#fidelixcorde

continuation from here with @fidelixcorde

"I'll be crossing my fingers on that," Draco murmured. Drowsiness was seeping over him, and he knew that was credit to having one ounce of peace and happiness here--her. "Update me as you can," Draco requested softly. "....and let's just stay here for now? Fall asleep together."

It was the best rest he got all Christmas.

(~)

He mentioned the idea of returning early at breakfast, frankly impressing himself with how casually he managed it; it really did sound like he was thinking about seeing his Prefect badge one day be a Head Boy one, and his imminent O.W.L.s, with no thought of fleeing from the chilly silence here.

Lucius merely tensely said they'd consider it, because he was no longer master of his house, and it was not up to him if anyone left. Narcissa smiled, strained, and said that she was so proud of him for taking his studies so seriously, and they'd see. He wondered if she'd have to shove Lucius to get the balls to ask Riddle.

It was a good thing the days following Christmas were typically quiet, allowing him to return to his room. Draco saw the green flame as soon as he entered, and he rushed to pluck the floating scrap of paper, reading it and then immediately tossing it back into the now-regular fire to destroy it. Thank Merlin they'd been practicing glamours. He prepared one at once on a ring, then pocketed it to go downstairs to ask if he could meet Pansy for tea.

At least that, Riddle didn't care about. And no one was about to waste effort checking with the Parkinsons that Pansy was in fact there or not. Draco donned his cloak and left for central London, putting on the ring as soon as he was sure he wasn't followed. He was daker-skinned, black-haired now, with only his grey eyes unchanged.

continued from thread with @fidelixcorde

Harry couldn't remember the last time he had felt this happy, in recent years. It would have also been credit to Taylor or the Weasleys, no doubt....but this was just a perfect moment. He was surrounded by people he cared about, a large family that was expanding, and he had Taylor, Ron, and Hermione beside him. It was the perfect way to celebrate reaching wizarding legal adulthood.

Taylor's purred promise made him blush, trying not to let his imagination get away from him. Though judging by the knowing smirk on George's face, he might not be too far off.... And that proved true, as he was sneakily led away from Charlie's haircut doom and upstairs.

Now that was how to celebrate a birthday.

His hair was unapologetically ruffled and he had to switch shirts to something with a higher collar to cover a particularly gorgeous bite left on his collarbone, and Harry was grinning helplessly as they rejoined the family downstairs. Hermione took one look at him, then Taylor, then went pink and giggled, and George gave him a passing high five that confirmed his suspicion of who had been on keep everyone downstairs duty.

Their dinner guests began arriving, and Harry found himself seated at the head of the table in the garden as they feasted, and then Molly brought out truly the most breathtaking culinary creation he had ever seen. He had to leap up and hug her again, tears in his eyes as he thanked her.

"First day of the best start of my life," Harry said fondly, beaming back at Hagrid. "I mean, having Taylor growing up was grand, but finding out we were headed for Hogwarts....life got good." He examined the small bag Hagrid handed him, and its explanation made him smile, hopping up to give Hagrid the closest to a hug that he could manage. "Thank you! This is amazing." Oh, it would come in handy as they traveled, he was sure of that.

“S’nothin’,” Hagrid laughed. “An’ there’s Charlie! Always liked him—hey! Charlie!” Charlie approached, running his hand slightly ruefully over his new, brutally short haircut. He was shorter than Ron, thickset, with a number of burns and scratches up his muscly arms. “Hi, Hagrid, how’s it going?” “Bin meanin’ ter write fer ages. How’s Norbert doin’” “Norbert?” Charlie laughed. “The Norwegian Ridgeback? We call her Norberta now.” “Wha—Norbert’s a girl?”

“How can you tell?” Hermione asked with intrigue.

“They’re a lot more vicious.” Charlie grinned knowingly. "Can't say that's unusual, though, I've always thought women are scarier by far. He looked over his shoulder and dropped his voice. “Wish Dad would hurry up and get here. Mum’s getting edgy."

Harry looked over; Molly was talking to Madame Delacour, while glancing repeatedly at the gate. “I think we’d better start without Arthur,” she called to the garden at large after a moment or two. “He must have been held up at—oh!”

A streak of light that came flying across the yard and onto the table, where it resolved itself into a bright silver weasel, which stood on its hind legs and spoke with Mr. Weasley’s voice. “Minister of Magic coming with me.”

@fidelixcorde​

It was a little jarring to go from just another day of being expelled from school to...well, finding out that myths and monsters are real, seeing a teacher turn into a winged creature trying to kill you wasn’t a hallucination, and your one friend from that school year was actually a satyr whose literal job was keeping you alive.

Which, in this case, was why Percy was now in his stepfather’s stupid Camaro with his mother driving faster than he had ever seen her go in his life, almost in tears as she told him that she didn’t have a choice anymore, and he was going to the camp his father had wanted him at all along.

Funny, finding out his father had opinions about life, considering that he hadn’t ever been in it. But Percy loved his mom too much to dwell on that as they hurtled through the night. At least, until the car exploded.

He was a little foggy on the details. The crash left him disoriented and confused, trying to make sure his mom and Grover both made it out of the car...and not feeling very capable of handling it when an actual Minotaur attacked them. Percy tried to get all three of them across the property line that his mother pointed out, but the damned monster was charging them down, impossible to escape--

In the span of five minutes it all changed again. There was a lightning-like flash of golden light, and his mother vanished literally before his eyes. Grover was barely conscious, unable to run, and Percy felt as if his brain stopped trying to process what was happening and just moved.

"they tell you while you're young,  "girls, go out and have your fun".  then they hunt and slay the ones who actually do it.”   // @fidelixcorde + red taylor’s version sc.

@fidelixcorde​

Dean was...unsettled.

He’d recovered from his injuries by now, enough that he was free of bandages, stitches, or pain meds, but there was still a surreal sort of itch that buzzed under his skin. He couldn’t figure out quite what it was, either. He was fine physically, and they were back to plotting their next stop and job, and things were spectacular between the four of them.

And yet, Dean couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed to do something. To try something different.

What inspired him, humorously, was a billboard advertising vacations to New Orleans. They weren’t far enough south for him to feel inclined to go there, but it certainly brought back memories of their Mardi Gras trip...and with those, the crystal-clear recollection of the friends they’d made in the Big Easy.

❝ i’m just really...tired. ❞