kikei

'In all this, there is someone who is needed to capture the birds used to deliver these messages. Someone who can fly fast enough to catch up with the speedy owls, who is willing to risk freezing to death on a broomstick, just waiting for an incoming message. There is someone needed to pass messages between the Wizarding front and the Muggles, from base to all other camps. The members of the Sky Watch.' On the eve of a new war, Hooch recalls her role in the defeat of Grindelwald... and the price she had to pay.

She has nightmares about a dead soul welcoming her home. A blank canvas on her wall holds the secret to a Death Eater's life. Hidden away at 12 Grimmauld Place over the summer, Hermione learns that those who walk its halls never really leave.

Bound to his cousin by a sacred vow and brought up to be a pureblood prince, Sirius Black struggles to find his identity in the face of all that is intended for him.

'Remus hadn't counted on being caught outside in the rain- in fact, he hadn't counted on it raining at all, and he was more than a little annoyed at finding himself trudging through Hogsmeade, dripping wet and not having made any provisions for this particular turn of events.' (Remus/Tonks)

The tight circle of trees surround you, moving in. They point their crooked branches at you as if they blame you for the frost that has covered this whole godforsaken place. You killed us, they whisper with their leafless branches, you killed us, like you killed him.

‘You can’t give me an heir, what are you doing here? Get out!’ The words always hurt worse than any punch he could have thrown. Tell a woman that she cannot be a mother, and you take away everything that defines her as a woman. Tell a woman that she cannot be a mother, and you are left with nothing but a shell-shocked excuse, a woman who has no use in this world.

'Am I not beautiful? Am I not still young? It has only been a few months since Draco was born, only a year since our marriage… and yet, he has never touched me since that night. ' Narcissa thinks about her marriage to Lucius and wonders why he does not want her anymore.

'I had always wished for a boy. I wanted a little Black boy, dark hair and dark eyes, fierce and devoted.' Andromeda Tonks wishes for a boy, so her child will not have to grow up as she did.

'He has his mother's eyes, but I gave him a mother's love.' Molly Weasley reflects on Harry Potter and what he means to her.

'She is like all my other children. But she is different. She is a very special child.' Molly reflects on Ginny's birth.

They always want me to change. I want a man who tells me 'don't ever change'.

'He was always the heir.````And I?````I was always just the spare.'````Regulus struggles with living in his brother's shadow.

'With nothing left to him, this boy-lover-has-been must follow; in an instant, his love, his insecurity has turned him from a prince to a pauper, from a would-be savior to a slave.' Regulus visits Narcissa, seeking redemption.

'The dream is always the same, has always been the same, since she can remember... but she knows that she will never see the end of her dream, that she will always fall apart at his slightest touch...'

'The blood of Black demands more blood.' Even after all these years, Andromeda takes her lessons to heart.

No one seems to notice how tired she is, and that worries him... but maybe he should take a look at himself first. (Remus/Tonks)

In Azkaban, a prisoner goes slowly insane, unable to remember who he is. He grasps at his forgotten identity and at memories he cannot understand as the Dementors feed on his frustrations.

'Tom Riddle had always been as his name proclaimed him; a human riddle, a walking, talking, living, breathing enigma.' A young Minerva McGonagall reflects on her former classmate and wonders what she's supposed to think of him now.

'Why?' he asks as she kisses his scars. 'Why did you choose me?'````'Because you're real.'

'I scare myself sometimes. I catch myself thinking all sorts of crazy things… but it’s so tempting to just forget… to pretend…' he says, and you nod unhappily in agreement. But pretending won't solve anything, it only makes the hurt worse when you finally face it.

In his room, his scent still lingers, his shape pressed into the sheets. Forgotten photographs stare at her from the nightstand. A little girl plays with a large black dog and wonders why she doesn't look like anyone she knows.

'In the dim light of your wand, he looks like nothing more than a pathetic shadow of a man. Good, good... it will be so much fun to watch him crumble, to break him down to even less than he has already become, won't it, pretty Narcissa?' (Sirius/Narcissa)

She has been named for one of the greatest of the line, but Bellatrix must prove her worth... for to be worthy of one's name is the only way she can prove her dedication to the cause of the Blacks, to the cause of keeping the bloodline pure.

‘What are those?’ Remus asked from behind her, resting his head on her shoulder and looking into the box. Tonks raised an eyebrow as she glanced back at him.``‘Pomegranates.’ ``‘Are they edible?’``‘Yes.’ ``... But Remus has no idea about their... beneficial properties. (Remus/Tonks)

Of course, Lily Evans would never break the rules, but walking in the Forbidden Forest is her little... rebellion. Of course, she meets others in there, but most of her encounters don't make her lose her head. Of course, she always makes sure she keeps her wand handy, but that's when its not been stolen from her by a wild animal. And of course, she thinks James Potter is an obnoxious git, but...

'It's a ritual that you've grown used to, watching as she heals your injuries with a simple flick of her wand, spells that you could just as easily do yourself but you let her take care of. A small comfort, even, to know that she'll attend to you unasked, whenever you need it.' Remus returns to 12 Grimmauld Place after a particularly harsh transformation.

"The deserts of Arabia. A vast land, long dreamed of and romanticized by the poets and the stargazers as the cradle of civilization... it was said that once, a race of men existed who could control the powers of the desert. Strange men these were, men who were granted the wisdom of the desert and the knowledge and power of the sands. Most of them were wanderers, moving from one desert town to the next, awing all the town-dwellers with their mysterious demeanors and apparent ability to control the forces that shaped the earth."

AU. When Harry Potter gets upset... he writes. When his cousin acts like an idiot... he writes. When his uncle yells at him... he writes. What if the story of Harry Potter and Hogwarts was nothing more than a teenager's fantasy, acted out in his imagination and recorded on paper?

Hermione reflects on a little problem that really shouldn't matter, but it's what made her what she is. Maybe there's a reason for her trying so hard to know it all.

Harry contemplates his position as his father's son, and wonders what he's supposed to do now.

There's always a search for a home, for a place where one belongs. but where can you belong after you've lost your home? Tonks explores the memories in a patched robe.

What is beauty? Is it really as important as you think it is? or, is there something else... Draco channels all the hate he's ever had.

It means ‘scorching’. The scorching fire that you could feel radiating off him, that appeal and zest for action that led him so often into places he shouldn’t have been.