#Harry Potter and the deadly hollows

[zombieskae]

I will wait for you.

As the end comes near.

I blink,

and the void blinks back, 

your hair, so messy, 

almost covering your beautiful valleys of green.

I feel dead.

I feel dread,

as the nurse comes in, 

and hands me a bottle.

My ribs hurt, 

my lungs hurt,

my whole body hurts, 

from head to toe, 

everything.

but I get to see your face once more, 

before drifting 

into unconsciousness 

as I drink the potion.

I hear a voice, 

calling from the void, 

and it is you.

And it is you.

And I feel as though my life 

has a new purpose.

But I can’t see past you, 

I can’t see past, you,

past you by,

in a dream,

in a nightmare.

where you hold me,

where you leave me,

where I wake up, 

and you’re there.

Where everything is blurry, 

except your face, 

oh

your beautiful face.

I wish I could see it once more.

And I drift again.

[iamnmbr3]

No but like. Where did Harry's scar come from? Because it didn't come from the Killing Curse. 1) The Avada Kedavra curse doesn't leave a mark and 2) Harry wasn't ever struck by the Avada Kedavra curse in Godric's Hollow; Voldemort was. Whatever Lily did that night caused the spell to rebound and kill Voldemort (though not permanently bc of the Horcruxes) instead of Harry.

So where did the scar come from? One option is that it is the mark left by the shattered bit of Voldemort's soul entering Harry's body. But like, why in that spot particularly? Another option is that it's connected to whatever powerful protection magic Lily invoked to save Harry. I personally subscribe to the theory that whatever she did involved some pretty scary and powerful dark blood magic, with herself - and possibly James and Voldemort as well - as blood sacrifices.

We know in the Harry Potter universe that runes are associated with ancient and powerful magic. For example the Pensieve has runes carved around the base. In book 5 a particular rune - Eihwaz - gets mentioned and Hermione says it means "defense." Now Eihwaz is a real rune in the Futhark alphabet and guess what it looks like:

...Yeah.

I think Lily was willing to go beyond the normal bounds of magic in terms of what she was willing to sacrifice. I think she cast a spell and I think her death sealed it and then Voldemort's killing curse activated it - a spell of protection so deadly and powerful that it deflected a killing curse, ripped Voldemort apart on a metaphysical level to the point his very soul shattered, and carved an indelible and visible mark of protection in Harry's skin where the killing curse should have struck him.

It's also notable that Tom Riddle resurrected himself with 3 blood sacrifices, so I kind of like the parallel of Harry also having 3 sacrifices (not just of blood but of life) protecting him - his father, his mother, and his enemy.

[stvrl0st]

.underrated drs.

(actual ones.)

1, mean girls. karen is so me

2, NEWSIES. JACK KELLY😻🫶 (both versions not just jeremys)

3, UGLY BETTY. marc & amanda are my spirit animals

4, deadly class, all the like 5 ppl that shifting there only go there for marcus, like the plot itself is rly good (I'M gonna be the main character idgaf😻)

5, supergirl. winn schott HELLOOOOO & I love the plot ofc..

6, TANGLED. THE. SERIES. PLEASEEEEE

7, I'm so ashamed. BUT. helluva boss&hazbin hotel😭 IM SORRY. BUT THE PLOTS R INTERESTING:(

8, julie & the phantoms

7, henry danger

8, icarly

9, victorious

10, brooklyn 99

11, gilmore girls

12, my little pony. AHHAGAGAG

13, trollhunters

14, tales of arcadia

15, SKYLANDERRRSSSS

16, avatar (the animated one)

17, sabrina the teenage witch

18, full house

19, the hollow. that show is so interesting omg

20, she-ra

21, ncis

22, korra (avatar)

23, how to train your dragon😻😻

24, spirit riding free, one of my fav&most recent drs

25, carmen sandiego

26, WINX.

27, NINJAGO.

28, arcane

29, a series of unfortunate events

30, scooby doo, normal version AND one where it's actual horror

31, ghostbusters

32, zoey 101

33, heartland

34, alexa&katie

35, just add magic

36, MONSTER HIGHHH

37, psych

38, criminal minds

39, grimm

40, terrifier. LMAO NO IM KIDDING. but IT

41, american horror story

42, lord of the rings & the hobbit

43, sherlock

44, SAVED BY THE BELL.

45, scream

46, friends

47, are you afraid of the dark?

48, this one's crazy but, euphoria

49, the last of us

50, 9-1-1 THE SHOW. (istfg if I see someone say "the national tragedy??" I'm gonna lose it.)

51, the outsiders (MATT & RALPH😻)

52, goosebumps

53, disneys faries

54, a goofy movie & an extremely goofy movie (i love homosexual dogs)

55, the x files

56, once upon a time

57, charmed

58, back to the future

59, the adams family, i think it'd be rly fun to be an adams😻

60, harry potter🤭😛 kidding ofc. your own dr😻🫶

idk if these count as underrated bc nobody shifts to most of these but idk

I would've done more but I don't want to😔🙏

[ghaniblue]

Fic recs: June (HP + Challengers)

Fics I enjoyed lately. I'm making an attempt to get back into reccing fics, hopefully posting monthly lists of fics I enjoyed. Expect a lot of randomness. I'm all over the place currently.

🩸this strange effect by harDeehar / @dryrsheet (Drarry, M, 30k)

Harry hated his job, his cousin, and his inability to figure out how to fit into the boring, depressing world around him. He kept his peace until Draco Malfoy turned out to not be dead like Harry thought he was. Deadly, though? Harry was going to figure that out.

🏕 your braids like a pattern by @hoko-onchi-writes (Drarry, E, 31k)

Harry runs a camp. Malfoy is the new counsellor, and he's driving Harry to the brink of insanity.

🌿 Dragon's Blood and Meadowsweet by Musyc (Millicent/Draco, M, 16,5k)

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Draco Malfoy takes an apprenticeship with a potions master after the war, and discovers the way to make a brew he never expected with a component he never considered. Side effects may occur; results may vary.

🔮 Unfogging the Future by Naidhe (Tom/Lavender, E, 14k)

Lavender takes one step forward and – just like the snap of a finger, the blink of an eye, the drop of a pebble – Hogwarts is left behind. There's no jump, no flashes of light, no whirlwinds of disconnected images. Just one little step; behind stood her war and in front stands 1947. "Huh," she says to herself, "didn't see this in the tea leaves."

🫖 A Generous Minute by papermonkey/ @dracomort (Tom/Abraxas, E, 7k)

Abraxas Malfoy is in love with himself. Tom Riddle is planning a murder. Possibly ten.

Or: when one walking red flag meets another

✉️ The Letters From No One by strawberrybasil (Regulus & Sirius, Marauders gen, T, 38k)

An unexpected find in Godric's Hollow. While cleaning out the Potter cottage after Voldemort's defeat, someone discovers a bundle of letters addressed to Sirius Black.

🪴 sweet poison by @imdamagecontrol (Jegulus, E, 76k)

By the third week of school, Regulus’ crush is out of control. He’s always been a top student. Not to mention, law is his thing. He excels at it, but he can’t focus in class. Not when his professor looks this good in his suit, fabric hugging all the right places. Not when he runs his fingers through already messy hair and makes it messier. Tanned skin and broad shoulders, a brilliant smile paired with infallible kindness. Regulus has never wanted anyone more.

Or, Regulus offers to take care of a houseplant and ends up sleeping with his professor. Oops?

---

And 2 Challengers fics

brutalizer by spqr (Art/Tashi/Patrik, E 8,5k)

If you win tomorrow,” Tashi tells Patrick, "I’ll let you fuck him.”

i may destroy you by @oknowkiss (Art/Patrik, E, 3,4k)

Patrick Zweig was born with a lot. Art Donaldson’s always had more.

>> July recs <<

[lcdrarry]

LCDrarry 2024 Round-Up Post | Week 3

On Sundays during our posting period, we won't post a new work, instead you have time to catch up with the works that posted during the week and hopefully leave lovely comments for our creators.

Happy reading, commenting and sharing! ;)

~Your LCDrarry Mods

PS: Please have a look at the author notes and tags on AO3 for additional information. Thank you!

PPS: Please share far and wide! Thank you!!

***

Podfic

***

"The Pirc Defence" by sleepstxtic

Prompt: "The Queen’s Gambit", 2019, Scott Frank Written by: @sleepstxtic Narrated by: Anonymous Podfic Length: 01:05:00 Rating: Explicit Warnings: None

Summary: They were rivals, and they were lovers, and they were the greatest chess players of their generation. Exactly in that order.

Listen to it now on AO3.

***

Art

***

Draco's Moving Castle

Prompt: "Howl's Moving Castle", 2004, Hayao Miyazaki Prompted by: @Somethingveryodd (newskyillusion on ao3) Author: Anonymous Art Medium: Digital Rating: General Audiences Warnings: None

Summary: Art for LCDrarry2024 fest. Prompt was Howl's Moving Castle.

Read it now on AO3.

***

Fic

***

we were born to be national treasures

Prompt: "Legally Blonde", 2001, Robert Luketic Prompted by: MoonyEmilie3017 (ao3) Author: Anonymous Word Count: 4,979 words Rating: General Audiences Warnings: There is nothing triggering in the work, although it does heavily rely on the subject of needing academic validation as a woman in a patriarchal society.

Summary: Danica Malfoy is determined to study law and move forward in life. But is anything really ever that simple?

Read it now on AO3.

***

End of Beginnings

Prompt: "All of Us Strangers", 2023, Andrew Haigh Prompted by: Anonymous Author: Anonymous Word Count: 5,324 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Canonical Character Death

Summary: As Harry and Draco start developing a relationship, Harry finds himself drawn back to the Potter house in Godric's Hollow, where his parents appear to be living just as they were on the day they died.

Based on the movie All of Us Strangers (2023) though you don't have to have seen it to understand the fic.

Read it now on AO3.

***

The Potters : Possessed case

Prompt: "The Conjuring", 2013, James Wan Prompted by: Anonymous Author: Anonymous Word Count: 12,039 words Rating: Mature Warnings: Horror, blood, vomiting, mention of suicide, possession, exorcism

Summary: After a lecture, Harry and Draco meet a frightened woman, telling them that her entire family is scared to death of their new house.

But Harry and Draco wanted to take a break after a traumatising case. Maybe it's just natural causes and the house isn't haunted, right?

Read it now on AO3.

***

By the Book

Prompt: "The Proposal", 2009, Anne Fletcher Prompted by: Anonymous Author: Anonymous Word Count: 14,586 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: None

Summary: It’s hard being Draco Malfoy: workaholic publishing professional extraordinaire. Between revolutionizing the Wizarding World and fighting with Harry Potter, his chief of staff, it makes sense Draco forgot to check his mother filed some paperwork. Oops. Easy enough to avoid deportation by saying he’s engaged to said manager.

Too bad that plan involves visiting Ottery St Catchpole, a gaggle of redheads, and defrauding the government.

Read it now on AO3.

***

this strange effect

Prompt: "Killing Eve" (2018 - 2022) Prompted by: Soulmates Drarry Author: Anonymous Word Count: 30,670 words Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Violence, Blood and Injury, Assassinations, Killing Eve AU, Murder, Light Poisoning, Obsessive Behavior, Reference to past addiction issues, Presents

Summary: Harry hated his job, his cousin, and his inability to figure out how to fit into the boring, depressing world around him. He kept his peace until Draco Malfoy turned out to not be dead like Harry thought he was. Deadly, though? Harry was going to figure that out.

Read it now on AO3.

***

The Heart of the Heart

Prompt: "Howl's Moving Castle", 2004, Hayao Miyazaki Prompted by: @Somethingveryodd (newskyillusion on ao3) Author: Anonymous Word Count: 52,775 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: None

Summary: Harry Potter’s boring routine comes crumbling down when he takes the wrong shortcut at the wrong time; he almost ends up in a brawl, gets rescued by a handsome stranger, successfully escapes sentient tar, learns to walk on air and then becomes victim to a spiteful, petty and undeserved ageing curse - and all that within a single afternoon! Now transformed into an old man, Harry decides to run away in search of a way to reverse the spell, but the path is precarious and the journey long. As he's trying to make his way through magic and treachery, danger and deceit, it's becoming abundantly clear that something more is hidden behind petty magic - something deeper and more valuable and connected all too thoroughly to what may only be classified as love.

Read it now on AO3.

***

Please help promote the fest by sharing your favourite submissions, so more people can enjoy all the amazing new Drarry works of LCDrarry. Thank you!

Creator reveals are on 15 June.

[twhos-fests]

Gothic Fantasy Fest 2024: Day 8 Reveals

Today's GFF highlights are focused on the submissions we received where the gothic prompt was the author's choice. Mind the tags & Happy Reading! 🦇

Ghosted by @i-cry-daily-over-fanfics

"The air felt heavier, almost oppressive, with an unfamiliar scent..."

Warnings: Ghost!Harry | Memory Loss | Voyeurism |

Rating: Explicit

Character(s)/Ship(s): Drarry

Word Count: 17,419 words

Summary: Seven years after the war, Draco has made a life for himself, living in a nice cottage and running a small potion shop in Diagon Alley. Everything is well and good until a very confused ghostly figure of Harry Potter shows up at home. With no explanation for Potter's ghostly state, Draco is forced to go to Grimmauld Place only to be trapped. He begins to dig for some answers but things take a dark turn and he isn't sure if he wants to know the truth anymore.

Someone is stealing you at night by @jinrosemoon

"Nothing good could come...of whispers only she hears, of a voice calling out her name..."

Warnings: AU | Possession | Unforgivable Curses |

Rating: Mature

Character(s)/Ship(s): Pansy Parkinson/Tom Riddle

Word Count: 1,532 words

Summary: Whispers invade Pansy’s dreams. The whispers are unintelligible at first, inconsequential and meaningless, until one evening it is her given name that rings with clarity - Pansy.

The Beast of Belfry Hollow by @noxxytocin

"Sebastian had found him - buried beneath rubble and ruin, weak and weeping, his lungs flooded with smoke..."

Warnings: Muggle AU | 17th-18th Century AU | Body Horror |

Rating: Explicit

Character(s)/Ship(s): Sebinis (Sebastian Sallow/Ominis Gaunt)

Word Count: 2,181 words

Summary: Ominis Gaunt, blind since birth and scorned by his village, lives in the shadows of both tragedy and cruelty in Belfry Hollow. His only comfort—Sebastian Sallow, the friend who saved him from a deadly fire years ago. But when a blood-red harvest moon rises and a vicious werewolf begins terrorizing the village, Ominis and Sebastian are thrust into a nightmare.

Ascension of Hell by @submissivebookmark-motherofchaos

"The fog coalesced around them, the bare brnches, their spindly-like fingers bowing down low..."

Warnings: Dead Dove | Dark Magic | Dark!Theo | Morally Grey!Hermione |

Rating: Explicit

Character(s)/Ship(s): Theomione & Tomione

Word Count: 1,157 words

Summary:

Theo Nott noticed Hermione Granger the moment she got sorted into Slytherin. She was a Muggleborn in the pit of snakes. He becomes obsessed and possessive of her throughout the years. When his father, The Dark Lord, returns, he tells him about Hermione and convinces him she is worth collecting.

This is told throughout the years and how Theo's obsession only increases, especially when her true identity comes to light.

This is a game of cat and mouse. Theo has his eyes set on Hermione, and will never let her go.

Complete fest information under the cut!

Fest Disclaimer

Due to the darker subject material of the prompts, please mind every tag of the submissions you choose to read and engage with from our fest. Some fanworks include triggering and taboo content. So, take care of yourself, honor your limits, and enter at your own risk.

Fest Information

Gothic Fantasy Fest is a Harry Potter fanworks fest dedicated to and centered around our love for the gothic horror genre!

The inspiration to host this fest came out of our desire to see more fanworks in the fandom where the darkness within us all is celebrated, embraced, and reveled in.

This fest is hosted by The Writing Heirs of Slytherin Discord Server.

Important Links

AO3 Collection

Official Fest Spotify Playlist

Official Fest Mood Board

Discord Server

[seriouslysam8]

Sneak peak Alew and Brumous?😇😇😇

Sure.

Brumous Chapter Sixty-Three

Harry sat in the sand, watching as the waves crashed into the shore. It was something he had done plenty when he had been in Agde the previous summer. The warm air, the salty sea smell, the calmness. Harry had felt normal for the first time in his life. On holiday with his family. It had been the best summer of his life by far. There was no threat. No awful Dursleys. The only thing that could have made it literal bliss was if the Weasleys had joined them. Lounging with Ginny on the beach. Talking with Ron into the late hours of the night in their shared room. Eating Mrs Weasleys cooking. It would have been added bonuses.

Harry knew that if he survived the war, he wanted to take Ginny to Agde. He didn’t think Sirius would mind if he used the Black family holiday home. Maybe they could even get married on the beach with the sand between their toes. The image of them dancing as the water flowed over their feet flickered in his mind. He dared himself to think about little black haired and redheaded children running along the shore. The thing Harry wanted most in life was to have a family. He wanted more Potters in the world, to not be the only one with the last name anymore. He wanted that family with Ginny. He was positive of it.

Swallowing, Harry looked down at the sand. Dreams were dangerous. Harry knew that better than anyone. Harry had hoped and wished for things that never came to fruition. Or it took fifteen years just to get the one thing he wanted in life. Good things rarely happened to Harry. With a deadly prophecy hanging over his head and a psychopath wanting to kill him, he didn’t see how he could survive. He wasn’t nearly as powerful as Voldemort. He wasn’t stupid. Even with all the training, Harry didn’t think he could best Voldemort in a duel yet. In fact, Harry wasn’t sure of anyone who could except for Dumbledore.

Someone sat down next to him, their shoulders bumping against each other. Harry turned to see his father. James lounged next to him, his gaze focusing on the water. When someone else sat on the other side of him, Harry felt his heart ache. He turned slowly to have his suspicion confirmed. His mother sat next to him, her long auburn hair pulled back in a loose plait. 

“This is beautiful,” Lily commented, a soft smile gracing her face. “I never had the opportunity to go to a beach.”

Harry nodded, his gaze falling back to the sand. “Yeah, the first time I went was with Sirius this past summer.”

Lily smiled knowingly. “I grew up poor,” she elaborated. “A holiday when I was a kid was going to the next town over for the weekend. Not like your father.”

Harry dared a glance over at his dad to see him smiling up at the sun, his elbows propped up in the sand. 

“Mum and Dad liked to travel. We went everywhere and anywhere,” James explained, his head turning to catch Harry’s eye. “I was so excited to travel with you and your mum. I wanted to show you everything I ever saw. I wanted to smuggle you a magic carpet from Egypt.”

Lily sighed. “James.”

James only grinned wider. “So, we could have matching ones. There’s one buried in the attic of Godric’s Hollow. I promised Dad I destroyed it, but it’s still there. Highly illegal so be sure not to get caught.”

Lily sighed heavily.

Harry felt the corner of his mouth twitch up into a lopsided smile. “Good thing I have your Invisibility Cloak.”

James burst out laughing. Lily couldn’t contain her amusement even if she didn’t approve of the law breaking. The ache in Harry’s chest only intensified.

Alew Chapter Four

Harry stood in his cot with his fingers curled around the top, tears pouring down his chubby little cheeks. Sirius smiled warmly at him as he crossed the room. He slipped his hands underneath his armpits and lifted him out of the cot. Harry settled on his hip, the kid immediately wrapping his arms around Sirius’ neck. His cheek pressed against Sirius’ collarbone.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sirius asked, his hand pressing against the back of his head.

One of Harry’s arms slipped from around Sirius’ neck. His fingers tracing along the black ink on Sirius’ chest. Pressing a kiss on top of the kid’s messy hair, he turned and made his way back to his bedroom. He knew Harry didn’t have the communication skills to tell him what was wrong. Harry had been living with Sirius long enough for him to know that Harry wouldn’t go back to sleep in his cot. Though Sirius hated to admit it, he couldn’t help but think Harry was having nightmares about Halloween.

Entering the bedroom, he saw Marlene sitting up in bed in one of his t-shirts. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she gazed up at him. Sirius couldn’t help but think she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. His chest expanded pleasantly as he eased down on the bed, plopping Harry between them like he always did. Marlene brushed Harry’s hair off his forehead.

“Are you all right, love?” Marlene asked in a soft voice.

Harry didn’t say anything as he scooted close to Marlene, his little arms wrapping around her waist as he pressed his head against her small bump. Marlene carded her fingers through his hair.

“There was a broom,” Marlene sang just a tad off-key. “In the middle of the sky. It was the fastest broom. That you ever did see. And the Quaffles fly all around and around. And the Quaffles fly all around.”

It wasn’t the first time Sirius had heard the little song. He had heard it when he was a kid, but nobody had ever actually sung to him when he was little. But James had sung it to Harry on multiple occasions in the past like the Quidditch obsessed berk he was. A hard rock settled in the pit of his stomach.

“There was a Snitch,” Marlene continued to the next verse, her fingers still stroking through his hair. “In the middle of the sky. It was the shiniest Snitch. That you ever did see. And the Quaffles fly all around and around. And the Quaffles fly all around.”

Marlene laid down onto the bed, gently tugging Harry down with her. She covered them both up, tucking the blanket underneath Harry’s chin. Most nights, Harry clung to him like a permanent sticking charm. Tonight, however, he only wanted Marlene. Her soft singing seemed to soothe him as she brushed his hair. Sirius sat mesmerized on the bed, soaking in the scene in front of him. 

Sirius couldn’t see Harry’s face, but he knew the kid was close to falling back asleep if he wasn’t already. Marlene ran her finger gently down Harry’s nose, a soft smile dancing on her face. Her singing ceased as her eyes flickered up to Sirius. Harry’s soft breaths filled the room.

[thedgrnlover]

I do not do commissions, and I do not know if I ever will. I might make exceptions for close mutuals and friends, but otherwise please don’t ask. I will say here if this changes.

Fandom List:

Adventure Time

Ace Attorney

The Atlas Six

Avatar the Last Airbender

Beetlejuice

Black Clover

Bugsnax

Carmen Sandiego

Centaur World

Danganronpa

Dead End: Paranormal Park

Dead Plate

Deltarune

Elena of Avalor

Fairy Tale

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Genshin Impact

Good Omens

Harry Potter (Only really kinda (F J. K. Rowling))

Hazbin Hotel

Hell Followed With Us

Helluva Boss

Henry Stickman

Hermitcraft

The Hollow

How to Train Your Dragon

Inside Job

Love, Sam

The Legend of Vox Machina

Mario

Maze Runner

My Little Pony

My Hero Academia

Night At The Museum

Nimona

Obey Me!

Once Upon A Witchlight

The Owl House

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Poppy Playtime

The Promised Neverland

Ramshackle

Seraph of the End

Seven Deadly Sins

Slay The Princess

The Spirit Bares it’s Teeth

Stardew Valley

Sonic

Transformers

Total Drama

Undertale

Warrior Cats

Welcome Home

Wobble Dogs

Srry this is obnoxiously long ;-;

[mariacallous]

In 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev initiated an era of political reform in the Soviet Union by liberating political prisoners and internal exiles, including the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andrei Sakharov. During the next three years, Sakharov presided as the moral leader of the democratic opposition in Moscow and spoke his mind from the rostrum of the Congress of People’s Deputies. On the eve of a major debate, he told his wife, “Tomorrow there will be a battle.” He went to his study to take a nap and never woke up. Sakharov had died of natural causes, a free man in a fleeting era of hope.

In 2020, Vladimir Putin set out to crush popular dissent in Russia once and for all, ordering his secret police to hunt down his nemesis Alexei Navalny, the eventual winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. For nearly a decade, Navalny had driven Putin to distraction, denouncing his regime as a “party of crooks and thieves.” He campaigned for high public office and employed open-source reporting techniques to uncover the gaudy corruption of the regime: the yachts, the planes, the villas, the billions stashed abroad.

Agents of the F.S.B. trailed Navalny to Siberia. They broke into his hotel room and, in a plot that might have been scripted by Gogol, spiked his underwear with Novichok, a deadly nerve agent. Navalny wore the poisoned garment aboard his flight home to Moscow and, sitting in seat 13-A, he soon found himself howling in agony, as his body began to shut down. The plane made an emergency landing in the city of Omsk. Somehow, Navalny survived. He was eventually flown to Germany and, with his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, at his side, he came out of a medically induced coma and steadily regained his strength. But he declined permanent refuge in the West. Do not be afraid, do not give up, was his constant refrain, and he refused to betray his own counsel and principles. In January, 2021, Navalny boarded a flight to Moscow, knowing full well that his moral prestige represented an intolerable threat to the regime. Putin had him arrested at the airport.

At his trial, Navalny showed that he was worthy of the Russian dissidents of the past, men and women who risked everything to tell the truth, whether it was at show trials where the verdict was never in question or in samizdat manuscripts that were passed hand to hand. But Navalny, who preferred to see himself as a politician, was also distinctly modern. Rather than attack his persecutor in court with high-flown metaphors and allusions, he referred to Putin plainly, comically, as “this thieving little man in his bunker,” as “Vladimir, the Poisoner of Underpants.”

Part of Navalny’s appeal was that he evolved over time. He set aside the crude nationalism of his early rhetoric and learned to deploy both his courage and his humor. He came off not as a luftmensch, an ethereal intellectual, but as a grounded member of a hopeful generation: interested in freedom and prosperity. He even spoke of “happiness”––hardly a common term in the Soviet and post-Soviet political lexicon. His methods were entirely new. One of his earliest ventures into protest was as an activist shareholder; he used his small investments to uncover the ways some of the biggest Russian companies illegally enriched their Kremlin patrons.

Navalny knew how to talk to people on their level. He consumed many of the Russian classics and prison memoirs, but he also spoke of his affection for “Harry Potter” and “Rick and Morty.” In a letter written to his friend Sergey Parkhomenko shortly before his death, Navalny referred not only to the portrait of despair in Chekhov’s story “In the Ravine” but also to the no less gloomy late-Soviet landscape depicted in the popular film by Aleksei Balabanov, “Cargo 200.”

Last week, forty miles north of the Arctic Circle, at a prison camp known as Polar Wolf, Navalny was pronounced dead. Or, to call things by their proper name, he was murdered. The cause provided by the local prison authorities—“sudden-death syndrome”––was just an additional form of contempt and violence.

Speculative history can be hollow, and a country in need of martyrs and saints is not to be envied, and yet it is hard to overstate the loss of Navalny. Imagine the course of South African history had Nelson Mandela been killed on Robben Island. Or the fate of Czechoslovakia had Václav Havel been poisoned in his cell at Ruzyne Prison, near the Prague airport. Navalny was fearless, and a man of faith. When his friend Yevgenia Albats confided that she feared dying in exile, he told her, “There is no death.” And yet, as Albats said the other day, the loss is devastating: for now, at least, “hope is lost.”

In this moment, Putin’s self-possession can only be outsized. He is a few weeks away from winning another phony election. He senses that the war in Ukraine, which just entered its third year, is going his way and that the Republican Party and its standard-bearer have little interest in resisting that dark trend. Putin has every reason to think he is secure. Cruelty is his ultimate protection. There are hundreds more political prisoners languishing in his jails, including Vladimir Kara-Murza (who has been poisoned twice) and the Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich.

Certain reactions in the United States to Navalny’s death have been clarifying. Tucker Carlson, freshly returned from a Moscow grocery store and Putin’s knee, hustled to express Russia’s allure to Glenn Beck. Donald Trump went on Truth Social not to send his condolences but to compare his self-inflicted troubles to Navalny’s killing. President Biden, for his part, was admirably direct in his response: he squarely blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, met with his widow and his daughter in San Francisco, and announced a package of further sanctions as punishment for the murder and for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In 2007, Putin went to the Munich Security Conference in order to unburden himself of his resentments against the West and to make it clear that he would carry out a politics based on that fury. Now, seventeen years later, at the same conference, Yulia Navalnaya exemplified the courage of the husband she had just lost and took the same stage. She stood tall. She refused despair. There will come a day, she insisted, that Putin will be called to account for what he has done to her family, for what he has done to Russia. “And that day,” she said, “will come very soon.” ♦

[zombieskae]

Just like that.

Falling in love

Wasn’t meant to be this way, 

It has been like that for some time now.

But I can’t help it.

I’ve fallen for you

And the world without you seems grim, 

in comparison.

Seems deadly, 

in reality,

I only saw one side,

as you draw near to me,

as you feel the exposure you’ve always felt, 

as you walk to me, 

and I feel the exposure I've always felt.

We’re in front of everyone,

when you touch me,

when you feel me getting deeper into the void.

when you realize,

and you hug me, 

fast, tight.

But it is too late.

I’ve been caught up in a loose spell.

I’ve been dead since I first saw you.

And as much as it hurts me, I must let go.

So I push you away, with my last bit of strength.

and I smile, as a goodbye,

to your green valleys, 

to your pained face.

You try to catch me as I fall, 

but I fall, oh I fall for you.

Because I knew,

when I was getting into this fight,

that I wouldn’t leave unscratched.

I knew, when I first saw you, I was meant to die.

In your arms.

[mythicalgeek]

I always like the idea of Luna and Neville getting together after the end of The Deadly Hollows because they would have been such a adorable couple. They both have a quiet strength about them and would've accepted the other as they are, plus it would have addad to the theme of love in Harry potter.

[gunnerkriggcritical]

So I decided to re-read the first two chapters of the comic and, man. Gunnerkrigg used to have such liminal dark fairytale vibes. Stay with me, but I remember tom making a bonus comic venting his frustrations with people compering his comic to Harry Potter. It's understandable, I'd be annoyed to. But it's ironic that, much like She Who Must To Be Named slowly trying to bring maturity to her series with each book. To the point philosopher stone and Deadly Hollows are basically set in two different genres and universes.

Gunnerkriggs early chapters very much feel disconnected to everything that's happened since chapter 40 or so. Maybe earlier. I guess it's a symptom on working on something for so long, you change as a person and that seeps into your writing. It makes me sad that Tom refers to his early days with the comic as 'the time I couldn't draw' when honestly it was insanely charming.

I couldn’t agree more! Thank you for putting this into words so well. The early days of the comic were so very charming and eerie and mysterious and funny. It had a vibe all its own. Nearly 100% of that unique charm has been lost. It feels so bland. You’re right that works written over a long period of time tend to change as their authors do… I just wish GKC hadn’t changed into this.

[inkwardspots]

a small drabble from a fic idea that i'm working on:

It was like falling in love all over again, the way she had succumbed to those lovely blows: uncompromising, unrelenting. 

Unwanted.

“You know this will never last, don’t you?”

“Why can’t it?” Dora says quietly, desperation filling her trembling voice.

Harry looks down at her on the floor: her scattered pearls, her ripped black dress. The ragged cut of her hair and the slowly forming black eye.

Her scar, so thin and delicate, reaches from the tip of her ear to her hairline.

“Do you want it to?” He says at last, looking down at her.

Dora stays silent, mourning what-if’s and what-could’ve-beens.

“You know I don’t.” She says at last, vibrant, deadly green penetrating each other.

Harry looks at her, sighing. He sits down next to her, cradling her face in his hands; she is him. 

He is her. 

They are them.

In this life or the next, their eternal companion will be each other.

“Do not settle for less,” He whispers furiously, rage and sorrow swirling like a hurricane in his eyes, “Because you cannot have more.”

“I don’t deserve more.” Dora says brokenly, crying as if the whole world is crushing her down. 

“You do.” Harry says at last, smiling sadly, “I didn’t know that, when I was your age, but I can tell you now, after being dead for so many lives, that you do. You deserve the universe, Halldora Regina Black, so do not settle for less. Be kind to yourself,” Harry pleads, “Because in the end, after all these lives have passed, after Fate and Death have finally grown tired of us, all of us, with our horrible, miserable lives, we will only have ourselves and each other. Be kind to yourself, Dora, because you are the only person who will be without hidden want.”

Dora closes her eyes, squeezes them shut; she releases a rattling, terrifying breath. 

Her eyes open. 

“How do you know this?” She asks, wanting to curl in on herself.

“One day, long from now, you will too.” Harry says, standing, “One day, when the sun has set and Hogwarts has crumbled, you will hold out your hand, just like me,” He says, extending his hand, “And want to help someone stand. Because,” He says, finally, “You are me, twisted and however strange, and I am you, no matter how ghostly and hollow I appear.”

Dora sits on that cold, hard floor in a resplendent, horrible penthouse in New York and laughs.

“You make no sense.” She accuses, taking his hand and his trust.

“I know.” Harry says, this ghostly figure from her childhood, “But one day, you won’t either.”

“Well then,” She whispers, voice hoarse and smiling brokenly, “I hope that day is long from now.”

Turns out, it isn’t that long from now; now, with her black eye and her broken heart. Now, with her colourless vision. 

Now, with Harry James Potter by her broken side.

[lulavvpoetry]

"Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple."

-J. K Rolling, Harry Potter and the deadly hollow

[someduckk]

I will to share with you with my thoughts about some harry potter character

firstly I want to say that movies made draco a mysterious, mean boy. I know that in the half blood Prince and in the deadly hollows 1&2 he is also sad, but still some people think that does not deserve sympathy or understanding.

we know that people makes mistakes but come on.. in books he is a awful teenager but when we are deeper in that story we can find that he is also scared. he don't like his new life, he never wanted to killed dumbledoor - I am happy that he don't do this.

maybe my next words will be controversial, but it's all his parents' fault. like he is like this because of them.

If you have some thoughts about it, you can share it with me, I am open to talk about it.