[bunnysunshine8]

• “Are you interested in men?” Katsuki quickly interrupts, before his nerd can regale them with a thirty-minute tale about the origins of fucking Spider-Man (Katsuki already knows all that shit anyway).

• Sero makes a sort of wheezing sound.

• Todoroki just blinks. “Ah.” A moment passes, and then he steeples his hands together in front of his mouth. “I had a feeling this day might come.”

• “What day?” Deku asks guilelessly, eyes owl-wide.

• “Bakugou. Midoriya.” Half-and-Half draws in a breath. “As honored as I am that you would come to me, I care too deeply about both of you to risk ruining our friendship just to join as a third participant in your —“

• “Oh, fuck off!” Katsuki explodes, lunging forward to grab Todoroki’s stupid black cape while Sero bursts out laughing and Deku splutters and frantically flails his hands in some nerd-version of denial.

(Unexpected Baby Mine)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “I think that probably says more about you that it does about Harry, Professor Snape,” Bill Weasley shakes his head. Severus knows this is fair, but still scowls. “Tell them about second year, Ron.”

• “Why?” Ron glares at Sirius and Remus, twists his face to sneer at Severus. “They’ll just dismiss it. It’s just like Harry said. Nobody believes it could happen to him.”

• That strikes Severus so firmly that for a moment, he cannot take a breath. ‘Who am I going to tell, Lily? Nobody will believe me.’ He is the head of Slytherin. He sees more abuse cases than any other member of staff and he missed it. He missed Lily’s son.

• “Harry’s strong, Harry’s brave,” Sirius is muttering. “Harry would never let them—,”

• “Let them?” Severus feels outrage at that, too but it’s Ronald Weasley, with all the disgust Severus could possibly muster, that speaks. “Let them?”

• “He fought Voldemort !” Black yells. “He outflew a dragon, he’s - he’s -, “

• “He asked to move in with you seconds after meeting you,” Lupin mumbles against Black’s shoulder. When he lifts his head, Severus sees there the same kind of devastation he had felt learning about Regulus’ childhood. It’s one thing to suffer yourself, another when someone you love does. “Remember, Siri? You asked, he’d just met you, he had no idea who you were and still—,”

• “No!” Black shakes his head fervently. “We would have known. I would have known! Someone would have known, someone would have told!” Black glares at Granger again. “Harry would have told someone! Why didn’t you make him?”

• Oddly, Granger doesn’t look at Black. She looks past him, to Albus.

• “What do you want me to say?” Granger whispers.

• Severus feels it. The white-hot fury inside every one of the adults, including himself, as they turn to glare at the old man at the head of the table, who is holding Grangers gaze with sorrowful eyes.

• “You knew,” Severus says, flatly. Albus darts his eyes to Severus for a moment and Severus sends words across the void of minds in the way only a skilled legillimens can: You promised you would keep him safe. Albus flinches.

• “What?” Lupin is staring at Albus and astonishingly, his eyes are turning to liquid amber. Oh, shit. “She’s saying you knew? Did…Did Harry tell you?”

• “He mentioned that he was not happy there,” Albus sighs slowly, closing his blue eyes. “He mentioned there was a…a lack of love, perhaps.”

• “Yes, well, apparently that lack of love was enough to draw a pint of blood out of his body,” Severus snarls.

(The Heir to the House of Prince)

[bunnysunshine8]

• Harry opens his eyes and looks at Voldemort. He tries to hate him, but he can no longer do so, just as he’s never quite learnt to stop. He doesn’t try to forgive him, knowing he will never be able to, just as he’ll never work out how to stop being hurt by this.

• Here it is, he’s facing it, and all he can do is react. Voldemort is watching him, almost curious, but there’s a stiffness to his shoulders that there almost never is. It’s like he’s bracing himself, preparing for an attack, ready with rebuttals and arguments.

• And Harry just … can’t.

• He lowers his gaze, dipping his head, and he starts crying with no build-up whatsoever. He needs none. This is a phantom ache that’s existed in him the whole time, and he needs none flaring emotions to prod it. As simply as one might drift off into sleep, Harry cries — open and honest and soul-deep. It’s the quiet sort of crying. Weeping. The kind you associate with pain that can’t be healed, pain that last until the tortured soul saddled with it learns to deal with it. The kind that comes out in tragic moments of grief and loss, in departure that will not eventually turn into reunion.

• Harry has cried many times in front of Voldemort, but never quite like this. It’s naked and true, like he’s splitting himself open and showing something that should be his secret and no one else’s. Tears like this are reserved for the stuffy silence of a cupboard, or the fabric of his pillow on Halloween night; it’s never been out in the open.

• “Harry,” Voldemort says, quiet, subdued.

• “Don’t,” Harry breathes, his breath shuddering out of him, the word hitching on a sob. “Just don’t.”

• Voldemort is silent for a long time, but he doesn’t remain so. “Harry,” he starts again, “you knew all of this would happen. You knew there would be a war. You knew what I would do. I never lied to you.”

• “I did know,” Harry agrees through his tears. His whole body shakes with the attempts at stalling his sons, though there’s no use for it. He sounds like a small child, hiccuping softly and trying to right his balance as the world stretches and tips all around him. “I did know. I knew.”

• Harry picks up his head and looks at Voldemort, just looks at him. He lets Voldemort see him like this, let’s him witness yet another thing he’s broken, let’s him take it in with shrewd, ruby red eyes. And, in this look, he knows that Voldemort will see that, despite everything, Harry does not hate him. Just like he can’t hate Dumbledore.

• Voldemort isn’t moving. He’s very still, as if frozen in place, trapped in that chair. Harry wishes he were stuck there where he can’t hurt anyone, always waiting in his seat for Harry to come sit across from him. But that is not reality, and it’s time for Harry to wake up, to face what he’s been avoiding.

• In his avoidance, he’s allowed himself to get hurt. That is his own fault. It’s just as Voldemort said, isn’t it? He never lied to Harry, not once.

(Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “Can someone please enlighten me?” Black yells, struggling against Albus’ invisible bonds. Lupin is staring at Fred Weasley in shock, perhaps too much shock to understand what’s really going on.

• “Yes,” Lupin whispers. “Can someone please…?”

• “You still need enlightening?” Ginny Weasley snarls in a fine impression of Black. For a fourteen-year-old, she really is a vicious little thing. “Really? You’re the sodding Order of the Phoenix, you’re the front line in the defense against You-Know-Who and you can’t bloody figure it out that Harry Potter is being abused?”

• There it is.

• There is a cacophony of noise, of shouts and of Black trying to leap out of his chair but toppling backwards like an upturned beetle. Severus doesn’t hear it, not really. He’s seeing Potter’s bedroom. The blood. The locks. He’s seeing it as the bedroom of the sad voiced boy who left the phone message. He resists it, clenches his fists against the realization but he knows.

(The Heir to the House of Prince)

[bunnysunshine8]

• Harry hates it. “Draco, we don’t have to fight. I don’t want to fight with you.”

• “Why ever not? We’re so terribly good at it,” Draco muses, arching an eyebrow.

• “I’m serious,” Harry whispers. “Your sarcasm is noted, but not helpful. Just – just talk to me. Do you think you’re the only one who’s angry or – or hurt?”

• Draco looks away. “What are your favorite flowers, Harry?” He asks.

• “Er, what?” Harry blinks, genuinely thrown for a moment by the abrupt question, but Draco waits patiently, so he considers it seriously. “Well, I’ve never actually thought about it, actually, but I suppose… lilies would be.”

• “Sentimental,” Draco says softly, lips curling up just a bit. Even from the side, though, Harry can see how utterly sad his expression is for a brief moment, like ice over a lake cracking. He covers it quickly and pins Harry with a serious look. “I’ll be sure to place some at your grave.”

(Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “With the kindest hearts in the world, Ginny, that is not for you all to decide,” Lupin says shakily. “We’re the adults here, we’re responsible for Harry’s care.”

• “But he didn’t send you the message, did he?” Ronald says gruffly. “If he trusted you, he would have sent it to you. But he didn’t. So why should we?”

• Not the most erudite of speeches but certainly effective, Severus muses, leaning back against the wall as a hideous silence falls. Lupin gapes at Ronald like a fish out of water. Black stares at him like he wishes he had done more than broken his leg a year ago.

• “Ronnie!” Molly cries, standing up and staring at her son. “What a horrible thing to say! You don’t trust us?”

• “With Harry,” Fred Weasley puts in, correcting his mother carefully. “We don’t trust you with Harry. That’s all he’s saying.”

(The Heir to the House of Prince)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “I’m telling Granger, by the way,” Draco cuts him off, tilting his chin up. “All of it. Perhaps she’ll smack some sense into you.”

• “Ah, uh, Draco,” Harry mumbles, heart dropping in pure fear instantly. He tosses a glance at Mrs. Malfoy and Lucius, who are both watching them and eavesdropping shamelessly. “Could you, er, possibly not do that? She’s going to—“

• “Murder you?” Draco suggests, arching an eyebrow at him. “Yes, that is the goal. Perhaps I’ll wrangle Weasley in as well, if I can. After all, he and I will have to play nice eventually, and what better way to bond than find mutual desire to have a go at Harry Potter? I think we’ll get in quite nicely when it comes to that, don’t you?”

• “Weasley?!” Lucius sputters.

• “Not now, Father,” Draco snaps, tone clipped.

• Harry winces. “You’re going to tell on me. You really are, Draco. So bloody dramatic.”

• “Someone has to,” Draco says with a sniff.

• “Don’t be a prat,” Harry grumbles, only to take a steady breath. “No, actually, keep doing that. Might help me get through this. “You’re going back to Hogwarts, and I think we should—“

• Draco reached out to put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, sighing as if he’s dealing with a toddler prone to tantrums. Slowly, he shakes his head and says very simply, “No.”

• “No?” Harry echos incredulously. For all they’ve bickered about this, Draco’s argument usually comes in the form of a snog—this is unexpected and, in a way, slightly humiliating.

• “No,” Draco repeats calmly. “I just… don’t accept it today, so you’ll have to wait to try when you see me again. Sorry to bother, dear.”

• Harry opens and closes his mouth soundlessly for a moment, then sputters, “You can’t just—“

• “I’ll be sure to write,” Draco cuts him off once more, smooth and simple, leaning forward to press a kiss to Harry’s cheek. As he pulls back, he smiles and declares, “Ignore my letters, and I’ll kill you.”

(Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey)

[bunnysunshine8]

• Harry blinks. “Oh. Well, yeah, that’s fine. Not Lucius, though. I might kill him after a lesson.”

• “I do not know if you’re joking.”

• “Honestly? Neither do I.”

• “Go rest, Harry,” Voldemort says, looking vaguely amused again.

• “Goodnight,” Harry says without thinking, grimacing as soon as he hears himself. He instantly turns and starts for the door.

• Voldemort hums in undeniable amusement from behind him. “Goodnight. Nagini, say goodnight.”

• ‘Goodnight,’ Nagini says agreeably.

(Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey)

[bunnysunshine8]

• Nat reaches for his hand, palm settling over the top of it. She closes her fingers and encourages him to make a fist. It’s impossible to see the Mark with his hand clenched. Then she points to the three cameras in the lobby area. The two of them are seated in the only blindspot.

• He makes a mental note to buy her something special later…

• The spy helps him pull on his shirt and vest. He goes without the jacket and tie. Standing up again is an ordeal that requires him to brace against the wall. There’s more aches than just his chest. His back, when he landed into the chairs. The side of his face where he took a blow from an elbow. He goes to touch his temple. The area stings and he can feel the wet stickiness of blood.

• Tony gives a sigh. “Tell me I’m still pretty.”

• “Devastatingly so.”

• He updates the mental note to buy her two special things.

(The Fight Against Touch)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “To know that you cannot disappoint them, no matter what you do, should. By simply breathing, you have given them what they wanted. The rest, I believe, is your choice.”

• Harry closes his eyes. “That’s not fair. I’ve asked you to stop. You-you can’t do this to me.”

• “I have done nothing but be honest.”

• “Please.”

• “I do not know what you are asking for,” Voldemort admits, his voice so soft, almost melodic.

• “I don’t want to forgive you,” Harry chokes out.

• “Then do not,” Voldemort murmurs. “I do not expect you to.”

• Harry opens his eyes, feeling his face and heart twist sharply. “I already have.”

( Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “I don’t understand you.” Spinner’s voice carried easily through the silence and Izuku looked at him with a dry expression.

• “How so?” He couldn’t will his voice to be any louder than it was but Spinner had no issue hearing him.

• “Stain speaks highly of you; says you are the true image of a hero. And yet all I see is a weak child, who can’t even make sure they’ve fed themselves.” His tone was cutting, or maybe it was just Izuku’s muddled brain making the statement seem nastier than it was. His expression didn’t seem angry.

• “Because I am.”

• Spinner looked over confusion coloring his face, his brows furrowed causing the scales on his face to shift. Izuku was momentarily distracted by the faint shimmering color of them. Shaking his head of that thought he sighed a heavy sigh.

• “I am a hero student; everyone seems to forget that. I’m still learning, I’m still coping with situations bigger than me.” Izuku stressed the word student, because that’s what he was a student, someone who needs to be taught.

• “Why is it that as soon as I fail to meet someone’s expectation everyone forgets that I am still learning, that I’m bound to make mistakes.”

(Discovering New Boundaries)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “Oh, and Kreacher, best not to tell Sirius I’m aiding and abetting your smuggling of Black goods,” Harry smirks. “He might kill me, and I know how much you are hoping you’ll finally get the chance to off me yourself.”

• “Indeed, Heir Black. Kreacher longs for that day.”

• Kreacher’s face twists in a grin and then he pops away. Harry signs, looks at himself in the mirror. It says a lot that in the few days when he has received his heirships, correspondence with his godfather and finally heard a little from the outside world, the nicest thing to happen to him is a homicidal house elf healing him.

(The Heir to the House of Prince)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “Please,” he chokes out, “just—just stop it. Stop making this so hard. You’re all making this so sodding hard, and I don’t know what is wrong or right anymore. Stop being better than him towards me; you’re supposed to be worse! I can’t forgive you, I just can’t, don’t you get that? I shouldn’t, but I do, and I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know alright? I don’t-“

(Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey)

[bunnysunshine8]

• The kids split and luckily Kaminari seemed to be on Midoriya watch snatching him up before anyone else could.

• “Kaminari could you trade partners? I want Young Midoriya to work with young Bakugou.” Aizawa looked at the man like he was insane, did they not make it abundantly clear that they weren’t to work together anymore? Why was he so insistent that they work together?

• “No.” Kaminari’s tone was short, he didn’t even look at the hero as he spoke.

• “I’m sorry?”

• “Apology not accepted. I’m not moving.” It was funny watching a grown man stumble over himself at the blatant disregard to his status as a pro hero and teacher. Aizawa felt proud watching his student his ground.

(Discovering New Boundaries)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “Yeah,” Harry strokes Sahara’s head reassuringly. The Slytherin ring is feeding her his nervous magic now, little sparks catching on her scales. Theo looks at him steadily.

• “You know it’s not less disconcerning when you do that, that whole sparkly fingers thing.” Theo lifts a single eyebrow. “What have I done to anger our pet?”

• “She’s our pet now?” Harry grins in spite of himself.

• “Yes. We have a timeshare.”

• “Do we?”

• “Potter.”

• “Nott.”

(The Heir to the House of Prince)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “Honestly, there are times I think I’m willing to die just to spite you,”

“Then there are times where I think I’m willing to stay alive just to spite him.”

• Voldemort hums. “Dumbledore.”

• “I hate you for making me feel the way I do about him,” Harry murmurs, leaning back in his chair.

• “May I ask you something, Harry?” Voldemort leans forward, peering at him. “I would require your utmost honesty.”

• Harry narrows his eyes. “What do I get in return?”

• “A question that I cannot refuse to answer, much the same as I am getting,” Voldemort offers, spreading his hands and watching him intently.

• “Alright,” Harry says carefully. “Fine. Go on, then.”

• “If Dumbledore were to walk in this very room right this moment and ask you to go with him, offering you forgiveness and aid, what would you do?” Voldemort murmurs, staring at him with sharp, red eyes that gleams bloody.

• Harry feels his heart stumble in his chest. He can hear how his breath hitches. Something like shame and fear tangles up in his mind, overlapping each other, so much of each other that they can’t be separated. This isn’t a question he wants to answer, not honestly, not out loud. Because if he does, he’ll be admitting it to himself, making it true. He’ll be accepting it, once and for all.

• “I already said I chose you,” Harry whispers.

• “Answer me,” Voldemort says coldly.

• Harry closes his eyes. “I would — I would be angry. I’d feel guilt and fear. But I wouldn’t — I’d beg him to go, to get out before you could kill him.”

• “You would still try to save his life?”

• “Yes.”

• “I see?” Voldemort says, leaning back in his chair when Harry opens his eyes. “Your heart, though tainted, remains disgustingly pure, Harry Potter. I wonder if that will last centuries.”

• “I don’t think I’ll live that long,” Harry mumbles, clearing his throat. “One lifetime is enough for me, I think. You’d — if I asked, would you…”

• “Destroy you?” Voldemort suggests. When Harry nods he pauses to consider it. “In that situation, I suppose I would. It is understandable that not everyone wishes to live forever, and I would not try to force you. Is that kindness?”

• Harry frowns. “You don’t know what kindness is?”

• “No,” Voldemort says, “I do not. I am aware of the concept, but I have never attempted to enact it, or even provided it unwittingly.”

• “Has no one ever been kind to you?”

• “Not without fault.”

• “What does that mean?” Harry asks, baffled.

• Voldemort tilts his head. “It means that people are so rarely kind for the sake of being kind. Certainly not to the orphan boy that frightened them.”

• “Oh.” Harry blinks. “Are you trying to be kind to me right now?”

• “I am unsure,” Voldemort says shortly.

• Harry… doesn’t know what to do with that. He clears his throat. “Er, well, I suppose it’s kindness to destroy me if I asked you to when I’m… ready. Would you destroy me before then?”

• “Before you are ready?” Voldemort narrows his eyes in consideration. “No.”

• “What if I really pissed you off?”

• “You do so regularly.”

• “I do?” Harry blurts out. “What? How?”

• Voldemort smirks. “You are a troublesome child, Harry. Do you think your random spikes of emotions is something I enjoy experiencing? Your guilt and shame is revolting.”

(Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey)

[bunnysunshine8]

• “Look at him, the shining pinnacle of a hero in training. And an ego bigger than the room itself.” A voice whispered in his ear.

• There was an eerie silence, and Bakugou turned an interesting shade of red. Taking a peek around Izuku could see that everyone was staring at him with poorly hidden shock, even Aizawa Sensei was sitting up peeking over his desk.

• So he had said that out loud. Oops.

(Discovering New Boundaries)