#if harry had sword it would end in one book

[miszoblin]

I did it.

Harry knew that Voldemort is better wizard. But no one told Voldemort that Harry is better swordmaster.

sketch

[fictionalmenaremytype]

SEASON FINALE BABY LETS GOOO!!!!!

(Percy jackson ep 8 spoilers)

I'm just gonna start by saying if Disney doesn't renue this for a second season they are stupid and will have missed out on a harry Potter level phenomenon.

- LUKE MONOLOGUE HOLYSHIT ITS GIVING GOOD KID REPRISE

- HE IS KIND OF TERRIFYING IN THAT SWORD SCENE THO

- Ares' cackle. I love him .

- Ares just threw him like hulk did loki

- annabeth having to hold Grover back is so important to me because he's wanting to help percy but Annabeth knows this fight is to the death and any interruption would just get Grover killed.

- Annabeth also knowing he needs to prove himself as the son of poseidon and discover who he is.

- "let's kick the son of poseidon into a puddle right near the sea" I now understand why Athena is battle strategy and Ares is just war.

- THAT TSUNAMI JUST PARTING FOR PERCT US ICONIC AND HE JUST RUNS AND SWOOPS AND CUTS ARES

- my only critique is that Percy never does any movements to show its his power (which ik this is accurate to the books) but it comes off a little like he's just calling on Poseidon to do stuff. I wished they had some sort of indicator that it was Percy like maybe a slight movement or having the water pull back from the puddle he fell in and into the sea.

- I did think the fight was a little quick tbh but it still worked.

- the way I screamed "close your eyes close your eyes close your eyes!" When he was about to show his true form.

- woooh Hades helm

- The cabin looks fuckung terrifying rn

- I haven't seen the end of credit scene yet but I'm predicting it's going to be Sally with Gabe's statue.

- Alecto just wanted to get tho boss his hat back!

- "please" "good luck on Olympus" I thought she was going to be nice but noooo she's still a bitch.

- Annabeth trying to stop Percy from going because they're friends now and she's worried for his safety. I love Leah she is AMAZING.

- "I'm done running from monsters" THAT LINE OMG THE WRITERS ROOM ATEEEE

- THE NECKLACE?? THE MUSIC?? "You're gonna need all the luck you can get." Is so sweet and so patronising she is perfect. Leah is Annabeth Chase she has cyclops powers and just embodies her!

- "how sure are we you couldn't explain everything in an email?" So relatable Grover so relatable.

- "I'm here to see Zeus." Lightning bolt on the table " I don't have an appointment"

- THIS SHOWS ART DEPARTMENT HOLY SHITT OLYMPUS IS STUNNING WTF

- it is so so obvious when you know abt Luke that yes trying to recruit Percy to his side.

- LUKE REALLY JUST SET ANNABETH UP TO BE THE TRAITOR THERE WHAT!

- can someone build this olympus on minecraft please I want to exploreee.

- zeus (rip Lance Reddick we miss you) just waiting on his throne is terrifying.

- The thrown room being in a thunder cloud has so much messaging behind it! It is pathetic fallacy at its finest.

- Zeus is scary. I don't like it. Literal goosebumps rn.

- "your family is a mess" you tell him Percy. Be his therapist

- WHEN HE TRIED TO STRIKE PERCY OH MY GOD POSEIDON SURRENDERING

- "your forbidden son who should've never been born" "the same as your thalia" Poseidon learnt some sass I see.

- THE GREEK IS INGENIOUS.

- "make sure I never see this one again." Well I hate to break it to you sir but you will...a lot

- "obedience doesn't come naturally to you does it?" "No...sir." "the sea does not like to be retrained." CAUSE THE SEA DOESNT LIKE TO BE RESTRAINEDDDDD

- Percy not immediately knowing Greek is such a slept upon lart of the books because they have lessons in it.

- Poseidons smile about Sally.

- "Ares is a moron." The only thing Poseidon and Athena agree on.

- Aww they finally had father son time. Its so emotional and beautiful and its made me emotional.

- the line of applause and I'm just looking for Travis and Connor.

- The hugging is a thing.

- "an accusation against clarisse." "Without proof" annabeth has a feeling!

- honestly adding Clarisse as a traitor and using that to get Percy and Luke alone makes more sense to me given that they know someone at camp stole the bolt.

- I think now is the time to say how Charlie is amazing for Luke he's so sinister when he wants to be l.

- luke making him go through the Prophecy before he reveals and percy slowly realising why Omg chills.

- the red lighting on Luke highlighting his scar.

- luke looking like he's about to cry

- "I didn't think you'd give them to Grover." "I'm here to recruit" AH

- BACKBITER CAN OPEN PORTALS NOW THIS IS A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF OVER POWERED !!!!!

- LUKE AND PERCY FIGHT LUKE AND OERCY FIGHT.

- Is that a silhouette in the background???

- " I met your dad" THE ANGER OMG

- the fight with Ares being short is made up for by this fight. Under the fireworks? In the woods? It's stunning!!!!

- PERCYS APOLOGY OMG I FELT SO BAD FOR HIM HES SCARED AND CONFUSED AND STILL TRYING TO SEE THE BEST IN LUKE.

- YES ANNABETH. THROWING HER DAGGER AT LUKE?!? I HOPE THAT KNIFE BECAUSE PART OF ANNABETHS CHARACTER BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE SO COOL. I KNEW I SAW A SILHOUTTE

- " Annabeth?" " I heard everything" I KNEW SHE HAD HER SUSPICIONS

- " He can be very very persuasive" "I'm very very stubborn"

- MR D LOVE HIM

- "Percy? That's your name?"

- I was half expecting Dionysus to do an Oprah and say " you get out and you get out"

- Annabeth saying goodbye to Thalia is so sweet

- " and then sone place called Disney World?" She's never seen a movie she's going to be so confused. "Which kind of sounds like water land but with less trying to kill you" Yeah.

- the way he smiles at her is so cute.

- "wait did I read that wrong. What am I walking into. Is there something you're supposed to do there?" "Just be a kid"

- aww Grovers searcher licence is a flower

- "but no ones ever thought to check the seas!" Nice set up Disney I see you.

- "we meet back here next year." Well you will eventually.

- THE GROUP HUG (if we get up to season 5 I expect editors to make edits of them hugging at 16 to them hugging at 12)

- The cabin and Sally <3

- "what happened?" "It's a long story."

- WHAT JUST HAPPNED OMG ANOTHET DREAM OMG KRONOS I DONT LIKE THIS HES TOO CLOSE OMG GO AWAY DONT INVITE HIM IN HES LIKE A VAMPIRE. HES SCARY SCARY SCARY.

- "no kidding kiddo it's time to wake up." So cute.

- "grandpa." "Don't call him that."

- "Don't forget to tell your mom how much you love her today." "Kronos Lord of the titans said that?" The lying and secrets has begun

- NO GABE WOOH

- THE ENDING MONOLOGUE

- HOW MUCH DID WALKER SCOVELL GROW OVER FILMING HES SO TALL NEXT TO SALLY AND THE DOOR FRAME.

- Sally divorcing gabe is much much better than her just turning him to stone because it gives the message that she now recognises her son can look after himself and now she doesn't have to protect him anymore.

- GABE ASKING THE LAWYER HOW TO PICK A LOCK IS SO FUNNY

- I really like how it's his own hate for percy and everything percy has that gets him killed rather than straight up homicide. It really sets the idea that people like that will find their own downfall (which is ironic bc this trope is commonly used in ancient Greek tragedies)

season one of percy jackson is stunning. It's a masterpiece even with the changes and whilst there was definitely some timing issues and the cut to black became annoying, it was very, very good. If it is renewed for another season, it has a lot of potential, and I will be very excited to see how they adapt The Sea of Monsters for screen.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

what would have happened if Draco killed Dumbledore on the roof?

Let's start from the beginning.

Harry now witnesses Draco murder Dumbledore and has much the same reaction he did when Snape did it. At first, he's stunned in horror (as I imagine is Draco) and then Snape quickly gets Draco out as fast as he can, much as he did in canon. Harry likely still has his confrontation with Snape where "lol lol lol I am the Half-blood Prince" is revealed because that was a subplot that we were told was very important, and Harry doesn't catch up to them.

We get slight differences here in that Harry admits he saw Draco be the one to murder Dumbledore, as opposed to Snape, but he's certain Snape is guilty as he got Draco out versus getting revenge. Unlike canon, I imagine the rest remain unsure for the reasons they weren't certain the entire novel. Snape has to maintain his cover, which means protecting Draco and getting him out of the castle, with Dumbledore dead maintaining his cover is now more important than ever.

So, Harry seethes and is convinced he is correct, but Snape isn't kicked out of the Order and Grimmauld Place isn't abandoned as a safehouse (the issue in canon being that Snape had access and when Dumbledore died everyone because the secret keeper, which meant Snape could get in, and he turned out to be a Death Eater so... that's bad).

However, Harry's still been given his super secret task from Dumbledore, which he presumes Snape nor anyone else knows about, tells Ron and Hermione, and considers the Order to have been infiltrated by Snape.

The main difference is that when we get the things like the seven Potters fiasco, Harry thinks Snape is the one who leaked it (which is sort of true in that Snape came up with it but that's not what Harry's going for here). So, I imagine for similar reasons Moody still ends up dying offscreen. Sorry Moody.

Now, ordinarily, I'd say that the first big difference is after the wedding they don't go to Grimmauld Place because it's a) an Order safehouse in use b) Snape has access to it. Except these fuckers went when they fully believed Snape was a Death Eater, when it was possibly crawling with Death Eaters if not You-Know-Who, so they're absolutely going to Grimmauld Place.

The difference is that it gets weird when others show up, for Order things, see Ron, Harry, and Hermione and ask what they're doing and the gang says "SECRET THINGS YOU CAN'T KNOW ABOUT" while planning how to sneak into the Ministry poorly.

The next difference is that they might not leave Grimmauld Place. They left in canon when they clued in that perhaps, given the number of Death Eaters staking out the place, it's not a good idea to be there and perhaps isn't secure. Here, even though Harry fully believes Snape is a spy, he also believes Grimmauld Place is a functional safehouse and secure. However, they need to find other Horcruxes, and they have to secure the one they have, so maybe they do go camping again.

There they hear Snape's a shitty headmaster and Harry goes, "SEE? SEE?" much the way he did about Draco in the sixth book to an unimpressed Ron and Hermione. The miserable camping goes on for a long time as the gang is really bad at it and eventually Snape gets them the sword and pretends it's not him (because he knows Harry would probably throw it out afterwards).

So, now they can destroy Horcruxes, hooray.

What may be... game changing and bad is that Snape was no longer the one to kill Dumbledore. Draco was and Voldemort knows this. The reason he originally killed Snape was "lol want to try out this wand thing", but Snape wasn't the master of the wand, because they'd already planned Dumbledore's murder. Draco, who would have killed Dumbledore otherwise was... uh... don't question this or any of Deathly Hallows for reasons. (No, seriously, how did Draco get it when he didn't kill Dumbledore?)

But anyways, per book 7 logic, Voldemort kills off Draco instead. "Well, Draco, you served me well but now you get to be eaten by a snake". Voldemort now has possession of the elder wand and there's nothing Snape can do about it.

If this is truly the reason Harry was able to beat Voldemort in that duel at the end of the book...

Harry dies.

Voldemort wins.

[chiropteracupola]

now that I have finished watching All The Sharpe That There Is, we have made a Tier List of our Very Strong Opinions. behold.

further (condensed) commentary from yours truly and usual partner-in-crime @sailorpants under the readmore:

S: Eagle, Company, Battle

Eagle: 'the plot of this one makes sense,' 'it really does show (well!) that this was the first book,' 'one of the ones we rewatch,' 'a good episode of television!'

Company: 'Pete Postlethwaite is a great actor -- Hakeswill made me want to throw up,' 'the lads and also the horrors,' 'genuine emotions were elicited,' 'well-established team dynamic at this point'

Battle: 'bad men! good men! beautifulest ladies!,' 'if Perkins must die then at least he gets a really cool death and to be bridal-carried by Harper and mourned by everybody,' 'the fucked-up love square,' 'plot hangs together well,' 'this episode has the most women of any Sharpe episode: four,' 'I have watched this episode three times', 'these rewatches were with lust (for the beautifulest ladies)'

A: Enemy

Enemy: 'decently written,' 'all the lads are there,' 'type of enemy Hakeswill becomes isn't as compelling and the inconsistency brings down both his episodes,' 'egregious women-tossing,' 'it is cool that there are other women; however Sharpe would not do That,' 'French people allowed to be interesting as a treat,' 'Sharpe and Teresa SOULMATES quote [screams]'

B: Rifles, Honour, Sword, Siege, Waterloo

Rifles: 'bit of a rough start,' 'the first half is good and then it gets Weird... phobias of sorts are In There', 'TERESA!'

Honour: 'extremely cool fights in this one,' 'Ramona!!,' 'some of the best Chosen Men banter in the whole series,' 'fake-Sharpe's-death plotline is quite well done,' 'unfortunate nonsense'

Sword: 'epic Harris moments cannot earn this episode a better ranking,' 'good casting and the background characters are cool,' 'the Lass deserved much better than this episode gave her'

Siege: 'oh, the chemical warfare episode,' 'they've learned to workshop their plans since Honour,' 'made me believe that Sharpe and Jane's relationship could have worked out, 'plot hangs together well (rare in a Sharpe episode)'

Waterloo: 'the scale of it doesn't quite sit right,' 'pretty good episode,' 'Paul Bettany is uncanny and I don't like whatever it is is going on with him,' 'getting the gang back together for one last Lads Adventure!'

C: Regiment, Mission, Revenge, Justice, Challenge

Regiment: 'more time with the Chosen Men could have saved this,' 'Company was a better 'the army sucks' episode,' 'the wet soupy episode'

Mission: 'it takes me two minutes to remember what happens in this one whenever I think about it,' 'again epic Harris moments cannot save this episode,' 'quite a high SCUM score,' '[impact font] MARK STRONG'

Revenge: 'ehhhhhh,' 'Lucille's nail-gun is the only thing that is cool and fun,' 'weird vibes about it,' 'Ducos' Bond-villain stuff is needless escalation,' 'Frederickson's ending is fun'

Justice: 'he's a cop in this one,' 'don't like Hagman's mustache,' 'Jane plotline no good, '[from sailorpants] when I actually watch this one I'm gonna have THOUGHTS'

Challenge: 'would rank this higher but I do have receipts on the fact that I was having a Bad Time throughout,' 'Toby Stephens makes this worth watching,' 'almost everything else about it is bad,' 'high points in every SCUM category,' 'four whole named plot-relevant speaking-role-having women! haven't had that many since Battle!,' 'TOBY STEPHENS CUNTSERVACIOUS LITTLE OUTFITS'

D: Gold, Peril

Gold: 'we don't need to discuss why we are ranking it like this'

Peril: 'the secret good Peril that lives in my head is so cool but unfortunately it is not real,' 'they are trying to have Themes and it is not working,' 'casting director is now finding conventionally attractive men instead of weirdguys with interesting faces,' 'Daniel Deever should have his own entire show but unfortunately this is a show about Richard Sharpe (I would write about him so much if I felt that I could do him justice but therein lies the Research Pit)' 'most important point is that he has a locket with Antonia's picture but the rest I could take or leave and I will probably leave it'

[tgrailwar-zero]

I mean, you did call us the devil, wouldn't the company of a demon be pretty fitting?

You could practically hear him roll his eyes.

ARCHIVIST: "Mhm."

Any other attempts at banter were met with a brick wall. It seemed like he had said his piece, and didn't exactly care enough to hold a conversation.

It was at this point that you realized that AVENGER had also walked off.

...Guess that meant it was time to get going.

As you were shooed off by the ARCHIVIST (or left before he had a chance to, at least), it was just you and the cards.

The card really was self-explanatory. It had the name of the section blinking on it, and served as a quiet GPS to lead you there. It was very useful. And, when you found the second you needed, you noticed that the shelves moved and shifted and all you had to do was put in either the specific name of a book, or the topic, and it would get you started.

Reading was… well, uneventful if you didn't enjoy research, but great if you did.

There wasn't really much here that differed from what SIGURD had told you regarding the Moon Cell specifically, which wasn't a ton to begin with.

The Moon Cell was a natural phenomenon, Magi flocked to it, Holy Grail War, Titan attack.

It goes into some detail concerning a Great Lunar Ritual, with experience prompting that it was supposedly what the locals referred to the Grail War as. A free-for-all, with 999 preliminary participants that eventually got pared down to 128 Masters and Servants, fighting for the 'Holy Grail' within the Moon. Golden kings, massive mechanized warriors, so on so forth.

And then there was more of what SIGURD told you.

The Titan attacked, and the Holy Grail War went from a Free-for-All to an actual War, at least with the Servants and Masters both alive and willing to participate. An coalition called 'The Lunar Sea Council', headed by the heir to the West European Plutocracy, brought together Wizards and warriors alike.

In your research, you reach a bit of a hitch.

You find a message tucked in the data- opening it up. A knight, blond with shining armor, spoke quietly.

SERVANT: "I may get in some trouble for this…Caster, sorry, 'The Priestess' wants us to move on. Karna and I are the only ones that remember still. The others are new, fresh, told that this world is the only one that matters until she awakens. To sit on our laurels for now, and await her to gather up all of the power she can before engaging the Titan."

SERVANT: "I do not blame her. Our current situation is terrifying. They snuffed out Excalibur before it could even begin to shine, and my sword pales in comparison. To be told to sit and wait is irritating, but I can't argue. We're backed against a wall. Wanting a fresh start- a facade of normalcy... "

SERVANT: "Still… Leo… one day, I will return to the home front, and destroy that Titan for you. I won't move on- I won't forget. Not yet. Not until I can proudly face you when we meet again."

GAWAIN: "I, Gawain, promise you that."

The message ends. Quietly. You stew in that quiet for a moment, with the knowledge that the Servant in that message- as brave and caring as he was- never made it back to the Moon. The Interlopers and their Servants killed him. Culled him before his dream could be realized.

With that- you continue reading.

The rest of the reading is pretty straightforward. Again, mostly rehashing what SIGURD had relayed to you with some extra details.

A Heavenly Divinity, having reduced herself to the status of a Heroic Spirit, made a stand against the Titan. Using her immense power, she established a barrier between the remnants of humanity and the great titan, building a new world where life flourished- though the moon remained barren, kept ever vigil by the Lair Servants that protect the new barrier, the new world known as the 'Solar Cell' from harm.

If anything, the most interesting piece of information was the utter lack of information regarding the Moon. No True Names, no names of participating Wizards, no details about the Ritual or what exactly the 'Holy Grail' the magi were hunting for was. The titan attacked, but outside of it being great and terrible and that it had been deterred by the Heavenly Divinity, there really wasn't much else... which, considering how dense this Archive was, there should be something... right?

Regardless, that was all you could find for now.

You put down the books you had, before realizing you weren't alone. There was someone… very close to your immediate vicinity.

In other words, that was a lot of chest.

...You looked up at the head attached to the aforementioned chest.

PLAYBOY (NO SENSE OF PERSONAL SPACE): "Ga… wain…"

Now- running into a handsome, sensitive man in the library? If this was a different genre, this might count as a 'meet-cute'. Perhaps a 'romance flag'. For now, it was just a 'meet', and the 'cute' was really up to interpretation considering the opinions of your twisted amalgamated mind(s), and the color of the flag currently raised here was to be determined.

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

It's going to back fire on her because she still cares about all of those things. C & C and W & C, the glamour associated with royalty the tiaras, the crowds and castles. She still wants it all. If there was even one smedge of her being able to attendee the coronation without further damage to the brand she 10000% would have. She hates having to give up frogmore. Her reaction [title announcement in People] was tone deaf at best but a rather rash one at that. She hated that people thought Charles was 'winning'. She wanted to remind the world that those children are still royal. The same thing happened with the photograph and the letter. She needed to remind the world that she's still talking with Charles. This distance between the herself and the royals won't happen over night but she is hating ever second of it.

Like you said, it's a double edge sword. She's telling all of these large brands that shes no longer aligning herself with royalty. Particularly in the fashion sphere, it's going to be tough. Because she's not going to big ticket events, she's not guaranteed to be photographed anywhere, or her photo printed on physical newspapers across Europe.

When she doesn't she the spike of interest shes looking for from whatever game plan WME put together for her, shes going to revert back to her old ways. She's going to drag up stories of her 16 months as a working royal, and more about harry and their marriage if they're divorced by then.

I don't think the attributes of royalty (tiaras, carriages, etc...) mattered to her as much as the status and recognition. In Harry's book he talks about how once he started dating her he noticed that William had a better apartment and better furniture. I don't think that's because Meghan developed a sudden appreciation for British antiques and she lusted after Kate's Queen Anne settee. I think it's because she is keenly aware of status signifiers. She hated being sixth on the call list at Suits and then she ended up sixth on the call list at BP.

[metisket]

book recs request ❤🖤❤🖤 🙏🙏🙏 in this case, book recs that you feel have inspired your writing style, or inspired your fics somehow?

Hmmm...this is a fun one but a tough one, because I'm not sure I'm really self-aware enough to know the true answer here. But I'll try! A lot of books/authors I believe shaped my writing style did it when I was pretty young, so we're getting some YA over here.

Robin McKinley

I must have read The Outlaws of Sherwood a dozen times between ages 10 and 15. I love me a hero who literally doesn't want to be here and got conned into this by pushy, well-meaning friends. Marian was the most badass Marian I'd ever encountered. Random, complicated, weird side-characters, my beloved. Cecily somehow speaking directly to whatever was unhinged about my own childhood feelings about my gender. Flawless, 10/10, should really re-read to see if it holds up.

This is not to minimize the ridiculous number of times I read The Hero and The Crown, The Blue Sword, Beauty, and Deerskin, because I also read them So Many Times that they've probably become a part of my psyche. Literally none of her heroes want to be heroes. But they've been informed that they are. Apparently. Ugh. Love to hate that for them.

Lloyd Alexander

I also re-read The Chronicles of Prydain at least once a year for many years. It has almost certainly messed with my mind. I was especially unhinged about The Castle of Llyr, because Princess Eilonwy. The best, the worst, the angriest princess. Love and respect. Taran I could take or leave, particularly during his Taran Wanderer phase (I was less sympathetic to his growing pains than I was to Eilonwy's), but The High King was a fantastic payoff, loved everything, no notes.

...Damn, I need to reread this series, also.

Lois McMaster Bujold

I didn't read The Vorkosigan Saga until college, but it immediately hit my brain hard. Fantastic characterization. The way she writes trauma and recovery from trauma, amazing.

Miles. What a character. What a mess. What a problem. He is only a little guy, literally and figuratively, and he's going to do his best to convince you that he didn't mean to offend that guy, set that building on fire, or end that empire. You know. Like a liar.

Sarah Rees Brennan

My number one fanfic influence--her style of writing is so delightful that, particularly when writing Harry Potter fic, I'd sometimes find myself paraphrasing her. I had to Sarah Rees Brennan-proof my fic to make sure I wasn't being an accidentally plagiarist, because her turns of phrase would just go subliminal in my brain. This honestly may still be happening, and if it is, I'm so sorry, Sarah, it's not on purpose.

My favorite of her books is In Other Lands, the story of a boy who is whisked away to magic school in magic land and is extremely annoyed to find himself there. Like why. Why is the plumbing medieval. Why don't phones work. Why is this magical Sparta.

...He's not wrong, is the thing. But he won't bend and he won't break and he won't leave, so apparently he's just going to have to fix the world himself. God help everyone! Love him. Love his friends. Love the entire world and setup and every single side character.

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I have been informed that you can see the Pratchett and Gaiman influences in my writing. I think this is a lie people have told me to make me feel better, but you know, I Want To Believe. So I'll include them.

Pratchett: Love for virtually the entire Discworld series, with an especially fondness for the Watch books and Susan. Still obsessed with Vetinari after all these years. What if Machiavelli but chill, though.

Gaiman: Lost track of how many times I've reread Sandman. The characters, the coolness, the weirdness, the meta! Especially obsessed with Death. Just someone being very calm and collected in the face of all kinds of horrifying nonsense. I admire that. Love nearly all of his books, but my favorite is probably Anansi Boys. Bet your stupid family drama doesn't involve gods. Or at least. I hope it doesn't.

Erin Morgenstern

I'm cheating by including her, because she didn't actually influence my writing, I just WISH SHE HAD. She can't, sadly, because my outline game will never be that strong. I know my limits. But DAMN. ENVY.

Both of her books are without flaw, but I did love The Night Circus just that little bit more, probably because I am weak to a circus. I firmly recommend The Starless Sea also, though, because it features an Unhinged Library. The characters and settings and descriptions--delightful.

But the best part is the WAY the stories are told. They're not chronological--they're like little intricate puzzle-boxes, where you open one panel, and there's a story, and you open another panel, and there's a different story, and by the fifth panel, there's a story that connected to the first panel, but also a little to the third panel, and--

LOOK, I CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE IT. It should be confusing, but it isn't. It's perfect. Just the right amount of information at the perfect time connecting to other pieces of information in a complex, interesting, deeply satisfying way. I would kill to be able to do this. Kill. I actually tried to do this in 'Mirror Image', and I had to give it up, because the level of incoherence was off the charts. ffffffffffff howwwww does she dooooo eeeeeet.

Anyway, I think those are the big ones. Special mentions to: Tom Holt, a deeply weird writer who strongly influenced one fic in particular (Some Confusion, DGM), Patricia C. Wrede, because Dealing with Dragons in general and Cimorene in particular got to me, and Dennis Lehane, because a) his historical fiction is inspiring, and b) I love his handling of The Unhinged Friend in the Patrick and Angie books. The best unhinged friend. He booby traps his own home. Love him. What is wrong with him? We'll never know.

[friendly-books]

Grave Peril implications

Content warning: Rape, Double standard rape: female on male, roofies, 

Alright I hope I gave enough warnings. And that I tagged this right. I’m not a psychologist and I mean no harm with my thoughts.

The implications I got from the end of chapter thirty-three and the beginning of thirty-four is that Bicana at least raped Harry. I got these implications from several quotes and moments from the book. Bicana is naked and Harry has his clothes removed. Some quotes are 

“I heard them taking you. Playing with you, for two hours maybe” pg. 453 Justine tells Harry this when he wakes up. 

“The monsters can’t get you here, Harry,” he used to say. “They can’t get you.” He’d been right. Until now. Until tonight. The monsters got me.” pg. 447 

“I don’t know where real life left off and the nightmares began, but I thrashed myself awake, screaming a scratchy, hollow scream that made little more noise than a whimper. I screamed until I ran out of breath, and then all I could do was sob.” pg. 448 

“I lay there, naked, undone. No one came to hold me. No one came to make it all better. No one had, really, since my dad died“ pg. 448

“Next came the terror. The pain. Humiliation. More than anything, I wanted to crawl into a hole and pull it in after me. I wanted to be not” pg. 448

“And they were always the same: darkness, trapped, with vampires all around me, laughing their hissing laughter. I’d wake up, screaming and crying.” pg. 511. 

Also the Red Vampire spit reminds me of roofies and/or similar drugs. As it has some kind of addictive narcotic. The fact that Harry doesn't remember two hours could be dissociation. Not sure if I’m reading it right or that I’m reading too much into things.

On the assumptions that Bicana raped Harry I see this going in two directions Harry address his trama and heals or he doesn’t. Both with watsonian (inuniverse) and doylist (meta) options. 

To address his trauma a watsonian option could be that with Harry's friends and support network he could heal from this. He could go to a therapist and work through it. 

For the doylist Jim could show the aftereffect and a process to recovery. Now I’m about to make some assumptions. One that Jim has a majority male audience. Two that they wouldn’t have read something addressing rape and/or the aftermath. It could help with the double standard there is in regards to female on male rape. 

Now for a situation where Harry doesn't address his trauma a watsonian option could be that given Harry’s character he would want help or acknowledge what happened to him. It can also take years for a person to come to term to the fact that they’ve been raped. 

For doylist I’m not sure if Jim intended it to come across as rape. He might no want to/know how to write something addressing rape and/or the aftermath. 

All this to say after reading Grave Peril and Harry starts a war. What the wider supernatural community thinks happened at Bicana’s party and how they think the war started. Harry sent a report to the White Council and I’m sure Duke Ortega told the rest of the Red Court of his version. Does the wider supernatural community know that Susan got turned? Or that the sword Amoracchius was going to be unmade? Or what happened to Harry? Are the wider supernatural angry at Harry for starting a war? What about Justine and Thomas? Do they know?

[moaihybitoyoidaics]

Some Things Never Change~ Jurdan

Jue and Cardan return to the Duarte family home to find a gift for Taryn's baby shower. A trip down memory lane leads them to reconnect with Jude's childhood best friend.

A chapter from The Captured King on wattpad (@ teddyhawkins thats me)

Word count: 2148

Jude's POV

The house still stood as it had the day I had left, almost identical to the pictures we had saved more than ten years before. Although now, instead of sun filled windows there were wooden boards, and the parallel-striped lawn was over grown. The door hung ajar, slightly off its hinges. I turned to look at Cardan, whose face was an indecipherable mask.

"Home sweet home." I muttered under my breath before heading up the cracked paving slabs. Running after me, Cardan's composure fell away a second later.

"Jude, are you sure we're okay to be here?" He asked quietly. "Are you sure nobody will be watching the house?"

I stopped just shy of the front door. "As far as this world is concerned, the Duarte family were massacred almost twelve years ago. No one is looking for us anymore, and no body is bothered about this house." I nudged the door open, groaning as it went. "There are things I should like to retrieve, if they're still here." "I'd follow you to the ends of the earth my dear, lead the way." He followed me inside, creeping as if he could somehow wake the ghosts that remained here.

The carpet was ripped up, presumably taken when the police came to investigate the murders. Still, though, a muddy brown stain remained and the floorboards in the vestibule. The sight turned my blood to ice and a cold sweat bead on my upper lip.

"Jude," Cardan tests, his hand grazing my shoulder blade. "What is it?"

I remembered the day Madoc took us, the day he made that stain. I remembered my white converse skidding in the blood, my legs too short to step entirely over it. "I- it's just hard. Being here, it makes it harder to pretend it all away. Let's just get what we came for and go."

I stepped over the stain and moved on through the house. In the lounge the TV was gone, the sofa was charred as if it had been set alight, soot crept up the wall behind it. On the chimney breast someone, probably an edgy teenager, had sprayed a pentagram, dripping and red. I moved on to the kitchen, noticing the notch in the door frame and another dirty brown patch on the floor. I looked out of the window, into the back garden. Our old swing set stood unused, the chains rusted orange, creaking gently in the autumn breeze. I turned to see Cardan sat on the breakfast bar.

"So this is a mortal kitchen."

"You've been to Vivi's apartment, you know what our kitchens look like."

"It's strange to think of you living here. Before all the... stuff happened." He spoke so softly, I could hardly hear him.

"It's stranger to be back." I left the kitchen and made my way upstairs. I had the best chance of finding what I came for up there. "You can wait here, if you want." I called back to him. He shook his head and jumped down off the island.

"No chance."

I pushed open the door I remembered to be mine. The sight sent another shiver through me. The room has been preserved, almost untouched. There drawers were still open, with the clothes we left behind. The bunk beds, made up with Peter Pan and pink floral sheets. "Mine was the bottom bunk, I used to be obsessed with Peter Pan. Sword fighting, pirates, fairies... I guess some things never change."

"Taryn had the flowers, I'm guessing."

"Like I said. Some things never change." I made my way over to our old bookshelves searching for my sister's favourite book. "Taryn would never like to admit this, but she always wanted to be a homemaker. My mom bought her this Tumtum and Nutmeg, I got the first Harry Potter book instead- which is also about magic-"

"I know, I've read them." Cardan said, surprising me out of my nostalgia.

"You've read them?" My mouth was agape, a shocked laugh at the back of my throat.

"The magic is somewhat rudimentary, I mean using wands? But I did cry in book seven." He seemed confused by my obvious shock.

"Okay, we'll discuss that on the way home. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to return her old copy, you know? For the baby shower." I shoved the book into my satchel and made my way towards the bedroom door. "Let's go."

He caught my arm. "Do you not want to stay? Take back some of your old things?"

"It's painful being here, with everything that happened here." For the first time, I realised how strong my husband was. "I do not know where you find the courage to sit in the burgh everyday, where your family was murdered. I am so sorry."

He shook his head. "You are my family. I don't need to dwell on that anymore."

We made our way out of the house, on the front lawn I took one final look at my old family home and sighed. "I can forget this now. I think I can do that." Cardan kissed me softly on my forehead and smiles.

"I think I saw some ragwort by the side of the house. I'll be right back."

I nodded and he turned and jogged away. I took the opportunity to look around the street I used to play on, the cracks in the asphalt, the weeds on the sidewalk, the girl across the street running out of her house...

"Jude?" I was startled out of my trance. "Jude Duarte?" She called.

"No, sorry." I panicked.

"Liar."

"You have the wrong perso-"

"So you're Taryn then?" I knew the girl. Or rather I used to know her, twelve years ago. A lot had changed since then. "I know it's you Jude."

"Jude Duarte is dead." I lied. "So is Taryn and so is Vivienne. They all died."

"Bullshit." She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips together.

Cardan strode around the corner, clutching a fistful of ragwort stalks, "Jude, are you ready to ride?" It was moments like that which made me remember why I used to hate him.

"Sorry, Jude Duarte is apparently dead." She called to him as she smirked at me. Cardan looked to me, visibly confused.

I sighed. "It's Rosie, right?" She grinned again and nodded. "Okay, Rosie, we were never here. "

"I knew he didn't kill you." She yelled. "I knew it! Everyone said I was crazy but I knew I saw him take you."

"Wait, you saw what happened?" Cardan asked. "You were there?"

"I called the police!" She continued to yell. "You left your bike at me house and I was returning it, I saw that guy take you. Sorry who is this guy?" She pointed to Cardan.

I turned to look at him and realised how strange this must've been for Rosie. Cardan, as beautiful as he was, did not look human. I had dressed him in sneakers and jeans but of course he hadn't concerned himself with disguising his pointed ears or his uncanny features, this was supposed to be a quick trip- in and out. Not to mention the fact that for all intents and purposes, to Rosie I was dead and had been for more than a decade. I looked back at Rosie and sighed.

"Would you like to come in? My folks aren't home, but I have some lemonade in the fridge." She asked sweetly. "I have some videos from when we were kids, if you want to see?"

There was a pang in my chest, a deep yearning to look back in time. But the thought of spending more time here with Rosie and seeing who I could have been coiled around that longing.

"We would love to." Cardan answered for me, taking my hand and following her across the street.

***

Rosie knelt next to an old VCR, feeding it an even older VHS tape. The label on the back of the cassette read Rosie and Duarte girls 2008. 2008? The year we were taken. The TV static dissipated and kicked into life, showing grainy footage of an orange summers day, brown lawns and tanned kids in shorts. The first few seconds of footage primarily consisted of Rosie's dad trying to figure out if the camera was on, that was until I heard a familiar voice; like something pulled from a forgotten dream.

"Mark, the red light is on. It's recording." The camera snapped up and I saw a man. The scruff of his beard and the chestnut brown of his eyes, the slight auburn of his hair catching in the August sun. I I grabbed Cardan's hand and squeezed.

"Jude?"

"That's... uh that was my dad." I said, lump catching in my throat. He squeezed my hand in return, his thumb rubbing gently circles against my skin.

I saw a girl, twin to my younger self sat on the grass with a young Rosie, pulling daisies from the grass and lacing them together, coronating each other with flower crowns. Taryn of course. Then of course there was Vivienne, a few years older than us but an eternity younger than I could recollect, sat under a shady tree. She wore the same disapproving then as she always had, as if she had never taken it off.

"I swear you're in this one Jude. Just wait a minute." Rosie mumbles, fast forwarding through what she must've thought was the most mundane memory, I didn't want to miss a thing. She pauses a rewinds it for a second. "You're going very fast, blink and you'll miss it."

For a moment, I didn't understand what she meant. Until I heard my father cheering and my mother screaming in horror. "Jude! Pull the brakes!"

There I was, a blur peddling faster than my little legs had ever gone before, or since for that matter. I flew down the street on my purple bike, which at the time I had insisted I was tall enough for, before crashing into my neighbours trash cans and flying over the handle bars. I landed in a heap on the floor, blood pouring out of my nose, my knees and elbows skinned and covered in gravel. The camera fell to the floor as Mark, Rosie's dad, ran over to me. My parents caught up a second later, picking me up and dusting me off. My mother fussed over me, pulling a Kleenex out of her pocket and dabbing my nose, but I pushed passed them and picked up my bike.

"I'm going again. I will jump over the trash cans." I couldn't help but laugh, some things never change.

***

We spent the afternoon and most of the evening in Rosie's living room, pouring over childhood memories. Cardan howled watching myself, Taryn and Rosie performing a dance routine to Wannabe by the Spice Girls, trying to convince our parents to let us have another sleepover.

"Jude still can't dance." He said, trying to catch his breath.

Rosie watched him cautiously, still unsure of what to make of him. "So, why did you never come home?" She asked tentatively. "I mean I always thought I saw you at the mall or in coffee houses or one time at a pool I think, so you I know you could come back but you never came home."

I thought about it for a moment before answering. "Where I've been, well where my sisters and I have been, is different. We had to change to survive. If you saw what I was truly like now you wouldn't have invited us in." Cardan watched me try to explain myself, engrossed. "Honestly, I am happy where I am. I made something of my life! But being here and seeing how things could've been for me... it makes me feel homesick but for life."

"Life sick?" She whispered.

"Exactly."

"I still have your bike." She grinned, sensing I didn't want to answer any more questions.

"Her what?" Cardan asked. I shot him a look that I hoped told him to shut up.

Rosie led me outside, she wandered into her garage and pulled out my purple bike, still scuffed with a flat tyre, but it was my bike.

"Take it home with you, wherever that is now. But come and visit us sometime, I want to prove to my folks that I'm not crazy."

I wheeled my bike up the driveway and out into the cool night air, turning back one final time to wave goodbye to my old friend. "Can you make her forget?" I whispered to Cardan.

"Why?"

"It'll be too hard to leave if she knows I'm still out there." I sighed. "There'll be questions, people will think she's lost the plot."

"No." He placed his hand on the small of my back. "You deserve to be remembered."

[catofoldstones]

Always thought Sweetrobin would have been a suitor had George gone with the five year gap. This also explains why Harrold Hardyng is added into the story who seems like a very forceful addition to the plot and that George hadn't conceived of the character till the end of ASOS. Just look at this. Harry is supposed to be a 18 - 19 yr old able bodied male heir to one fourth of Westeros and yet after Jon Arryn's death in the beginning of AGOT, we hear nothing about this man till the end of fourth book. Sweetrobin is an only sickly child and yet there is no public opinion on how there is already an able bodied male spare in existence. It would also explain Lysa's paranoia because people wouldn't hesitate to flock to Harry instead of Robert. But we hear nothing about him. This also explains the only other mention of a Hardyng in Dunk and Egg Ashford Tourney. I mean to say that to intentionally omit Sweetrobin as a suitor due to lack of 5 yr gap, George forcibly added Harrold Hardyng to the story as to line up Sansa's suitors similar to the remaining five champions in Lady Ashford Tourney.

Hi Nimble!

Sorry for responding so late. I didn’t know much about the 5 year gap that GRRM had planned and decided to read up on it. Now I have some opinions(tm) lol.

Well, I think you’re right. GRRM wrote The Hedge Knight in 1998, before A Storm of Swords was published and we still don’t get a mention of Harry Hardyng in ASOS by Lysa or Peter or anyone. If truly HH was planned since the beginning we could’ve gotten a mention of him if not when Robert mentions that he has made Jamie the Lord Protector of the Vale to Ned, then at least when Lysa is paranoid about SR’s claim. Maybe the suitors were added retroactively, because by the time Hedge Knight was published, ASOS was still being written, and Sansa was not yet being courted by the Tyrells or married to Tyrion. On the other hand, maybe GRRM was in the middle of writing ASOS and decided to add in the suitors as parallels to what he was writing, with the exception of SR of course- because you simply can’t give away your future story on a plate can you? Maybe he added a HH later because he decided to fit the similarities more perfectly? Because, like you said, adding HH like that because he himself noticed a happy coincidence would fail if it did not point to the end goal/next step in neon red lights.

[greenhousethree]

Gin and Nev... A friendship forged in fire

Wow thank you so much, I appreciate it! And I love this question! Apologies for the late response… I’ll get better at these 🫠

But oh boy, life at Hogwarts during book 7… I love it; it’s such a rich, chewy era for resilience, relationships, and coming-of-age. And I’ve really enjoyed creating snapshots of different characters’ perspectives (I have a couple more in the works for that series); they’ve really helped shape my ideas for arcs after the war. 

Neville and Ginny, though!! Two of my absolute favorite characters. The books don’t give us much to go on, but my headcanon has always taken the potential for their friendship and run a bit wild. I think these months at Hogwarts would have solidified it: running the D.A., caring for younger students, and pissing off the Carrows. 

(This turned into a full-on ramble, so here we go…)

I don’t think Neville and Ginny were particularly close before this year. Friends, for sure, but I think Ginny would have seen him primarily as her brother’s dorm-mate, even after the Yule Ball. She had her own friends (and boyfriend) to occupy her during D.A. meetings in OoTP, and we’re told that that Neville and Luna were the ones who bonded after the Department of Mysteries. 

Throughout Deathly Hallows, though, Neville’s no longer a peripheral friend of Ginny’s, but a comrade on a battlefield that’s been otherwise abandoned. Two Gryffindors, both with more skin in the game than most, both with nothing to lose by fighting. I think that pressure would give them both a harder edge than their peers; even Luna, who joins to form that melt-your-heart trio of misfits, has to worry about her father’s safety as a consequence of her actions. But Neville’s parents were Aurors and Ginny’s family make up most of the Order— they both come from fighters. 

Like Harry and Hermione (another gorgeous friendship that reduces me to a puddle), I think Ginny and Neville’s relationship is a thing with legs of its own, independent from the trio’s dynamic. Their characters balance one another beautifully, based on everything we’re given in the text. I put a glimpse of this into “Defiance,” which takes place in October of that year. And as the months passed, they would have only grown closer, trusted each other more, and developed sharper instincts for one another out of survival.

There’s an incredible amount of grit behind the strength we do get to see from Ginny in canon. Girl has seen a lot by this year, and I think she’d be the one to spearhead the revolution within the walls. But, and this is more of my HC here, she’s headstrong and impulsive... like an unbroken filly, I think she’d need someone else to take aim after the abandonment by Harry and her family makes her desperate and reckless. In a war of strategic mayhem, I see Neville acting the playmaker to Ginny’s agent of chaos, directing her desire for resistance into action. I’ve never had a doubt that she’s the one to hatch the idea of stealing the sword, but he’s the one pulling out the drawing board immediately after “Defiance.” He’d feel the most guilt after the fallout of their plans, too, surrounding the events of “Surrender.”

And, as the Carrows continue to do their damnedest to break her, I think Ginny gradually relies on Neville more to be the ballast of their ship. It’s a role that I think Harry will take over a bit, eventually: encouraging her to harness her fire as she picks up the pieces of her Hogwarts years.

And Neville! If ever there was a better fictional character to steal my heart. By the end of book 7, we see a completely transformed version of the nervous little sweetie who’d lost his toad on the train. I don’t remember where the idea came from to have him growing herbal remedies and passing them off as homework, but I sort of fell in love with it. This boy’s using Mandrakes as weapons up until the very end; surely he spent the entire term risking his behind to visit the greenhouses and follow his passion (and without a handy invisibility cloak, too… take that, Potter).

Neville’s always looked up to Harry, drawing inspiration from seeing him speak up against Umbridge and Snape. We get glimpses of his burgeoning voice in OoTP and HBP, fighting alongside Harry in the Department of Mysteries and defending Hogwarts after Dumbledore’s death. But we don’t see Fully Evolved Neville— D.A. leader, confident battle strategist, “I’ll join you when hell freezes over” Neville— until he’s spent more time with Ginny (DH, ch. 36). I’m sure her sharp tongue and rogue fearlessness have rubbed off on him by the time she’s whisked off to Muriel’s, and it’s something he carries with him (along with Luna’s desire for justice) in that final month facing the Carrows without them.

After the war, I have no doubt that Neville and Ginny remain close. Similarly to her dynamic with Harry, there’s an opposites-attract element to their relationship: with her encouraging spontaneity and exploration and him bringing more grounded levels of insight and empathy. I think the trio with Luna remains intact, but, like the Golden three, morphs a bit into three individual friendships with their own strengths to offer. Ginny’s seen enough of Harry’s struggles to help Neville navigate his new war heroism in a world where he’ll become more popular than he ever imagined (she definitely becomes the world’s best wingwoman at many a pub). The three of them all lose a great deal, too— particularly Ginny, with the death of her brother. I won’t go into detail because I have a lot drafted up for these two… but I think her relationship with Neville, welded and galvanized by a year of growth and suffering and hope, will be instrumental to her journey of regaining her voice. 

Lots of words, lots of thoughts, but I hope that addressed the question! Thanks again for reaching out, it means a lot! 🌱

[descendantofthesparrow]

POYW Rewrite V2 - Harry Hook x reader - P7

=

Harry looked, and felt, so out of place. He turned in the boy's locker room mirror, scowling at himself. Bright blue and yellow were not his colors, and the fabric for the uniform was weird too, it was clearly designed with full mobility in mind while using breathable fabric to maximize comfort. Harry pulled at the two yellow hoodie strings that were far longer than they needed to be, wondering why they were even there?

As far as he knew, fencing usually had full body armor, not a peek of skin to be shown, so why did fencing parkour have hoodies with no sleeves and pants that were loose enough to hike above his knees? “Auradon’s fuckin’ weird,” Harry grumbled, grabbing his fencing gloves and helmet, collecting his sword at the amphitheater entrance, and putting his gloves on; nodding as Fergus came over and greeted him with a grin and a hand on his shoulder.

“Ye ready? There's only a spot open sae ye gotta gie it yer best, or at least; better than lae ay them,” Fergus gestured to the other guys who were trying out for the open spot on the team, there were about 7 total, including Harry. According to the rule book Harry had been given by FG, there were eight main players plus their captain; nine members overall. And currently, the team was down a man thanks to one of their players moving away.

“Aye, that should be easy,” Harry chuckled, spying Gil, Jane, Jay, and Carlos on the 2nd floor. Gil and Jane waving enthusiastically, he grinned back and turned back to Fergus “Who do I need ta impress?”

Fergus pointed across the room, and Harry noticed the captain standing on one of the parkour blocks, wearing a black and yellow uniform instead of blue and yellow, a clipboard in hand with their sword balancing on their leg. Harry’s jaw dropped-realizing who the captain was. “(y/n)?�� Harry gasped, his jaw dropping open. Fergus laughed, hand on his stomach as you looked over your shoulder at Harry, grinning at him. "She’s tha' captain?”

Fergus nodded, adjusting his gloves and grabbing his sword-making sure the protective tip was on. “Aye, she's bin teh keptin fur abit a month an' a half now-beat Chad out ay th' captains position.” Harry nodded, recalling one of the rules that if one challenged the captain and won-with approval from the coach-they would become the new captain.

You blew the whistle around your neck, gaining the attention of your team and the new guys. “Okay! We’ll have two matches. The seven of you will have a match against each other, and the last two standing will be going against the eight of us, if you can last-you’re in. That is-if you impress me, fail to do so, and I’ll simply have to hold another session,” you said sternly, reminding Harry of Uma. He licked his lips, lifting the fencing helmet to sit at the back of his head as you instructed the 7 of them into 2 lines, three on each side and one at the end.

“If your sword gets knocked out of the ring, you’re out! If you are tagged on your torso, aka the vital area, you’re out! If you’re knocked out of the ring, out!” Harry glanced around-seeing a thin but bright yellow oval surrounding the area-once you stepped out-you were out. So it was like normal fencing but-way more complicated and included parkour. “If I see any foul play, out! Remember-while these swords have protective tips-their blades are still very real-play safe and play nice. Ressembler!”

Harry took a moment, but figured that was the command to stand straight, sword and balance hand out straight-since that’s what everyone else did. He took a deep breath, eyes on you. You looked back, smirking at him and he felt a flutter go through his gut; he forced himself to look back at his opponent, giving him a sharp smirk as he stared back-clearly afraid of Harry as he swallowed harshly-averting his eyes. “Salute!” Harry lifted the sword so the blade faced the ceiling-his eyes not leaving his opponent. “lower the point-masks down!”

Harry drew the blade down and shifted his mask in place, his vision barely obscured through the thin mesh. He smirked; he had this in the bag. Since he was a kid-he had been trained in many forms of combat-from fencing to hand to hand. His father wasn’t a captain in the royal armada for nothing after all.

“En garde!” Harry got into position; his hand carefully balanced behind him with his sword in guard position. Everyone held their breath, the onlookers chattering amongst themselves as the 7 competitors stared at each other. “Begin!”

And just like that-everything moved in a flash, Harry quickly and easily parried the swing from the opponent in front of him-and in three quick strikes-he had taken their blade and tossed it aside out of the ring. “Colby-out!” Harry grinned from beneath his helmet, leaning backward from a swing and using his free hand to cartwheel with it, landing on his feet and blocking another swing, and pushing his new opponent back with such strength that they stumbled and fell out of the ring-taking off their helmet to stare at him in frightened awe.

Harry spun on his knees and dodged another blade by rolling under it, flipping up and striking their back-if this had been a real battle-they would’ve been dead. You agreed, calling them out. Now there were only four competitors left-Harry being one of them.

Harry flipped over the blocks as the three others clashed with each other-two smacking right into each other and falling to the ground in their confusion-leaving just Harry and the other competitor by default.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Harry chuckled, removing his helmet and cackling at the two who had smacked their heads hard enough to disorientate themselves-even with their protective gear-and were disqualified from the match.

“….Well that’s that,” you muttered, staring down at the two doofuses who had head bumped themselves out of the match, the two looking sheepish as they joined their fellow disqualified competitors. “all right, take five-get some water, then the final match begins. I want your best foot forward you two.” you guested to Harry and the other guy, both nodding.

Harry froze as the other took off their helmet-revealing the Pan kid that had been in his history class the day before and missing from his class today. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you and Gil tense up-Gil already preparing to jump over the ledge and tackle Harry. “Hook, right?” the Pan kid asked, their vivid green eyes on Harry. Harry swallowed, that familiar itch burrowing into the back of his head. Pan beamed, their eyes lighting up. “Wicked,”

Wait what?

“What?” Harry voiced his thoughts, blinking wildly as Pan held out their hand with a grin. “I-you?” Pan laughed, not unkindly. “What? you thought I was gonna pick on ya? Nah-I ain’t my dad. I’m Tara.” Harry stared at Tara for a long moment, then slowly took their hand, that itch at the back of his head dissipating.

You and Gil relaxed, your shoulders dropping as you let out a sigh of relief. Tara was a bit of a trouble maker but you were glad they could see that messing with Harry wasn’t the brightest idea. Harry licked his lips-taking his hand back as Tara smiled at him. “I expected ye ta be…” Harry paused, wondering how to word his sentence.

Tara’s smile just turned sad. “Like my dad? Yeah, I get that. While your dad def ain’t a good person,” Harry snorted-that was an understatement, “my dad really did set off the whole thing, I mean-he cut off your dad's hand?! Who wouldn’t want revenge?” Harry laughed loudly at that, nodding.

“Aye,” Harry muttered, his eyes drifting to his left wrist-where a long-healed scar sat beneath a tightly wrapped bandage. The two Neverland kids turned at the sound of your whistle, and Tara patted Harry on the shoulder. “Good luck! I have a feeling you’re gettin’ that spot.” Harry nodded back, sliding his helmet back on and taking a spot at the end of the two lines as you directed.

“Same rules as the match before, play nice play safe.” You said loudly, jumping down from the block and grabbing your helmet, taking your place at the end. “Ressembler! Salute! Lower the point, masks down! En garde...Begin!”

Metal rang loudly within the theater-the onlookers gasping as Harry and Tara went toe to toe with the members of the Roar team. Harry was face to face with Chad Charming-the blonde directly going for the vk with powerful and dedicated strikes. But he never landed a hit-Harry had practically been trained in this sport since he was a kid-used to moving about in unpredictable and uneven terrain-using it to his advantage and adapting techniques on the fly.

Harry spun on his heel-his blade whipping around his back and blocking several strikes from Chad, backflipping over a swing from Chad and landing on a block-he flipped off again, catching Chad’s blade mid-air and pushing him back; chuckling as Chad lost his balance and flipped over the block-his sword flying off in another direction.

A whistle blew-coach. “Chad-out!” Harry could feel the seething glare as Chad scrambled to get out of the battle field-watching as Harry whirled around and blocked another blade. Harry recognized this one as Ben, who laughed from behind his helmet and the two went toe to toe for a moment, Harry switched hands at one point as they moved about, and that stumped Ben long enough for Harry to knock his sword out of his hand, strike his chest, and push him out the ring.

“Ben, out! Aziz, out!”

Harry turned again, ducking under the swing of a blade and rolling away, turning and parrying the next blow away and then trapping the blade to the floor, hearing a familiar cackle come from the helmet. Harry blew a kiss and Fergus did it back, laughing as Harry kicked up and away-Fergus able to catch himself before he tumbled over a black and landed on his feet.

Harry was faced with two opponents-both seeming to agree to get him out together. Harry just grinned-two vs one? Too easy. Harry swiped at them to make them jump back and then used a block to flip over their heads-striking their backs with two quick slashes. They groaned-knowing they were beaten and hurried out the ring, taking their helmets off to watch the rest of the team compete against each other, Tara, and Harry.

Harry was the prime target for most of the team-but, not one person had landed a scratch on him, he seemed to be always one step ahead-his mind constantly running and keeping him sharp. “Has he always been that good?” Harry heard Jane ask Gil, Jay responding for him.

“Yeah, since we were kids, the Hook kids have always been some of the best duelists on the isle, if there’s one blade you don’t wanna get on the wrong side of-its Hook, even drunk he’s a damn good swordsman.” Jane made a concerned noise at the mention of Hook being drunk but turned back to the battle, gasping as Harry twisted under and through several swinging blades-hopping to his feet and blocking a blade from hitting his back, swinging his sword back around and smacking another blade away from his front.

Harry spun the sword in his hand, turning it in an arch and spinning down into a crouch, knocking several blades away and two ended up out of the ring. The whistle blew; “Tara, out! Herkie, out!”

Soon enough, it was just Harry, Fergus, and you left-all breathing heavily and staring each other down. Harry jumped back as Fergus jumped at you, quickly planting his feet and engaging in a quick battle-it was over before Harry could blink; you cartwheeled back, spun down-slid your blade into the gap between Fergus’ guard and handle-pulled it out of his hand-caught it, spun on your heel and kicked him in the gut-sending Fergus off his feet and the prince landed on his back-laughing all the while.

“Fergus, out! Last players standing, captain (y/n) and Harry Hook!”

Harry stared you down, the two of you circling each other as everyone stared with bated breath. He could feel the smirk behind your helmet and you tossed away the sword you stole from Fergus, rolling your shoulders as Harry cracked his neck. Oh, this was going to be fun.

You were the first to strike-stepping forward and Harry’s blade met yours-the sound of metal ringing in Harry’s ear. Three quick steps back-five forward-Harry swung at you twice and you took another step back, smirking from beneath your helmet.

A pause and Harry giggled-this time was taking the first strike and pushing you back, and Harry felt like he was fighting against one of the isle pirates again; immense skill hidden beneath fabrics of yellow and blue. Harry aimed for your lower torso but you easily maneuvered his blade away-leaning away from him slightly as Harry drew back, blade up and ready to strike or defend.

“You know what you’re doing, I’ll give you that, excellent form.” you chuckled, and Harry snorted back, the two of you still circling each other. “But how's your footwork? If I step here-“You moved to the right-your blades clashing as Harry quickly stepped to the left-one two three four-your blades met in the air-a pause. “Very good-and now I step again,” you went left this time-Harry following you forward and the two of you switched spots-Harry’s back now to the coach while yours faced the team.

“Holy shit,” someone muttered into the sudden silence. The team watched in awe-because since your arrival, not one person had lasted this long or shown such skill. “Think Harry might beat her?” another asked, and Harry huffed, keeping his eyes on you. “Maybe? He’s really good, but they’re both just playing-this is just-training to them-I never wanna see them go full out if it means they’re this scary just practicing.”

Harry grinned beneath his mask-and then he stepped forward-your blade meeting him in the quick strikes he threw at you. One, two, three, four-swipe, parry, dodge, flip, roll, swipe-five, six, seven, eight-parry, block, spin, block, swipe, block twice, roll, block again, parry.

Everyone was practically hanging off the edge of their seats(if they were in one) as you sparred, moving about the ring-over and around blocks-your blades clashing every other second. Some started chanting his name, calling for him to take down the queen from her throne-he guessed that meant you.

Swing-one, two, three, four, five-parry, flip, crouch, spin-six, seven, eight nine- flip, block, pause. One, two, three, parry, swing, block, parry-four, five, six; there was a sword at his neck. His blade clattered to the ground as you continued to push forward till he was on the floor, blade at his neck with you standing above him.

The silent amphitheater burst into applause as Harry stared at you, his face warm and chest rising rapidly as you took off your helmet and grinned down at him-your eyes as bright as the florescent lights that bathed you in a light that made you look like a fairy. “Good job! You’re definitely roar material,” you said, out of breath as Harry continued to stare up at you. You held out your free hand, Harry took it and took off his helmet as you pulled him up, grabbing his shoulder when he was on his feet. “Welcome to the team Harry, honored to have you.”

Harry let out a huff, still staring at you as the team came over and congratulated him-asking him about his training and who had been his teacher-since they hadn’t even seen someone put up a fight like that since you came to Auradon and took down Chad! And you hadn’t even fought like that back then!

Harry didn’t answer, his eyes still on you as Gil and Jane came down to congratulate him. you turned, smiling when you locked eyes. He couldn’t help but smile back, the feeling-that was slowly becoming familiar-of butterflies flooding his gut and chest. Harry cleared his throat-turning to Gil with a grin, not seeing the look on Jane's face as she glanced between you and Harry-Fergus raised his brows with a smirk when Jane looked at him.

-

The rest of the week went by quickly, math was getting easier-chemistry was a blast now, Harry had ended up making some sort of pasta dish for Merryweather for the weeks end assignment and he ended up acing the end-of-week quiz for history. As for remedial goodness, he might've fucked around a bit and got a D on his quiz, smirking as FG clicked her tongue at his answers.

All too soon-it was Saturday night, and Harry hadn’t been able to get you to take him and Gil to steal the wand. He had asked, and you did say yes….but-

“I would, believe me, buuuut” you chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of your head as you stopped taking a bite of your lunch and turned to glance back at Ben “I’ve been banned from stealing the wand-at least until after the coronation, something about security.” You gave him and Gil an apologetic grin. Harry narrowed his eyes, but…wasn’t stealing the wand already banned? Harry voiced his thoughts “Ain’t ye technically already banned from stealing the wand? Aren’t we all?”

You shrugged, nodding. He wasn’t wrong. “yeah? But I’ve been officially banned,” you chuckled, giving him another apologetic smile. “so yeah, would, but can't. Sorry.” Harry just nodded, picking at his nail. He had failed to get you to take him to the wand, now he had to go along with Mal’s plan.

Love spelling you.

Fuck.

-

Mal looked up as Harry stepped into the kitchen, the two staring each other down for a long moment before Harry sighed, rubbing his face. “She can’t take us ta steal the wand,” Harry grumbled, pinching his nose as Mal slowly nodded. “as per our deal, we’ll go with yer stupid plan,” Harry grumbled, clicking his jaw as Mal nodded again, a smug smirk hidden behind her shoulder as she turned to grab a tray to bake the cookies on.

If she gloated-he was going to break her damn nose.

“We’ll do it before the game tomorrow,” Mal said, scooping the cookie dough onto the tray, the oven beeping to say it was ready. “Right after the pep rally, that way we’re all at the school at the same time,” Harry slowly nodded, sniffing as he looked down at the cookies.

“Did ye put those walnuts in em?” Harry asked, pointing down at the cookies. Mal nodded, continuing to scoop out the dough. “The lass won't eat it, she hates walnuts.” Mal paused, slowly closing her eyes before looking up at him, her lips pressed together in frustration.

“And you didn’t think to tell me this before I made the batch?” Mal hissed, and Harry just laughed. “I didn’t know till yesterday when Jane offered ‘er chocolate covered walnuts-acted like they were Brussel sprouts.” Harry smiled at the memory, and Mal stared at him.

She blinked, sighing and picking two cookie rounds out and spreading them, glad she had used mostly whole walnuts instead of crushed ones. “There,” Mal muttered-taking out the walnuts and rolling up the dough again. “walnut free.”

Harry licked his lips, damn-he was hoping he found a loophole for you. He eventually sighed, turning and going back to his room. ignoring Mal when she asked him where he was going.

Harry got dressed for bed-his eyes catching onto his golden shell bracelet. he stared at it for a long moment, pressing his lips together. “For Uma,” he whispered-he could do this, he had to. For Uma, for his sisters. For the isle.

He slid into bed, now catching his Roar uniform in his laundry hamper, he stared for a long moment then turned over-covering his head with his blanket as Gil walked in from a last-minute tourney meeting; pausing when he saw Harry in bed-the covers over his head.

Gil stared for a moment, then got dressed for bed. “Goodnight Harry,” Gil whispered and Harry just hummed, his eyes locked onto the shell bracelet. “For Uma,” he whispered to himself, bringing his wrist to his forehead and pressing it against his skin. “for Uma.”

-

Pep rallies fucking sucked. An hour spent in a sweaty brightly lit gym with everyone screaming and being so damn loud over a fucking sports team.

The only reason he went along was to support Gil, and that was it. Harry easily decided Pep rallies were just; overstimulation the event-too bright, too loud, so many things happening at once, being squished between too many people.

It was just-ugh-never again. He said as such and Gil laughed, saying that Harry never had to go to another pep rally again if he didn’t want to-but thanked him for coming anyway. Harry just pouted and followed Gil out to the lockers, and for some reason-everyone was there, just-hanging out. Harry didn’t care to ask why.

As they turned the corner-Harry spotted you and Jane at Gil’s locker-Jane writing on a light blue piece of paper-biting her lip and her ears pink as (y/n) guided her through-whatever it was. Harry shushed Gil, stepping close enough to hear them. “So-maybe a little heart-no no, too much,” Jane muttered, tapping the pen against her lip as she went deep into thought.

You laughed gently, patting her back. Harry realized Jane was wearing that new outfit Evie had made for her-her hair down her back with her bangs styled and accented with a blue headband. “Jane, you’re overthinkin’ it! Just write, I think you’re really cute and nice, would you like to go on a date? I mean it’s Gil, guys a softie.”

Gil smiled from behind Harry, not yet catching up to the situation at hand while Harry was holding back a laugh. Oh~ so the little fairy liked Gil? how cute~! He knew of course-she was always staring at Gil and blushed whenever he talked to her.

Jane just huffed at your suggestion and scribbled something on the paper-folding it into a little heart and sliding it into Gil’s locker-squeaking and running off after she did so. You laughed, turning to catch her over the railing as she covered her red face. “Good job Janey~ now we wait,”

Harry took that as their cue and walked out from the hall, keeping a casual walk as he and Gil went to his locker-Gil did have to pick up something from there anyway-something about a game plan.

Gil opened his locker-Harry could hear Jane squeak and from the corner of his eye he saw you grab her shoulder to keep her from running-the other girls around her encouraging her. Gil caught the note from Jane as it flew out, tilting his head at it. “what’s this?” Gil muttered, unfolding the paper. Harry surpassed the urge to facepalm. He and Gil had watched Jane write on and fold that little paper Gil was holding now.

He loved the guy but damn was Gil daft sometimes.

…well that was new, he never even thought of the word ‘love’ when referring to anyone-except maybe his sisters, he knew he loved them. But to stay that about Gil was a new thing.

Must be the Auradon air.

Harry rested his chin on Gil’s shoulder, reading the note from Jane. A grin grew on his face and he plucked the note from Gil; knowing that even after Jane spelled it out for him(literally) Gil would take a week to understand what Jane was asking. “looks like the wee-fairy has a crush on ye Gilly~ how cute!” and it was, really.

Gil slowly turned pink as he processed Harry’s teasing-snatching the note back and reading it over and over again. “Jane likes me? As in fairy godmother Jane?” Gil asked quietly and Harry nodded, leaning on his locker that sat next to Gil’s “What other Jane is there Gil?” Harry chuckled as a smile grew on Gil’s face, turning to look for Jane.

He spotted her below the balcony, your hand in hers for emotional support as she turned bright red and tried to run-a few other girls stopping her and pushing her towards Gil-giggling as Gil jumped down the stairs and held out the note to her, grinning softly as he asked her if she meant it.

Jane-bright red-nodded, her hands to her chest as Gil’s soft grin turned huge, his whole face brightening. He had always thought Jane was very nice and pretty, and he really liked seeing her smile and laugh.

You slowly backed away as the two talked, bumping into the locker next to Harry as he chuckled at Gil and Jane. “a golden retriever and a bluebird, who would’ve thought?” you joked and Harry’s laugh got louder, but he quickly quieted down as Jane glanced at him. “aye,” Harry hummed, hands in his pocket as he turned to look at you, his eyes locking with yours.

He swallowed as those now familiar butterflies flooded his gut; he forced them down-knowing what was going to happen soon. “They’ll be cute, eh?” Harry said instead, nodding at Gil and Jane. You nodded, crossing your arms as you mirrored his stance. “yeah, she really likes him,” you said quietly, not wanting to embarrass Jane as she and Gil continued to talk-the bright red turning to pink as she nodded at something Gil said. “kept asking if he would like something she did-like her hair or the outfit Evie made her.” Harry hummed slowly with nod-his eyes finding Mal as she stopped at her locker, Jay, Evie, and Carlos behind her.

She was looking behind him though, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Ben, who was watching Gil and Jane with a beaming smile-clearly happy to see the two interacting. Harry heard Jay ask Mal if she was sure about this and Harry perked up, listening in as Jay nodded to the school grounds and said it wasn’t so bad here.

Harry was inclined to agree-but he couldn't let Uma or his sisters down. He swallowed harshly, looking back down at you as you watched Jane and Gil exchange phone numbers, Jane grinning up at you as Gil bounded up the steps-beaming brightly at Harry. “We’re gonna go on a date after the game,” Gil said with a giddy smile and Harry nodded, patting Gil’s back.

“atta boy,” Harry muttered, watching as Jay broke away from Mal and flirted with a group of girls, their hair all spelled by Mal. Harry blinked as you shoved off the locker and went over to Ben, talking quietly. He turned, watching the two of you out of the corner of his eye as he tuned out everything else.

“So how’s the Audrey thing going?” Ben shrugged at your question, grabbing the same folder that Gil had grabbed earlier and sliding it under his arm. “okay, I guess, she won't look at me still, but it’s understandable, I did end a three-year relationship with some flowers and chocolate.”

Ben broke up with the princess? This was news to him. You just hummed, leaning against the locker next to Ben. “Yeah, she came into my room all broken up about it, I think I helped though.“ Ben nodded slowly, glancing around before leaning down to whisper something to you. Harry strained to hear but he maybe only got a syllable or two before you were nodding.

“Sure, just keep it on the down low-you just broke up with Audrey, be weird for you ask out another girl only a week after you got out of a relationship.” Ben laughed, seemingly agreeing. “Yeah-imagine if I broke out in song and dance to ask out Mal after the game, that would be ridiculous.” You snorted, covering your mouth as you bent over in your laughter. “(y/n)? you okay?”

You just nodded, wheezing as Harry’s jaw dropped. Beasty wanted to ask out Mal? Shit maybe they wouldn’t need those stupid cookies after all.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” you waved off Ben’s concern, regaining your breath and shaking your head. “just-that’ll be really damn funny later-I’ll tell you after, anyways-“ Ben interrupted you with a hand on your shoulder, a  teasing grin on his face. “Remember our deal?”

You frowned at Ben, shaking your head. “if I make a move, you have to too?” you just huffed, pouting a bit as you smacked Ben’s hand off your shoulder. “I never agreed to that-besides, like I said, he’s got a girl back home-I ain’t stepping on her toes.” Ben just smiled with a shake of his head, wheezing as you kicked his ankle. “Shuttt the fuck up beasty boy, and go plan your proposal to the pixie.” With that you turned away from Ben and Harry rushed to look away, making it seem like he was paying attention to his phone instead of your conversation.

‘If I make a move, you have to too’ Did you like someone? Now Harry just felt even worse about spelling you, but maybe if he got the chance to tell Mal Ben was already planning on asking her out-she might abandon this stupid part of the plan.

Honestly he rather just ask you out straight up instead of making you love him, because honestly-you were damn good-looking and his type. Harry felt heat gather in his cheeks at the thought, it was getting harder to deny the growing….feelings he had for you. The butterflies, the way he always seemed to smile when you did, the warmth in his chest every time he saw you-that only expanded when he saw you had a cinnamon roll for him(no he still couldn’t say the damn word), the way his eyes were always drawn to you whenever you entered a room, how your voice reached his ears before anyone else.

He nearly hated himself for it, because all those feelings he felt for you-were ones he felt for Uma. Uma was his ride or die, his best friend since childhood-his first love, he had never told her about his feelings(it was the isle, love was death there), and he had planned to keep them close to his chest-to never tell her as long as they were under the threat of their parents.

He didn’t know how he felt about those feelings, he felt like he was betraying Uma by simply being around you-and yet….fuck you felt…right, like you were made to be by his side. You got along with Gil, you knew how his stupid brain worked, you made him feel…he didn’t even know.

It just felt unfair to himself and Uma to see someone in that light, he knew he had a right to his own heart and feelings but. Fuck.

Harry was thrown out of his thoughts when something was pressed to his chest, he scrambled to catch the plastic baggie Mal had shoved into his hands, glaring at her as she pointed over to you-who was now talking to Jane. “Now,” Mal hissed, her gloomy expression turning bright as she teasingly called out to Ben-leaving Harry no time to tell her Ben’s plan. “Hey, Benny boo~!”

Ben turned to Mal with a smile, while Harry took a deep breath-shared a look with Gil-and walked up to you. “Hi,” Harry said, clearing his throat to get rid of the nervous crack. You turned to him-not noticing the grin from Jane as she went off to sit with a few other girls, most of them having left due to the game being in an hour-wanting to get dressed in the Auradon yellow and blues. “Hey,” you hummed, looking down at the cookie in the plastic bag as he lifted it up.

“Mal made cookies, ye want any?” he didn’t mention how there were only two cookies in the baggie. You just snorted, smirking at him with narrowed eyes. “Mal? Made cookies? And-wants to share them?” you asked, as if it was a joke. Harry laughed, his strained smile turning easy-you were easy to talk to. “Aye, couldn’t believe me eyes when I watched ‘er make em-but she didn’t put anythin’ odd in em…except maybe walnuts,” There we go-tell you the cookies had walnuts in em (even though they didn’t anymore) and you would decline-mission failed and Mal couldn’t get pissy at him for it.

You made a face at the mention of walnuts and Harry laughed again, shaking his head. “She took em out of yer cookies but, walnuts have a tendency ta stick around,” Harry mumbled, not realizing he told you these two cookies he had-didn’t have walnuts. You just made another face-taking the bag from him and examining the cookies.

From behind the two of you, Ben took a cookie from Mal as she guilt-tripped him into it, a proud grin on his face as Mal smirked and looked over her shoulder at her friends-Gil just watching you and Harry.

“So, Mal made these two cookies-for me? Specifically?” you asked, opening the bag and taking a cookie out, flipping it between your hands. Harry nodded, swallowing harshly as you glanced at Mal behind his shoulder-then looked back at him. “I guess? She was in a sharin’ mood an’ I told ‘er ye didn’t like walnuts so she made a few special fer ye,” Harry muttered-technically telling the truth but not revealing the properties of the cookies.

You hummed, breaking the cookie in half and tilting your head at it-before deciding it was safe and taking a bite. Harry stared down at you, Mal watching from over her shoulder as she stopped Ben from singing her name. “yeah-definitely still taste the walnuts.” You muttered, pouting down at the cookie. “They’re still good, just-very much have that wax and water taste.” You swallowed the bite-looking up at Harry at the same time.

Your eyes flashed pink and Harry bit the inside of his lip. Fuck. From how Ben acted-from what Harry could hear while distracted by you-you would start acting all lovey dovey-almost drunk like he supposed-and then you would start singing his name like Ben was Mal’s.

But you didn’t-you just slipped the cookie back into the bag-tossed your bitten piece into the trash-and handed the bag back to Harry. “Next time? No walnuts-that shits gross,” you chuckled, smiling up at him. Harry blinked-but-wait? Shouldn’t it? But your eyes? You checked your phone, clicking your tongue. “I gotta go, Ben asked me to wear Auradon colors for the big game, so-see ya Harry!”

With that-you were gone, and Harry was dumbfounded.

What in the fuck just happened?!

-

“That makes no sense! It should’ve worked-it’s a perfect love spell-it worked on Ben-which means it should’ve worked on (y/n)!” Mal ranted as she flipped through her spell book; Harry sat across from Evie as she finished off a new shirt for Mal. The other boys were at the field-getting ready for the game. Harry sighed, rubbing his face.

Your eyes flashed pink, Mal said that was a sign of the potion taking effect, so it must’ve worked-but then why did you go on as if you didn’t eat a spelled cookie? “Didn’t the book have notes on the love spell failing to work?” Evie said, standing and tapping the edge of the leather-bound book-Mal huffing as she flipped back to the love spell. “I thought it did anyway, swear It.”

Mal just tapped the page, nodding. “yeah, you’re right, must’ve missed it the first time; there are circumstances where the love potion will not work. you will know If the eyes do not flash pink; the spelled is aromantic, the spelled is immune to magic,” Harry snorted, along with Mal and Evie-no shot, no one was immune to magic-it must’ve been one of the other options. Because there was no way you were immune to the spell. “or the spelled is already in love with the user…”

Harry Hook. Error 102.

“I’m sorry?” Harry nearly screeched, snatching the book from Mal and re-reading the notes. No-uhuh-no way-you didn’t-you hadn’t even known him for a week?! There was no way. “She-she must be aro then because…fuck.” Harry grumbled, tossing the book back to Mal as she huffed.

“All right then-she’s either immune to magic-which no one is-or she’s aro-which also means-oh shit wait hold on,” Mal tapped the book again, Harry and Evie leaning over her shoulders to look at the note. “The love spell might also not seem to work, which is when the spelled has strong feelings for the user and therefore-the spell doesn’t change any feelings-but simply intensifies them. So-she might just like you a lot and so that’s why the spell worked-but doesn’t seem like it?” Mal muttered, tapping her finger over her mouth as Harry groaned, walking around the room.

So you were either Aromatic, immune to magic, or already liked him enough to where the spell didn’t seem to take effect. But your eyes flashed! So that meant it did work, so…shit-you liked him-he was the one Ben was talking to you about-the one Ben told you to make a move on.

Shit-shit shit shit. Harry sighed again, rubbing his face. That meant you knew about Uma too, ‘he has a girl back home’, that meant you knew Harry liked someone-Uma-and didn’t want to make a move in case Harry didn’t like you back.

Harry ignored the flurry of warmth and butterflies in his chest.

“Well then, that settles it-we go on with the plan,” Mal said-and Harry realized she had been talking and he had been ignoring her-which was normal. “We don’t even know if it actually worked?” Harry screeched and Mal huffed, glaring at him-tapping the book.

 “It did! Her eyes flashed, right?” Harry nodded “Then it worked! If it hadn’t-her eyes wouldn’t have flashed-Ben’s eyes flashed-it clearly worked on him!? So-we just-go with the flow for (y/n), just-ask her out at some point! Become her boyfriend so we can get that wand-and then! If you want-we can de-spell her and move on with conquering the world~”

Mal cheered, snapping the book shut and making her way out of the room. “Now let’s go, the game starts soon.” Harry let out a long sigh, pressing his hands to his face. Gods, he was going to break Mal’s fucking nose.

-

The field was loud-47 seconds left on the clock and the teams were tied as both schools cheered for their respective teams. Gil, Jay, and Carlos had yet to play-something about keeping them fresh until the last minute(literally it seemed). Harry stood between you and Lonnie; his arms crossed as he stared down at the field. Just in front of the bleachers-the cheerleaders jumped and encouraged the crowd to get even louder and Harry eventually sealed his hands over his ears. If Gil wasn’t playing he would not be here, he told himself this was for Gil and sighed, keeping his hands over his ears as the crowd cheered again.

A hand appeared in his vision; a pair of earplugs being handed to him. He nodded in thanks and you smiled back, showing off the pair you were wearing. Harry’s attention was brought back to the field as Jay stood with Carlos, Gil already running onto the field as two others ran to the benches-effectively switched out for the rest of the game.

Harry gave Gil a thumbs up as he turned back around-looking for Harry. Gil beamed, his grin getting wider as he heard Jane cheering for him and seeing you throw your fists into the air in support-Lonnie doing the same as she cheered. “Go Gil!” Lonnie screamed over the crowd, Gil sliding on his helmet and patting Ben on the back as he joined the huddle.

Soon, Carlos and Jay joined the team and Ben gave a quick rundown of the play. They split off and went into formation-Ben at the front with Carlos and Chad at his sides-Jay standing behind with Gil.

they break from their huddles, this is gonna be a big moment here….aaand the tip-off is ready!

The ref blew the whistle and the ball was in play. Jay dashed forward-knocking the ball into the knight's hands as he threw it to Ben. Carlos knocked over a member of the other team who was trying to rush Ben, laughing and doing a little dance in victory.

The crowd went wild, Harry holding his hands over his ears to get rid of the piercing noise of Lonnie as she shook him and Mal around in her excitement.

Nice little Block by Carlos, and he does a little dancing jig in the opponent’s face! And now Jay gets the ball back-here comes Jay! nice pass to Gil across the kill zone! Jay-hurdling maneuvers at midfield!

Jay flipped across the kill zone-making it to Gil who tossed it back to Jay-who threw it across to Ben. this went back and forth as they ran across the field-Chad and Carlos defended the three as the other team attempted to bulldoze them.

Big block by Chad! Prince Ben moves over wide-gives it back to Jay! He’s in the clear! Shot!

Jay attempted to score-only for the goalie to block it, Jay groaned, kicking the grass as Ben shook it off and guided his team back into formation.

23 seconds left you could cut the tension with a sword! The longball is played into Gil-Gil great jump, great leap! And a great move by Gil!

Harry cheered for Gil, remembering that exact move from Gil years before when he was helping Harry ‘play’ keep away with Jay, some sort of bronze lamp Jay had wanted to steal and so Harry stole it first.

Another player attempted to take the ball from Gil but Gil just ran through them-Chad stumbling over himself-not expecting Gil to just bulldoze the other guy so easily.

Impressive push by Gil! Gil-dishes off to Jay-Jay dishes off to prince Ben! and then Carlos with a big block-he goes down! Jay thought the kill zone picks up Carlos-oh he’s being hammered by dragon fire!

Carlos held up his shield-holding strong as he and Jay ran through the kill zone-being pelted by ‘dragon fire’. Soon they made it across and Ben passed the ball back to Jay-Carlos ran in front of him-holding his shield out and coping their positions from tryouts.

“Jay!” Carlos yelled, and Jay pelted the ball right at him-Carlos angling his shield up and sending the ball into the sky. “go up!” Carlos curled up like a turtle again and Jay leaped off his shield-catching the ball mid-air and passing it to Ben-who faked the goalie out and passed it to Gil-who scored!

And only seconds later-the timer ran out-it was 3-2, the fighting knights of Auradon City winning! The crowd went wild, Gil jumping into the air with his arms up as Ben laughed with him-the team tossing off their protective gear as they celebrated. Jay tossed his arms around Ben and Carlos’ necks, spinning the three of them around in victory before Ben pulled Gil into the mix-the four boys tumbling to the ground as they laughed.

Harry cheered-throwing his fists up as Gil pulled his helmet off and looked for him, beaming with pride. “I did it!” Gil said-but Harry couldn’t hear him from this far-just barely able to read Gil’s lips. Gil’s eyes turned to you and you cheered for him-giving him two thumbs up as Harry clapped. Gil just beamed-throwing his fists up in victory.

Your eyes drew to Ben and saw him practically booking it towards the announcer and you turned to Harry-excusing yourself. “I’ll be right back!” you said over the crowd, Harry stepping back to let you jump down the bleachers; beelining it to Audrey and grabbing her wrist.

“(y/n)? what the-“ Audrey screeched, yelping as you started to tug her off the field “What are you doing?” you just pointed back at Ben with your free hand as you tugged her away from the chaos that was about to go down. “Remember what I said about Ben doing something stupid? I’d rather you not experience it-”

“Give me an M!”

Audrey turned back at Ben’s voice, furrowing her brows as he continued to spell out Mal’s name and Audrey’s face crumbled, tucking into your side as you ran off the field and into the girls locker room, shushing her gently as she sobbed.

“It’s only been a week-not-not even-“ Audrey cried, her face in her hands as you crouched at her feet, rubbing her shoulders. “I know I know, this sucks-it really does” you muttered, letting out a grunt as Audrey slammed into you, sobbing into your shoulder. “like I said-he does a stupid thing-and that stupid thing was asking Mal out publicly at the fucking game. Im sorry I didn’t warn you properly,”

Audrey just cried, and you tugged her hair free of her ponytail, gently scratching her scalp as she hugged you so tight you might never breathe again. You just let her, pulling out your phone to text Chad.

‘Audrey’s sad-Girls locker room’

And you didn’t even wait two minutes before Chad was bursting in, breathing heavily as he took the scene in. “Audrey!” he gasped, pulling her out of your arms and giving her the biggest hug he could manage, Audrey burying herself in his arms. “What happened?! Are you okay? Who do I need to kill?!”

“Ben broke her heart only a week ago and then broke it again today asking Mal out-“ Chad turned red with anger, now furious he had danced with Ben to help him ask Mal out with that stupid song. “Oh he’s gonna get it,” Chad grumbled and you sighed.

“Remember, he’s the high prince-becoming king in two weeks-whatever you do-keep it on the down low.” you muttered, squeezing Audrey’s hand and giving her a smile before you left-heading back over to the tourney field-just as everything was wrapping up and the boys were being hoisted with the trophy in hand, Gil and Jay holding it with giant grins. Gil found you and pointed at the trophy-grinning as you whooped and clapped for him-giving him another thumbs up.

and there they are! Gil and Jay: the most valuable players! How do you like that!

You turned as Harry jumped down to join you on the floor, grinning as Gil gestured to the trophy again. “Well, I think I get sports now,” Harry joked, grinning as you cackled, your head tossing back with the action. “Believe me-this is the most interesting Tourney has been in a while, all thanks to the boys honestly-now-Roar. That’s a fascinating game,” you said with a snort, biting your lip with a smile as Harry snickered.

“Aye, swords and parkour-what’s better than tha’?” Harry said, laughing as Gil and Jay were soaked with some sort of blue drink, running as Gil spotted him and started booking it towards Harry. You laughed as they ran around-Harry protesting loudly since he was wearing a very nice customized denim jacket.

-

Uma watched blankly as her Gil and Mal’s Jay were celebrated by the tourney team. Being called the most valuable players.

It had been a whole week, and now there were her boys-one dressed in Auradon blues and yellows, and the other one standing next to a girl who kept smiling at him. She hardly recognized them, Gil looked so…happy-and Harry looked…he looked happy too.

It felt like they were slipping away. The only comfort were those golden shell bracelets on their wrists, and the dark style Harry was attached too-his hook on his belt loop. She hoped they would be coming back for her soon-she missed them.

She really missed them.

-end of p7-

permtaglist!

@queer-cosette @sephiralorange @lunanight2012

@daughter-of-the-stars11 @musicarose @rintheemolion

@random-thoughts-004 @anythingbutmar @imtryingthisout

@dai-tsukki-desu @remembered-license @thecaptainsgingersnap

@thetrueghostqueen @littlewierdalien

POYW R!V2 taglist!

@reallysparklychaos @tzurue

[ohdudehesflirting]

dream & their godly parents

warnings: blades swords swearing gay shit mentions of kissing and food I think

note: love pjo and nct sooo yeah

마크<3

defo big 3

i think Poseidon is the best match

in chilling in the dream

how he was ok with the cold ass water

ma boi yes.

when he finds out ab being able to control water

(also surprised he can talk w horses)

“whoa dude- what just happened”

“u have powers” “wtf”

also … his spider-sense

very agile in combat

outside the arena……

clumsy somehow??

different story for another day

don't let him near bows and arrows

my guy how did u manage to break 4 bows in the span of 3 minutes

he is clearly as confused as you are

“dude I'm as lost as u”

our Canadian boy<3

런쥔<3

did I make this whole post just to vent ab child-of-athena!renjun

ummm… ofcourse

every sane person would do that right ????

right????

n e gays

very smart

book and street

gives the best advice

very calm…. is……. yeah no one believed that

shouts a lot but outside of libraries

if u disrespect libraries u are done w him

gets lost in thought a lot

lots of spacing out

probably planning his next murder but u didn't hear it from me

very skilled w bow and arrow

with swords….. not so much

very charming in an unexpected way

loves owls bc they remind him of his mom

has read harry potter

avid hater

(has secretly watched the half blood prince 13 times and has a ppt of 40 slides ab why its the best movie)

ace <3

does not care ab sex

제노<3

big 3

100%

he is the one with the most Zeus vibes

or ares maybe

but I don't see him being conflictive

but he is sharp? if that makes sense

(it does not ik)

but yeah

very scary looking

has a reputation for being good at close combat

biggest softie ever

can sometimes control electricity

gets called sparkly fingers by jaem

bc when he's nervous he fidgets w the electricity

gets along w jaemin bc jaemin was very anti-social

and he was a social butterfly with no real friends

they are inseparable now

rumor says they make out sometimes but u didn't hear it from me

bi wife energy but he's the bi wife

동혁<3

an Afrodite kid if I ever saw one

when he arrived to camp

he was the moment

the initial thought was that he was gonna be mean

bc that's how movie logic works

pretty= mean

don't blame me blame Hollywood

but he is an actual ray of sunshine

gets confused a lot w apollo kids

bc ma boi has pipes

gets along w everyone

but is not afraid to stand up for his friends

very extroverted and witty

has a good sense of humor and is street smart

met mark just as they were both discovering their powers

when he is close to a person he can see who they have feelings for

safe to say he saw Jeno and jaem

stuck w mark bc he could relate to him

ended up being soulmates

hyuck is a ray of sunshine

재민<3

hades…

yes

he is powerful and he knows that

likes that he can inspire fear

On the inside he loves romcoms and cries every time he watches the notebook

big softy

tsundere!!

was not close to a lot of people

no one except his brother and sister (irene and yoongi)

they adore each other so much

it's like they have their own language

but he had like o friends so when jeno approached him

he was surprised to say the least

likes being accompanied in silence

haTES small talk

would very much rather talk ab ones purpose on earth

or death too (pun kinda intended

talks ab deep shit w renjun

who he met through jeno

jeno says his coffee order comes from the depths of hell

(funny u say that )

jaem switches their drinks to see the disgusted expression on jeno’s face

(a simps behavior)

천러<3

apollo kid??

yeah

doesn't really fit in w his siblings

bc he has a darker aura

people mistake him for an ares kid

but he loves his siblings and his siblings love him

as an apollo kid he can sing v well

beautiful voice

but kinda shy to sing live

not scared to approach others

but prefers staying in his circle

really likes daggers

and is vv good w them

he trained mark for a bit

and then gave up bc he realized the canadian is helpless w any dagger or bow or anything except swords for a reason

arrived at camp w jisung

been stuck by the hip ever since

I see chenle where is jisung 🤨🤨 oh there he is hi ji

constantly giving each other gifts

fun fact his dagger was a jisung gift when they were finding their preferred weapon

lowkey like each other

they spend time near the auditorium

(word on the street says they make out sometimes but u didn't hear it from me)

i love chenle

지성<3

CHILD OF ARESSSSS

tell me u don't agree🤨

impossible

cute but agile

he is vv shy tho

when he battles completely transforms

extremely talented w swords

when he first picked up one

he felt complete??

idk that's what he told chenle

his sword is made of celestial bronze

takes care of it more than his life

his sword was a gift from his dad

but his dad sent it by chenle

chenle jokes that he is the best gift-giver ever

training and fighting is very therapeutic for him

98% of the time is in the arena when he is not with chenle

trains with the straw dummies when he has a lot on his mind

“training w straw dummies is very mundane so it helps me think”

he is on the younger side out of all the campers

but has more experience than most of them

[vivithefolle]

The thing about Rowling is that she bases a lot of characters on people she knows or knew irl. So you have these perfectly decent characters and she just doesn't have a clue how they work internally.

Exactly! I've answered a Quora question on that, previously.

Below, the text of said answer:

Did J.K. Rowling base any of her characters on herself or people she knows personally?

Pretty much all of them?

She said there was “a bit of her in every of her characters". Which tends to happen naturally when you write.

(For example, being autistic, I tend to write characters as very introspective and remembering small details about a lot of stuff and being able to perform literary analysis in the middle of conversation. I've been informed that this is not how the “average" human works. So when I write a character, I often end up making them autistic because that's literally how my brain works. It's unfathomable to me that you wouldn't be paralyzed with fear by the idea of making a decision. Taking an opportunity on the fly, throwing your whole world off-balance with just one gratuitous action? What folly is this??)

According to Rowling, “I married Harry Potter. I married a very brave and gutsy person. And that's who Harry is”. Okay, so before Sauron and Acidic Virtuesignaller come crawling out the woodwork, I would like for us all to consider the implications: so Harry is “a very brave and gutsy person", and that's all. That's the only qualifier for Harry. To be Harry you need to be brave and gutsy. It's not like there's a construct in this series that's literally called The House Of The Brave. With a magic sword that only comes to those that are brave and gutsy enough to wield it. Which three people in the books have used that sword? Harry, Ron, and Neville. If only Harry was “very brave and gutsy" then what are we calling Ron and Neville? Hermione? Ginny? Luna? Snape? Dumbledore? Ok so there we go, if the requirement to be Harry is “be very brave and gutsy" then I can point to half a dozen characters that have the same characteristic ON TOP OF having an actual personality.

Ron was based on Rowling's childhood friend who owned a blue Ford Anglia. Based on Rowling's later comments about having “dated Ron" in her youth, we can infer that Rowling wrote into Ron some of the bad behaviours of guys she'd dated, probably with the idea of having him outgrow them (but considering how much she seems to enjoy writing Ron getting punished for these behaviours…). Some of the things she'd felt about poverty are spoken from Ron's mouth in GOF, and the Locket's tirade is a dead ringer (albeit with the genders reversed) for what she reported her father told her about how he'd rather have had a son.

Hermione is according to JKR a caricature of how she was when she was younger. “I wasn't that clever, but I was that annoying on occasion". I doubt JKR got invited to a ball by a super famous athlete though.

Snape was allegedly based on her chemistry teacher, John Nettleship, who was autistic and I can believe would have made jokes that wouldn't necessarily land as such (solidarity 😔✊). However I believe Snape was very much a caricature and an exaggeration instead of a “100% authentic" portrait of John Nettleship, even if he later came to call the character “me". Rowling needed her Mean Teacher archetype after all.

Cuthbert Binns, the ghost teacher of History that is excruciatingly droll and boring, seems to be a summation of Rowling's thoughts about his subject. Also a convenient way of forgoing worldbuilding.

Mothers are a very important part of Rowling's world. Lily's sacrifice defines the entire series, Molly Weasley is a strong presence through the books and sends Bellatrix's fanatic arse to Hell, Merope Gaunt's refusal to live shapes Voldemort into who he is, Narcissa Malfoy lies to Voldemort in exchange for her son's safety, even Barty Crouch Jr's mother made the ultimate sacrifice by switching places with her son in Azkaban. The only mother figure that isn't positive is Walburga Black, and even she gets to have a humanizing moment when Hermione theorizes that she was kind to Kreacher in DH. All this takes on a whole new meaning when you learn that JKR wrote the first Harry Potter in the wake of her mother's death.

By contrast, father figures are much less revered, and again it is directly a result of JKR herself: she had a notoriously bad relationship with her father, Peter James Rowling. One can postulate that Peter Pettigrew's name wasn't all a matter of alliteration, and that James Potter's redemption was the sort of thing Rowling might have wished of her own father.

Pansy Parkinson was a conglomerate of all the girls who bullied Rowling at school.

Umbridge was based on a work colleague - though she's apparently another conglomerate character - who hid nastiness behind a syrupy sweet exterior. Umbridge is often said to be the worst villain in Harry Potter - because while few people ever experience a genocidal terrorist stalking them, many have met someone like Umbridge who abuse their power just because they enjoy feeling in control of others.

The Death Eaters in general were based on the IRA, but took more cues from Nazi Germany in Deathly Hallows.

[nikkicross22]

I’m having a rather bothersome flare up, so here’s

My top 10 favorite fics

In no particular order!

1) Count Your Blessings by MadMothMadame

Fandom: Naruto

Status: On-going, near complete

Summary: “All war is fratricide, and there is therefore an infinite chain of blame that winds its circuitous route back and forth across the path and under the feet of every people and every nation." -Louis de Bernières

The war is over. Tobirama ended it when he put his sword through Izuna's center mass. But where war had united the Senju behind their leader, peace threatened to tear them apart. And who better for the warmongers to look to as a leader than the greatest killer of Uchiha they had ever seen?

There were only two problems with that plan. One, Tobirama would never, ever, betray his elder brother.

Two, he may or may not have a surprisingly not dead Uchiha Izuna in a coma in his guest room, hiding the secret of resurrection that Tobirama needs with everything he is.

Now if only he would wake.

2) No Paths Are Bound by Cataclysmic_Calamity

Fandom: MXTX - TGCF

Status: Complete

Summary: Xie Lian found something in himself that he thought was gone—worn away with every mistake he had made.

Faith.

His arms opened, and the child was hesitant—but eventually, he fell into them, his body trembling with silent sobs.

"I remember you," he whispered again, voice breaking as Hong-er clung to him.

I remember you.

I remember you.

I will always, for as long as I live, remember you.

(A re-telling of TGCF where Xie Lian has his cursed shackle placed in his eyes, blinding him. And yet, through all of his struggles; there is always someone watching over him.)

3) A Dangerous Game by Cybrid

Fandom: Harry Potter

Status: On-going

Summary: Tom Riddle opens the Chamber of Secrets in Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts. After a botched attempt to extract the Horcrux in Harry’s scar leaves their souls tied together, Tom is forced to kidnap him when he makes his escape.

A story of Horcrux hunting, adventure and unwilling attraction.

4) Falling Leaves of Evergreen Trees by QuillQ

Fandom: Naruto/Harry Potter

Status: On-going

Summary: She is a nameless girl with no past and no future. A test subject at the mercy of Orochimaru. This place will kill her, but there is more to her than meets the eye. She was once someone else, and though no one here knows it, Harry Potter has never been able to stay dead for long.

“The only survivor.” Danzō tells his old friend with appropriate solemnity for the situation. After all, it was Hiruzen’s student who did this to the girl.

5) All’s Fair by Lovely_Elbow_Leech

Fandom: AtLA

Status: On-going (technically a series, but both books are phenomenal. Summary from book 1)

Summary: Book one ends with two major diffrences: 1. Sokka went on the mission with Hahn (it did not go well) 2. Zhao survives the North Pole and that proves unfortunate for everybody (except Zhao, obviously)

Imprisoned on Zhao’s war ship, Sokka and Zuko have to work together to survive. They are not very enthusiastic about this prospect.

And they argue.

A lot.

6) Fire in the Mountains by EllaBesmirched (El_Bell)

Fandom: MHA

Status: On-going (technically a series, but the books are phenomenal. Summary from book 1)

Summary: “I’ll do it.”

Enji froze, fingers curling into a fist at his side, and didn’t turn around.

Shouto froze too, feeling his own eyes widen in shock at the words that had come out of his mouth, at the fact that he had actually stood up, followed his father out of the room, and dashed after him all just to say… he’d do it? He would do it? Him. Shouto Todoroki. He would--

Enji finally turned around and fixed Shouto with an expression so scathing, Shouto had to fight to keep his chin raised. “You’ll marry the Barbarian King.”

Shouto blinked. “Yes.”

7) Ear to Wall by Vodkassassin

Fandom: Naruto

Status: On-going

Summary: The Minato-sensei beams at him, and replies, “Kakashi! I’m glad you’re awake,” and, yup, that’s Minato-sensei’s voice.

Kakashi falls back down against the bed, closing his eyes. It’s too short of a way down, and he clenches hands that are too tiny and feeble and not his in dog-print sheets he hasn’t owned for decades.

8) Consuming Shadows by Child_OTKW

Fandom: Harry Potter

Status: On-going

Summary: His attention skipped passed the students and moved to the politicians’ pavilion. His gaze locked with crimson, and he nearly faltered under the sheer hunger in those eyes.

It unnerved him how fixated the man was on his dirtied, exhausted figure.

But what troubled him more was the slight smirk he could make out on the man’s lips. It was almost pleased.

On the night of the attack, Lily managed to escape with her infant son, but at the cost of her husband’s life. Distraught and distrusting of her friends, she fled to France with Harry, to raise him away from the corruption in Britain and the rising influence of the Dark Lord. She trains him to the best of her abilities, shaping him into a dangerous, intelligent and powerful wizard.

But when Britain re-establishes the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry, now known as Hadrian, is forced to return to his once-home, he finds himself questioning whether he really wants to kill the Dark Lord. Voldemort finds an unexpected challenge in the child, and as his intrigue and amusement grows, so too does the desire to possess the spark in those defiant green eyes.

9) New Recruit Universe by butter_peanut

Fandom: Naruto

Status: Complete (A series, but all books are phenomenal. Summary from book 1)

Summary: He looked like a particularly stupid civilian. He looked like a sharp burst of wind would blow him over. He looked like he’d answered their advertisement thinking the Akatsuki was a cat appreciation society.

“Are you kidding?” said Hidan, voicing what everyone was thinking. “This guy is supposed to replace Sasori and Deidara?”

“Sukea is qualified,” Pein said in a tone that brooked no arguments. “And will be paired with Tobi.”

10) On My Love by RikoJasmine

Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice

Status: Hiatus

Summary: For the second time, the Sochi Grand Prix Finals arrive, and with it a reborn Yuuri Katsuki. “Viktor,” Yuuri thinks over the pounding of his heart, the crowd going silent as the music begins. “I’ll show the world what you meant to me.”

Yuuri often thinks of his life as Before and After Viktor Nikiforov, the marking point being the day Viktor swept into his life and turned his world upside-down. After many years together, an accident leads to Yuuri suddenly waking up in the Before—back in Detroit, before the GPF, before he ever knew Viktor as anything other than his childhood idol.

As if it had all been just a dream.

And there’s 10! Honestly there’s so many absolutely fantastic fics out there, but those are the ones that jump to the front of my mind. I’ll definitely add more later. Please reboot and add some of your own favorites for me to check out!

[filipinosamflynn]

RED RISING BOOK 1 CHARACTER TIER LIST + FULL THOUGHTS! >:D

Below is my review of book 1, I'll go into spoilers. After this, I'm either gonna move onto a different book or try to find golden son. Not sure which one will happen.

But yeah, great book, 4 stars, or 8/10! Definitely just set up for things to come in the trilogy, but also a really good setup & story.

PREFACE: This is from the perspective from somebody who DOESN'T read books for fun too often. Red Rising was the first book in a long while I chose to read for fun since Harry Potter in 1st year high school (I didn't even finish the series, I stopped at the start of Half Blood Prince). So you're dealing with one of the most casual guys who went into the series. Another thing: I came into the series thinking it would be similar to Nimona (2023) or Sylas's story from League, since I brought up these two things when I first asked for book recs, so my expectations were HORRIBLY wrong (kind of, sylas's lore is pretty similar and the only difference is that sylas gets STRAIGHT into action but also his characterization sucks). So my perspective is strange, is what I'm saying, and I am far from the most valid person to be seriously reviewing this book. I'm just sharing this for fun lmao :P

I'm just writing the first few things that come to my mind, so stick with me people! These are messy, unfiltered thoughts.

This book is rough, really whumpy at the start of the book, but it's good whump. It's just setting up and establishing what's to come and to make all the payoffs feel better by showing us the insane suffering Darrow goes through. But also? Damn. That was rough. it felt like grimdark (this is coming from the perspective of a guy who actively avoids all things grimdark - with the exception of whump fanfics on ao3).

And then we get into the institution, and I just went, "oh. This is hunger games harry potter." I was a bit disappointed to be honest, I know the book is called "red rising" and it literally means "the slow rise of a red" so he still needs to prepare himself for what's to come, but also... eh?????? Someone in Reddit called this segment "pierce brown kidnapping fans of the hunger games when it was at the peak of its popularity", which ✨️iconic behavior✨️ but I was a bit confused as we took this academy stuff seriously. But slowly, I grew into it when the characters started interacting. I liked it when Darrow was interacting with others since the first half of the book felt so isolating. I liked every single scene Sevro shows up since he brings so much chaos and fun to a story that had so much downtrodden underlying sadness. The chapter 9 reveal is still hitting me, like "damn FUCK THESE GUYS BRO, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS PLANET HAS ALREADY BEEN TERRAFORMED???" Also because sevro's fucking awesome, but that's besides the point. The same goes for Darrow's scenes with Virginia and pre-sword fight Cassius, but they aren't as iconic as Sevro.

Darrow is a super compelling protagonist for the story he's in. Making him this power fantasy fulfillment guy makes things feel all the more liberating when he beats the shit out of a guy, it's sort of like a shonen anime protagonist, I guess (i don't watch anime btw). Bro talks about Eo a bit too much though 💀 it got to the point where it got a bit funny, but some moments do hit... before virginia came into the picture as the better love interest since she's girlboss and eo is seraphine from league of legends.

Most of the characters are well written or awesome! The proctors are real loveably hateable pieces of shit I wanted 200 feet below the dirt, and I loved seeing them get beat up. Except you Fitchner, you are iconic, and you gave us Sevro. I love you. Antonia, Cassius & Jackal are just set up here, and it's mildly disappointing? I am super happy the finale ended up being "FUCK THE PROCTORS" but also that stole time away from finishing off the inter-student conflicts. Yeah those will 100% be explored in the rest of the books with more time to do so, but damn :/ the last time we see Antonia, I think she just stands there at a castle to remind us she exists??? Whatever, watching the proctors get shit on was exactly what I needed to want to see more out of this series.

I was a bit disappointed when Darrow ended up being the only red we explore in this book. I was kind of disappointed when Darrow just speaks with a gold accent the entire time, I hope later in the series he speaks like a red again because I have a red bias and hate fancy ass shit. From a book called "red rising", there aren't too many reds after part 2 which I found odd for a revolution story about a red taking control over the system. Titus? Ohoh! FUCK HIM! why did they write him to be this rapist guy, and he just exists to let darrow know he isn't the only fake gold at the institute. I was mildly hoping we would get to see another red-turned-gold team up with darrow as a 100% trustworthy ally since I felt like we needed it after all the loneliness Darrow goes through, but sadly no :(

OH AND THE ACTION SCENES HELL YEAH!!! Reddit wasn't kidding when they talked about how bloodydamn GOOD the fight scenes are. I got spoiled that "Clang! Clang! Clang! Confess!" means something, and I don't even know who is fighting who, but I want to read the whole series just to get to that point because it sounds badass.

But uhhh this series came to me at a rough point in my life. It was hard to read some parts of it and I took a few breaks. Yeah, I read the whole thing in 2 weeks, but also just to fill myself with some sort of closure when I felt sad. I felt good coming out of it, but during? UHHHHHH-

These disorganized thoughts are getting messy, if you have any questions about specific things, comment them for me to answer. I might. 🥰

Story: 7/10, just set up but good set up

Characters: 9/10, bloodydamn good, almost all of them. I can tell, despite my initial disappointment for some of them since I know this is a book SERIES, so we will be seeing more of them soon.

Personal Enjoyment: ????/10, felt too sad at some points, absolutely adored this book in others.

Quality: 9/10, amazing writing, I want to buy all the books JUST to support Pierce Brown, I'm not even sure if I will be reading them, I just feel like throwing money at him.

Overall Score: 8/10, scared to continue, but damn I want to continue.