My Vanilla Coke Life: 2011

I wrote this right after I finished "Deathly Hallows"... I had never attempted fan fiction before but I wasn't quite ready to let go of Harry's world yet. I revised it recently and hope to add more in the future but in the meantime thought I'd post it here. I tried to stay true to JKR's style and feel... I'd love some feedback, so let me know what you think! (I can't figure out how to format it on here either unfortunately... I wanted to add it to my Fiction Press account but I tried that once and was told by numerous lovely comments that it was FAN fiction and didn't belong :/)

Albus rummaged through his trunk again- he was leaving for his first year at Hogwarts the next morning and had already misplaced some of his school books. Then again, it was just as likely that his younger sister Lily had borrowed them (she was eager to get to Hogwarts herself) or that his older brother James had hidden them.
Albus sighed in irritation and scanned his room one more time with his piercing green eyes. He alone had inherited his grandmother’s eyes, a fact that he was proud of because his father often remarked on it fondly.
“You’ve got your Grandma Lily’s eyes, Albus Severus.”
Rolling his eyes, Albus would reply, “I know, Dad. You tell me all the time.” But secretly, it made him feel special. Being the middle child and second boy, he sometimes needed to feel a bit special. He began to search the rest of the house and indeed found his sister reading Hogwarts: A History, Revised Edition with Foreword by Hermione G. Weasley.
“Lily! What are you doing with my book?”
She was reading on the floor, engrossed in the gargantuan book. Her brown eyes looked up at her brother briefly and then back down to the page entitled “The Chamber of Secrets”.
“I wanted to borrow it before you take it with you tomorrow. Auntie Hermione always talks about it, and she even helped write some of the new bits. Dad and Uncle Ron are mentioned in here,” she said.
“Really? Wow! I mean…next time just ask me first, ok?” said Albus as he strode off to the kitchen, making a mental note to open his new books on the train the following day.
Delicious smells were wafting in and out, proof that his mother could cook just as well as Grandma Weasley. A pot was bubbling on the stove as a spoon stirred itself. Knives chopped vegetables at lightening speed and threw them into the boiling water. Albus stood in the kitchen doorway observing this but did not see his mother.
“Mum?” he called.
“I’m in the den talking to your father,” a voice answered back. With one last sniff, Albus left the self-cooking dinner and found his mother talking to his father’s head, which was floating ominously in the fireplace. He hesitated and listened to his parents’ discussion.
“Harry, you promised you’d be home for dinner! It’s already cooking, and it’s the last time we can all eat as a family until Christmas holiday! Al will be particularly disappointed if you’re not here on his last night at home… you know how nervous he is.”
Fully aware of his wife’s excellent Bat Bogey Hexes and keen not to receive one once he reached home, Harry tried to reason with her.
“Ginny, I told you. Ron and I are in the midst of something but I’ll be home as soon as I can, certainly before the kids go to sleep. And I’m not going to the office at all tomorrow. We’ll all go to King’s Cross together, as a family, and meet up with Ron and Hermione. Teddy’s going to come see Al and Rose off too.”
Ginny snorted. “Yeah, never mind that Victoire is leaving for her seventh year. Teddy’s fancied her for ages.”
Harry rolled his eyes. “Be that as it may-‘
He paused and grinned at his youngest son, who he could see standing quietly behind his mother. “Hi, Al! Getting excited for tomorrow?”
Albus jumped at being noticed and Ginny turned around in surprise.
“Albus! Did you need something, sweetheart? Dad has to stay a bit longer at work, so he popped by to let me know.”
Albus looked at the smiling faces of his parents and gave a shy smile in return. “I can’t find some of my school books. Lily’s reading one, and I haven’t asked James yet, but I was wondering if you could help me?”
Harry thought for a moment. “My guess would be that James hid them somewhere in the sitting room, maybe even on top of the bookshelf where you can’t reach, Al. He can’t have used magic though, he’s not allowed.”
Albus sped out of the room, leaving his parents with matching looks of surprise on their faces. He ran past his brother, who was bent over a piece of paper in a very suspicious manner, but chose to ignore him- he wanted to find the books without James’ help. James looked up from his page and stuck out his tongue before returning to his mysterious letter.
Albus reached the sitting room and looked around. His own face, along with the rest of his family, smiled and waved from a giant photo on the opposing wall. It had been taken on holiday in Scotland; there was a great big sparkling lake in the background, with snow capped Scottish mountains reflected in the surface.
He loved this photo. Every time he looked at it, he was sure that a sea monster was swimming in the loch, though he was never able to find it when anyone else was looking too.
Lily was smiling as wide as she could while James was busy trying to poke his brother, his face alight with mischievousness. Albus scowled at the actions of photo-James and looked at his parents in annoyance, as if they could see him. They were oblivious and laughing happily.
Harry’s hair was characteristically untidy, the tufts of jet black being blown about even more by the wind. Ginny’s long red hair kept whipping Harry in the face- he kept shutting his piercing green eyes and opening them, as she turned her head to look up at him, her eyes sparkling with merriment. Harry wrapped his arms tightly around his wife and then reached over to stroke the top of Lily’s head.
The other reason Albus liked this photo so much was that it allowed him to stare at his father’s scar without feeling self-conscious. The thin red lightening bolt running down the middle of Harry’s forehead fascinated Albus and always had- one of his first clear memories was of asking his father what it was. The Scottish wind blowing Harry’s hair back made the famous scar stand out in a very clear way.
Although Harry rarely spoke of them, Albus had heard enough stories and read enough books about his father’s epic struggle with Lord Voldemort to be properly in awe of him each time he happened to notice the scar on Harry’s forehead. Whenever any of his uncles or parent’s friends popped round, it was all he could do to not burst out with a thousand questions.
After all, his dad was only eleven, like him, when he faced Voldemort for the second time….
Even so, Albus was keenly aware that these stories stirred painful memories in all the adults in his life. He had always been sensitive and aware of the people around him. Still, Albus sincerely wished that he had known Teddy’s mum and dad, and his Uncle Fred, and his grandpa’s best friend Sirius Black. They sounded wonderful and fun, the way that Harry fondly spoke of them. Dobby the house elf sounded like a right laugh, in Albus’ opinion. He often heard his Auntie Hermione speak of Dobby’s bravery, and of Kreacher’s help- even at the young age of eleven, Albus knew his aunt had very strong views on house elf rights.

I thought about this question as I fell asleep last night. It was a difficult one to answer mainly because I'm indecisive but also because I have so many favorite fictional characters! I thought about choosing Jo March from Little Women, whom I adore and wanted to be like when I was little, but in the end I settled on Emma Woodhouse, the titular character of Jane Austen's classic novel Emma and my favorite movie version starring Gwyneth Paltrow.

I like Emma because even though she becomes a bit meddlesome in her friends' romantic lives, she means well and only wants their happiness. Plus gossiping is always fun! Emma is also intelligent and relatively wealthy with an artistic ability I wish I possessed. I can definitely be sarcastic and a bit sharp at times, and Emma can be a wee bit... bitchy haha, which I think would be fun to be. Biting wit and all that, especially towards the irritating Eltons. And of course, there is Mr. Knightley... I would love to be Mrs. Knightley! He brings out all of Emma's good qualities and isn't afraid to tell her when she's wrong or being ridiculous. They are very well-suited for each other and plus he is quite dreamy!! Lastly, I love empire waist gowns and think they are terribly flattering. Between the dresses and the hairstyles with some nice dangly earrings, I think I could pull off Regency fashion just fine :)

My Vanilla Coke Life

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Albus Potter

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Day 2: If you could trade places with a character from a book or movie who would it be and why?

Friday, July 1, 2011

Rediscovery

31 Day Photo Challenge: Day 1