Post by Nikolai Hartley on Jan 23, 2014 14:31:18 GMT -5
[presto]
EIGHTEEN
MALE
HETEROSEXUAL
HALF-BLOOD
MUSICIAN
CAMERON LEAHY
NIKOLAI JONATHAN HARTLEY
 aloha, amigos! drumroll, please… so! who's ready to hear about how the light of everybody's life came into this beautiful world? get settled in, because i'm going to tell you anyway. i'm kind like that. it all started on the eighteenth of november, 2005… actually, it started roughly nine months prior but gross. don't want to think about my parents doing the dirty deed, thanks. anyway, at 10:27 pm on the eighteenth of november, the most beautiful child alive was born. that's me, for those of you that are a bit lacking in the eyesight department. my parents, being the heartless wenches (can men be wenches? i don't know. dad can deal) that they are, named me Николой jonathan hartley, which translates to nikolai jonathan hartley. well, they didn't have much a choice about the surname, i suppose, but NIKOLAI. really, guys? however, even as a baby with such an atrociously feminine-sounding name that would make most manly men weep, i pulled it off. i was an adorable baby; tufts of hair, big blue eyes, chubby cheeks - you name it, i had it. unless it's an sti. that's totally inappropriate for babies to have. i am a very clean person, i'll have you know. no stis now or ever. unlike that fellow in my year, the one with the hair. and the face. he has a face, too. now is probably a good time to point out that i'm not exactly the world's most observant person - i'm a person made for being looked at, not looking at my surroundings, so quite often i will miss things. like edges. i fall into pools a lot; it's okay, though, because i can totally pull off the wet t-shirt. anyway, where was i? beyond the spawning of the most beautiful anglo-russian child the world's ever seen, but before aforementioned child learned how to walk. so roughly around the cute stage where the baby just stares at you when you prod its stomach. yay. i was a wonderful baby; only cried when i was hurt - so, not often, which i hear is quite considerate of a baby! i learnt how to walk quite quickly - dad taught me. when he's not busy being the representative of england on the magical world's historian council, he's quite adept at walking. so i'm glad he taught me, and not mum. she considers walking to be tottering around in heeled death traps. no thanks. i suppose it's part of the whole world-famous-fashion-designer image, but as a manly man - or manly boy, as i was then - that is quite attached to the well-being of his ankles, i do not subscribe to that image. roughly two years after i was born, the parentals popped out another child. well, mum did. it'd be kind of awkward if dad gave birth. and traumatic. anyway, valentin (the fuck are my parents' naming skills? i mean, nikolai and valentin. seriously?) was okay - not as attractive as me as a child, but hey, that's difficult. he bore with the horrendous name rather well; our older brother, jaime, used to dress him up in wings and call him a baby cherub on valentines day. as valentin denies all knowledge of these events, i assume he simply blocked it from his memory. i know i called jaime our older brother, which isn't strictly true - he's technically our cousin. my dad adopted him when his sister, anna, and her husband, mark, died in a car crash, orphaning jaime. jaime was born in 2001, and he's turning 22 this november. he's always been my brother, because his parents died when mama was pregnant with me, so i've never really known any different. i don't think he remembers his parents, which makes him sad. anyway, yeah, we were a quintet - dad, the england representative on the wizarding world historian council, brandon hartley; mama, the wizarding world famous designer, johanna zhivago; jaime, the driven one; me, the musical one and valentin, the sporty one. ever since i was younger, i've been fascinated by music. mama used to do the outfits for bands and even once got signed to do the fashion for a few muggle band music videos (with dad's help, of course - as a halfblood, he found himself far more qualified to deal with muggles than my pureblooded mama). i was so fascinated by these events; even at a young age, it drew me in. i was soon addicted to music - i was a lively kid, always jumping around and dancing, but now i was singing along to the radio as i did so, pretending to rock out onstage. i am reasonably certain that i was a constant source of jaime's amusement, but that was cool, too. i loved performing and entertaining others, and i loved music the most. as i discovered the beauty of music, valentin discovered his love of sport. ew. i don't get the obsession, but he's really into personal fitness. plays quidditch, muggle sports like football and even rugby during the summer? all i know about rugby is that there's a weird shaped ball that you throw and kick and get brutally attacked for. fun shit. well, when i had my music and valentin had his sports, jaime had magic. on his eleventh birthday, he got a letter to hogwarts, much to my dad's relief. his sister had gone to hogwarts, like him, but she'd never shown much affinity for magic, and mark had been a muggle accountant, and dad had been worried that jaime wouldn't be magical. only valentin and i had ever seen jaime perform accidental magic, and it had never occurred to us to mention it to our parents, so they'd had no inkling of his magical ability. i was seven when he left for hogwarts, and valentin was five. i turned eight a few months after jaime went. that was probably the loneliest time of my life - obviously, i loved my family, but it wasn't until jaime was gone that i realised how dependent on him i was. mama likes to call it my 'teenager stage' (godric only knows what she calls me now that i am a teenager) because i used to lock myself in my room and listen to the radio. however, i am a social person, so that didn't last long. as much as i love music, it was totally boring to be on my own. i found the band interviews absolutely riveting, though, because they always sounded like they were having so much fun. i wanted that. even at age eight, i wanted to have that - to be doing something i loved, with people i loved. as much as i loved my family, it wasn't the same. our most obvious similarity was the shared gene pool. i wanted something more; i wanted to share a dream with people. well, as much as an eight year old can want anything. when jaime finally came home for the summer - the wanker stayed at hogwarts for christmas. i was absolutely heartbroken - i spent a solid week ignoring him because of the stunt he'd pulled at christmas and easter. he won me over, though, with the best birthday present i've ever had. it was a guitar. like, it was the shittiest guitar ever, but it was a guitar, and what's more, it was mine. he'd bought it at the local opshop, apparently, which i probably should have called him a cheap rascal for, but i didn't. i was too enamoured with the guitar. valentin wanted to name her venus, after some old muggle sporty lady, but i put my foot down. jaime suggested princess serafina. i think he was joking. i threw a tissue box at him. i didn't even ask mama and dad, but they suggested some too - anastasia, evangeline and daenerys (some book character dad fancied as a lad, apparently?) - all of which i refused. i named her caroline, in the end. it wasn't exotic, like daenerys or anastasia, but neither was the guitar. she was old, and needed repair, but she was a classic guitar, and she didn't need an exotic name. that summer whizzed by quick. soon enough, jaime was off to start his second year. i turned nine that november, and was officially taking guitar lessons. cady - that was my guitar teacher, short for cadence. she was teaching guitar in order to fill up her cv for a scholarship to a nice college in london - despaired at my guitar, but she helped me fix her up. by the end of that year (2014), i could play fifteen songs off by heart on my beautiful guitar that was adorned with stickers from all the bands that she liked. while i kept at my guitar, valentin spent every day at some sort of sports club. i came home once, and he was sitting on my bed, covered in mud and smelling like he just bathed in baboon shit with nine sweaty apes. i screamed. loudly. dad came, took one look, dragged valentin outside and attacked him with a hose while mama cast some cleaning spells on my bed. since then, he's been banned from my room after any sporting activity if he hasn't had a shower and changed everything, including his underwear. i don't want to take any chances - i might catch a desire to play sport. can you imagine the pure horror? that year, jaime came home for christmas, but not easter. i dealt - i now had a guitar to keep me entertained. still, it was fun having him home for christmas. he told me stories about people he knew, and i played the guitar for him. after he left, i kept practicing the guitar, val kept practicing sport, dad kept being historical (is that the right word? probably not. OH WELL. DAD CAN DEAL.) and mama kept designing clothes and dictating my dad's attire before important meetings. during that summer, jaime got a little crush on cady. i did not approve. not only was she sixteen to his thirteen, she was my teacher. mama thought it was cute, valentin thought it was disgusting, and dad didn't have an opinion on it. even though i didn't approve, i still felt bad for him when he came to pick me up from guitar and saw her kissing her boyfriend. his face made me sad. so i bought us ice cream with my pocket money. that was at the end of the summer, so at least i didn't have to have him wallowing. that would have been distressing. i turned ten that november, and realised i would be going to hogwarts in two years. it didn't exactly fill me with joy. while magic was as much a part of my life as valentin was, music was my dream, and going to hogwarts wouldn't exactly help me. cady would be gone by then, and at the rate i was learning, i was sure i'd have learnt all i could from her, but still. valentin thought i was nuts. he was excited for hogwarts, because he wanted to play quidditch. i wasn't dreading hogwarts or anything, i just didn't especially want to go. jaime didn't come home that christmas, but he did come home for easter. mama was gone at christmas, too - she was off at some winter fashion show in new york. it was just dad, valentin and i, and as much as i love my dad, he's not exactly the most riveting company. he loves his job, even though it's all about history and thus boring as hell, and he talks about it as much as possible. this is actively discouraged by me. basically, valentin and i spent most of christmas on our own, either at the park, cinema or watching old corny films at home. that following summer (before i turned eleven and jaime turned fifteen), jaime decided to go camping with a few kids at school, and he took me with him. even at age ten, i could tell that a few of his friends were real knockouts. i was worried that they'd just treat me as the boring baby brother of jaime, but they were pretty cool. according to jaime, they weren't all great mates, but they were all mates with the guy whose idea it had been to go camping. they were in varied houses, too. there was a girl named brigid there - she was really pretty, but she was kind of scary, too. she and my brother got into arguments a fair bit, but they still seemed pretty close. insignificant ones, but their rows seemed infamous for being blown out of proportion. she was pretty cool, though. between her and jaime during that camp, i learnt most of the foul language that i know of today. she helped me play tricks on jaime, but when i described my family to her, she was firmly with valentin on the sport vs music front - as much as she liked music (her brother was obsessed with it, apparently), she was a sporting girl, through and through. after jaime went to fourth year with all of his friends that i'd met, i missed him more than ever. more than that, i actually had a desire to start hogwarts too. brigid's stories about her brother assuaged my fears about there being no music at hogwarts. dad said that i could take my guitar if i was very careful to look after it. i promised. jaime didn't come home at all that year, but he and my mama took me shopping for school supplies that summer. aged eleven, and ready to run off to hogwarts. my favourite part was buying a wand - it was absolutely wicked. scary, but wicked. on the train, i saw some of jaime's campmates, who waved at me, but otherwise ignored me. a girl with really blue eyes and dark, curly hair narrowly avoided death via trampling when she tripped over my feet, but i helped her up, to which she thanked me and ran after some strange brunette. i eventually found a free compartment filled with two other first years. when we arrived at hogwarts, i was sorted into gryffindor along with dominique, rose and the girl that fell over, to name a few of my gryffindor cohort. first year was basically a mess of making friends, and accepting dares that were quite clearly bad life choices. i did well at charms, and was worst in the class at potions and transfiguration. apparently, those two needed concentration? at the end of the year, i got an e in history, which was basically treated with reverence by my year group - except for my friends. they laughed at me. i didn't even like the subject - i just wanted to pass history for my dad. during second year, i turned thirteen, and i had my first kiss. it was blatantly awful. we bumped noses the first time, clashed teeth the second, and i stood on her toe the third… but fourth lean in, and lips connected and nobody got injured. it wasn't magical, but it was enjoyable. a few of my friends joined the quidditch squad, which baffled me. i had decided by that point that i was allergic to exercise. i am now grateful for my fast metabolism, as i used to eat like a horse. it's a good thing i'm reasonably tall. i passed all exams that year, which was good. i did especially well in charms, and my parents let me go to a muggle concert as a reward. It was electrifying. best part of the summer. after that, it was time for my third year. things were different now - jaime was in his final year, valentin was an ickle firstie and i was fully aware that i was beautiful. i was kind of a dick. i didn't meant to be - i've never intended to be a dick, unless i'm annoyed or angry - but i was, all the same. see, i flirted with everyone because it's all the same, you know? i don't take myself seriously. what i didn't realise was that some people did, and that they got hurt from some of my behaviour. i think everyone's over it now, and are just used to me, but it really complicated things then. we were allowed into hogwarts that year, and i did take a few girls out, but mainly hung out with my mates. i passed all of my subjects, except potions - i got a d. but i somehow got an o in divination. guess i'm pretty good with all of that bullshitting? then it was fourth year. that sort of changed the game play, for me. jaime was gone, which wasn't exactly enthusing, but not only that. you know when you've known someone for ages, and they're part of your life now, like a permanent fixture in the hall? someone that you're fine to do assignments with, say hi to in the halls, could happily sit with at dinner? and then one day, you suddenly have a reason to look at them and see more than what's always there, but actually see them, and notice every goddamn detail you've been missing all along? i'm awfully unobservant, but this happened to me in fourth year. i noticed the girl. you know the type. the one with the absolutely stellar smile, and you'd swear to godric that you could feel like crying and she'd make you smile. the one that you'd try anything for. i found her, i fell for her and i didn't do anything about it. see, the thing is, she was one of us. in my year, we stick together, and that could have torn all my friends apart. besides, i'm beautiful, but she's stunning in more ways than one. she always deserved more than me. that year, my class marks went down. i failed three essays and served more detentions than i care to remember. but at the end of that year, i pulled up my socks. i passed everything, even bloody potions and transfiguration. i even managed two o's. then came fifth year. some of my friends became prefects. more did not. i caused more havoc than strictly necessary, much to the exasperation of some of my friends, but i did try to make sure it wouldn't interfere with their patrol times. my music had been a constant, but it had taken a back seat in third and fourth year. with my confusion over the girl, i turned back to music and took a stab at writing my own. if i say so myself, i wasn't half bad. my friend, cass, was in a band with some other hogwarts students by then, but she'd come down to the lake with me and play and help me write. however, my breakthrough with my music came at a price. i did shit in owls. i don't mean shit as in a few e's and mainly a's with a p. i mean shit as in one o, two e's, three a's, a p, a d and a t. my parents were furious. they couldn't believe i'd managed to get a troll. admittedly, in my weakest subject, potions, but still. that was the angriest i've ever seen mama. dad was worse, though. he was disappointed and it was like being stabbed in the gut. i did nothing that summer. jaime visited a bit, brought brigid a few times - apparently all the bickering was their form of best friendship - but i did nothing. i didn't deserve to. sixth year was more fun. my mates helped me forget my folks - but the better workers made me do work with them - and i had lots of fun, at parties and shit. the girl wasn't available - i had already given up on her, as being far better than me, but it still hurt to see her with someone else. the only thing that made it bearable was that he made her so happy. i'd always drunken and smoked some spliff, but i really got into it that year. it helped me take a break from life. it also helped me get my priorities in order. fuck school, i wanted to do music. who needs marks? my friends didn't agree. i was practically forced to do some work and pass exams. so i did. i worked and i passed. it was boring as hell. i entered my final year with absolutely no intention to try with my academics; something which heavily distressed a lot of my friends, especially the more academically capable ones. i didn't care. i figured that i was going to be a musician anyway, so fuck school, right? who needs newts? well, in a surprising display of responsibility, jaime decided that i did. he came up to hogsmeade to visit me one weekend after my parents had contacted him despairingly. he'd reiterated the message that christmas, when he'd had me over at his apartment for the holidays. i listened. i'd already dropped potions, my utterly worst subject, which i wouldn't have been able to take if i'd wanted to, not with that t in my owls. my three failed owls - potions, transfiguration and herbology - had been dropped from my subjects, but after jaime's intervention, i had been determined to pass my others: charms, divination, care of magical creatures, astronomy, history of magic and defence against the dark arts; especially history. i didn't want to disappoint my dad again. so in the second half of the year, i seriously kicked my arse into gear and with the help of my friends, got some serious stuff crammed into my brain. jaime's always been the one in the family that was naturally smart without trying, but over the years, val had learnt a lot of focus tricks from all his sports and had a much better academic record than myself, and he was actually really helpful. you know, considering he's a teenage boy and a younger brother. i was touched. i found out that i wasn't as bad at transfiguration as i'd always seemed to be; now that i wasn't taking the class, only helping out with my friends when we were studying together, it seemed to stick. cass especially would revise really well by teaching the stuff, and i found that when it didn't matter, when there was no pressure for grades, i found transfiguration interesting and comprehensible. i'd always liked professor powell, and i definitely don't think he was a bad teacher - i think it was just the stress that accompanied such a serious subject like transfiguration. once the stress was gone, i was finding it way easier. i told cass that she should have been earning dosh as a tutor for years because she'd have had enough cash for the trip she wanted to take post hogwarts, and i sent powellster a card when school ended, thanking him for teaching my friends transfiguration so they could then teach me, and for putting up with me in class for five years. i also sent hew-dog a thank you card because he put up with me for seven years, both in gryffindor and in class, and when rose, jaime, cass and val weren't yelling at me, i was pretty shit in class. i saw professor hewer a lot - like i said, no stranger to detentions, nor professors' offices, so i've seen him a fair few times over the years. he's pretty cool, especially for a head of house, so i quite like him. dad says the head of house of gryffindor in his time was this scary old lady who could turn into a cat. i don't think hewer can turn into a cat, but hey, who knows? cool party trick though, am i right? so, now i'm graduated. first summer of my life having finished secondary education. i considered trying my luck in america, but figured it wasn't worth the risk. which is sort of the first time in my life i've really thought anything through. i'm looking around for casual jobs until i can work out the next step - suddenly, the time is here, and 'music' doesn't seem like quite too elaborate a plan. it's all right, though; i'm sure it'll all work out! for all my ridiculous dramatics, i'm an optimist at heart. JANE SEVENTEEN GMT +12 |
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