#hphm analysis

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

If I recall correctly, Dolores Umbridge drafted the Anti-Werewolf legislation in 1993, which made it impossible for werewolves to get a job and support themselves among wizard kind. Seeing as how Chiara is living her dream as a Healer. How long do you think she'll fare until the ramifications of this new law shatters her hard earn dream. What then?

Well, here's the thing.

That law would most notably affected Werewolves who are out to the public, and thus listed in the Registry. We know Remus wasn't still a secret Werewolf because Snape, bless his heart, took that decision out of his hands. What's curious and oh so depressing is that based on the timeline of these events, I don't believe this is a coincidence. I think the discovery that Dumbledore had harbored a Werewolf at Hogwarts, that there was a functioning member of magical society who had managed to fly under the radar...I think that really frightened the Ministry, and pissed them off too. Whether Umbridge was inspired to push this law through because of Remus' story...whether it was made easier for her because of his recent outing...I wouldn't be surprised. So yeah, that's not fun.

But! The point I'm trying to get at is that this wouldn't apply to Chiara. In happier news, she is not publicly outed as a Werewolf, to the best of my knowledge. A select few among her friends know, and presumably the heart of the Hogwarts staff, but it's hardly common knowledge, and the important thing is that The Ministry has no idea. Which is good news for Chiara. She's a remarkable Healer and St. Mungos would never want to lose her. In fact, I don't think they'd give her up without a fight. Were she outed, she might struggle to find a job in Healing, but if she already had "job security" then her coworkers and superiors could possibly fight for her role. Not saying they would win, but she would be less screwed over than Remus ended up being.

[missnight0wl]

Y7Ch57: The Final “Battle”

*sigh*

Ok, let’s talk about this disaster.

Ah, yes. Because everyone knows that as soon as Dumbledore is not at Hogwarts, the faculty becomes totally incapable of doing anything – including people like Minerva Badass McGonagall or Filius Former-Duelling-Champion Flitwick. Yes, of course.

Funny that you say that, Jae. I’ll actually come back to it a little later.

You know what? No. Rowan would cry at least for a week straight if they knew how fucking stupid everyone is at this point.

All right, that might be my biggest problem with this whole “battle” because… WHY?? Why do we even care whether or not they get to Hogwarts? Minnie alone would kick their asses in under a minute – and quite frankly, I’d love to see it. Just let them through!

WHY THE FUCK DO WE CARE?!

Ok, so it’s never really explained who’s exactly Perry’s target here. Sure, we’re told it’s about an adult Legilimens, and MC deduced that both Dumbledore and Snape are adult Legilmenses. Still, it’s never addressed directly again, and it kinda bothers me. But whatever, I guess. Apparently, we’re supposed to assume that it’s indeed Snape who’s Perry’s target. But like… if there’s anyone at Hogwarts fully capable of defending themselves... IT’S SNAPE. Like… just imagine this encounter.

Perry: Severus Snape? I have a proposition for you that--

Snape: *lazily waves his wand*

Perry: *flies over the Black Lake, slightly smoking because of the impact of Snape’s spell that hit him*

Or…

Perry: Severus Snape? I’m Peregrine Lastname, I’m the father of MC and Jacob. I--

Snape: Sectumsempra!

Perry: AAAAAAAAAA!

Snape: I suffered years because of your two spawns.

Perry: Help! I’m bleeding out!

Snape: Yes, that’s a very accurate description of my suffering.

Seriously, why do we care?! I swear, this fucking “battle” has no stakes whatsoever, and I just don’t understand why it even exists.

Another absurd: why the fuck Verucca wants to kill Peregrine?

Ok, so at least it’s clear that Verucca is indeed a Snyde because apparently, all the Snydes are stupid bitches. If Verucca thought just for a moment, she’d realise that the Ministry focusing on Peregrine meant they’re focusing less on her. And that means she can do whatever she wants more freely. But whatever, I guess.

And here’s another stupidity. If Verucca wants to lead R, all she has to do is to convince other members that Perry is insane and that she’d be better for the whole organisation. Like, it should be super easy after he fucked up with the recent mind control test. And who fucking cares that he ruined R’s name or whatever? Rebel people against Perry, lay low for some time, change the name of the organisation, and enjoy your fucking profit! What would Perry do when left alone??

Because I’m gonna do it myself!

A friendly reminder that Verucca is also Merula’s mother’s sister (according to Y5Ch28) which means it’s quite likely Merula’s parents are cousins – which is not rare among pureblood families, after all :)

I know, it’s really disappointing.

Also, the Circle of Khanna behind us, especially Ben and Corey (and especially if you chose to ban Merula from the Circle a couple of chapters ago):

No, really, it’s just… so pathetic, considering that the vast majority of the Circle never cared about Merula and Merula never cared about them.

I… I’m…

HOW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS SO BAD??

Also, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FIRE?!?!?! How anyone at JC looked at this and was like: “Yeah, that’s good enough”?! I swear we had dragon fire animations before better than this abomination…

Ok, but Ben’s utter disappointment in this scene is the only good thing in this damn chapter. I can even say I actually enjoyed it.

I mean… Yeah, there were 17 of you and 7 of them, so… By the way, I talked more more about the fighting alone in this post.

Ok, but does anyone remember that R is supposed to be an international organisation? Was it simply retconned or are we supposed to believe that an international organisation has like… 14 members? Am I counting it correctly? Perry, 7 idiots he brought with him, Verucca, Merula, Shiratori, Burke, Zenith Xeep, and Rakepick. Right?

I don’t know how it’s possible, but this whole situation gets more and more pathetic the more I think about it.

Also, I mentioned in the post linked above that I felt more threatened by Mrs Norris in Y1. But you know what else had more tension than this damn “battle”? Our very first trip to Knockturn Alley. Remember this?

Now, let’s compare those situations.

Honestly, it’s just so upsetting that this game used to be created by people who actually could create tension for one simple event that doesn’t even matter that much in the great picture, and now we’re getting… THIS. The final “battle” with R had literally no stakes. There was no logic and therefore also no threats. I felt absolutely nothing, and I’m truly baffled remembering how many emotions this story could give me back in Y5.

Unfortunately, it all changed with the extremely stupid end of Y5, and it was getting only worse ever since. It’s like JC’s greatest ambition is making things worse than Y5Ch31 was.

But let’s move on because I’m not done.

MC’s reaction is about as emotional as I felt during this whole chapter. It’s just hilarious, sorry not sorry.

Ok, so at first, I wanted to leave this part because JC clearly doesn’t know what they’re doing anymore. But you know what? I’m gonna rant. Because no, Rowan’s sacrifice was not honoured. And quite frankly, you keep desecrating it by still using it at this point.

Learning the truth was something very important for Rowan. I mean, this is our conversation from the end of Y1:

By the end of Y7, I’m pretty sure we didn’t solve a single mystery of the story. And what’s the worst is that we didn’t solve the mystery of Rowan’s death. Sure, Peregrine told us that Rakepick went rogue or whatever. But it still makes no fucking sense.

First of all, only an idiot would believe in anything Peregrine says. But more importantly, we actually know about things suggesting that Peregrine lies. In the insane route, Rakepick in Azkaban is absolutely terrified of R, so how she’d go rogue if that’s the case? On top of that, we saw in Olivia’s memories that Rakepick talked with someone from R about Duncan brewing his potion. Yet, Peregrine claimed that R didn’t get involved with the Cursed Vaults until Jacob went missing. You know what it means? It means that Perry fucking lied. And if he lied about something this important, why should we believe him about anything else?

Moreover, we still don’t know why Rowan died. Rakepick told us in Azkaban that it wasn’t Rowan who was supposed to die that night. Then who? Ben? Why? Sure, Rakepick herself claimed in the Forest that she wanted to kill MC. And sure, you can say it makes sense if she saw MC as her competition – except it makes no sense! Why? Because it only made things harder for her. And the game even addressed that!

Why would Rakepick make things so much harder for herself just to get rid of her competition? Especially since she should’ve known where the Sunken Vault is because we know that R was there before (thanks to the note from the Weird Sisters TLSQ). But even if she didn’t know… it still would be more reasonable to not draw attention to herself and simply use it to work on getting to the Vault before MC.

You didn’t honour Rowan’s sacrifice. You ignored about 95% of things that ever happened in the game.

[carewyncromwell]

What does Carewyn think of the Slytherin Trio? (Merula, Barnaby and Ismelda)

Oh gosh, another three?! All with quite a bit of content to put in...this will definitely need a cut! XD;

How Carewyn Feels About Merula:

Carewyn and Merula may have been dormmates, but from the moment these two collided in their first year, it was pretty much loathing at first sight. Although their first night at school, Merula avoided Carewyn, the instant that Merula decided to pick on Rowan Khanna the following day, Carewyn immediately stood up for her friend and just as quickly decided she really didn't like Merula. And as their first year went on and she found out that not only was Merula a petty bully, but that her parents were both blood purist Death Eaters, Carewyn felt all the more justified in hating her. This antagonism only increased when Merula started getting in Carewyn's way of discovering what happened to her brother by starting her own investigation into the Cursed Vaults, even going so far as to locate and lock up Jacob's old room in the castle where he stashed away his research into the Vaults. Then that Christmas, Merula ended up actually spending Christmas with Carewyn and the Weasleys at the Burrow. While there, Carewyn learned Merula actually enjoyed singing too, and she and Merula actually had agreed to just enough of a truce that they sang together that holiday season. This pretty quickly went back out the window once the holidays were over, especially after Carewyn befriended Barnaby and gained a new flavor of dislike for Merula seeing how badly he'd been treated as one of her lackeys...but even so, even if Carewyn wouldn't admit it, seeing that slightly more human side to Merula did change things. As Carewyn grew older, she grew less interested in her and Merula's petty school rivalry and focused way more just on helping her friends and her brother, especially once she became Prefect and Merula started mellowing out herself a bit under Rakepick's mentorship. She even gave up her spot on the Frog Choir to Merula, largely due to the counsel of her mother Lane and her own belief that she couldn't focus on the Choir around looking for Jacob. By the time she and Merula were coming up on the end of their fifth year, the two "apprentice Cursebreakers" actually had mended fences enough to work together in breaking the Portrait Curse. They weren't friends, not by a long shot -- but they as Slytherins could see the benefit of working together toward their common goal.

Then the events in the Portrait Vault went down, and Merula and Carewyn's slow arc toward pleasantry came to a skidding halt. After what happened, Carewyn was determined to prevent anyone else from helping her with the Vaults again, out of a misguided desire to protect the people around her, but Merula -- too blind with resentment and an intense need for vengeance against Rakepick -- was not going to stay out of the way, no matter what Carewyn might say. And so Merula followed Carewyn into the Forbidden Forest one night in their sixth year, just like Ben Copper did, though with a completely different rationale. Merula was pretty sure Carewyn was walking into a trap set by R, and therefore Rakepick -- and she was going to be there, if Rakepick showed her face.

Unfortunately that night ended up going nothing like what either Carewyn or Merula had envisioned.

When Rowan was killed, Merula -- the only one who'd managed to keep any shred of awareness for the danger of the situation -- at first tried to tell Carewyn that they had to take Rowan back to the castle. When Merula's hand made contact with Carewyn's shoulder, however, Carewyn lashed out in a way she never had with anyone before, smacking Merula's hand away and grabbing onto Rowan. She screamed like a mad woman, tears streaming down her face, and refused to let Merula or Ben get within a foot of Rowan. It took a long while before the three were able to get Rowan back to the castle, and even then, Carewyn was hard-pressed to let anyone near the body of her best friend.

Merula was one of those who went to go look for Carewyn after she disappeared following Rowan's death, and was also ultimately one of those who found her at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower stairs, alongside Bill, Charlie, and Ben. Although the three Gryffindor boys had all run to grab onto Carewyn as if never wanting to let her go again, Merula stood back, and when Ben and Carewyn both blamed themselves for what had happened to Rowan, Merula actually ended up serving as the reality check to both of them. Rather than take any blame on herself or even throwing the blame back at them, she reminded them that regardless of whose fault it was, Rowan was dead at Rakepick's hand, and Rakepick was still a threat to all of them, so long as she lived. And it was this, strangely, that not only made Merula break down in tears herself, but also ended up paving the way for the five students to create the organization that would be called the Circle of Khanna.

As co-leaders of the Circle of Khanna, Carewyn and Merula once again found that they could work together as allies, even while not being friends and while seeing the world in such dramatically different ways. Even after the Circle and R's final showdown in the Statue Vault, Carewyn and Merula kept on respectful terms, with them even agreeing to meet up for coffee now and again, whenever Merula returned to London. It was a lot easier to have frank conversations with Merula after she got the hell over her stupid schoolgirl crush on Jacob Cromwell, though -- even at the time when Carewyn sensed her old school rival first becoming attracted to Jacob in their sixth year, all she could think to herself was that however people-dumb Jacob could be, he would never be that dumb, to consider dating someone like Merula Snyde.

How Merula Feels About Carewyn:

As weird as it sounds, Merula disliked Carewyn even before formally meeting her, all because her name was dancing all over the teachers' lips among the staff both before and after the Welcome Feast in their first year. Merula heard some things that sounded encouraging -- some theorized Carewyn's brother Jacob might've been aligned with the Death Eaters the way Merula's parents were, which could mean they could connect over that, the way Merula would ultimately connect to Barnaby later -- but for the most part, the teachers were largely concerned that Carewyn was going to get into the same sort of trouble her brother did over these dangerous, mysterious Cursed Vaults. Although Snape sounded cynical about this, though, most of the other professors seemed far more fawning in their concerns, saying that it'd be tragic that such a sweet little girl could end up going down her brother's path. Even before having gotten to know her, the staff already seemed to have developed a soft spot for Carewyn, just based on how her pariah older brother used to gush about her...and yeah, Merula felt a sting of resentment toward this "Carewyn Cromwell" despite herself, just listening to the professors prattle on about her. It made Merula not talk to her new dormmate at all that first night. The following day, though, Carewyn had the audacity to talk back to Merula when she was confronting her other dormmate Rowan, and Merula suddenly had more reason to dislike Carewyn. And although Merula would claim she wanted Carewyn to get kicked out of school because of the "threat" her brother and by extension Carewyn posed, it was in truth jealousy that really fueled Merula -- jealousy that from the very beginning, Merula's entire time at school was overshadowed by Carewyn Cromwell and the attention she garnered seemingly without even trying.

This jealousy, in truth, is where a lot of Merula's hostility toward Carewyn originates. That flames of that jealousy would only be fanned further when Carewyn recruited cool older student Bill Weasley to help her and Ben Copper break the curse on the Ice Vault; Carewyn was chosen to replace the wounded Slytherin Chaser in her third year for the match against Hufflepuff; and both Merula's ex-friend Tulip and lackey Barnaby ended up choosing Carewyn's friendship over hers. Even in their later years, Carewyn would be chosen as Slytherin Prefect over Merula by Snape, who had originally disliked and mistrusted Carewyn just as much as Merula had, and even Rakepick would sometimes favor Carewyn in little ways by having private meetings with her and accompanying her to Knockturn Alley. In the midst of this, though, Merula's flames of resentment toward Carewyn also weathered some splashes of reality now and again too. Merula's Christmas in third year was actually spent at the Weasley family home alongside both the Weasleys and Carewyn, and it was here that not only did she see how genuinely kind these supposed "blood traitors" were first-hand, she also learned that some of the Christmas songs she'd sing along to on the WWN every year were written by Muggles...and that Carewyn herself liked to sing them too! She and Carewyn ended up singing together that Christmas. And the following year, when both Merula and Carewyn auditioned for the Frog Choir, Carewyn ultimately gave up her spot to Merula, knowing how much it meant to her. Merula tried to act as though it didn't...but that act of compassion on Carewyn's part did have an impact on her all the same. And once Rakepick started giving Merula special attention as one of her apprentices, Merula finally felt like someone appreciated her and everything she was, rather than pass her over in favor of Carewyn. Sure, Carewyn was an "apprentice Cursebreaker" too, just like Bill -- but Merula still felt like she had a connection with Rakepick Carewyn didn't, a feeling all the more bolstered by knowing Carewyn didn't trust Rakepick and so hadn't bonded with her the way Merula had. Over their fifth year while working together with Rakepick, Merula came to respect Carewyn's talents, rather than just resent them, and eventually Merula even asked Carewyn for some help in getting ready to enter the Portrait Vault and opened up a bit about herself. This conversation was also the first time Merula really came to understand how much Carewyn had truly never wanted the attention or praise she'd gotten, instead putting herself in danger solely for her brother's sake, not her own. Carewyn's sincerity, combined with her memory of what she'd heard the professors say her brother had always said about Carewyn prior to school, made Merula wonder for the first time just how amazing of a person this Jacob Cromwell had to be, for Carewyn to fight so hard just for him.

After Rakepick's betrayal in the Portrait Vault, Merula reacted very badly. She shut down all of her budding friendships, declaring she was fine on her own and that they'd only ever get in her way of her goal of killing Rakepick anyway. Merula especially didn't want Carewyn getting in her way, considering her dormmate was trying and failing to convince her to just stay at school and let the Aurors deal with Rakepick and the Vaults. It was also around this time that Merula first collided with Jacob Cromwell, and instantly became smitten after seeing him duel with his younger sister and wipe the floor with her with creative Transfiguration combos. Unlike Carewyn's friends, Merula figured out pretty quickly what Carewyn was really up to -- namely, pretending to not be involved with the Vaults while actually still chasing them down in secret -- and she knew that if Carewyn went after the Vaults, sooner or later, she'd collide with Rakepick again. And when Carewyn did run into Rakepick again, Merula would be there, and she'd make that traitor pay.

If Merula had only known just how badly that night would turn out. Seeing Carewyn's face, mad with grief, as she smacked Merula's hand away and flung herself over Rowan's lifeless body was an image that horrified Merula almost as much as Rowan being murdered had. She had never seen Carewyn so lacking of poise or sanity, and her dormmate's unreasonable, bile-filled screams was all directed at her and Ben Copper. Merula had never seen Carewyn lose her cool this badly before, and it humanized her in a way she wished it didn't. Carewyn's heart had been ripped out of her chest before Merula's eyes, and it was gut-wrenching to watch.

Merula was just as traumatized by Rowan's murder as Carewyn and Ben were. She went just as silent as they had, unable to talk about what had happened with anyone without getting angry at the person and storming off before they could look at her too closely. This was because even just thinking about what had happened -- about how, no matter how she'd hated Rakepick for her betrayal, Merula hadn't truly believed she would kill anybody, let alone one of her ex-students -- made Merula's eyes flood with tears. When Carewyn subsequently disappeared, Merula actually was one of the first to notice, since she shared a dorm with Carewyn. When she was gone overnight, Merula was suspicious, but that suspicion turned to outright fear when Charlie came to talk to her and it was clear he didn't know where Carewyn was either. Merula then confronted Ben, and the three started the search, checking with all of Carewyn's other friends. It took a whole day of searching before Bill arrived, and finally in the evening, Bill, Charlie, Ben, and Merula found Carewyn at the base of the Astronomy Tower stairs. Merula only broke down after all of the others had, but that delay was only due to the stunned disbelief she felt, in response to the relief she felt alongside all the anxiety, anger, and resentment.

Because, for however much she resented Carewyn...Merula didn't want her to die. In all their time at school together, Carewyn had become someone important to Merula -- not a friend, no, but someone important all the same. Someone who had gone through traumas with her that no one else could understand -- someone who had taught her more about herself than anyone else had. Someone who challenged her and made her want to become better, if nothing else, than to one day show her up before the whole world. Someone who, even despite all the animosity between them, still had enough honor and compassion in her heart to want to protect her. Carewyn was her rival -- a noble opponent -- someone who, no matter how Merula might never admit it, she didn't want to lose. And so Merula helped found the Circle of Khanna with Carewyn, Bill, Charlie, and Ben, largely serving as Carewyn's "foil" as co-leader, in the sense of Merula favoring brutal, but efficient methods over Carewyn's gentler, more methodical inclinations.

Even as adults, Carewyn and Merula still approach each other with marked civility, rather than overt friendship. Considering where they started, though, that really does show how far they've come, both as individuals and in their overall dynamic.

How does Carewyn feel about these HPHM characters?

(Ismelda and Barnaby under the cut!)

How Carewyn Feels About Ismelda:

Carewyn didn't interact with Ismelda much at all until after Ismelda befriended Merula in their third year, largely because Carewyn got rather misanthropic, unpleasant vibes off her dormmate and they didn't have much in common. After she befriended Merula, though, Carewyn felt all the more justified in not warming up to Ismelda and only disliked her more, hearing Ismelda speak so favorably of causing others pain. When Carewyn found out Ismelda had a crush on Barnaby in their fifth year, however, she actually stood up for her dormmate against older Gryffindor student Emily Tyler (who Carewyn hates beyond reason), and even agreed to help Ismelda, with the thought that if Barnaby felt the same way, Carewyn wanted Barnaby to be happy. Sadly once it was clear Barnaby didn't feel the same way about Ismelda and Ismelda considered using a Love Potion to make him change his mind, all possible pity Carewyn could've had for Ismelda dissipated instantly. Carewyn actually got rather fierce with Ismelda, threatening her that if her Love Potion-infused sandwich got anywhere near Barnaby's mouth, Carewyn would make her regret it. Even after learning Ismelda partially resented her due to how much Carewyn reminded of her older sister Annalena, Carewyn was pretty unsympathetic because of the lingering bitterness she felt about Ismelda trying to drug her friend with Love Potion. Still, when in their sixth year, Penny expressed concern to Carewyn about her sister Beatrice spending time with Ismelda, Carewyn did not share those concerns. Although she checked on Beatrice as Penny asked, Carewyn never thought Ismelda was an inherently bad influence on Beatrice, nor that Beatrice would come to any harm, interacting with her. Considering their decidedly cool feelings toward each other, Carewyn was incredibly surprised when Ismelda joined the Circle of Khanna after Rowan's death, and was rather touched when Ismelda took on Rowan's old role of teaching their class in History of Magic, which was both her and Rowan's favorite subject. Carewyn even at one point put Ismelda in touch with her mother Lane, who works as a Historian, when Ismelda started working to become one herself in their seventh year.

How Ismelda Feels About Carewyn:

Ismelda at first harbored a lot of the same distrust toward Carewyn that Merula expressed, after seeing how much her Head of House Snape disliked her. She only disliked Carewyn all the more seeing how much attention she sapped up from everyone for being a "goody-good" like her older sister Annalena, and that feeling only intensified as they got older and Carewyn only became more of a paragon. Ismelda especially hated it when Barnaby chose Carewyn over her and Merula, since she was nurturing budding romantic feelings for Barnaby at the time. It was all the more surprising, therefore, when Carewyn actually stood up for Ismelda when Emily Tyler stole her diary and read it aloud for everyone to hear, as well as when Carewyn agreed to help Ismelda confess her feelings to Barnaby. When that confession bombed spectacularly, with Barnaby being completely oblivious to it, Ismelda despaired and actually resorted to buying a Love Potion from Jae Kim with the thought of using it to make Barnaby love her. If it wasn't for Carewyn ripping into her for it, Ismelda might've made a really big mistake, and although Ismelda resented Carewyn for once again "playing the goody-good," she's actually secretly grateful that Carewyn stopped her, and she actually took Carewyn's words about not just "settling" for fake love when she should chase the real thing to heart. In her sixth year, Ismelda befriended Penny Haywood's sister Beatrice, taking on an "older sister" role to her, and that new role made her really resent how Penny tried to use Carewyn as a peace broker between her and her sister, rather than just work things out with Beatrice for real. Even with this, though, Ismelda was just as upset as anyone by Rowan's death and just as concerned when Carewyn abruptly disappeared after the fact. Rowan had been one of the few people who Ismelda had genuinely liked, partly because of their shared interest in History of Magic, so when Merula told Ismelda about the Circle of Khanna, she joined up without any hesitation. She even took on the role Rowan filled teaching her class History of Magic, and Carewyn -- likely touched by how much admiration Ismelda had for her best friend -- actually helped Ismelda with her future career by reaching out to her mother Lane Cromwell, who was also a historian. Despite her being Little Miss Perfect's mother, Ismelda has to admit -- Lane's a pretty cool person.

How Carewyn Feels About Barnaby:

Carewyn didn't interact with Barnaby much at all until after he became one of Merula's lackeys in their third year, and her first impression of him was that he was an idiot: not as malevolent as Merula and Ismelda, maybe, but incredibly gullible and not very smart. Her best friend Rowan Khanna agreed with the assessment and compared Barnaby to a troll, an image Carewyn would mentally adopt herself until Tulip convinced her to coax Barnaby to help them instead of Merula. That whole encounter -- including her duel with Barnaby and especially their conversation at the Three Broomsticks after the fact -- completely changed Carewyn's perspective on Barnaby. He wasn't dumb -- he was naive and trusting. He wasn't a bad person -- his honor was so ironclad that his word was his bond. He wasn't mindlessly violent -- he could be protective and even gentle. And so in the course of one meeting, Carewyn immediately decided -- Barnaby was her friend, and she would encourage and protect him with everything in her. Of all of her friends, Carewyn is the most proud of how much Barnaby has come into his own, and throughout the years, she's remained incredibly protective of Barnaby, especially since he's thrown himself in front of her as a human shield more than once. From year four on, new Slytherin creature buddies Barnaby, Liz, and Carewyn co-raised a bat that Barnaby had saved from the owlery, which they named Lune. Barnaby also was one of those people who searched for Carewyn most thoroughly after her disappearance following Rowan's death, as well as one of the first people who joined the Circle of Khanna after its formation. While Carewyn was recovering in the Hospital Wing, Barnaby would smuggle in small fluffy creatures like Puffskeins to cheer her up. Not to spoil the finale of the Good!Rakepick AU, but He ended up being essential in helping the Circle of Khanna deal with the treasure inside the final Cursed Vault. Barnaby and Carewyn remained close even post-graduation, writing letters and sending packages frequently.

How Barnaby Feels About Carewyn:

Barnaby at first only really saw Carewyn as a strong duelist, based on what he'd heard about her duel with Merula in their first year. Even after joining up with Merula, Barnaby only threatened her out of loyalty to his new "friend," rather than any actual malice -- Carewyn still seemed like a decent person, from what Barnaby could see, even if she looked so tiny and fragile. This changed, though, when she beat him in a duel herself -- Barnaby hadn't expected someone so small and seemingly disinterested in violence to pack such a punch, and he had a lot of fun! Then they were able to talk in Hogsmeade after the fact, and Barnaby also discovered Carewyn was really nice, too. And soon Barnaby really found himself very happy that he'd chosen to befriend Carewyn, even if it made him choose to help her rather than Merula and Ismelda. Barnaby bloomed like a flower under Carewyn's nurturing influence, making him feel more comfortable in his own skin and happier than he'd ever been in his life. After breaking away with Merula, Barnaby became more open with his love for magical creatures, which prompted strong friendships with fellow creature lovers Charlie and Liz, as well as mentor relationships with both Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn. However much he isn't smart with books or scholarly subjects, Barnaby is smart enough to know his friendship with Carewyn changed his life for the better, and he is grateful for that in a way he can't fully express. It makes him very protective of Carewyn, not wanting to see her come to any harm, and when she nearly dies after Rowan's death, he becomes all the more determined to help her fight back against R, which makes him one of the very first of her friends to join the Circle of Khanna. Barnaby then stays in close contact with Carewyn even after graduation, even at one point working with her brother Jacob when he asks for Barnaby and his wife Sarahi's @dat-silvers-girl help in securing some dragon venom so that Jacob can work on making antidotes for them.

[carewyncromwell]

I think it’s an issue of Jam City wanting to have MC ask any and all questions the player might have, to the extent that the MC looks stupid a lot of the time and the meta rationale makes the in-universe logic of MC’s history make no sense. 😅 On the one hand, there are some culturally British, etc. things that players from other countries or just younger players might need some information about (and admittedly there’s some weak chortle factor to wizards not knowing about seemingly “basic” things like toasters and whatever), but on the other, it does restrict what family the player’s character could be from quite a bit, and the player might not be as knowledgeable about Wizarding World lore as someone who’s lived in that world would be. But yeah, honestly, it would probably have been smarter to have them be Muggle-born or half-blood but raised in the Muggle World. The reason the Golden Trio worked so well in the books is Hermione was a fountain of information one could get from a textbook, while Ron filled in cultural context from his own lived experience growing up in a magical household.

Something I find interesting is despite canonically having muggle relatives, MC knows nothing about muggle things (ex: snow glands predict weather). Even if they’re not always around those things in the Wizarding world you’d think they’d know something.

But then that seems to be a Harry Potter universe lore thing as even wizards with a muggle parent don’t know those things either 🤔

[ariparri]

Undeserving

HPHM Cardverse Masterlist | Blog Masterlist

The Hogwarts Mystery Cardverse is an AU that takes place in a fantasy land called Cinderhaven. There are five regions, four of them representing a suit of cards; Spades, Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds. The final region representing the Jokers.

Here it is, finally! Rakepick's backstory and motive! I kept this one short since I didn’t plan to make her backstory too long, just a good enough description on why she’s the way she is. To put things simply, she’s mad because the newer official role holders are all younger than her and some were literally handed their positions on silver platters while she worked her damn butt off to get her position.

In the illustrious Country of Spades, where work flowed like the rivers and power lay in the hands of a select few, Patricia Rakepick was born into the esteemed House of Rakepick. From her earliest years, she was immersed in a world of privilege and expectation, the weight of her family's legacy pressing down upon her young shoulders like a suffocating cloak.

Raised within the imposing walls of her family's estate, Patricia's childhood was marked with rigorous education and training. Her parents, stern and unyielding, demanded nothing short of perfection from their daughter, instilling in her a relentless drive for excellence that burned bright within her.

But it was in the hallowed halls of the military academy that Patricia truly found her calling. She excelled in her studies, displaying an insatiable hunger for knowledge and a keen intellect that set her apart from her peers. Improving her skills in combat and strategy, driven by a burning desire to prove herself worthy of her family's legacy.

As she ascended through the ranks, Patricia's ambition knew no bounds. She set her sights on the coveted position of Ace of Spades, the highest rank in the country’s military hierarchy, a title reserved for only the most skilled commanders. Her prowess on the battlefield became legendary, her name whispered in awe and fear by those who knew of her exploits. But even as she carved out her place among the country’s elite soldiers, a shadow of resentment lingered in her heart.

Unlike Patricia Rakepick, who had clawed her way to the top through sheer force and will, Duncan Ashe had been handed his position on a silver platter, his ascent to becoming the next Jack of Spades was swift and seemingly effortless. Under the watchful eye of his mentor, Ulrich Scheller, the mastermind behind the country’s intricate web of finances and policies, Duncan had risen through the ranks with alarming speed, his youth and charm masking a cunning intellect that belied his years.

Even as he was still attending university, Duncan's influence within Ulrich's cabinet was already felt far and wide. His reports and recommendations were eagerly awaited by those in power, his insights and analysis proving invaluable in guiding the country through troubled times.

As Duncan was appointed the new Jack of Spades, another figure emerged from the shadows: Coby McQuaid, the king who never truly sought the crown. Coby's ascension to the throne was a twist of fate orchestrated by his closest friend and confidant, Duncan Ashe. Coby McQuaid never envisioned himself wearing the crown. His days were filled with adventure and laughter, not with the weighty responsibilities of rulership. Despite his initial reservations, Coby embraced his newfound position with characteristic optimism. He may not have been well-versed in the intricacies of governance, but he possessed a deep love for his people and a genuine desire to see them thrive.

As Patricia Rakepick's thirst for power intensified, so too did the darkness that lurked within her soul. Fueled by resentment and driven by ambition, she became a formidable force to be reckoned with in the Country of Spades. Overhearing the conversation between King Coby and Duncan about the possibility of adding Veruca McQuaid, Coby's sister, to the council only served to stoke the flames of Patricia's anger. In her eyes, it was yet another example of undeserving individuals being handed positions of power without earning them.

Determined to prove herself superior to Coby and Duncan, Patricia's ambition twisted into something darker and more insidious. She became ruthless and cunning, willing to cross any line to achieve her goals, no matter the cost. With each passing day, Patricia's thirst for power grew, consuming her from within like a relentless hunger. She manipulated events and people with calculated precision, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.

But as she climbed the ladder of success, leaving a path of devastation in her wake, Patricia's grip on reality began to slip. The lines between right and wrong blurred, and she found herself teetering on the edge of madness. Yet, even as the darkness threatened to consume her, Patricia remained determined to claim her rightful place among the elite of Spades. For in a country where power was the ultimate currency and ambition the driving force behind every action, she would stop at nothing to emerge victorious.

As Patricia Rakepick's fame as a war hero grew, so did her influence within the Country of Spades. Leveraging her reputation and military prowess, she capitalized on the dissatisfaction brewing among the people regarding King Coby's laid-back nature and perceived ineffectiveness as a ruler.

With a shrewd understanding of political maneuvering, Patricia exploited Coby's relaxed style of governance as a potent weapon against him. She paid off news reporters to spread gossip about Coby's extravagant spending habits, painting him as out of touch with the needs of the common folk. The whispers of discontent among the council members and the general populace provided fertile ground for Patricia to sow seeds of dissent. As she positioned herself as a strong and decisive leader, contrasting sharply with Coby's perceived weaknesses, she garnered widespread support among the disillusioned masses.

Patricia's promise of swift and decisive action resonated with many, particularly those who longed for a return to old-school traditions and values. Veterans, in particular, rallied behind her banner, viewing her as a champion of stability and order in a time of uncertainty. Under Patricia's leadership, she demanded absolute loyalty from her supporters, particularly from her military forces. Those who dared to question her authority or stray from her path were swiftly dealt with, sent off to the metaphorical "gulag" as a warning to others.

While some embraced Coby’s vision for the future of Spades, others clung stubbornly to the past, resisting change and viewing Coby's carefree demeanor as a sign of weakness. Yet, as the winds of political upheaval swept through the country, it became increasingly clear that the days of Coby's reign were numbered, and the era of Patricia Rakepick's iron-fisted rule was on the horizon.

[usernoneexistent]

Okay, so this thought has been stuck in my brain for a while which is that Jacob could have possibly known Snape much closer than I realised and I decided to take a shot at a timeline for the main characters.

So the timeline just covers everyone’s overlapping Hogwarts years and who could have meet who during it all. A little note, the plus after Snape stands for the marauders and Lily since they are all in the same year as Snape and also all the dates I got, are pulled from the Harry Potter Wikipedia pages so let’s get cracking.

Lets start with the easiest one which is Rakepick, she was in 5th year while Snape was in 1st year. Great it works, moving on.

Now, for Jacob, I’m basing it that he was born in 1962/1963. Yes, Jacob and MC have roughly a 10 years age gap between them. My thoughts are that while it is unusual to have such a high age gap between siblings but maybe Jacob was planned and MC was not or the Parents had fertility issues, who knows. And he starts 1st year after Rakepick graduates so they just missed each other. This also means that Snape was in 3rd year when Jacob started, meaning they are closer in age than expected.

Now, for an interesting theory I came up with after reading @missnight0wl​ analysis who the third person is in Jacob’s notebook and she believes it is Snape. So what if Snape and Jacob were friends, like that could explain Snape knows quite a lot about the Vaults but they had a bitter falling out and that’s why it seems that Snape is always out to get MC but at the same time seems to be protecting us in his own way. He probably witnessed how the vaults affected Jacob mentally and doesn’t want MC to fall down the same way as Jacob. It could also explain why Jacob is so good at legilimency, Snape could have taught him. So yeah, this is my new head canon. Now back to analysing.

For Jacob’s expulsion, it has to be after September 1980 when he just started 7th year and is about 17/18 because that is when he can meet the prefects. Now I know it’s a bit of a stretch, that the prefects only know Jacob for a couple months and that Angelica has a crush on him but I guess it still kinda makes sense. For Angelica at least I could imagine that she has a cute high school crush on the resident, older, popular, “bad” boy and I would say that Jacob was probably popular or at least people were talking about him and the cursed vaults. So the prefects would have at the very least heard many of his exploits and at most had some interaction with Jacob in the couple months he was still at Hogwarts. 

The fact that Jacob is at least 17 at expulsion means that he can just leave without any Aurors searching for him since he is no longer a minor and his family can’t do anything about it. Apologises that I just ended up rambling on and it might be a bit incoherent. I struggle to properly organised my own thoughts in writing haha. That’s my analysis for now and feel free to add your thoughts and let me know if there are any holes in this theory.  Edit: In 1978, Jacob starts 5th year not 6th year. Thanks for pointing it out @raesblogv

[dat-silvers-girl]

Rakepick was more trustworthy than Peregrine, and here's why-

Sponsored by my ramblings with @weasley-adoptee yesterday.

Allow me to begin this rant by saying that for once in my life, I'm not talking about my headcanon characters. I'm talking about in-game Peregrine and in-game Rakepick.

Now, I think that Peregrine is the inverse of Rakepick. Because they're opposites in terms of behavior towards MC.

--------

Let's look at Rakepick first:

From the minute she arrived at Hogwarts as outside help in Year 4, Rakepick is powerful, egotistical, and well... downright rude for the most part. One thing that keeps getting pointed out is that she never deliberately tried to get MC to trust her. In fact, she was dropping hints that it was in MC's best interest to not trust her. And she was also fixated on the fact that we should question the people closest to us. One can say that she said that to sow discord between MC and their friends, but given recent events, I think she knew about MC's father. But that's another story.

Before I continue, let me say this: I think most adults, in my opinion, have a superiority complex. What I mean by this is that I have noticed that adults and the elderly use their age as an excuse to demand the trust and respect from the younger, without doing anything to earn it. They think they must be respected simply because they are older. Around me, this problem exists in parents (my parents grew out of it after enough fights), teachers, basically any adult with a job. And the less said about the elderly, the better.

Hey I know we should respect old people but if they're being complete asses to you then they don't deserve it.

Starting Year 5, Rakepick came in a position of power. She became a Professor, a position that demands a student's unquestioned respect. And maybe it was just me, but Rakepick never asked for our trust or respect. I think back to Year 5 and I don't think there was a time when Rakepick demanded anything from MC at all. All the same, she was a rather respected Professor in Year 5. As far as teaching goes, students loved her! There was plenty of flavour text and even some of MC's friends who genuinely liked Rakepick. And because she just didn't care whether MC trusted her or not, she never tried to bond with MC, and never tried to buy their trust. Before Year 5 ended, she was respected, and that respect was earned.

Now let's talk about Peregrine:

First of all, YES, I am aware that the position of father is very different than that of your teacher. But like I said earlier, this superiority complex problem is in parents as well.

We don't have a lot of information on Peregrine yet, other than he is MC's father by blood, and the leader of R. But through his few moments on screen, and the info from datamines, I instantly noticed that the way he acts is the exact opposite of how Rakepick acted. He flaunts his position as MC's father, and instantly asks for MC's forgiveness and trust. He says, "I'll explain everything once you join R." And this is proof enough that he's just telling MC to trust him and join R, no questions asked, simply because he is our father. He was gone for many years, and simply uses his position of power to demand MC's trust. DO YOU SEE MY POINT?

As opposed to how Rakepick acted towards MC, Peregrine is being kind, sweet talks MC and compliments them. According to the Datamine, in future chapters, he's making too much of an effort to bond with MC. Default MC seems to have missed their father to some extent, so he spends time with them in an effort to buy their trust.

But absolutely NO ONE trusts Peregrine. Even Rakepick had some people who trusted her a bit. But NO ONE trusts Peregrine. And why is that? Peregrine hasn't been rude to MC. He seems to be genuinely concerned about MC and even seems eager to share truths and information with them, unlike Rakepick. Heck, Peregrine actively wants to put his child in a powerful position as the leader of R. So why is it that Rakepick had at least a few people on her side, while Peregrine has gotten absolutely no one on his side?

Other than the fact that we know he's the R leader, it's also because we have come to a point where sweet behavior is far more supsiscious than rude or snarky behavior. There are some characters who seem nice and present themselves as friendly, but are actually the worst kind of people.

@weasley-adoptee and I have often discussed that we always knew where we stand with Rakepick. We could see some red flags from her since the very beginning, and she never cared to hide them. She didn't lie about who she was. The only thing she lied about was her involvement with R and Jacob. But whether or not she was with R, she neither confirmed it, nor denied it. We always knew she was using us to some extent and she laughed and agreed with us everytime we pointed it out. Like- "Yes I'm definitely using you. You will be used by a lot of people, and you will also use people. You are not a saint, MC."

And let me point out that MC trusted Rakepick just enough where they would share clues with her, seek her advice, and go the directions she pointed them in. I can't say any of us would do that with Peregrine.

The point I'm trying to get at:

Peregrine has put up the mask of the concerned, apologetic, sweet father. He's lying about who he truly is to MC. He is lying to us to an even greater extent than Rakepick. To put it simply, he's lying to us even more than Rakepick ever did.

I'm not saying Rakepick didn't lie. But she never put on a mask. She knew MC thought she was suspicous, but never cared to calrify. We always knew what she was. She only ever had one face, and we knew it since the beginning of Year 4 down to our last meet in Azkaban. Rakepick was trustworthy in the sense that she was untrustworthy and she never even tried to change our mind! We could always trust that we couldn't trust Rakepick and everyone made their peace with that.

I don't know how most people feel about this, but I've noticed that as people meet Peregrine in their games, even those who completely hate Rakepick, feel a little sad for her because she's not only in a beaten down state in Azkaban, but she's also being used as Peregrine's scapegoat so he doesn't have to face the consequences of his actions.

In the wise words of Blair, Peregrine is a comforting lie, while Rakepick is a harsh truth.

My scuffed conclusion because I have a lot of thoughts and I'm having trouble putting them together:

Both of these characters are adults who are "entitled" to recieve respect based on their position.

Rakepick had red flags, yes, enough to start a shop! She was owed respect and trust as our Professor, but never demanded it. We could question her all we wanted and she straight up didn't care. But at least before the Buried Vault, there was always a shred of respect for her in the community. And so in the chapter before the Buried Vault, when she said she could die, MC and we as players legitimately thought whether we were right to be so distrustful her. The answer should have been- "No, we were wrong." but unfortunately Jam City is stupid.

Peregrine, Jesus frickin Christ, has enough red flags to open a whole business. He's asking for the trust he's owed as our father. But the behaviour he exhibits by constantly asking for it makes him even more suspicious. So the more he tries to bond with MC, the less we'll trust him. Because his sweet father facade is bound to break soon if we keep rejecting him. Whereas with Rakepick, we could reject her help and she was just- "Go ahead be my guest. And if you get in trouble, I'll save you I guess."

This is also my PSA about how you are not entitled to the respect of the younger generation just because you are older. You want respect? Earn it.

Thank you for coming to my ramblings. I'm done rambling.

[carewyncromwell]

Interestingly Carewyn's brother Jacob Cromwell started at Hogwarts in the Marauders' and Snape's fifth year (even in the game's canon, if you do the math, Jacob would've had to have been at school at least briefly with the Marauders), so in my canon, Jacob did know the Marauders in passing and vice-versa. Severus Snape even ended up teaching Jacob Cromwell for a fraction of a year until Jacob got expelled and found him completely insufferable not as much as Jacob's roommate Gilderoy Lockhart, but even so XDD. I also headcanon Jacob Cromwell joining the Order of the Phoenix and getting to know both Sirius and Lupin better through that as well. ^.^

But yeah, refocusing on your question, though...I admit, it would've been a lot of fun setting our game's storyline in the 70's! I reckon the mystery would've also been a bit darker since if Voldemort was still around, it would be very logical for people to presume R has connections to Voldemort. It could've also given us all more opportunity to get to know James Potter, Lily Evans, Regulus Black, and pre-betrayal Peter Pettigrew the way the actual game gives us the chance to get to know Bill and Charlie Weasley...and yeah, that would be pretty awesome!

I think one of the biggest changes I would've had to make to my storyline if the game was set in the 1970's is Jacob and Carewyn's age gap. In my canon, they're born eight years apart and as a result Carewyn barely remembers her father Evan and ends up seeing Jacob more like a father figure than him. It also makes it so they never attend school together, though I do have Jacob take his NEWTs alongside Carewyn after he's freed from the Portrait Vault and R is defeated. Jacob and Carewyn attending school around the same time, though, THAT would be incredibly interesting. If Carewyn was in the same year as the Marauders, Jacob, Duncan, and Olivia could've been in the same year as Patricia Rakepick, who's canonically about four years older than the Marauders. (Oh geez, I'm imagining Jacob/Duncan/Olivia having to butt heads with Rakepick while dealing with the Vaults the way MC did with Merula and I'm laughing.) I could also see Carewyn bonding more with Jacob's boy best friend Duncan in this scenario and possibly helping counsel him with his feelings for Jacob, and on the flip side, I could see both Jacob and Duncan going in protective-big-brother-mode around Carewyn more than once. XDD Carewyn would also have to grapple more with being in Jacob's shadow a bit too with him actively being there and constantly running academic circles around her with little effort, rather than her just having to fight back against his bad reputation. Still, Carewyn would love having her brother around when she was so lonely a lot of the time back at home, and Jacob would be over the moon sharing all of this amazing magic with his sister. I could even see Jacob training Carewyn in Legilimency at Hogwarts himself if they were at school around the same time.

As for Carewyn's relationships with her classmates the Marauders, I definitely think she would've been the type to stand up for Peter Pettigrew more than once, the way she does for Ben Copper in her canon. I also could see Carey-Bear putting both James and Sirius into detention on more than one occasion and sassing their faces off if they tried to talk back. James and Carewyn would also be active rivals for at least one Quidditch match, since both of them are Chasers, one for Gryffindor and the other for Slytherin!! >D Of those in the Marauders' generation, I could see Carewyn getting on best with Remus Lupin, Lily Evans (fellow redhead!!), and Andromeda Black, and Horace Slughorn would also have actively recruited both Cromwell siblings into his Slug Club instead of just Jacob.

As for Snape...even if in Carewyn's canon where Snape's her Head of House, they eventually come to an understanding -- and even if Carewyn and Snape would be dormmates in such a scenario and I could definitely see Carewyn sticking up for Snape the way Lily did if a fight between him and James was as one-sided as the Snape's Worst Memory incident...yeah, I really don't see Carewyn liking a young Snape very much at all. Even if she did ever find out how rough his home life was, Carewyn would hate Snape's "Death Eater" friends, and she'd be super turned-off by his attitude toward Muggles and eventually Muggle-borns (*side-eyes Snape calling Lily a Mudblood in the heat of anger beadily*). Carewyn's mother Lane left her abusive family to find happiness in the Muggle World and raised both Carewyn and Jacob in it alongside their Muggle father. However much both Carewyn and Jacob were actively bullied by their Muggle peers, Lane still raised them to love and respect the Muggle World, not to ignorantly write it off as inferior, so Jacob and Carewyn love Muggle music, books, and technology, same as they do their counterparts in the Wizarding World. Carewyn would undoubtedly be an oddball in her house of Slytherin the way Andromeda Black was if she was in Slytherin house in the 70's, considering how many Slytherins in that generation ended up joining the Death Eaters. And yeah, Carewyn in all timelines would be a Prefect, so if she had any inkling that Snape was behind spells like Sectumsempra, she would've been pretty damn unforgiving, Slytherin or no.

Hphm fans, severus fans, and marauders era fans, i have a great question for all of you

How different would the story go if our Mc and the cursed vaults were actually present during the marauders era? Like, what if our character was in the same year as the marauders and discovering the cursed vaults at the time along with making the quidditch team, being popular and becoming a prefect?

What would you all do with that? What would be your story, your pairings, your friends, your direction for your mc?

I need to know.

[lifeofkaze]

AoB Chapter 32 - Analysis

So, this is my entry for @carewyncromwell challenge for the Orion Fan Club.

I have tons and tons of unreleased content for him but that's unreleased for a reason and will come to you at some point, so I figured, I'd work with something I've published already.

I picked a chapter from my multichapter fic "An Art of Balance" on Orion and my MC Lizzie. The chapter is almost exclusively told from Orion's perspective, and I think there are a lot of good moments that show my take on his character in here.

I picked out the most poignant ones and did a little commentary on them - a director's cut, if you want to put it that way.

If you want to read the chapter in full, you can do so here 💛

Tagging the lovely @kc-and-co who was my biggest supporter from Day 1 and loves Orion (almost) as much as I do, as well as the other members of the OFC (some of which I don't know yet, but would love to!): @thegoldenbuccaneer @lgvalenzuela @anthamariemayfair @smarti-at-smogwarts @rayraelleaizawa @the-emerald-dynasty​ @indigobackfire​

If I tagged you wrongly, sorry!! I just copied the list from the og post 😅

Orion was glad when the light that was filtering into their dormitory gradually got lighter as the beginning of the day crept up on them. Different than usual, he had been sleeping uneasily for the whole night, and not at all for the last hour or so. He had been going over all the necessary statistics Murphy had drilled into him, trying to remember their most important strategic points for the day. He was wondering if they were as prepared as they should be.

So, it is the day before the final match of the year, and Hufflepuff (my Orion is in Hufflepuff, lol, forgot to mention) is playing for the Quidditch Cup this season. I picked this part, the very beginning of the chapter, because it shows that Orion isn't all he portrays to the world. He wears a calm and confident mask to reassure his team, when he's not half as calm as he makes himself out to be. Setting an example for the people he's supposed to guide is more important to him, however. Another point we see here is that Orion's preparation for each and every match is meticulous. He has his best friend Murphy by his side for strategic discussions. In my head, Orion strikes a perfect balance (pun not intended) between having a specific plan and then adapting it on instinct. You can't go into a match without any idea on what to do - that's just not how sports work, and I'm peculiar about my sports, sorry.

He could hear Everett tossing and turning on the other side of the room, quietly swearing and impatiently fluffing his pillow every now and again. Orion made no move to signal his teammate that he was awake as well. Ever since their confrontation on the day after the Slytherin match they had spoken even less than before, but it wasn’t like Orion minded much. Despite them having shared a dorm for six years now, he and Everett had never been able to form a real connection.

Jason Everett is a side character I created for this fic. He is in Orion's year, the new Beater on the team, and a sort of wanna-be romantic rival to him, at least that's how Everett sees himself. But that's only on the side. Orion hears Ev tossing and turning and purposefully ignores it. He doesn't want get into conflict when he doesn't absolutely have to, and he doesn't see the point in wasting his time and energy on someone unbalancing him. While I do think Orion strives for harmony, it's not like he doesn't have his likes and dislikes in people, and especially in my story, Everett did some really mean things regarding Lizzie, who isn't merely Orion's love interest, but has been a very close friend to him for years. That being said, it's not like Orion tries to change Ev to make him fit the team or anything. He selected him for a reason in the beginning of the year, and he fully acknowledges and accepts the fact that every person is different and not everyone is always compatible.

But still, Orion hadn’t forgotten how he had felt himself on the day of his first final, back when he had been the new kid on the team. He had been in a terrified state for most of the day until the game had begun. Even after playing for so many years, he still felt unusually agitated before the last match of the season; imagining how nervous Everett must feel right now, Orion felt a touch of sympathy for him. All of the showing off and aggressiveness was merely hiding a deep insecurity and wish for appreciation, and Everett knew that Orion could see behind his facade.

A point that is very important to me is always to make my characters/the characters I borrow from canon relatable. And I never found the idea that Orion has always been this serene and ever in control of his emotions guy. No, in my canon becoming the way he is now has been a gradual development, and I think he was very nervous when he first played Quidditch as a 12 yo boy. He still is nervous, not as much, but he can control and hide it better. But even though he has all this experience, and doesn't like Everett very much on top, you can still see one of Orion's major strengths coming to the surface here - his empathy. Orion is deeply empathic and has no troubles getting into someone else's shoes, which is why he always tries to see the best in the people surrounding him and is very sympathetic and can see beyond his personal stance on Ev into what's really going on.

He couldn’t help but feel guilty at being partly to blame for this discontinuity. The feelings he had developed towards Lizzie had been a catalyst for many of the changes his team had had to endure. But despite the obstacles lining their way, they had come out on top, ready to take the final step towards their goal. Smiling fondly at the picture of what he considered his family, Orion felt overwhelmingly proud of what they had achieved. It had shown once again; with enough trust in themselves, everything had fallen into place in the end.

Falling in love with Lizzie when it's a very complicated situation, and thereby unbalancing himself and his whole team weighs greatly on Orion. He takes his position as captain very seriously, and sees the team not only as his main circle of friends but as his family. He feels responsible for them and the conflict between what he sees as his duty and what he himself wants is a conflict that's hard on him. Orion isn't used to his heart and mind not being balanced and focused on the same thing. Another thing we can see just a tiny glimpse of here is something that is a major point in my idea of his character - his unbroken trust in the universe, fate, whatever you want to call it. It's Orion's greatest strength and flaw at the same time. Being dealt a bad hand in his life with being orphaned and always the odd one out, learning to accept that everything happens for a reason and eventually everything will turn out fine helped Orion cope and make a way of his own. On the other hand, the line between trusting into fate and blatant fatalism is a thin one, and sometimes Orion shows the tendency to accept things as "fate" when he could very well change them, even though it might be tough or seem impossible.

Judith was already there, of course; much like him, the dark skinned Hufflepuff Beater was a dedicated early riser. She was sitting at the mostly deserted Ravenclaw table with her boyfriend, both of them engaged in a quiet conversation. Orion was more surprised to see Lizzie and Skye sitting a bit further ahead at the Hufflepuff table; both of his fellow Chasers were known for enjoying sleeping in. But then again, they were probably just as anxious as he was. Lizzie was rapidly bouncing her foot while she was stirring her tea to an extent that her whole frame seemed to be shaking; the nervous energy she was radiating was palpable and rubbing off on Orion by simply looking at her.

Orion is an early bird, change my mind. If he can help it, he never misses a sunrise and strongly believes that if you begin the day by greeting the sun and are thankful for what you have, you will go through the day with the right energy. And yes, in all stories and AUs I do Orion is a dedicated yogi. Again, change my mind.

Others, like Judith, preferred isolating themselves and their thoughts from fans and well-wishers by meditating in a quiet place on their own. Orion wished he could have done the same but as the team’s captain it was his responsibility to make sure everything and everyone was properly prepared. He wasn’t concerned about his seasoned teammates; although everyone was nervous, he knew all of them would come through. The only one truly worrying him was Everett.

This plays into what I said in the beginning - Orion puts his team before himself, always, even when it goes against what we wants/needs himself. He would prefer to prepare himself and his mindset, but he knows others need his help with exactly that, so there's no way he'd let them cope on their own.

He got up from his seat and tried to shoulder past him, but Orion was having none of it. He got hold of Everett’s shoulder with a strong grip, the intensity of which clearly surprised the Beater. If one member of the team was unbalanced, all of them were; Orion was determined to make him listen.

Like I said, Everett and Orion aren't friends, far from it. But they're part of the same team, and no matter what, Orion's team is his family, with all that it entails. And as a member of the team, Orion feels directly responsible for Ev - not only because one unbalanced player unbalances the whole team, but because he genuinely wants everyone to have the right approach and mindset. As we can see here, Orion instinctively knows how to handle someone like Ev, who doesn't respond to Orion's usual way of dealing with problems. He isn't afraid to use measures that aren't exactly his nature if he feels like his is what the other person needs to understand because - again - Orion has a lot of empathy. He knows the thing Everett understands and respects is strength, so he shows them just that. Orion is more than the eccentric and always soft and contemplative hippie, and that's something people tend to forget. He worked hard to be where he is, and if it calls for it, he can show the world that he is tougher than everyone thinks.

“We’ve never been friends, you and I, and I acknowledge that sometimes people are too different to form a connection on a common ground,” Orion began and Everett grunted in confirmation; at least in this point they had the same opinion. “But I remember my first season finale,” Orion continued regardless. “It was back in our second year and I was terrified. The final match of the season is the highlight of our year, the pinnacle of everything we have worked for; being afraid to not close this chapter of our journey in a satisfying way is something that scares me every year over and over again and there is no shame in admitting so.”

We see his empathy here again, and his willingness to open himself up to someone he doesn't particularly like, because it's for the good of the team. Again, the team comes before himself. Something that's very important about Orion, I think, that he doesn't have any of this toxic masculinity bullshit many other characters (not only in the HP universe, in general) have. He has no problem in showing his insecurities and admitting weakness, at least not when he feels he is in an environment where he feels secure and surrounded by people he trusts. If that is not the case, he'll react very, very differently, but that's a story for another day and the sequel ^^

The collective nervousness radiating off both teams was tangible and the hot summer air heavy with their silence. None of his teammates was speaking, everyone caught up in their own thoughts, blind to the beautiful day surrounding them. Even Orion himself couldn’t appreciate the warmth of the sun upon his skin for its beauty itself; instead, he was thinking about how to adapt their strategy should they be forced to play against the sunlight.

The match is almost here, and Orion - who is usually very attentive and appreciative on the small details surrounding him - is focused. As much as I think he likes to daydream and let his thoughts wander, when it calls for it, he can channel all his mind and heart onto the thing that matters most at this exact moment, which is what makes him the player and captain he is.

“How did you like my speech?” Lizzie didn’t look up as Orion walked up to her; suddenly, she was even more busy fiddling with her gloves. She felt herself blush at his question, though; she didn’t have the slightest idea what the speech had even been about. “It was good,” she mumbled evasively, trying not to lose her face. “I feel thoroughly vivified.” “Really?” he smirked. “I had the impression your mind was elsewhere, Chaser. But don’t worry,” he laughed at her guilty expression, “while I do try to speak out of the moment, even I have to admit that this was one of my weaker speeches.”

We've switched perspectives here and it's actually Lizzie telling the story now, but I think there's some really good points in this part, too, so stay with me (if you're still reading, I know this is long and I'm geeky, sorry).

This ties in with what I said before - Orion is attentive, so very attentive. He didn't notice Lizzie was distracted because he's in love with her, he would have done anyway. She's his friend, fellow Chaser, and part of his team, and Orion can sense when someone is not listening to his moment of vivification. That being said, he fully knows how convoluted his way of thinking can be and doesn't hold a grudge at anyone not making sense of him, as long as he has the impression that they're letting themselves getting inspired. He has enough confidence in himself and his abilities as a leader of this particular team that he can take it with humour that Lizzie of all people wasn't listening to him.

“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine,” he told her, eyes suddenly sparkling mischievously. He smiled at her surprised face as he quickly undid the buckles on his right arm protection, much quicker than when Lizzie had tried and failed to do the same, and pushed back the sleeve of his robes. Her smile turned into a little laugh as her eyes fell onto Orion’s own necklace being wrapped several times around his wrist. “That’s against the rules, Captain,” she chuckled. “We don’t have to play by all the rules, do we?” he grinned back at her. He nodded towards her hand. “Come on, take your glove off.”

First of all, you're not allowed to wear jewellery in contact sport. That's a major, major, MAJOR pet peeve of mine whenever I see it, so my kids aren't allowed to either. Like I said, I'm peculiar about sports.

That being said, the idea that Orion finds a way around this rule to still wear his necklace even during house matches was an idea I had almost from the get go. The necklace is an integral part to him and his talisman. In Art of Balance I headcanon that the necklace contains the birthstone of his mother, and it's one of the only things he still has of her. But not only does the necklace has a personal value to Orion, but we know he is very fond of Divination and I also think Astrology in extension. Something that's always said about sportsmen is how superstitious they are, and I think that ties very nicely with Orion's view of the world and the universe. Another thing this little exchange shows is that Orion isn't always the boring, nice and good guy. He has a cheeky and mischievous side, it's just that he guards it very, very closely and close to no one gets to see it. Just as he has his own way of thinking, he was his ways and methods to make things work the way he wants them to work.

Oof, what a monster of a post. Sorry, but you know me, I can't keep things short per se, and if it comes to Orion doubly not, not sure what you expected 😂

If you read up to this point, thank you very much and I hoped you found reading it as interesting as I did writing it!

I'm super curious to know if you agree/disagree with anything I said? Tell me in the comments or send me a message, I'm super willing to discuss!!

[starr-angelofnarnia]

Once again, Hogwarts Mystery uses canon to come up with clever, foreshadowing bits of dialogue. But this quote is interesting because Quirrel becomes a victim of his own advice.

But I find the similarities between Quirrel and Snape to be fascinating:

They have the same blood status. Both Severus and Quirinus have a muggle parent and a Pureblood parent. We know that Severus's relationship with his muggle parent is rough. And given that Quirrel seems fascinated with muggle artifacts, it seems as though he tended to steer clear of the muggle world as well, though maybe not because of his parentage. But regardless, both are half bloods

They both are intellectually gifted. Snape practically rewrote a textbook as a teenager and invented his own spells and potions. And Quirrel, as an adult, became so invested in his academic research, he traveled the world to pursue knowledge.

Both were recently students. Snape was in the same year as the marauders' and is one of the youngest members of the staff. Quirrel, according to the game, is even younger, as OC interviews him to learn about McGonagall as a professor turned mentor, a role which Snape could fill as well.

Both were bullied. Quirrel, we learn in the interview, sought out solace from Professor Mcgonagall, who encouraged him to continually seek knowledge, the greatest power. And Snape...I mean, his relationship with the marauders was defined by bullying.

Both had an academic fascination with the dark arts. This fascination led Snape to join the death eaters straight out of school. And though he left the death eaters (maybe he only left because of Lily; maybe he would have found a way out regardless), his fascination with the subject remained. Quirrel had an academic fascination with the dark arts, which led him on a pursuit of knowledge that brought him face to face (or face to back-of-head) with Voldemort

Interest in the dark arts stemmed from want of power and acknowledgement of achievements, which possibly stemmed from bullying. Both want to be accepted. The dark arts, in some form, offers that acceptance, even if it's fleeting and at a price

I don't know, I just find the similarities fascinating, especially given each of their roles in the wars with Voldie.

[gayandvibin]

7, 10, 34 and 41 for the asks? 💚

Thanks for the asks Calix!! x

7) What element would your OC be?

Robbie is kinda loud and outgoing, just sorta overly energetic and lively to be around - so something firey definitely suits him! 

Also like.... LIGHT SYMBOLISM HNYEH

Jacob is a much more secluded individual - he likes his space and a chance to just be alone with the world. He would’ve been a fan of the forests around the Flores estate, so an old foresty spirit is the sort of vibe this gives me .

10) What deadly sin would best represent your OC?

hh it was hard to sort of figure these ones out, but Robert is pride, especially when he’s younger. 

He initially takes a lot of power and happiness from his family’s standing, and the luxuries he’s been afforded in life (though he’s not aware at the time that these are luxuries). It’s a sort of childish naivety that he’s just been allowed to harbour for so long that he never really questioned it. 

Effectively the opposite, Jacob is envy - both of his younger brother and of others as a whole. He was forced to grow up too soon, and seeing that other people have never had to experience the same sort of things as him is frustrating - kind of a mix of the idea that people will never really get it, and that he’s pissed he missed out on just an average childhood. 

34) What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play , usually?

(I cannot believe that I’ve made this boy a jock what the hell have I done? Himbo rights tho ig???) 

I stand by the notes I made two days into the game that Robert is successful at quidditch almost entirely by dumb luck and has only once intentionally done something tactically beneficial for the team. 

So Robbie is on the quidditch team, and he takes part in the school choir - in both of these settings he is the absolute mum friend, which plays a lot into his later career as a healer. He just... wants people to be happy and well, though I can see him trying to tone it down a notch once people start pointing it out (this does not go well when Skye inevitably gets nailed in the face with a bludger and Robbie tries to call off an entire house match)

Jacob: I will cause problems on purpose!! I will destroy Snape’s reputation as head of Slytherin!!

Also Jacob: Ok but actually I have anxiety and would rather not... Hey hey guys maybe this is a bad idea and I really cannot risk getting expelled over this - WE HAVE AN EXAM TOMORROW REALLY I DONT THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA

In a similar way to his brother, Jacob is definitely trying to keep his friends out of harms way, but at the same time... if its gonna be funny, you need someone there who’s able to tell the story later at least. (So he’s a shit-stirrer, but he will keep you from getting yourself killed)

41) What does your character do when they’re angry? Why?

Most of the time Robbie gets super cold. Part of is to try and prevent anything spiraling into a bigger conflict, but most of it is because he’s a petty child. This brat man will not let you win until months have passed, and even then he’s not actually going to acknowledge it.

If it’s something a lot more serious and threatening though, I figure he’s willing to completely cut people out without a second’s notice.

Jacob on the other hand just gets very emotional - it’s annoying because its one of those things where you’re mad, so you don’t want to be comforted by anyone because you’re PISSED, but now you’re crying and you can’t explain that actually these are angry tears and I’m going to unplug your fridge sir so don’t you dare.

He’s just a real one to bottle everything up and then explode everything in an ugly mess that no one can really escape from.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I don't know if they're the question in here or I'm just here ramble, so I apologize in advance. I'm thinking a lot about Hogwarts Mystery.

I think that jam city really messed up by trying to create so many classmates for MC. if they had focused on the original four or so they could have done something really interesting with parallel arcs to what happened during Jacob's years.

for example we have MC dealing with this constant worry that maybe Jacob wasn't as good as they thought. or the idea that maybe he went crazy maybe he isn't who we thought he was. we also have the MC consistently dealing with visions and people not trusting them. they could grapple with this concept of can they even trust themself. and are they going to turn out like their brother.

Then we have Ben & Rowan and Duncan and Olivia.

Rowan dying in story was very bizarre because it didn't feel well set up in a lot of ways. the idea of them dying is interesting because they have such clear goals but in story it didn't work cuz where did they come from etc etc. but I think it could have worked in a thematic sense especially if we played into the parallel between Duncan and Rowan. If I'm remembering the lore correctly. Duncan and Jacob were best friends looking for the cursed vaults, they also probably got sucked into it a little bit too much at least Jacob did and Duncan must have gone along with it to some extent. Obsession seems to be a family trait and Roman deeply cared for MC. So them dying could play into this concept of history repeating itself.

It also could play into the concept of MC doubting themselves because their best friend is dead.

Moreover it would be even more thematic if Rowan were to come back as a ghost. in canon they didn't finish their goals and they died young, a perfect candidate. I love the idea that maybe there could be an extended arc where MC tries to make it up to Rowan or grapples with the fact that they cause them the state they're in. but we can also have a breaking of the cycle by allowing the MC and Ben a chance to reconcile with Rowan.

I don't know if any of this made sense if you're reading this thank you.

Rambling is quite literally the name of the game on this blog, dear anon. You are always welcome here with questions, comments, ideas, or anything else.

I sort of agree and disagree. I think the large ensemble of creative and interesting characters this game has given us is easily it’s greatest strength. However, there are too many. There are simply too many, more than the game knows what to do with. The developers keep adding more, rather than focusing on the existing cast. They add new characters even after a point where they’d have nothing to do. Victor and Alanza are perhaps the greatest victims of this phenomenon. They could have been cut. It would have changed very little. Honestly, I believe the game could handle far more than four characters, that it was doing just fine for a while with the cast it had, especially during the first half of Year 6 when it seemed like they were done adding brand new characters…but it wasn’t to be. Nonetheless, I’d be interested to see your version of events, where the game focuses on four core characters.

MC’s relationship with Jacob and how they feel about him was a major story development that affected everything about their character and the game’s mystery. Was. Everything about Jacob, including his moral ambiguity, seemed to fade away once he was rescued. He did nothing after that point, apart from a few obligatory appearances that didn’t live up to their full potential. He was there in the Sunken Vault, why did he get no rematch with Rakepick? Or even dialogue with her? Jacob would have served the story a lot better if…and this is going to sound cruel…if he had been the one to die in the Forbidden Forest. Because you’re right, Rowan’s death was weirdly dealt with. MC had barely interacted with them since Year 2.

But I think you’re right. There’s definitely an echo to be found here, between Duncan and Rowan. If Rowan had been present throughout the game’s story, it could have had more impact. I mean, their death was foreshadowed. Under the Imperius Curse, Rowan forced MC to choose between themself and Ben to die. Then there was the priceless line, “I’ll miss you when Madam Rakepick kills you.” The one thing I have to disagree with you on is Rowan coming back as a ghost. If this game wasn’t a prequel and it was possible for them to return and succeed Professor Binns, I suppose that would be one thing. But part of Rowan’s goal is the dramatic irony behind it. From the start, they wanted to be the youngest Professor in Hogwarts history, but we all knew that would never happen. Because we read the books, and Rowan wasn’t there. Beyond that…returning as a ghost is well established in this universe to be something most people don’t do. That it’s only an imitation of existence that people choose because they fear death, and thus never get to know the afterlife. They don’t get to board a train. I don’t think Rowan would do that, and that point is made in the Head Kid TLSQ, my all time favorite quest.

[missnight0wl]

Let’s talk about Elton Elderberry – and why he’s a total bitch

First of all, I want to thank @thedoodlecat because a lot of the ideas I’ll discuss were formed during our conversations. So, credit where credit's due!

Secondly, I want to make it clear from the start that it’s not quite a theory, meaning: I personally don’t believe Jam City might take the story in this direction. However, I believe that a lot of it might be a leftover of what’s the story supposed to be. And yes, it can also be explained by the writers having no idea what they’re doing, but on the other hand, it ties in with many interesting details from the past, mostly from Y5. And I still believe that year was super important for the narrative.

Now, without further ado, let’s move on to Elton. Spoilers up to Y7Ch56.

Ok, so the first thing that really bothers me about Elton Elderberry is that he was well aware of the Crown of Mneme, how dangerous it can be, and he had to at least suspect that it might be in the Sunken Vault – and for all those years, he did absolutely fucking nothing.

And it’s quite problematic because there’s no way he just… didn’t know about MC and the Cursed Vaults. At the beginning of Y3, MC told us that pretty much everyone could learn about it from the Daily Prophet. And we know that the Ministry was especially aware of it. Even if we ignore Moody’s involvement starting from Y6, first with Rakepick and then with Peregrine, we also had the Ministry sending Tofty to spy on MC during our O.W.L.s because of the Cursed Vaults. And honestly, I just don’t buy the explanation that Elton somehow… just didn’t hear about it. So, like, what the hell?

Now, I can hear you saying: “Oh, but of course Elton didn’t do anything because he wasn’t a character yet and Jam City probably just created him now!”. And you know what? That’s a totally valid remark and quite probable explanation. Still, I kept thinking about it anyway, and I quickly noticed another problem with Elton: how we actually learnt that he was directly involved in Ryusaki’s death. I mean, look at those scenes:

And then after our visit to the Archives:

(I just have to point out that he’s fucking grinning here…)

… and then:

Do you see the problem here??

Imagine this. You meet Steve. Steve tells you about the mother who died in a car accident with her two children. Sadly, she was the one who caused the accident because she was under the influence. Later you learn on your own that the said mother was a model parent, always there for her children despite having two jobs, actually sober during the accident, rarely drunk at all, and in fact, it was Steve who caused the crash. When confronted, Steve admits to everything and says he feels terrible about it and it haunts him every day. Would you believe Steve that he’s so sorry? BECAUSE I DEFINITELY WOULDN’T. In fact, I’d do everything to stay away from Steve.

Now, again, I’m aware that it might be simply JC’s incompetence in making a connection between the Crown of Mneme and Dai Ryusaki – even though it could’ve been easily done without Elton actively portraying Ryusaki as a bad guy. For example:

Elton: I advise you to avoid the Crown at all costs. MC: I wonder if it has anything to do with the Dark Scroll… Elton: You don’t mean Dai Ryusaki’s Dark Scroll, do you? MC: That dark wizard? Yes, I do. Why? Do you know anything about it too? Elton: *not answering right away and looking very ashamed instead, showing already that he doesn’t want to reveal the truth because of his loyalty to the Ministry, but also showing his guilt*

And yes, I know it wouldn’t be the first time JC didn’t see the simplest solutions in their writing. But as I was thinking about it more, I realised that if we assume that Elton indeed knew about MC and the Cursed Vaults all that time and did nothing on purpose, it’s both surprising and fascinating how many things start to add up. In this scenario, Elton would also want to portray Ryusaki as a bad guy. I know it doesn’t fully work currently because, in the end, it was Elton who let us go to the Archives, but I guess it’s possible that originally, we were supposed to learn the truth about Ryusaki in some different way. And either way, I have to point out that there’s something very off in this part of the story no matter what. I mean, let me ask you one question:

Why exactly Dai Ryusaki was killed?

Because if you think about it, it was never really explained… properly. Like, we keep using words like “miscommunication” or “misunderstanding”.

But… how the fuck can you kill somebody because of misunderstanding? I guess we’re supposed to interpret it as: “The International Confederation of Wizards thought Dai wanted to use his invention to do bad things while he was actually trying to destroy his invention once he realised it’s dangerous”. However, this interpretation doesn’t really make sense. Why? Look at Ryusaki’s notes we found in the Archives.

Ryusaki seems absolutely certain that once he destroys what he was about to destroy, it’s done. He accepted that his work would be no more after that. And that makes me believe that nobody else (or almost nobody) knew about his work. Because otherwise, he’d have to realise that someone might try to replicate his work, right? Or even force him to simply repeat it? Yet he’s not worried about it. And the thing is that Ryusaki was a very intelligent, reasonable, and conscious man. So… how the hell the International Confederation of Wizards knew anything to misinterpret Ryusaki’s intentions?

Well, what if there was someone other than Ryusaki who knew about his work after all? But Dai completely trusted that person, so that’s why he was so sure the whole thing would remain secret? What if that person happened to work at the British Ministry of Magic? What if this person was…

Elton “The Bitch” Elderberry?

Ok, so I know that everything I said so far is a big assumption, but I swear it does make sense, so please, bear with me. And I’ll actually start by summarising what I believe how it all began and then I’ll elaborate on each element because it’s gonna be easier for me that way.

So, I believe that Dai Ryusaki and Elton Elderberry were once good friends. They were both quite talented wizards, and while they had different goals in life, they realised at some point that the treasure from the Cursed Vaults might help them achieve that. Together, they created a group that we know as R. Unfortunately for Elton, Dai realised eventually that both his own invention and the Cursed Vaults themselves are dangerous, so he decided to quit. Elton didn’t like it, and he was afraid that Dai would try to stop him as well, so he decided to be proactive about it. Using his position as a Hit Wizard at the Ministry, he sold Dai out, claiming he’s a dangerous dark wizard. Elton kept R alive ever since, and he was waiting for MC to be born because MC is necessary to open the final Cursed Vault.

Of course, I assume that the original plans for the final Cursed Vault were different than what we saw in Y6. Also, from that point, I’ll keep calling Elton “Brelton” because:

BITCH + R + ELTON = BRELTON

… and I just think this distinction might be useful because, as I said, I don’t think it might still be true, yet it seems that Elton Elderberry will stay in the story anyway. Ok, but let’s talk about some details.

Dai’s and Brelton’s goals

As for Dai’s goal, it’s pretty straightforward. It’s basically said directly in the game: he wanted to help people with traumatic memories. What would be Brelton’s goal then? Well, let me remind you one note from R we found in Y5:

The interesting thing about it is that for the longest time, it was the only case where it was mentioned that R had any interest in immortality. As soon as the Dark Scroll was introduced, we only talked about R wanting knowledge. I even talked with my friend about how weird it is that the writers totally abandoned the immortality aspect (Bee, I’m not tagging you because I don’t want you to feel obliged to read this long-ass post, but if you’re reading it anyway: Hi! I’m talking about you!). In fact, I’m pretty sure that the word “immortality” wasn’t even used in the main story after that note from R – until our conversation with Elton in Y7Ch49:

And you know what? I don’t think it’s just a coincidence. Because it’s not even true! Every time we talked about Ryusaki’s potion, it was about mind-enhancing potion.

So… what if it’s the leftover of the original plans for Elton’s character? What if it’s Brelton who was all about immortality? And now, JC just looked at the notes made by Matt London and his team and simply put the immortality potion in there without thinking if it made sense. I realise it feels like another stretch, but I have to point out that Elton’s old age is a little sus – and they stress all the time how old he is. I mean, wizards do live longer than Muggles, but most of them don’t live over 300 years. (There’s actually the HP wiki page about it.)

And the thing is that from the story point of view, it wasn’t even necessary to make Elton this old. Sure, it adds some flavour with the reveal that he was actually there when Dai was killed, but on the other hand, he mentions every now and then that his memory is not the best anymore etc. So, wouldn’t it be better if MC met Elton's son or grandson, for example? Personally, I think it would, and that’s why I’m gonna assume for the rest of this analysis that R was always about “enlightenment and immortality”, and that Dai Ryusaki represented the first element while Elton Elderberry the second one.

Why they needed the Cursed Vaults?

Ok, so now that we know what they wanted in general, let’s try to figure out why they went after the Cursed Vaults – and as I mentioned already, I assume that the original treasure was actually… well, a thing. I admit that I wasn’t able to figure out what exactly it could’ve been, but I have some ideas about what properties the Treasure could have, based on Dai’s and Brelton’s goals.

This time, let’s start with Brelton because it’s a bit easier. Basically, I believe that Brelton managed to invent something that grants semi-immortality, but it’s not the perfect invention. Sure, he’s still alive and his mind is not in the worst condition, but still. So, I think that he believes that the Treasure could improve his invention by granting actual immortality and/or eternal youth.

It’s a bit more complicated with Dai because we have to consider multiple elements. First of all, we have the mind-enhancing potion. The recipe for it was hidden on the Dark Scroll which was confirmed by the notes found by MC in the Archives. But earlier, MC also mentioned “a device”, and then they read: “I can’t bear to destroy my life’s work, but I know that I must. The scroll has already been hidden”. So… what exactly was he about to destroy? If we want to stick to the legend told by Corey, it might’ve been about the already-prepared potion. He might’ve also been referring to his research in general and his notes or something. But then we have the Crown of Mneme… And that’s quite interesting because we actually know that it’s something he found in Greece – which, by the way, confirms that the Crown was not something placed in the Cursed Vaults originally (I’ll return to it in a moment).

Either way, to simplify it a little bit, I’m gonna assume that Dai’s invention was about the Crown and the potion - and that together was considered his “device”. What about the Treasure then? I see a couple of options.

Perhaps the Treasure would give more control over the Crown or allow to exchange of thoughts both ways. I mean, what we saw in the game looked like the wearer could only send their thoughts, but if Dai wanted to treat patients with traumatic memories, he probably wanted to extract those memories.

Perhaps the Treasure could permanently remove/destroy traumatic memories. Because I don’t think you can actually do it with Obliviate, for example. I might be wrong, but I feel that there is always a small chance that the memory would come back or simply leave some mark behind it.

How the Crown of Mneme ended in the Sunken Vault?

So… If Dai was so certain that his invention was gone and to be forgotten, and on top of that I claim that he didn’t want to have anything to do with the Cursed Vaults, then how the hell the Crown of Mneme ended in the Sunken Vault? Well, I guess I won’t surprise anyone at this point by saying that it was Brelton who was behind it. And the best thing is that we actually know that R was in the Sunken Vault in the past – and that’s thanks to the note found in the Weird Sisters TLSQ:

So, this is what I propose. Brelton got the Crown of Mneme before Dai’s death somehow. I don’t think that Dai would just give it to him because I assume they already fell apart at that point. Or perhaps Brelton lied to Dai and offered that he’d destroy the Crown? Either way, he probably wasn’t planning to destroy it (as it might be useful for him), and he continued his search for the Cursed Vaults. Unfortunately for him, once he got to the Sunken Vault, he realised he couldn’t do anything without the key. And now, the key might be the Gillyweed/Coral Key Rakepick took from us in Y4, or maybe it’s about the siblings – or it’s both (like in my version of the story). Anyway, the Treasure was unachievable, so Brelton used this opportunity to hide the Crown of Mneme and just left.

Ryusaki and the creation of the Cabal

Ok, but why I assume that Dai Ryusaki even knew about the Cursed Vaults, to begin with? I just explained how it was probably Brelton who put the Crown in the Sunken Vault, and we don’t really have anything to prove that Dai needed the Treasure to improve his invention. Well, yeah. But we have something else. Something that I find very exciting. See, during our first trip to Knockturn Alley, we visited also Flourish and Blotts where we found a Black Quill containing this message:

And for the longest time, I was just… absolutely stumped by it. I couldn’t come up with any decent theory as to who left that note. But now, I do strongly believe that it was left by Dai Ryusaki. Brelton was too greedy to get his immortality and too afraid of his own mortality to leave the Cursed Vaults and refused to listen to his friend that it’s too dangerous. The note also talks about “them”, so maybe R had some more members at that point already (but only Dai and Elton knew everything). And you know what makes it even more fascinating? We found this Black Quill in the book by Maerwynn Montfort who’s a totally original author mentioned only in this specific scene in HPHM. Interestingly, Maerwynn is a feminine name that is of Welsh origin that means “joy”. And coincidently, Dai is a Welsh masculine given name (which means “beloved”), a hypocorism of Dafydd or David, as well as a masculine Japanese given name. Like…

Are you kidding me??

I mean, ok, sure. It might be just a coincidence. But you have to admit that it’s a pretty damn odd coincidence. Maybe Maerwynn was someone from Dai’s Welsh part of the family or just a friend whom he met there? Or maybe it’s just a pseudonym or something. But either way, it might be hinting at some (“Welsh”) connection. And that’s why they were exchanging secret information!

Still, that’s not even all I finally realised about the note. Because I also believe that it confirms that the Cabal from Jacob’s notebook is a different group than R – and I think that it was Dai Ryusaki who started that group.

Ok, so I explained the whole idea in this post. It’s one of my shorter analyses so I recommend checking it out. But to put it even shorter, my problem with the note from Y5Ch15 was always that Jacob was confused about why the Cabal wanted to kill him.

But R was very open about threatening Jacob and especially his family, so… it shouldn’t be surprising at all. He might’ve been confused if he was doing everything R told him to do – but then it doesn’t make sense that R would want to kill Jacob and MC. I mean, after Duncan’s death, they clearly told him to continue his search.

So, I always interpreted the Cabal as a separate group who wanted to protect the Cursed Vaults by killing the siblings because the siblings are necessary to get to the Treasure. And if we join it with the note from Flourish and Blotts, it totally adds up. Dai realised that the Cursed Vaults were dangerous and wanted to stop R. Brelton wouldn’t listen, so Dai wanted to destroy the vault portrait which, assumingly, would make it impossible to get to the Portrait Vault. On top of that, he started the group that was supposed to make sure that nobody would ever get hurt by the Vaults by killing the siblings (who can get the Treasure). It was about the creation of the Cabal this whole time!

Brelton as the true leader of R

In general, I have to say that Brelton being the true leader of R just makes more sense. In this scenario, it’d also mean that Peregrine is just… a current face of the organisation. A puppet. And yes, I keep saying that I don’t believe that Perry was always planned to be a part of the story, so why do I even mention him? Well, to be completely honest, I’m willing to accept that Perry was planned along with Dai and Brelton’s story – just not as MC’s father. Because it makes sense that Brelton would want to keep his position at the Ministry, and if so, he’d probably need someone to (occasionally) represent R. And that could be Peregrine. In fact, we saw some moments when the leader of R was treated weirdly ambiguous. The first case is our conversation with Rakepick in Azkaban. And yes, I know that we didn’t know about Peregrine then yet, so it kind of makes sense to leave it more ambiguous, but I want to point out a specific thing Rakepick said.

Honestly, I was always confused by it because “the one behind it all” sounds like someone who also created R, at least in my opinion. On the other hand, we had hints in the past that R is a rather older organisation. Not to mention that Perry claimed that he joined R, meaning that R was R before the current leader joined them. Of course, it is possible that Perry lies. It is also possible that the title of R is simply given to each leader. But… I don’t know. Rakepick’s words sound to me like she is talking about only one person. However, if that one person is actually Brelton, it makes sense that he’s both the current true leader and the one responsible for creating the organisation.

My other issue is with Olivia’s memories. Because Rakepick is very clearly talking to someone from R in those scenes, but for whatever reason we never learn who it was.

So, what if it was actually supposed to be Brelton? And speaking of that, ever since we learnt that Olivia was working at the Ministry, I thought it was pretty suspicious, and I fully expected that R was controlling that. And what a coincidence that Elton became Olivia’s mentor for all those years…

Hell, it’d even make more sense why Verucca is so damn worried about Perry being cursed by Ryusaki’s amulet. Because if Brellton indeed betrayed Dai, then it could mean that it’s Brelton who’s the real target of that whole revenge plan. The curse might be simply generalising it because, well, it’s just a spirit that’s basically the essence of Ryusaki’s anger. But if Verucca knows about everything as a high-ranking member of R, then yeah, she’d try to stop Perry from hurting their dear leader Brelton.

And… that’s it!

Once again, like I said, I do not expect the game to confirm any of the things I discussed above. But that being said, I feel very confident about pretty much everything I said. And even though it took me months to finally write it all down, I have to say that putting it together was really fun and exciting. Who knows, maybe it’s the last time I feel like that about HPHM theory, at least when it comes to relatively new content. But even if so, I’m kind of glad that I got some semi-closure to the things that were bothering me.

[carewyncromwell]

For the character ask, I'd like to ask for Carewyn & Badeea, Corey and Victor?

Oh gosh, three?! X3 At least in the case of the second two, Carewyn honestly doesn't know them that well since her story divorces fully from the game's canon after the formation of the Circle of Khanna...

How Carewyn Feels About Badeea:

Carewyn only knew Badeea from afar for most of their school careers, merely thinking of her as that very pretty Ravenclaw with the amazing paintings, until Nearly Headless Nick suggested Carewyn talk to her about making original spells. Because of how introverted and private Badeea is personality-wise, Carewyn honestly had no idea Badeea liked making her own spells until then, nor even that she enjoyed Charms so much by itself...and since Charms is Carewyn's favorite and best subject, this ultimately became the thing the two bonded over most. That being said, Badeea also likes all the arts, and although Carewyn isn't as knowledgeable about graphic arts and Badeea isn't much of a musician, both of them appreciate each other's talent for music and painting respectively, and both really enjoy learning more about their respective school of interest from each other. One of Carewyn's favorite housewarming gifts, when she first moved into her new flat in London, was a painting by Badeea inspired by the events in the Sunken Vault, specifically the moment when the Circle broke apart and started to dance to Carewyn, Jacob, and Duncan Ashe singing Don McLean's American Pie, just before their final confrontation with R.

How Badeea Feels About Carewyn:

Badeea likewise only knew Carewyn from afar for most of her school career, though as the pretty Slytherin Cursebreaker who her dormmate Tulip used to mess with for being too serious. This changed when Carewyn approached her, and Badeea liked her pretty much from the get-go, loving how quickly Carewyn was able to key into her thought process and speaking cadence (something Orion Amari -- who like Badeea I see as an INFP -- likewise took note of and really likes about her) as well as her talent for music, which has served as great inspiration for Badeea's paintings. Carewyn often sends Muggle mixtapes and mix CD's as birthday gifts, so as to hopefully serve as good painting accompaniment, and Badeea always looks forward to listening to what Carewyn has come up with. Some of Badeea's favorite artists from Carewyn's "painting" playlists include Kenny Loggins, Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Genesis, and Sting.

How does Carewyn feel about these HPHM characters?

(Corey and Victor under the cut!!)

How Carewyn Feels About Corey:

Carewyn honestly didn't really interact with Corey at all until they became Head Girl and Head Boy, respectively. Even after becoming the Head Kids of their year, they really only spent time together for formal occasions, but Corey still seemed nice enough, to Carewyn. He even reminded Carewyn a little of her deceased best friend Rowan, which always made Carewyn sad to think about and sadly made it a little difficult for her to spend much time with him outside of their obligations as Head Kids.

How Corey Feels About Carewyn:

Corey admired Carewyn from afar just about all of their school careers, especially after hearing about her confrontation with Merula Snyde on his dormmate Ben Copper's behalf. Being both Ben and Charlie's dormmate, Corey naturally heard plenty about Carewyn throughout the years, but he honestly found her a little intimidating to talk to, however much he wished there might be more of a chance for him to talk to her. When they became Head Kids, Corey still didn't end up becoming that close to Carewyn, partly because Carewyn at that point seemed so preoccupied with enjoying her last year, reconnecting with her brother, and preparing for her future at the Ministry over making any new friends...but Corey was still really glad he got to work with her at all. His perspective had always been rather favorable toward Carewyn, and that perspective didn't change in the least upon getting to know her a little bit better.

How Carewyn Feels About Victor:

Carewyn honestly doesn't know Victor that well, aside from him being Talbott and Andre's dormmate. When Victor was unpopular, Carewyn didn't get much chance to get to know him -- if nothing else, one of Victor's only "friends" was Peeves, and there really wouldn't be anyone in the school Carewyn would want to spend less time with than the school poltergeist, if she had a choice. When Victor became abruptly popular in his and Carewyn's seventh year, he came across as rather superficial and self-absorbed to Carewyn, which deterred her from getting to know him further. Still, if he wanted attention, Carewyn was all too wiling to let Victor snatch it from everyone for a while -- after everything that went down with the Cursed Vaults, she liked the idea of a little peace for once.

How Victor Feels About Carewyn:

Okay, well, first off, I should say as a disclaimer...my Victor isn't entirely like game!Victor. Largely because I'm sorry, but the way the game portrays the school's reaction to Victor being a vampire makes no sense when juxtaposed along what little canon material we have about vampires prior to Jam City's creation of this character. So in my canon, Victor just changes his image in his seventh year to get attention, with his new "bad boy" look and attitude being inspired by the vampire performer Lorcan D'Eath. But yeah, so prior to his popularity boost, Victor envied Carewyn's popularity and wished he could be admired for doing exciting things too. When he found his niche and really embraced his new "cool" persona, Victor had actually secretly hoped that he'd be able to impress Carewyn with talk of all the daring, interesting things he'd done over the summer, since she was widely considered the most popular in their class -- and if she was impressed by him, that would have to mean he'd completely turned himself around and achieved the level of popularity he'd wanted. Victor was more than a little put-out when Carewyn reacted to his stories and "charms" with disinterest, though he tried to play it cool and act like it didn't matter.

[imagitory]

I guess this is as good a time as ever to talk about Patricia Rakepick and her relationship with my girl, Carewyn Cromwell. (Please excuse the pink hair and dark eyeliner, BTW: I’d forgotten to change Carewyn out of her Knockturn Alley disguise before this scene. Her usual look is more like this — )

(Interesting visual resemblance to Rakepick, isn’t there?)

But yeah, so Carewyn actually has an interesting complex. She’s pretty good at making friends, but she’s not good at trusting them. She puts on her best face with absolutely everyone, her friends included, and so, even if she’s okay with asking them for help with the Cursed Vaults and showing righteous anger around them without much trouble, she hates showing any sadder or more selfish feelings around them and — by extension — trusting her friends with the sides of her that aren’t that pretty. Her bitterness, sorrow, and doubts surrounding her brother’s departure? Her inner conflict surrounding her as-of-yet-unknown asexuality? Her insecurities about not having control over her own life? Her resentment about how much the Cursed Vaults and her brother have distracted her from all the great things she’s always wanted to do? Carewyn doesn’t want her friends to know those things. She wants to be the friend they need, but she doesn’t know how to let them be friends to her. But she tells herself that she’s okay with that — she’s fine with knowing others really well, and them knowing nothing about her. She doesn’t need anyone to take care of her: she can take care of herself and her friends. Subconsciously Carewyn feels more in control that way: she can help and protect without needing help or protection herself. She can help and look after others without opening herself enough to get hurt again.

This subconscious thought process, however, really informs Carewyn’s relationship with Rakepick. Carewyn likes it when she can see a person’s heart clearly — they can be mysterious like Chiara and Talbott (in fact, Carewyn likes those two a lot!) or even misguided in some way, but they need to be fundamentally decent people. That way even if Carewyn is still getting to know them or doesn’t entirely agree with them, she’ll at least be confident in her decision to give them the benefit of the doubt. She also really dislikes condescension on a visceral level and, thanks to her own mother, has a very empathetic, nurturing side. So Rakepick’s treatment of Carewyn — being simultaneously dodgy and mentoring and both being respected for her skills and yet feared for her methods (including torture, according to Mundungus Fletcher!) — is sending mixed messages, and Carewyn doesn’t like that. Carewyn knows Rakepick is after the Vaults, likely for not as selfless reasons, and judging by her past behavior, Rakepick’s happy to use anyone and anything to get her way — and Carewyn has no interest in being a pawn in her game. She isn’t interested in relying on Rakepick the way Merula does and getting let down — she already has a mother she loves to pieces and teachers like McGonagall and Flitwick who she respects as authority figures. Carewyn isn’t satisfied with the seemingly half-hearted, conditional support that Rakepick represents...and yet, at least right now, she doesn’t see herself holding her friends at arm’s length as anything remotely similar.

From a meta POV, I think Rakepick is supposed to be the Snape of this game where we’re not sure if we can trust her or not, and like Harry, Carewyn remains resolute in not trusting that person. The difference is that Harry was targeted by Snape for bad treatment and Harry returned the dislike in kind: Rakepick has selected Carewyn in a kind of mentor/apprentice relationship, but Carewyn isn’t sure if she wants to be like Rakepick. I don’t know whether Rakepick will follow Snape’s trajectory as a character and be on the good side all along despite her glaring flaws, but either way, this is a good arc for Carewyn’s character. Rakepick is the sort of person to trust no one, and she’s instructed Carewyn as much, not to trust others.

If she’s a bad person saying this, Carewyn will have a reason to turn her back on that thought process.

If she’s a good person saying this, Carewyn will have a reason to stand apart from Rakepick and become better than her.

Both she and Rakepick are resilient, determined, ambitious planners who attract others around them easily but don’t ever truly trust them...but as Rakepick says,

Rakepick lacks empathy. Carewyn has it in spades. Even if she has mean and selfish impulses sometimes, Carewyn resists them because she knows those impulses would hurt others, which would in turn make her unhappy. Rakepick is the sort to torture others for information so she can reach her goals. Carewyn would never do that. And I think no matter what direction the story goes, Carewyn coming to grips with this best aspect of herself will be good for her. Her greatest ambition is to be the best she can be — not just magically, but psychologically, emotionally, and morally — and to be admired by others for who she is. Her greatest insecurity is not having control of her own life and therefore not having as much control as she wants in how people see her. Carewyn knows she can do better and be better, but she hates that being selfless is something she has to think about and fight with herself about, and she’s been frustrated by how much her quest for the Cursed Vaults has come to define her. Through Rakepick, Carewyn could learn to see herself in a new way, both in how they are similar but more notably by how they’re not.

[jasmine-curse-breaker-adlawa]

AHA THERE IT IS

So it sounds like Skye’s dad is the type to breathe down ya neck if you don’t win every game every time and that’s why she’s insistent on “testing” the MC

I mean, it’s still not something to condone but I guess at least we’re getting some semblance of an explanation about her behavior.