Hogwarts' Best-Kept Secret
Why do I not have any Ravenclaw icons? It's my house, isn't it? Anyway....
I just started writing this this evening, and I'm looking for some feedback. It was just going to be a shortish, porny piece, but it's got plot now, and it's getting out of control. It's looking like a sequel to M.A.R.Y.S.U.E. Must Die!, but it's not parody like that was. I'm about 1500 words in, and it's not porny at all yet. Anyway, tell me what you think.
Hogwarts' Best-Kept Secret
Maggie Lewis awoke in darkness with a gasp. Her heart was racing. She was tangled in sweat-soaked sheets. Cursing silently, she flopped over onto her stomach and buried her face in a pillow.
That dream. Again. And she always woke up just before the good bit.
When Maggie had been fourteen, her heart and soul had belonged to Remus Lupin, a Gryffindor boy two years older than herself, but that had ended a year later when she caught him kissing Sirius Black behind the broom shed. He had broken her heart, and from that moment, Maggie decided she was done with boys.
Because Maggie had also been fourteen when Special Agent Sam "Boggart" Humphries of the DTUC at the Ministry of Magic had first sauntered into her life. Agent Humphries wasn't a boy at all. He was a man, and he was everything Maggie wanted. Barely a day had passed since then that she had not thought of him. And barely a week passed without one of the dreams.
She moaned into her pillow in frustration. What could she do but dream? She was not a child any longer, but she was still at school, still not-quite-eighteen, and woefully inexperienced. What could she possibly offer a worldly, sophisticated man like him? If only she had someone she could talk to about her feelings. That, at least, would make things slightly better. But all Maggie's friends liked boys their own age. How could she make them understand the appeal of an older, more experienced man?
Her only recourse was to write her dreams down as stories, as she had been doing since her second year when her brief friendship with Madeleine Yaxley had produced dozens of stories about the characters from their favourite books. Since meeting Agent Humphries, her stories had become steamier -- the sort of thing that scorched the page. This was no exaggeration; her quill had once caught fire while she was writing a particularly erotic scene.
The trouble was, Maggie had never experienced most of the things she wrote about. If only she were able to do more than just write, maybe she could sleep, undisturbed.
With a sigh, Maggie flopped back over onto her back, squeezed her eyes shut, and very firmly told herself to sleep.
* * *
There had been cake and there had been presents and there had been some very silly games with lots of giggling. But now it was very late, and the only ones left in the Ravenclaw common room were Maggie and Louisa.
Louisa Chambers was Maggie's closest friend. She was blonde, cheerful, and, like Maggie, a seventh year in Ravenclaw house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She didn't always understand her friend Maggie -- her obsession with Muggle fiction, for example -- but she was tolerant and good-humoured, which made her pleasant company.
Louisa had managed to procure a bottle of firewhiskey for this, Maggie's eighteenth birthday, and the two of were passing it back and forth companionably and talking about boys.
"What about you?" Louisa was saying in a teasing tone.
"What about me?" Maggie replied distractedly, examining the label on the bottle before taking another swig.
Louisa tsked impatiently and held out her hand for the bottle. "I always tell you all about the boys I like, but you never tell me anything. You were so crazy about that Remus Lupin for ages, and then --" she took a long pull of the fiery beverage "-- nothing. Isn't there anyone you like? What do you think of Edgar Bones? I heard he likes you."
Maggie shook her head. "Edgar's nice," she allowed. "But he's just so young."
Louisa laughed and handed back the bottle. "He's in our year, Maz. He can't be more than a few months younger than you."
"I know." Maggie was looking speculatively at Louisa. Maybe she could confide in her after all. Louisa might not understand, and she might not be able to help at all, but it would be good to be able to talk to someone.
It took Louisa a minute to notice that Maggie wasn't talking any longer. She had had quite a lot of firewhiskey.
"What's th'matter?" she asked, brow crinkling. "You don't like girls or something, do you?"
"No, nothing like that," Maggie said quickly. She would tell her, she decided. How bad could it be? "There is someone I like," she began hesitantly.
Louisa sat up, interested. "Who is it? Is he in our year? Is he in our house? Is it --?"
Maggie took another pull on the bottle to bolster her courage before cutting Louisa off.
"He doesn't go here. He's -- he's an adult. A real adult, I mean. He works at the Ministry."
Louisa's eyes narrowed. "How adult?"
Maggie blushed and didn't quite meet Louisa's eyes. "He's older'n my dad, I think."
For the first time in their friendship, Louisa was speechless. Her mouth hung open, and she simply stared at her friend.
"It's not as bad as all that," Maggie said uncomfortably, handing her the bottle, if only to plug her gaping mouth. "I mean, he doesn't know, and it's not like I've got a chance with him. He's just so --"
Louisa took a thoughtful swig. "Is he good-looking, then?"
"Oh, yeah," Maggie sighed. "He's got dark hair and dreamy eyes and he's smart and, I don't know, kind of dangerous."
"What does he do at the Ministry?" Louisa asked, beginning to sound somewhat interested.
"He's a special agent at the Department for the Termination of Useless Characters," said Maggie, waxing rhapsodic. "You remember that obnoxious girl who came to Hogwarts when we were in third year?"
"Yeah." Louisa shuddered at the memory of Marvola Elfynchyld and her endless self-involved babbling.
"Well, Sam was the one who came to take her away. That's his name. Sam Humphries." She sighed, touching the spot under her chin where he had touched her in farewell. "He says his friends call him 'Boggart' because he can scare anything."
"That long ago, huh?" Louisa teased, mischief dancing in her eyes. "He's probably old and wrinkly by now."
Maggie threw a sofa cushion at her and snatched the bottle from her grasp. "He's not!" she declared. "He's wonderful and perfect and sexy and amazing!"
Louisa was giggling now. "So what are you going to do about it? Track him down when you leave school and throw yourself into his arms?"
Maggie sighed again, wistfully this time. "He wouldn't want someone like me. I'd be a child to someone like him. He probably likes his women experienced and sophisticated."
"So why don't you get experienced and sophisticated?" asked Louisa, grinning.
"How?" Maggie asked tragically. She had just realised the bottle of firewhiskey was empty.
"Oh, I don't know." Louisa's voice was thoughtful. "There must be a way."
* * *
Maggie didn't expect Louisa to remember their conversation. After all, they had taken care of quite a lot of that bottle between the two of them after the other girls had gone to bed, and in the days that followed, Louisa never mentioned Maggie's confession. But the following weekend, as Maggie lay on her bed, absorbed in her History of Magic text, Louisa flopped down next to her, grinning from ear to ear.
"I found it," she announced.
"Found what?" Maggie replied fuzzily, still deeply involved in the formation of the Wizengamot.
"Professor Flitwick's book." Louisa could not have looked more smug. "Call it a late birthday present."
That got Maggie's attention. The book was legend among Ravenclaws. They whispered and giggled about it, but most of them didn't really believe in it. After all, how could their tiny, gentle, proper Charms master ever have written a book entitled Sexual Charms and Potions?
And yet, here it was, staring Maggie in the face. She goggled at it.
"I pinched it from the Restricted Section," Louisa said, grinning wickedly. "Madam Pince always comes in late on Sunday mornings. It should tell you everything you need to know about experience and sophistication."
Maggie grabbed the book from her and opened it at random. "Charm for the Enhancement of the Male Member," she read.
She looked up, caught Louisa's eyes, and both of them burst out laughing.
"That one must come in useful for poor old Flitwick," Louisa giggled. "After all, he's barely three feet tall! He can't have much in his trousers, can he?"
They spent the rest of the afternoon reading passages aloud to one another and laughing until their stomachs hurt.
I just started writing this this evening, and I'm looking for some feedback. It was just going to be a shortish, porny piece, but it's got plot now, and it's getting out of control. It's looking like a sequel to M.A.R.Y.S.U.E. Must Die!, but it's not parody like that was. I'm about 1500 words in, and it's not porny at all yet. Anyway, tell me what you think.
Hogwarts' Best-Kept Secret
Maggie Lewis awoke in darkness with a gasp. Her heart was racing. She was tangled in sweat-soaked sheets. Cursing silently, she flopped over onto her stomach and buried her face in a pillow.
That dream. Again. And she always woke up just before the good bit.
When Maggie had been fourteen, her heart and soul had belonged to Remus Lupin, a Gryffindor boy two years older than herself, but that had ended a year later when she caught him kissing Sirius Black behind the broom shed. He had broken her heart, and from that moment, Maggie decided she was done with boys.
Because Maggie had also been fourteen when Special Agent Sam "Boggart" Humphries of the DTUC at the Ministry of Magic had first sauntered into her life. Agent Humphries wasn't a boy at all. He was a man, and he was everything Maggie wanted. Barely a day had passed since then that she had not thought of him. And barely a week passed without one of the dreams.
She moaned into her pillow in frustration. What could she do but dream? She was not a child any longer, but she was still at school, still not-quite-eighteen, and woefully inexperienced. What could she possibly offer a worldly, sophisticated man like him? If only she had someone she could talk to about her feelings. That, at least, would make things slightly better. But all Maggie's friends liked boys their own age. How could she make them understand the appeal of an older, more experienced man?
Her only recourse was to write her dreams down as stories, as she had been doing since her second year when her brief friendship with Madeleine Yaxley had produced dozens of stories about the characters from their favourite books. Since meeting Agent Humphries, her stories had become steamier -- the sort of thing that scorched the page. This was no exaggeration; her quill had once caught fire while she was writing a particularly erotic scene.
The trouble was, Maggie had never experienced most of the things she wrote about. If only she were able to do more than just write, maybe she could sleep, undisturbed.
With a sigh, Maggie flopped back over onto her back, squeezed her eyes shut, and very firmly told herself to sleep.
* * *
There had been cake and there had been presents and there had been some very silly games with lots of giggling. But now it was very late, and the only ones left in the Ravenclaw common room were Maggie and Louisa.
Louisa Chambers was Maggie's closest friend. She was blonde, cheerful, and, like Maggie, a seventh year in Ravenclaw house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She didn't always understand her friend Maggie -- her obsession with Muggle fiction, for example -- but she was tolerant and good-humoured, which made her pleasant company.
Louisa had managed to procure a bottle of firewhiskey for this, Maggie's eighteenth birthday, and the two of were passing it back and forth companionably and talking about boys.
"What about you?" Louisa was saying in a teasing tone.
"What about me?" Maggie replied distractedly, examining the label on the bottle before taking another swig.
Louisa tsked impatiently and held out her hand for the bottle. "I always tell you all about the boys I like, but you never tell me anything. You were so crazy about that Remus Lupin for ages, and then --" she took a long pull of the fiery beverage "-- nothing. Isn't there anyone you like? What do you think of Edgar Bones? I heard he likes you."
Maggie shook her head. "Edgar's nice," she allowed. "But he's just so young."
Louisa laughed and handed back the bottle. "He's in our year, Maz. He can't be more than a few months younger than you."
"I know." Maggie was looking speculatively at Louisa. Maybe she could confide in her after all. Louisa might not understand, and she might not be able to help at all, but it would be good to be able to talk to someone.
It took Louisa a minute to notice that Maggie wasn't talking any longer. She had had quite a lot of firewhiskey.
"What's th'matter?" she asked, brow crinkling. "You don't like girls or something, do you?"
"No, nothing like that," Maggie said quickly. She would tell her, she decided. How bad could it be? "There is someone I like," she began hesitantly.
Louisa sat up, interested. "Who is it? Is he in our year? Is he in our house? Is it --?"
Maggie took another pull on the bottle to bolster her courage before cutting Louisa off.
"He doesn't go here. He's -- he's an adult. A real adult, I mean. He works at the Ministry."
Louisa's eyes narrowed. "How adult?"
Maggie blushed and didn't quite meet Louisa's eyes. "He's older'n my dad, I think."
For the first time in their friendship, Louisa was speechless. Her mouth hung open, and she simply stared at her friend.
"It's not as bad as all that," Maggie said uncomfortably, handing her the bottle, if only to plug her gaping mouth. "I mean, he doesn't know, and it's not like I've got a chance with him. He's just so --"
Louisa took a thoughtful swig. "Is he good-looking, then?"
"Oh, yeah," Maggie sighed. "He's got dark hair and dreamy eyes and he's smart and, I don't know, kind of dangerous."
"What does he do at the Ministry?" Louisa asked, beginning to sound somewhat interested.
"He's a special agent at the Department for the Termination of Useless Characters," said Maggie, waxing rhapsodic. "You remember that obnoxious girl who came to Hogwarts when we were in third year?"
"Yeah." Louisa shuddered at the memory of Marvola Elfynchyld and her endless self-involved babbling.
"Well, Sam was the one who came to take her away. That's his name. Sam Humphries." She sighed, touching the spot under her chin where he had touched her in farewell. "He says his friends call him 'Boggart' because he can scare anything."
"That long ago, huh?" Louisa teased, mischief dancing in her eyes. "He's probably old and wrinkly by now."
Maggie threw a sofa cushion at her and snatched the bottle from her grasp. "He's not!" she declared. "He's wonderful and perfect and sexy and amazing!"
Louisa was giggling now. "So what are you going to do about it? Track him down when you leave school and throw yourself into his arms?"
Maggie sighed again, wistfully this time. "He wouldn't want someone like me. I'd be a child to someone like him. He probably likes his women experienced and sophisticated."
"So why don't you get experienced and sophisticated?" asked Louisa, grinning.
"How?" Maggie asked tragically. She had just realised the bottle of firewhiskey was empty.
"Oh, I don't know." Louisa's voice was thoughtful. "There must be a way."
* * *
Maggie didn't expect Louisa to remember their conversation. After all, they had taken care of quite a lot of that bottle between the two of them after the other girls had gone to bed, and in the days that followed, Louisa never mentioned Maggie's confession. But the following weekend, as Maggie lay on her bed, absorbed in her History of Magic text, Louisa flopped down next to her, grinning from ear to ear.
"I found it," she announced.
"Found what?" Maggie replied fuzzily, still deeply involved in the formation of the Wizengamot.
"Professor Flitwick's book." Louisa could not have looked more smug. "Call it a late birthday present."
That got Maggie's attention. The book was legend among Ravenclaws. They whispered and giggled about it, but most of them didn't really believe in it. After all, how could their tiny, gentle, proper Charms master ever have written a book entitled Sexual Charms and Potions?
And yet, here it was, staring Maggie in the face. She goggled at it.
"I pinched it from the Restricted Section," Louisa said, grinning wickedly. "Madam Pince always comes in late on Sunday mornings. It should tell you everything you need to know about experience and sophistication."
Maggie grabbed the book from her and opened it at random. "Charm for the Enhancement of the Male Member," she read.
She looked up, caught Louisa's eyes, and both of them burst out laughing.
"That one must come in useful for poor old Flitwick," Louisa giggled. "After all, he's barely three feet tall! He can't have much in his trousers, can he?"
They spent the rest of the afternoon reading passages aloud to one another and laughing until their stomachs hurt.