Kay, this is completely irrelevant to anything, but I want to talk about how I write! I usually start on the computer and just post whatever I have, but on occasion I have to hand write my chapters and THEN type them… which is sooo annoying. I always wear my same star necklace, and I have to be warm. My dictionary is in a shelf right next to my computer, and then I have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Quotable Star Wars (don't ask), and The Best Baby Name Book in the Whole World. I also have a small list of notes to myself about what I want to have happen, and a picture depicting 'PREPARING FOR THE COCONUT WARS- on the tropical island in the lake'. It's not very good (I drew it), but it has inspired me for something to happen in The Princess and the Pauper. I am always drinking or eating something cold. I also have a hall pass from May fifth, in two thousand one, and a mood ring that I don't even know what the colors mean for it. I usually play Solitaire or Hearts while I'm writing, so my full attention isn't on the story. Oddly enough, I write best that way. If I'm fully concentrated, I think and try too much, and as the great Yoda said, "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try." Of course, there's always, "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?" That's just very fitting for me… I'm the shortest girl in my grade. Actually, I'm the shortest person in my grade: all the boys are taller than I am.
Speaking about irrelevant things, want to know about the birthday card that I just sent my cousin? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway. The front says, "Merry Christmas, (cousin's name)!" then there are some hearts and it says, "A Valentine card…" On the inside I drew two four-leaf clovers and it says, "Top o' the mornin' to ya! And many joys of… something this Mother's Day! Happy Thanksgiving! (my real name) I hope your costume suits you well." The last bit was written in Halloween colors with pumpkins next to it. The back says, "Happy Memorial Day! Card made by me, your hyperactive cousin!" I put a real message one the inside part (I folded the paper in four) but I don't think she'll find it. That's the BEST way to make birthday cards, especially if you're bored (like me).
Um… now that I've just wasted a few minutes typing about something that most likely nobody would have read, here's the responses and then the fic!
If any really whacked out things appear ("Floppyfish" being very common) it's most likely another of my words for "thank you" or "thanks" because using only those two terms becomes very dull.
Interesting fact for the day: Did you know that if you put an ice cube in a glass of 7UP, it fizzes? Pretty nifty, huh? 7UP is pretty good, but Sprite is the best…
Hanazakari- wun't it sweetiness? How do you know I never said I didn't like your name? Hm? I didn't say you wuz blaming me… I just felt like explaining. Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. That is all.
The Kuro no Tenshi- Thank you! I will try!
Crazygurl70- maybe he will be dead by the time the clock strikes twelve… never mind, none of my clocks strike the hour… poor hours, they must get pretty beat up! Thank you. They are nice, aren't they? Sorry for any amount of waiting time…
Firefly-chan- I hope this is soon. About the asking… I hope he does, too.
Usagipegasus- thank you! That's nothing compared to what I've actually thought of doing in real life… unfortunately, I would be killed, kicked off the student court, and banned from the computer if I tried any of them ::sobs::
DevilsDarling- hehehe you're not threatening me with devils this time! I think, just for that, I will write. Um, I would any ways, actually… boyfriend issue: I only have danced with… three boys at school dances, and I've only had two crushes… no, three. Two of the people I danced with (at my fifth grade social) danced with me out of pity, and the third (same dance) I had to dance with so someone could take a picture (me and one of the others ruined the first… heh heh heh…). That's the furthest I've gotten with guys. You at least had the leisure to break up! Oh twell, not that I'm complaining.
MarsMoonStar- here's more.
Nikki- nope, we can't judge on pairings. I get sick of normal ones, so I write my lovely little whacked out things that everyone else thinks, "Where'd that come from?" with. That wasn't a very good sentence…
Bunni V- thank you, and me too. His speeches are corny. Hehehe that is one situation I will never find myself in, actually. Five… ::whistles::
Siren- thanks with pudgypandas! Hehehe it is great, isn't it? I'm trying to make him "popular but dorky." Popular to his friends, dorky to the rest of the world. I probably have to kill him, to keep things going with JK's world… ::sniffles:: he wasn't so bad, was he?
Daisy- thank you for reviewing! ::eyes sparkle:: there's even people reading who don't necessarily review… that's a lot of people reading this fic! I read your fic (you probably know that) and it was pretty good! One thing I forgot to put in the review, though, was the fact that it was a bit too much blood and gore that last chapter for me to just read straight through… maybe if you separated it from everything else so that that is it's own chapter? Just might make it seem shorter. But it was good!
Little One- yep, I'm not mad. I was going to use your character as the champion from Ziklag, but it's not too late for your character to put in an appearance! If you just send me all the stuff (and find a Japanese-ish name, maybe?) that is necessary for a major character, it'd be much appreciated. Thanks for reading my notes!
Day dream- hyper people aren't scary! Well, maybe they are… wrinklyrabbits!
Sailor Capricorn- thanks for the quote! I totally forgot about that one… 'Creevy' isn't anywhere in it that I can find… but Dennis is. Ya must be! Hehe. Unfortunately, it didn't work for my computer, but if you just hit 'enter' it will work on some computers.
Jupi- here's more! Thanks, and I'll find the exact place for that quote… it's in one of the fourth-year chapters…
Usagi Malfoy- Maybe she will, maybe she won't. We twill see, we twill we twill.
Cheska- I will ask when I am ready to ask! She will not end up with Mamoru-baka because I say she won't…
Ah, but I say she might, Lee, and a quick little self-insertion and we end up together! Erm, sorry there… ::sweatdrops:: heh heh heh… that was Lee up there, in case you couldn't tell.
Rini- Well you are correct. I am Or years old. Hehehehe… Yappa-pa? Nani?
Jessica Black- maybe!
SerenaSaturn- Hay is for horses! Thank you… I don't own any hooks ::looks confused:: so how could I have you hooked? Just when I can, which is usually weekly or more. Let's see… which one? For SM fics, there's Letters to Heaven, for HP fics, there's One Reason to Die, Three Reasons to Live, Voldemort's Choice, Lily and James, Rudolph style, Neville's Pensieve, Hagrid in Wonderland, and The Princess and the Pauper. The only ones that aren't L/J fics are the ones that say "Neville" and "Hagrid" in the title. Then I also have my little poetry collection and Family of the War. Ze end! Hehee mangymonkeys!
SilverSickle17- Sure, sure, whatever you say. How did you like Ezma Belizna Dalton? Should I use her more? You need to read my other new fics, SS, kay? 'specially Lily and James, Rudolph style, and The Princess and the Pauper, and One Reaon to Die, Three Reasons to Live. wait, those are my new fics… hahahahaaa maybe just because you want it Lee and Usagi, I will turn around and make it… Usagi and Terry Boot! Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I'll shut up now.
Yukiro***Lily Child- thank you, and okey day! I read stuff at school, too hehehe.
Disclaimer: Have I even had one of these? Do I need to have one of these? I don't really think I should have to have one… but fine, I will. I own the main plot (not the one JK cooked up, the other one that is revolving around it), the characters (like Kelly, Ezma Belizna Dalton, and other random pop-up go-away characters that I don't remember) and most of the personalities of the people… 'specially Lee's, since we don't see him that much. I also own the secret room that we haven't seen in a while, glance-talk, the Spanish spells, most of the pranks, and a lot of other stuff. Basically, I don't own the HP or SM characters or the books' and series' plot, but I am taking major liberties with them.
I think I've rambled enough in this, so ON WITH THE STORY!
*** *** *** *** ***
"Colin means 'child' but Dennis means 'of Dionysus'. Dionysus is the God of wine and vegetation. Interesting combination…" Fred said, reading from the baby name book once more.
"OI! Dennis! Want to get us some of that wine, then?" George said, calling to Dennis Creevey.
"Hey, Kelly! Listen to this little part! Leia says, "I happen to like nice men." Then Han says, "I'm a nice man." So she says, "No you're not." Then at another part she says, "I love you!" so he says, "I know. I love you," and she says, "I know.""
"That isn't funny, Usagi!" Kelly called back.
"So? I didn't say it was!" Usagi shouted, grinning. Kelly shook her head in mock-disappointment. "Oh, oh! This one's rather funny… "Don't worry about Master Luke… He's quite clever you know… for a human being." Guess who said that, and to whom!"
"Erm, a robot to someone?" Kelly asked, shrugging. She didn't know much about Star Wars, as she never watched it, but Usagi had recently received a book of quotes from the movies and hadn't shut up about it since.
"Nearly! The correct answer is… drum roll please," Usagi said, and a random second year began pounding his (or her) feet on the floor, "C-3PO to R2D2!"
"Actually, I was right on. R2D2 is someone, and C-3PO is a robot," Kelly said.
Usagi sighed and tapped her foot impatiently. "But you were supposed to guess their names!"
Before Kelly could come up with a response, someone tapped Usagi on the shoulder.
"Could I have a word, Usa?" the person asked, and Usagi turned around to find an uncomfortable looking Lee.
Usagi grinned and said, "Yep."
"Out there?" he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the portrait hole.
"Nope. Whatever you want to say can come after me, however. Would you like to go to the Yule ball with me?" Usagi didn't realize that this was what he had come to ask her about.
"All right, then," Lee said, before trotting off through the crowded common room.
"Oi! LEE!" Usagi called to him. He stopped and turned around. "What did you want to ask?"
"The same thing you did."
"Oh," Usagi said quietly, blushing with pleasure. He likes me?
"Usagi! Usagi!" Kelly was snapping her fingers under Usagi's nose. "Wake up!"
"Wah?" she said confusedly, breaking out of her reverie.
"Do you want to play BS? This lot doesn't know how." Kelly was pointing to a small knot of first, second, third, and fifth years.
"Sure," Usagi said, grinning evilly.
{A/N: For those who don't know what BS is, it will be told now. BS really stands for bull shit, but BS is used for more obvious reasons (teachers, younger ears, people who don't like swearing…). The play proceeds with the whole deck (or two, or three, or however many decks you use) of cards being dealt out to all the players. Then, the person with a chosen Ace (it always changes when I play) puts all their Aces face-down in the middle and says "Two Aces," assuming they had two. Then the next person puts down Twos, and the next Threes, and so on all the way up to Kings. Then you start all over again with Aces. The hard part is that you don't always have the necessary cards, so you have to lie. If someone knows that you lied, they say "BS," and you take all the cards. However, if you didn't lie, they have to take all the cards. The point is to get rid of all your cards the quickest.}
Usagi had a very interesting history of BS. One time she was playing with three other girls and a single deck, and becoming bored, she simply counted out all her cards and then said, "Sixteen Jacks." Amazingly enough, she nearly got away with it. Yet another time, she always put down four cards instead of two, but eventually got caught. {A/N: Sorry for this style of writing, but I've been reading the Series of Unfortunate Events, and this is how he writes… it's hard to write differently at the moment, plus, this is necessary information for those who don't know how to play.}
Usagi's plan this time was to count all her cards a bit into the game, and transfigure them all into whatever it was she needed. Then, she would win.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"Have you told Mamoru that you're not going with him yet?" Kelly asked the day before the Yule ball.
"Oops," Usagi said. "That slipped my mind completely! Not that it matters… Ezma, go tell Mamo-baka that I'm not going with him, all right?"
"Yes, Usagi," the little girl piped before slipping out of the third year girl's dorms.
The girl had taken to following Usagi and Kelly around like a shadow, and the only thing she was useful for was sending her on little, unpleasant errands, such as the one she was running right this moment.
"You shouldn't use her like that," Kelly said, trying hard not to laugh.
"Like what? She lives to do things for me. You saw her! She was all excited about going to tell him. And he can't very well get mad at a first year, and I won't have to see him if he's sad."
Usagi was right, and perfectly logical. They were about to continue talking, but at that moment the Japanese students staying in the room entered.
"I'll go now," Usagi said, eyeing the girls distrustfully.
"See you bright and early tomorrow!" Kelly chirped.
Usagi didn't like the sound of that.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"RISE AND SHINE, SLEEPYHEAD! IT'S A BEE-YOU-TEE-FULL DAY OUT!" Kelly's magically magnified voice boomed through the fourth year girl's dorms. This wasn't all that Usagi woke up to, however. At the same moment that Kelly shouted, she poured a huge bucket of ice cold water (probably from the lake) onto Usagi.
"What was that for?" Usagi shouted, sitting bolt upright and splattering water onto the next two beds.
"Who's attacking?" Ami said quickly from across the room, jumping up with her transformation pen in hand.
"Kelly the Kung-Fu Koala," Usagi said evilly, whipping out her wand.
"What-" Kelly didn't get to finish her sentence. She had been transfigured into a koala bear, and was executing some highly talented moves. It looked very silly on a cuddly koala, though. Everyone else in the dorm fell down laughing on the floor and their beds.
Half an hour later, Usagi had used a drying charm, set the room to rights, and had been persuaded to put Kelly back to normal.
"I'll race you all out to the lake!" Kelly shrieked to the other girls.
"You're on!" they all chorused.
A mad dash for the door ensued, before they all realized that they weren't dressed properly yet. Usagi and Kelly were left running to the lakeside, howling with laughter at the other girls' faces as they realized that they weren't ready to run out into the snow. Usagi had dressed while the others were watching Kelly the Kung-Fu Koala, and of course, Kelly had been dressed before she went to wake up Usagi.
"OI! Usa! Kelly! What kept you?" George yelled from his position in a tree.
Fred, ignoring him, bellowed, "Get down from that tree and give me back my scarf!" He was dancing about below the tree.
"Fred, give George his scarf back," Lee said, speaking up to the twin perched in the tree.
Jumping down nimbly, Fred said, "How did you know the difference? We're so bundled up, you can't possibly see that freckle."
Lee smirked and said, "George doesn't like to climb trees."
To save confusion, Fred and George had switched hats (they had their names embroidered on them) and scarves (also with names embroidered on them) in hopes of confusing the others.
In reply to Fred's earlier question, Usagi said, "First, Kelly thought dumping a few gallons of water on me was the best method of waking me up, so I decided she'd be cute as a Kung-Fu koala. It took about half an hour to get out of the room. Then we were laughing at the others, because they almost came running out in their nightclothes."
"Oh," was the unanimous reply.
After a huge snowball fight involving the MMs, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and most of the other Gryffindors, Kelly and Usagi excused themselves to the girls' dorms.
They holed themselves up in Kelly's room (the Ziklag students were with some of their friends in another room) and began to prepare.
They both took a quick, warm shower, which was very refreshing after the long time out in the cold, and then jumped into their pajamas (so they'd be more comfortable than in their dress robes while they did everything else).
Usagi used a very complicated form of the drying charm on their hair, and then turned to Kelly. "Close your eyes and imagine what you want your hair to be like," she instructed. Kelly obeyed, and Usagi performed a small spell. "Open your eyes."
"That's exactly what I wanted, Usa!" Kelly exclaimed, leaning in closer to the mirror. Kelly was a more athletic type of girl, and preferred her hair to be held back and up out of her face. Her hair was out of her face, but it wasn't up. Instead, her hair had lost its usual wisps, and fell down her back to just above the bottom of her shoulder blade. The front sections of her hair (including her long bangs that were the length of the rest of her hair) were braided around, up near the top of her forehead and down below the rest of her hair, in a full circle.
"'Course it is. It's what you pictured," Usagi said, closing her eyes and performing the spell on herself. "See, that's what I wanted my hair to be like."
Usagi's hair was shorter, waist-length, with her bangs completely grown out ("I won't put that back. I like my hair like this," Usagi said.).
"Now, to style it…" She closed her eyes once more and performed the spell (once more). This time, her hair was carefully curled and pulled back into a ponytail, with what used to be her bangs hanging down the sides of her face (also curled, of course. It'd look silly if they weren't.).
"I really don't have much in the way of make-up," Usagi said apologetically.
"I haven't got any, so whatever you have will work," Kelly replied.
"Right then. I have lip-gloss, a bit of eye shadow, and a smidgen of glitter. I don't believe in using much more than that, as it would be much too gaudy. I say we forget the glitter for now, go for a light layer of lip-gloss, and just a dash of eye shadow to accentuate our dress robes." Here Usagi giggled, then explained, "I've always wanted to talk like those silly make-up ladies on the telly or in shops. It's fun!"
"My dress robes," Kelly broke in, steering her friend back on track, "are light purple."
"Good! That's one of the colours I have!" Usagi exclaimed, opening her eye shadow container. "Close your eyes," she instructed, daubing a bit on the brush.
About three seconds later, both of their eyes were done, and each had a tube of lip-gloss set in front of them ("We need to wait until last second so we can eat without getting the nasty taste in our mouths," Usagi had explained.).
"What should we do now?" Kelly asked. "There's still," she consulted her watch, "One and a half hours until we're expected to be down in the common room, two hours until the doors open."
"Let's go to the kitchens!" Usagi exclaimed, dashing out the door.
"Usa! Usa! You're still in your pajamas!" Kelly called after her friend. "So am I, for that matter," she muttered to herself as she set off down the stairs.
The boys and few younger years in the common room goggled at the sight of two girls running through the common room and out the portrait hole in baggy flannel pants (Kelly's were a plain, dark blue, Usagi's a light pink with cream and pink colored snowflakes and dots on them {A/N: Like mine…}) and somewhat oversized tee-shirts. It didn't help any that their hair was done up nicely, and they appeared to have their make-up half done (which they did).
Amazingly enough, they didn't run into anyone on their way to the kitchens. It could have been helped by the fact that they were running top speed, and whipping through secret passages that no one else knew about.
They asked the house elves for a mug of chocolate and some croissants, and took their time eating and drinking the treats.
"No, no, we really shouldn't have any more," Kelly said, refusing the food the house elves tried to give them as they left. "We have the ball tonight, remember?"
"Oh, Kelly, we can take a few things to stock up on in our room," Usagi said, looking at the delectable pastries the house elves were presenting.
"Well, all right, then…" Kelly said uncertainly. Immediately all the food was shoved on them, and they had run out the door.
"Miss Shussler, Miss Tsukino, just what do you think you are doing?" McGonagall's voice said, calling the quickly walking girls to a halt.
"Getting food?" Usagi said around a mouthful of crumbs that used to be a crepe.
"I won't even ask how you discovered where the kitchens are," the professor said with a sigh, "but I meant: What do you think you are doing, running about in your nightclothes? Shouldn't you be preparing for the Yule ball?"
"We are ready! All we have to do is brush our teeth and get into our robes, and that should take about one minute, right? And we were comfortable in our pajamas, so we decided to go out as we were. Is that a problem?" Kelly asked, all innocence.
"Yes, actually, it is," McGonagall said heavily. "But just go, go. You don't seem to be getting the point."
"Point? What point?" Usagi shrieked. She was deathly afraid of sharp objects, and for those who don't know, points are usually pretty sharp.
"Sh, Usa, she meant that we didn't get her meaning," Kelly soothed, steering her friend back to Gryffindor Tower.
"Oh," Usagi said, sighing. "That's all right, then. Where are we going to keep the food until we get to the room?"
"What food? You ate the rest of it."
"I did? Oh. I did."
Kelly sighed and shook her head. I seem to do that a lot around Usagi… well, it's Usagi, so I guess that's all you can expect… Kelly glanced at her watch. "Well, we've successfully wasted an hour. Should we go finish getting ready now, and then play a game of Wist?"
"Sure!" Usagi said, dashing up the stairs.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"Oh, bloody hell," Usagi said, looking at Kelly's watch. "We have about half a minute to get down to the Entrance Hall."
"Run!" Kelly cried, dropping her cards and dashing out the door. Usagi followed suit. The younger years looked very startled to see two dressed-up girls running through the common room (one of them being a champion) thirty seconds before the ball was due to begin.
With fifteen seconds left to go, they skidded down a last flight of stairs near the big, grand, sweeping staircase of the Entrance Hall. Knowing that only falling through that trick step had gotten them to this place that quickly, they glanced at each other. Their glance-talk was nothing like the boy's, however.
Usagi looked at Kelly. (Translation: Let's do it.)
Kelly looked at Usagi. (Translation: Let's do it.)
They ran for the staircase, one on each side of the hall, and just before they hurtled down the stairs, they jumped onto the banisters.
"Excellent ride!" Kelly called to Usagi as they plummeted down.
"Brilliant!" Usagi agreed.
The floor came up to meet them, and they both fell onto their bottoms with loud THUMPS! The astonished crowd began laughing, and parted as Kelly and Usagi struggled over to where the other champions stood. At that moment, the doors to the Great Hall swung open, and Lee appeared at Usagi's elbow.
"Looks like you didn't leave Chiba enough time to find a decent date," he grinned.
Usagi smiled back. "That's what comes of saving yourself for someone who doesn't want you," she whispered as they both moved into the hall in the champion procession.
Lee said nothing about how Usagi looked. She wore the robes that Mrs. Weasley had bought her {A/N: The blue ones that match her eyes… look back to the… erm… second chapter of year four for a slightly more articulate description.}. Usagi had charmed them to slowly change colors every few minutes, moving from the wonderful blue to a soft purple, into pink, then back to blue. The only jewelry she wore was the necklace her grandmother had given her {A/N: the one with the pearl in it… a crescent moon.} and little pearl earrings.
Lee wore dark, dark blue robes, so dark they almost looked black, and hadn't done anything else to change his appearance. Wait, he had. He definitely hadn't had that earring there before. Usagi bit back a laugh as she noticed it. it was perfectly all right to wear an earring, but his was completely ridiculous. It was a huge, gaudy thing, deep blue and silver. The silver part was what looked like a miniature spider web, and the blue was a fly, slightly wrapped up in silver.
"Nice earring," she hissed as they took their seats.
"Thanks," he said back cheerfully, before ordering his food.
Usagi was so busy following his example that she hadn't even noticed that Dumbledore hadn't told them how to yet.
"How'd you know how to do that if the headmaster hadn't shown us yet?" Hermione whispered to Usagi.
Usagi jumped, then smiled. She knew that Hermione was attending the ball with Krum. "Let's just say that the house elves and the MMs, are like this." She crossed her middle and index fingers to indicate how close they were.
Hermione laughed before both of their attention spans were drawn to the boys that had accompanied them.
*** *** *** *** ***
Hm. I suppose I'll explain Wist here. It's a card came, and I'm pretty sure it's called Wist. If not, it's Wisk. But Wist sounds better, so that's what we'll call it. You start out with seven cards each, and it's a bit like War (for those of you who know how to play THAT). One person decides what Trumps are (hearts, diamonds, spades, or clumps, which are clubs but called clumps when they're Trumps). Trumps can win over anything. Then that person puts down a card, and the other person has to put down a card higher than it in the same suit, use the Trumps, or, if they haven't the same suit, they trash it by putting a low card of another suit down. At the end of the round, the person with the most cards gets to choose Trumps. From seven cards, it goes down to six, then five, then four, and so on. The only rounds that really count are the last two. The last one wins the whole game, but the second to last decides who gets to choose Trumps, which usually increases their chances of winning.
Sounds confusing when written, but it isn't really.
Most of this chapter was written based on stuff I'd do if I were at Hogwarts… sliding down the railings, running around in your PJs, cheating at card games, getting food… you get my drift.
R&R! PLEASE! R&RR&RR&RR&RR&R!