sitting in front of the fire sipping a s'mores mocha

Yuletide 2008 Fic: Young Wizards

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:37:02 GMT

Nita grabbed the spider plant out of her father's Ford. Her dad followed her into the house, carrying her shower kit.

"Thank you for picking me up. I'm so glad I got that job at the library-- Mrs. Lesser said it's mostly grunt work, but it's a start, right?"

"Great, Nita."

"And I never have to live in the dorms again, although I will miss my friends."

Nita placed the spider plant on the kitchen table and went to the fridge for a Coke.
"Listen , honey, we need to talk," Her dad sat down at the table and plucked at the spider plant.

Nita plopped down in the chair across from him. "Is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong? No, of course, Nita. It's just... I don't know how to say this." Harry took a deep breath.

*** *** ***

Nita hurled a drool covered tennis ball towards the bushes again. The Senior wizards' Great Dane galloped after it. Annie had died during her second year at NYU.

The back door slid open and a voice called out, "Is something wrong?"

"No!"

"Cause the kois are complaining." Tom Swale sat down on the grass next her. "They said you deliberately threw Maverick's ball in their pond.

"I don't know why they'd think that." Actually, she'd been trying to get Maverick to fall into the pond, but with his long legs he easily leapt right over.

"They said something about pennies. I'm not really sure either. Drop it!" He grabbed the ball off the ground when Maverick obeyed.

Play, play, play!

"I'm just hanging out," Nita muttered. Maverick's tail swatted her in the head, and she pushed the excited dog away.

Throw, throw, throw!

"Right. The first day as an alumni of NYU, and you're just hanging out in our back yard with Maverick. Who isn't exactly a stunning conversationalist."

Why, why, why? The dog whined and butted his head into Tom's chest.

"Wait, Maverick." Tom ordered.

"Did you know my dad is going to Europe to lead garden tours?" Nita said, staring up at the sky.

"Yes, Harry told us on Memorial Day. We invited him over for steak. He sounded really excited."

"He's renting the house to someone."

"Well, there's no point in letting it sit empty, and he didn't want to leave you with the responsibility."

"Yeah, but now I don't have anywhere to live. I can't stay at Kit's, he's in California interning at that architecture firm."

"How much can you afford in rent?"

"About $400."

"Hm." Tom stood up and brushed off his jeans.

"I don't want to live in the city, and I'd go crazy if I lived at the Crossings."

"I can't imagine you and Dairine coexisting peacefully, anyway. Come on, I want to show you something." He tossed the ball at Maverick and walked towards the screen door.

She followed him into the house out of curiosity. Maybe he had some sort of wizardry project to distract her with. Oh, crap. Maybe the tree in living room was trying to take root in the carpet again. The little tropical tree had been difficult enough to reason with the first time, and the oak beneath the carpet wouldn't stand for another invasion. Luckily, Tom opened a door before reaching the kitchen. And walked down the stairs.

She hadn't been aware that they'd had a finished basement. Tom opened the first door on the left and reached in to flip on the light.

"What to you think?"

She stepped inside. There was a full sized waterbed with a Star Wars comforter on it. Two windows with empty window wells outside, white walls, purple shag carpet. No plants. She opened the second door in the room and found a large walk in closet. No bugs, either.

"Nice room. Always wanted a water bed," she said, when it became apparent that Tom was waiting for her to reply.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, Uncle Steve had one. Dad said they were too expensive."

"Excellent. Well, let's say $250 a month, plus utilities, and you have the run of the kitchen, of course."

Nita's mouth dropped open. "I didn't mean, I mean, that wasn't a hint."

"Sure, I know, but we've had roommates before. It cuts down on the bills, and you already know about the wizardry. We won't have to hide our books this time!"

"But even if I say yes, that's too low." This would be perfect. It was walking distance to the library, but she didn't want to live here because Tom took pity on her.

"All right, if you insist. How about--"

A door slammed upstairs and Carl's voice called "Tom? Tom, you home?"

"Nita and I are downstairs," Tom yelled. He smiled widely at Nita. "How about 275, cooking once a week, and you can help Carl."

"Help Carl with gate stuff?"

"Well, no. I mean, you can help us with wizardry projects anytime, but 'helping Carl' really means making sure he doesn't destroy the house. He's addicted to HGTV. If he wants to work on the plumbing, that's OK, but if he says anything about the wiring, you distract him, call an electrician and then call me. So, do we have a deal?" He stuck his hand out.

Carl's footsteps pounded down the stairs She looked at Tom's face, shining white teeth and small crinkles at the corners of bright eyes. Why not, she thought, and shook his hand.

"Hey, why are you two down here?" Carl leaned against the doorframe. "Hey, you didn't sell Nita my Star Wars blanket, did you, Tom? Nita, it's not for sale, no matter what he says."

Tom rolled his eyes," Wrong Callahan, Carl. Actually, you'd better put it in the storage room before she decides to burn it."

"What? Why would she want to burn it?"

" I'm renting the room. That is, if it's okay with you," Nita said when Tom didn't reply immediately.

"Of course it's OK! Where's your stuff?"

"At my dad's house. I'll go get it now, I guess."

"All right! You'll move in, we'll stay up all night watching scary movies, and in the morning, I'm making waffles."

Tom snorted. "Don't bug her, she's probably got a lot of stuff to do. Would you like some help, Nita?"

"Sure!"

As they headed up the stairs, Nita wondered what Kit would think. Her father would be relieved that Tom and Carl would be there to watch out for her. Dairine would probably call her a loser and then plot with Carl to scare all of her dates away. Then again, maybe she had bigger problems. What exactly was HGTV?

My first fanfic!

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:40:55 GMT

This is actually a "10 things they don't know" list based on several of the vicious plot bunnies attacking my brain. Obviously, Arthur is rather AU. And no, Arthur Weasley and associates do not belong to me.

A baker’s dozen- 13 things his children don’t know about Arthur Weasley

He actually prefers noise to quiet. More interestingly, he prefers Charlie’s KISS records to Ginny’s fixation on the Weird Sisters.
Bill hides three tattoos from Molly. It didn’t even occur to Arthur to hide his six tattoos from Molly- but, well, he’ll never tell her the full story behind the mermaid on his left cheek.
Which he got because his first wife was part mermaid. Or part naga. Or a descendant of the Loch Ness Monster. He’s not really sure, but she could drink him under the table, and ancient magic nearly killed him in a seaport with his own stupidity every time.
He sometimes misses those days- but only when Fudge is being particularly boring, and that causes him to lose every third official memo for at least a week.
He hates working at the Ministry, but he enjoys annoying Fudge so much that he’ll probably never quit. Also, he makes a nice side profit off selling confiscated WWW products to his fellow sufferers.
During his lunch hour, he says that he eats Molly’s bratwurst sandwiches in one of the break rooms with Foxtrot, the Minister of Transportation, when, in fact, he drinks boom-boom with Fortescue, Blott, four goblins, three Unspeakables, two criminals, one vampire, and the random lady of the evening down at Knockturn’s finest pub, the Hob’s Hole. There might even be the occasional wager on a game of darts.
He never drinks in front of his children because they really don’t need to know that their dad knows all fifty verses of “The Hedgehog can never be buggered”. (Charlie currently holds the record of 39).
He’s well aware that Percy never brings a girl home because of Ian, his roommate for the last three years. He wishes that he could tell Percy that he doesn’t care, but he doesn’t think his children would ever believe that he prefers men over Molly.
While Arthur will admit that Lucius Malfoy and Lockhart are aesthetically pleasing, he prefers his objects of lust to have a heart and a brain, if not a sense of humor. But Kingsley Shacklebolt? Given the chance, he’d hit that seven ways to Sunday.
He never will though, because workplace romances are messy. He’d probably have to quit his job, and then what would he do? Molly won’t accept blood money, which is why several thousand galleons are gathering dust in vortex vault that Ron would never forgive his dad for if he knew about it.
Ginny thinks Arthur dislikes Fleur because she’s a French slut. Actually, Arthur’s mother was French and Arthur’s forgotten the names of more lovers than Fleur has probably had. No, it’s the fake accent that drives him up the wall.
Arthur speaks 32 languages, both dead and alive. He doesn’t bother counting each dialect anymore. He still receives at least two job offers per year from all over the world.
He won’t accept any of the offers until Molly dies, which will be shortly before Harry kills Voldemort. Then Arthur will disappear. He won’t say goodbye and he won’t give the traditional two weeks notice. He’ll simply vanish, and reappear somewhere far, far away…

Well, here I am...

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:40:38 GMT

I really don't have time for a journal, but the lure of fandom is much too strong for me to resist. So if someone out there is reading this, they should know that this will be a fandom only journal, and that Harry Potter is my main fandom. I love the Weasleys, and I adore Hermione. Here's to actually feeding the evil plot bunnies!