#ottaline gambol

[braveclementine]

Part 20

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).

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

MINISTRY OF MAGIC, MEETING ROOM

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Draco, and Severus pace around the room as they talk. Elizabeth however is simply standing to the side, not watching or listening to them. 

"Have we searched thoroughly beside the tracks?" Draco asked. 

"My department have searched once and are searching again." Harry said. 

"Has searched." Elizabeth muttered under her breath. 

"And the Trolley Witch is not able to tell us anything useful?" Draco asked. 

Elizabeth shuddered, thinking of the Trolley Witch. She hadn't been able to look at her the same after her trip on the train her fifth year. Lee had dared her that she wouldn't be able to get off the train and back on again. The Trolley Witch was scarier than Voldemort himself. 

"The Trolley Witch is furious. She keeps talking about letting down Ottaline Gambol. She prides herself on her Hogwarts delivery record." Hermione sighed. 

"Have there been any instances of magic reported by the Muggles?" Ginny asked. 

"None so far. I have made the Muggle Prime Minister aware and he is filing what is known as a misper. Sounds like a spell. It isn't." Hermione said. 

"It's the muggles way of alerting people that there are missing persons." Elizabeth supplied helpfully. "I don't think it's going to do us much good though, while I can't see them clearly, I think they're going to be staying in the Wizarding realm." 

"So now we're relying on Muggles to find our children? Have we told them about Harry's scar too?" Draco spat. 

"There is no harm in having eyes everywhere Draco." Severus murmured softly. 

"Yes," Hermione nodded towards him. "And who knows how Harry's scar might be involved but it's certainly a matter we're taking seriously. Our Aurors are currently investigating anyone involved in Dark Magic and-" 

"This is not Death Eater- related." Draco said firmly. 

"I'm not sure I share your confidence." 

"I'm not confident, I'm right. The sort of cretins pursuing Dark Magic now. . . My son is a Malfoy, they wouldn't dare." 

Severus didn't share that confidence with Mari. The Snape name didn't hold the same power, not anymore. When he had been seen as Voldemort's right hand man, even above the Malfoys, he was feared. But now he was seen as a loving family man, his cold heart softened by a Hufflepuff Potter. They weren't wrong, but that also meant his family was in more danger than Dracos'. 

"Unless there's something new out there, something to-" Harry started. 

"I agree with Draco." Ginny said unexpectedly. "If this is a kidnap- taking Albus or Mari I understand, taking all three of them. . ." 

"And Scorpius is a follower, not a leader, despite everything I've tried to instill in him. So it's undoubtedly Albus or Marinette who got him from that train and my question is, where would they take him?" 

Elizabeth shook her head. "I love Mari, but she's a follower too. Albus and Scorpius are her first friends she's made. . . her entire life sadly. If Albus or even Scorpius want to do something, I think she'd do it for them." She glanced over at Severus who nodded slightly in agreement. 

"Harry, they've run away, you and I know it." Ginny said softly. The two of them had been having a silent conversation together. 

"Do you? Know it? What aren't you telling us?" Draco asked dangerously. "Whatever information you're concealing, I recommend you share it now." 

"Albus and I had an argument, the day before last." Harry sighed. "It was worse than some of our other arguments. . ." 

"And?" Draco prompted. 

"He said he wished I wasn't his father." Harry sighed. "And I didn't know how to respond without making things worse so I just. . . walked away. Which now in hindsight looks like it was a mistake." 

Draco took a step towards Harry. "If anything happens to Scorpius-" 

"Don't throw around threats, Draco, please don't do that." Ginny pleaded, stepping between the two men. 

"Draco." Severus said warningly. 

"MY SON IS MISSING!" Draco roared. 

"SO IS MINE!" Elizabeth and Ginny snapped together. 

Dracos' lip curled, reminding Elizabeth vividly of Lucius. "If you need gold. . . everything the Malfoys have. . . he's my sole heir. . . He's my- only family." 

"The Ministry has plenty in reserve, thank you. . ." Hermione drifted off as Elizabeth suddenly just left the room. She looked inquiringly at Severus who just shook his head. ". . .Draco." 

Draco made to leave before stopping, looking back at Harry. "I don't care what you did or who you saved, you are a constant curse on my family, Harry Potter." and he slammed the door shut behind him. 

There was a silence and then Harry asked Severus, "Do you think Elizabeth saw something?" 

"No." Severus shook his head, starting to make his own way to the door so he could find his wife. "She would have said something." He opened the door and stepped out, going to find his wife.

[dullscissorsintheyellowlight]

Canon marauders prank

Did you guys know that a marauders prank is cited in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

Here’s the scene:

ACT ONE, SCENE ELEVEN ROOF OF THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS The wind whistles from all angles and it’s a fierce wind at that. SCORPIUS: Okay, now we’re on the roof of a train, it’s fast, it’s scary, this has been great, I feel like I’ve learnt a lot about me, something about you, but — ALBUS: As I calculate it we should be approaching the viaduct soon and then it’ll be a short hike to St. Oswald’s Home for Old Witches and Wizards . . . SCORPIUS: The what? The where? Look, I am as excited as you are to be a rebel for the first time in my life — yay — train roof — fun — but now — oh. SCORPIUS sees something he doesn’t want to see. ALBUS: The water will be an extremely useful backup if our Cushioning Charm doesn’t work. SCORPIUS: Albus. The Trolley Witch. ALBUS: You want a snack for the journey? SCORPIUS: No. Albus. The Trolley Witch is coming towards us. ALBUS: No, she can’t be, we’re on top of the train . . . SCORPIUS points ALBUS in the right direction, and now he can see the TROLLEY WITCH, who approaches nonchalantly, pushing her trolley. TROLLEY WITCH: Anything from the trolley, dears? Pumpkin Pasty? Chocolate Frog? Cauldron Cake? ALBUS: Oh. TROLLEY WITCH: People don’t know much about me. They buy my Cauldron Cakes — but they never really notice me. I don’t remember the last time someone asked my name. ALBUS: What is your name? TROLLEY WITCH: I’ve forgotten. All I can tell you is that when the Hogwarts Express first came to be — Ottaline Gambol herself offered me this job . . . SCORPIUS: That’s — one hundred and ninety years. You’ve been doing this job for one hundred and ninety years? TROLLEY WITCH: These hands have made over six million Pumpkin Pasties. I’ve got quite good at them. But what people haven’t noticed about my Pumpkin Pasties is how easily they transform into something else . . . She picks up a Pumpkin Pasty. She throws it like a grenade. It explodes. And you won’t believe what I can do with my Chocolate Frogs. Never — never — have I let anyone off this train before they reached their destination. Some have tried — Sirius Black and his cronies, Fred and George Weasley. ALL HAVE FAILED. BECAUSE THIS TRAIN — IT DOESN’T LIKE PEOPLE GETTING OFF IT . . . The TROLLEY WITCH’s hands transfigure into very sharp spikes. She smiles. So please retake your seats for the remainder of the journey. ALBUS: You were right, Scorpius. This train is magical. SCORPIUS: At this precise moment in time, I take no pleasure in being right. ALBUS: But I was also right — about the viaduct — that’s water down there, time to try the Cushioning Charm. SCORPIUS: Albus, this is a bad idea. ALBUS: Is it? (He has a moment’s hesitation, then realizes the time for hesitation has passed.) Too late now. Three. Two. One. Molliare! He incants as he jumps. SCORPIUS: Albus . . . Albus . . . He looks down desperately after his friend. He looks at the approaching TROLLEY WITCH. Her hair wild. Her spikes particularly spiky. Well, as fun as you clearly look, I have to go after my friend. He pinches his nose, he jumps after ALBUS, incanting as he goes. Molliare!

Anyway, how do you guys supose this went down? Maybe it was on the way to London and Sirius didn’t want to see his parents?

[trolleybitch]

the trolley witch backstory

okay this is long overdue but i thought it was about time that i shared the official trolley witch backstory from this thread. before we start, what we know about the hogwarts express trolley witch from canon: she was hired by ottaline gambol, had been working on the hogwarts express for around 190 years by the time she met albus potter and scorpius malfoy, she had pumpkin pasty grenades and extendable fingernail spikes, and when she failed to stop the boys from escaping the train, she was inconsolable and talked about letting down ottaline gambol.

so, without further ado, her story:

the year is 1802. trolley witch is born into a poor muggle family in rural northern england and her father leaves shortly after she's born. she grows up lonely and isolated, working from a young age to help her mum make ends meet. age 11, she gets her hogwarts letter.

her mother is a bit dubious but lets her go - it's a good opportunity to get rid of the burden of looking after her. she arrives at hogwarts and is sorted into gryffindor, although she doesn't really know what that means. she doesn't make friends easily.

other kids mock her background and upbringing, and her magic skills. she never really learned to read, and with no magical family she's behind on spells and has never been academically inclined. she doesn't ask for help and her teachers don't always notice she needs it.

mid-second year, her mother dies. she doesn't find out for several weeks because who would write to tell her? she spends all her holidays at hogwarts, often alone. the gryffindor common room is all snide comments and judgemental looks so she starts to explore the castle.

in her third year she finds the kitchens. the house-elves are wary of her at first, this strange, solitary girl coming to spy on them, but she becomes fascinated by cooking and after a while they grow to appreciate her interest. they start to teach her.

by fourth year she spends all of her free time in the kitchens, cooking and baking with the elves. homework and lessons get forgotten and she lags even further behind in her schoolwork, but she learns to follow recipes and then to invent her own.

o.w.l.s and n.e.w.t.s come and go and her grades are poor, barely passing half her classes. a few teachers try to offer specialist tutoring and she accepts half-heartedly but her mind is elsewhere - she only wants to cook, to do the thing she does best.

she leaves hogwarts with nowhere to go and no friends to rely on. who would hire the lowly muggleborn girl with no qualifications? she makes her way to london - she's never been but she's heard people say it's the best place to find work.

the city is overwhelming, but she manages to find diagon alley and the wizarding community. one day when she's lurking outside the back entrance to the leaky cauldron, hoping for scraps, an old teacher passes by and recognises her.

the teacher takes pity and asks if there's anything they can do. trolley witch tells her the only thing she can do is cook. the teacher's sister works at the ministry and she knows they are often looking to take on kitchen assistants - she'll get in touch.

after a few days, she's nervously making her way to the ministry of magic for her first day. the hogwarts kitchens were big and busy but they've got nothing on the ministry; a scene of vast, barely organised chaos. her boss is shrewd and fierce, and she's set to work on the most basic tasks to prove herself.

that afternoon, a senior ministry official comes down to check on catering preparations for an event she's hosting in a couple of days. trolley witch has just finished glazing several pans of pastries. the senior ministry official tries one.

'she's new, miss' says a nearby chef, excusing trolley witch's skills.

'impressive, for a new recruit,' says ottaline gambol, looking trolley witch straight in the eye, 'this glaze is excellent. welcome to the ministry.'

an obsession begins.

ottaline visits the kitchens only occasionally but trolley witch is always waiting for her. she works harder than ever, picking up every recipe, designing new dishes, honing flavour combinations, all to make sure she's got something impressive for the next visit.

it works. the older official is mildly impressed, if a little unsettled by trolley witch's solitary, strange nature. she rarely seems to go home or interact with anyone apart from necessary conversations in the kitchens.

one day, they meet in an elevator as trolley witch is taking food to an important ministry hearing. ottaline asks for a sample and their fingers brush as trolley witch hands her a pumpkin pasty. ottaline doesn't notice, but compliments the pasty. trolley witch tries to keep her composure.

'my department is in need of an assistant catering manager, helping to design event menus and so on. think about it.'

trolley witch doesn't need to think. she accepts and begins work in ottaline's department, seeing her almost every day, watching her closely.

ottaline gambol is a force to be reckoned with - strong-willed, assertive, a powerfully skilled witch. over the next 6 years she charts a meteoric rise in power, from senior official to head of department to - in 1827 - minister for magic.

trolley witch never leaves her side. she works hard to keep honing her culinary skills, but she does more. she waits for ottaline outside meetings to walk her back to the office. she analyses the smallest gesture, the most offhand of comments. she's desperate for approval and attention from this woman who showed her kindess on her first day. by her appointment as minister, ottaline has noticed the girl's obsession. she's got more important things to do than navigate an intense crush and figure out how to let this odd, lonely girl down gently.

in 1830, ottaline is finalising plans for the hogwarts express - a new form of transport to safely deliver students to hogwarts, managed by the ministry. it's revolutionary, it's creating a storm of attention across the wizarding world. and it needs a trolley witch.

someone to cook and sell food on the journey, but someone with a keen eye to watch over the students and make sure they don't come to harm. ottaline calls trolley witch into her ministerial office and offers her the job. it's the greatest honour of trolley witch's life.

to be chosen, so specifically, by ottaline. she feels like she's finally been recognised, she's finally achieved something. she realises she'll be apart from ottaline for a while, but probably just a year or two and then they can be together again, right? she begins work.

1st september, 1830. her first day.

'good luck,' says ottaline on platform 9 3/4. 'keep these children on the train, and keep them safe. i trust you to do an excellent job for me.'

those were the last words ottaline ever spoke to trolley witch.

the train departs. trolley witch walks the corridors, distributing pasties and sweets, watching the children. they are all delivered on time and in perfect health to hogwarts - a great success. trolley witch writes to ottaline straight away to tell her the good news.

'thank you for you letter, i'm pleased to hear the journey was a success. best wishes' is ottaline's reply.

she's probably very busy, will write a longer letter soon, thinks trolley witch. she never does.

trolley witch works back in the hogwarts kitchens during the year, with only the elves for company. years pass and trolley witch continues to write long, rambling letters to ottaline, never receiving a reply. she makes the journey back and forth to london at the beginning and end of every holiday, dutifully watching over the students.

she hopes to see ottaline at the station, but never does. in 1835, tragedy strikes - ottaline, nearing the end of her second term as minister, contracts a severe case of dragon pox and dies. trolley witch sees the news in a student's copy of the daily prophet and is inconsolable. she speaks to nobody for weeks, not even the elves, even when a few other members of staff ask her what's wrong.

one day in the kitchens an elf passes by with a full tray of pumpkin pasties, perfectly glazed. she remembers the first day she met ottaline, back in that busy kitchen, and she vows to protect her legacy. she works tirelessly, baking and cooking and watching the children. they test her patience, play cruel tricks, tease her, never ask her name. she forgets the outside world, forgets who she is, thinks only of ottaline.

every journey on the hogwarts express becomes more perilous - she cannot let the children get the better of her, cannot let ottaline's work be in vain. over the decades she picks up elfish magic, learning to weaponise her food, and later herself.

she goes unnoticed by staff and students alike, existing as a constant feature of their hogwarts life, always present but never worthy of attention. staff come and go, and nobody thinks to ask how long she's been at hogwarts. she stays alive through sheer willpower.

1st september 2020.

a normal hogwarts express journey - or so the trolley witch thinks. all is well until albus potter and scorpius malfoy climb onto the roof of the train to try and escape. it's the greatest test of trolley witch's career.

it's been a long time since she was challenged like this. she does her best - pumpkin pasty grenades, armoured fingernails, but the boys escape. her world shatters around her. ottaline would be so disappointed in her - she's failed in her sole duty.

it's been two hundred years and she has never failed before. mcgonagall tries to comfort her, but it's no use. what purpose does she serve now? trolley witch hands in her notice and leaves the castle the next day, never to be seen again. she wanders the forests near the castle, thinking only of ottaline. perhaps ottaline had known all along that she would fail, and that's why she never replied to her letters, why she never visited. she gets lost, deeper and deeper in the forest, until the cold and the dark envelop her.

when the hogwarts express departs for the christmas holidays, something is missing - someone. students start to get impatient.

'where's the trolley witch? i'm hungry.'

complaints are made. eventually the ministry hires a replacement, service resumes. trolley witch fades into history, unremembered.

so next time you are thinking about cursed child, about your cute albus and scorpius headcanons - remember the trolley witch.

remember what they did to her. remember her story.

🛒 1802-2020 🛒

the end

[waslikemagic]

PRIOR  TO  THE  FIRST  WORLD  WAR ,  the  british  wizarding  world  had  no  formal ,  national  collection  of  artifacts  that  could  be  viewed  by  the  public .  these  items  were  in  the  hands  of  many  private  collectors ,  &  thus  rarely  went  on  show .  many  objects  had  been  handed down  in  these  families  for  generations ,  or  were  otherwise  purchased  from  one  another  for  their  own  collections .  

however ,  many  of  these  relics  of  wizarding  history  were  nearly  lost  as  british  wizards  became  entangled  in  the  first  world  war .  several  prominent  families  entrusted  their  collections  in  the  capable  hands  of  JOSEPHINE  GAMBOL , who  organized  &  labelled  their  collections  in  the  first  floor  of  the  gambol  estate .  like  her  grandmother ,  josephine  was  fascinated  by  muggle  trends  &  became  very  attracted to  the  idea  of  opening  a  wizard  museum .  the  american  wizards  had  found  great  success  with  their  museums ,  &  she  couldn’t  see  why  one  couldn’t  be  opened  in  britain ,  too .  letters  to  donors  became  talks ;  talks  with  donors  became  talks  with  the  ministry  of  magic .  not  only  did  she  urge  the ministry  to  modernise  with  their  international  counterparts ,  but  she  made  clear  the  importance  of  preserving  magical  heritage  ‘ in  other  ways  than  blood . ’  given  wizarding  nationalism  was  at  an  all - time  high  at  the  time ,  the  ministry  granted  josephine  her  first  charter ,  which  became  the  museum  of  magical  history ,  in  1921 . 

the  gambol  museums ,  thus ,  are  referred  to  as  follows :  

museum  of  magical  history ,  london  museum  of  the  dark  arts ,  london   the  quidditch  museum ,  london   ottaline  gambol  zoo  &  bestiary ,  bristol international  museums :   musee d’art magique , paris  palazzo  orsini ,  florence   국립마법박물관  /  lit.  national  magic  museum ,  seoul   museum  of  american  magical  history ,  new  york  city  museum  of  american  wizarding  art , boston  museum  of  modern  wizarding  art ,  new  york  city  

[thequibblah]

directors cut for WTRF? 🥺👉👈 not biased at all obviously just objective third party asking for a directors cut hmmm hmmmmm

literally how could u do this every other word in that fic is an easter egg i can't shut up about..... bestie u are about to have regrets

one thing u should know is that 90% of things in this fic have real-world equivalents and its not even like....... hidden equivalents. serie primo = serie a, for instance. this trend is going to continue and i won't apologise <3

fun fact i named the bar the Bar and the drinks after shapes because i was too lazy to come up with something actually clever

this bit

I’m grinning to myself by the time she approaches my table.

was a very intentional fakeout and if you read this and thought "she" would be lily, feel free to sue me for emotional damages

the biggest conundrum of this AU was, how are jily not going to have met in school when magic exists? the solution was, of course, having multiple magic schools. but i couldn't let one of them have hogwarts, that didn't seem fair. i know i did sort of let lily have it..... but i felt more comfortable making hogwarts a university so there was a legit reason why james wasn't there and in gryffindor (if he'd gone he absolutely would have been)

once solved, i did the fun thing of naming them! ottaline gambol's was easy, i just scrolled through the list of ministers for magic and picked a progressive one. peverell hall was a whim, made all the funnier when lily's reaction is:

Much was made at Otty’s — one of the more progressive magical schools, named for one of the more progressive Ministers of Magic — of schools like Peverell Hall and St. George’s. The latter, I know, is chock-full of pureblooded elite. Peverell Hall is supposed to be slightly better, but still.

dang, it's gonna be funny if she ever finds out james is a descendant of the guy it's named after

fun fact, i included this because peter's question was a real thought i had when reading bond and free, your inspiring writing knows no limits:

The first thing you conjure in Walking Wombat is a yellow quill... “Why yellow?” Peter asked. Eddie gave him a strange look. “Why not?”

i realised i'd put jily in the same conundrum they had in tis the fucking season here:

It’s only then that I remember she’s just bought us drinks. I turn back to my triangle. “Oh, shit.” I suppose I can pawn it off on one of the others.

...but of course the resolution is rather different, and i do so enjoy a james with no filter (aka default james)

I briefly lose control of my brain and my tongue. “Is it too soon to say I’m in love with you?”

by the way, no-filter james will be a theme. wild things sure do run fast but not as fast as this boy runs his mouth!

also, another interesting challenge here was making sure james has a reason to be the way he is in AU. i love playing around with james's childhood/background and seeing how that affects his character while (hopefully!) staying true to who he is. i did that in ttfs by having him move around a lot and not meet the marauders until after the flashback timeline, which is why he's less of a git — he doesn't have the level of comfort in a social setting that canon james has with hogwarts, which is basically his playground from day 2 of first year lol

here, james was probably a fkn nightmare all through school, but of course he gets a big ego check when his quidditch career is derailed. i imagine his years in italy as a continuation of that humility lesson.

I will fully admit I used to be a cocky prick. This is what comes of being a kid who grew up with everything. But one useful thing that the whole fiasco four years ago taught me is humility. I’ve learned how to ask nicely for another chance.

and so much of writing him in wtrf is juggling that typical confidence with the insecurity/fear of losing something he's invested so much in (and has seen slip away before). it's really new to me, because typically i give lily uncertain life circumstances, but i suppose it's both of them in this AU.

the car thing was... i swear didn't start out as smutty, it was purely because i wanted a way to establish lily as muggleborn in a world where the connotations of not having magical parents is very different. more to come on that!

also, come to think of it, by this metric...

I’m now in dangerous territory, since that adds another impressive action to her running tally.

...i think james is already in love with her LOL

this bit:

The street is considered indecent and the downstairs hallway would have our landlady come running at once, so if it pleases Your Honour, we would recommend the sitting room sofa.

...was actually because in draft one lily was a lawyer, but then it was funny enough that i didn't want to take it out, but NOW i realise it makes it sound a little like she's addressing james as your honour, which.... hm. but anyway, we move on

Marc Bolan begs us to get it on through the stereo, vocalising my thoughts exactly.

the song here was initially "you shook me" (h/t @keepingupwithpotters) but i chickened out because zeppelin is SO horny dfjkhgkjs

also, it gave me so much joy to read everyone reacting to lily thinking about her ex (the general vibe was "who the fuck is this guy!!! ew!!!!") — rest assured (or, unassured??) that he has a part to play in all this. anyway, this is one of my fave lines:

He’s just a person, and there’s such a relief in sleeping with James and not the myth of a guy.

because as any come together reader knows....

Just James. Just James. It was never just James.

wtrf lily will learn!

literally the whole world knows i'm obsessed with needle drops that have no subtlety at all, but this one...

We just laugh, tangled together in a sweaty heap, as “Heaven Is in the Back Seat of My Cadillac” plays through the car’s speakers. “On the nose, isn’t it?” James says, sitting up.

...was pure luck, because i was looking up the top hits on the uk singles chart for the week(ish) this scene takes place in so that i could find a song that would realistically play on the radio, saw this, and was like omg the stars really do align

i feel like the thing i enjoy most about writing romance is the importance i get to place in noticing/looking/observing (and sometimes, not noticing!). it's just such a powerful but simple writerly tool, and god knows i am obsessed with pithy descriptions anyway, so this bit i am especially happy with:

James is already waiting, leaning against the car with his hands in his pockets. I feel as though I’m seeing him for the first time, the faint light of the flickering streetlamp catching him in profile: the strong slope of his nose, the hard line of his jaw, the curve of his smile. He studies the facade of our building with open curiosity, and I wonder what he’s looking for.

(one can only imagine james's train of thought in this moment. perhaps "ah. here lives the future love of my life"?)

“Thanks,” she tacks on at the end. I tip my head to one side in confusion. “For what?” “For, I don’t know. Being nice.” She laughs awkwardly. “I don’t do this very much.”

it wouldn't be a quibblah original tee em without some discourse to come about the nature of romantic/sexual relationships, would it? one thing i enjoy about this AU ("one thing" i say as if this isn't the billionth thing in a list) is that i get to write a romantic lily who's squaring that romanticism with what she perceives as the culture of the times. (this is a bit of a staple in all my characterisations of lily, but it is not often paired with casual sex, the complication of all complications!)

oh this bit literally wrote itself like i didn't even pause to think just vomited it out:

In the morning — and it must be early still — the sun streams through Lily’s sorry excuses for curtains with aggression that cannot be ignored. I crack open an eye to find myself sprawled out across her bed, quite literally spread-eagled. She’s attached to my side like a barnacle. Or a very pretty barnacle, anyway.

i'm especially proud of james's voice in this story. i don't often write first-person fic and i was worried how it'd turn out, but i think james as a character/narrator typically colours his own 3rd-person narration so strongly that it ended up a smoother transition than i'd feared!

also i just. i can't resist throwing in comic relief and i hope that this whole segment was a gentle enough preparation for the awkwardness that followed LOL

All of a sudden, the balcony door bursts open. I nearly drop the mug. “What the—” Mary pokes her head around the corner, sporting a righteous smile. “Morning, handsome.” Over her shoulder she shouts, “He’s on the balcony!” I blink. There’s a sound from inside the flat, as if something very large has just been dropped. Then a swear. “Oh, shit,” I say, realisation dawning, “you weren’t looking for me, were you? It’s so loud out here—” Mary cups a hand around her mouth and stage-whispers, “Lily was frantic.” She’s quite violently yanked back, and Lily herself appears in the doorway, slightly out of breath. “Should’ve checked the balcony first,” she says, and closes the door before Mary can insert herself into the space again. “Hi,” I say, which is agreed-upon best practice for greeting a woman you’ve just had fantastic sex with and ideally would like to have sex with again.

to this day i don't know what lily dropped. let's hope it wasn't expensive!

Captained the under-17 English squad at the World Cup some years back, Serie Primo’s lead goal-scorer of last year… Only an injury in what should’ve been his first season at Puddlemere mars his record. I wince reading about it and comparing it to a heap of press clippings. James Potter was hurt, and Puddlemere didn’t fancy paying for him not to play, so they shipped him off to Milan.

(you cannot imagine how much pointed interrogation of my brother it took to gather this intel.) i constantly worry that i've got dates or timelines wrong somehow — you might notice i tweaked under-17, which used to be under-19 until i realised that made no sense (even though in terms of its career importance i would much preferred it to have been u-19.... anyway). i also found out that u-17 football squads don't actually have captains but i said fuck it on that count.

but obviously i started writing this AU for the sports possibilities, only to discover i'm going to have to interfere a great deal with the Timeline (you shall see in future instalments).

god i really went through the whole fic. like i reread the whole thing to do this. here u go clare jfbghjfd

[freyaflint]

TASK 001: CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

Full Name: Freya Francesca Flint

Nicknames: Frey

Place of birth:  Wolverhampton, England

Current location: London, England (home); Hogwarts (school)

Sexual/romantic orientation: Pansexual, Panromantic

Preferred pronouns: She/Her

Sex: Female

Gender: Cisgender

One personality trait they’re proud of having: integrity 

Insecurities: her work isn’t good enough, she’s not truly as “just” as she presents herself as

Positive traits: compassionate, forgiving, optimistic, intelligent, dedicated 

Negative traits: indecisive, defensive, too honest, hypocritical, judgmental

Other people’s opinions of them: Most people see Freya as very driven, if not a little too single-minded in her future desires. Freya’s advice is often sought after, due to her ability to remain reasonably impartial and provided genuine help. Many of the purebloods (especially those who she’s grown up with) view her as a rather large question mark as she’s neither a loyalist nor blood traitor, which is why many members of the Liberation are equally as unsure what to make of her. 

Three words to describe them: willful, hardworking, loving

One major turning point in their life: Being sorted into Hufflepuff. Freya had a pretty sheltered childhood growing up in a pureblooded family where she rarely came into contact with muggles or even muggleborns, for that matter. Arriving at Hogwarts and being sorted into Hufflepuff, as opposed to Slytherin where most of her childhood friends went, forced Freya to branch out and meet all sorts of people who she quickly came to love and understand, in ways her family had always discouraged. 

If they could time travel, when would they go?: Freya would go back to the 1800s to the time of Minister Ottaline Gambol who was able to solve numerous problems by looking towards muggle ingenuity. Freya is greatly appreciative of using unprejudiced, forward-thinking to solve problems and would enjoy having a cup of tea with Minister Gambol to pick her brain. 

Ideal romantic partner: Kassius...Someone who is understanding of her situation, who doesn’t push her to make a decision before she’s ready. Freya seeks out someone with ambition, with a goal-- someone with the capacity to achieve those desires. But above all, Freya is attracted to someone with a genuinely good heart, someone who displays kindness and courage even in the face of adversity. 

Favorite way to waste time: Quidditch-- if one had to guess where Freya is at any odd hour, the Qudditch pitch is a solid guess. As captain for her team, Freya’s stress relief often comes from practicing blocking charmed Quaffles. 

Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen?: Freya would write, likely something regarding a Wizenmagot court case, arguing for or against one of the decisions that was passed. 

View on home and family?: Complicated. At the end of the day, Freya loves her family, but disagrees with their views. She’ll spend hours playing Quidditch in the backyard with her father but can spend equally as long arguing politics with him. 

Any secret stashes?: Chocolate Frog Cards! She’s been collecting them for ages and has amassed quite the stash which she keeps in a tin beneath her bed.

How do they express themself?: Through writing! Freya is a much stronger writer than speaker and beyond religiously writing her heavily protection-charmed diary, Freya is probably the only person in the world who looks forward to writing History of Magic essays.

What did they want to be when they grew up?: Chief Warlock of the Wizenmagot

What do you like most about them?: I love Freya’s tenacity and her commitment to being just, rather than good. I think it’s a really unique character trait that’ll be really fun to explore, especially as the dynamic of the rp continue to get more and more hectic!

One or more plots you’re dying to have: I would love to explore a relationship that challenges Freya’s neutrality-- something or someone that forces her to pick a side, for better or for worse!

[secrethorcruxes]

Minister: Grogan Stump
Term of Office: 1811 - 1819
Very popular Minister for Magic, a passionate Quidditch fan (Tutshill Tornados), established Department of Magical Games and Sports and managed to steer through legislation on magical beasts and beings that had long been a source of contention. Minister: Josephina Flint
Term of Office: 1819 - 1827
Revealed an unhealthy anti-Muggle bias in office; disliked new Muggle technology such as the telegraph, which she claimed interfered with proper wand function. Minister: Ottaline Gambol
Term of Office: 1827 - 1835
A much more forward-looking Minister, Gambol established committees to investigate Muggle brainpower which seemed, during this period of the British Empire, to be greater than some wizards had credited. Minister: Radolphus Lestrange
Term of Office: 1835 - 1841
Reactionary who attempted to close down the Department of Mysteries, which ignored him. Eventually resigned due to ill health, which was widely rumoured to be inability to cope with the strains of office. Minister: Hortensia Milliphutt
Term of Office: 1841 - 1849
Introduced more legislation than any other sitting Minister, much of it useful, but some wearisome (hat pointiness and so on), which ultimately resulted in her political downfall. Minister: Evangeline Orpington
Term of Office: 1849 - 1855
A good friend of Queen Victoria’s, who never realised she was a witch, let alone Minister for Magic. Orpington is believed to have intervened magically (and illegally) in the Crimean War. Minister: Priscilla Dupont
Term of Office: 1855 - 1858
Conceived an irrational loathing of the Muggle Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, to an extent that caused such trouble (coins turning to frogspawn in his coat pockets, etc.) that she was forced to step down. Ironically, Palmerston was forced to resign by the Muggles two days later. https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/ministers-for-magic

[hogwartslessons-blog]

Charms| Thursday. July 12th, 2018| Lesson Six: Memory Charm, Tickling Charm, General counter-spell

A Memory Charm (Obliviate), also known as a Forgetfulness Charm, was a spell that could be used to erase memories from an individual's mind. It was different from the charm that creates false memories

Incantation: Obliviate  (oh-BLI-vee-ate)

Type: Charm

Hand movement:

Light: Green

Effect: Erases memory

Creator: Mnemone Radford (1562-1649)

Mnemone Radford was the witch who first developed Memory Modifying Charms. She became the first Ministry of Magic Obliviator, due to her skill with the charm.

These spells are used routinely by the Ministry of Magic as they work to keep the wizarding world a secret from the Muggles.

Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol was responsible for the creation of the Hogwarts Express to transport young witches and wizards to Hogwarts. However, the secrecy surrounding the project entailed a mass operation involving one hundred and sixty-seven Memory Charms and the largest ever mass Concealment Charm performed in Britain.

Some Muggles slipped through the cracks in these situations, according to Blenheim Stalk in Muggles Who Notice. When particularly intense memories needed to be erased, it often left the victim disoriented for a short period of time, as happened with the Roberts family after the Quidditch World Cup in 1994.

If performed improperly, a Memory Charm could erase significant portions of an individual's memory and cause brain damage, with difficulty in recovery. For instance, Gilderoy Lockhart attempted to wipe the memories of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley during the events surrounding the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets.

However, Ron's damaged wand backfired, thus causing Lockhart to suffer extreme obliviation. He thereafter became a permanent resident in the Janus Thickey Ward of St Mungo's. Although Lockhart did retain some of his memories (mainly his vain liking for signing autographs despite not knowing why, and knowing how to write in cursive), he never fully recovered.

Barty Crouch Snr placed a Memory Charm on Bertha Jorkins to try to make her forget her discovery that he was keeping his son in captivity. However, the charm he put on her was was too strong, and thus it damaged her memory permanently, making her chronically forgetful about other things as well.

Breaking the charm:

Memory Charms could be broken through torture. In 1994, Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew broke a Memory Charm placed by Barty Crouch Snr on Bertha Jorkins, and extracted information from her regarding the whereabouts of Crouch's son. However, the breaking of the charm had caused a great toll on Bertha, and her body and mind was damaged beyond repair.

In 1997, Voldemort had Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle tortured with the Cruciatus Curse after they failed to capture Harry Potter. Hermione Granger had cast Memory Charms on them so as to cover the trio's tracks. It appears that the charms were not broken by torture, since the Death Eaters remained unaware that Ron Weasley was with Harry and Hermione, rather than sick at home with spattergroit, as had been claimed. This may mean that a certain level of torture was necessary to break the charm, or that the torturer needed to be specific on wanting to break it, rather than just inflicting the pain.

Since Lockhart's backfired Memory Charm was never been broken through, it is possible that torture was the only method of complete recovery (with possibly irreparable mental and physical damage being clear side-effects), as it is doubtful that St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries would commit crimes against humanity just to recover Lockhart's memory. It is also possible, however, that since it was cast improperly, Lockhart's memory was actually erased permanently with no chance of recovery whatsoever. Although spending time in the hospital did help him regain the basics of his memory — mainly to write in cursive and his enjoyment of signing autographs, the latter of which he does not remember why — he never fully recovered.

Etymology

The incantation "obliviate" may be derived from the Latin oblivisci, meaning "to forget", or the English word oblivion, defined as "the fact or condition of forgetting or having forgotten".

It may be derived from the Latin term oblivio, which also means "to forget"

The Tickling Charm (Rictusempra), also known as the Rictusempra Charm, is a spell that causes a victim to buckle with laughter. It also has at least two other side effects on the victim.

Incantation: Rictusempra (ric-tuh-SEM-pra)

Type: Charm

Hand movement:

Light: Silver

Effect: Tickles and weakens

It is usually used as a diversionary tactic in duels. Harry Potter used it on Draco Malfoy in the Duelling Club during their second year. It is not known if this affects a person who is not ticklish, however in the Chamber of Secrets film, Malfoy was knocked backwards instead, and perhaps this could be the effect on a person not ticklish.

General Counter-Spell

The General Counter-Spell (Finite or Finite Incantatem) is a counter-spell for general use. It may be used in duels or on an entire home, as a precaution before a wizard answers the door. It is taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Incantation: Finite (fi-NEE-tay)

Finite Incantatem (fi-NEE-tay in-can-TAH-tem)

Type: Counter-spell

Hand movement:

Light: Red

Effect: Terminates all spell effects

The General Counter-Spell terminates all spell effects ranging from simple spells like the Jelly-Legs Jinx to more complicated spells such as Atmospheric Charms.

[avetthuxley]

The Once Noble House of Huxley

The earliest accounts of the Huxley family suggest that the first Huxley to arrive in Britain was part of a nomadic group originating out of Northern India in the late 1200′s. This man who went by the name Huxley, gained favour from the English King at the time by saving the King’s son from a Cockatrice.  Huxley then served under the king as an advisor and knight. His magic was known to the King, but not widely known amongst the subjects of the Kingdom.  The family continued to serve under the King as part of the royal court.  

As the world left the middle ages behind, and the Statute of Secrecy was born, those magical families like the Huxley’s that entertained favour in the British courts began to fade from muggle view and hid themselves away. These are the families integrated themselves into Magical High Society and left their muggle roots behind. As part of the Huxley family’s favour with the court, they had been awarded a parcel of land in the areas of Chelmsford and Colchester. The original manor still exists within the Huxley family, but the lands have since been sold off and developed. Today the family holds very little power, only controlling a few businesses and rent a few parcels of land to the surrounding cities. The family also owns stock in a few companies, but not nearly enough to have any control or power. The majority of the land and stock that they own is muggle, a fact that the entire family refuses to speak on, and one that most in the family would deny to their last breath.   

The Huxley family was not always anti-muggle, and were at one point considered to be muggle sympathizers by those who sought to preserve the Wizarding bloodlines. In the 1830′s, the Huxley family had amassed money coming out of the Industrial Revolution and into the modern age. The Huxley family owned and managed manufacturing and steel factories. When Ottaline Gambol decided to undertake one of the Ministries largest operations and create the Hogwarts Express and eventually the rest of the Magical train system, the Huxley factories were on a short list of suppliers for that project.  This was a decision that wasn’t supported by all in Magical Society, and the Huxley’s involvement caused them to lose favour amongst those who didn’t support it. 

The problem is that within the Huxley family, there was those who did support the Railway Project and the subsequent involvement within Muggle society, and those who did not. It was particularly divided amongst the Huxley brothers, the two heirs to the Huxley line. Nathaniel and Nicholas Huxley were twins, and in competition to become the official heir to the Huxley family. Nathaniel was the family favourite and the one who supported the Railway Project. Nicholas had been the social climber, married a witch from one of the other powerful families and wanted to “reclaim” the family’s honor and standing. They were complete opposites, and Nicholas felt pushed into the sidelines of the family. Nicholas became a favourite amongst the Purebloods of High Society, proof that even people from Blood traitor families can “see the light” about muggles. There was an unfortunate accident one day, killing both Nathaniel, his wife, eldest son and the current patriarch of the Huxley family.  The accident was convenient for Nicholas. Perhaps too convenient, but the aurors were never able to convict Nicholas of the murder of everyone ahead of him in the line of succession for the family fortune.  With the death of his twin brother and sister-in-law, the care of their two remaining children fell to Nicholas and his wife. The couple raised the children to see the world as they did, to see muggles as bad and something lesser.  The Huxley family began to withdraw their holdings in muggle factories and businesses, drawing back into the Wizarding World and sucking up to the higher up families.  

The death of the Nathaniel and everyone seemed to herald in a string of bad luck for the family. Factory fires in factories they were selling, causing the value to go down. This bad luck over the course of year almost halved the Huxley fortune.  As the years went by everyone in the family began to experience this bad luck in some for or another. As the generations passed, this bad luck spread out to infect every branch of the family tree. While it wasn’t as bad as you travelled further and further from the heir of the family, it was still there. This string of bad luck was dubbed The Curse by a few members of the family, and word began to spread to other Pureblood families of its existence. The other families began to ostracize the Huxley family, and they began to lose power and influence in the Wizarding World. The extended family members began marrying our of the family to attempt to escape the curse. Over the years, the curse has lessened, but it still very much present in the direct heirs to the Huxley name and their immediate family. 

The Huxley family is humored among the pureblood circle. They are but a remnant of what they once were, and only invited to pureblood functions out of an honor to tradition and not out of an actual desire to associate with them.  In fact at these pureblood functions anyone from the Huxley family is barely acknowledged at these functions. To the point where they only attend the bare minimum because of the ice cold shoulders, which is honestly preferable to everyone. To this day the Huxley’s are a shadow of what they used to be. A meager salary that their patriarch spends on gambling and “entertainment”, and a derelict manor that only served to remind them all of what they once were. Not that there are any alive who even remember what the Huxleys were. It’s like living in a shadow, only having remnants and hints of the glory that once was.  

The fate and continuation of the Huxley family lies with Avett and Ardell, both of whom do not have an interest in continuing the line of the family. Avett feels a sense of obligation to the family, as that was what he was raised to do, but at the first chance of an escape Avett would take it. Regardless of their futures, the twins are fine with letting the family die off. Hopefully it would end the curse on the family, but definitely end the curse of the family. Avett and Ardell want the freedom and ability to chose their own future, not tied down by the ghosts of their family’s past. 

[harry-potter-lore-blog]

Hogwarts Express

“A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven o’clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. He had done it.”

New from J. K. Rowling

As we know from early historical accounts, and from the evidence of early woodcuts and engravings, Hogwarts students used to arrive at school in any manner that caught their fancy. Some rode broomsticks (a difficult feat when carrying trunks and pets); others commandeered enchanted carts and, later, carriages; some attempted to Apparate (often with disastrous effects, as the castle and grounds have always been protected with Anti-Apparition Charms), others rode a variety of magical creatures.

In spite of the accidents attendant on these various modes of magical transport, not to mention the annual Muggle sightings of vast numbers of airborne wizards travelling northwards, it remained the responsibility of parents to convey their children to school, right up until the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692. At this point, it became a matter of urgency to find some more discreet method of transporting hundreds of wizarding children from all over Britain to their secret school in the Highlands of Scotland.

Portkeys were therefore arranged at collecting points all over Britain. The logistics caused problems from the start. Up to a third of students would fail to arrive every year, having missed their time slot, or been unable to find the unobtrusive enchanted object that would transport them to their school. There was also the unfortunate fact that many children were (and are) 'Portkey-sick', and the hospital wing was frequently full to bursting for the first few days of every year, while susceptible students overcame their hysterics and nausea.

While admitting that Portkeys were not an ideal solution to the problem of school transportation, the Ministry of Magic failed to find an acceptable alternative. A return to the unregulated travel of the past was impossible, and yet a more secure route into the school (for instance, permitting a fireplace that might be officially entered by Floo powder) was strongly resisted by successive Headmasters, who did not wish the security of the castle to be breached.

A daring and controversial solution to the thorny problem was finally suggested by Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol, who was much intrigued by Muggle inventions and saw the potential in trains. Where exactly the Hogwarts Express came from has never been conclusively proven, although it is a fact that there are secret records at the Ministry of Magic detailing a mass operation involving one hundred and sixty-seven Memory Charms and the largest ever mass Concealment Charm performed in Britain. The morning after these alleged crimes, a gleaming scarlet steam engine and carriages astounded the villagers of Hogsmeade (who had also not realised they had a railway station), while several bemused Muggle railway workers down in Crewe spent the rest of the year grappling with the uncomfortable feeling that they had mislaid something important.

The Hogwarts Express underwent several magical modifications before the Ministry approved it for school use. Many pure-blood families were outraged at the idea of their children using Muggle transport, which they claimed was unsafe, insanitary and demeaning; however, as the Ministry decreed that students either rode the train or did not attend school, the objections were swiftly silenced.

“Anything off the trolley, dears?”

[il-settimanale-dei-potterhead]

L’Hogwarts Express

Sappiamo dai primi resoconti storici, e dalle prove delle prime xilografie e incisioni, gli studenti di Hogwarts arrivavano a scuola in qualsiasi modo che catturasse la loro fantasia. Alcuni cavalcavano manici di scopa (un'impresa difficile quando si trasportavano bauli e animali domestici); altri requisirono carri incantati e, più tardi, carrozze; alcuni tentarono di Materializzarsi (spesso con effetti disastrosi, poiché il castello e i terreni sono sempre stati protetti con incantesimi anti-apparizione), altri cavalcarono una varietà di creature magiche. 

Nonostante gli incidenti causati da questi vari mezzi di trasporto magico, per non parlare degli avvistamenti annuali Babbani di un gran numero di maghi aviotrasportati che viaggiavano verso nord, era responsabilità dei genitori portare i propri figli a scuola, fino all'imposizione del Statuto Internazionale di Segretezza nel 1692. A questo punto divenne urgente trovare un metodo più discreto per trasportare centinaia di maghi da tutta la Gran Bretagna alla loro scuola segreta nelle Highlands scozzesi. Le passaporta furono quindi disposte nei punti di raccolta in tutta la Gran Bretagna. La logistica ha causato problemi sin dall'inizio. Fino a un terzo degli studenti non riuscirebbe ad arrivare ogni anno, per aver perso la propria fascia oraria o non riuscire a trovare l'oggetto incantato discreto che li trasporterebbe alla loro scuola. C'era anche il fatto sfortunato che molti bambini erano (e sono) "malati di passaporta", e l'ala dell'ospedale era spesso piena fino a scoppiare per i primi giorni di ogni anno, mentre gli studenti suscettibili superavano le loro isteriche e nausea. Pur ammettendo che le Passaporta non erano una soluzione ideale al problema del trasporto scolastico, il Ministero della Magia non è riuscito a trovare un'alternativa accettabile. Un ritorno al viaggio non regolamentato del passato era impossibile, e tuttavia un percorso più sicuro per la scuola (ad esempio, consentendo un camino che potrebbe essere ufficialmente entrato dalla polvere di Floo) è stato fortemente contrastato dai presidi successivi, che non desideravano la sicurezza del castello da violare. Una soluzione audace e controversa al problema spinoso è stata infine suggerita dal ministro della Magia Ottaline Gambol, che è stato molto incuriosito dalle invenzioni Babbane e ha visto il potenziale nei treni. La provenienza esatta dell'Espresso di Hogwarts non è mai stata dimostrata in modo definitivo, anche se è un dato di fatto che ci sono documenti segreti presso il Ministero della Magia che descrivono in dettaglio un'operazione di massa che coinvolge centosessantasette incantesimi della memoria e il più grande incantesimo di occultamento di massa mai eseguito in Gran Bretagna. La mattina dopo questi presunti crimini, una scintillante locomotiva a vapore scarlatta e carrozze sbalordirono gli abitanti del villaggio di Hogsmeade (che non si erano neppure resi conto di avere una stazione ferroviaria), mentre diversi lavoratori delle ferrovie Babbani a Crewe trascorsero il resto dell'anno alle prese con il sensazione di disagio di aver smarrito qualcosa di importante. L'Hogwarts Express ha subito diverse modifiche magiche prima che il Ministero lo approvasse per l'uso scolastico. Molte famiglie purosangue erano indignate all'idea che i loro figli usassero il trasporto Babbano, che sostenevano fosse pericoloso, insalubre e umiliante; tuttavia, poiché il Ministero ha decretato che gli studenti o andassero in treno o non frequentassero la scuola, le obiezioni furono rapidamente messe a tacere.

[bookofspellsandspellsandspells]

Hogwarts: A History (excerpt)

As we know from early historical accounts, and from the evidence of early woodcuts and engravings, Hogwarts students used to arrive at school in any manner that caught their fancy. Some rode broomsticks (a difficult feat when carrying trunks and pets); others commandeered enchanted carts and, later, carriages; some attempted to Apparate (often with disastrous effects, as the castle and grounds have always been protected with Anti-Apparition Charms), others rode a variety of magical creatures.

In spite of the accidents attendant on these various modes of magical transport, not to mention the annual Muggle sightings of vast numbers of airborne wizards travelling northwards, it remained the responsibility of parents to convey their children to school, right up until the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692. At this point, it became a matter of urgency to find some more discreet method of transporting hundreds of wizarding children from all over Britain to their secret school in the Highlands of Scotland.

Portkeys were therefore arranged at collecting points all over Britain. The logistics caused problems from the start. Up to a third of students would fail to arrive every year, having missed their time slot, or been unable to find the unobtrusive enchanted object that would transport them to their school. There was also the unfortunate fact that many children were (and are) 'Portkey-sick', and the hospital wing was frequently full to bursting for the first few days of every year, while susceptible students overcame their hysterics and nausea.

While admitting that Portkeys were not an ideal solution to the problem of school transportation, the Ministry of Magic failed to find an acceptable alternative. A return to the unregulated travel of the past was impossible, and yet a more secure route into the school (for instance, permitting a fireplace that might be officially entered by Floo powder) was strongly resisted by successive Headmasters, who did not wish the security of the castle to be breached.

A daring and controversial solution to the thorny problem was finally suggested by Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol, who was much intrigued by Muggle inventions and saw the potential in trains. Where exactly the Hogwarts Express came from has never been conclusively proven, although it is a fact that there are secret records at the Ministry of Magic detailing a mass operation involving one hundred and sixty-seven Memory Charms and the largest ever mass Concealment Charm performed in Britain. The morning after these alleged crimes, a gleaming scarlet steam engine and carriages astounded the villagers of Hogsmeade (who had also not realised they had a railway station), while several bemused Muggle railway workers down in Crewe spent the rest of the year grappling with the uncomfortable feeling that they had mislaid something important.

The Hogwarts Express underwent several magical modifications before the Ministry approved it for school use. Many pure-blood families were outraged at the idea of their children using Muggle transport, which they claimed was unsafe, insanitary and demeaning; however, as the Ministry decreed that students either rode the train or did not attend school, the objections were swiftly silenced.

[trolleybitch]

5, 10 and 14??

thank youuuu for the asks! i’ve just answered #10 but here’s the other two :)

5. What’s a crackship you love?

TROTTALINE!! 🛒 (i.e. the trolley witch and ottaline gambol, even though it’s not really a ship since it was entirely unrequited, but the trolley witch’s love/obsession for ottaline is stronger than anything, and you can read more about it in the Extremely Canon trolley witch backstory here)

14. (For authors) Post a line of dialogue from one of your WIPs without context.

‘You said a proper goodbye last night though, right?’ Lily looked up at him with a face of vague concern. 

[themonsterblogofmonsters]

I have a question that is not exactly about this blog theme, but I wanted your opinion, as you have the best HP headcanon blog. I read lots of fanfics in which the wizarding world is extremely misoginistic. And I heartly disagree with this vision. We saw evidence of woman in powerful positions all along the story, woman competing in equal foot with men in sports... What is your opinion?

Oh my god, thank you. I don’t know that I’m the best blog - for me that place is tied between @livesandliesofwizards​ which first introduced me to the very concept of HP headcanon blogs and @thepostmodernpottercompendium​ which introduced me to just how extensive they can get as well as to criticality - but to know you think that is incredibly flattering.

Anyway, to your question - So this is actually a really great time to ask me this because I may or may not have spent a hefty chunk of last night filling eight pages of my new notebook with topics in HP Canon, Fandom, Fanfic and Fanon which anger me deeply that, at some point, I’m going to write metas on and have a blog dedicated to (I promise to post a link here when I do that, for those of you who are interested).

And, yes, the way in which HP fandom tends to write the world as misogynistic (and also, even when not making it outright misogynistic, write a world with very misogynistic treatment of female characters due to their own issues and perceptions) infuriates me deeply.

We have things such as Artemisia Lufkin, first female Minister for Magic all the way back in 1798. (Find links for all points on a page over Here due to tumblr’s bloody search block algorithm for external links.Anything I bold here has a relevant link on the page.)

Let me repeat that for those of you at the back Seventeen Ninety Eight. I would also like to remind everyone that the position only came into existence in 1707.

Within a century of the position’s creation it had a female holder. Over the years it would have several - Josephina Flint, Ottaline Gambol, Hortensia Milliphutt, Evangeline Orpington, Priscilla Dupont, Venusia Crickerly, Wilhelmina Tuft, Eugenia Jenkins,  Millicent Bagnold and even one of the characters we know best: Hermione Granger.

Further, high-up positions in the Ministry were not solely the realm of men - one has only to look at Amelia Bones for that, as well as Mafalda Hopkirk. Additionally, women in the magical world are not kept from getting involved in law enforcement, Amelia Bones was head of the Department, and we all, of course, know Auror Tonks.

There is a very, very simple reason for all of this, and it astounds me that people miss it: Magic is one of the greatest equalisers.

A lot of male power is backed up by physical strength, but in the magical world, what use is physical strength if a person can Flipendo you into a wall with a thought? What help is a sword when anyone with magic can cast a Killing Curse or a Cutting Curse?

Suddenly, with magic, everyone who has it is on a level playing field. Then you add wands and suddenly those who lacked focus have a much easier time of it. You add schools and suddenly anyone able to attend shoots ahead. And here’s the thing: if you don’t teach a kid how to use their magic it will go one of three ways.

They teach themselves and have a kind of wild wandless magic not bound to wands or spells and which may react badly based on intent and emotion - I would assume this is how magic first came to be used, before wands, historically speaking.

They feel ashamed of it and try to hide it, creating an incredibly dangerous, volatile and destructive Obscurus.

They have magic, untapped, that will respond accidentally to any threat or discomfort: see Harry’s accidental magic with the Dursleys.

The first thing is hard to cope with: its a whole other art that those trained to wand wouldn’t know how to handle - a form of wandless magic that doesn’t require the same forms as wands and can be much more powerful.

The second is outright dangerous - before the Statute to physical property and people’s lives, after the Statute of Secrecy it’s an outright risk of breach, as we see with the Barebone case.

The third means you may not know this person has magic until you threaten them and suddenly their magic responds to try to defend them.

I would point out here that Accidental Magic seems to require a squad trained specifically with regards to it in order to deal with it.

None of these are good outcomes so the best way forward is equal training in the same way in the same fields so that magic becomes standardised. And if you’re standardising it then everyone has the same basics and can cast a number of the same spells and you’ve equalised things before it’s all begun.

The magical world isn’t misogynist because it can’t be. Once you give people magic without regard for gender, suddenly you can’t push them around anymore. I suppose you could educate women in one kind of magic and men in another but the matter is simple: if a woman gets ahold of one of the men’s books they can learn this other magic and oh dear there that idea goes out the window.

And even if not: we know that even if a child is trained to wand they can still perform accidental magic, we need only to see the Aunt Marge incident for that, so even if you did teach a woman only “womanly” magic, if you tried to attack her because you knew magic she did not there is a high chance her magic would respond to her emotional state and her intent and act to defend her. And even if it did not, as we know with the case of Ariana Dumbledore, it can do a terrible thing to a person to have magical trauma and cause a huge amount of destruction in it’s own right - as with the Obscurus case this is not something you want, before the Statute because you don’t want to go destroying people’s property wantonly and afterwards because wixes wanted to avoid discovery.

So: you wouldn’t want to abuse a magical child into a gender role, you wouldn’t want to threaten a girl and give her traumatic magic, your best bet is to teach everyone equally.

Also: magical sports seem to be intellectual (magical chess), playful and non-physical (Gobstones) or played on brooms (Quidditch, Quodpot) in which case, again, physicality doesn’t matter - I mean, really this means that women would be prized Quidditch players because women are statistically smaller than men, which is important because Seeker’s need to be small and light to achieve the speeds needed to catch the Snitch. And as we see with the books, there’s no gender divide in Quidditch as we see with football (I’m UK based so to you Americans that would be soccer). The all-female Holyhead Harpies team are one of the best in the league!

I’m also going to add in here because I forgot to earlier, one of the most important authors of magical school textbooks is a woman. Miranda Goshawk wrote a large number of books regarding spellwork. Additionally, for history, again the main expert is a woman - Bathilda Bagshot, and further, for the incredibly complex art of Transfiguration we know that Professor McGonagall is a considerably skilled and respected witch - who won the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer award.

And thus: gender equality. Magic is the great equaliser.

This isn’t to say that the magical world is 100% equal: of course it’s not. It was written by a woman in our own world, which is, despite the best efforts of many, still very sexist, and it shows. There are certain gender roles adhered to, it’s even a stated fact that the battle between Bellatrix and Molly Weasley is, in part, a battle between a mother’s love and an obsessive love. Many of these things aren’t what you might immediately think of as sexist things, but they are: they’re just less blatantly and immediately harmful ones. 

Many of the female characters go on to rapidly get married and have children: even punky Tonks does this before her death, even career woman Hermione does this. Certain female characters are seen primarily as mothers and not as politicians or powerhouses in their own right - one of the scions of the House of Black, Narcissa Malfoy is seen as a mother, because that is how we know her. She is not, as her husband is, politically involved, greasing Fudge’s palms, using the power of a Governor of Hogwarts to influence the school, she is a mother, and saves Harry from Voldemort come the end, because, as a mother she wishes to save her son.

I can largely forgive this however for two main reasons. Firstly, we are all a product of our time and, for it’s time, Harry Potter was a very progressive thing to give children’s with the Lycanthropy HIV allegory, the Muggleborn race allegory, the Death Eater Nazi allegory - even the Goblin culture clash! As time goes on we see holes in it and pick at it more but it’s core ideas of acceptance, love, helping and healing over violence and hatred are still very important. Secondly: the role of protective mother is a recurring motif of the story, Lily gives her life to save Harry and provide him with a lasting protection. Molly Weasley takes Harry in and treats him as she would her own child, knowing he has no true family of his own, given how the Dursleys treat him. Merope Gaunt is a dark mirror: a mother who in the narrative in a way failed her son, abandoning him and with her lack, he became Voldemort. Tonks as a new mother in the middle of the war, bringing hope and new life to the side of those fighting against darkness, hatred and evil. Molly in the final battle proving her mettle the equal of Bellatrix bonkers Lestrange for threatening her daughter. Narcissa, a mother acting in protection of her son by lying to the face of one of the most skilled Legilimens of their time.

The wizarding world isn’t outright horrifically misogynist, but, due to the time it was written due to certain motifs it is sexist. I might argue that, in a way there’s one case where outright sexism and objectification is used also to show why it’s dangerous - with Veela they are incredibly beautiful (in part due to their magic) but also (again due to their magic) they can be incredibly dangerous when offended or angered. Assuming the beauty of this species (which no where in canon is explicitly stated to be only female) equals weakness is outright wrong, as we see most especially with Part-Veela Fleur Delacour as one of the Triwizard Champions

Further, the sexism against Fleur shown by the Weasleys - the belief that, because of her own physical beauty she would want to see only physical beauty in a partner - is outright proven wrong, once more showing us that expecting femininity and beauty to equal weakness, shallowness or pettiness is an outright fabrication.

However, all of this can also have it’s faults - Veela could be considered a stereotype of a “woman scorned” - an offended woman is a great enemy, but only if you offend her - and once more, Fleur marries and has children very rapidly.

The wizarding world is not empty of sexism, even though it should be - if anything, though, I consider this reason to prove the sexism wrong rather than playing into it - the magical world has every reason to be absolutely equal, so why not write it as such? It has no logical reason to be sexist; by all rights it should be perfectly equal. 

There’s a big essay I want to write at some point that’s gonna be called Muggles don’t “Do It Better”; they do it different, and one of the big points in that is that while in some ways the magical world may seem backwards (the lack of technology due to magical interference for a start) they are, in other ways, very much ahead, primarily because of a different way of solving problems. Muggles have Science, Wixes have Magic - therefore the logic is different on how to solve problems. Just because the magical world seems backwards doesn’t mean it is - it isn’t sexist, it had a female Minister of Magic in the frigging 1700s, it has instantaneous transport in three different forms (Apparition, Floo and Portkeys), near-instantaneous communication options (Floo, Patronus Messages, communications mirrors) ways of breathing underwater without weighty scuba gear and a limitation on air (Gillyweed, Bubble-Head Charms, Krum’s Shark transfiguration), means of flight long before humans ever began engineering such things (brooms, carpets, winged horses). I could go on.

I would also remind everyone that, to wixes, muggles are backwards - why on earth would you cut someone open to try to help them heal. To wixes, with magic, the idea is unthinkable - but they have Skele-gro and bone-mending spells, Pepperup Potion which is a functional cure for the common cold, a thing science has not yet managed because of how the virus evolves.

So.

Tl;dr: The magical world is far far more progressive, gender-wise, than ours is, at least if you map gender issues by the dates of when things are set. The books may not hold up as well now, but to anyone who remembers when they were published (and when they were set) their representation of women is considerably awesome. 

The series is not not empty of sexism but that’s due to real-world influence, allegory and also written motifs, and is not an excuse to write a world where witches are second class citizens: that’s not true to canon at all.

And, in my humble opinion, canon’s atypical sexism (when compared to the historical logic and evidence of the setting) should be taken as a challenge to write the wizarding world at the level of progressive it should be, rather than how canon displays it to us.

There’s a saying: “if the world isn’t fair, make it so.” Another saying: “we have a responsibility to leave the world better than the way our parents left it to us.”

I think that’s a good place to end this.

(Annoyingly I can’t remember where these quotes are from exactly - I know my father has used the first all my life, but I also know it’s a philosophy of a particular Native American culture. The latter I think is something along the lines of a quote that made the rounds of this very hellsite, but I can’t find the exact wording or the quote source - if anyone knows the exact wording and sources for either of these please do let me know, I’d very much appreciate it.)

[harry-potter-lore-blog]

Platform 9  3/4

“Don’t talk rubbish,” said Uncle Vernon. “There is no platform nine and three-quarters.”

New from J. K. Rowling

When Ottaline Gambol commandeered a Muggle train to serve as the new mode of transport for Hogwarts students, she also had constructed a small station in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade: a necessary adjunct to the train. 

The Ministry of Magic felt strongly, however, that to construct an additional wizarding station in the middle of London would stretch even the Muggles’ notorious determination not to notice magic when it was exploding in front of their faces.

It was Evangeline Orpington, Minister from 1849-1855, who hit upon the solution of adding a concealed platform at the newly (Muggle) built King’s Cross station, which would be accessible only to witches and wizards. 

On the whole, this has worked well, although there have been minor problems over the ensuing years, such as witches and wizards who have dropped suitcases full of biting spellbooks or newt spleens all over the polished station floor, or else disappeared through the solid barrier a little too loudly. 

There are usually a number of plain-clothed Ministry of Magic employees on hand to deal with any inconvenient Muggle memories that may need altering at the start and end of each Hogwarts term.

“Poor dear — no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform.”