Recent content by Lillian Sword

The longer she spent at Hogwarts, the more its Pride celebrations meant to Lillian, and the more she looked forward to them. She hadn’t had cause to talk to a student directly about their sexuality like Kahurangi had, but she believed that it was important for teachers to be visibly, happily...

"Waitangi," Lillian corrected gently, although Arthur had done rather well considering his lack of familiarity with the language. "The treaty between the British and the Māori signed in 1840, intended to formally give Māori people the rights of British subjects. It . . . didn't exactly work."...

Lillian smiled at her nephew; she'd suspected he would want to learn more about the country he'd moved to. She certainly had, though that was years ago now. It was why she had taken him here. "Most of what's here is New Zealand history," she told him. "From the natural history - they have an...

Lillian wasn’t sure how to deal with this. With a classroom full of children she was confident and self-assured; with one child, alone . . . Lillian genuinely liked her nephew; Arthur was an intelligent, curious boy, qualities she shared and appreciated. But she was accustomed to seeing him...

Lillian read the letter again, then put it down on her desk and sighed. She should have expected this, really. Her sister had never been one for much forward planning - indeed, Lillian was faintly surprised she’d decided this in time to act on it. And it was a good idea; she was right about the...

Lillian was a little confused by Monty’s abrupt exit; clearly something was going on that she’d walked in on the end of, but she couldn’t quite figure out what. She gave Kahurangi an apologetic smile, painfully aware that whatever it was that had happened, she’d joined the group at precisely the...

Lillian had enjoyed the Pride event last year, despite the awkwardness of having to studiously ignore a couple of students flirting. Back then, it had taken her a while to decide to come, to decide that she wanted to be visible in the school in this way. She was glad she had, especially after...

Lillian nodded as Elvera confirmed her guess about the twins. "They're good girls," she said, a little awkwardly, never entirely sure how to talk about other people's children. "Selene in particular is very interested in history." Heliana was less so, but that was to be expected in a subject...

Lillian smiled, a little apologetically; she hadn't meant it to be that obvious that she'd been startled. "Oh, it's no problem," she said dismissively. She didn't want this to be Professor Ateara's first proper impression of her, but it was too late now. She nodded, pleased to talk about her...

Lillian was attracted first by the sound of wind chimes, the delicate jingle and clink rousing her curiosity. Lillian wasn't overly fond of the things herself; the noise was pleasant, for a while, but she thought it would become irritating if heard incessantly. When she turned to follow the...

Lillian always felt a little awkward at staff meetings; despite having been here for two years now, she hadn't gotten to know many of her colleagues very well. Of her friends here, she knew Kahurangi and Matt had both applied for head of Ravenclaw, and she'd worried a little over any hard...

Lillian had explored the castle fairly thoroughly by now, fascinated by the anachronistic architecture, and the similarities and differences with the Hogwarts she'd known as a student. She had not, however, ventured outside much, and was naturally curious to explore the grounds as well. Today...

Lillian was very curious about Elvera having been a professor here before; it was something she hadn't known about the woman and she was vaguely surprised it hadn't come up during their brief conversation in the park. It made sense that she'd left upon having children, though; Lillian could...

Lillian smiled and chuckled lightly at Angel's response, pleased to see he had a sense of humour and didn't mind her clumsy attempt at a greeting. She was about to say more when the door opened again, and waved instead as Elvera came in. She'd been interested to see her here too, and had hoped...

I really enjoy writing awful characters, but I also struggle with them on HNZ. There's often a level to it for me of not being confident that I can pull off the specific angle that I'm going for - not just that I don't want to condone their actions, but that I'm not sure I can write realistic...