artsy_aura

Something funny

2008-12-21T03:04:58Z

I've gotten this forwarded to me a few times in my e-mail, most recently by my step-mom. I think it's funny, and something most women would grin at.

Click here to see it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. ^_^

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (12/12)

2008-11-11T04:51:15Z

This is the last one.

Title: Overheard
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 315
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations (nor do I own any part of LotR).
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 12 prompt: Elf

Draco apparated into the backyard of the Doctors Granger's suburban home. He knocked, and when he received no reply, he checked his watch to make sure he had come at the appointed time. Unsure of what to do next, he debated returning home and trying to floo or owl Hermione instead, when he heard a loud bout of feminine laughter coming from near the front of the house. Deciding that, they just must not of heard him, he decided to enter the house and announce his presence again as he approached the room the noises were coming from.

As he came closer to the front room, more sounds came to him, along with the voices of Hermione and her mother. One comment made him stop dead in his tracks.

“I don't know why, but he looks so much better dirty...”

There was an embarrassed laugh followed by an equally embarrassed sounding “Mum!”

“I know, I know, you prefer the elf,” Mrs. Granger said laughingly, “but I have to say, this was not a bad investment for more than six hours of getting to see our men running around and playing with swords!”

“Alright! Alright, you get Strider, as long as Legolas is all mine.”

“You always did have a thing for pale men with long blond hair, didn't you my dear?”

“Well, after meeting Draco, there wasn't any going back for me, even if he was a bit of a prat in the... Oh Merlin, Draco! What time is it? I was supposed to have started getting ready for dinner nearly an hour ago!”

Draco quietly backed out of the house, and then knocked again more loudly. He'd let Hermione get ready without knowing he had walked in on her and her mother watching the telly, but he had every intention of finding out at some point later on who exactly this Legolas person was.

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (11/12)

2008-11-11T04:39:24Z

Title: Crash Course
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 329
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 11 prompt: Tree

With a loud crash, followed by a thud, which was accompanied by a short scream and cries of “Ouch!”, Hermione became acquainted (yet again) with a tree and some of the less frequented parts of Hogwarts' grounds.

A figure landed lightly behind her carrying both his own broom, and her broom which he had retrieved from where it had been lodged in the higher branches of the tree. “Are you alright?” he asked, his voice tinged with equal parts concern and amusement.

“Don't you laugh at me Draco Malfoy,” she responded with a groan, “it was your idea to teach me how to fly, and you promised that I wouldn't get hurt.” she said petulantly.

“Ah, but it was you who wanted to start right away on your own broom. Maybe now you'll let me teach you the way I had originally planned?”

After stumbling to her feet, Hermione looked warily at Draco standing there nonchalantly holding his own Nimbus 2001 as the instrument of her pain for the afternoon laid innocently at his feet. “Alright, but if I fall one more time, I'm not touching a broom again unless it's to clean a floor!”

With a smirk he mounted his broom and scooted to the back to make room for his soon-to-be passenger. “You know I could never turn down a challenge, Hermione.” he said, holding one hand out to her. She grudgingly complied, straddling the broom in front of him and grabbing the handle with a white-knuckled grip. He chuckled lightly before pulling her back tightly against him. “Ease up on that grip. I'll be in charge of flying this time around. You just need to sit back, relax, and get a feel for it right now” he murmured into her ear, taking a whiff of her citrus-y scented hair as he did so. She shuddered slightly in his arms, and then he kicked off gently and took them both into the air.

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (10/12)

2008-11-11T04:32:57Z

Title: Tea with Draco
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 165
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 10 prompt: Mistletoe.

“Draco, someone in your family must've either been really cruel or really liked Christmastime.”

“Why do you say that, Hermione?”

“Oh let me think, first there was Holly and Berry at the entryway, then there was Garland in the hallway and Snowflake in my rooms, and now for tea in the library it's Mistletoe?!? What I don't get, is where did Dobby fit in?”

“Ah, yes, Great-grandmama Malfoy. She was quite a character, insisted all of the house-elves that came with her dowry be renamed to a Christmas and Winter theme to help her new husband remember their anniversary. Dobby came with Grandmother Malfoy's dowry, so he and his family were exempt from the rule. Although, if one of Grandmama's elves married one of Grandmother's or any of the existing Malfoy elves, their offspring has to continue with the tradition from Grandmama's contract. Now you really must have some tea. Gingerbread makes the best I've ever tasted, and Eggnog's biscuits are simply divine.”

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (9/12)

2008-11-11T04:27:43Z

Title: “Frosty the Snowman”
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 210
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 9 prompt: Snowman.

“This is insane!”

“Well, it's not supposed to be taken seriously, Malfoy. It's just a cheerful happy melody to sing during this time of year.”

“But listen to this: “There must've been some magic in that old silk hat they found”. As if any respectable wizard would just leave an enchanted hat lying on the ground! And if someone did, you could bet that it would be filled with Dark Magic, and not turn some pile of snow into a “Jolly Happy Soul” that runs around playing with children!”

Hermione groaned, “Draco, like I've been trying to tell you, the song isn't real. It was written by muggles, for muggles, just wanting to have fun during the holidays. There's no need to call the Aurors out for something like this. No one but you, and a few muggle primary and pre-school children are at all concerned about believing it's real. Remember, muggles don't know magic exists, so the term gets thrown around a lot when describing things that are special or hard to explain. Now, would you please calm down. You're drawing attention and I would really like to get my shopping done at a decent hour tonight. Preferably without dealing with the police wondering about your mental health.”

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (8/12)

2008-11-11T04:21:24Z

Title: At the Slytherin Table
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 93
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 8 prompt: Season

“Draco, what are you doing?!?” came an incredulous feminine voice.

He raised his head and lifted an eyebrow, giving Pansy a look that clearly said 'isn't it obvious?'

“Okay,” she said, her voice laced with exasperation, “why are you drawing up death plans for Ronald Weasley?”

“Well, they say it's the season of joy and gladness...” Draco trailed off innocently, and carefully watched as she rolled her eyes before flouncing away.

He then raised his icy gray eyes to the offending sight of the Weasel, with his arm draped indecently around Hermione Granger.

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (7/12)

2008-11-11T04:14:43Z

Title: Her 'Gift'
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 544
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 7 prompt: Gift. Continued from where the big drabble chain I did for the Halloween Challenge left off. There is a total of nine drabbles before this one, with only 985 words of actual story between them. They are posted together here.

Looking back on it now, Hermione would have to say that she had had her 'gift' her entire life, or at least as far back as she could remember. Its earliest manifestations had been easily confused with coincidences, part of 'normal' magical occurrences, or were simply ignored. Compared to the explosive way her magical abilities had manifested themselves, her 'gift' had been no more than a blip on the radar. So she had a penchant for 'lucky guesses' and an 'incredible memory'. She did have a photographic memory, so for the most part things could be attributed to that and an observant nature.

As her body grew and matured, so did her 'gift', more so than even her magical abilities did, but the sporadic flashes could usually be excused as something else, memories of a vivid dream perhaps. It took her a long time to recognize it for what it was. Her disgust at the shoddy 'lessons' offered in Divination had only put her in denial.

It had become obvious that that Trelawney woman could not control her own gift, and didn't recognize it during the rare times she had made an accurate prediction. If she couldn't control her own powers, how could she be expected to instruct Hermione in mastering her 'gift', especially since they seemed to manifest themselves so differently.

Hermione didn't go into trances (or at least she hadn't yet). She saw images: sometimes in flashes; sometimes in like a movie reel going alongside or on top of what she was actually seeing; and there were other images – people's auras for instance – that were always there, but became more visible and easily distinguishable and easier to interpret as her powers grew.

Hermione was very alone in this. She didn't want to admit to having her gift because of her embarrassment over the vocal stand she had taken on divination and the fear that someone might try to use her for the gift that she was still trying to understand.

She would grab a biography of a famous Seer every now and then and read it in the library behind her mountain of books. Never checking them out, or straying into the divination sections for too long when others might see, for fear of this 'strange interest' of hers becoming noticed or having a record to trace back to her. She learned many things, but unfortunately they were all from at least second-hand sources, and Trelawney was utterly useless for her needs.

So it came as almost as much of a relief as it did a surprise to have Draco Malfoy become her unlikely ally. He was still in Divination, and He had access to the immense Malfoy Library filled with rare and ancient texts, and He had a doting mother to whom he only needed to write a vaguely phrased request to receive boxes and boxes of books on ANY subject he might need. He had also said that on his next break, he could look for some that were more specific to the questions she might have.

Yes, theirs was an unlikely relationship, but as long as they could keep the world from finding out about it, and it's cause, this burgeoning friendship could be a very good one.

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (6/12)

2008-11-11T03:58:48Z

Title: Noises in the Night
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 378
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 6 prompt: Blizzard

“Hermione, love, what are you doing?” called out a sleep-roughened voice at three in the morning.

She spun around with her wand still in her hand, and looked embarrassedly at the form of her husband who was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he entered the kitchen. “Nothing much Draco. What are you doing up, I didn't wake you did I?”

Before he could answer, there was a great rattling sound from behind her that drew both of their attentions. Laid out on the counter top were containers of all shapes and sizes, holding all manner of sweets and snack-foods from the wizarding and muggle worlds alike. It looked like Honeydukes and a muggle sweet-shop had exploded together, only on a much smaller scale. There were also small bowls of fruit, and bottles and jars of things like strawberry syrup, butterscotch sauce and hot fudge. In the rubbish bin by the counter were what suspiciously looked like empty cartons of all the ice cream they'd had in the house. The noises, however, were coming from two huge ceramic bowls that were magically mixing their contents at a very fast pace.

“What are you doing with all of this?” Draco asked as he approached wearing a look that bordered on horrified awe.

Hermione blushed to the roots of her hair. “I got this craving...” Her husband raised an eyebrow with a look directed at her flat tummy, to which she merely rolled her eyes. “It's an ice cream dessert I had once in a muggle fast-food restaurant called Dairy Queen. It's called a Blizzard, basically a soft ice cream mixed with small pieces of a person's snacks of choice. We had all the ingredients,” she said with a thoroughly unnecessary gesture to the junk-food laden work surface, “and magic to do the work of the machines, so I thought I might as well make it myself rather then waiting for the stores to open.”

Draco chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his wife from behind and looked over the top of her head into the bowls that were still mixing themselves on the counter-top. “So, there will be enough here for me to have some as well, I hope.”

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (5/12)

2008-11-11T03:53:05Z

Title: On the Hogwarts' Express
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 955
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 5 prompt: Holiday.
AU after OotP, HBP&DH are ignored.

Draco was the first to arrive in his compartment on the Hogwarts' Express. He quickly stowed his trunk, after removing some reading and writing materials to keep him busy if the ride got too boring, and settled himself on one of the comfortable benches. After straightening his school robes, so they draped well over his seated form and wouldn't have unsightly ceases when he next stood up, he proudly polished his Head Boy badge one last time, so it would shine to its best advantage when his co-Head finally arrived. Draco was proud of the position he had earned, and all the more so because he had done it all on his own, out of sheer hard work, study and discipline. No one could accuse his father of buying this position for him, especially since the man couldn't buy his way out of Azkaban. With a satisfied smile on his face, he settled back to wait.

He hadn't been waiting very long when the compartment doors slid open again. “Draco Malfoy!” came a cheerful, feminine voice, “I should have known it would be you to make Head. Congratulations.” He could practically feel the smile that lit up Granger's face as she walked in with her satchel, dragging her trunk and pet carrier behind her.

Though they had been on relatively civil terms for the last year (meaning he didn't instigate fights with her or her friends, even if he gave as good as he got once they started, and she had been the only one to notice this change in his behavior) she had never before graced him with such a smile. It took him by surprise, and so his response was a less-than-eloquent “Yeah, thanks. You too.”

Granger flashed him another smile and murmured “thanks” before slipping the satchel onto the bench facing his, and bending to undo the straps holding the carrier to her trunk. She followed this move by stretching to her full height (as she had never gained so much as an inch stature after her fifth year) and reached up to easily place her, obviously magically lightened, trunk next to his. Then she bent again to lift the carrier onto the end of her bench opposite her bag, and promptly sitting beside it, still wearing that distracting smile. As she made these maneuvers, Draco was given a very good view of the flex and stretch of her ensemble. Granger was wearing a loose-fitting pair of denims and a t-shirt that complimented her skin tone. Although, it wasn't the most revealing thing he'd ever seen on a witch, or even this witch, as there had been a few times where he had seen her in her uniform without the outer robes, he was given a whole new appreciation of just how grown-up Miss Hermione Granger really was.

Granger's wildly curling hair has been half-heartedly tamed in a loose braid that began at the nape of her neck and only continued about half the mass' length, so she had a tail of curls that ran down most of her lower back. The braid swung in a pendulum-like motion with each move she made. It was mesmerizing to watch.

Before his staring could go on long enough to become embarrassing, Granger broke him out of it by speaking again. “I've been thinking, since we'll be working closely together this year, it might be a bit tedious to keep up the formalities.” She paused, biting her lip nervously, “So, if it's alright with you, I think we should call each other by our first names. What do you think... Draco?”

Any reply he could have made, however had been shunted aside by the pure elation that filled his mind at having heard her lips pronounce his given name. She was looking at him now, a little hesitancy in her smile that hadn't been there earlier, and he didn't like that at all. “That,” he began slowly, and though he had put a lot of thought into his answer, “sounds like a good idea, Hermione.” He paused, savoring the way the syllables slipped off his tongue. “Things will be much friendlier that way.” Draco concluded, giving her his most charming smile.

Hermione smiled brilliantly in return, and then parted those lovely pink lips of hers to say...

“Mr. Malfoy!” Professor McGonagall's voice cracked like a whip across the small compartment, causing Draco's eyes to come back into focus as he gave a small start of surprise. “Have you been listening to a word I've been telling you?”

Giving his head a quick shake to clear the remainders of his daydream, he gave the old woman a sheepish smile as he answered in a respectful tone. “I'm sorry Professor, but it seems that my brain still wishes to be on holiday.” Quickly picking up his self-inking quill and parchment, he prepared again to take notes. “You were saying?”

Pursing her lips at the boy's lack of attention, but pleased with his quick recovery and non-combative attitude, McGonagall said no more about his lapse and simply continued instructing the new Heads in their duties.

Hermione watched this small display from where she sat on the opposite bench facing Malfoy, with her note-taking materials sitting on the lap of her freshly pressed school uniform. Her Head Girl badge caught the light from where it was pinned, on the left front side of her fully buttoned-up robes, as she shifted slightly in her seat. The movement catching his eye, Draco glanced up, the smile not leaving his face as he did so. Hermione just gave him an odd look, and bent her head to resume her notes.

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (4/12)

2008-11-11T03:44:22Z

Title: Gloves
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 183
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 4 prompt: Gloves

Everyone in Britain's Wizarding World knew of the elder Malfoy and his affectations. For example his signature snake-headed cane, when he had not so much as a limp. Lucius' public face was that of an Elizabethan era lord, and he both acted and dressed the part right down to the gloves that he was never seen without.

Hermione had noticed most wizards tended to dress from a by-gone era, at least when it came to work, strictly wizarding parts of town, or formal affairs. The younger generations were a bit more relaxed though, even Draco preferred the comfort of muggle clothes when they were just resting at home or going on an informal outing (like a quidditch match).

When it came to work though, or helping his father manage their business assets, Draco dressed in a manner eerily reminiscent to his father.

Except for the cane.

And the gloves, he didn't wear those either.

Hermione sometimes wondered if and when Draco would pick up this particular affectation of his father.

Maybe she ought to get him a nice pair for Christmas.

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (3/12)

2008-11-11T03:40:32Z

Title: Paper Snowflakes
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 279
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 3 prompt: Snowflake

With a final absentminded flick of her wand, Hermione turned another perfectly good piece of parchment into a paper snowflake.

It was a habit of hers, one she'd had as long as she could remember. She did it to keep her hands busy when otherwise unoccupied. Of course, after she hit Hogwarts she had traded in cutting with scissors, and sometimes tearing by hand, for the use of her wand. The end result was the same - paper snowflakes. They appeared sometimes by the dozens when she was really bored. There was no rhyme or reason to how she did it and like real snowflakes no two were exactly alike – not that she could prove it, as she never kept the 'finished products' always throwing them away when she left whatever room she happened to be in. As she gathered her books to leave the library, she idly thought that if she had kept them, she'd have more than enough to carpet the Great Hall by now. Shrugging, she tossed the newest flakes in the rubbish bin and made her way to Gryffindor Tower.

Draco smoothed out the scrap of parchment, admiring the lacy detail of the cutting and wondered why she did this. Granger rarely did anything without meaning, so what was the purpose of destroying a perfectly good piece of parchment only to throw it away? It was pretty though... Sighing, he put it down to the mystery that was Granger and wondered if he'd ever learn the answers. Slowly, he folded up the parchment being careful not to rip or bend any of the delicate edges. He had another piece of art to add to his collection.

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (2/12)

2008-11-11T03:34:06Z

Title: Gone Shopping
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 158
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 2 prompt: Sled

Hermione clutched a cumbersome parcel to her chest, as if still disbelieving she had actually bought it.

Harry, who had become annoyingly perceptive over the last few years, looked up as his partner stumbled in an uncharacteristic twenty minutes late from her lunch date. “Let me guess, Draco made some off-hand or completely mindless comment 'insulting' muggles and you have taken it upon yourself to 'prove him wrong' through,” he paused as he peeked into the large bag she was carrying, “sledding?!?” He let out a very put-upon sigh. “This is going to be just like the Ron/skiing incident isn't it? Do you even know how to use one of those things?”

Not quite meeting his eyes, she grumbled, “Well no, but...”

“Hermione, you know that whatever you think he said, he didn't actually mean anything by it. I'm sure there are other ways of spending time with Draco that don't involve breaking your neck!”

~end

Christmas Challenge 2007 Fics (1/12)

2008-11-11T03:28:00Z

These may seem familiar if you were following the holiday challenge last year over at dramionedrabble. All the fics I wrote (or will write) for that site will be tagged with "dramionedrabbles" as I post them here.

Title: Christmas Cookies
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: K
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Word Count: 329
Disclaimer: As always, I am not JKR and don't make any money for playing with her creations.
Notes: Nothing I've written so far has been officially beta'd.
Originally posted in December 2007 at dramionedrabble for the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge; day 1 prompt: Tinsel

Hindsight they say is 20/20, and Draco would have to agree. Looking back on the evening, he would curse himself for not noticing how familiar and strangely nervous the House-Elf who served refreshments had been. He, along with the rest of the prefects only had until curfew to finish decorating the Great Hall for the season; and in his defense, none of the others had hesitated to help themselves to the cider and biscuits.

This particular elf had a peculiar fondness for socks and certain Gryffindors. Apparently, Weasel was being paid by his twin brothers to find them 'test-subjects' for some of their newer creations, and had bribed it to spike the snacks. Using a de-aging potion, that has no antidote other than running its course (over a six-hour time-period), on eighteen teenagers in an enclosed space full of shiny, sparkling objects was one of Weasel's stupider ideas, and that's saying something.

Draco awoke the next morning, instantly aware of two things: first, he was lying somewhere hard and brightly-lit (definitely not his bed), and second, although his back was cold, he was curled around something soft and warm. The vague memory of chasing a giggling five year old Granger around with a sprig of mistletoe after she had tried to make him 'prettified' caused Draco to groan and squeeze his eyes more tightly shut, not wanting to see the scene of chaos that surely surrounded him. After a few moments he gave in to the inevitable and opened his eyes, instantly being greeted by a mass of curly brown hair. Tentatively, he reached up, and then proceeded to yank off his tinsel 'earrings', before spotting the mistletoe lying less than a foot away from their current position. With a small smirk he summoned it sprig over to him 'Might as well have one good memory of the last few hours...' and with that thought, he proceeded to kiss Hermione Granger awake.

~end

Fic: Life Debt

2008-10-19T01:10:20Z

Title: Life Debt
Author: artsy_aura
Rating: PG
Word Count: 689
Summary: Unfortunately Life Debts were Binding magical contracts.
Author's Notes: Not beta'd. Somewhat darker than my usual, I guess.

Unfortunately Life Debts were Binding magical contracts.

Once one was incurred the indebted was required to fulfill it whenever it was called in and in whatever way was demanded of them. No matter how much the indebted might begrudge the choice of repayment, it was literally impossible to refuse. It didn't matter what the circumstances were in which the debt was created. Although, she would resent him even more for it if she did know, and find her situation even less appealing than she did now, if she were to ever find out.

It would in no way change the situation if she knew that the man had been killed in his attempt on her life was already dying (in a very slow and painful manner) of an obscure Wizarding disease (which required highly expensive treatments just to dull the pain he was in) and had been so for years prior to her abduction. Nor would finding out that the man's family had received a large sum of money shortly after his (quick and painless) death from an unknown benefactor. Her debt would not be negated if she learned that the man's obsession for her had seemingly formed over night, months prior to his death, after a night that none of his caregivers could seem to remember. It wouldn't change anything for her to know that the man had needed hours to recover from his “escape” from the hospital, and that her capture had occurred when he had been in a potion-induced sleep to regain the energy he needed to even attempt the spell-work that he later used against her.

So, the man who saved her life never informed her of these unnecessary details.

He did, however, make sure to call in her debt to him and carefully phrased it so that she would have no way of getting out of any part of his demands. It was iron-clad. She simply had to make the best of her circumstances from that day on.

Draco Malfoy had realized long before he openly admitted to it that the pure-blood supremacy dogma that he hat been fed as a child and spouted in his youth was idiotic and untrue. He also knew that it would fall on him to reclaim his family's good name in Wizarding society. While he no longer put any stock into the idea of blood-purity, Family was to him the most important thing in the world.

So it was that when the opportunity presented itself for him to secure his family's future, he took it.

When he went to Hermione Granger, after saving her life and she had recovered from her ordeal, he told her exactly what he what he wanted: a true family. To show his family's willingness to turn from their old ways, he would marry a muggle-born. This was not to be a simple political marriage or one that would ever end in something as distasteful as divorce. It would be a true marriage, including sharing the marital bed, having children, and raising them together. There would be no separations or affairs conducted on either side. His partner would remain faithful to him and he to her as long as they lived. There would be a (relatively short) “courtship” prior to the wedding, so that no one would suspect that there were ulterior motives behind it. No matter how he and his partner may feel about each other, in public and in front of their future children they would (at least) play the part of the happy couple. No one would be allowed to know that the Debt had been used for this purpose.

In short, Draco Malfoy saved her life, and required it in return.

He would never regret the time he spent finding the perfect candidate to be her “abductor” nor miss the money that he gave in payment for services rendered. After all, he had what he always wanted: a Family of his own with a beautiful, intelligent, war-heroine for a wife, gifted children, and a highly respected place in the community. It was perfect.

~end

Fic: Favorites

2008-10-19T01:03:36Z

Title: Favorites
Author: artsy_aura
Disclaimer: Am not JKR. Do not even pretend to make money off of this.
Characters: (No Pairing) Fred, George, and Snape
Rating: G
Word Count: 493
Summary: No one would have believed them...
Author's Notes: Not beta'd.

No one would have believed them if they told them, not that they would have in the first place as that was part of their arrangement and they had no desire to see what the result would be to breaking their word to that particular wizard, but Severus Snape was actually the twins' favorite teacher.

He had noticed, early on in their first year, that the twins were unquestionably brilliant. It wasn't book-bound knowledge, but intuitive. They couldn't seem to help themselves when it came to experimenting with spells and potions and combinations thereof. While they had so far been lucky enough not to cause any irreversible damage, he knew that such experimentation could have potentially deadly results. He saw their constant pranking, so reminiscent in some ways of the Marauders of his own school days, but was in no way blind to the fact that they always used themselves as the guinea pigs until they felt certain the products were successful, that they went out of their way to not actually cause harm to others, and that if they actually did hurt someone (even just someone's feelings in a way they had not expected) that they not only owned up to being the pranksters, but apologized and never repeated their mistake or pranked that person again. Because of this, he offered them a deal.

They would behave as was expected of them in the presence of others. It would only draw suspicion if such already notorious pranksters suddenly behaved themselves or if a pair of reckless Gryffindors did not “despise” the black-hearted Head of Slytherin. He would, of course, continue punishing them if he caught them at their pranks or rule-breaking, and would actually deduct more points for their indiscretions than he would from anyone else. Their detentions however would be a different story.

Their “detentions” served under him would actually be more along the lines of an apprenticeship. He demanded that he be present whenever they conducted their experiments, mainly for safety purposes. He would be there to answer questions, to give advice, and to basically ensure that they did not end up killing themselves or others. They were only allowed to work on projects that they had already perfected or ideas that they had cleared with him ahead of time outside of his presence. He even set up an abandoned classroom (heavily warded, of course) for them to use when working on approved projects, a place where they could not only store their on-going experiments and more volatile ingredients, but their completed products to keep them from being tampered with or confiscated. He even helped them when it came to acquiring patents and eventually business licenses. In return they gave him a percentage of all proceeds they earned selling their products.

And that is why Severus Snape became their favorite teacher, silent business partner (predating Harry Potter by several years), and unacknowledged (at least verbally) friend.

~end

End Notes: Also, I have absolutely no idea where this came from, especially since Hermione is nowhere in this ficlet, and I don't even read HP fanfiction if she's not at least mentioned... Perhaps she eventually finds out...

Fic: Anger

2008-09-28T03:03:39Z

Title: Anger
Author: artsy_aura
Disclaimer: Am not JKR. Do not even pretend to make money off of this.
Pairing: Possibly implied Fred/Hermione
Rating: G
Summary: He was angry.
Author's Notes: Not beta'd.

He was angry.

He was angry at Ron for making such immature and inconsiderate comments, and for being stupid enough and so unaware of his surroundings that he didn't realize the girl he was bad-mouthing was walking right behind him as he spoke.

He was angry at her for taking what was said (by his idiot brother) so much to heart that she spent hours crying over it in a bathroom.

He was angry at her classmates for being superficial enough about her 'know-it-all' behavior that she had made it through two months of schooling without making a friend.

He was angry at himself for not noticing how close she had come to her breaking-point (from the constant bouts of being teased or ignored since she entered Hogwarts), and for not paying enough attention that night to realize that she had not made it to the feast.

He was angry at the troll for nearly killing her.

He was angry at whoever (Snape, if he were to believe the speculation of a couple of first years) had let the troll into the castle in the first place.

He was angry at Harry for being the only one to remember that she was on her own in the castle and hadn't heard the teachers' warnings.

He was angry at Ron and Harry for locking her in the bathroom with the troll.

He was angry that three first years were left to deal with a troll on their own.

He was angry that she had felt the need to lie to keep the boys out of trouble.

He was angry that it had taken fighting a troll together and her lying for them to get Ron and Harry to consider her friend material.

He was angry that she had forgiven them so quickly and worked so hard to keep them as friends.

He was angry that only Ron and Harry's opinions of her had seemed to have changed.

He was angry that she was now his brother's best friend, and so was generally off-limits for him to become closer to.

And Fred was angry that he hadn't been the one to protect her himself and claim her friendship as his own right from the start.

~end

Fic: The Food-Chain

2008-09-19T04:12:51Z

Title: The Food-Chain
Author: artsy_aura
Disclaimer: Am not JKR. Do not even pretend to make money off of this.
Pairing: Possibly implied Fred/Hermione
Rating: G
Summary: She had done it out of self-defense, really.
Genre: Humor
Author's Notes: Not beta'd. Somewhat of a birthday fic for sellthelie .

She had done it out of self-defense, really.

She had always been a bit of a swot, and though she had hoped things would be different at Hogwarts, knew her place in the food-chain so to speak. Even during her last year at primary school where she had been one of the oldest (and therefore near the top of the ladder) she had been on the bottom of the heap for her age group.

She was highly intelligent and very proper, which led to her nearly always being the teachers' pet (it wasn't that she tried for that position, she just had always been more comfortable with adults than she had been with her peers) and yet she lacked that natural charisma that one needed to make up for this 'sin' in her fellow students' eyes. Her 'ranking' always ended up below the popular kids, below the rich and/or beautiful ones, and below the athletes and the class-clowns. She always ended up somewhere around the kid that always gets picked last for team sports (although she was lucky enough not to be as totally athletically challenged as she was socially) and the one that always seems to unintentionally embarrass themselves in highly public settings. Her popularity would usually take a short upswing around testing time, but with these factors against her and the odd things that occasionally happened around her (that she had since learned was accidental magic), she was always thought of as the strange, stuck-up, suck-up, little swot.

So before even entering Hogwarts she already realized that she would no longer be an even moderately big fish in a small pond. No, she would be a small fish in a big pond (that was Hogwarts) attached to a huge lake (of the Wizarding World). Not only would she not know the territory or the players but there'd be a whole new rule-book for her to learn. All she could do was go by what she knew and hope she learned really fast.

This is probably why she noticed them right away.

Her years of being isolated (even when surrounded by her classmates) and being picked on (with varying degrees of cruelty) had honed her instincts when it came to spotting those who were likely to find amusement through others' misfortune. While there didn't appear to be any maliciousness in their behavior, the Weasley twins did like to make spectacles of themselves and others. They liked being the center of attention, pulling pranks, telling jokes, and pointing out things that they found amusing (whether the cause of their amusement appreciated it or not). She had no desire to be the butt of anyone's joke.

So she watched them.

She was careful to keep track of them when they were in the same room (not wanting either of them to come up behind her) and she paid attention to how they interacted with each other and other students (especially what they did or used to cause reactions). Within the first week she had a few general guidelines for herself, such as: never eat anything they offered, never eat anything off of something they had touched, and never get caught between them. She had, however, been quite lucky in regards to the twins. While she couldn't escape the students in her own grade, they were a couple of years older than her, and their 'ickle' brother 'Ronniekins' was more than enough of a source of amusement for them (out of the First-Year crowd) that it was a few weeks before the little book-worm even caught their eye.

The first time she noticed them talking in hushed voices together while one nodded in her direction she knew her time was nearly up. As soon as their backs were turned (she had seen them do this maneuver before: 'ignore' their 'target' for a few minutes and then go in for a 'sneak-attack') she packed up her things and slipped out of the room.

The avoidance policy worked well for about a week but she knew it would be best not to keep it up as they might realize she was on to them and that would only draw more attention her way. She changed tactics on Friday night.

The Common Room always got more raucous at the start of the weekend, so instead of disappearing to the library or into her dorm room, she stayed (at a table with her back against the wall) and did some pleasure reading for a change. Over the top of her book she also indulged in some people watching. Two people in particular. Noting that the twins seemed to have provided the refreshments, she stayed for a couple of hours but politely declined whenever the sweets got passed her way.

By the time they finally cornered her (she had been so involved writing an essay that she hadn't noticed their approach until they had her surrounded) she had spent more than a month observing them.

They sat on either side of her on the couch she had commandeered for the use of the coffee table in front of it. One twin flung his arm behind her as they both turned to face her, boxing her in.

“Sooo...” the other twin started (she saw that along with the loosened tie that his brother sported, the top button was undone on his dress shirt).

“Granger...” the twin with his arm behind her continued, his eyes already sparkling with their joint amusement (he, she noticed drew his face into more of a smirk at the thought of whatever it was they had planned rather than the genuine smile that the other one wore).

She turned to the first twin that had spoken and, trying to imitate his drawl, returned “Sooo, Fred.” Then, facing a no longer smirking twin, stated “George.” with no hint of indecision in her voice.

Both twins were so stunned that a girl that neither had ever spoken to knew which one was which (considering that even their family and best friends had trouble telling them apart), that they completely forgot about what they had planned.

When nothing seemed to be forthcoming from the brothers, she quietly went back to work on her essay (though she did pay more attention to her surroundings).

And that's when Fred really took notice of Hermione.

~end

Testing the waters

2007-11-23T07:17:05Z

I had this idea a while back, but it wants to be a massive plot-bunny and I'm not ready to tackle it yet...
I did type up the basic/general/tip-of-the-iceberg ideas though (without going into all the details I had in mind), so I wouldn't forget if/when I'm ready to try such a project. I got to thinking about it, and I'm wondering if it would make a good challenge the way it is; maybe submitting it to Granger Enchanted or the Petulant Poetess and letting other fic authors take a crack at it...

So, here's the idea. Let me know what you think: Good idea? Would it work as a challenge? Is there somewhere else I should submit the idea maybe? Or, does it really just belong in the rubbish bin?

What if: Hermione wasn't born in '79 but in '80; Neville's parents were attacked when he was only 1 month old; Bellatrix got captured and sentenced by the end of August; Bella gave birth in Azkaban.

What if Hermione is her daughter; the ministry had never had a prisoner give birth before and decided to keep it quiet; Hermione was placed in a muggle orphanage and adopted right away; the ministry told Bella, her sister and her husband that the child was still born.

What happens when Hermione finds out that she's the daughter of Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, the first cousin of Draco Malfoy, and the second cousin to Sirius Black?

How does she react? How does she find out?

Who was responsible for keeping this from her, and from keeping her from being raised (at least in the Wizarding World, if not) by family, from birth?

What are the consequences?

Optional:

What if Mrs. Black (portrait) is the first to recognize her (or at least to verbalize it)? How will Mrs. Black react to seeing her supposed still-born niece for the first time; not to mention alive and well, living among blood-traitors, and thinking she's a muggle born?

Dramione Drabbles Part Two

2007-11-18T08:27:57Z

This is Part Two of my Dramione Drabbles for the Twelve Days of Halloween Challenge at dramionedrabble. Part One had the drabbles that didn't fit into this chain.

Author: artsy_aura
Characters/Pairing: Draco and/or Hermione (it was originally posted on a Dramione site after all) ;-p
Rating: K (all of them)
A/N: Each drabble, except for the last, is exactly 100 words, and all were written for a one-word prompt. There's no set time period for these, although it's most likely AU sometime after GOF.
Disclaimer: No. I'm not British, Japanese, or male. That pretty much covers anything I might consider writing fan fiction about.

Title: Spit-wads
Summary: Day 1 prompt: Cauldron. Continued in Day 3's “An Observant Lot”.

Hermione hated this time of day. Unlike the boys, she could handle Snape without too much trouble, and actually found Potions to be an interesting subject. It's mostly the combined Slytherin and Gryffindor aspect that filled her with dread.

It was so exhausting: worrying about preventing Neville from blowing himself up on one side, and protecting her cauldron from whatever projectiles Draco's group tried to lob at Harry on the other, all while trying to make her own potion. Then there was the verbal sparing.

Sometimes she'd slip, and almost forget she wasn't supposed to find Draco's jabs amusing.

Title: An Observant Lot
Summary: Day 3 prompt: Phantom. Continued in Day 6's “Early Experimentation”.

A phantom smile ghosted across her lips before her tired mind could stop it. She was almost certain it had gone unnoticed, but in a class half-filled with Slytherins one could never be sure. They may be mean, deceitful cretins, but they were an observant lot.

Across the room, Draco nearly did a double-take. Had Granger just smiled at the crack he made about Potty and the Weasel?!? Well, that was interesting. Not bothering to try hiding the smirk that crossed his face, he sat back casually on his stool. This latest development would be worth further investigation.

Title: Early Experimentation
Summary: Day 6 prompt: Exorcist. Continued in Day 7's “The Receiving End”.

Draco was sitting in History of Magic when his opportunity arose.

Binns was droning on about Excoriandra The Exorcist; and nearly everyone had lapsed into states of near, or total, unconsciousness. The only living person, besides himself, who still seemed at all alert was Granger.

However, even she appeared to be drooping.

He figured now would be his best chance: her defenses were down, the number of witnesses was low, and her 'bodyguards' were drooling onto their so-called notes.

Now to test his theory.

With this in mind, he discretely wrote a message and flew it to her desk.

Title: The Receiving End
Summary: Day 7 prompt: Spooky. Continued in Day 8's “Nightmare”.

Regardless of what people said about him, she knew Malfoy actually earned his grades. Which is why she was so surprised when he, one of the few people who managed to stay awake in Binns' class and then bothered taking notes, landed a parchment under her quill.

The fact that he had done so right as she had let her thoughts drift, only for them to settle on him...

It was just plain spooky.

Glancing around to make sure that no one had paid attention to this unprecedented event, Hermione slid the parchment into her lap and unfolded the note.

Title: Nightmare
Summary: Day 8 prompt: Nightmare. Continued in Day 9's “Wrong”.

What?!? Merlin! This had to be a nightmare. Looking down at the note, How did he...? Hermione wasn't sure how to react. Why does...?

Something that she didn't realize, was how all her thoughts and emotions broadcast themselves across her face, especially when tired or stressed. Draco just sat back and enjoyed the show.

On the parchment was a list of seemingly random observations from the past few weeks. Well, they would be random if all of the incidents mentioned hadn't taken place in very public settings, hadn't been about her, and didn't together expose her most closely guarded secret.

Title: Wrong
Summary: Day 9 prompt: Torture. Continued in Day 10's “Right on Cue”.

Hermione hated being wrong at all, but admitting it was pure torture.

It's actually the reason she spent so much time reading, studying and asking questions: so that when she did say something, she could know she was right. She also avoided emotional confrontations whenever possible, because in the heat of the moment she might say something to hurt, even if she knew it wasn't true.

This is the reason she had never admitted her...secret...to anyone. It would mean admitting she had been wrong: verbally, publicly and repeatedly wrong.

If Draco had noticed her...quirks...

Who else knew?

Title: Right on Cue
Summary: Day 10 prompt: Evil. Continued in Day 11's “Face Off”.

After his little amusement in Binn's class, Draco spent the next week carefully avoiding contact with the Griffindor.

If his assumptions about her were correct, then she'd be going crazy by now wondering what he planned to do with his information.

It shouldn't take much longer for her to break and come seek him out on her own. And really, he thought as he turned the corner and an evil smirk spread itself across his face, when was he ever wrong?

In front of him, in the otherwise deserted corridor stood a very agitated Hermione Granger. “What do you want?”

Title: Face Off
Summary: Day 11 prompt: Demons. Continued in Day 12's “The Long Awaited...”.

When it comes to facing one's demons, some avoid it at all costs, others purposefully set out to do so, or have it occur naturally. In Hermione's case, the experience was forced upon her.

“What do I want?” he drawled, “That's an interesting question Granger, I want a great many things...”

“Look, I don't have time for...” she started, only to be cut off by deliberate questioning.

“Tell me, how did you know that I would be here, in this unused part of the castle, on my own, at this time of night?”

“...”

“Did you think no one would notice?”

Title: The Long Awaited...
Summary: Day 12 prompt: Terror. Last entry for the Twelve Days of Halloween Challenge. 185 words.

Hermione's eyes widened with something akin to terror as she realized her mistake. Malfoy hadn't actually known anything, but her appearance here could have only confirmed his assumptions.

“Why's this so important to you?” she blurted. “What do you expect to get out of this?”

“Surely you've noticed how rare true Seers are, especially ones that have some control and understanding of the Sight. Why do you act as though it's something to be ashamed of?”

“And if I came out? Do you think I'd like the idea of drawing an even bigger target on my back or becoming someone's pawn?”

He still didn't answer her, and she suddenly felt extremely tired. “Why do you care anyway Malfoy?” she asked in a resigned tone.

He responded with a tiny, soft smile that could in no way be mistaken for one of his usual smirks. “Haven't you ever done anything simply for curiosity's sake Granger?”

She blinked, and then tentatively returned his smile. “Well,” she began slowly, “you know what they say about curiosity killing the cat...”

“Then it's a good thing I'm not a Gryffindor.”

Was continued during the Christmas Challenge, that fic can be found here.

Dramione Drabbles Part One

2007-11-18T07:32:23Z

This is Part One of my Dramione Drabbles for the Twelve Days of Halloween Challenge at dramionedrabble. Part Two is a single drabble chain.

Author: artsy_aura
Characters/Pairing: Draco and/or Hermione (it was originally posted on a Dramione site after all) ;-p
Rating: K (all of them)
A/N: Each drabble is exactly 100 words, and was written for a one-word prompt.
Disclaimer: No. I'm not British, Japanese, or male. That pretty much covers anything I might consider writing fan fiction about.

Title: Riddikulus!
Summary: Day 2 prompt: Scream. Goes with Day 8's “Night Terror”.
A/N: post DH

Back in Third Year, everyone's boggarts had been simple, even childish fears... there had even been one embarrassed Slytherin with a fear of snakes...

Since that night, however, Draco had known exactly what his new boggart would be:

Her.

Writhing on the floor under the Cruciatus by his Aunt's wand, with her mouth open in a silent (although it hadn't been silent then, had it?) scream.

As he rounded the corner of his home and opened the rattling cupboard, Draco was just glad that he didn't have to face this one in front of a class of his peers.

“Riddikulus!”

Title: Night Terror
Summary: Day 8 prompt: Nightmare. Goes with Day 2's “Riddikulus!”.
A/N: post DH

Hermione woke up drenched in sweat.

She knew what had really happened that horrible night. Bellatrix had Crucio'd her for hours while the others had watched, while he had watched, and done nothing to help her.

But the nightmare was always the same. In it, Draco held the wand. His eyes gleamed with madness as he tortured her for information she didn't know, and he threatened her with death.

The worst difference was that this time she didn't have the pair of troubled eyes to lose herself in, telling her that he wanted to help even if he didn't know how.

Title: In the Lioness' Den
Summary: Day 4 prompt: Eerie. Continued in Day 9's “His Turn”.
A/N: EWE, post Hogwarts

They were all smiling and... happy... and the really strange part was that he was pretty sure it was genuine.

He looked at Granger. She was one of them. It was obvious that she fit here, with these people.

But to him, it was odd: the way they had accepted him; his and Granger's relationship; and the fact that they had kept it a secret from everyone for nearly three years, before finally coming clean tonight. After they picked their jaws up off the floor, they actually seemed glad for them, without exception...

It all seemed a bit eerie to him.

Title: His Turn
Summary: Day 9 prompt: Torture. Continued from Day 4's “In the Lioness' Den”.
A/N: EWE, post Hogwarts

Merlin, this was torture. Hermione kept the carefully polite smile on her face as she sipped from whatever the house elf had served her.

When it came to Slytherin parties, it was all about snide jabs, subtle one-up-man-ships. Even a downward twitch of the lips at the wrong moment could be considered a victory for the other party.

Draco, however, was in his element. When they walked in, he and his 'highly inappropriate' companion, he had taken the few moments of shocked silence and showed, with a look and an up-raised eyebrow, that he meant business.

Title: Li'l-No-See-'Ems
Summary: Day 5 prompt: Haunted.
A/N: probably AU

“Granger, what is the point of this again?” Draco grumbled as she led him toward the structure.

“You!” she practically growled back, “you're the one who wanted to experience a 'Typical Muggle Halloween'. So quit complaining about the 'odd' food and 'ridiculous' outfits and get your pure-blooded-butt into that Haunted House!”

His whining continued as they walked through the attraction. “Why bother with this though, we lived in a castle with real ghosts for years. What could possibly be scar-Eeeeeekk!”

“What.”

“Is.”

“That?!?”

“That,” Hermione chuckled, “would be a six-year-old muggle in a 'ridiculous' costume.”

Creepy

2007-10-03T18:44:55Z

Since it's October, I thought I'd post a couple of creepy manips I made (the creepiness was accidental, both times). Sort of a pre-Halloween entry:

Click to see at full size.

The 1st one was altered from a manip I made for lumione icons-those are still WIPs. At least until I post the icons, you can see the original manip in my Manips gallery.

^_^

-aura

My Hermiome doll (pt. 2)

2007-09-17T19:18:45Z

Here are the pics of my Hermione doll and her accessories, and believe it or not, this is the first time I've tried making a doll...

First is her 'book':

which is actually a box I decorated to hold her accessories.

All of the accessories actually fit in the box (except for Crookshanks),

and include: a 'wooden' Potions Kit, Elf Hats & a ball of yarn, 'shopping bags' from the stores in Hogsmede (with real feathers trimmed into 'quills' for Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop), a satchel that is 'coming apart at the seams', and all of her 3rd year books (including 'dictionaries' for seven Rune languages, and a few other books she might have used that year).
Crookshanks is actually very detailed (but I don't have any other pics of him): the face and paws were molded out of polymer clay, with some details done in felt, paint an golden beads (for eyes); the body is articulated, made out of a kitchen sponge that was cut to shape and wired together, the tail's shape was made with pipe cleaners, the fur is actually six pieces that I crocheted and then sewed together.

Finally, there is the doll herself. I have a pic of her with and with out her robes.

The head, hands (and arms up to the elbows), and feet (including her 'socks') are made out of polymer clay and then painted; the wand is a different kind of polymer clay, I blended a few premade colors to get a wood-grain effect, and I dipped the tip in (glue and) some tiny glass balls to look like she was casting a spell. Her body, from shoulders to knees, is a sock; the rest of her limbs is made of flesh-toned ultrasuede. As for her clothes, well I made up the patterns as I went along, just trying to find appropriate colors and textures. Her blouse is plain white fabric with ribbon for the collar; the vest is grey felt with some Gryffindor colors as accents; her robe and witch's hat (which is annoyingly not visible in the pics) are out of the same black fabric, the robe having a gold button with a red stone (its about the size of a broach for her) on the side that you can't see in the pic; her tie is a piece of decorative ribbon; and her skirt is made of twenty or so pieces of ribbon that I glued together and then pleated. Her hair is just a lot of normal doll hair (the brownest I could find); the scarf is crocheted (as were the elf-hats), and the time-turner is made of two buttons and three gages of wire with a piece of gold thread for a chain. She stands around fifteen inches tall, Crookshanks' head (when he's standing on four feet) goes to about the bottom of her skirt, and the book/box hits below her shoulder when standing on end.

I had a lot of fun making her, and obviously got carried away with the accessories. I'm actually thinking of making more eventually.
^_^
-aura

My Hermiome doll (pt. 1)

2007-09-08T18:15:46Z

I'm a member of an art studio, where people with various interests go to make their art and learn tips and techniques from the other artists. Fridays are our 'Craft Day', where we do different projects to introduce new media that we might want to try out. A while back the project was 'sock dolls'. What our studio turned out though was nothing like what I had pictured when I heard the name of the craft. We actually, last night, had an exhibition of our dolls at the main branch's gallery. (On the 1st Friday of each month there is a city-wide gallery show, and people can just walk from gallery to gallery to see what the local artists are doing. Some artists even display their work along the side of the road.)

I got extremely carried away with my doll, and the many, many, many accessories I made for her. (I ended up needing a whole display table to myself -the others were three dolls to a table- and most of the accessories were still in the box!) But I had so much *fun* with it, and kept getting ideas... didn't end of finishing the last piece until Thursday night.

I made Hermione, from the Prisoner of Azkaban (book, not movie). I also made Crookshanks, her wand, the time-turner, her entire books list, some elf hats, a potions kit, scrolls and quills, a falling-apart-at-the-seams satchel, shopping bags from the (named) stores in Hogsmede, and (since I happened to have a book-shaped box already) I made a storage box for her things. I made the box look like it had a red leather cover, with gold accents and gilded pages, and titled it "Hermione Granger and the Prisoner of Azkaban"; the inside is lined with black felt and satin ribbon.
*blushes/winces*
You might say that I got a little carried away.
^_~
The 'resident photographer' at our studio took several pictures, which I'm hoping *crosses fingers* he'll e-mail to me tonight. I'm planning on posting them whenever I get them.
^_^
Well, just thought I'd share.
-aura

Deathly Hallows Top Ten

2007-07-20T02:52:24Z

With Deathly Hallows coming out on Saturday, I thought I'd make a few predictions/guesses * before * reading the book, and see how close I was afterwards.

First: The trio'll have to go to the continent on their Horcrux Hunt.

(From the two book covers I saw on-line,) I'd say they stop over at Charlie's dragon reserve in Romania, and a battle takes place in the Roman Colosseum. I think if he doesn't come to England first to offer help that they'll be going to Bulgaria to see Viktor as well.

Second: Snape's true colors: he was doing Dumbledor's orders when he killed him.

Either Hermione is the one to figure it out (and find the proof), or McGonagall knew about it and is still receiving intel from their spy.

Third: At * least * one of their Slytherin classmates will either be a spy for the Order, or will openly come over to the Light side.

Fourth: At least one of the Weasleys, one of Dumbldore's Army, and a senior member of the Order will die. (Although one may be a spy for the Voldemort instead/as well).

Fifth: The Horcruxes: we know about the Diary (destroyed), the Ring (destroyed), the Locket, and the Cup.There also needs to be something from Gryfindor, from Ravenclaw, and a seventh Horcrux.

*The Locket was in Headquarters the whole time (though the may need to threaten Kretcher or Mundungus to get it back -if one of them took it) and RAB was either Sirius' brother, or him Mum (in which case they'll have to deal with the portrait to get rid of it).

*I think the seventh one will be Tom Riddle's award that Ron found in Hogwart's Trophy Room.

*There is probably something in the ruins of Godric's Hallow (that is they town were Harry's parents died, right?).

*Durmstrang is a likely hiding place as well, since the school teaches Dark Arts and a Death Eater was Headmaster.

*Another hiding place would be on the Riddle property, either in the graveyard or hidden somewhere (perhaps even in plain sight, depending on the object) in the manor house.

Sixth: They have to come up with someway to destroy the Horcruxes once found. Unless Harry makes a trip into the Chamber to see if there is any venom left, they'll need to consult Dumbledore's portrait to find out what he had done.

It's likely that Hermione will have to search through some actual Dark magic texts to find a ritual, an incantation, or a potion that the late Headmaster either hadn't known about or wasn't willing to use because of the type of magic involved. She'll either find the book at Headquarters, heavily warded of course, or in the theoretical-Slytherin-classmate-spy's home library. And (though I don't doubt her research capabilities) if it ends up being a potion, she'll need Snape's help to complete it. If the solution is a ritual or incantation, I think it'll be complex enough that it will require several people to perform – which means the trio will need to let (at least some of) the Order into the loop.

Seventh: Voldemort * won't * feel it when his Horcruxes are being destroyed. So, while he won't be in a weakened state for Harry to take advantage of; he will be arrogant (still believing in his own immortality) which may lead to a 'careless mistake' on his part.

Eighth: I think all three members of the trio will be injured, but will survive. Harry will be happy, but is likely to brood. Ron will be more serious. Both boys will want to get away from life and death situations, no longer wanting to be Aurors. Hermione will have been their motivator and emotional rock throughout the Hunt, and will probably collapse and let out all her pent-up emotions when she finally knows that it's safe. Unless she does so for a bit of normalcy, I doubt that she would return to school right away. She won't get married right away.

Ninth: I can't really pick parings, as HBP didn't go anywhere near what I expected, and I'm certain that at least a few people will die. I will say though that Ron has always seemed too superficial, fame-seeking, and unsupportive of what Hermione finds important or enjoyable (besides Harry, of course) for the two of them to ever have more than a close-friend-sibling-like relationship.

Tenth: Petigrew's life-debt to Harry will play a part. He'll either slip information that'll lead to the last battle, or he'll protect Harry (possibly sacrificing himself) and in doing so will give Harry the opening he needs.

Well, those are my top ten thoughts as to what we'll be seeing after Saturday.

Let me know if you agree or not, and what your own ideas are. ^_^

Happy reading everybody!

My First Fic!

2007-07-05T11:06:27Z

Title: He Knows He's Obsessed

Summary: He has an unhealthy obsession for her; he knows it; but he just doesn't care. (A simple one-shot ficlet.)

Rating: PG

Word Count: 287

A/N: This was written with two fandoms and particular pairings in mind (but I'm sure it'll fit others as well). I had noticed many similarities between the characters and wondered if I could show what (might) be going on behind the scenes and be able to make it work, in canon, for both. For Harry Potter it was Draco/Hermione, and for InuYasha it was Sesshomaru/Kagome.

Disclaimer: No. I'm not British, Japanese, or male. That pretty much covers anything I might consider writing fan fiction about.

(Chapter title: Obsession)

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He watches her obsessively from the shadows, but only when no one else can observe what he's doing. At times, when duties or circumstances keep him away from her too long (like an addict in need of a fix), he comes out of the shadows to confront her in person. Luckily, or unluckily as the case may be, she is rarely alone. This allows him to get closer to her than he would otherwise permit himself with the convenient cover of insulting, attacking, or abusing in general her companions (and *him* in particular). They are much too close to her for his taste, and therefore deserve all the punishment he can dish out.

Of course, she being who she is can never stay on the sidelines when one she cares for is in danger (just look at how many times she has been injured or nearly killed over that fool), so she will doubtlessly intervene. And this is where the junkie gets his fix: a verbal spar here, some threatening gestures there, perhaps in the heat of the moment he may even touch her (saying afterwards how disgusting he found it, of course); but after these encounters he always leaves on a high – no matter how badly injured or insulted he may be.

After such meetings he can return to the shadows for months at a time, satisfied, until the urge to see her becomes a hunger too great to hide and he is off to 'confront his enemies' once again.

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ob·ses·sion (əb-sěsh'ən, ŏb-)noun

1. Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.

2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.

ob·ses'sion·al adj., ob·ses'sion·al·ly adv.

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This was originally posted at A Single Spark on 06/20/07, under the (my) user name aura. I will most likely be turning this into a series. This has not been beta'd.

-aura 07/05/07