducked to avoid it despite it being a few metres above their heads, and then cheered and whooped when they realised it was all a ploy to amaze them. Teddy reached up to shake the glitter out of his hair, not as impressed as everyone else. He wondered if the Luminous had ordered Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to produce the fireworks for them. George Weasley wouldn't have been very happy about it. Then again, he'd probably have given them trick ones to make a point, so maybe that wasn't the case. That would have been a much better show, thought Teddy.

He was tired of speaking about the events (there was only so much faking you could stand), so, still dusting glitter off his brown coat, he changed the subject. "What have you been up to lately? The apothecary work's going well? I hope you're looking after yourself."

Lost, Darkened Souls | Lily and Teddy | 31st December, 2025

Listening to poisonous words spoken in a honey-sweet tone was the hard part. Lily kept her gaze upward, toward the fireworks that had started. She watched, but barely paid attention. Everyone should be watching the fireworks, but on the off chance someone cared enough to watch her, she would appear to be absorbed in them. Instead her thoughts were stuck on threats to her and her family, and wondering if the most powerful entity she knew of could possibly become more powerful still.

It was easy to believe that it was possible, here at the Lights festival. She was surrounded by supporters, or at least people acting like supporters. But the latter group were few and far between, and hard to identify anyway. Lily was accustomed to assuming everyone was an enemy until proven otherwise. Now, she was surrounded by enemies. They were all packed together in the alley, like sardines. Their sheer mass could suffocate her, if they chose to do so.

If she had to fight a war, Lily would have picked her father’s. At least the Death Eaters never pretended. Voldemort was a sick man, but he was just a man in the end. He wasn’t a government. He never masqueraded as a charity.

What was she thinking? He took her grandparents when they were not much older than she was now. There’s no hierarchy of tragedy. Sometimes she was disgusted with herself for thinking such things. It was all out if spite, she told herself, and bitterness. Not some evil thing that was a part of her soul. That thought scared her almost as much as the Luminous did. Lily didn’t want to become a villain. And there was another reason (though minor, compared to her others) she knew she’d hesitate to act on whatever bold words she may spit. She didn’t want to become the thing she hated.

A sound and a new presence pulled her out of her reverie somewhat. Good thing too, because her thoughts were starting to scatter off track. She didn’t have to look to know it was Teddy, but she turned to him anyway, the corners of her mouth turned upwards just slightly. Here was one person whose intentions she didn’t doubt.

She gave a noncommittal shrug, keeping with that illusion of apathy she wanted to project to the Luminous. Fuck you and fuck your ceremony. “It’s alright. Not as good as last year, though.” She couldn’t remember anything about last year’s. But it was definitely a better answer than the honest one, anyway.

“I’m looking forward to next week’s big celebration though. How about you?” Of course, by ‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Lily meant ‘I don’t know if I have the energy to deal with it, last year’s was bad enough, and I’m not ready for it.’ She probably couldn’t bring herself to say half of that even in private, though.

[alupinebear-blog]

We know the fire awaits unbelievers,

All of the sinners the same,

Girl, you and I will die unbelievers,

bound to the tracks of the train.

Unbelievers // Vampire Weekend

[alupinebear-blog]

Lost, Darkened Souls | Lily and Teddy | 31st December, 2025

The Day of the Lights may come to an ending quite soon, but we will last longer, I am hopeful. The Lights will be very pleased the next year, and so will I, for there are big things planned for you! Wonderful things! But right now, it may be time to celebrate, and enjoy the fireworks!

From a fair way back, leaning up against the wall of the Diagon Alley cauldron shop, Teddy watched the crowd cheer as Jolena Light gave a farewell smile and stepped away from the podium. Were they aware that the whole damn speech had been laced with loosely veiled warnings, or was it only those personally attacked, like Teddy himself, who were able to pick up on that? Teddy clapped along with them, as enthusiastically as he could bring himself to be, so as not to draw any attention to himself or look disgruntled. There were too many people standing near who knew him to grimace at Jolena's words. He'd run into a few former classmates and coworkers, loyal to the Luminous, who'd spoken to him excitedly about the night's events. It was always disheartening to see so many drawn to the Luminous like moths to a lamp, but he tried to convince himself that some of them, like him, were only putting on a bigger show than the fireworks to hide their misgivings. Sometimes it was incredibly difficult to believe that, but maybe they were just very good actors. Merlin knew that he'd had to learn to be like that.

To some, this grand event would have been just begging for an answer from Coal Dust. But Teddy was wary, not willing to risk defying the huge security presence just for a little dash of symbolism. This was the time for watching, for discerning any hints at the Luminous next move. He couldn't do that if he was off sabotaging something or making a scene of his own. Instead, his eyes were scanning the witches and wizards gathering around, chattering with gusto about the speech. He kept his ears open for any interesting gossip - sometimes word of mouth was just as valuable as stolen information.

A mop of red hair caught his eye a little way off through the crowd while he looked through it, and Teddy approached. If he was going to sit through all this, he could at least do it with some likeminded company.

'Wotcher, Lily. Enjoying the show?" His words were harmless enough to anyone listening in, but the tone of them had a bitter undercurrent that he knew Lily would catch. He gave her a faintly warm smile, hoping to provide some sort of comfort. It was nine years now, nearly an age for a girl so young, but he wouldn't expect the pain to have dulled very much.