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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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Honestly I just really like the AU's where Harry is not the boy who lived and someone else is, but I don't think I've ever been able to find a well written long one where Harry doesn't turn Dark which is not where I like going with it. I just like the idea of what happens with Harry's hero complex and like interactions with people without the whole Boy-Who-Lived title hanging over his head!

So long as Harry still grows up with the Dursleys, I can… actually see this really well (because, you know, the canon characterization exists). It is interesting to consider how Harry’s relationship with the magical world changes if he isn’t simultaneously introduced to the “Boy-Who-Lived vs. You-Know-Who” thing - if he isn’t given any expectation that he should be the hero or fear for his life. (Would he still be taken to Gringotts by Hagrid and form that connection to and feeling of responsibility for the Philosopher’s Stone?)

I think the usual direction to go with this is to make Neville the Boy-Who-Lived, and I kind of like the idea of exploring Harry as a Hero’s Companion instead of the hero. Although, I also kind of like the idea of Harry doing his own thing completely, at least initially, before getting roped into the growing conflict. Hmm, this seems like it could be a fun rewrite exercise, though I’d need a specific “why should I write this” bait (some special scene or canon divergence development) before I’d bite personally for a fic or ficlet. (Not because I think this concept isn’t worth it, it’s just that I have so many Canon Divergence HP fics already, I’d need something really tempting and DIFFERENT to what I’ve already written.)

However, I also accidentally read this ask kind of backwards and my brain went, “Hmm, what if this was in a world where Harry was still the Boy-Who-Lived but no one knew that he was the Boy-Who-Lived? What if Voldemort just kind of vanished one day and no one knew why?” The logistics of it are a bit tricky, since we don’t actually know how exactly the wizarding public learned about the deaths of Lily and James Potter, but that’s not a big hurdle to tackle. So, Harry would have a different form of the “Boy-Who-Lived” responsibility, if he was let in on the secret, but none of the fame, which would be kind of interesting.

AND THEN my brain fed me a THIRD AU, based on this post that Min reblogged the other day (I haven’t reblogged it to my own blog yet, sorry, Min), a Canon Divergence in which Dumbledore straight-up DIES during or shortly after the First War. Shortly after works better for logistics of what I’m imagining, so we’ll go with that for this proposal.

Like, basically everything else is the same. The Potters are still murdered by Voldemort. After Hagrid takes Harry to the Dursleys, Sirius tries to kill Peter and gets sent to Azkaban. The Longbottoms are tortured by the Lestranges. Barty Crouch Junior is sent to Azkaban by his own father. Severus Snape is pardoned on Albus Dumbledore’s word. Etc. Etc.

And then Albus Dumbledore dies. Because, like, he’s super old. If we go with JKR’s original estimates of Dumbledore’s age, he’s more than a hundred. Maybe he has some health complication due to years of stress and duels.

What’s tempting to me about this is that, while I dislike Snape’s teaching style, I do have a lot of sympathy for Snape as a character and I think he’s a really good/fun character, and I think the idea of Albus Dumbledore posthumously dumping all his “I think Voldemort is still alive” suspicions on a largely unaware Snape hilarious. Like, Snape is something like 23? 24? 25? And suddenly Albus Dumbledore is dead (Minerva McGonagall is Headmistress of Hogwarts, obviously) and Voldemort might come back someday.

Note: Dumbledore didn’t learn about horcruxes until COS when Harry dropped Tom Riddle’s diary on his desk. Dumbledore had suspicions about how Voldemort may have achieve semi-immortality before that, of course, but nothing was confirmed until Harry gave him a horcrux.

So, like, how does the series continue from there? Without Dumbledore, I sincerely doubt the Philosopher’s Stone would ever make its way to Hogwarts, so you’d need to come up with something else. The Chamber of Secrets opening could still happen and, in fact, could happen early if we put sufficient pressure on Lucius Malfoy for some reason or another. (Maybe politics are a little more openly aggressive without the influence of Albus Dumbledore?)

Personally, I like the idea of a positive Harry & Snape relationship in this AU, though I think it would also be plagued with angst and difficulties and sharp remarks (which is what makes it appealing to me!), if only because I like to imagine Snape actually developing a vaguely positive relationship with his dead best friend’s son, and then Harry drops the diary on a desk and Snape is forced to make the Parseltongue connection and thinks, “FUCK.”

Actually, Dumbledore getting killed or dying in any of the early books could be super interesting. Hmm. I’m sorry, this isn’t even remotely the AU you shared, but this is where my brain went. Thank you for sharing!

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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Critically Underrateed Genre of Fanfic: fics where the Primary Antagonist of the series just fuckin’ dies, and everyone has to deal with the fallout of not having the Antagonist. How doesn’t even matter- actually, the more senseless and absured the death the better. Fire Lord Ozai chokes on a tomato. Joker gets run over. Palpatine leans too far back in his chair and falls out his stupid aquarim window.

Then the fallout of thier unfulfilled plans and the space they took up happens to everyone around them and we get a nice look at everyone’s inadiquacies and secrets that were being kept until after the menace was dealt with and who’s going to see those unfinished opportunities and decide… why NOT them?

Nature abhorrs a vaccum, after all.

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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While I’m disagreeing with Lily Evans fanon…

I’m bothered by the tendency in fanfiction to give Lily a fiery temper for which she is notorious. Fanon!Lily will hex people for doing the slightest thing to upset her, and everyone knows this. Often, she throws punches and small objects at those who incur her legendary wrath. The Marauders live in fear of crossing her, for hell hath no fury like a Lily Evans Potter who has been mildly displeased.

So, um, guys, in canon… Lily doesn’t actually do that.

Hermione sends attack birds after Ron. Molly’s disapproving rage frightens her children and her husband. Ginny has a reputation for hexes. Maybe you’re thinking of one of them?

Here’s what Lily does when faced with something that might or does make her angry:

Keep reading

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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I read your tags on your Umbridge post and now I definitely want to read or write Umbridge being put on fire. That's an absolutely amazing idea.

Ron and Harry, every single Potions class since first-year: “Hermione, when are you going to light Snape on fire again? You should do that again. That was good. Please, do that again. You did it once.”

But, yeah, this is the relevant excerpt from that fic:

“I didn’t think that teachers were allowed to ask those sorts of questions of their students, professor,” Hermione interrupted, with a smile that looked rather painful.

Umbridge offered her own smile, full of friendliness, only with an intense emptiness in the eyes. “I am an individual quickly becoming deeply concerned with the standards of moral integrity that have been allowed to persist here at Hogwarts, Miss Granger,” she said. “What sort of teacher would I be if I didn’t worry for the well-being of my students? I think we can agree that prefects should be offering the school exemplary models of moral character!”

“Unfortunately, I think that it’s difficult for everyone to agree on what exactly constitutes exemplary moral character,” Hermione answered, without missing a beat, in her absolute best “teacher’s pet” voice.

Harry wanted to whoop in support.

Umbridge’s smile seemed to twitch on her face. “Perhaps among students who don’t know better, Miss Granger!” she trilled. “Thank goodness that these sorts of decisions are made by experienced authorities, who know best how to guide rebellious children away from dangerous and irresponsible behaviors, back towards traditional values, so that they may eventually become upstanding citizens of good character.”

Harry very much got the sense that, somewhere in that sickly sweet word-vomit, he was being given immediate reason to grab Hermione by the wrist to prevent her from lunging across the desk to break Dolores Umbridge’s nose. He quickly took Hermione’s hand.

Some part of him felt absurd for doing it. The rest of him scoffed at that, still brimming with rage at Umbridge’s condescending everything, vindicated by the knowledge that it would not actually be the first time that Hermione Granger had attacked a teacher. Sometimes he forgot that Hermione had once lit Snape on fire in their first-year, sometimes he wished she’d do it again to get them out of Potions classes, and right now he was convinced she was sooner-rather-than-later going to land herself in detention for lighting a second teacher on fire.

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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“A clever plan..because if Harry here and his friend Ron hadn’t discovered this book, why–Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn’t acted of her own free will…and imagine…what might have happened then…The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pure-blood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing Muggle-borns…”

It brings me SO MUCH joy that the plot of Chamber of Secrets basically happens because Lucius is terrified out of his mind of Arthur and Molly Weasley and their SEVeN kids who were all raised to hold the line in case anyone tried to start a genocidal regime again. They are so powerful and so dangerous to any attempted rise to power from the Death Eaters, and Lucius feels the need to try and marginalize and demonize them in order to decrease the threat they pose.

And boy was he right to be concerned, they are…unstoppable. Each and every one of them. You thought it was impressive that it took five Death Eaters to kill their uncles? Try having a couple Weasleys illegally on the airwaves, one destroying Voldemort’s Horcruxes, one protesting at Hogwarts, one running loose in the government, one housing escaped prisoners, and one getting foreign support!! More children than they can afford? Try more children than you can effectively stop!!

And then when they ALL show up to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts? What a trip for Lucius Malfoy! Hey bigots! Would you like to pick an opponent based on which Quidditch position they excel at, or do you wanna roll the dice and go with one of the brothers who got 12 OWLs? Those are your only two options because Weasleys are EVERYWHERE and the weak link is NO ONE. The fear that must have been in his heart when one or two of them was around every corner of the school taking down his DE pals…is so amazing to think about. Glorious. Iconic. Every Weasley has red hair, freckles, and a drive to destroy the concept of blood purity at all cost!!

The Weasleys are not always nice or right, but they are GOOD and they believe in standing up for what is good, and when evil is around they SHOW UP to fight it. No questions asked. And evil is so scared of them, so worried about what they can do, that it resorts to desperately weaponizing a little girl to try and stop them.

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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Werewolf McWerewolf

So I know we’re always complaining about Lupin and how it’s ridikulus for someone not born a werewolf to be named freaking “Guy-raised-by-wolf John Wolf-like” but, like, there’s a simple explanation no one ever talks about.

It’s a freaking assumed name.

Think about it. Remus was a little kid when he got attacked. It would have been all over the papers at the time. It’s in the papers later when another kid gets attacked by Greyback in HBP. So it would ruin everything if Lupin turned up at Hogwarts his first year only to have some wizard-born prat (*cough cough Snape*) say “Lupin? I know that name from somewhere” and go looking through old Daily Prophets.

Dumbledore was probably like “Why don’t you pick a new name?” and this little shit future Marauder went “Hmm, I’ll go for something subtle.”

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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tbh the only evidence i need that harry’s a gryffindor is the fact that he kept going back to the forbidden forest after voldemort tried to kill him, aragog tried to eat him, lupin turned into a wolf and attacked him, the dementors tried to kiss him, barty crouch was murdered and turned into a bone, umbridge was kidnapped by centaurs,, boy had to die in that forest before he stopped going back

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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Hey, LK! I was thinking about fic ideas earlier (I desperately want to write about something), and thought about a Sirius and Remus role reversal (kind of). Remus gets to Petigrew first and ends up in Azkaban. What do you think would change?

Ohh, that’s an interesting concept! Okay, uh, top of my mind: lots of things would change, but first thing to figure out is probably how exactly that happened.

Because A) James and Sirius were incredibly close, such that James trusted Sirius’ plan to make Peter the Secret-Keeper and have Sirius play decoy...

B) Sirius and Remus actually suspected each other (I think this is pretty much explicitly said in POA), so Remus was kept far out of the Secret-Keeper loop and probably didn’t know where exactly Peter was hiding...

and C) James, Sirius, Lily, Remus, Dumbledore, and basically the entire Order of the Phoenix had no clue that Peter was a spy/traitor until too late. Even Dumbledore hadn’t been told that Peter was the true Secret-Keeper. Everyone thought that it only could have been Sirius who betrayed them.

SO, I’m assuming that something like this happened: Remus intercepts Sirius before Sirius can go after Peter. Sirius tells Remus about his failed decoy plan and Peter’s betrayal. Remus also starts hunting for Peter, but he and Sirius either split up to cover more ground, or Sirius decides to look after Harry instead. If Sirius gives up the hunt and leaves it to Remus, either Remus convinces Sirius to protect Harry or Sirius realizes that all of Voldemort’s followers (who are still loose) will want revenge. (We know that very shortly the Lestranges will attack the Longbottoms for information.)

Ultimately: Remus finds Peter first. Peter Pettigrew is, unfortunately, a clever and capable bastard sometimes, so it’s possible that he could frame Remus for his murder like he did Sirius (it’s possible that he planned this escape in case he was discovered). If you want Peter dead, then maybe Remus does kill Peter (because Remus was straight-up cool with Sirius’ plans to murder Peter in the 3rd book, and it’s Harry who stops them). However, Peter still somehow manages to frame Remus as the bad guy, OR someone takes this opportunity to persecute Remus for being a werewolf (though Remus being a werewolf apparently wasn’t public knowledge until POA).

Sirius would try to help Remus (unless he was in hiding with Harry from the Lestranges or something), but if it came out during Remus’ trial that he was a werewolf, it would definitely not help his case. Sirius is a disowned, rebellious 22yo bloodtraitor; he would not have that much strength or leverage against a Ministry determined to prosecute. I don’t remember anything in particular about Crouch being prejudiced against werewolves, but I think that can be assumed of almost any ambitious Ministry official.

(If you want Sirius not to know that Peter is the real traitor, like how in canon Remus didn’t know Peter was the real traitor, you are gonna have to do some more significant bending/alteration of canon from the beginning.)

What does this change?

A) Harry is probably raised by Sirius or raised with Sirius in his life. Given that Sirius has lost all his found family (all the Potters are dead) and the only blood family he has left sucks, I have difficulty imagining that Sirius would give Harry up, especially not when he realizes how much the Dursleys suck.

B) Peter Pettigrew could be dead, depending on whether or not you actually want Remus to murder him. Which means that Scabbers never goes to the Weasleys and Remus will need a different motivation for breaking out of Azkaban, if you have him break out of Azkaban.

This also means that, if the plot is otherwise not too interrupted, then Voldemort will need someone else to care for him during GOF. It’s Peter who kidnaps Bertha Jorkins, who tells them about Barty Crouch Junior, which leads to Barty being freed. Either Barty needs a different way to be freed OR you could have Barty never go to Azkaban in the first place (not being caught or outed as a Death Eater), but instead be loyally looking for Voldemort all the while.

C) Remus will need to be released from Azkaban for serving out his sentence (possible, I think, if it’s known that Peter is a traitor) OR he’ll need to break out of Azkaban a different way. Sirius escaped using his Animagus transformation. You could claim that Azkaban wasn’t built to contain werewolves (though the Ministry would try to account for that, maybe their construction wasn’t up to par or something)? Or you could have Remus break out of Azkaban alongside the Death Eaters when/if Voldemort breaks them out? Lots of options.

Or you could have Sirius Black break his best friend out of Azkaban. If Sirius is forcibly kept away from Harry for whatever reason, I could see him being reckless enough to run an Azkaban prison break.

Okay, yeah, that’s everything off the top of my head, more or less. It’s a fun canon divergence! I love coming up with canon divergent ways to make interesting role reversals seem plausible.

Details of anything are going to depend on your plot and what you want to accomplish. If you’re not into plotty longfic, you could totally just write a short one-shot of a scene in this potential alternate universe, and leave it there. Say: Sirius visiting Privet Drive for one of his scheduled visits with Harry (much to the Dursleys’ unhappiness), trying to explain to Harry about Remus’ recent breakout from Azkaban and the whole story behind that.

In my experience, HP fans know so much about canon as it stands, that you really don’t have to give them an extended exposition introduction to an AU. You can just jump right into the middle of the story, drop some clues, and they’ll puzzle everything out based on their absurd amount of knowledge of HP. Maybe explain things in your Author’s End Notes so readers know they guessed right, if you leave the story as “Ambiguous/Open Ending”?

Happy writing! Hope you find an idea that you enjoy!

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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From an inner pocket of his robes Moody pulled a very tattered old wizarding photograph.

‘Original Order of the Phoenix,’ growled Moody. ‘Found it last night… thought people might like to see it.’

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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Flirting with the ace spectrum myself, I am thrilled that you hc Sirius as ace. It fits so well, and I really enjoy how you portray his relationship with James and Lily in fdith (especially Lily!). There is so little ace rep for characters that are attractive and considered rebellious as well.

Thanks! Yeah! I like it as a headcanon! (Folks, you remember that a headcanon means personal fanon, right? It’s not a competition.) Most of my reasoning is “I’m ace and I like him”, but imo pretty much all canonical “evidence” (if we needed things like that) that he’s gay could also put him on the ace spectrum. He could be hc’d as ace or demi and gay.

And yeah, tbh, a small part of it is spite. I’m really not a fan of most of the other HP ace character headcanons that I’ve seen.

-cut-

Reasoning:

- His friends (and Harry) were always the most important people in his life. Like, yes, he loved James most, but he very much loved Peter and Remus as well.

- Granted, there’s a lot getting in Sirius’ way in terms of a relationship: an abusive family, a war, 12 years of Azkaban, and then the rest of his life is spent on the run. But also the books are incredibly heteronormative and, to my knowledge, there’s no mention of Sirius ever being in a romantic relationship or ever wanting to be in a romantic relationship.

- Being traumatized can be separate from him being ace.

- The pictures of Muggle girls in bikinis permanently stuck to his bedroom wall sounds super performative, aimed at ticking off his parents. So, like, baby gay ace Sirius being like, “The fuck do other teenage boys find sexy? Scantly clad women? Fuck yeah, deal with this in your shitty house forever.”

- Being ace doesn’t mean someone can’t give relationship advice. Ace people have relationships with other human beings too.

- I do enjoy Sirius/Remus as a ship (and Sirius/Remus will probably be a thing eventually in FDitH). Ace!Sirius doesn’t actually get in the way of shipping Sirius/Remus at all! The ace and aro spectrums are incredibly diverse, and there are lots of different ways to have ace and aro relationships. (Ace people can choose to have sex for a variety of reasons.)

- He’s canonically super good-looking, so this is a fuck-you to anyone who confuses asexuality with an inability to find a partner, or finds an attractive fictional character’s inability to reciprocate sexual attraction makes them in any way “lesser”. This falls under the “I’m ace and I like him” category.

Other HP Characters I’ve seen HC’d as ace:

Luna Lovegood -> You do you, totally, but she’s also like the one character who is definitely not neurotypical. So like... I feel like this is a headcanon to be careful with (see: confusing asexuality & neurodivergence with “innocence”).

Neville Longbottom -> You do you, again; I don’t really have strong feelings about this one. Plenty of evidence, in that Neville’s romantic experiences (Ginny) end in friendships and he doesn’t seem too concerned about dating, but I feel like it’s something to handle carefully in tandem with his fatness and initial lack of confidence.

Charlie Weasley -> I like this one just fine! People who hc Charlie as gay point out that moving several countries away from an overbearing family is a very queer move, which is fair; but I’d counter that imo I think Molly is more likely to be freaked out by the idea of Charlie never getting married than she is to be freaked out by him marrying a man. So he could also be ace.

Charlie could intend to stay single and/or childfree forever, actually, no matter his sexuality. I think Charlie intending on being childfree would freak Molly out more than him “living in sin” with someone of any gender. So, tbh, most importantly I hc Charlie as intending on being childfree.

Peter Pettigrew -> Don’t like this one at all. Feels like this is an excuse to ship James/Lily and Sirius/Remus without feeling bad that Peter doesn’t have anyone. Also feels like this stems out of him being the “unattractive” Marauder bc he’s canonically fat and plain-looking.

(Look deep into your heart and try to tell me that Peter wouldn’t be treated very differently by some parts of fandom if he was canonically good-looking, or even if he was thin and there was room to interpret him as good-looking.)

Horace Slughorn -> I like this one, actually. Could just be that Slughorn (like all other Hogwarts teachers) keeps his love life far away from school, but he seems to find his thriving platonic social life extremely fulfilling. Given the whole Albus Dumbledore mess, the idea of Slughorn being a closeted or lonely gay man makes me sad, so I prefer to think of him as very happily single regardless of his sexuality.

(Horace Slughorn having a secret, exasperated husband or wife somewhere, however, would be extremely funny. Unlikely, imo, but very funny.)

Voldemort -> I feel like this is just because people are grossed out by the idea of him having sex. Just because he’s an asshole, it doesn’t automatically make him aro or ace (love potion babies being incapable of love isn’t official, immovable canon and even if it was, it smacks of punishing innocent people born due to non-con/rape, which imo is very gross).

Imo (even outside of the Cursed Child making Bella/Voldemort a thing), Voldemort being heterosexual makes perfect sense. The guy was misogynistic (can be inferred by his overall behaviour) and had no qualms about using/manipulating women (see Hepzibah Smith and Helena Ravenclaw), so unfortunately it’s not unreasonable that he’s had sex. Why not? Like, Tom “further down the path of immortality than anyone else” Riddle? You think this self-centred asshole wouldn’t have fucked-up evil ritual sex for kicks? Or just to try it out? (Though obviously ace people can still participate in sex for a variety of reasons.)

Sorry, I didn’t intend for this to be a “Voldemort fucks” argument, but also: don’t headcanon characters as aro or ace just bc the idea of them fucking grosses you out. (I am not saying you are obligated to imagine it, obviously.) And don’t headcanon characters as aro or ace just bc the idea of them experiencing sexual or romantic attraction grosses you out.

That Voldemort didn’t intend to have heirs (or get married) because he intended on living forever is a different issue - you know, the “him generally being an asshole who honestly disdains all other people” one. (I feel like it should be clear here that I am not implying being childfree makes you an asshole. Being childfree is a valid life choice that makes no inherent statements on one’s morality or compassion.) If Cursed-Child!Voldemort actually knew about Delphi and had her on purpose, then I definitely do not headcanon that it was for good reason or would have treated Delphi well.

BETTER EXPLANATION of my feelings on Aro-Ace!Voldemort here:

https://lullabyknell.tumblr.com/post/626637391058370560/i-think-voldemort-definitely-fucked-but-that

Anyway!

Ace Sirius Black! Because tbh, why not?

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thedream-scheme · 3 years ago

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i think voldemort definitely fucked, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be ace/aro - because it's about the lack of attraction, so he still could have had sex but felt nothing towards the ppl he did it with. a number of ace ppl have sex for various reasons, so it doesn't really disqualify him from being ace

I know how aromanticism and asexuality work. No offence (and no hard feelings, don’t worry about it), but I am asexual, so please don’t come into my askbox telling me how the ace spectrum works.

My stance on Tom Riddle generally, however, is that “if you don’t have any other aro/ace headcanons, then fuck off on calling Voldemort aro/ace”. I will admit that my previous statements were more specifically levelled at the people who want to use asexuality in place of abstinence, so this wasn’t clear, but I actually have a problem with this alternative interpretation of Voldemort too.

Oh, gosh, this got sorta long. Okay, I’m just going to full-on complain about all my issues with calling Tom Riddle aromantic or asexual or both. (Obviously, your headcanon is not my headcanon, YMMV obvs, but here’s why I’ve got beef with it:)

=cut-

I’m gonna copy-paste what I said about not liking the headcanon Ace!Voldemort in the last post for reference and context.

Voldemort -> I feel like this is just because people are grossed out by the idea of him having sex. Cowards. Just because he’s an asshole, it doesn’t automatically make him aro or ace (love potion babies being incapable of love isn’t official, immovable canon and even if it was, it smacks of punishing innocent people born due to non-con/rape, which imo is very gross).

Imo (even outside of the Cursed Child making Bella/Voldemort a thing), Voldemort being heterosexual makes sense. The guy was misogynistic (can be inferred by his overall behaviour) and had no qualms about using/manipulating women (see Hepzibah Smith and Helena Ravenclaw), so unfortunately it’s not unreasonable that he’s had sex. Why not? Like, Tom “further down the path of immortality than anyone else” Riddle? You think this self-centred asshole wouldn’t have fucked-up evil ritual sex for kicks? Or just to try it out?

Sorry, I didn’t intend for this to be a “Voldemort fucks” argument, but also: don’t headcanon characters as aro or ace just bc the idea of them fucking grosses you out. (I am not saying you are obligated to imagine it, obviously.) Don’t headcanon characters as aro or ace just bc the idea of them experiencing sexual or romantic attraction grosses you out.

End copy-paste.

I will try to be clearer this time. Anon, I promise that I’m not trying to lecture you (as I assume you were not trying to lecture me), and you may know all of this already, but I want my thoughts on this to be very clear.

Sorry, Aro-Ace!Voldemort just really annoys me personally because I feel like people are 1) slapping the label on him because they’re uncomfortable with the idea of Voldemort having sex (valid, but asexuality =/= abstinence);*

2) are uncomfortable with the idea of Voldemort having anything resembling sexual or romantic feelings at all, which ignores the fact that Voldemort was a human being, and imo implies Voldemort was “too corrupt” or “too selfish” or “too evil” to experience any form of “real” attraction (as though abusers and toxic people are somehow removed from these experiences);

and 3) because people want to make any potential interaction Voldemort had specially “selfish” and “self-centred” and “unnatural” by saying he felt nothing whatsoever for his partners.

*(The conflation of asexuality with abstinence is the first step of “kinda thoughtless ace rep” that I often see, so it’s what I focused on earlier.)

I definitely don’t think that Voldemort loved any potential partners he might have had (because he’s an asshole), but I think the desire to remove anything resembling sexual or romantic attraction from the equation completely is weird, uncomfortable, and should be examined.

Because I think for a lot of people (not everyone, obviously), this stems from an unconscious desire to equate a lack of sexual and/or romantic attraction with “the Other”.

Other:

verb gerund or present participle: othering

view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself.

Asexuality and Aromanticism are linked with the concept of “the other” in literature a lot. You’ll also see this with non-binary gender or agender representation. The concept of “the other” is something extremely real in terms of all forms of prejudice (ex: homophobia, transphobia, racism, xenophobia, sexism, and so on) out in the real world, and so it inevitably comes through in all forms of literature and other media.

It comes up a lot in Fantasy and Sci-Fi media.

Aromantic-Asexual characters or characters who are functionally aromantic or asexual are often non-human, such as: high elves or angels (who are somehow “above” the “earthly experience” of sexual intercourse), robots and other artificial beings (who are often depicted as being incapable of the “quintessential” human experiences of love and sex), and aliens (who may be “too practical” for sexual intercourse for pleasure or something).

Sometimes, characters who are functionally (almost never explicitly) aromantic or asexual are human, but they’re often simultaneously depicted as being 1) too “busy” for sex or love (again, asexuality =/= abstinence), 2) almost certainly neurodivergent (which goes back to “the other”), 3) too traumatized to engage in a romantic or sexual relationship (asexuality is not caused by trauma), or 4) too selfish, abusive, or toxic for romantic or sexual relationships.

Too “evil” for affection or sex.

(And, of course, explicitly asexual relationships, the wide variety of them that exist, some of which may in fact include sex for fun or intimacy, are almost never explored in mainstream media.)

When you’re aro-ace, it can get aggravating very quickly to have the closest thing to your experiences constantly assigned to non-humans, monsters, villains, and the general “other”. If there were more positive aro-ace human characters depicted, I’d probably be less pissed off about this, but without positive explicitly aro-ace human characters to balance this out, in most mainstream media: a refusal or an inability to participate in romantic or sexual relationships is most often a sign that there is something wrong with you. Something broken or monstrous or inhuman.

Which is obviously not true. But it’s still annoying.

So, right, a lot of my aggression due to a lack of aro-ace representation or the failings of aro-ace representation in general comes crashes out at the concept of Aromantic and/or Asexual Tom Riddle.

Because I do not think that most of the people using those terms for Voldemort have bothered to think about the history of missing romantic or sexual attraction being equated with inhumanity. If you’ve ever scoffed at the phrase “sex is what makes us human”, good for you, but lots of people out there in the world genuinely seem to believe it.

And I think the concept that romantic or sexual attraction is “all good” or “not there at all” is dangerous. I think it does a disservice to the past and present of abuse, toxicity, and harm that can be wrapped up in human relationships and feelings. Which, let me be clear, is not me attempting to equate romantic or sexual attraction with something inherently dirty or corrupt or bad. Absolutely not. Platonic relationships (friendships, mentorships, family relationships) can be full of just as much abuse, toxicity, and harm.

Human beings can be attracted to ideas that are unhealthy, unsafe, and sometimes unkind. (Which is not me kink-shaming people or anything. I’m talking about all forms of relationships, and I’m just saying that sometimes I think important boundaries are consciously or unconsciously crossed in pursuit of relationships/dynamics that initially seem appealing. And sometimes that’s an honest mistake and sometimes the situation is bad.)

Sexual intercourse is (obviously) not divided into “allosexual and purely selfless, focused on your partner” and “asexual and selfish, focused on your own pleasure”, which tbh kinda feels what “Voldemort fucks, but not because he experiences sexual attraction or actually likes anyone” implies.

Voldemort feeling no real love for any sexual partners he might have had is actually entirely separate to Voldemort feeling no sexual attraction for them. I feel like the two points are often confused.

In fact, Voldemort feeling no real love for any sexual partners he might have had doesn’t actually disqualify him from having affection for his sexual partners either. Maybe he actually liked them. If we take Cursed Child as canon, I’d argue that he always seemed somewhat fond of Bellatrix.

This is gonna sound absolutely wild to some people, but I personally don’t believe Voldemort was incapable of affection or love. And, in fact, I think he did feel affection towards some people and creatures in his life.

Most notably: I think he felt affection (non-sexual and non-romantic) for Nagini (who was not a person, get that extremely racist Fantastic Beasts bullshit out of here). Granted, I think Voldemort cared about this animal mostly because 1) she was an animal and he had complete control over her, so she was loyal and never a threat, and 2) he put a piece of his soul into her and sometimes had an open connection with her.

But in general I think that a young Tom Riddle had people in his life he sincerely considered friends. He liked them. I think he was quite fond of many of his Death Eaters over the years. It’s just that he was a murderous, power-hungry asshole who liked torture, so he had no problem in hurting the people around him and showing them “their place”. You know, how abusive people are like, “We won’t have a problem getting along, so long as you show me the proper amount of deference and respect, right? Otherwise, any consequences of you acting out will be your fault.”**

**(Please note this is not me saying that “the abusive people in your life actually did love you”. I am not saying that. Fuck those people. I just think that it’s kind of dangerous to imagine that a lack of empathy means someone is destined to hurt people, or to imagine that having empathy means you can’t hurt people. I think repeatedly categorizing “an inability to traditionally connect with people” as a bad thing in media is potentially hurtful towards many different communities, including but not limited to: the ace spectrum, neurodivergent people, and disabled people.)

I think Tom Riddle might even have been fascinated by the concept of romance as something “enthralling and breathtaking and powerful”. I think he may have met people who fascinated him, whom he found “attractive” in various ways, but rejected anything resembling an equal or balanced relationship. He just didn’t and wouldn’t want anyone else to have any power over him. Aromanticism & Asexuality =/= just being an asshole.

Yes, I do think Voldemort could have and would have had interactions purely from a hedonistic standpoint or an “evil ritual” standpoint, if you choose to believe he never experienced sexual attraction.

But I still have to ask, “What’s the reasoning behind insisting that there was something ‘missing’ in Voldemort’s interactions with other people, besides a choice to be unkind? Why is there a need to distance him from any sexual relationships he may have had, by removing the element of sexual or romantic attraction? Why do these labels have to be put on, of all the characters here, the main villain?“

If you’re like, “I think Voldemort’s second body was a bit fucked up and left him unable to have sex at all (or otherwise impacted his ability to feel sexually aroused in general).” Cool! Fine! That’s not asexuality.

If you’re like, “I think Voldemort’s engagement with fucked-up magical rituals with his first body impacted him similarly to above.” Also cool! Physical consequences for magic is neat! That’s also not asexuality.

If you’re like, “I specifically think it was the horcruxes that messed him up!” Tbh, I think that’s kinda weird and I don’t like that, because that’s his soul, which implies that romantic and sexual attraction is a vital part of the human soul. Which gets into “sex is what makes us human” territory, imo.

If you’re like, “LK, I just straight-up do not want to think about Voldemort fucking or wanting to fuck.” Valid! (Why the fuck did you read this post, though.) Don’t just call a character asexual because you don’t want to think about them fucking or wanting to fuck, though. That’s not asexuality.***

***(If you’re a sex-repulsed ace, that’s valid, though. If you’re not ace, please don’t just unthinkingly slap “asexual” on everything that squicks you out.)

If you’re like, “LK, I see your points, but I’m still going to personally headcanon Voldemort as asexual.”

I’m gonna be like, “Your headcanon is not my headcanon, so I understand. Thank you for listening and for understanding why I personally have issues with marking Voldemort, who through his many actions represents a ‘villanous other’, as asexual or aromantic. However, I will judge you a little bit if you do not support (not hold, just allow) other interpretations of Voldemort or asexual headcanons of other HP characters.”

If you’re like, “LK, why the hell do you give such a shit about Voldemort like this?” I’m gonna be like, “How the hell did you get this far into the post and not get that this is not just about Harry Potter?”

So, yeah, alright, I think that’s most of my beef with Aro-Ace!Voldemort as a hc.

I just don’t like it. YMMV.

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