One of my old fan fictions, which was actually fairly close to being an original story other than a couple of the characters, was called The Day When Dreaming Ends. It was about the downfall of the Marauders from Harry Potter, starting from their graduation and ending with the death of the Potters. I used to write a lot of fan fiction because I was a bit lazy, it was fun, and it would actually get attention. I might go back to it a bit just to build a base of readers to pawn off my published books to. ;)
It never got very far, but I was pretty happy with some of the plot twists I had, and I've been building my own modern wizards and witches after a short story about werewolves and a fortune teller, I thought I would totally revamp the characters and the places, but turn a couple of my more original and better fan fictions into their own stories. Into A Deeper Darkness was one, and perhaps Shards Behind A Golden Frame, but The Day When Dreaming Ends was always one of those. I found one of the pivotal scenes of the writing in that box today, and I like it, and so I thought I would post it here in it's original form so when the new one comes out it can be compared.
Most of the characters are original characters I created to fill out the Marauder's world. Only three from JK Rowling's world appear. The spell names, places, and world setting will have to change obviously, and dramatically, because I don't want to copy her work, but I think there is a good base there. There is some cursing in the excerpt, and it's not the best I've ever done but I think the comparison later will be neat. It is also written in internet style (not netspeak!) to make it easier on the eyes for reading on the computer.
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The Day When Dreaming Ends
Laena's eyes frantically scanned the crowd, trying to catch a familiar face, a familiar pair of eyes. Her mouth and throat were dry, and tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.
She had never felt despair like this--not when she'd almost died, not when she'd slept with Sirius and she knew in her heart that it was nothing more than a favor, and not when Lily had vanished. She had run headfirst into death and could not escape, but now it was not merely her death.
As her eyes flickered across the Death Eaters, they caught the gaze of a pair of dark grey eyes. Eyes that she had dreamt about and loved for years, but she could see the difference between these eyes and the ones she loved.
"Regulus!" she hissed, and the startled man pulled off his mask. She could see the distress etched across Sirius's brother's young, handsome face.
Taryn made a startled noise from behind Laena, taking careful steps so she was not standing behind her heavy oak desk.
Laena thoughts raced frantically; Regulus probably had no great love for her. Why would he risk anything for her?
"What the hell do you want?" Taryn spat with uncharacterisitic nastiness. The leader chuckled, a low, cold laugh.
"It's typical of you, Lucius, to hide behind a mask. Don't think I don't know who you are," Taryn shot back in response to the laugh, a smug look on her face.
Laena looked surprised, giving Taryn an astonished look. The woman's ability to read people was amazing.
"The Department of Mysteries, Briant, is what we want. The secrets of it, and the way in." Lucius said smoothly, his voice not revealing the surprise in his cold eyes.
"Secrets which I know only you know. I will get them from you, and then I will kill you. I thought I'd be frank, seeing how you know everything. You always have," his voice was taunting.
They would kill her. She did not have the incredible intelligence that Taryn did; she did not know the Department of Mysteries' secrets. And because of her personality, she had openly spited the Dark Lord more than Taryn ever had. Terror shook her body; she finally had all she wanted, or at least the illusion of it, and now she was going to die. But her son, she couldn't let him die. Sirius needed him more than he needed her-- and she needed her son's life more than her own.
Her hands nervously wrung around a section of her flaming curls, and Laena decided to do something she had never done, never even considered.
She launched herself forward, grasping the front of Regulus's robes. The Death Eaters responded instantly, but a small Death Eater who gave a vauge sense of familiarity shouted for her to left alone. The Death Eaters listened, and slowly backed off.
"Regulus, I beg of you, don't kill me," she whispered, and the young man's eyes grw wide. Was this the fiery girl who has brother had always spoken of?
Lucius laughed cruelly as the other Death Eaters snickered loudly.
"So the unbreakable Laena O'Shannen begs for mercy; this is a sight worth seeing." he railed. Laena ignored him.
"Not for my sake--for your brother's. I carry your brother's son. Let me live for him," she said, and the tears finally came. They splashed down her cheeks and ran down her neck. Little tear flecks splattered across Regulus's face as he stared at her in unabashed horror. He didn't want Laena's murder on his hands--he didn't want murder at all.
"Please," Laena pleaded, her voice choked with tears.
At Laena's words about Sirius, one of the Death Eaters made a strangled noise deep in his throat. Laena didn't notice--all her focus was on Regulus.
Lucius swooped over and pushed Laena backwards. She stumbled and hit Taryn's big oak desk. Papers and office supplies went flying. Laena leaned against it for support, trying to force her body to stop shaking. Her ire was rising; Taryn could tell by her pursed lips and the flush that was spreading from her neck to her face.
"Did Black finally take you to his bed?" Lucius sneered, and Laena's eyes narrowed and became raging cinnamon slits.
"Does your wife ever voluntarily go to yours?" she shot back, and Lucius froze. She'd obviously touched a nerve. He snarled and raised his want.
"If you kill me, Lucius Malfoy, I bring the curse of the Celts upon you," Laena warned, and slid down the oak desk in exhaustion, looking up at the wizard. Lucius laughed hollowly.
"I'll never understand the Irish and their ridiculous beliefs," he said calmly, and Taryn snorted.
"You won't be laughing when the next time you step into Ireland a tree falls on your head," Taryn said nastily.
"Although it would be quite an improvement, I think." she added as an afterthought, and Lucius's expression was an odd one behind his faceless mask.
"What would be an improvement, Briant?" he snarled. Pride and arrogance really were his downfalls, Taryn thought to herself. He couldn't ignore her obvious distraction because it was insulting his pride.
"Oh, that you'd be dead. That'd make the world a much better place, believe me," she explained nonchalantly. Lucius started to make another comment, but stopped himself. He had too many important things to accomplish to waste time trading insults with an annoying mudblood.
"Is it true, that you carry Black's child?" One of the Death Eaters asked, his voice pained and strangled. It was the small one, the one who reminded Taryn of someone every time she saw him. The voice struck a chord somewhere, and Taryn frantically shifted through her endless amount of memories on people, voices and faces to try and identify it.
"It is, you bastard," Laena spat at him, and the man's shoulder sagged and it sounded like he choked back a sob.
"Oh god..." Taryn suddenly shouted, but it was too late. The man's form and already drawn up in pain and anger, and he had raised his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!" he sobbed and Taryn rushed forward in what felt like slow motion.
It didn't kill Laena instantly. He was such a weak wizard; he always had been. She was sprawled out on the ratty carpet for several moments, her face still frozen in a last expression of anger. Her lips moved, but no sound came out, and then Laena O'Shannen passed from the world.
It took Taryn several moments to register that Laena was dead; that her friend through the long years had suddenly and unexpectedly died and left her alone.
Taryn's eyes rose from her friend's form and rested on the small Death Eater. Her dark eyes glittered with unshed tears and an anger that she should never had felt boiled up in her soul. Taryn was a scholar, Taryn was a lover of all things...Taryn was never meant to be angry like this.
In a rage, she leapt onto her desk and ran across it. Snarling viciously, she launched herself onto the man, scratching and biting and flailing in rage.
"You fucking bastard! I'll kill you, I swear to God, I will fucking kill you!" she roared, and the force of her anger was incredible. In some part of her heart, she hoped they'd kill her for attacking him and then they'd never find out the secrets that resided in her head. Kill her so she could run after Laena, as she'd always done, and calm her anger.
Her hands scrabbled at his mask, trying to rip it off his face. Countless hands tore at her, yanking her away, pulling at her hair and clawing at her private parts.
"Don't think I don't know who you are! I always know! You'd better hope I never escape, because the whole of Gryffindor will tear you apart!" Taryn snarled, hateful words pouring from her lips. She had never had the desire to murder anyone before, but if she could have, she would have murdered him. She would have found a time-turner and gone back in time and murdered him.
She screamed at the top of her lungs. The force of it tore at her throat, and still didn't begin to express her range and betrayal. She should have known, she could see into everyone's souls. Why hadn't she seen the darkness in his?
The muscles in her legs and arms burned with exhaustion, but still she fought, pulling against the power of a dozen men. They would not take her...she couldn't.
One well-placed blow shattered Taryn's kneecap, sending her tumbling to the ground. And still she fought, with tears of pain, both physical and emotional, pouring down her face. Never had she been so alive...so expressive. Never had she fought so hard in her entire life.
And she lost. Her hands could only grip the doorframe for so long...her uninjured leg could only do some much damage. The hands grasped around her, and she lost.
She looked up one last time, murder and hate shining in her once gentle eyes.
"You'd better hope you never put one finger into Ireland, Peter Pettigrew." She raged, and spit into the eyehole of his mask.
And that was the last that was ever seen or heard from Taryn Briant, one of the most brilliant minds to ever pass through Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.
She had never felt despair like this--not when she'd almost died, not when she'd slept with Sirius and she knew in her heart that it was nothing more than a favor, and not when Lily had vanished. She had run headfirst into death and could not escape, but now it was not merely her death.
As her eyes flickered across the Death Eaters, they caught the gaze of a pair of dark grey eyes. Eyes that she had dreamt about and loved for years, but she could see the difference between these eyes and the ones she loved.
"Regulus!" she hissed, and the startled man pulled off his mask. She could see the distress etched across Sirius's brother's young, handsome face.
Taryn made a startled noise from behind Laena, taking careful steps so she was not standing behind her heavy oak desk.
Laena thoughts raced frantically; Regulus probably had no great love for her. Why would he risk anything for her?
"What the hell do you want?" Taryn spat with uncharacterisitic nastiness. The leader chuckled, a low, cold laugh.
"It's typical of you, Lucius, to hide behind a mask. Don't think I don't know who you are," Taryn shot back in response to the laugh, a smug look on her face.
Laena looked surprised, giving Taryn an astonished look. The woman's ability to read people was amazing.
"The Department of Mysteries, Briant, is what we want. The secrets of it, and the way in." Lucius said smoothly, his voice not revealing the surprise in his cold eyes.
"Secrets which I know only you know. I will get them from you, and then I will kill you. I thought I'd be frank, seeing how you know everything. You always have," his voice was taunting.
They would kill her. She did not have the incredible intelligence that Taryn did; she did not know the Department of Mysteries' secrets. And because of her personality, she had openly spited the Dark Lord more than Taryn ever had. Terror shook her body; she finally had all she wanted, or at least the illusion of it, and now she was going to die. But her son, she couldn't let him die. Sirius needed him more than he needed her-- and she needed her son's life more than her own.
Her hands nervously wrung around a section of her flaming curls, and Laena decided to do something she had never done, never even considered.
She launched herself forward, grasping the front of Regulus's robes. The Death Eaters responded instantly, but a small Death Eater who gave a vauge sense of familiarity shouted for her to left alone. The Death Eaters listened, and slowly backed off.
"Regulus, I beg of you, don't kill me," she whispered, and the young man's eyes grw wide. Was this the fiery girl who has brother had always spoken of?
Lucius laughed cruelly as the other Death Eaters snickered loudly.
"So the unbreakable Laena O'Shannen begs for mercy; this is a sight worth seeing." he railed. Laena ignored him.
"Not for my sake--for your brother's. I carry your brother's son. Let me live for him," she said, and the tears finally came. They splashed down her cheeks and ran down her neck. Little tear flecks splattered across Regulus's face as he stared at her in unabashed horror. He didn't want Laena's murder on his hands--he didn't want murder at all.
"Please," Laena pleaded, her voice choked with tears.
At Laena's words about Sirius, one of the Death Eaters made a strangled noise deep in his throat. Laena didn't notice--all her focus was on Regulus.
Lucius swooped over and pushed Laena backwards. She stumbled and hit Taryn's big oak desk. Papers and office supplies went flying. Laena leaned against it for support, trying to force her body to stop shaking. Her ire was rising; Taryn could tell by her pursed lips and the flush that was spreading from her neck to her face.
"Did Black finally take you to his bed?" Lucius sneered, and Laena's eyes narrowed and became raging cinnamon slits.
"Does your wife ever voluntarily go to yours?" she shot back, and Lucius froze. She'd obviously touched a nerve. He snarled and raised his want.
"If you kill me, Lucius Malfoy, I bring the curse of the Celts upon you," Laena warned, and slid down the oak desk in exhaustion, looking up at the wizard. Lucius laughed hollowly.
"I'll never understand the Irish and their ridiculous beliefs," he said calmly, and Taryn snorted.
"You won't be laughing when the next time you step into Ireland a tree falls on your head," Taryn said nastily.
"Although it would be quite an improvement, I think." she added as an afterthought, and Lucius's expression was an odd one behind his faceless mask.
"What would be an improvement, Briant?" he snarled. Pride and arrogance really were his downfalls, Taryn thought to herself. He couldn't ignore her obvious distraction because it was insulting his pride.
"Oh, that you'd be dead. That'd make the world a much better place, believe me," she explained nonchalantly. Lucius started to make another comment, but stopped himself. He had too many important things to accomplish to waste time trading insults with an annoying mudblood.
"Is it true, that you carry Black's child?" One of the Death Eaters asked, his voice pained and strangled. It was the small one, the one who reminded Taryn of someone every time she saw him. The voice struck a chord somewhere, and Taryn frantically shifted through her endless amount of memories on people, voices and faces to try and identify it.
"It is, you bastard," Laena spat at him, and the man's shoulder sagged and it sounded like he choked back a sob.
"Oh god..." Taryn suddenly shouted, but it was too late. The man's form and already drawn up in pain and anger, and he had raised his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!" he sobbed and Taryn rushed forward in what felt like slow motion.
It didn't kill Laena instantly. He was such a weak wizard; he always had been. She was sprawled out on the ratty carpet for several moments, her face still frozen in a last expression of anger. Her lips moved, but no sound came out, and then Laena O'Shannen passed from the world.
It took Taryn several moments to register that Laena was dead; that her friend through the long years had suddenly and unexpectedly died and left her alone.
Taryn's eyes rose from her friend's form and rested on the small Death Eater. Her dark eyes glittered with unshed tears and an anger that she should never had felt boiled up in her soul. Taryn was a scholar, Taryn was a lover of all things...Taryn was never meant to be angry like this.
In a rage, she leapt onto her desk and ran across it. Snarling viciously, she launched herself onto the man, scratching and biting and flailing in rage.
"You fucking bastard! I'll kill you, I swear to God, I will fucking kill you!" she roared, and the force of her anger was incredible. In some part of her heart, she hoped they'd kill her for attacking him and then they'd never find out the secrets that resided in her head. Kill her so she could run after Laena, as she'd always done, and calm her anger.
Her hands scrabbled at his mask, trying to rip it off his face. Countless hands tore at her, yanking her away, pulling at her hair and clawing at her private parts.
"Don't think I don't know who you are! I always know! You'd better hope I never escape, because the whole of Gryffindor will tear you apart!" Taryn snarled, hateful words pouring from her lips. She had never had the desire to murder anyone before, but if she could have, she would have murdered him. She would have found a time-turner and gone back in time and murdered him.
She screamed at the top of her lungs. The force of it tore at her throat, and still didn't begin to express her range and betrayal. She should have known, she could see into everyone's souls. Why hadn't she seen the darkness in his?
The muscles in her legs and arms burned with exhaustion, but still she fought, pulling against the power of a dozen men. They would not take her...she couldn't.
One well-placed blow shattered Taryn's kneecap, sending her tumbling to the ground. And still she fought, with tears of pain, both physical and emotional, pouring down her face. Never had she been so alive...so expressive. Never had she fought so hard in her entire life.
And she lost. Her hands could only grip the doorframe for so long...her uninjured leg could only do some much damage. The hands grasped around her, and she lost.
She looked up one last time, murder and hate shining in her once gentle eyes.
"You'd better hope you never put one finger into Ireland, Peter Pettigrew." She raged, and spit into the eyehole of his mask.
And that was the last that was ever seen or heard from Taryn Briant, one of the most brilliant minds to ever pass through Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.
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