#hp minor chracters

[cailynwrites]

Part 2

July 6 - Helga Hufflepuff Green Shoots by @jetainia (G, 10 mins, Helga Hufflepuff/Salazar Slytherin)

July 30 - Neville Longbottom This Life One Leaf by @spaceoperafeerie (T, 24 mins, Harry Potter/Neville Longbottom)

August 1 - Pansy Parkinson ugly: in defense of pansy parkinson by @ink-splotch (T, 34 mins, Pansy Parkinson/OCs)

August 11 - Ginny Weasley A Room of One's Own by clio_jlh (E, 22 mins, Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley)

August 18 - Celestina Warbeck Strange Charm by @primeideal (G, 8 mins)

August 22 - Percy Weasley and everything remains as it (n)ever was by kitsunerei88 (M, 21 mins)

August 26 - Dolores Umbridge In Vivid Color by @angeloncewas (T, 10 mins)

August 27 - Albus Severus Potter The Lovely Harpy's Bite by pauraque (E, 19 mins, Albus Severus Potter/Luna Lovegood)

August 29 - Albus Dumbledore Naming Monsters on a Stormy Saturday by devilinthedetails (T, 11 mins)

August 31 - Rose Weasley Breaking Tradition by NerineLunaCyran (G, 14 mins)

September 1 - Lily Luna Potter Paper Trail by @primeideal (G, 26 mins)

September 5 - Petunia Dursley Somebody That We Don't Know by @nanneramma (G, 35 mins)

September 7 - Rowena Ravenclaw Only the Beginning by brokenbottleaurora (G, 16 mins)

September 7 - Cedric Diggory A Ghost's Funeral by @lumosatnight (G, 9 mins, Cedric Diggory/Fred Weasley)

September 11 - Vernon Dursley Neighbourly Deeds by Slumber (NR, 11 mins, Arabella Figg/Vernon Dursley)

September 19 - Hermione Granger Along the Way by Elizabeth Culmer (G, 37 mins, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley)

September 25 - Garrick Ollivander All the wild summer was in her gaze by eldritcher (M, 13 mins, Garrick Ollivander/Minerva McGonagall)

September 26 - Quirinus Quirrell barbecue for two by OldEmeraldEye (T, 7 mins)

October 4 - Minerva McGonagall like a flower to the sun by @krethes (M, 14 mins, Minerva McGonagall/Poppy Pomfrey)

October 17 - Filius Flitwick Feet on the Ground by kelly_chambliss (M, 18 mins)

October 24 - Angelina Johnson The Remains at Play by Nope (NR, 27 mins, Angelina Johnson/George Weasley)

October 30 - Molly Weasley And the Clock Ticked by @queenofattolia (G, 8 mins)

October 31 - Salazar Slytherin murdering promises i just can't keep by the_crownless_queen (T, 12 mins, Godric Gryffindor/Salazar Slytherin)

November 1 - Lavender Brown Finding Adventure by PTwritesmore (T, 18 mins, Lavender Brown/Pansy Parkinson)

November 2 - Gregory Goyle An Empty Seat by Herochick007 (G, 5 mins, Gregory Goyle/Hermione Granger)

November 3 - Sirius Black thorns, in amber by @thisisdecemberista (E, 31 mins, Lily Evans Potter/Sirius Black)

November 29 - Bill Weasley death of a bachelor by Someone_aka_me (T, 19 mins)

December 6 - Rubeus Hagrid The First Winter by Fluffyllama (G, 23 mins, Rubeus Hagrid/Madam Rosmerta)

December 12 - Charlie Weasley Refuge by nathaniel_hp (T, 24 mins, Charlie Weasley/Remus Lupin)

December 27 - Lucius Malfoy Birth of a Viper by @johannestevans (M, 33 mins, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Malfoy)

December 31 - Tom Riddle Stumbling Once We Found It by @joeys-piano (G, 9 mins, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle)

Part 1

I'm proud of the work I did with this theme in 2024. I found a lot of unique fics and rare pairs that I might not otherwise have read. I spent hours scouring for hidden gems in the ascending kudos & comments filters, and I think it paid off.

Check out #hp birthday podfics 2024, the collection on AO3, or pick and choose the stories you're interested in hearing.

January 26 - Gilderoy Lockhart Two Begin to Bloom by Wooden Suitcase (G, 16 mins, Gilderoy Lockhart/Severus Snape)

January 30 - Lily Evans Potter the stranger in the shell of a lover by @slashmarks (T, 1h10, Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape)

February 6 - Arthur Weasley Empty Burrow by @copperbadge (T, 10 mins, Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley)

February 13 - Luna Lovegood The Cat with the Stars in Her Eyes by @peachonified (G, 51 mins)

February 21 - Oliver Wood messin' up my mind by SkyRose (T, 34 mins, Oliver Wood/Percy Weasley)

February 25 - Poppy Pomfrey The Anniversary Quilt by @vdoshu (G, 37 mins, Minerva McGonagall/Poppy Pomfrey)

March 1 - Ron Weasley Libiamo! (amor fra' calici più caldi baci avrà) by khasael (E, 2h1, Pansy Parkinson/Ron Weasley)

March 9 - Sibyll Trelawney Ambiguity by @vermin-disciple (G, 30 mins)

March 10 - Remus Lupin Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations by TheQueerTailor (T, 1h8, Remus Lupin/Sirius Black)

March 27 - James Potter Time and Space by @thebooktopus (E, 42 mins, James Potter/Regulus Black)

April 1 - Fred & George Weasley The Testing of Daydream Charms by @shaggydogstail (T, 30 mins, multiple pairings)

April 11 - Teddy Lupin Gotta Be Something More by katmarajade (G, 16 mins, Charlie Weasley/Nymphadora Tonks)

April 28 - Horace Slughorn An Old Fool's Folly by PerfectlySteadfast (T, 21 mins, Albus Dumbledore/Horace Slughorn)

May 2 - Victoire Weasley Time After Time by katmarajade (T, 43 mins, Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley)

May 15 - Pomona Sprout Somethings in Retrograde by @lapsed-bookworm (G, 14 mins, Pomona Sprout/Sibyll Trelawney)

May 17 - Scorpius Malfoy Hear Me by @aelys-althea (T, 30 mins)

[theblurplegirl]

So I had my first bad and overtly sexualized experience when playing D&D last night. And I can't sleep until I write it out.

For context, I had decided to start looking for an other group to meet with (online of course) about a month ago. Within the last week I found a group that was in my time zone, and seemed to be an ok fit. When I added my character to the DNDBeyond campaign page I noticed that my character was the only one listed as female. Now I know that people can play whatever gender of character they want, but just the general vibe I got from my few messages with the DM lead me to believe that the players were all playing characters their same gender. I also learned that I was going in as the least experienced of the group, as well as being the only player who was not able to meet with the DM beforehand to run through character details. I was going in mostly uninformed. I immediately knew that this was going to be a lot more difficult than my previous campaign. I was a woman surrounded by men, playing a game that is gatekept by men, and stereotypically played by only men. My thoughts and mindset to not show weakness or inexperience and to prove that was just as good of a player as any of the rest of them did not however prepare me for the session.

First thing we did was describe our characters after we where given our roles within the group. This immediatly made me have to make some major chapter changes because I had planned for a more light-hearted character this go around, but the position she was given required her to not only be aged up but also her alignment changed. So I was already a little on edge and even more unprepared. I had known before how I wanted my character to act in general situations, but now, my overall plan was thrown out the window. The motivation I had put down for my character no longer applied. If my character had nothing to strive for, did I have anything to play with?

Within the first few minutes of the session, as a new group of people, the DM had our characters go through some "bonding activities". My character and another had an arm restling match, which my character lost in one role (7 to an 11). Two other characters bonded by teasing one of the other members of the group, a high born water genasi. Generally that went well except for the fact that the DM, when describing the towel the two were using to taunt the character with he described it as a rough towel, but not just any type of rough, rough like there was dried cum in it. This comment made me immediatly uncomfortable. We were within five minutes of this session starting (the first of the campaign!) and the DM was already making sexual comments. I think I probably would have still been uncomfortable if my other DM, who I have known for close to 7 years, had made that description. I let the comment slide, hoping that maybe it was a slip up on the DMs part and he would remember he was with strangers.

The next incident that happened was when the party entered the town tavern and there was a fight. Our warlock used thamaturgy to make each punch and slap sound louder than they actually were. The DM initially described this as deafening, what was a perfectly fine description. However, later on in the fight when thamaturgy was used again, our DM described the sounds as lude and as if someone was jacking off. This again made me uncomfortable, but I kept silent.

Another thing the DM made a quick comment about is that the barkeep gave the water genasi a glass of water instead of beer and it was the barkeep being racist. Which was a completely unnecessary thing to say.

A little later while still in the bar, it was discovered that our party's mark was also in the building, and that he was commenting about how he found my character attractive, especially since she was apparently the only women in the bar. (Which not only contradicted the DM's earlier description of "Men, women, and children crowed around watching the bar fight" but also the fact that it was the towns only tavern and we were supposed to believe there were no other women then? Not even barmaids?) It was then implied heavily by not only most of the rest of my party but also the DM that I was supposed to go over and seduce the mark and gain access to his house by doing so. I felt set up and nervous. This was by no means how I had ever intended for this character to be played (she was originally going to literally still be a minor before I had to age her up). To make matters even more uncomfortable the DM insisted on role-playing a good portion of the in bar discussion/seduction between my character and the NPC. I said that I was uncomfortable with the situation, and them tried to use the excuse that I was not good at role-playing and had never done it before, but the DM was insistent. Through out the experience other players kept commenting on different aspects or were just being overtly sexual. I ended the in bar role-play fairly swiftly before my character had to go over and tell the rest of the party where she was going, and for them to follow her and scout the house. One the the other players had his character turn invisible and come also in the house as a scout while the other party members where outside.

When my character got back to the house with the mark, his younger sister was apparently awake and waiting. She was decribed as an young girl looking around the age of 13. This immedatly set off some warning bells, because the oarty was meant to capture her and transport her somewhere, which made me worried about what the DM had in mind. In the moment nothing else came of the little girl except that she tried to shame my character for coming back with her brother.

Next, my character and the mark went to his bedroom, and the DM described the multiple tools and weapons hanging on the NPCs wall, I could have been reading into it at this point but it felt like he was describing them in hopes I would have my character use them in the coming moments. The DM again then had my try to role-play the instruction between my character and the NPC, to which I was fairly bland with my words and sped through the process again. My DM then made my character take a point of exhaustion, which gives you disadvantage on checks. I then had my character leave after the NPC had fallen asleep, to which she was met with the younger sister again, who once again tried to shame her for a sexual experience.

When the DM switched to the POV of the other party members two of the players made the comments that they were pretty sure that the invisible party member who was in the house was probably sticking around and getting a show from my character and the mark.

When our whole party met up later to compare intel from the evening my character was the only one that had nothing to add to the scout mission. She had been purely used as a distraction. She was utterly unimportant to the plot of the mission and the campaign. The only "good" that came out of it was when one of the party members asked if my character could show them what she had done to the mark I replied so quickly with an adamant NO (of frustration and annoyance) that the DM told the other player his character suffered 4 points of psychic damage. At this point I was thoroughly upset, annoyed, and bored with the session and DM. This was when one of the other party members (the one who had played the invisible scout) private messaged me and asked if I was uncomfortable. It felt like I was able to take a breath that I didn't even know I could.

The other player explained to me that he was also uncomfortable with the situation and that he was here to support me. We continued to message back and forth for the rest of the session. I honestly don't think I would have made it to the end without him.

In the middle of the night a man broke into the room my character was sharing with the party's orc fighter. But my character slept through the whole interaction between the two characters, which just made me more uncomfortable, but I at this point I was so uncomfortable with this whole campaign that it was just another layer.

When our party awoke the next morning there were comments from the party about how my character had slept so deeply because of being worn out from the night before. This just caused more annoyance from me. When out party stepped out of the tavern there was a man selling potions on a cart pulled my two humans and two drow elves. The DM stated, after the invisible scout's insight check, that the people pulling the cart were slaves and that the whole region we were in had slavery. The owner of said slaves (played by the DM) stated that they were better than horses because they fought back. This statement made me extremely uncomfortable, even more so than the sexual encounters.

At this point the invisible scout spoke up and said that our characters should free the slaves, in response my chracter was the only one that agreed so we set about to release them. This involved me casting blindness on the owner and then getting shot by his goblin lacky and taking over half of my HP in damage. Then the genasi cast sleep on the goblin (not to help us free the slaves, but to steal something off the cart), which allowed the scout and I to cut the chains and try to let the slaves free. By that point the owner had regained his sight and the slaves had not run away. One of the slaves then glared at my character and said "should I dispose of them master" and honestly I wish he had, because then I would have gotten to leave. Instead, I had to stick around because the owner insisted that I was merely misunderstanding the situation and that no further punishment should come to my character if she worked off the payment of the chains she had cut. There was no mention of the scout being punished. I wanted to cry at this point, out of frustration and annoyance.

The last few minutes of the session involved the party then splitting up to look at different locations around town that we also needed to scout, but at this point I was not paying attention to anything the DM or anybody else said.

Throughout the course of the session the DM and other players also made other unnecessarily sexual and racist comments, but there were so many that I only explained the major ones. By the end, when the DM asked how the session was, I couldn't respond. I felt assaulted. Yes, I had put myself in this situation, but there had been no prior indication before starting the evening that I would be subjected to a multitude of sexual and racist comments throughout the session.

The whole experience was horrible, except for the fact that the invisible scout player and I have continued to talk and have both decided to leave the campaign and look for a friendlier one together. I am just glad that I had him to talk to during the experience because otherwise I probably would have thought I was exaggerating things in my head. I have loved D&D for a long time and this experience has tarnished my love for the game. I just hope I can recover from it and learn to again love the game and the people who play that are truly loving, accepting, and kind.

Ps: If you are 18+ and in either CST, MST or EST and looking for a cleric and a ranger in your campaign, I've got you covered

Tl;dr

I joined an online group of D&D that was full of unnecessarily sexual and racist comments and it was the worst experience of D&D I've had so far.

Sorry for any typos I dont want to have to reread everything, it was bad enough going through it once.