Researchers have found that aunts play a crucial role in supporting the well-being of their LGBTQ youth relatives, including preventing them from experiencing homelessness. These findings are published in Socius, an open access journal. The research paper, coauthored by Brandon Andrew Robinson, associate professor and chair of the University of California, Riverside's Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, is based on a longitudinal study of 83 LGBTQ youth from the Inland Empire and South Texas, two geographic areas identified as understudied places in LGBTQ research.

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I've always really liked DC's in-house choice of referring to their various superhero groupings as "families," but it has gotten a little frustrating recently with people both in canon and in fandom seeming to forget that families aren't just a parental-unit-and-kids formation. They're complicated, and a lot of the DC families are too messy to fit into that neat little nuclear family mode.

Which is to say... here's some scattered thoughts/summaries about how these families are actually structured in canon, because I think it's interesting:

Supers -- The smaller, more traditional Superfamily (Clark, Lois, Kara, Kon, etc.) is a pretty traditional Midwestern nuclear family, with Jimmy Olsen filling the role of close family friend/goofy neighbor sidekick (in the Silver Age, he was Kara's would-be suitor) and Steel feeling more like part of Clark's personal circle of friends. The recent line up, though, with Jon, the twins, Kong and Nat? Starts to feel more like some old dynasty or noble house, complete with fostered foundlings and the Steels acting almost like knights under a noble's banner, possibly reflective of what the House of El would have been on Krypton.

Arrows -- Might currently be the closet to a traditional nuclear family structure. You've got Ollie and Dinah, their younger sisters, Ollie's adopted and biological children, and Ollie's granddaughter through Roy, plus by some counts Roy's co-parent and her sister as "in-laws." Bonnie and Cissie King-Jones are adjacent to but not technically "part" of the family, though I believe it's implied at one point that Ollie might also be Cissie's bio-dad. Pretty straightforward, these guys are actually family and they act like it, for good and ill.

Shazam Family -- Also a literal, actual family. Not originally, the original golden age "Marvel Family" was considerably more complicated and only Billy and Mary were full siblings, but nowadays the whole point of the modern Shazam family is that they're foster siblings united by familial love and that's fantastic. Meanwhile your average Black Adam story is 75% angsty family drama, 25% Egyptian mythology references.

Flashes -- Technically closer to three nuclear families (the Allens, the Wests and the Garricks; four if you include the Quicks), two of whom are united by marriage and all of whom are bound by the Speedforce, which, given its semi-spiritual connections to things like Speedster afterlives, can act almost like a religious force that connects them to the additional members like Avery, Circuit Breaker and Max as Bart's foster-dad. They're a big, sprawling tree with more cousins than siblings, the kind of family that functionally has a reunion every Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Lanterns -- Now these guys are the exception that proves my point about the whole 'family' thing not being straightforward. The lanterns aren't a family, they're a corps. Soldiers. Space cops. Comrades-in-arms. They respect each other, have each other's backs, might even like or care about each other, but those last two are optional, and they don't have the same kind of assumed obligations towards each other that a family would have. They're friends and co-workers, not family, but that doesn't mean their relationships are less significant, they're just different.

Wonders -- Roughly half of them are either one of Hippolyta's daughters (Diana, Donna, Nubia pre-Crisis) or related to them through the gods (Cassie), and the other half (Artemis, Yara, modern-age Nubia) use sister as a term of endearment more in a utopian lesbian commune kind of way. I think they brought Steve Trevor back recently? He's basically the Ken in this equation and perfectly fine with that role. None of which should be surprising if you've seen Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.

Bats -- This is the one that people get really wrong when they try to force it into a traditional family structure. Don't let WFA fool you, the Bats are and have always been way more a snarled mess of tangled interpersonal relationships than they've ever been a cohesive family. Whether Dick is Bruce's son or his brother depends on what era you're talking about, and the former reading is much more recent than you think -- as in "started cropping up in the early 2000s" recent. Barbara is both Cassandra's sister and her mother. Duke and Steph both have living parents and neither of them want or would ever dream of treating Bruce like their dad; Tim was the same way until his dad died. None of the Robins ever lived in the mansion together, nor did Cass. Babs considered Jean-Paul Valley her brother and Huntress is so close to Tim she once hallucinated him calling her Big Sister. They're a beautiful mess of people finding places where their broken edges fit together into something that works for them and trying to reduce it down to a cozy nuclear family is just so goddamn reductive and lazy.

Blue Beetles -- Are only tangentially related to each other. Seriously, they never even get direct mentoring, each one just takes over when the previous one dies and works on completely different rules from the other two. They're complete strangers bound by a legacy and that's honestly pretty fun.

Zataras -- There's only three of them and they're literally a father, daughter and cousin.

Martians -- Not really a family because there's only the two of them, but an interesting case where the two survivors of what was functionally a war of mutually assured destruction came together in an attempt to find some peace in the aftermath of what they'd lost.

Titans -- The JLA and JSA aren't really in the "family" category, but the Titans lean into it hard, mostly because they're a textbook found family. They don't mirror a nuclear family structure, they're simply a group of people who came together to form a mutual support network. They're the idealized college friends you grew into your own with, some of them childhood companions and others you only met once you leave home for the first time, but all of them friends that you manage to maintain contact with for life, with everyone coming back together even as you scatter and do your own things.

Young Justice -- Meanwhile, this team is the chaotic group of misfits you hung out with when you were a teenager, especially when you were just starting to be allowed to act without adult supervision. You drive each other crazy, none of you know you're all queer as fuck, and you'd fight a bear for any of them even if they asked you not to. They'd probably be insulted if you tried to call them a family. They come out here to get away from their families, thank you very much.

A family photo of one of my favorite found family groups. :)

💙 Caught in 4k by KizuKatana

🔒💙 Caught in 4k

by KizuKatana (@kizukatana)

E, Series, WIP, 184k, Wangxian

Summary: A night-hunt goes wrong, and Wei Wuxian is scapegoated for the death of the Jiang Sect Leader and the destroyed core of the Jiang Sect Heir. As punishment, his core is taken and given to Jiang Cheng, and he is stripped of his cultivation credentials and expelled from the sect. What everyone forgot was that Wei Wuxian was wearing the standard issue body camera that each cultivator wore on training missions and high-risk night-hunts. Struggling to make ends meet, Wei Wuxian finds his way to Caiyi Town with the doctor who performed the surgery, a partial core still secretly in place. His application to work at Cloud Recesses is summarily rejected by the hard-edged Second Jade of Lan after an unfortunate initial encounter. But things change when someone hacks into the Jiang systems and releases the footage of what happened. Kay's comments: The series is still a WIP, but the main story is complete! I am so weak for Kizu's modern AUs with cultivation, they are great. Especially the world building and how the cultivation society might function in a modern AU shines in this story. Definitely not a story for fans of the Jiang family, but a story for everyone who wants to see some retribution for the things Wei Wuxian went through. Here, Jiang Fengmian dies during a night-hunt accident where Jiang Cheng's golden core gets destroyed and Madam Yu makes Wei Wuxian give his golden core to him, unfortunately for her, his body-cam is still filming everything. Wei Wuxian finds himself taken in by Wen Qing and her family and we get the sweetest found family and Dadxian vibes here and then meets Lan Wangji as well, who's highly judgemental at first but soon finds himself drawn to Wei Wuxian as well. This story really got it all, the drama, the horny, the softness, the restitution & humor. Excerpt: Still Wei Wuxian forced himself to at least try one last time. “You could also interview me. Have me talk to your best talisman experts,” Wei Wuxian said, forcing himself to keep the desperation out of his voice. “Interviews are scheduled based on receipt of proper credentials and references.” “I don’t have any, at least not right now. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be a great teacher.” “No references, no interview.” “Come on. Look, ask me anything about talismans. You’re an experienced cultivator, right? So you must know enough to at least interview me to see if I know what I’m talking about.” “Simply ‘knowing about something’ is not sufficient. Our lecturers are renown cultivators, and masters in their fields. No references, no interview.” Wei Wuxian felt frustration well up in him, especially at the reminder that Lan Wangji didn’t see him as a cultivator. No one would, in his current condition. Why would they? He didn’t have a functional core, which was the main scale against which all cultivation efforts were measured. He thought he had done a good job of not getting his hopes up about the teaching position, but the suffocating feeling constricting his chest was calling him out for being a liar. He should have known better. Why did he never learn? Some people had luck on their said, but Wei Wuxian had never been one of them. “Right. Of course. Because it would be impossible for someone who wasn’t born to the fucking clan nobility to ever actually be good at something, and the cost of taking the mastery test makes sure that other people can’t do it!” Lan Wangji’s lips parted slightly, like he might say something, but his expression was as opaque and emotionless as before. Wei Wuxian didn’t need to sit around and listen to him defend the clan system. “Good to know that the Lan are just the same as all the other sects,” Wei Wuxian continued, his lips twisting into a sarcastic smile. “Thanks for making that clear.”

pov alternating, modern setting, modern with magic, yu ziyuan being an asshole, dysfunctional jiang family, jiang family bashing, canon divergence, golden core reveal, burial mounds ensemble as family, golden core transfer, golden core transfer fix-it, top lan wangji/bottom wei wuxian, dual cultivation, strangers to lovers, misunderstandings, meet ugly, families of choice, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

Tag: Families of Choice (Found Family)

Sample Size: 19,860 stories

Source: AO3

Note: "&" denotes a platonic ship

Terrible Fic Idea #81: Harry Potter, but make it Aberforth's Daughter

Having been told that choosing to be a muggle in the Wizarding World is "not getting into the spirit of things", I set about determining under what circumstances I could bear to live in the British Wizarding World. This is what I came up with.

Or: What if the SI were to replace Aberforth Dumbledore's OC daughter?

Some context:

First, we're leaning heavily on book canon while dipping our toes into Hogwarts Legacy as far as the extended magical communities in the Scottish Highlands are concerned. This means no Fantastic Beasts movies, no Credence Barebone, but the Hogwarts Legacy map and the implication the Wizarding World is bigger than just a school and alley - and actually magical.

Secondly, the OC wakes up with memories of her past life as the SI on her fifth birthday. This is less of a true SI than a modern woman in the British Wizarding World, with the middle-aged SI being a critical HP fan with an engineering background.

Thirdly, the SI takes the place of an OC - Aberforth's daughter, Aishwarya Devi, born in early 1979 as a result of fling with an Anglo-Indian astrophysicist by the name of Sandhya Devi who moved to the UK as a young adult. Although Aishwarya - Ash - is never unaware of who her father is, her parents agreed before she was born that Sandhya raises Aishwarya by herself for a variety of reasons that are part wartime paranoia, part not wanting to burden a child with the expectations of the Dumbledore name, and part Aberforth really not being cut out to be a husband or father. Assume she existed in canon, was sent to school in her mother's native India, and never made it into the pages of the books.

Just imagine it:

Ash grows up in the town of Brocburrow in the Hogsmede Valley. She is a quiet but inquisitive child - two traits that only grow more pronounced after she remembers he past life as the SI.

It becomes painfully clear early on that there is nothing she can do to prevent the Second Wizarding War from her position as an untrained underage witch, so Ash concentrates on learning everything she can so as to survive it, soaking up everything her mother can teach her - Wizarding and muggle astronomy, plus more runes and arithmancy than most ever learn in Hogwarts - and reading everything she can about this new world she has unfortunately found herself a part of.

The more she learns, the less impressed with the British Wizarding World Ash becomes. Too much power is concentrated in the hands of too few, with most wizards willing to blindly follow the most magically powerful among them because of a lingering belief that the magically powerful are magically powerful because they are deserving of it. (Think of the similar medieval concept re: nobles and their presumed nobility.)

Aberforth has little role in her childhood. If Ash had really been a child, it would have been easy to mistake his distance for lack of care, but having once been a semi-functional adult it's easier to see that Aberforth simply has no idea how to interact with children. He tries for her sake and Ash can't help but love him for it, even as he fails miserably.

Although Sandhya initially wishes her daughter to attend her alma mater back in India, Ash manages to convince her to let her attend Hogwarts in the fall of 1990, one year before Harry Potter is set to start his schooling.

To no one's surprise, she ends up sorted into Ravenclaw - and wielding an acacia and huma feather wand. ("A kingmaker's wand," Ollivander says.)

First year it's her intention to keep her head down and avoid attracting the notice of her uncle. Ash succeeds in this, coming across as just another academically gifted Ravenclaw, albeit one who makes a bit of a name for herself complaining that the muggles know such much more about outer space than we do. And math. Calculus was invented before the Statute of Secrecy, you know.

She also manages to strike up a surprising friendship with fourth year Percy Weasley - their usual tables in the library are next to each other and so they form a quiet academic acquaintanceship that evolves almost without them realizing it into true friendship. As least half of this is based Percy once telling his brothers off for a prank that borders more on bullying than humor, and the rest on Ash being just that advanced in astronomy and arithmancy.

Second year Ash is determined to stay out of the sorcerer's stone debacle - but also sets out to cultivate a friendship with Harry Potter, initially because it's the only way she can think of to get him away from the Dursleys (as any sensible adult should have done the first time he crossed their path) and out from under her uncle's thumb, but later because he is genuinely a sweet kid who soaks up all the affection he's given and returns it threefold. She does this by inviting him to celebrate Diwali with her and the other Hindi students - which opens up a can of worms regarding Harry's hereto unknown desi background - and establishes herself (and through her, Percy) a trustworthy older student Harry can rely upon.

This works out better than she can possibly dream when Harry takes his fears regarding the stone to Percy, who then presents them to McGonagall in a way that leads her to stake out the third floor corridor in her animagus form, catch Quirell in the act, and watch him die when Voldy deserts him.

Third year starts fairly close to CoS, but after the first petrifaction - about which the Headmaster does nothing save almost seem to encourage the rumors about Harry being the Heir of Slytherin - Ash decides to use her first Hogsmede weekend to act. She goes to the Hog's Head, tells her father exactly what is happening in the school, and watches as Aberforth's face turns into a storm cloud.

She has no idea what Aberforth actually does - only that the next morning the Headmaster announces the school will be closed until the person behind the petrifications is caught. She spends a week at home before the school reopens and though there are rumors the Aurors found a basilisk in the school, not a word of explanation is ever given to the students.

Ash's third year continues without further incident - except now she is on the Headmaster's radar. Albus had been kept carefully unaware of his brother's child, but now that he knows of her existence, he's eager to fit Ash into his Greater Good. Ash rebuffs him, but it's hard to be sure if even that isn't part of his plans.

Fourth year follows PoA fairly closely, though it's Ash's house Harry runs away to following events with Marge. Sandhya is more than happy to take her daughter's friend in, but the more she learns about Harry's home life, the more concerned she grows, and starts the ball rolling in the muggle world to have the situation investigated. This plays out quietly in the background while the school year otherwise follows canon - up to and including Wormtail's escape at the end of the year.

The summer before fifth year starts with both Harry and Dudley being removed from the Dursley home. Harry gets to stay with Ash and Sandhya while the Wizarding World fights over who gets to become Harry's legal guardian. They never get to decide - Harry is legally emancipated when he's forced to take part in the tournament - but the whole situation shines a bright light on everything that has been going on at Hogwarts the last few years. Dumbledore comes out of the situation with his titles intact, but his reputation in tatters - particularly after he claims Voldemort's return, which many think is a way to try to regain his former prestige.

Sixth year - OotP - is where things really start to change.

Despite his emancipation, Harry continues to live with Ash and Sandhya - Ash having very much taken up the mantle of protective older sister at this point.

With Dumbledore's political power already on a downward arc, it makes no sense to send Umbridge to Hogwarts. So Percy Weasley is the new DADA instructor instead. This makes a certain amount of sense, as Percy's frantic work keeping Crouch Sr.'s department running even while he was imperiused/ill/dead meant that things actually ran smoother. Fudge sees Weasley as a potential rival to be cut off at the knees... and one of the few Hogwarts graduates in his employ with an O in DADA.

This is awkward for a number of reasons, not least because despite having remained friends throughout Hogwarts, after running into each other at the Yule Ball (Ash was Harry's date) they're in that awkward stage of waiting for Ash to be older before investigating the attraction between them.

Sixth year goes well, with Percy setting out to teach not torture, and doing just enough to keep the ministry off his back - there are some parts of Hogwarts that need to be investigated, i.e. security and the reduced class offering - as well as doing just enough for his fellow professors to think he's a ministry toadie - Flitwick and McGonagall are not convinced by his act, but others are. There's still an incident at the DoM at the end of the year, but Harry is able to tell the relevant adults so that it's they who spring Voldy's trap, not half-trained children.

Ash's seventh year - HBP - goes by similarly smoothly. The major change here is that 1) Harry repeats everything he learns from Dumbledore to Ash, whose takeaways from the memories are far more critical of her uncle, and 2) Ash and Percy begin dating, but so little changes between them that only those they've explicitly told notice.

With the Wizarding World at war, it's a bit of a culture shock when Ash begins muggle university the next year, majoring in astrophysics. Her flat near the college serves as a well-warded base for Harry and co to hunt for horcruxes after Grimmauld Place is lost. She fights in the Battle of Hogwarts, and though she'd intended to save as many as she could, it's still a surprise when she manages to save Fred Weasley from his canon fate.

Afterwards, Ash goes on to gain a doctorate in astrophysics in the muggle world and work on integrating muggle discoveries with Wizarding knowledge, as her mother had done for the past several decades. Her friendship with Harry means that her work is put in a greater spotlight, and when Professor Sinistra finally retires Ash is the one asked to replace her. Sometime between all this she and Percy marry - much to the surprise of the other Weasleys - and have a single child just old enough to start Hogwarts when Ash begins teaching.

Harry himself takes a more political role in this world, having come to the conclusion very early on that oppression and ignorance help no one, and that it's the Wizarding World's belief that might makes right that got them all into this situation in the first place. He's Head of the DMLE for several years before being elected Minister for a maximum three terms. His administration is marked by efforts to shift Ministry hiring practices from nepotism to merit, as well as make laws apply legally to people of all magical backgrounds. He's not entirely successful, but it's a vast improvement.

Bonuses include: 1) Albus Dumbledore not evil so much as misguided - he honestly, genuinely thinks that he knows what's best for everyone. Maybe he even does. He's simply forgotten that people are not pawns and just because you want what you think is best for them doesn't mean that they want it, or that it is what is personally best for them. All of this should be brought up when he tries to pull Ash into his web; 2) An institutional problem with bullying in Hogwarts. All houses have villains and victims, but Gryffindor has more than its fair share of the latter, compounded by Dumbledore's nepotism and McGonagall being too busy to breathe most days. This eventually comes to a head during GoF, when Ash ties a charm into the school wards that writes the word Bully across the perpetrator's face when they violate standards borrowed from a muggle secondary school's guidebook; 3) Aberforth playing a greater role in Ash's life as she grows older, especially after she comes to him for help with his brother in CoS; and 4) Ash and Harry becoming siblings of choice. Ash never displaces any of Harry's friend group, but is there and willing to listen in a way no one in his life had been previously. And that changes everything.

And that is, surprisingly, more than I'd thought I'd have. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you do anything with it.

Other SIs: Aberforth's Daughter | Lysa Arryn | Petunia Evans | Princess of Dol Amroth

More Terrible Fic Ideas

YOUR HONOR, THAT’S MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT FOUND FAMILY

YES! Chosen family is an important part of my life. Love and commitment are what makes a family.

Spy x family whispering "Maybe family isn't supposed to be about sanding away the edges of your identity to cram yourself into a pre-set mould of parent-child-sibling. Maybe family is about finding the people whose rough edges align with your own and making your own normal. Maybe family isn't a destination you plan for, but a journey you can grow safely and securely through."

Like the series really went "yes this is a spy thriller. But, it's not About That Right Now."

Spyxfamily really looked at 3 different kinds of weapons (from the perspective of their handlers) - a spy, an assassin and a mind-reading test subject, all three viewed as nothing more than tools for the greater good of world peace, and said, "Just because they are strong why must that be all they can be?

Just because she's a mind reader, why can't she also be a child and have a safe childhood with a stable support system.

Yes. They can survive alone, but why can't they thrive together?"

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Beverly Crusher/Jean-Luc Picard, Laris/Zhaban (Star Trek), Raffi Musiker/Seven of Nine Characters: Jean-Luc Picard, Jack Crusher, Zhaban (Star Trek), Laris (Star Trek), Beverly Crusher, Raffi Musiker, Seven of Nine, Elnor (Star Trek), Yvette Picard, Maurice Picard Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Drama, Romulan Wisdom, Families of Choice, Tal Shiar (Star Trek), Romulan Culture (Star Trek), Laris's Secret Heritage, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Abandonment, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Complicated Relationships, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

"When he was old enough, I told him who you were and where to find you. I encouraged him to meet with you."

What if Jack decided to seek out his father in France?

[a retelling of S2 with elements of S3]

Chapter 4 is up now! The promised dinner party, and a panic attack, not in that order.

Roots

shelter from the storm (1/8) Rating: Explicit Pairing: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, POV Billy Hargrove, Redemption, Canonical Child Abuse, Abuse Neil Hargrove, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Joyce and Hopper Adopt Billy, Families of Choice, Fluff and Humor, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Protective Steve Harrington, Falling in Love, Smut, Angst With a Happy Ending   Summary: In which Billy Hargrove gets kicked out of the house with fresh bruises and a trash bag full of clothes. Chief Hopper and Joyce Byers take Billy in, but that’s only the beginning of his journey to finding his chosen family, friends, and love.

Author: @soabas-world

Fandom: The Hobbit

Relationship: Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield

Summary:

Bilbo Baggins accidentally kills Smaug and has to figure out how to go tell the Dwarrow who are waiting for him to come back with that stupid stone.

Tags:

Hobbit Culture & Customs, Dwarf Culture & Customs, Canon Died a Horrible but Necessary Death, Green Magic, Khuzdul, Families of Choice, BAMF Bilbo Baggins, Overprotective Dwarves

Podfic length: 00:15:57

Streaming, MP3, and MB4 available.

Alfred: You were only a boy, Bruce. I could see the fear in your eyes, but I didn’t know how to help. I could teach you how to fight, but [sighs] I wasn’t equipped to take care of you. You needed a father. And all you had was me. I’m sorry. 

okokok i got the clone wars brainworms ok? Anyways, Alfred's speech to Battinson gives me Obi-Wan and Anakin vibes hbu

They know the kid needs help but they don’t know how to provide it. So they do the best they can 😢

💙 An Inch of Grass, and All The Sunshine of Spring by ChilianXianzi

💙 An Inch of Grass, and All The Sunshine of Spring

by ChilianXianzi

T, WIP, 1k, Wangxian

Part of Exploring Tropes: Time Travel

Summary:"Did you…Did you know our A-Ying?" Cangse Sanren's eyes are wide and full of hope, and Lan Wangji is suddenly struck by the realization that he is the only one in the world now who would still speak of Wei Ying with fondness. Who knows him enough outside of the wild and hurtful rumors scattered across the land. Just him, in all of his own failings and his poor grasp of words. But Lan Wangji had failed Wei Ying once, and if he could not speak for Wei Ying when the whole world had bayed for his blood, then he owes it to Wei Ying to speak of him kindly now, to let his meagre words tumble out of lips unused still to speech after years of silence. He doesn't expect there to be so much words inside him, doesn't expect that his words would carry him until the sky darkens around them. Doesn't expect the embrace enveloping him after he is done - Warm and firm and safe. Kay's comments: Looking at this WIP with great longing and heart-break. I absolutely adore the idea of Wei Wuxian's parents being trapped inside the Burial Mounds and being freed many years later. Unfortunately, they only get freed here after Wei Wuxian's death, but at least Lan Wangji is the one to do it and also the only one who would ever speak kindly of their son. Absolutely devastating and even incomplete worth a read, this story never fails to destroy me. Excerpt: "It's Lan-gongzi, right?" The woman's face brightens, hand gesturing to her own temples to echo Lan Wangji's forehead ribbon, "You're a member of the main clan? Huh, could have sworn I've never seen you - You're one of Qiren's cousins or something? I swear you look just like him if he'd just shave off that awful goatee of his." "Cangse," the man nudges the woman gently, even as he dips another, almost apologetic bow at Lan Wangji, "Come, let's not take more of Lan-Gongzi's time. A-Ying must be waiting for us, with how long we've been gone-" Cangse, the man said. The woman knows his Shufu, knows him enough to see the resemblance even others often pass over between them, knows him enough to call him Qiren. A-Ying must be waiting for us. It's a well-known story, a tragic, cautionary tale for Cultivators walking into every unknown Night Hunt. Baoshan Sanren's brightest disciple and her cultivation partner, who walked into the Burial Mounds one night and never came back. Oh. Oh.

pov lan wangji, canon divergence, time travel, fix-it of sorts, cangse sanren and wei changze live, families of choice, family feels, grief/mourning, parent-child relationship, fluff and angst, lan wangji/wei wuxian get a happy ending, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

Fandom: Beetlejuice

Sample Size: 1,531 stories

Source: AO3

Terrible Fic Idea #80: Harry Potter, but make it The Old Guard

I know what some of you may be thinking - haven't you done this crossover before? And you're right, I have. But shortly after posting that I realized I had missed a massive opportunity, because right there in the first book is the philosopher's stone, a magical object created by Nicholas Flamel that can grant the user eternal life.

So I thought: What if the sorcerer's stone was just a cover for The Old Guards' flavor of immortality? Or: What if The Old Guard intervened in Harry Potter's life following the destruction of the stone?

Bear with me:

The legend of the philosopher's stone arrises some time in the 12th century, when Nicky, needing a quick explanation for his immortality in a sticky situation, comes up with the idea. It's intended to be nothing more than a means of diverting attention while he makes a quick escape. He certainly never intends for it to turn into the subject of serious alchemical research for the next thousand years.

The Guard ends up running with the story, because it means they don't have to fake their deaths in the Wizarding World every couple of decades. Joe and Booker are particularly fond of raising the story to new and more ridiculous heights each time they use it - though this somewhat backfires in Joe's case, with the addition of Flamel's wife Perenelle to the myth.

Just imagine it:

Fast forward to summer 1991, when Dumbledore asks to borrow the stone for "research".

It's hard not to be suspicious, as the conceit needed to ask someone to turn over what is supposed to be a powerful and unique relic upon which the owners' lives rely is extraordinary - to say nothing of the fact that he's the headmaster of a school full of children and having such an object in a school is foolhardy at best. Even so, they hand over the fake stone they put together for just such occasions they're required to produce it, just see what Dumbledore is planning.

To say they are unhappy that he uses it as the MacGuffin at the end of an obstacle course designed to draw a genocidal Dark Lord into a school full of children would be an understatement.

The day after the wards they placed on the fake stone tell them it was destroyed, Nicky walks into the Great Hall during breakfast and makes a scene to rival all scenes, not the least because it involves a lot of confusion on how this completely unassuming man in muggle clothes found his way into Hogwarts without anybody knowing and then who proceeded to calmly and rationally accuse Dumbledore of child endangerment and willful negligence.

After the teachers get over the shock that the thousand-year-old "creator" of the stone 1) looks younger than most of them, 2) prefers to dress as a muggle, 3) is Italian, not French, and 4) prefers to go by Nicky these days, they're equally as angry at Dumbledore for daring to hide something that dangerous in a school - even if, "It was only a fake."

While that situation is bubbling over in the Great Hall, Andy and Booker investigate the - not yet dismantled - obstacle course and are even less impressed with Dumbledore than before.

Joe elects to check on the child who ended up in the hospital wing because of it - and becomes nearly incandescent with rage, because one doesn't need a thousand years' experience to realize the child in question has very clearly experienced significant physical and emotional abuse. That it's Harry Potter almost makes it worse, as it speaks of someone either being exceptionally negligent with regards to their responsibilities to such a famous child or else intentionally placing him in a position to be abused in order to utilize that fame for their own ends. Given the events with the stone, Joe is inclined to believe the latter.

It's not quite a kidnapping - Joe asks Harry if he'd like to get away from his abusers, even if he has to convince Harry that the events of his childhood count as abuse, - but it's equally clear that Joe has no intentions of allowing Harry to return to the Dursleys even if he'd said no.

Needless to say, the others are quite surprised when they return to their latest safe house and find Harry there, but quickly agree with the necessity after Joe explains the situation. (Andy has to be talked out of murdering Mr and Mrs Dursley. Harry's justice comes through the muggle courts.)

And so Harry is adopted by Joe and Nicky, with Booker initially reluctant to get too close after his experiences with his own children. (After some growing pains, Booker gets over himself and becomes a favorite uncle, coincidentally preventing the nonsense with Merrick that occurs in canon.)

HP canon continues apace, albeit with some adjustments:

Events of Second and Third Year are flipped, with Sirius escaping during the summer of 1992 after the papers announce Harry's "kidnapping" from Hogwarts. (Nevermind that if the Wizarding World checked with the muggles, they'd find all the adoption paperwork in order, if expedited.) Sirius' innocence is discovered at the end of the year - and when Snape ends up reflecting back Lockhart's oblivate when he tries to claim the capture of a dangerous escaped convict for himself, he earns momentary approbation throughout Hogwarts. Sirius is found innocent at his long delayed trial, but Joe and Nicky refuse to let him spend time unsupervised with Harry until he gets the medical treatment he so clearly needs.

Third year, Lucius Malfoy plants the diary in Ginny's school shopping somewhat by accident - he was aiming for Harry's school things, wanting to hurt Sirius by hurting his beloved godson, as Lucius had been using the Black accounts to grease palms and Sirius' freedom means that he now has quite a debt to repay before his embezzlement is discovered.

Now having some experience with trustworthy adults, Harry comes clean about hearing a voice in the walls when his parslemouth abilities are discovered during Lupin's rather more successful dueling club. Lupin realizes the monster must be a basilisk after that, and with some detective work eventually relieves Ginny of the diary before anyone is dragged into the chamber.

With Fourth Year comes the Triwizard Tournament, which not even "the great Nicholas Flamel" can get Harry out of, due to the binding nature of the magical contract. Though Dumbledore comes under international scrutiny for failing to ensure the safety of his students (eventually losing many of his non-British titles), this does little for Harry. The Guard takes up residence in the castle, helping him research and train, but events largely follow canon. Cedric dies, Voldemort returns, and no one believes it - not the least the wider Wizarding World, which largely believes Dumbledore spun a child's traumatic experience into a means of regaining the political clout he lost over the course of the year.

As Dumbledore is already losing political favor, Fudge doesn't waste Umbridge on the DADA position. Instead the real Alistair Moody takes up the position, which only highlights how obvious it should have been Crouch Jr was not Moody. Dumbledore loses further political clout when this leaks out, but when Voldemort makes a play for the Ministry at the end of the year he regains most of it. Harry is able to warn his parents of what was happening because of his visions, who in turn warn the Ministry in time for action to be taken - and if Dumbledore is disappointed Harry left the fighting to the adults, he hides it well.

Sixth Year largely follows canon, minus the Harry/Ginny subplot. And though Dumbledore encourages Harry to tell only his friends about the Horcruxes and "leave the poor Flamels out it", Harry does exactly the opposite.

This has interesting consequences for Harry's Seventh Year, as Voldemort is unable to gain a foothold in Hogwarts despite taking over the ministry. This is in large part because Joe and Nicky set up shop in Hogwarts, very obviously offering The Flamels' protection to any who need it, while Andy and Booker work in the background to track down and destroy all the horcuxes.

By the time Voldy makes a play for Hogwarts at the end of the year, they've destroyed all the horcruxes - save the one in Harry - without his knowledge. And when Joe takes down Voldy when he decides to torture Harry to force the surrender of the school? Well, the horcrux in Harry is too small and in too weak a state to keep the main piece tied to this plane of existence. Voldemort dies, Harry and the Flamels are hailed as heroes, and life in the Wizarding World returns to normal.

Harry goes on to lead a long and fulfilling life in the British Wizarding World. (He gains a dual mastery in education and DADA at a French magical university and ends up teaching DADA at Hogwarts for almost seventy years.) And though he keeps in contact with the Guard until his death, he never resents them for not sharing their immortality, having learned quite early on how little a blessing it really is.

Bonuses include: 1) Active, attentive, loving parents tempering Harry's recklessness and encouraging him to put more effort into his studies. This causes him to drift apart from Ron - though they remain friendly acquaintances - and closer to Hermione, Neville, and others outside his house. Harry and Hermione remain friends throughout Hogwarts, become each other's go-to plus ones for all social events afterwards, and eventually fall into a romantic relationship in their final year of university. They are the only ones that are surprised by this turn of events, with their various friends and family members having started betting on when they'd get together begining in Third Year; 2) Harry and Hermione turning their home into the first Wizarding foster home, raising a variety of Wizarding orphans as their own, and serving as a two-person lobbying group for modernized family law in the British Wizarding World. Though they are surprised by a pair of twin boys late in life - who they name James Sirius and Joseph Nicholas - they treat their biological children no different than the orphans they continue to take in; and 3) A running joke wherein the immortals call coffee The Elixir of Life.

And that is surprisingly more than I thought I'd have. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you do anything with it.

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