Mini Nano Day #2

The Avery Women

The Avery Women on AO3

Timeframe: sometime in late 1982 or early 1983, because Niobe was very careful about who was allowed near the nursery for the first six months she had Harry in her home.

"I have heard a disturbing rumor, Mrs. Snape." Dumbledore fixes Niobe with a long look as she sips her tea.

"There are a good many rumors floating about, Headmaster Dumbledore. I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific." Niobe pauses, carefully setting her tea cup back on its saucer, a small and fleeting smile crossing her face. "And it's Madame Avery. I do not use my husband's name."

Dumbledore frowns, radiating a faint disapproval that Niobe suspects is more about her evasion than her disdain for Snape. Though if he doesn't approve of what name she bears, she'll gladly scorn that as well. It's not his place to judge how she handles a marriage only conducted for the sake of others.

"That Harry Potter is being held at Avery House." He looks over his spectacles at her, and Niobe can feel the gentle press of a mind against hers. Not her sister's, and she snorts softly.

"An interesting rumor. Do you have any proof?" She takes another sip of tea, deliberately holding his gaze, and letting the thought float up that she doesn't appreciate someone trying to sneak into her head.

"Are you denying the rumor, then?"

"How is it any business of yours, Headmaster? Avery House is neither Hogwarts nor the property of the Dumbledore family. And as I understand it, the care and whereabouts of Harry Potter aren't your concern, either. That would fall to his relatives and his godparents, of which you, to my knowledge, are neither."

Mini Nano Day #2, Extra Snippet

Because I can, and I'm really fond of this one.

Star Wars: Last Stand of Valor

"It is not a small stage on which we act." Finis looks out over the currently empty Senate dome, before glancing to the teenager standing next to her. "And we have an audience uncounted to scrutinize our performance."

"They criticize it constantly. I'm not good enough for them, too emotional, too attached." Anakin shakes her head, grimacing. "Why are we here, Chancellor?"

"You asked me last time we met how I can be so calm in the face of the vitriol from everyone that's spewed behind my back." Finis waves a hand at the empty Senate. "Look at it all. Vast, and all of it as empty as the space between the stars. Quiet, if only for a moment."

Anakin frowns, but does as Finis suggested, and looks. Listens to the silence that falls with neither of them speaking. Well, not quite silence. Quiet, but with the faint hum of power that keeps the lights on, the pods in standby, the shield in place that arcs over the Chancellor's podium even now.

"You imagine it like this when it's full of people all shouting at once?" Anakin turns her head to look at Finis again, curiosity clear in her expression.

"Sometimes. Sometimes I just imagine the lot of them naked. Or as younglings playing dress-up." Finis smiles as Anakin laughs, reaching out to rest a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You're fine, Anakin. Connections are part of being human, and cutting them off is about as sensible as cutting off an arm or a leg. The Jedi seem to have forgotten that, most of them."