i came. i saw. i made it awkward.

glenda chittock, 16, ravenclaw, half-blood but raised as a muggle, avid reader, mostly ignored.

[amycus-harrowed]

bent not yet broken | flashback starter 1977

[mssglendachittock]

AMYCUS.

“Poe,” Amycus said, sounding almost reverent. The dog clearly loved affection and gave it out easily. Easy affection. He’d almost had that, with Rodolphus. He had it with Alecto, but it was different. Poe would be different. Shame, really, that he’d have to give the dog back when this was done. A pet really would be nice. Maybe he could make a routine out of this or something. The girl seemed reasonable enough.

“Just gave you my wand, didn’t I? What the fuck else do I have to do to convince you?” He asked now getting frustrated. Losing his temper wouldn’t help anything thing but he couldn’t help it. Why didn’t she believe him? What else did he have to make himself do before it was enough?

Glenda twitched from the surprise of his voice getting frustrated, her face faltering. It really was just a reassuring question, she didn’t want to upset him or make him angry. She just wanted to make sure he really meant it when he said he’s be bringing Poe back. Sure, he already gave her his wand, but somehow it felt like she was missing something, like she should see something, because it shouldn’t be this easy.

“I—just—my grandma loves this dog very much,” she said, her voice quiet, careful. “I just wanted to make sure. Nothing—I just wanted to make sure.” Surely he couldn’t be angry with him for checking, right? “How long do you want to take him?” she asked, trying to move the conversation along, hoping it would distract him from this whole thing.

[mssglendachittock]

MAXINE.

Watching Glenda land on her butt, Max felt her guilt spike immediately. Why can’t you pay more attention to where you’re going? She scolded herself silently. She looked at the girl and immediately stretched her hand out to help her on her feet.

“I’ll split the blame with you 50/50 with you how’s that?” She asked with a grin, helping the girl back up.

“Are you okay? No immediate bruising?” She asked with a concerned look on her face, hoping that she didn’t get hurt in the collision.

Glenda just chuckled at herself as she was sitting on the ground. It was just like her – end up on the floor of the library while trying to locate a book. Or just in general being in the library, really. She probably ended up reading on the floor in between two shelves more often than when she actually got to one of the tables. She couldn’t help herself, the books were usually calling for her and she couldn’t not answer to them and just take a peek – and then it’s was 2-3 hours later and she was still sitting on the floor with half of the book read already.

“That sounds perfect, I’ll take it, yeah,” she nodded and let the other girl helped her up to her feet. She stretched a little, feeling awkward in her movements in front of Maxine, but it was definitely necessary. “I am good, I was only inches away from the ground, so it wasn’t a big hit,” she chuckled sheepishly. “What about you? You’re all good too?”

[mssglendachittock]

AMELIA.

     Amelia had missed her best friend dearly. When she had been told that she would be transferring to Beauxbatons Academy, she had stomped around her room, throwing things into her trunk while screaming every five minutes that her parents weren’t being fair. It hadn’t been just that she didn’t want to go, but also that she would be having to leave Glenda behind. Glenda; the one person in her life who actually understood her. She had sent her best friend a ridiculous amount of diary entry style letters whole at beauxbatons and had probably become an irritation, but Amelia had needed to assure her of how miserable she had been without her. 

     The hug between the two of them was not uncommon for either of them, but to those who knew them, it would have seemed out of place and odd that they were willing touching other human beings. Amelia wasn’t so bad with it, she endured it, but her best friend did not do ‘touchy-feeling’ and everyone, eventually, came to know it. “It’s so good to see you… why is Pince shouting?” she asked, mid sentence, staring over her friends shoulder with her eyebrow raised, as if that gave her some incredible ability to see through book shelves. Whenever she came to the library Pince was telling someone to be quiet or to get out, and Amelia always found herself fascinated as to what the person had done to deserve it. Slam a book shut too loudly or scrape their chair along the floor? Who knew. 

     “Old habits die hard. That sounds like you” she grinned. “I missed you too, you have no idea, unless you have been reading all of my letters, in which case you do” she shrugged, laughing lightly under her breath. “It’s such a relief. Honestly, a few more months in that place and your best friend would have been lost to you, sucked into a snobby, French girl void, never to return” she whispered, dramatically. “How about you?”

Glenda snapped her head up towards Madam Pince’s voice. The librarian spent a scary amount of time yelling at students for understandable and sometimes not so understandable reasons. Glenda spent so much of her time in the library, she has learned to tune out the voice by now, but this sounded worse than the usual yelling. “No idea but I really hope she didn’t catch somebody ripping pages or something like that. People have to stop doing that, books have feelings too,” Glenda said as she turned back to Amelia. It was a shame how some people just couldn’t respect books at all, and she really hoped it wasn’t the case this time.

“I was definitely reading all your letters. I felt so bad, wish I could have just… I don’t know, hop on a broom or apparate there and just save you from them. Though I doubted I would have been able to pull through, but if I could have gotten in, then it would have been the two of us trying to get out, we would have had more chance like that. And it would have been a huge adventure.” She could practically see the story play out in her head and wondered why nobody has written it yet. Maybe not exactly with their story, but the girl going on a quest to save her best friend. A couple of monsters on the way and it would be pretty cool.

“I am good, still feels insane that my parents let me come back, but I am enjoying every single second of it. I mean, I miss them, it was nice to spend a lot of time with them and my little brother, but this place is just so magical, I would have cried if I couldn’t have come back. And not being able to see you would have been horrible too.” She missed Amelia in the eight months they were apart. Even proper summer breaks were usually hard without her best friend, but this was just way too long of a time and distance between them. “Gosh I really missed you,” she ended up saying it again, huggping Amelia all over again. They spent enough time apart, two hugs were definitely needed.

[amycus-harrowed]

first time in forever | open

[mssglendachittock]

AMYCUS.

Amycus took the picture greedily, eager for any news of Poe; any news outside of his increasingly maudlin life. He stared at them intently as he waited for the dogs to interact and move about. That was after all what all photos had always done. He continued to stare with increased bafflement as the photo did absolutely nothing at all.

“Glenda, there’s something wrong with your photo.” He said, looking up at her. “I think it’s broken? Nothing’s moving.”

His brain stored away all the mentions that Poe liked him, the updates on the dog’s life, the fact the dog was happy to see him, for another time with less pressing matters. The photos were broken.

Glenda let out a small, awkward chuckle and reached up to scratch the back of her neck. “No, no, no, it’s not—it’s not broken or anything it’s just—” She wasn’t embarrassed about growing up in a muggle family, she considered herself muggleborn rather than half-blood despite who her birth mother was, but she was suddenly feeling awkward and unsure about it. Magic made things more lively in the wizarding world and pictures were one of those things Glenda wished they would have it similarly in the muggle world too. They could record videos or make pictures, but neither of them was the same as the wizarding pictures. They were their own entity for sure.

“I took it with a muggle camera and we don’t have a way to make them move,” she admitted. “Plus, I never actually created moving pictures myself either, so I wouldn’t even know where to begin and I couldn’t use magic either, so it wasn’t an option. I hope they are still good like this. Poe can’t move around, sure, but it’s so clear that he is really happy, don’t you think? I think he was enjoying the attention of the camera, even if he didn’t have a clue what it was actually doing.”

[amycus-harrowed]

bent not yet broken | flashback starter 1977

[mssglendachittock]

AMYCUS.

This was bordering dangerously close on something that might turn into an emotional conversation and the very thought made him itch. Dogs didn’t judge. Dogs wouldn’t care how badly he’d ruined everything. Dogs would just love him and clamor all over him, and look at him like he’d hung the moon. He wanted that kind of simple affection and loyalty. He needed that kind of simple affection and loyalty.

“I like dogs.” He said with a shrug, not exactly making eye contact. “You have a dog, I don’t. Hence, the need to borrow yours.” Or her grandmother’s. Whatever. Am didn’t care about the technicalities. “I borrow something of value from you,  you hold something of value to me. We exchange them again at the end. Simple bargaining.”

Was it just Glenda or did he not really want to talk about this? She wasn’t sure, she was never really good at reading any kind of social situation or people in general, and when she was stressed, things got even worse. And she was stressed now for sure. Her mind was running so fast yet she felt like her thoughts kept circling the same question and the same few points over and over again. The confusion and the unsureness and the fear of losing her grandma’s dog was way too strong.

She was staring at him, contemplating what she should do. She wanted to believe him. She really wanted to believe him. He was Rodo’s friend, he clearly loved dogs and he even gave her his wand. His wand! That huge! Some people didn’t even give their and to their closest friends or family and Amycus just gave her his. She looked down at Poe and how happy he looked. “His name is Poe,” Glenda said quietly, her mind still going, still not completely sure. “Promise you will bring him back?”

[amycus-harrowed]

first time in forever | open

[mssglendachittock]

AMYCUS.

At the mention of Poe, Amycus perked up instantly. The time spent with the happy-go-lucky puppy had been one of the few consistent bright spots of his summer. It had helped ease some of the pain over not having Lucius and Rodolphus and their normal summer traditions. The dog didn’t care about all the ways Amycus had screwed himself over.

“Yeah?” He asked, excited. “I’d fucking love to see him. How is he doing? D’you think he misses me?” It was a bit stupid but somehow the thought of Poe remembering him enough to miss him suddenly meant a great deal.

She didn’t understand it, if Glenda was being honestly. Why Amycus was so into her grandma’s dog, why he wanted to spend time with him so much and why couldn’t he just get a dog for himself, but she wasn’t going to argue that or as him that. She was just glad he never played her and took Poe and left her with a big pile of nothing and a really uncomfortable conversation with her grandma.

The way he perked up at the mention of Poe was adorable, though, she had to admit that. “Yeah, let me just…” she started as she went to dig through her bag for the photos. She figured that she would run into him eventually so she had them in her bag to show him, because she knew he would appreciate it. “Here it is,” she pulled the couple of pictures out of her bag and handed them over to Amycus. They weren’t magical ones, Poe wasn’t running around or barking or wagging his tail in the picture, but she hoped he would still appreciate them.

“He’s doing good, he has a new buddy because the neighbor of my grandma has a new puppy and they’ve been playing a lot together since he showed up. There is a few picture of them together too,” she added. “And I am sure he misses you,” she smiled at him. “He’s always happy when he sees you, so he must be.”

[amycus-harrowed]

bent not yet broken | flashback starter 1977

[mssglendachittock]

AMYCUS.

Amycus had to admit that he’d really given Glenda no reason to trust him with the dog. He didn’t want to admit it, but if it helped him get time with the dog he may actually have to say it out loud. How gross. Was this what normal responsibility felt like? Disgusting. He didn’t like it.

“I really will bring him back.” Amycus promised, fishing around in his head for anything that would help convince Glenda he really meant it.

With a sigh, he took out of his wand and offered it over. “Here. You can hold on to this. Now I’ve got to bring the dog back, because you’ve got my wand. Just… don’t do anything fishy with it. No using it as a bookmark or something like that. It’s a damn good wand and I want it back.”

The confusion was even stronger when he looked at her and promised to bring him back. He sounded so honest, so genuine and so hopeful, Glenda didn’t even know what to do with the entire situation. If their conversation wouldn’t have started the way it did – with him stating he was going to just take Poe away and never bring him back –, she would have believed him without a second thought.

And then the confusion turned into shock, because he pulled out his wand and handed it over to her. Glenda’s mind didn’t even process what was happening as her hand automatically reached up and took the wand, turning it around in her hand while her eyes were still glued on Amycus, expression clearly showing how much she couldn’t believe what was happening.

She finally managed to snatch her gaze from him and she looked down onto the wand and down down to Poe. He was wagging his tail and happily sniffing around on the ground near her, looking up at her when he couldn’t go further because she was trying to hold the leash so close to her. She let the leash loose, less afraid now that he would just take Poe away from her. “Wh—why?” she finally managed to stutter out a single word as she looked up at him again.

[mssglendachittock]

MAXINE.

Max turned a corner in the library with her books in hand, she always found herself distracted in the library. Which was the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen in such a place. This was the home of focus and learning, but all Max could see was the voices and stories of so many different people floating off the pages and around the room. Dancing off the bookshelves and into the rafters. Lost in her own thoughts as she looked up at the towering bookshelves she did not even notice she was about to bump into someone.

Startling herself with the sudden presence of another human she quickly reverted into apology.

“Merlin! I’m so sorry, head in the clouds today.” Max said with a grin, promptly taking a step back.

The library was easily one of Glenda’s favorite places in the entire castle. She loved the shelves they got in the Ravenclaw common room, but the library with what felt like endless isles of shelves and books wherever she looked was just magical in its own right. She spent countless hours there and once again she found herself crouching on the floor as she was looking at the bottom shelf, taking a step backwards whenever she needed to. She was looking for one specific book that seemed to have disappeared or was just hiding from her, Glenda wasn’t sure.

Because she wasn’t really watching what was happening around her or behind her, which is why she didn’t notice somebody coming her way and she ended up backing into somebody. She accidentally knocked a book off of the shelf from the surprise and she jumped forward a bit, turning around and landing on her butt, looking up at Maxine who was already apologizing.

“No, no, no, it’s ok,” Glenda shook her head and let out a chuckle as she scratched the back of her neck. “I was—down low and going backward, if anyone’s—you know, the blame for this, it’s definitely me.”

[mssglendachittock]

JAMES.

    “You’re talking to a guy who has been best friends with Sirius Black for six years. I am in a near constant state of not knowing what I’m getting myself into and I’ve gotten pretty used to it” he assured her, flashing her an amused grin to show that he was joking, though only a little. Having been friends with all of the marauders for quite some time, he was used to not knowing what was going to happen most days. With Sirius’s family problems and Remus’s furry little problem, he had not known what he had been getting himself into then either, but he had jumped in feet first nonetheless. “I look forward to it”.

     He saw the glint in her eye and the expression of pure joy that sprang to her face at the mention of sugar. Though many of his friends loved sugary snacks, none of them had the sweet tooth that James had and it was usually difficult to find someone, other than perhaps Sirius, brave enough to eat as much as James did. The delight on Glenda’s face made him all the more eager for sweet treats. “Dull. Life is dull without a little danger, is the answer” he said, seriously. “I’m sure our teeth are more than up for the challenge”.

     “My parents are aurors and even they had not expected Hogwarts to be attacked as viciously as it was” he said, somberly. James had never truly seen his parents shocked before, but the events at Hogwarts had shaken them from their stiff resolve and ‘that’s just the way of the world’ attitude. It came with being an auror, he supposed, and always having to face the harsher side of the world. “Oh, a few places. Russia was my favourite by far, we went to a Quidditch game and Alice dragged me to every landmark she could find, muggle and magical” he grinned fondly at the memory. “Ravenclaw have always been good competition, they won’t make it easy for us, which is what you want for an entertaining game” he assured her, without giving her a straight answer. He walked up to the shop door and held it open. “After you”.

Glenda couldn’t help but smile at James comparing her rambling about books to all the shenanigans him and his friends got into. Obviously it was nothing like that, she was only reading and rambling about most of the stuff the Marauders actually went out and did, but still, it was nice to hear it. “What was the craziest thing Sirius got you into that you never saw coming?” she asked, curious. She could see a similar determination and excitement she felt over the huge sugar intake they were about to subject themselves to. “They have to, what is the point of them if they can’t stand a larger amount of sugar, right?”

To hear that even James’ parents, who worked as Aurors, did not expect the Hogwarts destruction sombered Glenda, once again feeling the shock of the events. She remembered the moment she got the news and she thought it was some kind of sick joke. Hogwarts was the safest place on Earth for any wizard and Dumbledore was there. Nobody would dare do anything while Dumbledore was protecting the place, and yet, it was destroyed. There was no wonder her parents didn’t want to let her go back to Hogwarts, but still that was the only place she knew that could teach her to be a full out, good witch, it was her home, so she needed to go back. “It’s insane to think that it actually happened. It feel surreal. I am sure that we will go back and it will all be looking the same and it’s because of the eight months they spent rebuilding, but still my mind will think nothing happened to it at all because for the life of me I can’t imagine the castle in ruins.”

She snapped her head up, curiousity and interest all in her eyes. “Wow, that sounds so amazing, I am assuming it was the experience of the lifetime. I am not really a Quidditch knower, but I read somewhere they do some things differently in Russia? Was it obvious? Was it cool to watch the game? Did they play differently too? How is it compared to a Hogwarts house game? I am sure it’s a whole different experience.” She smiled and nodded. “I hope they will give you guys a run for your money. I mean, I don’t want bad things for you, but I do root for Ravenclaw,” she chuckled a little sheepishly.

She thanked him as she opened the door and walked inside, stopping not too far from the door to look around. The store looked so much bigger on the inside than on the outside and it seemed like they have everything. “I think the bags are more in the bag? If they have any,” she said not really sure if they are even in the right place. She was never in here and the shop was too big to see all of its content.

[mssglendachittock]

AMELIA.

[ @mssglendachittock ]

     If there was one thing that Amelia had missed more than Hogwarts itself, it was her best friend Glenda, whom she had been forced to part with when her parents had sent her to Beauxbatons. Every day she had spent cooped up in a dorm room with snooty, bitchy French girls through narrowed eyes. She knew that even Glenda, with her kind and open heart, would have found the girls as unbearable as Amelia had, and Amelia had written many letters to her friend assuring her that she would have been just as frustrated with them as she had been.

     Now back in the halls of Hogwarts, not a single snooty girl in her line of sight, she almost skipped her way to the library where she had been reliably informed her friend would be. She should have known that the first place Glenda would dash to upon arriving at Hogwarts was the library, as though the girl hadn’t already read every book that it housed. Walking in, she looked between the shelves of books, searching for her friend in some of her favourite spots before finally catching a glimpse of her, sitting by a small table with her head down, eagerly scanning the pages of the book in front of her.

     “A whole castle to reacquaint yourself with, and where do I find you? The library” she said, with a sigh, as though disappointed, but her lips twitched in amusement. She stood on the other side of the table her friend had claimed as her own, hands placed on the wood as she leaned against it. “I am so glad to see that some things never change”.

Glenda was so wrapped up in the book she was reading – The Tales of Beedle the Bard in Ancient Runes translation –, she didn’t even notice Amelia finding her and coming over to her. (She didn’t notice anyone around her, really, and by the bookshelves closest to her a pair broke up and Madam Pince had to tell them to move it somewhere else outside of the library, so not hearing somebody approaching wasn’t that surprising.)

It took her several seconds for the familiar voice to register and Glenda to realize that it was Amelia speaking and that she was directly speaking to her. When that happened, she snapped her head up and a wide, bright grin spread across her face. “Amelia, hey,” she greeted her best friend, immediately jumping up from her seat, going around the table and wrapping her hands around her best friend. With probably at least 95% of the people, if not even more, she wasn’t really touchy-feeling. She didn’t feel comfortable enough around them to be. But Amelia was without a doubt one of the few who belonged among those Glenda always without a question felt comfortable with.

“Yeah, I guess there are just old habits I can’t leave behind,” she chuckled as she pulled away. “I came down here to do some homework, found a gem and got sucked into it,” she admitted. Most of the books around the table were for the DADA homework the new DADA teacher assigned to them. “But oh my gosh, I am so glad to see you, I missed you so much! How are you? How does it feel to be back in Hogwarts after being stuck in Beauxbatons?”

[mssglendachittock]

NARCISSA.

Cissa had to bite her tongue to hide the smile that was threatening to spread across her face at the topic Glenda chose. Had this been written in a letter she probably would have been able to get away with showing off her interest in these witch hunts and the people who took part in them for the fun of it, only because Glenda wouldn’t have been able to see. Now the other girl was standing right in front of her so the need to downplay her excitement was strong. Why Narcissa couldn’t just simply show off her emotions to Glenda, she wasn’t entirely sure. It would have been easier that’s for sure but Glenda was different and since she didn’t seem to know anything relating to Narcissa’s scandals over these past eight months, acting as if nothing changed would be the best option.

“So like, Wendelin the Weird. The witch who enjoyed being burned at the stake she got herself caught more than a dozen times” Narcissa pointed out, remembering the woman being on a chocolate frog card which piqued a young Narcissa’s interest and led her to do some research back in the day. “It…really is quite ridiculous. Thinking that fire will simply get the job done. Muggles really didn’t realize how powerful witches and wizards could truly be.” She shook her head, knowing that normally she would point out that all muggles were always this stupid and instead kept that comment to herself. “How do you plan on getting the muggle side of things exactly? Not like there are any of them around, and if they were you would probably get attacked for being a witch.”

Narcissa didn’t look like the most interested person as she was listening to her rambling, but that has never stopped Glenda. She was the type of person who, once started talking about a topic that interested her, never actually stopped the word-vomit. And Narcissa knew that, she had to know that after she got hired for the Profit Prophet and all the letters she sent her too over the break about the most random stuff. (Sometimes she did wonder if Cissa even read them, though that thought never discouraged her from sending them anyway.) This also meant that even if she didn’t look like she was interested in what she was saying, she had to be on some degree, otherwise she wouldn’t have asked. Which was more than enough for Glenda.

“Oh yes, exactly like her,” she nodded eagerly. “She is so fascinating, she let herself get captured 47 times. I don’t know why they call her the weird though, she was amazing. I love her story, I kind of read everything and anything about her.” Cissa on some level did seem interested, however, and Glenda loved that. “Yes, I don’t understand how they could think they couldn’t just magic themselves out of a fire or make it cold or set the fire on their entire village – because I read about a couple of witches and wizards who accidentally got captured and did that in their rage. Also the fire wasn’t the only thing muggles did. They sometimes tied ropes around the suspected witches and wizards and threw them into the river and they said if the person drowned they couldn’t have magic but if they floated or survived somehow, they had to have dark powers, which is just the dumbest thing, anyone with a little magic could use a bubble charm, stay under the water until everyone leaves and then just walk away unharmed, it doesn’t prove anything.” Glenda tilted her head, looking at Narcissa confused. “What do you mean how do I plan on getting the muggle side? I went to a bunch of libraries and read several books about the topic, took so many notes and also, I found a couple of diaries from that time about the topic. Don’t you think that will be enough? You think I would need more?”

[mssglendachittock]

[ @rodolphuslestranges ]

She didn’t tell either Rodo or Cissa about her plan about bringing the Lego Architecture she got for Christmas to the Profit Prophet office. She originally planned on bringing it right after Christmas, but obviously that fell through when the castle was destroyed, so instead Filch got an extra bag he could carry upstairs now instead. (Assuming Filch was the one who got the bags up to their dorm rooms, Glenda never figured that one out for sure.)

She waited a couple of days to get settled in, and then picked up her bag with all the different boxes and slowly made her way up to the office. Nobody was around and she found herself grinning when she saw that – she was hoping this would a surprise to both of them, a good one of that, and she quickly went to one of the corners to set everything up.

It didn’t take long, and despite the fact that she planned on just setting everything up and then slipping out so either Cissa or Rodo could find it without anything put together, she found herself sitting down onto the floor and just separating pieces into groups, trying to figure out what went together with what. She already put most of them together before, but only once, and when they were in little pieces, it wasn’t that easy in the beginning to see how the pieces went together.

[mssglendachittock]

DORCAS.

     With a few flick of the wrists and a few whispers, Dorcas was able to get the mess figured out and cleaned up, the books stacked on the table first before she made quick work on the bag, sealing it and fixing the break between the strap and the rest of pouch. She’d answer Glenda soon, hearing every word she said, though her focus was on the spell work as a few faulty moves could undo the work in front of her, causing another mess. That was not on either of their schedules. 

     “There. To start, I completely agree with you on that front – it’s ridiculous that we learn things in class that while interesting and useful, completely useless in certain real life situations. Secondly, I’ll teach you the charms the minute we get back to school – which – is so soon I can’t even believe we’re going back,” though, she was more than relieved because being home had both clarified but muddled her motivations, had challenged her in many ways, but also helped her grow in a way that school stifled often – socially among other societies. The status of SOCIALITE now completely branded on her, which was what her mother wanted, a woman in society who was available – Dorcas may have had other plans but she hoped that playing this part in particular would be advantageous in the future. It had to be, didn’t it?

     Sitting down in front of Glenda finally, she admired her own handy work a moment before reaching over the give Glenda’s hand a familiar, loving, squeeze.  “I’m doing really well. I’ve traveled, a lot, which sort of beats being at Hogwarts all year long but I can’t say I’m depressed that we’ll be back. I’ve missed the structure. The clubs. You, as well. How have you been? I can easily get some ice cream for us, what would you like? I’ve been having a dilemma but I’m in the mood for something sweet. SO, Caramel Truffle it is. Unless, you know something sweeter.”

Glenda just watched as Dorcas worked and as the bag practically put itself together (it was magic, of course, but just looking at it it looked like it did it itself) and then the books flying into the bag and once again she felt such a wonder and gratitude that she was a witch, and especially that she was finally back in the world of magic. In the past 8 months she missed this. Missed it more than she could possibly say, which is probably why she had such a strong in awe reaction to magic happening, but she didn’t care. She was simply grateful for Dorcas’ help and being able to be back.

“Thank you, thank you so much!” Glenda grinned as she took the now fully fixed, strengthened bag with the books inside and after a quick consideration, she quickly moved up to Dorcas and wrapped her hands around her friend and hugged her as a thank you. “This is so awesome, thanks for teaching it to me.” She figured she would need it sooner or later. She couldn’t exactly buy books while she was in Hogwarts, but she did always end up taking too many books out of the library at one time and also anytime she got close to a bookstore, she couldn’t leave without several books in her bag, so it’s a true miracle this bag failure didn’t happen sooner already.

“Ooooh, where did you travel? Did you see some fun, exciting, interesting stuff? You must have!” Glenda immediately jumped onto the topic, smiling at Dorcas as she squeezed back her hand. “I know what you mean, the whole world compared to Hogwarts is different, though as for me, I was home 99% of the time, except for when we visited my grandmother, so I am really just happy to be able to get back to Hogwarts. I missed you too, and the place and some people and the common room and just—everything, really.” She loved Hogwarts way too much, she doubted there really was any aspect of it that she didn’t want to get back to. Well, maybe Potions. She could do without Potions classes for sure. “Caramel Truffle is always good, if you want something sweeter though, add some chocolate syrup on the top of it, that is always what I get. It makes everything better. And I think I am going to wo with Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream. Have you tried that yet? It’s just amazing.”

[mssglendachittock]

MARLENE.

Marlene let out a long sigh, taking another look in the mirror at the horrific ensemble that she was currently wearing. ‘’I think my dad might be trying to effectively kill my sex life. This is essentially a nuns outfit. ‘’ She rolled her eyes at the reflection looking back at her before turning around. ‘’I just have to beg Madam Malkin to either fix these so they aren’t so horrible or let me choose something else in the same price range.’’ Marlene offered, with a small shrug of her shoulder. ‘’It’s not for anything, my old dress robes are just too small for me. My Mum used to pick out all our dress robes, I guess my dad isn’t very good at it.’’

Glenda found herself almost choking on air when Marlene mentioned her dad trying to kill her sex life. She shouldn’t have reacted like this, she knew that – just because she wasn’t anywhere close to having sex, didn’t mean others weren’t -, but just hearing Marlene speak so openly about it shocked her for a second. “I—that must be—I mean—,” she started and then decided not to even say anything to it, just move on, because it would be even more embarrassing than her reaction. “Hopefully she will be good with that, I am sure she doesn’t mind what the customers buy as long as they pay for it. Or—If that is not an option, you could always tell your dad that somebody stole it from you? On the street or something?” Though who would have wanted to steal an ugly dress like this, she wasn’t sure. “Uh, maybe next time you should convince your dad to let you choose.”

[mssglendachittock]

JAMES.

   She reminded him of Lily in a way, encouraging, open minded and a lover of books. Glenda had an easy nature about her that he was sure would calm even the most irate Slytherin, while simultaneously confusing them. He admitted only to himself that he would like to witness that. “Feel free to talk as much and as freely about your books as well, any time you like” he offered, smiling genuinely. He was sure there were very few people like her in the Magical world, and even fewer within Hogwarts and while she would encourage him to talk about Quidditch, he wanted her to be assured that she could talk about her love of books with him whenever she needed too.

     “Ice cream, with candy sprinkled on top?” he suggested, raising an eyebrow as his lips twisted into a smirk. The idea of such a sickeningly sweet treat sounded wonderful to him, especially since he had not allowed himself so much sugar in such a long time. Working out, training for the next year of Quidditch, had left little time for much else and he had torn himself away from sugar, having binge eaten Bertie Botts every flavor beans for the first month that they had been away from Hogwarts. “Or is that too much for our teeth to survive, do you think?” he added.

     “I suppose with the reasons behind the closing in the first place, I can understand their reluctance" he admitted. His parents had not minded all that much, though they had been worried, they had trusted James and his decision to return. When she turned the question on him, a cruel voice in his head sang that he had been a mess, but he shut it up quickly. “I was home schooled as well, whenever my parents were able to be at home. Oh, and I did some traveling which was quite fun. Other than than, I mostly trained and wrote out quidditch strategies, hoping that Hogwarts would one day be reopened”. 

Glenda let out a chuckle, looking up at him. “You might not know what you’re getting yourself into, but thank you for the offer, knowing myself, I will probably take you up on it at some point.” Once she started talking about books, there was no stopping her. One time her mother actually started timing it after she’s been at least talking for at least 15-20 minutes and according to the timer she was talking for another one and a half hours about the same book, so it was safe to say that once she started talking, she might possibly never - or only after a really long time - stop.

Glenda perked up, her eyes glinting with excitement and her expression beaming. She’s always had such a sweet tooth, jumping on every opportunity at eating anything with sugar in it, but the last couple of months she tried to hold back to show good example for her little brother, who was in a phase where he wanted to eat nothing more than candy and chocolate and ice cream and cake. It was driving their parents mad. But her little brother was nowhere around and ice cream with candy sprinkled on top sounded like the best thing on the world. “I say we have to be brave enough and see if our teeth can handle it. I mean, what’s life without a little bit of danger, right?” she joked.

“Yeah, they kind of freaked out because of the whole ‘school got destroyed by an unknown force when it was supposed to be the safest place on the whole world’ thing,“ Glenda nodded, scratching the back of her neck. It was actually a really big freak out, with them saying they regret even letting Glenda go to Hogwarts in the first place with all the shit that’s been going on lately. It took her the entire 8 months to convince them to let her back. “Oh, that sounds so much fun. Where did you travel? Did you see some cool stuff?“ She tilted her head slightly. “Does that mean that Ravenclaw won’t stand a chance against Gryffindor this year? Or do we still got some slimmer of hope?“ They reached the shop at this point and Glenda added, “This is it.”

[amycus-harrowed]

first time in forever | open

[mssglendachittock]

AMYCUS.

Amycus had missed this fucking castle more than words could describe. It felt like coming home in a way that the Carrow estate never had. Even now with so much of social circle solidly outlawed by his own mistakes, the minute he walked through the door something in his soul soothed. He had Alecto’s snakes wrapped around his neck for appearances sake, and his suits finally sat snug against his body.

For a brief second, just standing there with his eyes closed and his head tilted towards the night sky ceiling, it didn’t matter that Rodolphus hated him now and he couldn’t talk to Lucius, because he was home.

“Fuck, I missed this place.” He muttered, then flushed as he felt someone’s eyes on him. He straightened and forced the blush from his face.“What the fuck are you looking at?”

There was such difference between how she felt at the beginning of last year and how she felt now, stepping into Hogwarts again. The previous year Glenda wanted nothing more than to curl up in Ravenclaw common room with a book and get lost in the world of magic and wonders through the stories and the text books, even though she was determined to do new things. Now, it didn’t feel like the complete opposite, but the scale definitely tipped. She didn’t want to just hide away in the Ravenclaw Tower or the library anymore and she felt like she was ready for the new challenges.

New challenges, the first one arising right away as she noticed Amycus standing not so far from her. She felt a lot more comfortable around him by now, since he took Poe and actually brought him back several times, but still she felt like the other shoe is just waiting to drop. But they were in Hogwarts now, it’s not like he could steal Poe for a while.

She decided to walk up to him, especially because she spent a couple of days at her grandma’s before coming to Hogwarts and didn’t bump into him again. “Uh, so-sorry,” she got stunned by the reception, forgetting what she even came over here for. “I just-- just wanted to show you some- some pictures. Of Poe.” She felt like she sounded like an idiot, but what was new. “Been at my grandma’s the last couple of days, took some pictures and I thought you would be interested?”

[amycus-harrowed]

bent not yet broken | flashback starter 1977

[mssglendachittock]

AMYCUS.

The longer the girl talked the more Amycus’s frown turned into a pout. He hardly saw anything wrong with his new plan. After all he’d even told her he’d give the dog back. Did he not look respectable? He’d worn his best fitting suit out, even though it was still a bit baggy on him now it had been tailored to fit once upon a time. It wasn’t as if he was just some unwashed bum for fucks sake.

“I said I’d give him back.” Amycus said, losing patience with this whole affair. All he wanted to do was play with the goddamn dog for a few hours. Why couldn’t she see that? He wasn’t the one being unreasonable here. “Do you want an Unbreakable Vow or some shit? ‘I solemnly swear to give you back your dog’? Do you need it in writing?”

He was starting to get annoyed, and when he got annoyed he got angry. Alecto had made him promise not to get violent without her, and he’d not break a promise to his sister. So he forced himself to reign in his emotions as he bent down to look at the dog again. “Don’t you wanna come hang out with me?” He asked the puppy. “Just for a little while?”

Glenda wasn’t sure what Amycus Carrow was expecting, he was frowning at her as she tried denying him borrowing Poe and pouting – actually pouting -, and Glenda was more and more confused with every second. Was she supposed to believe the borrowing story? Because Amycus sounded and acted like she was supposed to but she couldn’t help not believing it. He started off with wanting to steal the puppy, there is no guarantee that he wouldn’t change his mind.

“I—I—Idon’tbelieveyou,” Glenda blurted it out in a weird, high pitched voice, speaking so fast she wondered if he even understood what she was saying. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he couldn’t, really. “I mean, it’s—you know, really nice for you to offer the Unbreakable Vow,” something which she did not want to do at all because she didn’t want anyone dying and technically she read about it in detail but she never read about how to do it properly, plus she believed they would have needed a third person around and nobody else was around and Poe couldn’t exactly do it.

“I just—my grandma wouldn’t like him to be taken. In any way,” she added, her voice weak and quiet and damn she hoped he wasn’t going to attack her for this or anything. Maybe he will understand or something, right? “And I think he wouldn’t—you know—want to—I mean—he wouldn’t.”