The Muse Is In

Updates on the UK's happy life!

2009-10-06T03:24:08Z

Sooo... why has UK been mysteriously absent from so many places? Well, lots of things have been happening IRL, including some very hot sexxors of her own. =P I have found the perfect man for me - sweet, kind, caring, forgetful, loving, sexy, blue-eyed, understanding, scary when needs be, and very mellow and did I mention he cares about me? o.o; Yes, I do believe I did. We have now been dating for three months (it's been that long?) and everything is smooth sailing!

I have also been playing D&D. A lot. And making a homebrew Harry Potter based on the d20 system, which I'll gladly give to anyone who would like to try it. =) I have yet to decide where my players (boyfriend, boyfriend's brother, and my own baby bro) will be playing - pre-Voldy War 1, during Voldy War 1, between Voldy War 1 and 2, during Harry Potter's years, or post Voldy War 2. Really tempted to do it during and find out how much they change the original timeline, especially considering they are mostly unknowledgeable of the HP universe. But adding three additional boys... I may be able to convince my boyfriend to play a girl. o.o;

Anyways, outside of all that, I've been painting like a mad woman (sadly no HP art, planning one now, though) and studying just as hard. Biology is still kicking my arse. WHO decided that teachers needed advanced Biology?! The kind where dissecting goes on?! Rawrs!

Funny enough, I'm acing my Physics class. No surprise there.

I've been drawn into playing FarmVille with my mother, the elder little brother, my dad, my boyfriend's dad, my boyfriend's mom, and several folk from the church-that-formerly-was-mine.

I'm teetering between going back and seeing if God still hates me. =P

Also been cleaning house. House is clean. o.o; It is an accomplishment with three lazy men, seven dogs, and eight cats. ^^; Going camping for fall break at the Crater of Diamonds. =D

Anyways, when I've got some time I'll be reading/reviewing again... and hopefully working on Devil's Game more than fleshing out my timelines. XD

Love you all very very very much!

Hiatus and a cute pic...

2009-09-01T15:55:37Z

Hey, guys, my school has begun and I'm totally in over my head in Biology. @__@ Soooo... I shall prolly have to go on Internetz Hiatus for a little bit, till I get used to my schedule more. I am quite enjoying my new Art class, though (Intermediate Watercolor) and I shall prolly be posting paintings on dA soon. ;)

Also... here is an uber-cute Snarry that I thought ya'll might enjoy!!

SNARRY COMIC!!

New Video...

2009-08-06T00:40:54Z

Hey, ya'll, bet you're all wondering what the heck the REAL UK looks like. Well... I just uploaded a video that my ex taped and edited in which I played an odd British commercial host. There is a bit of a dirty joke in it, but it's rated like PG-13 ish. More like PG, but I wanna be careful. =P

The girl with the "Stupid People" grey t-shirt is me.

And yes, we really did that to my bathroom.

Joined OWL and update on Devil's Game

2009-08-04T00:10:41Z

I finally decided to join the On-line Wizarding Library (otherwise known as OWL) after reading how much fun Miss miamadwyn was having as a Gryffindor. However, because I like playing by the rules more than anything, I decided to take the test listed and see which house I ended up in. It actually determined that I was quite borderline between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but more Ravenclaw. So, here are my shiny new badgeless Ravenclaw robes:


	Special
Special		Special
	Special
May		June
	July
August		September
	October
November		December
	Special
		Special

Also, I just got back the Story Val on TPP =). Devil's Game chapter is up and ready for reading pleasure!

New Banner for Devil's Game

2009-07-27T04:13:00Z

Okay, ya'll might find me a little weird after this, so fair warning, lol. The TWO boyfriends total that I have ever been with kinda just fell in my lap. I never went on what one would really call a date. My first bf was homeless, so we hung out at work (where I met him) until we moved in together because I'm an idiot who can't keep herself from helping people I care about out. ^^; The second bf was a friend who became a boyfriend.

So I've never really been on what one would call a "first date" in the traditional sense, ie, you meet up somewhere, or he picks you up, and you go out somewhere to get to know one another a little better.

I went on my first date eva last night with a very kind man I met online through a personals site. I was a little apprehensive about meeting him (we've chatted maybe twice on the compy), but once I did it was like insta-click. If I believed in love at first sight, it'd be something like this. Our auras just meshed, and we sat in Starbucks and talked and talked and talked for like six hours. o.o I didn't even realize how much time had passed till the sun went down. XD

And then we went to the movies at the drive-in and chatted MORE. I'm SO GLAD to have found someone who will yell at the characters/director with me without looking at me like I'm retarded/insane.

We've agreed to be friends first because I'm insanely overprotective of my heart after the last two boyfriends and he's a little wary, too.

=) Still can't help but grin whenever I think about him. And that's happening a lot lately. ^^;

Anyways, the other reason I decided to post today is that I spent the past six hours or so doing my very first Photo manip in GIMP. And I wanted to share it. I decided to just make a banner thingie for Devil's Game, so I might end up using it. Here's the linkie: Devil's Game Banner

Demon Within

2009-07-23T22:04:33Z

Soooo... I felt like writing a short snapshot of my favorite (and oldest OCs) couple, Bridget Wolf and Jirkle. Just to mention, Jirkle is extremely tall (like 6'6") and has pale blue hair, blue eyes, tanned skin, bat-wing ears with red smiley tattoos, and a rubber ducky tattoo on his chest. He also has a tail with fire on the end. Bri is short (5'1") with short brown hair, gold eyes, and is completely human. Her face is rather round for someone so slender.

Anyways, here it is.

The Demon Within

Jirkle slid in between the soft jersey sheets of the bed, trapping Bri's short legs to the mattress with his hips. She reached up between them and pulled at his bat-wing ears lovingly. They were ridged around the edges, smooth skin and hot leather all at once. The tattooed red smiley face on the right undulated under her touch.

"Ducky, don't do that," he murmured softly.

"Why?" she asked, wide-eyedly curious.

"Because I don't know what will happen if you set me off," he said, nuzzling down between her pert breasts. "I am a demon, lest you forgot."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten at all." She lifted her hips into his and stroked the spot directly at the base of one ear.

Bri Wolf did not show up for class the next morning. She didn't give a damn.

Lots of news

2009-07-18T04:47:49Z

Sooo I completed the other two prompts for hpcon_envy and figured I should prolly link the rest of ya'll up in case you're not already following the fun. By the way, if you like Harry Potter at all, you should really check out what these women can dish up. Especially lulabelle72, geminiscorp, and miamadwyn. I'm prolly forgetting a slew of folk.

Anyways, the links are (because I'm being lazy):

How Teddy Helped Defeat Lord Voldemort. Sort Of.

Bottlecaps

The first one is the TeddyLupin/LilyEvans ficlet, How Teddy Helped Defeat Lord Voldemort. Sort Of, more a general fic than romance. The other one is Bottlecaps, which is a Lucius/Luna gentle romance. And of course, a lil down on my own page is the Kingsley/Hermione ficlet, Coffee Shop. I still like that one best, I think. =)

As for news on Devil's Game, I've FINALLY gotten through the sticky scene with Severus that was causing me such grief. I'm writing a mile a minute through that again, thank the gods. The newest chapter is in the queue (numba 11, last I checked) on www.thepetulantpoetess.com. I think ya'll are going to like plotting, scheming Mione. I know I do.

In other news (gee, I'm just full of news tonight!), I myself am scheming up something. I am slowly going to build up my way to getting out of my parents' house. As much as I love them (my mom especially), I am going insane with their restrictive rules. >.> Supposed to be a grown woman and I can't even decide when I want to leave the house. Or if I can date. I miss having my own place. Soooo... going to buy a car and a cell phone and then I'll see if I can afford the 400 dollars for the studio apartment I found plus food. (The apartment pays all the other bills like electric and water and trash.) Ugh. I need a job.

And yeah, I told my mom that I wanted to move out and I wanted to see if she would continue to help. Uhhh... she refused. >.> In fact, she got all "I gonna disown you if you leave!" on me again. Yeah. Didn't happen last time when I moved 1500 miles away. Doubt it'll happen when I move ten. Still, I'd rather stand on my own two feet, dammit.

School is going okay. I just finished a test on Thursday, but I felt uber ill afterward so I skipped my lab. >.> Yeah, yeah, beat me up, I already do it to myself. I haven't missed a single class all summer. 15 points isn't going to kill a 1000 point grade.

I wants to visit my Stephie. D=

Midnight Showing!!

2009-07-15T02:56:03Z

ZOMG I am sooooo excited ya'll! So, ever since the Harry Potter movies came out I've been absolutely DYING to go the a midnight showing. I've never been able to because of school. Well, since my class is in the afternoon this time around (no small amount of thank you gods and goddesses that my baby bro wants to go this time, too), I get to go!

Yeah, I just had to wait through five movies.

I'm BOUNCING in my seat with happy happy giddy glee!

Okay, details for how this came about: Apparently, the Starlight Drive-In here in town is giving a midnight showing on a first-come, first serve basis. We live just down the street from them, so we'll be leaving about ten minutes before they start letting folk in. I have money (for once in my life) and an open vehicle (also for once in my life).

It is now five minutes to ten. They start letting people in... in about an hour and a half.

SQUEE!

My first Con Envy Post

2009-07-14T06:27:14Z

Cross-posted from hpcon_envy

Soooo, basically, I saw this prompt right before heading into Chem class and it just exploded in the back of my head the whole time I was SUPPOSED to be focusing on balancing redox equations. So, this is for you, gelsey. And for the other lovely ladies who were eager to see what I'd do with it.

As usual, un-beta-ed.

TitleThe Coffee Shop
Rating PGish
Characters/PairingsHermione/Kingsley, brief mention of Hermione/Ron, Harry/Ginny
Words2368
PromptFriendship and coffee
Summary Straddling that line between friends and friendlier, Kingsley offers a way to distract her from her troubles.

Hermione Granger believed, in her heart of hearts, that days like this only came around once in a lifetime. She sniffled quietly in the back of the Ministry of Magic’s atrium, glad for once that she was a very plain girl. Just to be safe, though, she cast a quick Notice-Me-Not Charm and a Silencing Charm on its heels. Then she turned around and began to openly bawl against the white-washed walls. Her nose curled into the corner exactly as a teacher had once made her do instead of recess, before she knew she was a witch.

The day had just been awful. She wanted nothing more than to Apparate from the spot, but her intelligent mind railed against the idea immediately. Just when she was about to buck up the courage to turn round and head for the nearest public Floo, a heavy hand rested on her shoulder.

War instincts that hadn’t quite faded kicked rudely into action. Her wand was out of its holster and pressed to the man’s jugular before even she could blink. A deep, rolling chuckle reverberated down the wood into her hand.

“The war was over five years ago, Hermione.”

Hermione stared, wide-eyed, up into black walnut-colored eyes. “Kingsley. I-I’m—”

He raised a hand to cut her gently off. “I deserved it, sneaking up on you as I did.” He hesitated – or paused, she couldn’t really tell. “Would you care to accompany me to the auction this evening?”

Hermione had no idea what made him offer. She probably looked a fright – she’d been kicked out of her home that very morning, after all. For some reason, that thought led to her answer. “Certainly. I’d love to.”

A few well-placed spells later, Kingsley offered his arm courteously. Hermione felt completely at ease in spite of his silence. She knew him well enough to know that his silence was just him behind Kingsley. The tall man – and damn was he tall, at least two heads taller than her – only spoke when he truly had something worth saying. His arm was thick with rippling muscles, and for a moment she pondered whether that was why his Patronus was a lynx.

“May I ask why such a powerful young woman was crying in my atrium?” he asked, his low drawl so disarming that Hermione found herself telling the truth.

“I’ve had a pretty awful day.”

“How so?”

“Ron kicked me out. I lost my job. Take your pick,” she said bitterly. Hermione sighed softly and straightened out her spine in an effort not to dissolve into tears again.

“You deserved better anyway,” Kingsley said, the softness of the words making his ordinarily deeper voice lose its resonance. Hermione frowned. He shouldn’t whisper – it just wasn’t the Kingsley she was used to. Not that she’d seen much of him outside of a professional situation since the war.

Hermione and Kingsley stepped into a large auditorium. She smiled up at him, and then took a seat at the front of the room. It wasn’t very full. Not until now, separated from the man who’d invited her in the first place, did she wonder what was on the auction block today.

The auditorium reminded Hermione of a church – long wooden benches, a glass podium behind which Kingsley now stood, and plain white walls. Hermione had never attended a wizarding auction before. The novelty of the experience chased away her troubles, if only for a moment. That had probably been Kingsley’s intention, she mused wryly.

“I now commence the auction of the first property on the list for this evening, the property once belonging to Madam Shrew in Ottery St. Catchpole. The lot begins at fifty galleons.” The sonic boom of Kingsley’s voice now was in direct opposition to the whisper he’d spoken only moments ago. Hermione smirked to herself – that was Kingsley for you.

A large blackboard appeared behind the Minister, listing the various items that would come with the deceased woman’s home. It also told what the property was worth. If someone got it for anything less than five thousand galleons, they’d make a killing.

A wand rose in the air somewhere to Hermione’s right. Red sparks fluttered down from it, surrounding brilliant red numbers – fifty. Kingsley acknowledged it with a nod. As the wands rose, and with them the galleons, Hermione began to think.

She had enough money in the bank from her parent’s deaths, the divorce proceedings, and her final check to probably start up a business. Living with self-employed dentists had taught her much in the way of economic business. She needed a place to live.

The third lot of the night shocked her with its perfection. Madam Puddifoot had apparently kicked the bucket at long last, leaving a highly-desired three-bedroom flat over her tea shop. Before she could think it through – a totally un-Hermione moment if there ever was one – her wand was in the air.

“Fifty galleons to Miss Granger.”

Someone else offered sixty. Another offered seventy before Hermione could offer for it again. Blood began pumping in her ears, a shot of adrenaline the likes of which she hadn’t felt since the night Harry Potter defeated Lord Voldemort.

At four hundred galleons, it was down to her and some obscure old man she didn’t immediately recognize. Hermione raised her wand over and over, combating the man in a silent duel for the property. The other auctioneers watched as the two fought it out, their heads flipping back and forth as though they were watching an intense racquetball game.

Five hundred galleons passed, and Hermione did a quick calculation to be sure she could feasibly continue the fight. But the old man glanced, his chest heaving slightly, at his wife beside him. The glare she fixed him with was enough to melt even the most cunning and sly of Slytherins. Even before Kingsley began the count, Hermione knew she’d won.

“Five hundred once. Five hundred twice. Sold, to Miss Granger in front.”

Well. At least she had a place to stay now. Giddy on an adrenalin rush, she pushed the fretting little girl who worried what she was going to do with the shop into the back of her mind. Hermione settled into her seat again, smiling softly.

She had her own shop.

Now what?

***

Hermione stood in her shop the next morning, glaring at the petite little tables and odd little chairs with a vengeance. Her Transfiguration was a little rusty, but her Charms were still top-notch. She shrank down each item in the shop, including the counter and the ancient cash drawer. The curly-haired witch had just finished doing that when a barn owl fluttered into the shop.

Hermione –

I’m sorry, but I really can’t give you a hand. Ron has the whole family against you, even my wife. I sent out a note to all the old gang to see if they can come, though, so hopefully someone will show. Sorry, love.

Harry

Hermione sighed. Typical Weasley behavior, of course. She should have known that Harry would get roped into it, too. She was just glad that he didn’t believe whatever Ron was saying about her. Or, if he did, he didn’t care enough to stop being friends with her. Not yet, anyway.

The second letter, right on the heels of the first, wasn’t as nice.

It was from her ex-mother-in-law.

It was a Howler.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D HAVE THE GALL TO ASK MY SONS TO HELP YOU AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO RON!”

There was more, but Hermione didn’t hear it. She’s conjured up a mallet and started breaking down the walls separating the dining rooms. Ah, sweet noise and distortion, sweet destruction. Half one wall was completely demolished when she took a break, panting angrily over the mallet’s handle.

“If I’d known we were doing this the Muggle way, I would have asked my father along.”

Hermione spun around for the second time in two days to look into his black walnut-colored eyes. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

“Apparently,” he said, gesturing to the tattered remains of the unheard Howler. “The others are strangely busy today.”

“Aren’t you?” Hermione asked, weakly swinging the mallet at the wall again. A satisfying amount of white powder sprinkled on the floor, along with a tiny piece of sheetrock.

“Like you, I enjoy being ahead on my work,” he said casually.

He conjured another mallet – slightly larger than hers – and shrugged out of black robes. Underneath, he wore an old, paint-spattered once-white t-shirt and a pair of jeans that hugged his thick thigh muscles. Hermione couldn’t help but stare out of the corner of her eyes as he strode over to the other side of the wall. His arse filled the jeans nicely.
She shook her head hard, hefted the mallet, and began to finish what she’d started. Kingsley worked in silence on his portion. They met in the last third of the wall, a lot sooner than Hermione anticipated. They swung in tandem on the last stretch of sheetrock.

As it fell, Hermione gasped for breath. She leaned on her mallet, grinning for a reason she couldn’t name. Kingsley chuckled after a minute.

“I haven’t done anything like this in years. Let’s clean up magically, though, yes?”

“You’ve knocked out walls before, Kingsley?”

“My father was a Muggle. Construction worker. I went with him to work sometimes during summer holidays.”

“I didn’t know you were half-blood,” Hermione said, smiling. “Such humble beginnings you had, Mister Minister of Magic.”

He smiled and nodded. “So what are your plans for this place?”

“I’m going to make it a coffee house,” she said. “I’ll still sell tea and such. I think coffee is more romantic than tea, but I want it to be more a hang-out than a spot for romance. I always did worry about our main hang-out being in what amounted to a bar.”

“What’re you going to call it?”

“I don’t know quite yet.”

“Come now, Hermione, surely you must have some ideas?”

“Crispissa’s Cove?” Hermione said, wincing at herself. How many bloody people had read Rape of the Lock to know what she was talking about?

“A little too obscure for the crowd you’re trying for,” Kingsley said, laughing. Hermione liked his laugh. It was like a bass guitar – in the background, but essential to the music.

“I think it’s time for a little magic in this construction project,” Hermione said, brandishing her wand at the other walls.

“Indeed it is,” Kingsley said. He wandlessly summoned his own from his robes.

When they were finished, the coffee shop only faintly resembled the tea shop it had once been. A long bar sat along one side, filled with coffee-makers and grinders and a small glass display case for snacks. The back room now held an industrial-sized oven, in which Hermione planned to bake biscuits. The rickety old tables were Transfigured into comfortable couches and armchairs.

“Looks sort of like a Starbucks, but most wizarding people won’t know what one is, anyway,” Hermione said, laughing. She turned to Kingsley. “Thank you for all your help. Would you like to come up? I was going to make some supper.”

“I will have to take a rain check, I’m afraid,” Kingsley said. “I’m expected at a conference this evening with the Hogwarts board of governors.”

She smiled up at him. “Of course. I’ll see you later, then, Kingsley.”

“Good evening, Hermione.”

At the last moment, before he stepped out her door, she spoke up. “I think I know what I’ll call it. The shop.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“Ebony.”

“What a coincidence. That is my wand’s wood.”

***

Ebony and Vine Coffee opened a few weeks later with a handful of Hogwarts graduates working the bar. No one really knows how the coffee shop began to get so popular. Lucius Malfoy frequented the establishment as often as Neville Longbottom. In spite of the Weasley family’s attitude, George and Lee could often be seen in the shop – in fact, began to advertise for Hermione in their shop in Diagon Alley.

The popular artist Dean Thomas painted a portrait of the late Headmaster Snape for the dining room only a month after the shop opened. A new wall mysteriously appeared after the portrait was hanged.

Harry Potter himself was rumored to frequent the back room of Ebony and Vine, though reporters were disappointed to find that there was a Floo there.

Dennis Creevey and Luna Lovegood gave the shop one of the most flattering reviews ever by Quibbler magazine.

Mysteriously, however, the woman who began it all was rarely sighted in her own shop. Miss Hermione Granger spoke only to her employees. No reporter or photographer had yet seen her.

Hermione wasn’t entirely certain what to do with herself, you see. The wizarding world wasn’t entirely up-to-date with the Muggle world. She found herself wanting to ask Kingsley Shacklebolt on a date – but not entirely how to go about it. Would he have any stigmas about her being younger? Would he even be willing to date while in office? She barely knew him at all.

She paced the kitchen one last time before making up her mind, only to have it made up for her in the form of a head in her fireplace.

“Kingsley!” she screeched. “You frightened me.”

“I apologize, that was not my intention,” he said. The gold of his single hoop earring shimmered in the bright light of her kitchen Floo. “I was wondering if perhaps I could cash in that rain check, with a few changes, for this evening.”

Hermione quashed the instinct to squeal. She cleared her throat and nodded. “Go on.”

“There is a new coffee shop in Hogsmeade that I have been, admittedly, curious to visit. Care to join me for a cup in, oh, five minutes, Miss Granger?”

Hermione couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Of course, Mr. Shacklebolt, I would be honored to visit this odd little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop with you.”

The Floo closed down. Hermione stood straight and headed to her bedroom for a quick change of clothes. Whoever knew that this had all began on the worse day of her life?

Sadness, Anger, Frustration, and a little spot of Happiness...

2009-07-10T03:20:20Z

Soooo ya'll have basically figured me out by now that I tend to be a little bit of a ranter, a little bit of a complainer (okay, a lot of that), a hard worker, and a pretty decent friend when I have friends.

First off, I want to wish one of my lovely flist people's a happy birthday. Happy birthday, cinnamon_honey!!

Second of all, I've been bouncing about doing some ficlet work around the lj community (the reason I haven't been doing my drabbles...>.>) and I'm looking for a beta who knows something about smut. I'm not talking about grammar here. Just... I need someone to look over and tell me if I've done it right. o_o Because I'm utterly terrified of posting it on the hpexchange and learning later that it sucks horribly. >.>

I'll X-post that here when I do post it, so no worries. =)

The rest of this post is really me being frustrated with my situation.

So, I've finally managed to catch up with some of my real-life friends. The trouble is that I really want to hang out with them. I consider myself to be a fairly responsible twenty-three-year-old, considering that I'm in college and all the things that can go wrong there. I don't go out and party all the time. I don't have promiscuous sex with anyone that winks at me (in fact, I've been celibate for well over a year now.) I'm not even really dating at the moment. I get decent grades.

I clean a 1600 sq. foot house by myself every day. With four other people, seven dogs, seven cats, and several other critters messing it up constantly behind me. I am paying for school, for the gas in the car, and all that from my school loans. I don't eat much. I basically cook all the meals, and then I generally serve it to both my brothers, my mother, and my father before I eat myself.

Perhaps it's too much to ask, but I'd really like to be able to go out and see my friends once a week. Just once a week. You know, on the weekend, just go over to their house and chill with them for a bit. No wild partying. Just see them, watch a movie, whatever. In order for that to happen, NOW I must do something extra in order to EARN the right to drive five minutes away. I must be home by nine pm. I cannot drink while there, even if I'm driven home by someone sober. I cannot stay the night.

Let's back up for a minute. I never ask for anything, anything at all, because I don't want to put my parents out. I clean THEIR house FOR THEM. They never do anything. My brothers sit on their butts and play XBOX 360 all day - the XBOXs that my mom bought for EACH boy separately. And I have to ask permission to use the car that I put gas in, that I bought, that I pay insurance for?

It's just very... frustrating to me.

Additionally, I've been offered a home with the friends I want to see more often. The trouble with that is that they are in a poly relationship (my old school girl friend, another girl, and a guy). I'm completely cool with that, even maybe want to have that sort of relationship later on in life myself. The trouble is that the guy has told me, flat out, that he has no morals AND he is attracted to me. I'm attracted to him, too, but I'm not stupid. I have three friends, just them, that I'm able to see. I don't want to ruin that.

I don't think he will act on it when we are all together. But I don't think he would have such restraints if I were to live with them. Plus, they're kind of messy, too, and I don't want to go live with them and find myself in relatively the same conditions.

I'm considering getting a job and living on my own in a studio apartment. I can get enough student loans to live pretty comfortably. >.> I dunno if I'll go through with it or not, though, because it would upset my mom. As frustrated as I am with her right now, trust me on this, you don't upset a bipolar woman in massive amounts of pain if you can help it.

Skip it if you want.

Plus, I'm kinda stuck on Devil's Game again. Severus isn't complying with the plan. >.>

New Chapter of Devil's Game and Donovan

2009-07-01T02:42:13Z

Just to let ya'll know, the next chapter of The Devil's Game is prepped and placed in the queue on TPP. Apologies for my slowness on my FF.NET readership, I've had a few issues with the site lately. Plus, I have to read through and make sure that I'm being a good little fic writer and not putting inappropriate things on there. >.<

...and just cause I love to tease, here's a quick lil snippet of the chapter in the queue:

“Who is that man sitting across from your father, Lucius?” I asked.

Lucius glanced over. “That, love, is the Dark Lord.”

“Him?” I whispered, my eyes widening. My stomach coiled in on itself for an entirely different reason now. “But he’s so…”

“Don’t let appearances fool you, girl,” Mr. Mulciber said, his tone low. “The Dark Lord is a very dangerous man.”

“I can tell,” I murmured, my eyes still wide and trained on him.

Heh. I said it was a lil one, right?

Anyways, I've had some trouble re-doing the fic with poor Ali ever since I lost it. That's one of the things about me that people tend to dislike... it takes awhile to rewrite something that I've already written. >.< Sooo I've also started in on another new story awhile before that, but mostly because I had a lot of stuff to put together for it. I've been working on a story called "Donovan" for a bit now. It's sort of an updated version of Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz.

Donovan in our world basically means "dark brown" and usually refers to a chieftain. It is of Irish/Gaelic origins. I've also taken the Japanese words for this. Dono is a suffix that, when attached, basically mean "lord" or "master." Van has been used in Japanese naming before, but the origin of the name is actually Vietnamese. Depending on how it's pronounced, it can mean "cloud" or "knowledge/literature."

The title refers to the world created by Rawley Stevens (nicknamed Ra for the betterment of my wrists). Ra is a shy librarian who dreams of becoming a published writer and having her book on the shelves of the library in which she works. She has been slowly piecing together a fantastical world of her own for several years, and decides that her story is going to follow a single character as they unite that world into a cohesive unit by succeeding in three quests. Ra then meets a manga otaku named Dono, whom Ra bases her character on.

Ra finds out that the real-life Dono owns several ferrets and decides that they are the key to connecting our world to Donovan. Unfortunately, Ra doesn't realize that she has basically written a loophole into the fabric of time and space. She falls asleep at her computer one evening and a ferret digs their way into our world. The ferret, being intelligent, drags Ra down into Donovan to meet Princess Van.

And so begins the story. The ferrets will only dig her back to her world if she helps Van complete the three tasks that she herself created in order to create a whole world. Along the way, Ra and Van meet several of Ra's creations. And most of them aren't happy to meet their creator at all.

Soooooo what do ya'll think?

Meme

2009-06-29T04:06:50Z

I seem to really like these meme things.... such fun~! ^^; Er... I'm having trouble with portions of Devil's Game again. o.O Severus is being frustrating on me. Blarg.

Your Passion is Yellow

You're a total sexual shape shifter.
You possess a complex sex drive and are very adaptable.
Of all the colors, you are the most likely to be bisexual.
While you the most passionate, you are also very open minded.

What Color Is Your Passion?

Stolen Meme, RL stuff

2009-06-28T00:19:38Z

Who is your Harry Potter Mate Your Result: Remus Lupin You like a nice, quiet mate with a little wildness hidden away. A true gentleman, he will not take advantage, you will have to take the first step. Very loyal, but very shy, it will be hard to win him over, but once you have mated, it will be for life.
Severus Snape
Harry Potter
Lord Voldemort
Ronald Weasley
Albus Dumbledore
Lucius Malfoy
Draco Malfoy
Who is your Harry Potter Mate Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Er... been hanging out with real life friends? No time for internets?

An idea bandying about...

2009-06-17T06:38:26Z

So, we're basically half a year into Devil's Game in the uploads now, a year and half into iton my writing schedule (OH, yeah, I'm badass). So now that it's on a good track, and I've got enough pooled up to last me well till Christmas with my updates (w00t), my brain's decided to bandy about some other fan fic ideas.

I've been reading a lot of Wolverine/Rogue (aka Logan/Marie) for the X-Men movieverse and recently read a very good Harry Potter/X-men X-over which I REEEEALLY hope I can find again so I can recc it. It was loosely a friendship fic between Scott (Cyclops) and Hermione. Anyways, I was thinking... and thinking... and thought some more... what if the "mutation" is actually a form of magic? Maybe there have been "mutants" around for centuries, but because we call them "Squibs"... get my drift? Maybe SOME Squibs actually have one form of mild magical ability. A "one trick pony." And since all "mutants" thus far have had no connection to the magical community, mutants are actually these one-trick Squibs, only Muggle-born.

Or, or, maybe MAGIC is causing the mutations? Perhaps if the right person lives in the right vicinity... after all, weren't there many one-trick magicians in the past? Lots of psychics, people with odd skin colors, and teleportation... When wizard-kind went "underground," they stopped living near Muggles too terribly much, I think. Perhaps when they began mixing with the Muggle population more, the one-tricks started coming back?

Hmm. I think that would probably be a derogatory term. One-trick. Obviously, I'm going to have to fudge some things for it to work - the two canons cannot coexist very nicely as they are, especially considering the movieverses versus sources of both tales. Plus, movies and comics both leave a lot more to interpretation than books. To a point.

Definitely an AU situation. Hmm... Rogue/Logan, Hermione/Severus, maybe a Bobby and a Ginny death and make it Harry/Kitty? LOL, the acid-skin girl with the anger-management guy with six knives in his hands, the know-it-all and the snarky bastard Potions master, and the brave Boy-Who-Lived with the girl who walks through walls. I kinda like it. =)

Hate Magneto, I think we'll kill him already. Volde is a good antagonist... maybe he's gaining power in the mutant community? I rikes, I rikes.

Eh, tell me what you think. I kinda like the idea.

Brother and another drabble

2009-06-15T23:36:29Z

My brother had surgery on Thursday, so I've been taking care of him. His knee is causing him no end of pain, and his pain meds barely make it bearable. Soooo... in other words, he's been more of a prat than usual. He has this machine thing that pumps ice water over the wound constantly, so my job is to replace the ice and water every time it melts. My parents do not use the AC at all, and it it 90 degrees. We go through about four or five bags of ice daily. I have to wake up at least three times a night to replace the ice. Rawr. Not fun. -_-

Our class ended early tonight, so I decided to have a little Harry Potter fun. This story refers to a threesome relationship, so it's rated PG-13. Otherwise, it's all in good fun. I don't own Harry Potter - I don't think I've said that quite enough lately.

Hermione made sure that the potion he was working on was not volatile. It would be at the top of her Very Bad Ideas list to disturb her fiance while working on something that could kill them both. But it was only some Burn Paste. She grinned mischievously and slowly tip-toed up behind him, in spite of the Silencing Charms on her feet.

Just as she was about to dig her fingers into his long black hair, her other fiance interrupted. "Severus, the sneaky little Gryffindor's at it again."

The Potions master turned around, his eyebrow near his hairline. "Hermione, just what is the meaning of this?"

She was dressed entirely, head to foot, like Neville Longbottom's grandmother.

"A dare from the Herbology professor, I'm afraid," she said primly, sweaping a bit of Floo dust from the moth-eaten crimson robes. "He thought I couldn't sneak up on my own fiance. One of them, anyway."

Severus smirked. "Gryffindors," he said fondly. "You just never know when to quit. Why the Augusta outfit?"

"He thought maybe you would be amused by a reminder of his old Boggart," she said, answering his smirk. "Though, I believe it's about time we stopped bringing it up. That was our third year, after all - nearly two decades ago."

"Indeed," Severus murmured. "Is Longbottom aware that Augusta just Flooed me two minutes ago asking after her hat?"

Hermione's eyes widened marginally just before she bolted out of the dungeons. Not even the bravest Gryffindor stood a chance from the wrath of Neville's venerable Gran.

Joining my first Exchange! and another drabble

2009-06-11T03:41:35Z

So like most of ya'll know, I am a very flexible shipper -- anything that sounds plausible works for me! I found an exchange that recently opened up to a new round and joined. It's the http://community.livejournal.com/hghpficexchange/ -- Harry/Hermione. I have three prompts up there for my writer, whoever they turn out to be. Here are the prompts (they're pretty arbitrary and general, I made them up on the spot) -

1) Hermione is having problems, you decide the gravity of the situation. Some ideas would be an ex just dumped her, her research project was rejected by the Ministry, or Molly Weasley won't stop badgering her about marrying one of her sons. Harry comes to the rescue. 2) Harry is headed back to Hogwarts... as the Headmaster! What does Professor Granger have to say to/about the latest Headmaster of that most prestigious school? 3) Hermione has made it into her dream school post-grad and Harry comes to... what? Say good-bye? Join her?

They're still looking for entrants, so please, please, please, if you've got the time and the inclination to it, join up, sign up, and help perpetuate the love!! If not, well, I'll keep ya'll posted on the stories as they roll up. I'm looking forward to it! EEEEE!

Also, I didn't get the chance to post up the second chapter of DG that I promised awhile ago, but... meh, the next chappie has been read by none other than notsosaintly 'erself and I just sent back the corrections. =) Should be up quite soonly, then. Yay, it's tea time!

Soooo... in honor of the HPHG exchange, here's a little lovin' for this ship.

Slipping down the old trail held more nostalgia than the re-created Hogwarts Express did. That's what Harry though, anyway, as he led the first-years away from the train. The smallest, a Weasley girl he'd held at her birth, caught her foot in a gnarled root. His own godson, the boy he and Andromeda Tonks had raised, helped her up.

Hagrid waited at the gateway for the children and clapped Harry on the back. "Welcome back, Harry."

"Thanks, Hagrid," Harry said, smiling softly. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall, then?"

"O' course," the half-giant grinned, the gesture lost in his beard. Harry knew it was there only by the shrinking of the light in Hagrid's shiny, beetle-black eyes.

The first-years rallied around Hagrid as Harry pulled away from them, headed for the remaining thestral parked at the platform. He had already climbed in and settled in the seat before he noticed he was not alone.

"Hello, Harry," she whispered softly. "Have a good trip?"

"The train's not like it used to be," Harry whispered back. "How's Ron?"

"He won't leave Dumbledore's tomb," she said. "Just floats there staring at it. Dumbledore left this world when he died originally. I don't think he understands."

"Head still thick even in death, then," Harry said. "Am I really welcome here, Hermione?"

"You know you are," she said. "Ron's going to flip when he finds out that it's you that is replacing Binns."

"Yes," Harry said wryly. "I imagine my ghostly best friend would find it rather surprising that I am replacing our former, ghostly History professor."

Hermione chuckled softly. "Well... I replaced Minerva, when she became Headmistress."

"Somehow, the irony doesn't come through there as well," Harry quipped.

"Too right, that," Hermione said. "Well, here's our stop. Kreacher's already moved your things into Binns' old chambers."

"I always did wonder what the History professor's quarters should look like," Harry said as he climbed out behind her. "Looks like I'll finally find out. What did Nick say when Binns vanished?"

"Oh, there's a Muggle-born brat that somehow charmed a DVD player to play," Hermione snarled, suddenly angry. "He showed all the ghosts an old movie, and Binns moved off into the afterlife just to escape the very thought!"

Harry blinked at her. "What was the movie?"

"What do you think? Ghostbusters!"

The two friends shared a laugh at that, bringing back more of that odd nostalgia that Harry had felt slipping on the trail. Ah, memories. That's what made History so much fun, after all.

Some old hats come back

2009-06-09T20:15:51Z

Yesterday's drabble was all about Sindri, one of several original characters that I've had the pleasure of playing around with for a while. Hecate, Sin, Alioth, Illiad - all those characters are brand-new, and they were mostly made up on the spot. I'm still exploring their characters. Sindri, along with Bridget, Kokomo, Blank, Nails, Jirkle, Dirken, and several others, are old hats that I love to pull out often.

So, just so you know some basic background, I'll let you know some more about Sindri, in particular, because I love her dearly. Prior to playing that fateful Dungeons and Dragons game with artist/creator James Woodham (http://james-woodham.deviantart.com/), I really had this notion that good guys were good and bad guys were bad. I had already seen some fairly gray shades from Harry Potter (Snape, Sirius, etc.) and from the vampire stories of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (Jaguar, Nathaniel, etc. and if you don't know what I'm talking about, Twilight is fluff comparitively).

However, I had never really seen things through an "evil" person's eyes before. In the game we played, James' race (called Vethorians, and I doubt I spelled it correctly) are either neutral or evil - never good. However, playing through their eyes, through their motivations, made me see things through a dark-gray style of glasses. Hence, the introduction of the Chaotic-Neutral to Chaotic-Evil Sindri.

As I said yesterday, Sindri began the game as Chaotic-Neutral - meaning she could go either good or evil deeds. She really didn't care one way or the other. She did, however, care very much for freedom and in a THEOCRACY, as she was in, that didn't really come easily. She was forced into a soldier's role, and constantly had to watch her act or she, too, would be killed like Recat. Hence her change to Evil.

After lots of battles and some-such, she was then forced into yet another role she could not get out of. Most people would enjoy becoming a goddess, right? Not when you're bound to Hell for eternity, I think. Especially for someone who enjoys her freedom. Sindri eventually became the Goddess of the Void at the end of the game. She visited her friends by sending astral projections of herself out - other than that, she was bound to a seat in the middle of the Void.

Her full name is Sindri Balim the Crooked, named for her crooked horns. At first, she only had two - the ones coming out of her forehead. And they bent backwards and around her head, with a tiny crook on the end of one of them. When she got too close to the then-current God of the Void, her horns grew and multiplied and became more curly.

Anyway, Sindri's had a few incarnations over the time I've had her. She became an Interdimensional Wyvern, so that I wasn't using Jame's creation. The I.W. is a personified version of the Interdimensional Dragon, a creation I've had since I was thirteen years old. Unlike her other persona, the I.W. can cross dimensions. She is the daughter of an I.D. and a Hell-god in dimension 349. This Sindri became the guardian of the Interdimensional Penitentiary shortly after Bri retired from the Guiding.

Here are some pretty pictures I've drawn of her incarnations:

http://theodusa.deviantart.com/art/Sindri-Balim-the-Crooked-85194528
http://uglykitten.deviantart.com/art/Sindri-Balim-the-Crooked-59871725
http://uglykitten.deviantart.com/art/What-a-Cute-Doggy-59872050

The last pic is of a "Cerberus fiend," which is actually created by pulling human heads out of their bodies and putting them on a Rottweiler body. I had a nightmare about that happening once, and it's never left my mind.

The second pic is actually of Sindri in her Similian form. Similians are a race of cat-dog creatures said to have descended from a union of Cerberus and Bastet, forming the goddess Relic. Relic is said to have hid her children in an enchanted thicket, which expands magically within one square mile to accomodate them as they grow more populous. =)

drabble sindri

2009-06-09T00:42:28Z

I'm sitting in my Chem lab waiting for them to get their act together. So let's see if I can do it, ja?

Sindri Balim the Crooked is one of my favorite OCs. She was actually a Dungeons and Dragons persona who began the game as Chaotic Neutral and became Chaotic Evil after the death of her friend/boyfriend, Recat. This is a quick look at the moment before his execution.

Before the Dutiful Death

Sindri Balim stared at herself in the slow-moving water of a murky stream. Her pale, moss-green eyes were slim and beautiful, her mouth curved into a wicked smirk. She was neither terribly thin, nor chubby. A light pooch of skin showed above her ceremonial robes. Her horns - seven in all - twisted and curled like ram's horns, shifting the long green waves of her curly light green hair.

Sindri was, in a word, quite beautiful for an Interdimensional Wyvern. She wasn't entirely certain what it was that drove the males away from her. Only Recat, the straight-horned red Wyvern, even approached her.

Recat himself appeared over the hedge, trailing a possessive claw down her spine. "Come, Sin. The ceremony is about to begin.

Sindri smiled sadly over her shoulder at her best friend. "Sure, Re. I'm on my way."

She watched with a straight back and hooded eyes as the King of the Wyverns brought his mighty ax down on Recat's neck. It was her duty to her remaining friend to watch his dutiful death through to the end.

It was the blood that finally made her snap. The day Sindri went from being a neutral player to an evil bitch was the day a man died for her.

Drabble X-over

2009-06-07T05:39:57Z

I've been cleaning all day again. Gah. How can one woman make such a bloody mess? I guess if you never leave one area... *sigh* I love my mother, but I hate that I'm responsible for her messes just as much as I am for my brothers' and dad's. I am ONE person! Not several! And now it is really, really late and I'm tired.

I was thinking about Harry's death scene in the last book, about how different the story would have been if there was a different culture altogether that "ruled" the afterlife. So, my little brainie got to thinking about an old favorite anime, Yu Yu Hakusho, which is all about death and the afterlife from a stylized Japanese perspective. (ie, a combination of Shinto and Buddhism)

So I decided to dedicate this short ficlet to it. A little background for the non-anime fans: Botan is the grim reaper of a particular section of Japan - there are a lot of "pilots of the river Styx" in Japanese myth and they aren't actually named. In the anime (actually, it's the very first episode!), Botan appears right after Yusuke, the main protangonist, dies. She explains to Yusuke that he wasn't "scheduled" to die just then, that they weren't expecting him to do what he did. (Yusuke is a major asshole, mostly, and quite selfish. His last act, however, was to save a small boy's life.) So, they give him the option of living with a debt to Spirit World. Anyway, I just figured, what if something like that would happen to someone like Harry - kind-hearted, definitely worthy of a second chance?

Well... here yeh go. ^^;

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Yu Yu Hakusho. This is entirely in the spirit of fun. Do you ever imagine what might have happened if Harry met Botan? A humorous alternative to Harry's death scene.

Oars and Brooms

Harry could not believe his eyes. Number one, he was floating above his own mangled body. Number two, he was not floating alone. But while he was floating without anything to hold him up, the blue-haired woman was sitting side-saddle on an oar, of all things. She grinned impishly at him.

"Hi! I'm Botan. You must be Harry."

"Er... yes? What's going on?"

"Well, you see, you just died," Botan said. She gestured helpfully toward his corpse, which Voldemort was currently lording over. "I'm the Pilot of the River Styx, better known to you as the Grim Reaper."

Harry blinked, entirely nonplussed. The Grim Reaper was male and wore black robes and carried a scythe. If this woman was carting around a curved blade on a staff, he'd sure like to know where she was keeping it.

"However, you're not supposed to die now," Botan said. "You're supposed to be the Boy-Who-Lived, obviously. So, back into your body you go, then, Mr. Potter."

Harry blinked. "Just one question before I go."

"Sure!"

"Why are you flying on an oar?"

Botan laughed. "Of all the things you could ask about Spirit World, you ask that? Very well. I fly on an oar because I lead people's spirits through the River Styx. I need some way to power it. Might as well be something that can power easily through water, right?"

Harry nodded slowly. Botan shoved his spirit-body toward his physical body quickly, so he couldn't ask any more questions. When he came to, Hagrid was carrying him, sobbing quietly.

Things just kept getting stranger.

hpmuse @ 2009-06-05T14:28:00

2009-06-05T19:41:28Z

So I vanished from the Internets for a little while -- here's why. My poor little compy decided to croak on me. It was like five years old, but we've managed to keep it up and stuff and I (OH, THANK THE GODDESS!!!) managed to save my drafts of Devil's Game and another story I'm secreting away for a while. Unfortunately, I.S. is so new I did not have it saved on a pin drive and all I've got left is what I posted on here so far. ToT

In honor of my revived computer, however, I decided to give it to my youngest brother and take the 1000 dollars I had left over from student loans from the past year and bought myself a laptop. =) It was 680 dollars after tax and all that, and I'm quite happy with it so far. I got 3 GBs of RAM and 320 GBs of memory -- SWEET! My old compy only had 256 MB of RAM and not much memory (I forget the number). The only reason I remember that it had 256 MB RAM is because Manga Studio kept bloody reminding me that I needed at least 512 for it to run smoothly.

So I've been moving the good music over from the old thing, setting meself all up, and grinning like a fool since I got home. I rarely indulge in something just for myself like this, so it's almost overwhelmingly making me happy.

So, in honor of the new compy, I'm going to get the next two chapters of Devil's Game together and post them up back-to-back. =D So, I'm gonna go scurry off and do that.

BTW, I'm posting from my bedroom -- SQUEEEEE!!! Totally never thought I'd say that ever!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programme...

2009-06-03T00:40:23Z

OH!

MY!

GODDESS!

I have never had such a MARATHON of learning in a single, learning-crammed week in my life. I have learned about SO many different cultures and religions and forms of anthropologically-defined magic and witchcraft that my head is spinning! I learned the histories and current events (up to 2006) of the major world religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Shinto, Buddhism, Daoism, and Hinduism). I have learned about the Azande and the Trobriand Islanders; some ideas behind "witch-hunts," including a new view on the ever-popular Crusible one of which the name I forgot already because I'm far too overtaxed to be bothered. I've learned about ancestor worship. A group in China that allows vultures to eat their dead (the bodies just need to be exposed of).

I've even gone to a religious establishment not my own and discussed the finer points of their religion with them. Now, I'm going to precurse this with a statement. Ordinarily, I am not very anti-anybody. I love most Christians (now all Christians) and I adore Muslims because they are not afraid to set the record straight on anybody. (Most, anyway.) However, even I can be a bit ethnocentric when it comes to things I think are true. I am reminded again and again why I need to battle out my remaining grievances with groups of people. This was just another reminder that as much as I like to think that I am an open-minded woman, even I have my quandries.

I went to a Roman Catholic Mass.

Now, I must inform you that prior to this I believed Catholics to be the most closed-minded of people. (Apologies to any Catholics - I did say that this was a proving point otherwise!!) I believed them to be ignorant of their own holy book, because there are distinct phrases within that book that argue against all manner of things for them.

However, the woman that I met after the Mass (and the things I saw during it) completely 180-ed my thoughts. Sister Marie was quite patient with me, pointing out the ways in which our religions are similar and letting me know that how we worship our particular gods should not matter - we are all simply trying to attain our own view's version of eternal happiness, be that on Earth or in an afterlife. I really did enjoy my time at the Mass, and I was extremely grateful that they did not attempt to make me take communion. I'm still a little squicky on that -- metaphorically eating someone's flesh and eating their blood?? *blink* Of course, I can see the sister's point that she could be just as incredulous as I am about some of my stuff. "An affinity for the Earth? What's that even mean? You light a candle and stand barefoot with your breasts showing? Er...?"

(I am not hand-fasted, and this ceremony is for hand-fasted man and woman... it's called the Great Rite if you don't know what I'm talking about. Look it up!)

Soooo... yes, I had a fantastic time. But doing homework and going to class from six in the morning till ten at night and doing little else is quite taxing on a girl. =)

Annnnnd... now, a drabble.

The Magic of the Muggle

Draco Malfoy had never been to a Wal-Mart in his life. The lights were inordinately bright, the floor filthy, and most of the objects on the flimsy shelves looked like they might break just by touching them. However, Hermione had wanted him to "experience the magic of the Muggle" - so here he was. Thoroughly bored while she and Ginny Potter were exclaiming over threadbare baby clothes.

Across the aisle, however, he spotted what he was looking for. "Hermione, Ginny, I'm going to go look at the movideas for a bit."

"Movies, Draco," Hermione corrected him absently.

Draco sighed. "Movies." When she said nothing else, he ambled over to the close-packed section and started to study the titles. He owned most of them already - having a DBD player had spiked his interest in Muggle entertainment several years ago. He rounded the curve, frowning when he noticed that these movies were behind glass - and he didn't have most of them. A young boy was standing in the way; he appeared to be groping a tiny, white, odd-looking little clicker thing of some kind. The boy's eyes were fixed on the flat movie screen far more closely than usual. Draco wondered for a moment if he was, as Hermione would say, "touched in the head."

Draco glanced up at the screen, perplexed with the plot of the show. So far, it appeared to be entirely composed of loud whistles, booms, and crashes. Though the car kept banging into the walls, no one was hurt. There were no spectacular explosions or voice-over to explain what was going on. Suddenly, the car began to flip end over end - and the boy growled impatiently.

"Darn it... I just can't get it right. Would you like a go, Mister?"

"A... a go?" Draco asked, quite unused to this way of speaking about movies. What sort of cultural lesson had he missed while he had blocked out Hermione's droning about the gadgets?

"Yeah," the kid said. "Wait... you've never played PS2 before, have you?"

"No," Draco said, thinking it best to keep it simple. Fumbling with language would only get him into deeper trouble.

"Oh, okay. Well, this button here makes the car go - this little thing turns it. This one's turbo - that makes it go super-fast. The other buttons do other stuff."

That's when it dawned on Draco precisely what the child was getting at - this wasn't a movie, per say. It was some kind of game - like Snap. The clicker controlled the car on the screen!

Draco took the clicker-thing from the little boy, who coached him through the start screen and into a quick race. Draco was pleased to see that the buttons did precisely what the boy had said - even though he seemed to crash into the walls far more than the boy had done.

Twenty minutes later, Hermione Snape and Ginny Potter found their friend Draco entranced in a race,an eight-year-old boy egging him on. Hermione and Ginny exchanged baffled looks.

"Do you think Severus will believe me when I tell him?" Hermione asked.

"No more than Harry," Ginny whispered.

The two girls giggled and pulled a wildly protesting Draco Malfoy away from the PS2 controller.

A week later, Draco was the proud owner of the latest PS2 paraphenalia, including the new Hogwarts craze, Dance Dance Revolution.

Oh, how the pendulum swings.

All-Halt on Internet for Awhile...

2009-05-28T19:13:02Z

ZOMG. ZOMG. I am going to DIE. X__X

Okay, not really, I'm overexaggerating. I'm only here to let all peoples who watch me on various sites to let them know I'm alive, I'm well (as well as can be, anyway), and that I am taking a leave of absence from Internets.

That Religion class? The teacher is INSANE!! She's trying to cram an entire semester's worth of work into TWO BLOODY WEEKS. I've been getting home at one, doing my homework until ten thirty, getting up at six and doing MORE homework until I get ready to leave at seven forty five, and going to school for the class. I haven't had a single moment to spare (till now and this morning) since Tuesday.

In other words... ZOMG I'M GOING TO DIE!

This has been a word from the Ugly Kitten in a time of time crunch major. All stories, including Devil's Game, drabbles, I.S., and all reading/reviewing has been halted until further notice. Yeah, I'm serious.

(In spite of insanity of teacher, I am enjoying class. Will give more details later. Must go do Judaism slides now. BYE!)

25 May 09

2009-05-25T22:52:19Z

EDIT: I just checked my grades from last semester. Aced British Lit and Sociology of Education; got B's in Multicultural Lit and Physics 101. I was really expecting a C in Physics because I was UBER lazy in that class, so it was a nice surprise. =)

I'm a bit annoyed because after yesterday's cleaning-fest, I woke up this morning with my entire lower spine spazzing out and just plain hurting like hell. The only thing that helps when that happens is to lay down in a certain angle for a while. So what should happen roughly ten minutes after I woke up and put in a movie to hopefully ride out the pain? My dad comes in and rolls me off the bed, right onto my tail bone (where the pain originates), and starts yelling at me about cleaning MORE. On a day when I've already got to go and cook dinner outside because no one's going to let me get away with cooking baby-backs in the oven.

I still hurt. T_T I managed all my normal chores and finished the living room (he's still not satisfied... >.> ) You know, I really wouldn't be so annoyed over all of this if I had some HELP. But noooo, both my brothers AND the very man who is yelling at ME for being lazy are all playing games/watching tv. You've got to realize that I do ordinary chores before the floor-cleaning (dishes/laundry/critter feeding and cleaning/etc).

*head desk*

Aaaaannywaaaaays...

Happy Memorial Day!

Additionally: I start my Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion class tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp.

Today's "drabble" isn't so much a drabble as a prologue idea to a WIKTT Marriage Law fic. I have seen so many of these (actually, they're what got me into SSHG in the first place) and I just love them to death. This was my little idea of a twist on the old thing. I probably won't continue it. I just wanted to write this to have a good nostalgic grin on my face for a bit. I'll go back and look through my fics list and give ya'll a list of my favorites in case ya'll missed any of them. =)

Congratulations, You're Married!

Severus could not believe the sight before his eyes. This infuriating girl, this know-it-all little brat - oh, fine, she was a woman now - had somehow wormed her way into his living room. He growled so deep in his throat that he was certain she hadn't heard it. Either that, or she ignored it.

Hermione Granger was in his chambers, wearing nothing more than his shirt - his! and a pair of plain black boxers, which he couldn't tell if those were his or not because he hadn't seen the inside of his wardrobe drawers for years now. What's more, she was dashing about in these items as though she owned the place.

Which she technically did, he conceded inwardly. He had been thought dead - in fact, had been medically dead for several minutes. That he was alive at all was a miracle in and of itself. Truth be told, Severus hadn't any idea how he was alive at all, let alone in his quarters at Hogwarts with a scantily-clad twenty-year-old witch.

She plunked down on the opposite couch to his and held out a plain white coffee mug. "I'm glad to see you are awake. Drink this - it's the potion I've been giving you."

Severus sniffed at the mug's contents suspiciously. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he conceded the point that if she'd been trying to poison him, he would have been dead almost three years ago. Old habits died hard. The potion contained a variety of ingredients - St. John's Wort, unicorn horn, bicorn horn, at least two species of honeysuckle, and that's just what he caught in the first whiff. He sipped at the concoction, pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted of peppermint.

"The mint aids the taste without interacting with the other ingredients," said the witch, as though they were still sitting in a classroom and he were still her teacher. "You don't need to worry about anything at the moment, sir."

"What, pray tell, should I be worried about?" he asked. Severus' mind may have been dormant for almost three years - that didn't mean he was any less sharp. He could tell that the Gryffindor was hiding something.

"Technically, all your things belong to me," she said. "You're believed to be either dead or on the run. If it were to come about that you are alive... well, I believe the Aurors might have a thing or two to say to you."

"I thought as much," Severus said. She looked off to the side for a moment, which caught Severus' keen eye. "What else?"

"Well... you're kind of... er..."

"Out with it, girl!"

Hermione glared at him. Information she'd obviously meant to break to him gently came out a cold declaration. "You're married to me."

For once, he was speechless.

"It was the only thing we could do to save you from the Dementors," Hermione said, more gently now. "The Wizengamot passed a marriage law which dissolved all present marriages of those bearing the Dark Mark. They were all required to either submit to the Dementors or marry an upstanding Muggle-born or half-blood. The marriage took effect when you woke up."

Severus could only stare at the girl - woman - before him. It was going to be an interesting night.

Hermione laughed nervously, twirling her hair around. "I guess that's a fine way to wake up, isn't it? 'Congratulations, you're married!'"

Severus didn't know whether to laugh, cry, scowl, or snarl. All four seemed to come out in a garbled, twitchy sort of way that he'd never really allowed himself to relax enough to behave like. He blinked at the empty coffee mug.

"Well, er... I've got to go get ready," Hermione said at last. "The children are returning from winter holidays. I've got to escort them back to the castle. I'll get Minerva to drop in while I'm gone, and then the three of us can come up with a plan after that."

Severus nodded, still utterly bewildered by the sudden turn of events. His eyes widened when the witch knelt beside his couch and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. In his state of swirling thoughts and emotions, he couldn't help but watch the woman's hips as she seemed to saunter to the bedroom.

With a start, he realized it was their bedroom.

Oh, gods, what had he gotten himself into?

24 Drabble 09

2009-05-25T01:53:21Z

I spent most of the day cleaning the front room of my parents' house. Unfortunately, we have far too many critters (love them though I do), so cleaning is a huge chore in this house. Especially considering that no one does it at all unless yelled at by someone else. I'm guilty of both the ignoring the problem and the yelling at others (mostly when I want help).

When I say we have problems... I mean that there is usually feces on the floor, stuff knocked over, trash everywhere, and it's usually been at least a month since any one part of the floor has been cleaned. Portions of the house haven't been touched in over a year. Consider the fact that I am constantly sick, mom is constantly sick, and the men of the house seem to believe that it is their God-given right to sit on their asses in front of TV/Video games/Internet all day long when they are home from work/school.

At least I do dishes/trash/lawn mowing/laundry consistently. That is my own w00t-moment usually. On top of going to school and attempting to work.

Consider also that it took me five hours to pick up the living room. Nothing else. Just pick it up, get shit (literally AND figuratively) off the floor. Another two hours to mop only a quarter of the room. Yes, I am exhausted. I'm also a little angry because I was doing it alone. Again.

At any rate, here's today's drabble/story. =)

To Draw on These Times

Dean Thomas first noticed me out one sleepy afternoon in my fifth year at Hogwarts. The sun was shining in through the library window, giving me plenty of light for my most secret of passions: sketching. I wasn't allowed the extra parchment because of our living situation, so I had to wait painstakingly for my homework assignments to be returned to me each class. I sketched on the back of them reverently, trying not to bleed through the parchment so that I still had a copy of my work at the end of the day.

I savored each line I made with the Muggle pencil I'd nicked from Dad. Today, I was sketching Draco Malfoy and his cronies. Their large hands were difficult for me because I ordinarily drew the much-skinnier girls in my dorm. Most of the sixth- and seventh-years thought it was stupid, so I hid the raw "talent" from most of Hogwarts.

"That's really good," said a quiet, baritone voice behind me. I glanced up in surprise. Dean, one of my brother's dorm mates, was standing there as though he didn't know quite what to do with himself "If you bring this line in just a bit, you'll have it exactly."

I followed his instruction, delighted to find that it worked.

So began the short relationship betwixt he and I.

23 Drabble 09 and introductory material (18+!)

2009-05-24T04:30:49Z

Soooo... as most of ya'll know, I have been writing on Devil's Game, which I have just recently posted up a new chapter on TPP (awaiting the queue). You might also know that I do not have a beta (I did at one point, but she had to drop out due to RL stuff). A little-known factoid about me: Prior to this beta, who did a total of four chapters of DG, I have never used a beta before. My writing is as it stands, ordinarily, which is why I was so keen on joining TPP. Imagine my surprise when I only got about twenty or so mistakes on each chapter.

Also, prior to this moment, I have never written a PWP. I figured I had best get some practice in before I reach the scenes where it is required of me in DG, though.

For anyone who doesn't know what PWP means: The following story is for adults eighteen (18) and older. I do not own the characters, they belong to the illustrious JKR, my idol.

Oh, and if you've just stumbled onto this, click on the drabble tag at the bottom - this is the latest in a series of daily drabbles. Well, I guess you can't really call this a drabble... too long. XD

Maple Leaves and Roobios Tea

Severus Snape was a nervous wreck. Oh, he looked like he had it all together on the outside, just as he always did. Occlumency worked well enough in one's favor to keep the outer visage a calm, calculated blank.

But behind the walls, he was a fucking nervous wreck.

Hermione had invited him over to her castle apartments for the first time since they'd begun seeing one another exclusively. Was tonight the night? Would he finally experience what those tantelizing kisses she so easily, sultrily bestowed at their every meeting?

He dressed in casual, black, Muggle jeans and a simple long-sleeved dark green t-shirt. She had insisted he wear clothes that did not make her feel "as though I were an annoying know-it-all little brat" in his presence. He chortled at the memory, the sound quickly choked by his rising nerves.

"Get a hold of yourself!" he snarled in the bathroom mirror. "It's not as though she's the Dark Lord herself, you great bloody git!"

The mirror replied. "Well, really, you act as though she were worse."

Severus did not reply, but began to comb his somewhat longer black hair, glad that his hopefully soon-to-be lover had spent the time to point him in the right direction for his too-oily hair. He set the comb carefully on the counter, toying with the teeth to pull his loosened hairs off onto the floor. With a snarl, he fisted his hand and stopped abruptly what he was doing.

Procrastinating. He hadn't even done that in his schoolboy days before Hogwarts. A mere slip of a girl - woman - was turning him into a flexible, kind-hearted, better-looking softie!

And he damn well was enjoying it.

XXX

Hermione Granger was a nervous wreck. She looked like it, too. Her hair was wildly curling off, far worse than per usual. Her cream-and-coffee colored eyes were wide as she waved her wand around like some mad witch from Muggle fairy tales. A maple-leaf cast iron teapot filled with water on the table, boiling water spilled into it. A smudge of flour was still on her right cheek from baking biscuits earlier that afternoon.

She was a right mess.

The fragrant aroma of rooibos tea rose from her sitting room as she fled back to her bedroom to get things ready in there. Her wand waved frantically, quite unlike the ordinarily composed Charms professor. The bed widened to support the new king-sized, black jersey bed sheets. New candles flew from their place on either side of the bed, in the simple pale green sconces she had bought to replace the scarlet ones laying in her rubbish bin. Her comfortable old quilt, the one that a group of seventh-year, cross-House friends had given her a few years ago, turned down. Her green and red bed curtains tied themselves back.

She dove into the bathroom and began casting spells on her hair faster than Lavender Weasley prior to a Ministry function. The wild curls tamed themselves, wrapping into corkscrew curls. She knew that by the end of this night, they'd be right back to where they'd started - a mess - but she didn't give a damn for once. A black dress that stopped just above her knees flew from the cupboard and over her head.

She just hoped that it came off as quickly.

Hermione had just pulled the rest of the creases from the flared skirts of the dress, still shoeless, when the knock came. She took a deep breath to still her nerves - yeah, right - and muttered, "Fuck the bloody fucking shoes."

It was a smiling, composed, shoeless Hermione Granger who answered the door five seconds later. Behind it was a composed Severus Snape, bearing red roses and a polite bow.

"Miss Granger," he murmured, intentionally lowering his voice to silk.

"What have I said about that?" Hermione teased. "Are these for me?"

"I see no other women," Severus said. He glanced down at her shoeless feet, trailing his eyes up her legs slower than necessary. "Where are your shoes, girl?"

"In my closet," Hermione said, a delightful shiver running up her spine at his gaze. "And I am not a girl."

"Funny, you do not resemble a boy."

Hermione scowled. "You know what I meant."

"Indeed."

Hermione backed away from the door as Severus passed into her kitchen. She cast her traditional wards, along with a silencing charm just in case. As she did so, she called out over her shoulder.

"There's a vase in the cupboard under the sink. When you're finished, there's tea and biscuits in the sitting room."

Severus did as he was bade - with no small amount of grumbling - and went to pour himself a cup of tea. The teapot was cast iron, of a Chinese Muggle make. It was dark red and covered with raised images of maple leaves. He wondered if Hermione knew that the Chinese considered motifs of maple leaves to mean "abundant peace."

He was even more surprised when he poured the tea into one of the plain white mugs. It was red tea. When Hermione appeared from warding her door, he asked her if she'd known the meaning of the leaves.

"I knew that the Japanese called them 'babies' hands,' I bought the pot in Tokyo," Hermione said. "I will have to look that up. Chinese spells are often intertwined with their motifs."

Severus sipped his tea after putting a teaspoon of honey in it. "It's odd. Every person I have ever taken tea with drinks a different tea."

"Everyone has different tastes," Hermione said, smiling. "Ginny likes PG Tips. Minerva likes chamomile or peppermint. Horace likes exotic fruit flavors. I can't stand taking tea with him - blueberry tea! Honestly."

"Albus liked orange pekoe with lemon," Severus said quietly.

Hermione smiled gently. "Of course. He always did like lemon flavors."

They fell into a thoughtful silence. After a time, Severus began to surrepticiously observe her. She was worrying on her lower lip again. He watched, amazed, as she finally released it. The lip was plumped as though kissed, red. She carefully broke a biscuit on the plate, first into halves, then into quarters. One quarter found its way into her mouth, her tiny tongue flicking out between those plump lips to catch the stray crumbs.

It was intoxicating.

She never stayed still. A shift of her hips, a wriggle of her stockingless, shoeless toes. She tucked them under her for a moment. And then she seemed to change her mind, because she set her mug of tea down and shifted about. He caught a glorious, tantalizing glimpse of her knickers - green and comfortable - before she adjusted her dress.

She reached for another cookie piece, and Severus could take no more of the silence. He adjusted himself just a bit - to cover up getting closer to her and his growing errection.

"How were your classes today?" Severus asked, and immediately began berrating himself inwardly for his stupidity.

Hermione's eyebrows rose slightly. "They were fine, Severus. Are you... all right?"

"Perfectly," he said. He tried not to wince at the slightly higher pitch to his voice. Hermione leaned over toward him, sending his blood pumping again. He could see down her dress, could see the green bra that held her breasts. He swallowed hard.

"Severus..." Hermione murmured, shifting on the couch so that she could get even closer, her face getting nearer to his. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were nervous."

"What have I got to be nervous about?" Severus demanded, some of his old voice coming back to his throat.

The damage, however, had been done. "You are." She giggled, the light sound sending more of the odd nerves down his spine. Hermione bypassde his lips and went straight for his ear. He gasped as her lips grazed the lobe. "I am, too."

Severus let out a breath, only to have it catch again moments later when Hermione's lips and teeth latched onto his ear lobe. Warmth spread all across his body, sending the nerves from before flying to be replaced by a very different sort of emotion: lust.

Hermione was on a pleasure high the likes of which she hadn't known since she had first experienced a kiss from this man. The high wound tighter as she realized she held a certain amount of power over him. Just as quickly as she was discovering it, however, he took control. His lips crashed down onto hers with passionate abandon, soft skin, fierce pressure, his hands buried in her hair the only sensation she knew.

She kissed back with every ounce of her own strength, pushing her tongue past his lips to snake along the top of his, pushing and pushing him back, only to have him push back more fiercely. His tongue battled hers until she submitted and allowed him into her mouth.

Hands grasped and spasmed on shoulders, traveling along hips and bone, seeking a resting place, seeking flesh. Hermione yanked Severus' shirt over his head so fast he didn't have the time to consider that his hair was buzzing with static electricity. With renewed fervor, he brushed his lips with hers again, only to trail open-mouthed kisses down the long column of her throat.

The first nip caught her entirely off guard, eliciting a loud moan from the witch. His answering growl sped up her hands' motions. He was a bit off-putted when she suddenly pushed him away, only to stare in utter shock as she whipped the black dress over her head. Her Slytherin-green knickers and bra set were obviously new - purchased for this evening alone, perhaps? He would ask her later.

For now, he pounced on her again, drawing her into the couch against his solid, nude chest. She delighted in the thrill of skin contact, driving her fever pitch ever higher for completion. She kissed his mouth again, only to moan aloud when his fingers began to pluck at her nipples through the satin fabric containing them.

Severus flicked the bra's hooks open, greedily swooping down at last to devour the first dark rose bead. Hermione's hands clutched at his staticky hair, sighs and incoherent whispers passing through her lips. Jolts of pleasure slithered into her belly, flopping around as though she had swallowed one too many hummingbirds - forget fucking butterflies at this point.

Hermione's hands scrambled to his trouser placket, plucking at his belt for a moment before braving the buttons and zipper. She breathed an inward sigh of relief for not accidentally mucking it up - the first time she'd been in a hurry with Ron, she'd accidentally caught his cock in the zip. Definitely not the way to start a sexual relationship with her new paramour.

All thoughts of zippers - though not cocks - vanished when she pulled his trousers and boxers down with one fell swoop. He was big. Not so terribly huge that Hermione feared for her safety, but quite a bit larger than the three total sexual partners she'd had prior to him.

Somehow, he had managed to get her out of her knickers without her help - was it magic? He nudged her toward the bedroom with the heel of his hand.

"I don't know about you," he murmured softly in her ear. "But my knees cannot take a liaison on the couch."

Hermione pranced across the room nude, indulgently walking so that her pert bottom wiggled just enough to entice him. "You're not that old, old man. Come. It's this way."

Severus bit the inside of his cheek to keep from making a horrid joke to follow up her order. One look in the bedroom, and he glanced at his lover with his trademark smirk in place. "Anticipating?"

"For longer than was necessary," Hermione retorted, shoving the taller human in the room toward the bed. She pounced on his chest, careening the both of them to sprawling positions on the Transfigured bed. She struggled only for a minute to get on top of him, lazily holding his wrists in place above his head. "Now I've got you right where I want you."

"Please, please, whatever shall I do?" Severus drawled lackadaisacally.

Hermione grinned with an evil sort of glint in her eye. With a lazy twist of her hips, she brought his cock right to the center of her most fervent of aches. Severus hissed at the contact.

A quick move that caught Hermione by surprise had Severus on top in no time at all. Hermione yelped at the sudden flip, moaning when Severus realigned himself with her. "Now who's got who?"

Hermione bucked her hips as Severus pulled away. "Severus, please..."

"You're allowed to tease, but I am not? Such a double standard you have, Miss Granger," Severus purred. He pressed ever-so-gently into her moist depths, pulling back out so quickly Hermione barely had time to moan.

"Severus!" Hermione shivered under him, kissing his neck. "Please, fuck me," she whispered softly.

He didn't have to be told a third time. With a growl that might have rivaled a werewolf's, Severus thrust into her for the first time. The effort to do so had him panting, his forehead touching hers.

"You feel good," she breathed.

"So do you," he murmured, giving a shallow thrust.

Hermione wrapped her arms around him closely and kissed him. That was all he needed. At first he couldn't find the right rhythm to please them both, but then he settled on a quick snap of his hips, followed by a slow withdrawal.

Their breaths quickened, their hearts raced, and his soft grunt and her soft moans soon escalated into feverish growls and yells.

"Nnnngh, S-Sev-erus!" Hermione groaned. "Faster!"

Severus adjusted his angle and grasped her hips tightly. He thrust into her tight, hot body faster and faster, concentrating all of his mind on the task. The feel of her around him aroused him to higher and higher depths.

Hermione thrust her hips up to meet his, the tiny ball of lust in the pit of her stomach growing tighter and tighter with every voluntary impalement. The electric current flowed out of and into her. Her incoherent moans began to take on another set of syllables - his name.

The chant grew higher and higher pitched with every coil that tightened. Closer and closer the peak came, until at last she breached it. She howled his name at the same time that he began to thrust faster than ever, spilling into her nanoseconds later.

His breath came short, his mind fogged with lust, but still he recalled that he should not collapse on top of her. He rolled onto his back on one side of her to catch his breath.

She snuggled into his side, sighing even as she was catching her own breath. As her heartbeat evened out and sleep claimed her, she murmured into his chest a phrase that sounded suspiciously like, "like you."

Severus chuckled softly. He disentangled her from his carefully and reached down to the end of the bed to pull up the covers. Without needing to turn off any lights, Severus curled his arm around his sleeping lover and pulled her in close under the covers. She murmured and nuzzled and threw her leg possessively over his before settling again.

After only a few minutes lying there, Severus slept. He dreamed of red maple leaves and rooibos tea.

I need some serious crit on this. >.> BTW, my favorite tea is a rooibo chai/mate vana blend and I own a teapot of the precise dimensions as Hermione's. I thought it'd be an interesting center for beginning their sexual relationship. "Abundant peace" indeed. Rooibos tea, or red tea, contains some caffeine, but it also boosts your immune system. Some people claim it has a similar effect to chocolate, even though it does not contain the same ingredient that causes the release of endorphins found in chocolate.