Thursday, April 28, 2011

Sirius grinned. “Alright, you pass. What’s your name again?”

“Clancy Goshawk.”

“And I’m...”

“Sirius Black,” she finished for him.

“I love when people do that,” remarked Sirius. “I feel famous."

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I know I posted an excerpt this morning, but I just wrote this, and I thought you would all enjoy it....

“Can I help you, Laces?” 
 What?” 
 “What-what?” 
 “Why did you just call me ‘Laces?’” 
 “Because yours are uncommonly straight.” 

4/27

Mumps." 
 Shelley paused in the combing of her platinum fringe and looked at Donna in the reflection of the mirror. 
 “Yes?” 
 Never in recent memory had Donna dreaded an action quite as much as she dreaded this one. She sat down on the bed closest to Shelley, fidgeting with her curly hair and forcefully maintaining a complete lack of eye contact with the other witch. 
 “I have to talk to you.” 
 Shelley raised her eyebrows. “You what?” 
 “I have to talk to you,” Donna repeated forcibly. 
 Frowning, the blonde turned in her chair to face Donna. “Seriously?” 
 “Yes, I know, it’s bizarre for me, too,” said Donna, rolling her eyes.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Some Thank-Yous and Such-Not

To "reader" on ff.net,
You are ninja.
You are a ninja of reading. Okay, I can accept that you might polish off one of the 8800 word chapters, type up a review, and submit it in a mere 6 minutes, but the fact that you did this with Chapter 2, which is nearly 11,000 words astonishes me. And yet your reviews are detailed enough to show that you are, in fact, reading the chapters, which leads me to the conclusion that you are a ninja. Or that ff.net is sending me the review alerts at 5-8 minute intervals, but more likely that you are a ninja. A ninja of reading.

But seriously, thank you to everyone who has been reviewing lately--I know several people are re-reading and leaving comments on every chapter, some are reading for the first time but being wonderful with the reviews, Kayla's doing her fantasmal five-word summaries on tumblr... and I don't think I have properly expressed my gratitude to you all recently. So, to everyone who reviews, or comments here with their support, or leaves lovely messages in my ask box on tumblr, thank you ever, ever so much. You are all extremely gracious, and I have no words to adequately express my appreciation and love for all of you.

Also, I will TRY to get to answering review questions this week.
With regard to the update, the theoretical time frame is still by the end of the month.

Happy Easter one and all!
Love,
Jules

(P.S. oooh, you're slipping, reader. 13 minutes on chapter 8. I'mkiddingyouramazingteachmehowtolive.)

Oh, and right, I totally owe some spoilers.
Here's some stuff I've been writing:

-Sirius and James all bromancing each other up.
-Marlene and Donna stuff (I kind of love Marlene and Donna together)
-A subtle (kind of dirty) Lathe reference, which only makes me that much more impatient to bring him back!
-A whole bunch of letters (not individual letters, like S, Y, G, H, A... letters. mail. owls. gotcha)
-Lily and Clancy stuff

Oh, and as per the request of some, here's some more music.

"Taller Children" by Elizabeth and the Catapults

"Four Winds" cover by the Killers

Friday, April 22, 2011

Cheerful enough, Donna walked along the second floor corridor in the direction of the Charms department. The hallways were always the best kind of empty at hours like this—mealtimes—and Donna could stroll without fear of bumping into anyone, her mind occupied by pleasant things like Ancient Runes translations and the biography of Cornelius Agrippa that Lily had lent to her. 
 She was just debating which—the translations or the biography—she would pursue first after supper, when the unfortunate witch rounded a corner. 
 What she saw, about twenty feet away, made Donna think she might lose her lunch.

Monday, April 18, 2011

To the estimable Lily Evans,

I rather prefer not putting my name on the front of envelopes, as it often means that the recipient will disregard the letter altogether, and all of my extensive time spent writing and re-writing and fretting over the exact wording of my carefully plotted letter shall be in vain (Only joking. I don’t do any of that).

But now you’ve read this far, you’ve already spent this much time reading, and are therefore invested in the outcome of this note, so I shall reveal my identity.

It’s Sam. Sam Dearborn. Egbert the Incompetent’s brother. You remember me, right? Handsome bloke, tall, fantastic hair, kills in a fedora...

Right, that’s me.

And you’re Lily Evans.

What-ho.

And you’re probably wondering why in the name of all that is magical I’ve decided to write to you, approximately one month after our brief and tumultuous affair. The truth of the matter is that I’m bored stiff at the moment, for my best mate and partner-in-crime, the incomparable Sarah McKinnon, has landed herself in one of those new fangled thing-a-ma-bobs, a relationship.

Complete nonsense, if you ask me. (Not really: the bloke’s a dream, and he dotes on her, but that’s neither here nor there).

They’ve been seeing each other for months, but now Sarah up and decides that she’s in love with this Devil’s Spawn, and she spends five evenings a week with him, and she’s just oh so rapturous that poor Sam gets shoved to the side, along with all our plans to someday be old spinsters together, sitting around on a porch somewhere with our eighty-seven cats, playing sedate card games and making rude remarks at passersby, because old people may say whatever judgmental things they like without fear of punishment.

Obviously, this is a problem, because what if Sarah marries this bloke? What if she has a dozen children with him? I wouldn’t mind, except he’ll be something of a time suck, and it might actually mean I have to meet people! Talk to people I don’t know! Make new friends! SOCIALIZE!  It’s utter rubbish.

Actually, I’m just dead bored right now. I’ve written to dear cousin James twice in the last week, and he’s only responded once, and I choose to blame this on the fact that he is also relationshippy at the moment. I suppose you’ve heard all about that—well, I know you have—since, apparently your little school has done everything short of lynching this poor bird. Are you a member of this torch-carrying, “Burn the witch!” screaming majority? Personally, I think you’d make a lousy leader of a lynch mob.

I thought you’d be interested to know that I have had my first encounter with my brother since the end of his tenure as head of DMLE. It was unpleasant, to be sure, especially since the family rather sided with Eggie, and things at home have been rather tense. But life goes on, doesn’t it?

I’m reaching the end of my slight firewhiskey buzz and therefore the end of this letter, and I feel the overwhelming compulsion to be honest with you, Ginger, so here it is.

The truth of the matter is not that I am either lonely or bored, but that I am writing to you because I am avoiding writing a letter that I should be writing. You are a vehicle for my procrastination, if you will. Because, you see, while it is true that Sarah is in the raptures of a new relationshit, I find myself precariously close to the same. And there it is... I’ve met someone, and feel that if I do not wait out this firewhiskey buzz, I may actually do something extremely unwise and arrange a date.

You see, Ginger, in my brief tenure as a Hogwarts student, I was a Hufflepuff—as you know—and Hufflepuffs, for all of their virtues, are not particularly brave.

At any rate, feel free to respond poste-haste, and do not feel free to ignore this letter, or I will be thoroughly upset with you. Unless you, too, have fallen into the relationship trap, in which case, I shall have to lose faith with all of this highly sentimental humanity and jump off a tall bridge without a broomstick.

You understand my meaning, yeah?

With high regards from,
Sam Dearborn

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Questions, Questions, Quesssttionnsss

Here are some FAQs of late that I would like to take this opportunity--me being sick in bed--to answer.

You--Jules--said that Chapter 35 is gonna be epic. Are James and Carlotta going to break up then?
No. James and Carlotta's break up is NOT scheduled for Chapter 35.
Here are some things that you CAN expect from Chapter 35:
A kiss between two people who are not dating (one of whom is dating someone else)
The return of Colista Black
A Frank and Alice cameo
Suckiness
Not a James/Carlotta break up

When are you going to update, Jules?
When is ur face going to update?
(AKA idk, sorry)
I typically update around once a month. Although I try to be quicker, I usually fail

Is the guy at the beginning of the prologue Luke?
This has received much speculation and is the forerunner amongst theories, especially in Luke's small but vocal fan club possibly consisting only of Todd. It has not, however, been confirmed.

Regarding the last line of Chapter 31: 
"He did. Right?"
Lily's question is kind of rhetorical. It's like, "I'll get over it. It can't be too hard. He did it, yeah?" Not that she really honestly believes it's gonna be a piece of cake, but like that's what she's saying to put a brave face on it. At any rate, it was not intended to be read, "He got over me, right? Right? RIGHT?! ANSWER ME NOW, BITCHES!" I think the italicization of "right," might have made that confusing, and I apologize!

Why is Sirius calling Lily "Snitch" and Carlotta "Quaffle?"
Chapter 19, "The Quaffle and the Snitch," has James quoting his dear old mother as saying, "Don't chase the Quaffle if you see the Snitch." Although, as Reginald Cattermole points out, James is a chaser and he would get in trouble for catching the snitch. But, as James would observe, "It's a metaphor, damn it."

Why is Sirius opposed to Puppy Killing (James/Carlotta)?
Obviously because his animagus form is a dog
This is actually a very complicated question. I know it seems like kind of a cop out to some people, having Sirius a L/J shipper at this stage, but this will be dealt with in greater detail throughout seventh year, so I won't talk about it too much here and now. Just know that I have thought this through, and it's not solely for all the comic potential (although, of course, I enjoy that). I will say that a small part of it is that Sirius disliked James/Carlotta for the same reason that most of you guys dislike it (more than Lily/Luke, for example). There is a certain degree of THREAT to Carlotta, because she's Carlotta (I mean, not really, L/J4life and all that, but you know what I mean), and Sirius doesn't want his best mate taken away. So, why he would then support James/Lily is really what sort of gets figured out later on. 

Was Shelley sincere about wanting to make up with Carlotta?
Negative (for now).


okay, there are probably, and by probably I mean definitely, more, but I can't find them immediately with minimum effort so if anybody else has a question, feel free to ask. 

Love and cookies,
Jules

Goodnight!

But before I depart, here's a teeny tiny excerpt.
"Who are you?”  
“Who am I? Who are you?” 
“I’m Valentina.”  
“I’m James.”   
“Oh.”   
She continued to stare at him with her large black eyes, and James continued to regard her with the utmost suspicion.   
Which was ridiculous, he realized, because she was about ten.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

4/14

This post requires more music.
I'm thinking back to the times when I posted on blogspot every day (there was maybe one month where this happened) and feeling like I should be like that more often.
SO...
Here's another excerpt, because I'm too lazy to say anything brilliant.



Donna.” Marlene poked her shoulder, and Donna started. 
 “What?” she asked loudly. “What? What do you want?” 
 “Is there a particular reason why you’re staring at Shelley Mumps like that?” asked Marlene, amused. Mary raised her eyebrows. 
 “Are you trying to make her explode with wandless magic?” she asked brightly. “Because I would fully support that decision.”

Love,
Jules

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

4/13

My current jam... although it's inspiring my original material muse more than my Chapter 32 muse. 
Still. Relevant. Ingrid Michaelson is both my Clancy Goshawk and Marlene Price muse. 

Aaaand a tiny excerpt:

James shrugged. “I guess.” He didn’t think he conveyed nonchalance very convincingly; Lily didn’t seem to buy it, at any rate. “I just... he shouldn’t have done it. It should have been Remus.”
“It couldn’t be Remus, James. You know that.”
He did. It was bloody unfair, but it couldn’t have been Remus. 
P.S. Random update: BOTH songs I want to use for the song title are too late. "I Want You To Want Me" is from 1977 and "Is She Really Going Out With Him" is from '78.
SIGH.
The struggles of being me.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Especially these patrols. This was her third time patrolling with him, and Lily was always left feeling guilty. After all...

He had a girlfriend.

Couldn’t she just… just... forget that she fancied him? Then, spending time with him wouldn’t make her feel like—well, honestly, like the Carlotta to James’s Frank Longbottom.

Damn it all.

Perhaps she’d better steer clear of James Potter for a few days.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

In Character Q&A

I'm not going to lie. I have absolutely no idea how this is done except for the two sentences explaining it to me, so if I'm doing it wrong, feel free to bitch at me politely correct me.

The idea is that if you have a question for a specific character, ask it, and Jules that character will answer.
This will probably be very bad for my slowly emerging multiple personality disorder, but there you go.

Ask away.

Love,
Jules
(Also, Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, Marlene, Mary, Donna, Lathe, Carlotta, Shelley, Adam McKinnon, Alphard Black [wait, he's dead? Can you ask dead characters questions? IDK], Luke Harper, Charlie Plex, Clancy Goshawk, Prudence [Bloody] Daly, ALEXA KYLE, Ira the Cat, etc. etc. etc.)

Chapter 32 Non-Spoilers

Once again, a quick recap of what Non-Spoilers are.
Non spoilers are just random bits of information that carry either very little significance or no clear significance for the next chapter. They were invented because I am a spoiler whore.

Chapter 32 Non-Spoilers

Donna sees too much.

Sirius needs a hug from me.


Remus studies in the library.

Lily eats toast, fruit, and bacon for breakfast.

My favorite character, Lily's Green Apple Shampoo, returns.

Dumbledore is not obsessed with James.

A schedule is changed.

Lily wears her hair in a bun.

Marlene has more chemistry.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Excerpt 4/6

“She’s really nice, too.”
 “Mmm.”
 “And pretty...”
 “Okay, you’re not being subtle, Lily.”
 Lily tried to look innocent. “I don’t know what you mean.”
 “I mean, I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work.”
 “What am I doing?”
 “You’re... implying.”
 Lily raised her eyebrows. “What am I implying?”
 “Something ridiculous and impossible and not even worth mentioning.”

Sunday, April 3, 2011

NEW POST

because.

Things that will happen in Chapter 32:

A proper introduction to Professor Ramsay
A proper introduction to the girl at the staff table in Chapter 30
James bringing his Marauder creative resources to Head Boy duties
Insight about what's the deal with Charlie and Clancy
Matchmaker!Lily
A cameo by Jules' favorite card game

Saturday, April 2, 2011

And music

Lol, my playlist for this chapter cracks me up. It's divided very clearly into two parts: sad and happy.


"Come Around" by Rosi Golan


"Honest" by Band of Skulls

"Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes.

And then the fun music.

"Keaseby Nights" by Catch 22

"Kick Some Ass" by Stroke 9 
(lol, I have no excuse for this song. I don't even have words for this song. It's just pure lol for me)

"A Good Idea at the Time" by OK Go

The following is a rant

about how much I fucking hate everything right now.

So, I don't like this chapter at all. It just doesn't suit me the way I want it to, and part of that is because I'm transitioning back to /everyday/ life, which has a different feel than /summer/ life, but part of it is that I just don't like it. So, I uploaded and started editing. This occurred around midnight. It took me about an hour and a half to get all the way through, and I made a lot of really big changes that improved the chapter enough that I didn't hate it.

And then fucking fanfiction.net screws me over and doesn't load the page when I save it, so all of my editing is lost.
It's 1:30 at this point.
So, fun, fun fun, I get to go back, try and redo everything I've already done, and, try and do it in some kind of timely manner. I KNOW I didn't fix everything that I wanted to... I didn't make all of the changes or adds that I wanted to, but, frankly, I have no idea where I would go to do that. But, I owe you guys a chapter, so here's my shitty fucked up Chapter 31.

Aaand I work in four and a half hours.

And I'm being a total bitch right now, for which I feel awful. Like, if Jules were the Doctor, Jules right now would be the sixth Doctor... basically just a total asshole. Usually I'm kind of 4/5/10-ish (curmudgeony and melancholy but ultimately awesome), but right now, I'm just being Fucking Six. And that's awful. My apologies.

Jules at the moment.

But, you guys are all just making me gushy and melty and non-raging-monsterish. And even though tomorrow you'll probably be running me out of town on a rail--which doesn't make sense because we live in different towns--at the moment your appreciation is just the sweetest thing in the world. 

Oh, AND I have a deleted scene that I rather like. It's from the first counseling session, just a little bit of Donna and Adam's exchange as they attempt to "interview" one another.
“So what’s your favorite color?” 
“Really, McKinnon? My favorite color? That’s where we’re at?” 
“Well, you won’t answer any of my other questions,” Adam pointed out. “Except the ones I already know the answers to, and not even all of those.” 
“Well,” replied Donna coolly, “I hope you never work for The Prophet, because you’re a rubbish interviewer.” 
“Hey, you were the one who asked to be my partner.” 
“Well I didn’t want to talk to someone I don’t know.” 
“That’s the whole point of this exercise.” 
Donna sent him a look. “Do I look like I care about the point of this exercise?” 
“No.”  
“Good. I like to be very upfront about my feelings of hatred.” 
“I’ve noticed that.” 
Donna rolled her eyes. “Actually, I’m a little surprised you’re not partnered up with your little girlfriend.” 
“My girlfriend?” Adam echoed, confused. “My girlfriend’s a sixth year. She’s not even here.”  
Bewildered, Donna frowned. “Wait a minute—isn’t that your girlfriend?” She pointed to a petite Hufflepuff girl across the room. Adam snorted and shook his head. 
No. I’m dating Prudence Daly.” 
“And that’s not Prudence Bl... Daly.”  
“Er... no.”  
“Oh.” Donna shrugged. 
“You’ve met Prudence...” 
“Tiny, brunette... that’s all that really springs to mind...” 
“Maybe it’s a good thing you’re interviewing me,” said Adam. “I don’t actually think you know anything about me.” 
“You’re a Ravenclaw, right?” Adam blinked disbelievingly. Joking.”  
“Well I can never be sure with you. You walk the fine line between intelligent and completely ignorant.” 
 “Proudly. Anyway, I think that covers my portion of the interview,” Donna concluded cheerfully. 
“How do you figure that? All you’ve established is that I’m a Gryffindor and not dating that girl.” 
“You reckon Keepdown will want more than that?” 
“Probably a bit.” 
“Alright. What’s your favorite color?”

I probably have more to say. IDK. I'm half dead right now. I could be accidentally typing this in Latin, in which case, props to me because I did not know my Latin was this good, but also, sorry, you have no fucking  clue what I'm on about.

At any rate, once I get home from work tomorrow, assuming I'm not actually dead at that point, I will speak to you all again, and hopefully I'll be more of an 11th Doctor than a 6th. 

Love and cookies and sleep,
Jules

P.S. I'm probably overstating how much I hate the chapter. Honestly, it's 4 a.m. I'm overstating everything. Except how much I love and adore ye all, of course. You're amazing and glorious.

Friday, April 1, 2011

“I don’t think so,” the Head Boy bit back. “I think I’m just going to storm away now, so that you can really grasp how unfathomably furious I am with you at the moment."
“Second guessing the Quaffle decision?” asked Sirius.

“Second guessing the future of the human race, is more like it.”

“I’m going to have to side with Prongs on this one,” said Remus. “That wasn’t Carlotta’s fault.”

“I don’t know whose fault it was,” Peter added. “But before today, I would have imagined that a cat fight would be a lot more..."

“Hot?” suggested Sirius.