CH. 52: OUT OF THE CAULDRON

The thing about fibbing, Dorcas Walker knew, was that it had to be done with a delicate touch. As a rule, Mary Macdonald didn’t much believe in regrets. James Potter liked to think he was capable of quiet, noble suffering. It was an inescapable truth that Germaine King was of a nervous disposition. Sirius Black had resigned himself to the moral low ground.

Read Crossed in Love Chapter 2 HERE!

I am terribly sorry for the delay. Life got in the way! I do hope, however, that you will enjoy this even though I feel very unsure about it all. This might be, however, due to my mood today.

Miss Evans is a young woman of one and twenty who completely and utterly knows her mind. She refuses to be ruled by men and is set on the idea of never submitting to a husband’s sceptre. Fleeing her sister’s home to teach at Gryffindor House, a school for genteel young girls, she expects nothing and no one to change her mind for she will only be persuaded to marry when she finds the deepest of love.

His Grace James Potter - Lord of Peverell, son to a Duke and Duchess, owner of a large fortune and soon-to-be a member of the House of Lords - is a man of one and twenty and – by any and all accounts, just ask Mrs Bagshot – far too young to concern himself with thoughts of matrimony. But he – as his friends will attest and to his mother’s delight – finds himself stupidly in love after a mere moment’s acquaintance with Miss Evans.

The joy of being crossed in love so unexpectedly is hard to come by and even harder to act on.

38. What is your most self-indulgent posted story?

Five Stages of Starflower, easily! I was stuck at some point and then I thought: what do I want to happen? BAM! Let's make James and Lily meet in the kitchens! Add James being jealous of Sirius and Lily! NEAR KISS! Drunk declaration!

Favorite Canon Multichapter: The Last Enemy: Dark Marks by @chdarling

The entrance to Hell is hidden at the base of a large willow tree, a human-sized hollow tangled in its roots, ready to swallow you whole...

It’s 1976 and the events of the past term at Hogwarts have left their mark on all involved. But it’s a new school year now, with new teachers, new rules, and new regrets. Yet as the war clamoring outside the castle walls grows ever louder, the students inside will learn that some marks are impossible to wash away.

Favorite Characterization of James: The Last Enemy: Dark Marks by @chdarling

The entrance to Hell is hidden at the base of a large willow tree, a human-sized hollow tangled in its roots, ready to swallow you whole...

It’s 1976 and the events of the past term at Hogwarts have left their mark on all involved. But it’s a new school year now, with new teachers, new rules, and new regrets. Yet as the war clamoring outside the castle walls grows ever louder, the students inside will learn that some marks are impossible to wash away.

Favorite Characterization of Lily: The Last Enemy: Dark Marks by @chdarling

The entrance to Hell is hidden at the base of a large willow tree, a human-sized hollow tangled in its roots, ready to swallow you whole...

It’s 1976 and the events of the past term at Hogwarts have left their mark on all involved. But it’s a new school year now, with new teachers, new rules, and new regrets. Yet as the war clamoring outside the castle walls grows ever louder, the students inside will learn that some marks are impossible to wash away.

Vulnerable.

-

“So,” said Sirius. “You hexed Bertha Jorkins.”

“Yeah.”

“The biggest tattletale in school.”

“Also yeah.”

“And you’re surprised you got a detention, why?”

James sighed and stabbed moodily at his potatoes. They were at dinner, and more than once his gaze had swept the Great Hall in search of Lily Evans…but she had not yet appeared. “I’m not surprised I got a detention, I’m just surprised Bertha took it all the way to Dumbledore. The Headmaster? Really? I mean — okay, I shouldn’t have hexed her, but all I did was momentarily shut her up.”  

“It was practically a public service,” agreed Peter with a sympathetic grimace.  

“It’s Bertha,” said Sirius. “If she had the option to go directly to the Headmaster to complain every time someone sneezed, she would. Though frankly, I’m more surprised Dumbledore was around to hear it. Your bad luck, I suppose.”

“Yeah. My bad luck.”

Bad luck, James couldn’t help but feel, was all he had these days, and it was bad luck indeed that though the Headmaster had been conspicuously absent from the castle for weeks on end, he just so happened to be passing through the entrance hall at precisely the moment Bertha’s tongue unstuck from the roof of her mouth. The wretched girl had barely waited the length of a swallow of spit to storm off and make her weepy complaint.

“He put a hex on me, Professor Dumbledore,” she’d whinged so loudly that anyone in the vicinity could easily overhear, “and I was only teasing him, sir, I only said I’d seen him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses last Thursday, and then he put a hex on me! Nearly choked me, he did!”

thank u for the kind words!! and tysm for rereading 💖

really digging deep for fresh content HAHA but here u go, from a distant future chap:

I have just read your fic "Retribution" and oh my gosh AMAZING. I love the mutant AU, it's written so damn well I'm hooked. Definitely giving me original X-MEN nostalgia. Would it be possible for a snippet? 💕

Hello, hello! ❤❤

Thank you so much for your lovely, kind words. This means more to me than you can imagine. I don't have a lot written for the next chapter, unfortunately, but for you, I have a spoilery small snippet:

we’ve all had to turn off anon because of separate bouts of ad hominem vitriol

we’ve been told explicitly and repeatedly that everyone in Jily fandom hates us, are talking about how they wish we would shut up behind our backs, and that people no longer want us in the space/we’re not welcome

we have had our identities denied, ridiculed, and weaponized against us in order to manipulate us into thinking we’re making things up and there’s no issue

we’ve been told “well you should/could have been nicer about XYZ and maybe people would have listened to you” when discussing..our own feelings of discomfort

we’ve had to reiterate and re-explain these issues countless times to people who don’t want to listen

we’ve seen people staying silent when asked to interject and step up; paradoxically, people center themselves when asked to listen to marginalized voices. the isolation of that really can’t be overstated.

I can’t speak for anyone but myself here but I’m just tired. and I know people don’t want to hear about this anymore—I don’t want to keep talking about it. trust me, I would love to go back to posting content for everyone and interacting with stories and using this space as an escape from real life. but I can’t do that—WE can’t do that—until the appropriate boundaries are in place.

oh my god you're right. I almost forgot!!!!

ok as penitence here is a tiny little TLE2 snippet for the occasion

Formula One’s most impressive young talent meets Britain's favourite reality tv dancer in hotel bar under a flurry of endorphins and one too many glasses scotch. Lily’s weary of his international infamy and his jet-setting lifestyle. James just wants her to meet his parents. It was supposed to be a one night stand, but who were they kidding.

Qualifying, the prequel and secret dating escapades to Trackside is coming soon 🤍