#DON'T even get me started on narcissa and regulus !

[otrtbs]

thinking about how, yeah, sirius left regulus but andromeda left sirius before that. andromeda who would always look out for sirius as family gatherings and events. andromeda who would be the only one to buy him christmas and birthday presents for fun and not for practicality. andromeda who saw him one last time a few months before she ran away and noticed that he was more like her than he knew.

like, imagine her desperately pulling him aside while everyone else is distracted and and trying to say goodbye in her own way while also letting him know that running doesn't make him a coward. it makes him braver than most. that it's okay. that it'll be okay. but she's talking about how creation stories often begin with separation. how the sky and the ocean had to split to make the earth. how you have to cut off the dead roots of a plant to grow new life. how sometimes you have to leave in order to begin.

and sirius is too young and he doesn't understand what she's trying to tell him, even though he knows it's important. and he still doesn't understand months later when she runs away with ted and is burned off the family tree. but her words keep him up at night. until finally it's his turn and it all starts falling into place. he's the sky and regulus is the ocean. he's the plant and regulus is the root. and andromeda was trying to tell him that there's an agony in splitting apart, in cutting yourself loose and running but she believed he could do it. she was trying to tell him all those years ago. andromeda always knew that his story was the same at hers, one born out of separation.

[aithusarosekiller]

Trans Reggie black brothers fic:

NOT EDITED (will be before it goes onto ao3)

Words: 2239

Warnings: outing (sort of, Sirius figures it out and asks him about it but nobody is told against reg's will), reference to bigoted parents

-

The light twittering of birds was silenced as Regulus strode across his room and pulled the window shut with a slight thud. If he wanted to get any work done before he was due to return to school he would have to do it now, or he would put it off until the last minute. It was a bad habit picked up from Dorcas but one he had come to keep under control for the most part. So long as nothing else disrupted him, he should be okay to continue. His parents were at some important function and Kreacher was out collecting shopping so there wasn't too much that could distract him.

He had managed to sit down at his desk and unscrew the lid of his inkwell by the time his bedroom door slammed open behind him. He heard the unmistakable sound of his brother's heavy-footed stomps come up behind him and had to force himself not to snap right then and there.

“Yes?” His tone was clipped but Sirius either didn't notice or actively chose to ignore it.

“Are you busy?” Without waiting for an answer he attempted to sit down on Regulus’ desk, only stopping when he received a murderous glare and shark smack to the arm; he narrowed his eyes petulantly and tried to hide his irritating grin. “Move and I'll sit in your chair then, my legs are tired.”

Regulus pretended to have not heard him and returned to the introduction of his Defense essay. After a few moments Sirius stood and walked over to the bed, sitting down silently and waiting for a few minutes to see if Regulus was going to say anything. Nothing happened.

“Turn around, you little brat.” Nothing. “Please.”

“Don't call me that,” The reply was quiet but Sirius still heard it.”

“Merlin, I try to be nice once,” He grumbled under his breath, trying to keep his composure and her to the point. “I want to talk to you about something.”

Regulus looked at him as if to say ‘go on’ so he did.

“Look, can you just come here? I'm trying to be nice to you and do sibling bonding or some shit so the least you can do one nice thing and not stare at me from across the room? I'll distract Father so you can visit your friends on Sunday if you let me have this.” He let the suggestion sink in for a moment, then watched as Regulus pushed away from his desk, stretching out the time it took to close the ink and place down the quill, then made his way over to his bed to sit at the opposite end to Sirius, his posture perfect and his hands clasped in his lap.

“Posho.”

“Sorry, do you or do you not have a pair of 35 galleon shoes in your wardrobe as we speak?”

“First of all, I got them in muggle London so technically they were £170, not galleons. And secondly, that is a very good price for a well-made, hand crafted, long-lasting product you intend to use frequently.”

Regulus couldn't help but laugh at that. “You sound like Narcissa.”

He didn't stop laughing when he was slapped on the arm or when Sirius snapped at him to shut up, it was only when Sirius attempted to redirect the conversation that his face fell back to his typical moody stare.

“I wanted to talk about school.” He managed to ignore Regulus’ sigh, having grown fairly immune to the constant dismissals by now, even if it still made him feel a little hurt when he thought about it late at night. “Over the summer term and a little bit before that, I've heard-”

“Oh for Salazar’s sake, if this is going to become one of your anti-Slytherin, ‘you're all evil' rants, I really want nothing to do with-”

“It isn't that!” He hissed, almost laughing at Regulus’ affronted reaction to being cut off halfway through his sentence as if he had not just done the exact same thing mere seconds ago. “Stop coming for my throat and give me a change to finish my sentence before you assume you know what I'm going to say.” He took a deep breath and started again. “I have recently been hearing your friends talk to you while you're in the corridor and then again while they're alone. And I noticed a few things.”

It was then that Regulus finally picked up on what the conversation was going to be about.

“Oh, for-”

“Shush, let me finish. I heard you and your friends talking quite a few times and I heard that they called you a different name.” He looked at Regulus knowingly. “You might disagree but I'm not stupid. I mean my grades speak for themselves really, I don't think I did any revision before the day of for my exams and I still…anyway. Your friends were calling you Regulus and they were calling you he and I'm no idiot. I know what that means.”

“You understand names, well done. Maybe you aren't a complete imbecile after all.”

“Alright, you're being rude because you're nervous so I'll let that slide. I know that it means you don't want to be a girl anymore. And that's great! That's okay. I just wanted to give you the chance to talk about it. With me. If you want.”

Regulus looked at him blankly for a while. He opened his mouth to speak at least four times before closing it. Eventually he picked up the courage to actually say something.

“I'm not a girl.” Sirius nodded along. “Your eavesdropping was right there.” Sirius frowned in disapproval but did not get the chance to interject. “I am a boy. My name is Regulus. Yes, like the star. My friends are okay with it because they aren't completely despicable people despite what you Gryffindors may like to think. And you didn't have to interrupt my homework to talk to me about this, you haven't spoken to me besides polite greetings since November.”

“Actually, it was your birthday.”

“December, then. My point still stands, Sirius.”

“Is it rude to ask when you knew?”

“A little bit, yes.” Regulus snapped. “I didn't always know.” He seems to consider telling the story for a second, then decided not to. “I don't want to talk about it.”

“Okay.” Sirius nodded. Maybe if the rest of the conversation went well he would tell him another time. “It's a nice name. Bit long but not bad.”

“Thank you.” It was robotic and almost cold but Sirius was not deterred.

“I might shorten it to Regs. I've heard your annoying friend call you Reggie but you'd probably kill me if I called you that to Regs it is. It's short, efficient, and probably won't get my ears cut off and fed to Kreacher.” Regulus couldn't help a smile like that, which seemed to get Sirius out of his tentative, unnaturally calculated state and make him grin himself. “I'll take that as a yes.”

“Sure.”

“I have a brother,” He mused to himself. Whether it was with shock or glee neither of them could say.

“You can't tell anybody.”

“I won't! I'm great with secrets. Really, name one secret I haven't been able to keep.” He took in Regulus’ meaningful look and recalculated. “Yeah, alright, but I won't tell anyone this. I promise.” He attempted to look as sincere as possible. When he looked down at the sight of movement, he saw that his brother’s hand was extended, palm up and waiting.

Sirius couldn't help but smile when he was it, moving his own hand to place on top before taping each of their fingers together as he muttered the words 'I swear on my life’. It was a silly way of making a promise that Andromeda had taught them when they were younger and caught her writing to her muggleborn boyfriend. They knew not that she had just made it up to get them to stay hushed but they had never really grown out of it. Without a word, they both retracted their hands, but Sirius was now smiling and Regulus seemed at least somewhat more relaxed so it was worth it even if it was a kids thing.

“I just wanted to say that I am glad you were honest with me,” Sirius began the little speech he had prepared in his head. He had gone over it time and time again, attempting to eradicate any signs of his usual self to form a kind, welcoming speech that would soften the situation. “And I am glad that you have been able to find yourself like this.” Regulus groaned into his hands and swore under his breath. “I am here if you want to talk about…this and I would be really happy if you trusted me to talk about you being….a guy now.”

“Oh Merlin, this is humiliating. Stop. Stop. Sirius, stop.” He waited for him to trail off awkwardly before letting out a relieved sigh and beginning his own explanation.

“Okay; thank you but I really don't need a lecture on my ‘validity’. I am aware of it. And I didn't not tell you because I was scared, it was because we haven't spoken properly in months and I doubted that you'd even care. It would be weird, that's why.” He grasped around for another point to make while he had the silence to be able to get a word in. “And don't you think I should have been able to tell you this in my own time instead of just barging in and asking me about it.”

“When would that have been?” He wasn't expecting an apology, but the bluntness of the reply still caught Regulus off guard. “Would you have told me? Would you really? Hm?” He got no answer. “Reggie.”

“The point is that I should've gotten the choice.”

“Well I admit I didn't think it through that much!”

“That's new.” Regulus drawled.

“I was just shocked when you didn't tell me. I was shocked that they knew basic crap about you that I apparently don't. Call me selfish but I care quite a lot about that. You used to tell me everything.” The anger in his voice was barely-veiled. “We used to be best friends but I feel like I don't know anything shoot you anymore.”

“And who's fault is that?”

“Yours! You are the one who got all those amazing Slytherin friends and decided I was the shit on your damn shoe, Regulus.”

“I don't want to do this right now.”

They fell back into relative silence. The sound of the wind against the old, thin window was all they could focus on for a few minutes. Eventually, siris cleared his throat and reached out his hand, patting his brother on the shoulder a few times like he was a delicate animal.

“What are you doing?”

Sirius blinked. “I'm comforting you.”

“Don't do that.”

“Fine, I won't.” He looked away again and waited.

“I can tell you want to ask something else.”

Sirius shrugged noncommittally, then gave in and asked what he had wanted to know the entire time. “Who else knows?” The hint of desperation in his voice was embarrassing but he hoped Regulus hadn't picked up on it.

“My friends,” He provided. “That's all really."

“And…” He didn't need to say it for the implication to be obvious. They both looked towards the doorway despite knowing the house was empty, as if anticipating their arrival. Regulus slouched slightly, seemingly having given up on acting properly.

“Do you think I'd still be here telling you about it if they knew?”

“Don't say that.” Whispering was uncharacteristic for Sirius but he didn't exactly want to say the words that left his mouth, they just sort of did. Giving away the card he held for his brother's wellbeing even after all this time.

“It’s not exactly a shock, is it? The perfect angel of the black family ends up being a man with a woman’s features, guess what happens next.”

“Regulus, stop.”

“...Sorry.” The apology sounded almost forced out but it was better than none at all in Sirius' opinion.

Sirius shook his head lightly. “It's fine. It's not like it's your fault. Hey, uh, if you wanted to, we could go shopping together at some point. Get you some stuff that makes you feel less, y'know.” ‘Girly’ was the obvious end to that sentence. Regulus frowned and turned to face him again.

“I can go shopping with my friends, thank you.” Sirius waited. And waited. Then, “When would you want to go?”

“Why, do you can be conveniently busy that day?” He suggested; Regulus stared silently. “Next Saturday?”

“Okay.”

“Yeah, good, alright. Cool. You're paying for your shit though.” He added as an afterthought.

“What? Why one earth to would you invite me shopping if you're not paying for anything?”

“I'm not your Mum Reggie.”

“You're uglier than her, that's for sure.”

Taking it as the natural lull to the conversation, Sirius pulled a face and turned to leave, spinning back around one step out of the door so he could confirm their agreement.

“Next Saturday, yes?”

“Yes, that is what I said.”

With that Sirius nodded silently and left, leaving the door wide open and Regulus sat on the bed wondering where in the name all of that had come from.

[moiravim]

Blonde Hair

PLATONIC brother!Draco x reader

Summary: Yn is the daughter of Regulus Black but was quickly taken in and adopted by Narcissa. YN is extremely insecure, but her brother Draco is always there for her. (Second person)

Warnings: YN has dark hair, fem YN, mention of blood

1.3k words

Your father, Regulus had died before you ever met him and your mother died during childbirth. The closest thing you had to a family was always the Malfoys. But even after having your last name changed Lucius had always called you 'yn black'.

You grew up feeling like you had no family and the only person who had ever made you feel any differently was Draco.

Draco always made sure you felt loved. You'd always been close and would always play together as kids.

As you grew older Draco had realized how you feel. It made no sense to him because he had always seen you as his real sister and he didn't get why you saw it any differently.

Your first year of Hogwarts was coming up and you were horrified. You wanted everyone to see you as a 'real' Malfoy. Lucius had gifted you an amulet which would change your darker hair to platinum blonde.

The amulet was a large oval with a glowing mist-like substance inside. It hung from a thick silver chain, worn as a necklace.

You were obsessed with it since the moment it was gifted to you. "YN, really... You don't have to wear that stupid necklace! You were perfectly fine without it!! No one's even here to see you-" Draco complained but you immediately cut him off.

"You just don't understand what it's like not having a family!!" This 'stupid necklace' was the thing keeping me together at the moment. It made me feel like I really did fit in with the Malfoys.

Draco's eyes started to water as his face got red. "I'm your family!" He shouted as a tear slipped down his cheek. He immediately wiped it away and hid his red eyes with his hand.

You felt bad, but you knew he was wrong. He was just trying to make you feel better. He wasn't really your brother. He was your cousin and Narcissa was your Aunt. You had no parents. No brother.

The ambiance of Draco's room continued to become more and more akward. You sigh before hugging Draco and rubbing his back. You didn't want to, but, you knew he'd do the same for you.

He hugs you back tightly as a few more tears fell from his eyes. You hadn't realized at the time he was scared of the same thing you were.

You left his room, going back to your own so you could finish packing. You and Draco left for Hogwarts tomorrow and had to leave early to get to the Hogwarts express.

When you layed in bed, anxiety took over you. 'Everyone would find out I'm not Draco's real sister and they'll all hate me!' you told yourself.

After another hour of restless sleep you sneaked into Draco's room. He was still awake and was writing in his diary. He smiled as he watched you peek into his room.

He pat the spot next to him as he wrote in his journal and you made your way over to him. You sat, resting on your knees. "I can't sleep... I'm scared. What if everyone finds out I'm not your real sister?"

He looks at you sadly. He's obviously tired of hearing about it but you have no one else to express your fears to and he knows it. But the part about you not being his 'real sister' really hits hard.

He was disappointed you didn't see him as a brother, but he was too nervous to say anything. "YN. Everyone will love you. I promise. And even if they don't I'll always be here for you." He says truthfully.

"You really think they'll believe we're siblings?" You ask once more as Draco nods.

You rested your head on his fluffy pillows before happily falling asleep with little to no worries.

You woke up the next morning in your own bed. An outfit was picked out and placed folded on your chair with your amulet on top.

You slowly woke up and got dressed. You hid your amulet under your shirt before leaving your room to go find your brother.

"YN. Your going to be late. Go meet up with Narcissa and Draco. They have your things." Lucius said as you nodded and rushed downstairs.

Lucius eventually met up with the three of you and you left for Hogwarts. When you entered the train you followed Draco to find empty seats.

Eventually a few of Draco's friends found their way to your section and sat with you two. It was fun and for once you could see some resemblance between you and Draco. You swore to yourself in this moment you'd never let anyone see you without your amulet.

A month into the school year and everything has been going great. Your best friend is Pansy, but you also hang out with Draco and his other friends.

Still none of them know your not really Draco's twin and you couldn't be any happier. Sadly it wouldn't last.

You had already made enemies due to your brother. Harry and Ron often picked on you. You didn't blame them though because of how your brother treated them.

"You know, you guys really aren't good people" you stated, tired of their constant bullying. "Says the Malfoy! Your the definition of evil" Ron argues back.

"Don't you dare talk bad about the Malfoy name!" You snapped back. You were close to loosing it. You decided to use your one talent against them.

"Duel me! Two against one! I'll prove you both wrong!"

They laughed, thinking it'd be an easy win but you knew there was no way they'd win.

You yelled out spells, constantly stunning them and blocking their counter spells.

While you were busy fighting Ron, Harry had used flipendo against you. Your body was flung into the wall and you landed roughly on the floor.

You hadn't cared for the glass stabbing into your chest, all you cared about your hair. The platinum blonde hair that was giving you a reason to live.

You sobbed out, curling in on yourself. You were so close to winning, how could things have gotten this bad. Of course you'd underestimated Harry.

You pulled at your hair as your body started to shake. The worst part was all the students watching you fall apart.

Everyone in the school would find out your not Draco's sister. Your life would be ruined.

Your eyes remained slammed shut as you felt someone pull you into their arms. "Shhhh....shhhhh... I'm here. Everything is going to be okay... My sweet sister, you don't deserve this." Draco said as he brushed out the hair you had tangled.

He lifted you up and took you away from the crowds and into the Slytherin common room.

He rested you onto the couch and noticed blood going through your white shirt. He immediately unbuttoned it to see your crushed amulet stabbing into your skin.

Draco's frown deepens as he inspects your cuts. They weren't too bad, but he still felt horrible he wasn't there for you sooner. He wished it never had happened.

He discards the amulet and cleans the blood from you. A few minutes later Pansy rushes in, hugging you as your cries die down.

"Oh, YN! I was so worried, I heard what happened... Harry and Ron truly are horrible" Pansy states as she hugs you tightly.

You smile at her comment. Draco sits next to you and continues to rub your back as you hug Pansy.

"YN, I want to talk to you in private..." Draco says as Pansy nods, giving the two of you some space.

"This changes nothing. You always have been and always will be my sister". You begin to cry at his words and hug him tightly. He hugs you back once more before you leave to get some rest.

A/N: I'm having family problems 💔 also the amulet is based off of the owl house LMAO!!

[starchaseriseverything]

James looks at Regulus' beautiful sunlit face. The sun is rising, and birds are chirping. It's the best day ever.

James resists the urge to kiss down Regulus' body until he wakes up. Instead, he gets dressed and shuts Regulus' door behind him.

James hears a door open at the other end of the hall. He turns toward the sound slowly and sees one of his best friends. He lets out a breath. It's not Sirius. Thank god.

James thinks for a minute.

That's Sirius' room.

Remus just came out of Sirius' room.

James laughs quietly. "I knew it." He whispers. "I fucking knew it."

"Shut up, James." Remus says, stalking over to him.

James smiles. "I knew it."

"What are you doing here?"

"Everyone already knows. It's obvious."

"Sirius doesn't."

Another door opens. Alice? James smiles in victory. "Knew it."

James and Marlene talk every week and when they start to get suspicious of someone, they take guesses to who their shagging.

Apparently, so far, James has got them right. Alice and Narcissa, Remus and Sirius, Mary and Lily, and even Dorcas and Marlene. He couldn't believe he got that one.

"You knew what?" Alice asks.

"I knew that you were shagging Cissa."

Alice rolls her eyes and walks over to them. "You're both standing in front of Regulus' door. I'm assuming James is the one shagging him and Remus is shagging Sirius." James eyes go wide. "It's obvious."

"Fair enough." Another door opens, and out comes Emmeline Vance, a Ravenclaw. "Emmeline Vance. Nice to see you." Emmeline turns around so fast that James thought she had to have had whiplash. "Pandora? Really?"

Emmeline Smirks. "No, don't even start that sentence." Remus says, holding his hand up to stop her.

They hear footsteps around the corner, and before they could hide, Ted comes into view. "My god." Emmeline says. "Andromeda. Definitely."

"Yeah, definitely." James replies, agreeing with her.

"My god. I thought you were Orion and Walburga." Ted says startled.

"Good for you, we're not." Alice says. She pauses. "Good for us too."

"What are you all doing here?" A voice asks. Rita.

"No way!" Emmeline shouts.

"Shut up." James says.

"Sorry."

"Bellatrix. You're shagging Bella." James smiles. "Marls owes me so much gallons."

"Can we not?" Another voice sounds. Barty.

"I'm even more rich." James says proudly.

"How good are you at guessing?" Alice asks.

"Pretty good, actually. I even guessed Marls and Cas."

"Damn." Barty says, surprised.

Multiple doors open, and Evan, Pandora, Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Andromeda come out in the hallway. "What is going on?" Bellatrix asks.

Pandora smiles. "Panda? What are you smiling about?" Her brother, Evan, asks.

"Nothing."

James purses his lips. "Yeah, I'm gonna go before Siri comes out. Right Al?"

"Yep, coming."

Narcissa grabs Alice' arm. "Not so fast. We're going back in. Yeah?"

While Alice is debating, James hears another door open but doesn't see which one. "Mon soleil?" Regulus asks. "Holy shit."

James turns around and sees his boyfriend. "Hey, mi estrella."

"What is going on?"

Barty smiles. "Sirius is about to come out any minute."

Sure enough, Sirius comes out of his room. "Mon crossiant de lune?" Sirius looks around. "Alice!? James!?"

Alice purses her lips. "I'll take you up on that offer now." She says to her girlfriend, and they go back in Narcissa' room.

"What the fuck?"

Remus walks over to Sirius and starts pushing him slowly back in his room. "Let's go back in, fy nghariad."

Sirius grumbles, turns around to go back in, and stops. "We will talk about this later, Prongs." They go back in.

"So, that happened." Pandora says.

"I say we do the same and go back in our rooms, yeah?" Emmeline says.

They all agree and go back in. "Come on, mon soleil." Regulus says.

"I should really go."

Regulus starts kissing up James' jaw line. He stops. "Are you sure?"

James grumbles and drags his boyfriend back in the room.

[arliedraws]

Why Sirius ran away at sixteen...

Still avoiding responsibilities so I'm back with more headcanons (trust me, this account will go quiet in a few days when I'm back in the swing of school).

I'm entertaining the idea that Sirius didn't run away during the summer holidays before sixth year. Instead, it was during the winter holidays of his fifth year.

Personally, I think the Blacks would have been annoyed that Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor but I don't think they would consider him tainted at this point. "He's young, he's rebellious, but maybe it's just a phase. We hate the Potters but at least he's associating with a pureblood." Remember, he isn't blasted off the family tree when he's eleven; it takes until he's estranged himself for his mother to do it. Don't get me wrong -- they're not kind to him, and he's just as aggressive back. Yet I think the final straw for him comes that Christmas after he's turned sixteen.

So I imagine he's dragged to the extended Black family Christmas as usual, but now the family includes Bellatrix's husband's family and the Malfoys.

While the older adults at the family Christmas party are together and talking or starting to wind down, Bellatrix invites Sirius to hang with the young adults like Roldolphus, Rabastan, Narcissa, and Lucius (and Regulus can't come) in a private room or something. Everyone is at least five years older than Sirius so this should be a great honor for a sixteen-year-old. They invite him to drink, and they treat him like an adult. I think he'd be suspicious about it all, but they would include him in conversations that reeeeeally haven't veered towards blood supremacy yet, so he gets comfortable and even finds himself enjoying his time. Part of him is wary, but it's actually nice to be amongst intellectual equals.

When Sirius is comfortable, Bellatrix mentions she's bored, and they should have a dueling tournament. This is all fun and games at first. Sirius beats his opponent--maybe Rodolphus--while Bellatrix helps him by giving him pointers as he goes. When Sirius wins, Bellatrix and the others praise him. And all of this feels so good even though he doesn't want it to. He sinks into the feeling of acceptance from his family--something he's denied even to himself that he's wanted since he was sorted into Gryffindor.

Then, he duels Bellatrix. She is still giving him pointers as they duel, and Sirius, in the end, wins (did she let him win?). Bellatrix, proud, tells him to use the Cruciatus Curse on her. He refuses, and Bellatrix is, at first, kind and encouraging. "You're the strong one, Sirius. You can do this." When Sirius still refuses, she tries another tactic and starts to goad him, and she's taunting him with all of the things he hates about her, about the family, how his mother thinks he's a bloodtraitor, etc. This gets him, and he caves into his anger, the hurt he's felt for years, the rejection. He puts the Cruciatus on her, and he finds that it's satisfying, that her screams echo in the hole in his heart. He holds the curse for too long, and the others have to force him to stop.

Then Bellatrix laughs and says he's still a Black--he's just like her. Or maybe she says something (mirroring the dialogue in OotP) that suggests the Cruciatus only works if you mean it, if you want to cause pain. Anyway, she helps him understand that at his core, he is able to hurt people.

Terrified at his own capacity for extreme cruelty, Sirius runs away that night. He could be just like her; he can be as cruel as Bellatrix. This horrible truth disgusts and scares him. So he flees to the one person who can keep him from becoming the worst version of himself.

Anyway, if this has been pulled from a fic that I read years ago, I apologize. If not, someone who is better writing at trauma than I am should take a stab at this :)

[sofoulandfairaday]

1 for the ask game

from: choose violence ask game

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Err... all of them? I'm not even kidding. More on this here.

Bellatrix: fortunately there's been progress in the fandom, but for years everyone loved to describe her as an overly sexualized, crazy, shrieking mindless slave, when she's actually quite the opposite. She is sadistic, but not insane, she's passionate but not irrational (she is the only one who knew Snape was a traitor; to me, it's because of a peculiar mix of rationality and intuition that shows her to be actually quite intelligent). Nothing suggests her being promiscuous in the text and I would actually argue the opposite of her (why would she ever lower herself to sleep with someone who she deems her inferior - so basically everyone -, even just to satisfy mere physical desires? This post, to me, is Bella at her core).

Narcissa: this is canon Narcissa, all of you are perfectly entitled to your soft babygirl headcanons, of course, but then again you are perfectly entitled to be wrong <3 [also, shameless self-promo: x]

The blorboification continues for every single member of the Black family and I hate it so much you have no idea:

Andromeda: somehow described as a soft little girl who loved her mean, mean sisters so much and had to run away? Bitch stood up to seven centuries of tradition, and abandoned her sisters and parents, to marry a boy she had fallen in love with maybe two years prior (we know this based on Tonks' age). Good for her, but as I have said previously, both Narcissa and Andromeda (and Sirius, really) strike me as a bit selfish. The one with the romantic attachment to the idea of her family, the child most like Walburga, is Bellatrix.

But this is nothing, NOTHING, compared to what this fandom does to Regulus and Sirius.

Regulus: canonically a Voldemort fanboy, with newspaper clippings of him everywhere, and a blood supremacist. Sirius says it better than anyone: Reggie is soft. But not in the way the fandom believes, nope. He's just a coward who, much like Draco years later, was super excited to be like Bellatrix (Lucius) until he realized what killing really meant, what fighting a war really was, and most importantly because Voldemort touched him personally (Kreacher, whom he loved). Voldemort was probably a little more deranged than he had been at the beginning of the First War, and someone that had inherited the Black pride/haughtiness probably didn't like being branded like cattle and treated like a slave, on top of everything else.

Sirius: fanon Sirius is basically another character. Canon!Sirius is: tall, canonically incredibly handsome, quite masculine (in an explicit and toxic way, especially as a teenager in the fucking 1970s - the skirt-wearing, feminist one-liners spouting version of Sirius is something I just cannot get behind), a dick, a bit classist ((don't come @ me with your "oh, but what about Moony?!" because a) we don't know Remus' wealth when Lyall and Hope were still alive, we only know he can't get a job as an adult because of his condition and b) Remus is Sirius' exception, in the same way Lily is Snape's when he calls her a Mudblood - everyone else is in his eyes)), brave to the point of recklessness, quite cruel, funny, witty, magically talented, loyal to a fault, extremely charismatic and everything else outlined here. For the same reasons, I'll say Remus too.

Don't even get me started on Severus Snape. Other people have spoken on this better than I could ever. At least here on Tumblr, though, it seems to me that things are getting a little better after years of absolutely bizarre takes. Or maybe I've blocked all of the idiots idk.

Dumbledore. More on this here and maybe I'll outline my ideas better in a future post.

Also: I do not accept any characterization of Evan Rosier, Barty Crouch jr, Reggie, and Rabastan Lestrange as anything less than violent blood supremacists. Yes, they can be nuanced and gay (and only for each other might I add), but these people are the KKK (metaphorically, of course, because I hate comparing real-world tragedies to completely fictional ones, but still).

Lucius: a complete dick, but definitely not abusive. The man couldn't raise a hand to Draco if the Dark Lord threatened to kill him over it.

Speaking of which: my darling Lord Voldemort. Not much to say about him really because I know that some people do write him in a very interesting way (and I am open to interpretations of his character even if they are different from how I see him - and I have a very fucking specific vision of him). The problem is that perhaps three (3) of these people write him with Bellatrix and that saddens me.

Now, I mostly read First Wizarding War stuff or Death Eater stuff so I can't really speak to many other characters, especially in Harry's generation, but anything other than cowardly Draco is not a good Draco characterization to me. Ron is hands-down the best one in the Golden Trio and Ron Weasley bashing is pathetic. Hermione has faults but is ultimately a strong, take-no-bullshit girl and I'll take that over basically any and all female YA protagonists. And Harry is sassiness personified, but with a heart of gold, and oh-so-caring. Which is also why I can't read dark!Harry for the life of me. It just makes me giggle.

[annabellelupin]

So, a lot of people (maybe not those that follow me on here but people in this fandom in general) are really going to hate me for this but I really hate the direction this fandom is going in with the "Slytherin Skittles" and such.

I just messaged a fellow fan account admin on my Instagram that said they'd really like to start posting again but wasn't even sure if people would like their content anymore because of how much this fandom has changed.

People were filling them in on all that's happened in the fandom recently and someone made a really good point. Most of this fandom hates Snape because he's a death eater and treated Lily terribly. Hmmmm, who does that also sound like.... oh right, Barty Crouch Jr. (altho he treated other people like Alice and frank who he literally helped torture to insanity terribly). And would you look at that; so many people in the fandom have started glorifying him and treating him like a precious baby as if he isn't just as bad or even worse than Snape. I mean you all can't seriously tell me that you'd think the Marauders would be friends with people that hate on minority groups (muggle borns like Lily).

Also can I just point out that in the Goblet of Fire Barty literally locks a man in a trunk for months, and stole his identity. He showed kids unforgivable curses and turned Draco into a literal ferret (he deserved it but still, it was a bit uncalled for). He really set harry up to die. He helped him all throughout the tournament just to get Voldemort back to full strength. Is this really someone we should be obsessing over?

And the babygirlifcation is absolutely ridiculous. It's mainly been happening to Barty and Evan, which I shouldn't even be surprised by. When I say that I mean it seems like this fandom (which seems to be consisted of mostly femme aligned people) has a really bad habit of fetishizing achillean/mlm ships, so it shouldn't be a surprise that these two guys often shipped together are being treated like babies by the fandom.

Regulus is the only canonically Slytherin character in the Marauders era that actually has redeemable qualities and proved himself to be a decent person (Narcissa isn't all bad either but she certainly isn't great). It's sad that a majority of this started because people wanted to give him "friends" (Regulus realized what was going on was wrong while the others didn't. I don't feel like he'd like them very much because of that).

I've heard a lot of people complain that Jegulus shippers and people who like the Slytherin Skittles are ruining the fandom and I definitely wouldn't go as far as say that, but like I said before, I certainly don't like the direction things are going in. And honestly it could be the fact that I was mainly in the fandom back in 2020-2021 when things were much different and I'm just not used to everything going on, who knows. And this isn't meant as a hate post towards anyone, I've just been thinking about this a good bit and needed to get the rant out of my system.

[metalomagnetic]

What do you think about James/Regulus? It's surprisingly a more popular ship than I would have guessed. I am curious as what your thoughts are.

Also what do you think about Lucius/Severus? What do you think about James/Severus- I think that they would be so toxic that it is kinda compelling.

I wonder what you think about Bellatrix/Molly- it started off as a crack ship but hear me out. I kept thinking about how Molly was able to kill Bellatrix in a duel despite Bellatrix being being a formidable duellist who at one pointed was personally tutored by Voldemort. I know that JKR intended it as a power of maternal love and blah blah but if you take it literally it means Molly is just a more powerful fighter. I think that they provide interesting foils to each other yet I think that they have some similarities in how they have defined by their relationship with their families/men and their fierce loyalty to their respective leaders. Also I like imagining a teenage Bellatrix who is incensed by Molly who bests her in their duels.

I am neutral on James/Regulus. It sounds like Harry/Draco to me, only with Sirius probably losing his mind in the background 😂

I don't like Lucius/Severus, I enjoy them as friends, more. Plus I think Narcissa is friends with Severus, and I am loathe to hurt Narcissa.

I hate Molly, so I don't ship her with anyone. Not even with poor Arthur.

I could suspend my disbelief on a lot of things in the books- the magic, the many plot holes, a teenager killing the most powerful dark lord etc. I could just go with it. What pulled me out completely was house wife Molly standing a chance against solider Bellatrix. After that happened, I laughed at the absurdity for half an hour and I got completely detached from the rest of the book. I read it without a smidgeon of interest left. I wish Dora would have killed Bellatrix, or Andromeda, hell, even Neville (who certainly did more fighting in his last year at Hogwarts than Molly did in her life). McGonagall would have been the best option- you can still have the mother love thing (after all Minerva is a sort of mother to all Hogwarts students) but it would be believable. McGongall is the one that parallels Bella, with her loyalty to Dumbledore, with her knowledge of magic etc. Hell, even Neville's grandma would have been a better choice than Molly, I'm sorry, I can't get over it still, so many years later 😂

[reggie-gremlin]

CHAPTER 45 OF CRIMSON RIVERS HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

I KNEW THE INTERVIEWS WERE GONNA BE AWESOME BUT THIS IS OFF THE CHARTS. NARCISSA "I WAS GONNA NAME HIM DRACO" BLACK???? BELLATRIX THREATENING RITA???? SIRIUS CALLING REMUS "MY MOON"???? REGULUS PULLING A PEETA MELLARK???

DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON MARLENE. HER TELLING RITA TO SHUT THE FUCK UP WITHIN THE FIRST THIRTY SECONDS OF HER INTERVIEW AND THEN PROCEEDING TO GIVE AN ENTIRE WAR SPEECH WAS INSANE.

[birlwrites]

somthing that annoys me SO MUCH about a lot of Regulus fics (other than how many of them are jegulus. seriously so many of their plots look so interesting but i just can't read jegulus it Reallly doesn't do it for me) is how in almost every single one, Regulus has no friends. not a single one. and the authors always just sort of add him on to the end of the marauders and call it done. SO, I just wanted to say that I appreciate it a lot that in ttdl (and career goals) you gave Regulus FRIENDS!! I like that you've given the Slytherins personalities beyond "Evil" and "Bully," even the ones that are Bullies and will be Evil! (Regulus' camaraderie with the quidditch team my BELOVED. the group celebration after the winning game in ttdl? that heart stopping moment in career goals: tyrant when Megan fell off her broom and Regulus was so worried? His protective thoughts about her ex. 'my second year'? Geoff being Dad? Theophania? (her matching hair ribbons with Megan and Emma was soo cute (nothing to do with Regulus but jsyk I really liked that detail)) Travers (i can't remember his first name but i appreciate him anyways) I totally just got sidetracked but <3<3<3 REGULUS HAS FRIENDS!!)

ok SAME. regulus is another character, like james and lily, who is very easy to reduce down to like. 1-2 canon moments and a couple of character traits, and i think a lot of the 'regulus doesn't have his own friends' fics are also the ones that tend to infantilize regulus and/or just make him someone who exists to Be Saved (by either james or sirius, usually)

which!! i cannot stress enough!! is easy to write. there's a reason these fics are all over the place. if regulus doesn't have his own friends, then you don't need to figure out who they are or what their personalities are like or how they impact him and his relationships with the marauders (who tend to be the focal point of the story). simple casts of characters make things simple. that's valid as a writing choice.

however. GIVE THE BOY SOME GODDAMN FRIENDS. i s2g it's like canon lily. she just has the convenient muggle sister (bad relationship), snape (bad relationship, also he's in love with her which reinforces lily as Romantic Interest™ instead of a person), james (canonically, they apparently seem to be on bad terms until lily finally gives in and starts dating him, which, yuck), and harry (so lily can die for him!!)

(more ranting and the joys of regulus with friends under the cut)

whereas regulus, in contrast, tends to have walburga (bad relationship), sirius (estrangement), MAYBE narcissa (who is usually older than him by enough that she's already graduated from hogwarts), and james (JEGULUS)

there is absolutely no way that the entire house of slytherin was a complete monolith of asshole death eaters And Then Regulus, and personally i find it very dull as a narrative choice - even if it's a house full of asshole death eaters, regulus has been living with these people since the age of eleven. he's on a sports team. he has friends.

but i think frequently the reason he doesn't is because that makes it easy for him to be a damsel in distress who gets saved, insert jegulus, and when regulus gets swooped out of that Horrible Nasty Dungeon Full Of Slytherins, it doesn't leave any inconvenient loose ends, because he doesn't have any personal connections. the marauders (primarily sirius and james) never have to learn how to interact with regulus's friends. they can comfortably continue to be super anti-slytherin because regulus isn't 'like the rest of them,' so he's not REEEEEALLY a slytherin :)

(and regulus not being friends with any of the Asshole Death Eaters also conveniently makes him a very Pure character who has only ever been a victim and doesn't introduce any complex or nuanced moral questions to the narrative)

in general i just really hate when regulus is treated as an appendage of one of the marauders, and it happens all the time. that was a big driving force behind writing ttdl in the first place. i'm tired of regulus getting saved sjflsghjsgjkdhkjsf and i'm tired of him just being characterized however is convenient to the marauders

and i do STRONGLY BELIEVE that regulus had friends. maybe he wasn't ✨super popular✨ like ✨sirius and james✨ but like?? that's not a requirement to have friends???

and the slytherin quidditch team is a SLYTHERIN. TEAM. they are going to be both aggressively competitive (regarding the other teams) and AGGRESSIVELY TEAM-ORIENTED (because that's how you fucking wIN). ambition does not mean 'everyone for themself' (we don't have time to get into That canon theme) and IF SOMEONE DOESN'T PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS, THEY ARE HURTING SLYTHERIN'S CHANCES AT WINNING. IT IS A TEAM SPORT.

and like!! they have early morning practices together!! they eat breakfast together because Nobody Else Is Awake!! they work together and they respond viciously if one of them gets hurt and they have BONDED. regulus thinks of himself as being a little bit isolated from the rest of the team but that is the result of HIS OWN ISSUES WITH SELF WORTH and *REGARDLESS* OF THAT, HE STILL IS PERFECTLY AWARE THAT THEY'RE ALL FRIENDS

plus regulus is so much more fun with friends. he needs an outlet for all that drama. he wrote an incredibly elegant 'fuck you' note in a fake locket that he bothered to stash in the basin - LIKE???? HE COULD HAVE JUST TAKEN THE REAL LOCKET AND BLOWN UP THE CAVE???????

and i love regulus being best friends with barty because barty is similarly dramatic and they make the best team. especially when it comes to taking down people they hate. i LOVE the idea of them meeting in first year and both of them immediately going 'ok. mine now' and they are just choosing each other relentlessly from the beginning - and i ESPECIALLY love it because of the difference in their backgrounds, which makes them complete opposites on the surface but the same underneath (which i am a huge fan of as a character dynamic in general alghksgjhkjsdkf, you can see it all over the place in ttdl)

anyway im a huge proponent of 'give regulus his own life instead of just putting him in convenient stasis until the marauders show up.' even if you DO intend to have him sort of merge with the marauders and end up in a relationship with james, it'll be so much more interesting if regulus has his own history and social circle that the marauders have to reckon with, and it puts him on much more equal footing in that relationship, instead of just having it be 'savior/saved'

[seriouslysam8]

Okay, what is your feelings on Narcissa Malfoy? I feel like a lot of people paint her as a victim, but I can't see that.

She had a older sister that left and I am sure she would have helped Narcissa escape their family. I imagen she chose to marry Lucius, and chose to raise Draco to be an prat.

A lot of people stick up for her because she didn't tell Voldemort Harry was still alive, but she did that so she could go and see her son, not for Harry.

And don't get me started about my feelings on Draco!

My feelings for Narcissa are complicated and I view her as very gray.

I think she believed in the Black bullshit from a very young age. She grew up very privileged. She believed she was superior for being a pureblood. She loved the money, the parties, the prestige.

She fancied Lucius. She thought that she was getting the best of both worlds. She was marrying a pureblood who was rich and from a good family AND she actually loved him and he was good looking. She was smitten.

She had everything.

I don’t even think she batted an eyelid during the first war. She was on the winning side, after all. They had a spy, the Order was dropping like flies, everything was hunky dory.

She had a son. The war stopped but meh. No big deal to Narcissa. Life was still good. She had Lucius and Draco. She lost Bella and Regulus (which I think was a big hit to her) but she had her husband and son. She could soldier on.

Then the second war happened. And her husband fucks up in the DOM. Her son is tasked with an impossible task. Things are not looking good anymore. She’s starting to think things were better before Voldemort came back.

Then Dumbledore dies. The Ministry is overtaken. Hogwarts is overtaken. Their lives have been turned upside down. At this point, Narcissa is having some pretty big regrets. Draco is having some pretty big regrets.

Their lifestyle, their beliefs, well… they realize that it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. It’s not the life they were promised. They live in constant fear. They’re in the thick of it, one mistake and it could all be over with.

So I think Narcissa, in the end, wanted Harry to defeat Voldemort. She wanted her life back. She wanted the war to end. It was purely because it wasn’t going the way she thought it would for her. She had regrets.

[starchaseriseverything]

Someone moans. "Mon amor." Sirius immediately sits up.

What the fuck?

Sirius is the only one in his dorm that can speak French. Unless it's Remus but he's too smart for that. Plus, he'd be cheating on Sirius.

So, who the fuck is in the Gryffindor dorms that can speak French? There's only so few people outside the Black family in Hogwarts that can. Ophelia, and Dorcas, but their Slytherin'. Emmeline, but she's a Ravenclaw. Lily and Alice, but they are always asleep at this time of night. Which begs to differ. Who is in the Gryffindor dorms?

Regulus, Andromeda, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Pandora, and Evan can speak it, but there's no reason that they should be in here. Unless.....

No, Tonks, Skeeter, Crouch, Vance, and Fortescue are dating them. So, there's no reason for them to be in here. Except for Regulus.

Regulus has supposedly been single for years now. Ever since he broke up with Crouch and started dating Evan.

Is Regulus dating a Gryffindor?

Is it Peter? God, I hope not.

It's not Remus. At least I don't think so.

Sirius came to the conclusion that it could very well be anyone. But, what about James? He's been single for years now, too. He stopped chasing Evans for some unknown reason and hasn't set his sights on someone new. At least not as far as Sirius knows.

What if it's Regulus?

What if James is fucking Reg?

Sirius gets up after thinking and listening for about 10 minutes now. He didn't even realize he was still sitting there. He follows the noise to James' bed when it suddenly stops.

James' curtains are drawn shut.

Suspicious.

"James? Are you awake?"

Sirius hears rustling, then a hand peeks out from behind the curtain. "Yeah, Pads. What's up?"

"I heard a noise. French."

"And?"

"No one speaks French outside the Black family."

"That is entirely not true."

"No one that would be up here at this time of night, at least. Plus, there's only one person in the Black family that would have a good excuse to be up here."

"Who?" His voice was shaking.

"Regulus."

Sirius hears a sigh. "How did you know?" A different voice comes from behind the curtains.

"It was pretty easy. I just had to sit there and think."

"At least let me get dressed?"

"Well, duh, Idiot."

[siriusly-sapphic]

My Fic Masterlist (Narcissa, sapphic, rarepair)

I'm pinning this to my profile and updating it as I post more.

These are most of the fics I've ever posted, sorted by whether or not they include Narcissa.

The WIPs include more information, but for the one-shots I'm just telling you the ship, rating, and important warnings so read the tags before reading please.

These are mainly Narcissa centered, sapphic ships, and rarepairs in general.

Sorted by: Narcissa (sapphic and f/m), other rarepairs, sirius/narcissa, cissamione, and misc stories (popular and gen)

(But also, since @womenofthehouseofblack did encourage self promotion... These are not all house of black, but there are 70+ Narcissa fics on here and they're even sorted by here lmao)

Excellence - Narcissa/Dorcas - Mature - 5/? chapters

Summary: Dorcas Meadowes and Narcissa Black at the start of their fifth year at Hogwarts. Two Slytherin girls with bright, promising futures ahead of them, trying to find their place in a world where nothing less than pure excellence is expected of them. They don't like each other, never have, and when everything around them is surely changing, that's something familiar to hold onto, at least. For the time being. This is gonna focus a lot on Slytherin house and pureblood culture, growing up queer in pureblood society, and eventually pass through the first war and change its outcome!

such were the joys - Minerva/OFC, Minerva/Poppy - Mature - 6/? chapters

Summary: It's the start of Minerva Mcgonagall and Adrastia Greengrass' sixth year at Hogwarts. Their friend group is mismatched and headed every which way in life, but for now they feel secure in their mutual understanding that whatever happens -- romance, family, disaster -- they have no plans to leave each other's side. The future might be uncertain, but it's most certainly bright, of that they are sure. These are going to be short chapters (500-1K per chapter) from the perspective of whichever character makes sense at the moment, mainly Minerva and Adrastia themselves.

Mine to Lose - Alphard/Rodolphus - Explicit - 3/5 chapters

Summary: "So much for summer love and saying 'us', 'cause you weren't mine to lose..." This focuses on Rodolphus and Alphard's relationship, starting with Alphard's funeral. Also background focus to Narcissa & Rodolphus and her relationship with Rabastan and Lucius.

I Bet My Life - Regulus & Narcissa & Dorcas, Dorcas/Narcissa - Mature - 3 Chapters - Regulus makes it out of the cave with help of Dorcas

Tarot and Face Masks - Parvati/Lavender - General - 2 Chapters - Post war fluff, healing. I might at one point throw another chapter in it, but it's completed as a fluffy standalone fic that doesn't need more story.

No Love Lost - Alecto/Narcissa - Explicit - Pwp

Mint Chocolate - Alice/Narcissa - General - Ice cream 'date'

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe - Dorcas/Narcissa - Teen - Kiss

Heating Charms - Dorcas/Narcissa - Teen - Fluff

Almost Worth It - Dorcas/Narcissa - Teen - THG AU

Nothing Less - Dorcas/Narcissa - Teen - Secret Relationship

Can't Have This - Lily/Narcissa - Mature - Angsty sex

Luxury - Lily/Narcissa - Explicit - Bath sex

Two Left Feet - Lily/Narcissa - Teen - Muggle AU

No Regrets - Marlene/Narcissa - General - Disowned Narcissa

Queen of Knightsbridge - Marlene/Narcissa - Teen - Karaoke kiss

All The Time in the World - Mrs Zabini/Narcissa - Explicit - Murder

Tragedy - Mrs Zabini/Narcissa - Teen - Flirting at a funeral

Phenomenally Unnerving - Pandora/Narcissa - Teen - Kiss

Could be Heaven - Pansy/Narcissa - Explicit - Shower sex

Thank Me - Pansy/Narcissa - Explicit - Pwp

Sweet Victory - Cho/Ginny - Teen - Post Quidditch Kiss

Taking Flight - Cho/Luna - Teen - Grief, getting back to flying

The Edge of a Knife - Daphne/Pansy - Explicit - Knife play

It's Not Easy - Hermione/Pansy - Teen - Getting back together

Liquid Luck - Lavender/Parvati - Explicit - Tribbing, Felix Felicis

We'll be Happy - Lavender/Parvati - Teen - Major Character Death

Could I? - Luna/Parvati - Teen - Post War Healing

Promise of Forever - Luna/Parvati - Teen - Post War Grief/Healing

Not Worried - Luna/Parvati - Teen - Post War Healing

Proud of You - Luna/Millicent - Teen - Butch/femme

Drown Out the War - Mary/Lily - Teen - Skinny dipping

Favourite Things - Lucius/Narcissa - Explicit - Tipsy smut

My Valentine - Lucius/Narcissa - Teen - Valentine Memories

Thank You - Lucius/Narcissa - General - Fluff

The Crown You Gave Me - Lucius/Narcissa - Teen - Divorce

We're Alright - Lucius/Narcissa - General - Kiss in the rain

A Great Love Story - Rabastan/Narcissa - Teen - First date/kiss

Crestfallen - Rabastan/Narcissa - General - Rejected Proposal

Memories That We Made - Rabastan/Narcissa - Explicit - Angsty sex

No Comment - Rabastan/Narcissa - Teen - Prank

Our Broken Hearts - Rabastan/Narcissa - Teen - Muggle AU

Useless and Disappointing - Rabastan/Narcissa - Teen - Breakup

Belonging - Remus/Narcissa - Teen - Disowned Narcissa

Fallen Stars - Remus/Narcissa - Teen - Slytherin Remus

He Loves Her - Remus/Narcissa - General - Post war, hurt/comfort

His Luck - Remus/Narcissa - Teen - Muggle AU

He Wants Us Both - Remus/Narcissa/Sirius - Explicit - threesome

Damned Be the World - Alphard/Rodolphus - Explicit - Pwp

Luckiest Witch - Sirius/Marlene - General - Soulmate AU

Over My Dead Body - Sirius/Marlene - Teen - MCD

Never Be - Rodolphus/Antonin - Explicit - Angsty smut

Lockdown Husband - Rodolphus/Augustus - Teen - lockdown au

Can We Pretend - Rodolphus/Augustus - Teen - 2nd War Angst

It's Personal - Rodolphus/Kingsley - Teen - Angst

Bad Ideas - Explicit - Accidental arousal, first war era

Blood in the Water - Explicit - Cleaning wounds - Blood, Injury

Death of Me - Teen - Flashbacks - Major Character Death

Ecstacy and Darkness Drips - Explicit - Self Harm and Blood

Ends Like This - General - First War, break-up - No Warnings

Favourite Method of Self-Destruction - Explicit - Pwp - No Warnings

Feel Like Paradise - Explicit - Gala quickie - No Warnings

Hers - Teen - Argument and a kiss - No Warnings

In Love and War - Teen - Disowned Narcissa - No Warnings

In Your Sick Fantasies - Explicit - Breeding kink - No Warnings

Is That a Problem? - Teen - Cissa's Wedding Day - No Warnings

It's Over - Teen - 1st War, kiss - No Warnings

I've Got You - Teen - Soulmate AU - Transphobia

Never Leave - Teen - Disowned Narcissa - No Warnings

Second Chances - Teen - 2nd war, happy ending - No Warnings

The Cure to Marital Problems - Explicit - First hookup - No Warnings

They'd Make Do - Mature - Disowned Narcissa - No Warnings

Too Beautiful to Save - Explicit - Grief, Dark Magic, Near-Murder

Worst in Me - General - Post War, kiss - No Warnings

You'd Come Back to Me - Explicit - Happy Ending - No Warnings

Good Morning, Darling - General - Domestic fluff

It's Okay - General - Curse, major character death

Jumper - General - Fluffy "wearing my clothes" ficlet

Life is Good - General - Family fluff with Rose

Like a Glove - Teen - Hermione wearing a Black corset

Minister's Wife - General - Reassurance about the relationship

Ministry Galas - General - Attending a gala for the first time

Out of Your Mind - Mature - Narcissa buys a painting, smut

She'd Kissed Her Before - General - Soulmate AU

This is Home. - Teen - Narcissa character study

Wandering Mind - Mature - Smut with autistic!Hermione

When it Rains - General - Fluff/comfort with autistic!Hermione

a lot to live without - Lily & Harry - Teen - Major Character Death

40 Years - James/Lily - Teen - Major Character Death

Just Friends - Luna & Pansy - General - Aro luna and pansy

He Was Seventeen - Narcissa & Regulus - Teen - MCD

What Fools These Mortals Be - Narcissa & Harry - Teen - Memories

You're Not Going Home - Rodolphus & Narcissa - General - Comfort

[padfootastic]

oh my god may your anon(s) never stop giving us this goodness.

voldy - i wanna kill the potters (expecting a cheer cause he thinks they share his one brain cell)

death eaters: which tbh 99% consist of people who used to be with sirius at summer tea parties- and have seen first hand what kind of magic he can do and seen at Hogwarts just how much of potters sirius has devoted himself too. uhh Mr voldy don't take this the wrong way, you scare us sure but he scares us more. like have you seen how blacks are?

and how sirius black is ?

and you want us to target potters.

we may wear your mark or whatever but sirius will freaking dangle us and play with us like marionettes

I'm pretty sure 90% the reason no one from dark side told anyone that sirius is innocent cause they would definitely know. mr look at me I'm immortal could never shut up about that. was cause in canon they knew as soon sirius is out he would kill them for targetting potters and succeeding. wasn't that the reason peter was like mhhmm no imma be rat as well?

like also imagine if regulus , narcissa and slightly sane bella were there and canon was just a handbook of rules meant to be looked - hey sirius we're getting bored of this evil overlord manogamic thinking he's the greatest. also uhh, he decided to go after potters.

sirus, with eyes twitching- potters you say? suddenly i have 38494849 basilik fangs and a few teen age diaries and necklaces to rip apart.

like it's tbh frustrating at times with how jkr indicated at power and then cowardly backed away from it (it's like she hated her own characters or something). like sirius black free of shakles of canon should be easily able to kill voldy and and meet harry for midnight ride at the motorbike.

he has everything.

resources. motivation. information. skill. and the determination to see it through.

ahahaha don’t worry, our anon has endless creativity (in fact, it’s me who can’t keep up w them bc i just have. so many asks in my inbox rn 💀) and i’m literally just waiting for them to drop the fic.

also just. i’ve mentioned this before but i’m so sure that in an AU, it’s voldy’s ignorance of exactly how deadly the black family (esp sirius) is so that leads to him being outed as a non pureblood bc u just. don’t do that ykno?

voldy: so the potters—

sirius, immediately getting a twitch in his eye and bloodlust in the back of his throat: something’s wrong.

and that’s really just that.

(also god yes don’t even get me started on the sheer number of plot points and tools jkr introduced only to fully forget about or ignore it later. sirius is literally one of THE most powerful characters we were given and he’s just. so fucking defanged. i think pigwidgeon was utilised better than s was)

[midnightstargazer]

Why I Like Regulus Black

Regulus Black is one of my favorite Harry Potter characters, and I want to talk about why. I feel like there's a frequent misconception that people only like him for superficial reasons or in ways that are contradictory to canon, so here's my take on what I find interesting about him and why I think he appeals to me as a character.

Just to be clear upfront, this is not:

An argument that Regulus was a totally good person and did nothing wrong.

A criticism of other morally gray characters or their fans. I am not interested in playing the "only my problematic fave is valid" game.

An attempt to speak for Regulus fans in general. This is my opinion only.

All that being said ...

I like morally gray characters.

Regulus is not the first character I've liked who's done things I would absolutely not condone in real life. I don't tend to like straightforward "pure evil" villains (e.g., Voldemort) except in a "love to hate them" sort of way, but I often end up liking anti-heroes and more nuanced villains.

I also tend to have a very positive view of redemption arcs. That doesn't mean I think every villain can or should get one, or that they're all to my liking. But the potential for one is usually going to make a character more appealing to me, not less. I like the idea that people are capable of growth and change. Of becoming better than they were. And I tend to be pretty flexible on what sort of characters I'll consider redeemable. There are limits, but "teenager who joined the wrong side, quickly changed his mind, and then died trying to back out" is very much on the "not too far gone" side of the line for me.

I'm a fan of the Black family in general.

I don't love all of them, but the family dynamics and backstory are really interesting. Regulus is not even the most obscure name on the family tree who I have headcanons for. Not even close. *gestures vaguely to not-yet-posted WIP about these ladies*:

Sirius and Andromeda are other favorites of mine. I love their narratives of breaking away and taking control of their own lives. Regulus's story is a bit different. He stays behind. He tries to be exactly what his family wants. I imagine both he and Narcissa would be strongly affected by having an older sibling disowned, and all the more careful in their own choices as a result. I almost certainly find Regulus (and quite a few others in the family) more interesting as part of these family dynamics than I would without them.

Getting a bit personal for a moment ...

I grew up in an ultra-conservative area of the United States* and bought into some crappy ideas as a teenager. Not in an intentionally hateful or ignorant way, just in a "most people I know agree on this, so I guess it's true" kind of way. When I grew up, moved away, and went to college, I ended up rethinking a lot of things and forming my own opinions. So the idea of realizing you've been wrong, breaking away, and having to figure everything out all over again as a young adult? I find that super relatable. That's probably a part of why I like Andromeda and Sirius so much.

Regulus, in canon, doesn't do that, or only does it on a very limited basis just before his death. But there's the potential to explore that angle in canon divergence stories. It was very cathartic for me, in my first "Regulus lives" fic, to stick him in a situation where he's separated from the negative influences and slowly starting to question stuff he's taken for granted all his life.

*although my family was actually way more chill than a lot of my friends, teachers, neighbors, etc. For instance, they were fine with letting me read Harry Potter.

How I see Regulus

Now we're getting more into headcanon territory. Regulus is only described second-hand; he never actually appears on the page. So, naturally, fans have interpreted him a million different ways. If I'm going to talk about why I like Regulus, I should probably also mention what my take on him actually is.

I see him as being driven by a strong sense of duty. He wasn't forced to join the Death Eaters, but he knew or believed his parents would be proud of him for doing so and that played a part in his decision. When he chose to turn against Voldemort, he kept it a secret from them in an attempt to protect them (that part is strongly implied in canon).

Despite those loyalist tendencies, I also imagine him being stubbornly independent, trying to take things on alone rather than ask for help. The horcrux is a perfect example of this. He didn't tell his family, any friends he might have had, or anybody on the opposite side of the war. He went after it himself, alone, with just a house-elf for help and without letting anyone know what he was doing. There's probably an element of pride in this, but I'd say also a level of distrust, a feeling that there's no one he can rely on and that he doesn't want to show weakness.

I think it's reasonable to assume he shared the Death Eaters' prejudices and committed crimes for them. But I do imagine him as a lesser evil, so to speak, compared to people like the Lestranges. The way Sirius describes him - an "idiot" who was "soft enough to believe" their parents - is not flattering, but very mild compared to what he says about other family members. There's nothing to imply Regulus was a really cruel, bloodthirsty sort of person, and I find it hard to believe Sirius would be so quick to shift the blame for his choices to their parents if he had been. And there are other signs as well. Kreacher said Regulus believed that Voldemort would "bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns," which is awful but stops short of what actually happens when Voldemort takes power in Deathly Hallows. And, of course, there's his relationship with Kreacher.

House-elves are a whole other can of worms I don't want to get into right now, but I do think Regulus probably treated Kreacher better than their society would have expected. I'm not saying he was Hermione-level enlightened. He probably didn't see him as an equal or spend his free time campaigning for elf rights. But when the full story of Regulus's death is revealed, it's made clear that he was fond of Kreacher and upset by what Voldemort did to him. He literally drank a potion that caused him extreme agony rather than ordering Kreacher to do it in his place. That doesn't make him a totally good person, but it does hint at a softer side to him and a sort of nuance that isn't typical of the Death Eaters.

He clearly knew what a horcrux was and strongly objected to finding out about the locket, either on the basis of "that's crossing a line" or "actually, the Dark Lord probably shouldn't live forever." Or both. I've seen people question why a Death Eater would have a problem with horcruxes, and I suspect some of them wouldn't. Bellatrix, for instance, would probably be overjoyed to know she was entrusted with a piece of Voldemort's soul. But the idea of horcruxes being repulsive even to many Dark Wizards is actually foreshadowed a bit in Half-Blood Prince, where the author of Magick Moste Evile warns his readers against them. So I do think Regulus was probably not thrilled to find out he was working for someone who had one.

There can be multiple factors in why he did what he did: anger about Voldemort's treatment of Kreacher AND objection to horcruxes AND possibly doubts and second thoughts that had been building up already, since Sirius knew nothing about the specifics but was sure he died trying to back out.

Now, going after the locket on his own, without telling anybody who might have an interest in stopping Voldemort, was not the smartest decision. And I don't see his death as something that should be glorified. I've seen people claim that his redemption arc is more valid because he gave his life, and I disagree with that take and actually find it to be very troubling. Redemption Equals Death can work if it's a meaningful self-sacrifice, but Regulus's death didn't really accomplish much other than getting him killed, and if he had lived longer he might have been able to do more to atone. Like actually destroying a horcrux, for instance, or providing info to the Order.

But still, the fact that he did anything at all is a big deal. The fact that something - or multiple somethings - seemed wrong to him, and given the choice between "a lifetime of service or death," he decided he still couldn't keep serving Voldemort? That's huge. That says something important about who he was as a person. A weird combination of a damaged but not completely absent moral compass paired with an unexpected sense of integrity and courage.

Final thoughts

Most of what I described in the section above is personal interpretation, and there are other valid takes on what might have been going on. But I tried to keep it to just what I think can be reasonably extrapolated from canon, not random headcanons that I'm happy to admit I pulled out of thin air or adopted from fanon.

I see a lot of interesting contradictions in Regulus, and specifically, a lot of positive traits turned bad. Loyalty and dedication towards a family and a cause that don't deserve it. Capacity for kindness that remains so undeveloped it never actually leads him to question his prejudices. The willingness to admit he was on the wrong side and the courage do something about it, but it ends up being a pointless self-sacrifice.

I see him as someone who isn't inherently evil, who could have been a good person if he'd been brought up differently. Someone who might very well have changed for the better and made a positive impact if he'd survived. And yet whose life ultimately amounted to very little. I don't know about you, but that strikes me as a tragedy.

It also screams "opportunity" to the fanfic writer in me. I love "what if?" storylines. I love fleshing out characters who were not well-developed in canon. Regulus has hints of a personality and storyline that I find really interesting, but isn't a main character or developed enough that I feel like the story has already been told in a satisfying way in canon. That's exactly the sort of character I'm likely to end up reading and writing fic for, etc.

[jfleamont]

I have a kind of specific question that I'm hoping you and your followers could help me out with.

I'm writing my own version of the classic marauders fic, but I suck at writing the death eaters I don't enjoy writing antagonistic characters particularly and don't even have a super clear idea of who is who/ who fits to include(besides perhaps the main ones like Snape and regulus) especially since there's so little canon, so the majority is often fan made. of course they are essential to the plot though!

I want it to obviously be my own work, but I would really appreciate any pointers of where to start with these characters, even just a list of the right characters to start developing my own interpretations of.

this is obviously a very big ask, so any help or pointers anyone can offer to give me a nudge in the right direction I'd be so grateful for!

Hello! Sorry for the late reply, I had two exams and I have two more coming up but I've been dying to reply to this ask since you sent it :)

I'll preface this by saying that, much like you, I'm really not into these kind of characters and I don't enjoy writing them, nor do I have the skill to do so. I have only written one-shots and none of them had any Death Eaters in them; however, I do have a WIP (that I started almost one year ago and that I plan on finishing sometime this summer) that's going to be around 10k and it will most certainly feature those kind of characters, so this is actually really helpful for me too and it might help me get out of this funk since I haven't worked on that WIP in months.

That said, let's get to work!

The first name that comes to mind is Lucius Malfoy. We have quite a bit of info about him in canon, and I believe he's 6 or 7 years older than the Marauders. He was a prefect and was in the Slug Club, and was friends with Snape for the brief time they were at Hogwarts together. After leaving Hogwarts he married Narcissa Black, another pureblood, got a job at the ministry and at one point he met Voldemort. If you want to write him into your story, depending on the year your fic takes place, you could show him taking Snape under his wing and giving speeches about blood purity. I think by then he was already a prefect so he probably abused his power and gave detentions to Gryffindors and Muggleborns/Halfbloods for no reason; I don't know if he'd use violence or hexes, because he's far too diplomatic for that. I think he was really good at convincing people, he manipulated them and made them do the dirty work for him. He'd occasionally hex people for fun but due to his upbringing, he knew better than picking petty fights in the hallways, and he strikes me as the kind of person who was very driven and who thought about the bigger picture. He had, after all, a place in the wizarding world by right of birth, and his family was quite openly in favour of blood purity and all that racist bullshit. Snape, on the other hand, had always been picked on and he learnt at a very young age how to defend himself (and was easily triggered). Lucius didn't need to. He didn't have Snape's rage and didn't want revenge. If you want to start your story when the Marauders are a bit older (16 or 17), you could say that the wannabe Death Eaters at Hogwarts sort of idolised him because he was so young but already in Voldemort's inner circle; furthermore, you could have him actually recruit students, and have them take Unbreakable vows, teach them the Unforgivable Curses and make them get the Dark Mark. They could meet in Hogsmeade (since he's no longer a student), kinda like Harry does with his first DA meeting.

Barty Crouch Junior is another Death Eater that comes to mind and it could be an interesting character to work with. He was at Hogwarts during the 70s and roughly the same age as James & his friends. He came from a pureblood family, but I don't think they were the kind of people who actually wanted Muggleborns dead; after all, Crouch Senior was already a prominent figure in politics, and he was head of the DMLE (Department of Magical Law Enforcement). But he did have an aggressive approach towards criminals, which partly explains his son's obsession with violence. Barty Junior also had a very complicated relationship with his father, a man who was probably incapable of showing affection and was too busy working to take care of his son. I think Barty hated him but wanted to impress him at the same time and, in a very fucked up way, he did those horrible things because he wanted his father to pay attention to him. We don't know why he chose to become a DE, but my impression is that he was a very lonely, insecure kid and he found a sense of belonging at Hogwarts, something I don't think he ever felt when he was at home. Whether he joined the very people his father was after out of spite or not, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that he did believe in those things by the time he was older. He was also very intelligent - he disguised himself as Moody for nearly a year - albeit highly unpredictable. He was delirious and insane in some scenes, but overall quite reasonable when he pretended to be Moody, so he could have had a personality disorder, but if you want to write about that you should do some research and be careful, because associating villains with mental illnesses could do more harm than good if not done well, and it's a slippery slope. All I'm gonna say is that he definitely had some daddy issues, that's for sure.

Then of course we have Regulus, whose family was very much against Muggleborns. We know quite a lot about the Black household thanks to Sirius, and there are different headcanons floating around about the kind of bond the two brothers had. In my opinion, Regulus looked up to his brother and was envious of him: even at eleven years old, Sirius had already made up his mind about his parents' view of the world and wanted nothing to do with them. It shows that he was an independent thinker, and I think Regulus wondered for a long time how he could do that so easily. Was Regulus not strong enough? Or did he feel like he didn't have a choice? Because Sirius had James, so he wasn't completely alone. Regulus had no one. Obviously, I know he did have a choice, and he shared his parents' (and Voldemort's) political views. When Voldemort hurt Kreacher he turned against him, which is very interesting and unusual, mainly because pureblood families do not have any sort of respect or affection towards elves, while Regulus clearly did.

As for the others, I think Mulciber and Avery are mentioned by Lily while they were in Hogwarts, and they're the ones who cursed Mary Macdonald (this is mentioned in SWM). I think they went to Azkaban after the first war, unlike Evan Rosier (mentioned during Karkaroff's trial) who was killed when they tried to arrest him.

I suggest you also look into the Sacred Twenty-Eight - a list of pureblood families from which the Potters were excluded because they had been pro-muggle for a couple of generations, I think - to get an idea and maybe an inspiration for an original DE character.

So, if you want to include Death Eaters in your fic, you could make a list of possible characters and mention their relationships and friendships; you could make one of them really good at dueling, and another one good at flying (and make them James' rival during Quidditch matches). Death Eaters were Voldemort's followers first, and friends second, so it makes sense that there was a hierarchy: you can choose one of them as a leader, and the others could be the minions, the brawns and the brains (Snape would probably be the latter since he was smart and actually invented some hexes that were very useful to the DEs). And if you want to make things even more interesting, some of them could also be from different Hogwarts houses (not the ones I've mentioned because they're all canonically Slytherins), and they could also be girls!

If you want more ideas, there's a 2014 film called 'The Riot Club' (which I didn't like to be honest, but that's not the point lol) that explores the violent behaviour that often occurs in these kind of social circles; and while you're at it, you could also research 'hazing', a phenomenon that is often associated with fraternities and sororities in college that, while pretty disturbing, could also make for a much more compelling story.

Historically, boarding schools have often been described as toxic environments: for the majority of the year these young kids are separated from their families and while this is beneficial for some, for others it's very dangerous. During the most vulnerable period of their lives, they have to rely on authority figures that do not, however, provide the love and affection that parents do; this creates a dissonance, and kids either isolate themselves, or create their own 'families', and some are more dysfunctional than others (i.e. the Marauders vs. Snape's gang).

This is all I could think about, but as always people are welcome to add their own thoughts and headcanons!

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask me whatever you want :)