lilac bloom

They first met on the set of Little Women in 1959 when Evelyn was 21 and Celia was 19/20.

They were together for about 3 years until they had their 1st breakup in 1962. Evelyn was 24 and Celia was 23.

They spent 5 years apart until in 1967, they reunited inside a bathroom at the Academy Awards. Evelyn was 29 and Celia was 28.

They were together for 9 years until they had their 2nd breakup in 1976. Evelyn was 38 and Celia was 37.

This time, they spend 12 years apart until in 1988, they reconnect through letters before once again reuniting and rekindling their love. Evelyn was 50 and Celia was 49.

They manage to get back the decade and 2 years they lost as they spend 12 years together until Celia’s death in 2000. Evelyn was 62 and Celia was 61.

Evelyn and Celia spent a total of 24 years together and 17 years apart, nonconsecutive.

But the two loved each other all throughout the 41 years. Not once did they stop loving the other. Although in the end they express their regret of losing all that time, what’s important is that their hearts always remained with one another.

They always managed to find their way back to each other.

And in the end, they were able to spend their last years together as wives.

She [Nina] raised a brow. "Thank you."

Djel, he was terrible at this. He stumbled on, trying to make her understand. "But I am grateful every day for that disaster. I needed a cataclysm to shake me from the life I knew. You were an earthquake, a landslide."

"I," she said, planting a hand on her hip, "am a delicate flower."

"You aren't a flower, you're every blossom in the wood blooming at once. You are a tidal wave. You're a stampede. You are overwhelming."

so first and foremost, we know that myrtle is a muggle born witch that died at the age of 14, making her forever stuck as an angsty fourteen year old girl.

draco & myrtle spend time together/he confides in her when draco is 15 (he’s a 1980 june baby making him 15 throughout HBP).

since myrtle is forever stuck as a 14 year old, the mental age gap between them is minimal. only being separated by a 1-year difference.

what I think about is, that myrtle being a muggle born and a person draco confides in means that she can be seen as the first indication of draco’s changing heart and more concealed nature.

since we only hear/see about draco & myrtle’s unlikely friendship from harry’s POV it’s safe to assume that we don’t have all the information regarding the true nature of their relationship.

meaning, we don’t know if draco hears of her blood status. but, we can infer that draco does not have the stomach for violence or murder (although he is technically capable of the former).

I think that since draco is the one who knows that there was a murder of a muggle born that occurred at Hogwarts during CoS, he has the possibility of being aware that it was myrtle that was murdered. or, he has the opportunity to learn about this when speaking to her.

either way, it’s his ability to grow close to someone regardless of blood status in his time of desperation and crushing fears of failure that probably begins to disprove his own internalized prejudices.

during his time at hogwarts, he says a slur with no repercussions (from adults in charge), which further enables him to continue to parrot beliefs taught to him by his parents.

so, draco growing close to someone and realizing how this muggle born student killed for their blood status is a reflection of a larger shift. we know he doesn’t want to kill his headmaster and we know he’s cracking under the pressure as he’s finally forced to confront what blood purity truly means and if it’s a cause he’s willing to give his life for.

and it isn’t something he is willing to put his life on the line for. he’s motivated by a desire to protect his family and is under direct threat from voldemort. and his friendship with myrtle represents that, because it’s a muggle born student who gives him empathy even if myrtle can’t fully grasp the gravity of the situation draco has found himself in.

correct me if I’m wrong but i’m not totally sure if harry ever tells myrtle who her murderer was? I like to think he did and I have a few headcanons about draco and myrtle’s friendship with this fact being known to her including:

- myrtle telling draco about her death, telling him that it was voldemort and that she found this out 50 years after he death thanks to harry letting her know.

- draco being wrecked and saying that voldemort is threatening him, and finally confessing to someone that he’s been given an impossible task (not giving complete details but enough that myrtle can infer that whatever it is it’s bad and he does not want to have to do it).

- them bonding over trauma and her explaining why she’s a ghost, that since her life as cut short she was never able to move on into the afterlife and that she’s resentful of the life she never got to live

- draco reckoning with this and then going on to explain his fear of dying and how that is a motivation for his willingness to commit the crime he is expected to commit.

- her saying death is painless but that she would give anything to live again, so she understands that he’s doing something bad but that his motivation isn’t to be evil but to live

- myrtle missing muggle music from her era and confessing this to draco who one day comes after another failed attempt to fix the vanishing cabinet from the room of hidden things with a few records and a muggle record player in hand that he found in there.

- myrtle being suuuper excited about it, him playing muggle music from the 40s and her singing along still remembering every word

- him starting to realize how muggles have their own culture and identities while enjoying genres like jazz & blues, and then realizing for the first time how little he truly knows about muggle culture. and while unsure of what to do about that tidbit of truth at the time, he later will recall that moment being the beginning of him coming to terms with his blind hatred of a group of people he truly has no idea about. and how can he hate something or someone when he doesn’t know them? and how can he hate myrtle for her blood status when she’s just a (dead) person with her own worries and anxieties? with an entire future that was unable to be realized all because of the man he’s know a subordinate to.

So I was rereading Harry Potter, when I came across this and thought- what if instead of Cedric Diggory, Cassius Warrington had been chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament?

Imagine Dumbledore calling out the name of the Hogwarts champion and it isn’t a Gryffindor, or a Ravenclaw, or even a Hufflepuff, but it’s a Slytherin. A student from a House most people hate.

Imagine Cassius Warrington getting up, and three out of four Houses are booing at him and shouting things like “NO!” or, “We can’t have a Slytherin champion!” or demanding a retry. But he’s a Slytherin- he’s been dealing with this shit since he got sorted, so he keeps his head high and joins the other champions.

Imagine Harry trying to catch Warrington alone because he doesn’t really want to associate with Slytherins (plus Malfoy has this tendency of being around the guy ALL THE TIME since he got chosen), but at the same time he’s also fair enough not to want him to walk into the first task unprepared.

Imagine Warrington walking over to Harry a few months later, and Ron and Hermione both jump into a protective stance, wands out, but instead of attacking Harry he just tells him to stick the egg underwater. (Because Slytherins don’t forget those who helped them out).

Imagine Warrington and Harry helping each other out in the labyrinth.

Imagine Harry being devastated when Peter kills Warrington- because Voldemort doesn’t care what house they’re form, a spare is a spare.

Imagine the uproar that causes among the Slytherins, because some of their parents really are Death Eaters and they know what really happened.

Imagine Slytherins reaching out, asking for help from classmates from other houses. They’re terrified, truly terrified because the being their parents claimed would never hurt them because they’re pureblood, they realize that he does not care.

Imagine Slytherins in the 5th book sneaking off to join Dumbledore’s Army, to learn more about who Voldemort is without their parents acting as a filter. 

Imagine the shock when they’re told what he’s really done.

Imagine that a few talented Slytherins went with Harry and the others into the Ministry of Magic. The others are a bit wary but they prove themselves as friends.

Imagine them being confronted by Lucius Malfoy in the the Hall of Prophecy, and when the Death Eaters descend, they know that any one of them could be their parents.

Imagine the shocked gasp of a Death Eater as they realize their own child, a pureblood, is standing defiantly with Harry Potter. They choke back a cry. They can’t let their child know that they were about to duel to the death.

Imagine a DA Slytherin facing off against their own Death Eater parent. That they make the decision to let their child defeat them, because in that moment, they realize that they love their child more than they fear Voldemort. They go down, mask unveiled, and the Slytherin kid has to be dragged from the fight before he gets killed.

Imagine Book 6 Slytherins getting more friendly and cooperative with the other houses. Two years of Voldemort terrorizing the muggle and Wizarding world, two years where their parents just up and leave some days, cringing from the pain in their arm, two years after the death of the first Slytherin pureblood, Cassius Warrington, killed by Voldemort’s right-hand man, and they’re slowly hitting the breaking point.

Imagine Slytherin kids keeping tabs on their parents, sending the information to Harry, who shares it with the Order of the Phoenix, and hoping that their parents won’t be killed.

Imagine Book 7 Slytherins low-key rebelling against the new oppressive Hogwarts staff.

Imagine the final siege on Hogwarts, where Slytherins stand proudly by their fellow houses, knowing full-well they could be fighting their own parents. Some Slytherins know their parents were in the fighting. They hope to find them first and sneak them away. Their fellow students understand. Professor McGonagall allows 7th Year Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson, to duel a death eater in her stead; her father is under that veil. She knows it.

Imagine the aftermath of the battle; every house suffered loses. Slytherin students crying over the deaths of friends they made in every house.

Imagine Harry staring over her head at everyone else until Hermione steps up–it doesn’t take long, but it takes long enough that when she does all eyes are on her as a source of motion–and says “we’re never going to forget this. They’re not going to get away with it” and the girlfriend just latches onto Hermione and everyone is in wands-out stance convinced she’s about to attack the shit out of Hermione, and then the girlfriend stares into her eyes and says “do you promise me” and Hermione just gives her this super-firm nod and says “I promise” and the girlfriend just collapses on her, sobbing. 

Imagine Dumbledore trying to give some flowery speech about inter-wizard solidarity while glossing over why, because Slytherins have always been a touchy subject, and Ron gets to his feet and says “Professor, I need to say something important” and Dumbledore is so surprised he just cedes the floor, and Ron–after that awkward moment when he realizes everyone is staring at him–says he didn’t know Warrington particularly, but he knows how Warrington and Harry played. That each was always cheering on the other. Both wanted to win, but neither was willing to undercut the other by underhanded means. He finishes up saying “I think–I think it’s important everyone should know he died being what a champion should be. Because he could have abandoned Harry and instead he stood up with him to play the game the honest way, and he died for it. And–and Slytherin House should be proud, and we should all be proud, because Warrington was a good bloke.” He sits back down all flustered because he didn’t actually stand up meaning to make a speech. And then Pansy Parkinson stands up before Dumbledore can take back control of the room and says “I want to tell Weasley thank you.” And all of Slytherin House raises a glass–to Warrington, to Weasley, to Potter–and the other houses follow suit. Many years later, Wizarding scholars will say that was the moment Voldemort truly lost.

Imagine later that summer. Harry gets several owls on his birthday, all unsigned. The birds are plump and pretentious and well-cared-for. He will never know which Slytherins sent him their treasures: parchments with hexes developed by the Death Eaters; a strange locket that will only open if he whispers a special spell but that always shows him the picture he most needs to see; a page torn from a potions book that, brewed properly, will allow him extra time to summon a Patronus by giving him a few crucial seconds not just of happiness but of bliss. It doesn’t matter. Harry knows these gifts not as birthday gifts but for what they really are, and he treasures the locket and copies out the potion to send to Hermione and Mrs. Weasley, and when first summoned by the Order of the Phoenix he marches straight up to Dumbledore with the hexes and says “I can’t tell you where I got these, Professor. But they’re in use by the Death Eaters and I think you should have them.” Months later, Sirius will recognize the spell Bellatrix shoots at him, and will dive out of the way just in the nick of time.

The final battle. Everyone is there. Sirius somehow ends up herding a group of Slytherins. They all stare at him and he at them, across a centuries-old divide Voldemort has only succeeded in deepening. Then he remembers the hexes. Harry’s locket, now tucked under Sirius’ shirt because Harry’s friends are with him in this battle but most of Sirius’ are dead. The moment that happiness potion saved Remus’ life, his very soul. Snape’s final words to Harry, finally seen not as mockery but real true advice. What Harry said Voldemort said–his first words in his new form. They are kids, and they are sharing the same kind of hurt he once wouldn’t admit to, watching his mother burn his name off the family tree. “When we go in there, it’s going to be hell,” he tells the Slytherins. “Some of you are probably going to die. I might go down too, and if I do I want your best curser in the front. But I want you all to remember one thing. There are no spares.”  Later retellings of the battle never fail to mention the moment a group of angry, screaming teens burst into the Great Hall, wearing their green and silver as the badge of honor it should be, shouting NO SPARES, NO SPARES at the tops of their voices in between hexes and curses and the occasional physical punch. When Hermione is present, she always interrupts the storyteller to be sure everyone knows about the moment Blaise Zabini shoved her to the floor, dropped on top of her, fired off three curses in rapid succession and said “stay alive, Granger, we need you” before jumping back to his feet and vanishing into the melee–how, for all anyone knows, those may have been his last words, and she will not let his sacrifice go unnoted. 

The aftermath. Malfoy holds out a hand to Sirius, badly injured on the floor. Sirius asks how Malfoy is willing to trust him. Malfoy nods at his chest. “You’ve got my godfather’s locket,” he says, and when Sirius and Harry finally speak after the battle Harry gives his full agreement to the very first thing out of  Sirius’ mouth. They give the locket to Malfoy. Sirius grits his teeth and closes his eyes and opens them and says “He probably saved my life, giving Harry that.” He doesn’t say thank you. Malfoy hears it anyway.

The school reopens under a single banner: the four Houses united. The House rivalry is reduced to just that–a competition in fun–with those deep divides slowly healing to scars, and eventually away to nothing at all.

Since you all seemed to like my HP characters as John Mulaney quotes, here are the ships! Remember--these are all jokes! SALS!! Enjoy.

Drarry: "I'm so horny and angry all the time."

Jily: "My wife is a bitch and I like her so much."

Deamus: "I always thought quicksand was gonna be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be."

Hinny: "I love saying 'my wife.' It sounds so adult. 'That’s my wife.' It’s great, you sound like a person."

Wolfstar: "Brush your teeth. Now, boom! Orange juice, that's life."

Nuna: "Hey, you could pour soup in my lap and I'd probably apologize to you."

Romione: "'You are no longer the alpha of the house.' And in the back of my head, I was like, 'I was never the alpha of the house.' I turned to my wife, I was like, 'Let’s pretend. It’ll be fun. Yes… My title of alpha, which I once had, how can I reclaim it? Because that was a thing that existed at one time.'"

Romione (bonus): "It’s fun to be married. I’ve never been supervised before. I’m supervised. She studies what I do. Like an anthropologist. She’ll be like, 'Sometimes, he will watch a movie on TV even though he already owns that movie on DVD. Pointing this out to him confuses and upsets him.'"

Dramione: "Now, I was raised Catholic. I don’t know if you can tell that from the--everything about me. My wife is Jewish, I grew up Catholic, so we got married by a friend."

Harry after arriving at the burrow:

Draco, after Voldemort gave him his “mission”:

Post-War Ginny regarding Harry’s mental health:

Minerva when Dumbledore does anything:

Snape finding the map:

Everyone to Professor Binns:

Harry:

Hermione:

Ginny when Tom mocked her crush:

Harry after reading about Sirius Black’s escape:

Draco Malfoy: I have decided that I am in fact a snack. Its just that no one is hungry.

Absent: preoccupied 

Agonized: as if in pain or tormented

Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desire

Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interest

Beatific: blissful

Black: angry or sad, or hostile

Bleak: hopeless

Blinking: surprise, or lack of concern

Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent

Brooding: anxious and gloomy

Bug eyed: frightened or surprised

Chagrined: humiliated or disappointed

Cheeky: cocky, insolent

Cheerless: sad

Choleric: hot-tempered, irate

Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelings

Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor

Despondent: depressed or discouraged

Doleful: sad or afflicted

Dour: stern or obstinate

Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing

Ecstatic: delighted or entranced

Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible

Fixed: concentrated or immobile

Gazing: staring intently

Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasive

Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusion

Grim: fatalistic or pessimistic

Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness

Haunted: frightened, worried, or guilty

Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism

Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant

Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuit

Jeering: insulting or mocking

Languid: lazy or weak

Leering: sexually suggestive

Mild: easygoing

Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playful

Pained: affected with discomfort or pain

Peering: with curiosity or suspicion

Peeved: annoyed

Pleading: seeking apology or assistance

Quizzical: questioning or confused

Radiant: bright, happy

Sanguine: bloodthirsty, confident

Sardonic: mocking

Sour: unpleasant

Sullen: resentful

Vacant: blank or stupid looking

Wan: pale, sickly

Wary: cautious or cunning

Wide eyed: frightened or surprised

Withering: devastating

Wrathful: indignant or vengeful