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「 boys don't cry 」

about suppressed emotions, downplayed heartaches, and the expectations to remain stoically self reliant without the community and connection needed to help open the paths away from isolated self destruction.

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You can survive almost anything through the right combination of:

Bitching and moaning

Hater-ology

Doing a goofy little bit about it

Having a buddy say "that's so fucked up" at intermittent points (you can also be your own buddy)

Destroying the cursed amulet you carry everywhere, why do you even have that thing

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sometimes it's not even enemies to lovers. sometimes you get handed the leash of a snarling, barking dog against your will and realize with dawning horror that you are now responsible for teaching it not to bite

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Something's in Retrograde by @lapsed-bookworm - a Podfic

This little birthday project has been so fun! I've been trying to discover great fics about minor characters and some really different kinds of rare pairs. Especially unsung women and femslash pairings. This is yet another example: a character study of a woman who gets short shrift in canon, Pomona Sprout

Somethings in Retrograde by @lapsed-bookworm Rating: G Tags: Pomona Sprout/Sibyl Trelawney Book 5, Relationship Troubles, Optimistic Ending Length: 13:22 Summary:

As a new term starts, Pomona's budding relationship is on the rocks. Or: A weekend spent walking a mile in Sybill's shoes.

Listen now on AO3

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'Do the dead mark the days?'

Here's to 2024

Description: An illustration of a graveyard at night. The tombstones are darkened by black and bare trees frame the sides of the picture. A hooded figure walks between the graves. In the distance, lighting up the sky are the fire works from New Years.

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It's probably been noticeable over the past year, but I've tried to flex my brainstorming and writing muscles by doing the 2023 round of the Year of the OTP prompts, specifically by writing something for a different rarepair ship each month. I initially started out by trying to get something done each month, hence one or two drabbles, but I definitely switched over just trying to finish by the end of the year.

I wasn't sure if I was going to do one ship per month, a few prompts per ship, or one ship for every prompt when I first started this. For example, I have an old note brainstorming a Goyle/Malfoy idea for "Fresh Starts" in March: Voldemort forced a partial Veela Inheritance to shame the Malfoy line, Goyle didn't react well at the Reveal [beginning of Year 6], and they reconnect post-war. (The use of the slash is supposed to suggest more of a 'reacquainted friends to lovers' approach, but my starting idea had too many stories/plots bundled together and trying to write a oneshot in a month wasn't going to handle that very well.)

I hit a point - around trying to figure out if I wanted to write a sequel to the 'Ron having a crush on Dean' fic, possibly as an Eighth Year war recovery fic - where I realized that I was heavy on the M/M slash. So, I tried to make a self-imposed goal of an even split of F/F and M/M, which led to some certainly different brainstorming. (Admittedly, I'm not expecting a ton of people to love some of these ideas, finished fic or otherwise. Time Travelling Accident fic that was supposed to have Bellatrix~Petunia while Bellatrix helped her raise Harry. Fake Dating fic where, as decided by The Order, McGonagall would try to date Umbridge as a distraction during Book 5.)

I didn't exactly succeed at my F/F goal, and my notes have more 'Other' ships involving gender shenanigans than I initially thought might happen. (Example: Ron's Polyjuice Potion in the Ministry of Magic is for the witch; cue post-Battle of Hogwarts gender questioning. The particular plot bunny also involves epistolary fic and enough other post-war Stuff that it didn't seem like a small oneshot.)

I don't think all of these brainstormed ideas are bad per se, and I might even get around to one or two when I can devote enough time and story space to give their plots and character arcs enough room to not feel rushed by this event. I mostly didn't want to start a multi-chapter work-in-progress for YOTP, because, well, my track record for finishing multi-chapter works isn't high enough that I feel confident putting yet another one out there.

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Work Title: Outrun The Storm

Rating: General Audiences | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply | Category: Other

Relationship: Rolanda Hooch/Minerva McGonagall.

Characters: Minerva McGonagall, Rolanda Hooch.

Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gender Issues, Trans Male Character, Elder Trans Character.

Summary:

A storm begins with a drop of rain.

A/N: For 2023's Year of the OTP August prompt: Storm. (Written in December 2023 and backdated to 1 August 2023.)

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Work Title: Secret Commitment

Rating: General Audiences | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply | Category: M/M

Relationship: Viktor Krum/Draco Malfoy.

Characters: Draco Malfoy, Viktor Krum, Original Characters.

Additional Tags: Post-Battle of Hogwarts, EWE | Epilogue What Epilogue, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, Heteronormativity, Secret Relationship, Closeted Queer Athlete Character(s), Homophobia in Athletics/Sports.

Summary:

Draco was turning the situation over in his head today a little more than he usually did. The Muggles had gone and got that Queen of theirs to sign off on a 'Civil Partnership Act'. It'd take a year before ink could dry on any certificates, but he couldn't help but think about it. Partnership.

A/N: For 2023's Year of the OTP November prompt: Secret Relationship (Reveal).

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[Image Description: The first image is a promo image for the overall event that reads "Snolidays 2023" on a red background with potion bottles strung like lights. The next four images are the weekly prompts.

1: On a blue background, 1st Week - Frost. The potion bottles are labelled with the prompts: Anticipation, Butterbeer, Woolen, Snowfall, Darkness, Humbug, and Forbidden Forest.

2: On a cream background, 2nd Week - Lights. The potion bottles are labelled with the prompts: Miracles, Sacred Fire, Hogsmeade, Hearth, Blessings, Cinnamon, and Fairy Lights.

3:  On a green background, 3rd Week - Preparations. The potion bottles are labelled with the prompts: Decorations, Cookies, Mistletoe, Buffoonery, Traditions, Owl Post, and Forsaken.

4:  On a purple background, 4th Week - Festivities. The potion bottles are labelled with the prompts: Feast, Family, Malice, Presents, Yule Ball, Resolutions, and Fireworks.

/End description.]

The Snolidays are back!!

The holiday season is upon us and we’re inviting everyone to partake in the Snolidays 2023 Fest! A perfect chance to revel in headcanons, have Severus demonstrate your favourite traditions, and share the holiday spirit with all of us! Winter holidays of all religions and nations are welcome and encouraged!

How it works:

Art, writing, headcanons, meta – we’d love to share all of your creations with the rest of the fandom.

In order to help spark the inspiration, we’ve chosen a theme for each of the four weeks leading up to Christmas: ‘Frost’, ‘Lights, ‘Preparations’, and ‘Festivities’.

We’ve also included 7 prompts for each week. You can combine several of them in one piece, skip the ones that don’t inspire you, or even create multiple works for a single prompt!

Don’t worry about tackling the themes in order, or about being late. In fact, if you have older winter-related works you’d like to show the Snapedom again, go ahead and send them in!

Either submit the post to our blog, or tag your own post using #snolidays2023 and #snapecelebration.

Don’t be shy about sending us any questions or requests you might have regarding the event.

Happy Holidays!

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Work Title: Something's in Retrograde

Rating: General Audiences | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply | Category: F/F

Relationship: Pomona Sprout/Sybill Trelawney.

Characters: Pomona Sprout, Minerva McGonagall.

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, POV Pomona Sprout, Relationship Troubles, Optimistic Ending.

Summary:

As a new term starts, Pomona's budding relationship is on the rocks. Or: A weekend spent walking a mile in Sybill's shoes.

A/N: For 2023's Year of the OTP July prompt: Power Swap. (Written in November 2023 and backdated to 1 July 2023.)

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Work Title: A Bottomless Teaspoon

Rating: General Audience | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationship: Dean Thomas/Ron Weasley

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Summer, Dean Thomas Visits The Burrow, Processing Emotions Via Art, Dean Thomas/Ron Weasley Crush, POV Ron Weasley, Implied Dean Thomas/Ginny Weasley, Angst, Dash of Internalized Homophobia.

Summary:

Grey lines; light and soft at first, and then they turn. Curve. Overlap and darken. A bit like tentacles. Or: When someone, supposedly, has 'the emotional range of a teaspoon', they have to get creative with a flood of emotions.

For 2023's Year of the OTP September prompt: Flood.

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Rising in a Few Days...

HP Flowers is back once again! We know October is hella busy, so we're keeping things super chill. This year's Autumn Mini Round will run from October 1 - 31, 2023. As a refresher, this challenge is inspired by floriography, the language of flowers (and plants) and encourages creators to use text and photo prompts to make fic, art and more. Mini Round Guidelines have been added, and the FAQ page has been updated. Please take a look at both for new 2023 challenge info, as well as details for the timeline, creating/submitting works, and more. Updates are below, since we have 2 tracks for this year: >> Track #1 is a tinier version of the challenge, with weekly prompt cards as usual. Each card will have a weekly theme and 2 flower/plant options to choose from, and the option to make a floral pairing/bouquet. >> Track #2 is simple: use an older prompt and make a thing! Previous prompts can be viewed via the prompt catalogue if you'd like to get a head start with planning right now. With this option, it means you can post your work whenever you'd like during the month of October. New prompt cards will be released on later today (we're talking about hours from now)! If you have a question that isn’t covered by this post or either of the above pages, feel free to ask! Get excited for more flowery goodness!

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Propagation, watercolor and gouache

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Work Title: An Unrepentant Slytherin

Rating: General Audiences | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply | Category: M/M

Relationship: Gregory Goyle/Fred Weasley

Character: Gregory Goyle

Additional Tags: Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, POV Gregory Goyle, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, One-Sided Soulmates, Pre-Crush, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Rivalry.

Summary:

Greg's stomach did something that wasn't quite a flop or a tap dance. You know, there was something nervous and jittery going on, but it hadn't made up its mind on the direction and speed and whatnot. He had not been prepared for a name of someone he actually knew.

For 2023's Year of the OTP June prompt: Soulmate AU. This was posted on 1 June 2023, accidentally revealed on 5 June 2023, and this post has been scheduled to post on 1 July 2023.

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Title: Broken Me Found Broken You

Author: JustSadThingsMostly. Transformative Works Policy: Unknown as of this posting.

Complete or In Progress: This fic is complete. Dated: December 2022.

Chapters: 16. Word Count: 77,490.

While there are some other plot things happening (Severus tries to spy for Lucius, and Regulus has a panic attack after an escalation of the First War), this fic is focused on Sirius and Severus. The "you need to talk to each other once a week" over the summer, being forced to room together at Hogwarts, Sirius giving Severus duelling lessons, Severus teaching Sirius Occlumency, and the very clear Enemies to Friends to Lovers. Like, there's no 'blink and you'll miss it' moments or easily skipping a few scenes to get on to the rest of the fic.

There's some world building-slash-expansion that might be interesting around duelling, "natural" Legilimens, and vampires (the Defence professor is a vampire this year). Severus is some flavour of neurodivergent, James is a Seer (in case "James as a little sight" is a confusing tag), and there's a relationship reveal in the second half. [For those who don't want to have that spoiled, it'll be below the excerpt.] Most of the fic is in Seventh Year with some nods to the future in James' visions (like, he Sees Sirius and Severus pretending to fight to cover up a relationship in 1995). The last chapter is Severus' point of view of the night in the Shrieking Shack, and there's enough of a hopeful ending to nod to James' vision being true in a few years in Grimmauld Place.

An excerpt from Chapter 2:

Severus felt like he was handing Sirius a loaded gun and asking him not to shoot.

"I’m…actually…like you. Well, I fancy girls, too. But, it’s a bit of both, really."

Sirius blinked at him, his eyebrows tightening.

There. Even. They were even. Severus could feel it. Now it was a truce. Now Sirius would feel safe. Severus opened his mouth to ease the tension. Like a "don’t tell McGonagall that bit", but this was a bigger deal to Sirius, this stuff. He honestly didn’t know where to look. They’d never been in this place before.

Copied over from the comments:

Not really related to the fic itself: "Broken Me Found Broken You" is the fic where I had to recover from the fic equivalent of a book hangover. After I figured out that's what it was (login-only post on my fort; publicly viewable community post).

The playlist introduced me to the Ruen Brothers.

For people who don't like surprise ships or relationship reveals that aren't tagged whatsoever: Regulus/Remus.

I can't say that this completely rules out some of the pining where Regulus lets others think he fancies an older witch because it is possible to have feelings when in a relationship. He also might be projecting an old crush or something. It's very much not the focus overall, so the reader's free to fill in some details.

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Work Title: Allergen Surprise

Rating: Explicit | Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings | Category: M/M

Relationship: Gregory Goyle/Ron Weasley

Characters: Ron Weasley, Gregory Goyle, Poppy Pomfrey

Additional Tags: Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, POV Ron Weasley, First Time Blow Jobs, Non-Life Threatening Allergies, Allergy Reveal, Semen Allergy | Sperm Allergy.

Summary:

"Could we talk in private?" Ron tried not to mumble. He had heard enough stories about Harry waking up and overhearing conversations to know that the curtains around each hospital bed needed to be pulled 100% closed to activate the privacy warding. The only thing worse than having to tell Madam Pomfrey about a sexual encounter was the idea of a nosy Firstie spreading this story to half of Hogwarts tomorrow.

For 2023's Year of the OTP May prompt: Sick Fic. This was posted on 11 May 2023 and revealed on 5 June 2023.

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Work Title: Shame, Unfurling

Rating: General Audiences | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply | Category: M/M

Relationship: Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood.

Characters: Percy Weasley

Additional Tags: Second Wizarding War with Voldemort (Harry Potter), Spies & Secret Agents, Heartbreak, Drabble.

Summary:

The words reverberated around in Percy's lungs: No, I am not dating your brother.

For 2023's Year of the OTP April prompt: "No, I'm not dating your brother". This work has been backdated to 30 April 2023.