Tales and Musings

My Forced Bonding fic for thematic_hp is FINISHED! It's with the Beta Goddess just now, and when the edit process is finished, it'll get posted over there first.

*dances*

Next on my plate - the Harry/Hermione bunny that's been percolating in my fevered brain for awhile. *pets muse and feeds her chocolate so she'll stick around*

There is no way I can write this, because I start laughing and making up ridiculous scenes in my head, instead of settling down to be properly Dark. Poor Minxie has her fingers stuffed in her ears, chanting, "lalalalala, I can't hear you." It's that bad. *snicker*

But, in the hands of the right writer, it could be powerful and unusual, twisted and sexy.

Pairing: Ghosts of Hogwarts/anybody you like.
Premise: It takes a lot of energy for a ghost to maintain his or her form in order to be visible to the staff and students at large. It's an important job to be the mascot for one's former House...in public. In private, a ghost has to do what a ghost has to do. All that energy has to come from somewhere. Sir Nick (or another ghost of your choice) has discovered the perfect method for replenishing his energy field.

It's the young ones that provide the most intense energy. It's the young ones that provide the most piercing pleasure. Sir Nicholas (or another ghost of your choosing) can taste their fear, smell their arousal, and grow strong on the muted sounds of their shame. It's truly a satisfying relationship...for a term.

I specifically was thinking that perhaps the ghosts get their energy from molesting unsuspecting Firsties. That's how they are able to manifest so easily, and possibly why Peeves is so poltergeisty - he's had an overload of chan energies in his diet.

I have Sir Nicholas and Harry in mind for this, but really, it could go so many ways. It could even go flangsty, if the student falls in love with the ghost. I'll leave the details up to whoever takes the plunge, yeah?

If anyone adopts this bunny, please link me to the finished story, so I can admire it. I know my limits; I can't write chan or particularly dark themes. Perhaps one of you will be able to turn this into a deliciously dark and rather frightening story.

What do you call the thing that goes under a cauldron? It flames and keeps the liquid in the cauldron warm, or makes it boil if that's necessary. I think it's a bunsen burner in the muggle world, but what do (or would) wizards call it?

*watching for replies*

Yes, this is for a story I'm working on just now.

*snickering* Yes, I am chemistry challenged. I passed Chemistry in both high school and college, but I have no idea why...

ETA The fic is at the beta now - should be up tomorrow. Unless it completely sucks, which is possible.

I've been reading lots and lots of genfic, hetfic, and slashfic that I normally don't read...like Harry/young Riddle. I've been on an anti-Snape kick lately and can't bear for him to have sex. Very odd, but also interesting. I bring discussion questions, if you are so inclined to discuss. Some are from canon, some are from fanon, all are from my own musings as I absorb stories.

If a Polyjuiced person impregnates another person, whose DNA does the resulting child receive? The actual DNA? The DNA from the person being impersonated? Is this how metamorphmaguses are born? If so, what does that say about the state of Ted and Andromeda Tonks's marriage? Does Polyjuice Potion even affect DNA, or does it have a surface appearance changing effect only?

How far back into Tom Riddle's childhood would a person have to time travel if they wanted to stop him from becoming a snake obsessed megalomaniac bent on world domination? Would it be effective to kill him in utero, thus avoiding that messy child rearing stage, or would some other Dark Lord simply rise in his place? Or would the little bastard just not die?

If Snakeboy has Harry's blood at the end of the Tri Wizard Tournament, why doesn't anyone seem to realize that the blood wards at Privet Drive are useless the second the Serpently One came back? Even ole Voldie doesn't seem to get that, so what have I missed with regard to blood wards? Further, why didn't Dumbledore shield the Boy Who Bled and simply Accio Harry's blood during the MoM fiasco?

Why didn't Dumbledore realize and take advantage of the fact that Voldemort would lose most of his followers and likely find himself hunted by said followers if his biography was published? Dumbles surely has proof that Tom Riddle, the half blood, is the Dark Tosser. If the purebloods had a clue, they'd hex him to smithereens, or at least shards. Well, they'd at least try. Probably. Maybe they're too inbred to be effective, but it'd be worth a shot.

Dang. I had more, but can't think of 'em just now. *yawn* I'm off to bed.

Does anyone make them? If so, and you're amenable, I have a request. I'm not terribly picky about the background, but it probably should be Slytherinesque. I'd like the text to read:

Voldie-Mart
For all your World Domination needs
ask about our megalomaniac discounts

I have a vision of a Wal-Mart sign in the background, but that may not be possible. I went to Wal-Mart today for cat supplies and thought perhaps the WW needs a Voldie-Mart.

Are there icon communities where a person can post requests?

In other news, I'm writing that story with the newborn baby in it. OK, I'm doing research on the Lexicon and writing and rewriting the opening, because it involves magic theory, which I am generally pants at, but it's getting better. Sort of. I'm still rather unhappy with it.

I have a bunny to write wherein Snape lists all the reasons he'd never, ever, ever shag Lupin. He means it, too. My vague idea is that Harry is shagging Lupin and Severus is pissed because now he'll never get a piece of Saviour arse, but I'm not sure how that's gonna go. I've got the opening scene written; doesn't look like it'll be very long, but I'm hopeful that it'll at least get finished. At some point.

I got Draco, my snooty Pureblood kitty boy, back from the friend I'd given him to. He took exception to her taste in furniture, evidently, and shredded a quilt, a set of lace curtains, and her couch. All by himself. She brought him back to me instead of tossing him in the pound, which was kind of her. I helped her fix her quilt and recover her couch - the curtains were a dead loss. We're all content now.

Snape (the cat) has taken to sleeping behind my pillows, and yowling when I lie down for a nap. Snarky git. Kayla, the oldest girlcat, has taught him to enjoy playing fetch like she does, so I spend a couple of hours a day reading fics and tossing cat toys for them to retrieve. I never thought those two would get along, as she was undisputed Queen of the Castle when he arrived, but they make tolerable playmates for one another.

Does anyone else's cat like to play fetch? It seems like such a canine thing to do.

I don't have a paid account, so I can't make a regular poll thingy. That wouldn't suit my purposes anyway, as I'm looking for ideas rather than ticky boxes.

I'm writing a story and I need a name that Harry might choose to name his daughter. The situation he finds himself in is extremely stressful - an early morning shock to the system, if you will. He's dealing with the baby, securing her safety, scanning the area for unknown threats, and trying to think who'd be best to contact to help him deal with the child because he has no clue how to care for a baby. So his mind's a bit fractured. There's no input from the mother; he didn't care for her and she's absent from the scene, though he is able to figure out who she must be. It's not Ginny or Hermione. Or Cho, for that matter.

The baby is newborn, no more than a day or so old. He's absolutely sure the child is his, but I can't tell you why. The child has newborn-blue eyes that will change later and be the cliche' amazing green. I think the gene for his eyes is dominant, but that's me. She's nearly bald, but her fuzz is flaxen, though it may darken later. She's rather skinny and unlovely, the product of a stressful pregnancy; she is red faced, squalling, and generally miserable, poor mite.

Given his cultural background, education, and personality, what sort of name would he choose off the top of his head? Would he go with a flower designation after his mother? Would he choose the name of a famous witch? He will probably wait a few hours to name her, until it dawns on him that, if he's to protect her properly, she needs a name and birth certificate.

In my mind, it's unlikely he'd choose, say, a Shakespearean name, as he's not been exposed to Shakespeare. He likely doesn't have a copy of '10,000 Names for Baby' handy, either. He named his owl and gave it some thought, it appears. Would he choose a similar sort of name for his child? He'd surely not name her after his Mum, but he'd likely use 'Lily' as the middle name.

I just can't decide, so I thought I'd see what y'all think.

I'm working on a fic, or trying to, at least. Blargh. I'm stuck. It's a scene between Snape, Dumbledore and Harry's son, regarding the making of potions. Snape is testing the child's knowledge and practical skill before deciding if DJ can be trusted in Snape's lab. This is also a prelude to Snape and the boy getting to know one another better, which is crucial to the rest of the plot. If I want to finish the story, this scene has to happen, somehow.

I don't have enough chemistry knowledge to make it authentic, although my herbal knowledge is fairly decent. I need to find some basic chemistry info sites, geared towards kids. If anyone knows a good one, please point me?

I'm having issues with the point of view, too. It doesn't feel right to do it from Snape's POV, nor Dumbledore's, so I'm gonna have to make it from DJ's, I think. So now I have to get in touch with my inner wizardlet and see if THAT works. Blargh. How much would a gifted seven (nearly eight) year old miniwizard have?

I'm annoyed with myself and off to check kiddo chemistry sites.

I swore I'd never write Severitus because it's so implausible. I just can't wrap my brain around it. Except...I can, sorta. I just wrote one - I've sent it off to beta and it needs polishing and such, but...stay tuned.

It's a one shot, about 3000 words give or take some wiggle room, and features Harry/Ginny, as well. *facepalm* Darn plotbunnies should be helping out the Easter Bunny or focusing on the stuff I ALREADY have in progress instead of whispering this stuff in my ears - lol. This may change drastically, after I get some feedback and such. The draft is extremely rough, at this point.

Excerpt: ( behind the cut )

ETA: It's already been edited once or twice :)

Argh. I have no motivation. No sense of urgency. No will to write. No schedule. I try. I'm sleeping a lot more than usual, which feels odd. When I wake up, I don't feel alert enough to write. When I do feel alert enough to write, hours later, real life intrudes.

Maybe I'll just bitch about my new project for awhile. Yeah. That'll be fun. It's called 'Visions of Greece' and it's seven chapters long so far - 23,000 plus words and I'm not even through the first section of the outline I did. I read this book about writing (clever, Jazz, hex yourself out of doing what works and into someone else's habits), and decided to follow their advice. I sketched out the plot. I outlined the scenes needed to move the plot along. I did my research in terms of setting and history and stuff I needed appropriate details for. I discussed the whole thing with my friend Laura, who injects sanity into my rambles and knits patches for my plot holes. I started writing. The problem? I'm bored with the beginning; I want to get to the good stuff and I can't until I finish the beginning.

I was gonna put the plot summary here, but it's unproductive to do so. It won't get the parts I'm not interested in written any faster or better. Sigh. I can't even write a decent PWP right now.

Blargh. I'm gonna go read and hopefully get inspired.

Blessings,

Jadzia