#anti hp epilogue

[fanfic-lover-girl]

I've read all your harry potter centred posts and I agree that the series is full of protagonist centred morality.

But I'm curious about your opinion of Cursed Child. Imo, it's the only book that seems to portray the flaws of the characters. And it does portray Draco in a sympathetic light.

I know it isn't very well liked but I wanted to know what do you personally think of it.

Wow, thanks for reading :)

Not much opinion really. I have listened to reviews and I know the general plot. However, I have little interaction with the source material besides skimming it. The entire story is a hot mess.

I will comment that people have been angry about Harry being a bad dad in CC. Saying it's out of character. However, I think it's believable that Harry would be an unintentionally bad/mediocore parent. He's uncomfortable with conflict, he's annoyed by other people's emotions and he thinks everything revolves around him. Literally, the epilogue ends with Harry Potter centering all the wizarding world's problems around his dumb scar. Not to mention all the PTSD he likely has from the war. I could easily picture Ron as a good dad but not Harry.

I remember not liking how they made Draco sympathetic. Killing off Astoria was just such a cheap shot and I despise the idea that Astoria is responsible for Draco's redemption. How lame. I don't even know who this NPC girl is. I didn't see her fighting a war with Moldy Voldy in her house. Drastoria is fine enough but I still don't like it. As far as I am concerned, Astoria does not exist. I find Scorpious cute but I don't care that much about him either, especially if it means involving Astoria.

[aethon-recs]

HP Rec Fest, Day 24 ❄️

@hprecfest daily prompts running through Dec 31. Goal is to find lesser-known or underrated Tomarrymort works, even by well-known authors, to feature here.

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Day 24: A Holiday Fic

A Sky Full of Stars by @moontearpensfic (E, 18k, complete)

Summary: It is a universal truth that only fourth-years and older are allowed to go to the Yule Ball. Tom intends to break this rule, and he intends to do so by having the famous Head Auror Harry Potter escort him there on his arm. Why I rec it for this prompt: Manipulative second year Tom is a delight in this fic, convincing Harry Potter to go with him as his 'celebrity date' to the Yule Ball. It's always so very satisfyingly when Tom gets everything he wants and deserves, and the ending epilogue is so sweet as well!

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Running list of recs:

Day 1: Favorite under 5k | Such a Noble Villain Day 2: Comfort Fic | In Somno Veritas | Ouroboros Day 3: Podfic | a taste so good (i'd die for it) Day 4: Fic with Art | A Soulmate Like You Day 5: A Non-AO3 Fic | The Anti-Midas Day 6: Unreliable Narrator Fic | Anabiosis Day 7: A Canon-Compliant Fic | In Your Soul is Sealed a Pleasure Day 8: A Canon-Divergence Fic | Thirst Day 9: A Rare Pair Fic | dust in your pocket | A Breed Apart Day 10: A Fest Fic | In Your Image Day 11: A Dark Fic | As Portioned from a Whole Day 12: A WIP Rec | Lover's Spit | Revolution of Configured Stars Day 13: A Fic >100k Words | One Year In Every Ten | if we were lovers Day 14: A Favorite Series | The Immortal Duties of Lord Voldemort Day 15: The Most Recent Bookmark | Creatures of the Dark we are Day 16: A Fic that Made You Laugh | Make a Wish | Do You Want Fries with That? Day 17: A Fic that Made You Cry | We Still Have Time Day 18: A Fairy Tale-Inspired Fic | Until Midnight Comes  Day 19: Fic with the Hottest Smut | Prison Blues Day 20: A Fic Rated 'G' | Fingers Crossed Day 21: A Thought-Provoking Fic | on the other side Day 22: An Unfinished Fic | In Death, Standby Day 23: A Soulmate Fic | the demiurge, the leontoeides Day 24: A Holiday Fic | A Sky Full of Stars

[olderthannetfic]

I feel like part of the reason so many ppl think of Animorphs as an alternative to HP is b/c Katherine Applegate is basically the anti-Rowling (an unapologetically trans-inclusive author who appreciates that several of the characters are often read as queer but refuses to take credit for writing queer representation), but as someone who grew up reading both series, the only thing they really have in common is that they both involve kids fighting a war against a powerful enemy that most people have no idea exists- & the authors take VERY different approaches while handling this subject.

Like, I definitely recommend the Animorphs series in general, & if someone mentions that they're specifically disappointed with how Rowling addressed the trauma of being a child soldier (or rather, didn't address it) in the epilogue, I'd probably mention that I think Animorphs handled that subject a lot better than HP did, but comparing them beyond that feels like, idk, telling someone to read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as an alternative to the Ender's Game series b/c they're both sci-fi or something like that.

--

[magicalgirlagency]

If we're being honest here, HP's worldbuilding is lazy, generic, not that interesting and mean-spirited all around.

And you know what? You're correct on that description, specially on the "mean-spirited" bit, because that's exactly what Ursula Le Guin has said before.

Like, the Houses system is just some fancy method of segregation and the students are forced into roles that clash with their true personalities and are stuck in stereotypes (specially in the case of Slytherin, as it was often the starting point of many of the series' villains).

And speaking of stereotypes, have you guys forgotten that the Goblins are anti-semistic? With their role as the overseers of the financial affairs of the Wizarding World? With their greediness and comically large noses? With an upcoming game where the player is tasked with stopping their rebellion at all costs?

And what about the House Elves, who are practically slaves? Who refused to leave their lives of servitude because they genuinely find pleasure in being slaves? And when Hermione wanted to fight against the mistreatment of non-human beings, she was quickly slammed down and called "crazy" for it?

And speaking of Hermione, she'd be a much better protagonist than Harry Potter himself. A story of a girl born into a magicless family making history at a magic academy is leagues more interesting than the same ol' boring story about some speshul boy with a pre-programmed destiny to fulfill.

And about Harry, his epilogue is so boring, because he just basically becomes a Wizard Cop. First of all: #ACAB, and second of all: There should be more magical jobs in the Wizarding World. VARIETY, people! Society doesn't solely consist of police forces! Defund that shit!

And still on the subject of Harry, his ship with Draco (Drarry) was also stupid. Like, why in the world would you ship a bully with the bullied?! Not to mention how Draco is just some rude, annoying and whiny brat who always threatens others with the wealth and power of his family when things doesn't go like he wanted instead of taking matters into his own hands and getting a fucking grip. Like, grow up, people; there are much better rivals-to-lovers couples out there, like Lumity (The Owl House) and Dianakko (Little Witch Academia).

And speaking of the fandom, I will never ever ever forgive the fact that the fans have actively contribuited to the Cringe Culture scandal with My Immortal back in the days. With so many other great fanfics out there with loads of potential, and you all went and gave attention to the most subpar and horridly-written one, just so you could bully alt fashion kids for trying to explore their styles?! No wonder why I still see young writers/artists feeling anxious and discouraged about their projects...

And don't get me started on the international magic academies, and how they perpetualize stereotypes (i.e.: african academy Uagadou specializes in animal shapeshifting) and monolith myths (i.e.: japanese academy Mahoutokoro houses all of Asia, and brazilian academy Castelobruxo houses all of Latin America).

And it's just not transphobia or racism, no; what about the Lycantrophy process being used as a metaphor for the HIV/AIDS scandal, and how it prejudiced and killed thousands of people within the queer community? And how Remus Lupin was treated like an outcast because of his ability to transform (also, I feel like an idiot, because I always thought Remus was french due to his surname being "Lupin", and I thought it was a reference to Maurice LeBlanc's Àrsene Lupin, but it turns out the Lupin was based on the scientific name for the wolves: Canis lupus)?

I mean, really! I could list all of that TERFy old hag's transgressions all day! That's not even half of it all!

And you might be asking yourself right now: "But Bunny! If you are so upset at how mean-spirited the Wizarding World is, then why don't you just make WBMRs for some of the characters?"

The answer is simple, my friend: "Because JKR knows".

She knows of the fanfics we write and the OCs that we make. She knows that we're displeased with her behavior, and she keeps doing it anyway. Even if we alert others of her incompetence and maliciousness, we're unknowingly giving traction to her and her work.

Case in Point: Her latest book, The Ink Black Heart, features an artist/animator being doxxed and murdered for being transphobic and disrespectful, and the villain of the story is a disabled Tumblr blogger, and the story even features fake tweets.

Oh, and did I mention that she wrote it under the pen name of Robert Galbraith, naming herself after the father of gay conversion therapies? Because Ms. Joanne doesn't do subtlety.

At least the comforting news is that a plenty of people nowadays are no longer dealing with her bullshit. The latest Fantastic Beasts movie was a flop, losing to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and The Bad Guys; and Quidditch players have changed the name of their sport (it now goes by Quadball, btw) to divorce themselves of JKR's series.

A lot of people are at least showing to have some sense, and I'm satsified with that.

And to answer your question about the WBMRs: I will only work on them after the TERFy old hag herself is dead and gone. And when she dies, the celebration will certainly be bigger than when Good Ol' Lizzie kicked the bucket!

Peace out, and go find for other better series to consume/get engaged on!

[wizardingsouls]

" it's not much, but it's home "

canon-divergent hp-inspired multimuse indie. headcanon heavy. selective. mun 28+ | multiverse | multiship read all info before interacting. anti-JKR, epilogue, cursed child charmed by catt

[ancientpillarsoflori]

due to recent publications, i had three different conversations about harry potter in the last three days.

their totality made me realize that i have moved on. that my knee-jerk reaction to distance myself from the story a few years ago was justified, and still holds up. i admire people who separate fandom and franchise (or art and artist, if it's even possible in this case), who are keeping up the progressive aspects they saw in the story.

it's been years. i could have done so as well. i could have investigated my nostalgia or given the books a critical reread. i could have searched for fandom spaces that echoed my views. but i didn't bother to. the importance that hp held for my childhood, my development, whatever, has gradually diminished, until it disappeared altogether. that's when i realized that i have truly moved on.

the thing i liked most about hp is just not resonating with my values anymore.

what felt the most magical to me reading the books for the first time, was a hidden world that only a select few (and you as a reader were one of them!) could dive into. that there was magic hidden in the mundane, everyday world.

but the wizarding world TM being rooted in our reality now just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. it just feels half-baked. the books make a case for fighting wizard fascism, but not wizard separatism. they are surface-level anti-authoritarian, but, like, only the very comically obviously bad authorities, not like, the adults that mistreat children, or the school system that separates them by arbitrary character traits and heavily influences the nurture they will receive.

in the epilogue, the status quo has not changed. children still fear to be put into the "evil" house. the riches of magic are not shared, but still hoarded.

the wizarding world does not care about you, dear non-magical reader.

for example, we learn that witches and wizards were persecuted in witch hunts, but they were able to withstand the flames and go their merry ways afterwards. which implies that 1) the witch hunts took place in this fictional universe, 2) they might have been informed by existing magic users, 3) who witnessed other people burn for their doings without interfering.

(and what about that plot point that grindelwald wanted to stop wwII? at that point, i was already disengaged, but still not ready to face the facts, so i only heard it through the internet grapevine, which already felt like i heard enough...)

we are meant to root for people that have the privilege to live in the world, but distance themselves from its problems completely. and that thought does not sit right with me in a time where all of us are confronted with new unjustices and crises every day. taking the politics introduced in the series to their logical conclusions, i cannot help but ask myself: would wizards interfere today? would they stop the climate crisis? redistribute wealth? make any large scale changes to society? cooperate with anyone who is not part of their secret club?

harry potter roots itself so much in the real world that its unfinished dismantling of power structures within the wizarding world only rings true of optical and ultimately hollow progressivism. and i came to learn that i want my speculative fiction / fantasy to do more than that.

(thing i recently watched that echoed a lot of my thoughts, albeit with a slightly different focus: "the consumerist dystopia of harry potter" by verilybitchie x)

((also currently (finally) making my way through the aptly titeld "harry potter" by shaun x))

anyways, terfs are not your allies. not even if you're a cis (straight) woman. fuck'em.

[fedonciadale]

I’ve really enjoyed your metas about the problems in Harry Potter that never get properly addressed or changed. It made me think and I’d like to hear your opinion on the following question. Would you say the wizarding world is basically a dystopian society (even without Voldemort)?

Hi there!

Thank you! 🥰!

This is an interesting question. I'm quite sure that the wizarding world without Voldemort is at least not intended  as a dystopian world.

JKR states it clearly at the end. "All was well". It doesn’t matter that not everything is well not as I see it (cue the elves, cue Ron confunding a muggle, cue no evidence in canon about Hermione’s parents etc.) for JKR the wizarding world after Voldemort is good.

So, I think, if you look at it from the perspective of authorial intent it is clear that the wizarding world with Voldemort is a dictatorship with suprematist classist ideas carried to an extreme: Muggles and muggleborns are the inferior beings that can be enslaved. You could call this a dystopian society, or a dystopian mirror to society. I personally think that it is rather an allegory than a dystopia. Voldemort (and Grindelwald for that matter) and their ideas are ultimately rather based in classism than racism but their whole reign of terror clearly is inspired by racist and fascist regimes.

The thing is, it could have been better: JKR could have made more of the fact that the prejudides against muggles and muggleborns are inherent in the society, that other wizards and witches also believe that muggles are inferior even if they don’t think they should be enslaved or killed. If this would have been made clear, if the extremist blood supremacy ideas were clearly connected to the general prejudice and discrimination it would have been an excellent cautionary tale about how a society can slip into fascism.

Wizarding society without Voldemort can hardly be called a dystopia imho, and not because JKR did intend it to be just fine (when it isn’t). If you look beyond the authorial intent and look at what JKR described wizarding society after Voldemort is a still classist society that only got rid of the extremists, a deeply flawed society but not a dystopian one.

I think, if you look just at what JKR describes and not what she wants us to see it is actually a pretty good mirror for society: The inherent prejudices in wizarding society enable a fascist extremist group to come to power for a while and after they are defeated the society is back to a point where they all agree that killing muggles is a bit extreme. But the prejudices against elves, goblins, muggles, magical creatures etc. have not vanished over night with Voldemort and there is still a lot to do. My issue is with the fact that it is never addressed, that all is not in fact “well”.

I mean, I cut her some slack, it’s a children’s book and it can end with the big baddie being defeated. But would it have killed JKR to hint at the fact that the trio or others for that matter do something with the issues in their world twenty years later? In the books not just in some interviews. Let us meet Luna as magical creature activist in the epilogue with Hermione covering the legal aspects, let Dean teach muggle studies pre-Hogwarts, let Ron teach muggleborns how to fly pre-Hogwarts. Let Ron overcome some of his set opinions. Leave Harry alone, he has done enough (Head Auror is such a bad choice....). But show us that society changes. Instead she shows us that all is the same.... That is of course ultimately because classes are good as long as the better people are nice and king (this is JKR’s opinion, not mine). That everyone is with their school sweetheart is only a symptom of that lack of change. How I wish she had never written an epilogue.... This is the part of the book I really hate with a passion. I mean without the epilogue I could at least pretend that the issues in the wizarding world are addressed.

So, tldr: HP verse with Voldemort is rather an allegory for a fascist dictatorship than a dystopia. Without Voldemort it’s a deeply flawed society, but there is zero awareness of that fact, not on the characters’ side nor on the author’s. That is a mirror, not a dystopia as I understand the meaning of dystopia. And it’s a mirror that is not even intended as such.

Thanks for the ask! Hope I answered your question!

[rainforestgeek]

AU where Harry and Ginny name their second child “Regulus Rubeus” (after two real heroes) and everybody ends up calling him Reggie

[fanfic-lover-girl]

[embriium]

Man, there’s something wonderful and empowering and VALIDATING about seeing ZK salt and Bryke critique after all these years...

Like... yes, I was angry ZK wasn’t canon. I still am. But it was less “my ship wasn’t canon” or “i hate the canon ship,” and more “I am in mourning for the loss of the stories, symbolism, character development, and narrative parallels that would have made the series richer, fuller, and satisfying.”

I’m more angry and sad that a story that, although purportedly “aimed at children,” tackled the most difficult and so quintessentially adult topics—war, politics, imperialism, genocide, racism—and conveyed important messages about those topics, was stopped just short of timelessness.

In my view, AtLA could have, and SHOULD have been a timeless classic. I don’t care if people nowadays think fondly back on the series. I get it; I do too.

But the finale and ease of which the conflicts and hardships are resolved reduced the story to its Y7/PG rating—a fairytale meant only for the youngest of children, where everything is wrapped up in a tidy little bow, where there’s no meaningful explanation and we must accept the happy ending at face value.

The superficiality of it all made the story cheap; and that’s only within the context of the series itself.

(What the creators did with the series afterward chipped away whatever fondness I had left for the series because I lost respect for the creators. But I’ll leave that for the tags, lmaooo.)

So what I’m saying is that when the finale aired, we ZK shippers got a lot of flack and were told that our critiques were unfounded, so it’s nice to see that with the passage of time that other fans now recognize that our critique was legitimate. :)

[bakugouisabitch]

Do you ever think about how many beautiful redemption arcs we gave Draco Malfoy??

Wether in fanfiction/-art, or on little head-canon posts, they are all so intense and full of meaning and exciting plots and turn-outs (and i’m not afraid to admit that most of them are even emotional af). They are all so rich of depthess and characterisation and they show so much insight that I almost believe it to be canon.........

Who am I kidding?? They ARE canon.

[frankchurchillsaysrelax]

I love all these posts saying after today the entire Harry Potter series will take place in the past, and today is the last day of canon content, etc. because it completely dismisses the existence of the play that shall not be named and I just love that.

[letteredlettered]

I love your depictions of the relationship between Harry and Draco in all your fics but the recent conversation about “another mask” highlights a reason I don’t read Drarry fics anymore. I can’t handle a lot of the fandom and their approach to Draco’s character, specifically the idea that somehow Harry/others owe Draco and he needs to be apologized to. That there is such strong anti-slytherin bias in the canon that Harry somehow must atone for.

Also that he owes Draco forgiveness. I can easily see Harry forgiving Draco. But I hate when another character lectures Harry about how he’s immature and childish to not look beyond their interactions and forgive him. I think I take both Draco’s bullying of Harry and his joining the death eaters much more seriously than a lot of fans. Do you have good recommendations that don’t have this issue?

I don't have good recommendations. I know those fics exist; I just stopped reading H/D fic a while ago. Sorry.

Before I say anyone else, I want to reiterate my mantra that anyone can write anything, and I think that's okay. If it makes you happy, I don't think you should write it any other way. Doesn't mean I like to read it!

So anyway, I agree with you; I really don't like it when other characters lecture Harry on being immature and childish for not forgiving Draco. I think anyone who fought in the war forgiving Draco is an act of grace. I don't mean that Draco doesn't deserve a second chance. He was a child. He can't really be faulted for plenty of the things he did. That doesn't mean that people he bullied or bears some responsibility for torturing have to forgive him.

What you say about the anti-Slytherin bias in canon is interesting. I really think many people who write Harry/Draco are responding to that on some level. The way the HP world is written, it really feels like some people are just bad, and some people are just good, and it's legit to sort kids into categories. The text starts a process of deconstructing that, by having the Sorting Hat lecture us about House Unity, and an epilogue in which Harry tells Albus that Slytherin is okay, actually, but it's too little and too late.

But yeah, punishing Harry for it doesn't really make sense to me. He's trapped in this world as much as Draco is, and in fact, Harry stands out as someone who is able to see past all Snape's horrible flaws and recognize the good that Snape did; Harry stands out as someone who saves Slytherins who are actively trying to kill him. For me, the best way to address the bias in canon is to show the real struggle of the reality these folks live in.

[phantomato]

I would love to hear your take on morality in the HP series. I dropped the series around book 6 and moved on to fanfictions because there's only so much Christian preaching I can take in a series about witchcraft. (No hate to author/fandom, just a personal preference)

When it comes to the morality of HP, my interest lies less in whether or not it’s particularly Christian-influenced (is it? Yeah, probably about the same as nearly every western media property), but what the narrative tells us about the meaning of heroism and villainy.

There’s this lovely article I’ve reblogged before, Outlaw Kings and Rebellion Chic, that I’ll sum up (though I encourage you to read it) with the following:

Many media properties use the aesthetic of violent rebellion to suggest that heroes are revolutionaries, but when you dig into the political values of said heroes, they often are restoring the status quo as it existed prior to/at the beginning of the narrative. Often, if there is any entity with political values of revolution in the story, those characters are cast as villains.

This is separate, of course, from the question of whether all revolution is good according to any particular definition of ‘good.’ But I’m fascinated by the combination of the anti-revolutionary message and the flat characterizations of good and evil that are nearly inherent to mass media, including YA literature. If the heroes are always unquestionably good, or if their lapses in goodness are speed bumps along the path of their hero’s journey and ultimately serve to cement their goodness, and if the heroes largely serve to restore or reinforce the correctness of existing societal structures… that’s a message to which I’m actually quite opposed! I’m not an anarchist by any means, some structures are worth seeking to adapt rather than to tear down, but by definition, the prior structures of society are what led to the revolutionary politics of the villains. It’s a contradiction in that these narratives assume something like the epilogue of Harry Potter are free from the same types of strife that made up the central conflict of the main story, but they’re also exactly the circumstances that produced the villain(s) of the main story.

I mean, unless you want your takeaway message from HP to be that the magical world’s structure was always perfect and improvements in the non-magical world are what will prevent another generation of dark lords and their followers. I am the wrong author to co-sign that lesson.

This is the enduring complication of discussing politics within the HP universe. Most people avoid it, and they handwave this issue by accepting the books at face value: Voldemort is evil and a blood purist, the Order is good and not purist, the conflict of their story uses Voldemort as the flat villain of the books. That’s perfectly reasonable, in my mind. If you find Voldemort interesting, at some point, you ask yourself: “But why would a half-blood support a platform of blood purity?” And how deep you go into trying to answer that will probably determine a lot about how you view his character.

You can take the first exit ramp off of the highway and decide that Voldemort chooses to value his pureblood heritage and Slytherin ancestry more, so he doesn’t see his purism as contradictory. Okay, slightly less flat of a villain, but still pretty flat. This is essentially what canon tells you when you start asking the question in the paragraph above.

But you can go so much further. What do his circumstances tell us? Oh, maybe he would have felt alienated by his pureblood peers at school, because he likely would not have fit in. Maybe they bullied him or otherwise mistreated him, and maybe that gang of followers Dumbledore describes isn’t fully accurate. Maybe he took a job at a pawn shop because he didn’t have many options, as a presumed-Muggleborn. Maybe he worked there so long because he didn’t have anything to serve as a draw to potential followers until after he went abroad, and maybe he needed a decade of work to save enough money to support a decade of travel, and maybe some of those longtime followers were actually friends, and maybe he really wanted to teach, and maybe—?! Ah, shit, maybe the whole fucking blood purity platform was a charade.

But then Voldemort is a man leading a revolution, and yes it’s violent and yes his party line is hateful, but… civil wars are not always, and do not need to be, about people with the “most good” morals triumphing over people with the “most evil” views. They’re political conflicts, matters of state, in which it would be absurd to presume that one side is totally morally bankrupt. Yeah, the people with diametrically opposed political values to my own are morally bankrupt in my mind, but they have a different moral value system that says I’m the one that’s wrong. How do we know who’s correct? Well, millennia of philosophy tell us—er, come back later, we’re still fighting that one out.

I mean, all this to say that I think murder is bad (probably, most of the time), but it’s not fully clear to me whether I should call Voldemort’s actions ‘murder’ in every case, because then we have to get into the definition of ‘murder’ versus ‘casualty of armed conflict,’ and that is fucking wonderful. I love it. I love that this series I grew up with blindly relied on a universalist interpretation of morality and that I get to pick that apart as an adult.

[mxstyassasxin]

WIP Fic Recs Abound!

Thought I’d put together a list of WIPs that I’m currently following and would recommend to you all <3 

Drarry:

Instinct is a Marvellous Thing by @drarrymehome - A few months after defeating Voldemort, a grief-stricken Harry goes in search of the family he has always wanted. The search takes him to a place where everything is the same but a little bit different. Harry quite likes it there, although maybe everything isn't as it seems.But what happened to the people Harry left behind? The disappearance of Harry Potter rocked the wizarding world like nothing else, and when Draco Malfoy is accused of his kidnapping, why won’t he tell everyone the truth about what happened? Would they even believe him if he did?More importantly, where is Harry Potter and is he coming back? 

I’m loving this! It’s full of mystery and intrigue with a wonderfully pining Draco. A really well-paced slowburn where Harry has been a bit of an idiot and Draco’s trying to fix it. Beware the angst when barriers spring up in his efforts and when Harry starts to discover the truth.

Cherie, parchments and quills by Oleonetta - A birthday gift voucher for Le'Amortentia - the dating service, sends Harry into a whirlwind of words after choosing the profile of one man that sound very interesting and mysterious.Unable to disclose anything that reveals his name or identity, Harry must rely on words via a magical connected parchment to get to know the other man. Only time will tell if they wish to met.Meanwhile, Harry had started his 10th year as a Hogwarts professor, and this year ... one Mr Draco Malfoy has taken over the position of potions professor.

Professor Drarry! Letter writing! Both tropes that I really enjoy and this does not disappoint. The glee I feel knowing things as the reader when Harry and Draco don’t is brilliant and the fic is so full of amazing details that make it really heartwarming and emotional. 

Dramione:

The Auction by @lovesbitca8 – In the wake of the Dark Lord's triumph over Harry Potter, the defeated must learn their new place. Hermione Granger has been captured to be sold to the highest bidder as the top prize at an auction of Order members and sympathizers. But despite the horrors of Voldemort's new world, help seems to arise from the most unlikely of places.

Voldemort wins au, part of the Rights and Wrongs series. Start with The Right Thing To Do (not Voldy wins) because The Auction is the playout of something brought up in that by Draco and I love how fleshed out the little detail has become. Also, can I just give a cheer for all the bamf women in this fic! 

Professors by GinFics (edit: now complete) – Five years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the Hogwarts professors have been totally re-staffed by none other than the Golden Trio and their classmates. Ever since the Battle, Hermione has been dating Ron, though things haven't been good between them in a long time. With Draco and Hermione heading up the school's Dueling Club, it's guaranteed to be an interesting year, indeed.

What it says on the tin so far. Lovely fic about Draco and Hermione getting together at Hogwarts when they return to teach there. I love romantic Draco and the two of them wanting to do the best by each other and keep the other safe from the reactions of friends and family. Also, yey for supportive Harry and McGonagall

Bless the Broken Road by SnowblindLissaDream @snowblind12 @lissadream – Almost fifteen years post the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy find themselves in a life they could never have imagined. Both have lost their spouses in untimely deaths. Both have young children to contend with. What will happen when their worlds reconnect via a spouse loss grief group put on by St. Mungo's?

Draco is such a sweetie in this fic and the way he interacts with Rose and Hugo is wonderful. He’s there for Hermione when Ginny and Harry can’t understand how she’s feeling and I’m pretty sure there’s some wonderful soulmate magic afoot. I love all the adorable feels!

Blue Widow by failedfracture – Hermione and Draco are both grieving for the ones they loved. Epilogue compliant.

Another one where Hermione’s a widow and has coped with it by leaving Britain, but now she’s back. This is as sexy as Bless the Broken Road is sweet. Harry and Ginny’s friendship with Draco is fabulous and they are just as protective over him as they are over Hermione.

Other/General:

It’s Tea Time series by ellizablue – Scorbus is the main pairing in this Potter family drama series following the events of Cursed Child but Lily’s rand James’ relationships with their respective OCs also play a huge part. I adore everyone’s characterisation in this series and this Lily is how I see all Lily Lunas now. Also massive love for Harry, Ginny and Draco as wonderfully portrayed parents and then grandparents. The same mystery, adventure feel that runs through the original HP works has been amazingly emulated here with bonus feels.

House of the Brave series by islandgirl394, starting chronologically with Written in the Stars – This fic begins a series that follows the next gen kids through all their times at Hogwarts with their individual challenges. Written in the Stars follows Victoire as she balances her academic responsibilities and her feelings for Teddy. She comes to terms with the fact that life doesn’t always work out the way you might expect it to, and Neville is on hand as an amazing Head of House with the good lectures and assistance to help her find her purpose. 

New Blood by artemisgirl – Sorted into Slytherin with the whisper of prophecy around her, Hermione refuses to bow down to the blood prejudices that poison the wizarding world. Carving her own path forward, Hermione chooses to make her own destiny, not as a Muggleborn, a halfblood, or as a pureblood... but as a New Blood, and everything the mysterious term means.

What life at Hogwarts might have been like had Hermione been sorted into Slytherin. I really enjoy their take on magic and pureblood traditions in this, Hermione’s ambition to prove herself, and Luna being a seer. The original plot of Harry vs Voldermort is ongoing in the background but obviously certain things are improved, one of which being Neville’s presence as a more fleshed out character. 

Lilypad: Year One by @marauders4evr – On 31 July 1991, Harry Potter adopted a cat and Dudley Dursley saved it. Neither child expected that the cat would adopt and save them, in turn. Yet, that is exactly what Regulus Black does, transforming his appearance, his life, and their world. The family grows closer, stronger, and greater, by the day. For anyone who needs a home is welcome at The Lilypad.

This is the ultimate Anti-Dumbledore rewrite and I love it! Powerful Lord Black is so amazing and his sass is one of the best things ever, as is the bamf oc and the way she jumps on board, no questions asked, to protect the two 11 year old boys; one who won’t eat and one who eats too much.

How To Tame Your Dragon by GloryofLove – A broken off relationship and a mistletoe led to some pretty extraordinary things. A drunken night. A dilemma worthy of the brightest witch. Mainly, for others its easy to mistake a child's father when they're both redheaded Weasleys. Two, she made a promise never to talk about how it happened in the first place. When the shaky foundation cracks what's left of the build for family?

I adore this Charmione story! They’re so adorable with each other yet still so fierce and independent and I’m absolutely in love with Hermione’s cottage (as well as Charlie). The whole thing is a wonderful exploration of emotions and struggles.

[raptured-night]

Hello, I have two questions this time. Why do you think we can’t really compare Death Eaters to Nazis? Why can’t we really compare purism with racism? Oh and do you think Death Eaters are more like nowadays’ terrorists or not?

So, it's no secret that I have drawn attention to the issue of Death Eaters being treated as literal stand-ins for Nazis or blood purism as a literal example of racism. Importantly, there is a difference between acknowledging the ways that Death Eaters or blood purity might work as semi-functional allegories for the Nazis and their ideology, white supremacy, racism, etc., and treating fictional representations of invented prejudices as if they were comparable or on par with non-fictional Nazi ideology, white supremacy, or systemic racism.

An article for Medium makes this point very well:

Silent resisters and ‘I don’t really care about politics’ people deserve our contempt. But what makes those who filter life through fiction and historical revisionism worse is that they are performing a soggy simulacrum of political engagement.

As a woman of colour watching, all I can do here is amplify the call to step away from your bookshelf. Let go of The Ring. My humanity exists independently of whether I am good or bad, and regardless of where the invented-fictional-not-real Sorting Hat puts me.

Realise that people are in danger right now, with real world actions needed in response, and not just because you want to live out your dreams of being Katniss Everdeen.

The problem with discussing Harry Potter’s fictional examples of prejudice as if they were literal or completely comparable with real-life prejudices is that it does lead to an oversimplification of the reality of prejudice (whether white supremacy, racism, homophobia, transphobia --looking at you Jo-- or otherwise) and the very real people who experience these prejudices every day. The fantasy of being Harry Potter up against Umbridge or Voldemort in a YA series where the line between the good and bad guys is almost clearly denoted by the narrator is a far cry from the reality of what activism is or what living under oppression is like for many marginalized people. 

I would argue that this is also a leading reason why the “social justice” (yes, in many cases I believe that deserves to be enclosed in dubious quotations) discourse in Harry Potter fandom trends more towards performative than it does sincere (one need only look at the defense posts for Rowling in response to real marginalized groups criticizing her for things ranging from her offensive representation of Asian people, Indigenous and Native peoples, or her failures in representing the lgbtq+ community particularly in light of her coming out as an open TERF and they can get an idea of how those “I’m an intersectional feminist/social justice ally and that’s why I read HP!” fans quickly shift gears to throw the bulk of their allyship behind Rowling instead) because when you spend all of your time debating fictional prejudices it’s much easier to detach oneself from the reality of non-fictional prejudice and its impact on real people.

Fiction has no stakes. There is a beginning, middle, and end. In Rowling’s fictional world, Harry Potter ends with Harry and “the side of light” the victor over her allegorical representation of evil and he gets his happily-ever-after in a world we are led to believe is at peace and made a better place. In the real world, decades after the fall of Hitler, there are still Nazis and white supremacists who believe in the glory of an Aryan/pure-white race and are responsible for acts of violence towards marginalized groups; even after the fall of the Confederacy in the U.S. we are still debating the removal of monuments erected in their honor (and the honor of former slave owners and colonialists like Christopher Columbus) while the nation continues mass protests over the systemic police brutality Black people and other people of color have long faced (not to mention the fact the KKK are still allowed to gather while the FBI conspired to destroy the Black Panther Party and discredit them as a dangerous extremist organization).

As a professor in literature, I’ve often argued that fiction can be a reflection of reality and vice versa. Indeed, it can be a subversive tool for social change and resistance (e.g. Harlem Renaissance) or be abused for the purposes of propaganda and misrepresentation (e.g. Jim Crow era racism in cartoons). So, I am not underscoring the influencing power of fiction but I do believe it is important that when attempting to apply fictional representations to real-world issues we do so with a certain awareness of the limitations of fiction. As I have already observed, there is an absence of real-world stakes for fiction. Fictional stories operate under a narrative structure that clearly delineates the course they will take, which is not the case for real life. In addition, the author’s own limitations can greatly affect the way their fiction may reflect certain non-fictional issues. Notably, a close reading of Harry Potter does reveal the way Rowling’s own transphobic prejudices influenced her writing, not least in the character of Rita Skeeter (but arguably even in her failed allegory for werewolves, which are supposed to reflect HIV prejudices, but she essentially presented us with two examples of werewolves that are either openly predatory towards children or accidentally predatory because they canonically can’t control themselves when their bodies undergo “transformations” that make them more dangerous and no surprise her most predatory example, Fenrir Greyback, seems to have embraced his transformation entirely versus Lupin who could be said to suffer more from body dysmorphia/shame). 

Ultimately, fiction is often a reflection of our non-fictional reality but it is not always an exact reflection. It can be a simplification of a more complex reality; a funhouse mirror that distorts that reality entirely, or the mirror might be a bit cracked or smudged and only reflecting a partial image. Because fiction does have its limits (as do authors of fiction), writers have certain story-telling conventions on hand through which they can examine certain aspects of reality through a more vague fictional lens, such as metaphor, symbolism, and allegory. Thus, the Death Eaters can function on an allegorical level without being problematic where they cannot when we treat them as literal comparisons to Nazis or white supremacist groups (particularly when we show a greater capacity for empathy and outrage over Rowling’s fictional prejudice, to the extent we’ll willingly censor fictional slurs like Mudblood, than we do real-world examples of racism and racial microaggressions). As an allegory, Voldemort and his Death Eaters can stand in for quite a few examples of extremism and prejudice that provoke readers to reflect more on the issue of how prejudice is developed and how extremist hate-groups and organizations may be able to rise and gain traction. Likewise, blood prejudice looked at as a fictional allegory goes a lot further than when we treat it as a literal comparison to racism, wherein it becomes a lot more problematic. 

I’ve discussed this before at length, along with others, and I will share some of those posts to give a better idea of some of the issues that arise when we try to argue that Voldemort was a literal comparison to Hitler, the Death Eaters were literal comparisons to Nazi, or that blood purity is a literal comparison to racism.

On the issue of blood prejudice as racism and Death Eaters as Nazis, per @idealistic-realism00.

On the issue of blood prejudice as racism, my own thoughts.

On the issue of Death Eaters and literal Nazi comparisons, per @deathdaydungeon and myself. 

Finally, as I have already argued, the extent to which fiction can function as a reflection of non-fictional realities can be limited by the author’s own perceptions. In the above links, you will note that I and others have critiqued Rowling’s portrayal of prejudice quite thoroughly and identified many of the flaws inherent in her representations of what prejudice looks like in a real-world context. The very binary (i.e. good/bad, right/wrong, dark/light) way that she presents prejudice and the fact that her villains are always clearly delineated and more broadly rejected by the larger society undermines any idea of a realistic representation of prejudice as systemic (we could make a case for an effort being made but as her narrative fails to ever properly address prejudice as systemic in any sort of conclusive way when taken along with her epilogue one can argue her representation of systemic prejudice and its impact fell far short of the mark, intended or otherwise). In addition to that, the two most notable protagonists that are part of her marginalized class (i.e. Muggle-born) are two comfortably middle-class girls, one of whom is clearly meant to be white (i.e. Lily) and the other who is most widely associated with the white actress (Emma Watson) who played her for over a decade before Rowling even hinted to the possibility Hermione could also be read as Black due to the casting of Noma Dumezweni for Cursed Child.

Overall, Rowling is clearly heavily influenced by second-wave feminist thought (although I would personally characterize her as anti-feminist having read her recent “essay,” and I use the term loosely as it was primarily a polemic of TERF propaganda, defending her transphobia, and reexamined the Harry Potter series and her gender dichotomy in light of her thoughts on “womanhood”) and as far as we are willing to call her a feminist, she is a white feminist. As a result, the representation of prejudice in Harry Potter is a distorted reflection of reality through the lens of a white feminist whose own understanding of prejudice is limited. Others, such as @somuchanxietysolittletime and @ankkaneito have done well to point out inconsistencies with Rowling’s intended allegories and the way the Harry Potter series overall can be read as a colonialist fantasy. So, for all of these reasons, I don’t think we should attempt to make literal comparisons between Rowling’s fictional examples of prejudice to non-fictional prejudice or hate groups. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are better examined as more of a catch-all allegory for prejudice when taken to it’s most extreme. Aicha Marhfour makes an important point in her article when she observes:

Trump isn’t himself, or even Hitler. He is Lord Voldemort. He is Darth Vader, or Dolores Umbridge — a role sometimes shared by Betsy DeVos or Tomi Lahren, depending on who you’re talking to. Obama is Dumbledore, and Bernie Sanders is Dobby the goddamn house elf. Republicans are Slytherins, Democrats are Gryffindors.

The cost of making these literal comparisons between Voldemort or the Death Eaters to other forms of extremism, perceived evil, or hate is that we impose a fictional concept over a non-fictional reality and unintentionally strip the individual or individuals perpetrating real acts of prejudice or oppression of some of their accountability. I can appreciate how such associations may help some people cope and for the readers of the intended age category of Harry Potter (i.e. YA readers) it might even be a decent primer to understanding real-world issues. However, there comes a point where we must resist the impulse to draw these comparisons and go deeper. Let Voldemort and the Death Eaters exist as allegories but I think it is important we all listen to what many fans of color, Jewish fans, lgbtq+ fans, etc. are saying and stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by treating these fictional characters and their fictional prejudices as if they were just as real, just as impactful, and just as deserving of our empathy and outrage as the very real people who are living daily with very real prejudices --because they’re not equal and they shouldn’t be.