#i don't know how wedding in the wizarding world works so...

[redhairedgryffindor]

Wedding Day (Female!MC X Ben)

It was a warm Sunday after, and (Y/N) stood in the dressing room, staring at herself in the full-body mirror; her wedding gown fit nicely; her mother soon entered; she hugged her daughter and told her that she looked fantastic; she smiled, wiping a tear from her eye; she was so proud to see her; she is no longer a little girl; she is a grown woman, with her husband eagerly awaiting her arrival. (Y/N) wrapped her arm around Charlie’s arm since he agreed to help her walk down the aisle, and together they walked out of the dressing room, (Y/N)’s mother following behind. As they walked out into the warm afternoon sun, they walked down to the boardwalk and eventually reached the steps that led to the sand of the beach, where the wedding would take place. Soon they reached the wedding procession; both of (Y/N)’s and Ben’s families had come to witness this great occasion. Ben stools at the end of the aisle, flanked by Jacob, Jae, Barnaby, and Diego as his best men, beneath a small pagoda with Bill as the acting ordained priest.  Ben took a deep breath and tried not to be too present as he watched (Y/N) and Charlie walk up the aisle, their friends and family barely being able to remain quiet as the pianist played the wedding march on the piano. Soon, (Y/N) and Charlie reached the end of the aisle, and (Y/N) released Charlie’s arm and walked up to Ben; both took each other’s hands, smiling happily. (Y/N)’s maids of honor, Penny, Chiara, Liz, and Alanza, smiled, hoping that one day they would be in (Y/N)'s position. Bill cleared his throat and turned to Ben. "Ben, do you take (Y/N) to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Bill asked.

"I do." Ben replied so happily that he could barely contain himself. "(Y/N), do you take Ben to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Bill asked. "I do." (Y/N) answered, with tears of joy rushing down her face. "Then you may now kiss." Bill said. (Y/N) and Ben threw their arms around each other in a passionate, loving kiss, and their family and friends erupted in cheers and tears as they clapped, (Y/N) then tossed her bouquet of flowers in the air, which landed in Merula’s lap, causing her to blush as everyone clapped. Everyone then returned to the hotel to party, eat, dance, and sing. After the party, everyone returned to their hotel rooms, and (Y/N) and Ben lay in bed holding each other. The day had been so stressful and tiring, but now it was over, leaving the night all to them.

The End

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you think Rita’s assertion that albus lowkey stole someone else’s research on the 12 uses of dragons blood is true?

Thoughts on Rita Skeeter

Anon, you will probably be happier on other blogs.

To caveat, we of course don't know, Harry doesn't read that part of Rita's book nor look at her sources. And the Dumbledore Harry confronts later may very well be a hallucination, so we can't give too much credence to what he says either.

What I will say is that there are many people who at the time were desperate to defend Albus Dumbledore's legacy. We see one of them in Doge both in the article he writes and his discussion with Harry at Bill and Fleur's wedding.

Rita had to write this book knowing that everything was going to be heavily scrutinized and torn apart by those looking to defend this man. And the thing about Rita is... she writes in a sensational manner, she has little scruples when it comes to getting her evidence and what she chooses to print, but she's usually not dead wrong and her exaggerations are usually in the form of "as Harry spoke he cried great tears of sadness" and not lies about anything concrete. In fact, in those cases, she usually tells it how it is (see her article in GoF on the world cup, everything she wrote did happen, the beef Arthur has is not that it was what happened just that she wrote it wrong/shouldn't have written it at all). Later, when slandering Hermione, Rita doesn't say things that didn't happen, where she goes beyond the pale is framing it and speculating on Hermione's motivations.

My point is, it'd be Rita's style to say "I think Dumbledore did this because he is a FUCKER" but not so much "he did this fuckery all the time". She states what a person did then... draws conclusions from that which may or may not be true (or kind, or flattering, or something that should be put in print about a fourteen-year-old Muggle-born).

Rita said a lot worse about Dumbledore that was supported by mounds of evidence to the point where Doge could only splutter "well, technically that's all true, but you're making it sound much worse and everyone should suspect that there's a more benign, if kind of ridiculous, explanation". And in terms of Ariana, what actually happened was even worse than Rita learned from Bathilda.

If Rita even insinuated that Dumbledore engaged in plagiarism, without backing it up, the likes of Doge and everyone else for that matter would have ripped the book apart.

But we never see them do that, not one person, no matter how much they hate it.

She also cites a very specific incident, not every paper he's ever done in his career, which lends itself to her having checked thoroughly. And if we do believe in Dumbledore's ghost, then he admits to doing it but justifies it with "well, I made the idea better anyway".

Consider how much people engage in plagiarism in the real world, even when they're honest with most of their other work. And that's with a large culture of anti-plagiarism and copyright that the Wizarding World sort of has (in the anti-cheating sense) but also sort of doesn't.

It's not shocking to me that Dumbledore would plagiarize, and I'd be shocked, in fact, if he was the only one canonically to do so.

So, in short, yes, I believe it.

[forestdeath1]

Magnum Opus or Great Work: Alchemical Codes in "Harry Potter"

"I've never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that's a different matter. To invent this wizard world, I've learned a ridiculous amount about alchemy." JKR. By the way, it seems JKR never became an alchemist because you can't be that evil an alchemist, Joanne. Something went wrong.

The first part about Lily and James

Voldemort – an occult alchemist, Lucifer. Snape – a Seeker who chose the wrong Path. Dumbledore – Keeper of the Tower. Hermione – Hermes Trismegistus. Harry, Hermione and Ron – the three principles for creating the Philosopher's Stone.

Alchemy is the universal path of spiritual transformation. In a literal sense, universal, this code is practically everywhere–from ancient myths and the Bible to the philosophy of Nietzsche (though in his understanding) and Jung's books. Harry Potter himself is a complete alchemist's path, but there's also a well-displayed second path–the path of the occult alchemist.

True alchemy tells us that God is in everything, like a seed present in every person. Through alchemical transformation, a person can be reborn – and become golden, divine, immortal.

Many famous people were fascinated by these ideas – from Newton to Goethe, from Walter to Mozart. Yes, Walter and Mozart were freemasons, but freemasonry is built on the Magnum Opus, it's its foundation. Who has seen the opera The Magic Flute? A completely masonic opera: the surface layer was for the people, and the deeper layer – for the spiritual elite of that time. In this opera, the power of love transforms people and makes them divine. Oh, it seems to resemble Harry Potter, hehe... Harry Potter also has two layers – one as a fairytale about a wizard for teenagers, the other – for those who can "feel" the symbols, even without knowing them.

Each symbol can be interpreted in several ways, that's the complexity of alchemical symbolism. For example, Albus Dumbledore. He symbolizes (in JKR's own words) Spirit ( he's white), and Rubeus Hagrid – Soul (red) – and they're both like two fatherly figures for Harry, distant and warm, judicious and understanding. But all this is at the character level. Dumbledore has other meanings – much more important ones. As I've said before, the symbolic level and the character level are different levels. In interpreting symbols, you don't need to interpret every line, you need to take the context as a whole. Characters operate on one level, symbols – on another.

So, alchemy is an extension of the universal idea – to be reborn, you need to "die." Like Jesus died on the cross, Orpheus on the banks of the River Gebre, and Osiris in the coffin prepared by Typhon, in alchemy, until all the elements (parts of the old personality) die, the work cannot be completed.

The stages of this alchemical process can be traced in the lives of almost all world "heroes" and in the mythology and legends of many cultures. This is a universal code.

“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” John 3:3

Alchemy proclaims that without decomposition, the Great Work cannot be accomplished.

The past Self dies on the cross and in the retorts and becomes black during decomposition. The new Self rises from hell, like a phoenix. The phoenix is a pure alchemical symbol.

This is the creation of the Philosopher's Stone.

It is symbolically described in "The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz". The book presents an allegorical story divided into "Seven Days" or "Seven Journeys," which tells how its author, Christian Rosenkreutz, was invited to a castle full of wonders to help with the "Chymical Wedding" of the king and queen. Harry also receives a letter in a storm (like Rosenkreutz) and goes to the castle for 7 years, chooses one of the four paths (Gryffindor), and so on.

Alchemists called the creation of the Philosopher's Stone the Great Work – Opus Magnum. This process consisted of three stages: decomposition (nigredo), rebirth (albedo), and final perfection (rubedo). Each of these stages corresponded to a specific colour: black, white and red.

Nigredo. Albedo. Rubedo.

In Harry Potter, these stages correspond to Sirius Black, Albus (white) Dumbledore, and Rubeus (red) Hagrid. The end of each stage is marked by their death. In the seventh book, it's Hagrid who carries the "dead" Harry.

There is a fundamental difference between "true alchemists" and "occult alchemist."

Tom Riddle is an occult alchemist. For him, the Great Work is also self-creation, but what kind? For him, it is complete mastery of his abilities and his future, and especially the complete liberation of his will.

Tom is a will, but his will not submissive to the will of God. It's a Luciferian will. The will of a fallen angel who began to oppose his own free will to the influence of Divine Love-Light. Instead, he sought and loved his own power outside Divinity, in himself.

"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven" John Milton, "Paradise Lost"

Baphomet, or the Sabbatic Goat, drawing by Eliphas Levi, on its hands are inscriptions "Solve et Coagula." This is an alchemical principle. JKR, by the way, also has such a tattoo.

In occultism, it is believed that magic is control of one's will, and a will can control matter. After all, what did his followers choose for their motto? Magic is Might. Harry never defeated Voldemort with such magic. Because he doesn't need it.

What does Tom boast about? Tom boasts that he has mastered the deepest depths of dark magic. He went so far in it as no one before. Dark magic requires an iron will, and Tom achieved incredible heights in it. He even achieved immortality in this material universe, literally cursing his soul! Only Tom doesn't understand that Dumbledore (a true alchemist) is not interested in all this. Because true immortality is not there. True transformation is not there. Because their paths are completely different – Dumbledore is going to the "God and divine immortality," and Tom is going to "material immortality."

In general, fans of occult alchemy, the Left-Hand Path, and Nietzschean philosophy probably consider Tom a much more interesting character because here he is – the king of matter, a man of incredible will and strength who destroys the slave Christian morality and proclaims that God is dead, long live the Übermensch (homo superior)! (Nietzsche would have been proud of him…) By the way, Bellatrix is most likely symbolically – Lilith, Adam's first wife according to Kabbalistic apocrypha, who rebelled against Adam. God created them equal, and Adam wanted to have power over Lilith... In short, Lilith is the first feminist in human history, hehe.

The Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel. Lilith.

In short, Tom Riddle is such an adept of broken alchemy. Where Tom is his own personal will, Harry is Faith and the will of the Spirit. Harry is also very strong-willed, but his will is different, it's not individualistic. It's a will of sacrifice, a will of love, a will of mercy, a will of trust. The main theme of the seventh book is a crisis of faith. And what kind of will does one need to show to continue the quest for Horcruxes and not go for the Deathly Hallows? Simply put, the will of Harry and Tom is completely different.

And Tom will never understand this. He's an individualist. He's a Nietzschean Übermensch. He's reached the limits of human capabilities. But for what? From dust you are and to dust you shall return, Tom...

Severus Snape — a Seaker who chose the wrong Path

And Snape, by the way, initially turns away from Lily (Lily is love of God, represented in the world). Because he's obsessed with becoming dark magic, his ego and desire for secret knowledge and being proud are very great.

Btw, Lily is a mudblood. In the sense that God is not in shining beautiful armor. This is Lucifer's mask – to be pure, to shine, to sparkle. But the real God can be found by seeking, under the feet of the poorest and "dirtiest" person. After all, for God, everyone is equal. It's the Devil who divides.

And pure-bloods, for example, the Blacks, are "false purity." Luciferian purity. Material purity, purity of shining gold. It's division. And where there's division – there's the Devil.

In short, Snape turns away from Lily because this path is difficult, he doesn't understand how to approach her, he already uses dark magic, has a lot of knowledge, and delves into various secrets, and shows what "bad" paths other seekers (the Marauders) take... (The seeker is not my term, it's from the Rosicrucian manifesto, alchemists call themselves seekers) But Lily still refuses to unite Spirit and Soul. And he calls her a "mudblood," insulting her. For Lily, this is a sign that this soul is almost lost. And there's no sincere regret in him when he asks for forgiveness. He asks her to forgive him, but his soul is still on the old Path. Lily isn't angry with him, it's not about anger or offense. Snape's soul is almost lost at this moment, closed to the divine spark and love. After all, for love to enter your heart, you first need to open yourself to it.

Only when Snape sees true face of Tom's "alchemy," in which Tom is ready to kill Love, the divine spark, essentially kill God in the souls of all people, then Snape, as a real Seeker, realizes that he's going the wrong way... And he runs to the main Alchemist, Dumbledore, to ask to preserve this love, this manifestation of God on earth.

But you can't preserve it without preserving the seeker of the right Path in your soul (James) and without preserving the possibility of the emergence of the transformed soul (Harry).

This is a very important moment, not only because you can't kill people in principle. Dumbledore literally tells him that you can't save love of God, the divine spark in your soul, if you kill in yourself the one who reaches out to God (the deer) and if you kill the POSSIBILITY of becoming this new transformed soul (Harry).

For Snape, this becomes a turning point, and he decides to switch sides to true alchemy. Dumbledore asks in return for Snape's soul, but not in the sense that the Devil demands it, he asks for loyalty to the Path. Below I'll explain the symbolism of Dumbledore and what he means in terms of alchemical symbolism (I don’t think he is God).

Snape becomes loyal to Dumbledore. But Lily is killed, as is James. The world, despite the fact that Voldemort temporarily goes into hibernation (and the Savior is alive), plunges into despair. Sirius (as a divine symbol of light) is in captivity, Remus (a symbol of a seeker with a "good but not brave" soul) is somewhere wandering the world, and Harry lives very poorly with the Dursleys... Harry doesn't know any God, and the seeker in him is also "dead". And Voldemort will soon rise again, he's just gathering strength.

Harry's path is the path of returning to God through Mother of God (Theotokos). Because it is Mother of God who is the true Spirit. That's why he meets Lily only at the end of the seventh book, when he's almost completed the alchemical transformation. For Christians, this is heresy, but for alchemists, it's not. The Son and Mother of God are one whole. The Virgin Mary is part of the Trinity, because only through the spiritual unity of the Mother and the Son is the salvation of humanity possible.

And who does he meet her through? Through Snape. Who dedicated his entire life to transforming his Soul, merging it with the Spirit, ultimately coming to God.

He spent his whole life hating James, as a Seeker of a different kind, not like him—Snape always leaned a bit towards Nietzschean stories. And James always hated Dark Magic and all dark things (although this doesn't make the souls of this type much better, they can also be egocentric). Snape teaches Potions, he knows how to bottle up Love, Death and Luck... So much power, so much pride in this...

Recently, I reposted a very interesting post. Snape wanted to recover his soul, because he was guilty of Lily's death. A very beautiful meta, but I see a bit different alchemical meaning. His soul is broken not only because Lily partly died because of him. His soul is broken overall because of the Path he chose - that of an occult alchemist, and he remains a "spy" to the end of his days, playing two roles, constantly "here and there". He dies at the hands of his former master.

Snape takes Lily's letter because he needs Lily's love (like people wear crosses), while there isn't enough understanding of where to go (Dumbledore is already dead)

Snape always yearned for Lily. And Dumbledore asks for us, the readers: "After all this time?" And Snape answers for us "Always." You must love God always. And that is salvation for the soul.

In general, Snape only understands towards the end that you cannot love Lily without Harry and even James. Only one Path leads to Lily - the same as James’s path. The path of Ego, pride, thirst for power, secret knowledge, occultism, malice, hatred must finally dissolve. Snape fully exposes himself to Harry, although he shouldn't have (he should only pass on information about death), revealing the good (and the bad) that he always hid. His revelation to him speaks of his complete acceptance. He shows him his soul, literally bowing his head to him - here I am, here is my soul, in some things I have no excuse, sometimes I have justification, but I've been seeking God, seeking love all my life.

Will you accept my wounded soul?

This is confession. The realest confession.

And Harry accepts. Of course, Harry accepts. He looks at him with Lily's eyes.

Because no matter how "bad" you are, if you truly love God in your soul, if you truly seek Him, there will always be a place for you in the City of God. Snape is the constantly replayed plot of the Prodigal Son's return.

At this moment, all the "black" in Snape dies – the nigredo. Tears - the white stage, purification – the albedo stage, purification. Blood – naturally, the red stage. The alchemical transformation for Snape is complete.

(But geniuses from TikTok will still say that Harry shouldn't have named his son Albus Severus, because Snape was baaaad. Ofc he was bad sometimes, that's the point!)

Dumbledore is the embodied Path and Plan

As I mentioned before, Dumbledore asks for Snape's soul in return, but not in the sense that the Devil demands it, he asks for loyalty to the alchemical Path.

Dumbledore, as an alchemist, besides embodying the completion of the albedo stage for Harry with his death, is also the embodied Path. Dumbledore is the highest Guardian of the Tower, who watches over the Paths of others, he is the Man of Spirit, he is the Principle, he is the Master. What is the difference between Dumbledore and Lily? Lily is a more important symbol, she is like pure divine power, God = love, as in what all souls dissolve. Dumbledore, on the other hand, is the Guardian of the Path through which everyone must pass. In short, Lily is the answer to the question "where", and Dumbledore is the "how". And Dumbledore is just a man who also underwent his alchemical transformation and who can also succumb to temptation. But Dumbledore is not GOD, imo. To personify God in a book is too much (even for me, although I’m not religious at all). I don’t like the idea of him being God and... really, where? God is transcendent and pure divine love emanates from Lily that’s why she almost an empty canvas. Dumbledore is a principle. He is the answer to the question "HOW". That's why he asks to believe in him, believe in the ALCHEMICAL PATH AND PLAN. FOLLOW THIS PLAN TO THE END. Ascend the tower, as I once ascended it. After all, he lives up there in the tower. He observes.

For Snape, Dumbledore is so important because Dumbledore is the Path, a new Path that he did not have. And Dumbledore's death is so important for everyone because now no one points them towards the Path. But they must find this Path within themselves. Because the answers are inside them. You cannot become a true Alchemist if you constantly rely on external help. It's time to see the Path independently.

"You must kill me."

There was a long silence, broken only by an odd clicking noise. Fawkes the phoenix was gnawing a bit of cuttlebone. (HP and DH)

After Dumbledore says that Snape must kill him, there is silence and a very clear symbol - the phoenix and the bone. It's time for their souls to go independently, to eat away all the old to come to rebirth. Meanwhile, they also need to save Draco, who, by "Lucifer's" order, is about to kill the Path (although you can't outplay God's plan...). And then Dumbledore reveals that Harry must die.

This shocks Snape. Like any alchemist on the Path. How so, to die? After all, we all do everything to become closer to God, to immortality, and you say – just die? What kind of Path is this?

"I thought…all these years…that we were protecting him for her. For Lily.”

After all, we were protecting Harry for Lily, because as I've already said, only through the spiritual unity of the Mother and the Son is the salvation of humanity possible. Snape is protecting the son for the mother, and Dumbledore wants to kill him? For what?

Simply put, Snape doesn't understand that no one can save Harry until he dies and is reborn. It's painful, but all heroes go through this path for rebirth.

Dumbledore knows that there is a "seed" of "evil" in Harry, as in any of us. After the fall, we all carry Luciferian part within us. This is the last thing that must die in Harry, and he himself must die for it.

No one promised that the path of the alchemist would be easy. It's understandable why not everyone loves Dumbledore, he seems too cold and manipulative, but there is no other way for Harry on the symbolic level.

The Great Work

There are three stages of the Great Work: decomposition (nigredo), purification (albedo) and ultimate perfection (rubedo). These stages for Harry culminate in the deaths of Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, and his own death, where he is carried out of the forest by Rubeus Hagrid.

And the result of his alchemical work should be Rebis — essentially the alchemical philosopher's stone, an androgynous being. In the collection of dialogues attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, God is depicted as androgynous. (Hermes Trismegistus is essentially the one who created the corpus of Hermetic texts).

Rebis is the unity of opposites. Day and night, Man and Woman, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness. All is one. There is no division. The wholeness of God. After the fall, we are all divided. And after the alchemical transformation, we can finally become whole and find ourselves and God.

In the form of merged men and women, sometimes depicted as the Virgin Mary and Christ, because They are one whole. As I have already said, for many alchemists, the Virgin Mary is part of the Trinity because only through the spiritual unity of the Mother and the Son was the redemption of original sin made possible. As I have already said, although Harry suffers more for James (his father turned out not to be as ideal as he thought), Lily is the main symbol in "Harry Potter".

The Nigredo stage literally means "blackness" - it signifies complete breakdown, decay, descent into the underworld, the trance of grief. It's a descent into the deepest fears, disbelief, denial, loss of self, anger, aggression. And through this - a return to the prima materia. This is what happens to Harry, "The Order of the Phoenix" is a very dark and depressing book, and with Sirius's death, this stage for Harry is completed. Sirius himself also undergoes transformations, but about this in the next part. The nigredo stage, during which a person's ego dissolves, is agonizing but necessary for further development. After the "I" meets its "shadow" and disintegrates into parts, it will need to be purified and recreated.

Albedo ("whiteness") symbolizes purification, transition to another world, change of life priorities, awakening, enlightenment. In alchemy, the transition from nigredo to albedo is achieved through the process of washing. The whole sixth book is misty, "white", "wet". "Washing" (albutio, baptisma) directly leads to whiteness (albedo). Purification. It's also silver, a lunar state. In Harry Potter, there is a character named Luna, which means moon in Latin. In different parts of the books, Luna also symbolizes this stage. With Dumbledore's death this stage for Harry completed.

Rubedo ("redness") - the final stage of the alchemical Great Work. The alchemist must establish a kind of sacrificial relationship with his inner essence. At the final stage, the so-called "alchemical marriage" takes place: the marriage of the Red King and the White Queen - Soul and Spirit. Harry (soul) and Lily (spirit) are united. With Hagrid carrying Harry this stage for Harry completed.

Bu the way, the Golden Snitch is an alchemical symbol also.

Firstly, Harry's position is called the Seeker. Alchemists also called themselves that. Secondly, the winged disc is a very ancient symbol, meaning the sun (God) and immortality.

The Snitch reveals to him the Resurrection Stone, and Harry "encounters" his main symbols, but the main one is Lily. It is her he asks not to leave him.

Harry's death here is read by everyone as the well-known plot of Christ's crucifixion. The path to this death is also a reference to the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before the Crucifixion. After all, Harry also wanted to end up somewhere, but Hogwarts is his home, and he accepts his fate.

My Father! all things are possible for Thee: take this cup of suffering away from me: and yet not what I desire, but what Thou desirest. Mark 14:36

He wanted to be stopped, to be dragged back, to be sent back home... But he was home.

Lily's Eyes

To be honest, I can assume that her green eyes was chosen at random. But what if they weren't? Her green eyes may seem illogical, as this is the colour of the snake, the colour of Slytherin, the colour of evil. But this is the occult Luciferian snake, the erroneous snake. Originally, green also dates back to Hermes Trismegistus – the god who gave the knowledge of alchemy. The most famous of the old hermetic-alchemical texts is inscribed on the "Emerald Tablet". According to legend, this document was left by Hermes Trismegistus on a plate of emerald in an Egyptian temple.

"The Emerald Tablet" is very important for alchemists." According to legend, a large emerald fell to the earth from Lucifer's head when he was cast out of heaven. From the same emerald that fell from the crown of the fallen Lucifer, angels made the Holy Grail (which is also the philosopher's stone, and the Snitch...). Emerald is a sacred green stone, and the heavenly divine world - the homeland of the emerald - a precious stone in which information about the heavenly homeland is encoded.

There is also the Ouroboros - a snake that devours its own tail - a symbol of infinity and immortality.

And the Snitch, which is a reflection of Hermes Trismegistus' staff (which has two battling snakes - two opposites, Spirit and Soul, Good and Evil and so on, and Hermes establishes unity between them with his staff).

Occultists, of course, interpret these symbols in their own way.

Hermione is Hermes Trismegistus. Mercury. Ron — Sulphur. Harry— Salt.

Hermione (Ἑρμιόνη [hermi. ónɛː]) is a feminine given name derived from the Greek messenger god Hermes. As I said, Hermes Trismegistus is the main figure of Hermetic teaching, he is also the one who predicted the coming of the Savior (traditional Christianity should not be confused with Gnostic teachings, the Church has always been against Gnosticism). In addition, Hermes is Mercury, and that is knowledge. Hermes Trismegistus shares "secret knowledge" with the world, which forms the basis of many Gnostic directions - from alchemy to Kabbalah.

Hermione is a little alchemist, she shares knowledge. It is Hermione who insists on complete trust in Dumbledore, it is Hermione who often leads Harry in the right direction when Dumbledore is not around. It is through Dumbledore and Hermione that "moral lessons" are often sounded, which often seem completely out of place. Like when Dumbledore says that James would forgive Peter. At that moment, I always want to say, "Are you out of your mind?!" although I understand that it is described on a symbolic, not personal level.

Mercury (Hermione), Sulphur (Ron), and Salt (Harry) were necessary in the alchemical transformation and were the main components. To create the philosopher's stone, all three elements had to be combined, and Harry is next to them throughout all the books.

Both Hermione and Ron are equally important in Harry's development.

Mercury is the more fluid primary principle, more rational, the feminine principle, while Sulphur is dynamic, expansive, unstable, acidic, unifying, masculine, paternal, and fiery principle. Sulphur is emotional, it is desire and passionate impulse that motivates life. Sulphur is desire. And according to Jung's reflections, it can also be foul and dangerous. Complete transmutation depends on the correct application of this variable principle. Sulphur must be of quality for transmutation to occur. And Ron achieves this quality.

Also, in mystical alchemy, Sulphur is crystallized inspiration of Mercury (Mercury).

Mercury and Sulphur are simultaneously antagonists, like the male and female elements, but at the same time Sulphur is crystallized Mercury.

So I have always been and will always be for Romione! Hehe. They were made for each other!

And as for Salt - that's Harry. It's the body. Sometimes it is called earth and body, salt is the essential body (corpus).

Alchemists say that salt was the first substance created by fire, emanating from God. In salt, all creation is concentrated, in salt the beginning and the end of all things.

Salt is associated with the ultimate elevation of matter - with matter that has acquired consciousness, achieved through the unity of opposites, including the unity of fire and water, the unity of what is above and what is below. Salt is the ultimate Philosopher's Stone, representing transcendence and ultimate knowledge.

Thus, salt symbolizes consciousness (thoughts, feelings, material, etc.), which must be elevated through alchemical processes of dissolution and recrystallization. Well, that's Harry himself.

Just love this stupid moment

Well, that's it, I think I've said everything, and from the next part, we can move on to the Marauders themselves :D

[witchywriter18]

Being married and having a child with Sebastian Sallow

Slight hint of MC being a Hufflepuff but I'm a Hufflepuff soooo, deal with it

You and Sebastian got married almost immediately out of Hogwarts.

After you had stood by him during 5th year, he knew you were going to be the only woman for him.

Nah, let's face it. He knew you were perfect once you kicked his ass in DADA, the other stuff just sealed the deal.

Anne actually attended the wedding. While she was still upset about the relic situation, she couldn't miss her own twin's wedding.

Sebastian was very much on the verge of tears when he saw you in your dress.

If you thought he was clingy when you were dating, oh boy. Sebastian is even more clingy and affectionate after you two got married.

After the honeymoon, you both decided to live in Feldcroft.

While yes it held horrible memories for Sebastian, it had some good ones too. And he was ready to make more good memories with you.

For work, I don't think Sebastian would become an Auror. He didn't want to be anything like his uncle. I like the thought of him being a cursebreaker or even an unspeakable.

You on the other hand. Instead of being a housewife, you're either a herbologist or magizoologist. Your reasoning being that you've dealt with enough dark wizards and treasure hunting to last you a lifetime.

After about a year of marriage, you find out that you are with child. Sebastian is literally giddy with excitement.

And now super overprotective Sebby has been activated.

"Oi, put that down! It's too heavy!"

"......Seb, this literally a sheet of paper."

Oh boy, this will be fun....

When he's not at work, he's following you around the house like if he doesn't have eyes on you, you'll get hurt.

You accidentally knicking yourself with the knife while he was using the bathroom didn't help.

"Seb, it's just a small knick. It's nothing-"

"IT'S NOT NOTHING!!! YOU GOT INJURED WHEN I WASN'T HERE!!! *sniff* I'm a horrible husband😢"

Oof, and you thought you had moodswings.

After making sure your SMALL wound was cleaned and bandaged, you're consoling him for a good hour.

He's also getting sympathy pains and cravings.

You have back pain? Now his back aches a bit.

You're craving chocolate on top of bacon? Now he wants a bite.

Once you start showing, he immediately thinks you shouldn't be galivanting around the highlands.

You agree with that since you don't want to take a bad tumble and put your unborn child in danger, as much as it pains you to not being able to rescue beasts.

Ah, there are the mood swings! Yes, now you're crying about how now you won't be able to save a hypothetical Niffler named Opal.

During the months as your stomach swells, you're trying (and failing) to knit little booties and a hat for your child.

Sebastian is quite good with his hands (in more ways then one 😏) so he's making the baby's crib by hand.

When you guys are in bed getting ready to sleep, Sebastian has his hands on your belly. He gets so excited when the baby kicks.

Sometimes when the baby is too restless and won't let you sleep with all the kicking, Sebastian's hand gently rubs it, trying to sooth them.

"Alright little one, I know you're excited to explore the world outside your mother's womb but you need to let her sleep. So stop moving about and sleep you little troublemaker."

He also like kissing your belly just cuz he can.

During your final month, he gets time off so that when the time comes, he's ready to wisk you off to the hospital.

So, the time comes. Sebastian is anything but calm.

"WHERE'S MY WAND?! I CAN'T FIND MY WAND TO APPARATE US TO THE HOSPITAL!!!"

"It's in your hand darling. Now take me to the hospital before I pop this child out on our kitchen floor."

Unfortunately, back in those days, father's weren't allowed in the delivery room. So all he can do is pace outside, panicking whenever you let out a scream of pain.

My poor boy is literally having flashbacks to when he had to use the Cruciatis Curse on you.

Your friends show up to give the poor man support, and to see the baby. Or hear in Ominis's case.

Ominis is patting Sebastian on the shoulder gently.

After about five hours, the midwife comes out to sat that Sebastian can see his wife and daughter.

Man literally jumps up and rushes into the delivery room.

Once he gets inside, he sees you looking exhausted with your hair messy and sweat on your forehead.

With your little bundle of joy held to your chest.

Sebastian is once again crying like he did on your wedding day.

When your friends are coming in one by one, he's presenting your daughter this way, every time;

"Behold! The Snadger! The product of a snake (him) and a badger (you)!"

"Sebastian, stop calling our daughter that or you're not going to get the chance to put another child in me."

You both decided to name her Anne Lilian Sallow.

She has your hair and skin tone while she has Sebastian's eyes. Only time will tell what other features she'll gain from her parents over time.

I'll probably make a sequel to this with early parenthood headcannons. This was originally just gonna be marriage headcannons but then the saga of pregnancy came up so it changed.

[dragonagitator]

I started out just wanting to write a "Modern Girl in Faerun" author self-insert fanfic of BG3 in the tradition of all the "Modern Girl in Thedas" fanfics I've enjoyed over the years in the Dragon Age fandom. You know, someone who has played the game gets transported to the world of the game and uses her foreknowledge of events to steer for the best ending and pursue her favorite romance, yadda yadda yadda.

And then I thought, oh, I should also write a sequel from Gale's perspective that runs parallel to the first story that's about him trying to figure out if she's just crazy or what.

I decided that while my MGIF character will be successful in using her foreknowledge of events to achieve the best or even better outcomes for the main events of the game, it would be hilarious if that same foreknowledge of events also led to her inadvertently flubbing every single scripted romance progression scene with Gale so that it ends up being an even slower burn than canon.

Meanwhile, most of the companions (including Gale) don't believe her story about how they're fictional characters in an interactive story she's played as a game because there are so many other plausible in-world explanations for why someone would have her foreknowledge of events. So Gale thinks she's mentally unwell, and he struggles with the ethics of pursuing a romantic relationship with someone whose interest in him is at least partially predicated on (what he believes to be) delusions.

It works out in the end, but Gale's perspective of what the fuck is going on is so divergent from hers that it would be a fundamentally different narrative.

And then as I was researching Forgotten Realms lore for the first set of stories, I realized it would be hilarious if I wrote a post-canon sequel about Gale and the MCIF trying to plan their wedding in Waterdeep while the events of the D&D modules Dragon Heist and Dungeon of the Mad Mage are unfolding in the background.

And then while I was researching stuff for that, I learned that it's Forgotten Realms canon that Elminster knows about Earth, has a portal to Ed Greenwood's house, and regularly visits Ed and few other D&D authors to give them more lore to write about.

So then I realize that while the Elminster we meet during BG3 is actually a Simulacrum and thus wouldn't be privy to anything Elminster didn't think it needed to know for its mission, presumably the real Elminster would show up for Gale's wedding. So if Gale happened to mention his new wife's unfortunate "delusions" to Elminster, Elminster could rock Gale's world by confirming no she's been right all along. Thank you, Elminster, for the best gift a bride could ever receive: the opportunity to say "I TOLD YOU SO!" to her husband. Lol.

And then I thought if Elminster has a portal to Ed's house in Toronto, what if Gale and the MCIF eventually used that portal to flee to Earth for some reason? Either to escape the reach of Mystra, or maybe because their child has a condition that's treatable on Earth but not with Faerun magic/medicine ala Outlander?

Then we could have another story in the series that's a reversal of the first story's trope -- a "Faerun Character in Modern Earth" story of Gale going through culture shock while also losing his connection to the Weave and thus losing all his wizard powers AGAIN. Mmmm angsty.

This is my first time writing fanfic, I've only written a fraction of the first story so far, and I've already come up with at least three sequels I need to write too.

What.

The.

Fuck.

I now fully understand what fanfic authors mean when they cry about "the plot bunnies are multiplying."

[lupuslikethewolf]

marauders!au where the war never happened and they all got to go on and live happy lives :) its set years later, when Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna and Hermione are going into their first year.

I haven’t come up with an actual plot yet :/ but this is the setting, and they are all around their early-to-mid-thirties at this point. it's likely just domestic fluff and slice-of-life type shit, with Harry still getting into impossible amounts of fuckery whilst stressing at least 10 different adults (as he should tbh)

i can't decide whether this is set in the 90s or in the modern!era so i left it ambiguous

Barty Crouch Jr, now Professor Barty (just Barty, Crouch is my father), teaches DADA and his fiancé, Evan Rosier, is a Magizoologist who travels during the school year, comes back home for the holidays and weekends to spend with Barty, either on Hogwarts grounds or at their own home. Barty has a close friendship with McGonagall, who is Headmistress, and Poppy (who are married, but no one figured it out).

Dorcas and Marlene play International-Level Quidditch: Dorcas for England, and Marlene for Wales or Ireland (undecided). Everyone thinks they hate each other from the way they treat each other during games. They played for the Holyhead Harpies until they got recruited, and their wedding was basically the biggest, most dramatic and over-the-top graduation party Hogwarts had ever seen, hosted in the Potter Manor. everyone was hungover for days afterwards

Lily and Snape are best-friends-turned-rivals, who achieved a Mastery in Potions at the same time, and are both the youngest people to ever do so. Sev specialises in theoretical potions, and Lily specialises in experimental work, altering old potions and creating new ones. She commandeered the entire basement for her own potions lab, and Remus helps her research in his spare time.

Pandora started publishing with Xenophillius (the definition of gender-fuckery; no-one knows how they identify, not even Xeno), and they publish the most outlandish work they can, alongside Pandora’s books!! They also run Xeno's Quibbler and a couple other independent newspapers. They live out in the countryside w/ Luna. Barty & Evan are their only walking-distance neighbours, but they floo to their friends houses semi-regularly

MaryLily and StarChaser are co-parenting Harry, and being godparents/family friends of Draco, Blaise Zabini, Ron, Neville and Luna. When Harry is at pre-school, he makes friends with Hermione, and the four of them introduce Dr and Dr Granger to the magical world over the years, instead of the two month crash-course Hogwarts gives

Mary is an artist, and since she was raised half-blood, absolutely adores the technique and process of muggle painting, later enchanting it to move and learn and talk. She doesn't own anything that isn't stained with paint, bleach or hair dye. She is famous for her work, in Magical and Muggle circles, but is almost completely anonymous, and they only know what she looks like because of a group portrait she painted

Regulus is an independent researcher of old Pagan traditions and 'Muggle' magic, how different solstices and days (like All Hallows Eve) affect the Magical community, etc. He visits Barty at Hogwarts with Harry every few weeks, and later with Hermione as well, so they grew up learning about the secrets at Hogwarts, in the library, and with the teachers. Also friendly house rivalry, and the adults completely split on which houses they will go into at Hogwarts. Evan started a betting pool.

James and Sirius are the wizarding private investigators. They work everywhere, for everyone (no matter what. they don't need to charge more than what people can afford), and love it. James absolutely adores the 'Sherlock Holmes' vibes, but they are both Sherlock Holmes b/c they are simply too baddass not to be!

Remus opened a bookstore-cafe, and him and Sirius live in the flat above it. It’s really popular and became the place for students and young queer people. The bookstore stocks everything from really popular and really unknown books and authors of every genre. The regulars also notice all these really famous but really mysterious friends of Remus who come-and-go (artist!mary, author!pandora, athletes!dorlene, etc). And then, of course, is the “private” investigator boyfriend, who couldn’t be less subtle at anything if he tried.

Alice is still an Auror, and the Best of the Best, but she is so fucking fed up of the politics, DMLE, and Ministry in general. She is starting a revolution/reformation from the inside- and if that doesn’t work, quit her job and do the same thing from the outside! Frank ended up in law and becoming a Lawyer, and is glad he did, because it might be the only thing that will keep his partner out of jail if she decides to commit treason. They love Neville to bits, and would do anything for him!! They built a whole-ass greenhouse when he discovered his talent.

Peter Pettigrew works part-time with Remus at his place, but is currently training with Gringotts/other cursebreakers to become a professional cursebreaker! it is taking a long ass time with a lot of testing and work to put in, but Peter finds it interesting and it meant that he always has more stories to tell the kids when he sees them, which is a bonus because children are hard to entertain.

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Idea #79: Harry Potter, but make it Petunia Evans

I once asked my mother If you could travel into any fictional world, which would it be? and she unhesitatingly answered Harry Potter. While there's much to be said about the HP universe, it's not exactly a world I'd want to live in, and so I spent the last several months figuring out how, if I were to write an HP SI, would I do it, and eventually came up with this.

Or: What if the SI were to replace Petunia Evans as a young girl?

Just imagine it:

Rather than a true self-insert, I see this as more of modern muggle meets the British Wizarding World, with a middle-aged HP fan waking up in the body of 5-year-old Petunia Evans following a minor illness. The keyword here is fan - or rather, a critical fan - who enjoyed the books but is not unaware of their problems, be they with they author or the text - and particularly the way that, as one gets older, the less benevolent Dumbledore seems.

Once the SI has resigned herself to waking up in the body of Petunia Josephine Evans (two wars, puberty, and all of the 80s to live through again!), she realizes very quickly there is very little she can do to change the events of the first Wizarding War. All she can do is try to live the best life possible and provide a better life for young Harry Potter when he eventually shows up in her care.

(Starting with choosing to go by a short form of her middle name, Jo, instead of Petunia, as she thinks she might stab the next adult who tries to call her Pet after less than a week in her new life.)

Jo does this in number of ways - mainly by taking advantage of once having been a middle-aged woman with an engineering background and breezing through her education. Having been born only 18 months before Lily, Jo is 12-and-a-half when Lily gets her Hogwarts letter in January 1971 and studying for her A-levels and preparing to go to Oxford in the fall.

Unlike canon Petunia, Jo has no desire to go to Hogwarts - not only does she know exactly what the professor who comes to introduce Lily to the Wizarding World isn't telling her overawed parents, but she's never been close with her sister. Or any of her family. She's tried - she really has - but the Evans family had a clear favorite long before Lily ever learned of her magic. (Jo knows her parents' wedding date, precisely five months before she was born, and thinks that explains much of their feelings towards her; and the way her father in particular is taken with magic makes her think he might be a second-generation squib over the moon to see magic return to his line.)

While Lily is studying magic, Jo attends Oxford. By age 16 she has a BA and MA in Medieval History - specializing in the history of science (Think Diana Bishop in A Discovery of Witches). She gets herself emancipated the same year and starts in on her doctoral studies.

Once a week, she'll slip into the magical section of the university library system and pick up some back copies of The Daily Prophet, just to keep abreast of all the things Lily never tells their parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans die in a car crash in late 1977, when Jo is 19 and Lily has just started her Seventh Year. Lily doesn't come home for the funeral, which Jo is left to plan all by herself. As Lily is not yet an adult in the muggle world, her care is left to Jo for the last few months, but when she finally gets a reply to her letters it's all don't pretend you care now, you abandoned us the first chance you got and you were always jealous of my magic anyway. This is the last Jo will ever hear from her sister, not getting so much as a birth announcement for little Harry.

By Halloween 1981, Jo has earned her doctorate in Medieval History and is working as an associate professor at the university. The pay is terrible, but she has all the insurance money from the Evans and some healthy investments based off her knowledge of her original world, enough for her to buy a small house near the college.

She stays up all Halloween night, waiting.

Harry Potter never arrives.

Jo spends all of 1 November fretting over what she might have changed to change this and falls asleep early, exhausted. When she wakes on the morning of 2 November, she finds her 15-month-old nephew on her doorstep.

And here's where things truly start to change.

That first week, Jo reaches out to a friend in the muggle child welfare department she may have originally cultivated for just this reason, explaining that her estranged sister's son has just appeared on her doorstep without any documentation other than a letter saying that his family has been killed and Harry's care falls to her.

Once the emergency paperwork has been filed on the muggle side, she girds her loins and heads to Gringotts. The goblins aren't the friendliest beings around, but they are fastidious. Jo has the muggle paperwork and a mildly threatening letter from Dumbledore stating she is to be Harry Potter's guardian, and so she gains control of the Potter financials and another layer of paperwork to back up her claim.

From there, a trip to a Wizarding lawyer to 1) file everything with the Ministry and 2) keep her underage nephew's name out of the papers is all she needs to finalize things. It may be overkill, but she's taking no chances when it comes to Dumbledore and his greater good.

And then she settles down into the business of raising Harry.

Jo is not the maternal type, but she manages to be a fairly decent parent nonetheless. Besides, Harry is a happy, easygoing baby, eager to explore his new home even if he doesn't quite understand why his parents had to go away.

So it's a surprise when, nearly a year into the endeavor, an auror and a representative from Wizarding child services arrives at her door. (Apparently her paperwork was all that was needed to remind the wizarding world that they had a duty of care to a magical orphan, no matter how famous, and the last year has been spent in legal battles where Dumbledore tried to suppress all knowledge of Harry's whereabouts and various others tried to attain that knowledge for various reasons, none of which anyone bothered to inform Harry's muggle guardian about.)

Regardless of the exact reasons for the delay, the visit goes well, and Jo ends up inviting the auror - Kingsley Shaklebolt - to return and tell Harry about his parents and the Wizarding world as he grows up, as she certainly can't tell him anything.

Harry's childhood is a montage of exactly what you'd imagine growing up in the care of an Oxford don would be. Kingsley is his most regular visitor, but with a Wizarding section to the college he eventually is introduced to others and their children for the occasional playdate. He's happy and healthy and a little more bookish than canon - a Ravenclaw with Gryffindor tendencies - and never quite forgets his aunts early lessons that critical thinking should be applied to everything, be it textbooks or news reports or children's books.

Harry's Hogwarts years pass exactly as one might expect when a child with an active and motivated guardian is placed repeatedly in danger. Particularly when that guardian is close friends with an auror who continues to pay weekly visits even after her charge leaves for boarding school.

Dumbledore is placed on suspension on allegations of child endangerment following the events of First Year, meaning Lucius Malfoy never feels the need to drop the Diary into Ginny's cauldron to cause trouble for the Light. He makes it out of the legal proceedings with all his titles, but with more than a little egg on his face. Part of the settlement involves increased security at Hogwarts - and changes to the ward scheme mean both Sirius and Wormtail are found shortly after the start of Third Year, given trials, and dealt with accordingly.

Sirius tries to gain custody of Harry immediately, but Jo refuses to even let him near the boy until he's gotten some of the mental help he so clearly needs after so much time with the Dementors.

Jo absolutely puts her foot down for the Triwizard Tournament, which Harry manages to get out of with her help, but he still ends up kidnapped at the end of the year while everyone is too busy watching the Third Task to notice. Voldemort is resurrected with help of Barty Crouch Jr - but because Crouch failed to check Harry for emergency portkeys, is able to escape as soon as his bindings are cut. He's dropped, covered in blood, straight into the middle of the Auror Offices.... which helps a lot of people to believe someone at least tried to resurrect Voldy, even if very few believe he succeeded and it's not an imposter running around.

With the Wizarding World aware there's someone running around calling himself Voldemort, even if very few believe it's the original, events of Fifth Year are vastly different. Dumbledore tries to pull most of his HBP tricks - the lessons, Slughorn, Snape taking over DADA - but they fail, largely because of that critical thinking thing Jo hammered into Harry as he was growing up. He passes along everything he's learned to Jo and Kingsley - the latter who, with some nudging from Jo, puts together Horcruxes and mobilizes the parts of the Ministry he can trust.

Sixth Year is largely Kingsley and co tracking down and destroying Horcruxes while Voldemort rages war across the Wizarding World. It goes so well he makes an open play for the Ministry at the end of the year - only to be killed by Kingsley during the battle, the last of his Horcruxes having been destroyed without his knowledge not long beforehand.

Kingsley is hailed as the new savior of the Wizarding World - a position Harry gladly abdicates - and is very quickly installed as the new Minister of Magic.

Harry goes on to graduate Hogwarts, gain a Mastery in Alchemy, and make several advancements in medical fields that earn him an Order of Merlin in his own right.

As for Jo? Well, she continues teaching at Oxford, eventually gaining a full professorship and writing several well-received books popularizing the History of Science. She never marries, but by the middle of Harry's third year is more or less living openly with Kingsley. They end up having one child together - very much a surprise, as Jo was convinced it was early onset menopause until the fifth month - born May 2, 1998, whom they name Elizabeth Evans-Shaklebolt. There are many in this Ministry who take umbrage at their Minister's ongoing affair with a muggle, but oddly enough its Kingsley's openness about his relationship with leads to an easing of tensions between the purebloods and muggleborns on the theory if a muggle is good enough for the minister, there must be something to them. Things are still far from perfect in the British Wizarding World by the time he retires, but the political situation is less tense than it's been since before the First World War.

Bonuses include: 1) A slow-burn friends to lovers arc for Jo and Kingsley that surprises both of them, with their friendship developing over the years as he visits Harry and not switching gears to romance until Kingsley continues to visit Jo's little house in Oxford after Harry goes off to Hogwarts (and realizes those visits were never just about Harry.) Theirs is not a grand, fated romance, but sneaks up on them like a sunrise after a long, dark night, and settles quite quickly into domestic bliss; 2) The Evans family being portrayed as not evil or intentionally cruel so much as personal circumstances led to Mr. and Mrs. Evans playing favorites with their children, and Lily internalizing herself as the "good" child and Jo as the "bad" one, deserving of scorn, regardless of her actions. For Lily, this was helped along by her childhood friendship with Snape, where she internalized the magic good, muggles jealous of magic, and the political situation at Hogwarts, where it became Light magic good, Dark wizards bad, everyone else in need of our guidance. It's a very black-and-white view and she might possibly have grown out of it in time, but she was never given the chance. (Or she might have played favorites with her own children, as her parents had done with her). She, like James, was far from perfect; and 3) Harry portrayed as a Gryffindor-leaning Ravenclaw who is friendly across all houses but who occasionally runs into trouble for not being Gryffindor enough for those who grew up hearing his story and a bit off-putting to children his own age after spending so much time around adults growing up. He grows out of the latter in time - though, as with Hermione in canon, there are growing pains - but not the former - which leads him to go after the stone in his first year in the first place. He should always be a little disappointed there's not more to Hogwarts and should always keep one foot in the Muggle world, earning Chemistry degrees to go along with his Alchemy Mastery. This too works to popularize Wizards getting advanced muggle education, which paves the way in time for greater advancements in the Wizarding World.

And that is all I have - admittedly light on Harry's Hogwarts years, but then again my issue with HP SI is that I, personally, would not want to attend Hogwarts. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you ever do anything with it.

Other SIs: Lysa Arryn | Petunia Evans | Princess of Dol Amroth

More Terrible Fic Ideas

[highladyluck]

13 books tag game, tagged by @amemoryofwot and @asha-mage (incidentally I typoed that as "amemeryofwot" which would be an excellent sideblog concept, maybe snatch that one up?)

1) Last book I read:

Mistress of the Empire by Raymond Feist & Janny Wurts (at the time I started filling this out, anyway… I've been working on this ask for several days) This whole trilogy was a delight, thanks to @sixth-light for telling me I would love Mara!

2) A book I recommend:

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord. It's a quiet little road trip romance exploring grief & diaspora, in a setting that I can best describe as 'if Madeline L'Engle had been in charge of Star Trek worldbuilding'. (If you squint you can see analogues to humans, Vulcans, Romulans, and Orions, but the tone is reminiscent of L'Engle.) There are sequels that follow different characters but this is the first one and it works as a standalone. I feel like it has a lovely light touch on some intense subjects and I appreciate the way each chapter works as a separate story while still fitting into the whole.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

I remember staying up past my bedtime for The Monster Baru Cormorant, I think? At the very least, that's where we first get my beloved Tau-Indi, and the pacing on the climax is kinda weird, about 2/3rds in, so I think I would have read through to it without stopping. I don't know if this question is supposed to be about compellingness or pacing? Probably compellingness, I think I'm weirdly fixated on structure when I read things. But sometimes I think books you 'can't put down' are at least partially that way because there's no damn place to breathe, and I don't entirely approve.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more)

I see from literally everyone who has tagged me in this that this is one of the two free spaces for Wheel of Time, but I'll switch it up: Lifeboats by Diane Duane. It's set between Young Wizards 9 & 10 and deals with an emergency response team permanently evacuating an entire alien population from a natural disaster (RIP their moon and also consequently their planet). This novel is a huge comfort read for me and is undoubtedly the Young Wizards work I've read the most. I don't really know how to explain what it means to me… I wish I had had it when I was living and working in a foreign country.

5) A book on my TBR

A friend recommended Cahokia Jazz (in general, not to me specifically) and it sounds SO MUCH like my jam. I suspect if I can't find it at my library soon, I'll end up buying the ebook.

6) A book I’ve put down

Can't think of a recent one, but if I hadn't forced myself to finish reading it because it was a Hugo Award nominee, I would have DNF'd Project Hail Mary.

7) A book on my wish list

I wish for more Baru Cormorant but I also literally cannot imagine how Seth is going to write that next book. So like, I'm girding my loins for Baru #4 either 15 years from now or never.

8) A favourite book from childhood

When I was really little I loved the Berenstain Bear books and my mom HATED that I loved them ("they were so badly written!" - my mom the children's librarian) but she bought them for me anyway. That's love.

9) A book you would give a friend

You all need to read Middlemarch by George Eliot. I don't care what stage of life you're at, you will find something resonant in it. Read it now, and read it again in 20 years. Give it to recent high school grads. Give it as a wedding present. Take it to the beach. BUT I am specifically recommending it to the WoT contingent, because the characters are so good!

10) The most books you own by a single author

It's actually either Diane Duane or Terry Pratchett, and DD's probably winning because I don't have every Pratchett book but I do have almost every DD book including tie-in novels.

11) A nonfiction book you own

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz. I don't read a ton of nonfiction but the writing is very engaging and I think cities are neat.

12) what are you currently reading

I'm between books but I just finished The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles (as I am writing this part several days after question 1). I didn't like it as much as the first one, The Mimicking of Known Successes, but I think it's just a taste thing. I didn't like being in Pleiti's POV very much, her overthinking is too much like mine and it alternately stresses me out and makes me angry, because I can see the assumptions/unhelpful thought patterns but I can't fix them. Obviously, to draw that reaction from me the characters are well-defined, and I like everything else about the series, I just hope it goes back to Mossa's POV.

13) what are you planning on reading next?

WHEN WILL 'RED SIDE STORY' BY JASPER FFORDE REACH MY HOUSE??? I have been waiting like 15 years for this sequel to Shades of Grey and the entire point of preordering it was so I could have it ASAP. I could have walked into a bookstore on May 9th and walked out with it, and instead I won't get it until tomorrow. >:(

I think I am supposed to add a shelfie? The organizing principles(s) of this shelf in my bedroom are very weird…. Classics/adventure, fantasy, popular science writing? Someday I need to reshelve everything in the house according to size/favoriteness/genre/theme/vibes (in that order) but I haven’t felt like it.

I think pretty much everyone I was going to tag already got tagged, so whoever want to do it, go ahead!

[nebulablakemurphy]

Through Love And By Love (Pt. 7)

Summary: Twenty-Two years ago, Draco Malfoy used the imperius curse to slow Voldemort’s rise to power. No good deed goes unpunished. Warning: this series contains mature subject matter surrounding use of the imperius curse, reader discretion advised.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

“Word around town is, the Holyheads need a beater.” Draco remembers how Ro always loved hitting the bludgers away.

“I haven’t played in years.” Two to be exact, since her last game at Hogwarts.

“We’ve plenty of time to get you ready before tryouts.” Draco is supportive, as he is with everything, and more than happy to assist in her conditioning.

“You really think so?” That life, the one she used to have, seems so far from her now.

“I do.” For you, the world.

She pecks a kiss to his cheek. “Take me for a spin.”

Leo, now six months old, loves to watch from her bouncer. The little girl jumps and screeches happily, as her parents whirl around the large backlot of the Malfoy estate.

By the time tryouts roll around, Rosanna is more prepared than she’s ever been. Receiving a call from Gwenog Jones, captain of the Harpies, and fellow beater; letting her know she’s made the team.

Draco couldn’t be more proud when he hears.

In addition to quidditch, she's working toward finishing a standard wizarding degree. As well as honing her gift for legilimacy. Her tutor, Mr. Samuel Marshmen, a friend of her parents. He is paid well and therefore doesn't mind working around her new, hectic schedule.

However, burning the candle at both ends, and raising a young child, puts a strain on her relationship with Draco. Their wedding is placed largely on the back burner.

They fight, a lot. They've bickered plenty over the years, had a spat or two. But full out yelling, screaming their frustrations at one another, is an entirely different story. It shakes both of them to the core.

"I'll quit the Harpies," Rosanna decides. "I haven't signed the contract for the year."

Draco is turned away from her, his blood still boiling from their quarrel. "You're not going to quit, you've worked too hard."

She closes the distance between them, locking her arms around his waist. “I want to play for the Harpies…but I need you.”

Oh. He begins toying with her fingers. “I am not blind to the magnitude of your undertakings, I know that you are trying. What'd you say I handle the wedding?"

"You don't want to do that," she shakes her head. "You'll turn into groomzilla."

He chortles, turning to face her. "I'm halfway there as is, but you knew what you were getting into."

She cups his face in her hands, "If you give me two months, I'll only have a couple games a week. I’ll plan the whole thing, you won’t have to lift a finger."

"You have your O.W.L.S. coming up." Draco reminds her, peppering her face with kisses.

"Shit." She scowls, "give me three months." Ro amends.

“Let me do this for you,” Draco sighs.

Rosanna opens her mouth to argue, only to be met with his lips instead.

“Let me do this for you.” He murmurs, against her mouth.

Rosanna’s hands are in his hair, tugging at it. Deepening the kiss.

It’s in her nature to fight. To be fiery and unwavering. Draco anticipates it, after all these years, but he’s never been one to take anything lying down.

————————————————————————-

It's a leap of faith, when Rosanna marks her jersey Malfoy. It's a surprise to Draco, who's fully expecting to see McVay as she flies onto the pitch.

Her welcoming roar from the crowd only adds to her nerves. Then she spots Draco, holding a nearly nine month old Leo in his arms. Their little angel sporting two adorable pig tails with bows that compliment her little pink dress and sparkly tights.

"That's my girl!" Draco shouts proudly, when she manages to stop a rogue bludger that nearly costs them the game. Her jerseys sell out in record time.

There’s a party that night, hosted by the other members of the team and their plus ones.

Narcissa and Lucius are more than happy to take Leo for the night.

Rosanna is all done up, in a deep red dress that Draco has been dying to get off of her since he zipped her into it.

"Malfoy!" A burly, brunette, gentleman greets as he opens the door for them. "Great game." He holds a hand up for a high five.

"Oh, me." Rosanna still isn't used to the name, "I'm Malfoy." She awkwardly slaps their palms together.

"You guys newly weds?" The man smiles, flickering his eyes between them.

"Nearly weds." She explains, "I'm Rosanna, this is Draco; my fiancé."

"Pleasure." Draco extends a hand to shake.

"I'm Danny, Gwen's husband." The other man gives a solid shake. "Can you believe, I still can't get her to change the name on her jersey? We've been married for two years! Some rubbish about marketing."

"Are you still on about that Daniel?" Gwenog overhears the conversation, and joins them. "If I had known the hell I'd receive from this one," she jerks her thumb at her husband. "I'd have gone with Chapman instead of Jones straight away."

"Thank you for having us, by the way." Rosanna smiles at her captain. "This is my Draco."

"It's an honor to meet you," Draco has impeccable manners.

"Likewise.” Gwenog leans in, as if telling a secret. “Rosanna talks about you all the time."

"All good things I hope." Draco flashes a smile at Ro.

"At least you're being mentioned," Danny guffs.

"Oh stop it," Gwen laughs, kissing him soundly on the mouth. "Come on in, make yourselves comfortable. We have drinks, finger sandwiches, sweets, whatever you fancy, help yourself."

"Thank you," Draco nods, his hand at the small of Rosanna's back, as she leads them forward.

The dessert table is calling her name, "don't mind if I do."

Draco chuckles, "so what is it you've been saying about me?"

Rosanna flushes, "stuff."

"Now I'm interested," he cocks his head to the side.

"Say we're talking about...strawberries. I would respond with something along the lines of, 'Draco really likes strawberries.'" Rosanna elaborates. "It's embarrassing, honestly."

Draco is quite needy, needy for her time, for her affection, her love. Her confession sets a warm wave of reassurance radiating through him. "Come here," he draws her in for a chaste kiss.

They break apart as Marge comes to a stop beside them. She holds a box up to Rosanna, without a word.

"This is it?" Ro asks, taking it from her.

Marge, the short brunette seeker, nods in excitement.

"Thank you." Rosanna smiles, squeezing Marge's arm giddily.

The other girl nods, still silent.

"Draco, Marge." Rosanna introduces the pair. "Marge, Draco."

Draco holds a hand out to her, they shake. "Good to meet you. Brilliant game, especially the catch."

She places a hand over her heart.

"Marge!" One of the girls yells. "Come try the bubbly."

Marge jerks a her finger in the direction she's been called, waving in parting.

"Love?" Draco leans toward Rosanna’s ear.

"Hmm?" Her mouth is packed with sweets.

"Is she mute?" He whispers.

"Oh no," Rosanna laughs. "Laryngitis," she taps her throat. "This is yours, by the way." She hands over the box.

"For me?" Draco accepts the gift, tentatively.

“It’s not much, but you're a pain in the ass to buy for." She watches the box flip open. "It's the first one ever made. I had them save it."

He runs his fingers over the soft material, a jersey that matches her own. "I love it, thank you."

————————————————————————

Rosanna's recent claim to fame earns them unwanted attention, namely from Rita Skeeter. Who’s announced she's in the process of writing a tell all book, just as she had for Dumbledore and the golden trio.

Slowly but surely, the whispers become impossible to ignore. Draco is beginning to question if they should call off the wedding all together. But Rosanna will hear none of it. Immediately sending out save the dates, that summer, they will be joined in holy matrimony.

"I was thinking maybe the color scheme could be reminiscent of the Yule ball. Winter wonderland kinda, trip down memory lane. I know it'll be summer-"

"That's a lovely idea, darling." Draco makes a mental note of her request. This is the first real suggestion she's made, he's not about to discourage her.

"You sure?" Ro lights up, bouncing their daughter on her leg. "It's not gonna mess up anything you already planned?"

Yes, he'll have to change everything. "It's no trouble at all."

————————————————————————

It's a gorgeous summer day when they wed, in the courtyard of Draco's childhood home.

Leo is just shy of two, tearing down the aisle toward her father, with petals spilling from her basket.

Draco catches his daughter as she barrels into his arms.

Teddy Lupin is their ring bearer. After everything, Narcissa and Andromeda were somehow able to mend their broken relationship. It's not perfect, but then again few things are.

Rosanna's dress is one of the few parts of their nuptials Draco had no involvement in. He's in tears when he sees her, veil and all, in the ivory gown.

“Mummy.” Leo points toward her.

Draco nods, swiping at his face. “That’s your Mummy.”

Rosanna reaches the end of the isle, kissing her daughter’s outstretched hand, and passing the bouquet to her maid of honor. Ironically enough, Leo is also handed off to Hermione a moment later.

The traditional binding vows are recited, followed by the ones they’ve written for each other.

"My dearest Rosanna-" Draco breaks off, overcome with emotion that doesn't allow him to speak.

Ro couldn't care less about tradition. She wraps her arms around him, swaying them gently. "Take your time. This is for us," she whispers, kissing his cheek.

He’s put weeks into these vows, his bride to be has done the same.

He pulls back slightly, only their hands still touching. "I'd like to say it was love at first sight, but we both know that'd be a lie. We could hardly stand each other, that first day of potions class. No matter how much I detested your accent, or you mine; there was no denying that we made a damn good team. You are soft where I am hard, light where I am dark, and understanding where I am ignorant. You are loud, bossy and can't listen to save your life. But you are also humble, wise beyond your years, and incredibly kind."

Rosanna smiles as he thumbs away her tears.

"I've never met anyone quite like you, I know I never will again. You reach parts of me that I never knew existed. I can't believe that I get to spend the rest of my life with you." He slides the diamond wedding band into place.

Then it's Rosanna's turn, she's still crying. "If you ask someone to walk through hell with you; I think the answer across the board would be something along the lines of, 'hell no.'"

Their guests laugh and Draco chuckles, smiling so wide his cheeks ache.

"I couldn't have asked for a more loving, patient, supportive partner. I wouldn't be where I am today without you. You told me to follow my dreams, that nothing I wanted was unattainable. You stood beside me in my darkest hour. You walked through hell with me and didn't leave me alone. No one else could, or would, do what you've done for me. I love you so much. I can't wait to share the rest of my life with you," Ro slides his white gold ring into place. Kissing him ten times over before she's supposed to.

————————————————————————

The new quidditch season brings about new challenges. Rosanna Malfoy is now a household name among the sports lovers of the wizarding world.

"I'd like to have my name on her jersey." Someone from behind Draco remarks, as Rosanna zips past their seats; swinging her bat at full force.

"Shut off, John." A second voice chastises.

"Don't act like you've never thought about it. All the stamina trapped in that hot little body. Probably likes it rough too." There's a pause and a loud slap. "Hey! What'd you do that for?"

"That's her husband and kid, right there." The man's voice drops lower still, "Draco Malfoy, death eater, of Voldemort's inner circle."

"How'd she end up stuck with him?" The more brazen of the two ask.

"He used the imperius curse, locked her in his basement and got her up the duff. Sick really; they were school sweethearts, he took full advantage. Rita Skeeter wrote a book about it. If you ask me, he shouldn't be allowed within yards of her, let alone the kid."

Draco's blood boils, Leo is standing on the bleacher beside him, facing the game.

What's he to do? He can't very well leave. More over he can't sit there without a word. He really shouldn't hex them, the last thing he needs is more media attention.

Instead he turns calmly to the men two rows up, speaking over the people between them. "Rita Skeeter is an attention seeking cow. I love my daughter, she is well tended, she has everything any child could possibly dream about. My wife is loved, showered with affection. She's happy. But no one wants to read a book about that."

————————————————————————-

They begin working on their own book when Leo is around two. They want her to understand that she is not a mistake, not a burden, or simply a means used to escape their own demise. Instead she is a miracle, the light of their lives, all of their dreams wrapped into one perfect little girl.

Writing about all that happened is odd. At times uncomfortably intimate and raw. They both experienced the same events in entirely different ways. Reliving her pregnancy and feeling closer than they've ever been, sparks something in Rosanna. Draco is elated by the amount of times she shoves the parchment and quill aside to go at it.

"Let's have a baby," she murmurs.

"Love?" Surely he's misunderstood.

"Let's have another baby." She repeats, "if you wanna."

He's waited years to hear those words. "I do."

Rosanna taps his temple lightly, signaling that she wants to share thoughts.

He leans his forehead against hers, letting the wall around his mind fall away. He shares the world with her, and she shares her world with him.

Part 8

[lgbtqmanga]

New Releases Dec. 12, 2023

The Black Cat & the Vampire vol. 2 by Nikke Taino

Studious Yuki Hasegawa found himself pursued by the unbearably popular Jean Michele and embroiled in a potentially deadly search for a monster hiding among the students of Blanc College boarding school. When Jean accidentally bites Yuki after their school dance, Yuki is forced to come to terms with the idea that vampires are real and Blanc College is full of them. When Jean explains the cruel power of a human's love, Yuki wonders if the only way to keep vampires from feeling that cursed urge to drink blood if for humans not love them. Will Yuki be able to stop his budding feelings for Jean now that he knows what fate awaits them...?

Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, So I'll Max Out My Defense (novel) vol. 11 by Yuumikan and Koin

A bunch of talented new guilds are ready to give Maple Tree a run for their money. But Maple’s not too worried. The thought of chances for more PvP has her fired up! Between scouting out other guilds for info on their rivals and looking for new skills to make themselves even deadlier, Maple Tree has plenty of work to do as the Ninth Event kicks off!

Hirano and Kagiura vol. 4 by Shou Harusono

Ten seconds a day. That’s how long Hirano agreed to let Kagiura do the touchy-feely thing he insisted on. Hirano’s not sure it’s really doing anything, but whatever floats his boat, right? In any case, between all of Kagiura’s grumbling and Hirano’s friends’ reactions, Hirano is left pondering—what exactly counts as doting on his roommate...?

I Married My Female Friend vol. 1 by Shio Usui

Kurumi and Ruriko made a deal: if they were both single in five years, they would marry each other. Five years later, neither woman is attached, so it’s time for a wedding! Marriage is full of firsts, especially for two friends, so they have a lot to learn about each other in their newly shared home. But will they continue this arrangement like two especially close roommates…or will a different kind of love bloom between them?

MADK vol. 3 by Ryo Suzuri

FINAL VOLUME!

Makoto has long been ostracized because of his odd hobbies and a sexual kink others see as disgusting. After summoning a demon from hell called Archduke J, Makoto sells his soul to him and is reborn himself as a demon in hell. As he learns and grows in his new role, his infatuation with J turns into an obsession - an obsession to surpass the very demon who birthed him!

Magic Knight Rayearth vol. 1 by CLAMP

Contains updated translation and lettering created for the 25th-anniversary release.

Three girls who couldn't be more different meet on a school trip to Tokyo Tower--and find themselves beamed into a parallel world called Cefiro, where the mysterious Pillar has recruited them to avert a calamity! With the help of a motley troop of rogues and wizards, they will unlock the power of three transforming giant dragons known as Rune Gods and rush to the Pillar's aid...but there's more going on at the heart of Cefiro than they know!

My Mate is a Feline Gentleman: UK Arc Over by Arata Asanae

Toushirou, an omega, and Alex, his Nyartigian alpha mate, are now living together in bliss. But one day, Alex is called for a short-term assignment in the UK…and included is a special note that his mate can accompany him. Though Alex hesitates because of the dangers, Toushirou’s desire to visit a foreign country wins out, and the two set off on a journey to a new land…

Pink Heart Jam vol. 1 by Shikke

For college student Haiga, starting school in the big city is a chance to make new friends and try new things. On the first day of classes, he spots an impossibly gorgeous upperclassman named Kanae strumming a guitar and decides to join the school’s rock band. But later, when a drunken dare gives Haiga the opportunity to visit a male brothel, he finds his crush employed there as a sex worker!

Haiga lets Kanae introduce him to gay sex, and afterward his innocent crush on Kanae is replaced with a whole new type of attraction. Even as their bond outside the brothel strengthens, Kanae will only be intimate inside its confines—and only in certain ways. What will it take for the two to go beyond experimentation and forge a real relationship?

The Witches' Marriage vol. 2 by studio HEADLINE

Melissa only entered into a "Witches' Marriage" with Tanya as a means to opening the Door of Truth. But as she gets to know her pure-hearted wife, they grow closer, and Melissa's feelings start to change. Will joining a class for witch couples cement their bond, or undo all their progress?

[cboffshore]

⭐ for this part of small cuts!

She had honestly expected it to burn. 

She wasn’t kidding about that - a poison said to be the deadliest in the world, enough to kill with a single drop? How could it not feel like acid? It looked enough like acid when she transferred it into the dart back at the lighthouse, moving impossibly slowly to avoid spilling. It’s no different than working on delicate machinery, she had told herself, tiny funnel poised in one hand and vial of poison balanced in the other. She expected it to be difficult, and it was, but she’d done harder things.

After everything, she tried not to rule anything out, and then the cold snuck up and caught her off guard anyway.

At least it was quick. She was thankful for that. 

Shivering in Jay’s arms, cracking the weakest joke of her life as her vision blurred and her limbs started to go numb, and then - she hates the old cliche, but damn it, it was right all along - everything went black.

And then, out of nowhere: grass. So much grass, sun-warmed soil under her back, and the white silk of the wedding gown like a vise around her chest - she didn’t even get to die in her own clothes! Was she going to have to spend eternity like this? After everything she put up with, all the running and the fighting and the unwanted touches leaving her shaking even now, she didn’t even get to change into some pants?

Nya had only been consciously dead for less than thirty seconds and she was already hating it.

She felt like she knew the man who approached her. Black and gold robes, a face she couldn’t make out for the radiant darkness and shadowy light emanating from his face, and a suspiciously familiar rice hat, wait just a second, is that - ?

The figure knelt, bringing himself down to her eye level. Nya thought he might have been smiling gently, but she couldn’t tell. He studied her for a few seconds, unreadable.

From the center of a puddle of white and gold, she felt impossibly small. 

For a moment, she was aware of a presence far behind her - on the horizon, the feeling of thousands of eyes, some accusing, some sympathetic, and all thoroughly pained, stabbing into her back like so many poisoned darts.

She didn’t dare look over her shoulder to see who they were. Somehow, she knew , and the comprehension of it sent her into silent sobbing.

Then, a hand landed on her shoulder - feather-light and supernaturally, reassuringly cool - and the First Spinjitzu Master’s unseen eyes met hers.

“None of this should ever have happened.”

Did she say that? Did he ? Nya wasn’t sure, but there was a hurricane of orange mist around them both now, and the silk of her gown shifted back into the familiar cotton and embedded Deepstone of her old gi. The grass was gone then, too, replaced by -

- the feeling of a gritty concrete roof under her combat boots - she had somehow stood up, and the creator of her world was gone, replaced by blinding sunlight, a summer breeze, and the deafening sound of helicopter blades approaching -

first of all, MAD kudos for somehow preserving all the formatting in this excerpt. I don't know if you have a wizard doing your copy pasting or if you did that all by hand, but either way, congrats! Under the cut we go for ramble time!

GOD. Okay. This excerpt is a weird one, because the rest of Small Cuts follows a very steady flashback/present pattern when it comes to formatting. Flashbacks are all italics and set apart into their own paragraphs, bracketed by dashes like they've been torn out of a larger sentence (which.... they have, kinda), and the present is just regular writing. This is the only time the flashback BECOMES the present, and I still think it's kinda weird, but the weirdness of that does serve it in a way. I do remember experimenting with having the whole thing formatted more closely to the flashback appearance and it just DID NOT WORK. Looked awful, horrible reading experience. I like that it comes off as more of a complete, if condensed, experience than the other flashback snippets - it's a pivotal moment that I'm sad canon never even looked at.

Which brings us to what inspired me to work this in! See, when Small Cuts was written, OSSAS as we know it now didn't exist. There was ADA(DP), which was originally a solo piece. Small Cuts was my way of celebrating ADA(DP)'S first birthday, but while I was writing it, I thought it might be nice to expand on what ADA(DP) didn't get to, which is where the flashbacks come in. They actually start around the beginning of 62, when Jay and Nya flee to the lighthouse, and slowly trace Nya's path from there on out. Again, that was never meant to become a series at all, so everything after that is me working FROM Small Cuts to make it fit in. (You haven't gotten past CUF yet, but one of those flashbacks served as the basis for the final confrontation in that piece; same with IICT, which you have not gotten to yet, but that's where I expand that chess flashback.) Point is, all of those flashbacks were meant as a proto-OSSAS to fill in the gaps. Because let's be real, after Nya's captured, the camera pretty much stays on Jay. Which is ESPECIALLY prevalent when she dies.

And that's what I really wanted to play with. The grasslands sequence is probably the loosest I ever get with canon, because it's one of the biggest missed chances in Skybound, IMO. On one hand, I get it - working in a "Nya destroyed Djinjago and therefore is the most deserving target of Nadakhan's rage" angle, or anything similar, would have FUNDAMENTALLY changed the season, or at least made the chaos WAY worse. I love Skybound BECAUSE she's a hot mess, but that would have been one thing too many for the writers to handle, I think. Still, though, a compelling angle that I REALLY pray DR leans into. That would change SO many things about Skybound had they actually used it... But I digress: I wanted to stay closeish to canon here while still bringing that up.

Working off of canon: Nya didn't know she killed the Preeminent's sister realm, and I don't think anyone knew the Preeminent HAD a sister realm. I also don't believe anyone outside of the pirate crew knew about the fall of Djinjago, actually - unless I'm forgetting something MAJOR, I don't think it's ever brought up to the ninja at all. It's all very strange and vague, which influenced the tone I went for in the grasslands sequence. You were the first to figure it out and let me know, but for the uninitiated, the "thousands of eyes, some accusing, some sympathetic, and all thoroughly pained" that Nya feels on her were supposed to belong to the djinn killed in the collapse. (Side note: in hindsight, were I not committed to the Urie-Weekes lyrics titles for this, Afterlife Of The Party would have been a DELIGHTFULLY dark title for this scene.) But of course I don't say that! It was supposed to be as vague as all the ways the Hagemans COULD have woven that angle in.

Anyway, I'm just now realizing - this excerpt is the flashback sequence I have to build off of for OSSAS5. I don't actually think I want to deal with the grasslands sequence, because to be honest I think it's too good to riff on, but that means I get to go into the stuff I STILL skipped - Nya's actual experience under possession. I always feel weird when someone tells me they liked how I addressed both Lloyd and Nya's possession experiences in Small Cuts, because like.... did I? I really didn't go there as much as I should have. But that's a note for another day!!!

[such-a-barbarian]

Weekly Tag Wednesday Thursday

Another Wednesday has come and gone. So here I am on Thursday as usual. Thanks as always to @mybrainismelted and @jrooc for the tags!

how is your day going? It's still kinda early, but overall is shaping up to be a decent one.

are you okay? I mean, yeah, for the most part.

what is your favourite shade of your favourite colour? I don't really have a favourite colour? Is that weird? Like colours are great?

are you single? Nope. Been married for 5 years, together for 15.

are you happy about that? I am. He's a pretty cool dude. Having kids has definitely made things hard, but he's my person, so we put in the effort to make it work.

what age do you feel in your brain? vaguely my current age I guess? I mean there are definitely times when I feel like there is no way I could possibly be in my late 30s (seriously, how the fuck did that happen?!) but also I've lived a lot of life and learned a lot of things, so when I think about the person I was in my 20s or even early 30s it feels very different now.

do you feel like the good times are behind you or ahead of you? Can I be in them? Can they just be all the time? I am an eternal optimist, even when things are hard I will find the good times somehow/somewhere!

do you have a best friend? Not really. I have a few close friends that I adore, but we don’t really consider each other best friends.

did you have a childhood pet? I had a fish called Wanda. 🐠 lol.

do you sing or whistle around the house? I am constantly singing random shit to my kids. Be it singing a task in the tune of Baby Shark (put on your shoes...doo, doo, doo...) or the latest Ms. Rachel hit, there is always something I'd rather not be singing stuck in my head. lol

do you light candles or incense? Candles on occasion, but I am very terrible at remembering to blow them out and I'd rather not burn my house down so it's very rare.

are you busy Friday night? My parents are coming into town tonight, so hubby and I might try a date night while my folks are on kid duty.

if you were a circus performer which act would you be in? Funny story in my grade 9 careers class we had to take a careers quiz and my results came back that I should be a circus performer. Didn't tell me what kind of circus performer, just that I should be one.... 🤷🏻‍♀️

what is your favourite outfit? leggings and an oversized hoodie.

what's the last thing you created? Don't really have time for my own creating as of late. Made a pretty awesome wizard's hat for my kiddo the other day though. 🧙‍♂️

what is your favourite fic or book of all time? Favourite book is probably The Giver by Lois Lowry mostly because it changed the way I thought about reading. It was like a gateway drug for me and opened me up to the wonderful world of reading! Holds a special place for sure. As for fics that is hard, so many good ones to choose from but I re-read Cooperative Game at least once a year, so I gotta pick it!

what are you looking forward to? Just summer in general! I have two family weddings this year and we have lots of travel and camping planned!

what can put you immediately in a better mood? My kiddos giggles and hugs. Sunshine.

do you like hugs? Love them. I am a big hugger!

what is something you wish people understood about you? I don’t know. I feel like I’m a pretty open book. What ya see is what ya get.

Tagging you if you are reading this! Also it’s lunch time and I’m hungry so tagging people seems like a lot effort right now….

[x-authorship-x]

i feel like we're not helping you write the red Istari but these pairings are too fun to stop 🌝 any other combinations you'd care to share?

I always was too much of a multishipper to function 🤦

OKAY SO WE HAVE

The OG Idea Ship: Shisui x Faramir:

I love love love Faramir so much, and I absolutely do love him with Eowyn don't get me wrong, but my desire was to explore his time with the Rangers of Ithilien and becoming a brilliant Captain despite Denethor's....everything, and I wanted him to meet Shisui, who is this crazy glowing motherfucker, and be both awed and bemused lmao

The Obligatory Magical Girl Ship: Shisui x Legolas

Honestly this was born from both impatience and sadness for mortality because Faramir is gonna die, he's not going anywhere off Middle Earth, and there's a lot of time between the current chapters and when Shisui gets to meet him. Legolas however is kicking at this time, working on removing the stick from his ass courtesy of his father, and I loved the idea of them finding themselves through knowing each other. Also it's funny to imagine Aragorn trying to live undercover as a random soldier/Ranger BUT TRAILING BEHIND HIM ARE THE ELVEN PRINCE AND A SUSPICIOUSLY HARAD-LOOKING WIZARD 😂 Aragorn what have you got there? A smoothie?

The Bros Are My Hoes Ship: Shisui x Boromir

I have a previous Istari!Shisui fic with this pairing and, well, I never could leave anything alone. I love the idea of these two being sensitive but also slightly meathead-ish. The closest the Fellowship can get to having two all-star sportsmen eyefucking in the locker room. Hold my hand on the battlefield, my brother in arms. Handle my sword, as if it were your own. I'll be your shield, your armour. You look stunning in the dawn of victory; come, place your forehead to mine and we shall draw breath together. This idea will never leave me alone.

Protective Husbandry Ship: Shisui x Samwise

I don't need to preach to the choir about this glorious mix of protective instincts, plant care and good food. It really does speak for itself. Also I love the imagery of Shisui, who alternates wildly between deadly gorgeous and sunshine gorgeous depending on if you can see his dimples, and Sam, who is no doubt the Shire's Hottest Bachelor with a head of sunny curls and a kitchen/garden to drool over. A summer wedding under the Party Tree, please and thank you.

Majestic Heart attack Ship: Shisui x Aragorn

I'm sorry but the inherent homoeroticism of a knight genuflecting to his chosen king. Like. A KING AND HIS WIZARD?! also Aragorn is the fav poetry, brooding, sweetheart and you're telling me you can't imagine Shisui sliding him a tender smile, sitting down beside him at the campfire and twisting their fingers together. The promise of what little happiness they can find now, knowing that 'later' could mean Aragorn sworn to a crown, with the ensuing duties, and Shisui, like a distant star, sailing away with the other Istari. Um. My eyes are glinting with unshed tears in the moonlight. Neither would ever leave the other but fate might not be so kind. Also Shisui wounded at some point and whisked away to be cared for by Gandalf and Radagast and then he gets to make his Arwen-Coronation entrance and declare that he will NOT sail 😭❤️

Sexual Tension and Gorgeous Hair Ship: Shisui x Eomer

Shisui is in Big Trouble because he's a feminist in a world where feminism is a 'weird and not really a thing' thing. Yes he expected Eowyn to be wielding that sword, why wouldn't she, and why are you getting all up in my face for encouraging her. This is different from Aragorn complimenting her desire to defend her people, this is Shisui helping Eowyn smuggle armour and showing her how to garotte an orc. Eomer wants to punch the red wizard so bad, from the moment he dared OUTRUN A HORSE (wtf) to the moment he dared flash that cheeky grin and JUMP ONTO A ROOF TO LEAVE A CONVERSATION. There is a lot of tension and unnecessary interactions, like if they actually hated each other they would avoid and ignore lmao. The very slow slide into allies and gruff trust. Shisui doesn't appreciate being stifled, thanks. Eomer is ramming his head into the wall until he gets a better idea and uses biting kisses to shut Shisui up. Everyone thinks these two need to be hospitalized. (Aragorn, with those healing hands on Shisui's forehead: I have never seen you behave this way?????)

The Holy Fuck My Eyes Ship: Shisui x Arwen

I cannot unsee this, I did this to myself in The Red Ally when I suggested that Elrond had hoped that Shisui could marry Arwen so they could all sail together. And then I went and described Arwen like a goddamned marble sculpture who stepped off her pillar into a pool of moonlight and she held Shisui's arm so gently and they were supposed to be friends but now I cannot UNSEE AND I NEED YOU ALL TO SUFFER WITH ME

[thegirlwhowrites642]

Sorry to bother you with this but the ship game you were doing got me thinking about the HP ships and it reminded me why I dislike Krum as a character.

I didn't pick up on it during my first few read throughs as I was still young, but it hit me when I re-read the books when I was a bit older and it has to do with his relationship with Hermione and what he says about Ginny in DH.

His age gap with Hermione wasn't too big but the fact that he was legally an adult and she was a minor didn't sit well with me especially when it's revealed he asks her to visit him in Bulgaria over summer, which sounds like an adult luring a minor.

It wasn't until DH that it hit me when he points out Ginny who he says is "very pretty" she's 15 and he's in his early 20s but it's this line "what is the point of being an international quidditch player if all the good looking girls are taken" that drove it home for me. It reminded me of all those famous celebrities that seemed like good people only for people to come forward with stories of how they were taken advantage of by the celebrity. They would use their fame and the power imbalance to get what they want.

I know that this is probably not what was intended with the character of Krum but it's something I can't stop seeing when I read about him and is why I dislike his character.

Yeah, I don't particularly enjoy Krum's character, though I think DH made him a worse person than he was originally.

One of the reasons why the appropriateness of age gaps, with certain objective limitations, can be up for debate is that we establish what's right and wrong depending on the maturity and life experiences we expect at a certain age.

But, for example, here in Italy we finish high school at 19, in other places you are already in college, most likely away from home. That does make a bit of a difference, no?

Krum is 18 when he goes to the Yule Ball with 15-years-old Hermione, which is not ideal, but it's definitely not the tragedy some people make it out to be. The fact that Krum is an international Quidditch star seems to make the situation worse. That must bring him a lot of life experience, right? I don't think so. Hermione, who he barely knows, is the thing he would miss the most, he mustn't have had many friends. And it makes sense, he needs to balance being a professional athlete with still being a student (also, he definitely doesn't seem to have a charming and charismatic personality to help him out). The Krum we get to know in GoF is a social inept. A fumbling fawn who has just stepped out into the real world. Just think about that conversation he has with Harry about Hermione.

Is the invite to Bulgaria bad? Hermione would be nearly sixteen. If Krum and Hermione were in a relationship for the entirety of GoF since the Yule Ball, I don't see a problem with it more than I'd see a problem with that relationship frankly. Unfortunately, we know substantially nothing about it. I mean, casting the ages aside for a second, from what we know, it seems that it's Hermione the one who is stringing him along, to be honest.

But what about DH!Krum?

Now Krum is 21, he is not a student anymore, he probably had time to get around a bit more.

Ginny is ten days away from being sixteen at the wedding so I think we can make the executive decision of saying that she is 16. A dressed up sixteen-years-old can easily look a year or even two older, especially from a distance. Also, let's not pretend you can actually tell the difference between a sixteen and a seventeen years old. Seventeen is when you come of age in the wizarding world. At eighteen you start working and being financially independent. So, do I think Krum looking at Ginny and finding her attractive is creepy? No. Krum is still a pretty young guy and he doesn't seem to know Ginny considering how he asks about her to Harry, or maybe he doesn't recognize her, the last time he could have seen her she was 13 and there are a lot of redheads at the wedding.

But. But. Hermione and Ginny together start to create a sort of pattern. If this was a real-life court case, it would be extremely easy to defend him, two girls a few years younger definitely don't make an actual pattern, but this is a book, and it seems the author doesn't want us to think anything nice about Krum.

Until this though, I still consider him kind of redeemable, nothing he does is that bad. But then there's that line about him being a famous Quidditch player and pretty girls that really sinks his character. Because any angle of legitimate doubt comes crashing down. We maybe don't have enough to sustain that he creeps on younger girls but we definitely have enough to say he became a bit of a piece of shit.

[halfblood-princes-crown]

Hi this is "severitus with alive Jilly au, unboxing horcrux gone wrong". I'm not going to write this because it will take time and those ideas are basically my good bye letter to this fandom. It's a little painful for me but I know I cannot stay in this fandom anymore. There are obviously more reasons but the main one is because this has been a central part of my childhood and I feel like I just cannot let it be a part of me for an unknown amount of time. I might return to it later in life but this is technically my goodbye to my childhood and me saying hello to adulthood officially (this is also why I'm staying an anon, I don't want to be associated with this fandom anymore, I want a clean break). This took a sad turn, but anyways, returning to the au.

You know the drill, I might also drop in

Bellatrix has a knife to my throat, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to say, I guess I don't have to say anything cuz Ron starts screaming

The rest of the week is kind of a blur everyone is panicking, we're sleeping in the Great hall, my parents come over and for some reason my dad asks what did I do to scare her off and is disappointed to find out I didn't do anything, she just kinda ran away after hearing Ron. My mom is kind of silent, she doesn't say anything, just asks if I got hurt "or something" (why did she say it like that does she not love me anymore?) and they just kind of leave after that, not making sure I was actually okay I wish Auntie or Peter were here instead of them

Snape did make sure I was okay, he gave me a cookie and a awkward head pat. Professor Lupin actually tries to talk to me, I appreciated that, he even offered to tutor me in any spell I wanted and I don't think any of us was expecting me to take up that offer. I had a dream where I couldn't cast a spell, it was called a Patronus and it apparently works against dementors, considering I still can't go outside without hearing children being tortured by a woman in a orphanage (I asked Tom about it and he apparently did grow up in an orphanage and we're his memories, I'm still not sure why am I hearing them but okay, sure, normal Tuesday shit for Harry Potter), I also know that Tom approves of this choice my soul was warmer that usual

Things go of as usual, aunt Petunia actually sends me an owl and that is a big step because usually hates owls.

I may not like being treated like I'm made out of glass by the rest of the school but I gained a new friend, Hermione, she is a little condescending and a little bit too nosey but she is super loyal and is willing to talk about things that Ron isn't ready for yet, like politics and bullies and the unfairness of being put a label on and being expected to act a certain way and how the wizarding world treats those they deam beneath them and how cute Blaise Zabini is and how hot Lavender is becoming. Though she is weirdly against dark magic and I am too, I think, but she takes it to a whole new level and now we are researching dark magic and how negatively it affect our society. I win three to one pro-dark magic.

School goes on and I have a bet with Ron and Hermione about the date of Snape and aunt Petunia's wedding because Spane handed me a letter from my aunt one morning and the Weasley twins said they saw a hickey of Snape's neck. I bet around summer after fifth year and summer before the forth year. Who cares I wasted twenty galleons, I'm rich, especially after my godfather dies.

I master the Patronus charm and leave everyone flabbergasted when I used it spontaneously on a dementor on my way to Herbology.

Somewhere in a tower towering over the school a batty old teacher named Trelawney said in a thousand voices that weren't her own but were: "That boy might as well save himself for Death if he is going to provoke him so, Death always loved a challenge." To bad the only person there to witness that didn't have any idea what that meant and thought that Trelawney was high and made a sexual joke so he laughed, like any 14 year old would, and went back to cleaning fake cristal balls.

The year ended so we went back home and I will spend the first month with my aunt and then head back to my parents. A scream is heard along the train and then another one and another one. Students are running along the hall so I get out of the compartment to see what's going on and a decapitated head (a boy in the year above me, a Hufflepuff), drenched in blood, lands at my feet (the only person who remebers what happens when you peak Death interest the only person who can begin to guess Harry's fate) with a a loud smacking sound and I look up from the blood filled floor and look into the eyes of a faded beauty, Bellatrix fucking Lestrange, in all her twisted glory.

The smiles at me, it's a gentle smile, it's the smile that a mother gives her child when their being endearing or funny, it's surprisingly... fond. "I finally found you again, my beautiful little doll." He grabs my collar with surprising force and forcefully drags me to a corpse filled compartment and the last thing I see before the window shatters behind me is her motherly smile.

'At least I can't lose the bet when I'm dead' is my last thought before pain erupted from my head and my back as hundreds of glass shards find their painfull home in my back.

Sorry for the wait, it took me 45 minutes to write this to make it quality to make up for my drunk ramblings last time, and don't worry, despite the cruelty I'm putting Harry through, he'll survive it somehow, he's a though little cookie.

Love you and your blog! Say hi to your wifey for me!

Oh! Well I’m proud of you for letting go! I’ll miss your asks!

Your idea is so good and I adore it!!! It was great that you put it out there before leaving! It’s very well thought out and I love the plot! You put some good thought into this.

You guys really inspire me to write.

“Thought that Trelawney was high and made a sexual joke, so he laughed” 😭😭 relatable

This ^ had me in tears ngl 🤣🤣🤣 Blaise is cute…and Lavender is hot…no lies here

@moonlightdancer26 my anon says hi ☺️

Miss you 🥹

[smilingformoney]

BTS?

And also, because you know I can’t help myself: The Million Dollar Question. The question being what does Lucius do after the last time we see him in the fic? I adored his final interactions but… please tell me he’s happy 😭

BTS: I’ll write a DVD commentary about my personal favorite passage

how am I suppose to pick one favourite 😭 I'm gonna go with the opening passage of chapter 23, I don't know if it's my fave but it's def one I can talk about

---

This plot point was one that has always floated around from very early on. I first came up with Abbie 12 years ago, and initially she was a love interest for Draco. (I did think about keeping that element initially, but I think it was around the time I was writing chapter 4 that it came to me that Abbie was gay.) One of the scenes that formed in my head in the early days was that by the time of this battle, Abbie and Draco would have slept together a couple of times. Lucius would know of this and at some point in the battle, he would mimic the way Hermione was marking the doors they'd been through with an X, and mark Abbie across the torso with an X.

By the time I got to chapter 23, that idea was obviously way out of the window (not least bc Lucius would never slutshame 😂) but I did like the idea of Lucius attacking Abbie and leaving a scar, thus this scene was born.

Initially, this second paragraph began with "Somehow, he did." but I realised that was an unnecessary detail, plus it reeked too much of "Somehow, Palpatine returned."

The room that Abbie hides in is meant to be Sephy's office, which is why Lucius is able to find her, but I couldn't really figure out a way to work that detail in so I left it out.

I actually read this passage aloud for @snapecentric's podcast, and it was very fun to read out Lucius being a nasty lil bitch. I enjoyed reading it out but I don't know if I could do a podfic for the whole thing, I'd be too embarrassed to read out the sexy bits.

In case it's not obvious, she casts a patronus to send to Snape for help. The whole point of the previous scenes of him teaching her to do it was for this exact moment.

The last bit was plagiarised by some rando at some point, they posted it and changed Abbie to Y/N. It was hilarious 'cus they literally put it in the gen tag, where I live, and didn't expect me to recognise my own writing?!

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with Snape carrying Abbie like this, but I am. I also loved paralleling it with Abbie carrying him the same way after Nagini's bite. 😀

The Million Dollar Question - what happened to Lucius?

FINE. I should have known you'd make this about Lucius somehow 😂 If you must know, he and Narcissa divorce very amicably. They still meet up often, and they co-grandparent Scorpius when he's born. And just because it amuses me, Lockhart makes a full recovery from his addled mind and gets together with Lucius. When gay marriage is legalised, they have the most Extra wedding the wizarding world has ever seen.