Nifflers & Kneazles

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(( Old art, done about June, to reflect the post about Shae’s future. ))

Shae’s Future

She lay there in bed, staring up quietly at the ceiling of the room she had moved into recently. This move had nothing to do with her incident inHebrides, she’d told the MacFustys. Her body felt tired, bones and muscles ached from hard work and the bruises on her arms and legs varied in size, shape, and color. She enjoyed her studies and work as a dragonologist. There was nothing more fulfilling than to help take care of, and keep safe, such ferociously beautiful creatures. Nobody else really thought so, when she’d announced her future plans during her last days of school, even giving worried looks that a girl would be willing to handle fire-breathing beasts.

But she knew this was what she was born for. All those years, electing Care of Magical Creatures every year that it was available to her, studying hard in Defense Against the Dark Arts, even learning how to create Draconifors in her Sixth year.

But it wasn’t the dragons that kept her up in the middle of the night or the aches in her joints or the small burns and cuts she might’ve gotten. Her dreams got worse the more she thought about those people. Witches and Wizards alike who stole themselves away onto the grounds of the reserve she was previously staying at. Magical poachers, sneaking into the territories of the creatures she’d gotten to observe and understand. This didn’t happen often, either. Magical folk knew it wasn’t smart to go after Hebridean Black dragons.

But she heard the roars and screams, and later she would find it was a rogue band of wizards who had hoped to try and steal the creature alive with the intent of releasing it into a large population of Muggles. So there were still some of those people around. She shouldn’t have been so shocked. But it was what they did to the dragon when they realized their plan was bound to fail. No more did she wish to see the countryside of her homeland. Her father was understanding, her mother less so, but she couldn’t say no. Shae had apparated before the poor woman even had a chance.

Here at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, she felt she could start anew. She was living in the shared quarters Harvey Ridgebit had built for the dragonologists who were all here for the same purpose, even recognizing one fellow as a member of the famed Weasley family. She supposed his name was Charles, but she didn’t see much of him, preferring it that was as she left in the early morning to begin her rounds, assigned to care for Ukrainian Ironbellies. By care, there wasn’t much to do aside from making sure they were fed and that no one was snooping around the grounds that weren’t welcomed there. She was fiercely good at finding these people too, even after the loss of her pet, Moon. She refused her father’s offer for another Kneazle, when she was eaten.

But there she was, awake, and thinking back – past the scarring incident with the Hebridean, past the extensive tests she went though to be allowed into her new position. She had dreamt of Hogwarts and wondered what it looked like now. Were the children of her classmates attending or just graduating? Where were her friends now? Why was she suddenly thinking about them? She frowned and closed her eyes, bringing her freshly singed and bandaged arm over her face with only her nose, mouth, and chin poking out. She didn’t want to think about them if all it did was bring back memories of places and sights she didn’t want to remember. The day she apparated to Romania after saying goodbye to her parents was the beginning of her new life, turning into herself and to her work, letting only what she was passionate about continue to drive her, nothing more.

She rolled onto her side and looked out the window. It was still dark, likely not even past midnight, judging by the moon’s position. This was going to be another long night and she wasn’t willing to let herself go back to sleep. But she couldn’t be here in this bed, either.

The woman got up, moving to her desk to grab a hair brush laying there and made sure to get any knots out of the long hair she’d refused to cut. Hatchlings helped to singe it short once in a while, anyway. She walked to her window and opened it, only reaching for her glasses before she felt her form shift and take shape. Wings fluttered and stretched silently as she set herself at the window’s ledge, looking out with her now sharper eyesight.

Spreading her wings, she leapt and lifted herself into the air, carrying herself into the sky to watch over the new lands below her. The one thing that could keep her mind off of her past was seeing her present pass below her in slow, wide circles.

(( Turns out she will become an Animagus and will be a Eurasian Eagle Owl. ))

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“I think I’d rather just watch for now.”

Yule All Ball

Breathe, Shae, breathe.

Nobody here was going to fly at her for entering the Hall, dressed impeccably byRaleigh, and looking just slightly uncomfortable. It wasn’t that she didn’t like anything that she was wearing – hell it was all gorgeous and spectacular – she perhaps just felt a little self-conscious.

This was technically her first Yule Ball, as she didn’t attend when she was a fourth year, there were bound to be the initial stomach-butterflies. Oh but she knew better than to let her nerves get the better of her.Raleighhad worked hard to make her look beautiful, to feel beautiful, and she wasn’t about to squander all that was done for her.

Not to mention there was the fact that she also had to find this Hufflepuff fellow she was supposedly being set up with. He was a Sixth year?! She didn’t know his name, what he looked like.. All these thoughts were just going to build her anxiety.

Breathe, girl!

She took a second to step away from anyone’s view; the girl placed a gloves hand on her chest, closing her eyes as she took a deep inhale. As she exhaled, she turned and decided to head to find some of the refreshments and food. A nearby professor was waving her wand over the punch bowls to refill them. Hm, perhaps someone didn’t like the taste of it? Well it looked like she was having water for now. She only drank enough to get rid of the lump that had been in her throat, smiling as she felt herself relaxing.

She looked around to see a few familiar faces, but they would disappear within the groups and herds of unknown students. She wasn’t sure that she should approach anyone. In fact, they all looked so in their elements, that Shae couldn’t help but smile again and watch the crowds, swaying in time to the music that played in the air.

She moved from the drink and food table to get a better look at everyone. And to perhaps seem a little less lost to anyone who’d noticed her. Especially this mystery fellow she was supposed to bump into – er, meet. She made sure to stand tall, hold her head high to let everyone know she was wearing a tiara. She’d make a damn good princess tonight!

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(( My art style always seems to change when I’m drawing these chibis. Anywho! Lil Raleigh. :3 Since coming back from N’awlins, I’m on a kick with using its color (purple) & fleur-de-lis. So she gets both of those. Dunno what she’s doing, but those badass shoes make her look lovely - they’re leopard printed, since I noticed it’s a little tough to see the detail. ))

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ooc: Lil’ Bebe Julius. I had too much fun with my new textures here, I think.

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ooc: Popping these babies out like I’m Octomom or something P: Cute lil’ Bebe, Damian. Smug lil’ bastard. <3

ooc: Ms Lucy Reddwarf in my chibi style. Haughty and hotty. :3

Cups & Cats Don’t Mix (Open RP)

Few things happened within Hogwarts’ library and the majority of these things were, for the most part, dull and tiresome. Students didn’t loiter in the library, or use it for their need to socialize (well not all the time anyway) and every one of them was expected to have some kind of reading material on their person. Opened, preferably.

Of course, plenty of these students (past & present) had tried to bend or break a rule or two. The most popular one was the “No food or drinks” rule, naturally, second only to to the “Stay out of the Restricted Section, unless written permission from a Professor.” There was also the rule about keeping silent in the library, but hardly anyone tried breaking that one intentionally.

As was the case when a sharp crash from porcelain or glass was heard down one of the lengthy “hallways” between bookcases. The Slytherin girl swore under her breath as she moved to gather what she could of the little, and visibly antique, tea cup. She reached for her wand after a moment’s realization and muttered a short command. With the flick of Shae’s wand, the pieces (large, small, and nearly impossible to find) floated up before her. A small, disappointed sigh escaped her before shooting a dirty look in the direction of her books, “See, Moon? This is why you don’t sleep on the table while I study! Get on the chair, why don’t you?” 

The black lump of fur hiding behind her book about reading tea leaves moved and stretched out into the form of her cat, tail arching in some impossible loop-dee-loop as she yawned wide enough to see the creature’s lunch. Bright, yellow-green eyes blinked back at Shae before straightening herself lazily, stepping carefully around the girl’s things and daintily sat onto the nearest chair as if moving was her idea entirely. “Yeah you better be sorry,” was all that Shae said to the cat before returning her attention to the broken tea cup, not even noticing the cat’s second lazy yawn. Nope, she wasn’t sorry at all.

Not all hope was lost, though. Another flick of the wand and another incantatio, and the tea cup began to rearrange itself, cracks fusing as it pieced together its own puzzle. Mended and good as new, the tea cup floated back to its original place on the table, as if it was never accidentally pushed to its death. Shae smiled and went back to her long piece of parchment, halfway filled with copies of symbols and meanings to the symbols, both her interpretations and the ones belonging to the book. 

Ah, now then, maybe she could get to her studies.

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raleighryther:

History of Magic was easily Raleigh’s worst subject.  Closely followed by transfiguration, and as luck would have it, those were the two classes she was on her way to.  To say that she was irritated about being interrupted in the midst of trying to remember the years and dates of the fifth goblin war (oh come on, who really cared) and how to properly transfigure a partridge into a pear tree (which really, did anyone ask the partridge how it felt before being turned into a goddamned tree?  maybe she could protest on the grounds of animal cruelty.) was an understatement.

Shae McFarlane, Slytherin, fifth year, seen in the hallways with dead rabbits.  Right.  Raleigh composed herself into the figure out utmost politeness.. until she actually listened to what the other girl was saying.  Her face lit up immediately.

“DARLING—- Darling.  Darling you needn’t say any more.  I have the perfect little ensemble that would look spectacular on you- a quick color switching charm, luckily for you green actually does wonders for your complexion, and we’ll be right as rain- oh!  I know I have a tiara in my trunk that would be perfect- makeup, yes, yes I can do that too- I’ll get a bag together, you’ll get me into the Slytherin dormitories and then we’ll set about the task of finding you a date- no no, I won’t hear a word of it, I know it’s hard to believe but not all of the gentlemen in this school are gay.  If we must— we’ll import one.  I better start writing to my friends at the other schools..”

Neither transfiguration nor history of magic made it into Raleigh’s schedule that afternoon.

There were some personality types Shae came to understand. There were stoic types. Kind types. Shy, brave, brash, and even spiteful types. But she really had no idea where Raleigh really fit in with her personality. She didn’t expect so much - enthusiasm - from the girl, despite all she’d known about the Gryffindor. Her love for everything that was social and didn’t revolve around a cauldron or book (except maybe magazines, since they weren’t books in the technical sense but, really that’s beside the point) and dressed more fashionably than anyone else. Sure that meant getting in trouble with the more traditional Professors and staff at Hogwarts,  but once again her bold personality told Shae that tradition and simplicity were never her thing.

“Oh gosh a tiara?” Her eyes widened at the thought, not sure what to make of the big picture of Raleigh’s dream, but then the word ‘date’ came out of her mouth. “O-oh, don’t—” “- no no, I won’t hear a word of it.” Shae couldn’t help but bite on her lower lip as she let her continue her speech. Finally she had to speak up.

“You really don’t need to contact anyone from other schools!” She laughed nervously (Shae you asked for this), “I believe you when you say there’s plenty of blokes here. I just have one request for that though, nobody from my house, please. If they end up being absolutely hellacious, I don’t think I’d enjoy putting up with them the rest of the year as a House-mate.” She huffed and pushed away her bangs as they began to push themselves into her eyesight.

And then she remembered Raleigh needing to be in the Slytherin Common Room. Shit, weren’t there rules about that? She remembered the last time some Ravenclaws wanted to try and find the entrance and had almost a month of detention and a large lump of their points were removed. She began to chew on her cheek, weighing her options. Oh bother the whole thing! Where there’s a will, there’s a way, as someone said! She’d have to look up who’d said that sometime. 

“That’ll be risky, and apart from completely changing your appearance and wearing some spare robes, it’s going to be one hell of a task, Ryther.” A long sigh escaped her, placing a hand to her hip and pursed her lips in thought. She was looking at her a bit critically, but soon a smile showed on her face, “You seem a little smaller than me, but I think I could loan you the robes. And when I say change your appearance, I mean a total overhaul so no one will catch you - or me.”

She couldn’t help but smirk at the idea. This could be fun. Now she was more determined than ever to figure this little puzzle out, because come Hell or High Water, if this meant she’d look fascinatingly good at the Ball, she’d do it! “Oh, how often would you need in there?” She blinked, the Ball wasn’t too far away, but it was still some time.

(Source: shealynnslytherin)

raizorback:

Ah yes, Julius remembered now, that Slytherin girl from a while back. The one with the bucket of dead rabbits… he wanted to ask her what the deal with that was, but decided against it, since it looked like Shea was clearly upset about the entire fiasco.

“Believe it or not, there’s no secret,” he straightened up to his full height, flexing his fingers and appreciating the fact that his motor skills seemed to have returned in full swing, “Just perseverance.” with that Julius offered a small smile, “Not that I needed to tell you. Looks like you’ve got that sorted.”

The two laughed for a bit before a small stretch of silence followed, and Julius, being the giant awkward turtle he was, did not know exactly how to follow it up. Should he be nice and ask her how’s her day been? No, that’s a little weird.

What classes does she take? Nah, intrusive… what was up with the bucket of dead rabbits last time? Oh hell no, that’s just insensiti-

“So what was up with the bucket of rabbits the last time I saw you?”

The silence was a bit uncomfortable, but she seemed used to that kind of silence, where no one knew what step to take in conversation despite feeling like they should. She only took the opportunity to mess with those new earrings of hers. She remembered there was some kind of instruction to make sure they were rotated around often to keep her ear from healing around the post. Her hand stopped in mid turn when she heard Julius ask about the rabbits.

She looked at him a moment, not sure how to react, but she’d jumped into the deep end now. She wasn’t about to flounder about when something like that popped up. No, it was time for her to suck it up and give him a chuckle, “Oh! I help H-Hagrid with some of the creatures he takes care of. With his permission of course. And he’d asked me to get them from the kitchen so I could feed the herd of Thestrals we have.” 

“I try to avoid big hallways when I get the rabbits though, since some students would probably get the wrong idea.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. Nah, a girl feeding a bunch of creatures who had the misunderstanding that they were omens of death and misfortune, that wasn’t unusual at all. In fact, she gave the Gryffindor boy a big wide smile, “When the babies are bigger, he said I’ll get to help name them!”

She seemed to perk up about the subject entirely. Now that it was over with, she didn’t need to dread trying to avoid the subject. Boy was that a relief, weight off her shoulders. Of course now, there was something weighing down her left shoulder just a bit.

It seemed perfect timing somehow, that the Professor announced that the class could end early and swung open the doors for everyone, hopping away in surprise when a small black blur darted past him. It was Shae’s cat it seemed, as it stopped just behind her to jump almost her entire height to sit on her shoulder there, looking up at Julius with curiosity. Yes, pets weren’t really allowed outside of the House’s common rooms, but Moon always found ways out, and Mrs Norris was once caught sitting next to the cat, staring down a hallway. 

She paid the cat no mind as she glanced out to the hallway, “Actually, with class ended early, now seems a good time to do that. Want to come along?” She returned her hazel-green gaze back to Julius with a smile, “You may not see anything, but it might probably still be interesting.”

(Source: shealynnslytherin)

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(( Omg, I’d have shaded it, but it’s 3AM and I need some sleeeeep. e_e ))

She didn’t find herself a terribly frumpy person, nor a super stylish one. But she was sure that she knew how to properly dress herself and make herself look nice. Accessories were fun, but sometimes not necessary when you knew you were about to enter Potions and your partner was likely going to blow something up. Or drop a jar of Horned Slugs. Or sneeze into the Unicorn Hair. Or blow something up. But when she had time, she was sure to wear a nice necklace or a few bracelets, couple of rings. Hell, now that she had earrings, she could look forward to buying some nice earrings in the future.

But for something like the Yule Ball, she knew she had to be careful about what she was going to wear. Date or no date, it didn’t matter, it was a night to look superbly stunning for (most) of the girls at Hogwarts. Some were fiercely competitive about it, but Shae was sure she wasn’t one of those types. She only knew what was expected and knew that she knew next to nothing about being “Superbly Stunning” in front of people.

Good thing she saved this flyer. Well, she didn’t really need to save it, but it was so well designed. She couldn’t let Filch throw ALL of them into his fireplace.

“Hey Raleigh!” She yelled when she spotted the Gryffindor walking down a hallway, moving to half-skip, half-trot up to her. “Are you still offering that whole ‘Yule Ball Styling’ thing you were sticking flyers up and around the halls for? Cause… Well I need a new dress. Outfit. Everything.”

She frowned and looked a little sheepish about asking her such a thing. “See. I have a dress. But my mum sent it, but she doesn’t read fashion magazines and she didn’t know that it looks BAD on me.”

Sorry, mom. This had to be done.

raizorback:

“Petrificus W-WIMB- NOWAIT SHI-. FUCK.”

Julius honestly thought it would’ve been a cinch, it would just go like almost any other duels, but here he was, body rigid from Shea’s spell and truth to be told, he absolutely dumbfounded. 

But Julius was not one to make excuses, the Slytherin student came out on top, he didn’t, it was as simple as that. When he was beginning to feel his arms again, he sat up slowly, shook himself off with a grunt and took Shea’s hand gratefully,

“Shit, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.” he let out a small laugh, noticing that his legs were still shaking slightly as he began dusting himself off, “Haven’t had my ass knocked down like that in a long time.”

He offered Shea a playful grin, ”Now where’d you learn to duel like that?”

“Hah, learn?” She blinked, suddenly aware again that the Gryffindor was, as she was now staring up at him. The temptation to turn and run again to keep herself from saying something she may regret was growing. But memories of when she did that were returning, imagining the bucket of dead rabbits - HOW EMBARRASSING! No, she would give him a grin and shrug, “Not sure, actually! I just didn’t want to lose and knew that if I wanted to beat you, I had to be fast. I guess my wand agreed with me, too. The spell came out faster than the words from my mouth.”

With a nod, it seemed that was all to the conversation, but those rabbits were nagging her brain with their wide, dead eyes - telling her their shame for being so shy. No, you things were eaten, so just shut up and let her go on. Clearing her throat, she straightened herself and stuck her hand out again, this time to offer him a friendly handshake, “By the way, sorry for running off that last time we talked. I was in a bit of a hurry. My name’s Shae McFarlane!”

Sure they knew one another’s names and he had a little more notoriety than she ever would. Who needed lots of people knowing about her when she just needed the important people to know her? Nope! This was good enough. When their handshake would end, she pushed the waist of her cloak back with a small flourish only so she could put her hands at her hips, “While on the subject of duels! What’s your secret anyway? Just an uncanny talent from someone who seems naturally-born to be a spirited fighter?”

That could probably be taken as a jest from anyone else from Slytherin, she realized, more than likely something said out of spite from that Heath fellow. She kept her warm smile, though, knowing full well that she meant what she said and didn’t think she could make fun of this fellow even if she tried.

Waiting her answer, she seemed to think of the weirdest things, and began to think of what her cat would think of this guy…

(Source: shealynnslytherin)

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(( Art is done by Naomi Franq who decided to leave this in my sketchbook. XD ))

“Seriously. Naomi’s my only friend who can get me to act absolutely bizarre without caring about how we look together. She’s my best friend! I think she has authority to do that.”