Mulan Zhou

Above all, honor Mulan Zhou Gryffindor Alum Flying TA // Holyhead Harpies

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Keeper to Keeper || Buster & Mulan

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blastoff-buster:

Buster watched in minor awe as she whisked away all the equipment. It probably wasn’t an extraordinarily difficult feat but he was baffled by anything. “Pointers?” he repeated as though it was unreal what she was offering. “UH, YES!” Buster thanked her for the compliment, but to be honest, he also hoped the team was in good hands. “But if you’re helping me out, I’m gonna be better than ready.” He leaned up against his broom eagerly. “So what’s the secret to being the best Hogwarts keeper?”

“Well, I’ll do my best to prepare you as much as I can,” she laughed.  “But I also have to offer the same advice to any of the other players from the other Houses.  Contractual obligation, y’know?” she joked.  “But here, show me what you got and that way, I can cater my advice to what you need.”

[fh-memories-blog]

Mulan relaxing in the common room wearing a stolen borrowed sweater of Bobby’s

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elan-notjustgirl:

“Thank you! I’m always looking for new tips and tricks - more than the ones that I can get out of newspaper clips and from the books in the library. It’s been like trying to learn a song but I don’t have any sheet music and only half the lyrics have been sung to me.” She’d never been to see a professional game, although she wanted to go desperately. They lived close to two major Quidditch teams, and yet she’d never ever gotten to see them live. It was absurd. 

“Ooh, nice analogy,” Mulan pointed out with a smile.  She held the door open for the girl and followed in behind.  It had been a while since she was at the joke shop.  “Well, I’m sure you know loads already.  It’s just a matter of finding out what works for your style and technique.”

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Keeper to Keeper || Buster & Mulan

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blastoff-buster:

Buster couldn’t believe when he saw his name on the team roster. In fact, not only was he ecstatic, he was terrified. He’d worked hard during the summer but he didn’t actually expect to make the team. Making the team meant friendship and camaraderie, sure, but it also meant stressful game situations and Buster wasn’t someone who handled stress tremendously. He did have good focus, though, and passion, which led him to excelling during tryouts.

Still, Buster knew he couldn’t slack off so he was on the pitch at every possible moment. As he walked on, expecting no one, the quidditch fan in his heart nearly fell out of his chest. Mulan was not only a Gryffindor legend and inspiration but a pro-ball player. And she was waving to him because he was expected to fill her shoes. Or broom. “Uh, hey!” he said trying not be sound to nervous or enthusiastic. After all, she was only a student last year. “I was just about to practice. I’m still slow going to my right side…” He had his broom in hand but felt embarrassed to try anything in front of her.

With a wave of her wand, Mulan finished packing up the rest of the things from class and set them to the side.  She hoped the new Gryffindor Keeper didn’t feel any antagonism toward her or anything for having had that spot for so long.  “I’m sure you’ll improve with practice.  That’s usually what the team practices are good for, working out the kinks of the team and ensuring everyone is at their best.  But, if you’d like, I could offer some pointers,” she smiled kindly.  “Oh and, by the way, congrats on making the team this year.  I’m sure I’m leaving my old spot in good hands.”

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elan-notjustgirl:

“I’m so excited for the new school year! It’s nice to finally have my OWLs over with so I could drop a few of my classes. Hopefully this way I’ll have more time for flying and Quidditch this year - maybe even make it on the team.” She looked around cheerfully at all the people they passed. 

Mulan laughed.  “Definitely enjoy that feeling of being done with OWLs, but for now, appreciate that you don’t have NEWTs just yet.  Oh, are you looking to join the team?  Best of luck to you,” she smiled.  “If you need any tips or advice, my door is open!  As it needs to be since I am the the Flying TA,” she laughed.  “But I mean, I do have some experience from being on that Gryffindor team so if you need pointers, I got ‘em.”

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Rekindle // Meredith & Mulan

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mersoldsoul:

Mer tucked a strand of hair behind her ears at the comment with a small grin. “So I’m learning. I couldn’t tell you if my hometown has the same sort of crime as I feel like I’m rarely there anymore.”

But at Mulan’s rambling, she couldn’t help but look at her with a little confusion. “No, of course not. I’m too close to graduating to give up now and basically every decent career requires at least a Hogwarts degree.” Of course, she had no idea exactly what kind of career she wanted for after Hogwarts, but that was a minor detail. She had all of this next year to figure it out when she had the time to pay attention to it. “But I’ll enjoy getting to see you. Knowing its you.”

“Do you ever go home during breaks?” Mulan asked politely.

“Yea!  One more year and then it’s the real world!  You’re almost there,” she continued awkwardly.  “But that is a good mentality to have, very sensible.  Any ideas where you’d like to be after school, though?”  Perhaps that was too personal of a question.  “I mean, it’s also okay to not know, you know?  I don’t really quite know what I was going to be doing until, like, a month before school ended, you know?”  She was rambling again so she cleared her throat.  “Yea, yea it will be very nice to see familiar faces again this year,” she smiled.

[mulanzhou-blog]

Keeper to Keeper || Buster & Mulan

@blastoff-buster

The new year was in full swing, which meant quidditch practice was up and running again.  Mulan was thrilled that Bobby was captain for the Gryffindor team this year, and she had full faith in him.  But, another person caught her attention too.  For the past few years, Mulan had secured and reigned as the Gryffindor Keeper (which earned her place as the current Flying TA and a spot with the Holyhead Harpies).  Suffice to say, leaving the Gryffindor Keeper spot was a little bittersweet.  And since she was the Flying TA, she knew the complete rosters of every house team.

On the sunny day, Mulan found herself on the quidditch pitch cleaning up after the last first-year class, when she spotted the new Gryffindor Keeper.

“Hey!” she smiled, waving as she approached Buster.

[fairladymarian]

Reflecting Who I Am Inside || May & Mulan

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fairladymarian:

This time, May hung back and simply watched as the group of women converged on Mulan to give her their compliments more personally. Fairly soon, most of them had surrounded her and were each babbling in their own way over the different highlights of the game, comments on Mulan’s flying style, tips for improving, and the casual ribbing that came from people who spent far too much time around each other. 

A moment later, Ellen snuck out over to her. “So, were we successful? Do we get to steal this one away? Because I can almost guarantee that the Harpies are gonna want her.” May grinned. “You might have to fight for her. It looks like she’s pretty popular already.”

The rush of conversations seemed to take Mulan by surprise.  She wasn’t used to being fawned over, especially when it came to quidditch.  Her family would never, her friends didn’t even know she was part of the team, and no one even knew Ping enough to care about her performance.  But this was nice.  It was encouraging.

As the conversations continued on, Mulan was swept by much of it, before noticing that May had gone off.  She saw Ellen with her, so not wanting to interrupt, she gave her a nervous and excited smile before continuing her conversation with Carlotta from the Tornadoes.

[fh-memories-blog]

Mulan on a “runaway trip” from family and responsibilities

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Missed You Fawnly // Bobby & Mulan

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oh-porcupines:

“Well, I guess it depends on what type of fruit you like, but I like to get a mix of the mango and the pina-colada. The mango is oddly smooth and creamy and the pina-colada accents it well,” Bobby then chuckled a little, hoping he didn’t come off as an Italian ice nerd. 

“I know you’ll do great, Mulan, there’s no way you wouldn’t!” He replied and put a hand on her shoulder and patted her. “And definitely! There’s no excuse not to hang out, so I’m all for it.” At her question, he nodded and thought about it, “I think the school year will be interesting, you know? It will be weird being a 7th year, but hopefully in a good way. Not only that but since most of the Gryffindor team graduated, I’m going to try and go for Captain. We’ll see what happens.” 

“Mmm... that sounds like the beginnings of a tropical paradise,” Mulan chuckled.  “You sound like an expert.  What would go well if I wanted something with berries?  Strawberry or some other type of berry.”

A bit of her felt a little bittersweet about not being a student anymore, but moreover, she was glad to not worry about studies anymore.  That definitely was a major plus.  “Thanks for your vote of confidence, Bobby.  Still, I just hope I don’t screw up.”  She wrinkled her nose nervously at the thought.  “Captain!  Yes, you have my vote!  Though, as TA, I don’t think I actually get a vote,” she joked.  “Probably would suspect bias or something.  Though I would argue that I’ve got a good sense of the team members since, well, I was on it for a few years.  What I mean to say is, best of luck to you and I think you’ve totally got this in the bag.”

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pete-jete:

Of course the arrest had been news… How could it not have been? PJ was still something of a name from his time competing in the Olympics and his involvement in the death of a fellow student last year. So, when his father was arrested for the murder of his mother… of course it became a headline in the Prophet. PJ had done what he could since the arrest to lay low, as he had after both the Olympics and the death he’d witnessed. If he stayed quiet, people would move on to other things… eventually. Until then, all he had to do was keep to himself…

And as soon as PJ had that thought, he bumped straight into someone. Since it was impossible to jump out of one’s skin, PJ’s body settled for quickly retreating in the opposite direction of the body it had just come in contact with. “Sorry! Sorry…“ he said quickly, hardly even glancing at the person before quickly ducking down to retrieve the stack of papers he had dropped.

“Oh snaps, sorry PJ.  Didn’t mean to startle ya.”  Mulan bent down to help him pick up the papers.  Once that was all settled, she stuffed her hands into her pocket and took a small step back to give the boy some space.  “I just wanted to let you know that there’s a TA meeting in a half hour.  Wasn’t sure if you got the memo.”

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oh-porcupines:

Bobby couldn’t hide his emotions after he heard about the new Quidditch positions. HE MADE CAPTAIN!!! His heart felt like it was going to burst in excitement and he walked as if he was prancing on clouds. Sure, there weren’t a lot of options to pick from, but he had the power to make this season better. There wasn’t, couldn’t be anything to bring him down.

“Oh! Hey there! Are you doing well? I’m doing SUPER well!”

The results must have finally been revealed to the quidditch teams because Mulan ran into a rather cheerful Bobby.

“I’m doing alright, but youuuuu seem rather excited,” she smirked.  “What’s the occasion?”

[charmsingprofessor]

A Regular Trip || Open

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charmsingprofessor:

Myrddin had always felt it was polite to refuse a gift once, but at a second time it became rude. Politely he resigned to accepting the gift and gave Mulan a grateful nod as his treat was handed over. “Thank you very much, Miss Zhou.”

“You will be returning? Oh, my… this is wonderful news!” He said with a laugh, “And it’s not a problem. I returned here after a few years, and no matter how often I try to retire I always find myself returning once more to it. It’s not a bad thing, in my book.”

“Of course.  I hope you enjoy the treat!” she said before taking a bite of her own.

Mulan smiled and nodded, having heard briefly of the professor’s return to teaching academia.  “Then I suppose I’m in my early stages of following your footsteps, Professor,” Mulan joked.

[fairladymarian]

Reflecting Who I Am Inside || May & Mulan

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fairladymarian:

May gave Mulan’s hand another squeeze, grinning broadly as she did so. It was amazing to see her friend look so happy. In fact, this might be the first time she saw her look exactly this happy, and it was incredible. 

“Come on, let’s hurry and finish sorting this out so we can rejoin the rest of the group and finish up this tea. And sometime soon, I’m taking you for a true celebration. Somewhere with no parents and far too much alcohol for us to drink. If I can’t get you dancing by the end of a night like that, my name isn’t May Marian.” 

Mulan nodded shakily but followed anyways with a smile on her face.  This was a big deal, a great thing.  And after all these years of not being able to do this and her family not accepting it, it finally was ok.  “Yea... I could definitely use a drink or two or ten,” she laughed.  “I’m keeping you on that, May.  It’ll be a great celebration!” she squealed as they finally made their way back to the group.  Her family lingered to the side, still speaking amongst themselves, so Mulan went back toward the group of professional quidditch players.

“Thanks so much for that game, ladies.  It was truly an honor to play with you,” she said, still gushing over seeing her role models in person.

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Rekindle // Meredith & Mulan

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mersoldsoul:

Mer rolled her eyes with amused exasperation. “You have no idea. You’d think a small town like this would hardly have anything to worry about, but it’s like people make trouble because they’re bored. The other day, Auror Gardner arrested a man who tried to hit his friend with a jinx that would make him produce slime continuously. Unfortunately, the spell backfired. So he wasn’t only arrested, but he slimed all over the holding cell. It was a disaster.”

What did that mean? Oh, um yes I suppose. None of that sounded particularly confident. Was it a bad thing? Should Mer not have asked? Except Mulan was the one who had been keeping secrets because of her feelings, so shouldn’t it be a good thing? Wait. Stop it Meredith. Freak out about this on your own time. “Of course. I wouldn’t give up Quidditch, especially not now. I don’t have the drive to be a professional with it like you, but I still enjoy it. Sometimes it feels like the only way I can relax during the year.” 

“Sometimes it’s the small towns that you have to be weary of,” Mulan joked.  “But it does at least sound like the aurors are doing a really good job keeping people safe and keeping crimes and nuisances in check.”

“Great!  Because you’re a great player and it’d be a shame to lose you,” she smiled.  Oh um, wait... “From Quidditch, I mean.  Not that you’d be going anywhere.  You’re not leaving school or anything right?” she joked awkwardly.  Mulan tugged at her hair, her fingers undoing knots to pretend she hadn’t been as awkward as she had thought.  “And if it helps you relax, then definitely keep at it!  NEWTs can really drive up those stress levels.”

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elan-notjustgirl:

Her grin brightened perceptibly. “I don’t mind at all! That would be wonderful!” She wasn’t exactly super close to Mulan before, but of course she’d followed Ping’s Quidditch career and the amazing reveal that Ping was Mulan the whole time. She looked forward to getting to know the other girl that much more. “Ooh we might need to stop by Zonko’s. I haven’t been there in ages!”

“Great!” Mulan beamed, happy to spend time with Elan and get to her know a little more.  “Zonko’s it is then.”  As they made their way over, Mulan turned to her fellow Gryffindor.  “How’s your summer been?  And are you excited for the new school year?”

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madmarchmoths:

Marcus wasn’t sure why this girl he didn’t know that well was so determined to help him, but there was something inside of him that told him to let her. The Slytherin was easily annoyed and found it hard to like most people, but so far, she hadn’t bothered him. He looked down at his hands and let out a sigh, his notebook was thoroughly destroyed and he had no reason to still be there. “I can’t say I’m able to fly that well. Maybe it would be good to walk around the campus, though.”

She shrugged and gave a small smile.  At least he seemed somewhat receptive to doing anything but pouring tea onto paper.  “Well, if you’re ever feeling up to it, I could teach you how to fly.  The basics are generally pretty easy to gather once you get a good footing.”  She’d have linked it to riding a bike but that was a very muggle thing and she wasn’t sure if the boy would even know what a bike was.  “But walking around sounds just as good.  May help take your mind off some things.”