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radicalfemimist · 1 month

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gonna delete my other interactions with That Person because I don’t think it’s worth arguing with them. and honestly I feel bad for the nice or like. the normal bisexuals because SO. many. of these bisexuals are aggressively annoying about it. every lesbian I know has had a bad run-in with a bisexual.

Because this particular bisexual person also seemed to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how writing fucking works in a way that makes me SO mad.

Because like— you can headcanon that any character with straight hair really has curly hair and straightens it. You can. Word of god can even confirm that’s the case! But that STILL doesn’t matter if canon doesn’t portray them with curly hair. Because even something as seemingly insignificant as curly hair is going to have a domino effect on the character.

If they straighten it, why? Are they insecure? Have they been made fun of? Is it because it’s too much work? Why does Word of God say they have curly hair, but none of their childhood pictures have curly hair? Why isn’t there a hair straightener in their bathroom?

If there’s none of those things— then the character doesn’t have fucking curly hair, now do they? Even if later in the series their hair becomes curly, is there any evidence to support that the hair is naturally curly? Do they have a hair regimen they follow? Do they have curly hairbrushes? Sleep in a bonnet? No? Then they’re not written to have curly hair.

Only thing is, romance is a whole fucking lot more noticeable than with ever or not they give a curly character a bonnet. Romance can make or break a story. And it’s pretty fucking important for the characters to be attracted to each other.

There are SO, so many ways to showcase sexual attraction. Even in kids shows, you can! And it doesn’t have to be with their endgame romance, either! Luz Noceda, a bisexual character written by a bisexual woman, shows attraction to Shirtless Angsty Boy, Edric and Emira and Amity, blatantly. The last of which is her endgame relationship. (Because if a bisexual character is ending up in a relationship, it’s waaay better to have it be a same-sex relationship— considering Lumity is probably why Disney cancelled the show in the first place.)

And like, for shows actually about adults— New Girl. All the men in this are bisexual. Nick Miller is definitely bisexual. It’s not stated explicitly, but he’s explicitly attracted to women and seems to have feelings towards men he is actively in-denial of. Psych — Shawn Spencer’s actor has literally said he played him to be bisexual, and it shows. I’ll believe he’s attracted to women for Abigail alone. I’ll believe he’s attracted to men for everything else.

I’ll believe Sokka is bisexual. His romances with Suki and Yue are believeable enough. Like, I’m not saying nothing can be bisexual— I AM saying that it has to actually be bisexual to be bisexual, though.

Anyway. Zuzu isn’t canonically gay but it makes more sense if he is and for a more compelling story— the fire nation is canonically homophobic, so if he’s gay then that’s another thing for his father to consider wrong about him, since he can’t fall in love with a woman. And Mike? Well, if he were bisexual he’d be a filthy, filthy cheater and I’m personally against media portraying bisexuals as cheaters. As it is, he’s like aggressively gay-coded.

And I am soooo tired of seeing bisexual Jamie Kelly allegations. I know hardly anyone seems to talk about these books but.

she’s LYING to you! she doesn’t actually have a crush on Hudson! She’s literally supposed to be an unreliable narrator. She calls him the 8th cutest boy in her school and calls Angeline the prettiest girl in the world. She thinks it should be illegal for girls to be too pretty. She went through a year-long phase as a kid of drawing nothing but naked Barbies. She describes Angeline as causing “everyone” to feel a “mild, but pleasant burning sensation.”

Like YES, yes it DOES offend me for people to interpret these characters as bisexual— and you know why? Because comphet is a universal gay experience. Because people STILL cite the comphet things I said as a kid as proof of my “heterosexuality”. There’s so many gay people who have been in straight relationships before, or who have pretended to have straight crushes.

If a character’s only proof of heterosexual attraction is comphet, then they’re not experiencing heterosexual attraction. If the only proof is a forced, stale straight romance that the writers threw in there effortlessly, of which the character is not shown to be into? Then that’s not a character experiencing heterosexual attraction.

#mim’s ramblings #I am sooo tired so idk if this is coherent #but I am SO. TIRED. of this sort of thing #because not experiencing heterosexual attraction is still VERY scrutinized #and not being attracted to men? people act like that’s fucking unheard of #and yet we want to act like it’s Equally Progressive to make bihet characters #or to make every character that’s been in a straight relationship bi instead of gay ???#like comphet don’t exist???#‘oh they could theoretically be attracted to a opposite-sex person they haven’t met in canon’#SHOW. DON’T. TELL.#that’s literally like the fucking 1 rule of writing

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wwillywonka · 3 months

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when you're writing heaven on their minds, what version of willy is in your mind? is it depp wonka or wilder wonka? I know for sure it's not chalamet wonka. or maybe the musical ones? borle or snook?

hi anon! thanks so much for the question!<3

i try to emulate this in heaven on their minds by the very fact that i include bits and pieces from all versions of canon, but my willy is very much an amalgamation of every willy. and when i say every, i mean every, which is why i reward myself (with the self-awareness of its pomposity) with the Wonka Expert title - because i don't consider just one willy wonka to be The willy wonka; they're all him and he cannot exist without every piece of himself.

in terms of physical appearance, i've shared my art of him on here (and on my instagram @/corduroycyborg), and those drawings are about as close as i can get to portraying how he looks in my mind: tall but too thin for his height, mid-length thick curly chocolate-coloured (ha!) hair that he straightens within an inch of its life, deep set electric purple eyes that can increase or decrease in saturation depending on his mood, nose like a rabbit's, perfect teeth and painted nails and gold jewellery and always a thick layer of makeup to hide his insecurities. i also go back and forth a lot in my head about his race considering i myself am mixed asian and pretty much project everything about myself on him. but i like to keep it ambiguous to make him an accessible character for all readers, an intentional choice that plays into the themes in hotm of him feeling like he isn't a person without the media and his fans telling him who he is. hotm (my) willy is definitely more based on 2005 because that is my favorite version (and because i am hopelessly, unfortunately attracted to twink johnny depp for no reason) but also because i feel like that movie does the best job of externalising his inner self through his appearance. wilder wonka is classic, of course, but i've always thought, even as a kid, that he just looks too damn nice, is too charismatic. wilder wonka, while definitely mad (the boat scene>>>), is just a big ol' teddy bear. his hair looks so soft, and the way he picks up charlie and twirls him around is so 🥺🥺🥺. gene wilder himself said that he wanted his wonka to look trustworthy so that he could focus on making his personality unpredictable, which i appreciate and think works well in the 1971 movie - but willy is supposed to be antisocial and scary and off-putting. it makes him so much more interesting to me. the original book describes him as bright and colorful, yes, but also as someone charlie immediately wants to unpack, to study, to understand. and the way wilder wonka doesn't even wear gloves...!! that's a hugely essential part of willy's character and his adversity to the outside world, and it just isn't present in what is typically considered the "best" version.

in chapter 7, i describe willy lounging in a oscar wilde-esque fashion, with a floral robe and lipstick and a french bob. i know this is technically me stretching the femininity of depp wonka perhaps a little too far, but it's my own special charm i've built around the character in the past many years of him being my favorite character of all time. perhaps it's just me being really bisexual and projecting my particular type and relationship with gender onto him; i accept that and own it. i will forcibly feminize my blorbos all i want and that is my right. now, to address gareth snook wonka. tbh the worst wonka look besides the unspeakable tom and jerry movie. THAT BEING SAID, uk tour willy is probably my favorite portrayal of the character ever. he's unpredictable, he's scary, and his attractiveness and charms are so unexpected but make so much sense in the most surprising ways - snook wonka is cunty, i'll say it. mix his personality with depp and that's MY willy!!!

and yeah, definitely no chalamet wonka. i literally don't think about him at all while writing the character unless i'm considering how noodle fits into the story. and i've said this before but i don't care for borle wonka even though i know he's a fan favorite. sorry lol.

TLDR: 93% depp, 6% snook, 4% dahl, and 2% wilder. ("but that's 105%!" yes.)

((p.s. the artist who appears most on the big unpublished playlist i have for him is lana del rey. if that helps paint a picture🎀🍫🐇🍒).

#this is so long but that's what happens when you ask me about willy asdfghjkjk #my posts #willy #ask #willy wonka #charlie and the chocolate factory #hotm #catcf 2005 #willy wonka and the chocolate factory #charlie and the chocolate factory 2005 #charlie bucket #gene wilder #wonka #wonka 2023 #wonka prequel

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aegor-bamfsteel · 5 years

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Hi Bamfsteel! Is there any actress/actors you would fancast as members of Blackfyre family? I think young Keri Russell will make a splendid Daena Targaryen, she has heart shaped face and curly blonde hair!

Hi, friendly anon! I’m actually not very good with fancasts because I don’t watch a lot of TV/movies. I mean, I’ve jokingly suggested that Dolph Lundgren should play Daemon Blackfyre, because he’s the only actor I know that is blonde and notoriously shredded. I only know about Keri Russell from her recent Star Wars role, but I agree she would be a better Daena than some other choices, as she could do her physical stunts (Daena was a rider and archer).

However, GRRM actually told his artist Amoka that in drawing some of his characters, to have an actor in a specific role in mind. Considering he was born in the 40s, these movies tend to be “older” even in black and white; some examples include: Ashara Dayne resembles Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra in the 1963 film Cleopatra, Alysanne Targaryen looks like Katharine Hepburn’s Eleanor of Aquitaine from the 1968 film The Lion in Winter, and Brynden Rivers’ high cheekbones, long face, and pale hair are inspired by Max von Sydow’s appearance as Sir Antonius Block from the 1957 film The Seventh Seal. von Sydow would later play the 3-eyed Raven (Brynden as a semi-immortal greenseer) in GOT, which I’m sure GRRM loved.

I’m going to take a leaf out of GRRM’s book and do my best to fancast from some of my favorite old movies:

Laurence Olivier from 1939 Wuthering Heights as Aegor Rivers (and not just because Aegor is my most personally relatable character in the era and Sir O is one of my favorite actors). Young!Olivier has Rivers’ black hair and tall lithe figure (as shown when he stands next to Merle Oberon), but more importantly, he’s famous for playing Shakespearean characters and Byronic villains. In the film, his anger as Heathcliff is characterized not by snarling or shouting, but by terrifying, deliberate stillness with moments of violence. At the same time, he can play the part of the man in love (the .gif is him looking at Cathy), and the naive dreamer. So I feel like he’s perfect for portraying those contradictions I see in Aegor.

Britt Ekland from 1973′s The Wicker Man as Shiera Seastar. A notorious sex symbol of her day, Ekland here plays Willow, “the fairest woman on the island” of the pagan Scottish Summerisle. She’s best known for the scene where she dances naked to tempt the chaste hero Sergeant Howie (she has a touch of moral ambiguity here since Howie ‘giving in’ would’ve made him an unfit sacrifice for the cult); the scene is shot in a deliberately ethereal way to imply that she has magical powers. She has a slow smile and mischievous eyes I can imagine on Shiera.

Katharine Hepburn in 1940′s The Philadelphia Story for Daena Targaryen. If according to GRRM older!Hepburn is Alysanne for her wit. elegance, and haunted past, then I feel younger!Hepburn is Daena for her independent spirit, refusal to be tied down, athleticism, and rebelliousness. Despite her sometimes thoughtless and egotistical nature, her character has a strong sense of duty and familial love, and does end up maturing over the course of the plot. (Also, I can imagine Daena in a white nightgown breaking Baelor’s golf clubs in front of him)

It is very important that Rohanne have a Lebanese actress as a fancast, but I couldn’t find a .gif of Majida El Roumi, who is a singer but has acted in a movie (1976 The Prodigal Son Returns). (really I imagine Rohanne as my 2nd grade teacher but that doesn’t really work for faceclaims!) Her family is originally from Tyre, the inspiration for Tyrosh. I feel her round face and motherly, warm eyes are good for showing Rohanne’s softer side. Her black, curly hair was really my only 'must’ for a Rohanne fancast, but I figure Rohanne could have washed out the dye, cut it short and tried to straighten it as an attempt to assimilate into Westerosi culture.

Simonetta Stefanelli in 1972′s The Godfather Part I as young Calla Blackfyre is really the only strong fancast I have for any of the Blackfyre children. I imagine since Rohanne is Fantasy Lebanese and Daemon is Fantasy North Italian, at least some of their children might appear to be a mixture of the two, so here is an Italian actress. I headcanon Calla taking more after her mother in looks (my facial recognition is bad, but she has a similar round face, hair, and smile to Majida?) and having large, intense dark brown eyes that can make her appear sweet and innocent (she gets those dreamy eyes and fuller lips from her father). She’s mostly very serious and is shy with her smiles, but she is intelligent and dislikes when people act like they know better about her future than she does. Despite her character’s tragic status, she’s by no means a fatalist.

These are all of the fancasts I can think of right now without sounding like a complete idiot (my brain is telling me notorious pretty-boy Rudolph Valentino is a Blackfyre but I have no idea who). I’m not convinced it’s possible to fancast Daemon I Blackfyre convincingly (he has to be ‘unearthly beautiful’, shredded, long silvery-haired, have women drawn to him, be an amazing knight/military commander/loving husband, but also clever and manipulative) because his canon portrayals are so contradictory (Sworn Sword versus Twoiaf) it’s difficult to think of an actor who is associated with a role similar to his (...Clark Gable and Mutiny on the Bounty?). I welcome any criticism as, like I said, I don’t have a lot of experience with fancasts or newer films in general.

#ask #asoiaf #fancast #brynden rivers #Aegor Rivers #Daena Targaryen #Rohanne of Tyrosh #calla blackfyre #shiera seastar #Silly Things

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grindellore · 6 years

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fanfiction: and when he falls (chapter 1)

Fandom: Harry Potter | Fantastic Beasts Pairing: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald Characters: Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, Ariana Dumbledore, Bathilda Bagshot Rating: T

Summary: In the beginning, love was blossoming between an unearthly beautiful boy with radical ideas and a penchant for talking big and a spirited boy with a ready quill who was forced to take on the role as the head of his family far too early. In the end, there would be two broken hearts, and the beautiful boy would set out to change the world on his own while the spirited boy would be left behind with utterly destroyed family bonds and a well of guilt inside of him.

Also available on my AO3 (see the link in my profile).

And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again. —Cardinal Wolsey on the “state of man” in William Shakespeare’s All Is True (Henry VIII), 3.2.371-372

The umpteenth version of “those two months of insanity”, but I hope my take on them will still be an interesting read. Canon compliant up until Crimes of Grindelwald with two reservations: First, both of Grindelwald’s eyes are blue (as stated in the Harry Potter books and the first Fantastic Beasts script), just as my physical descriptions in general attempt to comply with the books (Dumbledore has elbow-length auburn hair and a wispy beard; Grindelwald shoulder-length, curly golden hair and—I quote from Deathly Hallows—“a Fred and George-ish air of triumphant trickery about him.”) Second, I hc Dumbledore lied when he said the next time they met (after that fateful duel in 1899) was their duel in 1945.

Chapter 1

Gellert Grindelwald was crouching in the grass in front of the mossy tombstone; positioned, perhaps, directly above the remains of the person interred under it. If there were still remains, that was. The stone was crumbling; all raw, weathered coarseness and sharp, jagged edges. Gellert saw it but he also needed to feel it under the tips of his fingers; needed to follow the traces of the nigh illegible name and, most importantly, the triangular mark underneath. He closed his eyes to eliminate one of his senses, focusing on the sensation of the engraved dents in the stone.

Yes, there was a circle inscribed in the triangle; a line, too, bisecting the angle directly under Ignotus Peverell’s name. They were faint, but they were definitely there.

Gellert drew a shaky breath. This, he thought. This was it. He had been right to visit his aunt in Godric’s Hollow; not just to draw upon her vast library and equally vast historical knowledge, but also for this. This grave, seemingly unremarkable save for its age.

“Are you a distant relative of the Peverell family?”

Gellert all but started at the sound of the deep voice. When he had entered the graveyard, he had been aware of the black cloaked boy, kneeling in front of another grave with a bouquet of white lilies in his hands and shielded from the world by the thick curtain of his flowing auburn hair, so long it was almost touching the ground. Gellert had decided not to greet him, reluctant to intrude on the silent conversation he might be holding with the person he was mourning or, perhaps, with God.

Now the auburn-haired boy was standing right next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a worn but elegant pair of high-heeled, buckled boots.

Gellert, who had always had a sense for first impressions, allowed his own golden curls to flow out of his face, looking up at the boy before he rose in a smooth motion. The other was half a head taller than Gellert, even subtracting the heels. His form was as thin and slender as his face, with a wispy beard, a long, even nose and faint freckles under the rims of bright, light blue eyes.

Right now, these eyes were staring at him, thunderstruck. Gellert knew that reaction. He had seen his own face in the mirror; all even features and angles and long, black lashes over eyes that were a slightly darker shade of blue than the other boy’s. His golden, shoulder-length locks gave him an unearthly, almost angelic appeal that made most people hold their breath for a second when they first saw him.

“Not to my knowledge,” Gellert said smoothly and added a dazzling smile to the rest of his striking outward appearance. He straightened, making himself as tall as possible as he extended a hand towards the boy. “Nice to meet you. I’m Gellert Grindelwald, Bathilda Bagshot’s great-nephew.” The other took his hand, but before he could say anything, Gellert added: “And you must be Albus Dumbledore. I saw photos of you on Aunt Batty’s chest of drawers. She told me a lot about you; said you’re brilliant: Head Boy, Prefect, Winner of the Barnabus Finkley Prize…”

“Stop it; stop it!” Albus chuckled, holding his palms away from his chest. “You’ll make my face turn as red as my hair if you continue like that!” This wasn’t the kind of reaction Gellert had expected. It made Albus’s eyes sparkle and softened his features; made them pleasant and appealing.

Now it was Gellert who was staring, if only for a split second. He had assumed Albus would be rather sullen; depressed maybe because he had just come from a grave—and not any grave but his mother’s, if he recalled correctly from the abundance of information his aunt had fed him at his arrival in Godric’s Hollow.

“My great aunt does have a tendency to talk quite a lot about other people, and it’s often things that are a bit embarrassing,” Gellert conceded with a smile. “Usually good things, though.”

“Bathilda is a charming lady,” Albus said with a genuine smile of his own. “A brilliant historian, too! I wish I had an aunt like her.”

“She’s wonderful even though she’s a bit nosy.” Gellert cracked a grin, registering with satisfaction that Albus held his breath again even though he managed not to stare this time. “Asked me if you wanted to come over for coffee and cake, too.—Well, more like tea and cake,” he corrected himself. “For teatime, anyway.”

Gellert silently cursed himself. He knew his English didn’t betray much of his accent even though it was a bit lilting, but now he had given himself away as a non-native speaker for good. Sure enough, Albus Dumbledore, the wizarding wunderkind, would catch on to it.

“Bathilda may be as English as one can get, but you’re not from here, aren’t you?” Albus asked, sure enough, furrowing his brow in curiosity.

“No, I’m from Sopron, actually,” Gellert admitted. “Or Ödenburg, if that rings more of a bell. It’s in Austria-Hungary. Part of the Kingdom of Hungary, to be precise. My mother’s Hungarian; the father’s Austrian.”

“Interesting,” Albus said, eyes sparkling. “I’m sorry I must decline Bathilda’s invitation, though,” he added, and the light was suddenly gone from his eyes, as if someone had extinguished a candle. Gellert felt a strange and uncalled-for desire to do or say something to see it again. “Please tell Bathilda I’d gladly have accepted her invitation, but I’m afraid I must take care of my younger sister. I left her alone for far too long already, whiling away time at the cemetery.”

Gellert was fairly sure spending time at a deceased family member’s grave couldn’t exactly be called whiling away said time, but he decided not to comment on it. There was something peculiar about this boy; he was young, but there was an air resembling that of an absent-minded professor about him. Gellert felt drawn to him without being able to explain what exactly it was that made Albus so fascinating; what made him think desperately of ways to convince him to accept Bathilda’s invitation after all.

“Why don’t you just bring your sister along to Aunt Batty?” was the most natural thing that came to his mind.

“I’m afraid my sister is very frail … shy and easily distressed when she meets new people…” Albus’s voice trailed off, seemingly unconvinced by his own line of reasoning. He looked to the ground rather than into Gellert’s eyes.

“Why don’t you just ask her if she feels ready to meet me?” Gellert suggested, hope rising in his chest, fluttering up just like, as he hoped, the sparkle in Albus’s eyes. “I’m assuming she already knows Aunt Batty?”

“She does,” Albus admitted, “but she has never been to her house … Besides, my brother will kill me if I take Ariana to Bathilda’s.” He sighed.

“Then make sure he won’t find out about it.” Gellert smirked mischievously. Albus gave him a surprised look. Then the corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

“Fine,” he said, already turning on his heels. “I’m going to ask her.”

Interesting, Gellert thought. Albus had to be fairly desperate to escape his household charges, judging from how fast he had changed his mind. Either that, or… But Gellert quickly pushed that train of thought out of his mind.

“…so lovely if he could finally bring little Ariana over!” Gellert heard his great aunt say from the kitchen. He was in her sitting room, leaning against the bow-fronted chest of drawers on which she kept photographs of people close to her in silver frames. There was a particularly English note to the room, with embroidered doilies and colourfully painted flowerpots and saucers everywhere, but also a note that was purely Bathilda: There were stacks of books all across the room, some of them with an opened book on top and at least one scribble in the margins of the opened pages.

Aunt Batty’s sitting room was a little chaotic, but Gellert supposed it was practical if you were a famous historian and needed to draw on written texts all the time for your own books and articles. Nonetheless, he was feeling a little out of place in his spotless black trousers and black-grey striped waistcoat; too monochrome for the vivid colours of the room.

“Gellert, did you hear me?” his great aunt interrupted his musings about the room. “Should I set the table for two or four; what do you think?”

“Better set it for four,” he called back. “I think it’s better to have too many rather than too less place settings on the table, even if they don’t come in the end.”

He watched as four flowery saucers materialised on the wooden table in the middle of the room, followed by matching teacups and plates. Then there was a knock at Aunt Batty’s front door, and his attention strayed from the self-setting table.

“I’m going to let them in!” he informed his great aunt, already on his way to answer the door.

“Thanks, darling!” he heard her call from the kitchen.

Remembering what Albus had told him about Ariana’s shyness around unknown people, he opened the door slowly and with gentleness. Albus, now wearing purple robes, stood in front of him. His sister was half hidden behind his back, ogling Gellert from under Albus’s arm.

“I’m glad you could make it,” he greeted them both, beaming at Albus in particular. Then he turned to Ariana, bowing down a little to be on eye level with her. She had to be about a head smaller than him, though it was difficult to tell because she wasn’t standing upright.

“You must be Albus’s sister Ariana,” he greeted her, extending a hand. “I’m Gellert, Bathilda’s great nephew.”

She only stared at him suspiciously, making no move to take his hand. He reacted by extending only his bent index finger to her. She tipped at it with her own index finger, making a sound that was almost like a chuckle. His smile broadened.

“Do you want to come in?” he asked her. “Aunt Batty has made her famous chocolate cake.” She nodded. Albus exchanged a relieved look with Gellert as he went inside with his sister.

“Albus!” Bathilda exclaimed, storming out of the kitchen with open arms. She was smaller than Ariana, but that didn’t stop her from hugging Albus with the protective fierceness of a mother hen; it hadn’t stopped her from hugging Gellert with equal fierceness at his arrival either. Albus stooped down and hugged her back, smiling quietly into the tight bun of her brown hair.

“And Ariana!” Bathilda took Ariana’s hands with gentleness, smiling fondly at her. “Would you like to help me a little in the kitchen? Tea is almost ready.” Ariana nodded, and Bathilda tugged her along.

Albus clearly wasn’t at Bathilda’s for the first time. He walked alongside Gellert to the sitting room, taking a seat in a chair next to the empty fireplace. Gellert sat down across the table, scrutinizing Albus’s outward appearance.

“Honestly,” he said, “you’re fitting into this room way better than I do. Though I must admit the colour of your robes jars a little with your hair colour…”

“Interesting,” Albus said completely unimpressed. “A male individual who understands the idea of matching colours. What rarity.” He paused for effect. “Which colour would suit my hair better, Gellert; what do you think?”

“Green,” Gellert said without thinking. He realised he had been led up the garden path the moment the words left his mouth.

“Well … green.” Sure enough, Albus conjured a green carnation out of thin air and attached it on his purple robes. He raised both eyebrows. “Better?”

Gellert stared at him, utterly lost for words—and he was never lost for words. His heart was thumping in his chest. Albus had to know what he was alluding to, but what was he implying? That he was…? That he thought Gellert was…?

The truly unsettling thing was that he would have been right. Gellert’s head was hurting. He hadn’t known he was so easy to see through.

Then again, maybe Albus hadn’t seen through him after all. Maybe he had been making a statement about himself, or maybe it just amused him to scandalise other people. But that was something he, Gellert, thought funny! Would a model pupil like Albus even do such a thing?

Suddenly a large chocolate cake appeared on the table and their cups were full of tea—herbal tea by the scent of it. Gellert was immediately distracted. He found even black tea just barely tolerable, but herbal tea… Gellert sighed inwardly. As Aunt Batty’s guest, he needed to drink what was served to him, grin and bear it.

“Ah, wonderful!” Albus exclaimed, apparently delighted by the sight of the chocolate cake. “May we help ourselves to a piece, Bathilda?”

“Of course!” Bathilda said, walking back into the sitting room with Ariana. She smiled at Albus. “After all, I know how much you enjoy my cakes.”

“Well, but first of all, we need to serve the ladies,” Albus said as he pulled his wand out of his robes and gave it a flick. Two impeccably cut pieces of cake separated from the whole of it and settled on the plates in front of Bathilda and Ariana. “Then the well-travelled guest.” Another piece went to Gellert’s plate. “And, finally, myself.” The piece of cake that made its way to Albus’s plate was of the exact shape and form as the other three. Gellert raised his eyebrows.

“Are you a believer in the distributive norm of equity?” he asked curiously. “Donum suum aequale sibi?”

“Much as I’d love to distribute sweets proportional to body height,” Albus said, corners of his mouth twitching, “I believe that would be rather impolite toward your aunt and my sister.” Gellert laughed.

“Well then, Gellert,” Bathilda said. “How do you like my cake?”

“Wait a minute, Aunt Batty!” Gellert replied, still giggling. “I need to take a bite first!”

“And you, dearie?” Bathilda turned to Albus. “What do you think?”

“It tastes delicious as always,” Albus said and took his first bite. Gellert blinked incredulously. Bathilda didn’t seem to have noticed; she left her chair and headed for the kitchen again, muttering something about forgotten cream.

“Did you just…” Gellert asked as soon as his great aunt was out of earshot, staring at Albus.

“So what if I did?” Albus put down his dessert fork. “Any other answer wouldn’t have been socially acceptable anyway, would it?” There was an amused twinkle in his eyes. “Besides, I know from experience that your great aunt makes the best pastries and cakes in the whole West Country of England!”

“Oh, thank you, dearie!” Bathilda, who reappeared with a full bowl of cream floating beside her in mid-air, had apparently only heard the last part of Albus’s declaration. Gellert hastened to take a bite of his piece of cake as well so he could make a statement about it based on evidence.

“Delicious!” he exclaimed after a pause. “There’s a lot of cocoa in this cake, isn’t it? It tastes luscious, almost like melted chocolate!”

“The recipe is a family secret.” Bathilda smiled at herself. “Then again, you are family, so perhaps I’ll hand it to you if you behave nicely during your stay here.” Gellert wanted to tell her how she was probably much better at baking than him anyway, but he didn’t even get to say a word.

“I wish I was part of your family too if that’s the only way to get this recipe!” Albus declared in such a heartfelt way that Ariana started to giggle again. Bathilda made eye contact with her.

“Sweetie, I think your brother is a bit silly today,” she declared. Ariana nodded eagerly, and soon all four of them were grinning. Then Bathilda seemed to remember something.

“Oh dear, I completely forgot to properly introduce you three!”

“It’s no problem, Auntie,” Gellert tried to calm her. “We already introduced ourselves to each other, and you told me so much about Albus...”

“But Albus hardly knows anything about you, darling!” Gellert winced.

“Please, Aunt Batty, let me tell him myself!” he asked, hating how desperate he sounded. He saw the scene right before his mind’s eye: Gellert, this is Albus, the star alumnus of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Albus, this is my good-for-nothing great nephew Gellert who was expelled from Durmstrang Institute. Would Albus still want to talk to him if he learnt right now that he...

“But I think your research project would benefit enormously if a bright boy like Albus could look into it!” Bathilda objected gently. Gellert felt dizzy with relief as he realised she wasn’t going to tell Albus about the disgraceful end of his schooling.

“A research project?” Albus piped up.

“Um, yes, it’s ... a bit difficult to explain.” Gellert blushed. Again, he saw the scene right before his eyes: Hello, I’m trying to find three magical artefacts from a children’s tale. Who was going to take him seriously? If only he could get enough time to explain ... preferably without Ariana and his great aunt present...

“It involves an enormous amount of historical research, which is why Gellert came to me in the first place,” Bathilda explained. “Unfortunately I’m pressed for time to finish a revised edition of my book on witchcraft trials at the moment; the publisher needs the final draft by the end of August. But you know your fair share of magical history as well, don’t you, dearie?”

“Oh, it would be an honour for me if I could help you!” Albus said eagerly, turning to Gellert.

“Perhaps we could go to my room and have a look at Aunt Batty’s books together?” Gellert suggested. “I’m sure she would love to stay with your sister in the meantime; wouldn’t you, Aunt Batty?”

“Of course, darling!” Bathilda beamed. “I need to work on my book this afternoon, but you enjoy knitting, don’t you, Ariana?” The girl nodded and smiled at her. “So we could sit together while I’m writing and you’re knitting,” Bathilda suggested. “How does that sound?”

“Lovely,” Ariana said quietly. It was the first word Gellert had heard her utter during the whole afternoon. She had a bright and pretty voice.

Then Gellert turned to Albus, watching his inward struggle with his promise to take care of his sister himself and the temptation to leave her in Bathilda’s care instead. Just like in the cemetery, Temptation won with ease.

“Thank you, Bathilda,” Albus said. “That’s very kind of you.” Then he gave Ariana a tentative smile. She smiled back, but neither of them said anything.

“Come with me?” Gellert asked before Albus might change his mind. Albus nodded and followed him to the stairs. They were steep and narrow, so Albus was quite close to him when he stopped right behind him. He took the green carnation from his purple robes, twirling it between his long fingers.

“Your reaction was quite satisfying,” he commented offhandedly.

“What?” Gellert’s hand clutched around the landing. His knuckles turned white.

“There, again,” Albus said. “You seem so confident and sure of your own beauty. I wanted to see if I could do or say something that would unsettle you.”

Gellert stared at Albus in bewilderment.

“As it turned out, I could.” Albus smiled. His eyes sparkled. Then he flicked his wand, and the green carnation vanished. “I’m sorry if I disturbed you. That was not my intention.”

He knows. Gellert felt the pulse of his own heartbeat in his throat.

“Oh, you didn’t disturb me at all,” he said as smoothly as he could and resumed walking. But he was sure he hadn’t fooled Albus.

Notes:

Oscar Wilde popularised green carnations as a symbol for homosexual men in Victorian England. He was tried for “gross indecency with men” in 1895 and jailed in Reading Gaol from then until 1897. Putting a green carnation on one’s lapel would have been considered risqué, to say the least, in 1899.

My headcanon that Gellert is from Sopron is very, very similar to that of Kierkegarden. I developed it independently but we were apparently thinking along very similar lines of reasoning: Nurmengard, the prison Gellert Grindelwald built, is located in Austria; Szent Gellért is a patron saint of Hungary; and Grindelwald is a village in Switzerland, which could be a Habsburg reference since Habsburg Castle, the originating seat of Austria’s long-time ruling family, is also located in Switzerland. (If you want to read this headcanon in a little more detail, follow the #grindellore tag on my blog 😉) Choosing Sopron as the place Gellert was born seems pretty natural, too, considering it’s an old city that used to be part of the Kingdom of Hungary; its status as Hungarian, not Austrian, remained controversial right after WWI; it was bombed several times during WWII; and it was the site of the “Pan-European Picnic”, a peace demonstration in 1989.

In case anyone’s curious: I hc Albus as about 1.85m in this fic; Gellert is about 1.75m; Ariana is c. 1.50m. Albus is frequently described as tall and thin even by the standards of the early 1990s in the Harry Potter series; he would be huge for a human man by the standards of the late 1890s.

#grindeldore #albus dumbledore #gellert grindelwald #harry potter #fantastic beasts #fanfiction #my fanfiction #katemarley #grindellore

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