she's a keeper

GRACIE WOOD. HARPIES KEEPER. 23 years young (James Potter, if you try to call me a grandma I'll remind you that you're still older than I am, old man!) I'm the starting Keeper for the Holyhead Harpies, and future Quidditch World Cup champion...but you've basically all known that about me since the day I was born. Or at the very least since the day I became captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team during my sixth year of Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardy. LOUCIE 1x1 BASED OFF AGH

[harpiegracie]

louwcasley:

“No. Nope. No.” The man said it thrice, as if the repetition counted for something - if only to make Gracie realise how against the idea he was. Not that that usually counted for anything, but it was always worth a try. The room had barely stopped spinning, and he already knew what hijinks Gracie was up to next. He wasn’t even completely dressed yet, a luxury accorded by the beauty of nearly-instantaneous travel. “We are not flying to the wedding,” affirmed Louis, glaring at the broomstick leaning against the wall and Gracie’s flying outfit laid out on the bed. 

Gracie folded her arms over her chest, fixing Louis with a pointed glare that always used to send her teammates running laps or doing whatever it was she had instructed them to do. Yet sadly, her narrowed eyes and stubborn stance had never worked quite as well on Louis; it was one of the reasons she liked him so much, she supposed, the fact that he challenged her when others just laid down and did what she wanted. "I am definitely flying to the wedding," Gracie countered, gesturing down towards her dress. "I'll mess this all up Apparating anyway, I may as well have fun getting there. And since you don't trust me to not skip out on the wedding... I mean, you kind of have to go with me and make sure I go where I'm supposed to, don't you?"

[harpiegracie]

lcuisweasley:

“Oh yea. Oh yea. Totally. Because you weren’t the one that ran out into the corridor in our Third Year, screaming that you caught those two snogging in the corner.” [Louis nodded his head compliantly, in a manner far too exaggerated for the usually taciturn Ravenclaw.] “Do I have to send you for sensitivity classes, or are you going to stop painting people with a broad brush?” [Two finger jabbed her in the forehead, like they always did.] “Eva was a Slytherin and she was fine. She turned out to be a vampire, in the end, but she was fine.” [His mouth fell open, realising that he had her caught, and he was being a little too gleeful to maintain the whole mature moral high horse he was trying to hold.] “Oh, mmhmm. I see. Now that I know you think I’m a huge nerd, but also a nice Ravenclaw, I’m never letting you live it down.” [He said while casually slinging an arm around her shoulder, turning to steer them out of the emptying room.]

"Totally wasn't me." [Gracie lied quickly, sticking her tongue out at him in defiance. It sounded exactly like something she'd do, but there were plenty of other love-haters in the castle, she couldn't have been the only one. Her nose wrinkled, though, when he defended Slytherins -- some habits just died hard, no matter how many she'd grown to tolerate or even like over the years.] "Ew, Eva? No way, if I was picking Snakes not to hate, I'd go with Jake or Ariana, for sure. The rest? Sooo not my style." [Gracie tried to wriggle out of Louis's grasp at first, out of habit, but then remembered that any lingering people here were supposed to believe them as a couple, and honestly, how gross was the warmth of having an arm around her after kissing him to sell the act earlier? Not very, and she even found herself leaning into him to make it through the door frame.] "Ugh, fine, you can have this one, but only because I know I'm your favorite Gryffindor by like a million miles."

[harpiegracie]

lcuisweasley:

Hardly a year ago and Louis had been preparing for his end-of-year exams. Now he sat here, sharpening his sword and checking his wand for any defects as he waited to fight for Diagon Alley. The entire place had been transformed. Gone were the vendors shouting out their wares, the colourful banners and posters advertising the best deals that turned out to be not really that good after all once you stepped into the shop. Now it was all low walls and trenches, palisades and bulwarks and shimmering spheres of energy that carried within them some rather nasty Curses waiting to be unleashed on the hapless Death Eater. Louis had been there when Hogwarts fell, one of the last to have retreated through the portrait in the Room of Requirement.

He promised that he would be back with the rest to retake it.

Sliding the wand back into the hilt of the saber he sported, Louis sheathed it at his hip and got up from the stool he had been sitting on, moving over to where a familiar figure was. He shifted her broom aside to make space for himself as he squatted down by her, immediately asking, “Shield tattoos on? You sure you’ve got enough? Is the enchantment in your bag holding? We’re going to be relying on you dropping those spell bombs ..”

Gracie had never been so disappointed to be on a broom before, but she was well aware that she was the right person for this job. She was the best flyer on their side by far, and this task was important. Still, she'd been standing their, knees bent, ready to kick off on her broom at any second and thinking about how it felt a little too much like running away for her tastes. She wanted to be in the thick of things, protecting her friends, fighting her way through a hoard of Brotherhood members... but for now, this would have to do. She'd have to control her temper and her instinct to rush into things headfirst if she wanted to really make a difference.

"Yes, Lou," Gracie grumbled, even managing to roll her eyes when they were on the brink of war. "I know how to take care of myself, I'm a big girl now." She didn't have much choice in the matter -- they'd all been forced to grow up too fast, to fight a war when they were still just children. Gracie had seen more death and destruction already than anyone should have to see in a lifetime, and she knew that beside her, Louis had suffered even more loss than she could ever imagine. "Remember, stick people with the pointy end of that thing," she told him, gesturing towards his sword and trying not to worry. He'd come out of this fine; he was too stubborn and always had to be right, there was no way he'd let himself get killed.

[lcuisweasley-blog]

[There seemed to be a cycle that they had fallen into. Exaggeration and deprecating reply, back and forth. It had started with Gracie, and Louis had eventually picked it up.] “That’s because I’m not your dad, geez.” [He laughed out loud, having gotten the reaction that he had expected from Gracie. There was always that sense of satisfaction at egging her into doing something he knew she would do. It was just entertaining, and maybe a little cute to watch.] “What? Books don’t chatter as much. And if they do, I just put them under something really heavy and they start behaving.” [Louis narrowed his eyes at Gracie, as if he was starting to get ideas.] “Okay, it was only a rumour that had no bearing on reality. Since when did I actually bother listening to gossip? Plus, everyone’s got some dirt on them, one way or another. Like people actually thought Dom and James had a thing?”

[harpiegracie]

"There's avoiding gossip -- " [Gracie pointed to herself, as if she was some sort of angel who never involved herself in the trifles of her classmates.] " -- and then there's living under a rock." [This time, Gracie turned her fingers towards Louis, jabbing him softly in the chest to make sure she hammered home her point.] "The only thing keeping Zac and Zoe from hooking up was his scary girlfriend, anyway. Why anyone would want to date a Slytherin when they could have had their sister set them up with a nice Ravenclaw, I don't know..." [Gracie trailed off, realizing what she'd said, then made a face.] "Then there are the Ravenclaws that are huge nerds, like you. Ew." [Her voice was teasing where once she would have been dead serious, though, and she was sure it was obvious even to someone as dense about social cues as Louis.]

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Louis: You don't have to hang out in the desert to know about the desert!

Louis: ... I really don't think that was the point at all, but okay.

Louis: I manage with the money I have and live very comfortably.

Louis: Wait a God damn minute. You're the Quidditch player. You should be the one buying /me/ things.

Gracie: I do know about it, I know it's not the pleasant sand like at the beach!

Gracie: I won't tolerate insults to Geoffrey Pawcer in my presence.

Gracie: La la la la, I can't read, I don't know how.

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Louis: That's ... why ... it's ... a ... desert, dumbass.

Louis: My sister can't even train Geoffrey Pawcer to fetch the Daily Prophet.

Louis: That's Occlumency. It's spelt Occlumency. What I mean is, when you've got a certified Interrogator right in front of you, you've at least got you cooperating with the investigations on your side to lighten the sentence.

Gracie: I DON'T HANG OUT IN DESERTS.

Gracie: Good, he's a smart doggy who knows that everything in the Prophet ends up being trash eventually and that no one should read it.

Gracie: You should have been a lawyer, Lou. Imagine what a RICH smartypants you'd be, then. You could buy me new brooms all the time!

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Louis: You have a freaking wand and you're talking about the lack of water? Plus there are oases!

Louis: ... why did I not see the whole Wildcats pep talk thing coming?

Louis: You know what I don't understand? Why some criminals still lie through their teeth when I can literally pluck it out of their heads. So much less unpleasantness.

Gracie: I mean, I'd have water to DRINK, but it's not the same as being around water holes. The atmosphere's just different. There's nothing chill about the desert.

Gracie: Your sister trained me well.

Gracie: Maybe they think they're better at occlumnency or legilimensy or whichever one blocks people's heads out than you are :-p Not everyone knows you're a total smarty pants.

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Louis: The desert is a beautiful place. Haven't you learnt anything from my r-

Louis: Of course not. HMPH.

Louis: Dom and I are going to have words.

Gracie: Yeah, yeah, sand everywhere - if I wanted that I'd just go to a beach, at least there they have water to cool off with, too.

Gracie: We're allllll in this together! Blah blah blah, I didn't retain all of the words yet.

[lcuisweasley-blog]

“Yea, don’t exaggerate.” [He glared at her, placing both hands on his hips like a disappointed parent. It only lasted a brief moment before he realised what it looked like and he quickly snatched his hands away, forcing them back to his sides.] “Are you equating books and spells to people? That would be you implying that people are actually more interesting than books and spells. Absolutely preposterous.” [No, of course Louis did not feel that way - but it was worth telling that little lie just to watch the woman’s reaction.] “You can’t just ignore an entire aspect of your life just because it doesn’t match the personal narrative you’ve forged for yourself! It’s like saying you’re the best-looking person in the whole wide world because everyone else is absolutely irrelevant. That doesn’t make sense, does it?” [Crossing his arms, Louis sighed exasperatedly as he noticed that they were the last people still in the classroom - which was when he started walking out.] “Well, Zoe Boot, for one …”

[harpiegracie]

[Gracie rolled her eyes. They both loved to tell the other they were exaggerating, and this time she maybe was, at least a little bit. But not enough to warrant the dad look, that was for sure.] “Okay, pops, but my dad lets me have more fun than you do, just for future reference.” [ Gracie’s jaw dropped in horror at his statement.] “No! No, people are way better, they’re exciting and -- how can you even say that?” [Her nose stayed wrinkled in disgust at his claim that he liked books more than people, which was good because his next statements didn’t make her any more pleased with him, either. Okay, so maybe she was a bit focused on herself at times, and she liked when people agreed with her, but she didn’t take it that personally... Except, apparently, tonight.] “What? Seriously? You preferred kissing a girl that most people think hooked up with her brother at some point? Ew.”

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Louis: It's about the message it sends. That they aren't going to back down just because they were in the middle of the desert.

Louis: Are you on the ground yet?

Gracie: The only message I'm getting is 'this place is so boring we had time to make this canal palm tree'.

Gracie: I'm soaringgggg, flyingggg... (You can thank Dom for teaching me the song :p)

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Gracie: DOES THAT SAY 'HAVE FUN FLYING, GRACIE?'

Louis: That is NATURE. This is HUMANITY.

Louis: Not the ocean, but it costs a lot of money and resources in general to keep it going, even for a day.

[AUDIO MESSAGE ATTACHED: GRACIE, I SWEAR TO MERLIN, YOU BETTER STOP TEXTING WHILE YOU'RE ON THE BROOM OR I'LL-]

Gracie: Nature does it better. And doesn't make it tacky shapes.

Gracie: And they really didn't think there were better things to spend their money on?

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Loucie: They've turned a desert GREEN.

Loucie: Even if it's literally the definition of unsustainable.

Loucie: It's a testament of human persistence! And extravagance.

Loucie: GET ON THE GROUND. RIGHT NOW.

Gracie: OASISES DID THAT FIRST.

Gracie: Unsustainable so like... their weird thing is just going to end up falling into the ocean someday?

Gracie: DOES THAT SAY 'HAVE FUN FLYING, GRACIE?'

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Loucie: Oh, that's actually an ... artificial wonder of the world. Of sorts.

Loucie: It's quite impressive, Muggle engineering. They're doing all this without magic.

Loucie: ... Wait a god damn minute.

Loucie: Are you flying AND texting?

Gracie: There's nothing wonderful about it, though! It's got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

Gracie: What do they even need it for? Does it DO anything, or is it just there for shits and giggles?

Gracie: La la la my phone screen glitched I can't read your words what are you saying there's no message there

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Loucie: ...

Loucie: ...

Loucie: 47 degrees Celsius at its peak in the afternoon.

Loucie: Lowest 35 in the day.

Loucie: ...

Loucie: Look, I know the association for football for Muggles is corrupt as hell but ... We should start looking into our Quidditch people.

Gracie: RIGHT? Aside from the fact that the players are all going to MELT, there's the whole weird fake palm tree canal thingy. I'm flying over it and I just do not understand.

Gracie: When I retire I'll fix all these crazies, but that's still a long way off so for now we need to find someone boring who's already been grounded :-p

[harpiegracie]

TEXT ✉ LOUCIE

Gracie: Why?

Gracie: Why did anyone think it was a good idea to have a World Cup in DUBAI?!

[lcuisweasley-blog]

“I would like to point out that no, I don’t get obsessed with people, and no, my memory isn’t failing me. If anything, it’s you, falling off your broom and hitting your head all the time.” [He reached out to rap her sharply on the forehead with a knuckle. The class had been dismissed and most of the couples were starting to file out now.] “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t grade all the kisses that I’ve had in my head.” [Not exactly many kisses to grade and rank, but Gracie didn’t have to know that in this scenario.] “But you were definitely somewhere around average. Definitely nowhere near the best.”

[harpiegracie]

[Gracie brought her hand up to rub the spot on her forehead he’d hit -- not because it had actually hurt, but because she loved to try and make him feel guilty, though it usually never worked.] “Whatever. I don’t fall off my broom, that’s you. Besides, if you can get obsessed with books and spells, you can get obsessed with people. It’s all kind of along the same lines.” [Gracie hadn’t even noticed that the class had filed out around them; she herself had an obsessive personality, too, on top of her overly competitive nature, and she couldn’t just leave things well enough alone.] “No way! I’m never average, I’m excellent at all things. Besides classes, which I don’t care about and I don’t have to take anymore. But I’m a great kisser! You have to tell me who’s supposedly better than me, because until I get a name, I’m not buying it.”

[lcuisweasley-blog]

“You did, the previous time we kissed.” [He glanced up at the clock, smirking.] “About ten minutes ago.” [Only a kiss, after all. Just lips touching and nothing more. Physical contact meant little without the sentiment humans assigned them and if he were to think nothing of this - of the kiss just being a means to fluster and silence the usually boisterous brunette, what of it?] “Ah, yes. Well.” [He put away all the crockery that they had used before, wiping down the counter top of all the water droplets from her spraying.] “I suppose it was an okay kiss. I’ve had better.” [He might have taken one step away from her while also taking the hose away with him. Just in case.]

[harpiegracie]

[Gracie looked up towards the ceiling, then rolled her shoulders in a shrug. She guessed she had said that, but it was funnier when she did it -- and when it had just been some dumb peck for show, and not Louis deciding kissing her to piss her off was a good idea.] “Huh, nope, sorry, must have been your imagination busy being obsessed with me. Sounds like you, right?” [Gracie went to elbow him, the same playful jabs that she normally engaged in, but instead slipped and landed with her elbow on the counter, trying to play it off like she’d meant to lean over lazily all along.] “Pfft, no way! Who have you possibly kissed that could be better than me? Now I know your imagination is crazy.”