AN: Super short chapter, explanation and an extra long AN to make up for it at the end.
BBaRtS
The illustrated headmaster looked his apprentice up and down, and Hydrus cocked his head to the side in return. Why the hell had the most powerful man in the world wasted enough time to paint a portrait of himself? The welcoming croon that Fawkes gave at the second warlock's 'arrival' helped ease the tension in Hydrus's chest.
"Look at you," the painting said. "It feels strange to be proud of a man growing young, but here we are."
"If you think that's strange…" Hydrus turned to the real Dumbledore. "Explain."
"I've been struggling to understand and break through to you," the headmaster said as he took his seat behind his desk. "So I figured it might work out better if I recreated the one man who understood and exemplified your ideals better than I do."
"You tried to paint your other self?" Hydrus scoffed at the notion. "He won't be the same. He's just who you fear you could become."
"Then give it a stroke." Dumbledore, the current Dumbledore, waved his hand and a tray appeared on his desk. Atop it was a palette of all sorts of colours, a brush, and a cup of water. "You don't have to be perfect. Just hold an image in your mind of who you think I should be, of who I was, and add some details. I've charmed the paint to aid you."
"That's stupid," the time traveller argued. "I can't—"
"Do what I tell you to, Harry." He stiffened as the portrait spoke to him. "This is for the best."
The living version of the headmaster tensed as well at the domineering tone, but nodded despite his obvious distaste. "Paintings are an amalgamation of what their creators believe the person to be like. It's why photographs can't capture more than a few simple actions; camera's can't truly understand their subject matter." He gestured towards the supplies once more. "Go on. And try to imagine the small details that only you would notice and remember, the things you understood better than anyone else."
After another moment to recover from the nostalgic, verbal backhand the portrait had given him, Hydrus magically lifted the palette and can of water, taking the brush in his hand. He stared at the portrait, at the bemused eyes of his master, and eventually dipped the brush into black. He manoeuvred it around into the brown paint, ruining the latter's source, but once he was sort-of confident in the accuracy he ran the slightest graze of the brush hairs down the man's beard. It took a few light strokes, but the newer Dumbledore hadn't lied when he said the paint would aid him.
"A fine addition," the portrait said as the clumsy lines blended into the rest of his beard and practically rejuvenated him. "In my final years, it was paramount that I maintained an appearance of belied strength, and so I made subtle changes to my mien. I had myself appear less ancient, so that you young bucks wouldn't think me too far past my prime."
"I know," Harry said as he dipped the brush into water. Once he was certain it was clear, he dipped it into a less brackish section of brown then mixed it with a bit of white to brighten it. He began to add more lines to the man's face. "But you weren't quite able to turn back the clock."
"True enough," the painted Dumbledore said as more crows feet and laugh lines began to spread across his face. "In my defence, it was much easier to dye my hair than it was to unwrinkle myself."
"You let the war eat away at you," Harry accused as he proceeded to swirl all the colours of the palette together until it reached a perfect, vomit-esque shade of brownish-greenish-yellowish chaos. "You fucking died."
With more of a stabbing motion than was strictly appropriate for painting, he jabbed the brush against the other Dumbledore's hand. The same one he himself was missing. He scratched the blunt base of the brush's tip against the canvas, digging a groove into the painting as he truly allowed his soul to pour into the portrait.
How could his master fuck up so badly? How could he go and get himself killed like that? How could he abandon him? The bastard had all but thrown him to the enemies he'd failed to cut down sooner, forcing Harry to lead a war he'd been born into and never truly managed to escape from. Every moment of his life, his real life, his life away from muggles, was spent with Voldemort's shadow cast over it; all because of Dumbledore's failure. All because he'd been too coy to end a sociopathic child's life. If he had just—
"I think that's enough, Hydrus." Harry turned to glare at the living embodiment of his master, and the man stared back at him with moist eyes. "Any more and you'll punch a hole through the fabric."
He glanced back at the portrait, and saw he'd done little more than scribble a disastrous mess into the paint. It almost resembled what he'd imagined the blackhole Tonks had described must looked like. Slowly the paint he'd cut into the canvas began to blend into its surroundings, and he evaporated the tools the current Dumbledore had given him as he returned to his seat.
"Well done," the portrait lied. "I'm sure you think I'm lying to appease your ego, but you did exactly what you needed to. You added a realism to me that was missing." The pseudo-headmaster stared down at the putrid limb with a wrinkled nose. "Though, I'd hoped you wouldn't disfigure me so."
"If I gotta deal with it, then so do you." Harry glared deep into the painting's eyes. "I cut off my fucking arm to survive, why didn't you?"
"I don't know." The portrait sighed and shook his head. "If I did, then you would as well, and you wouldn't have asked."
Harry flinched at the rebuke. Just like always, the man who'd taught him everything he knew was one step ahead of him.
The real Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Perhaps we could get onto the events at Gringotts?"
"Yes, let's," the painting said. "What on earth were you thinking keeping your magic flared the entire time? I know you have a large amount of it, but you aren't a bottomless well, child."
"I…" Harry swallowed. "I wanted to protect Bellatrix. I couldn't risk a rune going off and killing her like it did to my old—"
"So pulse your magic!" Dumbledore scolded. "You have enough power to reach at least a hundred paces away, and any information would be relayed to you just as well." Harry opened his mouth, but the portrait kept going. "And spare me any excuses about the runes having a delayed activation; if that was your concern then just increase the strength of your pulses to the point where they'd destroy any arrays they come across."
Harry shut his mouth. The older man was right. He'd fucked up.
It was all so simple, and he hadn't given it the least bit of thought compared to the true leader of the rebellion. If he'd gotten to the end of the tunnel with more of his magic intact, he would've been able to kill the goblin without losing his arm. He wouldn't have passed out and fallen into a nearly unclimbable well of magical exhaustion. He wouldn't have sent the world spiralling towards a war he wanted no part in. He wouldn't have had to reveal so much to Bellatrix. He wouldn't have—
"Don't be so harsh on him," the modern Dumbledore said, his brows furrowed. "Nothing happened that I wasn't able to resolve."
"Be silent," the portrait Dumbledore said. "You have no place in this."
The younger Dumbledore's mouth fell open slightly, but Harry cut in before he could argue. "He's not wrong, Professor. I fucked up." He took a long breath. "All you're hearing is him berating me, but I know what he means. I need to better plan around my newfound weaknesses, both for specific situations that I know I'm heading into, and in terms of keeping a better, subconscious understanding of what potential risks I need to plan for."
"Exactly correct," the painting said. "I wish I had more advice to give on that front, but I'm afraid that adjusting to the aches and pains of old age is a dim candle to the inferno of corrupting one's magical core."
"I didn't corrupt it," Harry argued. "If I can learn how to coordinate the magics it'll be an unimaginable boost to my power. "
"Wrong. Again." The portrait shook its head. "It will be an intensification, and thus require a complete reeducation towards how much magic is needed for a given spell. Your initial balance, before you began to tamper with your third bargain, was perfect and you never managed to fully adjust to the precision needed to work smaller spells." The ancient warlock leaned his elbows onto his painted desk's surface and rested his head on his one remaining hand. "So even when you do manage to succeed in that venture, your first priority will still need to be reevaluating your combat strategies."
"Yes, sir." Harry bowed his head. "I will. I'll use my current status as an opportunity to better 'practice' for when I've found a proper visualisation and need to train around that."
Albus maintained a neutral expression, but internally he was horrified. He'd thought… He'd hoped… He'd incorrectly assumed that Hydrus, the Hydrus he knew, would better resist the painting's dominance. Instead the man had folded almost immediately and now sat with a bowed head. There was a brief bit of resistance at first, the same independence that had driven the headmaster up multiple walls over the past months, but it had wilted like tissue paper in a bonfire.
"Moving on," his darker self said. "You assign too much value to Bellatrix. She might've been a powerful and dangerous enemy in the past, but no amount of legal duels and relative sanity can make up for the lack of true experience." Hydrus's magic had flooded the room almost as soon as the portrait had said his love's name, but the reflection couldn't notice. "Don't mistake my words, she's a fine enough pairing, but don't ever risk your life again for such nonsense."
"Mind yourself, old man." Hydrus's magic was nearly cracking the office's walls and his sleeve was rapidly dampening with blood. "Or I'll turn you to fucking timber."
The headmaster turned back to his doppelganger, and was once again mortified to see the portrait's reaction.
It laughed.
It even applauded, a nauseating sight given how sticky the action was with his rotted hand. "Well, I suppose it's understandable. I remember what it was like to be in love at your age. I hope you don't make the same mistakes that I did."
"I won't."
The reflection turned to Albus, and cocked an eyebrow at him. "That advice goes for you as well. When Tom began his first war I went to Gellert for advice, and it was as useful as wings on a whale. You shouldn't trust him so much."
"Be silent." He'd echoed the painting's earlier words, and his magic returned the room to the temperature it had been before Hydrus had lost his temper. "I did not create you for you to advise me."
Once more the portrait chortled. "Well said! It won't be long before you no longer need me to properly connect with our apprentice there."
That nearly stopped his heart. The portrait, especially once Hydrus had laid his strokes into it, had become everything he feared. It was dark and cruel, unempathetic and unwavering. It was a dark lord in all but name, and it was trying to craft a real-world actor to carry out its whims. If he let it go untethered, it would corrupt Hydrus. It would... It would….
Albus nearly leapt to his feet when he realised what was going on. "You're doing it on purpose!"
"Pardon?" his reflection asked. "Whatever do you mean?"
But Albus had already turned to his apprentice. "He's doing it on purpose." He rubbed at his brows. "He's messing with us. Apparently we've managed to instil into the artefact my more mischievous nature, but with a much darker sense of humour, and not enough common sense to recognise when a joke is inappropriate."
Hydrus blinked at him, turned to the painting, and then after a moment laughed. The sound rolled through the office as the portrait's eyes glittered, and eventually the man stood. "You're probably right. I'll leave fixing it to you.
"Fawkes!" The phoenix flew over to the boy's extended arm, and he brought the bird close to his face, touching their foreheads together. "Quit trying to bury me in ash you little shit." The phoenix squawked at him with false indignation. "Yeah, yeah."
With that he 'tossed' the bird into the air and walked away. Albus sighed and sat back down as Fawkes flew over to him and landed on his shoulder. As he stroked his familiar's feathers, he heard the portrait clear its throat.
"Now then," it said. "I know you blustered earlier, but shall we discuss your mistakes?"
Albus glanced over at it. "Other than yourself, you mean?"
"Indeed." The portrait wore a genial smile. "You're too weak. You're doing exactly what I did with Tom when he was still living within these walls, and failing to prepare for the worst."
"You're referring to Hydrus." It wasn't a question or even an accusation, just disappointed acknowledgement. "I have faith—"
"You have fear. Doing nothing and running away may not be the same thing, but their results often are." The painting's words cut deep into his soul. "I forged Harry into a weapon of war. A herculean sword to cut off the heads of the Hydra." It sighed. "I was supposed to be the cauterising flames that stopped the monster from regenerating, but you know as well as I do how that went."
And Albus did. It made sense, even if he hated that it did. Hydrus was never meant to truly lead their rebellion, he was meant to protect their forces and fend off Voldemort while the warlock pulled the strings and hunted down the horcruxes. It probably would've worked if he hadn't ruined everything by falling for the same trap that Hydrus had. How could he have been so foolish as to have believed that there wouldn't at least be a familial curse on the ring? Why hadn't he just removed the cursed hand?
"You must prepare for the disastrous potential he has," the portrait said quietly. "I won't try to convince you to hamper him or set up pitfalls for a potential rise to power, but at the very least you must scrape the rust off your bones and begin to get back into fighting shape."
Albus didn't respond.
"You've grown weak over the years. You've even allowed Harry to surpass you." It shook its head. "If you truly wish to prevent him from becoming everything you feared, then you must instead yourself become an example of something better."
"Perhaps," Albus agreed. "At the very least, you're right that it would be good for me to get back into shape."
He looked the painting up and down, and tried to figure out what it was missing. It was so close to being right. What could it possibly be?
Fawkes cooed at him, and Albus smiled.
"I agree," he said, waving his hand to restore the paint supplies that Hydrus had disintegrated. "It could use a feathered friend."
BBaRtS
Chapter 39, looking not-so fine, lol.
So. Real short chapter. I'm very sorry about that, but as I was writing the rest of it and as my thoughts and ideas kept changing, I realised that I really, really wanted to have the entire third trial completely written before posting any of it, and I wanted it all together in one piece. I brainstormed some quick check-ins for characters like Tonks, Arcturus, and even Francis to fatten up this chapter, but it would've been obvious that the sections weren't important and were just there to fill space. I figured its better to post a 100% relevant 2.5k chapter than a 7k one where the majority of it is more or less filler. The third trial, and the events that will follow shortly after, are going to be a real major milestone in the story.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the next two chapters will be the middle point of the fic, cus god damn that would mean writing another 300k words on top of this already girthy fic, but it will definitely change some things and set others in motion. I hope last chapter being the longest one we've gotten yet, and the next chapter being another long-ass one, makes up for it a bit. Still and again, I'm very sorry for the short chapter. Here's a long ass AN discussing the story to, if you care about such things, make up for it a little bit maybe potentially probablynot imsorryyyyy
Also FF readers sorry if formatting is fucked up, this websites not functioning atm and wouldn't let me publish normally so I had to get onto the app and do it. I'll check later when it's working properly to see if there's anything I need to fix. Edit: Seems to be working good, so I'll leave everything as is, if my cursory glance wasn't enough and I missed something with the formatting let me know.
Anyways.
I'm so mad at myself cus I just realised something I'd fucked up at the start of this story regarding my writing. I'm not mad I fucked it up, but I AM mad that I coincidentally included the perfect tools to solve the problem. The short of it is: People would enjoy Bellatrix and Sirius's characters WAY more if I'd worried less about 'show don't tell'. If I had moments to spell out their motivations, where those motivations stem from, and had properly foreshadowed where they should/could be in the future; it would better set expectations. You know, like I did with Draco via Hydrus blatantly lecturing him a couple of times. I wouldn't go so far as to say Draco is universally loved, but NO ONE has complained about him, and the kid literally abused Dobby and regretted not kicking him more when he got bored at one point. I think I had a good thing going with the mini-infodumps style of world building, but failed to extend it to character building and instead entirely relied on 'actions speak louder than words' to do the heavy lifting and it wasn't enough.
It's like if I took to heart the cooking advice 'don't burn the food' and wound up accidentally undercooking a bunch of things.
I feel bad cus before when I got negative responses to their (and some other) characters I could just shrug it off, but as one of the newer review-the-chapters-as-they-read readers goes through and complains about Bellatrix it's no longer just a 'oh well, nothing to do about it' problem, it's a 'Man I could've fixed this or at least better signposted what they were getting into' problem.
Anyways, time for reviews. I wanna add another overarching rule to the things I will never respond to and that is: if someone guesses or asks about something that's a spoiler to talk about, I won't reply. Might be obvious, but over the past month or so there's been an influx of times where I had to keep my lips sealed, and I don't want people to think I'm just ignoring them specifically lol. (I also normally prioritise reviews on the latest chapter over ones for older ones) Either way, if you theorise or ask about something on the latest chapter and I don't respond, it probably means I don't want to spoil lolol
"I hope the painting is Hydrus' OG Dumbledore" - It's as close to that as we can possibly get based on the way I've decided paintings work. This is a blend of what Dumbledore saw in Hydrus's memories, and a bit of his fears. Hydrus's memories, and a bit of his resentment and borderline-worship for the man. We'll see where he/it goes from here.
"Barbers cut and style the hair of men and boys. Ladies are more likely to visit a beauty parlor or salon to enlist the services of a hairdresser, a beautician or a stylist. Take your pick. Any of these would be better than having Rita visit a barber." - This has got to be the nittiest, pickiest complaint ever, I love it. IN MY DEFENCE, that was a Hydrus POV chapter, and I've made it clear he doesn't understand hair stuff with the line, '...but it now had 'layers' and 'volume', whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.', so nyeh! (I do agree on the high jacking/hijacking thing though, that one slipped past me)
"This is a really well written story, but I think it would work better with a central conflict that could be completely finished in 250k words or so." - 100% agree on the length comment, and you already brought up why it isn't the case with this fic lol. I even recently posted a random comment on a relevant Reddit post where I said for any future fics I'd shoot for 100k words, probably wind up closer to 200k with the way I write, and be able to move on to other fun ideas sooner. In the meantime I've been putting zany ideas towards a folder for my other fic which is like, idr, 5k words long that I'll be posting another chapter for shortly after I get through with the trial of writing this third trial.
"I always pronounce "BBaRtS" as "Farts" for humor." - I wish I could insert the Ken Jeong gif of him saying 'I'll allow it.' here lololol
"Instead of using 'the boy' so often, refer him as ' Mister Black' or 'Master Black'. It sounds much better and not corny and offensive as Vernon used to call him boy and it just sounds wrong anyway." - This is one where I disagree, but I can understand why you/someone might think the way you do. I think the suggested verbiage would work in some circumstances, but would make others a lot more clunky, and in my mind it doesn't register at all as something offensive. I got 'boy' roared at me a lot growing up and it doesn't bother me lmao. This is just, IMO, an example of people's tastes differing.
"Loved the way you expanded the little dark lord to be more than JUST a little cinnomon roll with past angst." - I feel like I stumbled a bit with him over all, I could've done a better and less subtle job of showing his rebellious side to the readers. And that's all it is right now. It's not evil, it's rebelliousness; him doing whatever he wants. Whether that's a natural reaction to finally being unshackled from his parents or just who he is, time will tell.
"Also, the earring not making him bleed? Hmmmmm." — I'm a dude who's never had my ears pierced, so I asked some friends of mine about getting theirs done. More than one said they didn't bleed at all so I just assumed it was a normal, or at least not rare, thing not to bleed when you get ears pierced. This was just meant to reestablish/make fun of his hemophobia, so I apologise if that ain't normal and I just got like, weird and hyper-clotting friends lololol
"Poor Fleur. Being interrogated by your elders is never fun, especially when they don't expect to give answers in return! The way she ended the interrogation was perfect! Hydrus better watch out!" - Fleur is a character that I like… Idek how to describe it. We're gonna see in the third trial a lot of what I'm going for with her part in the story, but I also feel like the process of setting it up makes it unenjoyable because it suggests a Fleur/Harry pairing. There's a reviewer going through the story right now who's REALLY digging the Fleur x Hydrus vibe, and I've got the annoying 'oh no no no no' TikTok song playing in my head reading their responses.
"Sirius being imprisoned and playing goldfish with the guards is entirely on point for his goofy character. That and his pride for Giannis who is just too adorable!" - I can't even talk about Sirius right now cus I'm mad I didn't set his character up better and missed the chance to make him more likeable for other readers smh
"Poor Amelia, she has to put up with so much shit." - I was relieved that there weren't people mad at her for snapping at Giannis, she even went so far as to break her no-swearing rule. I feel like a lot of characters fall into two categories in this fic; those with normal expectations and reactions for the events surrounding them, and the weirdos that are off in their own unique world-views. Amelia is unfortunately caught up in a storm of people that fall into the latter when she is so deep on the former's side that it causes tension.
"Uh oh, looks like someone left Apophis unsupervised." - I was originally gonna leave his hyper-short section out, but it made the pattern work better and I really wanted to just show that this like, C-tier plot is still going on and isn't just the ramblings of a mad basilisk lol.
"Sometimes with Hydrus blowing through enemies with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, you forget he's incredibly crafty and politically savvy." - I feel like if we're going to put things on a like, tier-list scaling system, his political skills are at the top of the B tier. Bellatrix, Amelia, and, Idk, Cedric would be examples of A tier. Arcturus, Dumbledore, and (perhaps surprisingly) past!Ron would be the S tiers. What Hydrus excels at, and what he uses to raise his political prowess, is his charisma, leadership, strength, and relying on the advice given to him by people like past!Ron. He's got the parts needed to be a good politician, except maybe long-term planning; what he sucks at is following through with plans he does come up with when he can instead just 'blow through enemies' and do whatever he wants. Or at least, that's what I go for. Whether or not I succeed is another matter lololol
"Sirius and Hydrus' interaction was adorable!" - Alright I'll talk about Sirius a little. I wanted him to get his just reward for doing what Dumbeldore said to do. I want the general Black family interactions to feel like a precarious juggling act, where all the members want different things and are struggling to come to an equilibrium. Hydrus has the power/strength to potentially crack the whip and put them all in a line, but there's just one man he would never willingly do that to and it's Sirius.
"Your Bella is exactly how I'd imagine. Though bit surprised she's be fine with sharing. I always thought she was more possessive than thst." - This is what I mean when I say I finally understand how/why I fucked up her and SIrius's characterizations in those early chapters. What I shoulda done was have Hydrus basically have the same reaction as this chapter 1 comment in his prayers to magic, then have Bellatrix next chapter be like 'I'll make him love me and ignore those other bitches, I will be queen bee for once'. Woulda done a TON to better show off the character she grew to be eventually with my slow-ass paced writing, and better set reader expectations for what the fic's romance elements would be like so I don't have disappointed 'flower pot' readers and general harem-searchers. To be fair, I wasn't 1000% certain it wouldn't be harem at that point, but hindsight is three years ago. We coulda done a whole bit where Hydrus's prayers say one thing about Bella, and she internally says the exact opposite immediately after, and the 'running joke' aspect of it would've helped camouflage the telling instead of showing element.
(For Sirius, it would've been him having an earlier talk with Remus where the childhood shoulder-to-cry-on would help better explore Sirius's feelings and really do a better job of driving home why Sirius is so pushy with wanting to be Hydrus's dad.)
"I think Sirius is being a bit of an idiot. He needs to ask his son what he wants first before doing anything else." - This came in on chapter 6; so now y'all see what I mean!
"I'm missing the mothering Bella." - Sorry but that ain't coming back besides the occasional reference to 'aunty bella'. I did it with literally a 0.00 on my horny scale when I wrote it, just wanted her to come off as comedic and creepy. It summoned from the bushes WAY too many horny-posters and bible-smashers, and I'm already dealing with the 'age gap' critics, so I said fuck it and cut my losses. I think the biggest problem with it comes back to what I already described, her character was too 2D then and it was her only trait, and so at the end of the day it falls on my shoulders as a fuck up. Maybe if I'd done a better job of throwing in some of her non-weirdo aspects it could've gone further, just been a joke/trait, but I didn't so here we are.
"It's going to be funny if Peter is literally the only one who's name stays on that paper." - A part of me wants to do this and laid the groundwork for that to be an option, another part is wondering which of the bricks in Nurmengard is sentient and stole Grindelwald's name off the paper.
"You aren't treating the character's you developed with respect. Your sub plots, specifically the character's you develop for the subplots, who you then abandon, are doing more harm than good. Where's Fred and George? Where's Dahlia? Daphne? Hermione? Cedric? … My only recommendation, is to either to use a smaller cast of characters, and have them involved in multiple sub plots, or make the sub plots not involve Harry at all." - So this kind of comes back to the note where I said that this whole fic isn't meant to be a concise, well-constructed story. It's meant for me to practise my writing. Are there too many characters to follow? Are there too many subplots? Are there too many words in general outside-of-this-chapter-and-those-two-when-I-was-sick? Yes. But the reason for that is, selfishly, that I want there to be a fuck ton of stuff to practice with, and I want it all in one place so that way this is the only thing that's weighed down by all the bloat. I also wouldn't go so far as to say I've 'abandoned' any characters, I just have so many that by sprinkling them in evenly makes their appearances feel sparse. Every one of the characters you mentioned, except Daphne who I don't really think is anywhere near the others in terms of attention paid to them, does have more to do later on.
As for the subplots suggestion, that is something that I disagree with and although I'm not saying what I do is correct, it is what I personally prefer as a reader. I don't want to read about things unrelated to the MC. The furthest we get in this fic is Regulus's plotline and the Apophis background story, and even those have potential ramifications for Hydrus depending on how they play out. I can understand wanting more attention for the side characters, but at the end of the day this fic is about Hydrus, and to a lesser degree Sirius and Bellatrix. Although the other characters do have their own motivations and journeys, they aren't intended to be the focus of the fic.
I will say though, the problems you described are ones I enjoy having WAY more than the opposite side of the scale which is what I'm facing with Bellatrix and SIrius. I kept the motivation front simple and obvious with side characters, and was too coy with them for main characters.
"The most angsty thing in this novel is the poor toddler snake who can't see the world without killing everyone in it." - Poor lil guy. He'll actually be having a lot more screen time after this third trial, and not just because of his quest for glory, but as he grows into a proper companion/familiar for Hydrus.
PHEW. That's all I can respond to. I know an author's note ain't worth 1/10th of, you know, ACTUAL story writing, but at the very least I hope this shows that I do want to do whatever I can for the readers even if it ain't shit. Things didn't pan out entirely the way I expected it to this week, but next chapter will be the third trial, chapter after that will be the fallout of that, and I'm looking forward to it.
Thank you for all the reviews, thank you for reading, thank you for being patient with this miniature chapter, and thank you for more. Love you all, see you all next Saturday, lessthanthree~
