#neville longbottom deserves better | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fanfic-lover-girl · 9 months

Text

Double Standards: Draco Malfoy Edition

My main issue with HP is Slytherin vs Gryffindor double standards. I like Draco Malfoy and I find Slytherins very interesting. I understand why people don't like him. But I hate when people demonize Draco for something but are perfectly ok when another character (eg. the golden trio) does the same thing. So based on the post above, I wanted to share a defense for Draco Malfoy. Most of the logic comes from the post above but a good portion of these arguments are mine.

Draco mocks Hufflepuffs

Hagrid: “everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers–”.

Hagrid also says everyone in Slytherin is destined to be evil. Hagrid is a grown man (well half-giant) perpetuating harmful stereotypes to Harry while Draco is a kid (11 yrs old).

Also, Harry did not lift a single finger to defend Cedric and Hufflepuff house when the lions were bashing and mocking Cedric. This is AFTER Cedric, being a good sport and overall great guy, told his housemates to back off Harry. Cedric was too good for these books. Cedric was the hero horrid Harry could only dream of being.

Draco has not mocked Hufflepuffs since his intro chapter.

Draco bullied Ron and Harry

Harry and Ron initiated this antagonism. Harry likened Draco to Dudley after a short conversation. The same Draco who engaged him in conversation despite his poor appearance. Harry never gave Draco a chance before he painted him as evil. Draco ignored Ron on the train until Ron laughed at his name.

Long before Draco did anything truly hurtful to them, the golden trio cheered his misfortune and his fear. For example, before we saw Draco & Hermione exchange dialogue, Hermione danced in joy at Draco getting detention. Harry declared him his arch-enemy and worse than Dudley (the cousin who abused him all his life) and threatened him with physical violence (threatening to shove Draco off his broom). Up until that point, the worst thing Draco did was set them up to be caught by Filch. That makes Draco worse than Dudley lol.

Draco could be doing something innocent, not Harry related, like welcoming a new house member or getting sweets from Mama Narcissa and Harry would be glaring daggers at him like he is committing a crime. These three boys bullied each other.

Draco called Hermione a mudblood

Draco never said a word to Hermione and ignored her existence until she dissed his quidditch skills. Also, Sybill and Hermione call Firenze a horse. Firenze saved Harry's life - you think Hermione could show some respect. Dean brazenly asked Firenze to his face if Hagrid breeds them like thestrals. Please note: All of these actions are somehow better than Umbridge calling centaurs half-breeds lol! According to the narrative, "half-breed" is more offensive than HORSE. Hagrid and Minerva use "muggle" as a slur. Remember that WE are the muggles.

If JKR wanted "mudblood" to be meaningful, she should have shown how mugglebornes struggled in the wizarding world. Such as strained relationships with loved ones in the muggle world (Lily & Petunia's relationship is an example) or discrimination in employment. But the wizarding world at large is on mugglebornes' side.

What impact does Draco calling Hermione a "mudblood" have? Her blood status up till that point has been irrelevant and does not disadvantage her. Compared to the bigotry centaurs and muggles face in HP! I don't give a crap about Draco calling Hermione "mudblood" when no other slurs or discriminatory behaviour seem to matter!

She is hardly bothered by it anyway so who cares? I don't. Draco is not an impressive bully when it comes to Hermione. Draco's bullying of Hermione basically boils down to him calling her "mudblood" and hardly anything else. It's hard for Draco to truly be a bully when Hermione never takes him seriously and he never has any real power over her (except when he is on the inquisitorial squad in book 5).

Draco bullied Neville

Everyone mistreats Neville. Including his own housemates and 'Queen Minerva'. That includes Harry and Ron btw. Harry and Ron laugh at Neville in his face and behind his back. In book 1, they basically tell him he should not stick up for himself when he confronts them as they sneak out. Harry thinks Neville is a loser half the time. I thought the golden trio were Neville's friends but after looking at the books I am horrified. My baby boy Neville deserves better than the rotten trio. For example, Harry compares Peter Pettigrew to Neville! Harry sees Peter as pathetic and the first person that comes to mind for Harry is Neville!!! Poor Neville :(. Draco, however, has not been seen or mentioned bullying Neville since book 1.

Draco is mean to Hagrid

Hagrid may act like a disgraceful, blubbering crybaby half the time, but he is a grown-ass man. He's what...50 or 60. Draco is a preteen/teenager. We have seen Hagrid threaten Draco several times. For example, when Draco rightfully calls out Hagrid in book 4 about the (possibly illegal) blast-ended skrewts, Hagrid uses the ferret incident (a horrific case of child abuse) to silence Draco into submission. It's so outrageous for Draco to backtalk and mock Hagrid but it's hilarious when Hagrid, the adult, abuses the child under his care. The HP fandom is insane!

Hagrid endangers children and he is a horrid teacher and should have been fired! And he would have been fired if not for the meddling rotten trio (specifically Harry freaking Potter). This dimwitted jackass knows Hagrid is a bad teacher and drops his subject in book 6 but is willing to ruin the subject for everyone else because he likes him!!! And he is willing to intimidate/bully his friends (especially Hermione) to comply with his views on Hagrid. Harry is extremely selfish and can go rot in hell with Hagrid! If I were Harry's classmate, I would be tempted to punch him myself!

Draco is punished for saying what everyone else was thinking. No one thinks Hagrid is a good teacher. Including the rotten trio! Why does the narrative and fandom coddle Hagrid and treat him like a damn child?! Why is Draco, the student, constantly bashed for Hagrid, the teacher, being incompetent!?

Edit: Hermione disrespects Trelawney in Divination (in the same chapter I believe) but she's seen as a girl boss. She has no need to be there and clearly hates the subject (what a wonderful use for a time tuner). But everyone has a problem with Draco hurting dumb Hagrid's feelings wah.

Draco does mean impressions of other people

So do Ginny (of Fleur) and Ron (of Hermione). At least Draco's impressions are entertaining! Draco is totally the class clown and/or theatre kid type. He has a captivating and dramatic personality. I think he would thrive in the arts. I can literally see him as the male version of Sharpay :)

Draco called Molly porky

Molly is objectively overweight. Draco is a 14 yr old boy throwing out insults (porky is pretty tame if you ask me). JKR, through Harry, goes into unnecessary detail every other sentence about how fat Dudley is whenever Dudley is around. Dudley is a kid. Why should Molly be excluded from the fat character treatment? Plus Harry is actually very shallow when he describes people. He always focuses on how pretty or ugly someone is. Even in serious situations, you can count on Harry describing Fleur as beautiful, Sirius & Tom as dashingly handsome and Snape as hideous. Ron is quick to label Eileen Prince as ugly when the trio discovers she is Snape's mom in book 6. She has done nothing to them but he insults her because of who her son is. Why is it ok for the trio to mock people's looks but Draco calling Molly fat is a crime worthy of physical abuse?

Draco wanted his classmates to die

So did Ron and Harry. Ron says “shame that his mother likes him” when discussing shoving Draco off a glacier. Harry has fantasised about killing and/or torturing Draco/Snape. And guess what! He almost made his fantasies a reality! He nearly murdered Draco with very short-lived remorse and then attempted to use the same spell (+ multiple crucios) against Snape! What a hero :). So full of love and pure goodness, right Dumbledore (gag).

Draco used the cruciatus curse

Attempted cruciatus. Draco said ‘cruci-‘ before Harry somehow yelled out an entire sectumsempra and almost eviscerated him to death. I think that is the only time Draco has attempted to use the crucio in a fight.

When Harry saw Draco being forced to use the curse in a vision, Draco was terrified, right? Harry on the other hand has fantasised about the cruciatus since the moment he learnt about it (he daydreamed about torturing Snape after Fake Moody's class). Harry has used the curse multiple times before and after Draco's use in book 6 and unlike Draco's attempted crucio, Harry's actually hit. Harry sure loves his dark spells :). For a while, sectumsempra and crucio became Harry's new expeliarmus. Harry is called gallant for using the cruciatus in book 7 too by 'Queen' Minerva, how lovely.

Why is Draco demonized more than Harry by the fandom for this curse? Harry used the curse 3 more times than Draco. He hit Bellatrix and the Carrow guy and attempted to crucio Snape twice in book 6 in the SAME FIGHT. Make it make sense!

Draco (& Lucius) almost got Buckbeak put down

Hagrid, as the teacher, should be held responsible - not the animal. But if the ministry is going to claim Hagrid has no fault, then Buckbeak sure as hell needs to be put down. In our world, we put down animals that attack people, especially kids. Once again, Buckbeak is a wild animal so Hagrid's bad teaching is ultimately to blame. If Hagrid won't man up, then sorry Buckbeak! I know several people hate Lucius but the man is being a decent father. Wouldn't you be outraged if your only kid, and heir, was attacked in a class like Draco was? Be real.

Also in the same book, Hermione shows gross indifference to the well-being of Scabbers - “All cats chase rats, Ron!”. Ron should have slapped this inconsiderate bitch. Ron has the patience of a saint. If my friend acted like this, our friendship is through unless sincere apologies are made. I am not even a pet person but Hermione was utterly disgusting in book 3. Ron deserves better than this girl with the emotional capacity of a teaspoon. Ron always wants to kick Norris the cat. The Weasley twins experiment on animals. Hagrid mistreats the animals under his care (eg. the dead flubberworms and poor Fluffy). Transfiguration class is 99% animal experimentation. But boo-hoo, the ministry is killing Buckbeak...why should I care again about some random wild animal when animal cruelty is a staple of HP?

Draco hates Muggleborns

Draco is supposed to be from a family of blood supremacists. Yet he willingly engaged Harry in conversation despite Harry being dressed in unkempt MUGGLE clothes and not knowing who he was. So you can't say Draco spoke to Harry because of his fame (unlike Ron Weasley who deliberately sought out Harry Potter). Harry is the one who judged him because Draco was talking about things that are normal to him, ironically proving Draco’s point — “I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways” — true. How hilarious.

Anyway, all wizards, so-called light side included, hate/mistreat muggles. But it's ok because JKR wrote it that way. It's ok for wizards to invade muggles' privacy and threaten them. You don't see Draco attacking mugglebornes like this when you meet him. He just thinks wizards should keep to themselves. As a muggle, I approve of this message. I don't want these sadistic wizards near me.

So how did Draco go from this in book 1 to the boy in book 2 declaring "mudbloods are next"? I have no clue. Draco was almost creepy in book 2. I think Draco had a grudge against Hermione and was childishly acting out. Draco is a pampered 12 yr old, what does he know about the horrors of death? Heck, sometimes I wished I was aborted when I was an angsty preteen. Not knowing what exactly I was wishing for myself. Plus, I believe JKR was using Draco as a lazy plot device in book 2.

Plus, I think his negative interactions with the golden trio made him more radicalized as time went on. We don't see Draco calling other students "mudblood", right? I don't recall Draco harassing people like Justin. Draco seems to have a "Hermione" problem, not a "mudblood" problem.

Bonus: James Potter bullied Snape to first impress and then later blackmail Lily, a muggleborne, into dating him. And when said muggleborne girl retaliated...James threatened to hex her. James literally threatened Lily with violence for (barely) attempting to defend Snape. The girl he supposedly has a crush on! James Potter is supposed to be from a muggleborne friendly, light-side family haha. At least Draco was upfront that he despised Hermione. I have read Dramione fics with healthier foundations than canon Jily - not that I like Dramione as a ship. But sure Dramione is the only toxic ship around here!

Please add any other double standards I missed! (Book) Canon Draco fans need to call out the unfair treatment of Draco! Draco is not the evil monster people paint him to be. And you can like him too without warping him into this pathetic, bland, crybaby, gay fanon version. I used to like Fanon Draco when I just started reading HP fanfiction and did not know any better, but book Draco is so much more entertaining, colourful and even charming :)

You don't have to like Draco. But stop giving the heroes passes for the same awful actions.

62 notes · View notes

miss-daisy-the-wildflower · 5 months

Text

Yk what I want?

Badass Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy stepping off that train for eighth year not giving a single shit what anyone else thinks about them.

Give me Draco with blue hair because he's been living with Andromeda these past few months and Teddy has blue hair and Draco was so tired of seeing Teddy change it to his stupid blonde hair, so he dyed it blue to match his nephew's. And he's got this massive tattoo over his arm with Narcissa flowers, because even if they haven't had the best relationship, she's still his mother and he loves her. And the rings, all silver, and coming in many different shapes and sizes.

Give me Pansy with a tattoo sleeve that she keeps mostly hidden per McGonagalls request (dress codes exist even at a wizard school). It's pansy flowers painted over the dark mark, covering as much as she can because she likes to remember that shes her own person outside of war. Then it's spiderwebs around her elbow (she was drunk for that one and she still remembers the pain). On her upper arm is Draco, he's the second biggest tattoo because other than her self, she's the most important person in her life. And then a small fire, for Blaise, because he's always been there even when she doesn't want him to be.

Give me them, helping first years find there way, because they wish someone had helped them, but they're also the only people who don't hate them. Give me Draco starting a study group, which includes Luna, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville. Give me Pansy trying out for Quidditch because she needs something to get her mind straight and exercise just happens to work. Give me Draco being to scared to bring up the war because he knows how badly he hurt people, but also give me Pansy not being afraid to bring it up because she knows she did wrong, and hiding from that fact won't make it better.

#pansy parkinson #draco malfoy #andromeda tonks #teddy lupin #blaise zabini #narcissa malfoy #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #the wizarding war #voldemort #hermione granger #luna lovegood #neville longbottom #ginny weasley #quidditch #i love them both #they deserved better

17 notes · View notes

here-for-a-good-time-hopefully · 7 months

Text

One thing I will never forgive is adult canon Barty because what business does that man have for literally torturing Neville in class with the same curse he used on Neville’s parents

Like poor Neville imagine having to deal with the trauma of what happened to your parents and then have that shown to you again in school and have that very teacher be partially responsible for the fact that his parents are now unable to raise him

Truly not a fan that’s why I always struggle to get behind positive portrayals of the Slytherins as death eaters

#each to their own ig but #Neville deserves so much better #i dont normally post golden trio era stuff but I rly hate adult Barty #like fanon and young Barty I can kinda get behind but I have no patience for the adult version #marauders #harry potter #golden trio era #neville longbottom #barty crouch junior #marauders era #hp marauders

27 notes · View notes

darkcrowprincess · 11 months

Text

Harry Potter confession:

There are two wolves inside me. The wolf that loves the drarry ship

and the wolf that loves the Harmony ship

One thing I can agree on with both ships. I hate Ron Weasley and Ginny Weasleys characters. Harry and Hermione both deserve better, and Draco deserves a proper redemption arc. Also Neville should have been Harry's best friend not Ron.

(Don't like don't read. Post hate and I'll block you)

#harry potter #my thoughts #anti ron weasley #anti ginny weasley #drarry #harmony #hermione deserves better #harry deserves better #hermione granger #draco malfoy #neville longbottom #draco deserves a redemption arc

14 notes · View notes

so-scarlett-maroon · 4 months

Text

Doubts and Presumptions Ch. 6

Ship: Hermione x Draco x Neville Rated: E for smut No Archive Warnings Apply Updates Weekly

Summary: After a nasty break up Hermione feels ready to be a little more adventurous with her love life. But when she flirts with Draco Malfoy at a party and starts developing feelings for Neville Longbottom in the same week, she worries she might have gotten a little in over her head. Soon both men are vying for her attention and their rivalry leaves Hermione breathless. What's a girl to do?

On AO3: Chapter 6 Chapter 1

Excerpt Below

When the invitation to the International Magical Cooperation Gala arrived, Neville had been expecting it. Whenever the Ministry needed to show off in front of the other Wizarding communities, they always paraded out the war heroes. Neville was on the B team, back row to the Golden Trio of course, but invited all the same. But this event was going to be different than all of the ones before. Because Hermione would not be Ron’s date, Romilda would. He knew it would be a hard night for Hermione. He didn’t know how he could make it easier on her. She’d made it clear that babying her was not appreciated.

Neville sighed, tossing the glossy paper on to his counter. He walked across the small space to his living room. He lived in a tiny flat above his shop allowing him to always be nearby to take care of the plants. The downside was living in a place much too small for someone of his size. It also didn’t help that he’d filled much of the space with his personal plant collection. He had hanging pots with flutterby plants and squills as well as a potted fiddle leaf fig and monstera plants. He settled on the rug in front of his Floo, the leaves of the monstera pushing into his face, and called out Grimmauld place.

Harry’s boyish grin greeted him in the green glowing flames. “Hey Nev, what’s up?”

Neville pushed the monstera plant to the side, giving him room to sit. “Hey mate, have you looked through the post yet today?”

Harry shook his head. “Haven’t had the time. What came?”

“Gala invite,” he answered simply.

Harry nodded, understanding instantly. “How about you step on through? She wouldn't like us talking about this without her.”

Neville had already been down in the shop this morning, watering and pruning, so he was dressed in a deep red shirt and jeans, but he’d had no time to clean up before he’d Flooed. His nails had dirt under them and he knew he still smelled of vegetation. He supposed that was nothing new for him though, and walked through the open Floo.

Maybe she won’t go, he mused. Godric knew she deserved a reprieve. Hermione and Harry had been trotted out more than any of the rest of them. Avoiding more of that and Ron as well would be for the best.

As he stepped out he found the room empty. He assumed Harry had gone to grab the woman on both of their minds.

She walked down the stairs her tan, ankle length skirt swooshed with each step. She looked happy, calm. Possibly even glad to see him. He hated that he wasn’t here with better news.

“Hey Nev, what a nice surprise.”

He smiled back, but it must not have been very convincing. She narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on?”

Neither man responded.

Continued on A03

7 notes · View notes

dhr-ao3 · 4 days

Text

Beyond Horizons

Beyond Horizons https://ift.tt/4wNWqaP by faerie_queenee What happen when the Marauders along with there generation get a chance to know about there future. What happen when they are given a chance to rewrite them. What truth will be told? What would this means for them? Will they be able to change the future? Words: 2777, Chapters: 3/?, Language: English Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - All Media Types, The Originals (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: F/M Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Ron Weasley, Marauders (Harry Potter), Regulus Black, Original Cullen Character(s) (Twilight), Anastasia Granger, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Daphne Greengrass/Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson/Ron Weasley, Padma Patil/Blaise Zabini, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s), Regulus Black/Original Female Character(s), Remus Lupin/Original Female Character(s), Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy Additional Tags: Fanfiction, Crossover, Alternate Universe - Twilight Fusion, Inspired by The Originals (TV), Regulus Black Deserves Better, Character Death, Characters Watching Harry Potter Movies, Time Travel Fix-It, Plans For The Future, Hermione Granger is a Member of the House of Black, Good Slytherins, Prophecy via AO3 works tagged 'Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy' https://ift.tt/ydVFwOW April 26, 2024 at 07:39PM

#IFTTT #Dramione #Draco x Hermione

3 notes · View notes

annabellelupin · 10 months

Text

I know I like just said a few days ago I was going to step back from controversial posts for a bit but something has kind of came to my attention I'd like to address

I'm going to start of with the fact that this is not a hate post so don't get all pissed off at me for this. I'm fine with people expressing there opinions maturely but if you're just going to argue like a child I will delete the replies/reblogs and block you if needed, I don't want to deal with the drama and arguing.

Sometimes I really think people forget Barty Crouch Jr played a very big role in Goblet of Fire.

He locked a man in a trunk for weeks, turned a 14 year old into a ferret (yes he totally deserved it but the man still didn't deserve to get traumatized), is one of the main reasons Cedric died (he created the portkey-), he showed kids unforgivable curses which definitely was a bit traumatic for some of them (and seemed to trigger some ptsd for Neville), helped torture Alice and Frank Longbottom (two very wonderful people) to insanity and caused Neville so much pain by doing so.

Apparently people are defending him because his dad kind of sucked. I'd like to politely point out his mother loved him so much that she traded places with him so he could get out of Azkaban. And what does he do? Oh right, he goes right back to his old ways. I mean you'd figure most reasonable people would take that as a second chance and a reason to change, but nope not him.

... And yet people defend him and push aside the fact he's done some pretty bad things. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for redemption arcs and such, but what redeemable qualities has this man ever showed? and yes I get that he wasn't always a wizard nazi, but it's mentioned in the seventh books that a group of people who become such were doing really terrible things around Hogwarts, and one harmed Mary pretty badly. Just imagine what he did to people during his time at Hogwarts. People don't become evil over night. And unlike a lot of the des out there, he didn't have an entire family supporting Voldemorts actions that drove him to do it, he did it on his own accord.

now, before anyone goes "Oh that never happened!" or "He'd never do that!" he's some proof:

I'm not even going to bother finding the parts where he scars kids for life just because he can. I think this speaks for itself.

and someone pointed out that yes, his dad was a fucking bastard but most characterss had terrible families. I can name so many other characters that went through a lot and didn't do things like this over it. the man even had the audacity to lie about doing a lot of it. yes he was young then, but even years upon years later he made no effort to change for the better. I can almost guarantee that if he would've genuinely changed, Crouch sr would not have done half of this stuff. Like do you really think most parents would willingly do that to their children? he knew if he didn't then they'd both end up getting in trouble (not saying he should've done it, just that he didn't do it for nothing, his own reputation aside he was probably worried his son would end up hurting people again).

I really don't understand how people can defend and love this character...

but whatever. idc. i dont like him but if you do then it's whatever. I'm not going to be directly rude to you if I don't like the same characters or ships as you so don't go thinking this is me being rude to people who do like him, that's not the case. I'm just explaining my thoughts on the subject.

#barty crouch jr #barty crouch junior #harrypotter #harry potter #harry potter marauders #the marauders era

14 notes · View notes

olympip · 1 month

Text

Introducing The Paths to Atonement

My newest fic, The Paths to Atonement, is now being released on AO3! The first TWO chapters are up now. Plan on weekly updates :D Summary: Hermione wakes up to find herself in what she concludes is a magically-enhanced labyrinth, the last thing she remembers being fragments from the Battle of Hogwarts. As she makes her way through the maze, she finds herself facing Death Eaters, dangerous and lethal magical beasts, and even worse, a few choice Slytherins.

Together, the inhabitants of the maze must learn to work together to survive, all while piecing together the final steps to defeating the Dark Lord once and for all. *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ This is a Golden Trio Era fic, where things are mostly canon up until the point to where Harry is revealed to be alive, give or take a few small adjustments that will be revealed in the fic itself. In terms of characters, you'll be pleased to know it's got a big ol' ensemble cast featuring Blaise Zabini, Theo Nott, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and more.

While there is an eventual dramoine endgame (I know it's not everyone's cup of tea... it's not mine either unless it's written well and I think I did a good job at giving it a go), this fic is much more plot-focused than romance-focused. Really it's more enemies to friends heavy with some open ended "ooh" moments... can't say too much but you'll see. Despite this, there are some other minor ships featured throughout, i.e., Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley/Lavender Brown (revive my girl, she deserved better), and some more but I won't spoil too much. There will be no explicit content in this fic. My focus on this fic is to really try to dive into these characters (it'll have multiple POVs), how they interact with each other and the violence around them, and trying to write redemption arcs that The-Author-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was too cowardly to do. There's some action, some humor, some angst, and lots of forced collaboration between the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Anyways, check it out if that sounds interesting to you! If not, no worries haha.

2 notes · View notes

jimblejamblewritings · 2 years

Text

i should hate you | part 2.

Summary: Y/N Lestrange felt like her life was a set-up since birth. The entire school hates her thanks to her mother and father. Worst of all, she finds herself liking a Gryffindor… the one whose parents were tortured by hers.

Warnings for the Series: angst, fluff, some smut

Pairing: Neville Longbottom x black!reader

Word Count: 4.7k

Previous Part | (Series Masterlist)

“Our son came by last week.” Mrs. Longbottom started as one of the healers brought out an assortment of tea and sweets. “Norman.”

“Neville,” you corrected.

“Oh right, do you know him, (Y/N)?”

You blinked. It was already incredible that they remembered they had a son. But Alice just said your name and it was correct. Mrs. Longbottom dropped another sugar cube in your tea— you didn’t want one but forgot to stop her.

“Well, do you know him? He’s in Gryffindor. You two are the same age.”

“Yeah he is. Um, I kind of know Neville.”

“That’s nice.”

You nodded and took a sip of your too sweet tea, trying not to make a face. There’s no way that Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom would ever return to their former selves but maybe one day they’d be able to get out of St. Mungo’s. The healers told you that they couldn’t remember a thing for more than an hour. The pain had been so excruciating that it basically fried their brains— it was a miracle they remembered that they were wizards and met at Hogwarts. But it had been a week since you last showed up and they remembered your name, they had a son, he was in Gryffindor. That was the first time in the four years that you had been coming by for that to happen. Your hope was echoed as you signed out and Marlon spoke to you.

“It’s you talking, you know.”

“Huh?”

“Their son and his grandmother come just as much as you but it’s too close to home. They can’t tell them about their days or their weeks, too upsetting when Frank can’t remember his mom’s name. But someone that can just talk is working, no attachme— well, no familial attachment. Frank actually told us about Neville dropping a rememball in first year. Got his name wrong but a lot of it was right.”

You set the quill down. “I told them that story again two weeks ago, trying to repeat them.”

“It’s good. They might actually know his name tomorrow. See you next Friday.”

“See you next Friday.”

You got back to Hogwarts, completely forgetting that there was a quidditch match again. Slytherin had been out of the rotation for a while after the last game against Ravenclaw that you completely forgot you were against Gryffindor. You could already see people coming back and realized that you missed the entire thing. Blaise came running past you as Slytherin was causing a racket, this time about losing. He pressed a button into your hand. You read the words ‘Weasley is Our King’ and heard everyone laughing. You sighed and put the button in your pocket. There was excitement for a game and then there was poor sportsmanship. This fell into the latter category. You went to go find Draco and the rest of the team that were either still on the field or in the locker rooms. Mainly, you were going before Draco could stick his foot in his mouth. You couldn’t lie. He wasn’t like Lucius but he was a little douchebag. You could hear him before you spotted the team.

“We couldn’t fit in useless loser into the song either…”

You saw Ron head back into the Gryffindor changing room. You passed by Luna on the way, complimenting her lion hat to which she didn’t respond. You could also hear a large commotion outside and saw Fred— or maybe George— punch Draco. For once, you couldn’t even try to defend him. He probably deserved it. From what you did hear and based on the button Blaise gave you, they probably went too far and said something about the entire Weasley family.

Draco only provoked because your family was so messed up that he hated anybody, especially those he considered ‘blood-traitors’, having a happier home life than him. He needed a better outlet than bullying and you kept trying to tell him that but he just chuckled and walked off each time. You shrugged as you headed into the Gryffindor changing room. One day, Draco would get punched one time too many and finally change. Until then, you would just try to make sure he didn’t get beat up too badly.

Ron was angrily tearing off his gear. You stood a good bit away and cleared your throat, already prepared for whatever look he gave you.

“What the hell are you doing in here, Lestrange?”

“Apologizing. The song and badges weren’t cool, I don’t agree with them by the way.”

Fred and George came storming in. “We just got banned for life by Umbridge! What the hell are you doing here, Lestrange?”

“You got banned?”

“Get out.”

“What did you—”

“Bloody hell, get out!”

Fred slammed a fist against the locker that was next to him. You jumped and walked out— practically ran out. You went straight to your room, not bothering to wait for Draco. The weekend didn’t make it any better. You tried to get others to stop singing the song but that only made your table sing it even louder. Eventually, you left the table rather than be associated with the bad apples of your house. You decided to give everything a rest as well. A week off from seeing your face or hearing you was probably what everyone needed. The only unfortunate part was that it meant you didn’t have a good story on Friday for Frank and Alice. So, you retold them about Neville helping Harry last year during the Triwizard Tournament.

“And Neville was freaking out for a moment because he thought Harry—”

“Harry Potter?”

“Yes, Mr. Longbottom.”

“We knew James and Lily, didn’t we, sweetheart?”

Mrs. Longbottom nodded. “Yes, we did. They were lovely. They have a son now?”

“Uh, yes. He’s in our year… Lily and James are dead.”

Mrs. Longbottom tilted her head. “Did your parents do it?”

“No, You-Know-Who.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that, then,” Mr. Longbottom said with a firm nod. “Neville was helping Harry?”

“Yes! He gave him gillyweed and it helped so much. Harr— oh, I’ll get us more tea.” You motioned for Mr. Longbottom to sit back down.

St. Mungo’s was weird. Particularly, the Janus Ward. It was half-muggle half-wizard as if they didn’t trust their patients with the full use of magic. And that meant waiting for the nurse on staff to fill up the kettle and tea packets and add the tiny sandwiches back to the tray. You made your way back, Mrs. Longbottom already taking one of the tiny sandwiches off of the tray before you could fully sit down. You took off your scarf and jacket, tucking your wand into your boot. The sandwiches weren’t the best but they were enough to aid in enhancing an entertaining story.

“So, Harry won because of Neville?” Mrs. Longbottom asked through laughter at you mimicking Neville’s ‘I think I killed Harry Potter face’.

“Well, he tied. We had one boy, Cedric Diggory, who came back first and performed a really good Bubble-Head Charm so they gave him first place. But without Neville and the gillyweed, Harry would have been last.”

“I like that story.”

You nodded and made a note to tell it to them again next time. Lots of little anecdotes sprung up in your head but none of them seemed good enough after the gillyweed. You finished chewing your sandwich and poured everyone some more tea.

“He casted a near perfect Riddikulus Charm when we were in third year.”

“That seems like something we’d love to hear… this story needs chess.”

You watched them walk away to get the chess set. It would be at least ten minutes. They were particular about playing on only three sets and would wait until a game was finished if all three sets were being used. The classic wizard’s chess set, the set where the pieces were red and white, the set where all the pieces were black and you really had to pay attention. You had yet to beat Mr. Longbottom on the all black chess set.

“Get away from them.”

You turned when you heard a low voice. Neville stomped over and ripped your tea kettle from your hand. You sat there in your chair, frozen on the spot. The only thing you could do was blink. This wasn’t when he came to visit his parents. It was Friday. You were sure of it because you just had Potions class a few hours ago. He didn’t visit on Fridays. That’s what made the schedule so perfect to avoid running into him. You looked at the large calendar on the wall right next to him… it was the anniversary date of the torture. You cursed yourself for not thinking to check about that.

“Neville, I’m so sorry, I didn’t k—”

“Get out!”

You quickly booked it, not even bothering to get your outer layers that you had taken off. The chill from the cold air when you reached Hogsmeade didn’t sting anyway. Not when you were trying to get over the sting of the way Neville looked at you with such vitriol.

The DA could hear noises coming from an empty classroom on their floor. They were wondering what you were doing as you paced around. Seamus made a joke about practicing a different Unforgivable Curse since you were probably already so good at the Cruciatus. They noticed pretty quickly after that Malfoy was sitting on top of the desks.

“Do you think he’s like a fruit platter? Is that appropriate for Christmas? The Longbottoms really liked when I came with one.”

Malfoy laughed. “You’re going to try and win him over with fruit?”

“I’m not trying to win him over… Draco, stop laughing!”

“Then what are you trying to do? Because this is the fifth or sixth victim of Aunt Bellatrix that you tracked down.”

“I’m just trying to apologize! It wasn’t right what she and father did and it isn’t right that those people never got a sorry.”

“You think people want it from their daughter?”

“It’s not like it’ll ever come from them. They seem to accept it good enough since everyone thinks I’m just a mini version of my mother.”

“If they all accept it then why are you still sneaking to St. Mungo’s?”

“Because they got it the worst. You should’ve seen what she’s done to them… the healers used to be worried that they would never be able to leave but a tiny baby step was made.”

“Then the healers are doing their job, why do you ne— Merlin, you’re not actually trying to see if you can help fix them? Is this because you like Longbottom?”

You whipped around so fast that you almost fell over. A heat rushed to your face inside the classroom and the same happened to Neville outside of it— only one was embarrassed and one was angry.

“I do not like Neville!”

Draco snorted. “No? Was like not good enough? You fancy him, then. Is that it, Pygmy Puff? You stare way too hard in class, I’m surprised he can’t feel it.”

“I-I don’t fancy— I just think that no one should have to grow up without their parents, that’s it. That’s why I want to help… Mrs. Longbottom remembered my name last time I went. That’s a step, even if she’s forgotten it by now. Probably has, I haven’t been back since I ran into Neville.”

“I should rip his head off for thinking he could talk to you like that.”

“He had every right to. Those are his parents. I don’t think he ever wants me back there so I’m going to respect that.”

“Not even try to sneak around?”

You shook your head. “Nope, no cunning tricks this time. No Slytherin style. I’m going to honor his request… you never answered me about Bagman!”

“Yeah, whatever, he’ll like your stupid fruit platter if all the others did.”

You nodded and began to leave the classroom, making the DA scramble to get into the Room of Requirement. The next time they caught you in the classroom it was without Malfoy. They realized that you had no clue they were there and also came to the seventh floor because of the lack of classes. Before the First Wizarding War, Hogwarts was full and also had lots of exchange students. Every floor was used and the staff was massive. The world shrunk though and never seemed to recover. You found the seventh floor’s emptiness perfect for the same reason as Dumbledore’s Army— no one to spy on you. The desks were pushed aside and they could see you pull out your wand. You swished it down and then held it in front of your face, duel style.

“Mother, Father, who would like to be defeated first?” You asked the empty air with a tilt of your head.

“Father?”

You called out spells as you straightened and bent your arm. Jets of light flew from your wand tip to hit nothing. You smiled in satisfaction at the ending to an imaginary duel and turned to another empty space.

“Just you and me, mum.”

Of course, no one responded. The spells went flying again— almost all of them defensive. You had a thing about learning offensive spells.

“Stupefy!”

You frowned when the orange light simply fizzled out from your wand. You walked over to the desk with the large textbook on it.

“The stupefy spell is particularly useful against non-humans…” you muttered as you read over the book. “Mmm hmm, blocked with many charms… move your wand in a straight line from top to bottom. Alright.”

You went back to the large space.

“Stupefy… stupefy! This is utterly stupid… Stupefy! UGH!”

“It’s a short flick with your wand, not a long line!”

You jumped and instinctively yelled out “Colloportus!”

The door slammed itself closed. Realizing you caught a glimpse of Harry before it shut, you scrambled across the room. The DA heard muttering and a door rattling followed by ‘oh right, Alohamora’ before suddenly the door was open. You stuck only your head out, stunned into silence at seeing more than just Harry there. You squeezed yourself through the space from opening the door a little wider. You couldn’t look at any of them knowing what just happened.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go ask Peeves to drop a chandelier on my head.”

They watched you turn around, tucking your wand back into the waistband of your skirt as you walked away. The twins snorted as you patted your body when you realized that you left your robe and textbook. You shook your head because there was no way you could go back for it now. Or ever. Not if the DA used one of those classrooms. Although you weren’t sure how you hadn’t seen them before.

“Clearly wasn’t cut out for Ravenclaw,” Fred said.

“Cunning definitely doesn’t mean clever,” George finished. “Lestrange!”

The dam you had been holding in for about five years broke. They had just seen you practicing a stunning spell. You swore never to do offensive spells in front of people, you always failed at performing them in class and only executed them perfectly in the one on one exams. Now that they had seen it, you would never be able to escape the shadow of your parents. You just added validity to claims about doing things like the Cruciatus Curse. You felt that any work you made over the years was destroyed in a single minute and you hadn’t made much progress to begin with. And from what you saw, every house but Slytherin was in that group behind Harry. Everyone was going to know. They’d probably start calling you Death Eater to your face instead of just behind your back like you overheard.

“Is she crying?” George asked.

You didn’t get very far— you thought you were out of sight from them— when you crouched down in the middle of the hallway. The sobs turned from silent to audible and you quickly bit on your pullover sleeve to stop the noise from echoing down the hall before it reached whatever classroom Harry and his friends must have been in. They watched you pull your wand back from the skirt pocket it was in and set it on the ground. You stood up slowly and everyone gasped when your boot made contact with your wand. The sobs just grew louder and the crunch of wood could be heard between the pockets of silence. You picked up the little pile of wood and phoenix feather and chucked it at the wall. You wiped ferociously at your face so it looked like you had only been crying for maybe a second when you heard footsteps.

“There you are. We’re going to miss our carriage back home,” Draco said. “What happened?”

You pointed to the little pile. “Peeves broke it.”

“That foul, blo— we should go to Snape.”

“Leave it, Draco. He’s a ghost anyway, what punishment can he take? Can we just go home?”

“Alright. You’ll need a new wand.”

“Yeah,” you mumbled.

The first thing Lucius and Narcissa did was take you to Ollivander’s before he closed for Christmas. They went back to Malfoy Manor while you and Draco said that you wanted to stay in Diagon Alley a little longer. Lucius and Narcissa told you that you would go to bed without dinner if you didn’t return in time for it. The minute they apparated, you ditched Draco. He hated the muggle world but would cover for you as he met his friends. You wanted to see Christmas and how they did it.

Everyone stared as you rode the escalator multiple times in a row and you realized that it was not normal to do so, getting off and pretending to go shop. You didn’t exactly prepare so you didn’t have much muggle money on you. Whatever you spent had to matter because you were currently limited. You went around the stores and they even had a little outdoor festival called a Christmas Market. You picked through the various trinkets, trying to find a new little ceramic jar. You weren’t sure what a charity shop was or thrifting but you found yourself in that section, picking through ceramics.

“How about this one?” an old woman held up a little ceramic doll.

“What is it?”

She looked bewildered but gladly set the doll down. You gasped as the top came off to show another doll underneath. It kept going until there was only a tiny one left. The old woman called them nesting dolls.

“How much?”

“Twenty pounds.”

You frowned. You only had fourteen. The woman set the dolls down and found nice mugs for you instead. You thanked her as she wrapped it and quickly made your way back to the alley with the bricks you needed to press in order to enter the wizarding world.

The wand was untouched the entire holiday break. The only time you used it was as a paper weight for one corner of the wrapping paper as you were wrapping a small box. You wanted to send the Longbottoms a gift because you did every year and felt an explanation was owed as to why you stopped showing up. Of course, you lied. You couldn’t visit anymore because you transferred to Ilvermorny because they have a really good Muggle/Magic Integration Program. No way in hell were you going to say that their son didn’t want you talking to them again. That would be vindictive as far as you were concerned. Dobby, who hated even stepping foot in Malfoy Manor, was nice enough to deliver the gift at your request. Probably because you always treated him with respect.

Other than that, your new wand— with the same phoenix feather core but now bleached ash wood instead of dark cherry wood— was untouched until it was time to go back to Hogwarts. You were glad that Narcissa insisted on dropping off you and Draco so you didn’t have to take the Hogwarts Express back. You just weren’t ready to deal with people. The ease continued as you sat down for breakfast and bit into a pancake. Even Draco was too tired to talk which meant you were left in comfortable silence in the morning that continued into your afternoon. It all came crashing down when the owls dropped off evening mail. It was all the same. A few Daily Prophets were dropped off at each table because no one had mail on even the first or second day back from holiday break.

You shook your head when you saw your mother’s face on the front page. The words ‘MASS BREAKOUT’ were plastered above it. You practically tore the paper from Draco’s hands and quickly scanned through it. It felt like all eyes were on you. You looked up at the faculty table to see them all reading the paper and speaking in hushed whispers. A breath hitched in your throat when you thought you caught the eye of Flitwick. To you, the silence was now a bunch of fingers pointing guilty. No one had to say anything, they just had to read the paper. You were going to throw up. You stood up from the table, tripping as your leg got caught on the bench. Draco got up but you shook your head aggressively and ran out of the Hall.

The entirety of Hogwarts was still too small for you to find a hiding place. You ran through the floors, ending up on the now infamous seventh one. Peeking into that one classroom that now twisted your stomach in knots, you found your textbook and robe had been taken out which meant you’d have to buy new ones. You were frantic as you paced. All you needed was a place to hide. That was it. A place to hide from everyone who thought you were going to be just like your parents.

You gasped when a large door appeared on the wall out of seemingly nowhere. The room was lined with a bunch of mirrors and some stuff on the wall, not that you cared. You went all the way to the mirrored wall at the back and just sunk down against it. The tears were ugly as you brought your knees up to your chest and buried your head. Your elbows rested on your knees and your fingers rested on your head as if you could somehow give yourself a gentle caress that said everything was going to be okay.

A click of a door and the shuffling of feet alerted you. You pulled out your wand and pointed it, not even thinking of a single spell, before dropping it. Harry and that large group from Hogsmeade were standing there. You buried your head again when you realized that this must have been the classroom they liked to go into and you were intruding. But you couldn’t move.

“Just teach around me.”

Your muffled shouts echoed throughout the place that they all heard you. Hesitantly, the DA stepped into the room. Harry kept teaching as if everything was normal. He occasionally looked behind him to see your position had not changed. You couldn’t see a thing they were doing because you hadn’t moved once. The DA members were wondering if your limbs weren’t going to go stiff, especially your neck that had been craned down the whole time. They also kept hearing sobs that died only to start up again before getting really quiet as if you were trying not to disturb them. Everyone went wide-eyed when Fred’s Expelliarmus spell missed George thanks to his Shield Charm and hit the space right above your head. You didn’t even flinch.

“Alright, let’s break for water and then finish strong,” Harry said.

You felt a body sit next to you. It wriggled uncomfortably before settling down and then shifting once more.

“This doesn’t look like Ilvermorny,” a voice said. “When do you leave?”

The quiet sob got loud again and you heard a panic in the voice.

“Joke, it was a joke, cause of your letter…”

You looked up. Neville kind of just looked in shock as you met his eyes. Your eyes were completely red and puffy, your lip was still trembling even after you bit it while wiping the snot from your nose. And he wasn’t greeted by dried tear stains, fresh ones slipped down your face little by little. You hiccuped with your next breath. The other DA members watched you look away before looking at Harry.

“I didn’t mean to come in here, I didn’t know…”

You wiped at your face with your shirt sleeve and stood up quickly. You already intruded by being in their club room. You knew when a hostile welcome was overstayed. It wasn’t quite running but it definitely wasn’t a calm walk as you exited the room.

“Lestr— (Y/N)!”

You stopped to see Neville holding your wand. You patted your skirt subconsciously, not believing that you left your brand new wand. Lucius would have a fit if you had to buy another one in the span of only a couple weeks. You took it from Neville, avoiding touching his hand, and mumbled a thank you. Neville scratched the back of his neck before walking back.

Draco gave you a hug when you entered the common room and then let you retreat into your room. You got up early to send a letter to Bagman. He did, in fact, appreciate the fruit platter and wanted to continue communication through letters. He got his life together and got married. They recently had a kid so you were sending a congratulations letter. You moved from the owlery to the pier on the Black Lake. No one liked to sit on the pier because of the giant squid and then the merpeople from last year. But half of the lake was over the Slytherin common room so you all were used to it. The first and second years were avoiding you, even the ones in Slytherin, when you finally entered the castle to get breakfast. You didn’t even bother with a sigh.

You came in late. The milk pitcher was empty. You looked around to see the one on Hufflepuff’s table looked barely used. They didn’t like cereal? You grabbed your bowl and started to walk over when you saw a first year tense up when you got closer. On instinct, you backed away a little with your hands up. Without a second thought, you set the bowl down on the Gryffindor table and just left.

Neville grabbed the bowl and poured milk into it before getting a spoon. The others kind of nodded at him as he got up to find you. It wasn’t hard. You were sitting in the stairwell close to the kitchens, planning on waiting and watching all the students leave so you could get breakfast before the elves cleaned it all up. You looked up and stopped picking at your shoelaces when a pair of feet stopped in front of you. Neville handed you the bowl. He immediately felt bad when you put the first spoonful to your mouth without a second thought because everyone thought that anything you gave to people was laced with poison.

“Can I sit?” he pointed next to you.

You nodded with a mouthful of cereal, Draco’s Pygmy Puff nickname being very fitting. You were really normal now that he was sitting next to you. Like another student. Neville started to think about when you were ever mean. He couldn’t come up with anything. Usually, you were apologizing for Slytherin’s insults. You did that a lot— he realized— apologize for people. Maybe they were too hard on you? He saw the mugs when his parents opened your Christmas present. It was a nice gesture for you to not just disappear. He shook the thought out of his head. You were near his parents. Your mum tortured his mum so bad that she couldn’t remember his name— until a few weeks ago. But that didn’t matter. You were a Lestrange. Abruptly, Neville stood up.

“Are you done? With the breakfast?”

You nodded and handed him the empty bowl. Neville gave a curt nod and walked back towards the Great Hall.

(Part 3)...

#neville longbottom x reader

73 notes · View notes

sugareey-makes-stuff · 2 years

Photo

I am stoked to wish @thebooktopus a very happy birthday with a nameplate and a rec list! Maddy deserves all the love in the world for being such an amazing person who lifts others up. It must have been late last year/early this year when I started seeing her pop in regularly via various Discord servers (and she also mods a few too!). When @anaxandria-writes recced a Maddy fic and invited her to the Wizarding Creators Den (where we were getting hyped about said fic being complete), I was super excited! Once Maddy and I got to know each other and realised we both loved Drarry AND so many rare pairs, the rest was history. Let’s be honest: Maddy is a true sport when it comes to cheerleading and supporting so many people. She’s sweet, passionate and easy-going as an alpha and a beta. Right off the bat, you can tell Maddy loves stories and ideas, and she wants to help fellow creators out. She’s engaged, and since she’s an avid reader of many things, that offers a wonder opportunity for new, beautiful friendships to form. If you want someone to scream about your work (WIP or finished), Maddy is your person! Her insights on everything are also optimistic and heartfelt. It’s all in the comments she leaves for people. She’s thoughtful in what she says, and you can feel the appreciation and enthusiasm she has for each work she reads/views. I'm sure folks who have gotten comments and tags from her know what I’m talking about. Her words truly mean a lot. Can we talk about Maddy’s gorgeous recs? YES, because there are sooo many good ones! These always brighten up my day when I see them on my dashboard. Her recs have been one way I’ve been able to find, read and add fics to my TBR list. I also think Maddy has a special superpower to read and absorb all the things, because the time and effort it takes to keep up and make monthly recs is impressive and labour-intensive. She’s currently killing it with Game of Drarry fic recs right now, and you can see ALL of her recs here. ALSO, her Mutuals March project. OMG. Maddy was a gem to go through so many creators’ works to shine a spotlight on each one of them. This must have been a beast of a project to take on, yet what a delight was it to see so many works I haven’t seen before! I thought it was a brilliant project when I first heard about, and little did I know that Maddy would surprise me by going through my works, showering them with comments AND giving me my own post. I have never had anyone do that for me before, and this just shows how kind Maddy is to make people feel like their work matters to fandom. Since then, Maddy has become one of my regular supporters, and I’m grateful and lucky to call her a friend. While I’ve been challenging myself to make and approach new projects in different ways (whether it be ships, mediums, formats, or even writing more one-shots and writing a bunch of microfics), Maddy’s encouragement has always been so uplifting. She has made me realise I am better than I give myself credit for, that my work is unique, and that I should run with that. So, that’s what I’m doing! If Maddy doesn’t have a full plate already, she made HP Next Gen Fest happen this year (which just finished posting) to spread the love for alll the next gen ships. Andddd of course, she’s a writer who has written some excellent Drarry fics and rare pair stories! Maddy has a way of embracing humour, flirting, fluff and sass all in on go, which makes character dynamics fun yet sexy! Quite of few of her fics have made me go down some rabbit holes and wanting more. Here are some of my fav Maddy fics: 🦑 >>> The Dragon Tamer & The Snake Slayer (Charlie/Neville, E, 17.7k)

Summary: Professor Neville Longbottom has an unfortunate crush on his newest colleague, Charlie Weasley. Charlie, who is pure magic personified, even in a wizarding world. Whose scars and laughter make Neville come undone. Charlie, who could never be interested in Neville... right?

Remember that Maddy fic rec I mentioned above? THIS IS IT. I did not know I needed this fic until I read it, and gods, I love Herbtamer more now. There’s a wonderful acknowledgement to demisexuality, an excellent use of consent, and the energy between Neville and Charlie’s friendship is so warm. Also, these two mesh so well together that they fit like pieces of a puzzle, as they should. 🐙 >>> Let Me Count the Ways (Drarry, E, 3.6k)

Summary: Intimacy comes in many forms. Draco wants to explore them all with Harry.

OKAY. This is such a beautiful and well-written fic for sooo many reasons. What an amazing take on asexuality, and I adore how Draco wants to make everything so good for Harry. They’re both so soft, and full of sooo mannnyy feelings. All of their actions and words are enough to prove that they absolutely love each other. Seeing all the ways their relationship changes over time will make you melt into a puddle. If you want some sexy fluff, go read this!| 🦑 >>> Are Those Drugs in Your System, or Are You Just Happy to See Me? (Drarry, T, 1.3k)

Summary: While Harry is out on patrol on New Year's Eve, he stumbles (literally) into Draco. When their eyes meet, Harry is immediately concerned - why are Draco's pupils so wide? Is he high? Nope. Turns out he's just in love.

What a sweet and fun read! If you want some classic Drarry banter, you’ve got it in here. Also, Draco is absolutely precious, blunt and sassy, just the way we like him. Such a wonderful take on a NYE fic. 🐙 >>> Life After Quidditch (Flintwood, E, 11k)

Summary: After a career-ending injury, Oliver Wood is forced to take an early retirement. And what does early retirement look like for famous Quidditch players? The charity circuit. Galas, bake sales, auctions—you name it, Oliver’s agent had signed him up for it. Oliver didn’t know what to expect from this new life, but it certainly wasn’t Marcus Flint popping up at every turn. Or for him to be friendly and welcoming, unwilling to let Oliver stew in his self-loathing. Or for him to look so good in yoga pants. Or to fall for the git.

The way Maddy writes Flintwood is outstanding, and this fic does not disappoint. She has such a way of bringing in teasing, humour and all the UST together when it comes to Oliver and Marcus. Their banter is spot on, and I also love how these two have changed as people since school. Of course, Oliver tries to figure out how the world still exists when Marcus isn’t antagonising him (aka Marcus has other ways to push Oliver’s buttons that doesn’t involve fist fights). And the charity events? Hilarious. 10000% worth the read to see how these two get together, and for all the clever lines and flirting. You can find more of Maddy’s work on AO3. Make sure to leave kudos and comments to show appreciation for her fandom contributions. Maddy, you are truly special and one of a kind. Thank you again for spreading so much love and for making so many people feel seen and cared for. I hope you have a wonderful day!

#thebooktopus #happy birthday #drarry #herbtamer #flintwood #hp fanfic #rec lists #fic recs #spicy #read at your own risk #friends with bdays #lettering #sugareey does lettering #sugareey recs things #fandom friends

59 notes · View notes

fanfic-lover-girl · 8 months

Text

Magical Education in Harry Potter

I have continued reading snippets of HP and I realized once again how...boring the magic is in HP. Besides Snape, Dumbledore and Voldemort I think, no one in HP really does anything exceptional or innovative with their magic. Well...there are the Marauders with their map and their animagus transformations. Plus the Weasley twins are super creative too with their products. But I think that's it really. I will be mega generous and throw in Draco fixing the cabinet and Hermione's DA coins too.

Not even Harry Potter, who is supposed to be the chosen one and hero of the story, does anything great. He's tragically mediocre and not in a good way. I do not consider summoning a patronus at 13 to be a marvel. Considering he had special lessons from Lupin and his performing the spell is not really a special/new/creative magical endeavour.

The muggle world has great technological innovations. But wizards are not innovating magic on the same level at all. And I think part of the problem is their magical education system.

First, starting to learn magic at 11 is total rubbish. Using Avatar: The Last Airbender as an example. Learning magic at 11 is comparable to someone learning they can bend at 5 but they don't start training until 11. Or someone in our world has prodigious abilities but they don't train until high school. Do you see how dumb this is?

So in the meantime, wizard kids have this power that they can't control properly. It's not that big of a deal if the kid has a magical family but what about mugglebornes like Hermione or kids who grew up in muggle families like Harry?? Harry was literally a hazard to the Dursleys in more ways than one and it's understandable, not excusable, that they hated him.

Plus Hermione's character is annoying due to her role as an exposition device. It's tiresome that a muggleborne girl is constantly showing up purebloods who literally grew up around magic. As the books go on, she takes over Ron's role in the trio as the magical common sense guy. In reality, mugglebornes should be at a major disadvantage. Let's say I am trying to learn Spanish. I have no Spanish-speaking family. And let's say I end up in a class of immigrant kids whose parents all speak Spanish. They may not be fluent themselves but they have a huge headstart on me. In time I will catch up to them, especially if I work hard like Hermione, but initially, I would perform worse than them. As first years, the pureblood and halfblood kids should be blowing Hermione out of the water. If not for the entire first year then at least the first semester/term.

So how would I fix this issue? Four ways:

Magical kindergarten/elementary school

Hogwarts should be a highschool/college level institution. Or maybe Hogwarts could have different school levels. Kids should learn the introductory concepts for Charms, Transfiguration, Potions etc in primary/elementary school or even from their freaking parents. Ron's intro scene with that make my rat yellow prank spell was just sad. And having Hermione call him out for the spell not being real was just more salt in my annoyance. As kids, they learn the basics like wand movement, magic theory and safety. And basic spells.

Advanced learning

When they go to Hogwarts they should focus more on application and higher levels of theory. For example: Magical Ethics (what are the moral boundaries of magic **cough**rapedrugs**cough**polyjuicepotion**cough**), Magical Research (do projects/experiments to learn more about the nature of magic, like how is elf magic different from wizard magic), Spellmaking (why is Snape the only dude in HP inventing spells!), Improvised Spells (like in Wizards of Waverly Place), Magic Economics (how does magic work with the concept of scarcity, what is scarcity in the wizarding world), Magical Defense (not just against the dark arts but basic defence like self-defence in our world and perhaps survival skills) etc. They should learn non-verbal and non-wand magic as well of course. Maybe this could be taught at the end of primary school or the beginning of Hogwarts. Instead of the very end of their Hogwarts education.

Accessible classes for mugglebornes

So what about mugglebornes, you say? Well, there are two options. You can provide after-school classes for muggleborne students to learn magic before they attend Hogwarts. Think of extra lessons or night classes in our world. Or you can send the mugglebornes to summer school(s) before Hogwarts which leads me to my next point.

Different Class Tracks

Put muggleborne kids in a different class track from the purebloods/halfbloods who went to magical primary. Like how we have advanced classes for students who are super bright or slower-paced classes for students who need extra help. Students like Hermione would gradually graduate to the advanced track while lazier students like Harry may stay in the slower track. Or maybe bright students like Hermione could do placement tests to get into the advanced track from the start. Some pureblood students could even be demoted to the slower track if they begin to goof off (maybe Ron) or need extra help (maybe Neville). And you can mix and match! So Neville would be in Class 1 Herbology but Class 2 Potions :). Maybe Harry would be in Class 1 DADA but Class 2 Potions etc.

If lack of teachers is an issue, then pureblood families would teach their own kids and the primary school would be exclusively for muggleborne kids and/or pureblood/halfblood kids whose parents can't provide tutoring.

Conclusion

So yeah, that's how I would revamp the school system. Hogwarts is a weird school. Like students leave as adults but leaving Hogwarts feels like leaving primary school. I never felt prepared for the world after highschool but at least we have college/university. Even if HP has trade schools/apprenticeships for jobs like healing and being an auror, I think their magical education is seriously lacking. And the spellwork in HP is honestly very lame. Wands just end up being like guns. More battles should be like the Voldy vs Dumbles fight in book 5.

Magic should be something kids learn from the cradle. Magic is not a subject like Math is. Magic is literally part of who they are. Learning magic should be treated like learning how to groom yourself, eat healthily or even speak. It's strange how Hogwarts and the ministry restrict students from learning magic outside of classes. Maybe it's a conspiracy??

79 notes · View notes