#mc molly

[marmotish]

Maybe it was a good thing that Freyja wasn’t there as an Auror in the Hogwarts’s Hospital Wing when Bill was recovering from getting his face maimed by a werewolf.

Would she have been there for him + the Weasleys + Tonk? Absolutely.

Would she have also regretted being there when the romantic drama exploded in her face? Oh ABSOLUTELY.

Mrs. Weasley: *being a worried sick mother while also assuming fate of wedding based on superficial perceived notions of Fleur*

Fleur: *wins over Mrs. Weasley by serving the latter some much needed slices of humble pie and establishing her place in the Weasley household she should never have proved to earn to her female future in-laws*

Tonks: *chooses this moment to be inspired to shake sense into her older werewolf companion by calling him out for his moody (hur hur) way of avoiding his feelings by confessing her love to him for the upteenth time.*

Moody: *chocolate/sleep-deprived, current sole survivor of best friend group who didn’t turn to villainy who’s been a target of prejudice bc of being an unwilling furry doesn’t know how to handle his crush for his most recently deceased friend’s much younger cousin beyond moody angsting*

Freyja: *standing there awkwardly; was there to get statements about Fenrir Greyback and provide what little emotional support she could give to her old classmates/friends and their family before reporting back to Chester WHAT-IN-THE-NAME-OF-SOAPBOX-DRAMA-SHENANIGANS-IS-GOING-ON-RIGHT-NOW???*

—

Had Rowan been alive and been a teacher at Hogwarts, you just KNOW she would have been there as well eating this romantic garbage right up (yass queeeeeen-ing Fleur and oh my gosh they were co-workers-ing at Tonks x Lupin)

“Sir I quit. It was like Coronation Street on crack.”

[pumpkster]

this doesnt make sense im just haunting a mutual (she likes mob psycho and that qifrey guy)

[rewritingcanon]

bitches could have the whitest names on the planet and bitches will still headcanon them as asian (its me im bitches)

[schmellows]

Keeping the Animal Parade fandom alive, one (1) image at a time.

I might eventually fully render this with the church background but for now have this. ♡

[the-al-chemist]

Another Day

A/N: July’s prompt for @hp-12monthsofmagic is “Surprise…”, and this story contains a fairly big one. I’ll let Charlie tell you about it… Warnings: two minor swear word, one of which barely counts as a swear. Tagging: @fantasywriter19 and @toads-in-my-pockets, who I think may particularly enjoy this little story.

The sun was high in the sky, making the autumn leaves on the ground glow in shades of gold as Charlie arrived in the front garden of the Burrow. From inside the house, the sounds of laughter and clattering pots and pans could be heard as he crunched his way across the yard to the front porch, still dizzy from his Portkey.

He knocked on the front door and was greeted by his mother, who immediately smothered him in an almost rib-breakingly tight hug.

“Bloody hell, Mum. It’s like you’ve not seen me in six months, not six weeks!”

“Well, six weeks is a long time when I had gotten used to you being around all the time,” Mrs Weasley replied. “It’s just lovely to have you home, dear.”

Charlie’s mother let him go, looking almost expectantly behind him before sighing deeply.

“What’s the matter?” Charlie asked her.

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. I thought that maybe… Oh, never mind. Come on inside, dear.”

Shaking his head despairingly, Charlie followed his mother inside the house. It didn’t look quite the same as it had when he was growing up, but it still felt like home, a fact he was grateful for, given the state the house had been in at the end of the war. The Death Eaters had completely ransacked the house and destroyed parts of it; it had taken Charlie and his brother Percy the best part of a year to fully restore it to its former unglorified glory.

In the living room was Percy himself, along with Charlie’s other two eldest brothers and their father. Charlie hugged each of them in turn, finishing with his older brother, Bill.

“Where’s Fleur?” Charlie asked him, looking around himself as if his sister-in-law might suddenly appear out of nowhere - which, in fairness, she could.

“She went for some air,” replied Bill, smiling broadly. “She’s out in the back garden watching Harry and Ginny teach Teddy to ride a broom.”

“Right. And the others?”

“Ron and Hermione should be here any minute now, and knowing Artemis, she will be here ten minutes late.”

“Of course. Why break the habit of a lifetime?” Charlie said, raising his eyebrows knowingly. “I’ll go and show my face outside.”

In the back garden, Fleur Weasley was sitting on a deck chair with a glass of water, watching Charlie’s sister Ginny and her boyfriend holding a blue-haired toddler upright on a broomstick. At the sight of her brother, Ginny left Harry and Teddy to their flying lesson and ran across the grass towards him.

“Did you come here alone?” she demanded, without even saying hello first.

“It’s nice to see you too, Gin.”

“Yeah, whatever. Answer the question.”

“Uh, yes. Why?”

“Oh, mum was getting all excited. She got it into her head that you were bringing a girl home as a surprise.”

Charlie blinked. “Why would she think that?”

“Because Mum just loves marrying people off, doesn’t she?” Ginny laughed. “And because you only ever usually come home when it’s a special occasion.”

Ginny had a point, Charlie had to admit that. When he had first left home at eighteen, he struggled to afford Portkeys, and always found himself feeling more homesick returning to Romania after visiting his family. Going home infrequently had become somewhat of a habit, but after the war ended and he moved back to Romania following a year’s sabbatical, his priorities had changed. He had visited more often in the last five months, but it just so happened that his visits had coincided with big events: Ginny’s graduation, George’s shop re-opening, Ron’s engagement. This was the first time he had come home without there being some sort of occasion, the first time that it was just another day in the life of the Weasley family.

“Anyway,” Ginny continued, apparently not noticing the somewhat guilty conscience of her brother, “Mum started putting twos together, you know what she’s like.”

“She does like putting twos together.”

“So, you definitely haven’t brought a girl home, then?”

Charlie looked one way and then the other, before holding his hands aloft and shrugging his shoulders.

“Mum will be disappointed,” Ginny laughed, and Fleur smirked into her glass of water.

“I expect zat she will cope,” she said wryly.

From inside the house, Molly called that dinner was ready, and the whole family made their way towards the kitchen. Charlie ducked under a platter of roast potatoes making its own way to the table in order to greet the latecomers: his youngest brother Ron and his fiancée, and Charlie’s best friend from school, Artemis Hexley.

“Trust you to arrive just in time for food,” he muttered to her as he pulled her into a hug. “Though you could’ve at least brushed your hair.”

“Oh, piss off,” Artemis prodded Charlie in the ribs and wriggled out from his arms. “How was your journey here, anyway?”

“Not too bad.”

“The grannies of Ottery St Catchpole all survived you apparating, then?”

“You know, that joke stopped being funny about eight years ago.”

“To you, maybe.”

Artemis grinned wickedly and made her way to the table, Charlie following behind her. As the plates of food were passed around and the kitchen was filled with the sound of lively conversation, he realised how much he had missed moments like this. This was exactly what he had wanted for his visit home.

When the chatter at the dinner table reached a natural lull, Charlie cleared his throat quietly. Before he could say anything to fill the gap, however, Bill rose to his feet.

“I didn’t realise there were going to be speeches,” said George, through a mouthful of food.

“I’ll be quick, I promise,” Bill laughed sheepishly. “It’s just that while everyone is here, I - well, Fleur and I - wanted to tell you all something.” He placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder and smiled at her so widely he looked as if he might burst from happiness, before telling the rest of the family: “We are going to have a baby.”

Suddenly, the kitchen was filled with even more noise and movement than before. Molly and Arthur Weasley rose from their seats to embrace their oldest son and daughter-in-law, Molly making high-pitched noises and crying. Percy congratulated them heartily, and Artemis dropped her fork on the floor in surprise.

Charlie bent down to pick it up and handed it back to her, their eyes meeting as the fork exchanged hands. She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows, and he gave her an almost imperceptible shrug in response.

Just like that, the day now belonged to Bill, Fleur, and their unborn child. The talk at the dinner table had turned to babies, to names and dates and sleeping arrangements. Even after dinner ended, the discussion continued, with Charlie’s mother rushing to find the family albums to find photos of her own seven babies for everyone to look at, an ordeal Charlie managed to escape by offering to clean up after dinner.

“Can I just grab a glass for Fleur?” Bill asked him, once everyone else had retired to the sitting room.

“Of course you can,” Charlie ducked out of the way of a cupboard to allow Bill to summon a glass from it. He chuckled to himself and shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re going to be a dad.”

“Neither can I.”

“You must be so happy.”

“I am,” said Bill, still smiling. “Terrified, but happy.”

“It’ll be alright. You’ll be a great dad.”

“Thanks, Charlie.”

“I mean it,” Charlie held his hand out to Bill. “Congratulations, mate.”

The two brothers shook hands before wrapping their free arms around each other’s shoulders.

“I’m just glad you decided to come back this weekend,” Bill said. “We didn’t want some people finding out before others, and you know how hard it is to get everyone in one place when it’s not for something specific.”

“Hm, yeah.” Charlie nodded, aware that Artemis had just entered the room and pulled a face that made it hard for him not to laugh. “Tough, that.”

“I mean it, thank you. Anyway, better give this to Fleur. Sorry, Artemis, didn’t realise you were behind me.”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Artemis paused before briefly hugging Bill around the waist. “Congratulations, by the way.”

She watched Bill carry Fleur’s glass out of the room, before leaning back against the kitchen table and watching the dishes wash and dry themselves at the sink.

“You didn’t fancy looking at the photos of baby Bill in the bath, then?” asked Charlie.

“Not really. I lived with him for half of last year, if I wanted to see his knob I’d have had plenty of opportunities to do so.”

Charlie laughed and used his wand to direct the clean plates into the cupboard before joining Artemis on the edge of the table.

“So much for it just being another boring, regular day at the Burrow,” she muttered quietly, rolling her eyes.

“I never said it would be boring,” replied Charlie, his voice also lowered. He sighed. “That’s the thing about big families. There’s always something going on with someone. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“Honest?”

Artemis turned her face towards Charlie, holding his gaze.

“Yeah,” she said, completely honestly. “If anything, it’s kind of funny. You had this brilliant plan set out for weeks, and Bill swoops in at the last minute with the exact same idea.”

“Well, they say great minds think alike,” Charlie grinned. “You think that’s funny, you should hear what Mum and Ginny said.”

“What was that?”

“They thought I might be bringing home a girlfriend this weekend.”

“Did they really?” Artemis smirked. “That’s brilliant. What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing at all?”

“No, I just went like this,” Charlie held his hands up slightly and shrugged his shoulders. Artemis blinked at him. “What? It works every time.”

Artemis burst out laughing, using one hand to stifle the sound of her giggles as Charlie shushed her through his own.

“We can’t now, can we?” she whispered, once the two of them had composed themselves.

“Not really, no.”

“That would be unfair.”

“It would,” said Charlie. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s just good to have you back.”

“It’s good to be back. I missed you.”

“You too.”

Charlie cast a glance over his shoulder at the door before wrapping his arm around Artemis.

“So, now what?” she asked, reaching across him to take his free hand, her fingers walking over his like the rungs of a ladder.

“We let them have their day today, and then we will just have to make a new plan so we can have our turn another day.”

“And that’s when we’ll tell them about” - Artemis’ eyes flicked from Charlie’s right hand in her lap to his left on her shoulder - “us?”

With another look back at the door, Charlie pulled her closer to him, kissed her hairline, and rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Yeah. That’s when we’ll tell them about us.”

[grailknightmonty]

pages from the notes of Aurelia S[ ], a champion of the Nowhere, partaking in a cautious and ongoing study of our vast multiverse.

They call this mission Project Non est Ad Astra.

[drakkonyan]

Look man, if your main character ain't putting on a happy and people pleasing facade while going thru more shit than anyone should ever go thru and having a hero complex that at the same time gets constantly reinforced because they keep being some people's only chance, I don't want anything bout em. Period.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Key Lime Sky

sci-fi, romance

an autistic pie blogger who’s struggling to make rent witnesses a UFO explode over xyr small town, and after posting about it xyr readers want xem to investigate

nobody else seems to remember or notice the weird things going on, except for a handsome bartender who helps xem investigate

and when people start disappearing, the landscape starts changing, and they’re unable to escape, they realise they’ll have to find the source and stop it before their town is consumed entirely

arc from netgalley, out August 13

[rjschoicesstuff]

My AME mc Mollie and Teagan bc I'm jsut gonna start pretending that she was a LI option 😁👍

[blues-of-randomness]

Au where Frowny never threw out the forgotten critters/aka me just playing around with an incorrect quotes generator

here's the generator I used: https://perchance.org/incorrect-quote-generator

[sweet-milky-tea705]

Reblog if you would give her a kiss on the cheek

[schmellows]

Digital redraw from the traditional redraw, both dated back about half a year ago. :)

The original picture should be from 2015...

Honestly I'll never get over my love for hmap.

[the-al-chemist]

On This Wild Night — Part One

Notes: And here it is, the Hinny Wedding WIP. In Part 1 of 5, it’s time to attend the ceremony, but two guests are running a little late. At dinner, the Weasley brothers hatch a fun plan, and Artemis plans on having a little fun herself… A warning for mild language and some sexual references.

Masterlist — Next

Charlie perched on the arm of a sofa, tapping one foot on the ground impatiently. As the door opened, he stood up, but he was disappointed to see that the person entering the room wasn’t a person at all, but a strawberry-blonde cat, whose fur was grey around the face. Charlie sighed.

“What is taking so long?” he asked, his question directed to himself as much as the cat. He looked at his watch, shook his head, and walked into the hallway to call up the stairs, “Artemis! We are going to be late!”

“What’s the time?” a woman’s voice called back to him.

“It’s half past ten!”

“That’s fine! It doesn’t start until eleven and it only takes a second to Apparate.”

Charlie made his way up the stairs. At the top, he leant against the wall opposite the bathroom, from which he could hear the sound of Artemis rummaging through a bag.

“Artie, I don’t want to rush you, but I was meant to be there over ten minutes ago,” he said. “I’m an usher, remember?”

“I know, I know,” Artemis’ voice said on the other side of the door. “Stop nagging me, you sound like your mother.”

It was hard to argue with that, but time was getting on. Charlie glanced at his watch once more.

“Alright, are you nearly done, or should I just go on without—”

He didn’t finish his sentence. The bathroom door swung open to reveal a bare-footed woman with hazel eyes and dark hair that had been pulled back from her face into an artfully messy bun. His eyes swept her five foot tall frame, taking in the way the wine-coloured fabric of her dress skimmed her hips, and clung to her chest. The dress was low-cut, leaving Artemis’ shoulders and collarbone exposed.

“I’m done,” she said, holding her arms out from her sides to demonstrate.

“Hm,” was the only response Charlie was able to give.

“Charlie?”

“Hm?”

“My eyes are up here, you know.”

At Artemis’ words, Charlie quickly looked up at her face. She shook her head at him, before pulling her wand out of the clutch bag she held — until that moment, he hadn’t even noticed that she was holding a bag — and summoned a pair of very high-heeled shoes from the attic.

“Sorry. I like your dress,” he told her.

“Sure, that’s what it was,” she muttered, slipping the shoes onto her feet.

“Have you got the card and present?”

Artemis peered into the clutch bag, before summoning those and putting them in there, too.

“I have now,” she said brightly. “Charlie.”

“What?”

“Will you stop looking at them?”

“Sorry, I just… Well, I physically can’t.” He half-laughed, and tilted his head to one side. “Have they always been that big?”

“No, I’m just wearing a bra.”

“Do you not normally wear a bra?”

“I do,” Artemis nodded, “but this is a proper bra. Does this to them.”

She put her hands in front of her chest, pushed them towards each other, then lifted them up slightly. Charlie nodded sagely.

“I see. Very impressive.”

Artemis frowned at him before looking downwards.

“Is it too much?” she asked. “Is it maybe just a bit too booby?”

“Maybe,” Charlie said, standing up straight and stepping towards her, his face mock-solemn. “You know, I think I might need a closer look in order to tell.”

“Funny.” Artemis pulled a face, but she walked towards him anyway. Charlie placed his hands on her elbows and looked down at her, trying to keep his face straight.

“No,” he said, after a few moments. “I’d say it’s just booby enough. Exactly the right amount of booby.”

“You would say that.”

Artemis didn’t look convinced, and Charlie lifted her elbows so that her arms were on his shoulders. He dropped his hands to hold onto her waist and looked her in the eye.

“Seriously, though. You look beautiful. Really beautiful.”

The expression of amused annoyance disappeared from Artemis’ face, and a small smile began to play on her lips.

“So do you,” she told him, and he kissed her on the forehead.

He would have stopped there, but Artemis’ hands had made their way into his hair, and before he could stop her — although, he was hardly going to stop her — she had brought his face to hers. The feeling of her lips on his ruined his resolve, and as they kissed his hands moved from her waist to her lower back, down to her bum and back up to just below her shoulder blades, where the fabric of the dress met her skin and he could feel the fastenings between his fingertips…

“Charlie,” Artemis whispered against his lips. He hummed back to her. “Shouldn’t you be ushing at the moment?”

In an instant, Charlie removed his fingers from Artemis’ dress.

“Shit. Yes, yes I am,” he said. “Yeah, we really don’t have time for this right now.”

Artemis laughed. She licked her thumb and used it to wipe her lipstick from his lips.

“Shame. Maybe later,” she said, and raised her eyebrows.

“Definitely later.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Who’s Apparating?”

“You can,” replied Charlie. “It’s your fault that we’re running late, after all.”

Artemis sighed, but she held out her arm anyway. Charlie linked his own with it, intertwining his fingers with hers. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, before taking one final look down the front of her dress. He felt Artemis nudge him with her elbow.

“Eyes up, Weasley.”

Charlie snapped his head up, and the two of them disappeared with a loud crack.

Artemis took a seat on the left side of the church, in the second pew from the front of the chapel. While Charlie greeted various distant relatives and family friends with two of his younger brothers, she took a look around the room, making note of who she did and didn’t recognise.

Milling around the chapel were a few vaguely familiar faces she recognised from other events, and some old acquaintances and members of the staff from her school, several Quidditch players, and her old friend Kingsley, who waved to her from across the chapel. At the altar, the youngest Weasley brother, Ron, was engaged in a whispered conversation with his best friend Harry, who was looking incredibly nervous.

One of the most familiar faces of all approached Artemis and she stood up to greet the newcomer. He was tall and slim, with long hair the same shade of red as Charlie’s pulled back into a ponytail. He had a heavily scarred face, a flower pinned to his lapel, and a baby strapped to his chest.

“Aren’t you meant to be on usher duty, not dad duty?” Artemis asked Bill Weasley, who hugged her with the arm furthest away from the baby.

“Well, I did have to do two people’s worth of work for the first fifteen minutes,” replied Bill, with a pointed look.

“Sorry. We lost track of time.”

Bill almost shuddered at Artemis’ words.

“Spare me the details,” he muttered. “Anyway, Fleur’s gone to make sure Victoire’s ready to be a flower girl, so I’m in charge of Dominique.” Bill paused, both frowning and smirking simultaneously. “Although, it looks like I’m not the only one to have brought my two girls out for the day.”

“What? Oh.”

Artemis covered her chest with her hand and scowled at Bill. In response, he began to laugh wickedly.

“Maybe try and keep your distance from our Aunt Muriel,” he sniggered.

“I always do.”

“I know, but she still isn’t over what you wore to my wedding. The shock of this might finally kill her.”

Artemis rolled her eyes. “Wow, you look good too, Bill.”

“I didn’t say you don’t look good. You look great, it’s just…” Bill determinedly looked away from her and held his hand up to the side of his face. “Holy crap, Artemis.”

“I don’t think you’re meant to say that in a church.”

“I don’t think you’re meant to get your tits out in one either, but here we are.”

“I don’t see why not. Mary Magdalene got hers out all the time,” Artemis retorted.

Bill blinked at her. “She was a prostitute.”

“I thought she was a virgin.”

“I’m sure she was at some point, but you’re thinking of the Virgin Mary.”

“Are they not the same person?”

“Definitely not,” Bill sniggered.

“Don’t laugh at me. I’m Jewish.”

“No, your family is Jewish. Your estranged family. You, however, ate a bacon sandwich at my house last weekend.”

“Are you not allowed to eat bacon if you’re Jewish?” Artemis frowned. Bill stared at her in disbelief.

Almost everyone was in their seats now, and the three red-headed ushers were returning to the front of the church. Bill moved out of the pew to allow Charlie to sit down between him and Artemis. Charlie was accompanied by his mother, and both of them paused to stroke the tiny fingers of the sleeping baby in Bill’s arms.

“Artemis, dear. Lovely to see you.” Mrs Weasley pulled herself away from her new grandchild to place her hands on Artemis’ shoulders and pull her into a hug.

“You look lovely, Molly,” Artemis told her as she returned the hug.

“Not as lovely as you, dear,” replied Mrs Weasley. She held Artemis at arms length and looked her up and down. Like both her sons, she paused a little at the level of Artemis’ chest. Quickly returning her gaze to Artemis’ face, she raised her eyebrows and drew her lips into a tight smile. “Well, I’d better sit down, it’s going to start any minute now.”

Mrs Weasley turned away from Artemis and sat in the very front pew, in front of Bill, and Artemis sat down beside Charlie.

“Did your mum just check me out?” Artemis hissed, and Charlie shrugged by way of response.

A stunningly pretty woman with silver-blonde hair brisked down the aisle towards them, and they shuffled sideways to make room for her to sit next to Bill.

“Hello, Fleur. How’s Victoire?”

“She is very excited,” Fleur leaned across her husband to kiss Charlie and Artemis on the cheeks. “I just ‘ope zat she doesn’t get overwhelmed.”

The sound of organ music filled the air, and the congregation rose to their feet. Fleur leaned across the two eldest Weasley brothers once more.

“Artemis,” she whispered, reaching across to touch Artemis’ wrist, “where did you get zat bra? Your breasts look fantastic.”

“Yeah, everyone’s a fan today,” muttered Artemis, hearing Bill sigh and Charlie let out a noise halfway between a snort and a cough.

At the back of the church, the doors opened to reveal a tall, balding man with glasses, holding the arm of a beautiful young woman with a broad and slightly nervous-looking smile. She was wearing a white dress with long lace sleeves and a cascading skirt, and a crown of flowers was balanced on the top of her head, from which thick red curls cascaded down to the middle of her back.

The two of them started to walk through the middle of the chapel, and in the corner of Artemis’ eye she saw Charlie’s Adam’s apple move up and down. She smiled sympathetically, and placed a hand on his forearm, rubbing small circles with her thumb. Today was going to be hard for both of them, what with all the memories of the people they had lost in the war five years previously. However, while Artemis had lost friends, Charlie had lost a brother as well. Fred Weasley’s absence was going to be more profoundly felt than ever on the day his sister got married. Charlie might have been putting on a brave face and trying to stay strong, but Artemis knew that really, she was going to have to be the strong one today.

Ginny Weasley and her father continued to walk down the aisle, followed by two bridesmaids, one with bushy brown hair and the other with large pale blue eyes. Behind them walked a small boy with hair that changed colour from purple to blue halfway down the length of the church, and Artemis’ goddaughter Victoire, scattering confetti as she toddled at his side.

At the front of the church, Fleur picked up Victoire and the two older bridesmaids joined a now tearful Mrs Weasley in the front pew. Mr Weasley shook hands with the groom, Harry, and kissed his beaming daughter on the cheek.

A Muggle in robes that made him look more like a wizard than most of the guests greeted the bride, before addressing the room.

“We are gathered here today…”

After leaving the church and having some photos on the front steps, the wedding guests had Apparated away from Godric’s Hollow back to the Burrow, the Weasleys’ family home. In the back garden, a large marquee had been erected, inside which round tables had been decked with white cloths and cutlery sets, and tiny lights were hanging from the canvas walls of the tent.

Once everyone was seated at their allocated tables, plates of food appeared in front of them. Charlie sat very straight in his seat as he ate his meal, all the while making small-talk with the guest who had been seated beside him: Kingsley Shacklebolt, a family friend and now Minister for Magic. The conversation was cordial, but not entirely comfortable, at least for Charlie. As always, he couldn’t tell what Kingsley really thought of him.

On his left hand side, he could hear Artemis having an even more strained discussion with Percy’s girlfriend Audrey. He wasn’t really listening to what was being said, but he could hear the boredom in Artemis’ voice as she made her short responses. He flicked his eyes towards her and briefly made eye contact, before turning back to Kingsley on his right.

“She looks like she’s enjoying herself,” Kingsley muttered with a wry smile, and Charlie nodded, not sure if he should laugh or not. There was a short pause, and Kingsley’s dark eyes scanned the marquee around them. “Did you two help set this all up?”

“Artemis did. I would have done, but what with work, I only got back last night,” Charlie told him.

“Are you both staying at your parents’ this weekend?”

“No, we’ll Apparate back to Artie’s house. The benefit of her still having a base back here.”

“How do you like Camden?”

“It’s… well, it’s got character,” Charlie said diplomatically. Kingsley nodded, almost knowingly, and Charlie felt the need to explain himself. “I’m more of a countryside person, really.”

Artemis, either beyond tired of her conversation with Audrey or just wanting to get his attention, placed her hand on Charlie’s knee.

“You alright?” he asked her, frowning.

“I’m fine,” said Artemis. “Just remembered something you said before we left this morning, that’s all.”

There was no trace of insincerity on her face, and her nose didn’t twitch. She was telling the truth. Charlie nodded, not sure what she was talking about.

“Okay. That’s good. What was it that I said?” His question went unanswered, as Artemis flashed him a small but bright smile before turning back to Audrey once more. She kept her hand on his leg, however. Charlie shook his head and turned back to Kingsley. “I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while, Mr Shacklebolt, how much of a difference your international Floo Network has made. It’s been great, thank you.”

“Please, Charlie, you really need to start calling me Kingsley.”

Kingsley said this almost every time he and Charlie spoke, which wasn’t often, yet Charlie had yet to bring himself to call the Minister for Magic by his first name. But it wasn’t Kingsley’s political status that made Charlie so uncharacteristically nervous around him; Kingsley Shacklebolt was probably the closest thing Artemis had to a father.

Of course, his sister knew all this, just as she knew that Artemis found Percy’s girlfriend unbearingly dull. Charlie had a sneaking suspicion that Ginny had seated them like this deliberately, possibly as punishment for them being late. He wouldn’t have put it past his little sister. Still, it could have been worse. They could have been put on a table with Aunt Muriel.

The thought improved Charlie’s mood slightly, and as Kingsley started to ask him about his work, he answered his questions with less forced politeness. Charlie was pretty happy talking about dragonology, generally speaking.

His newfound comfort in the conversation rapidly diminished, however, as he found himself struggling to concentrate on what he was saying. It wasn’t his fault. It was Artemis’ fault. More specifically, the fault of Artemis’ right hand, which was currently wandering up and down and around his left thigh.

Oh, he realised, that was the thing he’d said before they left the house. But why had she chosen now of all times to… Was Percy’s girlfriend really that boring? Or was she really trying to… For Godric’s sake, he was trying to talk to Kingsley about… What was he trying to talk about?

As Artemis’ hand cupped his crotch, Charlie cleared his throat and used his elbow to push her arm away from him. Artemis stopped her conversation with Audrey and her smirk slipped from her face as she turned to look at him. Charlie shot her a very brief warning glance, and she pursed her lips, eyebrows furrowed. Charlie ignored her sulking, and continued to talk to Kingsley, once more able to concentrate on what he was saying.

At least, he was able to concentrate at first. It didn’t take long until Artemis had started to distract him in a different way. She was no longer touching him, but rummaging in her bag under the table. He tried his hardest to ignore her, but eventually he felt something suspiciously wand-like brush against the outside of his left thigh. That was alarming. Why on earth was Artemis casting spells at the dinner table?

“Will you behave yourself?” he whispered to her, hardly even joking, as she dropped her wand back into her bag and snapped it shut.

“No, that would be less fun,” replied Artemis, her smile more mischievous than ever. She reached out with her hand to take hold of his and bring it down onto her lap, where she pressed something that felt like a piece of soft fabric into his palm. With that, she rose to her feet.

“Excuse me,” she said, her hip brushing Charlie’s arm as she pushed her chair back. “Just off to powder my nose.”

Said nose twitched a little, and there was a look of triumph in Artemis’ eyes as she turned away to walk out of the tent. Below the table, Charlie ran the fabric through his fingers, and felt his face flush as he realised exactly what she had just handed to him. He pocketed the item, and considered his next move.

She’d be expecting him to follow her, of course, and he did want to do so. Merlin, he really wanted to do so. The problem was when, and how to not draw attention to himself. He couldn’t do it immediately, that would be too obvious, and besides, he really couldn’t stand up right now.

Luckily, or maybe unluckily, a distraction came in the form of his three other brothers arriving at the table, hovering behind Audrey and Artemis’ empty chair. Charlie quickly dropped a napkin onto his lap, just in case.

“I’ve had an idea,” George said, placing his hands on Audrey’s shoulders. Percy’s girlfriend immediately stiffened and sat up even straighter. “We’ve all got girls with us tonight. How about a little betting game?”

“What are we betting on?” Percy asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Which one catches the bouquet at the end of the night.”

Ron frowned. “How much?”

“Two Galleons each, winner takes all,” George suggested. He took his hands back and clapped them together. “Who’s in?”

There was a general murmur of assent, and each of them placed a gold coin into a velvet drawstring bag that George had conjured from thin air.

“What are you all plotting?”

A woman’s voice came from behind them, interrupting them. All five Weasley brothers whipped around to face their mother, trying to look as innocent as possible.

“We’re not plotting anything, Mum. We’re just chatting,” Bill said, kissing Molly Weasley on the cheek. Behind him, George hastily stuffed the bag of Galleons in the pocket of waistcoat. “Out of interest, who do you think will catch Ginny’s bouquet?”

Molly softened slightly as she considered Bill’s question.

“I’m not sure. There’s a lot of Quidditch players here today, and Fleur was a Triwizard champion. It really could be any of them.”

“No,” Kingsley interjected with a deep chuckle, “Tiny will get it, for sure. If we were placing bets, that’s where I’d be putting my money.”

Charlie looked across at the Minister for Magic, who winked at him conspiratorially before returning to his conversation with Andromeda.

“Where is Artemis?” his mother asked him, as the others returned to their own tables.

“She went to the loo,” Charlie answered, seeing his escape route. “She’s been gone a little while, actually. I should probably check that she’s okay.”

“Well, if she’s gone to the ladies’, I can—”

“No, Mum. You don’t have to do that.”

“But—”

“Honestly, it’s better if I go. She wasn’t feeling well earlier,” Charlie lied smoothly, rising from his seat. His mother frowned.

“Wasn’t she?”

“No, she was pretty sick before we left this morning. I should go. How long until the speeches? I know she won’t want to miss them.”

“Quarter of an hour or so, I expect.” Molly still looked concerned. “Charlie, is everything okay?”

“Of course it is, Mum. Won’t be long.”

Before his mother could protest further, Charlie briskly walked out of the marquee and into the garden, in search of Artemis, who was nowhere to be seen. He walked across the grass, towards the house, and as he did, he noticed a tortoiseshell cat lying on the patio, basking in the September afternoon sun. He smiled and shook his head at her.

“Enjoying the weather, are we?”

Hearing Charlie’s voice, the cat rose to her feet. A second later, Artemis stood in its place, her weight on one leg, the other crossed in front of her, her head tilted to one side.

“You took your time,” she said, with a coy smile. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to follow me.”

“Of course I was. I couldn’t exactly just get up and go.”

“I think you probably could.” Artemis held her hand out to him. “Shall we find out?”

Charlie lowered his head and laughed, before putting his hand into hers. Someday, he thought, she was going to be his downfall. Perhaps she already was.

[waywardsalt]

so. i've had an idea for a warrior cats fanfiction story, and have spent the last few years hammering out characters, the clans, how they work, the story... a whole lot of stuff. i've tried writing it before, and right now i don't have a current draft of early chapters, but I did recently write out a scene from much later in the story, and i'm pretty happy with it, soooo... here! a warrior cats fic scene i wrote in like an hour a week ago

By the time she led ShadeClan to the Gathering site, Emberstar felt her anxieties lessen. Her foreleg ached from the effort of the journey, but she kept her head high. Beside her, Acornfall glanced back at their clan, then nodded over to Emberstar. He led the clan down into the Gathering hollow, and Emberstar padded over to the slope up to the leader’s perch. PineClan and CliffClan cats were already quietly milling about in the hollow, and up on the overhang she could see Lakestar and Wolfstar waiting. There was no MoorClan scent among the gathered cats.

              Emberstar made her way up the slope she’d seen Gorsestar and Froststar before her traverse. It was a thin path, slowly becoming steeper and steeper as she slunk closer to the overhang, finally reaching the steep, gravelly slope that led up to the leaders’ perch. Down at the base of the cliff, she could see Acornfall joining the other deputies with a polite nod of his head, and Troutfoot was carefully weaving her way through the crowd to meet with the other healers. Emberstar twitched her whiskers when Lakestar and Wolfstar noticed her. She crouched and tensed her back legs and leapt up the slope.

              It wasn’t enough to reach the top, but she reached out with her forepaw and sunk her claws into the loose gravel and dug her back paws into the ground to keep from slithering back down. She slowly inched forward, moving a kittenstep at a time, but she kept her eyes fixed on the other leaders, more determined than ashamed of herself. Emberstar forced herself up the slope, but her heart skipped a beat when the gravel under her paw proved too loose to get a good enough grip- so close to the top, too. What a shame she had no other forepaw to lash out and find a grip with.

              Emberstar felt herself begin to slide back down the slope, but a pair of jaws grasped her by the scruff and hoisted her up onto the overhang. She clawed at the grass and stumbled a step when let go and turned to meet Wolfstar’s amused gaze. “Careful there, three-paw,” the CliffClan leader gruffly purred. “It’s bad luck to fall at your first Gathering as leader.” She brushed past Emberstar to sit back down next to Lakestar.

              With a huff, Emberstar followed her with a shake of her pelt. “I appreciate your help, but I would have been fine on my own. I suppose I owe you now?”

              Wolfstar’s whiskers twitched. “Are you saying ShadeClan is now in CliffClan’s debt?”

              The young leaders stared at each other, then broke out into amused purrs. Lakestar rolled her eyes and wrapped her tail around her paws. “So, you are ShadeClan’s leader now, Emberstar? Or is it still Emberblaze?”

              “It is Emberstar now. I visited the Moon Cavern for my lives only a few sunrises ago.”

              “May StarClan light your path as leader, then.” Lakestar stiffly dipped her head. Despite the brusque words, there was genuine respect in her pale eyes.

              Wolfstar’s own eyes were still bright with humor. “You’ll be great, I know it. What happened to Froststar, then?”

              Emberstar narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze to the gathered cats. “I’ll explain that once the Gathering begins. MoorClan is late tonight.” She surveyed the crowd of cats, peering straight down at the huddled healers. Sitting with her back to her PineClan clanmates, Flarelight was sitting close to Troutfrost. After a moment, she gazed up at the overhang, and her eyes met Emberstar’s. Her eyes grew wide and she stared at her littermate for a long moment until another healer got her attention. Then, as if she’d seen nothing, Flarelight flicked her tail and joined the conversation. Her twitching tail-tip was the only hint that she was distracted. Emberstar blinked. She’d become leader so recently that not even the other healers knew, much less the other clans’ warriors. In the crowd of CliffClan cats, she spotted Sunscorch, sitting with his fur brushing Moonwhisper’s, his eyes wide and his body stiff while he stared at his sister up on the overhang.

              Poor Sunscorch, so softhearted under those honed claws and strong limbs- he was likely to take the news of Froststar’s death the hardest. Emberstar held his gaze, blinked slowly, and turned her head to the sky. The moon was nearly overhead, and still MoorClan was absent.

              “You ought to start the Gathering now,” Wolfstar growled to Lakestar. “It’s newleaf, after all, and if MoorClan’s late then they’re late.”

              “We should wait,” Emberstar sharply mewed. “This is my first Gathering as leader, so it would be disrespectful to me as well as MoorClan if we begin without them. It may anger StarClan as well,” she finished in a murmur, flicking her tail-tip up at the sky. Wolfstar just bushed out her stormy gray fur and huffed.

              Lakestar gazed up at the sky. Emberstar looked over at her. For so long, as an apprentice, as a warrior, as the deputy, she’d never dared to be so close to the cold PineClan leader. But now, she was barely a tail-length from the sleek silver tabby, and they sat as equals in standing. Lakestar was likely at less than nine lives and Emberstar was without a right foreleg, but they were equals nonetheless.

              She was knocked from her thoughts by Wolfstar headbutting her. The larger cat nearly shoved her off-balance. “Glad to see that we’re both finally up here. I was waiting to see when you’d catch up, three-paw.”

              Emberstar licked Wolfstar’s ear. “You know I must take things slower than you.”

              “Who’d you pick as deputy?” Wolfstar leaned over the edge to inspect the group of deputies. “Hm- Acornfall?”

              “He’s a good warrior. Older than me by four seasons, so I trust his advice and his skill.”

              “I thought you would have picked Lavenderflash. Or maybe Darknose, you two always seemed close.”

              Emberstar gazed down at Lavenderflash, spotting the pure-black molly quickly- she was almost certain there was obvious fondness in her eyes as she looked at her former apprentice. “Lavenderflash is… young and still training her first apprentice. She is a good, loyal warrior, but not fit to be deputy or eventual leader in my mind. And Darknose…” The tom was sitting at the edge of the crowd, alone. “He is a possibility, but he still mourns his brother even all these moons later, so I don’t know if he would be the best choice.”

              Wolfstar made a sniff of approval, then her gaze snapped to the far hill. A yowl rang out, and the three leaders pricked their ears and the cats in the hollow turned to see MoorClan finally arrive, led by Applestar. Emberstar sat stiffly until she spotted Glowflame in the crowd, side-by-side with Orangeclaw. He joined the cats in the hollow with his clan while Applestar broke off to climb up to the overhang, and he seemed to murmur something to Orangeclaw before she angled her ears up at Emberstar. Glowflame looked up and spotted her, and his jaw dropped open. Emberstar couldn’t help but let out a purr of affection for her brother as he gaped in amazement at her.

              Applestar greeted the other leaders when he finally joined them, nodding briefly at Emberstar, and hurriedly sat down next to Lakestar, his mottled fur standing up along his spine. The leaders gave the cats in the hollow a few moments to settle down. In that time, Emberstar saw her littermates make their ways through the crowd towards each other. By the time Lakestar threw back her head and yowled to signify the beginning of the Gathering, Flarelight, Sunscorch, and Glowflame sat huddled together with their eyes trained on their sister. Emberstar met their gazes for just a heartbeat and felt the final icicles of her anxiety melt away.

She then turned her head to watch Lakestar as she began to announce her clan’s news for the moon, and reminded herself of what she had to announce when it was her turn. She was ShadeClan’s leader, now. StarClan had approved of her. Emberstar lifted her chin and, with a deep breath, finally settled into her place at the head of her clan.

[jaxaliel]

robin hobb should be writing yuri

[loraluna]

I'd like to sass her back but it would be a lie.