I guess I should put something in here about myself, just in case someone cares to read it. First and foremost, I am a Christian. That doesn't mean that I'm a self-righteous know-it-all (even though I have been likened to Hermione more than once. :) I am a musician, and a great fan of the old music (Baroque, Classical, and Romantic). J.S. Bach is my favourite composer. I also like Radiohead, Tori Amos, and several other artists (it would take way too long to list them all here).
I love reading, especially the Harry Potter series. I think J.K. Rowling is a genius. I also love the writers Thomas Harris, Ray Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison, just to name a few. My writing style has Anne Rice influences, because that's what I used to read the most. I don't read her stuff anymore. I like The Lord of the Rings, both movies and books, and especially the soundtracks by Howard Shore.
I have a thing for really good movie soundtracks. I like The Nightmare Before Christmas (brilliant Tim Burton/Danny Elfman collaboration), the Hannibal soundtrack (infinitely better than movie itself), the Interview With The Vampire soundtrack, and everything I've ever heard written by John Williams.
I'm an American, a United States-ian, if you will, and I fully support our current President (Bush). Please don't bully Americans around me; I have a very bad temper. I greatly admire other cultures and hope to do some serious travelling once I graduate college. (Ireland and Italy are my two first choices at the moment.)
I'm currently in the process of writing my first HP fanfic. It's about the Marauders at Hogwarts (approx. their 4th year), with what I hope is an interesting plot and one original character. I'm no linguist, so I hope the dialogue isn't too painful. The setting will jump around a bit, and some incredible stuff may happen, but I'm trying to stay as close to JKR's characters as I can. (I'm not a big fan of fics that take the characters out of themselves to the point that they aren't the same characters anymore. In my humble opinion, they call it fanfiction for a reason, so I think a certain amount of reverence should go to the characters that JKR has already created.)
On a slightly brighter note, I have no clue when my fanfic will be done. I just started last week, and it's proving more and more difficult every day. I hope to be done in a month or so, maybe sooner if I get a sudden burst of creativity soon. Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you wish to email me for any reason at all (except the romantic kind; I have a man who I'm very happy with), please feel free to.
-Cassandra_Vablantsky