#and its Harry Potter fan fiction

[creativly-anxious]

Out here actually starting writing fan fiction for the first time in the year of our lord 2024

[ala-baguette]

On April 28, 2009, I posted the very first chapter of this story.  Today-- fourteen years, eight months, and three weeks later-- I posted the last.

I didn’t plan for this story to take me a decade and a half to write.  I didn’t plan to take a ten-year hiatus halfway through.  But life happened and the responsibilities of adulthood overtook the ambitions of youth. Still, never once in all those years did I forget about my story.  Never once did I consider it abandoned.  Through it all, I always intended to go back to it. To the writers out there worrying that it has been too long since their last update to continue: There is no such thing.  To those worrying they are too old: There is no such thing.  To those worrying they are too busy to update frequently enough: There is no such thing.  If writing brings you joy, write.  Don’t worry about the timeline, don’t worry about how often you can or cannot update.  Don’t worry about whether you might be losing readers—the readers that matter will wait (believe it or not, I actually had a few readers still there waiting for me after ten years without a word!).  And even if none do wait, you’ll find new readers along the way.  If it brings you joy, then write. To the readers out there anxiously waiting for an update from their favourite authors:  Tell them.  No, don’t just drop a kudos and move on.  Leave the comment, write the review, DM them, it doesn’t matter, just tell them!  You never know when a simple message saying that you are still there waiting might make an author pick up their quill again. And finally, to my own readers.  My wonderful, glorious, patient, kind-hearted, and encouraging readers.  I would never have finished this story without you.  This story exists because of you.  I write because of you.  Thank you.

[rewritingcanon]

back when i had 60 followers and a snape/snarry stan misinterpreted a post i made about snape as slander, scrolled thru my account to bitch about something, decided a post i made about DORLENE was the best option for a rebuke (😭), reblogged my post to bitch about me and dorlene (???) and then told me to stay off atyd. i think about this moment a lot now that i have peace on this account….

[ace-succo]

Something that gets on my nerves SO much but actually infuriates me is ppl who write fanfiction on tumblr, and they're like 'minors dni!!!, if you're a minor, block me'. But then they literally write about MINORS. Like make. it. make. sense. How out of touch with the world do you actually have to be. Like, I'm sorry you do realise that draco malfoy from Harry Potter IS a minor when they're still at hogwarts, HOW are you gonna write a bunch of those slytherin boys react to shit and then you have the guts to tell minors not to interact, when the characters you are writing about ARE minors😭😭 like GET help

[weepingwillow2000]

Reminder that i do not have a blocklist, if i don’t like you (for really whatever reason) i will block you lol

[enfinizatics]

it’s the way i’ve wanted to read all the young dudes ever since the author started publishing it on ao3 but i’ve never made myself do it bc of being a survivor of the marauders fans bullying back in 2017-2018 tumblr bc i posted stuff about snape LMAOO truly an extraordinary time on harry potter tumblr, the marauders fans were so vicious back then i actually avoided every single marauders content like the plague until like last year because the bullying made me feel physically nauseous whenever stumbling upon the content please-

[deadhoneybee]

Scenes from a fic ill never write (im gonna chuck it at its own ones (1) and zeros (0) )

Its a college au, roughly 1k

———————————

It was almost half past twelve at night, remus was tucked into the couch with his computer in his lap and about four books laid out next to him. He’d been trying to finish this essay for three hours now and the words were starting to swim together.

He dropped his head in his hands and rubbed his face sighing out of frustration. He could finish it after class tomorrow. The door to the dorm creaked open and remus peeked through his fingers to see a very sloshed looking sirius.

“Welcome back then, i didnt think youd be here so soon” he closed his laptop and books, stacking them all on the coffee table.

“Yeah well” sirius just shrugged and pulled of his jacket, swaying as he tossed it on a kitchen chair to his right. Remus watched him carefully, a bit nervous he would topple over any minute. He thought about getting up to help but didnt move. Sirius was an adult, and he didnt need remus’ help, probably didnt even want it anyway.

Sirius just stood there by the door, staring straight at him. He could tell sirius was thinking hard about something and it made Remus squirm, he felt like he was in the hot seat and he wanted out.

“Remus, why dont you like me.”

What. That, was the last thing he expected to come out of sirius’ drunken mouth. What did he even say? He couldnt tell him the truth? That no he did like sirius, thought he was cool and talented and even a bit pretty because thats the whole problem, and up until ten seconds ago he was positive Sirius didnt like him. He still couldnt lie to him though..

Sirius stumbled into the living area and dropped into a bean bag on the floor. “Ya know.. cuz i like you. Alot. Think youre really cool even…” he stared at the ceiling tiles for a moment before dropping his gaze back to remus, who could hardly even form a proper sentence.

Oh. Oh no, Divert. Divert right now and digest it later, this is… too much theres no way sirius could actually enjoy his company. There just isnt.

“How pissed are you exactly?” He tried to sound as relaxed as possible but at that sirius scoffed, or maybe he hiccuped? Couldve been both.

“Not very, walked back all b’myself jus fine yeah?”this time it was remus that definitely scoffed.

“Youre joking, you walked back? Like this? Where was james?” Sirius shrugged his shoulders and looked like he was trying not to giggle “dunno. He was singing karaoke, at the bar? And then i was… not there.” Remus sighed and rubbed his face again. If sirius didnt request a new dorm mate in the morning then remus would be dead from the stress before first term was up.

“Yeah right well-“

“Remus whats your middle name?”

Remus pulled his hand down over his nose and mouth so he could look at sirius. His eyes were closed and his head was thrown back, he looked very concentrated and remus was just… very lost. “Im sorry what?”

“Youre middle” he stopped and hicuped again, tossing an arm over his eyes “name.. what is it?”

“Its john? Why?” There was not response for a second and he thought maybe sirius had fallen asleep until he loved his arm and opened an eye to look at him.

“Huh… so its just your first and last then?”

“Sirius, what on earth are you on about right now.” He groaned and sat closer to the edge of the couch, and sirius sat up, or well tried before giving up and sinking back into the bag with his both his eyes now trained on him.

“Your name obviously” he rolled his eyes like remus was the one making next to no sense. “Remus john lupin, means something like.. wolf john wolf right?” Very few people in his life had pieced that together, and he was not anticipating that this is where sirius was going.

“Um, yeah.. its a bit unfortunate really. My father is.. or um he was really obessed with wolves so.” He sighed and sagged back into the couch, cracking his knuckles in a nervous habit “I like it. Better then Sirius orion black anyway.” Remus didnt know what to say to that. He thought it was a rather nice name if he was honest, which he wouldnt be, not now at least.

“Can i call you wolfy?”

“Absolutely not. Never, would be preferred thanks.” Sirius scoffed and then laughed, something that sounded so light and care free and it made remus smile a bit. “Ill think of something else then, even though i was quite fond of that one.”

“You just thought of it, you cant be that fond of it already. Besides it was awful” sirius stuck his tongue out at him, smiling. “Yeah alright then, i will think of one though”

“As long as it doesnt have ‘wolf’ in it, i might be alright with that”

“Good.”

They sat for a moment like that, the occasional hiccup from sirius and tick of the old plastic clock on the wall. Its was just about one in the morning now and remus sighed. He looked over at sirius, now curled up on the bean bag. He seemed like he was about to fall asleep, his breathing soft and even and his hair haphazardly strewn about the back of the seat and his eyes.

“Hey sirius?” There was only a hum in response “dont you have an exam tomorrow at eight?” That got his attention, he opened his eyes and stretched out his legs

“Fuck. Yeah, and my professor is a right arse too.” He tried to push himself up a few times before throwing his head back and grumbling. “Mm, moonster, i dont think i can get up right now”

“That is not, dont call me that either.” He rolled his eyes and helped sirius to his feet, he was positive that hed said something in response but it was mumbled and incoherent. They walked back to their room, more remus walked and sirius stumbled. It was a wonder how he managed to make it all the way back like this, honestly.

He stopped at the edge of sirius’ bed and sat him down, neither of them said anything as he pulled himself up all the way and curled up ontop of the blankets with his back to remus’ side of the room. He just sighed and collapsed into his own bed, pulled his blanked up and over himself and stared at the ceiling.

He could hear sirius breathing slow and steady a few feet away, some shuffling, kicking, and then a thump on the floor. He turned his head and closed his eyes for a moment before he got back up and picked the duvet up off the floor. He draped it over sirius and just looked at him for a moment before whispering “i do like you, by the way..”

He walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water, dropped a few icecubes in it and walked back into their room placing it on sirius’ nightstand before dropping back into his own bed and rolling over to face the wall.

He thought he might have heard a small thank you before he fell asleep.

[gender-trash]

OKAY ffnet seems to be at least temporarily up so i'm downloading as many of my old bookmarks/favorites/influences as i can get my hands on. the PROBLEM is that most of my ffnet bookmarks live in the browser on my ANCIENT ipod touch which no longer boots and if i have Any backup, Anywhere, it's probably on a macbook which is itself ancient and creaky, and i don't know how to extract bookmarks data from that. so i'm mostly going from memory here, which (because i have adhd) is VERY fallible.

and i know this is a long shot, but... does anyone remember an ffnet author who wrote a lot of itachi/shisui, and in particular wrote an incredibly fucked-up itachi/shisui oneshot sometime prior to maybe 2015 with an ambiguous ending where it's hinted that shisui used kotoamatsukami to brainwash itachi into compliance? i think the author had one of those all-lowercase names, one word, three or four syllables, starting with a C or possibly an S. (i wish anything i remembered about this fic was googleable.) i think they took all their fic off ffnet a while back; at any rate it's not showing up when i filter for itachi/shisui but i have to confess i've completely forgotten how to use ffnet filters so i might be fucking it up.

[thatonebasicfan]

Y'all wanna see a line I wrote for my WIP?

"In addition to all the violent ways that Sirius wanted to violently end Pettigrew's life, the other thing that kept Sirius sane was Harry."

[querenciasturniolo]

chris or matt x fem!reader please !!! i legitimately cannot choose between them for my life so you can choose :) maybe reader’s also like an influencer and they have this secret sort of relationship for a while and its all super fluffy, but fans are already starting to speculate that they’re together and stuff, and then at the end they finally go public with a hard launch and/or live and everyone in the comments ( or chat if it’s a live ) is going FERAL

p.s. also i’ve loved your works for so long you DO NOT UNDERSTAND and i’ve finally gathered up the courage to send in a message even tho it’s sent in with a request !

hard launch ⮕ m.s.

word count: 911

warnings: swearing

summary: request

a/n: STOP YOU’RE SO SWEET 😭 please don’t be scared of me, i promise i don’t bite HAHAHA, ily are you kidding me 🫶🏻😭 also this was so fucking cute, i’m obsessed fr

everything written is completely fictional. the people i write for are written with characteristics and mannerisms that i made for them, this is in no way depicting what would actually happen in real life.

Watching Matt stream always had your heart stuttering in your chest.

The theme for Hogwarts Legacy was playing as he was adjusting his camera, your eyes watching him closely and trying to fight the smile stretching across your face. You were sure the viewers could see you staring, considering you were sitting in the chair directly next to him, on camera. His eyes dropped from the screen as he grabbed his controller.

“Alright guys, so, we’re playing Hogwarts Legacy tonight, but I have a special guest with me, as you all can see.” He turned his head and met your eyes, his own smile growing and his cheeks tingeing pink as he caught you already staring. Introduce yourself, he mouthed. You turned to face the camera, grinning wider than before as your eyes scanned over the chat.

“Hey guys, I’m the guest, obviously. My name is Y/n.” You said.

did anyone else see the way she was staring at matt ? they’re in love, confirmed

she’s so real, i’d be staring too

i can’t even handle this, she’s so cute

“Basically, Y/n’s going to play while I tell her what to do. She’s never held a controller in her life.” Matt teased, his eyes flickering between the screen and the chat as you pressed the button to start the game.

“Wait, I have to create a whole character?” You asked, glancing over at Matt as he placed the headset over your ears. He chuckled and nodded.

“Yes, you have to create a whole character, is that not what you were expecting when you begged me to play this game?” He teased. You rolled your eyes and adjusted the headset, making sure the ear that was on his side was exposed so you could hear him.

“This is ridiculous, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me I had to create an entire chara—oh my God I can have pink hair, I take it back.” You rambled, scrambling through the hair colors. Matt’s laugh next to you had you grinning as your eyes flickered between the screen and the chat.

this banter is only proving my point that they’re in love

i’m so glad she’s streaming with him this is so funny

has anyone else noticed that matt hasn’t looked at the screen once

You glanced over at Matt, meeting his eyes immediately. You couldn’t help but mirror his smile as you shook your head and faced the screen again. You created your character, groaning when you realized you had to go through a thousand cut scenes, even though you were thrilled to be playing this game.

“I never understood why you can’t see those weird horse things until that dude gets eaten by the dragon.” Matt said, catching your attention enough for you to glance at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw. You sighed through your nose and shook your head.

“I forgot, you’re a fake fan.” You said, interrupting him before he could fire back. “They’re thestrals, you can only see them if you’ve witnessed death, but they’re always there.” You explained, Matt furrowing his eyebrows as you faced the screen again.

y/n being a harry potter fan was not on my docket, but i’m not complaining

her humbling matt has got to be the funniest fucking thing i’ve ever seen in my life

i love this

The entire time you were going through the beginning quests, you and Matt had bickered back and forth, your smile wide with each comeback you shot at him. It wasn’t until a knock on Matt’s door that the two of you stopped talking. You paused the game, but Matt scoffed and unpaused it.

“You keep playing.” He demanded playfully, your own scoff leaving your lips as you shook your head and continued. Chris peeked his head into the door.

“Food’s here, just thought you guys should know.” He said, Matt nodding his head. Chris left the room, and Matt turned to you.

“I’ll go get it.” He said, standing from the chair as you turned to face him. Before you could process it, he leaned down and pressed his lips to yours firmly and turned to leave the room. You smiled and shook your head before facing the screen and realizing what just happened.

oh mY GOD I FUCKING KNEW IT

DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THAT ??????

WHAT IS GOING ON MATT JUST KISSED HER ON FUCKING STREAM

You ignored the chat, trying to play it off and completely move past what happened, thinking that Matt did it on instinct. Chats were flying in at such a rapid pace that it felt as though everything on the screen was lagging. It was completely screwing up how you were playing, not only your racing heart and shaking hands on the controller.

You completely short circuited, having no idea what to do as Matt walked back into his room. He was laughing at something Chris had said as he sat down next to you and glanced over at the chat.

“Oh.”

You looked over at him and raised your eyebrows, your skin on fire as you watched his eyes scan over the rapid chats flying in at once.

“Yeah.” You said, Matt finally meeting your eyes with pink cheeks. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to your nose before he sat back and grinned widely.

“I guess that was one hell of a hard launch, huh?”

tags: @strniolo , @ssturniolo , @thetriplets3 , @stvrni0lo , @gabbylovesreading , @dwntwn-strnlo , @tylerscreat0r , @toyourloves , @lvrsparadise , @angelcake-222 , @20nugs , @obsessivencrazy , @lollibumblebee , @stargirlv0id , @jellybeanbby , @idontexistman , @emssturniolo , @soursturniolo , @bernardenjoyer , @mxqdii , @leah-loves-lilies , @mattsnutsack , @champangekisses , @floofparker , @lovelysturniolo

[gunsandspaceships]

About HP fandom and JKR

Hate is trending these days, isn't it? First, I want to state my position on JKR: I am a trans guy and I support trans women. To me, trans women are women. Period. I also fully support women's rights. But I do not support extreme views. Any extreme views. I do not support views or actions that are intended to harm people. Thus I do not support JKR's views on transgender women. I also do not support the views of people who hate J.K. Rowling just because of her views. I hope everything is clear with this.

Nobody is perfect. We are biological creatures. Look at our internal organs - it's gross. Why do we think that our inner worlds are better? Each of us has "good" and "bad" sides. JKR has a thing for transgender women, but she helps people with multiple sclerosis. To hate her and wish the worst for her is to hate those people who benefited from her charity. Better wish her understanding of the problems of transgender women. Sometimes people change for the better.

Next. What people have created throughout history is unique and important. We produce what no one else in the world can. No, not only plastic. We produce culture. We create stories. We produce art. We create lives. We live in a multiverse of fictional worlds that we have created for ourselves and for other people. Every one of them is valuable. Losing any of them is a tragedy because each one is unique and impacts other stories, even if sometimes it's not obvious.

Most people before us were homophobic, transphobic, nationalistic, treated women like property and animals like things without feelings. Some of them owned slaves and killed other people. But we all live in the world they created. With all its good and bad. Many of our parents are transphobic and homophobic, but they created us. Many writers, artists, scientists, philosophers, etc. held views that are problematic by modern standards. But they have shaped human literature, art, science and philosophy. Now all of it is ours to enrich with our own stories. We do not start from scratch - we stand on their shoulders.

JKR created Harry Potter fandom. But Harry Potter fandom is not only JKR. It's not her views on trans women. It's much more than that. It's the story she told, and millions of other stories. Including stories of transgender women. I'm sure there are fanfics written by them and fan art drawn by them in the fandom. Do you hate them too?

What you, cancel culture guys, want is to erase human history. Thus destroying the foundation of the present. And ultimately putting an end to the future. Censor all the inconvenient moments. Close eyes, shut mouths, put earplugs in ears. Burn books. Remove all inconvenient people. Witch hunters did the same. Nazi did the same. I know who you are. The worst enemy of humankind.

HP fandom - don't let cancel "culture" discourage you. Don't let it destroy worlds. Live and create.

[freaksnvans]

A 30-year-old Christian Fujoshi With a PhD's Thoughts on Team Fortress 2 Shipping.

Here I will be providing my thoughts and opinions on my personal favorite Team Fortress 2 ships. I do not know who will be interested in my speakings, but I am branching out into this beautiful fandom like a great oak tree. Haters can "suck an egg," and I do hope that saying is not an euphemism for anything of the less appropriate variety! Please be ready for a very long and verbose post.

How Did I, freaksnvans, Become Interested in Such a Thing?

An Introduction to Me.

I am indeed a Christian woman, and I self-identify as a Fujoshi. That may seem contradicting, but it is not. I ship the mercenaries from Team Fortress 2 in a good and god-honoring way, and I will not tolerate any negative speak of the Lord in my comments and/or reblogs. As for myself, you may only know me as freaksnvans. I chose that name because My favorite ship, as you may be able to discern from such a screen name, is Trucks n' Vans. The "Freak" part comes from a childhood nickname I was given in elementary school... the Freak. That is very traumatic to me, so I mustn't delve into the details. Moving on.

Where It All Started.

In 2007, I was vaguely interested in the game, having heard whispers of it from sites like YouTube as well as my male classmates. I was Thirteen years old, therefore in middle school. Team Fortress was, without a doubt, popular with middle school aged boys at the time of its release. Being curious as to what the "hype" (am I using this Gen Z slang correctly?) was, I googled Team Fortress 2. I had no, and will still never have any, interest in first-person shooter games. I do not like to kill things. I am a god-honoring woman. However, seeing the image of seven strong and mysterious men, (I am indeed disregarding the Scout, as he is not strong nor is he a man, he is a weak and pathetic boy.) I was indeed intrigued.

I, before then, had minor experiences with fandom spaces, having been interested in Harry Potter at the time. I read fan-fiction occasionally. However, I felt no interest toward fan-fiction and pairings of the homosexual variety. My favorite ship to read fan-fiction of was Dramione. I imagined myself as Hermione. My readings of fan-fiction were in fact very self-serving. I became gradually interested in Team Fortress 2 when the fandom was in its infancy. (If you are wondering as to how I never interacted with the fandom before now, or used "social media," that is because I was not allowed to at such an age, and had a fear of doing so up until adulthood. Please do not shame me.)

Back to the topic of Team Fortress! I began searching for fan art of my favorite characters - which, then, were Medic and Soldier. I longed for the Soldier to hold me in his strong arms. I secretly desired for Medic to perform cruel and unusual acts of surgery upon my body. That is a common sentiment shared upon fans of Medic now, I have found. I thought I was alone!

Anyways... At some point, I began to discover Team Fortress fan-fiction. I was extremely intrigued by my discoveries. I, being a pre-fangirl with no real interest in shipping between the mercenaries yet, read "x reader" fan-fiction. However, the extreme abundance of slash fiction made stories of the homosexual variety completely and utterly unavoidable. I naively decided to read just one story of such a kind. I do believe it was a HeavyMedic fic. It was like a fujosplosion inside my mind. I quickly became hooked on reading M/M Team Fortress fan-fiction, scouring sites such as FFN to find more.

That does seem to be how I became interested in gay pairings in Team Fortress 2.

Ok, then what are your favorites? Stop rambling, woman.

Why would you say that to me? Anyways, over the years, I have been particularly drawn to three different pairings.

the first would of course be Trucks n' Vans.

It may be obvious that is my favorite. Actually, I think I already mentioned that it is, ha ha! Anyways. Trucks n' Vans has captivated me ever since I was a young girl. First of all, Sniper is skinny and mildly pathetic, while Engineer is a beautiful fit man. He is also Southern, which I am too. I became interested in this pairing because I imagined Engineer teaching Sniper the ways of God and life in the South. He would show Sniper the beauty and joy of a good old peach cobbler. Which he clearly needs, because I do have a burning hatred for Australians. Sniper is an exception. Anyways.

I have also found great interest in HeavyMedic.

Of course I have. I was interested in this fandom from the day it was created, you silly goose, of course I love HeavyMedic. They were meant to be. Please don't tell God that I said this but I wish I was between them as they kissed. I am short enough for that, being a meager five-foot-one, and generally petite. Well, um, sorry to cut that short, but I am having an extremely bad nosebleed at the moment. Because I thought too hard about HeavyMedic with me sandwiched int he middle. I may as well complete typing this post up, because it's not that bad, but I may make typos here and there. There is blood on my keyboard. Oh Dear. LOL!

My Other Thoughts.

I do believe that Team Fortress shipping is what made me more tolerant of people leading a homosexual lifestyle. When I see gay people in the streets I no longer recoil in disgust as my parents taught me, but I remember that they are people too. Just like Team Fortress 2 in real life. I did meet lots of gay people in college, when I was learning and working toward my PhD in philosophy. Most of the men there did not interest me, because they looked too much like Scout and not enough like a handsome Soldier.

As detailed in my previous post, there are many people who hold disdain for fangirls, or generally people who ship and read fan-fiction. I did experience some of this in college and high school. In middle school, I was very secretive about my fan-fiction and fandom activities. I didn't even have any online friends. The only people I knew who had any interest in Team Fortress 2 were boys at school, who thought I was a freak of nature for being interested in gay scenarios between the mercenaries. I once had lemonade thrown on my brand-new white pants because I was caught reading a HeavyMedic fan-fiction in class. I wanted to die. Please, Lord, excuse my language...FUCK you, Jared. I have violent fantasies regarding him sometimes. As a result of that, I was called gay pee-girl for the rest of the year. I had to move schools because nobody called me by my name, and I was only known as the gay pee-girl. It was definitely worse than "freak."

That may be it from me today. There's so much blood. I think it is not just a normal nosebleed. Oh goodness

[fanhackers]

The Classics of Fan Studies: Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse - Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet

Today, I’m going to talk about a book that I always recommend to people who want to discover fan studies: Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet which is a collection of essays around fandoms edited by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse. One of them about fanfiction as theatrical performance was even written by our very own Francesca Coppa! 

Each essay in this book can help us understand more about the inner workings of fan communities at a time when LiveJournal was at the height of its popularity and people gathered to talk about Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the early seasons of Supernatural. As someone who has always been interested in the reasons why fans turn to specific pairings, I particularly enjoy Elizabeth Woledge’s Intimatopia. It deals with the importance of homosocial relationships (social bonds between same-sex people) as a basis for slash stories. Using the example of Kirk/Spock, she explains that fans tend to focus on pairings that come from “a media source that already emphasizes homosocial bonds through the depiction of the loyalty between two men who live and work in a more or less homosocial community” (97).

If you’re interested in fan studies in general, I also recommend reading the introduction which gives a great overview of fandom at the time as well as the evolution of the discipline with a description of what came before and how the direction it was taking at the time. Busse and Hellekson also make some great points about the advantages of studying fandom when you are a fan yourself. 

Have you come across this book before? If so don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments!

[harrypottermovieproblems]

Hello, all!

We find ourselves at a funny little crossroads today. There is officially an HBO television adaptation of Harry Potter in the works, one with a clearly stated commitment to open casting that could create an inroad to character representations aligning with a great many fans' longtime hopes and dreams for Harry and Hermione especially. Ten years ago, this would have been everything we could have ever hoped for in this fandom. Today, news of this new television show cannot bring joy.

The movie adaptation has brought many book fans a great deal of frustration over the years (hence the creation of this blog); while being greatly beloved by an entire generation, it simultaneously dropped the ball in many areas focusing on characterization and worldbuilding. And yet the faces of that film franchise - the actors of the main trio especially - have been invaluable voices in the public struggle to push back the flood of anti-trans rhetoric free flowing from JK Rowling's social media accounts.

On the other hand, we finally have a long-form adaptation of the series on the horizon, but it comes less than fifteen years after the end of the original movie series and therefore inevitably falls into the exhausting position of being yet another franchise remade too soon. And most importantly, of course, the main and inescapable effect of its creation will be lining the pockets of a woman who has been actively and enthusiastically supporting bigotry against women - both trans and cis - in society and in politics.

There have been rumors that Warner Brothers is trying to buy the rights to the entirety of Harry Potter from JK Rowling, and if true, it has to be admitted - ironically, given the nature of this blog - that I hope they succeed. If the choice is between lack of artistic fulfillment in the portrayal of a fictional world or real-life financial support of a woman actively making the world a more dangerous place for vulnerable populations, there is only one choice to support.

A few years ago, I started writing a detailed post that was a general post-mortem on our collective fanship of JK Rowling, and never completed it due to general feelings of exhaustion, disgust, and feelings that it was redundant. But briefly:

Many years ago, JK Rowling made a post on her personal website about her portrayal of Aunt Marge's bulldogs. She was dissatisfied with how she had written them, because she hadn't known a lot about bulldogs at the time and hadn't taken the care to portray them in a way that did them any justice. While she meant no harm, she's since learned better and wishes, in retrospect, that she had portrayed them differently.

When I think about JK Rowling, I think about that post a lot.

Even before her newest and most outspoken TERF era, even prior to all of the issues involved in the Fantastic Beasts spinoff series, JK Rowling wrote a beloved children's series that was seen as highly progressive upon publication but also contained a number of elements that have aged, shall we say, very poorly. Some of these were markers of the time when Harry Potter was originally written - many things from the 90's have aged badly - and some of them are down to the personal ignorance of the author, whether or not you assume that ignorance came hand-in-hand with malicious intent.

She could have spoken out about this if she wished - you know, like she did with the fucking bulldogs, to say that she had no ill-intent at the time but that would write these elements differently today if she had the chance - but as far as I'm aware, she has not. In fact, despite having endless wealth and resources at her disposal now, as opposed to the original start of her writing journey as a single mother scribbling ideas on cafe napkins, her portrayal of delicate issues of things like race, gender, and sexuality in her writing has only gotten worse.

The 'JK Rowling was always a secret conservative' rhetoric is strong, especially on Tumblr, and while I understand it, I genuinely think that it is misguided. The woman spent most of her life voting in favor of and speaking out for leftist and progressive politics. We (progressives) are not immune from propaganda, radicalization, or being raging fucking bigots. However she votes now, whatever idiots she is friends with now, the call very much started from inside the house on this one.

So, to circle back to the original point of this post:

This new HBO television series, in a best-case scenario, could take all of the tone-deaf sociopolitical issues with the original novels and fix them. It could take all of the creative issues with the movie franchise and fix those too. It could give us a diverse cast and tell an emotional story that does credit to what so many people held dear about the book series while growing up.

(I doubt it will, but it could.)

And yet this would still be a thing that on some level brought me no joy, because at the end of the day, it would also be putting pallets and pallets of cash into JK Rowling's pocket as she continues to dig her way down the conservative rabbit hole instead of fixing any of the mistakes of her early writing career.

Gross.

xoxo

[olderthannetfic]

The "Marauders fandom" calling itself a fandom is so funny to me.

They're out here inventing discourse, canon, and fanon for characters who were barely more than names in the original books, argueing among themselves about what kind of twink Regulus Black is and act like Jegulus is some superior, less icky version of Drarry.

They are so convinced that queering every single Harry Potter character gives them some kind of moral high ground over regular fans, its honestly just plain amusing.

At this point, they're not even writing fanfiction—it's just original fiction.

Why not just publish those fics as dark academia enemies to lovers or whatever and move on, instead of furthering the legacy of those books.

Its just so frustrating seeing the persistent popularity of that fandom, clearly they've got the determination and the talent to write, just self publish your thing and let that franchise go away!

--

Quite a few fandoms are like that (in terms of being fanon driving more fanon, not in terms of the cultural legacy of Harry Potter).

It's always entertaining.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

this is probably stupid to ask, but do you like snape? or the marauders? there's always fanwars happening between marauders stans and snape stans. tbh i'm just curious where you stand (i like both, and prefer their canon selves rather than the fanon which is btw really stupid. they feminized sirius so much its not even sirius anymore.) what made you like snape? if you do, or are you neutral with him? just for a change of question since i always ask about harry.

Thanks for the ask! I don't think it's stupid.

I prefer their canon counterparts as well, the Marauders fanon has so little to do with canon I can hardly call the characters by the same name. They just aren't the same characters. Anyway, I'm gonna try and summarise my highly subjective opinions about them here.

1. Sirius Black

He's my second most favorite character and my favorite among the characters you mentioned. I wrote about him a lot on this blog, so I don't really feel the need to write more.

But, he's smart, resilient, and goofy on occasion. His love for Harry is one of my favorite aspects of his character because he loves Harry so much. And he has his flaws. He can be cruel, cold, and arrogant and I wouldn't like him as much if he wasn't visibly a member of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black regardless of how much he tried to get away from his legacy. I love how messy his feelings about his family are. He left Regulus' room as it was, even though the rest of the house got cleaned by the Order. He stayed in his mother's bedroom even when all the conversations he had with her portrait were in screams. I love his distrust in Dumbledore after everything he's been through and how he chooses to remain for Harry's sake — he's willing to do anything for Harry's sake.

I just truly love Sirius.

2. Severus Snape

He's the next on this list because I do like Snape, he's not a character I'm passionate about, but I like him. I think he shouldn't be a teacher (I think he hates being a teacher more than his students hate him teaching them) but he's a talented potion maker and wizard. And he is a very entertaining character, even without knowing everything about him.

But what really makes me like Snape is that I find him interesting. I think his psychology is interesting, as is his dynamic with Lily, Dumbledore, and Voldemort. Snape is a fascinating character to study from a lot of angles, and even as a reader, there is quite a bit that's up in the air about him because he's that good at being a spy and not giving us anything.

The other major thing I like about him is his competence as a spy and wizard. If there's one thing I love in my fictional characters — it's competence (and intelligence). I often joke with my irl friends that Snape is the only competent Death Eater and the only competent member of the Order of the Phoenix. We then joke that if we were in his shoes, surrounded by a lot of people who don't actually do anything and we're the only ones affecting this war from both sides, we'd probably be bitter too.

A little note that seems overlooked about Snape often in the fandom, in general, is how we think, "Oh, he's so great at Occlumancy and not being emotional" — that's not strictly true. When it comes to Lily or the Marauders all his well-crafted Occlumancy kinda goes out the window. In books 3 and 5 he throws actual temper tantrums about Sirius Black. Like, I feel Snape, deep down is actually super not well adjusted and is an emotionally unstable mess, but he learned to pretend otherwise. Basically, all the cold facade is just that — a facade. He isn't really that stoic.

3. James Potter

I'm weird about James. Like, he's almost a nonentity and what we do hear about him is either negative or comes from biased sources.

I do tend to give him more of the benefit of the doubt than a lot of other fans who prefer canon James do. He was awful when he was younger, he was a bully and he assaulted Snape and there is no excuse for his actions. That being said, I can believe he changed. War changes you and you'd be hard-pressed to find a 21-year-old who isn't ashamed of a lot of what they did or said when they were 15. And yes, some of what James did is definitely more extreme than that of the average person, but it isn't that extreme compared to the environment he grew up in. Remus tells Harry everyone was casting Levicorpous on each other in the halls. I'm not saying any of the bullying is okay, I'm just saying it probably seemed normal to him and this is important context. Same as I don't think Snape is abusive towards students when put in the context of their culture and environment where, until recently, they caned students (Snape actually seems very averse to corporeal punishment. He also likely treats Harry very different than he does literally any other student, but this is the James section).

I just, like the idea of James changing for the better. I'd like to think he did. That life and war and loss taught him something.

4. Peter Pettigrew

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I like Pettigrew more than Lupin. He's awful, he's pathetic, he's a cowardly rat man and I find his sniveling funny. Whenever I try to think of a what-if scenario in my head, Pettigrew is somehow the key to it. Because he's a character that affects so much of the plot in some incredibly crucial moments — he betrayed James and Lily, he resurrected the Dark Lord, and later, he allows Harry's survival. Idk, I just find his situation and just how pathetic he could get fascinating. It's, like, there is no rock bottom for this guy, he keeps digging. Like, you can't get more pathetic than living as a rat for 12 years when you could've moved to Argentina or something.

And at the same time, he clearly has some residual care for Harry for his father's friendship. He has so many opportunities to kill Harry or kidnap him when he runs away to join Voldemort — but he doesn't. Even after Sirius escapes and he knows his time is up, he still leaves Harry alive. When he is supposed to kill him in book 7, he doesn't, he again lets him go and pays with his own life for it. Like, again, idk, it's just how I feel.

5. Remus Lupin

I know I placed Lupin last, and it's because I don't personally like him that much. Pretty sure this is a little controversial, but I don't really like book Lupin, he does not vibe with me, at all. (Though I'd choose book Lupin over Marauders fandom Lupin every time)

Like, it bothers me that he doesn't actually care about Harry (the only one on the list who willingly physically harmed Harry, in a moment of anger, but still). It was Harry who asked to be taught the Patronus, if it was up to Remus, he wouldn't be involved in Harry's life at all. He tried to run on his wife when she got pregnant because he was scared. Like, Petttigrew is given shit for being a cowardly Gryffindor, but, look, you need some guts to betray your friends, so I'd argue Remus is the most cowardly Marauder (it's easy to be brave when you don't care for your own life).

But, all of this is part of his character and the story wouldn't be what it is if Remus bothered to get his head out of his own ass and check up on Harry. How he behaves makes him my personal least favorite Marauder, but I want Lupin to be a cowardly guy who runs away from attachment and responsibility because he doesn't trust himself with anything (especially not anything good). He's not cool, or suave, and he's desperate for people to like him but without actually knowing him because he thinks that if they do they'd run away screaming like he wants to run from himself. Honestly, I don't get why the Mauraders fandom made James the people-pleaser when Remus Lupin is right there always telling people what they want to hear so they'd like him.

Again, these are all my own personal subjective opinions, but yeah.