#fireandgold headcanons

[firendgold]

🥤🍄🍬🔪❄️🎨 - for the ask game

🥤-> an author or fanfic I love: I love all of SiderumInCaelo's work, as terrible as I am at telling her so. *poke poke* perhaps, gentle anon, you may be a better audience than me?

🍄-> another time travel harrydore headcanon, beautiful! Harry braids Albus' hair every evening that they sleep together. Albus pesters Harry about growing out his hair so Albus can return the favor, but Harry never does.

🍬 -> "post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character". you are trying to get me in trouble. But I'll go for it. I couldn't decide between "Sirius or Remus" and "another character because more than enough people have lamented those two", so I flipped a coin and got "other". I'll pick Draco Malfoy.

*breathes in* Okay. People who assume Draco "deserved" a "better redemption" or think there was always going to be one in the cards for him but That Woman changed her mind are, in my not-so-humble opinion, missing the point of the character. It's okay that Draco Malfoy didn't let go of his bigotry in the main series. It's normal. It's completely realistic. Sometimes the people you hated in school do not Get Better With Age. Sometimes, they just get older and more bigoted and reinforce why you disliked them in the first place.

Draco Malfoy is a bully. As a child, he uses slurs and flaunts his wealth and family history among peers and enemies alike. He grows up and ends up forced into a fascist organization that he's not ready to fully commit to. Lying about recognizing Harry saved Harry's life, and it was decent, even if you consider common decency to have a floor and a ceiling with that act as the floor. The war is a wake-up call for Draco, and (discounting Cursed Child) the only glimpse we have of him in the (yucky) Epilogue doesn't give us a firm idea on whether he has rolled over and gone back to sleep. (I think Pottermore or whatever it's called these days confirms he is a little better, but his parents aren't. Intriguing, but eh.)

I've read many great fics where Draco becomes a better person. Sometimes he's shipped with Harry, or Hermione (or even more rarely but refreshingly, Ron or Ginny), sometimes he's just Straight and Decent in the background, but I have seen the idea done well. I think redeemed!Draco is fine as an idea; it adds nuance to the series since Draco has had enough screen time for his makeover as the "good Slytherin" to be slightly less nauseating or out of left field than it would be for a minor Slytherin character (Blaise) or a canon non-entity (Daphne).

But I don't like the fandom idea that's taken prevalence where Draco or his mother or the whole Malfoy clan (or any Slytherin they like, really) has to be redeemed. I hate it, actually. Draco and his family have serious flaws. Those flaws are not just going to go away because you (nonspecific 'you') might think they are attractive or that you can say sorry and it cancels out the slur and the bullying and the sucking up and the generally unpleasant behavior. If we want to redeem Draco, start from where he is, and don't bend over backwards to excuse a character whose actions aren't excusable. And no, sometimes 'just having him spy for Dumbledore' is NOT enough in my mind. Snape is doing that too, at far greater risk and with no reward (the woman he loves is dead and everyone thinks he's a dickhead, because he is a dickhead, but he does it anyway. we don't need a spy who's not even going to be as good as that). And yes, I at least will not shoot you or send you nasty comments if your Draco Malfoy never rises above his hate and stays basic and annoying forever, because it's realistic and it happens every day.

🔪-> "what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project"? Uh, once when I was a teenager I wanted to write a story about a serial killer, so I looked up a lot of unique ways to murder people? ...yeah.

❄️-> "what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?" I would love for someone to write the "better 6th year fic" that's been rattling around in my head since like 2008, where Harry and Albus finally acknowledge that they are found family after 40 chapters of deliciously served angst and hurt/comfort, and then they kick Voldemort's ass really hard in the "better 7th year fic". It would be a masterpiece. No bashing, of course, just kind of a rundown of why Harry and Albus Need Each Other and how no one else can really provide Harry the kind of support he needs while also backing off to let him be the orphaned Last Potter when he needs to assume that role. Lots of healing longtime trauma too. But I don't know who would write it best because all the best HP authors I know write either canon-compliant h*nny/r*mione, flowerpot, or h*phne... and I would require that it was Harry/Hermione.

🎨 -> "link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it". Uh. I don't have only one favorite. But to fit with the theme of the blog, I'll share one of kazuza-art's pieces from last year:

I absolutely adore this fanart. It was one of the first I ever came across when I was creating this blog and looking for posts and art that matched the ship ("what am I thinking. it's hard to find posts about these two and their canon relationship that aren't bashing. does anyone even post about these two snogging???"). I love it for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons I like it is because it's fanart for a VERY good fanfic (if you haven't read Weeping Angel by impossibleleaf what are you dooooooing), but another is that it has the same quality as the headcanon I gave existingtm in my previous answer.

Harry and Albus are very recognizably themselves, but they still vibe together really well in this shot. Harry's still a great Quidditch player, still kind of easygoing and charge-ahead-and-fix-things. Albus is still an academic genius, often found with his nose in a book, kind of above it all even when he's right next to you. And they just look so GOOD together. I swear 40% of my brain when it comes to fireandgold/time travel harrydore is just this art.

Even though a lot of the fanfics I read/promote/etc. on here often ship Harry and Albus when they're older, kazuza's piece is one of the ideal versions of them in my mind.

[firendgold]

🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

for the ask game (sticking to three for now so it's not overwhelming) :>

I appreciate you~!

🌵 -> I just realized a lot of the playlists I create to dance or write to are unlisted. :/ Uhhhh... here's one of mine that's now public! I'm listening to it as I write answers for you. It's not all songs though so uh... enjoy?

🛼 -> I am actually working on two WIPs at the same time (while finishing a third), so I will restrict the emojis to the Harry & Dumbledore fic that would've been finished in the summer if there wasn't something deeply wrong with me. 🏰🐈🪶📜👨🏻‍👦🏻

(I think that's more emojis than I use on my phone.)

🍄-> oooh, time travel harrydore headcanon. One of my favorite blink-and-you'll-miss it things from canon is that Dumbledore doesn't attend Harry's first Quidditch game, but then attends after the Quirrell debacle, even in later years. For protection reasons, of course, but... you're so busy, sir. You really made time to keep coming? 🤨

There's also the fact that we know from HBP that Albus can fly a broom quite well.

So, headcanon. I love the idea that Albus doesn't have any attachment to Quidditch. Maybe he thinks it's all right as a sport, maybe he has a team he claims to support when the subject comes up during small talk, but other than that he's... eh. He's not snooty about it or anything (I don't like when fics go the other direction and Albus is Too Obsessed With Books to Know of Sports). But thennnn after he and Harry are acquainted (whether he travels forward or Harry travels back doesn't matter ^^), and he has spent time admiring Harry's muscular form watching Harry chat about Quidditch and Seeking and the peace he gets just from being in the air, he gets a little... intrigued. Perhaps intrigued enough to suggest more advanced flying lessons—or flying dates, if they're already Involved. This gives Harry a fun little mission to turn Albus into a jersey-wearing Quidditch fanatic.

[firendgold]

It's cute that both Harry and Albus like sweets, but my personal headcanon is that Harry likes sweets that are more... tart? is that the term?... while Albus likes sweets that are very sweet, like "sweet enough to mask the despair he lives with every day" sweet

[firendgold]

Ok so bc anything i do in this fandon is specifically to piss that woman off, i gotta ask:

Do you have any ideas for fic scenarios for trans!albus and/or trans!Harry? (time travel harrydore or not, you pick)

so funny story anon, my instinctual answer for this question was "no, I've never thought about it, sorry"—but as I was writing that reply a while back, I actually started getting ideas. It was wild. (That's also why this took so long to get out, sorry!)

trans!Albus is easier for me to imagine for some reason. I had this idea where his entire early life could be rewritten just to do a deep dive into the Dumbledore family dynamics when the firstborn prodigy half-blood son is AFAB instead. How that might change Percival's actions on Ariana's behalf (or not), if he doesn't have any thoughts in the back of his mind about leaving his family in his "eldest son's" hands. How that could change the rivalry between Albus and Aberforth, who might not be super tolerant of an uppity older sister who's also queer. We still don't know much about Kendra somehow, after 1 billion years of Pottermore, but whether or not she's accepting of Albus' gender identity and sexuality could be their own spin-off fanfics, they're that fascinating. Her own Native history could then be touched on as well.

All these things together could be a point of personal conflict for Albus, who's already a living embodiment of a taboo Native/European union and might have to wrestle with what's accepted from him as a Good and Proper Woman of English society re: marriage and carrying on some (other) pureblood's line, along with protecting Ariana's secret and "making up" for his father's crimes.

I don't know if Albus' sexuality changes. If it doesn't, I can see him being briefly confused about What Elphias Is To Him when he gets older, and Elphias is getting his own messages from home about How Much Time He's Spending With That Dumbledore Girl. I imagine there would be a lot of conversations between Albus and Kendra, and Albus and other peers, about who he was going to marry and what his "prospects" were since his father's a known criminal. And Albus, beyond not identifying as a girl at all, would find all this discussion about such trivial sexist matters frustrating as hell.

Unfortunately, I see everyone at Hogwarts misgendering Albus while he's a student, or pretty much everyone. Like, he eventually tells Elphias who accepts right away (and is confused about What That Means for Him in private), and maybe a few other students, but none of his professors are Getting It. His stellar academic record probably keeps him from being bullied as much, but doesn't entirely protect him from rampant transmisogyny and slurs when he outperforms people.

But regardless, assuming the "major beats" of history play out the same way, I can see Albus being a lot more proactive re: marginalized rights than he already was in canon, and perhaps moving the overall British Society Needle way further to the left, because it's one thing to talk shit about the powerful, progressive, weird old man that no one really knows is gay but can kick your arse without breathing hard, but another thing entirely to talk shit about your trans, out and proud, progressive Supreme Mugwump who has already freed all the elves, speaks all the magical creature/Being languages, is raising your kids at school better than you are at home, AND is still gay and can still kick your arse without breathing hard.

This is all, of course, imagining that Albus is AFAB and identifies as male. If it's the other way around and Albus is AMAB and identifies as female... I can't even imagine. I'm not cool enough ig

As for Harry, it's weird but I don't have any trans headcanons for him during his Hogwarts years. It's kind of similar to how I don't read many genderbent!Harry fics unless I adore the author, because even though I'm a girl I can't imagine Harry IDing as one for some reason. (I'm very limited, I know.) BUT. For some reason this changes when you bring in time travel harrydore.

With the ship as the parameter, I can imagine an AFAB Harry who's spent his whole life chafing at the clothes Aunt Petunia gets him—because 'unfortunately' (for her), even pre-puberty, she can't just give Harry Dudley's cast-offs unless she wants The Neighbors to start lifting eyebrows and asking questions—because they're girl clothes and along with just not fitting in to the Pristine Pretentious Family with her messy hair and tight clothes and taped-up glasses, Harry has never felt like a girl. He insisted on having people call him 'Harry' as soon as he could talk and get away with it, and only has to hear his deadname from his teachers and with the Dursleys.

This all of course changes once McGonagall is reading names on the Sorting List in 1991 and just barely doesn't stumble over Harry's preferred name being on the list instead. (She is surprised only because Harry is famous. By the time Harry goes to school, there have been many other out trans students in this headcanon. But probably very few under her eye have been quite this famous.)

I've always personally headcanoned Harry as bisexual, but I don't know if that would be the case in this particular headcanon. I can still see him going after Cho, and perhaps even Ginny. I can see him having the same confusion about What Are Ron and I To Each Other that a trans!Albus had about Elphias a century ago, without ever living his Hogwarts life as a girl to anyone but his enemies (and having a lot of friction with canon!Hermione and/or Lavender as a result). I can see Draco hating Harry even more, because he always kept "her" in the back of his mind as a Dark Lady he could serve under in all ways, only to have this... boy being his rival and Quidditch better and wanting absolutely nothing to do with the Malfoys or purebloods or knowing her place.

A thought that sticks in the back of my mind is that JKR (otherwise known by me as That Woman (derogatory)) specifically wrote Harry as a boy for a lot of reasons, and the main one being that she always planned for him to live and pass on his line in the "traditional" way, and having her titular character be a girlboss would've derailed that status quo. In a universe where Harry is AFAB, I can imagine a lot of related conversations with and around Harry about this. How "she" is "the last Potter" that there will ever be, because naturally she'll marry into one of the families and the name will be lost forever. I can see this being a real bone of contention with Harry and radicalizing him, along with Voldemort and the discrimination against werewolves and house-elves and centaurs and veela (which I doubt even one dedicated Dumbledore would be able to get rid of), making him take his place as the next generation leftist magical powerhouse.

And so how does all that change his relationship with Dumbledore? I... don't really see it changing much. If both characters are trans, that's another point of connection for them that bonds them through all the mess the government and society puts them through. It makes Albus a figure for Harry to admire as a young boy ("look, the most powerful wizard in the world is just like me!") and to still anguish about as a young man ("all the choices he made that I don't agree with, all the secrets he kept from me, how do I know I won't make the same mistakes or make no better progress than he did?"). Their relationship could be all the more painful or distant if one of them is out and one is in the closet, like an Albus who never came out or transitioned and is seeing in Harry the upright boy he could have been, or if Harry is resentful of Albus living his truth because he, a knobbly-kneed adolescent girl, doesn't have the power, freedom, or influence to be who he truly wants to be.

But focus! I'm focusing! Time travel Harrydore. The specific scenario I was imagining was one where AFAB Harry never comes out to the general public. His loved ones who are his peers know, but all the adults in his life (yes, including Remus and Sirius) never get to meet him properly. They die thinking of him as "James' daughter". And after defeating Voldemort, Harry just can't take the idea of spending any more time not being the person he wants to be. He's done being the Girl-Who-Lived so he writes goodbye letters to Ron and Hermione and does some ancient ritual without anyone knowing, and instead of changing him at the molecular level it flings him back to the past.

And so unlike a lot of time travel fics (including mine lol) where Harry is grieving his true time and desperate to get back home, this Harry misses his friends terribly, but it doesn't take long for him to see being an unknown in a different time as a golden opportunity. Sure, it would have been better if he'd been flung into the future instead and maybe had more tolerant people instead of less, but no one knows who he's "supposed" to be here. So he can grow into the man he truly is!

And so while Harry is setting up his new life for himself (maybe as some personal tutor, or a backup Quidditch player, or something that keeps him out of the limelight for once?), he runs into trans!Albus who doesn't have many friends and not much else going on for him (depending on who or where Grindelwald is right then), and Harry's nervous but they hit it off and become close friends, and one thing leads to another, and...

*cackles*

Also also, and sorry for sticking this all the way at the end lol, but MUCH RESPECT for hanging around in HPF just to stick in the craw of That Woman. I think I'm adopting your philosophy for the future. ^^

[firendgold]

Hi,

What do you reckon Harry’s post-canon relationship is with Albus Dumbledore’s portrait(s)?

Hi! For the short answer I would say "they infrequently communicate and are on pretty good terms, for a man and a portrait".

It's strange, but I never imagined Dumbledore having any other portraits outside of the Hogwarts one. Not because he didn't deserve them or people didn't want him to be everywhere, but because I feel like to the end, his first priority and interest would have been staying within Hogwarts' walls.

It's why the Cursed Child ideas of him being in at least... three places?... and wizads using his name as a Merlin-level prayer/expletive barely 30 years after his death made me go "uhhh. NO". And not just because Dumbledore's portrait being in Harry's office makes one of the CC conflicts not make sense because the chapter where they 'settle their differences' would have happened years earlier. (Unless I'm recalling that wrong.) The authors may be better at understanding Dumbledore in some aspects than 90% of the fandom, but they did NOT get that right. Dumbledore wasn't even deified like that when he was alive. Lots of people would soften him postmortem, sure, but there'd be shit-stirrers like Rita too even long after. His death would have been seen in a similar way to real historical figures. You don't see anyone (sane) deifying Thomas Jefferson or Martin Luther King Jr. (I'm sorry, I don't know enough about UK history to name relevant figures...)

But back to the question!

Harry came to a place of understanding Dumbledore and choosing to trust his motives and plans relatively quickly in Deathly Hallows (a few months), but I do think that he would still be working things out once the dust settled and Voldemort's lackeys were all rounded up. I think he probably wouldn't visit a lot. We know he didn't go back to Hogwarts to finish his education for some effing reason, so I could see him dropping by the office after Hermione's graduation to chat. Then I could see Harry not talking to Dumbledore's portrait again until he was about to get married or have his first child. Just kind of sharing milestones with him without getting too close or personal.

Some of this might be because he still wouldn't be sure (in a world where CC doesn't happen) whether or not Dumbledore loved him or not, even though he now knows that Dumbledore had hope that he would survive since Goblet of Fire. I think the answer to "does Dumbledore care about me" is a far more important question to Harry than the fandom's "did he know I would die and set me up to walk the path Voldemort put me on". We all know the answer to the latter already. Harry cares about the former.

Harry also knows that portraits are a mere shell of the people they're painted for. You notice the way he and Sirius don't pay Walburga Black much mind in year 5? If we go by fanon, Sirius should be overcome with Angst instead of irritation every time he has to put up with her, but he isn't because he knows it's not her. It's just an impression of her left behind to comfort (or confound) the living.

Harry, who by the end of the story has faced death more profoundly than most people alive, does not need the same kind of comfort or reassurance that other characters might glean from portraits. It's why he doesn't ask for talking pictures of his parents, why he doesn't chat much with the headmasters' portraits, and why we only get pangs of sadness from him seeing Dumbledore's portrait for the first time in year 6 and a few reassuring lines from him to Dumbledore's portrait in year 7 after everything's over. Harry's already talked with the real version of Albus and said everything he needs to say. In my opinion, the rest of his life would just be checking boxes until they get to meet properly again.

[firendgold]

If I have to see one more thing about how Dumbledore obliviated Mary McDonald I’m going to do something drastic

Obliviated her for what...? Mary MacDonald is a minor character. We don't know anything about her, except that she lived (and maybe died?) during the 70s and 80s. She doesn't have any relevant information or have plot relevance.

I had to look her up, and... okay Mulciber attacked her in school and Snape thought it was funny. That makes Mulciber the villain, not Albus. Still doesn't explain whatever fandom weirdness is going on.