But I don’t like icy cold in March.

I love having a new book to translate.

But I don’t like that it’s on an even tighter deadline.
(Or that it’s for an anthology, which means that I have to cut even more
and will earn even less.)

I like readers who leave comments. Even negative ones.
(No really; they are always interesting, and sometimes they even have a point.)

I loathe anonymous comments. Bloody cowards!
(If you’re not sure if your comment is a ‘flame’, don’t post it;
otherwise, make sure the author has a way of getting back to you –
anything else is bloody damn rude.)

I like clean litter boxes for my cats.

I most certainly do not like actually cleaning them.

I love difficult Muses.

But only if they are actually talking to me.

I like dreams, and find even nightmares exciting.

Not so much when they are about me dying
or just screaming my head off in anger with zero results.

I don’t actually mind getting old(er) –
being a fancrone has advantages, and you can’t do anything about it anyway.

But: Why white hair now?
Not silvery or silver, but snowwhite. No fair.

And now I’m going to try and write a bit until the new book arrives. Wish me luck!

aggravated

Here we go again. The week simply Buzzed by. And I even got some stuff written! Whoohoohooo. And painted.

As always, I hope you enjoy this round-up. Feel free to jump in with comments and questions, or start Following me on Buzz. It’s junomagic AT googlemail DOT com … Only please be so kind to introduce yourself. I often don’t remember pennames and lj addies, so you need to remind me how we know each other. *is getting old*

Especially if you have kids approaching the age where they get active online (or are already), this one may be interesting to you:

Meeting of Minds: Cross-Generational Conversations About Digital Ethics (Part One) – Confessions of an Aca/Fan
Earlier this year, Common Sense Media, Global Kids, and the Good Play Project, three highly regarded groups, each working in different ways to promote the new media literacies, issued a report,…

Witches and vampires: historical evidence explained by modern science! Creepy, but cool.

“Vampire of Venice” Unmasked: Plague Victim & Witch? – news.nationalgeographic.com
A “vampire” unearthed in a mass grave near Venice was unusually old for the Middle Ages, suggesting she may also have been accused of being a witch, according to new research that includes a reconstruction of the medieval woman.

Kitty Hygiene 101 or Groom School with Prof Bean – The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee
OK, Spooners,,, I want you to stretch….and lick. Got it? Stretch and lick. Watch me now.

Visit the kitchens of Hogwarts OWL!

http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_owl/

Have a cat:

Here I come to save the day!! – Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats – I Can Has Cheezburger?

lolcats, cats and funny pictures – Here I come to save the day!!

Actually, have two cats:

I think I was – Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats – I Can Has Cheezburger?

Lolcats, cats and funny pictures – I think I was on my way to the couch when I was interrupted by a nap.

Debut solo album from Jónsi of Sigur Rós [→ new tab link to Wikipedia] – release date april 6th!

Jónsi – Go Do from Jónsi on Vimeo.

On the Tip of Her Tongue – The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee

http://www.theittybittykittycommittee.com/2010/03/on-tip-of-her-tongue.html

Songs of Insects: This is SO cool! Listen to the BUZZ!

Songs of Insects – Learn 20 Common Insect Songs

It’s “Back to Writing Month” again!

Join us at the writers’ workshop “There and Back Again”

and write and drabble for Shakespeare quotes:

http://community.livejournal.com/there_n_back/169785.html

On parchment:
http://www.pergamena.net/products/how_we_make_parchment/

And:

“The parchmentmaker stands in a shambles. He works in the middle of fat and decay, maggots and excrement. It is about dead and killed animals, bled or not, about cadavers, intestines and abortions. In short, all about the activities of an animal breaking-up yard.”
(source: http://www.dedas.com/parchment/uk/parchment.html)

Pergamena  |  Products & Services  |  How We Make Parchment

Pergamena is the nation’s leader in parchments, leathers, and applied parchment and leather design. Custom art and raw materials are available.

From Zauza: What are the three things your Amortentia would smell like? [→ new tab link for public Buzz post]

Great answers! Take a look!

SQUEEEE! Have a sugar high just from looking at these fluffballs!

Snugglin’ Spooner Style Pt 1 – The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee
As promised,,, a few still images from the yesterday’s movie.

This week’s drabbles:

• “That Plank in Your Eye” @GS100
• “To Kiss Life, To Taste Death” @There and Back Again or at OWL, here
• “Fairy Dust” @There and Back Again

And that’s it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

hyper

An article shared by allie_meril on Google Reader sparked such an interesting discussion over on Google Buzz that we thought it would a good idea to move the whole thing over here to see what you guys think about it.

Here’s what it’s all about:

1. “Is Hooking Up Good for Girls?” by Rachel Simmons [→ offsite link, opens in a new tab]
2. “‘Hook-up culture’s’ bad rap” by Kate Harding [→ offsite link, opens in a new tab]
3. “It’s not the sex, it’s the sexism” by Amanda Marcotte [→ offsite link, opens in a new tab]

The discussion on Buzz so far:

juno_magic – Interesting! Don’t miss reading the responses linked to at the end of the article. (Thanks to allie_meril for the link.)

Is Hooking Up Good for Girls? « Rachel Simmons – www.rachelsimmons.com

zauza – Interesting indeed.

allie_meril – You’re welcome! I thought it was well worth sharing. :)

christev – I think about this sometimes when reading fanfiction.

Now, believe me, I’m reading my SSHG or Drarry hoping that they’re going to get together. And while I want a happy ending, I also want a hot and steamy middle, and I’ve enjoyed many a PWP (just putting that out there so I don’t misrepresent).

But I very much appreciate the stories where the couple-to-be takes it a little slower, doesn’t fall into bed an hour after the first time they kiss. Especially in those I-hate-you-oh-no-I-actually-love-you pairings. I lose myself in many stories, yes, placing myself in the intrepid heroine’s position, but more and more have found myself thinking, “They just kissed after [insert time frame here] of being sexually awkward together. And the go that easily into ripping each other’s clothes off?” Where’d the awkward go, what happened to the tentative?

It is worrisome to me to watch teenage girls devalue themselves and their friends by calling each other derogatory names, even in jest. And thinking that a) they are worth more if they have a boyfriend; b) they have to have sex to get/earn/win a boyfriend; and c) everyone but everyone has sex within the first or second date, whether they really want to or not, are all additional ways of thinking that devalue women – of all ages, but I think teens are the most susceptible. I think that tv, movies, ads, and yes, a lot of the fanfiction we read and produce (including myself in that, btw) all play a part in perpetuating those lines of thinking.

What do people think? Am I way off base here? I’m eager to hear other opinions.

And I will repeat – I’m indicting myself, not pointing fingers. Plus one more word of gratitude for fics that manage to be steamy in their portrayal of relationships that move at a slower pace.

allie_meril – Here’s two great responses to the original article, which made me even more thinky:
“Hook-up culture’s” bad rap (Kate Harding at Salon Broadsheet)
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2010/02/26/hook_up_culture/index.html

It’s not the sex, it’s the sexism (Amanda Marcotte at pandagon.net)
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/its_not_the_sex_its_the_sexism/

christev – More great links – although I’m headachy and didn’t get too far into the second. In the first, she and I have remarkably similar lists at one point! I definitely agree with her main point, and like how she phrased this:

“From where I’m sitting, the problem that needs solving isn’t hook-up culture, but the intense pressure on girls and women to focus on getting and keeping a guy, rather than on getting and keeping whatever they want.”

Thanks for providing great food for thought today! :)

allie_meril – Glad to. :) I’m very bad at phrasing my own thoughts on these things: they make me think a lot, but the best I can seem to do is just pass the articles along!

juno_magic – Warning: tl;dr

yo biatches … how. funny. not.

I’m with you on the issue of using derogatory names for fun. And I wouldn’t limit that problem to teenagers.

For example, it bothers me a lot when women use “bitch” for fun. I know feminists claim that they are “reclaiming” the word and using it for fun is “empowering” or that it doesn’t mean anything. But I don’t think it works like that. The meaning of words does change, of course, but right now those words ~are~ insults. And by using them that way, women only end up the butt of the joke, not empowered.

(It’s one reason I rarely look at that “Smart Bitches, Trashy Novels” site. I can’t get over that offensive word. And don’t get me started on casual usage of that word elsewhere … URGH!)

Pressures and demands

Pressure of society, oh, definitely. And what a multi-faceted thing it is.

Anyway … I think a big problem is the conflicting demands that are aimed at girls and women. As if they — and we — are supposed to be saints and sluts at the same time, picture book mothers of big happy families and smart and stylish career girls and empowered women in sync with their inner self … Of course the background of those demands is not all bad: a girl or a woman can choose what she wants to be in many countries around the world nowadays. But that much choice and less and less direction from any authority (parents, school, religion …) will make growing up more difficult, not easier, I guess.

Ads and magazines, I fear, are worst. Humans are visual animals. And you can’t escape the visual impression of Photoshopped perfect models everywhere who are equipped with the perfect accessories not only in terms of cars and clothing, but also where male companions are concerned. Having so many artificial ideals around that you can never live up to? Great for the development of ego and self-perception. Not.

Re: fanfiction … I’m inclined to see that in a more positive light because writing is always a constructive endeavour. It’s more than just dressing up like a movie star. And I have read many fanfic stories by younger authors that show a strong, confident heroine with a healthy, positive attitude towards sex. (Leaving PWPs and other smutty stories out of this discussion because those belong IMO into the realm of sexual fantasies and that’s a completely different thing.)

rather than on getting and keeping whatever they want

Meh. I think that’s a) too simplistic, and b) supports the negative trends of entitlement culture.

(Wanting and getting what you want is nice, but … life doesn’t work that way, and there are already too many people out there who think they are entitled to get anything what they want and if anything doesn’t go their way, they are oppressed by … admins, life, society, whatever …)

The quiz examples from those girly magazines in the Salon article are hilarious. But I bet you could also find similar examples for self-empowerment, since that’s also a trend that’s been picked up by those magazines. No idea how most girls treat those magazines nowadays, I only remember that none of us ever took that stuff seriously.

Saying “it’s all individual anyway” is a cheap cop-out, though. Of course it is. ~has Life of Brian moment: “I’m an individual, too.” “I’m not.”~

I think the focus should be more on self-worth and self-esteem. And that’s where I really like the end of thet Salon article:

“there’s a wide range of potentially healthy sexual and emotional relationships”

Going back to the original article: the happy nostalgia towards the days when a young man had to call the parents first, then the first “date” was supervised by the mother … URGH! How was that better for the young woman? How many choices did she have then?

The pressure was the same, just the formal dancing and prancing was different.

I think the author of the article at pandagon.net has a point when she says that the underlying conflict then and now is the same, only the framework has changed … but of course that’s rather simplistic, too. Our society is still based on the heterosexual norm, so of course the framework is still the same.

She claims that men dominate and control the social validation of young women in those youth cultures.

I dunno.

The way I remember it, sure, we were desperate to get a bf … to start experimenting with sex. All those hormones that needed a release.

But what was MOST important: a boyfriend was the absolute MUST-HAVE accessory to impress the other girls. It was never the boys we wanted to impress. It was always the other girls and their opinion we dreaded.

(Talk about social validation …)

(Over here btw a wo/man at 30 is supposed to have a good job, a partner with a good job, two kids, and a house of their own. Pets optional. — Maybe we should open up a discussion of social pressure problems in a new BUZZ?)

What I found really offputting in that article was the author’s derogatory treatment of love (referring to it as “Twu Wuv”) … And how she defers the idea of love to the point where you’re all socially validated on your own, with a good job of your own, a house of your own … Not anymore helpful for the kids than saying “Quit fucking”.

“At least nowadays young women are able to leave their houses without male accompaniment. Parties and dances not only don’t require dates, according to the hand-wringers, dates are almost verboten. So you can be the “fat” one, the “hot” one”, or the one that’s “just there”, and you still get to have fun. We have a long way to go, but feminism did achieve that quiet, small victory.”

(Forgive me for a small ~snerk~.)

So: “Is Hooking Up Good For Girls?”

Yes, if they enjoy it. No, if they feel they have to and are unhappy with the situation.

The good thing about modern youth cultures is that in spite of considerable social pressure, there ~are~ more choices today for kids. And more awareness of personal identity. And lots and lots of evidence online of various and sundry processes of discovering and definiting personal and sexual identity.

Kids have much more of a chance to look around and realise: “I’m not the only one.”

Not the only one who loves casual sex (but please with condoms, ‘kay?).
Not the only one who doesn’t care for sex at all.
Not the only one who is GLBTQ.

So what do you think? About the original article? The two responses? The ideas and questions raised in the discussion?

Last but not least, two requests:
• This discussion touches already upon many different topics, from casual sex to m/dating to social pressures to feminism to fanfic. (Yay, great discussion!) To avoid confusion and conflict, please explain what you want to address with your comment (the original article, aspects of the other articles or the discussion, something completely new …).
• This discussion ALSO touches upon many “hot” topics, politically and personally, and emotionally. Therefore, please be not only polite, but kind. And if you post rants or expressions of strong personal feelings (both of which are fine and interesting things to post, but are also often not open to arguments or discussion) please say so to avoid conflicts.

hopeful

Here be what I Buzzed about last week: quotes, vids, links, drabbles … and more …

(Feel free to Follow me: junomagic@googlemail.com … but I’d really appreciate a short head’s up concerning who you are and where we “met” each other online.)

Amber Incense Sticks | Home | L’OCCITANE en provence | New Zealand

Amber Incense Sticks | Home | L’OCCITANE en provence | New Zealand Incense sticks that spread delicately flavor while being consumed. Its fragrance mix a sweet fragrance with a voluptuous blend of Oriental scents. The sweetness of vanilla is combined with a bouquet of spices, incense and myrrh.

… since the Amber Incense Sticks are no longer available in Europe, I ended up ordering an eau de toilette to go with a shower and body lotion I use, a body scrub of verveine salts, and a vetyver soap for the hubby.

Google Buzz Trick – DOGHOUSE
Try this at home… And we wanna see it. Post a screenshot of the results here. Immediately!

… okay, that trick is not exactly new (you can do the same on LiveJournal, or any blog, really), but still: BWHAHAHAHAHA!

Ces serments, ces parfums, ces baisers infinis,
Renaîtront-ils d’un gouffre interdit à nos sondes,
Comme montent au ciel les soleils rajeunis
Après s’être lavés au fond des mers profondes?
— Ô serments! ô parfums! ô baisers infinis!

– “Le Balcon”, Charles Baudelaire: Fleurs du Mal, ca. 1856

Can vows and perfume, kisses infinite,
Be reborn from the gulf we cannot sound;
As rise to heaven suns once again made bright
After being plunged in deep seas and profound?
Ah, vows and perfumes, kisses infinite!

– from the poem “The Balcony” in Charles Baudelaire’s “The Flowers of Evil”, a translation by Frank Pearce Sturm (1906)

While I was waiting for Bluey’s corn chowder (http://bluestocking79.livejournal.com/154035.html) to simmer to the chicken-adding stage last weekend, I ogled one my favourite food pr0n sites:

foodgawker | feast your eyes

foodgawker is a gallery of enticing food photography submitted by talented food bloggers. Come feast your eyes and discover amazing recipes.

Then I told my b-list about listening to this:

Night Light by Vidia Wesenlund

And my darling Zauza loved the album so much that she bought it and shared it with me (if you buy an album at Magnatune, you’re officially allowed to pass it on to up to three of your friends!) Thank you again, Zauza!

And then I asked a question I’m still very curious about:

What could a manifesto for fan fiction and fan art look like?

Art Manifestos and Their Applications in Contemporary Design – Smashing Magazine Feed
The way you express yourself with words is a crucial extension of your creative identity …

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.”

—Pablo Picasso

Aboriginal People Sculpture From the William Ricketts Sanctuary

Sculpture from the William Ricketts sanctuary. It was an incredible place, William Ricketts (1898-1993) was an Australian potter and sculptor of the arts and crafts movement. His incredible works opened the eyes of Australians…

Then I StumbledUpon breathtaking pictures in an article about

The World’s Most Extreme Deserts [→ offsite link]

Then I had a most annoying earworm on Tuesday:

And bluestocking79 made it only worse:

Then I finally discovered how to get my cats organised:

119 Ways to Store and Organize Your Cats

When we first saw Joanne Casey’s instructions on how to store and organize cats, we were impressed. However, we have found…

Then I asked an important question:

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them … what do you have left? Is it an odd or an end?

And received very interesting answers. (You have to be on my b-list to be able to see them.)

I admired steampunk jewellery.

Steampunk Necklace featuring a gothic dragon by simplywillow [→ offsite link to Etsy]

Amazing steampunk pendant features a golden gear, a rustic brass cog and a vintage watch face mounted on a vintage watch plate …

Then I asked another question:

What’s one of the most remarkable sounds from your childhood? Something you will never forget and that you don’t get to hear anymore?

And received very touching answers. [→ offsite link to a public Buzz]

I got all sentimental over “Spirit”, the Mars Rover comic by xkcd [→ offsite link to xkcd].

And was very grateful when my flist friend who linked there also linked to “fix it” fanfic:

# happy ending version 1 [→ offsite link]
# happy ending version 2: xkcd/Dr Who [→ offsite link]

My mind boggled at this:

Newborns’ blood used to build secret DNA database – Short Sharp Science [→ offsite link]

I posted a vid about one of my favourite children’s books, by Neil Gaiman and read by Neil Gaiman.

And Christev made me an icon for it:

And today I Buzzed two links with tricks for using Google Buzz:

• http://aext.net/2010/02/12-undocumented-tricks-for-google-buzz/ [→ offsite link]
• http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/02/12/google-buzz-tips-and-tricks/ [→ offsite link]

Last but not least, I instigated an instant drabbling* session on Google Buzz, so I have three drabbles to share:

*instant drabbling (v.): To write a story of 100 words (a drabble) using a few specific, random words (usually three to five) … instantly. A theme or topic is occasionally used.
Variants: instant drabble (n. or v.); instant drabbler (n.); insta-drabble (n. or v.); insta-drabbler (n.).

♦♦♦

Hermione grinned at her husband’s flabbergasted expression. To surprise her sneaky Slytherin had been a challenge. Obviously, she’d mastered the task.

She raised her glass to Severus. The milky green of Absinthe promised fascinating experiences, as did the carefully chosen location: a perfectly round clearing deep in the Forbidden Forest, safe-guarded by the ancient magic of a Celtic shrine.

She took a sip, enjoying the spicy spirit. Then she carefully put her glass on the ground, next to the bottle and the picnic blanket.

Smirking, she began to remove her last piece of clothing – rolling down silvery thigh-high stockings …

♦♦♦

A holiday with friends in Egypt had been Ron’s idea, naturally. So here they were, smack-dab in the hustle and bustle of the wizarding bazaar in Cairo.

Ron’s Hugo and Harry’s sons were chasing each other around a column with a wizarding clock at the top. Rose – Severus’ and Hermione’s daughter – was admiring life-like dragon dolls with Lily-Luna.

Hermione pretended to be enraptured by steampunk-style jewellery. In truth she was watching Harry, Ron, and Severus, who were studying a display of Dark artefacts – and laughing openly at a shared joke.

Hermione smiled. Her favourite men had come a long way.

♦♦♦

“Ron, call Hugo back!” Hermione warned.

“Why?” Ron grinned at the boy’s antics. “It’s just a hippopotamus.”

Suddenly Hugo screamed, and the pachyderm gulped.

“Because it’s not,” Severus said. “It’s a Behemoth.”

The beast waggled its head: Hugo was gone.

“Quick! A glove! A pen!”

Ron just blinked, but Harry produced the requested items.

“Daddy!” wailed Rose. “No kill beastie!”

Propping the Behemoth’s maw open with the pen, a gloved Severus groped inside.

Pulling out a bedraggled Hugo, Severus smiled at his daughter. “Don’t worry, I’m not mugging any monsters. But we don’t want it to get indigestion, do we?”

I hope you enjoyed some of those odds and ends! And with that, we’ve reached the end of a week’s worth of Buzzing!

Dear beffeysue,

I wish you a very happy birthday! And all the gifts of a blueberry woman.

loved

by JunoMagic

Chapters 1–10

Nothing Good Will Come of That

Hermione frowned at the door in front of her. As far as she remembered, there was no door here, least of all the door to the library. But there it was. A door. Right across from the entrance to the quarters she shared with her husband. And it looked just like the entrance to the library on the fourth floor.

While Hermione was still hesitating in the middle of the corridor, frowning, Crookshanks suffered from no such compunctions. He went straight for the door and started scratching at the age-darkened oak-wood.

Hermione’s frown deepened.

Although she knew that Crookshanks would be perfectly behaved, she still wasn’t sure how she felt about her cat being allowed to accompany her into the library. It was by special dispensation from Headmistress McGonagall and— to Hermione’s shock and surprise—librarian Irma Pince that Crooks was permitted to stay with her all the time, even when she was working in the Restricted Section.

While Hermione had long since abandoned the notion that cats didn’t belong in beds, she used to have higher standards where libraries were concerned. And then there was the acute awareness that she was being singled out, that allowances were made for her…her handicaps. Her Gryffindor stubbornness rebelled against that kind of royal treatment. Yet somehow she couldn’t bring herself to argue against it in this case. Because she was grateful to have Crookshanks with her. He had helped her out of more than one tight spot in the last months, when being wandless in a magic castle had ended with her—She swallowed hard. Locked in.

With the countless secret rooms and passages of Hogwarts, that happened to everyone on a semi-regular basis. Even teachers got lost now and again. Of course they were not found in a nearly catatonic state when someone finally came to set them free. The magical signature of a teacher’s wand would open nearly all doors, gates, entrances, exits, and passageways in the castle.

Hermione scowled at the door.

The castle was trying to be nice. It was a long way to the fourth floor and the library, and the stack of books she had retrieved from her study was heavy when you couldn’t float it with a spell. And it was only one of three stacks she had to return to the library.

She sighed deeply. Not that she wasn’t grateful to the castle, but every time it went out of its way to make things easier for her, she wondered if she still belonged here at all. She bit down on her lip.

Think of Sunday, she told herself firmly. She’d dragged Severus outside and right up to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to look at the daffodil meadow she’d discovered only a few days ago. Joy and happiness. They had embraced and kissed, and she had sworn to him that they would be just fine.

One day, she amended with another sigh. Can’t expect no miracles.

Somehow that qualification had been easier to bear outside, in Severus’ arms, and in the bright spring sunshine. Today, weighed down by Tuesday doldrums and her books, being mollycoddled by the castle like the magically challenged person she was, her optimism wavered.

Crookshanks meowed expectantly and scratched at the door again.

“Yes, Crooks, you’re right. I’m coming, I’m coming.” Hermione gripped the door handle. “Thank you, Hogwarts,” she said softly. Chewing on her lower lip once more, she quickly glanced down the corridors to reassure herself that she was unobserved. Then she leant against the wood and pressed a quick kiss on it.

The door swung open and revealed a spiral staircase. As soon as she set foot on the first step, it began to move, slowly rising higher and higher, just like the staircase that led to the office of the headmistress. Hermione smiled. This was certainly much more convenient than braving the volatile staircases at the centre of Hogwarts. They had a mind of their own, a nasty sense of humour, and they didn’t seem to care much for the plights of a wandless inhabitant of the castle.

Hermione shifted the weight of the books in her arms and mentally reviewed her to-do-list for the day. First, return the books I’ve taken down to our quarters over the weekend. Second, check the ledger with the fines. Third, continue dusting the shelves in the Restricted Section…

♦♦♦◊♦♦♦

In a pretty, half-timbered townhouse in Fore Close, Ron Weasley put down the Daily Prophet with a disgusted THWAP!

Lois looked up from her task of spooning banana mush into Kuno’s mouth. She tried to ignore the fact that Winky was already done with Hugo, and that neither boy nor house-elf looked any worse for wear—while Kuno’s enthusiasm for his food had left traces of mush spread over his face, his bib, and his mother’s blouse.

“Can you believe it?” Ron asked, the tips of his ears reddening with outrage. “Cornelius Fudge is running for president of the EMU! As if he didn’t cause enough harm as Chairman of the OHMM.”

“Hmm?” Lois asked, distracted by Kuno’s waving little fists. At the last moment she managed to snatch the bowl away from him. “Oh, all right,” she groaned. “Winky, would you take over, please?”

The house-elf beamed. A snap of her fingers, and both Lois and her son were clean. Winky picked up the spoon, and Kuno squealed merrily.

Lois shook her head and turned to Ron. “What’s up with the European Magical Union?” she asked. “And that Fudge, isn’t he the chairman of the Office for Harmonious Magical Markets who was giving you and George so much trouble last year?”

Ron growled deep in his throat, and the figures in the wizarding photograph on the first page of the Daily Prophet recoiled with fear.

“Exactly. And now that git is running for President!” Ron scowled at the paper. “Mark my words,” he announced, sounding just like his father. “Nothing good will come of that.”

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