#i have a lot more thoughts on this topic and on harry specifically and

[sk3erkrou]

My Thoughts on Hogwarts Legacy

This is something that has been on my mind recently as more discourse about the topic is coming to the forefrunt of the internet. Hogwarts Legacy and, honestly, the Harry Potter franchise as a whole.

As I see things, there are 5 groups of people when it comes to "THAT wizard game."

"Hey, I don't want to play it because of my own personal reasons. But if you want to play it, I hope you have fun."

"Hey, I do want to play this game because of my own, personal reasons, but I understand that you're not interested. That's cool."

"This game gives money to a transphobe?! Awesome! I just bought two copies."

"You want to play this game for your own reasons? You're a transphobe piece of shit. I won't stop until you know you're a piece of shit."

"Harry Potter? Hogwarts Legacy? I haven't played video games since I lost 2 weeks of my life to Banjo Kazooie in 1998."

If you fall into either category 1, 2, or 5, then right on. You're doing the right thing. Keep it up.

However, if you fall into either category 3 or 4, you are a fucking problem and you need to cut the shit and grow up.

Personally, I fall into category 1. I feel I have made my views on the game and franchise fairly clear. But also, I have a good friend who learned to read because of Harry Potter. I grew up with the franchise and it was a huge part of my childhood, and recognizing that I no longer want to engage in the franchise felt like a huge loss to me, and took some time to reconcile with myself. But, again, I have made that decision based on the larger franchise and not simply this one game. And, also again, these are my OWN PERSONAL REASONS. If you're interested, I will gladly share my thoughts in a civil manner, and only ask that you understand my thinking, not that you agree with me, or try to convince me to change my mind.

Now, to address category 3. Deep breath, here.

If you are doing anything at all because you know it will make the lives of people worse, then fuck you right to hell. Yes, this group of people also generally goes hand in hand with a specific red hat and an orange demagogue. If you find yourself in this category, get help. Go to therapy and ask about this concept called "empathy."

Category 4.

I will repeat: if you are doing anything at all because you know it will make the lives of people worse, then fuck you right to hell. Setting up websites to track Twitch streamers to see who is playing Hogwarts Legacy? Going to channels and harrassing the streamers for wanting to play the game? I would argue that people in this category or worse than those in category 3 because while those in 3 as assholes, they are blowing money on something they don't actually care about to try triggering someone while people in this group are going out and actively attacking people for engaging something that they want to experience for, and repeat after me, THEIR OWN PERSONAL REASONS. I saw in one chat that someone mentioned they wished executions were legal because people were doing something they didn't like. Sounds an awful lot like some people who built some gallows outside of a notable large building in the US back in the beginning of January 2021, doesn't it?

Here's where things really boil down on Hogwarts Legacy. The game is made. It's done. Rowling has been paid or will be getting paid. You attacking people for enjoying the game isn't going to stop that. But there's a lot more people than just her in the mix, here. Think about all the hundreds of people who have spent YEARS working on making this game, and trying to make it the best game possible. They have also been paid and are continuing to get paid. Controversy has surrounded Hogwarts Legacy pretty much since it was announced. And it wasn't cancelled.

Here's where I see things going with the game: it is the outrage of the day. Somewhat surprisingly, the outrage of Hogwarts Legacy's release is overshadowing the much more recent information about Justin Roiland. People will continue to be upset by this game for a while, and eventually that will fade, as all outrage does.

But you know what won't pass? The hurt caused by people to other people over this game. Your friend, who you disagree with about the game, sitting in their home, playing the game, is not going to hurt you. Streamer playing the game and you don't want to watch it? THEN FUCKING DON'T. Full stop. For fuck's sake, people were buying subs to a twitch stream just so they could continue harrassing the streamers after they made the chat sub-only. Fuck you. Grow up. And like I told the people in group 3, get therapy.

Actually, everyone should go to therapy, but that isn't the point of this.

Here's what my point of view boils down to: let people enjoy what they enjoy and stop shitting on things just because people enjoy them. Yes, the situation here is more complex and nuanced than that, but every situation is. And if any part of this rambling has made you angry or upset for any reason, I'd like you to think about why that is. I am not advocating for people to play the game or not play the game. Honestly, I just couldn't give a fuck what you want to play in the privacy of your own home. I just want people to be better. Treat people better. Be better people. Recognize that everyone on this planet is, at the very least, deserving of being treated like a person and deserving of love. And if you can't understand that fact, did you really understand Harry Potter at all?

[louisisalarrie]

helloooo sweet angels. welcome to the show!

I tend to answer and talk about a lot of bbg/2015 things on here and seem to attract a lot of newer fans & Larries (which is wonderful!!!) but I thought I’d just share some resources that you can refer to so there’s not so much back and forth in my inbox.

Arden (cosmicleeds) makes fantastic, super digestible videos recapping years, bbg, rbb & sbb and the big gay war etc., and I think it’s a really valuable way to kind of get your head around some stuff as socials, especially Twitter, have a lot of misinformation, fighting, wrong timelines, stuff that’s already been debunked etc.

so, here are a couple of faves that I recommend newer larries, or people who want refreshers, to watch as it’s a little less overwhelming than the 15k word essays we have on these topics that are hard to read about when you haven’t kind of been introduced to it initially

The Larry Stylinson Timeline - 2015

Larry denials and why they’re meaningless

RBB, SBB, & the Big Gay War

The difference between larry and the rest of 1D

there is a video on each year of Larry since 2010 too, so you can feel like you were there for it!

as always, I also highly recommend Allie’s (skepticalarrie) tags post if you want more of a read instead of a video, with so many masterposts and specific info on everything larry, and also louis and Harry individually

if you’re looking for fic recs or general larry/1d chats and a heap of receipts, Gina (twopoppies) is also very wonderful

and obviously there are a million other fantastic blogs and videos to watch, but I highly recommend those to start off with at least as they are based off facts and are very clear, as opposed to some wild reaching that goes on these days in certain parts of twitter etc.

we’re all here to be welcoming, have a chat, and be here for you to navigate this wild part of the fandom, and while there can be some nasty folks out there, remember that this is a welcoming place where we love love and we are a community who supports each other. the way it should be.

so, welcome baby larries, you’re in for a wild ride!

(also I’m very excited for this year’s recap - I want something crazy to go down the end of this year because damn rewatching 2015 took me right back to the days!)

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

I know you don't like discussing the muses but i love your takes and perspectives and i had to ask you about this. after listening to ttpd, did you have the impression that she really loved matty more than any of her exes/previous relationships?. And listening to the whole album as a whole would you call it the ''matty album'' or do you think there are more prominent themes in there than their period together?. (hope this doesn't bother you, feel free to delete if you don't feel like answering it)

hey anon! You're right, I don't really like to get into the muses as I don't really think there's anything to add to the conversation at this point, and ultimately I don't think it matters.

That being said, and with the caveat that I am not Taylor and I do not know Taylor so I cannot speak to her thoughts and can only make relatively educated guesses based on being an avid consumer of her work and a student of the human condition (lol), no I do not think Taylor loved Matty more than anyone else. I think there was maybe a brief period in the thick of things where she *thought* she did because she was not thinking clearly and was in full-on denial, but to me the message that is loud and clear in the album (and more or less explicitly stated in the epilogue) is that it was not any kind of real love affair. It was certainly infatuation and lust and the promise of something more, and there may have been some love as well, but he was in no way the love of her life by any measure.

I would call it a "Matty album" insofar as they're about events in which he was present, sure. But I feel it much more as a Taylor album, if that makes sense, even though I know that's a cop out because every album is to a degree. I can't explain it well, but I don't see TTPD as a Matty (or Joe) album in the way that I would maybe say Red is a "Jake" album or 1989 may be a "Harry" album or even Lover being a "Joe" album whatever, because even if they don't figure in all the songs, that kind of heartbreak permeates so much of the material.

The thing about TTPD and the Matty situation is that the Matty situation is really a Joe situation (which in some ways is actually partially a Jake situation). I always say I hate treating Taylor like a character so I hate speaking about her and her work in this way, but you don't get the Matty situation without the Joe situation precipitating it. It's @taylortruther's now-infamous donut vs. hole analogy. The reason Taylor makes the choices she does with Matty is directly tied to what happened with Joe that made her feel she needed to. Which is not to say Taylor isn't responsible for her own actions or doesn't have agency in her own life, but I mean it in that the situation in which she found herself with Joe, and the pain it caused, is what made the alternative so comforting and perhaps even necessary in her mind. It's why it makes it so hard to "paternity test" the album, because the stories are inherently intertwined and you don't get the former without the latter.

The major "theme" of the album to me is the loss of a very specific, very personal dream, and the way in which she lost it, and the way in which grieving that loss drove her to make the choices she did. We're all talking very delicately about it because it's a sensitive topic, but it's late on Friday and few people are going to see this, so I'm going to say it: it's the give you my wild, give you a child of it all. The yearning she expresses both overtly and sub-textually for having a family in the album is palpable in a very iykyk kind of way, and it's the realization that those plans are not going to come to fruition in the way she had once imagined that drives a lot of the pain she experiences, and makes her jump at the chance to find that again with someone else.

I started a draft post about the theme of womanhood and motherhood on TTPD three months ago that I never finished because I ran out of time and ran out of steam, but it was the most striking thing to me on the album, not because I didn't know that she wanted those things because that's been obvious for years (definitely since Lover, and again, peace put it all on the table), but because the vulnerability she expressed about it on the album is incredibly moving, and it's so generous of her to trust listeners with those feelings and experiences.

Again, it's the thirtysomething of it all.

She is in relationship A which she at one point believes is forever, one which she at one point believes is going to lead to marriage and children. She is so committed to that dream that she either ignores or tries to fix serious issues that may otherwise lead others to think the two people in the relationship are incompatible, both because she loves the person deeply and because she feels that this is meant to be the way she achieves that dream. She gives it her everything, and it still dies a slow, painful, onerous death, and she feels like it may take her along with it. The dream of getting married and presumably having a family gets taken off the table: how we don't know and will likely never know because that is private between the parties involved. All that matters in the context of the album is that those plans never come to fruition and never would.

Then you have relationship B, an old flame who knows just enough buttons to push both to trigger and to flatter. A person who she presumably trusts with very sensitive, personal information as her life slowly crumbles, and this person is telling her all the things she wants to hear because he knows about what is happening in relationship A because she's told him. Person in relationship B doesn't get an "in" with her and sell her this dream unless what happens in relationship A precedes it. It's not a grand love affair for the ages, it's not a mutual decision on building their own dream together. It's Person B learning about what is happening with Person A and saying "I can do that!" even if he can't or doesn't. The dream he sells her is a rental car; it's not his own, he's just borrowing it from someone else and selling it back to her.

And the reason she falls for it is because it is what she aches for the most in her personal life, and she is grappling with it disintegrating, so she (unfortunately for her) falls for the easy way out, and in turn sells herself a story about how this must be fated, and this must be meant to be, because this person wants all the same things she does and she didn't even have to bargain for it! Well, yes, because she fed him the dream in the first place. (Like a mark falling for a sleeper cell spy.) It's too good to be true because it isn't true. IMO Person B doesn't come running out of the gate with the marriage/baby/dream life promises unless he knows that is what she most desires. But what's left unsaid out of all of it is that: those dreams were her dreams because they were her dreams with Person A. It was a whole life they had together, and a whole life they had planned for in some fashion, and a whole life that has to be dismantled in the aftermath.

So all this to say, yes, on the surface, Matty is a "main character" on the album, but truly he's a side character to Taylor as the narrator and person experiencing it and Joe as the ghost bit-player-who-haunts-every-scene. (Again, I hate referring to real people as characters, it gives me the absolute ick, but in this case it's the only way to answer the question.) I jokingly call it the Matty album for shorthand or when I want to say something out of pocket, but really, it's a disservice to the album to say that because it's not a muse album as in it's about the romance (like, say, Red often is), it's about a soul-crushing heartbreak that goes beyond it. The romance is the symptom, not the cause.

The loss of youth is tied in with all this: she's not 22 anymore. She isn't even 32 anymore. She had a very specific idea of what her life was going to look like at this point and had planned for that life, and it goes up in smoke. But again, to bring the womanhood into it all: there is, unfortunately, a deadline for these things. You're with someone for over half a decade you think is going to be your life partner and father of your children and and then he's not. You spent half a decade building this relationship for it to crumble, but now you're in your mid-30s and you don't necessarily have another half-decade to build that trust and faith in someone else before being ready to start a family. And maybe you're scared that anyone else who may become your partner will need that much time to build that trust and faith, because that's kind of all you've ever know in relationships. But lo and behold, someone comes into your life you once had feelings for and maybe now do again and is offering you everything you want and thought you'd have by this point in your life right now. It feels like an elixir that as we find out is actually poison.

That youth is not just the chance for motherhood, but it's also the hopes and idealism and belief in the future that often gradually erodes as we age. But for Taylor as well, it's also tied into the trauma of what she went through particularly in 2016, which kicks off a lot of things on the album as well (her retreat, her relationship with Joe, the pivoting in her career, etc.). That event caused a pretty clear before/after in her life (like a few other events, I suspect), and another major theme in the album is her finally grappling with the full weight of that. They're all different branches of the same tree of the story of TTPD and her life.

I could talk about this stuff forever, but I'm going to stop here because it's long enough and I should save stuff for one of the dozens of drafts I have half-baked lol. But this is just something I needed to get off my chest perhaps.

[starlingflight]

Ginniversary Drabble 3

Prompt - O72 - sorry, its just that i get nervous when someone else is driving.

AO3 or read below:

“So,” Ginny drew the word out until it was almost a breathy sigh that she knew would carry to Harry's ears on the faint spring breeze. Sunlight glinted brightly off the sleek chrome surface as she stroked her finger languidly down it. She looked at him over her shoulder, letting her hair fall back and pushing her lips out into the smallest of pouts. “Were you ever planning on taking me for a ride?” 

She leaned back against Sirius’ old motorbike, half-perched on the leather seat, as Harry laughed. “Your mum will kill me.” 

“I’m of age,” she reminded him, quite unnecessarily; he was definitely aware. “I don’t need my mother’s permission.” 

“No, but I do!” Harry protested, leaning against the wall of her father’s shed; showing no intention of moving, despite Ginny’s best efforts. “She has to love you unconditionally, I’m already on thin ice.” 

“Oh please, she’ll disown me before she disowns you!” 

“She already gave me a lecture about how you’re her responsibility until you finish Hogwarts,” Harry continued, a slight tremor in his voice she knew he was trying to battle into submission. “It took a lot of the enjoyment out of my treacle tart.” 

“That is not true!”

They shared a look and Ginny thought the same image that was filling her mind might be in his too; a taunting smile, a jet of light from her mother’s wand, the corpse of Bellatrix Lestrange dropping sickeningly to the ground. Suddenly, the balmy spring day felt unseasonably chilly. 

Ginny’s laughter was weak, but she forced it out anyway. Ghosts could only haunt you if you dwelled long enough to let them; she had become experienced in outrunning them. 

“I’m practically done, only one term left to go.” 

“Ninety-six days.” Harry agreed. His eyes went wide. She suspected the words wouldn’t have slipped from his lips at all if not for the unsteadiness of the moment. 

Ginny quirked an eyebrow; the smile spreading across her face was genuine. “Keeping count, are you?” 

“No,” Harry’s grin made it clear that this was a lie. “I know for reasons totally unrelated to you.” 

“Oh? What reasons might those be?” Ginny settled herself more firmly onto the motorbike’s seat, legs dangling over the side, looking at him expectantly. 

His smile remained in place, but something in his eyes turned earnest. “I’m keeping count.” 

Her head fell back in laughter. The motorbike remained stationary on the ground but Ginny felt the familiar soaring in her stomach that she’d grown accustomed to accompanying a moment of complete happiness in the face of the demons that were always lurking beneath the surface. 

“So, in ninety-six days I can take this thing for a spin?” 

“I can take you for a spin on it,” Harry corrected. 

“And what if I want to go solo?” 

She didn’t. She had a very specific vision of how this was going to play out, one that involved her arms wrapped around Harry’s waist, and her face tucked against his back while the wind blew through her hair. 

“No.” 

Still, the speed with which he shot down the suggestion had her eyebrows raising in surprise.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, eyes shining with a vulnerability Ginny was beginning to understand was for her eyes only. “It’s just that I get nervous when someone else is driving it… it was…” 

“Sirius,’” She finished for him. 

This time, it was Harry who didn’t allow them to linger in the shadow of a grief too big to face on a peaceful Spring afternoon. “Anyway, is that really what you want to do the minute you finish Hogwarts?” 

“Maybe,” Ginny shrugged, allowing the change of topic. “It feels fitting, doesn’t it? To finish school and do something a bit reckless and dangerous?” 

Harry shook his head. “It’s not that dangerous – your dad put loads of safety charms on it when he was rebuilding it.”

Ginny refrained from pointing out that if that was the case, there was no reason for her mother to protest her going out on it now. 

Instead, she slid from the seat and swiftly crossed the untidy patch of grass that separated them. “You’re playing this all wrong…” Her hand found his; Harry immediately used the contact to pull her closer. “you’re supposed to tell me how risky it is…” She rose onto her toes, letting her lips brush against the shell of his ear. “Entice me with tales of your thrilling adventures...” 

When she pulled back, Harry was smirking at her, and his eyes were focused intently on her lips. “I did get this when I went round a corner too fast the other day, if that’s dangerous enough for you?” 

He held up his free arm, the one not currently wrapped around her waist, revealing what she’d thought was a long, red burn across his forearm.

She’d seen it already, her eyes had been drawn to it the minute she’d got off the train, but she’d assumed it was from work, and hadn’t asked for any further explanation. The scenarios she dreamed up in her head while she was at school, and he was maddeningly out of sight, of things that could happen to him were hard enough to deal with, without adding more details to flesh them out further. 

Ninety-six days. Ginny had a feeling the number was about to become something of a mantra. Ninety-six days and she’d be able to see for herself that he was alright at the end of each day. 

“That looks terrible,” she said, pretending to look more closely at the minor abrasion. “I think you might be in need of a mediwitch.” 

Harry’s voice lowered in response to her tone. “If you think that’s necessary…” 

Ginny was already reaching behind her, nodding, as she unlatched the door to the shed. “I’ve really expanded my healing capabilities this term… if you’ll just step into my office, I think I should probably examine you, just to be on the safe side.” 

[remus-poopin]

Hi! Sorry to bother you but I’m looking for specific pieces of HP meta and I’m kinda lost.

Do you have any reading recommendations about homosexuality in the Harry Potter world? I’m trying to decide a couple of things about the world-building for a fic and I’d love to read about other takes on the topic.

Hi! It's not a bother at all I love this stuff! I have my own thoughts about this too and this is a question I often think about and I was planning on writing something about this eventually anyways so I'm glad I got this ask because now I have a excuse to! (And I can talk about some gripes I have with the author as well so yay)

CW: Homophobia and misogyny

Here is a meta by @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta on homophobia in the wizarding world.

Here is @hchollym's take on gay marriage in the WW

The books give no mention of homosexuality explicitly, but the author has slightly expanded on the topic at later times in interviews and tweets. In 2007 she confirmed that Dumbledore was gay and later she gives us more details about his sexlife. She then said this in 2007 about homosexuality and homophobia in the wizarding world:

"MA: 'We wanna talk about Dumbledore so bad. We know that you've created worldwide intrigue when you said that he is gay. But I wanted to ask you about homosexuality in the Wizarding World in general. Is it a taboo?' JKR: 'Now, that's something I never thought of. I would think that that would be-- it would be exactly what it is in the Muggle World. But the greatest taboo in the Wizarding World is, well, for some wizards... I mean if we're talking about prejudiced people within the Wizarding World, what they care most about is your blood status. So I think you could be, um, gay, pure-blood, and totally without any kind of criticism from the Lucius Malfoys of the world. I don't think that would be something that would interest him in the slightest. But, you know, I can't answer for all witches and wizards because I think in matters of the heart, it would be directly parallel to our world.'"

She also says this in a tweet about homophobia in 2014:

“Only by ludicrous Muggles. The wizards don't give a damn - it's all about the magic for them.”

Now whether or not you take this to be canon is up to you. What I think is interesting here is I feel as though we are made to think that homosexuality is a non issue in the wizarding world and not a point of prejudice by the second statement. From her first statement she says that its “something she never thought of” and I'm guessing her second statement is contradictory because she wanted to appease LGBT+ fans and reassure them that Hogwarts is a safe space (for some, lets not ask her about the other letters in the acronym). 

This is a pattern I've noticed JKR exhibiting in a lot of her post book words in which she is trying to communicate how egalitarian the world she created is through her new information, while the text does not reflect this worldview. I think a good example of this is how when she listed the ministers of magic she included several women, going back as far as the 1700s to try to show there are not as many barriers to entry for women in the WW. Yet we see many instances of sexism throughout the series from the characters. I think what she was trying to do is have her world primarily focus on blood purity, and creature rights and have the issues we face either go to the backburner or not be present at all. Now I understand this choice, (though I really don’t think it's necessary, more interesting or remotely realistic) but I also think her execution is pretty awful because you can (and I'm about to) make an argument that these issues are still very present in the wizarding world. I think the biggest issue here is that she doesn't understand the structures and systems of oppression that she handwaved to the side to truly write a world where they would not be a real problem. To me, given what we've seen of the wizarding world, homophobia would still very much be an issue. 

So I think if we're going to talk about what homosexuality looks like in the wizarding world we would also need to talk about what homophobia would look like in the wizarding world. Homophobia has many factors contributing and working with it to make it function as prejudice and a system. If I had to break it down to its biggest parts I would say our big three is: religious fears, rigid gender norms, and disgust. Those often play off each other to create an effective tool for upholding a power structure in society by subjugating certain members. Let's examine these in the context of Harry Potter.

Religious fears: 

Religious fears resulting in homophobia is very common in the real world but for this factor to apply to the WW I think we would need to determine whether or not the wizarding world is even religious. We have examples of christianity showing up across the books in casual ways, Harry has a Godfather, he was christened as a baby, and Lily and James have a quote from the bible on their tombstone. From this we can at least make the assumption that the Potter family is religious to some capacity. We also see that one of the Hogwarts ghosts is called “The Fat Friar’. But to my knowledge this is where the references end. If the wizarding world is religious, or at least wizarding Britain, they seem to be casually so. So I don't see this being a huge driving factor in any homophobia we would see in that universe. 

Rigid gender norms:

I think if you take away any religious influences you're still going to see homophobia even in its most violent forms and this has a lot to do with rigid gender norms. If gender norms are established to sustain a power structure that a society relies on to maintain a certain order, any breaking of those norms will be met with punishment (socially or physically). In a heteronormative culture, homosexuality can be seen as a breaking of these norms.   

First off, Pureblood culture seems to be obsessed with lineage and creating heirs, In one of the meta I linked it talks about how homosexuality would be a threat to that. At least in pureblood society, your job as a man is to make pureblooded babies and your job as a woman would be to give birth to them, anything else would be looked down upon.

If we step outside of pureblood society, we can see that the general wizarding population also seems to have strict ways in which men and women should act.

So what are the gender roles the wizarding world has? Well there are the clothing, all wizards wear robes, but dresses are traditionally for women and any robe that looks a little to dress-like for a man could be seen as embarrassing: 

“'What is that supposed to be?'  He was holding up something that looked to Harry like a long maroon velvet dress. It had moldy-looking lace frills at the collar and matching lace cuffs. - ‘Mum, you've given me Ginny's new dress,’ said Ron, holding it out to her. ‘Of course I haven't,’  said Mrs Weasley. ‘Thats for you, dress robes’.- “You've got to be kidding’ said Ron in disbelief ‘Im not wearing that, no way!' - In some trepidation Harry opened the last parcel on his camp bed. It wasn't as bad as he expected, however. His dress robes didn't have any lace on them at all - in fact they were more or less the same as his school ones, except they were bottle green except black” (GOF, pg 155 and 156)

“Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville changed into their dress robes up in their dormitory, all looking very self conscious, but none as much as Ron who surveyed himself in the long mirror in the corner with an appalled look on his face. There was no getting around the fact that his robes looked more like a dress than anything. In a desperate attempt to make them more manly he used a severing charm on the ruffs and cuffs." (GOF, pg 411)

There are cultural roles:

“‘Come on, Ginny's not bad,’ said George fairly sitting down next to Fred. ‘Actually , I dunno how she got so good, seeing how we never let her play with us…’  ‘she's been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren't looking’  (OOTP, pg 574) 

There is no ostensible reason for Ginny not to be able to play Quidditch with her older brothers, even if she was too young at one point, very soon after she should have been able to, considering Ron was only a year older. From this we can assume that wizards, or at least the Weasleys, have a view of femininity as more fragile, or weaker than masculinity. This idea is reinforced through the founders of Hogwarts making separate dorm rooms for girls and boys where boys cannot enter the girls dorm but girls can enter the boys, this also positions men as aggressors in a sexual sense.

There are sexual roles, any time there is slutshaming in the series a women is at the end of it. Hermione is seen as a “scarlet women” for appearing to toy with Harry's heart:

“I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made you out to be some sort of - scarlet women!’ Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter. ‘Scarlet women?’ - ‘It's what my mum calls them’ Ron muttered." (GOF, pg 513)

 Ginny is constantly facing accusations of behaving a little too promiscuously by her family. 

“'Let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron -' ‘Yeah it is!’ Said Ron just as angrily. ‘D’you think I want people saying my sister’s a-’ (HBP, pg 287)

"'my tiara sets the whole thing nicely, said Aunt Muriel in a rather carrying whisper, 'but I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low cut.'" (DH, pg 145)

Merope Riddle is called a slut for running off with Tom Riddle Sr.

"'dishonored us, she did, that little slut!'" (HBP, pg 365)

All of these instances are made to seem as negative and as a breaking of the societal norms. The norm being women as chaste, demure figures of virtue.

We've established these gender roles, and we've seen there are consequences when you fall out of line. So, what if the gender role calls for you to be masculine as a man and then defines that masculinity in part with obtaining women and sexual prowess? Homosexuality would be in direct conflict with that. And with that lets tie it into disgust.

Disgust:

The disgust that a homophobe feels can be stemming from a couple different places. Maybe it's religious fears like we talked about or maybe it's because of gender norms. But that disgust is only taking place because they perceive something they hold to be pure being tainted and violated; the word of god, the sanctity of masculinity, or hegemonic gender roles. In a society where these beliefs are upheld and treated as sacred, any conflict with that will be met with judgment at best and violence at worse. 

I don't see the wizarding world as a progressive space where homosexuality or anything LGBT+ would be considered a non issue because the text does not reflect that. The text shows the same misogyny, the same disdain for femininity, and the same reverence for masculinity that we see in everyday life and because of that I feel it only makes sense to see the wizarding world just as bigoted as ours. 

Ok so what does homosexuality look like in the wizarding world then?

Well if we've established the wizarding world as a society that would be hostile (in any way) to gay people I think its easier to move forward on how to imagine how they fit into that society since we have ours for reference. However, Its important to remember that our oppression doesn't define us and its not the only thing to consider while writing. Think about what the fashion would look like, what the music would sound like, what the spaces would be like and just generally what the culture would be. Have fun with it!

Hope this helped a little!

[phoebe-delia]

That's How It Works

Alright, let's do this. This is for @drarrymicrofic prompt "How You Get the Girl" by T-Swizzle. It's also a sequel to this, but it's not necessary to read the other first.

CW: divorce, happy ending, angst with a happy ending, getting back together

My mug slips through my shock-loosened fingers, scorching tea and shards of porcelain littering the floor, as I say with disbelief, "Harry?"

You run a hand through your hair, sheepish as you stand in my doorway. "Hey."

I stand there with my mouth agape, like a complete moron, when you raise an eyebrow. "Do you want some help with that?" you ask, gesturing toward the smashed mug on the floor.

"Leave it," I say petulantly. "What are you doing here?"

You glance around at the flat from where you stand at the entrance, and I move to block your gaze until I get an answer. Your eyes meet mine. "Can I come in?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"Seriously? You're correcting my grammar?"

"You're the one who showed up here unannounced and made me drop my favorite mug," I say, crossing my arms.

You frown. "I thought the blue one was your favorite. With the polka dots?"

I sniff. "Well. Things have changed. I have new mugs. I drink from them all the time, whenever I want to; tea, coffee—whatever beverage I please. I have plenty of mugs; I'm sure you wouldn't recognize half of them. Things have changed, you see."

"So you've said," you reply, and then you sigh. "Draco, I was hoping we could talk."

I purse my lips. "Hm. Well, the last time you said that, you broke a lot more than my favorite mug. So. I'm going to need you to be more specific as to the topic."

You seem to gather yourself for a moment, and then you look at me straight on. "I've spent the last six months about as miserable as I've ever been in my life. When I..." you pause and take a sharp breath, letting it out shakily. "When I left, I thought it would give me clarity. I thought being married was keeping me from figuring out what I wanted from life. But I've spent every single day since then missing you like a part of me," your voice breaks a little, and it makes my chest ache more than I expect.

"Draco," you continue, your hand coming up to rest on the door frame as you step closer. "I still love you. And I'm sorry."

I feel as though I can hardly breathe, with the force of my longing and relief and leftover anger in my throat, but then I glance at where your hand is holding the door, and I gasp quietly. "Is that—"

You follow my gaze to your hand, and you blush. "Yes," you whisper. "I never took it off." You play with the wedding ring you're still wearing on your finger, and I remember with a visceral flash the moment I slid it onto your hand, and how it felt like a puzzle piece fitting into place.

Shaking slightly, I reach out and take your hand in mind, letting our rings bump against each other. "Me too," I murmur, and I see the relief bloom across your face.

"Draco," you breathe, "I—can I please—" you look at me with wide, pleading eyes. "Please can I..." you trail off, but I know what you're asking. I know what you mean. I know you.

I take a moment to gather myself before I wandlessly vanish the mess at our feet. Then I step back to let you in, and you waste no time coming in and taking me in your arms, kicking the door shut behind you.

Your lips meet mine softly, before growing more fervent, and it feels like our first kiss and our thousandth all at once, and in a way, it's both.

We break apart for a moment to catch our breath, our foreheads pressed against each other. You tighten your embrace, nearly squeezing me, as if making sure I'm solidly in your arms.

I feel you press a kiss on my forehead. "Harry?"

"Hm?" you say, kissing my jaw.

"You still owe me a new mug."

I feel your smile against my chin.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Uh. Hmm.

So this is a topic that's kind of hard to talk about due to the polarization of it in general but it's something I have some thoughts about. Recently Kamala Harris on the campaign trail on one of the few times she is actually spoken to the public, has gone out on a limb and said that you should be thankful to unions because you would literally have absolutely nothing if not for unions.

This type of rhetoric actually annoys the hell out of me, because while yes there are times when unions are a good thing unions are not the be all end all. Actually it's much more common that unions themselves become corrupt and make it so it is impossible for you to move up in your own workplace. Specifically, prioritizing employees that have been at a place longer even if they do not deserve to move up because they are lazy. Because what happens typically, is that the top brass of the company will pay off the leadership of the Union which means that you are effectively under two entirely separate power structures. One of which, you actually have to pay to be a part of. Except it gets worse than that. Because often you don't have a choice but to pay to be part of a union at a job site. What's even worse, is sometimes stipulations for you even being able to work at a place is that you will join their Union.

And what's worse, it is often times the case that you cannot go to actual employer when something bad happens to you. Often times you have to go to the union leaders and hope they do something about it instead which can sometimes be bad, because unions often do not have the same form of HR that companies do. And companies will frequently wash their hands of employee issues once a union is formed.

Long story short, unions are not always a good thing. And a lot of people treat them like God's gift to mankind. As if no one would ever have anything ever if not for unions. But that is factually untrue. Mind you this post is not specifically denigrating all unions because it is not the case that all unions are bad. I just take issue with the new personification of unions as if they are perfect and flawless in every way and that they are the only thing that exists in the world that gives help to people as if many a job out there don't already have programs in place to give you time off and what not. Hell, Kamala Harris literally got up on stage and said 5 day work weeks are because of unions and having two days off is actually because of unions. No they are not. It's fucking wild.

Honestly I'm just tired of this deification of Unions. My friend was forced to be in one at his last job and part of his pay went to that Union. What's more he was at the job for 6 years and was WELL qualified to move up. But other more lazy workers were "in line first" and the union had to do all haggling for raises and often didn't unless they really liked you. Unions can be just as bad if not worse than some predatory work places.

[hchollym]

Percy Weasley & Sansa Stark Parallels

This post is going to be more for me than anything else, because I doubt many people are interested in this very specific topic, but I couldn't resist.

Percy & Sansa are two of my favorite characters in literature, and the more I started to think about it, the more I realized how much they have in common. I know that sounds strange, and don't get me wrong, there are some key differences (Sansa was definitely more of an innocent victim - the poor girl was only 11 years old), but they do actually have a lot of similarities as well!

I'm going to link some posts/metas about Percy, just in case someone wants to see extra support for my claims, because I feel like Sansa is a little bit more obvious/self-explanatory in canon.

Basics

They are both tall redheads (which doesn't mean anything, but it is a fun coincidence). 🙂

They are both unfairly hated by fandom because of the POV trap (Harry & Arya).

Personality

They are both feminine (see this post about Percy).

They both love reading, and neither of them are very athletic.

They were both naïve and trusted the wrong people because they didn't know any better. Unfortunately, they were both raised by their fathers to trust in something that wasn't trustworthy (the Ministry of Magic - see this post about Percy - & the idea that most men/knights are honorable).

They are both romantic in nature (Percy writing love letters & Sansa reading love stories). Interestingly enough, both of them are the first siblings in their families to be given a storyline that involves a romantic relationship/betrothal & yet both of their oldest brothers end up getting married first (which is not a bad thing; it's just an observation).

Family/Background

They were both the "perfect" child who had high expectations placed on them from a young age ("Sansa was a lady at three, always so courteous and eager to please."), yet they were also ignored the most because they were "easy" compared to their siblings (see this post on Percy's relationship with his mother).

This is why their acts of "rebellion" (Percy disowning his family & Sansa going to Cersei) were so unexpected. They were always so well-behaved until they finally felt pushed over the edge:

“What do we want to be prefects for?” said George, looking revolted at the very idea. “It’d take all the fun out of life.”  Ginny giggled.  “You want to set a better example for your sister!” snapped Mrs. Weasley.  “Ginny’s got other brothers to set her an example, Mother,” said Percy loftily. 

suddenly changing to:

“He went completely berserk. He said — well, he said loads of terrible stuff... And he packed his bags the same night and left. He’s living here in London now.”

&

"It was for love," Sansa said in a rush. "Father wouldn't even give me leave to say farewell." She was the good girl, the obedient girl, but she had felt as wicked as Arya that morning, sneaking away from Septa Mordane, defying her lord father..."

They were both usually the odd one out with their siblings, who all had a closer bond with each other than with Percy/Sansa. Their siblings also looked down on their interests because they couldn't relate to them:

“We’re trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin — leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year —” “That’ll change the world, that report will,” said Ron. “Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks.” Percy went slightly pink.

&

Sansa would have sighed and shed a tear for true love, but Arya just thought it was stupid. 

They were also the target of their siblings' pranks/mischief:

“I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days.” “Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?” said Fred. “That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!” said Percy, going very red in the face. “It was nothing personal!” “It was,” Fred whispered to Harry as they got up from the table. “We sent it.”

&

"Arya started it," Sansa said quickly, anxious to have the first word. "She called me a liar and threw an orange at me and spoiled my dress, the ivory silk, the one Queen Cersei gave me when I was betrothed to Prince Joffrey."

They were both resented by their younger sibling(s), who each happen to be about 2 years younger than them (Fred and George & Arya):

"...we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy —” “Perfect Percy,” muttered Fred.

&

Sansa had the grace to blush. She blushed prettily. She did everything prettily, Arya thought with dull resentment.

Ironically enough, their parents usually let those siblings get away with a lot more than Percy or Sansa would have been allowed to get away with (see this post on Molly & Arthur's lack of discipline with the twins):

None of which stopped Arya, of course. One day she came back grinning her horsey grin, her hair all tangled and her clothes covered in mud, clutching a raggedy bunch of purple and green flowers for Father. Sansa kept hoping he would tell Arya to behave herself and act like the highborn lady she was supposed to be, but he never did, he only hugged her and thanked her for the flowers. That just made her worse.

Circumstances/Storylines

Their fathers failed them (though not on purpose) when they needed them most (Arthur yelled at Percy and accused him of spying instead of calmly helping Percy see that he was being used & Ned refused to explain why Sansa's betrothal was being called off). This directly led to their acts of rebellion.

As a result, they were both taken advantage of by people in power (Fudge & Cersei) and separated from their family. Initially, this is what they both thought they wanted (Percy chose to leave & Sansa wanted to remain in King's Landing with Joffrey instead of returning home), but they both ended up regretting it (after losing their innocence and naivety) and wanting their family back.

They were both young, and yet they were judged for not knowing something that even the adults didn't know (Percy didn't notice that his boss, Barty Sr., who he barely knew, was under the Imperious Curse, while Dumbledore failed to notice that his old friend was actually a Death Eater using a Polyjuice potion & Sansa thought that she could trust Cersei while Ned believed that he could trust Cersei enough to warn her to leave town without her retaliating against him).

While they were separated/alone, their mothers were really the only ones doing anything to try and get them back (Molly visited Percy & Catelyn freed Jaime).

They both had to play their part in politics under a corrupt government. They both originally wanted to be a part of that system (eventually becoming the Minister of Magic & eventually becoming the queen). They ended up realizing that the people in charge were not as noble and well-intentioned as they thought.

They learned to be more careful about who they trusted, and they adapted to survive (Percy in a Ministry controlled by Voldemort & Sansa with the threat of Cersei, Jeffrey, and Littlefinger).

They both lost a brother. 😭

He and Ron had both grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the floor, but Percy lay across Fred’s body, shielding it from further harm.

&

Robb had died at a wedding feast as well. It was Robb she wept for. 

They both reconnected/made amends with the sibling(s) that initially resented them (Sansa and Arya will meet again and work things out in the books - fight me):

“I was a fool!” Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a— a— ” “Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron.” said Fred. Percy swallowed. “Yes, I was!” “Well, you can’t say fairer that that,” said Fred, holding out his hand to Percy.

In Conclusion

I just found it interesting that two of my favorite characters - who seem very different - have so much in common. I'm sure that says something about me! 🤣😊

[basiatlu]

What r your thoughts on a Ron and Draco friendship? I feel like when Harry and Hermione are both at work and one of them starts to feel lonely/bored that either Ron or Draco will show up at the other persons front door and pretend they are only there because they “promised Harry/Hermione I would check in on you” or some other lie. They would definitely argue the entire time and at first every single time they hang out both Harry and Hermione think “oh my god they hate each other and do nothing but fight we have to stop letting them cross paths before someone crosses a line” only to slowly realize that Ron and Draco are actually having the time of their lives together because they LOVE debating anything and everything. They love it. This is crack to them. Arguing is their weird love language with one another and the more tense and passionate the argument is then the more fun they are having, even when it looks like they’re both furious at one another.

They just get into full screaming arguments across Mollys kitchen table but the entire time they are sharing a tin of biscuits and taking turns making tea all without pausing their debate. They maintain that they hate each other if anyone asks, but you know that Draco is pacing the flat any time they have the other couple over, pretending to complain about “if she brings the Weasel you’d better tell him he’s not allowed on the furniture” all the whole bouncing excitedly on his toes and queueing up topics for debate in his mind.

On the other side you have Ron following Hermione around the house and griping “He’s not seriously bringing the ferret with him, is he? He’s such a posh twat, Hermione, it’s going to be miserable!” Meanwhile he’s just stocked up on his and Draco’s favorite sweets specifically for such an occasion.

Just—I can imagine the both of them being so steadfast in the idea of “no, I hate him, he’s awful” while completely unaware that actually they are pretty much best friends and love each others company lol. They’d bitch and complain and slander one another all day long but you just know if anyone did anything to the other they would be grabbing their wand and rushing to the defense. What do you think a friendship between them would look like?

Honestly? I feel similar on a lot of this!

In some iterations of Draco I can see him and Ron at first being really defensive and prodding like two cats forced to cohabitate the same room. There will be a lot of hissing and spitting and raised haunches but one day

Malfoy will say something dry and self-deprecating, and Ron will laugh before he realizes what's happened. And I think Harry being a butt of their jokes (in good taste) will bring them together. And when Draco gets enough tact to speak with Hermione in a respectful way, Ron will see he's actually got a good head on his shoulders.

It's when he comes for Christmas dinner at the Burrow for the 1st time, immediately starts asking George and Arthur about their respective hobbies and careers with earnest interest, goes to set the dining table in a display of elaborate housekeeping charms without being asked ("Because none of you ungrateful pests have done it already! Must she still wipe your chins for you too?"), compliments Molly by asking for second helpings of her cooking, and then when gifted a knitted scarf (a precursor, a warmup before the real Weasley sweater initiation to follow next year) Draco laughs in triumph and wears it immediately. Strikes a pose in front of Harry.

"Never got one of these, ey Potter? I'm special!"

And Ron has to admit that he's alright.

[moonlightdancer26]

And even Sirius loved Lily more than Lupin.

When I first read this I thought you meant “And even Sirius loved Lily more than Remus loved Lily” and I was about to write a whole ass essay on why the “Lily and Remus friendship” headcanon is the opposite of what we actually see in canon because neither of them have ever talked about each other in canon and the only time we see Lily positively interacting with a Marauder is when she writes a letter to Sirius (who she also agreed to be her secret keeper, aka trusting him with her life) and she even mentions Peter (who she ALSO agreed to be her secretkeeper and trusted with her life) and calls him “Wormy” but never ever mentions Remus in the letter, and when Remus talked to Harry about the past, it was ALWAYS about James and never about Lily and he never said her name in canon (the closest thing we get is him saying “she (he didn’t even call her by her name) started going out with James in 7th year”) and when during Harry’s private lessons Harry mentioned seeing his PARENTS, Remus immediately asks “You heard James?” without even giving Lily a thought (even though her son literally just said that he saw a memory of her DEATH 💀) and that Marauder stans pretty much use Remus as a replacement for Severus and try to erase Lily’s friendship with Severus by giving Remus Snape’s canon traits and trying to create a bond that never existed in canon (Remus and Lily). But then I realised that anon meant “Sirius loved Lily more than he loved Remus” and I got upset that I could’ve had a chance to rant about this very specific topic that I happen to have a lot of thoughts on, but oh well :D

[wrenaspun]

tagged by @princessniitza to answer several questions and tag five people!! Thank you frond 🥰 Let's go:

1. How did you get into writing fanfiction? A fanart blog! After I finished the HP series I was googling it passionately and in so doing found fanart, followed it to a wordpress art blog, and then upon an offhand comment about fanfiction googled 'harry potter fanfiction'. And the rest is history

2. How many fandoms have you written in? 7 that i've published on ao3! I think 9 if we count stuff I've posted elsewhere, and probably a few more if we count stuff I've written but not published

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction? My first one was published in mid 2013.... 11 years. Good lord

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction? Oh read, for sure. I keep a spreadsheet for both reading and writing -- I'm nearly at 6million words read thus far this year, vs 80k written. A slight disparity !

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer? Loool is it cheating to say in every way?? I think if you compared any of my fics now to those of 11 years ago they would simply not be in the same league. But I'll say my command of language, and my ability to communicate emotions more subtly.

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project? Polythene growing tunnels, firewood growing and coppicing techniques, for one fic I read (bits of) the muqaddimah and the safarnama of nasir khusraw... I'm sure there are more but I tend not to end up using much from my more unhinged research holes lmao

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work? All of them of course, but the ones that dive into specific lines or story elements they liked are a special gift

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about? I think amnesia and selkies are the 2 I've returned to across multiple fandoms :')

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write? The long ones with lots of plot and moving plates, alas! I've been wrestling with the main longfic I'm working on for ages and ages, but we forge on

10. What is the easiest type? I don't know if there's anything that binds them, but there is a type of fic that just comes bubbling up from my id and demands to be written, and those tend to come out relatively quickly and smoothly! 'bathed in light' was one such fic, and 'send me a little word' was another

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When? Scrivener! But it's version 1.9 because the update to v3 made everything look different and frightening. And as for when/where it's usually late night, on my couch or in bed

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day? My beloved film reviews fic -- though it is less a case of intimidation and more a case of "but if i want to write fictional film reviews of 5 films that get made about the historical figures King Laurent and King Damianos I have to first sort out what the future film industry looks like and how it developed and did they have a Hays Code also? How did their censorship policies change over time? And when did three-strip technicolor get dropped in favour of eastmancolor, and were there any wars or geopolitical conflicts which shaped the production of contemporaneous films, and is there a 1948 New Artes v. Paramount antitrust case that breaks up the distribution channels and affects the way that independent productions are able to come onto the scene, and and and ----" SO basically you can tell I did film studies. And ALSO what DATES would I use for the speculative future of this secondary world fantasy ?? But I do hope that one day I will power thru my brain's panicked worldbuilding questions and write this fic!!

13. What made you choose your username? I was looking through the Hepcats Jive Talk Dictionary for reasons I no longer remember and saw the entry 'spin a wren = dance with a woman' which I thought was so cute that I made it my ao3 name. Wrenaspun is just a silly play on that :')

tagging without pressure @kybelles @sideraclara @folfar @thevorpalsword @penguinmerchant 🥳🥰

[freedomfireflies]

going anon for this just because i’m a little embarrassed about it lol

i’ve been feeling kind of weird lately because one of my favorite writers on here has started writing a lot of nonconsensual smut stuff. i know i’m well within my right to not read those specific pieces, as she does do her due diligence and provides content warnings, but something about it just makes me feel a little weird? and when i say nonconsensual smut, i mean like it’s harry’s character doing something nonconsensual with the reader or mc, but they end up being into it so it’s still framed as being “sexy.” i’m seeing these stories come up on my dash and i get excited to read them but then i read the content warning and just know that it’s gonna upset me, so i don’t. and it’s been starting to make me question my appreciation for this writer a bit. idk, do i sound ridiculous? do i just need to get over myself? as someone who writes a lot of smut and has dipped your toes into some kinkier stuff, haha, i thought you might have a better perspective on it :)

Omg hi my love!! Nothing to be embarrassed about, fanfic can be a huge part of discovering what we like and don't like, and if something makes you feel uncomfortable, you have every right to question it!

I'm so glad to hear there are content warnings, that's so important, especially for more taboo or kinkier topics!! And I'm so glad you know yourself enough to know not to read something that can upset you!!

I don't know which writer this is, but I can almost promise it's not done with any malicious intent! Sometimes we think we need to writer crazier things in our stories and smut in order to keep an audience! We want to write what no one else has so that way more people will read it and share! And maybe that's what they're doing!

Or maybe the idea is more about Harry introducing the mc to something they didn't realize they would like until it was brought up! And it wasn't intended to read as nonconsensual!

Obviously I don't know that for sure, and if at any point the mc has said the words, "No." and Harry still continued, that would definitely be crossing a very specific line! And would honestly make me uncomfortable, too!

I think you have every right to feel weird about it, especially if it's from an author you love to read from and enjoy following! I think you could message them and admit that you aren't super comfortable and see if they're purposefully writing it that way or if they're open to being more mindful going forward!

But if any author or story ever makes you feel uncomfortable, trust yourself and your instinct! There are some very strange things that get written about in this fandom and I'm even guilty of having written a couple myself! Sometimes we say it's because it's just fanfic and it's not real, but it can feel very real to people!

And if it puts a bad feeling in your stomach, follow that and do what you know is best for you! 💞 Maybe you can mute the author (filter their username) or even mute tags or words that they frequently use so you won't have to see it!!

Again, I'm so proud of you for recognizing this and not trying to force yourself to read anything you don't feel good about!! And I hope this helps even somewhat! If you ever want to talk privately, I'm always always here!!! 💞

[twopoppies]

Hello sorry for ask this but what is going on twitter is crazy more than always what is the real meaning of a blouies??

I have read the most creepy stuff like they support cannibalism, p3do and transphobic harry also infantilizacion of L in fictions, is there a real concept for blouies or people is really only throwing hate.

Because my limited and lack of knowledge of the topic thought that blouies was like bottom L writers

That’s basically what blouies are, but plenty of people write bottom Louis without labeling themselves “blouies”. I avoid Twitter, so I don’t know what you’re talking about specifically (and those accusations sound pretty stupid, if you ask me). But, in my experience, people who call themselves blouies tend to prefer a very feminized version of Louis (petite in height, crop tops and dresses, belly rings, “sassy” attitude, submissive, etc) and a very “masculine” version of Harry (beefy/muscular/tall, dominant, lots of focus on his huge dick and how much bigger he is than Louis in general, often long-suffering as he puts up with “sassy” Louis, etc).

Many people feel these fics are far off-base in terms of who HL present themselves as irl, but fics are fics. People are allowed to like what they like.

The real problem I see is the blouies who insist their interpretation is who HL actually are and attack people who see (or write) differently. This group of very loud blouies are are bullies and who attack people left and right that they don’t like and often for people having conversations about feminine Harry or the idea that H might not be cis-gender.

Thankfully, most of them seem to stay on Twitter.

[confessmau]

this is less of a hot take more like a complaint but something I think isn’t nearly as talked abt is the magic system and how it works in MS/MCD. In McD it’s slightly more explored.

Jess just kinda threw a lot of… stuff at us and expected us to just digest it without further explaining what’s in the dish.

it’s the equivalent of a stranger walking up to you, handing you a plate of somewhat appealing food, and telling you to eat it. Like most people want to know what’s in the food.

there’s two different forms of it, kinda not really, magic and magik’s. With no real meaningful difference between the two.

we know there’s a high magic council, that’s off busy doing god knows what during MS’s climax.

We know that aside from magik’s and magic there’s multiple different classifications of magic. By extension we know most of magic is drawn from emotion (it’s still stated extremely vaguely tho), and healing magic is done through equivalent exchange.

we know there’s demons and other mythical humanoid/animal like creatures.

we know there’s a spirit world.

we know there’s like familiars, and some of those spells that come with it.

And we know there’s other gods besides the divine. (They’re technically not gods, but they’re still treated like it in dialogue so)

and we know that there’s magic laws, colleges, maybe even governments and places that are purely inhabited by magic users alla Harry Potter.

my point being, with all these jumping points you would thing at least would be expanded on, but nope, magic in this world is just, accepted as a factor and treated like a relatively unimpressive spectacle.

which is weird because despite there being lots ways to show off how society, both physically and psychologically would change. There’s so many cool world building you could do, but Jess just- opts to shove goofy ass spells in our face.

at least until season 4 where the really bad forbidden spell is made which, isn’t even investigated by this magic council that put the rule that you can’t make it in place. But if Jess did that then she’d have to do several things we know she wouldn’t want to do like; explain why forever potions are band and love potions aren’t, actually focus on characters and the world bigger than our cast of characters mainly aph and Aaron, come up with actual world building and discuss the conflicts that may arise out of having magic being used so freely in schools and just public areas in general.

like there’s so many deeper topics that you could present with it but no; cat potionsssss, love potion misunderstandings/conflicts that we’ve seen a million other times and done so much better in a handful of them, teleportation which does have a bit of a limit granted, more destructive chaotic potions that multiple characters have not accidentally/purposefully caused 100’s of 1,000 dollars with, but also put people in actual physical danger in both schools and public settings, potions that allow you to swap fantasy races for comedy.

The main problem is that Jess kinda just, pulled out random generic spells as she went along and only put debuffs on it later to nerf it. Again like the teleportation, or forever potion victims just needing to feel a “strong emotion”. It’s not thought out at all, which I’m not surprised by but god, it could’ve been so interesting.

oh i can explain the magic differences sorta ~~

magicks/magics plural is exclusive to mcd. people who use magicks have to be born with an innate connection to the magicks that flows through the world. and your abilities tend to fall into a specific category of spell (ex. kc specializes in animation magicks, zoey has barrier magicks etc.) some magicks users can perform witchcraft in spells related to their field, but witchcraft is for the most part a seperate skill. it is the best explained out of the three.

magic is a mystreet concept and allegedly anyone can use it with a "strong emotion". there are only a couple categories of spell, and specific emotions are required for each one (happy is creation, anger for destruction, sorrow for elemental, and love for healing). only the healing magic is ever used, and its mostly unrelated to witchcraft even through lucinda exposits about it. [imo adding a magic with such a loose requirement and never using it only serves to dampen any emotional scenes after its introduction since (ex. zane couldn't have been THAT sad about aph's death if he didn't become the avatar) but that's a little unrelated lol)

witchcraft is the jack of all trades of magic in both worlds and is characterized by using specific incantations and ingrediants for spells to work. anyone can do it with training or only some people can do it depending on the timeline. it is the most lawless of the three, mostly due to the fact that lucinda is the only important witch and her primary role is plot device. the majority of magic use is witchcraft, including the forever potions.

[drdemonprince]

Can you talk more about the "doing harm" thing or share some reads you like about it? Everyone seems to have a different definition and I struggle with the difference of what's offensive to an individual vs harmful to a community

My sense of this is something that I have developed over the course of years, based on reading fairly widely about systemic oppression, boundary setting, activist organizing, and interpersonal dynamics. And for me it never stops developing as I continue to reflect more and see how various takes on the topic play out in various communities.

I don't have any specific resources to recommend that spell out how to develop that sense per se, because that all comes down to personal discernment, but I would encourage people to read authors whose analysis of systemic oppression is firmly rooted in anti-capitalism and abolitionism. If someone's perspective on social justice is not rooted in collective liberatory work, then it's just using identity as a means of selling a personal brand a lot of the time.

Writers that i've gotten a lot from include: bell hooks, Angela Davis, Rabbi Ruti Reagan, Aubrey Gordon, Emma Dabiri, Captain Awkward, Koa Beck, and Julia Serano. Some of these writers are more explicitly political than others, but even the ones who are more focused on social norms and boundaries (like Captain Awkward and Ruti Reagan) take a focus that is pretty targeted and practical.

Ultimately, you are gonna disagree with people sometimes about what is harmful. For example, I do not think thought crimes or emotion crimes are a thing. I don't even really think taste or media consumption crimes are a thing. My sister is eagerly playing the new harry potter game right this very moment and I fully do not give a shit. I would rather that she find a way to pirate it so that she wasn't compensating JKR by playing it, enriching JKR is undeniably harmful, but I have zero interest in convincing her not to like a media property, because in her personal conduct she is the only stalwart advocate I have in my family, and I've seen the positive impact that she has on the queer kids at the high school where she works.

my sister's real-life impact on the world matters to me a lot more than her liking this stupid ass game, enough for me to not choose this particular battle. I don't think fighting with her about it would bring any good into the world. In fact, it would drive us apart and make my life, her life, and our mother's life significantly worse. I could understand why people would disagree with me or handle their own affairs differently.

I think broadly speaking most of the social justice oriented internet has wildly lost any reasonable sense of scale or priority as well as tactics on a variety of matters, so we wind up creating tensions within our communities over smaller or symbolic forms of harm even when that makes it more difficult for us to tackle more significant sources of harm in a shared way. my sister cares about trans people, she fights for abortion rights, she's anti cop enough to have persuaded someone close to her not to go to the police academy, and she also is a potter enjoying disney adult. i love her to pieces and im so glad she is alive and i know she's a net positive on this earth. i dont think me haranguing her over her media habits leads to her having a better impact on this earth, and i know it would fuck my life up.

that said, i can't determine what is harmful (or on what scale it is harmful) for anybody else. many people would be very reasonably torn up over their beloved trans friendly sibling still being interested in playing the mega terf antisemitism game. that's all real, and that game and the person who birthed its IP are truly terrible. but i tend to see even the problem of harry potter's success as being a systemic one not an individual choice driven one, so. in this case it's one i let go of.

[catty-words]

Writing question!

I tried to write a fic and kept slipping into present tense. The source material was in past tense so I was arbitrarily determined to keep it in past but it nearly killed me. I realized all the books I grew up reading were in past tense but that more recent books have been in present (Red, White & Royal Blue for one). I also realized that many of my favorite fics (including yours) are written in present tense.

Currently mulling over lots of questions about this and would love to hear your thoughts if you want to share.

How does tense change the vibe of a story? Does it feel more visceral when you’re in the moment with the character?

Is it a genre thing? A historical author vs modern author thing?

Is it more prevalent in fan fiction? Why?

As we interact more and more with visual media (lots of people prefer video calls, more things seem to be shifting to video), does it make us shift to present? Like we’re living the story and relaying it as we watch it in our heads?

Has anyone ever written a novel in future tense? Will they? It would be so strange if that became the norm! (But I remember being very thrown by that present tense in the Bloody Jack series as a teen, maybe future tense will one day feel the most natural to me.)

Am I rereading this ask as I write it to see what tense comes most naturally to me? (Yes) Am I overthinking the fact that it’s present once again? (Yes again.)

Do most people tell stories to their friends in present or past tense when they’re just chatting casually? Why can’t I remember how anyone speaks anymore? I was just talking to someone five min ago! 😫

this is a strangely topical ask! earlier this week, i watched this jane mulcahy video (haven't read or watched 'red, white & royal blue', just a jane mulcahy enjoyer) where she notes that writing in present tense is a very fanfic thing to do. and i remember her reasoning being similar to yours - i.e. it feels more immediate if the action is happening with the character.

i think i'd even posit that present tense feels especially natural when it comes to fic written about television. most television is present-tense. unless the story is specifically playing with linear time, what you're watching is unfolding as you're watching it.

as an experiment, i just clicked into the harry potter ao3 feed, jumped to page 4,988 and clicked open the first fic (x). there seems to be some wonky tense stuff happening at first before it settles into past tense. The second one on the page (x) uses a lot of past perfect and then past.

anecdotally, this supports my point, as well as validates your instinct to write in the same tense as the source material.

personally, present tense has always felt the most natural to me. i like when words end in '-s' better than '-ed', it satisfies my brain for some unknowable and instinctual reason. so, i don't give tense much thought, i mostly let it happen to me.

that said, now that i am thinking about it, i'm inclined to say present tense gives a story a lot of momentum. it feels more actionable. past tense, on the other hand, lends a more weighty feel. the events of the story are settled and there's no changing them now.