#i don't have any centaur name examples but i will at some point

[tubbytarchia]

Traffic/Life series roster as dinosaurs

A lot of these don't make for very good hybrids unless you wanna get into freaky territory or full on centaur but... Hope it's a fun scroll nonetheless!

Grian - Novialoidea

A small birdie... The name also means "New wings" which I find fun. New lives and death games to be part of, new wings to accompany him... (Honorable mention to "Shuvuuia" the "desert bird" who unfortunately is not a pterosaur (doesn't fly)) (Yes we're including pterosaurs! Just using "dinosaur" as a conveient blanket term)

Tango - Aratasaurus / Pyroraptor

Fire raptor! Either works just fine and Tango as a skittery little raptor is perfect for a creature like him

Scar - Apatosaurus

"Deceptive Lizard" harkening back to Scar's scamming tendencies. Though I've always liked the idea of him being some larger gentler animal in any hybrid scenario and a long-neck fits the bill well. He can poke his nose into people's conversations easily to start marketing something useless to them and swishes his tail to ward off anyone who's about to stop him

Impulse - Nasutoceratops

Ren - Regaliceratops

Horns. COOL horns. I don't know what else you want from me ceratopses are just way too awesome. Nasutoceratops is a wicked cool dinosaur for having its horns point so forward much like a bull and I for one can jive with some Impulse bull symbolism. Bulls are often viewed as strong, sturdy and loyal, traits also assigned to Impulse a LOT of the time. But though he IS intensely loyal in many cases (+ Ceratopses are also known for how they defend their own!), and he's not very outward about the following traits, he can get quite petty and bitchy and hold grudges. Still, you don't think of that when you look at him and he seems to agree! Eg him feeling like he should be accepted into Cleo's alliance in 3rd life without actually proving himself when Cleo was rightfully hesitant, at which Impulse more or less rolled his eyes. And him proclaiming "betrayal!" when killed by Bdubs when their alliance was as firm as a rat's tail

(And I feel the need to point this out too just in case: "bulls are also known for their temper" yeah but they're not like that! Bulls like many animals become defensive when exposed to aggravating behavior or movement! Which you could work into Impulse's grudge holding and intense loyalty...? I don't know enough about him sorry but do with that what you will)

Regaliceratops! Regal!! Crown shaped frill!!! Need I say more?

Gem - Therizinosaurus

Theris are so bad bitch coated to me and I would love to have one as my wife I mean um I couldn't decide on a less generic specimen so Gem can just be a Theri! A herbivore - often associated with the belief that herbivores are gentle passive creatures, but far from it, especially with Gem! She bares her claws like it's no one's business

Martyn - Stygmoloch

A Pachy with a tough head and a tendency to bonk people - I think it fits Martyn's tendency to perpetuate drama haha. The Stygmoloch's name though more or less translates to "demon of the styx river", the river of the underworld representing loathing of death. To me this makes sense with all the watcher lore (that I have a hard time understanding but whatever!!) especially with how Martyn became in LL. The watchers themselves don't loathe death (??) of course. They're death games. But someone within the game trying to stay alive and win? Probably loathes the idea of themselves dying. I have no clue what Im saying

Pearl - Carnotaurus

Ok maybe a hot take not to make her into a pteradon or even a raptor with wing-like features but those just didn't fit that well in my opinion. Rather I wanted her to have some kind of horn motif in place of her wings as visual symbolism for her character. I'd like to imagine her having fine horns, to then have them damaged (one broken off) and simultaneously the other more grown out. Think of how domesticated goats for example have their horns trimmed. I think human hybrids with horns would do the same to keep them from becoming a bother but Pearl would neglect to after her heartbreak in DL. I was heavily considering the Diabloceratops for this, especially because of the name (Devil horned face - good ostracizing material) but Pearl strikes me a lot more as a carnivore and there are only two horned carnivores out there so... Carnotaurus it is haha. And even now I'm making her horns unrealistically big but.... We can suspend some belief

BigB - Oryctodromeus

"Digging Runner"! I've already talked plenty of why BigB is very rabbit behavior to me and my reasons for assigning this burrowing dinosaur to him are similar. Tldr he is fidgety and cautious yet clever and constantly buries himself underground

Lizzie - Anurognathidae

I don't even fucking know man it made me think of Lizzie and then I wasn't able to assign anything else to her. Lizzie often claims to be confused and if any dinosaur looks to be in a perpetual state of confusion then its this one. I know a lot of people like to portray Lizzie as a butterfly also so there you go, wings!!! And it's quite cat-like too for those who like to draw her as a cat

Mumbo - Leinkupal

I really struggled with Mumbo... So many different dinos fit him imo but I figured it should be at least something moderately large (so "Technosaurus" was out of the question lol). Then I rediscovered this dinosaur whose name translates to "vanishing family" and then I thought about LL and SL and how Mumbo went out quickly after the initial death/s and left a very felt absence in someone's alliance and then I became really emotional and forgot what I was doing

Joel - Nodocephalosaurus

Bdubs - Psittacosaurus

"Knob Headed Lizard"

Joel as an Ankylosaur has been stuck in my head from day one of assigning dinosaurs to the Lifers and I'm frustrated that I can't truly explain why. You'd view an Ankylosaur as a slow and docile creature, even compared to other herbivores, but...

1. Maybe not so much nowadays, I don't know what non-dino nerds think, but I feel like ankylosaurs were largely believed to be HUGE back in the day, much like velociraptors, when in reality they're not that big. The Nodocephalosaurus is especially small even among other ankylosaurs. But, well, we all know what Joel loves to say about himself

2. Joel is or likes to make himself look well in control, just as ankylosaurs have little to worry about as far as predators go. Especially in earlier series where he was content basing mostly by himself. It's always when things get dire and he enters his red life that he becomes very impulsive and erratic like an ankylosaur flipped on its back

3. I know there's a distinction between Traffic Joel and Empires Joel and whatever other Joel but... Even in death games his more charitable traits shine through here and there. He really becomes a dangerous rascal for a large majority of the time and he's very good at it, he's not putting on a mask or anything, but I like to remember that underneath that tough spiky armor is gentleness and caring. His care towards Lizzie and Pearl and Etho etc etc

4. The image of Joel as a hell of a spiky creature is just really fun to me. Yet heavy and blunt ones! And someone once proposed the idea of him having a club tail but having chiselled it to be sharp to mirror him being a menace. (Added benefit also that it's lighter that way haha) To me he's always been an obvious heavy hitter rather than stealthy or particularly creative etc. Him as a carnivore just doesn't work as well for me

The name bares no fitting meaning but when I look at Bdubs I think of Psittaco. All other species close to it in looks are already ceratopsians and we have like... 3 of those already lol. Im sorry Bdubs you look so stupid

Cleo - Lythronax

There's so few predators in this roster lol oops, but Cleo deserves to be an apex one! The name translates to "Gore King" because you know, zombies... and you know, Cleo is very king so true. If any of the Lifers should be able to boast rows of razor sharp teeth to gore others it should be ZombieCleo

Scott - Theiophytalia

I've been really struggling with Scott but how about the dinosaur whose name translates to "Belonging to the garden of Gods". There's only one known specimen of this species and it's an Iguanadon looking dinosaur which I think a lot of people would regard as the most basic, possibly boring type of dinosaur (if it weren't for the Allosaurus which already takes the title of "basic straight white guy") but that further fits Scott imo. It's always been a strong point of appeal to me how MUCH there is to his character that so often goes under the radar or unexplored, and how he's very often portrayed as just some handsome looking guy as opposed to a hybrid etc. He's not at all extravagant yet has mastered his craft of bending fate in his favor, he so often has things perfectly under his control just as he wants them, etc... reflective of the name "Theiophytalia" even if you wouldn't think such a dinosaur to sport one of the most prolific names a dinosaur can have. Also garden something something flower husbans. Basically whatever Bree's take on Scott is lol. I don't wanna blab for 5 paragraphs about that blue mf here but. I hope this makes sense

Jimmy - Yinlong

I struggled with this mf the most because he's another very hashtag deep character. I felt really bad to remove his bird motifs completely because the canary is so essential to him, but a raptor nor a pteradon fit my image of him at all. I spent so much time looking into various species but it just aint it, but Yinlong was possibly quilled and we can still cover him in feathers, even if he has nothing close to wings haha... BUT ANYWAY. Yinlong is a small kind of pathetic looking dinosaur, and Jimmy definitely isn't small but he'd sure be made to feel that way. Yinlong translates to "Hidden Dragon" however, a rather thought-provoking name for such a dinosaur. Given his character, it sure does feel like there's a soul of a dragon laying dormant somewhere in him, buried by all the self deprecation and curse labels. Honorable mention to Tianyulong, a very similar dinosaur who was named after a museum, but "Tianyu" also translates to peace and content. Something that Jimmy can't yet but deserves to be

Etho - undefined raptor

Already made a loong post about raptor Etho haha which I assume yall have seen since the support towards that post is the only reason I'm even making this post

Skizz - Olorotitan

"Titanic Swan" close enough to an angel right. I feel the whole angel thing is a bit overdone when Skizz can become a malicious little creature every now and then, but swans much like angels do get viewed as beautiful and taken as symbolism of love. Much like Skizz is largely viewed as an angel and often as someone who can do no wrong. But mostly I wanted Skizz to be a hadrosaur/duck-billed dinosaur, because those are dinosaurs known for their speculated vocalizations. And what is Skizz good at? Talking and voicing his love and appreciation? Yeah? Yeah... I'm so sorry Skizz btw this hybrid idea does not work out

Again, a lot of these don't work so well as hybrids... Some like the long-neck ones I cant imagine to have more than a spiky spine back and a tail, but! These picks aren't based on hybrid potential but rather what I think genuinely fits. I did really work on this all day looking through a bunch of dinosaurs and research haha, but I do love dinosaurs a lot... If you disagree with any hey thats cool! Feel free to give me your opinions if you've any and I hope this was fun to scroll through regardless

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Double Standards: Draco Malfoy Edition

My main issue with HP is Slytherin vs Gryffindor double standards. I like Draco Malfoy and I find Slytherins very interesting. I understand why people don't like him. But I hate when people demonize Draco for something but are perfectly ok when another character (eg. the golden trio) does the same thing. So based on the post above, I wanted to share a defense for Draco Malfoy. Most of the logic comes from the post above but a good portion of these arguments are mine.

Draco mocks Hufflepuffs

Hagrid: “everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers–”.

Hagrid also says everyone in Slytherin is destined to be evil. Hagrid is a grown man (well half-giant) perpetuating harmful stereotypes to Harry while Draco is a kid (11 yrs old).

Also, Harry did not lift a single finger to defend Cedric and Hufflepuff house when the lions were bashing and mocking Cedric. This is AFTER Cedric, being a good sport and overall great guy, told his housemates to back off Harry. Cedric was too good for these books. Cedric was the hero horrid Harry could only dream of being.

Draco has not mocked Hufflepuffs since his intro chapter.

Draco bullied Ron and Harry

Harry and Ron initiated this antagonism. Harry likened Draco to Dudley after a short conversation. The same Draco who engaged him in conversation despite his poor appearance. Harry never gave Draco a chance before he painted him as evil. Draco ignored Ron on the train until Ron laughed at his name.

Long before Draco did anything truly hurtful to them, the golden trio cheered his misfortune and his fear. For example, before we saw Draco & Hermione exchange dialogue, Hermione danced in joy at Draco getting detention. Harry declared him his arch-enemy and worse than Dudley (the cousin who abused him all his life) and threatened him with physical violence (threatening to shove Draco off his broom). Up until that point, the worst thing Draco did was set them up to be caught by Filch. That makes Draco worse than Dudley lol.

Draco could be doing something innocent, not Harry related, like welcoming a new house member or getting sweets from Mama Narcissa and Harry would be glaring daggers at him like he is committing a crime. These three boys bullied each other.

Draco called Hermione a mudblood

Draco never said a word to Hermione and ignored her existence until she dissed his quidditch skills. Also, Sybill and Hermione call Firenze a horse. Firenze saved Harry's life - you think Hermione could show some respect. Dean brazenly asked Firenze to his face if Hagrid breeds them like thestrals. Please note: All of these actions are somehow better than Umbridge calling centaurs half-breeds lol! According to the narrative, "half-breed" is more offensive than HORSE. Hagrid and Minerva use "muggle" as a slur. Remember that WE are the muggles.

If JKR wanted "mudblood" to be meaningful, she should have shown how mugglebornes struggled in the wizarding world. Such as strained relationships with loved ones in the muggle world (Lily & Petunia's relationship is an example) or discrimination in employment. But the wizarding world at large is on mugglebornes' side.

What impact does Draco calling Hermione a "mudblood" have? Her blood status up till that point has been irrelevant and does not disadvantage her. Compared to the bigotry centaurs and muggles face in HP! I don't give a crap about Draco calling Hermione "mudblood" when no other slurs or discriminatory behaviour seem to matter!

She is hardly bothered by it anyway so who cares? I don't. Draco is not an impressive bully when it comes to Hermione. Draco's bullying of Hermione basically boils down to him calling her "mudblood" and hardly anything else. It's hard for Draco to truly be a bully when Hermione never takes him seriously and he never has any real power over her (except when he is on the inquisitorial squad in book 5).

Draco bullied Neville

Everyone mistreats Neville. Including his own housemates and 'Queen Minerva'. That includes Harry and Ron btw. Harry and Ron laugh at Neville in his face and behind his back. In book 1, they basically tell him he should not stick up for himself when he confronts them as they sneak out. Harry thinks Neville is a loser half the time. I thought the golden trio were Neville's friends but after looking at the books I am horrified. My baby boy Neville deserves better than the rotten trio. For example, Harry compares Peter Pettigrew to Neville! Harry sees Peter as pathetic and the first person that comes to mind for Harry is Neville!!! Poor Neville :(. Draco, however, has not been seen or mentioned bullying Neville since book 1.

Draco is mean to Hagrid

Hagrid may act like a disgraceful, blubbering crybaby half the time, but he is a grown-ass man. He's what...50 or 60. Draco is a preteen/teenager. We have seen Hagrid threaten Draco several times. For example, when Draco rightfully calls out Hagrid in book 4 about the (possibly illegal) blast-ended skrewts, Hagrid uses the ferret incident (a horrific case of child abuse) to silence Draco into submission. It's so outrageous for Draco to backtalk and mock Hagrid but it's hilarious when Hagrid, the adult, abuses the child under his care. The HP fandom is insane!

Hagrid endangers children and he is a horrid teacher and should have been fired! And he would have been fired if not for the meddling rotten trio (specifically Harry freaking Potter). This dimwitted jackass knows Hagrid is a bad teacher and drops his subject in book 6 but is willing to ruin the subject for everyone else because he likes him!!! And he is willing to intimidate/bully his friends (especially Hermione) to comply with his views on Hagrid. Harry is extremely selfish and can go rot in hell with Hagrid! If I were Harry's classmate, I would be tempted to punch him myself!

Draco is punished for saying what everyone else was thinking. No one thinks Hagrid is a good teacher. Including the rotten trio! Why does the narrative and fandom coddle Hagrid and treat him like a damn child?! Why is Draco, the student, constantly bashed for Hagrid, the teacher, being incompetent!?

Edit: Hermione disrespects Trelawney in Divination (in the same chapter I believe) but she's seen as a girl boss. She has no need to be there and clearly hates the subject (what a wonderful use for a time tuner). But everyone has a problem with Draco hurting dumb Hagrid's feelings wah.

Draco does mean impressions of other people

So do Ginny (of Fleur) and Ron (of Hermione). At least Draco's impressions are entertaining! Draco is totally the class clown and/or theatre kid type. He has a captivating and dramatic personality. I think he would thrive in the arts. I can literally see him as the male version of Sharpay :)

Draco called Molly porky

Molly is objectively overweight. Draco is a 14 yr old boy throwing out insults (porky is pretty tame if you ask me). JKR, through Harry, goes into unnecessary detail every other sentence about how fat Dudley is whenever Dudley is around. Dudley is a kid. Why should Molly be excluded from the fat character treatment? Plus Harry is actually very shallow when he describes people. He always focuses on how pretty or ugly someone is. Even in serious situations, you can count on Harry describing Fleur as beautiful, Sirius & Tom as dashingly handsome and Snape as hideous. Ron is quick to label Eileen Prince as ugly when the trio discovers she is Snape's mom in book 6. She has done nothing to them but he insults her because of who her son is. Why is it ok for the trio to mock people's looks but Draco calling Molly fat is a crime worthy of physical abuse?

Draco wanted his classmates to die

So did Ron and Harry. Ron says “shame that his mother likes him” when discussing shoving Draco off a glacier. Harry has fantasised about killing and/or torturing Draco/Snape. And guess what! He almost made his fantasies a reality! He nearly murdered Draco with very short-lived remorse and then attempted to use the same spell (+ multiple crucios) against Snape! What a hero :). So full of love and pure goodness, right Dumbledore (gag).

Draco used the cruciatus curse

Attempted cruciatus. Draco said ‘cruci-‘ before Harry somehow yelled out an entire sectumsempra and almost eviscerated him to death. I think that is the only time Draco has attempted to use the crucio in a fight.

When Harry saw Draco being forced to use the curse in a vision, Draco was terrified, right? Harry on the other hand has fantasised about the cruciatus since the moment he learnt about it (he daydreamed about torturing Snape after Fake Moody's class). Harry has used the curse multiple times before and after Draco's use in book 6 and unlike Draco's attempted crucio, Harry's actually hit. Harry sure loves his dark spells :). For a while, sectumsempra and crucio became Harry's new expeliarmus. Harry is called gallant for using the cruciatus in book 7 too by 'Queen' Minerva, how lovely.

Why is Draco demonized more than Harry by the fandom for this curse? Harry used the curse 3 more times than Draco. He hit Bellatrix and the Carrow guy and attempted to crucio Snape twice in book 6 in the SAME FIGHT. Make it make sense!

Draco (& Lucius) almost got Buckbeak put down

Hagrid, as the teacher, should be held responsible - not the animal. But if the ministry is going to claim Hagrid has no fault, then Buckbeak sure as hell needs to be put down. In our world, we put down animals that attack people, especially kids. Once again, Buckbeak is a wild animal so Hagrid's bad teaching is ultimately to blame. If Hagrid won't man up, then sorry Buckbeak! I know several people hate Lucius but the man is being a decent father. Wouldn't you be outraged if your only kid, and heir, was attacked in a class like Draco was? Be real.

Also in the same book, Hermione shows gross indifference to the well-being of Scabbers - “All cats chase rats, Ron!”. Ron should have slapped this inconsiderate bitch. Ron has the patience of a saint. If my friend acted like this, our friendship is through unless sincere apologies are made. I am not even a pet person but Hermione was utterly disgusting in book 3. Ron deserves better than this girl with the emotional capacity of a teaspoon. Ron always wants to kick Norris the cat. The Weasley twins experiment on animals. Hagrid mistreats the animals under his care (eg. the dead flubberworms and poor Fluffy). Transfiguration class is 99% animal experimentation. But boo-hoo, the ministry is killing Buckbeak...why should I care again about some random wild animal when animal cruelty is a staple of HP?

Draco hates Muggleborns

Draco is supposed to be from a family of blood supremacists. Yet he willingly engaged Harry in conversation despite Harry being dressed in unkempt MUGGLE clothes and not knowing who he was. So you can't say Draco spoke to Harry because of his fame (unlike Ron Weasley who deliberately sought out Harry Potter). Harry is the one who judged him because Draco was talking about things that are normal to him, ironically proving Draco’s point — “I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways” — true. How hilarious.

Anyway, all wizards, so-called light side included, hate/mistreat muggles. But it's ok because JKR wrote it that way. It's ok for wizards to invade muggles' privacy and threaten them. You don't see Draco attacking mugglebornes like this when you meet him. He just thinks wizards should keep to themselves. As a muggle, I approve of this message. I don't want these sadistic wizards near me.

So how did Draco go from this in book 1 to the boy in book 2 declaring "mudbloods are next"? I have no clue. Draco was almost creepy in book 2. I think Draco had a grudge against Hermione and was childishly acting out. Draco is a pampered 12 yr old, what does he know about the horrors of death? Heck, sometimes I wished I was aborted when I was an angsty preteen. Not knowing what exactly I was wishing for myself. Plus, I believe JKR was using Draco as a lazy plot device in book 2.

Plus, I think his negative interactions with the golden trio made him more radicalized as time went on. We don't see Draco calling other students "mudblood", right? I don't recall Draco harassing people like Justin. Draco seems to have a "Hermione" problem, not a "mudblood" problem.

Bonus: James Potter bullied Snape to first impress and then later blackmail Lily, a muggleborne, into dating him. And when said muggleborne girl retaliated...James threatened to hex her. James literally threatened Lily with violence for (barely) attempting to defend Snape. The girl he supposedly has a crush on! James Potter is supposed to be from a muggleborne friendly, light-side family haha. At least Draco was upfront that he despised Hermione. I have read Dramione fics with healthier foundations than canon Jily - not that I like Dramione as a ship. But sure Dramione is the only toxic ship around here!

Please add any other double standards I missed! (Book) Canon Draco fans need to call out the unfair treatment of Draco! Draco is not the evil monster people paint him to be. And you can like him too without warping him into this pathetic, bland, crybaby, gay fanon version. I used to like Fanon Draco when I just started reading HP fanfiction and did not know any better, but book Draco is so much more entertaining, colourful and even charming :)

You don't have to like Draco. But stop giving the heroes passes for the same awful actions.

[braveclementine]

Chapter 6

Warnings: 18+ readers only, mentions of nudity

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝕳𝖆𝖌𝖗𝖎𝖉 𝖒𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖉 𝖔𝖓 from teaching about Phoenixes to talking about Centaurs and Merpeople. Since I'd already seen both of those, he didn't have to bring an example into class- not that, we both knew- either of them would've agreed to it.

There was quite a bit that I knew about Centaurs, but I knew nearly nothing about merpeople. Hagrid was still had hard feelings towards Harry, Hermione, and Ron about not continuing his class, but he tried not to show it. He still showed up to mealtimes and waved hello when they called out to him.

Of course, he was a bit moody, but there was nothing that I could do about that. They'd come down eventually and talk to him and then we'd be fine.

Potions was an equal success for both Harry and I and the classes usually ended with Professor Slughorn not knowing which potion was better, and believing that we'd both inherited our mother's skill for potions.

Of course, I'd tried multiple times in class to tell him that I wasn't related to Harry whatsoever, but Professor Slughorn never let me get the words out and so now the entire class was wondering whether Harry and I were related.

Again.

Draco of course, seemed most interested in this topic. I'm sure he'd love to run back to Voldemort with the news that Elizabeth Kane Lupin was, indeed, Harry Potter's sister. Harry and I had quite the time stamping down that rumor again.

"Maybe you two should date." Hermione said one night at the Gryffindor table. I spat my pumpkin juice out of my mouth and Harry choked on his steak.

"You're mad!" I said, hastily wiping up the pumpkin juice with my napkin, forgetting that I could clean it up with a wand.

"It'd stop all the questions." Hermione pointed out, an amused smile on her face.

"Absolutely not." I said firmly. "As far as I'm concerned, Harry is as good as my brother and that's that."

Harry had finally dislodged the piece of steak he'd been choking on and nodded his head in agreement, his eyes watering and his cheeks fading from purple to red to pink to normal.

Trang had been giggling quietly on my left and I put my foot over hers and pressed down. She pursed her lips and stopped laughing. Ron had been goggling at Hermione as though she was, indeed, mad.

Meanwhile, I had posted that Quidditch tryouts would be this Saturday. There were a couple names added to the list, including Ernies and Hannah's. I had pretty much all of my friends from Hufflepuff on the damn list and I knew I was going to have to exclude some of them... possibly all of them and I wasn't looking forward to doing that.

Of course, there were other stresses on top of that. For instance, Dumbledore wasn't going to be alive by the end of the year. Of course, Severus was upset about this fact and I knew eventually he was going to fight with Dumbledore about it. And of course, there was quite a bit of homework, prefect duties, a late period, starting private lessons back up with Professors, interning under Madam Pomfrey, etc.

Saturday came and I walked down early with Trang to the Quidditch pitch. "Are you going to try out for the Ravenclaw team?" I asked as we entered the stadium. No one but Zacharias was there yet and he was nodding off on the bench, his broom beside him.

"I've put my name down." Trang said. "But our Captain hasn't put down a date yet and I don't know how the other people fly so I don't know who I'll do."

"Don't worry." I said. "A lot of the people who show up are horrible and just hope other people are worse than them. Ravenclaw hasn't won the Cup in a while."

"Wow. . ." Trang said with a roll of her eyes. "Definitely makes me want to try out now!"

I grinned sheepishly. "I'm just saying you have a good chance of getting on the team, that's all. What position do you want?"

"Chaser or seeker." Trang said thoughtfully. "But I think Cho is going to play seeker still so I'm stuck with Chaser."

I wrinkled my nose when Trang wasn't looking. Cho, urgh. I'd forgotten she was still around.

There were 30 people even which made it wonderfully easy to split up into 6 sets of 5 so that I could see how they flew in the different formations and by the time they landed, I realized that weeding people out was going to be much more difficult than I thought.

I started with the Keepers first which consisted of Susan and about ten other students. I had the others go first, each of them saving averaging between two-four of the five goals that Zacharias threw at them and then let Susan go up who saved five goals. I was a bit surprised and I knew it was showing on my face because she glared at me when she landed.

"Alright then." I said brightly, waving away the others. "Susan, you'll be the new Keeper then. Go join Zacharias on the bench."

The nice thing about Hufflepuffs was that they didn't get angry or resentful when things didn't go their way. They congratulated Susan and then went to sit up in the stands with a few spectators.

I went with beaters next of which Justin and Ernie were both trying out for. However, James was already on the team and there was only one spot open. Neither Justin nor Ernie did as well as Anthony Rickett however, and so Anthony was the newest beater for the team. Both Justin and Ernie went back up into the stands with the seven other students that had tried out for beater.

The Chasers trying out for Heidi and Malcolm's spot including Hannah, Rose, Zacharias, and the rest of the Hufflepuff students. I had to admit, watching them fly, Rose was good, much better than I would have expected as the bludgers and beaters flew around, trying to knock them off. Hannah wasn't so good and was knocked off the broom by a bludger.

At the end, I chose Rose and a seventh-year boy by the name of Luke Cholderton. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone to replace Zacharias and tried not to seem so disappointed when I gave him his spot back. Other than that, I was pleased with the outcome of my team and Trang and I went back up to the castle for breakfast. I was afraid that Ernie, Justin, and Hannah would have hard feelings but they seemed in just as high spirits as possible.

Then, Hannah said, "I really only tried out for the team because I thought it would be fun. I'm not really all that serious about Quidditch to be completely honest." Then she quickly stuck some bacon in her mouth.

Ernie shrugged, "I think the teams going to be good this year."

"It ought to be interesting, watching you and Harry race each other for the snitch from the crowd anyways." Justin said with a grin and I felt immensely better though part of me wondered if they only said those things so that I did feel better.

That night, Trang and I went to the Gryffindor Tower to study.

". . .Or herself." Hermione was saying irritably in the corner of the room. "It might have been a girl. I think the handwriting looks more like a girl's than a boy's."

"The Half-Blood Prince, he was called." Harry said, "How many girls have been Princes? Oh, hey Liz, Trang!"

"Could be a last name." I said knowingly, sitting down on the couch. "But it was a boy." I said.

"Do you know who's book this was?" Hermione asked excitedly.

I nodded. "But you guys will find out who's it was in due time so I'm not in any hurry to spill."

"That's so annoying, when you do that!" Ron said with a roll of his eyes. "Why don't you just spit it out?"

"Could impact the whole future." I said, smirking.

"It's five to eight, I'd better go, I'll be late for Dumbledore." Harry said, getting to his feet, "can you tell me what I'm going to be doing?" He added with a joking tone.

"He's going to be showing you different memories." I said, taking out my quill and a bottle of ink. "Different memories from Voldemort's past."

"We'll wait up!" Hermione said.

Harry nodded to me and then headed out of the Gryffindor portrait.

"So," Ron said, leaning in. "What's the first memory he's going to be shown about."

I sighed, looking up from the essay I was trying to concentrate on. "Voldemort's relatives, his mother and father and grandparents and things like that. What his roots are."

"I suppose Dumbledore thinks its important for Harry to understand Voldemort's past." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Er-?" Trang asked, "Memories?"

"Oh." I said, "Yeah, memories. Wizards and witches can take their memories and put them into bottles and things like that. As long as the glass doesn't break, they could keep a memory forever. Then, they'll pour the memory into something called a pensieve and they can watch the memory from a third-person view."

Trang stared at me with an open mouth and then looked back down at her essay she was trying to finish up.

Around ten o'clock, I got up, stretching and said good-bye to everyone. Ron looked up, "You're not going to stay?"

I smiled at him mischievously. "Why would I have to if I've already seen the memory?"

Then I walked out and headed to Severus' bedroom.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖈𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖑 𝖉𝖆𝖞𝖘 passed in a blur. The classes were harder than I remembered and all the students stared at the teachers as thought they'd grown second heads. Even Hermione and I were asking for instructions to be repeated before we could understand what we were being asked to do.

Nonverbal spells had to be used in every class now (that required them at least). Many students were now relieved to be in classes like Herbology or Ancient Runes were no magic was really required.

Of course, Hermione and I were doing well with the nonverbal spells and other extremely smart students were starting to get the hang of it too.

I'd also restarted private lessons with Flitwick, McGonagall, and Snape as I had in the past five years of my education at Hogwarts. They'd been stopped last year after an educational decree announced that private lessons were unethical as they boosted other kids and didn't help others. However, all educational decrees under Umbridge had been undone and so I was able to continue doing private lessons this year.

On top of these lessons, I was also tutoring Rose and Grace on Fridays. I was holding Quidditch practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was going down and helping Hagrid with other activities whenever I felt like being outside. I was interning under Madam Pomfrey (I was debating between become an Auror and Healer). And of course, there was homework and patrolling the corridors at night.

But despite all of this, there was a depressing gloom around me when I was alone. I couldn't help seeing into the future, watching Severus kill Dumbledore over and over again. I wasn't sure why I was seeing so far into the future, I wasn't used to doing so. I could usually foresee a few months, but never the entire year. Maybe it was because I already knew and the future didn't care about keeping it from me.

Then again. . . it wasn't the entire year I was seeing, just that one scene. Over and over and over again.

I wondered if maybe my skills had finally developed and now I could see things at will. Or maybe I could just see farther than used to. Whatever the case, I wasn't sure I didn't prefer not knowing how things were going to end.

On Friday in Herbology, a stranger came in and spoke to Professor Sprout and then pulled Hannah Abbott aside to tell her that her mother was dead. There were whispers throughout the greenhouse and Ernie, Susan, and I exchanged a look. Hannah left with the wizard.

"Do you think that she'll go home?" Susan asked me quietly as we returned to the dangerous plant we were working with.

I shook my head, "That's what I foresaw but. . . well you heard her in the dorm. Of course, circumstances might have changed now that she's actually faced with it."

"Dreadful." Ernie muttered, wiping sweat away from his brow and we continued our work in silence.

When I went back up to the Hufflepuff common room and to my dorm, I noticed that many of Hannah's things were indeed, gone. I sighed, wishing I could've said good-bye to her.

The next day at breakfast, Harry was frowning down at the list in his hand.

"We've got to go and explain." Hermione said, looking over my shoulder at something.

"We've got Quidditch tryouts this morning!" Ron complained. "And we're supposed to be practicing that Aguamenti Charm from Flitwick! Anyway, explain what? How are we going to tell him we hated his stupid subject?"

"We didn't hate it!" Hermione squealed.

"Speak for yourself, I haven't forgotten the skrewts. And I'm telling you now, we've had a narrow escape. You didn't hear him going on about his gormless brother- we'd have been teaching Grawp how to tie his shoelaces if we'd stayed."

I frowned at him, "The lessons have been really good so far."

Ron spewed out his breakfast and I wrinkled my nose in disgust, glad I wasn't sitting across from him. Trang looked revolted as she wiped egg off her glasses. "You're taking Care of Magical Creatures classes?"

"Yeah." I said disdainfully. "We've gone over Phoenixes- he borrowed Fawkes from Dumbledore for that lesson- Centaurs, merpeople, and we're working on dragons, though without a physical example. He's saved all the good lessons for sixth-year."

"Er- how many students are in your class?" Harry asked, looking up from the paper for a second.

"Just me." I snapped.

"I hate not talking to Hagrid." Hermione said, looking over my shoulder again.

"We'll go down after Quidditch." Harry said. "But trials might take all morning, the number of people who have applied. I dunno why the team's this popular all of a sudden."

"Oh, come on, Harry, it's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you! You've never been more interesting, and frankly, you've never been more fanciable." Hermione said with a bit of impatience. Trang giggled and Ron choked on his kipper.

"Every knows you've been telling the truth now, don't they? The whole Wizarding world has had to admit that you were right about Voldemort being back and that you really have fought him twice in the last two years and escaped both times. And now they're calling you 'the Chosen One'- well, come on, can't you see why people are fascinated by you?"

Harry's face was a bit pink now.

"And you've been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway. . ."

"You can still see where those brains got hold of me in the Ministry, look." Ron said, shaking back his sleeves. Trang giggled harder. I was starting to grin.

"And it doesn't hurt that you've grown about a foot over the summer either." Hermione said, completely ignoring Ron.

"I'm tall." Ron said inconsequentially.

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing too and instead said, "Well then I should have lots of boys after me cause I've got words written on the back of my hand!" It was a joke so I was surprised when Hermione went ahead and spoke with complete seriousness.

"Oh, but there are hundreds of boys after you." There was a hint of impatience and surprise behind her words too, "You just don't pay any attention to them."

I snorted, ignoring this statement. Boys after me, yeah right. All the ones that liked me had left school. . . or were dead.

Trang and I headed down to Hagrid's to help him in his garden while the other three continued to eat breakfast. We harvested potatoes for a few hours, chatting about unimportant things. Hagrid was delighted with our company. Him and Trang had hit right off and she enjoyed his Care of Magical Creatures classes most of all.

"Can we ride Buckbeak Hagrid?" I asked as I plopped another potato in his basket.

"Yeh mean Witherwings?" Hagrid asked with a wink.

"Of course." I said. "I can't get used to calling him that unfortunately. He don't seem to like it much either."

Hagrid chuckled, "Tha's true enough. Sure, I don' see any harm in lettin' yeh ride him. Yeh've ridden him before so it shouldn' be a problem."

"Want to ride with me, Trang?" I asked, standing up, and brushing dirt off my pants. Though it was September, the weather was nice enough so that we'd taken off our long robes.

"Er-" Trang said, looking frightened. "Will he like that?"

"Sure." I said, leading her out to the front garden and approaching Buckbeak. "But stay back, okay."

Trang dithered near the front of the cabin, watching as I untied Buckbeak's leash. "Alright boy." I whispered, petting his beak, "You ready for a ride?"

He clucked, tossing his head. I took it for a yes.

"Now Trang, you have to bow to him, make sure not to blink. If he doesn't bow back, he's not gonna let you ride him, understand?" I asked her seriously. Trang took off her glasses. I nodded, backing away a little.

Trang bowed slightly, keeping eye contact and not blinking. Much to my hidden surprise, Buckbeak bowed back almost immediately.

Trang approached him and petted his beak too. "He's really beautiful."

Buckbeak crowed again, making Trang jump, and I laughed, "Don't worry, he likes compliments. But you never want to insult a hippogriff anyways. They're very proud creatures, aren't you Buckbeak!" I said in a sing-songy voice.

I climbed up onto Buckbeak's back and helped Trang up. I noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione were coming up the slop towards his house. I set Buckbeak at a gallop, and then he raised his wings and took off.

Trang was clutching my midriff tightly so as not to fall off. I wondered if she had her eyes closed and then she said, "The lake looks really pretty from down here."

I nearly thought about pushing her off, but also remembered that there were magical creatures in the lake that she didn't know how to deal with, so I thought better of it. A shame, really, it would've been a laugh to talk about later- for me, not necessarily for her.

Buckbeak stayed airborne for nearly twenty minutes but it was wonderful and when we touched back down, Trang hopped down and the two of us went up to Hagrid's front door, noticing he wasn't in the back anymore, and knocked.

"Come in." a somewhat grumpy voice said.

We entered and noticed that Harry, Hermione, and Ron were in there. Harry was nibbling on a Rock cake.

"Hello!" I said happily, grabbing two rock cakes and passing one to Trang who made the immediate mistake of trying to bit into it and turned around so she wasn't facing Hagrid as she winced.

I giggled, "So what are we talking about?" I asked, taking a seat next to Hagrid, away from the grubs.

"How much we thought Professor Grubby-plank was a horrible teacher." Hermione said, looking at me intently.

"Oh yes, well of course." I said lightly, breaking off a piece of rock cake and sticking it in the back of my mouth. The trick was to let it sit there, because it would melt like a sugar crystal. And despite the fact that they were named 'rock cakes', they were decent and did taste like chocolate and dough when it was warm. If I wasn't so hungry, I'd have taken them and put them next to fire to soften them first.

Hagrid beamed at me.

"Did you see that arrest in the paper Hagrid?" Harry asked, changing the subject. He had a rock cake before him on the table.

"Ay, don' know wha' they're playin' at, arresting' Stan Shunpike." Hagrid said, frowning. "Don' s'pose he knew wha' he was really doin' though."

"I don't know." Hermione said slowly. "The newspaper said he was caught talking about Death Eater plans and I don't think he'd be talking about them if he was under the imperius curse."

"Unless they had him spewing false information." I pointed out.

"Elizabeth's right." Hagrid said. "I knew Stan, an' he wouldn' of gone round sayin' stuff like tha' no matter how stupid he is."

Trang looked a little lost but didn't ask any questions. The conversation soon moved away from the depressing news articles.

We left the cabin around dusk because students had to be inside the castle before night fall or (in the summer) 6 o'clock.

"I'm starving." Harry said once the heavy cabin door was closed behind us and we hurried up to the castle. "I've got that detention with Snape tonight, I haven't got much time for dinner. . ."

We walked into the Great Hall and we came up behind Cormac McLaggen. He walked straight into frame the first time he tried to go in and then bounced back and managed to get through the doors on the second try.

Trang giggled quietly and Ron laughed. I smiled, following them into the Great Hall and then we noticed Harry and Hermione weren't with us and we waited until they came through the door.

We headed towards the Gryffindor table until Professor Slughorn intercepted us. "Harry, Harry, just the man I was hoping to see! I was hoping to catch you before dinner! What do you say to a spot of supper tonight in my rooms instead? We're having a little party, just a few rising stars, I've got McLaggen coming and Zabini, the charming Melinda Bobbin- I don't know whether you know her? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries- and, of course, I hope very much that Miss Granger, Miss Nyguen, and Miss Kane will favor me by coming too."

"I can't come, Professor, I've got a detention with Professor Snape." Harry said at once.

Trang hung back behind my shoulder.

"Oh dear! Dear, dear, I was counting on you, Harry! Well, now, I'll just have to have a word with Severus and explain the situation. I'm sure I'll be able to persuade him to postpone your detention. Yes, I'll see you all later!"

"He's go not chance of persuading Snape, this detention's already been postponed once; Snape did it for Dumbledore, but he won't do it for anyone else." Harry said, watching Professor Slughorn head down the corridor.

"You've got that right!" I said brightly.

I went back to the Hufflepuff common room, wondering if I should go in my Hogwarts school robes or in a different outfit. I mean, it was a dinner, was it not?

In the end, I decided to simply wear my slacks and the white V-neck blouse that I usually wore under my robes and left the robes in the room. I also changed out of the normal shoes for flats. I did my hair up in an elegant bun, and then put on the earrings Severus had given me along with the necklace and went down the stairs and made my way to the potions office.

I thought that perhaps I'd walked into the wrong room when I walked into his office, and then realized that it had been enlarged and brightened. The shelves filled with liquids that had once been lined up against the wall had been removed and replaced with portraits.

I noticed with relief that the other students had dressed similarly to me. Professor Slughorn showed me to a seat next to Zabini, much to my displeasure. Trang came in and sat on my other side so it wasn't so bad.

Once everyone had settled around the table, Professor Slughorn passed out the food and talked about famous people. I felt uncomfortable next to Blaise as I felt that he kept looking at me. I wondered briefly if his parents were Death Eaters.

Near eleven o'clock, he was done with us and we left. I said good-bye to Trang, Hermione, and Ginny and made my way to the Hufflepuff common room and then doubled back to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

I knocked before I entered because I didn't know if Severus was done with Harry and his detention yet. A cool voice said, "Enter."

I entered and looked around. No one but Severus was there, putting two tubs away and he said, "Lovely, you just missed Potter."

"Good." I said, closing the door behind me.

"You look different." Severus said, looking over my attire, his eyes resting on the earrings. I lifted a hand to them.

"Oh, well Professor Slughorn invited me to his little dinner party. It'd be rude not to go and I wanted to look decent." I said, a blush creeping into my cheeks.

Severus snorted, "Decent?"

"Well I didn't look in a mirror before I left so maybe I looked less than decent." I said with a shrug, "Maybe that's why Blaise kept looking at me strangely." I added on thoughtfully.

"Blaise. . . Zabini?" Severus asked, pausing at his desk.

"Yeah." I said, taking the earrings off and putting them in my pocket. They were clip ons and they were starting to burn my ears. I massaged the earlobes between my fingers. "Why?"

"Nothing." Severus said, coming over to me, "And you look more than decent. You looked very pretty tonight. But I still preferred you in that dress at the Yule Ball."

I blushed even darker, pleased. "That was a nice dress, wasn't it."

"It shaped your frame perfectly." He said before pressing his lips to mine, "Come on then."

I took his hand and we walked upstairs. He locked the door behind us and I unclasped the necklace from around my neck and I put it down on his desk. I also took the earrings out of my pocket and put them next to the necklace so that I didn't lose them. I also took the pins out of my hair, letting my hair down. I felt it land at my knees.

Severus put his hands on my hips, resting his chin on my shoulder and I closed my eyes, smiling. "Long day?" I asked softly, reaching up to touch his hair.

"Very." He whispered, pressing his lips to my neck.

"I'm afraid I'll have to make it just a little bit longer before I let you go to sleep." I murmured, throwing my clothes to the floor and taking his hand and leading him to the bed, "If you don't mind... of course." I whispered against his ear.

In response, he climbed over me and lowered himself into me. 

⬅️➡️

[lewdladylily]

Most niche kink you have?

Thank you for the interesting question. Different from weird, its more of a kink I have that few others do... It's really hard to think of these things on the spot, and I am a poor judge of how niche sexual things are. I'm going to answer a few different things for the fun of it. If I think of any more I'll add them.

Partially disassembled androids looking sexy. Seeing lots of robotic parts is a must, bonus points if it is not merely disassembled, but damaged. Ok, you know the scene in Terminator 2 where the T100 has been basically ripped apart by the T1000, like its arm and leg has been ripped off and its face messed up so you can see the metal glowing eye and its all sorts of damaged? Well that isn't hot because I don't find Arnold attractive. But have that same scene with the android being someone I find very hot - say, 2B - and that would be very sexy to me. Absolute top tier is a depiction of repairing a severely damaged android. More disassembled is better generally speaking, but it can't go too far or they don't look enough like a person anymore.

Centaurs as the bottom in pony play. (For some reason this is fucking impossible to find even though it is so obvious, if anyone knows of any sources please let me know!)

A person being turned into a statue but remaining partially aware of their surroundings, especially used as sexy/beautiful decorations. (Think heavily drugged - aware enough to understand their predicament, but not so aware that it becomes an unending torture.)

This is extremely specific, but some sort of powerful individual (usually a sexy female dragon) collecting interesting/sexy women to be part of its horde and putting them on display in some way, bonus points if the method of display references their nature or inverts it, or at least displays their unique traits. Ideally including a wide variety of fantasy races, aliens, or meta humans. For example: A gorgon blindfolded and strictly bound in place to act as a living statue, mermaids put on display in a massive aquarium, etc. It can be consenting but usually I am more interested in dub con (the woman agreed to it as the best of bad options) or just non con (especially when its turning the tables on the woman, like a powerful and evil vampire queen being captured and forced to be a serving girl to the dragon, or a chaste angel forced to be a sex slave). In the non con cases, I like it especially backed up with threat of punishment. Obedience enforced by fear.

This isn't niche but I think the intensity is worth noting, I love me a sexy bunny. I'm kinda known for it, @soulesstoy for example has mentioned how now whenever they see a bunny girl they think of me. This includes both your traditional playboy bunny style bunny suit (and variations) and fantasy bunny races (like Viera from FFXIV). Any gender, though due to my normal preferences I tend strongly towards bunny girls. HOWEVER I will *die* on the hill that the bunny suit looks as good if not better on men, including highly masculine men! It's all about the emphasis on legs and arms with men, which the bunny suit does fantastic. The bunny suit is the ultimate sexy outfit. One of my pet names is bunny and that is backed up by hypnosis effects that make me feel as if I am a bunny girl (ears and size being the most important parts. Not furry style though, like a viera.)

[jayrockin]

What do homeplanet centaur names sound like? The comics you just released featuring Talita made me wonder, since her name is Portuguese in origin if Google is guiding me right. We've seen approximations of Avian/Scud/Ferret names, but not centaurs.

Talita’s name is Portuguese because it’s one of the top 3 most commonly spoken human languages in RttS, and she was named by one of the staff at a human orphanage. She’s kind of profoundly disconnected from her planet of origin, and her name is a symptom of that.

Centaur names would actually be very easy to phonetically approximate with human language! They have vocal chords not too different from us, put with a broader natural pitch range. Naming conventions would vary a lot, as centaur planet has thousands of regional dialects and languages with vanishingly small populations, but most of them are tonal and kind of musical-sounding to human ears. Writing a home planet centaur name with Latin characters would often involve denotating pitch changes with accents over vowels.

This is very tame in comparison to transliterating things like Ferret names, which are often a series of gestures with no vocal equivalent. This is why Pinkie and Brownie have English nicknames that are just their colors.

[jeannereames]

Hi, Dr. Reames! I just read your take on Song of Achilles and it got me thinking. Do you think there might be a general issue with the way women are written in mlm stories in general? Because I don't think it's the first time I've seen something like this happen.

And my next question is, could you delve further into this thing you mention about modern female authors writing women? How could we, beginner female writers, avoid falling into this awful representations of women in our writing?

Thank you for your time!

[It took a while to finish this because I wrote, re-wrote, and re-wrote it. Still not sure I like it, but I need to let it go. It could be 3xs as long.]

I’ll begin with the second half of the question, because it’s simpler. How do we, as women authors, avoid writing women in misogynistic ways?

Let me reframe that as how can we, as female authors, write negative (even quite nasty) female characters without falling into misogynistic tropes? Also, how can we write unsympathetic, but not necessarily “bad” female characters, without it turning misogynistic?

Because people are people, not genders, not all women are good, nor all men bad. Most of us are a mix. If we should avoid assuming powerful women are all bitches, by the same token, some women are bitches (powerful or not).

ALL good characterization comes down to MOTIVE. And careful characterization of minority characters involves fair REPRESENTATION. (Yes, women are a minority even if we’re 51% of the population.)

The question ANY author must ask: why am I making this female character a bitch? How does this characterization serve the larger plot and/or characterization? WHY is she acting this way?

Keep characters complex, even the “bad guys.” Should we choose to make a minority character a “bad guy,” we need to have a counter example—a real counter, not just a token who pops in briefly, then disappears. Yeah, maybe in an ideal world we could just let our characters “be,” but this isn’t an ideal world. Authors do have an audience. I’m a lot less inclined to assume stereotyping when we have various minority characters with different characterizations.

By the same token, however, don’t throw a novel against the wall if the first minority character is negative. Read further to decide if it’s a pattern. I’ve encountered reviews that slammed an author for stereotyping without the reader having finished the book. I’m thinking, “Uh…if you’d read fifty more pages….” Novels have a developmental arc. And if you’ve got a series, that, too, has a developmental arc. One can’t reach a conclusion about an author’s ultimate presentation/themes until having finished the book, or series.*

Returning to the first question, the appearance of misogyny depends not only on the author, but also on when she wrote, even why she’s writing. Authors who are concerned with matters such as theme and message are far more likely to think about such things than those who write for their own entertainment and that of others, which is more typical of Romance.

On average, Romance writers are a professionalized bunch. They have national and regional chapters of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), newsletters and workshops that discuss such matters as building plot tension, character dilemmas, show don’t tell, research tactics, etc. Yet until somewhat recently (early/mid 2010s), and a series of crises across several genres (not just Romance), treatment of minority groups hadn’t been in their cross-hairs. Now it is, with Romance publishers (and publishing houses more generally) picking up “sensitivity readers” in addition to the other editors who look at a book before its publication.

Yet sensitivity readers are hired to be sure lines like “chocolate love monkey” do not show up in a published novel. Yes, that really was used as an endearment for a black man in an M/M Romance, which (deservedly) got not just the author but the publishing house in all sorts of hot water. Yet misogyny, especially more subtle misogyny in the way of tropes, is rarely on the radar.

I should add that I wouldn’t categorize The Song of Achilles as an M/M historical Romance. In fact, I’m not sure what to call novels about myths, as myths don’t exist in actual historical periods. When should we set a novel about the Iliad? The Bronze Age, when Homer said it happened, or the Greek Dark Age, which is the culture Homer actually described? They’re pretty damn different. I’d probably call The Song of Achilles an historical fantasy, especially as mythical creatures are presented as real, like centaurs and god/desses.

Back to M/M Romance: I don’t have specific publishing stats, but it should surprise no one that (like most of the Romance genre), the vast bulk of authors of M/M Romance are women, often straight and/or bi- women. The running joke seems to be, If one hot man is good, two hot men together are better. 😉 Yes, there are also trans, non-binary and lesbian authors of M/M Romance, and of course, bi- and gay men who may write under their own name or a female pseudonym, but my understanding is that straight and bi- cis-women authors outnumber all of them.

Just being a woman, or even a person in a female body, does not protect that author from misogyny. And if she’s writing for fun, she may not be thinking a lot about what her story has to “say” in its subtext and motifs, even if she may be thinking quite hard about other aspects of story construction. This can be true of other genres as well (like historical fantasy).

What I have observed for at least some women authors is the unconscious adoption of popular tropes about women. Just as racism is systemic, so is sexism. We swim in it daily, and if one isn’t consciously considering how it affects us, we can buy into it by repeating negative ideas and acting in prescribed ways because that’s what we learned growing up. If writing in a symbol-heavy genre such as mythic-driven fantasy, it can be easy to let things slip by—even if they didn’t appear in the original myth, such as making Thetis hostile to Patroklos, the classic Bitchy Mother-in-Law archetype.

I see this sort of thing as “accidental” misogyny. Women authors repeat unkind tropes without really thinking them through because it fits their romantic vision. They may resent it and get defensive if the trope is pointed out. “Don’t harsh my squee!” We can dissect why these tropes persist, and to what degree they change across generations—but that would end up as a (probably controversial) book, not a blog entry. 😊

Yet there’s also subconscious defensive misogyny, and even conscious/semi-conscious misogyny.

Much debate/discussion has ensued regarding “Queen Bee Syndrome” in the workplace and whether it’s even a thing. I think it is, but not just for bosses. I also would argue that it’s more prevalent among certain age-groups, social demographics, and professions, which complicates recognizing it.

What is Queen Bee Syndrome? Broadly, when women get ahead at the expense of their female colleagues who they perceive as rivals, particularly in male-dominated fields, hinging on the notion that There Can Be Only One (woman). It arises from systemic sexism.

Yes, someone can be a Queen Bee even with one (or two) women buddies, or while claiming to be a feminist, supporting feminist causes, or writing feminist literature. I’ve met a few. What comes out of our mouths doesn’t necessarily jive with how we behave. And ticking all the boxes isn’t necessary if you’re ticking most of them. That said, being ambitious, or just an unpleasant boss/colleague—if its equal opportunity—does not a Queen Bee make. There must be gender unequal behavior involved.

What does any of that have to do with M/M fiction?

The author sees the women characters in her novel as rivals for the male protagonists. It gets worse if the women characters have some “ownership” of the men: mothers, sisters, former girlfriends/wives/lovers. I know that may sound a bit batty. You’re thinking, Um, aren’t these characters gay or at least bi- and involved with another man, plus—they’re fictional? Doesn’t matter. Call it fantasizing, authorial displacement, or gender-flipped authorial insert. We authors (and I include myself in this) can get rather territorial about our characters. We live in their heads and they live in ours for months on end, or in many cases, years. They’re real to us. Those who aren't authors often don’t quite get that aspect of being an author. So yes, sometimes a woman author acts like a Queen Bee to her women characters. This is hardly all, or even most, but it is one cause of creeping misogyny in M/M Romance.

Let’s turn to a related problem: women who want to be honorary men. While I view this as much more pronounced in prior generations, it’s by no means disappeared. Again, it’s a function of systemic sexism, but further along the misogyny line than Queen Bees. Most Queen Bees I’ve known act/react defensively, and many are (imo) emotionally insecure. It’s largely subconscious. More, they want to be THE woman, not an honorary man.

By contrast, women who want to be honorary men seem to be at least semi-conscious of their misogyny, even if they resist calling it that. These are women who, for the most part, dislike other women, regard most of “womankind” as either a problem or worthless, and think of themselves as having risen above their gender.

And NO, this is not necessarily religious—sometimes its specifically a-religious.

“I want to be an honorary man” women absolutely should NOT be conflated with butch lesbians, gender non-conformists, or frustrated FTMs. That plays right into myths the queer community has combated for decades. There’s a big difference between expressing one’s yang or being a trans man, and a desire to escape one’s womanhood or the company of other women. “Honorary men” women aren’t necessarily queer. I want to underscore that because the concrete example I’m about to give does happen to be queer.

I’ve talked before about Mary Renault’s problematic portrayal of women in her Greek novels (albeit her earlier hospital romances don’t show it as much). Her own recorded comments make it clear that she and her partner Julie Mullard didn’t want to be associated with other lesbians, or with women much at all. She was also born in 1905, living at a time when non-conforming women struggled. If extremely active in anti-apartheid movements in South Africa, Renault and Mullard were far less enthused by the Gay Rights Movement. Renault even criticized it, although she wrote back kindly to her gay fans.

The women in Renault’s Greek novels tend to be either bitches or helpless, reflecting popular male perceptions of women: both in ancient Greece and Renault’s own day. If we might argue she’s just being realistic, that ignores the fact one can write powerful women in historical novels and still keep it attitudinally accurate. June Rachuy Brindel, born in 1919, author of Ariadne and Phaedra, didn’t have the same problem, nor did Martha Rofheart, born in 1917, with My Name is Sappho. Brindel’s Ariadne is much more sympathetic than Renault’s (in The King Must Die).

Renault typically elevates (and identifies with) the “rational” male versus the “irrational” female. This isn’t just presenting how the Greeks viewed women; it reflects who she makes the heroes and villains in her books. Overall, “good” women are the compliant ones, and the compliant women are tertiary characters.

Women in earlier eras who were exceptional had to fight multiple layers of systemic misogyny. Some did feel they had to become honorary men in order to be taken seriously. I’d submit Renault bought into that, and it (unfortunately) shows in her fiction, as much as I admire other aspects of her novels.

So I think those are the three chief reasons we see women negatively portrayed in M/M Romance (or fiction more generally), despite being written by women authors.

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*Yeah, yeah, sometimes it’s such 2D, shallow, stereotypical presentation that I, as a reader, can conclude this author isn’t going to get any better. Also, the publication date might give me a clue. If I’m reading something published 50 years ago, casual misogyny or racism is probably not a surprise. If I don’t feel like dealing with that, I close the book and put it away.

But I do try to give the author a chance. I may skim ahead to see if things change, or at least suggest some sort of character development. This is even more the case with a series. Some series take a loooong view, and characters alter across several novels. Our instant-gratification world has made us impatient. Although by the same token, if one has to deal with racism or sexism constantly in the real world, one may not want to have to watch it unfold in a novel—even if it’s “fixed” later. If that’s you, put the book down and walk away. But I’d just suggest not writing a scathing review of a novel (or series) you haven’t finished. 😉