#grindeldore meta

[apicelladonna]

You guys are looking for cinematic tragedies elsewhere when Grindeldore exists !

Albus came first into the world and out. And Gellert always follows second a year later—😭

[slitheringghost]

A narrative thread I find interesting is Family As Teachers and how characters influence and mirror each others’ abilities in familial dynamics - particularly in sibling/"twin" dynamics - which is fitting in a society where children’s magical education seems entirely controlled by their families until age 11 when they start Hogwarts and intermittently afterward. This theme is reflected in Ollivander’s words in DH while discussing the mystery of the twin cores and general wandlore with Harry:

"The best results [...] always come where there is the strongest affinity between wizard and wand. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand"

You even have the three Peverell brothers inventing the three Hallows together to conquer death

Fred and George - as the actual siblings/twins, the most in tune - drop out and invent Weasley's Wheezes together, shared sense of humor via a literal Joke Shop. They find the Marauders' Map ("This little beauty’s taught us more than all the teachers in this school"). This twin duo sometimes turns into a trio - see post about Hermione’s contributions to their inventions in my meta Hermione As Teacher and Connections to Lily (who eventually joins the Weasley family, so like a sister to them); and additionally the twins’ best friend Lee Jordan helping them:

Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko’s merchandise Fred and George appeared finally to have perfected one type of Skiving Snackbox, which they were taking turns to demonstrate to a cheering and whooping crowd […] Lee Jordan, who was assisting the demonstration, was lazily vanishing the vomit at regular intervals with the same Vanishing Spell Snape kept using on Harry’s potions. (OoTP)

George then mentions utilizing Vanishing into their fireworks: (“Oh, I hope she tries Vanishing them next…They multiply by ten every time you try”). Snape’s skill at Vanishing ties to dynamic with Mcgonagall as she’s shown teaching 5th years Vanishing Spells in OoTP, and later in the book LV’s emphasized as weaker in Conjuration with his conjured shield, unsurprising given Dumbledore was his Transfiguration teacher.

THE MARAUDERS - James and Sirius collaborate on the Marauders' Map (with Remus; shared sense of humor built into it via insulting Snape), two-way mirrors called "twin" mirrors in DH; James's wand is "excellent for Transfiguration", he's a confirmed prodigy and Sirius is equal to him - both Animagi, McGonagall's favorites ("Both very bright, of course—exceptionally bright"), Sirius goes "I don’t need to look at that rubbish, I know it all" re: Transfiguration textbook; looking to create a new identity from his family's Dark magic, Sirius's interest in Transfiguration likely stemmed from James. Equal in DADA (finish the OWL early, "I’ll be surprised if I don’t get Outstanding on it at least" "Me too"), hex people together.

Remus - Dark Creatures interest from his father (Lyall was "a world-renowned authority on Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions" such as "poltergeists, Boggarts and other strange creatures") shown in Remus with Peeves and the Boggart lesson. A possible hint of Remus and Tonks friendship affecting her interests - Tonks helping with a "murderous old ghoul lurking in a toilet" in 12GP.

THE BLACK FAMILY - the Blacks are all brilliant. Sirius and Bellatrix are mirrored in battle implying Bella taught him and/or they dueled together - a connection transferred to Sirius mirroring James and Remus in combat ("Then, with identical fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets" in the prequel; "Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands" in PoA). Same weapons: Knives - Sirius slashes the Fat Lady and tries to stab rat!Peter, gifts a penknife that opens any lock to Harry; Bellatrix tortures Hermione and murders Dobby with a knife (potentially they keep them handy for blood magic - "rusty daggers" in 12GP nearby the crystal bottle of blood).

Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Regulus can all occlude LV and Bella trains Draco. Sirius knows a lot about Dark Arts and Harry's curse scar from the horcrux, Regulus identifies LV's horcrux, Bella is LV's Dark Arts student and given a horcrux.

Sirius and Orion - Orion warded Grimmauld Place, adding "every security measure known to Wizardkind", made it "Unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call"; Sirius maybe used his family's magic on the Map (a tool in part to make Hogwarts safe from teen DEs, and I HC Sirius worked on it most, as Hogwarts was also a home and escape from 12GP to him), role as Secret Keeper, offers GP as safehouse to the Order, undoes its enchantments to let halfblood Harry inherit. Sirius and Walburga both use the Permanent Sticking Charm - Walburga to terrorize and scream bigotry, Sirius to flaunt his differing politics with Muggle stuff.

I HC Bellatrix invented some Dark artifacts in 12GP - the "unpleasant-looking silver instrument, like a many-legged pair of tweezers, which scuttled up Harry’s arm like a spider when he picked it up and attempted to puncture his skin" which Sirius smashes with Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy (fits Harry and Sirius's interaction with Bella later in OoTP) and the "musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound”, making them all "curiously weak and sleepy" until Ginny shuts the lid - placed right next to Merope's locket (esp. as Sirius’s words after this passage parallel Bellatrix in DH). Raised as the heir, Bellatrix likely had similar training and skill in wards as Sirius.

Bellatrix and Voldemort - paralleled in combat ("Bellatrix was still fighting too, fifty yards away from Voldemort, and like her master she dueled three at once"), both Legilimens. Her speech about the Dark Arts and learning "spells of such power" while teaching him the Unforgivable curses - she's likely as skilled as LV in inventing curses.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald - "just as precociously brilliant", "even after they’d spent all day in discussion — both such brilliant young boys, they got on like a cauldron on fire", "at last, my brother had an equal to talk to, someone just as bright and talented as he was". Twin imagery with Grindelwald as hilariously described like Fawkes.

Next-door neighbors, knew each other only for a few months, yet Grindelwald’s ideas "caught and inflamed him", Dumbledore’s "ideas helped Grindelwald rise to power". Collaborate on the fascism and Deathly Hallows quest, but not Dark Arts (vs. Snape and Lily share the Dark Arts experimentation but not the fascism). Both on the same level in dueling, can conceal themselves without a Cloak.

Bathilda Bagshot - Dumbledore's Mother Figure/teacher, "impressed by his paper on trans-species transformation in Transfiguration Today" which Dumbledore's shown reading, so she presumably mentored him in Transfiguration, clearly a favorite field (While Dumbledore had few close friends, McGonagall's maybe the closest equivalent to a female friend; echoes Snape with Eileen and Lily).

Elphias Doge - met at 11 on their first day at Hogwarts, "Our mutual attraction was undoubtedly due to the fact that we both felt ourselves to be outsiders". They "intended to take the then-traditional tour of the world together, visiting and observing foreign wizards, before pursuing our separate careers".

While the pair are said to not be intellectually on par, Dumbledore's interests clearly influenced Doge, also implied in Doge writing “his friends benefited from his example, not to mention his help and encouragement, with which he was always generous. He confessed to me in later life that he knew even then that his greatest pleasure lay in teaching.”

Doge on his travels mentions "experiments of Egyptian alchemists" and "escapes from chimaeras in Greece" (fire-breathing lion, goat, serpent hybrid) - echoing Dumbledore as a "Gold Medal-Winner for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo" and interest in certain magical creatures and associations with fire (Fawkes, dragon's blood uses, "trans-species transformation" research, bewitches a branch of Gubraithian "everlasting" fire which is Charms related, the Deluminator as a cigarette lighter).

Nicolas Flamel - Dumbledore's Chocolate Card notes his "work on alchemy with his partner Flamel" inventor of the Philosophers' Stone (colored “blood-red”) who taught teen Dumbledore; Dumbledore later enchants the Stone and links it to the Mirror of Erised (only one who wanted to find but not use it could get it, or they’d be shown making gold or drinking Elixir of Life). Albus also means "white", after an alchemy principle.

Marchbanks who examined him in Transfiguration and Charms N.E.W.T.s says he "did things with a wand I’d never seen before", won the "Exceptional Spell-Casting award"; published papers in Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions journals - linked more with wand magic fields.

Snape and Voldemort - From his words in HBP (disdain at Mundungus for not being a real Inferius), Snape likely learned necromancy with LV and enchanted Inferi during the First War (fitting to his vampire vibes).

Potions - LV uses "old piece of Dark Magic" rebirth potion; creates the Rudimentary Body Potion of snake venom, unicorn blood, spells of his own invention. Snape's Potions speech in PS - "the power of liquids that creep through human veins" (reference to potions with human blood?).

LV invents the Drink of Despair, Snape modifies the Elixir to Induce Euphoria (and assigns a dementor essay). Snape’s knowledge of poisons (logic puzzle, undetectable poisons essay, etc) and the bezoar trick as antidote, Tom poisons Hepzibah with a "lethal and little known" poison that passes for sugar to frame a house-elf who can’t carry a wand. Riddle petrifies students with the basilisk, Snape brews Mandrake Restorative Draught for basilisk victims (mandrakes heal transfigured or cursed victims, "an essential part of most antidotes").

LV curses the Gaunt ring, Snape heals that curse (golden potion and countercurse, collaborating with Dumbledore). LV turns the locket into a horcrux, Snape heals Katie Bell from the cursed necklace. LV curses the DADA job and the curse on his name, Snape invents Sectumsempra. LV the most accomplished Legilimens; Snape the most skilled Occlumens (and a skilled Legilimens). LV adds a concealed entrance on the Locket Cave/symbolic Gaunt shack, Snape renovates Spinner's End with two hidden doors (both in locations related to their Muggle childhoods).

Snape and Lily - to a large extent it makes sense that their magical abilities and interests align even more closely than any other duo save the Weasley twins, because they played the role of "family training" for each other for 2+ years. Both outsiders and ambitious with magic as their way out, Lily's joy at magic and Snape views it as an escape from home, closest to siblings living in the same town. Snape's keen on sharing everything (esp. if raised with an idea of how training works in magical families), Lily on knowing everything (and seems to be following Snape's lead on the magical world in a lot of ways).

Eileen clearly taught Snape a lot about wizarding society and I assume some magic, has all her school textbooks and likely some Prince family books/knowledge, with Dark Arts and Potions specialties, which Snape passed onto Lily. But Eileen either wasn't as gifted or intellectual as her son (we only know she's Captain of Gobstones) and/or just too neglectful for the connection to go far.

Snape tells Lily "you’d better be in Slytherin" in the scene he tells James "if you’d rather be brawny than brainy" re: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, so he thinks Lily falls under "brainy".

Magical power - unsupported flight, Snape's a Legilimens and there's circumstantial evidence of Lily as one in the early memories.

As with J/S, Lily's wand predicts her mutual interest with her best friend/like-a-sibling (of course their main field as Potions which doesn't require much wandwork) - "Swishy, nice wand for charm work", the Prince invents Charms. They "swish and flick" in Charms (levitating feathers), associated with flight. If taking extracanon, willow's an uncommon wand wood with healing power, enables advanced nonverbal magic (Snape heals Dark magic/etc, invents nonverbal spells).

James and Sirius are wary of Lily's wand means she's a skilled duelist and has gotten into fights; Snape invents hexes. Given the theme of duel between brothers, dueling's traditional in magical families, so Snape and Lily likely practice dueled together too with similar methods (Legilimency in combat); though in application, unlike the Marauders at Hogwarts, they'd be fighting on opposite sides.

Slughorn describing the Prince's work as exactly like Lily's at every turn indicates it as collaborative as the above examples of duo inventions - "You’ve got nerve, boy", "That’s the individual spirit a real potion-maker needs", "Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration", "I really don’t know where you get these brain waves", "intuitive", "instinctive" "a natural" - aka she's creative, inventive, unafraid to take risks with and push the boundaries of magic.

The Prince's disdainful "just shove a bezoar down their throats"; Slughorn laughs at the bezoar, says it's exactly like Lily, gives house points "for sheer cheek" - implies Snape and Lily shared sense of humor often consisted of making fun of how purebloods view magic and incorporating their Muggle background into their methods (matches "as there is little foolish wand-waving here, you will hardly believe this is magic"). Snape's interest in poisons led to the bezoar trick which is Dark Arts related, so Lily knowing the same also implies her Dark Arts interest (of course Potions masters, Aurors, Healers, etc all study poisons, but I assume going deeper into it leads to more effective healing, as with Dark curses and cursebreaking skill on the Gaunt ring/etc).

Like Fred and George, Snape and Lily experiment and invent together constantly over summers - Petunia says Lily "came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats" (Potions, Transfiguration) and the Dursleys don't know Harry can't do magic over summers in CoS, an easy lie for Lily to keep up when doing magic often at Snape's house.

Snape evidently came prepared to impress Slytherins - per Sirius, he was always fascinated by Dark Arts, famous for it, knew more curses when he arrived than half the 7th years (likely showing off his knowledge vs. immediately cursing others). Snape's very aware of Muggleborn prejudice (hesitates before saying it makes no difference), yet was set on Lily being in Slytherin for 2.5 years pre-Hogwarts and groans when she's Sorted elsewhere, so sharing his Dark Arts interest with her fits that, expecting she'd need to "get in with the purebloods" along with him, which means making sure she knows as much as he does (see this post).

Snape at nine thinks Lily's the odd one for being fascinated by dementors:

"Tell me about the dementors again." "What d’you want to know about them for?" "If I use magic outside school —" "They wouldn’t give you to the dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban." (DH)

Cue Snape's monologue about the Dark Arts years later:

“The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal [...]" Harry stared at Snape. It was surely one thing to respect the Dark Arts as a dangerous enemy, another to speak of them, as Snape was doing, with a loving caress in his voice? “Your defenses must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo. These pictures [...] give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse” — he waved a hand toward a witch who was clearly shrieking in agony — “feel the Dementor’s Kiss” — a wizard lying huddled and blank-eyed, slumped against a wall — “or provoke the aggression of the Inferius” — a bloody mass upon the ground. (HBP)

They absolutely mutually encouraged each other's interests in forbidden and Dark magic. Snape and Lily learn magic together, their magic individually and together parallels LV's the most, and they directly undo LV's own magic, Snape's instances even utilizing Potions.

Dumbledore expects Snape to immediately know Lily's work vanquished LV ("You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect Lily’s son"), implying he knows Snape and Lily learned similar magic together and expects Snape to ~recognize Lily's style~. Converse to how he speaks to McGonagall the same (?) day:

"After all he’s done... all the people he’s killed... he couldn’t kill a little boy? It’s just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?" "We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know." (PS)

Lily and Sirius - Sirius is also knowledgeable about curses - knows the countercurse for the biting snuffbox (Wartcap Powder) and examines his hand "with interest"; suggests the Conjunctivitis Curse "as a dragon’s eyes are its weakest point" which Krum who was taught Dark Arts; often the one consulted regarding Harry's curse scar, recognizes Priori Incantatem, Harry writing to Sirius when he wants someone like a parent "who had experience with Dark Magic".

Sirius breaks Black family tradition in undoing wards/protections on 12GP (maybe manipulating a form of blood magic?) to let his halfblood not blood-related godson inherit and block DE Bellatrix out; and Lily creates blood wards that'd traditionally protect a pureblood family house to protect her Muggle family and eventually protects Harry. Mirroring Snape and Lily weaving their Muggle background in their magic, Sirius enchants Muggle objects like the motorbike (and creates an alternate method of flight).

When Harry says "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it" Sirius goes quiet, which may hint at specific knowledge that Lily vanquished LV (also a possible reason for Sirius rereading Lily’s letter in OoTP, when the Order’s trying to figure out what’s up with the prophecy and the Harry-Voldemort connection).

Harry and Ron - "In the end, he chose the same new subjects as Ron, feeling that if he was lousy at them, at least he’d have someone friendly to help him", write up absurd stories for Divination and make fun of Trelawney together. Harry and Hermione elaborated here.

Parvati and Lavender - Divination, both close with Trelawney (vs. Padma in a different house than her twin)

Moody and Tonks (who was "close to Mad-Eye" "his favorite and his protégée at the Ministry"), Bellatrix and Barty (if you accept he was her apprentice), Snape and Draco (“Draco’s favorite teacher”), Xenophilius and Luna - her family training consisting of... conspiracy theories, Luna first shown reading The Quibbler (Most likely Pandora Lovegood was a conspiracy theorist like her husband - "intellectual equals" - and died due to something like believing an explosive Erumpent horn was a Crumple-Horned Snorkack horn)

[repelomuggletum]

Listen, I’ve always been fascinated by Grindeldore...

First of all: yes, I'm aware that it's not exactly the least problematic ship. It canonically suffers from the "kill your gays" trope, and it's only canon because JKR retconed it and didn't care enough to actually write queer characters in her series (though, quite frankly, I wouldn't trust her to write queer characters at all, considering her incredibly harmful ideology).

However, I love the potential. 

We don't see enough of Grindelwald (in the original HP series, because I am consciously ignoring the fact that the Fantastic Beasts movies exist) to know much about his personality or how he would interact with Dumbledore, but he's canonically very powerful and, because he evidently had a large following, it's likely that he was also charismatic. Dumbledore is also both of these things, wielding enough power to not only defeat Grindelwald but also terrify Voldemort, and being charismatic enough to be a politician and essentially a war leader. Watching two people like that interact would be fascinating, especially in a context where they care for each other without agreeing with each other. The tension would be palpable. 

Still, my favorite thing about the ship isn't really the dynamics -- it's the tragedy. Dumbledore may have been misguided in his youth but he eventually grew to recognize that conquering and subjugating muggles would be bad, actually, and he acted accordingly: he began to dedicate a decent portion of his life to advocating not only for muggles and muggleborns but also other marginalized members of society (eg: letting Remus attend Hogwarts and employing Dobby). Now, I'm not saying that he does it well but, considering the state and prejudices of most of wizarding Britain, his actions seem almost radical. This, combined with him actively working against dark lords and being instrumental in their defeats, paints a pretty clear picture of him, morally speaking.

Grindelwald, on the other hand, was obsessed with power and did horrific things for it, never seeming to learn his lesson. Because of his relegation to the status of a minor character, we don't know that much about him other than the fact that, due to the very nature of the time he was active and what war his conflicts were running parallel to (and the fact that his name seems German, or at least Germanic), the narrative is implying that he's wizard H*tler. Naturally, that doesn't frame him in a good light, morally speaking. He never gets a redemption, either -- I've seen it suggested that Grindelwald intentionally lost his final battle against Dumbledore out of love but there's no actual evidence for that in HP, especially considering how it's mentioned that their final duel was legendary, implying that neither of them held back (and, in any case, losing a fight is not really deserving of redemption) -- though an argument can be made in regards to his final moments. The problem is, we’ll never know for certain whether Grindelwald’s refusal to admit that Dumbledore had the Elder Wand was him honoring what was most definitely Dumbledore’s wishes for the knowledge to be kept secret or if he was still upset that he’d lost ownership of it and he didn’t want anyone else, including Voldemort, to get it.

The bottom line is: Grindelwald and Dumbledore are moral opposites. Any reasonably healthy relationship between them would require a massive shift in personal/moral values (and this is not me saying that people with different values can’t have a happy relationship, but Grindelwald and Dumbledore are two extremes that simply aren’t compatible).

And that’s the tragedy of the whole thing.

Dumbledore is forever haunted by the specter of his relationship with Grindelwald. When Rita Skeeter publishes her biography about him, she talks at length about the summer of 1899, when the two had been lovers and co-conspirators. She mentions how he’d been the one to coin the very phrase that Grindelwald would later use to wreak mass havoc across Europe. There’s no way that someone like Albus Dumbledore, who seemed to prize moral virtue, would ever truly cope with what he’d had a hand in creating.

Grindelwald, on the other hand, was defeated by the very man he’d used to care for and is left imprisoned for fifty years with nothing to do but ponder his actions. Again, we don’t know enough about him to know his thoughts, but -- in the case of someone as ruthless and charismatic as a dark lord -- there was probably rage and betrayal, a sense that someone that used to be his had done this to him. 

To me, Grindeldore is not about how they’d be together but rather how they’re affected by the aftermath. Even separated by several countries and fifty years, they will never be rid of each other. Grindelwald was the one to open Dumbledore’s eyes to the injustices of the world and Dumbledore was the one who ultimately foiled all of Grindelwald’s plans.

Grindeldore, in its purest form, is a tragedy, and I find it absolutely fascinating.

[firendgold]

Pk now I want to hear tour rant about how Harrydore is bettter than Grindeldore. Bring it 🤣❤️

ohhh, this one's easy. I've been in this fandom on and off since 2006, and seen how Harry, Albus and Gellert were written pre- and post-'Dumbledore closet interview'. cracks knuckles

got to hit you with that readmore though. and it's going to be in two parts. I rambled again. ^^

🗲

//

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

//

(...'rambled' is perhaps an understatement.)

🗲

grindeldore vs harrydore

grindeldore

the tl;dr of the below is the following sentences, and then I'll get into it. My philosophy on gr*ndeld*re extends to all other ships in all other fandoms, especially HP: if it's not an AU and you have to excessively mischaracterize Character A to get them to 'fit' with Character B, then it's not a good ship, canon or not. Albus Dumbledore is quite often mischaracterized in order to 'fit' or 'keep' him with Gellert Grindelwald.

here's my problems with how gr*ndeld*re is most often portrayed:

Inconsistency within canon. JKR is partly mostly to blame for this (because she has contradicted her original 2007 statement in the present day with more interviews in the 2010s and with the Fantastic Beasts movies), but the first problem is: gr*ndeld*re was originally an unrequited ship. The original statement was that Albus was dazzled by Gellert's power, his presence, their similarities, their shared ideals... but That Woman wasn't explicit on whether Gellert ever returned his feelings. But based on her quotes where she says "falling in love can blind you to an extent" and that [Dumbledore] was "terribly, terribly let down" by the result of that whirlwind relationship, I think it's safe to assume that her original idea of Gellert cared far more for seeing his grander plans realized than for the needs and feelings of his 'equal'. And yet... in fandom, they are most often portrayed instead as star-crossed lovers torn apart by 'conflicting ideals'.

The second problem is that in the avalanche of fics and art that have come from The Reveal, the original lesson (/moral...?) behind the reveal of gr*ndeld*re, and how it shaped Albus as an adult, leader, and progressive, just... got lost. Completely lost. The whole point of it was to show that even Albus (supposed 'paragon of goodness' until book 7 showed the fandom that he is a regular human being) can make 'relatable' mistakes like... you know... being friends with a fascist. Being in love with a fascist, even. Thanks to said retcon interviews and the new movies (and even before that tbh) the fandom has since: overexaggerated Albus' new clay feet to the point of bashing him, idolized Grindelwald's red flag traits and ideals to the point where he has become the new "Tom Riddle was just misunderstood!" guy, and twisted that lesson/moral/whatever to mean that actually Albus and Gellert were tragically kept away from each other by an itsy bitsy little difference of opinion. A minor little fight. Casual death of your sick sister. Haven't we all been there?

The fandom diminishing the real reasons why Albus and Gellert eventually clashed, were destined to clash, is bad enough. What's worse is the opposite end. Some Dumbledore-bashing fans go the other way and paint present-day Dumbledore with the same brush as Grindelwald, even going so far as to say he still supports The Greater Good even though his entire character is literally built on being the opposite of the pro-magic, anti-Muggle philosophy. Albus has also been painted in some fics and even meta discussions as someone who 'regrets' his past not because his sister died and his brother is estranged from him, but just because his ex-boyfriend is in prison and he maybe kind of regrets not going full fascist with him. Like... bruh. NO. There are people who ship gr*ndeld*re just because they feel like Grindelwald, the worst dark wizard in the world, the reason why Voldemort is only a minor league little lord in comparison, is an appropriate "punishment" for the character they already dislike and thus misinterpret. (Side note: I'm not sure if I'm in a worse hell watching Albus' character get whitewashed for fascism or demonized so he can be a miserable lonely gay.)

Albus diminishes himself to meet Gellert's needs. An in-universe problem this time instead of a meta/RL one: Albus and Gellert were lovers, yes, but in order to be so, Albus had to actively start neglecting his siblings (since in Aberforth's words he was 'doing all right' taking care of them before Gellert showed up) and leaning more into anti-Muggle sentiment. He put all his energy into what for most of the magical world was a wild goose chase after some fairy-tale items. (Remember, most wixen don't give a shit about the Deathly Hallows, or think they're even real.) He became the person Gellert needed/desired most. Albus became a version of himself that he despised later in his life and after his death.

Relationships often include the members changing, and it's easy for even the most devoted partners to fall out of love if they change and are now too different from one another, or one person changes and the other... doesn't. After Ariana died, Albus chose to become a different person and champion the same people he and his family once despised. He chose to stay away from Gellert, whether he called it cowardice or principles or whatever else. And his choice put him in conflict with Gellert, who at sixteen refused to change course or rethink his ideals even when his choices led to the death of a magical person (the type of person he supposedly prizes above all others). His magical boyfriend's magical sister, even. And we see no sign that Gellert changed, repented, or considered Albus until decades later, at the very end of his life—far too late.

Healthy relationships require give-and-take, sacrificing for your partner in things big and small. For high-stakes relationships like Albus and Gellert's (queer in the 1800s, sweet Merlin), that is even more true. During that steamy summer of 1899, it was Albus who did all the sacrifcing/giving and Gellert who did all the taking. Gellert may have entertained the idea of bringing Ariana along on his quest with Albus (we don't know), but Aberforth was right to say that it would have been torture for her—and no alternate idea was brought up that would prioritize the wellbeing of Albus' siblings while he was away. And in the moment of required reciprocity when Albus was at his lowest, Gellert left him behind and went off to go rule the world. Not even the most diehard shipper can argue against the fact that when Ariana died, Grindelwald left.

This problem is even more personal/biased than the other ones. Albus and Gellert parted ways in 1899. They didn't see each other again until the duel in 1945 (because fuck Fantastic Beasts, the scripts don't even make fucking sense). Albus defeated Gellert, put him in prison, and then went on living for another fifty-two years. And That Woman expects me to believe that Albus never had a relationship with anyone before Gellert, and never even looked at another wizard afterward? In 52 years, he was one-and-done? He never once fell in love with other people, whether or not he fully trusted them/let them in? Be serious. Pull the other one. It's not realistic, and it doesn't speak to the kind of man Albus Dumbledore is. He may not have found a man to check the same boxes Gellert did, but he wouldn't arguably be looking for someone too similar to his old flame. He might not trust them unconditionally or be the Perfect Partner for them (bc whew traumaaa), but there would be other people for Albus in a realistic Magical Britain (even discounting time travel shenanigans). Before the reveal, the most popular people to ship Albus with were Minerva, Alastor, and Elphias Doge; these options are still arguably more valid. Albus Dumbledore loves love, he champions love, and he doesn't think he deserves it after his sins, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't go looking. It's mind-boggling to me that with all the well-deserved disavowing of JKR following her anti-trans hate (and her shameless pandering to the same people calling her a witch poisoning their children's minds decades ago), that some people still treat her words about Albus and Gellert's relationship and its effects on Albus in particular as gospel. I sure don't. (Especially because she said he became "asexual" after His One Gay Experience when like. That's not. What asexuality is??? And ace gay people exist???) Whether you count the FB movies or not, there are still decades of Albus' life that are a mystery, and I refuse to believe he closed his heart and caged his dick for all of them.

IMPORTANT END NOTE: These observations obviously do not apply to all gr*ndeld*re shippers. Some people genuinely do like both characters, characterize them correctly, and still want to see them together for reasons. I'm not going to judge them. I ship a frigging time travel age gap ship, how the fuck could I. And I'm also aware that a lot of fics/art are made to color in between the lines of what we don't know in the fandom, bringing Albus and Gellert together during the mystery years, or making one wizard better for the other to address all the ship baggage. I just can't join them because of how rarely that occurs (and, admittedly, how much I personally can't see it). You would not believe how many fics and discussions I've seen that lionize Grindelwald and treat Dumbledore like an accessory, or completely mischaracterize Albus' motivations, intentions, and actions, and then put him with "the other Big Bad". UGH.

Most of the time, I see gr*ndeld*re the ship hurting Albus the individual. It's very rare to find an iteration where Albus is not bearing the consequences of Gellert's choices, Gellert's actions, Gellert's mistakes and harm done. I think Albus deserves better than to be Gellert's accessory just because he loved him deeply long ago.

okay. whew. that was a lot.

a character limit prevents me from continuing here, so the second half of this versus will go elsewhere, sorry!

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

Headcanons & Metas Masterlist

Headcanons:

Andromeda & Teddy HCs

Tonks & Teddy HCs part 1

Tonks & Teddy HCs part 2

Nymphadora Tonks Headcanons

Tonks & Mad-Eye HCs

Tonks & Mad-Eye HCs part 2

Remus Lupin: Basics & Childhood

Remus Lupin: Hogwarts Years

Remus Lupin: Post-Hogwarts

Andromeda & Ted HCs

Why McGonagall Shipped Remadora

Grindeldore raising Tom Riddle

Black Sisters Headcanons

Who Does Teddy Lupin Look Like?

Andromeda Black Headcanons

Metas:

Does Tonks's hair change spontaneously?

Teddy and the Importance of His Mother, Tonks

Why Marauder fics are hard to write (& why they're divisive)

If Teddy had been born a werewolf

A study on souls and horcruxes in the Harry Potter universe

[girl-with-goats]

QiB x Fanfic Maverick Podcast 💙

I don't appear on podcasts often, and I talk publicly even less frequently, but I appeared in today's episode of the @fanficmaverickpodcast hosted by the most wonderful ChaosBlue. 💙💙💙 It was a pleasure to talk to her and just drop all of my thoughts (I had A Lot of them) and it felt just right to talk about them with ChaosBlue.

I invite you all to listen to it, especially all fans of my fanfic Quiet in Blue–I talk about that fanfic in particular, about the hearing disability presented in the story, and about the whole writing process behind it.

Listen to the podcast here, and the link to the story is here. Enjoy!

[pro-dumbledores-office]

I want to talk about this scene because this is one of those moments that shows the difference between Voldemort and Grindelwald. They are both tyrants but they are tyrants of a different sort.

Grindelwald is a demagogue. This is an ancient Greek word that means something like rabble rouser. Over time political theorists have used the term to mean much more than this. It is a leader who appeals to the very worst instincts of the people - their anger, resentments, and fears - in order to gain power for themselves. In some cases, these emotions derive from legitimate grievances which does seem to be much more the case with Grindelwald. While Voldemort appeals to an elite minority and their racism, Grindelwald appeals to a minority (wizards) who have been historically oppressed by muggles to the point they are now in hiding. In short, Grindelwald takes a valid concern and whips the people up into a fury over it that is dangerous and unhelpful - unless like Grindelwald you want to seize power and overthrow contemporary wizarding society.

However, there is something even more revealing in Grindelwald's demagogy about who he is - Grindelwald does more than manipulate the people to his own ends, he needs their love. This scene in the limo is where its most evident, he does not fear the mob he has incited but relishes their praise. Unlike Voldemort who is incapable of love and needs no one else, Grindelwald is in his way quite needy. He is clearly stung by what he sees as Dumbleodre's betrayal and lack of returned affection. Likewise, he needs the people to love him too and that is quite possibly part of his motivation (as is usually the case with demagogues).

All of this makes Grindelwald a more complicated villain than Voldemort but I think also more dangerous. Ultimately, Voldemort does not fully understand the people he rules and dominates - he does not share in their emotional needs and longings. Grindelwald is the opposite, he feels things acutely and because of this is able to use the longings of others to his advantage.

Dangerous times favor dangerous men.

[apicelladonna]

So, just found out that the white eerie world where Albus and Gellert fought when the blood troth was breaking was a similar state of the one of white King's Cross where Harry meets Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows p2.

Meaning that the suspended time they clashed washed were seconds in the real world, happening in one's head quite literally.

Meaning that the event in Bhutan was the equivalent of death for the two wizards' love (blood troth).

Meaning that this was the last time they would be holding each other's heart, or whatever remained in that cold rib cage of them in the shape of one's love before they fought again in 1945 as strangers, untethered and widowers.

I am so okay about this.

[saintsenara]

metas on ships

- in defence of amicable divorce - miscellaneous tomarrymort headcanons - thoughts on wolfstar from a non-wolfstar fan - unrequited prongsfoot is canon - why fandom needs to stop sleeping on dron - wow, luna is impossible to ship with anyone...

sirius black/severus snape

- could snack work as a couple in a world where james lives? - snape, sirius, childishness, and the werewolf prank - snack's sexual dynamics - miscellaneous snack headcanons

hermione granger/ron weasley

- romione are the best canon couple - no, ron and hermione wouldn't need couples therapy [no, they really wouldn't] - the best romione moment in the series [now with part two and three!] - are jily and romione meant to be narrative parallels? - would i write romione as the main pairing of a fic?

lily evans/james potter

- james and lily were love at first sight - would james and lily's marriage have lasted without the war?

remus lupin/nymphadora tonks

- a remadora answer which will please nobody - lupin's idealisation of tonks during their relationship - lupin's relationship with his sexuality, in remadora and snupin

harry potter/ginny weasley

- hinny's best narrative parallel? bellamort - ronarry versus hinny

severus snape/nymphadora tonks

- the stonks manifesto - stonks and the euphoria of queerness

severus snape/lord voldemort

- the snapemort manifesto - time-travelling snapemort would be a disaster

on...

short-form looks at various ships...

bellamione | blackcest | cissamione | dorlene | dracomort | dramione | drarry | drinny | flintwood | georgelina | georgemione | ginnymort | golden triad | grindeldore | grindelmort | hansy | harmony | hinny | jegulus | jily | lilymort | lilypad | linny | lucimort | lucissa | lunarry | luthur | mollytrix | moonflower | nottpott | pansmione | pavender | perciver | riddledore | ronarrymort | ronmort | siricissa | sirimione | siritrix | siritunia | sirry | tedoire | tomarrymort | tombraxas | tomione | wolfbucks | wormbucks

out of which snape has emerged as the fandom bike...

snaco | snagonagall | snames | snamione | snarcissa | snarity | snarry | snarrymort | snegulus | snetunia | snily | snilymort | snilypad | sniritunia | snon | snucissa | snucius | snulciber | snumbledore | snumblemort | snuna | snupin

unhinged and deranged...

send me the wildest pairing - platonic or romantic - that you can think of and i'll answer it here...

[dreamingbrownie]

Shards Masterpost

Prompt list by ao3commentoftheday, these are all unrelated Grindeldore oneshots.

Works:

Off to save the world again?

“You do not want to do this.”

“I thought we were past stating the obvious. Besides, you could have knocked.”

“Yeah, not gonna risk you apparating to Timbuktu or somethin’ just to avoid talking to me,” Aberforth huffed rounding the table. Sometimes Albus saw their father in the way he crossed his arms, the steel in his eyes, the set of his jaw that made ardently clear that he didn’t need magic to take zero bullshit from anyone. Even from his brother. Especially from his brother.

//

The night before everything comes to a head in Bhutan, Aberforth decides that he's had enough of Albus' secrets.

Prompt: A conversation you wish had happened in canon.

Canon for Fantastic Beasts 2, the Dumbledore brothers talking about their shared trauma.

Under a lilac canopy

Summary: To say that Gellert had not expected to wake up on another day at the western front to the Statute of Secrecy finally blasted to smithereens was a bit of an understatement. It fell as silently as a night-time truce: nobody knew who had fired the first shot that brought down the entire thing. To the stench of antiseptics and laudanum was added the cloyingly sweet scent of pain relief potions; the highest dose available in France was handed out like Penicillin: worth its weight in gold. After the initial shock of that surreal day had faded, he’d been ecstatic, of course, eager to write a woefully short, passionate letter to Albus about the possibilities this unlocked in the late war-effort – and not a single letter returned to him from Britain. In spite of the Royal Mail Service, those utter madlads, in spite of every owl and pigeon he could find in bumfuck nowhere, France – silence. He would have to find Albus himself, once he finally got to go home, but amidst London that was torn to shreds and filled with the hungering, grieving masses, nobody wanted to talk about the day Albus Dumbledore disappeared. The day the Statute fell.

Prompt: an expression of love.

Edwardian WW1 AU, hurt/comfort heavy on the comfort side. Hospital reunion fic.

The earth of me

Summary:

Maybe it had been foolish, then, of Albus to think himself safe from surprises. The kind which rocked the very ground underneath his feet, that was, a sort of shock that travelled up and down his spine and shot adrenaline through his entire system. Safe from war, if not from politics, he had considered himself hidden from Death’s crows upon his doorstep. He wasn’t.

He had long known the five stages of grief to be thestral dung. On that particular afternoon in late January of 1931, he appeared to have shot right past denial into depression, or directly into acceptance, perhaps, if one took into account that he had always known that this had had to happen eventually.

Prompt: Character meta

Albus ruminates on the death of his father in Azkaban and what this means for himself. Canon missing moment I guess.

Remnants

Summary:

“You could have mentioned that this dragon hoards eggs.”

In the darkness, Gellert was a mere shade. The ragged rocks cut the howling wind apart into ribbons that slashed the air: high, haunting sounds dancing over the wet grass. No human lived up here, not anymore. The next village was miles and miles away. Albus felt the ground vibrate with the dragon’s steps inside the castle ruins that spanned an entire hilltop. The bare bones of a grand church stuck up into the grey sky that had lifted away the roof from its ribs long ago; of the keep, only the northern and the eastern wall still stood. Everything else was naked stone filed down by the weather littering the grasslands like teeth. Here the remains of a hall as big as a lord’s manor, there circles in the mud: watchtowers, or what was left of them. Bones were scattered in between those trampled histories. The earth only yielded bushes with berries on them that should not be touched by anything that wished to live, no fields survived here. It was so cold Albus could feel his jaws jittering.

“Theseus said nothing of it. I presume that he did not know, else he would have. He only stressed how very unwise it is to go near a nesting dragon.”

Prompt instead of the origina prompt that didn't work for me was three lines of conversation, link lost, unfortunately.

Canon divergence, could be seen as a cousin to my Constellations series in as much as Albus and Gellert live togther throughout their life as professors on Hogwarts.

The red grief

Summary: In 1625, King James I of England and Scotland died, leaving his lover George de Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, behind. Historically, the Duke decided to sack Cadíz on the Spanish coast soon after. In another world, a pair of immortal husbands are none too pleased about being asked for magical help on what others would call a thinly veiled act of piracy intended to escalate political tensions into outright war. How to cope?

Prompt: an emotional moment that you can't find a plot for.

Smut and fluff, immortal wizards AU, the most established of relationships

Golden mornings come again

Summary:

“I know for a fact that you have never asked me to go to the coast with you, but I dream of it, sometimes, finding you at the sea, and when I wake up, I am overcome with such a visceral urge to do exactly that; as if you were waiting for me with your hands in your coat pockets and your back turned to me, facing the sea – in fact, all of these… strange, inexplicable… Merlin, I don’t even know what to call them – these glimpses, these pictures I have of you in my mind that seem so impossibly real – you are waiting for me in all of them. Looking over your shoulder whenever I come close enough to touch, and there it always ends. As though I have been chasing and losing you for a very long time.”

//

It always takes a while for the memories to come back to them.

Prompt: a scene fully without context.

Reincarnation AU, established relationship, a lot of fluff with a side of emotional smut served gently

Historically proud

Summary: The man at the counter had hair so light it was almost white, looking natural, not dyed, but who really knew; his t-shirt had three lines of ancient Greek on it that Albus only realized had to be the first line of the Iliad after staring at it for way too long, toned muscles – arms, hello, damn – and he was oozing confidence. Well, that was all of Albus’ boxes ticked, ta very much. Fuck.

“I’m sorry, I kind of couldn’t not listen – you’re Professor Albus Dumbledore, yes?”

Puzzled, he gave a brief nod.

“Indeed I am. I like your t-shirt.”

The man looked down at it like he’d forgotten he was wearing it, grinning a bit.

“Thanks. I read your last article that you published – what was it, a few months ago? – Anyway, the way you dissected the outdated communist pirate theory with such poise and elegance, that was beautiful.” Then he cleared his throat and straightened from his casual slouch against the counter which looked entirely like a nervous act. ���Sorry, where are my manners? Name’s Gellert Grindelwald, I’m the new Ancient Greek History Doctorate researcher and teacher at King’s College.”

“Oh!” Well, Albus was fucked. That beautiful, clever man was going to be his new colleague.

Prompt: The meeting part of a meet-cute AU

Modern AU, historians, getting together, uni colleagues AU with a side-dash of ToG characters mentioned

Candle Stains

Summary:

The different paths that their lives had taken so far had not merged upon accident: they’d worked to make it work. Once Aurelius was fully grown, theoretically, there was no reason why Gellert should still live with him then. The thought seized Albus' heart and held it captive.

“You must know that your continued support has been vital to me. I value you far, far beyond your excellent job as the tutor of my nephew.”

To his puzzlement, Gellert gave a breath of amusement that fast turned fond.

“I do believe that is British for ‘I love you.’”

“And if it is,” Albus responded, half question, half declaration.

Prompt: a shocking announcement (or the reaction to it)

Regency AU, Albus is a Lord living in London with his nephew Aurelius, Aberforth and Aurelius' tutor Gellert. Getting together fic.

All aflame (The fire has found a home in me)

Summary:

“When we are going on our tour together, I am going to make you scream above the Seine and you’re going to have me under the Venice moonlight.”

“Gellert,” he breathed out the pearling laughter in his chest, light as air, “I can’t wait.” Then he turned around, and awkward as the angle was, they made it work for a lingering kiss. Gellert nudged his big nose into Albus’ cheekbone smirking like the cat that got the cream.

“Better?”

“Much. Thank you. I’d say sorry for having woken you up, but in truth…”

“Don’t be,” he grinned, “I’m not."

Prompt: A missing moment from canon

Canon summer of 1899, smut, idiots in love, fluff and intimacy, no bad things in this one.

Heaven

Summary: “I am not used to how you look at me anymore.”

“And how do I look at you?”

“Like you would burn the world to have me again. I am not sure if I would call it love.”

I do, Gellert wanted to scream, I do, I do, I do, throbbing in his chest in a double-stutter. //

Prompt: an alternate ending to a scene from canon.

The restaurant scene from Fantastic Beasts 3 do-over, canon divergence, what if these two had actually talked and gotten their shit together?

Stay a thousand years

Summary:

“Gellert is blessed with foresight, wisdom, a cunning mind for strategy, and charms enough to have the whole court fall for him; he is a just and intelligent man and… I love him dearly. Anyone else but him would make no sense for me to marry.”

Percival gazed at him with something like trepidation in his watery eyes.

“He is powerful enough to match you, Albus. Having him so near you could be a dangerous decision… or the only wise thing to do.”

“He would never hurt me. Never,” Albus vowed with all the conviction of late-night conversations about spells that did not exist yet and the long-lost relics that haunted them both from the side-lines of their childhood fairy tales. The court might not know it yet, but Gellert was his, and he belonged to Gellert as firmly as any priest could profess; more so, they were made from the same stardust. It was the one thing that did not made him tremble these days, that knowledge.

“Very well,” sighed the dying king, and let go of his hands. “Get him for me, please.”

Prompt: Someone just having the worst luck.

Medieval Fantasy AU, proposal under rather difficult circumstances fic, royalty AU.

By your leave

Summary:

Captured. The thrice damned teenagers had gotten themselves captured. Bowed over Albus’ tombstone as he was every morning and every for longer than he cared to actively recount, Gellert took the news from one of his many birds scouting the grand, wide world out there for him without moving from his spot. Though he wanted nothing more than to rest his forehead on the white marble painted golden by the sunset until he faded into the stone itself, slowly, painfully slowly, his folded hands detangled to settle on the cool surface instead.

“My heart, I must do something,” he rasped over the polished stone. His knees creaked and hurt as he forced them to move like rusted hinges. “To the snake pit I go, is that not the funniest thing you ever heard – this might finally be my last sunset, my love.”

//

Albus Dumbledore was dead, Harry Potter captured at Malfoy Manor, but the last King had not yet been let off the chess board.

Prompt: An exchange of gifts or mementos.

Canon divergence, hurt with very little comfort, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows alternate ending.

in from the cold

Summary: Gellert comes back home to Camelot in the weeping rain to a row between Master Merlin and King Arthur. Nothing new there, though this time, a dragon is dead, the King is injured, and Gellert would simply like to squirrel away Albus from under Merlin's watchful eyes, thank you very much.

Prompt: That awesome line you simply can't find a plot for.

Camelot medieval fantasy AU. Reunion fic with a side of Merlin/Arthur.

Stained-glass window laments

Summary:

“I cannot bear the thought of life here without you. My head weighs heavy with the crown upon it, and that weight is not made to be carried alone. You must pull through now, my love, and be not afraid of my temper. I see how unusually quiet you are.”

Gellert’s eyes briefly flickered heavenward.

“I got stabbed.”

“After pushing an army of three thousand; twelve clans united despite that they’re squabbling in front of my doorstep now; through the murderous mountains, yes.” He kissed Gellert’s fingers, feeling the cool metal push smoothly into his lips, feeling the shape and weight of them in comparison to Gellert’s roughened skin. Eye contact kept him quiet. “You are thin, my heart. Have they who followed you into battle not treated you to every comfort?”

Prompt: The aftermath of a scene you’ll never actually write

Medieval Fantasy AU, King Albus and loyal knight Gellert, hurt/comfort.

Asja

Summary:

It had been Europe, they agreed on that much. Gellert remembered birches, and Albus still sometimes blinked at sunspots falling through oak leaves dappled with dew in dreams lost before he was fully awake. Sensual memory, that was what stuck the longest. Visuals, feelings, sounds.

Once, they had been like gods.

Prompt: the scene that would bring you personally the most joy.

Pre-historic Smut, rated E.

[arale2126]

Cherik 「Jean-acquisition」 fic list

Went over my Pocket List and here is the list of dads!Cherik and Jean as their daughter.

For those who want to skip my personal ramblings: my absolute top top top favorites [one] [two] [three] [four]

— turning tables

I didn't even mean to search for Cherik fics at the time as I don't even ship them. The ship was huge so I had always knew of them and enjoyed watching people going crazy over them for more than a decade but I didn't get deep into the fandom or anything. Until that very fateful night. I was knee deep in Grindeldore feels for unknown reasons (still am, btw) and got a huge urge to read Dumbledore using legilimency to soothe his crying daughter. Being not the top ship as Grindeldore was, there simply wasn't any fic that fit the criteria. And what did I do? Searched the Cherik tag, obviously. It was just a logical shortcut: what telepath with kids wouldn't do that? Stayed up until 2am to finish the entire thing and the rest was history. The idea of Cherik with wee!Jean had taken root like the most normal thing on Earth.

— An Earlier Heaven

Pre-DOFP so Erik is characterized as only borderline-abusive instead of, you know, full blown, Charles-need-to-file-a-restraining-order-against-his-ex-who-is-incapable-of-being-anything-but-angry kind of abusiveness.

— Red Riding Hood | 5 times Jean said something embarrassing + 1 she didn't

pure chaos wee!Jean crack and two very embarrassed and exasperated dads

— Looking Forwards (Backwards)

grown-up!Jean reminisces about growing up with Charles and Erik as she fills in for all the history that Logan has missed after DOFP. I wish it was longer because it's so sweet and warms my heart.

— Four times Erik was called dad and one time he was called husband

fluff domestic ASMR basically

— Rest of their Lives

Prompt from Mnemo_ink: After Jean destroys Vuk by letting the Phoenix force free, the light descends back on Earth and envelops Charles. When the light fades away, Charles has a baby in his arms: it's Jean. I can't describe how much I love this idea. It's a cultural thing, I think. There is a notion that if the bond between people are strong enough, it would continue lives after lives. Whatever you incarnates into in the next life, in one way or another, you would find a way to be back together again and again. This prompt reflects that idea really well. Of billions others on Earth, once again, Charles is chosen. He is forgiven. He gets a chance at redemption, to be a father again. It is just indescribably beautiful to me.

— To Love and Be Loved

👌🏼👏🏼😫 have to use emojis because i'm lost for words at how *chef kiss this is. It's domestic fluff on steroid strapped to a rocket. 「 of course erik would give the kids little metal tokens so he could always sense them--and there is some COMPLICATED meta to be written here about how charles's wheelchair binds them together too 」

— For I Mean to Conquer Troy

This fic purifies my heart and ascends me. It's like I'm wrapped around by warm comfort and soothing lullabies. You know how in First Class Charles tells Erik "There is good, too. I felt it." That is the Erik in this fic, the characterization that is grossly overlooked, I dare say. And the author predicts who he could be in Apocalypse in 2011 as well. 👏🏼

[broomsticks]

@consistentsquash PHENOMENAL RECLIST PERSON. ALL THE SUPERLATIVES. you are such a fandom treasure. these reclists are pure organizational and reading goals, such a range of pairings and genres and themes and stories.

reccing is truly such a SKILL: picking a theme, selecting fics, and then writing an insightful snippet about why you selected them, giving away just enough to intrigue the reader while not revealing too much. the creativity! the critical reading! it’s way harder than comment writing! not to mention all of this formatting effort, and all often to not much feedback… i’m in awe. showering you in ALL the appreciation <3 <3 <3

my fave lists of yours:

Rarest of Rarepairs! 10 Femslash Recs for February tumblr || AO3. spectacular idea for a reclist, and so many good finds, of fics that take such care with their characterizations! pauraque’s magical petunia/helena (Narrow Escape, 700, T) was short and impactful, both featherxquill’s rita/luna (Beetle Dreams, 4k, M) & missm’s marietta/millicent (A Cliff in July, 5k, M) were gorgeous -- so strange and soft, and a richly detailed tailor fic like Mothwing’s minerva/madam malkin (An Occasion, 2k, G) is always a winner for me.

grindeldore intro recs. your little writeups for this reclist are so good, as are the little insights at the end. i can’t pick a favorite (i lie, it’s Thirty-Five Owls), i love everything on this list and it’s made me ship this pairing hard. grandiose and tragic, literary references, cultural references, sentient nurmengard, references to wolfstar tragedy… eeeeeee.

i also gotta shout out 10 HP Femslash Recs with Hopeful Themes because that led me to this dorlene fic (from 2018!) which contained the line "When Dorcas is around, Marlene has this bad habit of thinking about a future." and FRIEND that is not an okay line to put into my eyeballs. that physically hurt me. for days.

22 HP Femslash Recs from 22 Years (2001 - 2022) tumblr || AO3. ABSOLUTE A+ RECLIST. picking a best of the year is no easy task and you knocked it out! of! the! park! some amazing old finds: Left Handed by ivyblossom (2002), My Scarlet Name by parenthetical (2004) [three digit AO3 URL!], City Life by holyfant (2008), Advanced Research by minkhollow (2009) — and kelly_chambliss! Woldy! pauraque! montparnasse! dirgewithoutmusic! the WLWBB 2021 ginny keeps an anger journal ginny/tonks!! CLASSICS.

other reclists of yours i am SO excited to slowly make my way through: - snape rarepairs - snape/sirius recs (this comic is incredible, and also so excited for how many of these are <2007 fics)

AND also your Ossuarium rec and meta and your comments. OMG. i’m so not ready to stick my whole face in another obsession but just know that i am admiring from afar 😱

---

for an explanation of why i just wrote you a whole ~thing~, check out this post & the ‘mutuals march’ tag below!

[dumbledore-and-grindelwald]

I don't know if anyone has pointed it out already, but "the kingdom of Buhtan: if you listen carefully enough, the past whispers to you", I was wondering how that would come into play... And then we had Albus and Gellert stop their fight and listen to each other's heartbeat. The past whispering to them. I'm dead.

I haven't thought of it that way and I just died... just a little.

This is an amazing observation and it has such a poetic beauty to it.

[judgmentalfishnun]

To slowly start working through my own list here, I’m gonna talk about: The Relationship - #1: What’s your timeline for the summer of 1899?

In DH, Albus mentions that he and Gellert were together for “two months of insanity” during the summer after he graduated Hogwarts. Aberforth says that the confrontation that ended their affair happened when it was ‘nearly time for him to go back to Hogwarts,’ so I’m going to call that the last week of August. That puts their first meeting at roughly the end of June, which fits with the not-totally-clear end date of the Hogwarts school year. I have a pet theory that they met on June 30th, the last day of today’s Pride month and also what would later be the date of Albus’ death.

I think Albus was pretty reserved, and if it had been up to him, they would have gone months without making any moves. Fortunately, Gellert was very outgoing and I think also read Albus as gay very early on even without the help of his Seer abilities. One day, maybe one to two weeks after they met, Gellert took it upon himself to put Albus out of his misery and kiss him. If we want to keep up with significant dates, we could say 7/7.

From there I think they had sex for the first time either immediately, or at most within a day or two.

Bizarrely, we still don’t know Albus’ birthday, but we know he was ‘approaching his eighteenth birthday’ when he graduated, so it’s probably sometime in July or early August, and I think Gellert got him something special is all I’m saying.

Making the blood troth was a big deal, and I think it took a little longer for them to decide to do that, and to research the ritual. My guess would be the end of July/beginning of August, maybe July 31st. I could also see it being closer to the end of the summer, but I want to be able to imagine them having blissful married sex for at least a few weeks. Narratively, I also like the idea of them spending time trading the pendant back and forth and getting attached to it before the falling out happens.

Then, of course, disaster strikes. I think Ariana’s funeral is the day before the Hogwarts Express leaves. 

At some point I’ll do a timeline from summer 1899 to FB!

[sandraharissa]

It’s kinda sad how all of wizarding world will forever remember Dumbledore primarily for defeating Grindelwald. 

From their point of view this was the most awesome thing Dumbledore ever did. Initially when he is introduced to Harry it’s as the good good guy who was so badass and great that he defeated in an epic duel the big baddy of the past (me paraphrasing the chocolate frog inscription coupled with what the narrative is insinuating). Their duel is the stuff of legends. 

And yet to Dumbledore personally this is probably one of the most shameful things he ever did. He was trying to postpone it as much as he possibly could, even tho people were dying. As the duel commenced I bet he tried convincing Gellert to stop and abscond with him, or things of that sort. He, through sense of responsibility and guilt, was forced to fight against someone he loved, which led to him being imprisoned for life. It must have been an extremely traumatic experience for Dumbledore, filled with a lot of guilt, the way he explains it to Harry as ‘faced him only when it would have been too shameful not to’. 

The thing he will be forever celebrated for the most is the thing that he personally finds as the most shameful thing he did, he failed to act sooner, he directly hurt someone he loved.

[litsetaure]

Oh, I could go into so much about why this is 100% true and in fact, I absolutely will because YES. 

Here we go! *cracks knuckles*

(By the way, if you ever watch Troy, just try to ignore the fact that Brad Pitt plays  Achilles. No disrespect to him, but if either of them was the cute twink, it was Achilles, not Patroclus. Granted, he was a very powerful twink, but he was still a twink.)

Okay, anyway, first things first, let’s get the superficial stuff out of the way and take their looks. We don’t have a huge amount to go off of with Patroclus, but I am positive I’ve seen something written that he had reddish hair, mind you there’s more that say he’s got dark hair, so there’s not really much to go on there. But then you look at Achilles. I’ve already mentioned that he’s a gorgeous twink, but he’s usually depicted as having golden curls, which...yeah, kind of sounds familiar. (His hair has also been described as ‘flaming’, which could imply a hint of red in there, but more often than not, he’s shown as being blonde, but that descriptor also makes me think of Gellert ‘inflaming’ Albus with his ideas.)

Put it this way, Jamie Campbell Bower could ABSOLUTELY play him, given the opportunity. And yes, I would absolutely LOVE a film version of The Song of Achilles, but only if it’s done PROPERLY, otherwise what’s the point?? Also, Achilles is known for his proficiency with a spear, and Gellert’s first name literally means ‘spear’, which I think is kind of hilarious. 

But anyway...let’s move on, because this is about to get REALLY interesting. Why? Because of how Patroclus ends up basically staying with Achilles. According to mythology, Patroclus is exiled from his home after killing a boy during a game, at which point he was taken to the house of Peleus and grew up alongside Achilles, where they formed a deep and close bond (you might say they ‘got on like a cauldron on fire’ even.) Of course, we don’t know the full details of why Gellert was expelled from Durmstrang, and it’s a subject of debate as to whether Patroclus killing the boy was intentional or accidental, but...does that sound familiar at all? I mean, yeah, that could easily be me saying that Patroclus is the equivalent to Gellert, but I actually don’t think so. I mean, yes, he’s objectively the outsider in the house of Peleus (though not for very long, I don’t think!), but I think it’s equally possible that Albus was also an outsider himself. Not because of him having a bad temper or that he killed someone (that we know of!), but because he was so brilliant-minded and he stood out amongst the others. You could also make the argument that Patroclus being forced away from his home after the death of his friend parallels Albus being forced back to his home at Godric’s Hollow following Kendra’s death; his freedom was snatched away from him in one terrible moment. (Actually, you could even equate the death of Patroclus’ friend to the death of Kendra when Ariana lost control since we don’t really know what happened there either.) But then, following his return to Godric’s Hollow, Albus finds a semblance of freedom when Gellert arrives. Finally, Albus has someone who understands him, who wants the same things he does, who can give him the intellectual stimulation - among other things - that he not only craves, but that he so desperately needs. Just as Achilles gave Patroclus the companionship that he wished for and that he had thought was lost. For a short time, they were both free to be who they wanted to be. But then came...

The Trojan War. (Ha, you thought I was going to mention the threeway duel, didn’t you? Give me a minute...)

And suddenly, two young men are forced into an insane war that neither of them asked for. It would perhaps be inevitable that their relationship might strain under the pressure, especially with an arrogant and egocentric leader like Agamemnon, who openly despised Achilles. And if you think I am basically comparing Agamemnon to Aberforth...you’re absolutely right. I've talked previously about how Aberforth’s attitude towards Albus and Gellert leaving with Ariana feels very controlling (when he has zero authority over Gellert and not much more over Albus, considering he’s an adult and can really do as he pleases), but in this case, you see Agamemnon and Achilles practically come to blows - only divine intervention (no, literally) stops Achilles from outright killing Agamemnon - over Briseis, Achilles’ war prize. Now, while Agamemnon’s and Aberforth’s motivations with regards to Briseis and Ariana are markedly different (at least I really hope they are, good lord!), the point still stands that two powerful men are at odds over a young woman, who should have the right to her own voice, but who does not, albeit for very different reasons. Either way, neither Achilles nor Gellert take the situation well and it almost deteriorates, ending with our blonde boys leaving, just in very different circumstances. Achilles eventually leaves in a furious temper with Patroclus by his side and Briseis (sadly) left with Agamemnon, whereas Gellert leaves alone in a terrible state with Ariana dead. (Interestingly, there’s fairly little mention in the Iliad as to what Patroclus is doing, thought we know he's there with Achilles, just as in the books there is relatively little mention of what Albus was doing during the duel, until he stops Gellert using the Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth, though the Secrets of Dumbledore film sheds some interesting context on this when Albus reveals that he drew his wand after Aberforth did, and only mentions that Gellert laughed, but that’s another story.)

Anyway, we mostly know the next part, the war continues without Achilles and his Myrmidons and the Greeks are not doing well because they’ve lost their best warrior...but then something very interesting happens. Namely, Patroclus begging Achilles to allow HIM to go and fight wearing his (Achilles’) armour if he will not do so himself. This is quite interesting, because it shows that Patroclus is basically the only person who can actually talk bluntly with Achilles and outright tell him when he’s acting like a dick. Similarly, we see that Albus wrote a letter to Gellert cautioning him against going too far when they came to begin their revolution. Of course, we know that this never came to pass for the two of them, but it’s an interesting note that Albus felt able to voice these concerns to Gellert. It gives the impression that, just as Patroclus can do so with Achilles, Albus can also speak freely with Gellert and communicate openly with him. Granted, they may not agree, but Albus is able to say what he thinks. He and Gellert are on equal footing, just as Achilles and Patroclus are - evidenced by how Achilles agrees to the plan, but tells Patroclus very clearly to only save the Greek ships and not to go further and attack Troy. Unfortunately, Patroclus disobeys this request and eventually gets killed. Yeah, I think we can see the parallel here; Albus puts on the Gaunt ring, which brings about the curse that is slowly killing him and...well, eventually Snape kills him. Spoiler alert. 

Needless to say, Achilles does not take the news of his beloved’s death well at all. He’s absolutely devastated. Interestingly, he also remarks about how he suspects Patroclus is dead and irritably grumbles about his hot temper, which may well be a parallel to the fact that Gellert is a Seer. There’s every likelihood that Gellert had a vision of Albus putting on the ring and eventually also dying, which would have shattered him, just as much as the death of Patroclus shattered Achilles. Granted, we don’t know this for sure, but it’s a reasonable assumption. 

Now, here’s where things get really tragic, as if they hadn’t already. With Patroclus dead, Achilles agrees to rejoin the Greek army and put aside his feud with Agamemnon. Which is kind of good for the Greeks, but maybe not so good for Achilles. Now that he has lost his reason to live, Achilles has gone wild. He’s unstoppable. He’s spilling rivers of blood. He’s literally fighting the river (oh, fun fact! It’s the River Scamander that he’s fighting, paralleling Gellert’s rage towards Newt!) blinded by rage and grief at his loss. At this point, Xanthus, his horse, prophesies his death, to which Achilles replies that he is well aware that he will die at Troy, but he is going to take down as many Trojans as he can first, which seems to imply a certain level of suicidal ideation about his actions. He knows he’s going to die, but he will go out in a blaze of glory first. He will take down Hector and avenge the man he loves.  

I mean...I don’t even need to spell out what the comparison is here, do I? Oh well, I'm going to do it anyway. Yeah. It’s Gellert’s last stand. The moment where Voldemort comes to Nurmengard in search of information about the Elder Wand and Gellert laughs in his face, taunts him and refuses to tell him anything. He knows that this will lead to his death, but he doesn’t care. He revels in it, he begs for it. Of course, he knows damn well where the wand is, knows who has it, but he has to protect Albus, has to ensure his tomb is not desecrated. But of course, the tragedy is that it doesn’t work. Voldemort gets the wand. He violates Albus’ tomb. Gellert’s sacrifice, as noble and brave and magnificent as it was...ultimately, was in vain. (Or perhaps not, since Harry needed to get the wand anyway, but who knows if Gellert knows that, or if he’d even care if he did. All that mattered to him was Albus.) In the same way, Achilles finally gets his heroic moment. He finally gets to fight and kill Hector. He gets his vengeance. But Patroclus still lies unmourned and (literally) haunts him, asking him to let him go, to bury him and let him go to the afterlife (in, I might add, what is an UNBEARABLY sad passage in the Iliad, implying that Patroclus is lingering somewhere, possibly in limbo...just as Albus is lingering in Kings Cross, his business unfinished.) Some days later, Achilles also agrees to return Hector’s body to his father, King Priam, finally doing what is right after going to such violent extremes...just as Gellert did with his brave final stand. 

Of course, we know that not long after, Achilles himself is also killed and his ashes are mixed with those of his beloved and they are buried together, just as they should be. And while we don’t know what happened to Gellert after his death, I like to think that he and Albus found each other once again and lived (or after-lived?) happily ever after. 

(I also have a funny feeling, considering JKR has a classics degree - just like I do - that this parallel was completely intentional. But...who knows?)

grindeldore is a patrochilles variant. its true and you cant say no to me.