Rum and Ravens

[toreadfanfic]

Fade to Grey By: marianne le fey 

Unable to catch hold of anything in order to save herself, her mind clung to the one fact it knew to be unassailably true: something was terribly, terribly wrong. 

Rated: Fiction T - English - Drama/Romance - Severus S., Hermione G. - Chapters: 28 - Words: 77,878 - Reviews: 757 - Favs: 998 - Follows: 310 - Updated: Sep 2, 2011 - Published: Apr 23, 2011 - Status: Complete - id: 6928496

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Of Darkening Souls By: Sybilla.Slytherin 

 With a little help from the residing Potion Master, Hermione and Harry overhear a revealing conversation. Their eyes open to deception and the war becomes a completely new league, with their resolution to rid Wizarding Britain of the preconceptions of the light and the dark. A story of Harry and Hermione finding love, family and politics in time of war. 

Rated M for a reason, R&R Rated: Fiction M - English - Drama/Romance - [Hermione G., Severus S.] [Harry P., Lucius M.] - Chapters: 24 - Words: 71,771 - Reviews: 795 - Favs: 2,601 - Follows: 1,570 - Updated: Feb 2, 2017 - Published: Oct 24, 2013 - Status: Complete - id: 9788639

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Emancipation By: BadGirlgoesworse What are dependents left to do when betrayed by those they trusted most, but to find a way to become masters in their own right. AU, OOC, set after DoM fiasco in OotP, slash: HP/SS, het: DM/GW, TN/HG, NL/LL, some bashing. Rated: Fiction M - English - Angst/Romance - [Harry P., Severus S.] - Chapters: 43 - Words: 136,861 - Reviews: 1,393 - Favs: 3,063 - Follows: 2,077 - Updated: Aug 31, 2013 - Published: May 22, 2011 - Status: Complete - id: 7010227

Harry Potter || Harry/Severus, Hermione/Theodore, Draco/Ginny and Neville/Luna

An amusing picture entered his mind making him smile grimly. The Dark Lord and the Light Lord were gathering forces, resources and knowledge right now, preparing themselves for battle. And the Lord of Dusk and Dawn should do the same.

From Emancipation by BadGirlgoesworse

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer || Buffy/Spike

Buffy paused for a moment, again surveying the faces around her. They looked like they were struggling to take it all in, but were slowly getting it. “So I’m going back, memories in tact, to see if I can keep it from happening, keep any of you from ever having to go through all this.”

Rona shook the dumbstruck look from her face. “Ok, if –and that’s a big if- this crazy idea can even work, do we have time to try it?”

Willow piped up again. “If the spell works and Buffy is able to change what happened, we have all the time in the world. None of this will have ever happened. If either part fails, we’ll have only lost the time we’ve spent getting ready and performing the spell. They’ll be caught back up to our time almost immediately after the spell is complete from our perspective, but in the past, they’ll have lived through just under three years.”

“I don’t think I want to know how that works.” Kennedy shook her head. “So if it’s not Faith, who’s going to be your back up?” She lifted her chin defiantly, trying to look as strong and capable as she could, hoping to be chosen for this, at least.

“She can’t take any of us, Kennedy,” Vi said. “Faith said she can’t help because she was in prison. I think that means Buffy needs someone who was here at the time.”

Willow nodded at the other redhead, looking like a proud schoolteacher. “Exactly. None of you girls were with us back then, so you’re all off the hook. Buffy’s back-up person has to be someone who already knew us then, and can interact normally with past-me, and past-Dawn, and past-everyone. Otherwise, past-us will know something weird is going on. It might make an even bigger mess than the one we have. It has to be someone we already knew.”

“So it’s a Sunnydale local, a Scooby,” Kennedy sniffed, feeling left out of Willow’s inner circle yet again. “Your back-up person is one of the people who resurrected you in the first place? That’s who you’re trusting to not bring you back?”

“I’m taking someone who would have stopped the resurrection, had he known about it. And he can help me prevent even needing to make that jump.” Buffy watched the girls’ eyes swivel around the room when they caught on to her choice of pronouns, sizing up each man. She let them guess for a moment, smiling to herself as a couple of them even scrutinized Andrew.

“I’m taking Spike.”

From Echoes of Beljoxa by myrabeth

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In Fire, In Ice by Moirariordan

Wizards of Waverly Place || Alex and Justin

It's just an accident.

There's a wizard who lives in Brooklyn, an old man who lives alone, his only companionship the illusions of his late wife that he conjures at night with his splintered wand. It's the only kind of magic he has energy left to perform, and it hurts nobody and does nothing but comfort a man who is alone in the last stage of his life. Or that's the theory, anyway, until the landlord breaks down the door after hearing nothing but silence in the upstairs apartment for two weeks and finds a shadowy specter of a young woman crying over an aged corpse. ("My love," she repeats, over and over, and this could be romantic but instead is the beginning of the end.)

The police search his apartment and find cracked volumes full of secrets that were never meant to be seen by mortal eyes – potions in thick, glass bottles and iron cauldrons with dust congealing in the leftover muck in the bottom. The FBI comes, Homeland Security and representatives from Washington D.C. and they bring in specialists and scientists and nobody can explain the woman who says nothing but is as translucent as a thin, silk curtain. (She fades after a week but they have pictures and video and a hundred eyewitness accounts, so it doesn't even matter.)

After the story moves from the tabloids to the main media outlets, the police commissioner makes a statement and tells the public not to panic, to stay calm and that the phenomenon is likely scientifically explainable and perfectly logical. Nobody really believes it.

The Russo family watches the news coverage from the shelter of their apartment, trepidation and dread rising in their throats.

"It'll blow over," Jerry says with false confidence. "And if it doesn't, well – there are wizards trained to deal with things like this."

Alex wants to ask more, and she can tell that Justin wants to too, but the look on their father's face keeps them silent.

From In Fire, In Ice by Moirariordan

http://pdfsr.com/pdf/in-fire-in-ice

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The Hourglass by Scarlet Hour

Epic Blaise/Ginny fic.

Harry Potter || Blaise Zabini and Ginny Weasley

Refusing to grant him that satisfaction, Ginny tore her gaze from his eyes and boldly stepped forward.

Though she had little experience with public speaking, everyone seemed to have been waiting for her to begin; for once she did so, the vague chatter in the room died down and Ginny found herself nervous about all the eyes upon her.

Scanning the silent room, she saw that, as expected, the students were completely segregated. The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs were crowded together on the side nearer to the door, while the Slytherins had formed an isolated knot near the fireplace. They all watched her with the same blank expression.

Ginny cleared her throat.

"Welcome," she said, focusing on Luna and Neville. "To the first meeting of this year's defense club. Bearing in mind the recent turn of events in the Ministry in regards to education, Zabini and I thought that it would be a good idea if—"

"It's a defense club, exactly what it sounds like." Blaise interrupted in a bored voice. "We're students who have hands-on experience with the Dark Arts and we're going to teach you how to defend yourself." Blaise shortened Ginny's speech to those words.

"Yes, thank you, Zabini," said Ginny tightly, irritated by his interruption. "As I was saying, we're going to start by reviewing basic defense spells—"

"Starting with Stunning," Blaise added, it seemed for no other reason than to bother Ginny by interrupting again.

"Yes," said Ginny. "Thank you for that addition, Zabini."

There were titters throughout the class; it was fairly obvious to the students that there was tension between Blaise and Ginny, and a spirit of competition.

"Anyhow," Ginny continued, "We intend to run this defense club for the entire year. Initially, we're going to be reviewing some of the basic defense spells that can buy you time if you're dealing with dark witches and wizards. However, as the year progresses, I want to introduce more advanced magic as well as a study of silent spells."

Ginny noticed that a few of the Slytherins had started to whisper among themselves, which bothered her. However, before she could do anything about it, Zabini snapped his fingers at them and they fell silent immediately.

"Show some respect to your betters," he said coldly to the Slytherins who had been talking. They looked sour at being called out, but didn't seem to dare to talk back.

Zabini looked around and took a step forward so that he was now standing next to Ginny. "I want to begin by setting down some ground rules," he announced, looking around. "Firstly, everyone here will treat the teachers, Ginny and me, with respect." He paused to look at the Slytherins who had been talking. "Secondly," he continued, "you will obey all decisions made by either Ginny or myself in terms of structure of the class or scheduling. And thirdly—" he seemed to glance for a millisecond at Nott, "thirdly, word that this club exists cannot leave this room."

"Why? We aren't doing anything wrong!" blurted out a Hufflepuff third year nervously.

"Rule four," Blaise said, turning to the boy, "don't talk out of turn."

The boy stared back at Blaise but broke under his gaze and looked away. Blaise relaxed.

"I know we aren't doing anything wrong." He said idly, examining the cuff of his perfect robes. "Not yet, anyway. But still, how do you think a Ministry run by Umbridge would feel about students of Hogwarts starting a defense club? I trust many of you remember Umbridge's year as a teacher at Hogwarts?"

Silence.

Blaise stepped back, looking satisfied with himself. "That's all. We can start."

From The Hourglass by Scarlet Hour

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and the reel plays on and on by Silver Weasley / GreatestHeights

I love the style of this one :)

Big Bang Theory || Penny/Sheldon

"I'm merely presenting my conclusion," he says, meeting her gaze. "I'm quite thorough in my research; my hypotheses are always sound, and my conclusions are unfailingly accurate. Leonard's, however, are often hastily obtained and skewed by personal bias."

"Is that your nerdy way of telling me Leonard's being a dick and I shouldn't take what he says to heart?"

"I suppose it is," Sheldon concedes. "You shouldn't worry too much about him. I believe he'll recover faster than he thinks, and thus discontinue any, to borrow your term, dick-like behavior shortly." Penny laughs, pressing a hand to her forehead.

"That's comforting." She pushes away from Sheldon, and he lets his arm fall from her shoulders. "I'm sorry for getting your shirt all wet."

"Providentially," he says, leaning over to retrieve her mail, "it is laundry night."

"You would sort this by size, wouldn't you?" Penny laughs again, accepts the mail. "Oh, man. I haven't cried like that in a really long time. It just sort of came over me, you know? Like a tidal wave of awful awfulness." Sheldon picks up his laundry basket, stares down at the clothes.

"I hope your discomfort is short-lived," he offers.

"You're a good friend, Sheldon," Penny says, smiling up at him in a way that might make lesser men's knees weaken (certainly not his, for that cliché is preposterous both in theory and practice)."I really do appreciate it."

"I am glad to be counted amongst your friends," he says, eyes fixed back on his laundry.

From and the reel plays on and on by Silver Weasley (fanfiction) // greatestheights (tumblr)

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Except Her by Erythros

Harry Potter || Dramione - Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy

She could have been his.

She should have been his.

But she wasn't.

And here he was, hiding behind some trees, watching her talk with someone else. Jealousy was surging through his veins, and he would have paid any amount of money to be the one she was with at the moment.

Draco Malfoy watched her from the corner of his eye, studying her every move. From a young, bookish, bushy-haired girl, the woman he had come to love grew into a fine, young beautiful adolescent.

It was killing him by the second as he watched Hermione Granger snuggle closer to Ron Weasley. He felt like his heart was thrashed into pieces, and if it were allowed, he would have cried out of sorrow and pain.

He never expected that there would be a time when he would envy the poorest wizard of all time. He had everything, everything he wanted…

Except her.

From Except Her by Erythros

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Cheated by Marionette

One of the first fanfics I read that got me intrigued by the Dramione ship.

Harry Potter || Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger (slight)

It was time. She was fidgeting. Her hands could not stop playing with the napkin on her lap, and her leg bounced up and down in anticipation, tapping out a rough rhythm on the floor that matched her heartbeats. In only a few short moments it would be announced. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself slightly. She could certainly last another minute or two. There was no rush, no rush at all. She'd waited all summer, and it was absolutely no problem to have to remain patient for a few seconds that would probably fly by anyway. Only she was fooling herself. She wanted to know, and she wanted to know NOW.

From Cheated by Marionette

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Alice by AineRose

Recommended by iscahmckrae

Gilmore Girls || Literati - Jess Mariano/Rory Gilmore

Alice Gilmore-Huntzburger's bookshelf had always played host to a collection of books by Jess Mariano. It wasn't something she had ever questioned, mostly because they were too high up for her to notice most of the time. But they were constant features in her house, and she remembers being surprised that they weren't in her friends' houses, beside Crime and Punishment and The DaVinci Code. They were just there, and they had moved with them from her parents house after the divorce to the temporary hiatus they spent in with her grandparents in Stars Hollow, and then to their own little house.

Alice's own personal discovery came at the tender age of eleven. Her mother had taken her copy of Pride and Prejudice from her in punishment for breaking curfew, and she had placed it on the very top shelf of their floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Alice had undertaken her mission as if it were her own Everest. After some elaborately-drawn blueprints, a Tarzan-like swing off a curtain, and a Mission-Impossible job (both of which ended in a small eleven year old suspended immobile in the air until her grandfather cut her down), she had resorted to scaling the shelves. The resulting chaos had led to the entire shelf falling down, and a sprained wrist. However, she had managed to grab one book before her sharp descent to the ground. Freefall, by Jess Mariano. Never one to dismiss irony when it had so clearly smacked her in the face (or rather, wrist), she settled for this book instead of Mr. Darcy.

By the time she got the opportunity to read Pride and Prejudice it had been ruined for her anyway. Her grandfather Luke, upon being forced one night to watch the five-hour BBC series, and rewatch the scene when Colin Firth comes out of the water six times, had thrown up his hands and exclaimed, "She only wanted him for his house, anyway!" and then had proceeded to explain every way in which this was true. Lane Kim had been reduced to tears, and no women in Stars Hollow had visited Luke's Diner for a week, prompting Lorelai to nickname the diner 'Sausagefest'. She had refused point-blank to explain why to her children and grandchildren, but her homemade sign had induced snickering from most of the town's population until the ancient Taylor Doose had taken down because of its "slanderous and corruptive nature," and accused Lorelai of being worse than Luke's nephew for corrupting the town.

In any case, Freefall was an acceptable substitute. She read it quickly and proceeded to devour the rest of his collection. Her mother had every single book he had ever written, except for his incredibly rare first novel, The Subsect, which cost a fortune on eBay and was probably the only first edition her great-grandfather hadn't left to her in his will.

From Alice by AineRose

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Gravity by luckei1

Harry Potter || Hermione/Draco

Hermione, however, only picked at her plate. He really wanted her to like it; of everyone present, she had to be the one who liked his food. But she was just pushing it around and frowning.

Then, about three quarters the way through the meal, when he couldn't stand it anymore and was just leaning over to ask her what was wrong her head jerked around to look at him, a triumphant sparkle in her eyes.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I've got it!" And she promptly stood up from the table and ran up the stairs.

Harry, Ron and Ginny stared at him. "What?" he said.

"What did you do?" asked Ron, suspiciously.

"Nothing! I did nothing! She just went bonkers on me."

Hermione came noisily down the stairs looking quite pleased with herself and resumed her seat at the table. Then she started eating as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Everyone was staring at her, like she really had gone nutty, while she happily took bite after bite.

"Harry, would you pass the potatoes?" she said, looking up. She frowned when she noticed that everyone was staring at her and no one else was eating. "What?" she asked.

"Erm, Hermione. What was all that about just now?" asked Ron. "You ran up the stairs like a madwoman and now you're…eating. Just like that."

"Oh," she said, waving her hand in dismissal. "Nothing." They continued to stare at her. She rolled her eyes and said, "I just figured out the pattern and had to check to make sure I was right."

Draco was glad all eyes were on Hermione because his jaw dropped.

"And were you?" asked Harry.

"Of course."

"What pattern?" said Ginny.

Hermione glanced at Draco out of the corner of her eye. He managed to close his mouth as he watched her return her gaze to her friends. "Nothing. Never mind," she said.

Harry, Ron and Ginny whined and pouted and basically refused to allow the meal to continue in peace until she explained. Hermione sighed and looked at Draco again. He gave her the slightest nod, indicating that it was okay with him for her to divulge what she'd done, to reveal his little quirk.

"The books. Upstairs. They're organized. I figured out the pattern."

She was again met with silence and incredulous looks from her three friends, but Draco couldn't stop a small smile forming on his lips as he watched her eyes, brimming with excitement at her success.

"That's—disturbing," said Ron, shaking his head as if to shake off the feeling he got when thinking about organizing that many books.

Ginny only shrugged and returned to her dinner. But Harry was looking at Hermione.

"What's the pattern?" he asked her.

Draco saw her cheeks flush, and she looked at him again. Now Ginny and Ron were watching too. Draco raised one eyebrow and folded his napkin, giving her his full attention.

"Author's last name," she started, still looking at Draco, only now as if for confirmation that she had been correct. "Second letter from the end, moving backwards if the letters were the same between names."

Ron dropped his fork; Ginny stared at Hermione, eyes as wide as her plate; Harry looked as though he'd seen a ghost; and Draco was calmly eating again. Hermione looked at her plate and set her fork down.

"You two," said Ron, mouth full, "are sick."

"Agreed," said Ginny.

From Gravity by luckei1

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All I Ever Wanted by SpikedCoffee

Life with Derek || Dasey: Derek Venturi/Casey McDonald

"Okay, hold your ponies Princess, I'll stay," he said with a grin. Casey relaxed against her pillows and turned her attention to the news on TV. Derek moved over to 'his' seat nest to her bed. He glanced over at her. At the time he was planning on a mere glance and retreat, but at the sight of her all dolled up he couldn't help a stare for an age. Casey could feel his eyes on her; she could feel her blush starting at the back of her neck and moving to her ears and cheeks. It felt as if his fingertips were tracing her features. Derek was 'tracing' her features but only with his eyes, much to his chagrin. He followed over the planes of her cheeks to her long lashes, finally landing on her conservatively glossed lips. They looked plump and beyond kissable. Derek inhaled sharply. He turned his eyes to the TV, hoping to get his mind off of the downright kiss-worthy Casey sitting next to him. After she felt her eyes leave her face, Casey took a gander and the young man next to her. His hair stylishly messy; his eyes locked purposefully on the screen. His jaw seemed wired shut and there was a vain in his neck that seemed to be throbbing erratically. He was on edge. She had seen this look many a time. He got it before a game, usually before his regular bouts of vomiting. "Are you alright? You seem tight in a way." She looked at his with genuine concern. Derek closed his eyes for a second, preparing himself for the sight before him, he turned to her. His eyes opened to face her concerned ones; worry evident in the deep pools of blue. Derek cleared his throat and shifted in his seat before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a rough practice last night." She gave him a look that said 'not buying it Venturi!' She was the only one besides Marti who could see through his lies. Derek hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He contemplated telling her how beautiful she looked. He decided to try lying better. He turned his attention to the TV. He dropped his shoulders and slumped back in the chair.

From All I Ever Wanted by SpikedCoffee

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Blood and Ashes by Zynali

The Vampire Diaries  ||  Damon Salvatore/Elena Gilbert

Damon struggled to open his eyes. Every muscle and tissue in his body burned with pain from what had clearly been a large dose of vervain, and he could feel the sharper pain of wood – damn wooden bullets – lodged in his torso, leaving wounds that refused to heal. He was on his stomach on a dirt floor, and his limbs utterly refused to obey when he tried to push himself up. "Damon!" It was Elena's voice, and he sought her out with his eyes, his mind still a bit foggy. "Elena?" He knew his voice sounded weak, and he hated it. He didn't want her to see him like this. "Damon, are you okay?" That, Damon thought, was a ridiculous question that deserved an equally ridiculous answer. "Never been better, Elena," he croaked. He heard her draw in a breath to either laugh or snark back at him and then stop herself. Damon would have smirked had his situation been a little less dire. He tried again to move, this time just to roll over onto his back – he needed to get those wooden bullets out of his body – but his muscles still refused him even the most basic function.

From Blood and Ashes by Zynali

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Defending Bjork by MahliaLilly

Gilmore Girls || Literati: Rory Gilmore/Jess Mariano

"'Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose'," Lane quoted. "'And most times you choose between the two'. It's gospel. I'll talk to you later."

From Defending Bjork by MahliaLily

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Easy Way Out by Capella42

Buffy the Vampire Slayer || Buffy Summers/Spike

Buffy cautiously opened the leather wrapped bundle. Inside was a dagger, with elaborate carvings, the serrated blade gleaming dark in the light of the Magic Box. “This can’t possibly be good. Giles, have you found anything about a big honking meat cutter in these notes the Tweedies left us?” Giles looked up from his research with a confused expression. “Tweety? What…? Oh, yes the Council.” A slight smile tugged at his mouth. She could slay the English language at least as well as she did demons. “Let me check. Willow, where is the folder about the artifacts?”

From Easy Way Out by Capella42

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Fallen by ConfusedKnight

Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce || Keladry Mindelan

Best freaking story EVER READ in fanfiction. Any fandom.

'I want my Ma,' whimpered Isra. 'I know you do,' replied Kel, squeezing the young girl's hand. 'But you've got to be brave, be brave for your Ma. She's had to go away,' Kel's voice cracked. 'And she loves you so much, she didn't want to go, but we can't argue with the gods and your Ma was picked to go with the Dark God.' 'But I need her here,' whimpered Isra. 'We all do,' acknowledged Kel. 'But we're going to have to be brave, you and me both.' 'You're already brave,' sniffled Isra, 'you have a sword and fight bad people. That's very brave. I could never be that brave.' 'That's only one type of bravery. More often than not true bravery isn't in a heroic deed. It's continuing on when things get hard…I was once told Courage doesn't always roar, sometimes it's just the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I'll try again tomorrow." Do you know what that means?'

From Fallen by Confusedknight

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Foolish by Kayka-chan

Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong || Derek Souza/Chloe Saunders

"We need to keep moving." Derek interrupted. They looked at him. "Rae, if you don't want to come then don't. No one's stopping you." He turned to sniff again and actually caught Chloe's scent, billowing down from above him. He stopped in confusion and made a face. Above? What? He looked up and saw a ventilation shaft thing that was blowing air out of it. He felt his blood run cold. She wouldn't have. There is no way… Derek's ears picked up a scrambling noise from inside it and he felt a sense of dread set in. He tried to convince himself that the alien duck was back but as he tried, he could smell her and hear her breathing, labored and echo-y in the confines of the shaft. "Shit." He said and backed up, getting ready to catch her when she fell out, because she would. There is no way that she would fall out of that and he wasn't going to let her get hurt and denying it would do just that. He could feel everyone's gaze on him and he knew that Simon was about to open his mouth and ask the obvious question… "Derek, what are you doing?" Simon asked. Derek rolled his eyes and sighed, tensing himself up when her scuffles became louder and then there was a crack. The scuffling stopped and she seemed to know what was going to happen. The scuffling renewed, faster now, but it was too late. The shaft broke open and swung down, because it was connected by a hinge. Chloe, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky as to be connected to anything and down she fell, into Derek's waiting arms.

From Foolish by Kayka-chan