Top Fives, Continued.
And the last of Maple's:
Top 5 most played songs on your iTunes
(1) Tempus Vernum - 267 plays
Okay, so, this one was on repeat a LOT while I was writing a story (also called Tempus Vernum) because it was perfect for getting me into that headspace to write it.
(2) Dumbledore's Farewell - 108 plays
Again. Needed to get into proper headspace, and if you need to write a really angsty death scene, this piece is BEAUTIFUL.
(3) Brotherhood of Man - 73 plays
I have NO IDEA why this has so many plays. I mean, yes, it's Dan Radcliffe being adorable, but there is no reason why it should have this many.
(4) Jurassic Park Theme - 61 plays
My husband walked down the aisle to this at our wedding. I've had it in the wedding playlist for over two years now. It got a lot of plays.
(5) Terra's Theme - 60 plays
And this is what I walked down the aisle too. It got a lot of plays for similar reasons.
My iTunes reset when I got a new computer, so that's why you see no Backstreet or Hanson on this list. Because I bet you a cookie-butter sandwich that "I Want It That Way" has WAAAAAAAAAAY more than 267 plays.
And now for Soraya's!
Top 5 Narry Moments
I asked if these had to be canon, or ones I'd written. She said either. So we'll include a little of both. Just for reference, only #5 contains actual slash; the rest is just bromance.
(1) (canon) Neville was the last person Harry spoke to before going into the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice himself. As far as Harry knew, Neville was going to be the last person he spoke to before he died.
"Kill the snake?"
"Kill the snake," Harry repeated.
"All right, Harry. You're okay, are you?"
"I'm fine. Thanks, Neville."
But Neville seized his wrist as Harry made to move on.
"We're all going to keep fighting, Harry. You know that?"
"Yeah, I -"
The suffocating feeling extinguished the end of the sentence; he could not go on. Neville did not seem to find it strange. He patted Harry on the shoulder, released him, and walked away to look for more bodies.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(2) (canon) Harry's not as alone as Lucius Malfoy thinks in the Department of Mysteries.
"You see, there are ten of us and only one of you... or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?"
"He's dot alone!" shouted a voice from above them. "He's still god be!"
Harry's heart sank: Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, Hermione's wand held fast in his trembling hand.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(3) Harry and Neville have a bit of a tussle, and Neville stalks off all petulant.
Something collided hard with Harry's shoulder, knocking him sideways. A split second later he realised that Neville had just charged past him, heading straight for Malfoy.
"Neville, no!"
Harry leapt forward and seized the back of Neville's robes; Neville struggled frantically, his fists flailing, trying desperately to get at Malfoy who looked, for a moment, extremely shocked.
"Help me!" Harry flung at Ron, managing to get an arm around Neville's neck and dragging him backwards, away from the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle were flexing their arms as they stepped in front of Malfoy, ready for the fight. Ron seized Neville's arms, and together he and Harry succeeded in dragging Neville back into the Gryffindor line. Neville's face was scarlet; the pressure Harry was exerting on his throat rendered him quite incomprehensible, but odd words spluttered from his mouth.
"Not... funny... don't... Mungo's... show... him..."
The dungeon door opened. Snape appeared there. His black eyes swept up the Gryffindor line to the point where Harry and Ron were wrestling with Neville.
"Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?" Snape said in his cold, sneering voice. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be detention. Inside, all of you."
Harry let go of Neville, who stood panting and glaring at him.
"I had to stop you," Harry gasped, picking up his bag. "Crabbe and Goyle would've torn you apart."
Neville said nothing; he merely snatched up his own bag and stalked off into the dungeon.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(4) (fic) You lot probably have not seen this moment! Because it's from a REALLY crap fic I wrote! The premise was that it was Neville Harry was supposed to meet first on the train, not Ron, and the fact that they didn't screwed up Time in a bad way, so they have to fix it. And so I rewrote several scenes with Neville in. It was a lot of fun, but as I said, it made for a REALLY crap fic. (There is no actual slash in this example)
Harry glared at Ron, Hermione, and Neville in turn; they all seemed to shrink slightly. "So how come I had to stay with the Dursleys while you lot get to help out here?" he demanded, his voice growing louder. "Why d'you get to know what's going on, and I get left in the dark?"
"We don't!" Neville protested.
"Right," Ron agreed, "Mum won't let us anywhere near the meetings, we're not old enough -"
Everything that had been building in Harry for the past several weeks suddenly seemed to explode.
"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO MEETINGS! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE! YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER, WHILE I'M STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS FOR A SOLID MONTH! AND I'VE DEALT WITH MORE THAN YOU THREE COMBINED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT - PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, ANYONE? TOM RIDDLE? A BLOODY HORDE OF DEMENTORS?"
Neville had turned pale. Ron and Hermione shot frightened looks at each other.
"AND WHO HAD TO BATTLE DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? AND THEN HAD TO WATCH HIM COME BACK, AND DUEL HIM AND ESCAPE? OH, THAT'S RIGHT, ME!"
Hermione looked close to tears, while Ron stood in disbelief, mouth hanging open.
"BUT WHY DO I HAVE ANY RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE EVEN BOTHER WITH ME?"
"We wanted to tell you -" Neville said falteringly, standing up from the bed to approach Harry. Harry rounded on him, shouting directly in his face.
"COULDN'T HAVE WANTED IT THAT BADLY, ELSE YOU'D HAVE DONE IT! BUT NO, YOU SWORE TO DUMBLEDORE -"
"But we did -"
"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS, NICKING MUGGLE PAPERS FROM BINS TO TRY AND SEE IF ANYTHING WAS HAPPENING -"
"But -"
"BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, HIDING AWAY HERE ALL TOGETHER KEEPING THINGS FROM ME -"
And Neville's fist connected firmly with Harry's cheekbone, hard enough to send Harry sprawling.
"Shut the hell up and listen," Neville said in a cold voice that didn't seem as though it could possibly belong to him.
Everyone in the room stared at him in shock. Harry gingerly touched his cheek, glaring angrily up at Neville.
"We've been locked up here for those same four weeks, knowing the entire time that you were going to be royally hacked off at us if we didn't tell you anything," Neville said, rubbing his knuckles. "I've tried to send you an owl five different times, but they wouldn't let me." He turned his glare to Ron and Hermione. "Worried I'd be writing in code or some rubbish."
"Neville - you were trying to write in code -" Hermione said. Neville ignored her.
"I've been going stir crazy, not allowed to leave, just because my parents were in the Order last time and that makes me a target. But they won't tell me anything either. Don't get to hear from my best friend - who nearly died a month ago, by the way, don't think I don't realise that - I don't get to do damn near anything, and Gran rubs it in every chance she gets that I'm not old enough to join the Order with her and actually do something.
"And then I hear that my best friend's been attacked by bloody Dementors and no one will tell me flat out if you're safe or not, or if they're doing anything else to protect you, or if you've really been expelled, and then you just show up here and start accusing me of having a laugh the whole time? Saying I never really wanted to talk to you?" He shook out his hand; the knuckles were bleeding from where they'd split. "Sometimes you are the absolute stupidest person I know, and I've met your cousin."
Harry felt he should have something to say to that, but the shock of Neville's sudden vehemence had dissipated his anger quite thoroughly. Still on his back on the floor, he stared up at his friends; Hermione was glancing back and forth between the two of them, and Ron looked more bewildered than Harry had ever seen him.
Neville suddenly thrust his other hand out; Harry flinched before realising that it was an offer to help him off the floor. He grasped it and Neville pulled him to his feet, then drew him into a rough hug.
"Good to see you," he said gruffly. "Sorry about the face."
Despite himself, Harry grinned. "Good to see you too, Neville."
"You're both mental," Hermione said in wonder. "One hundred percent mental."
- Revisionism by Acacia Carter
(5) (fic) Also from Revisionism. It really is too bad the story's crap, because a LOT of my favourite Narry moments come from it. This scene is the entire reason I wrote Revisionism to begin with. There's slash in this one.
"There's only one way in or out," Aberforth said gruffly. "The old passageways are guarded on both ends by Dementors and Death Eaters. Guards patrolling everywhere in the castle. How you expect to get anything done in there is beyond me, but if you want to go get yourself killed, that's your lookout, eh? I wash my hands of it." Aberforth strode abruptly into the next room, leaving Ron, Hermione, and Harry to blink at each other.
Movement in the portrait made Harry look back at it. A tiny white dot appeared at the end of what looked to be a very long, dark tunnel, and now Ariana was walking back to them, growing bigger as she came closer.
There was someone with her. Someone taller, limping, with shaggy hair and torn clothing.
Ariana and the figure behind her drew closer, and Harry felt a sensation not unlike a large hand squeezing his chest. His heart started pounding hard enough that he was sure it would crack his ribs.
The frame of the portrait swung open like a door, and there he was, blinking in the brighter light, framed by the rough stone of a real tunnel behind him.
Harry drew a sharp breath, not sure if he'd even be able to say anything.
"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed, rushing forward to help him down from the mantelpiece. As Neville's feet touched the ground, his eyes sought out Harry. When they found him, his beaming smile was like the sun coming out.
Without being quite conscious of how he was managing to do it, Harry found himself striding quickly forward across the small room, catching Neville around the torso in a hearty embrace, trying to impart the enormous feeling in his chest that couldn't find words even if Harry had known them. Neville's arms wrapped around him and it was the most wonderful feeling in the world, causing the excitement in his chest to swell until Harry thought he must burst with it. He looked up into Neville's face, saw the tears shimmering in his eyes, saw the echo of a question there.
Harry knew the answer, had always known the answer, had known the answer for years but had never had the courage to say it.
He reached up, placed his hand firmly on the back of Neville's head, and drew his mouth down to meet his own with an urgency he hadn't known it was possible to feel. Without hesitation, Neville's hands went to the small of Harry's back and the back of his neck, pulling Harry closer to him, fingers tangling in his hair and sending shivers down his spine. Their lips parted and tongues met, timid at first, but then growing more bold. Neville stiffened for just a moment in pain and Harry eased the pressure as he tasted a hint of saltiness of the blood from Neville's split lip and recalled that he had looked far from pristine as he had jumped down from the mantelpiece. It all rolled into one, the taste, the feel, the sensation of the kiss that had been waiting in the wings for so long.
Time had stopped, and there was only Neville, and nothing else mattered.
Neville ended the kiss first, drawing away slowly, almost reluctantly. Harry buried his face in Neville's shoulder, breathing just slightly heavily. "I thought you might be dead," he said softly. "I thought I'd never see you again."
"Me too," Neville said, stroking Harry's hair and drawing him close. "God, it's good to see you."
Ron cleared his throat behind them. "Uh. Anyone care to fill me in?"
There was the sound of Hermione smacking him soundly on the shoulder. "How dense can you possibly be? Did you honestly not see this coming all these years?"
"Years?" Ron sounded startled. There was the sound of another smack, but Harry tuned out the whispered vituperations as he closed his eyes and settled into Neville's embrace. He felt like he could float there, uncaring, for hours, and would have, had Hermione not tapped him on the shoulder.
"I hate to interrupt," and she sounded like she truly meant it, "but there's still more we have to do tonight."
Harry's carefree happiness burst like a pricked soap bubble. "Right." He took a deep breath and stepped away, regret causing an almost tangible pain deep in his chest. His head still felt oddly light, and he shook it to try and settle it. "We have to get into the castle, Neville. Can you take us?"
Neville nodded, looking every bit as loopy and exhilarated as Harry felt. "Of course. Follow me."
That post took MUCH longer than I thought it would. I kind of want to do another Favourite Narry Moments post because it was fun trawling through all my old fics trying to narrow it down to just two (since I wanted to have more canon examples than non-canon).
Top 5 most played songs on your iTunes
(1) Tempus Vernum - 267 plays
Okay, so, this one was on repeat a LOT while I was writing a story (also called Tempus Vernum) because it was perfect for getting me into that headspace to write it.
(2) Dumbledore's Farewell - 108 plays
Again. Needed to get into proper headspace, and if you need to write a really angsty death scene, this piece is BEAUTIFUL.
(3) Brotherhood of Man - 73 plays
I have NO IDEA why this has so many plays. I mean, yes, it's Dan Radcliffe being adorable, but there is no reason why it should have this many.
(4) Jurassic Park Theme - 61 plays
My husband walked down the aisle to this at our wedding. I've had it in the wedding playlist for over two years now. It got a lot of plays.
(5) Terra's Theme - 60 plays
And this is what I walked down the aisle too. It got a lot of plays for similar reasons.
My iTunes reset when I got a new computer, so that's why you see no Backstreet or Hanson on this list. Because I bet you a cookie-butter sandwich that "I Want It That Way" has WAAAAAAAAAAY more than 267 plays.
And now for Soraya's!
Top 5 Narry Moments
I asked if these had to be canon, or ones I'd written. She said either. So we'll include a little of both. Just for reference, only #5 contains actual slash; the rest is just bromance.
(1) (canon) Neville was the last person Harry spoke to before going into the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice himself. As far as Harry knew, Neville was going to be the last person he spoke to before he died.
"Kill the snake?"
"Kill the snake," Harry repeated.
"All right, Harry. You're okay, are you?"
"I'm fine. Thanks, Neville."
But Neville seized his wrist as Harry made to move on.
"We're all going to keep fighting, Harry. You know that?"
"Yeah, I -"
The suffocating feeling extinguished the end of the sentence; he could not go on. Neville did not seem to find it strange. He patted Harry on the shoulder, released him, and walked away to look for more bodies.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(2) (canon) Harry's not as alone as Lucius Malfoy thinks in the Department of Mysteries.
"You see, there are ten of us and only one of you... or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?"
"He's dot alone!" shouted a voice from above them. "He's still god be!"
Harry's heart sank: Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, Hermione's wand held fast in his trembling hand.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(3) Harry and Neville have a bit of a tussle, and Neville stalks off all petulant.
Something collided hard with Harry's shoulder, knocking him sideways. A split second later he realised that Neville had just charged past him, heading straight for Malfoy.
"Neville, no!"
Harry leapt forward and seized the back of Neville's robes; Neville struggled frantically, his fists flailing, trying desperately to get at Malfoy who looked, for a moment, extremely shocked.
"Help me!" Harry flung at Ron, managing to get an arm around Neville's neck and dragging him backwards, away from the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle were flexing their arms as they stepped in front of Malfoy, ready for the fight. Ron seized Neville's arms, and together he and Harry succeeded in dragging Neville back into the Gryffindor line. Neville's face was scarlet; the pressure Harry was exerting on his throat rendered him quite incomprehensible, but odd words spluttered from his mouth.
"Not... funny... don't... Mungo's... show... him..."
The dungeon door opened. Snape appeared there. His black eyes swept up the Gryffindor line to the point where Harry and Ron were wrestling with Neville.
"Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?" Snape said in his cold, sneering voice. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be detention. Inside, all of you."
Harry let go of Neville, who stood panting and glaring at him.
"I had to stop you," Harry gasped, picking up his bag. "Crabbe and Goyle would've torn you apart."
Neville said nothing; he merely snatched up his own bag and stalked off into the dungeon.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(4) (fic) You lot probably have not seen this moment! Because it's from a REALLY crap fic I wrote! The premise was that it was Neville Harry was supposed to meet first on the train, not Ron, and the fact that they didn't screwed up Time in a bad way, so they have to fix it. And so I rewrote several scenes with Neville in. It was a lot of fun, but as I said, it made for a REALLY crap fic. (There is no actual slash in this example)
Harry glared at Ron, Hermione, and Neville in turn; they all seemed to shrink slightly. "So how come I had to stay with the Dursleys while you lot get to help out here?" he demanded, his voice growing louder. "Why d'you get to know what's going on, and I get left in the dark?"
"We don't!" Neville protested.
"Right," Ron agreed, "Mum won't let us anywhere near the meetings, we're not old enough -"
Everything that had been building in Harry for the past several weeks suddenly seemed to explode.
"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO MEETINGS! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE! YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER, WHILE I'M STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS FOR A SOLID MONTH! AND I'VE DEALT WITH MORE THAN YOU THREE COMBINED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT - PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, ANYONE? TOM RIDDLE? A BLOODY HORDE OF DEMENTORS?"
Neville had turned pale. Ron and Hermione shot frightened looks at each other.
"AND WHO HAD TO BATTLE DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? AND THEN HAD TO WATCH HIM COME BACK, AND DUEL HIM AND ESCAPE? OH, THAT'S RIGHT, ME!"
Hermione looked close to tears, while Ron stood in disbelief, mouth hanging open.
"BUT WHY DO I HAVE ANY RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE EVEN BOTHER WITH ME?"
"We wanted to tell you -" Neville said falteringly, standing up from the bed to approach Harry. Harry rounded on him, shouting directly in his face.
"COULDN'T HAVE WANTED IT THAT BADLY, ELSE YOU'D HAVE DONE IT! BUT NO, YOU SWORE TO DUMBLEDORE -"
"But we did -"
"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS, NICKING MUGGLE PAPERS FROM BINS TO TRY AND SEE IF ANYTHING WAS HAPPENING -"
"But -"
"BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, HIDING AWAY HERE ALL TOGETHER KEEPING THINGS FROM ME -"
And Neville's fist connected firmly with Harry's cheekbone, hard enough to send Harry sprawling.
"Shut the hell up and listen," Neville said in a cold voice that didn't seem as though it could possibly belong to him.
Everyone in the room stared at him in shock. Harry gingerly touched his cheek, glaring angrily up at Neville.
"We've been locked up here for those same four weeks, knowing the entire time that you were going to be royally hacked off at us if we didn't tell you anything," Neville said, rubbing his knuckles. "I've tried to send you an owl five different times, but they wouldn't let me." He turned his glare to Ron and Hermione. "Worried I'd be writing in code or some rubbish."
"Neville - you were trying to write in code -" Hermione said. Neville ignored her.
"I've been going stir crazy, not allowed to leave, just because my parents were in the Order last time and that makes me a target. But they won't tell me anything either. Don't get to hear from my best friend - who nearly died a month ago, by the way, don't think I don't realise that - I don't get to do damn near anything, and Gran rubs it in every chance she gets that I'm not old enough to join the Order with her and actually do something.
"And then I hear that my best friend's been attacked by bloody Dementors and no one will tell me flat out if you're safe or not, or if they're doing anything else to protect you, or if you've really been expelled, and then you just show up here and start accusing me of having a laugh the whole time? Saying I never really wanted to talk to you?" He shook out his hand; the knuckles were bleeding from where they'd split. "Sometimes you are the absolute stupidest person I know, and I've met your cousin."
Harry felt he should have something to say to that, but the shock of Neville's sudden vehemence had dissipated his anger quite thoroughly. Still on his back on the floor, he stared up at his friends; Hermione was glancing back and forth between the two of them, and Ron looked more bewildered than Harry had ever seen him.
Neville suddenly thrust his other hand out; Harry flinched before realising that it was an offer to help him off the floor. He grasped it and Neville pulled him to his feet, then drew him into a rough hug.
"Good to see you," he said gruffly. "Sorry about the face."
Despite himself, Harry grinned. "Good to see you too, Neville."
"You're both mental," Hermione said in wonder. "One hundred percent mental."
- Revisionism by Acacia Carter
(5) (fic) Also from Revisionism. It really is too bad the story's crap, because a LOT of my favourite Narry moments come from it. This scene is the entire reason I wrote Revisionism to begin with. There's slash in this one.
"There's only one way in or out," Aberforth said gruffly. "The old passageways are guarded on both ends by Dementors and Death Eaters. Guards patrolling everywhere in the castle. How you expect to get anything done in there is beyond me, but if you want to go get yourself killed, that's your lookout, eh? I wash my hands of it." Aberforth strode abruptly into the next room, leaving Ron, Hermione, and Harry to blink at each other.
Movement in the portrait made Harry look back at it. A tiny white dot appeared at the end of what looked to be a very long, dark tunnel, and now Ariana was walking back to them, growing bigger as she came closer.
There was someone with her. Someone taller, limping, with shaggy hair and torn clothing.
Ariana and the figure behind her drew closer, and Harry felt a sensation not unlike a large hand squeezing his chest. His heart started pounding hard enough that he was sure it would crack his ribs.
The frame of the portrait swung open like a door, and there he was, blinking in the brighter light, framed by the rough stone of a real tunnel behind him.
Harry drew a sharp breath, not sure if he'd even be able to say anything.
"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed, rushing forward to help him down from the mantelpiece. As Neville's feet touched the ground, his eyes sought out Harry. When they found him, his beaming smile was like the sun coming out.
Without being quite conscious of how he was managing to do it, Harry found himself striding quickly forward across the small room, catching Neville around the torso in a hearty embrace, trying to impart the enormous feeling in his chest that couldn't find words even if Harry had known them. Neville's arms wrapped around him and it was the most wonderful feeling in the world, causing the excitement in his chest to swell until Harry thought he must burst with it. He looked up into Neville's face, saw the tears shimmering in his eyes, saw the echo of a question there.
Harry knew the answer, had always known the answer, had known the answer for years but had never had the courage to say it.
He reached up, placed his hand firmly on the back of Neville's head, and drew his mouth down to meet his own with an urgency he hadn't known it was possible to feel. Without hesitation, Neville's hands went to the small of Harry's back and the back of his neck, pulling Harry closer to him, fingers tangling in his hair and sending shivers down his spine. Their lips parted and tongues met, timid at first, but then growing more bold. Neville stiffened for just a moment in pain and Harry eased the pressure as he tasted a hint of saltiness of the blood from Neville's split lip and recalled that he had looked far from pristine as he had jumped down from the mantelpiece. It all rolled into one, the taste, the feel, the sensation of the kiss that had been waiting in the wings for so long.
Time had stopped, and there was only Neville, and nothing else mattered.
Neville ended the kiss first, drawing away slowly, almost reluctantly. Harry buried his face in Neville's shoulder, breathing just slightly heavily. "I thought you might be dead," he said softly. "I thought I'd never see you again."
"Me too," Neville said, stroking Harry's hair and drawing him close. "God, it's good to see you."
Ron cleared his throat behind them. "Uh. Anyone care to fill me in?"
There was the sound of Hermione smacking him soundly on the shoulder. "How dense can you possibly be? Did you honestly not see this coming all these years?"
"Years?" Ron sounded startled. There was the sound of another smack, but Harry tuned out the whispered vituperations as he closed his eyes and settled into Neville's embrace. He felt like he could float there, uncaring, for hours, and would have, had Hermione not tapped him on the shoulder.
"I hate to interrupt," and she sounded like she truly meant it, "but there's still more we have to do tonight."
Harry's carefree happiness burst like a pricked soap bubble. "Right." He took a deep breath and stepped away, regret causing an almost tangible pain deep in his chest. His head still felt oddly light, and he shook it to try and settle it. "We have to get into the castle, Neville. Can you take us?"
Neville nodded, looking every bit as loopy and exhilarated as Harry felt. "Of course. Follow me."
That post took MUCH longer than I thought it would. I kind of want to do another Favourite Narry Moments post because it was fun trawling through all my old fics trying to narrow it down to just two (since I wanted to have more canon examples than non-canon).