Brain Flotsam V2.007

Previous Part
Pairings this part: None (teeny hint of Luna/Rolf Scamander, I guess)
Rating: PG
Notes: I had a meeting tonight, so you get some random filler.

June 2000, somewhere in Patagonia

Luna had climbed halfway down the slope of a ravine about four kilometers from her campsite when her boot dislodged a rock from the face and sent it tumbling down.  She had approximately seven seconds in which to decide, first, not to apparate away, and second, to cast a wandless cushioning charm, before she and most of the rest of the little ledge to which she was clinging followed the rock.  ( more )

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Pairings this part: Remus/Severus
Rating: PG-13
Notes: St. Drogo is the patron of coffee-house keepers.  (Really!)  I took a page from JKR's book and changed the saint on a village that already existed, several actually, all St Someone's-super-Ely, which logically enough are upriver from the town of Ely in southern Wales near Cardiff. 

early January 1999, St. Drogo's-super-Ely

Luna liked to feel useful, she was good with children, and she wanted to avoid the churning emotional cauldron that was Grimmauld Place with half the Weasleys in residence.  That was how, New Year's Day when her father had been isolated in St. Mungo's after their house was demolished in one of several simultaneous attacks on the Order and their sympathizers, Luna ended up carrying Teddy Lupin through the Floo to Wales and staying in Remus's spare room until the end of Christmas hols.  ( more )

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Just a short drabble this part.  Will probably have another part later today.
Pairings: Remus/Severus
Rating: PG


May 2003, London, Office of the Head of the Department for Magical Creatures and Magical Beings

"Those complete prats," Hermione said as she read the report that had just come across her desk.  She got weekly updates on news concerning friends and enemies.  It was often innocuous, but this she could not allow to pass unremarked.

She Flooed Ginny immediately, and found to her delight that Luna was visiting.  "Oh, perfect, just the witches I need.  Look at this!"  She passed a copy of her report through the fire. 

The reaction was everything she wanted.  "How could they?"  "They won't get away with it!" Hermione smiled a tiny, evil smile she had perfected for Ministry work. 

"Ladies, I am sure you understand what this means."  She reached out and tapped the parchment Luna held in her hands.  Ministry marriage certificates were plain, bureaucratic things with no sense of artistry or romance.  This one was unremarkable save for the names printed neatly as spouses: Remus Lupin and Severus Snape. 

Ginny nodded, her eyes narrowing in a way that could only mean plotting.  "We have no choice, really." 

Luna twined a lock of hair around her fingers as she contemplated the two names.  "Yes.  They've brought it on themselves." 

"Right then," Hermione said.  "Let's meet for dinner to decide how to proceed. Those two are going to sit through a reception if I have to tie them to their chairs!"

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Previous Part
Pairings this part: None
Rating: PG
This didn't really turn out anything like I thought or planned, but here it is anyhow.

March 2000, Ottery St. Catchpole

Draco Malfoy left Wiltshire uneasy in mind.  His parents were faring well, although they did not go out in public if they could help it.  Public opinion had not quite turned that far.  Not even the word of the great Harry Potter at their trials could completely eliminate the taint to the Malfoy name that Voldemort's service had caused. ( more )

Previous Part
Pairings this part: None, really.  mention of Ron/Hermione and Harry/Luna toward the end
Rating: PG-13
This is my "International Aurors of Mystery" segment.  I now know much more about Magical Society in East Africa than anyone should.  I am a hopeless worldbuilder, what can I say?

March 2003, Anqasa Berhan ("Gate of Light")*, Aksum, Ethiopia

Harry ducked behind a plinth in the abandoned portico of the Aksum branch of Gringotts, and looked across at Ron who leaned, cloaked and with his hair hidden under a black cap, against a closed door across the market street.  The Anqasa Berhan was largely empty of its usual crowds at two in the morning, but the danger of catching civilians (or government property) in the crossfire prevented the local Aurors from advising a frontal assault on the storefront that currently housed Rabastan LeStrange and at least two of his disciples.  ( more )

*Anqasa Berhan is the Ethiopian Wizarding community's equivalent to Diagon Alley.

Kind of annoyed this morning for several reasons.
- The world is going to hell in a gift-wrapped handbasket covered by American flags. I cannot even articulate all the reasons I am upset at my "elected" representatives in Congress.  Are you upset, too?  The toll-free number for the Congressional Switchboard is 800-828-0498.  If you have achieved coherency, why not give your representative or senators a call and remind them that they're supposed to represent YOU? 
- There's a media conspiracy to keep Dennis down, and he's practically the only candidate running for office with any personal integrity left.  Not to mention he's actually running for the people, not for the corporations.  I can't believe they can get away with just ignoring him when he's running fourth in some of their polls.  Damn, get it together people.
- I am stuck on a scene in the writing, and of course it's Nano so the scene will stay stuck indefinitely because I am not deleting anything.  The scene is difficult because of the subject matter and the characters involved (Luna and Draco again, plus a cameo by post-Azkaban Xenophilius), and maybe it's more difficult for me to write constructive, healthy dialog instead of angst and despair.  Plus I'm not sure Luna would actually shout at him - what would it take for Luna Lovegood to actually scream and throw things?  She's, like, canonically the most ridiculously serene character ever.  Even when she's cursing people she's serene.  Bah.   I am going to leave it and move on to Potter and Weasley, International Aurors of Mystery, and their collection of rude sign language signals.   And maybe I will draw a little tonight. 

On the up side, this weekend promises lots of Quilting Adventures with my new sewing/quilting machine. Mom wants me to try thread painting, and I want to test the sewing-at-angles feature.  And of course, try out all of the free-motion quilting feet. 
Also on the up side, despite the stalled scene, I am doing better this Nanowrimo than I ever have before (current word count 19,034) and writing fanfiction has had a very freeing effect.  I hope that this will continue to be a positive influence on my productivity into the next year of working on original projects.  I can do this, and dammit, I write well. 

It's a beautiful day. There is a blue jay right outside my window.  I'm going to take that as a sign of hope. 

Previous Part
Pairings mentioned this part: Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Remus/Tonks
Rating: PG-13


June, 1998, High-Security Wing of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

The first time Harry saw Snape after the Battle of Hogwarts, the man was in a coma at St. Mungo's in a room guarded by Aurors.  There was a strict no-visitation policy, but who was going to deny Harry a mere three weeks after he defeated Voldemort?  ( more )
   

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Pairings this part: None
Rating: PG-13
Last one in the Malfoy cellar, I swear. 

February, 1998, Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire (cont'd)

Luna turned seventeen in that cellar. ( more )

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Pairings this part: None
Rating: PG-13

January, 1998, Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire

Luna had lost count of the days; she had gone through seven of the slow-burning candles, one at a time once she realized that although they were small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, they were charmed to burn for days and not to blow out.  Nothing differentiated her hours save the occasional appearance of a plate of food by the door or the replacement of the chamber pot in the corner.  A single candle lasted about seven meals, and each time she lit a new one she made a little mark on the wall with the white wax.  The door had not opened since Malfoy had gone, but twice footsteps outside her door had brought the shuddering convulsions of the Cruciatus cast through the tiny window near the top, and three times someone else in the dank cellars had screamed their own pain.  ( more )

Picks up from the end of the Previous Part
Pairings: Harry/Luna, Draco/OFC
Rating: PG-13


late June, 2008, London (cont'd)

"So.  Shall I call Hermione before I get the whole story?"  Jenieve had her hand on the delicate wristwatch she wore on her left arm, a wristwatch with several hands that could encode messages for anyone else who had a watch from the set.  The members of Luna's monthly dinner club each wore one, as did a few others.  All veterans of the war, or family.

"Go ahead," said Harry as he walked to the windows and looked out.  It was one of his favorite views. "She can take an early lunch."     

Jenieve nodded and busied herself for a moment winding the correct message into the watch. They had all learned early on to differentiate urgent messages from more mundane communications, so as to prevent incidents like the one with Ginny and her bad date back in 2003, which resulted in several unnecessary breakages at a pub in South Wales, including the date's left arm.  ( more )

Previous Part
We'll return to Luna in the Malfoy cellars, oh yes we will.
But for now, something a bit different.
Pairings: Harry/Luna, Draco/OFC
Rating: PG-13

late June 2008, London

Madam Tennison had been the Lovegood family mediwitch for as long as Luna could remember.  She had started at a village practice in Ottery St Catchpole, and when she joined a larger London office, the Lovegoods followed her there.  ( more )

Previous Part
Pairings this part: None
Rating: PG-13

December 1997, Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire

Luna had not intended to go quietly.
( more )

Continued from here. This part rated PG-13 or so, I guess, for adult situations and a curse word.
Pairings this installment: Harry/Luna, past Harry/Ginny

"Shall I get down on one knee again? Or both?" Harry asked, catching her attention, and her hand.

Luna shook her head, still unable to articulate anything of sense. Somehow this moment had always been more playful in her daydreams. His first proposal -- Merlin, had it been two years? -- had been clumsy and impulsive, and Luna had been too drunk to understand what he was telling her until she'd had a sobering draught. ( Read more... )

Ok, here are the results of my first day of writing plus some extra from before November so it will make sense. I am following the basic rules of NaNoWriMo here - no deleting, very little editing (I did have to go back and fix some math, but there was no net word loss), and as little second-guessing as possible. If it makes sense, great.  If it doesn't, oh well.  It's NaNo.

I expect that at the end I will need a very patient Brit-picker to correct all my little Americanisms.  If anybody wants to note the egregiously obvious ones in a comment, it would be great for future installments, but I won't be going back to correct until I finish or November is over, whichever comes first. 

Future installments will feature other characters' POVs.  (There's a cast of dozens!)
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction based on the world and characters created by JKRowling, for entertainment purposes only. No profit intended from my work, but all rights on my words are mine.
This project is AU from about Chapter 26 of Deathly Hallows, with a few background twists to events before then. This bit is rated PG, and runs just over 4,000 words.
Pairings: Harry/Luna, mention of Ron/Hermione, Remus/Severus


June 2008, London
( story time )

I'm hopelessly mired in this fanfic now, and it's spiraling out of my control. Characters keep insisting on being included. The main thread so far is Harry/Luna, but Ron/Hermione, Draco/OFC, and Remus/Severus are elbowing their way onstage, plus others not yet permanently paired off. I need a wheel of apocalypse or something to spin to come up with a plot, outside of flashbacks to the war.

In any case, my best friend IRL got to hear her baby's heartbeat last week and showed me her ultrasound photo, and that is where this snippet came from:

( 2007, Luna and Harry at a restaurant in London )