#i suppose? it's not canon but it does make use of that canon!

[paracosmicka]

Primal Fears AU content but don’t worry it’s still sonadow

That last one is a repost from last year so if you saw the silly drawings but then read the thing in the bottom left corner and went “wait what the fuck”

It’s because it was an AU thing but I literally only had that drawn out and now you get some context at least:

In this universe Sonic is an assassin/bounty hunter/whatever you wanna call a guy that is hired to specifically to kill other Entities. He meets Shadow when they run into each other because they’re both following the same Avatar. Then they do the normal canon sonadow thing where the first interaction they have always ends with them fighting and beating the shit out of each other. And then they kinda calm down but then Shadow has a similar moment from the beginning of the IDW Sonic comics where he gets absolutely pissed that Sonic managed to distract him from catching the bad guy and zooms away before the two have another chance to speak again.

Here Shadow is a GUN field agent except in this universe GUN isn’t really military and it’s more focused on not only investigating (like the Magnus Institute) but also actively dealing with the Entities. Which sounds great except remember how I said they aren’t military well actually they kinda are because “dealing” with Entities and Avatars just means: throw it in the high-security prison that is guarded by other various Avarars that all work for GUN because it means they don’t have to get thrown in prison. So GUN is kinda like The Magnus Institute + Section 31 working together. So actually I guess it’s like the SCP Foundation.

One day Shadow goes into work and Sonic and there and I’m not really sure on what I’m gonna do in the plot to make him end up there (like maybe he’s undercover and just using GUN to get to his next target or maybe GUN does the “hey we’re gonna throw you in jail if you don’t agree to work for us” idk again not sure yet) but now he’s working with Shadow because they still need to catch that Avatar.

So now we’re sorta caught up, they’re at Club Rouge (and I realized I didn’t specify which Entity she serves in my drawing of her but people who guessed the Stranger ding ding ding here have some sonadow) because Sonic and Shadow need to kinda interrogate Surge and Amy, who are associated with the Slaughter. They have a band called Poison Rose and it’s basically just Grifter’s Bone but they perform rock music instead. And are also probably dating.

Anyway the Big Case™️ Sonic and Shadow are working on is investigating a bunch of spooky murders and they’re pretty sure whoever’s behind them is a Slaughter avatar. But not specifically Amy and Surge☝️ They’re kinda “allowed” to perform the Music That Makes You Die because GUN also has like an “informant” group of avatars they can rely on. These avatars don’t work for GUN, but they agree to chill out on the spooky stuff if it means they don’t get arrested for spooky crimes. So for Poison Rose, “chilling out” on the spooky stuff means that they have to force people to wear earplugs while they perform, which wasn’t specifically stated in MAG 42 if that works or not, not really sure of the magic rules of the Music That Makes You Die phenomena but yeah they gotta do that and probably some other stuff so GUN doesn’t arrest them. Like maybe no swearing or something lol.

Okay gonna stop there before this gets even longer explaining my AU because this was supposed to be just a normal sketch post but whoops.

Oh also I made a playlist for the kind of music Poison Rose performs but it was made private because I didn’t want anyone to stumble across it and be like “pshhhh this dumb person who makes public playlists of their AU that no one knows about what a loser” (me when I make up completely unrealistic scenarios in my head) but now here’s a post explaining that part of my AU so that person can’t make fun of me anymore

[wisteria-lodge]

Part 2 of the continuing adventures of Harriet "Harry" Lily Potter!

So... Voldemort is back. He and Dumbledore are both in slightly better spots - Dumbledore has a head start on tracking down the Horcruxes, and Voldemort has Barty. Dumbledore's priorities are:

Destroy as many horcruxes as possible

Lure Voldemort out into the open, so the Ministry won't be able to deny that he's back.

Dumbledore is going to accomplish that second thing by treating the Prophecy as WAY more important than it actually is. Because that last line "Neither can live while the other survives" doesn't really matter. (It's actually kind of obvious.) But if Dumbledore can make Voldemort think it's important, put guards on the Department of Mysteries day and night... then it might be possible to lure Voldemort into Ministry.

Restarting the Order goes pretty much the same. Only this time, Dumbledore's got Percy pulling double-agent duty at the Ministry. And Sirius... is still on the run after killing Peter. I think he tried to reconnect with Remus (since he now knows that Remus wasn't the spy.) But it didn't go well. Without Peter there as proof... Remus just didn't believe him.

After hearing that Cedric is dead and infering that Harry is in danger - Sirius is back in England. But he's really just hanging out in the wings as a wild card. So far, this has not been a great AU for Sirius.

Harry is stuck rotting at the Dursley's. She is NOT in a good place, and does NOT appreciate Dudley calling Cedric her "boyfriend." Then she gets in trouble with the Ministry for doing underage magic, saving him from a dementor.

Things are looking up a little when Tonks, Moody & Co show up to bring her the Order's safehouse (probably just the Burrow with added protections, since they can't use Grimmauld Place without Sirius.) Ginny and the twins are there, but Neville isn't. Augusta Longbottom is certainly aligned with Dumbledore, but she's a cooperative asset, not part of the Order. I honestly don't think she'd want to put herself or Neville anywhere near the organization that couldn't protect Frank and Alice. Augusta has absolutely not been able to come to terms with that happened to them.

Ginny would get a little fiery at CAPSLOCK!Harry (not guilty and uncomfortable like Ron, or placating like Hermione.) This response would actually work pretty well, and paradoxically calm Harry down. She and Ginny spend the rest of the summer playing Quidditch, and Harry's trial and experience with the Ministry plays out like in canon. Probably, she bonds more with Lupin in the absence of Sirius.

Canon!Harry gets on the train with Neville and Ginny at the beginning of Book 5, which is kinda fun. So, that interaction goes exactly the same. Harry meets Luna, Neville tries to show them the new mimbulus mimbletonia plant he got over break, and ends up squirting all of them with gunk just as Cho walks in.

Harry does still have a crush on Cho... but also just enough heteronormativity left over from the Dursleys to be unable to apply that particular word to what she's feeling. Her feelings about Cedric, and about Cho, are very raw and messy. She thinks maybe she and Cho were rivals competing for Cedric? But also blames herself for Cedric's death, and feels terrible that Cho is sad. Harry wants Cho to think well of her... and isn't totally sure why. Also, she's just kind of uncomfortable around dating in general. Ginny is a whole year younger than her, and already dating Michael Corner. Harry thinks that - maybe she's supposed to be dating someone? Should be dating someone?

That's definitely a tension here between the three of them now. It only gets worse actually gets worse when it turns out Hermione and Neville are the new Gryffindor prefects, he gets called away to the prefect's cabin, and Ginny goes to say hi to Michael.m (Canon!Dumbledore made Ron a prefect because he was Harry's friend, and Dumbledore wanted to give him a confidence boost. I think the same reasoning would apply to Neville.)

When they get to school Umbridge starts her take-over, none of that changes. Draco is still sucking up to Umbridge, trying as hard as he can to be big and impressive. But he's also still very taken with Harry... and I don't think he provokes the fight ends with her getting banned from playing quidditch. Unfortunately, it will only be a matter of time until Umbridge finds a different excuse to ban Harry, and Ginny will take over as Seeker. Harry finds herself more and more at loose ends this year - Ginny is with her boyfriend or playing quidditch, Neville is doing prefect rounds... so she finds herself hanging out more and more with Luna.

Then Hermione starts the DA. It absolutely still is Hermione's project. She's still going to worry that she'll fail her OWLs because Umbridge isn't teaching them anything, she's still coming to the conclusion that she needs a teacher, and will decide that Harry is her best bet. She knows Harry gets Outstandings in DADA, and Krum (who Hermione still writes too) was *very* impressed with Harry "He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang."

Convincing *Harry* to commit will be a little harder than in canon, but definitely not impossible. Especially if Hermione brings in Neville (who Hary trusts) and Theo (who knows how good Harry is, and probably has a lot of the same concerns as Hermione.) Theo will also be value added when it comes to keeping the DA *secret.* Instead of meeting everyone at once, he has Harry approach small groups of potential members (accompanied by either him or Hermione).... and only lets them into the main group when they've signed Hermione's enchanted sheet. He's VERY impressed with this bit of magic... and this might end up being a Hermione/Theo universe. Theo's sneaky Slytherin involvement means that they're able to hide the formation of the DA from both the Order and Umbridge a lot more successfully.

So the gang starts meeting up in the Chamber of Secrets because Harry can easily access it. The basilisk keeps watch - Hagrid made it a pair of goggles. Ron, Dean, Shamus, Parvati, Lavender, Luna, the Hufflepuffs, the Ravenclaws are there... but not Cho. I don't think Cho joins. A big part of why Canon!Cho was interested in Harry was because she wanted someone to emotionally process Cedric with. She wanted to know if Cedric talked about her, if he talked about her while he was dying. If she thinks Harry potentially loved Cedric... that dynamic wouldn't be the same. They're too similar, it wouldn't work.

But DRACO joins. Why not? He hears about it from Theo, and at this point Draco he really caused any problems for Harry in like, two years. His father is a death eater... but so is Theo's, and Theo is okay. Draco is still looking for ways to get close to Harry, and this is just one more way he can try to impress her. AND... he learns how to to summon a Patronus. And this is my meta and I get to pick what it is, so I say his Patronus is a pigeon.

Like. A fancy pigeon. But a a pigeon. Draco's not a fighter, he's a survivor, and he survives by keeping to the background, running when he's in trouble, and finding ways to live even when the situation is toxic. Also he would hate having a pigeon as a Patronus and it would be really funny.

Even with everything else going on, this is a good time for Harry. A few more Slytherins trickle in and join the DA - Blaise, Daphne, and Daphne's little sister Astoria. It's like the Sorting Hat told them at the beginning of the year: "our Hogwarts is in danger / From external, deadly foes/ And we must unite inside her / Or we’ll crumble from within."

Neville doesn't actually manage a corporeal patronus in canon, but he does make leaps and bounds forward. For the first time, he goes from feeling like "almost a squib" to actually competent. He exists at the heart of their friend group sure, but he's always felt second fiddle to the magical powerhouses Harry and Ginny. And I think it's natural that he'd start to get a little crush on Harry, at this point. I mean Ginny's dating Michael... it just makes sense.

However. There is a breaking point. Harry sees Nagini attack Arthur Weasley through her mental connection with Voldemort, then she and Ginny go to visit him at St. Mungos... and run into Neville visiting his parents.

Now. Neville doesn't talk to anyone about his parents. In this AU I think he probably lied to his friends early on. Said that his parents were dead, so they wouldn't ask any more questions. Only thing is, Harry knows. She found out while watching Death Eater trials in Dumbledore's pensieve in Book 4. But since Canon!Harry didn't tell anyone, and I don't think Harriet will either. Her perspective will be that - Neville can tell them in his own time, when he's ready.

Ginny will not have this perspective. She will hate that Neville lied to her, wasn't honest with her. She'll also feel torn up and guilty... every time she gave Neville a hard time for that stupid plant, he had this hanging over his head? It's going to make her confused, and uncomfortable, and she's going to say "I need to be with my family right now" and storm off.

Then - over Christmas - we get the news that there's been a mass Azkaban break out. (Fudge blames Sirius, like he does in canon.) What that means for this AU is that Barty, Bellatrix and Lucius are locked in competition to see who will rise to the top as Voldemort's Number 2. Very quickly it becomes clear that this is a showdown between Bellatrix and Barty. Lucius is less powerful, and less unhinged, and his bona fides frankly suck. He's out of his league, and knows it.

But this is kind of a problem for Voldemort. He needs to control Lucius, because Lucius has the house and the money. But... if Lucius realizes that he's not going to get anything out of this scenario, that there's no way for him to win... then Lucius defecting becomes a very real possibility.

Which is why I think Voldemort gives Draco a Dark Mark six months early. If Voldemort's got Draco on a magical leash, then Lucius is his. Problem solved. Voldemort frames it as a way for Lucius to "prove his loyalty" - but the reality is that Draco is his hostage. He also gives Draco a semi-impossible task to carry out at school. This time, it's "Bring me Harriet Potter."

(Voldemort's actual favorite during this period... is starting to be Snape. It's flattering that Snape chose him over Dumbledore, and the way he's staying out of the Bellatrix-and-Barty show... is actually making Voldemort respect him more...)

Back at school, Ginny will have apologized to Neville, and is probably making a point of being extra nice him - which Neville will honestly hate, because it'll make him feel pitied and broken. This is also the point where Harry's "Remedial Potions" (Occlumency lessons) show up, so now no one is having a good time.

Newly-Marked Draco is isolating himself, like he did in Book 6. He quits the quidditch team, starts spending a lot more time alone. Probably just casts his Patronus over and over again to make himself feel better. He knows his family needs this, and that he has to do this, but he doesn't want to do this.

He tries a few half-hearted attempts to lure Harry out-of-bounds and away from her friends (at which point he'll cast petrificus totalus and, um. Summon Voldemort with the Dark Mark? he doesn't like to think about that part.) Draco will do things like - forge a letter from Hagrid asking Harry to meet him in the forest, or Polyjuice into Snape and tell Harry that Remedial Potions is being held at a new time, and in a suspicious location. Harry begins to smell a rat. Her best guess is that they're clumsy sting operations set up by Umbridge's goons, trying to catch her in the act of rule-breaking, and dismisses them.

Luna offers to run Harry's side of the story in the Quibbler, and Harry goes for it - which results in Umbridge banning the Quibbler, and banning Harry from Hogsmeade (making things more difficult for Draco). But unlike in canon, Harry doesn't name Theo and Draco's fathers as Death Eaters. Harry thinks Theo is smart, and practical, and very good at staying out of trouble. Draco she thinks is a little blustery and ridiculous. But she can't help it - she loves teaching the DA, and she's getting protective over the people in it.

(this makes things even MORE difficult for Draco)

And so I think... this time around... there's NO snitch. Draco justifies it to himself by saying - I can't let Umbridge and the Ministry have Harry. Lord Voldemort wants her.

Occlumency lessons get worse. Harry accidentally witnesses Snape's worst memory - hen puts on her Invisibility cloak and sneaks down to use the Floo Network fireplace in the Three Broomsticks, because she has to talk to Lupin about this. Lupin (solo) will be able to feed her a narrative about how Sirius was a terrible influence on her dad, which Harry will be extremely motivated to believe.

Meanwhile. Draco gets a letter from his father, telling him that things are bad, and the Dark Lord is displeased and frustrated because of many failed attempts (what attempts? Draco doesn't know.) Lucius says that's it's very important that Draco keep Neville Longbottom away from Harry - at a specific time, on a specific date.

It turns out to be extremely easy. Neville needs to be away from Harry (Draco has no idea why) during their History of Magic exam. So he just gets a hold of Neville's daily planner, and sends him to the wrong location, a little too early. And then Draco just wanders around, boxing him in with portable swamps. He feels sick about this decision, but he doesn't know what else to do.

Harry falls asleep during her History of magic exam and has a vision. Of Neville, in the Department of Mysteries, being tortured by Bellatrix. Like his parents.

She is *not* okay. She tries to find McGonagall - in St. Mungos after taking stunners to the chest protecting Hagrid (canon reason.) Dumbledore - gone. He found the Locket-Cave... and he took Snape with him...

Harry is absolutely freaking out. Ginny, Luna are coming with her - and Ron was in the testing room when Harry collapsed, and he's not letting his sister go rescue Neville alone. I honestly think Hermione could go either way - but I'll have her stay behind with Theo. They're going to contact the rest of the DA with the master coins, and see if they can get in touch with - Lupin, Ginny's parents, Tonks and Moody, anyone.

And I'll leave it here for now, and write the exciting conclusion next time :D

What do you think a genderswapped Harry Potter (Harriet Potter?) would've been like?

So to start... I actually don't think life at the Dursleys would be all that different for Fem!Harry. Maybe there would be less *violent* bullying from Vernon and Dudley... but they honestly don't manage all that much as it is, and Harry's "normal" abuse mostly consists of being shouted at, locked up, treated as a scullery maid, and just generally made into a scapegoat + inferior/problem child that the rest of the family can unite around. If anything, Fem!Harry would have just reminded Petunia even MORE of Lily, and stirred up even MORE complicated emotions. And we'd get even more of live-in chef/maid Cinderella!Harry. It would all feel very Matilda.

The first big change I see happening... is I don't think Ron would have bonded with Harry on the train nearly as easily, if she were a girl. Young Ron is honestly pretty uncomfortable/awkward around girls... unless he's able to put them into a category like "little sister" (which doesn't count.) Or "know-it-all" (which doesn't count.) It's kind of a plot point in Book 4 that it takes him a while to realize Hermione and Ginny are girls he and Harry could potentially ask to the dance. Ron grew up around a bunch of guys, and you can tell. I think he'd try to *impress* Fem!Harry on the train, and probably put his foot in his mouth.

Harry would be at kind of loose ends on the Hogwarts Express, and get sucked into the search for Trevor the toad as something to do. So in this version, she actually ends up bonding with Neville. Hermione would be there too but well - Hermione rubbed Harry the wrong way at first in canon, and it would be even more the case here. They're both (functionally) muggleborn girls - but Hermione is SO much better prepared, and has SUCH loving parents, and won't shut up about any of this. In a way that Canon!Harry kind of fixates on Draco for ending up with his Ideal Life, it's possible that Fem!Harry might fixate more on Hermione.

11-year-old Draco would have treated Fem!Harry exactly the same, meeting her at Madame Malkin's and later on the train. He'd still have his obsession with her, and yeah, it probably does read as more of a crush to his Slytherin buddies... but I really do not see that stopping him. If his father can't get him to be normal to Harry, then that's just how it's going to be.

Harry will still get Sorted into Gryffindor, but I don't see her being close with any of the the other Gryffindor girls. Lavender and Parvati just have very different personalities, and Harry and Hermione... are very intense people who work best when they're able to take breaks from each other. In Book 4 when Harry is exclusively hanging out with Hermione, he comments that she's not as *fun* as Ron. And we see that dynamic again in Book 7 when it's just the two of them in the tent. Like they're incredibly effective, but seem to be wearing each other down a little. I think that forcing young (less emotionally mature) Harry and Hermione to be roommates would just end up with them getting on each other's nerves.

Hermione might get pulled into the friend group when Harry and Neville need help researching Nicholas Flamel, but she could easily stay more of a supporting character or even a frenemy in this version. Fem!Harry would still be the youngest seeker in a century. (Draco would be even more motivated to steal Neville's Remembrall if Neville is Harry's best friend... so that face-off would have gone down exactly the same.) Once she's actually on the team, I could see her falling in more with the upperclassmen, and hanging out with Fred, George, Lee, and Angelina (especially if they put together that she's a bit lonely.) It could be Harry, Neville, maybe Hermione, maybe the twins solving the puzzles at the end of Book 1. They'd still suspect Snape, who... would honestly be just a slightly different flavor of antagonistic and weird towards Harry, if she were a girl.

But in second year, Ginny would be Sorted into Gryffindor and I do think that Fem!Harry and Ginny would get along great, absolutely be bros. They could bond over quidditch, and Harry would get more of a sense of Ginny's actual personality (funny, cool). I have to think 11-year-old Ginny would be much less awkward around Harry if she were a girl.

Which would be really intense actually, because Ginny would have shown up to school with the the Diary, and it's... sort of important to the plot that she's isolated and has no friends. If she shares it with Harry as a cool thing - then Harry is ABSOLUTELY going to get obsessed with it. And since Harry's a much better *get* for Tom (Tom talks about being *so* pleased when powerful, important, future nemesis Harry starts writing to him instead of Ginny...) I think you just get Possessed!Harry opening up the Chamber of Secrets.

Also, would Harry have a crush on Tom? We know that Tom Riddle tries to impress Canon!Harry, which doesn't work... but Fem!Harry he might try to charm. Tom can be very charming if he wants to be. Harry also thinks he's very handsome. Either way, Tom is going to work VERY hard to to get Harry to distrust her friends. Really, you'd just get Harry's plot about being isolated and possessed by Voldemort in Book 5 moved to Book 2. Tom would get Harry to write "her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever" on the wall, and lure her down to the Chamber of Secrets.

However. I do think that Lily's magic, which makes it impossible for Voldemort to physically touch Harry, would also make it impossible for him to properly drain her life and take over her body. I'm thinking of the moment at the end of Book 5 where Voldemort tries to possess Harry, but Harry fights him off. So... I think Harry just wakes up in the Chamber of Secrets with an intact Diary and a basilisk she can control, since of course she's still a parselmouth.

The question is... what happens to the Diary, now that Harry knows it's dangerous? I'm thinking that when Harry disappears, Ginny freaks out and tells one of her older brothers what's going on, who tells Arthur, who tells Dumbledore. Which leaves Dumbledore with a Horcrux that still works... and it seems like if you've got school-age Tom Riddle right there, that would be a much easier way to get an answer to the question 'how many horcuxes do you plan on making?' So Dumbledore gets a head start on that project.

Harry now effectively just is the Heir of Slytherin. She can go to the Chamber whenever she wants, and the basilisk is her familiar I guess (Hagrid would LOVE helping her take care of it.) I could also see a Harry who gets more *interested* in Salazar Slytherin after this. She definitely wouldn't talk to Draco - he spent Book 2 being an asshat and calling people slurs. But Harry might try to pick Theo's brain or something.

Now Hermione. At first I was thinking - does Hermione just die, in Book 2? Would she have known to look around corners with a mirror, and so survive her basilisk attack?

I do think she'd still figure it out... and it's because of Lockhart. Hermione is a Gilderoy Lockhart *fangirl,* and without Ron and Harry poo-pooing her crush (and without first hand experience of Lockhart causing issues for Harry...) I think she's able to geek about about this with her roomies. I mean, Lavender and Parvati read Witch Weekly. They know he's won the Most Charming Smile award. Hermione likes a project, and without Harry and Ron providing one, I think her new thing is impress Lockhart. And what would impress Lockhart? Well, he's a monster hunter who is trying to find the Chamber of Secrets and identify what's inside. How cool would it be, if they were the ones who helped him? He'd write about them in his next book.

So I think the Polyjuice Potion plan (Hermione's idea) is still a go. She might even talk Lavender and/or Parvati into helping out. (I mean, they joined the DA. They're up for some rulebreaking.) Hermione would still turn herself into a cat, which would actually massively humanize her in the eyes of her roommates, and I think they all end up much better friends in this AU. Eventually, one of them does manage to Polyjuice into Pansy, which is a much more effective way of interrogating Draco. And by this point, Hermione has met Myrtle, and has enough info to solve the mystery, and even bring her findings to Lockhart. Who ah. Finds an excuse to just run. There's a very fun portion of the year where Dumbledore teaches DADA.

I don't see all that much about Book 3 changing until the climax - because the crew Harry takes down to Hagrid's after dark *would* be different. Neville, Ginny (not the Twins - I think they give Harry the Map and peace out, they've got their own stuff going on and don't want to hang out with their much younger sister.) Maybe Theo? I could see him taking on a very Hermione-ish support role by this point.

But this also causes a problem, because if Ron isn't there, Scabbers isn't with him. And if Scabbers isn't with Ron - I don't think Remus notices Peter on the map, and so just stays inside and drinks his Wolfsbane, which means Snape doesn't go down. And since Sirius' target was never *actually* Harry... I think this is just a universe where Sirius first-degree-murders Peter, and doesn't have a confrontation with Harry at all.

I do think Voldemort still comes back though. Trelawney would still have made her prophecy ("His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master.") In this universe, that prophecy would refer to Barty jr, finally throwing off the Imperius curse for the first time.

Bertha Jorkins still goes on her trip to Albania, and... Voldemort probably just possesses her the same way he did Quirrell. I bet that's easier to do after someone's been sort of fried by a memory wipe. Also, being in her head, I have to assume he's eventually gets some inkling of the fact that Barty is still alive, and so goes looking for him. Harry still goes to the Quidditch World Cup since she's friends with Ginny, her scar is still hurting (she probably writes to Lupin about this, instead of Sirius, but Lupin gives her pretty similar advice. He will have still left Hogwarts, because Snape would still have outed him as a werewolf at the end of the year.)

Harry still ends up as Champion. I think Big Sister Fleur would be a little more protective of Fem!Harry than Canon!Harry. And also... Harry just straight-up has a crush on handsome, nice, good at Quidditch Cedric. Rita could write about the Harry/Cedric/Cho love triangle, instead of Harry/Hermione/Krum.

The Yule Ball would actually be kind of a big deal for Fem!Harry. Up until now, she's been kind of a tomboy who wears Dudley's hand-me-downs... and is occasionally forced into some terrible 'party dress' when Aunt Marge visits. Harry's best friends are a boy and a tomboy, her quidditch teammates are feminine role-models but very much athletes: 'girly' hyper-femininity is something she associates with Aunt Petunia.

But, fourth year roles around. Mrs. Weasley buys her a set of emerald-green dress robes that actually look really nice, and she needs to find a date for the ball. I think she thinks about asking Cedric... but chickens out at the last minute, and asks Neville to go with her as a friend. Between her much more girly roommates, and Fleur taking pity on her and giving her some tips... I think Hermione's big Yule Ball glow-up is also Harry's first experience with wanting to look pretty, and succeeding.

I think it would be fun, and make sense, if this lead into a little secret admirer subplot. Someone is leaving her little gifts and messages, and she's thinking - is it Neville? Theo? Cedric?

(it was Draco. Instead of the blast-ended skrewts, Hagrid has them all taking care of Harry's basilisk, and like... she has a basilisk... she's the Heir of Slytherin... she asked Longbottom to the ball when she could do so much better... she was wearing green and looking perfect. Draco's Harry obsession has sorted itself out into a very serious crush.)

Back to the main plot. With Peter dead, I'm not sure Barty would be able to take care of Voldemort AND prep the ritual to bring him back to life AND impersonate Moody. He's going to need a man on the inside. I think at first he tries to use his father - but as we know that is going to get very risky very fast, because Barty Sr is remarkably good at fighting the Imperius curse, and also just knows way too much. He's a huge risk, because if he goes rouge, he'll tell Dumbledore everything (which is very nearly what happens.)

So I think Barty Jr. targets Barty Sr.'s assistant Percy Weasley, after he can no longer control his father. Uses him as a way to affect things in Hogwarts. He might imperius him, but he also might just like... Polyjuice himself into his father for short periods, and manipulate Percy in a non-magical way to make sure he helps Harry, and gets her through the maze to the cup first. Once Percy realizes what he's done... I think he re-commits to his family in penance, and stops being a such a Ministry man.

Voldemort rising works as kind of a reset button, so things would start looking a lot more canon again, only with Ron and Hermione swapped out for Ginny and Neville. Main difference being, Voldemort has Barty now. I absolutely think he would have survived Book 4.

So I'm going to leave this what-if here for now. Thanks for the ask, this was a lot of fun to think about.

[zuzuelectricbugaloo]

I don’t get why some fans of Yugo get mad or annoyed at him for disliking his own Sans. He’s been dealing with nonstop fans for years who only focus on the memes surrounding Epic!Sans. Yugo has even expressed regret over making his Sans just a walking meme in the past, and of course, that would take a toll on his mental state and how he feels about the character. When people say he should stop talking about it, they don’t seem to understand that others constantly bring it up to him. It’s his character, and he has every right to vent about it however he wants.

You’re absolutely right, Epic is Yugo’s character, and he has every right to do as he pleases in how he uses said character and feels about it. I don’t condone harassment, and am firmly against attacking a creator simply because you passionately dislike or like a character of theirs.

One of my qualms with Yugo about Epic is how they blamed all of their mistakes and “cringe” of Epictale as a whole and projected it onto Epic and claimed the character’s death and celebration of his end meant that Yugo was absolved of any discomforting behaviors or jokes.

When he still continues to do so, even with characters from Epictale he likes.

Silly and goofy memes, might not be everyone’s preferred taste but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Memes are supposed to be silly and fun.

But then Yugo having to be convinced by their fans not to do NSFW commissions involving minors?

No no sorry, that’s not fair. Of course anyone who is broke would be desperate, and they’re just fictional characters, right? Whats the harm? No way does fiction impact reality in anyway.

Doesn’t that reasoning sound familiar?

And anyway, Yugo rejected it in the end. Of course that should be ignored then and any criticism of it is unwarranted.

My mistake. It’s still not fair. At least with Epic dead and gone, Epictale is free from anymore cringe and problematic anime tropes!

Again, I don't mean this as an attack on you or Yugo. It's a criticism, and one where my overall point is that my biggest gripe with Yugo isn't that I love his character and he doesn't. It's that Yugo seemed to absolve himself of all his shortcomings by projecting them onto Epic and therefore is free from error or criticism now.

Disliking that Red/Lara and Mettaton are in love with Papyrus who is seventeen makes you a hater. SEVENTEEN. They are literally centuries of years old, even in the remake. I know in reality, the age of consent varies per state in the USA and especially varies depending on country, with minors able to be married in some with their parents or guardians' consent, but still. It's uncomfortable. It's unnecessary. Papyrus could be shipped with Lara and Mettaton as an adult, as he is in Undertale by the fandom and in other AUs. But now with the context that Lara and Mettaton knew Papyrus since he was a child, it's disconcerting to imagine romance with any of them. Look, it's understandable for a creator to feel a certain way about their work and how it's interpreted. Especially in what they choose to do with their creations, in revamping or remaking things, and how they feel about it and choose to get rid of some things entirely.

For the most part, I enjoy Epictale and have read his brief Neutral!Frisk storyline. Yugo is a talented artist, and I adore Epictale and the characters and the great potential they all have and what can be expanded on it.

The old Epictale bore the same errs as many AUs within the UTMV fandom in its early years. Fantastic AUs with amazing concepts often had something problematic about them and this was sadly normalized. From the past Cream comics portraying SA as romantic or silly, to PJ's Daycare and the like also joking about minors/adults, SA and r*pe, SH, etc. Or it could be problematic with Frans or Fontcest, either in canon within the AU or played around with as concept. Epictale wasn't worst of them, nor was it the outlier in one of its characters joking about or portraying these problematic things.

Here's a big one: Underlust. It's not a masterpiece, and like many AUs, has so much potential. Unfortunately, there's so much that detracted from it that a remake or dismissal of most of its canon is needed if you want to find any enjoyment from it at all.

Same thing with the past Cream comics. At that point, the blog itself caused too much for its creators and they deleted it and made it non-canon entirely. I don't know what happened to the UL creator, but I assume something similar happened.

Sorry, back to Lust. I was not active in the fandom in its early years, I only witnessed glimpses of it and when I wanted to get into something, like Cream, it upset me too much and I left the fandom. In particular with Underlust, it makes me so sad because I was introduced to him through fanon first, where someone had an SA experience and used Lust as an expression of what it was like to go through something like that in his line of work. And it felt cathartic. Comforting. A character who could understand how I felt, who was was unconventional in their self-expression and yet happy and at peace with who they are, would be able to heal and find happiness regardless of what happened to them. But then I found the parts of his canon with Fontcest. And it turned out Lust had nothing like his fanon and it hurt. I could no longer enjoy the AU and ignored it entirely from then on. But Lust, today, is still so dear to me because of what he could be.

Yugo wants to move on from the past and be a better person. I think that's a noble endeavor. Anyone can be a better person and change. That doesn't make it easy, and it certainly doesn't mean that everyone will try.

And for the most part, Yugo seemed to make progress. Epictale in and out of its comics doesn't make any more jokes about sexual harassment as far as I'm aware. There are no harmful slurs used in a joking manner. For the most part, it seems Yugo made good on their word and is trying to move on from his past mistakes. Many creators of UTMV's past seem to do something similar, and I wish them all peace and commend them for trying to move on and be better. However, when Yugo crucifies Epic as the source of all his problems, and uses him as the symbol for burying the past and amending his mistakes, only to then make similar ones (far less severe than the ones he used to do, admittedly, but still concerning nonetheless) instead of using Epic's potential to make him be as Epic as his namesake, it doesn't piss me off, at Yugo or his fans. Fans won't always focus on what a creator originally wanted them to focus on. That's simply the nature of fandom. And memes are one of the most popular enjoyments of fans and is the most unifying act among them. But there would also be fans who love things besides the memes, who will work to enjoy and create what they can gleam from canon and expand on it, in art or fiction, with other characters in the story. So long as fans don't attack the creator, harass them, insult or demand they do more with their preferred character(s), I don't see anything wrong with this. It sounds like a regular community to me. No. It just makes me sad. But as you pointed out, it's Yugo's character and his right to do as he pleases. So, respectfully, Yugo wishes to have nothing to do with Epic anymore; I am all too happy to love him along with the fandom. Because to truly move on from the past, you need to accept accountability. I know Epic used to have problematic characteristics, be it in the noncanon comics or art, but it was a part of his character. I acknowledge that. And I want to move on. Remove the parts of the past that are bad, and instead of ignoring it, use it as a reference of what not to do, as a reference to be better and do better. I want to build on his potential and love him. Because Epic makes me happy, and I know he makes others happy too. Why not heal and work together to create something everyone can enjoy?

[amethxxt]

so... what do we think of the new D5 characters?

Look at me ranting again :)

I wanna start off by saying that this is no hate towards the actors. My problem is with the writers.

Am I excited for Red to have a younger sister? YES. My personal headcanon is that Red has 3 younger siblings (y'know, in a universe where the Queen of Hearts isn't an absolute tyrant), and now I can't wait to see what dynamic the two of them are going to have.

My problem with Pink, is that her name is Pink. WHY? WHAT WAS THE REASON?? It took me forever to get used to "Red" and now that's what they go for when Rosa/Rose was RIGHT THERE????

I seriously don't understand why Disney's so lazy when naming Descendants characters. Sometimes, we get absolute bangers like Calista Jane and others we get shit like Pink/Li'l Shang/Herkie/Hadie and I'm like… couldn't you have at least tried? Couldn't you go to a baby name website like every author in the world has done at least once and look for something better?

How do you expect us to care about the story of those characters when you couldn't be bothered to give them a decent name?

And speaking of Hook, we have a Hazel now :)

This one surprised me because I don't think I had ever expected them to come up with another child of Captain Hook. To me, Harriet, Harry and CJ are perfect and enough.

My problem isn't even that I think it's out of character for Hook to have four children. Actually, he seems like the type that adores the sex part but doesn't give a shit about his kids and is an abusive parent. My problem is that WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH HAZEL NOW????

I have such a perfect idea of how Harriet, Harry and CJ's dynamic is and now I have to worry about introducing a brand new sister. My second problem is that I love the idea of CJ being the baby of the family for more than one reasons.

Of course, I could just ignore her, but I'm actually curious about Hazel's character and love writing about the Hook family, so I've been trying to come up with my own headcanons for my version of Descendants in case Hazel lives and in case she doesn't and we're left with the original 3.

Max is... whatever. I hate that they're gonna have him be Red's love interest because she seemed so close to Maddox that it's weird to think she'd ever see him as anything other than a friend/brother figure. Also, I'm sure he only exists because they can't have Ace in the movies because it would contradict the book or something.

I just want glassheart to be canon, is that too much to ask????

Now (just let out the biggest sigh of my life), Luis Madrigal. He might actually be my new nemesis.

Again, no hate to the actor, but seriously?! They had to throw Encanto into the mix?? I would have no problems if their new character was like, Moana's son, for example, because I can see Moana existing in the Descendants universe.

Encanto, though? I love the movie, but no. Absolutely not.

It almost feels like those skits people post to make fun of Descendants with children of characters like Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear.

Luis is not ever going to be a part of my fics but at the very least I hope Disney isn't so lazy as to make him have super strenght when that's not how gifts work in Encanto. It's not hereditary.

Honestly, I can't believe someone came up with his character and it got approved.

Everything points out to the new "core four" being Red, Chloe, Pink and Hazel, but since Rise of Red didn't do such a good job at developing Red and Chloe's friendship, I'm worried about how they're going to do that and introduce two new main characters and develop Red and Pink's dynamic because I'm sure Red isn't going to start off as the perfect older sister.

I think it'd be interesting if she felt resentment and jealousy towards Pink, because she didn't have a sister before the timeline change, but now not only does she have one, but Pink got to grow up with the good version of the Queen of Hearts and all the love Red never got.

Really nice room for angst, especially since Red and Chloe are the only ones who remember how things used to be and can't just go around talking about it.

Well, I don't know what else to say right now because I just needed to vent a little. At the end of the day, we can only hope that D5 turns out to be a good movie.

[downsizedclab]

A couple of scribbles of Hito and @pocket-ozwynn's Donovan for an RP! He fell onto her apartment's balcony, and she's been so gracious about making sure he's alright. It's been a very sweet thread!

[ragana62]

Harry can be oblivious and clever. In fact, knowing how much he doesn’t know about the magical world is probably a pretty good indicator that he is pretty clever. A lot of ‘smart’ people have a hard time admitting they don’t know something.

Either you can approach that problem the way Hermione does by reading everything you can find on the subject and hoping it’s all accurate and up to date and comprehensive, or you can take the Harry approach and lean on soft skills and be like ‘you know what, I don’t know what this stuff is, but you know who will, my friend Ron who grew up around it, Ron what the fuck is happening?’

Alternatively, you can be the sort of clever but oblivious that falls into the street vs book smarts dichotomy a bit better. Harry can be objectively good at chess and have a natural aptitude for DADA and pick up other disciplines like Potions super quickly once given more accurate/thorough instructions like he gets in HBP from his potions book.

He can also just be a bit of a dork, someone who didn’t really have the chance to develop social skills with people around his age until he started Hogwarts thanks to the Dursleys so he is oblivious in the sense maybe he’s a little too trusting of his new friends being 100% right and not trying to mislead him for any reason (see: Hermione having to spell out why Romilda’s crush might actually be dangerous seeing as she’s looking into love potions, his comment about wanting to go to Slug Club holiday party with ‘someone cool’ and consistent bad date etiquette with Cho or Parvati because he doesn’t 100% know what he’s supposed to be doing, and his issues with understanding and processing his own thoughts and feelings a lot of the time whether that’s angry outbursts or his genuine confusion around Ron’s feelings around jealousy regarding Slug Club/Triwizard Tournament/Hermione on the run).

Or maybe he doesn’t trust anyone at all and is incredibly hyper vigilant after years of abuse to the point it’s actually a bit overstimulating to be around big groups so of course he doesn’t pick up on little social cues all the time because he’s busy watching the door to see whether whatever made that loud sound in the hallway might want to take a swing at him (see: Harry explicitly talking on several occasions about how he doesn’t like all the attention and wants it to stop during the Triwizard Tournament/6th Year, hesitancy about teaching the DA because he doesn’t feel like anyone is going to want to listen to a crazy guy, the way he seems to often position himself facing doorways when in groups).

Honestly, it can be (and there’s a canon argument that it is) all three. Harry can be very clever, have natural aptitudes for certain disciplines, shows interest in learning about a variety of subjects, clearly picks things up quickly academically in certain subjects. There are also some things he objectively doesn’t know (I.e. Wizarding traditions), or certain subjects he objectively doesn’t like (I.e. History of Magic), and at least some of the time he shows curiosity towards new areas of learning. He can also be a complete moron socially, whether that’s the way he handles his whole little kind of relationship with Cho or the way he clearly uses sarcasm to avoid actually dealing with his feelings a lot of the time. And of course, he’s also got a hyper awareness about him that there are people trying to hurt him, he does put people in danger with proximity at times, he does feel responsible for protecting his friends which includes very much the perceived need to distance himself from them at times, and makes him a tad inclined towards being out of the loop.

I need an argument to prove that Harry Potter is NOT a 'himbo jock'. I actually hate that trope so much and even more when it's shoved onto him. This dude likes playing Quidditch, likes the sportsmanship, but doesn't care to follow up on official teams. And he's so clever. People who said Harry is oblivious and nothing else damaged his reputation forever and it makes me so sad

Well, I make this argument often and have a whole post dedicated to links to my HJP essays. But if you want specific ones against the himbo allegations (which I, too, despise. How can you read these books, from inside Harry's mind, no less, and seriously think he is a himbo jock? That's some pissing on the poor shit) I'd go for the evidence I brought up in:

1. Harry is really smart

2. Harry is really smart part 2

3. Harry doesn't hate studying

4. Harry is magically powerful

5. Harry is magically powerful part 2

6. Harry is a Quidditch hobbyist who cares about the sport way less than Ron and Ginny (he just loves flying)

7. Harry doesn't even come off as a himbo jock to other characters in universe

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[sapphire-draw]

That moment in Moonbrooke where Malroth gets angsty and decides he wants to break the siege.

Turns out, you can kill a lot of unintended enemies with the poison needle! including the siege ones!

So you can pull a Malroth and charge head first to try and kill everyone if you want to- before Malroth even suggests doing so.

They respawn for the cutscene... but don't worry they won't here

[flowering-darkness]

oh yes and while I’m still in Reborn mode: I think I might change Adriana’s design again, possibly to commemorate 19.6 releasing (when it releases; I have no idea when it actually will, but I do feel like I remember hearing that it’s on the horizon from news posts in the Discord server)

This will involve changing her outfit as well as possibly her hairstyle (since I’m considering giving her existing style to Antares instead; that’s the joy of having multiple self-inserts, I can swap traits between them >w<). However, her other physical traits - like her white freckles - aren’t going anywhere, so they will still help her stand out/be recognised amidst my self-inserts!

I’ve been really wavering about whether to go through with this for a number of reasons, such as the amount of renders I’ve made where she has her current design during Reborn’s story (plus I am rather attached to her current outfit since it ties into her backstory a bit). However, I do still have a backup way of having it be something she wears in canon (by using it as her Contest outfit, since she dabbles in being a coordinator after Reborn’s postgame). So I wouldn’t be entirely disposing of it for her. I also might still have the project files saved and could therefore re-render old pieces to update them??

We shall have to see. But, once I have decided something, I would like to use it to make more selfship stuff, so having that as a possibility is nice to look forward to~

(And, in any case, I hope everyone is well today ^-^)

[oceanwithouthermoon]

okay i just put this in the tags of a different post but now i have to put it in another post so i can talk about it more <3

celestia and luna : kusuo and kusuke is NOT a cut and dry comparison and neither of them fit one or the other perfectly.. for the most part, kusuo is celestia and kusuke is luna (kusuke lashing out because he thinks kusuo is better than him, that things are easier for kusuo, kusuo not understanding, etc etc.) but the problem with that by itself is that that goes BOTH ways in almost the same exact way, the biggest difference is in how they cope with it all.. kusuo also sees himself in luna A LOT, but unlike kusuke he keeps his issues bottled up and never once takes it out on him.. he competes back to kusuke, especially when they were kids, but for the most part he doesnt WANT to and only does it because either 1) kusuke tries to make him feel inferior or 2) kusuke BRIBES him to do it ???

they both think the other has it better and wish that they could live the others life, and neither of them understand the others struggles (and probably never will fully, but hopefully itll get better for them.)

kusuo definitely watched mlp and thinks of HIMSELF as the luna or the 'nightmare moon' of the two of them because, even though he hasnt ever actually lashed out in that way, he knows how perfectly capable of it he is and he believes himself to be some sort of monster.. and its not really a rational way for him to see things, especially since he doesnt even usually view kusuke in a positive light ? but lunas story just hits home with him that badly..

this is just one reason why i think it sucks that kusuo being "powerless" basically only lasted a weekend, because we totally couldve gotten to see a "celestia and luna switching cutie marks for a day" kind of dynamic between kusuo and kusuke.. obviously not with kusuke having powers, but with him being above kusuo and more powerful than the general human race and realizing that being better than kusuo isnt what he wanted it to be..

and seeing how absolutely depressed and in denial kusuo becomes at first when he starts getting his powers back wouldve hit so much harder for kusuke if it had been a slower realization before kusuo could begin accepting himself again

[britneyshakespeare]

I can't believe the Younger Brother (1689) by Aphra Behn has the only one bed trope

[quietwingsinthesky]

the thing about me is that I have this need to pick up every angel on supernatural by their scruff and place them into an enclosure that will allow them to, if not heal and become better, than at least to be petty and vindictive in a way that causes less death and destruction and is just kind of annoying. which I would argue is also good for them. let angels make choices where the consequences of their actions are non-existent rather than world-ending. teaches them free will in a safe, healthy way.

[kumoofthemaken]

[Test headcanon: Kumo likes being addressed as "Makenshi" by the kids, and will use the name since it is easier to say than "the Demon Swordsman" at every occasion. This is also due to the fact it reminds him of Misterian, where Maken'šil would simply mean "(one) of the Maken"]

[bibiana112]

I like this happiness can be found in any world speech putting the focus on the fact that being able to compare between a hypothetical less tragic version of events is in itself what causes unhappiness and dissatisfaction sure for the characters it's literal timeloops but real things like anxiety and ptsd often trick you into losing focus of the good things in the now and to lose yourself in the what could have been

[swagging-back-to]

so i also got the dine out pack and uhhhhhhhhh i do not see the hype some people give it. i certainly don't see why people put a restaurant in every world.

i even have the mod that fixes the pack and makes it playable. I've played it. it was fine. it went how it was supposed to go really easily.

in fact, here's a nice realistic shot i got of one of the teenagers doing homework while waiting for the food to come.

but the actual dining experience was just so quick. too quick.

im in the severe minority of players who actually wishes the sims took LONGER to eat their food.

i couldn't want it any less in the restaurant. i feel like you wait all of this time for it to come and then they're finished in literally 2 bites/sips. i feel like it should take at least 4 bites to be actually realistic.

but all in all i dont see the gameplay as that rewarding or fun. I'm gonna use it maybe once every other blue moon. you get the same exact experience from cooking or making your own drinks.

[choco-reblogs-stuff-aaaa]

This is so true they never once explained it 😭

It's interesting because at first glance it kinda makes sense because the game is supposed to be a dramatization of the gravel war so you'd just think "oh so the classes are probably just based around this one particular team because they were cool and interesting and yeah that makes total sense

But the thing is the team colors for the mercs don't even stay consistent in the comics?? Like you could argue that that's because they probably just kept switching teams depending on who was paying better and yeah that is probably true, but then again if that's the case why was it such a big problem in the war comic for example that red demo and Blu soldier were friends? (Since if the admin and Pauling really wanted to deal with that they could've just secretly offered more money to one of them from the "other team" and had them switch so they would be teammates)

But like also if that were the case wouldn't they know each other anyway because they were probably teammates at some point before???

And ofc in the main comics they're all red except for Engie, but by then it doesn't really matter too much since the war is over and they're working as a team but.????

I do like that fan interpretations are so varied when explaining this tho because it leads to lots of interesting takes and honestly I like looking at each interpretation a lot. Like we've got emesis Blu style respawn machine existential horror, we've got various ideas with clones and red and Blu not being exactly alike, kind of diverging into their own people as they're separated, we've got similar yet different versions of mercs with slightly different backstories au style like we see in lil pootis, we've got redesigns, recharacterisations, etc, etc. And like I'm just here for it all.

I think it’s pretty damn funny how much of the TF2 comics were just about taking the ludicrous things that happen as part of the gameplay and giving them even-more-ludicrous Lore Explanation. Anything from the appearance of new weapons

And new game modes

And why the ‘announcer’ is the same regardless of which team you’re on

And why a location would be called basically “2Fort” in real life anyways

And who the hell the characters were talking to in their “Meet the” videos

And where did the moniker "Team Fortress" even came from in-universe

To of course, why you’re fighting the same repetitive battles over and over endlessly anyways

But the one thing they never tried to explain or meaningfully acknowledge in any way, not even in a poignant “the point is that it’s pointless and makes no sense” sort of way - is why the hell are there two identical ‘Team Fortress’ populated with seemingly-identical people living seemingly-identical lives.