Absit Omen is home to so many talented writers that it can be difficult to recognize them all!  The AO Spotlight highlights posts and threads that are funny, touching, suspenseful, or just plain creative.  Check out some of the amazing writing that you may have missed the first time around!

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A Firewhiskey-inspired tattoo becomes a little more shocking than an Auror Trainee intended when it turns out to have an embedded enchantment... "They might've had a good laugh, but I didn't like being the butt of the joke. I didn't like being called 'Mrs. Potter' by people I barely know." She wasn't obsessed with Harry Potter, and in retrospect yes- the tattoo was poorly thought out and a bad decision- but she didn't need the whole world to know about it. Brett Abraham to Dietrich Eisenberg in Crash! Bang! Boom!

A Hogwarts student asks for help from her school's new counselor as she tries to understand the meaning of a disquieting vision... Jazz paused, collecting herself as she felt her emotions overpowering everything else.  This is killing me.  I need to know. she thought to herself, looking at her hands, which were squeezing each other anxiously.  "Help me.  Please." she pleaded stiffly, unable to look at her.  "I have to save him." she finished, almost inaudibly, saying it more to herself.  A soft pledge. Jazelle Hawke to Maiko Biladeau-Yukawa in Prophétisme

An encounter with an unstable werewolf and an angry father in Knockturn Alley proves to be too much for one Hogwarts student... He  gave no indication that he'd heard any of the exchange, his hands curled around the busted broom handle, solid as a baseball bat, and his eyes were unfocused and distant, but as soon as Huxley moved, it seemed to break the stony paralysis Colm was held in, and with a blank face, he swung his weapon with both hands and without restraint at Huxley's knees, and then dropped one hand from the wood to swing unerringly for the kid's face. Colm Quigley with Huxley Ward and Taras Strelnikov in Swerve

The new Hufflepuff Head of House meets with each of his students, and reveals a little about himself in the process... "I wouldn't call it exactly lush,"  Leopold answered.  "I'm here because I enjoy teaching.  After my wife died, I was looking for something to keep me occupied, so I took this position when it came up.  Ideal, really.  I was in Hufflepuff when I was a student and now I can return the favour the old Head did for me when I was here.  Really changed the direction of my life.  Made me realize what sort of an affect the right teacher can have on a student.  I'm in a unique position here, Mr Sellaphix.  I have twice the influence on Hufflepuff than I have on any other house and Hufflepuff is usually the house that needs that extra boost of purpose, that extra little nudge to excel.  I'm in a position to do that and I have every intention of doing exactly that.  Most just need that little extra nudge.  That's all it takes.  For those few that need more, I'll give that little more.  The return on the investment is enormous." Leopold Sandusky to Figaro Sellaphix in A Visit from Figaro

With a certain individual's birthday approaching, two Aurors play a different kind of Twenty Questions... With a plain emotionless expression, Pratt regarded his friend.  “Abroad.” The single word  formed on his tongue and he took another sip of coffee. Archer was certainly not getting a location out of him. They may have been friends and colleagues for a decade and Ed trusted him with his life, but he didn’t trust Archer with someone like this as far as he could throw him. And that wasn’t far at all with all the cakes Radley obviously consumed when Raynor wasn’t looking. Edward Pratt with Archer Radley in Smoke the Fox Hole

And rivalries don't die with Hogwarts, as some recent graduates are quickly discovering... Slumping down onto the sofa, Edmund ran warm palms over his face and into his hair, exhausted and unprepared for Lou quickly turning from girlfriend into adversary. His lack of drive turned into pure disbelief as she continued to talk; swearing allegiance had never been on the agenda as Edmund knew that getting Lou to commit to one side was impossible. Looking up, his mouth parted, trying to find words. "I never even asked you to choose sides," he murmured, half-frowning, breathing heavily and blinking in confusion. "But obviously, you chose your side a long time ago." Edmund Klint to Emily Carter in Maybe We Love This Rollercoaster