Phineas / 7th Year!Reader

Phineas / 7th Year!Reader

Phineas Nigellus Black stared at you across from his desk, having been called into his office in the middle of your NEWT level alchemy class. His perfectly manicured mustache twitched in time to the quiver of his bottom left eyelid. He was understandably annoyed, given his robes had been permanently dyed an atrocious shade of pink. A shade of pink that was your hallmark.

You’d spent the last seven years at this institution filling the halls with all sorts of havoc and chaos, that frankly in your opinion cut the humdrum tedium of class work with a bit of fun. Of course the staff had other opinions. Namely the man before you. The worst Headmaster of Hogwarts, in the opinion of all your classmates anyway. You on the other hand, found the prickly and smarmy and outright dandy Headmaster quite fetching. Especially in that shade of pink.

“Headmaster, is there a reason you summoned me?” You ask, with all the innocence you could muster.

Phineas Black’s gaze squinted, his nostrils raised as though he smelled something putrid and his gloved fingers gripped his wand tightly. “I should have you hanging from the rafters by your ankles for your cheek, you insipid child!” He snapped.

If you had any sense, you would have looked mollified. So instead of shrinking back, properly admonished or fearful, like so many of your classmates would do if they were in your spot, you sigh wistfully. “Promise?”

Phineas’s reaction is everything you wanted. Horror, pale, quickly followed by the rush of rouge flooding his cheeks. This was why you did it. You could barley contain the mirth in your chest.

“Oh dear, headmaster. You seem to be matching your new set of robes. Are you alright?” You coo out, leaning forward as though to help him.

“Do not touch me!” Phineas seethed. His mouth moved silently, He looked almost apoplectic as he tried to find an appropriate punishment but he’s tried them all on you. All seven years and none of them ever worked. "You shall be appropriately punished.”

"But sir, I don't know what you mean. I haven't done anything warranting any sort of punishment." You bat your eyelashes at him, to really sell your innocence.

“I know this -" He gestured at his normally green robes with an offended look - "-is your doing.”

"Me?" You touch your chest and lean back. "Sir, I could never have made such a fetching set of robes. I haven't the skill."

"Do not play coy with me." He ground out.

"Coy? Me. Never." You smile widely. Part of your skills was never admitting any wrong doing and always weaseling around any accusations. Not to mention every prank could never be tied to you - even if the professors all knew, they just could never prove it. Frustrating for them, but a challenge for you. It kept you busy - thinking of new ways to time things so you looked completely innocent.

Oh sure the first few dozen times you unintentionally got others in trouble - but eventually you got good at making sure no one took the blame. Not even Peeves. And your efforts were paying off now - even if you'd been summoned by the Headmaster.

Though, admittedly he had let your pranks go - being a fellow Slytherin. Until it targeted him. Not that he could prove it, and not that any of the other professors would out you. Not for the years they suffered at your hands and the Headmaster never believed them.

So it was, a stalemate as you stared the Headmaster down, smiling waiting to see how he could justify a punishment with no proof and none of the faculty backing him up. Not with your parents on the board of governors ready to give him a dressing down should he make one move against you.

You fully expected him to admit defeat, as the other professors eventually did and to send you back to class.

That's not what he did. He simply smiled.

"You are in your seventh year, correct?" Phineas questioned, all frustration gone from his voice as he stood there - smoothing out his pink robes.

"I am." You answer simply, unsure where he was going.

"Hmm." He smiled, and crossed the office toward a cabinet. A flick of his wand and it popped open, with a parchment scroll. "Ah...yes And your birthday was last term too." He looked up, a mischievous and sinister light to his gaze.

"Headmaster?" You ask, your tone even even if you were suddenly apprehensive.

"Stand up." Phineas set the scroll down. "I do apologize. I needn't treat you like a student." He stated while tucking his arms behind his back.

You stand up out of your seat.

"Its entirely inappropriate, considering you are an adult now." He continued, smoothly. "Especially as there are other methods with which I can punish you."

"Sir?"

Phineas stepped into your personal space. You step back once and he advances quickly until your back is pressed against a table. Phineas slams his hands down on the table, entrapping you there, boring down on you.

"What methods, Headmaster?"

"Call me Master." He seethed. It was a delicious sound, positively vicious and stoking a fire inside you that none of your peers had ever done before.

"Master -" the sound is wrenched from you involuntarily and you shiver as his breath is hot in your face and then ears as he leans down to whisper.

"Target me again, and you shall learn what those methods are." The wet pop of his lips, and the barest touch of his tongue against the curve of your ear is the most he touched you before he stepped back, leaving a gaping cold space between you, and he was straightening his cravat. "Dismissed."

Sea Beast GOOD

WIP sketches of Cardinal Copia :>

Useless rpgs recs. Rpgs where you can romance a character or companion

(Games I forgot to add: Faery - Legends of Avalon, Always Sometimes Monsters and the sequel)

I've been watching some videos about plot choices in DA:O and DA2 that I've never seen, and Merrill has this amazing line in the Gallows at the end of Act 3, if you side against her and the mages. It speaks to everything I adore about her character, and sums up the central conflict of the entire Dragon Age series so poignantly:

"If I leave these mages to die, or I help you kill them, what then? Magic can't be made safe, and it can't be destroyed. Fear makes men more dangerous than magic ever could."

That's the thing I love about Merrill. Out of all the mages we encounter throughout the series, on both sides of the mage-templar conflict, Merrill has always been the one who, despite her flaws, or maybe because of them, understands the hard truths about magic that almost no one else seems able or willing to accept.

This line in the Gallows reminds me of another line she has, a banter line with Anders after Justice takes over and almost kills that one girl.

Merrill: Are you all right?

Anders: I nearly killed an innocent girl. How could I be all right? There's no definition of "all right" that fits this state.

Merrill: I'm sorry.

Anders: You're sorry? For me? This could be you. You could be the next monster threatening helpless girls.

Merrill: Anders, there's no such thing as a good spirit. There never was. All spirits are dangerous. I understood that. I'm sorry that you didn't.

Merrill understands that magic is not safe, and will never be safe. And until the rest of Thedas is ready to accept that, the mage-templar conflict will never end. Because until you can accept that there's no silver bullet solution to the problem of dangerous spirits and mages who choose to hurt people, you'll never be willing to do the hard work it takes to co-exist.