Angolan Reed Frogs (Hyperolius Angolensis), Family Hyperoliidae, Southeastern Angola

Let’s talk about a cat who spent a whole day waiting on a wall, while everyone else was celebrating, because she had heard something and she couldn’t believe it. Because people were laughing for the first time in years, and all she wanted to do was cry.

Let’s talk about a teacher who was strict and severe, but fair and caring. A woman who fought for her students until the very end, with her green robes and stern look, three silver cats flying out of her wand. And they fought for her too.

Let’s talk about Minerva McGonagall.

When Minerva McGonagall saw Harry for the first time, she didn’t see his mother living in his green eyes, like Severus would. She didn’t see James’ ghost in his shy smile, like Sirius; or a hero to be shaped by manipulative hands, like Albus. She didn’t even see an orphan, like the rest of the world did. She didn’t see the boy who lived. She just saw a boy, her student, and for her, that was enough.

Minerva McGonagall survived a war and all that came after. The funerals and the sorrow, but also the laughter that was back. She survived the ghosts and the mourning. She let her heart break over Lily’s death, her hands shaking because James would never make another joke; a sharp, disappointed pain over Sirius’ betrayal (they had been her students. They had been her children) and then she collected the pieces and moved on. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, Albus said once. And she didn’t dwell on dreams. She was stone and she would not shatter.

She survived a war, and, when she had already buried the dead and forgotten the nightmares, another one came. And she survived it too. She was a rock, and rocks may be weathered, but they don’t break.

When Fred and George Weasley abandoned the school, leaving behind a trail of cheers, admirers and laughter, and a petition (give her hell for us, Peeves), Minerva saw Umbridge’s fury and Peeves’ bow, and hid a smile in the corner of her lips. When Neville Longbottom came to her office, asking for advice, with his clumsy hands and a respectful fear in his eyes, she offered him a biscuit and some tea, and she gave him reassurance with her stern frown and her steady voice.

When Remus Lupin became the DADA teacher, she invited him to her office. She offered him biscuits too, some chocolate this time. They talked for a long time, about old times and forgotten joys, about four friends and their mischiefs and pranks. They looked back on their bets and their antics, their hopes and their dreams. They didn’t talk about death, not that evening, and the Marauders came back to life in that room, their voices rising and stealing pieces of a future they hadn’t gotten to live. They also talked about their students, homework and assignments, because they were teachers after all, and that was something worth remembering.

She gave him a knitted jumper for Christmas. He gave her a box of chocolates. Years later, she would stand by his grave and leave a single flower on it. A flower for the boy she’d known and the man he’d become. The man who was kind and quiet and healing. The man she’d like to have gotten to know better.

Albus died then, a shout and a blaze of green light. A fall, and it was all over. It felt like the end of an age. “Are the rumours true?”, she had asked, once upon a time. Now she wanted to ask Harry the same thing, trying to keep her voice from shaking, because Albus Dumbledore couldn’t be dead, could he? But then again, James and Lily couldn’t have been, either, and yet they had been, they were.

When the Second Wizarding War began, she stayed at the school. She kept teaching, because she was a teacher and she would not let them take that from her. Because her students were there, and she wouldn’t leave them alone. She wouldn’t let them die, all those brave children, if she could do something to save them. She wasn’t like Albus, who had prepared himself to sacrifize a boy in the name of the greater good. A boy’s life for the sake of the world.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, there was a destroyed castle and ashes. Minerva stumbled when she saw George’s desperation and Fred’s frozen smile. She wanted to cry when she came across Lavender’s body. She finally collapsed to her knees, when she found Colin Creevey. She had seen him this still, once before. But there were no mandrake leaves to save him, not this time. He was too young. He shouldn’t have been fighting a war, the brave and naïve boy.

Pomona Sprout kneeled next to her then, and Minerva sobbed on her shoulder.

“A boy”, she cried. “He was a boy, he was a child. Children, they were children.”

Pomona let her weep, and then she said,

“There are children here still. They are alive, and they need you, and more will come, and you’ll be there. And you’ll be fine.”

And she was right. Minerva collected the pieces once again, and she moved on. She sent a box of chocolates to Dennis Creevey, as Remus would have done, because he was so much better at being kind than her. Than any of them, really. Dennis sent her a photograph, an old picture of Albus and her, the Weasley twins laughing in the background. She met Molly Weasley for tea, and they shared anecdotes. And she went back to Hogwarts and she kept teaching, because she was a teacher before anything else. She became the new headmaster. The best one of them all.

Some years later, Neville Longbottom knocked at her door, asking for a job. She remembered all the times he had come, asking for advice with his stammering voice. She remembered the way he had led the resistance, the way he had stood up and defied the ones who had made his parents lose their minds. The way he had worked hard and stubborn, never giving up. She offered him a biscuit and some tea. She had never felt so proud.

When he left, she went through some papers. She looked up and the portrait of Albus Dumbledore winked at her. She smiled and went back to work.

When Teddy Lupin arrived at Hogwarts for the first time, expectation in his eyes and bright colours in his hair, he was nothing like the other orphan who had stared at her once upon a time, the one who had had skinny elbows and broken glasses. Teddy Lupin wasn’t looking for a family, he already had one. But, as she had done before, she saw another student, and for her, that was enough.

She was a teacher. Students were her children. And she was their rock.

Modern!Making a Gingerbread House Would Include...

A/N: i’m posting twice today to make up for not posting yesterday lmao, so uh day 2 of christmas (even though it’s day 3)

Both you and Edmund attempt to make gingerbread houses every year

It’s one of your favourite traditions during the Christmas season with Edmund

A few days before you two go shopping, you two would go online and look at inspiration for your decorations

“Oh, look at this one Edmund!”

“Y/N, I love that you believe that we’re this talented with gingerbread house making but we aren’t.”

Once you two settled on a theme, you would go out to the store and get a gingerbread house starter

Once you were home, you would play christmas music while Edmund unboxed it and looked at the directions

You and Edmund being somewhat clumsy putting the base together

“Careful love.”

“I’m trying, my hands are shaky.”

Once the base was together, you both would start decorating

“Okay, you do the roof and I’ll start the front.”

You humming to the christmas songs while making the windows

edmund being lowkey good at decorating

“Why are the windows... lopsided?”

“Uh... A for effort?”

Edmund eating the gumdrops once the icing was on

“Stop eating the decorations!”

“But it’s good!”

The gum drops and other candies kept slowly slipping off

“We need more icing.”

Edmund applying more icing

By the end of finishing the gingerbread house, you two would wash your hands

“You know, I think this might be the best gingerbread house we’ve made.”

“Even with the lopsided windows?”

“Especially with the lopsided windows.”

You would laugh at Edmund’s encouraging teasing and you’d pull him into a kiss

Suddenly you two would hear a crack and something falling apart

When you guys would turn around you would see the ‘best gingerbread house so far’ in pieces

Both you and Edmund would glance at each other before laughing at your failed attempt

I’ve just read one of the very first (or maybe the first) script used for the movie The Lion The Wicth and the Wardrobe and there are so many goods stuff in there I need to share it with you:

Edmund rushing to hug his mum at the train station is the cutest thing ever.

Edmund making Lucy laugh and bringing her biscuits to cheer her up !

The Pevensies mother was supposed to be named Miriam (it later changed for Helen).

This is after Edmund came back from Narnia the first time. FORESHADOW !

Susan being funny and making Peter smile.

Peter and Susan being the Dad and Mum as usual.

Lil’ Edmund being concerned for his family.

Susan and Mrs. Beaver being BFF.

Father Christmas and Lucy talking about Edmund’s gift.

Susan trying Narnian clothes for the first time.

Edmund finally being done with Jadis.

The Pevensies sharing a fun moment with Aslan.

I think this is my favorite !!! 

The Pevensies being at Cair Pavarel (I so needed that scene).

Edmund and Lucy being adults and still making fun of Susan.

😍😂

Y/n, sees someone doing something idiotic: Oh god what an idiot.

Y/n, realizing it’s Cedric: Oh no that’s my idiot.

Hogwarts House Crisis

Me: Pshhh! I’m not part Slytherin, I’m a full on Ravenclaw. Pottermore rarely puts me in Slytherin.

Also Me: *Re-starts every card game on my phone if I don’t like my cards just so I can win.*

Me Again: *Trying to chase my life dreams at the young age of 15*

Me the Third: *Wants to move out of the house because my family is irritating and I want to leave the house and provide for myself and live by myself and avoid annoying people*

Me the Fourth: *Loves every Hufflepuff out there*

(No hate to slytherin though, I just have always thought of myself as a Ravenclaw)

“why are you sad?” i ask myself

“because i want to experience love. what is it like? why are we so scared?”

“i suppose we’re waiting for when it’s safe. when we’ve gotten to a place mentally that it’s ok to let someone in”

“sometimes i feel like this wait will be never ending, for maybe i won’t ever feel like we’re ready for love”

love in fiction when scientists get a little too wild in the pursuit of science and end up a little fucked up because of it. you inject yourself with alien dna, you meld minds with some kind of mysterious creature, you let the parasite infect you. like yesss express your total devotion to your field by sacrificing a part of yourself to it and becoming slightly unhuman in the process

One real benefit of reading I rarely hear anybody mention is how much more interesting life becomes when you read a lot. It depends what you’re reading, of course, but most (good) books will teach you something you didn’t already know, and even if you have to give the book back to the library, you get to take that much with you. A lot of people talk about things they wish they’d studied in school–I’ve done it, too–but it’s a nice consolation prize that you can always pick up a book and learn something new. And as that library in your brain collects more volumes, everything around you gains new resonances, new context, and new connections which make your lived experience richer. In quarantine alone I’ve read about religion and politics and history and evolution and computer science and astrophysics without even leaving my house and it’s already a more interesting world. 

I’m rereading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and I forgot how much fun it was! love Reepicheep and his constant longing for Aslan’s Country, to the point where he’s willing to die for it; his tendency to always want to do the honorable and knightly thing. (I find all the “bother Reepicheep” comments pretty hilarious, it’s like whenever he opens his mouth they’re forced to agree with him because he makes everyone else sound cowardly and dishonorable in comparison) And then there’s Caspian, always caught up between being king and being a boy, Lucy and Edmund enjoying everything in general and feeling so at home, Eustace annoying and being annoyed by everyone before Dragon Island—I specifically love his diary entries—and those little moments that you don’t get as much of in the other books because usually there’s some kind of important quest or war going on... like hearing them talk about what it will be like to fall over the world’s edge: Reep is thrilled by the idea, Eustace is understandably confused (“are these people flat earthers?” lol) and Caspian just wants to go to a “round like a ball” world which is apparently only a thing in fairytales.