#a hit-wizard though?

[hedwigette]

I think there is a misconception in the fandom about how some of the jobs in the Wizarding world work.

I don't quite agree that Harry shouldn't be an Auror because it's not OOC for him. And the police system in the Wizarding world might be similar to the muggle one but there are differences.

And saying that he's like a cop, exactly as how it's viewed in the muggles world (especially American) isn't really true either.

There is a separation between Aurors and Hit Wizards (a bit like barristers and solicitors).

Just gonna summarise the wiki:

Aurors chase dark wizards like Hit wizards but unlike the latter, they are highly trained law enforcement who primarily deal with investigations. They are trained intensively for 3 years and only few can join. They must have "Exceed Expectations" (2nd highest grade) in basically everything. They also have a series of characters and aptitude tests. They're magically trained (not physically) especially in defense magic.

It's a special member of the ministry that is highly regarded. It's extremely difficult to qualify as one.

They must have knowledge on Dark Arts because they're investigating crimes related to it. And they apprehend Dark Wizards and Witches.

Though, they do have a sort of military training which relies on discipline and intelligence agency.

In conclusion, they're a specialised unit trained to investigate and occasionally fight against Dark Wizards and Dark arts. That's it.

Hit-wizards however, deal with highly dangerous combat situations, such as high-risk arrests and riot control. They back up Aurors to capture dark wizards. They're the ones arresting suspects (like Sirius) and most of their work is about maintaining the public order and dangerous situations.

Unlike Aurors who have abilities that are far beyond arresting suspects or investigation skills, Hit wizards are primarily a fighting and controlling force, not trained to investigate.

The stark difference is that Aurors are trained extensively in methods of criminal investigation, intelligence gathering and crime prevention (not repression at least not always), Hit wizards, again, are a force made for fighting and controlling the mass.

The equivalent for the Muggle word would, roughly, be like Homicide and Major Crime command/FBI equal to Aurors and Metropolitan Police/SWAT equal to Hit Wizards.

As we all know, Harry isn't someone who enjoys fighting because it's always life and death for him. But, he loves putting his nose into other people's business and investigating what's going on. Moreover, Harry is someone active: he would not just stand arms cross behind a DADA desk, watching the world burn down. He would partake in what's right, no matter the law. And lastly, Harry has always viewed the wizarding world as his home. Unlike with the Dursleys, Harry felt safe there. There is no scenario in which he wouldn't do everything he can to protect his home. He would fight against the corruption of the ministry because he would not stand back against injustice, he would face it.

That's a fundamental part of his character.

So no. Saying it doesn't make sense for him to become an Auror is to not know what an Auror is like and who Harry is. He definitely would become one. The right job, and qualification people look out when they talk about Aurors is actually, Hit-wizards, and yes, It wouldn't make sense for Harry to be one.

[peacheatsfruit]

sorry for putting tommatt on ur feed it will happen again

[the-gateway-to-madness]

anytime i see posts about how 3Below was a mistake and that it didn't fit into Tales of Arcadia or that it's bad or really just ANYTHING complaining about it, my brain reminds me of when this site used to cross over Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons and the Futuristic Four. At the same time. not to use an old meme but you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me (hiccup haddock and hiro hamada being friends. emo edits of rapunzel. Do you Remember? I Remember.)

3Below being part of Tales of Arcadia feels like HOME to me. It's the part that resonates with my brain and my feelings. It makes me feel like the way my head and humor work has a place in this universe I love- 3Below is my anchor to the franchise.

I wouldn't be who I am without this show, and the show wouldn't be what it is if it weren't part of Tales of Arcadia.

[keeps-ache]

pals and other things :D

[lovecolibri]

How DARE Brennan bring 12 Brooks back to hurt us! At least the Great Bullfrog wasn't killed but OOF this whole scene is Bad Vibes, and that Wizard Keen Eursolon was talking to gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[stardustedknuckles]

It would just be so easy for Steel to start behaving overtly controlling and War-minded at literally any point (seeking control and owning up to what that means) and at that point it would become easy to dislike her and her sway over Suvi but that's not the POINT, she is GENUINELY wise and so, so brilliant and she loves Suvi so truly and she is infuriatingly level headed and sincere in her efforts to help and so very kind, and I love her character more than I can adequately put into words and the inevitable clash of ideals, the rift that will and must develop, is going to destroy me. Because I genuinely don't know if Steel could choose Suvi over the empire and in fact I think it's pretty clear that she wouldn't, but that does not diminish the love she has for Suvi and the two things being true simultaneously have me biting the air. Steel is a goddamn masterclass in examining characters who act from fundamentally kind intent within a twisted framework of lifelong indoctrination and beliefs that have taught her a distorted view of what that should look like. Bringing the empire's light to the world is the ultimate kindness to her, and she wants nothing more than to be a key part of the mechanism by which that will happen. Because it will happen. And we're not told this, we're shown a brilliant and devoted mother figure who will stop at nothing to make a better world in the image of the empire her life belongs to.

Every single time something goes wrong with Ame and/or Eursulon (and even Suvi) I brace for the kind of overbearing "us VS them" mentality that never comes. She genuinely wants collaboration and answers so she can help. she very much means well, as do they all. It compels the absolute hell out of me.

[curmemini]

preliminary june bride thoughts

because im crazy already about this event this can not be a flop. so far all that has been released is the event description and that its owen focused (which ofc it is im insane about it) the official event preview should be in about a few hours but before that i want to talk about something from the event description: the event npc's name: Heine.

mhyk 101 is knowing a large amount of names, even event characters names, hail from various pieces of literature or legend and myth. I don't think Heine is any different.

Heinreich Heine was a 19th-century German Romanticist poet. Cee what does this have to do with anything? Well, one of the two poems found on poetry foundation is entitled The Phoenix.

It reads like so:

A bird comes flying form the West, It flies for the East, Towards the Eastern garden-home Where spices breathe their perfume and grow, And palms rustle and springs give coolness - And the miracle-bird sings, flying;

“She loves him! She loves him! She carries his likeness in her small heart And carries it sweetly and secretly hidden, And does not know it herself. But in the dream he stands before her, She entreats and weeps and kisses his hands And calls his name, And calling, she wakes, wakes, and lies startled, And rubs, astonished, her beautiful eyes -- She loves him, she loves him!”

Which is really a beautiful poem! It also drives me c-c-c-c-crazy. To get the over-indulgent and weakly founded out of the way, I am a Westie-Born Owen truther (and I will make a post about it, one day) , so the titular phoenix beginning in the west and heading eastwards mimics the journey that Owen takes, or is brought upon, before being locked in the basement (the forest of dreams, which is likely situated on the village that he had been locked under, is closest to East, rather than Central or West)

Text-wise, Owen has never really been coded as a phoenix. Which is funny, as he has all the makings of a character who would be. He cannot be killed in anyway that matters, always rising up again once his magic has had its work. Birds are a thematic element to him, often representing his freedom, state of being. He complains about not getting to hear the songbirds sing the way he could elsewhere, and he frequently gossips with them.

And while the phoenix is loudly doing something Owen is fond of very much - proclaiming to the world the unnamed She's desire, likely to her embarrassment and shame - I think he shares most similarities with the subject of the second stanza. How many times have we been shown Owen, fresh from a dream or talking about one he's had, sharing that he had dreamed of being rescued, of a hand outstretched. His sub-conscious tells him of what he wants, but he doesn't know why he wants it. Neither does the subject of the second stanza, who fails to grasp that she loves the unnamed he. Both subjects have sweetly hidden their hearts from themselves.

So long story short in part because im getting sleepy, I wonder if this alienation of self is going to be a part of the thesis of his event? im looking forward to it deeply

[isnt-that-wizardd]

new username!!

skateboardtotheheart -> isnt-that-wizardd

hey all!! just wanted to let you know that I have changed my account name so that it now matches my ao3 account name (almost). i had a sentimental attachment to my old one since i started off as a jatp account and it was a reference to that, but my account has changed so much over the years that it just didn't fit anymore

[diredeliverance]

Feel like at a point Gortash feels less like a canon character from a video game and more like a guy I made up in my head (mostly to be mad at). I have simply hung too much characterization on things that are pure headcanon. The guy doesn't even have a canon age and Yet it's hard to describe the degree to which his age, the terror of death, and the craven, futile quest for eternity inform his character. To me. In my mind palace.

[genderqueerpond]

the main difference between five and eleven is that five started out believing that he was terrible and gradually, slowly, almost to his dismay, learned that he was also great; and eleven started out believing unshakeably that he was great and then slowly, gradually, almost to his relief, learned that he was also terrible.

(this fallout is also the difference between six and twelve.)

[vulpinesaint]

faedren update... as you may know he was bitten by a possessed party member which started turning him into a vampire and fucked up his relationship with that party member really badly. now he is at a point where the party is trying to get him help to stop the whole vampirification process (it would involve him dying horribly and then Being A Vampire which... while it would be awesome for me i want him to thirst for blood so bad. faedren is really invested in not dying horribly right now) and what this involves is a choice of some kind of medical procedure being done either by the unsettling priestesses of the goddess whose power is vampirifying him or a sort of mad scientist wizard figure.

so what it comes down to on FAEDREN's side of things is that in order to fix what was done to his body with no choice in the matter, he is going to Have To let someone perform an invasive procedure on his body. and he does have a kind of choice in this matter, at least between who is going to do the procedure. but the problem here is that the party member who was originally possessed to do the damage sees a clear option (let the scientifically tested and experienced magic user with clear access to the proper materials do the procedure rather than the creepy priestesses who talk in unison and have rivers of blood in their cathedral) and faedren. does not agree with that assessment. for one he really does not like wizards (series of bad experiences with them). but most importantly he is a religious fundamentalist. and so when HE is given this choice, between what he sees as the cold, morally depraved, destructive hand of Science, and the familiar, reasonable, natural authority of religion, of COURSE he's all but throwing himself into the arms of those priestesses. they might have freaked him out a little at first but he is TERRIFIED of giving his body over to the kind of power that he's only ever seen used for terrible destructive things, and he's been performing demonic cult rituals for the goddess of lust, trickery, and revenge for his entire life. the blood river in the cathedral is familiar, more than unsettling.

but then you have faedren declaring that he wants this medical procedure done by those priestesses who speak in unison, and obviously his party member who cares very deeply for him wants him to do the thing that she thinks will Let Him Survive, but what faedren hears is that after doing this to his body to begin with, she's refusing to let him make a choice about what he does with his own body Now. and he's been rlly fucked up about battle scars and the way that things are Done to him for a while which is all to say that their love is so so doomed rn... so. faedren update. he has to give up another fraction of his bodily autonomy and i need to let him pray more. man's not having a great time of it

[thornsnvultures]

it's after 2:30am and I'm v sleepy but I did finish reading howl's moving castle and whewwww boy that book. very different than the movie, which I already knew but the extent to which it is different is insane. these are two very, very different stories. book!sophie kind of irritated me with the constant self pitying but I didn't hate it. and howl was a nightmare mess of a man but I enjoyed seeing more of his back story in the book. anyway I had a good time, definitely recommend checking it out

[midnightwind]

I hope BG3 having Bladesinger, Circle of Stars, and Shadow Mage fixes my brain so I can play that game again

[ratbeard-pirate101]

who made the choice to give every storm enemy in Polaris shatter spells

[hedwigette]

I personally do understand why he would become an Auror: Harry was a child who lived through all his childhood without love and especially, without feeling safe. The reason Harry loves Hogwarts so much, the reason why he's calling it a home is because he feels safe there. Hogwarts has always been a safe sanctuary for him.

During his time with the Dursleys and because of Voldemort, Harry never had managed to stay and feel safe partly because the adults around him couldn't take their responsibility correctly to protect him and he had to do that himself.

The wizarding world gave Harry a place that legitimated his "freakiness". For the Dursleys he was a freak, but for the Wizarding World he is a (brillant) wizard.

That's why I believe that Harry would want to take the responsibility to keep the Wizarding world safe to prevent a Voldemort 2.0 to rise. Security is what he lacked during his childhood and teenage-hood and it was the most important thing he sought after but never received.

In Cursed Child, we clearly see how security is the most important factor - so much that he's willing to put his son's happiness aside if it means keeping him safe because at Albus' age it's what he would have wanted.

Harry may not like the government (at least those in power like Fudge or Scrimgeour - though he might like Kingsley's policies, he's not an anarchist) and I'm sure he will fight for reforms against the corruption there, but he loves the wizarding world enough to put himself in danger. He will protect it the same way the wizarding world protected him - in a certain way, saved him - from the Dursleys.

What profession do you see Harry in? When I was younger I was adamant he would have been a professor. After reading the book again in my late 20’s I can’t see it anymore. I think he would have been a Auror because solving mysteries and catching felons would intrigue him more than dealing with a bunch of students grading papers. I think he would get bored and would resign after a year or two. I know people who love professor Harry love pointing out him teaching in Dumbledore’s Army and I think people forget he only had to do the practical part, not the theory aspect. I can’t image him reading multiple essays on the same topic. It would drive him bonkers. (Hermione would be in cloud 9 though). I love teaching my nephew and his friends how to play soccer, would I ever take it as a profession? Never. It’s a part time passion not a career. Im sure he made surprise visits to Hogwarts as a guest lecturer but that’s it. In an AU where Jily lived I could see Harry becoming a quidditch player or even taking a liking to potions because of his mom who didn’t put the bitter taste in his mouth like Snape. In canon the only two careers I could see holding his attention is curse breaker and being an Auror, purely because of the mystery of solving puzzles and being on his feet. The one thing I still agree with my younger self is Harry would have returned for his 8th year and so would have Ron. I think he needs a year to just be a kid who sneaks around the castle exploring different corridors to make out with Ginny. 

Well, I do like the idea of Harry returning to teach DADA at Hogwarts, as I mentioned here, here & here. Though, an anon did bring up a cool idea for Harry to be more of a private investigator than an auror for a few years before becoming a DADA professor. I just don't see Harry as someone who'd be good at receiving orders and working within the ministry. Like, with everything that happened with the ministry in the final 3 books, I find it kinda insane Harry chooses to work there after we spent 3+ books going over how corrupt and ineffectual they are and how much Harry dislikes it. It just feels iffy to me.

I think Harry would surprise you with his patience, honestly. I think he is very capable of reading dozens of essays about the same thing and grading them. Like, the fandom likes to forget it, but Harry read all his course books before first year:

Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic. His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. 

(PS)

He does do reading and research on his own and with Hermione when he needs/wants to:

There was much less laughter and a lot more hanging around in the library when Hermione was your best friend. Harry still hadn’t mastered Summoning Charms, he seemed to have developed something of a block about them, and Hermione insisted that learning the theory would help. They consequently spent a lot of time poring over books during their lunchtimes.

(GoF)

Harry was already hurrying up the spiral staircase to his dormitory. . . . He would grab the Invisibility Cloak and go back to the library, he’d stay there all night if he had to. ... “Lumos,” Harry whispered fifteen minutes later as he opened the library door. Wand tip alight, he crept along the bookshelves, pulling down more books — books of hexes and charms, books on merpeople and water monsters, books on famous witches and wizards, on magical inventions, on anything at all that might include one passing reference to underwater survival. He carried them over to a table, then set to work, searching them by the narrow beam of his wand, occasionally checking his watch. ...

(GoF)

Harry is so capable of sitting down and grading essays if he wants to. He's actually not averse to studying and reading at all, not on his own. He's just mirroring Ron and the other Gryffindor boys to fit in because it's what Harry does.

He'd be one of the teachers who give bonus points if a student writes something funny in their essay, I just know it.

Also, even for the DA, he actually made lesson plans:

Sirius and Lupin had given Harry a set of excellent books entitled Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts, which had superb, moving color illustrations of all the counterjinxes and hexes it described. Harry flicked through the first volume eagerly; he could see it was going to be highly useful in his plans for the D.A.

Like, he read through Defence books and organized plans for spells to teach, in what order, and how to teach them. Harry spends a lot of time thinking about the DA in his head in OotP. About the successes of his students that he feels so proud of but also when he's gonna do the next meeting and what he'd teach.

90% of his DADA professors can't say the same.

Also, Harry actually kept track of the state of every student and applied the teaching method best for them and didn't pick favorites:

They all divided up obediently; Harry partnered Neville as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of “Impedimenta!” People froze for a minute or so, during which their partners would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx. Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After a while, when Harry had unfrozen three times in a row, he had Neville join Ron and Hermione again so that he could walk around the room and watch the others. When he passed Cho she beamed at him; he resisted the temptation to walk past her several more times.

(OotP)

Like, the fact he wanted to pay more attention to Cho and then didn't because he knows that's not what he should do as a teacher is already better than a good chunk of Hogwarts professors (McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore, and Slughorn all clearly have favorites).

Like, Harry is putting into the DA more effort than just showing them practically what they need to do. He spends all his lessons with Umbridge thinking about the DA. He reads and studies so he can teach them better. He put a lot of effort into it.

Not to mention Harry was dealing with the DA that included about 30 members compared to the average Hogwarts class, where a professor only needs to manage 20 students in the classroom.

As for 8th year. Yeah, I like to think he comes back. I think it'll be a good healing opportunity for him. Though, I personally do not envision him making out with Ginny since I don't like Hinny. But the idea is that the poor boy needs a break.

[foldingfittedsheets]

It started with cantrips, which is why it took people a while to notice. The first few events were people on the news talking about how they’d been needing a light and then suddenly they’d waved a hand and said words and there was light. No one really believed them but as more reports were verified suddenly more people came forward with even less believable stories of what everyone really didn’t want to call magic. Even though it was pretty obviously magic. Spectral floating hands grabbing things that were out of reach, whispered messages that reached their friend seated too far away to hear them.

An EMT who whispered a word and suddenly saved a dying man.

Then the darker stories started filtering in. 

Words spoken in anger causing explosions. Poison spewing forth from a hand gesture. One person gave a retort so witty that someone was hospitalized. 

Everyone was scared, but the nerds started to figure it out fastest. It sure wasn’t the scientists who were doing the equivalent of crying on the floor in the fetal position in their respective labs while reports poured in globally of these occurrences. A growing movement online started spreading lists. They had all the blessings people might have gotten and regardless of how many people scoffed no one could really deny that every instance of magic correlated to a website listing the cantrips in Dungeons and Dragons. People pooled their collective resources to help quantify what was happening and facts started to emerge.

Everybody got one. You had to be at least thirteen to use the magic. That pretty much summed up the only other common denominators. Otherwise it seemed completely random, the magic didn’t line up with any existing character traits. You just unlocked one piece of magic each. People with aggressive cantrips were almost loaded up into camps for suddenly being so dangerous- however many hit points real humans had it was apparently not a big number. A lot more deaths occurred than anyone could feasibly track and the global population panicked.

The legislation for the camps got struck down. There were riots and confusion and for a while everything was pretty chaotic. Firebolts and Eldritch Blasts went off from sheer exuberance as much as anything else. Amidst the rioting were people just living their lives, not using their cantrips. It took a while for things to settle down, but humans can get used to most anything if given enough time.

Almost everybody scanned the list to figure out which they got, but someone with Chill Touch just enjoyed frostier beverages than most even if it made you think about death more to drink something after the skeleton hand had been wrapped around it. At least it looked cool. Most people didn’t really do anything other than play around. A youtuber who had gotten Shape Water suddenly surged in popularity as she pivoted her channel to creating beautiful patterns with colored water. Other online personalities quickly followed and those with combat focused magic set up backyard target practice to show off. Some fires resulted as well as numerous noise complaints and a law was passed limiting where people could practice magic. It was virtually unenforceable but the people in charge were trying to keep a grip on the situation.

Noticeably the largest subset of the population that used their magic were those who had gotten Spare the Dying. Every government turned out the call that such individuals would receive a generous stipend for taking to the hospitals and stabilizing the sick and injured. Death rates dropped substantially, but it was still only a cantrip. Cancer marched on, but many got to live after miraculous recoveries.

Months passed and things started to become a little more normal. There were still debates about what had caused it and how to regulate magic but day to day life settled down. Speculations over what the long term ramifications would be continued as well as why those cantrips. Wizards of the Coast refused to comment for the first six months, closing its doors to the rioting and keeping them closed. At the end of six months they abruptly published a new line of cantrip cards with all kinds of utility and no combat usage whatsoever. The internet exploded and the government wasn’t pleased, but nothing happened. No one got any new magic. People wondered if those under thirteen would manifest the new stuff, but no one did. They just blew out their thirteenth birthday candles and got handed a cantrip like everyone else. 

A year later a mechanic in rural Canada was peering into the engine of a busted car. He realized he needed some lubricant and instead of reaching for his can he waved a hand and splattered the car with Grease that had burst from his hand. He was a calm sort of fellow so he called up the local news and said there was more magic. They asked first what cantrip he had- folks who received Prestidigitation had made a number of false alarms on receiving additional magic. The mechanic told them his cantrip was Infestation which he’d never had cause to use after figuring it out. 

The press descended and demanded a demonstration. Most people had read up on the basic rules of magic at that point, so everyone understood when the mechanic said they’d have to wait until the next day. A media storm went up the next day with headlines blaring that first level magic had been unlocked after the passing of the lunar new year. 

A wide contingent had been waiting for this opportunity. The spell list went out again amidst less panic but more chaos. There was a rash of identity thefts no could trace and eventually people realized Disguise Self posed a significant challenge to daily life. Celebrities had trouble convincing people they were who they said as random citizens took their faces on numerous joyrides. A scandal broke when it turned out an A list actor had hired someone else to play them while they went on vacation but the details were kept very hush hush.

Hospitals called out desperately for anyone with healing magic and most of those blessed with Cure Wounds and Healing Word answered. People with Goodberry formed community food kitchens and for the first time it seemed like hunger could actually be eliminated. Veterinary offices and zoos made special positions for those who could cast Animal Friendship and Speak with Animals.

A celebrity chef hit the jackpot with Purify Food and Drink and made a whole spinoff series where she went dumpster diving and made five star meals out of rotting leftovers. Several people changed careers entirely to lend their services to study ancient texts with Comprehend Languages. Even one hour a day led to huge leaps in discovery and understanding of ancient civilizations. 

A small murmur of worry followed the new influx of skills and power. What would happen when more magic was unlocked? The amount of people now running around with dangerous combat spells was even greater than before. Would people have to worry about necromancy? New crimes were being invented faster than laws could keep up as magic was put to novel and interesting uses. 

A year passed and everyone waited with bated breath for the lunar new year, but nothing happened. 

But I’m pretty sure I figured it out. We got handed cantrips. And we waited a year for first level spells. I’m pretty sure it’s one more year, and then things will really start to get interesting.

Inspired by this poll. If you enjoyed my writing consider leaving a tip on my Ko-fi!