Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You The Sun

— Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

The cup of tea was hot in her hands as Lily watched the milk she’d poured unfurl in a riotous blossom. She gave it a stir, gazing intently at the swirl, the storm, the eventual settling. Eternity in a teacup.

She sat alone at the Gryffindor table. Only a few other students were freckled around the Great Hall, sleepily assembling their own breakfasts. She’d come down far earlier than was her usual habit. No one would ever accuse Lily Evans of being a morning person, but she’d woken up early today. She couldn’t sleep. The frantic week prior had flitted away like a fretful spring breeze — all their planning and plotting, whispers in the corridors, owls in the evenings — until suddenly it was Saturday.

The day of the big protest.

Probably it was some combination of nerves and exhaustion that kept her staring into the depths of her tea, and she lost track of precisely how long she’d been at this before she noticed a presence behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. It was Severus.

Read on AO3.

I'm sorry. I broke my promise.

You Never Saw One Without The Other

Last night was sad .... so I made this

A little hurt/comfort

ARYA STARK APPRECIATION MONTH || Day 6: Favorite Book Moment ↳ In the godswood she found her broomstick sword where she had left it, and carried it to the heart tree.

There she knelt. Red leaves rustled. Red eyes peered inside her. The eyes of the gods. “Tell me what to do, you gods,” she prayed.

For a long moment there was no sound but the wind and the water and the creak of leaf and limb. And then, far far off, beyond the godswood and the haunted towers and the immense stone walls of Harrenhal, from somewhere out in the world, came the long lonely howl of a wolf. Gooseprickles rose on Arya’s skin, and for an instant she felt dizzy. Then, so faintly, it seemed as if she heard her father’s voice. “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives,” he said.

“But there is no pack,” she whispered to the weirwood. Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall. “I’m not even me now, I’m Nan.”

“You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you.”

“The wolf blood.” Arya remembered now. “I’ll be as strong as Robb. I said I would.” She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee. It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside. I am a direwolf, and done with wooden teeth. – Arya X, ACOK

Do you have any thoughts on what Dany and Tyrion's dynamic will be like when they eventually meet?

Oh, this one is tough. Mostly because, well... Both characters are left at key moments that could dramatically change them. ADWD Tyrion is a mess, but Dany gives him some hope; and Dany ends the book with a dramatic pivot that is very difficult to speculate because it's a *negative* pivot in which her characterisation throughout the book is rejected and we don't have a chance to quite peek into where she's going, just where she's *not*.

Ultimately... I think that my ideal relationship is one of Tyrion's worst traits accentuating here; he’s being delivered as one of the Usurper's Dogs to Dany, and I think Dany will grant him mercy. And I think ultimately Tyrion will find himself clinging onto her for dear life; I wouldn't at all be surprised if we see Dany directly compared to Sansa for Tyrion, and not in a particularly pleasant way for the reader.

Fundamentally, I think Tyrion is at such a broken state that he'll encourage her worst impulses; he'll embrace, to some extent, the monster everyone thinks he is, the Imp, the dwarf vizier to the dragon queen, and he'll try to cling onto her for a chance to get back at Cersei and Jaime.

That's pretty much what I've got; I think we'll see a Tyrion that is hanging on for dear life on Dany, and a Dany who will show him mercy, and will probably be suspicious at first but will be advised - and to an extent, manipulated - by Tyrion. One key element that will definitely play into their bond will be Tyrion's affinity for her dragons.