Hello again! So I asked you about Druna already and I get your feelings on Dransy and Drastoria. So I have a follow up question: what is your ideal family for Draco?

I like Druna because it gives Draco a love interest who he does not change for but who can support him in his change as you have said too. I'm beginning to like Dransy based on the idea that they can change together. But who do you think would make a better wife and why?

Also do you picture Draco with a small or large family? I'm very fond of daydreaming Draco with 3 kids. In one Druna world I have crafted, he has five but that's an exception. Not a fan of very huge families like the Weasleys. Draco basically has no extended family at the end of the series and I like the thought of Draco having more than one kid. A new era for the Malfoy line to be better and flourish.

Currently my ideal Draco family is a daughter he conceived with Tom Riddle which Tom wanted to have aborted but Draco didn't so they never spoke again until the girl wanted to know why she was a Parseltongue and found out about Tom.

And inheritance-splitting gives me the ick (I'm an only child and making up sibling OCs is inconceivable).

I need to think of people's deeply upsetting friendship (and sometimes relationship) headcanons as hard kink, so they make more sense and upset me less

you know, like isn't disrespecting boundaries and humiliating loved ones so cute and funny and quirky xDD

I don't think so, but some people do be into all sorts of torture and kinktomato to them 🍅

even if straight women did dominate m/m shipping to the degree people like to claim (which I’ve never seen substantiated and which has never reflected my own fandom experience), it wouldn’t hurt to maybe extend a little empathy with regard to why women who are attracted to men might find straight erotica painful and alienating to consume. perhaps apply some critical thought before whipping out fetishization as a trump card. 

why did I think I could commit to a multi-chapter, I'm a sagittarius

every chapter I just wrote whatever I felt like at the time, which got progressively far from the original thesis the fic was supposed to be about and now it barely makes sense and I don't even believe in that original point anymore, so I could maybe steer it into another direction but that would be a really forced thing just to finish it at all costs and everything would still be holding on to coherency by a thread

and this is the second multichap I've started and didn't wanna finish lol (the other one I took down)

ok I just wanna say if you see a kink on tumblr or wherever that really turns u on and then you try it irl and it doesn’t make u feel the way you hoped it would THATS OK!! You can let that kink live in fantasy!! There are a lot of things that turn my brain on that I don’t enjoy during actual sex!! Isn’t human sexuality interesting!!

i think my key issue with the sanitization of death eater characters is that it feels like people do not see their stories as tragic or empathize with the characters until we have a hc that's like "actually they were morally good the whole time!"

regulus black and severus snape are tragic characters and child soldiers no matter what side they were "really" on. even barty crouch jr, who may not have been groomed into being a death eater, is tragic when you spend a second to consider his relationship with his father. there are plenty of death eaters who we know are taking after their fathers in joining the cult. lucius malfoy, who was a prefect when the marauders enter hogwarts, most likely spread the death eater ideology, since the ideology is just a more extreme version/logical endpoint of what already existed in the wizarding world.

to me, these ideas are not headcanons, because they are heavily implied by the text. when jkr mentions malfoy in the deathly hallows that is not for no reason.

mallfoy's acceptance of snape and position of power are both highlighted in this sentence. we can infer that snape felt a sense of community for the first time in Slytherin. with malfoy as a prefect we can infer that the culture of Slytherin house lifted up bigots and those with an important family name.

this is a culture that breeds more bigotry. we know that Dumbledore did not step in to stop this cultural development in the 90s, after already seeing what it could do!!! so we can infer that he did not in the 70s. so a bunch of children were left alone in an echo chamber of hate. of course some of them became fanatics!!!

this doesn't mean they shouldn't be held accountable. but we cannot expect children to overcome cultural and political hegemony all alone. like.... that's just not how the world works. and it's tragic that children are fodder for fascist's wars, especially when the fact that the children were abused or neglected makes them more vulnerable to be fodder.

regulus and severus weren't treated as people, their humanity was denied by the fascist they served, bc that's how fascism works. exploring their characters as they are in canon, with full humanity, without needing to change their stories to see that humanity, is much more interesting to me. it is much more in the spirit of redemption and restoration.

"The man who followed could only be Draco's father. He had the same pale, pointed face and identical cold, grey eyes." (CS4)

"[Snape's] black eyes were fixed upon Narcissa's tear-filled blue ones as she continued to clutch his hand." (HBP2)

but go off I guess

both harry and draco have their mothers eyes but resemble their fathers, and yet they carry the spirits of their mothers in every action. in this essay i will…

Tom Marvolo Riddle

make bad art or you will always feel bad about your art. Make bad art until you find joy in the crooked lines and the off colours. Make bad art because art is about expression and artwork is never ugly because it was made by someone who has lived a life no one else will ever live. Make bad art and find love through ugly. Make bad art so you make art at all. Make bad art.

Writing tips for long fics that helped me that no one asked for.

1.) Don't actually delete content from your WIP unless it is minor editing - instead cut it and put it in a secondary document. If you're omitting paragraphs of content, dialog, a whole scene you might find a better place for it later and having it readily available can really save time. Sometimes your idea was fantastic, but it just wasn't in the right spot.

2.) Stuck with wording the action? Just write the dialog then revisit it later.

3.) Stuck on the whole scene? Skip it and write the next one.

4.) Write on literally any other color than a white background. It just works. (I use black)

5.) If you have a beta, while they are beta-ing have them read your fic out loud. Yes, I know a lot of betas/writers do not have the luxury of face-timing or have the opportunity to do this due to time constraints etc but reading your fic out loud can catch some very awkward phrasing that otherwise might be missed. If you don't have a beta, you read it out loud to yourself. Throw some passion into your dialog, you might find a better way to word it if it sounds stuffy or weird.

6.) The moment you have an idea, write it down. If you don't have paper or a pen, EMAIL it to yourself or put it in a draft etc etc. I have sent myself dozens of ideas while laying down before sleep that I 10/10 forgot the next morning but had emailed them to myself and got to implement them.

7.) Remember - hits/likes/kudos/comments are not reflective of the quality of your fic or your ability to write. Most people just don't comment - even if they say they do, they don't, even if they preach all day about commenting, they don't, even if they are a very popular blog that passionately reminds people to comment - they don't comment (I know this personally). Even if your fic brought tears to their eyes and it haunted them for weeks and they printed it out and sent it to their friends they just don't comment. You just have to accept it. That being said - comment on the fic you're reading now, just do it, if you're 'shy' and that's why you don't comment the more you comment the better you'll get at it. Just do it.

8.) Remove unrealistic daily word count goals from your routine. I've seen people stress 1500 - 2000 words a day and if they don't reach that they feel like a failure and they get discouraged. This is ridiculous. Write when you can, but remove absurd goals. My average is 500 words a day in combination with a 40 hour a week job and I have written over 200k words from 2022-2023.

9.) There are dozens of ways to do an outline from precise analytical deconstruction that goes scene by scene to the minimalist bullet point list - it doesn't matter which one you use just have some sort of direction. A partial outline is better than no outline.

10.) Write for yourself, not for others. Write the fic you know no one is going to read. Write the fic that sounds ridiculous. You will be so happy you put it out in the world and there will be people who will be glad it exists.

Tom's first year in Slytherin.

Dog Star in the Sun (200 words, wolfstar, G)

Two years after the war, Remus and Sirius go on holiday. It feels good.

Written on vacation as a challenge to write fluff <3

Read on ao3 or below the cut

The Azkaban chill never fully left him, but, with the sun shining on the Menorca beach, Sirius pretends otherwise. Tomorrow, Remus will rub the aloe-mugwort salve on his body to undo the damage, but today the hot Mediterranean sun burns the prison out of Sirius’s bones. 

A child’s happy yelp down the beach interrupts the steady alterations of rumbling waves and the hiss of water pulling away from sand, called by the moon away from the shore. The scent of cigar smoke intermixes with salt spray and sunscreen. 

Here, the Black surname means nothing except to mark him as another British tourist, skinny and pale, though one who has even less sense of the conversion of pounds to pesetas and the introducing euro than most. Sirius is on the younger side of forty, but his weary bones could pass for a handsome fifty.

His moon-scarred lover lies asleep next to him, a paperback covering his face, ribs rising and falling. 

Remus stretches; his sandy toe brushes Sirius’s burnt calf with every breath, an insistent scratch against sensitive skin. It would be painful if it didn’t feel like love. 

Shoulders loosened. An exhale in the new millennium. Sirius lets himself rest.

After watching Cinderella (the original animated movie, which was my favorite as a child), it strikes me how it solves many common problems people have with this fairy tale. Like:

Why did they try to identify the mystery girl using her shoe size? Because the bullheaded king's only clue to her identity was the shoe the Grand Duke picked up off the steps.

Why didn't the prince recognize her by her face? Because his father wouldn't involve him in the process at all, and wasn't the one going around trying to find her.

Why did the prince want to marry a lady he only met that night? Because his father was going to force him to marry someone, and he genuinely liked this woman.

Why did Cinderella want to marry a man she only met that night? Because marriage was her best and most secure way to freedom. Fucked up, but you can't say it's unrealistic for the setting of a fairy tale. She also genuinely liked him.

If they're using the slipper to find her, wouldn't it be more sensible to search for the person with the other slipper? Yes. The King is purposefully nonsensical and the Duke is purposefully terrified enough of him to carry out his orders to the letter. Furthermore, they end up doing that in the end anyway, because the Duke's glass slipper is shattered, and Cinderella brings out the one she has to prove her identity.

Why didn't the stepmother and stepsisters recognize Cinderella at the ball? Because they were dancing too far away, and then left the party to dance in private, which was possible because the King wanted very badly for his son to hit it off with someone and tried to arrange the best conditions for that to happen.

Why didn't Cinderella save herself? Because in real life, abuse victims should not have to shoulder that responsibility, and usually can't. In real life, you need and deserve an external support system. Asking for help, in this kind of situation, is very important. She is saved by others because she is loved. Because she is not alone. Because she has friends who love her, and want her to be happy and safe and free. Because in real life, people who want to help someone who is suffering are like the mice. We can't pull out miracle solutions, but we can provide companionship and if we're in the right place at the right time, we can help the person find a better life.

Why didn't the fairy godmother save Cinderella from her abusive household, or try to help her sooner? Because she's magic, and magic can't solve your problems. Quote: "Like all dreams, well, I'm afraid it can't last forever." This (and Cinderella's dream of going to the ball) is a metaphor for pleasurable things in bad circumstances. An ice cream won't get rid of your depression, but it will provide you with momentary happiness to bolster you, as well as the reminder that happiness in general is still possible for you. Cinderella doesn't want to go to the ball so she can get away from her stepmother and stepsisters, or so she can meet someone to marry and leave with. She wants to go to the ball to remind herself that she can still have things she wants. That her desires matter. This is important because the movie does a very good job of illustrating Lady Tremaine's subtle abuse tactics, all of which invisibly press the message that Cinderella doesn't matter. While going to the ball and fulfilling her dreams may not be a victory in the material sense, it is still a victory against Lady Tremaine's efforts.

Why is Cinderella's choice to be kind and obedient framed as a good thing, when you are not obligated to be kind to your abuser? This one walks a very fine line, but I think the movie still makes it make sense. Lady Tremaine never acknowledges her cruelty. She always frames her punishments of Cinderella as Cinderella's fault. Cinderella is interrupting, Cinderella is shirking her duties, Cinderella is playing vicious practical jokes. Cinderella is still a member of the family, of course she can go to the ball, provided she meet these impossible conditions. Lady Tremaine's tactics are designed to make Cinderella feel like she must always be in the wrong and her stepmother must always be in the right. If Cinderella calls her stepmother out on her cruelty, or attempts to fight back, Lady Tremaine can frame that as Cinderella being ungrateful, cruel, broken, evil, etc. If Cinderella responds to her stepmother's cruelty defiantly (in the way she's justified to), she's not taking control out of Lady Tremaine's hands. Disobedience can be spun back into her stepmother's control. She wants Cinderella to be angry and sad and show how much she's hurting. So since Cinderella is adapting to her situation, she chooses to be kind. Not only because she naturally wants to be and it's part of her personality, but because it is a form of defiance in its own way, and it allows her to keep a reminder of her agency and value. Her choice to be kind is her chance to keep her own narrative alive: she is not obeying because her stepmother wants her to and she has to do what her stepmother does, but because she wants to. It's a small distinction, but one that makes all the difference in terms of keeping her hope and identity. (Fuck, I wrote a whole paragraph about how this doesn't mean you can't be angry at people who hurt you or that you need to be kind to deserve help, and then deleted it by accident. Uh. Try again.) Expressing anger and pain is an important part of regaining autonomy and healing. Although it is commendable to be kind while you are suffering, it is NOT required for you to get help or be worthy of help. If Cinderella's recovery was explored beyond "happily ever after" she would need to let herself be angry and sad to heal. Cinderella is not only kind because it comes naturally to her, but because it's her defense against the abuse she's suffering. Everyone's story and experiences are different, and one does not invalidate the other.

Bonus round for answers that aren't part of the movie:

Why didn't Cinderella run away? Where would she go? Genuinely, in hundreds-of-years-ago France, where would she go if she snuck out of the window with a change of clothes? With her step-family, she's miserable and abused, but she's fed, clothed, and in no danger of dying or being taken advantage of by anyone other than her stepmother and stepsisters. Even if she escapes and manages to find financial security, her stepmother might be able to find her and get her back.

Why didn't Cinderella burn the house down with them inside it/slit their throats in the night/poison their food/etc.? Because that's a revenge fantasy, and this story is a fantasy about being saved. There's nothing wrong with making Cinderella into a revenge fantasy. That's perfectly fine, as long as you acknowledge that the other type of fantasy is also a valid interpretation. (I mean, the original fairy tale features the stepsisters getting their feet mutilated and all three of them getting their eyes pecked out, so go for it.)

Why isn't Cinderella more proactive in general? Because she's a child who has been abused for the back half of her life, who has had to be focused on survival because. you know. she's an abused kid.

How did she dance in glass slippers? Gotta agree with you there man, that's weird.

The Binding Magical Contract Wasn't Really the Problem

When Harry’s name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, his entry seems like a forgone conclusion. The words “Binding Magical Contract” are thrown around, and (despite the protests of Karkaroff and Madame Maxime) that seems to close any loopholes. Aside from denying putting his name in when Dumbledore asks him directly, Harry doesn’t argue his case or try to get out of competing. 

But to be honest, it’s hard to believe that no workarounds existed. I’m not the first to point out that they could have instructed Harry to forfeit on the morning of each task, then told the rest of the world that he wasn’t a champion. We know it’s possible to forfeit, since Harry flirts with the idea of forfeiting the second task. And even if forfeiting wasn’t possible, they could have probed Harry’s story further and searched for a way to invalidate the contract. After all, if he really didn’t put his name in so he shouldn’t be bound in the first place.

But I am 100% convinced that the problem wasn’t a lack of loophole. The problem was that none of the adults involved were motivated enough to find one.

Each of the adults in the room had their own perspective. 

Dumbledore sees this as an opportunity for Harry to build his skills, and isn’t necessarily eager to bail him out. Snape will obviously defer to Dumbledore’s judgment on Harry’s safety. Crouch is under his son’s control, so of course he’s not going to volunteer info on potential loopholes. Moody/BCJ is obviously going to concur with Crouch. Bagman cares far more about the money he can make by betting on Harry than he does about Harry’s safety. Karkaroff and Madame Maxime might disagree, but they don’t have the final word. And of course, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Bagman, and Snape genuinely believe that Harry entered himself, and aren’t particularly inclined to save him from his own foolishness.

If Ron’s name had come out of that goblet, Mrs. Weasley would have stormed into Dumbledore’s office and put an end to that nonsense. It might be a binding magical contract, but she would tell Dumbledore that under no circumstances would her 14-year-old son be effectively pressed into service in a life-threatening competition against a bunch of 17 and 18-year-old students.

But Harry doesn’t have a parent to stick up for him and overrule Dumbledore. So he ended up competing.

Redeeming Draco in fics is easy (he was an impressionable kid, he was taught bigotry by his family)

and redeeming Lucius in fics is just plain funny. Way harder to do but funny as fuck. Like. He's a war criminal. He's a father-in-law to Harry Potter against his will. He's old and he cares about his wife and his son and his hair and that's IT.

this tiktok screenshot ruined my life i need to see the serbian pigeon movie so so badly but it doesn't exist it's so foul to make this bad of a point with something so cool and then take it away from me.