Name: Kyra. Yes, my pen name is my real name. Not the most creative, I know, but I happen to like my name; it's unusual. It's derived from the Greek, means "ladylike", and is pronounced to rhyme with "deer-a". In fact, Kyra-Deara is my mother's pet name for me to this day. The 4 was just assigned to me by FFN, I assume because three other Kyras registered before I did. I have the same last name as a famous singer. People always ask me if we're related. To the best of my knowledge, we are not.

Interesting Personal Tidbits:

I can touch the tip of my tongue to the tip of my nose.

I draw, but I write better.

I'm a leftie! (Which is why "my" Draco is always a leftie! Why my Draco and not my Hermione? I dunno - just seems to suit him better.)

I have "Harry Potter Green" eyes.

I have "Hermione Granger" bushy brown hair. Actually, it's really not very bushy anymore but if you could have seen me in high school - I pretty much was Hermione Granger! (Alex25 can vouch for me on this - she's seen the photos from those days.)

I'm adopted. My biological mother was a teenager who gave me up at birth. At age 21 I searched for and found her, and now consider her as a very close older friend. My parents who raised me from five days old on are my PARENTS. My brother, also adopted and of a completely different race than me, is (despite his ability to piss me off so severely that I can hardly see straight) my BROTHER. Actually, perhaps his ability to piss me off so severely that I can hardly see straight just proves that he's my brother. They are my family. Why do I mention this? There is a surplus of stories on this site that feature an adopted Hermione, and I have yet to read even one that I don't find personally offensive. The insensitivity that is displayed is astounding. Sometimes adoption is portayed as the character's dirty, shameful secret; other times she accepts the news that she is adopted, usually revealed on her 17th birthday, with complete calm, and basically says, "well, so long Mr. and Mrs. Granger, thanks for looking after me; I'm going off to join my real family now; have a nice life." I can hardly decide which offends me more. Please, if you're going to write about this very loaded topic, try to have a bit of sensitivity. In fact, unless you are adopted, or have a family member or friend who is adopted and can give you some real insight into what it's actually like, maybe you should rethink writing about it at all. If all you want is an easy way to bridge the social abyss that exists between canon Draco and Hermione so that you can skip straight to the PWP, there are plenty of other cop-outs... ahem, I mean routes... to take.

(Here's a nursery rhyme my mother used to sing to my brother and me. I hope it will help non-adoptees understand the depth and strength of love between adopted children and parents.

Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, I bore you not under my heart, but in it.

Pretty, no? And I want to thank the other adoptees out there who've emailed or PM'ed me kind words of agreement and support!)

Recommended Reading: As far as novels go; the Harry Potter series by Rowling (well DUH), the Lord of the Rings series by Tolkien (think the movies're good? Try the books!), The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin, the Belgariad series by David Eddings, Wicked and Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire, and the Gunslinger / Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Ooh, and a newbie to the list - Eragon and its sequel(s). Hmm, I'm noticing a pattern here- all fantasy, every last one of them! Fantasy isn't all I read, believe it or not; I shall have to think of some non-fantasy titles to add to this list. So more will be forthcoming. As far as fanfiction goes; Lori (HP/HG), Maya (DM/HG; DM/HP), and Cassandra Claire (DM/HG; DM/GW; DM/HP) over at , and Vashka (DM/HG), Rainsrabble (DM/HG), and Alex25 (DM/HG; SS/HG) here on Fanfiction.net. Or consult my favorites list, obviously. Happy reading!

Okay, non-fantasy books I recommend in no particular order (see I said I'd come back and add this later, and here I am!)

Middlesex, The Lovely Bones, She's Come Undone, The Red Tent, The Pillars of the Earth, Watership Down, Gone With the Wind, Clan of the Cave Bear (though not any of its pointless, smutty sequels- unless of course you happen to like pointless smut!) The DaVinci Code, The Secret History, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which is sci-fi, not fantasy, there is a difference!) and Cold Mountain. Also Sarum and Russka by Edward Rutherford. All The Light We Cannot See if you're ready to get your heart broken. And anything by Jane Austen. Um, that's enough to get started with; I'll add more as I continue to read new ones and/or remember old favorites.

Them's the facts, folks.

Okay, quick lesson for other Draco fans/authors from an English major (actually, grad student now), concerning the term blond/blonde. Few people know this, but blond is a "gendered" word. Think of the name Gabriel/Gabrielle. One is a boy's name, one is a girl's name- savvy? Blond/blonde is the same way. Draco is blond. If he had a twin sister, she'd be blonde. Reading about Draco's blonde hair just bugs the holy hell out of me! So I figured I'd put this in my bio and maybe all of five people would read it. Muah! THIS JUST IN: I even found canon proof of the blond/blonde rule, for any doubters out there; it's on page 101 of GoF (American edition, I don't know if that makes any difference)- the quote is as follows: "Harry and Draco Malfoy had been enemies ever since their very first journey to Hogwarts. A pale boy with a pointed face and white-blond hair, Draco greatly resembled his father. His mother was blonde too; tall and slim, she would have been nice-looking if she hadn't been wearing a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose." SEE? Rowling is hip to the rule! WooHoo!

Okay, I've just had one too many person bawl me out for having my characters say things like "Jesus Christ!" because "Harry Potter and everyone at Hogwarts are Wiccan and all they ever say is ""Merlin!"" and stuff." So put on your listening ears, morons, because it's time for a lesson in canon. I would like one person, JUST ONE, to point me to one reference, JUST ONE, in any of J.K.'s books, that shows the denizens of Hogwarts celebrating Beltane, or Solstice, or any other pagan holiday, ritual or rite. Any takers? Anyone? Anyone at all? Come on, just one stinking little page number... that's all I'm asking for. Where they're dancing around the Beltane fire? In any of the books? Come on, there's got to be ONE, right? I mean, from the start of book 1 to the end of book 7, we're talking THOUSANDS of pages. Anybody? No? Oh... RIGHT... let's see... what kind of celebrations do they actually have? Well gosh... there's the YULE ball, isn't there? And, oh... what's this? every year it seems that there's a CHRISTMAS Feast... yes, that's right, CHRISTmas. As in, CHRIST. During which the Great Hall is decorated with 12 enormous CHRISTmas trees. And they exchange CHRISTmas presents. And then go home for the CHRISTmas holidays... I never read about them going home for the Solstice holidays... but if I missed something, go ahead and send me that page number... I'm still waiting. And then... oh... what comes in the Spring? Gee... didn't Ron's mom send them all EASTER eggs? Why gosh-a-roony, she sure did. She sent them all nummy chocolate EASTER eggs, by owl-post, and then they went home for the... wait for it... here it comes... the EASTER holidays! Maybe I read it wrong and it actually said "Equinox holidays"? Nope... just checked. It's Easter, all right. Wow... I guess J.K.'s really off-base, isn't she? She must be a regular ignoramus, huh? I wonder if these same idiots are sending HER letters telling her how wrong she is about the characters she created. You know, like, "Hey! J.K.! You freaking idjit! Whaddya mean, Mrs. Weasley sent them Easter eggs? Don't you know they're all Wiccan? Oh... wait... YOU created them? Well... that doesn't matter, I know better than you do, because I'm some fake-goth poser going through a Wiccan phase that I'll grow out of by the time I'm 20, but for now I feel like a total badass blowing up Hot Topic with mommy and daddy's credit cards... so I know better than ANYone else, including you!" So -- IDIOTS -- and you know who you are: do yourselves a favor and keep your appalling dumb-assed-ness, and the fact that you apparently never read a single one of the actual Harry Potter books, to yourselves. You're embarrasing yourselves... and saddening the rest of us, who've actually, you know, READ Harry Potter. And by the way, whatever you do, don't go see Deathly Hallows in the movie theater... because when Harry says that if his parents were still alive, they'd probably be in that little church with the rest of the villagers of Godric's Hollow singing CHRISTmas carols, on CHRSTmas Eve, and then a couple of minutes later Hermione lays a CHRISTmas wreath on their graves, well, you'll probably get so pissed off you'll lob your soda at the screen. Especially when you pause to consider that Godric's Hollow is well-known as being an entirely wizarding enclave... not a single Muggle family resides in that village at all. Those are ALL witches and wizards inside that picturesque little chapel, folks, singing their hearts out in celebration of Christ's birth. So yeah... lest you end up throwing your popcorn on the floor in a fit of temper, I'd say it's better just to stay home and avoid further humiliation ;)

(The above rant is not intended to offend REAL Wiccans... all the authentic Wiccans I've met are mature, intelligent, literate people, who are well-rounded and respect the beliefs of others, and who I'd think would find these ignorant, self-righteous, uninformed, poser-wanna-be jackasses just as annoying as I do. And to everyone who has sent me positive feedback about the above rant, thank you - I do enjoy giving intelligent people a chuckle at the expense of idiots! Glad it was appreciated!)