Your Duty

The Way Ahead

A/N: Asked @floreatcastellumposts to give me a prompt to get me out of my writer’s block (If anyone else wants to send me a prompt, then please do!). She gave me ‘McGonagall finds out that Harry is an Auror’ and this was the result: 

Minerva sighed as she fell heavily into the chair behind her new desk. Her bones ached from weariness; she took a sip of her tea in order to suppress the yawn threatening to escape her. There was no time for rest. 

The parchment in front of her was so long the end of it snaked off the edge of the desk and trailed onto the rich carpet, the list of chores upon it stretching across the office. 

Minerva took her quill and began searching down the list, ticking off items which had been dealt with. Hagrid had managed to secure the Thestral herd this morning. Minerva tried not to think about how much longer that particular task may have taken if not for the increased number of volunteers who could now see the winged horses roaming the battle-scarred grounds of Hogwarts. 

She scratched her quill across the parchment, and scanned down the rest of the never ending list. The repairs of the castle were taking longer than expected, due in part, to the ancient magic holding much of the structure up. And creating a definitive list of which students would and would not be returning in the Autumn was proving rather difficult. Nobody, it appeared, was quite ready to think about the future just three short weeks after the fall of Voldemort. 

“I’m getting too old for this,” Minerva whispered, lifting her cup to take another sip. 

“Nonsense,” came a voice from behind her. Minerva jumped slightly, having forgotten once again that her new office came with an audience. “I should think there’s still a few decades in you yet.” 

She did not bother responding to Albus’ remark, his portrait, it seemed, would be just as taxing as the man himself had been. 

Never mind that his tenure of the school had not started with the most devastating battle Hogwarts had seen in its long history, never mind that she would have to oversee a cohort of students who would be unable to walk the corridors without replaying scenes from said battle, never mind that a vast number of them were dealing with the loss of loved ones to Voldemort’s tyranny. 

Minerva was pulled from her morose thoughts by a soft knock on the door. She bit back another sigh, mentally steeling herself for the next in a long line of problems she was sure was about to walk through her door.

“Enter.” 

The door opened slowly, almost tentatively, and a shock of untidy black hair appeared around it. 

“Good evening, Professor,” Harry Potter said politely. “Do you have a moment for me and Neville?” 

Minerva pressed her lips together, attempting to hold back a smile. She doubted there was a single witch or wizard in the country that couldn’t spare a minute for Harry these days. 

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“Sirius told me,” James said, letting himself be dragged down the eleventh-floor corridor, “that you’re going to blow me in McGonagall’s office”

Lily snorted, pulling on his hand. “McGonagall’s office does it for you?”

James took two strides to catch up with her, still holding her hand. “You do it for me,” he said into her neck, jumper pressing against the thin fabric of her top. 

She rolled her eyes, goosebumps where he’d touched her, and pushes his head away. “Not in McGonagall’s office I don’t”

She could hear the grin in his voice. “Spoilsport. If I’ve left my party so you can show me the stars or some shi-“

“I can’t believe you hate stars.”

“I don’t hate stars” they’d started up some stairs towards a door, Lily still dragging him,

“I wouldn’t have started going out with you if I knew you were anti-star.“

“What I’m anti is my girlfriend showing me the stars and passing it off as a birthday gift.”

Lily stopped dead in front of the door and wheeled around, standing a few steps above him, head cocked. “Wait, it’s your birthday?”

James flashed her a grin. “Yeah, you didn’t hear?”

She shook her head, mock disbelief palpable. “No! how old are you turning?”

“Twelve.” He shot back.

She smiled. “Wow, hope the second-year course load isn’t hitting you too hard.” She opened the door without turning away from him, slowly pulling him into the old astronomy tower.

“It’s the girls that are gonna get me actually,” James said, still joking but not quite, dropping back to shut the door.

“You think it’s bad now,” Lily stepped closer, backing him in, “just wait till you’re in seventh-year and they refuse to blow you in McGonagall’s office.”

“Hmm,” she was close enough to see the piling on the terrible jumper he was wearing, his face angled towards hers, “and forget my birthday.”

“Unforgivable.” She said, quietly.

“Have you actually brought me up here for the stars?” he looked a bit worried, “Cause, like, if you have I was totally kidding before.”

She laughed, stepping back. “No, relax. I’ve brought you up here to show you this.” She brandished her wand and gestured to the far corner of the room. “Lumos”

James starred at the corner, confused, taking a second to get it, only then it clicked. “is that-“

“All the Quidditch brooms of the Slytherin team, yes.”

James gaped at the brooms, then back at her, eyes wide. He swallowed. “Not stars then”

She smiled, “Not quite.” She inched closer, still not touching him, save her mouth almost on his, “Happy Birthday Potter.”

Hunger Games Relevance

(Please read/boost if you’ve ever read/watched the hunger games or you care about what’s going on)

I don’t know if other people feel the same way but especially with the new hunger games film coming out I’ve been absolutely floored by some of the parallels between the world in the series and the current conflict in Palestine.

Firstly, Suzanne Collins did say that she partially got the idea from flicking between channels showing reality TV interspersed with footage from the Iraq war so I guess there’s a good reason for me to be seeing similarities now.

But the fact it’s being live-streamed - the carnage - the propaganda - the fact that lots of us have been following the same few (often very young) journalists who have become the ‘face’ of Palestinian resistance (because right now journalism IS resistance being actively targeted by Israel) - it’s all crazy familiar.

I saw a clip of Israeli’s sitting on a hill watching and laughing at the bombs dropping on Gaza today as though they were fireworks just minutes before Israel bombed the 3rd floor of a paediatric hospital. The same ‘Sderot Cinema’ where Israeli’s bought deck chairs and snacks to ‘watch the spectacle’ of the 2014 bombing campaign on Gaza.

The way not everyone in the capitol was evil or bad and some people actively supported the districts but realistically they were still complicit in the exploitation - even if just through ignorance.

The incredible amount of children dying - the bombing of hospitals and withholding of resources (like in District 8 in Mockingjay), the taking of people not involved in Hamas into administrative detention (hundreds arrested in the West Bank - like how the victors were taken in Catching Fire even the ones who weren’t involved in the rebellion), the collective punishment of Gaza (the firebombing of District 12).

The way Israel dropped pamphlets from the sky to tell Gazans to evacuate south and then bombed the route (literally straight out of the games I swear - the video of the pamphlets falling was like the scene with the parachutes in Mockingjay which represent hope and then detonate).

It’s so eerily similar and I just wonder how so many watched those films and read those books and are silent now - why could they identify resistance and oppression and desperation and exploitation in fiction and not reality?

And I wonder if maybe it’s because we have to remind ourselves that we aren’t Katniss in this situation - we aren’t the heroes - we are the Capitol and District citizens watching it all happen on our screens - and that’s an unfortunate and uncomfortable concept to grapple with.

Teddy Lupin’s 17th birthday.

I think this might be too fluffy to publish on ff.net/ao3, but I know you guys appreciate sickening fluff. A Harry and Teddy godfather/godson fluff piece, mild warnings for alcohol use.

The laughter was loud, the wine was being poured, Ron and George were digging around in the pantry for the beer they were sure was stashed away somewhere. There was a rumbling upstairs from the kids racing around, and a shrieking - a loud thunk made Harry and a handful of the other parents look up at the ceiling, but when they only heard an irritated ‘Owww!’ rather than anything that sounded like a serious injury, they went back to laughing over Angelina’s anecdote.

Molly and Audrey busied themselves with the food, a stunning display of salads and charcuterie boards, crusty bread and bowls of olive oil and balsamic, several rotisserie chickens and plates of neatly arranged seafood Ron had already loudly insisted he wouldn’t touch. Hermione was enchanting streamers and bunting of every colour to drape themselves elegantly around the room, and Angelina, pins in her mouth, was putting up the happy birthday banner.

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Send Nude Pics of Your Heart to Me

James Potter to Mrs. Wife: lily can we have another baby?

Lily Potter to Wears Socks to Bed: R u going to text me that every time Harry does something cute?

James Potter: yes

Lily Potter: U know if we got one every time u asked we’d have like 35 babies by now??

James Potter: i’d be okay with that

James Potter: they might give us our own tv programme

James Potter: lil and jim and their kin 

Lily Potter: Ur right what’s the point of having children if not to pimp them out for reality television

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Bro, it's like 4PM in São Paulo right now and all the smoke made it look like it's already night...city of ashes indeed.

we may not have been able to save brandon. but the fight is far from over.

this is dustin john higgs.

in 1996, he was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three women and was sentenced to death.

this conviction is entirely false. he didn’t murder anybody.

he has been found not guilty of the crime. at this point, the only reason he remains in jail is because he was at the scene of the crime. the court also claims that he bullied willis hayes, the man who actually did murder the three women, into killing them. however, willis hayes has come forward and has admitted that dustin DID NOT commit the crime, and he’s also even confessed that dustin never bullied him into murdering the trio of women. but the court won’t accept it.

DUSTIN JOHN HIGGS IS SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED ON JANUARY 15, 2021. HE IS GOING TO BE EXECUTED FOR A CRIME HE DID NOT COMMIT AT ALL. WE CAN’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.

Change.org

Sign the Petition

To get Dustin John Higgs off death row

@esspress0depress0 @thesevenumbrellas @real-tua-facts @thetrueihaveaname @youngsamberg @umbrellas-be-falling @peterbparkers @amystiago @stranger-umbrellas @glitched-coffee @letsgoravendors @kakakuroo @klaus-is-the-real-number-1 @itty-bitty-rampaging-committee @mariarreynolds @benhargrieves @number5theboy @millicent-is-goose @caseoftheblues @27-umbrellas @the-aro-ace-arrow-ace @the-umbrella-academy-confessions @studentlifeproblems @sunriseseance here’s another chain post for you. you guys know the drill, please make sure to tag anybody you can think of to make sure this message gets somewhere.

Harry James Potter, head of the DA and protégé of Albus Dumbledore himself, did not become a career Auror. -Sure, he worked with them after the war-everyone did. -Harry and Ron led the charge in rounding up old Death Eaters and Hermione researched and wrote crazily, making sure no stone was left unturned in their hunt and no memories were lost of the new history they’d made (her writings were eventually compiled into what is largely considered the most comprehensive history of Voldemort and his attacks ever written. Madame Prince has three copies in the school library). -Even Neville and Luna lent their respective plant and animal (however strange) based abilities towards getting past old defenses and remaking allies. -These children were born and raised in the midst of war, and it took a while for most of them to learn the ways of peace. But once they figured it out (sort of) they settled into their new roles. -Hermione rose rapidly amongst Ministry ranks, Ron returned to family, the only truth he’d ever been sure of, and Harry went back to his first (real, remembered) home. -The Defense Against the Dark Arts position had been rid of its curse for two years by the time Harry applied for the job, and the teacher who held it for those years was only temporary anyways. McGonagall had been hoping Harry would return to Hogwarts, and return he did. -Harry Potter’s Defense lessons were notorious for their seemingly random schedule, where one day the class would be practicing spells normally, the next running obstacle courses in the Forbidden Forest, and the day after that having a class wide discussion on the power of emotions and their use in spells -His first lesson of every year was on the power of chocolate and conversation to comfort, just as he had learned from Remus Lupin years ago. Like his old professor, Harry rewarded students with chocolate for good deeds and correct answers. -Seventh Years got to choose personal research projects, ranging from meticulous dioramas of various battles to the best way to make a pile of dung explode -Sixth Years learned more complicated traditional spells, including the Patronus and healing charms (Harry’s stag never failed to draw gasps the first time he showed it to a group) -Fifth Years combined lessons from all their other classes to find ways to fight without traditional spell work, including stories from Harry about using Wingardium Leviosa to fight a troll his first year and Neville using his plants during the Battle of Hogwarts. (Often, Harry would bring in Hermione, Ron, and Neville to assist in the telling of these tales and the teaching of their techniques.) -Fourth Years got lessons in love and death and ancient theories and stories, along with turns for everyone to go under the Invisibility Cloak on the day devoted to the Deathly Hallows -Third Years learned defense against other species with a final like an obstacle course similar to the one given to Harry by Professor Lupin -Second Year was for most traditional dueling spells, started with Expelliarmus. (Any students that complained about the “boring” spell would have him reply calmly, “this is what saved my life against Lord Voldemort” and shut right up) -First Years started with basic theories, and continued to shielding and camouflaging charms (because Harry never really signed up to fight, and would rather his students never have to) -every year ended with huge tournaments between the years, which he used to help houses bond with each other and to assess skills. They changed between magical paintball or laser tag, scavenger hunts, or temporary prank wars (the other professors’ least favorite), and the winners got to camp on the grounds for a night for s'mores, swimming, and a midnight Quidditch game -His first students were mostly old enough to have been his classmates, just like those of the DA had been, and so his first years of teaching were to war-torn children like himself, who had gaps in their normal seating arrangements that their friends, now dead, had sat in, and the occasional blank stare that Harry was never offended by, as he was accustomed to seeing them on his friends and himself when they were revisiting horrors they’d witnessed -as he continued teaching though, his students came in excited to learn from the famed Harry Potter, and he had to persuade them early on that to them, he was just a teacher who’d show them a trick on the Quidditch field or the location of a secret passageway, nothing more and nothing less -eventually, students would get more excited when Harry announced that Hermione, the Minister of Magic, was coming to visit and chat with them about research, or Ginny, his Quidditch star wife, was arriving soon to show off her Bat Bogey hex than when he mentioned his own history -and as time went on, Madame Pince’s copies of Hermione’s history book stayed on the shelves because students realized Harry was more likely to engage in a snowball fight than a duel and was happiest tucked into a Weasley sweater with a cup of tea, chatting with friends about anything other than defeating Dark Lords; and he was recognized in Diagon Alley less by adults wishing to shake his hand and more by children wanting to say hello to their favorite professor -and students came to love him, not for his fame as the Boy Who Lived, but as a professor who cared, and sought to teach in a way that everyone could learn from, and Harry wouldn’t have it any other way

Jake + Zooey Quotes From This Weeks Episode of Welcome To Our Show With Special Guest Jake Johnson

James: Lily you are truly beautiful-

Lily: Oh screw beautiful, I’m brilliant! You want to appease me, compliment my brain!