Widdershins & the Eyes of Caduceus Read on AO3
A post-war Harry Potter story about the kids who inherited the questions no one wanted to ask. (Yes, the gif is thematically relevant) (First Book COMPLETE)
Summary
The Statute was built for doors. Time, as my Muggleborn friends keep trying to explain, is increasingly fond of Windows.
Hogwarts, 2006. The war is over. The castle is still standing. The staircases still try to kill people. Muggle Studies still thinks the 'internet' is a type of cauldron. The ethics curriculum? Still designed for medieval dueling disputes. And yet. Widdershins Weekly arrives monthly, anonymously, charmed to look like scrap parchment and packed with satire. And a handful of students are beginning to ask inconvenient questions, such as "Is our entire society held together with Spellotape and siege mentality?"
Characters/Ships: 5-OC Ensemble, mostly genfic - M/F OC subplot Rating: Teen Tags: OC ensemble cast, postwar/canon, political themes (esp isolationism), friendship, satire, humor and angst and drama (POV rotatation), character-driven slow-build Words: 142,122 (Complete, first in a series)
Excerpt:
"That isn't something a prefect of one House should be telling a first-year of another," Cassian said.
There was that look in the Muggleborn boy's eyes now, the one Cassian had prior labeled as discomfort, and this time Cassian thought perhaps it was more guarded. "Is it true?" ventured Little.
The vaguery sent icy papercuts of doubt through Cassian's skin.
"What? That you should be careful?" Marius put in, which was just as well, for Cassian didn't trust his own read of what the boy truly wanted to know.
"…No," said Little, a small knit forming between his eyebrows. "I'd read the history books before school," he added, in a clarification that stung with the grim awareness of what he'd likely read. "But - the prefect. She said…"
Cassian sat back, adjusted his sleeves.
"She said they- you- Slytherin. That Slytherin…" His voice faded.
With heavy thoughts, Cassian picked up the thread and permitted himself to guess. "She said that Slytherin would weigh your background. Or something of that nature."
Little's gaze lingered on Cassian's as he nodded, something in it more challenging than shying - not hostile, but yes, his read earlier. Guarded. Cassian held the look without flinch.
"There will be those that do," Cassian said evenly. "Within Slytherin, there will be a few for whom no proof of belonging will ever be sufficient. Outside Slytherin, there will be those who weigh your being here more than your background. Some will read meanings in, assumptions about your person or what you mean for us. If either sort makes themselves known, then you will know the people whose respect is worth your barest concern."



















