Empathetic Wizard

[empatheticwizard]

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."

[empatheticwizard]

The Good Guys: Muggleborns are full wizards.

The Bad Guys: Muggleborns are fake, lesser wizards.

The Good Guys: Muggles are safari animals that occasionally birth real people. Oh, and we occasionally feel like kissing one.

The Bad Guys: Muggles are pest animals.

Yay, the good guys won!

[cloudseeker7]

Grey Faction ≠ Moral Superiority

let’s get real about this “grey faction” nonsense. being morally grey as a person can make sense—survival, protecting your family, figuring out where you actually stand in a war. fine. realistic. nuanced. we get it.

but here’s the thing: when fics claim something like “the Death Eaters are wrong, but they have a few good points because muggleborns are destroying pureblood culture, so the best stance is neutrality”—that is not nuance. that’s laziness disguised as sophistication. it doesn’t make your faction morally interesting. it makes them morally cowardly, and it forces the heroes into the role of naive do-gooders just to make your “neutral” faction look clever.

neutrality is fine as a personal choice. prideful neutrality, especially when paired with disdain for those actively resisting evil? that’s not sophisticated, it’s cowardice wrapped in fanon chic. let’s call it what it is: complicity.

your story can have morally grey characters. it can have intrigue, survival strategies, and personal conflicts. but don’t glorify inaction as moral superiority while making the heroes look like idiots. nuance isn’t “we didn’t kill anyone, so we’re better than Harry and co.” nuance is understanding the consequences of every choice, including doing nothing.

[empatheticwizard]

Before I go off, sarcasm not directed at you.

But it is super fucking rich for purebloods to pretend they have any ground to stand on with Muggleborns 'corrupting their culture' when the actual dichotomy is *checks notes* strongarm removing Muggleborns from their native support structures into a high-control society that the Muggleborns are expected to fully integrate into and adopt the values of, even going so far as to accept the mindrape of their Muggle kin if the magical government says so.

But tell me more about how it's pureblood 'culture' being threatened.

So, yea. *waves from the Statute of Secrecy discourse side*

[empatheticwizard]

The Death Eaters Were Inevitable

(Or, How I Broke My Brain And Fell In Love With Statute of Secrecy Discourse)

Now, before I begin, let me escort the first elephant out of the room: Yes, the Death Eaters were basically a Nazi parallel (or an X/Y/Z cocktail of various prejudices).

This is not about that. This is, if you will allow me, sidestepping that to suggest that there is another motivating factor in the wizarding world that not only strengthens psychologically exploring Death Eaters and similar, but could arguably be treated as their source code.

I am referring, of course, to the International Statute of Secrecy (est. 1689).

Second elephant out of the room. Yes, in canon, the Statute is a franchise convenience. The wizarding world as it exists in Harry Potter and its cousins only exists as-is with the Statute as foundation. Masquerade trope. Doylist, yadda and that.

Elephant out? Good.

Now let’s look at the elephant that we’re sitting down for tea: a society that has spent three hundred years reciting and digesting scattered medieval witch hunts as a reason to maintain a mind-control-enforced insular culture.

As we know from the real world, hardcore fear-fueled isolationism always produces functional, well-adjusted people.

Sarcasm aside, moving on.

Imagine you are a pureblood wizard, if you would. You grow up in a house out in the countryside. You occasionally glimpse Muggles, maybe, but you aren’t allowed to meaningfully talk to them. Not much. Besides, Muggles burn people and have nukes and all of this and that and the other. Imagine what they would do if they found us - that is the mantra you hear all your life. But wait no, we have magic, we’re safe, we’re superior.

Which one is it?

And then you go to school, and you notice there’s a whole class of wizards whose parents and siblings and aunties and uncles are Muggles. What if one of them cracked and said something? What if one of the Muggleborns decided they liked the Muggles better than you? Half-bloods? Them too. People who marry Muggles? They've actively decided it, haven't they?

And then along comes this fellow saying don’t worry. We are superior to Muggles. And you know what? Muggleborns probably are conspiring and plotting against us anyway. They don’t get our ‘culture’ (and I use the the word loosely, considering canon population distribution), not to mention they were born out there.

People don’t like the narrative that makes them afraid. They like the one that makes them feel in control.

Now, enter the 1970s and surrounding years. The Muggle world is changing rapidly. The Cold War is afoot. The other is in its rapid-pulse state.

And we look at our pureblood and we wonder why he might become a Death Eater.

I want to be clear: I am not saying the Death Eaters are right or good or the real victims. I’m saying that the fundamental premise of the Statute of Secrecy does not create a stable, healthy society. It creates a highly paranoid one. (Which also raises some interesting pressures on canon’s British Ministry’s behavior, come to think.)

It breeds radicalization.

So, yeah. Has anyone else considered that 300 years of militant isolation might fuck up a society?

[augureysfeather]

Disappointed that there are what feels like 1,281,273 fics about characters we know very little about (looking at you, Regulus Black and the entire entourage of characters allegedly aligned with the marauders) but the fandom completely SLEEPS on characters we know just as much about, but who actually have a fascinating political stand. :/

For example, I have included Carlotta Pinkstone now in two of my fics, but she has all but 6 (!) fics on Ao3 (and I’d say she’s the focus of two of them :/) and nearly no posts here on tumblr. 

Now, what makes me so curious about her?

She’s born in 1922, so a) she was likely a student of Dumbledore. b) She was alive and grew up with the festering conflict with Grindelwald, so she was probably influenced, and confronted with his political stand and the opposition. c)She developed a resistance against the Statute of Secrecy, believing that wizarding and muggle societies should mix (and boy let me tell you, I cannot make this an essay about why I think this should absolutely be debated more within the HP fandom and in-universe as well but it should!) And finally, d) She was willing to stand for her point so strongly that she went to Azkaban SEVERAL times for showcasing magic to muggles. 

We do not know what spells she used in front of muggles (I have my own headcanons that she actually attempted to help muggles with medical issues/struggles, but that’s only a headcanon), but one definitely has to admire the defiance and perseverance of this woman. On top- we don’t know when she went into prison, but she could have been at Azkaban during times when the Death Eaters were either burning the country, were imprisoned themselves or even reigning. So for her to SURVIVE a dictatorship that stood directly opposite to what she wanted to represent…that woman has balls of TITANIUM. 

And the fandom is completely sleeping on her. :/

[empatheticwizard]

Booyah, yes. Grindelwald should not dominate SoS discourse. This chick is a fun one.

[ihavetomanyocs]

I need to see more purebloods/wizarding societies societies from outside the UK.

JKR is terrible at world-building, so why not just invent societies for our own countries? (And even invent more schools because, what the hell, you mean Africa is only allowed one while the UK has one all to itself?)

Create a wizarding world for our cultures, with pureblood societies that have their own characteristics, places (please, more places and jobs than just working at the Ministry), like wizarding villages or new types of jobs that actually make sense in the country. Because I’m willing to believe that the magical world has a more or less similar culture everywhere, but at some point Muggle culture is bound to influence wizarding culture.

especially in the Marauders era where many of the characters have headcanon origins outside the UK.

[nerdymessr]

HIIII I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS A LOT SINCE THE AGE OF EIGHT!

MY PERSONAL TAKE ON AFRICAN MAGICAL SOCIETY.

Preface! Africa is a large and diverse continent full of a plethora of cultures and languages, said languages each with different dialects and societal standards. My hcs tie in close to my own home, that being in Zimbabwe.

• Zimbabwean magic and spirituality are tied in tight, practically interchangeable therefore there's not really "purebloods" in the societies. Magic calls one to be it's vessel the same way the ancestors call one to speak their will. This is the wide belief.

• There are old families that dabble in magic, they run the education in their communities and have "schools" where all who have magical kids send their children. There the magical kids are taught to hone their ability according to the makings of their magical core.

•Blood Magic is more widely used than potion brewing because it's faster and more effective (also where tf am I finna find eye of newt in Gokwe yk?)

• Magic is viewed as intuitive! Wandless magic is standard! No spells! No wands! External tools for magic are seen as narrow and crippling because magic is everywhere, using a wand to draw on it would be like drinking from a lake with straw, why not just cup your hands instead?

• Magical jobs are wide an interchangeable with "muggle" jobs. Witch doctors, sorceresses, herbalists, midwives, architects, teachers, cursehunters, diplomats etc etc

• Magical Societies are close knitted with magical beings, wix make deals with mermaids, have tea with forest sprites, speak to mountain spirits and so on and so forth. There is no prejudice because they have learnt to live together easily.

•There's a magical totem system that ties into the magic that makes up one's magical core base. It's often according to tribe/clan so families and relatives tend to have the same core bases. This is often used track families and to avoid incest marriages (Zimbabwean don't play about that shit lol, it's taboo)

• There is no "official" governance of magic. Which means no "statute of secrecy" (it's not necessary because wix and muggles live in harmony), no underage magic tracking (what even man?) Etc etc. Each community has a teacher and their knowledge is bestowed to an apprentice and/or their family thus the magic theory is maintained. That's the closest to governance of magic otherwise they basically follow the muggle systems of hierarchy like chiefs, village heads etc etc

But then BAM! Colonialism!

• the coming of the missionaries scatters the societies and they go largely into hiing because colonialism has demonized spirituality and magic alike. Mediums, Seers and wix are being burnt alive. The old families now teach in secret. The colonisation is largely muggle (Ministry of Magic lovesss the whole 'splendid isolation' schmuck) so it's relatively easy to go hush hush abt it.

• The British ministry of Magic doesn't know about Zimbabwean magical systems because they essentially closed all lines to the country because of colonisation. So all the textbooks are ill informed and racist and describe african Magic as primal and such.

[ihavetomanyocs]

BEAUTIFUL!

I love being educated about how a society I don’t know much about works, and discovering something new and original about something I looove 🤭

I enjoy so much what you create and propose : there’s no distinction between any type of being. It’s something I feel like we really don’t get in JKR’s work (how surprising). AND THE FACT THAT THEY WOULD RESPECT SEERS, OMG YES. Sybill should have been treated that way.

Also, this might make no sense, but I find your idea about magic being practiced without wands really interesting, and it actually makes a lot of sense. Because how the hell did the first witches and wizards use magic? They didn’t discover their abilities while holding a stick. It also makes me believe even more in the theory that Ministries use wands to control the population (I hope I’m making sense here).

AND DAMN, YOUR POINT ABOUT COLONISATION.

I. NEED. TO. KNOW. HOW. EUROPEAN. WIZARDS. WERE. IMPLICATED. IN. COLONISATION.

That’s something that, I think, is never mentioned, and it’s important, since (yay) JKR gave us some non-white characters who could possibly be descendants of wizards originating from colonised countries (I might be really, really wrong, so correct me if I am).

If Wizarding England was indeed implicated in colonisation, as you suggest (and as I also think), i can prove it but i know the families like the Malfoys or the Blacks had some very dark implication in this part of history.

[empatheticwizard]

On the colonization question, in my fic, I am treating the Statute of Secrecy itself as a colonial export, actually. Subtextually, mostly.

[empatheticwizard]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 28/28 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Hogwarts Staff, Hogwarts Students, Original Characters, original ensemble cast Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Post-Canon, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Post-Second Wizarding War, Slytherins With Conscience, Squibs (Harry Potter), Fix-It of Sorts, Worldbuilding, Friendship, Humor, Platonic Relationships, Wizarding Politics (Harry Potter), Drama, Coming of Age, Slow Build, Found Family, Muggles, Major Original Character(s), Statute of Secrecy (Harry Potter), Memory Magic, Anti-Nihilism, Post-War Hogwarts: Lost Generation, Original Characters - Freeform, Hogwarts Inter-House Unity, Light Angst, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Canon Divergence - Post-Hogwarts, Canon Respectful, Magical Terrorism, Psychological Drama, Harry Potter Next Generation, POV Multiple, No Character Bashing Series: Part 1 of Widdershins - The Post Script Universe Summary:

The Statute was built for doors. Time, as my Muggleborn friends keep trying to explain, is increasingly fond of Windows.

In 1998, the war against Voldemort ended. Allegedly, in 2017, all was well.

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 cross-house group of misfits are beginning to ask inconvenient questions, such as "Is our entire society held together with Spellotape and siege mentality?"

---

"So the plan is: orchestrate a first contact worthy of the Federation of Planets, convince the Wizengamot to join the seventeenth century at minimum, persuade the rest of Earth not to panic about the underground society with amnesia grenades, and hope everyone settles for mutually assured delusion as a starting point."

"How long before this starts by accident?"

---

Book 1/4 of the Widdershins series.

[empatheticwizard]

"So the plan is: orchestrate a first contact worthy of the Federation of Planets, convince the Wizengamot to join the seventeenth century at minimum, persuade the rest of Earth not to panic about the underground society with amnesia grenades, and hope everyone settles for mutually assured delusion as a starting point."

"How long before this starts by accident?"

-Widdershins & the Eyes of Caduceus on AO3

A post-war HP slice-of-life political thriller where the Statute of Secrecy is collapsing and nobody knows what they're doing.

Book 1/4 COMPLETE (142k) | Series Ongoing

[empatheticwizard]

"So the plan is: orchestrate a first contact worthy of the Federation of Planets, convince the Wizengamot to join the seventeenth century at minimum, persuade the rest of Earth not to panic about the underground society with amnesia grenades, and hope everyone settles for mutually assured delusion as a starting point."

"How long before this starts by accident?" -Widdershins & the Eyes of Caduceus on AO3 A post-war HP slice-of-life political thriller where the Statute of Secrecy is collapsing and nobody knows what they're doing. Book 1 COMPLETE (142k) | Series Ongoing

[empatheticwizard]

Five teenagers spend their coming-of-age years trying to soften a collision they aren't responsible for, because they believe someone should try.

It's 2006. The Statute of Secrecy is breaking - not in one dramatic moment, but through years of slow erosion. They have no power. No institutional support. Just library alcoves, underground newspapers, and the conviction that preventing total catastrophe might be worth everything.

[empatheticwizard]

"So the plan is: orchestrate a first contact worthy of the Federation of Planets, convince the Wizengamot to join the seventeenth century at minimum, persuade the rest of Earth not to panic about the underground society with amnesia grenades, and hope everyone settles for mutually assured delusion as a starting point."

"How long before this starts by accident?" -Widdershins & the Eyes of Caduceus on AO3 A post-war HP slice-of-life political thriller where the Statute of Secrecy is collapsing and nobody knows what they're doing. Book 1 COMPLETE (142k) | Series Ongoing

[empatheticwizard]

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:

"So, the plan is: orchestrate a first contact worthy of the Federation of Planets, convince the Wizengamot to join the seventeenth century at minimum, persuade the rest of Earth not to panic about the underground society with amnesia grenades, and hope everyone settles for mutually assured delusion as a starting point." Marius glanced to Selma, then Kai. "How long was it we thought, again, before this starts by accident?" "Twenty years, optimistically," Kai said, eyes falling to the tabletop. "Very optimistic," Selma said, brief and apologetic in her smile to Kai. Marlow frowned down at his hand, fingers pulling into a fist much like Arlene's had earlier. "Well then come down from orbit and let's figure a bloody plan," he said. Cassian, quiet for a time now, straightened his sleeves and refolded his hands after, like he was preparing to deliver a verdict. "We have no immediate control over outcomes or government," he said. "Anselma's second and third umbrellas are beyond feasible reach. If Widdershins-" Cassian paused on the word, as though naming something sacrosanct. "-is any example, then the first umbrella may well be within our reach." "Humanization," Kai said quietly. "Softer collision if each side's seeing people first."

[empatheticwizard]

Widdershins Weekly - The Statute Edition

Let's begin with the obvious. The Statute of Secrecy is old. Not old in a charming way, like a family heirloom your mum brings out every summer to regale you about your someday inheritance. Not old in a rugged way, like our enduring Professor Binns. Not old in a reverent way, like a Roman ruin or the books Madam Pince'll hex you for touching. The Statute is the kind that was built for a world that doesn't exist anymore. The Statute, of course, insists that it still does. The Statute was built for doors. Time, as my Muggleborn friends keep trying to explain, is increasingly fond of Windows.

(If you know, you know.) There was a time when dipping into the backroom made sense. There is a certain roguish charm in dwelling behind the curtains, in the toilets, and beyond the back-alleys. Wizards were being hunted, in a time when magic was synonymous with heresy and fire and drowning in village ponds. Muggles aren't particularly proud of that time either, mind, as their doctors still thought in terms of draining pints of blood to cure melancholy, smearing powdered lead in their hair and calling it fashion, and designing pianos that played by poking cats in the tail. No one is proud of anything they did in the 1600s. Ask the French. That is not this time. It hasn't been for a very long time. Before I go further, let me be clear: this is not, strictly speaking, a condemnation of Muggle Studies, per se. It is more an observation that our curriculum rests somewhere between five decades and fifteen centuries out of date. Which is to say, we've managed to miss the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, vaccines, and the notion that the moon might be interesting for more than simply pointing telescopes at. The exact range depends on the professor, the weather, and how recently someone has reminded them that the telephone is not, in fact, required to be wired any longer. We live in a world of satellites, search engines, cyber security, and mass multiplayer online games. (Yes, those are all different things. No, I can't explain them here. Go ask a Muggleborn. Preferably one born after 1980.) The divide between magical and non-magical isn't a wall. Information leaks. People talk. Wizards fall in love with Muggles. Some Muggles are smart. Some Muggles are very smart. The idea that a globe full of Muggles paying attention could remain unaware of an entire parallel society is, frankly, the kind of fantasy that even Disney would consider too childish to commit screentime to. (And if you don't know what Disney is, please for the love of Merlin go make friends with a Muggleborn.) Look: I'm not advocating we dismantle the Statute overnight. I'm not naive. (Okay. I'm probably naive. But I'm not wrong.) The question isn't whether the world will notice us. It's whether we'll still be pretending not to notice them when it happens.

For more like this, see Widdershins Weekly on AO3

For the broader story, check out Widdershins & the Eyes of Caduceus on AO3

[empatheticwizard]

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."

[empatheticwizard]

Widdershins Weekly - The Statute Edition

Let's begin with the obvious. The Statute of Secrecy is old. Not old in a charming way, like a family heirloom your mum brings out every summer to regale you about your someday inheritance. Not old in a rugged way, like our enduring Professor Binns. Not old in a reverent way, like a Roman ruin or the books Madam Pince'll hex you for touching. The Statute is the kind that was built for a world that doesn't exist anymore. The Statute, of course, insists that it still does. The Statute was built for doors. Time, as my Muggleborn friends keep trying to explain, is increasingly fond of Windows.

(If you know, you know.) There was a time when dipping into the backroom made sense. There is a certain roguish charm in dwelling behind the curtains, in the toilets, and beyond the back-alleys. Wizards were being hunted, in a time when magic was synonymous with heresy and fire and drowning in village ponds. Muggles aren't particularly proud of that time either, mind, as their doctors still thought in terms of draining pints of blood to cure melancholy, smearing powdered lead in their hair and calling it fashion, and designing pianos that played by poking cats in the tail. No one is proud of anything they did in the 1600s. Ask the French. That is not this time. It hasn't been for a very long time. Before I go further, let me be clear: this is not, strictly speaking, a condemnation of Muggle Studies, per se. It is more an observation that our curriculum rests somewhere between five decades and fifteen centuries out of date. Which is to say, we've managed to miss the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, vaccines, and the notion that the moon might be interesting for more than simply pointing telescopes at. The exact range depends on the professor, the weather, and how recently someone has reminded them that the telephone is not, in fact, required to be wired any longer. We live in a world of satellites, search engines, cyber security, and mass multiplayer online games. (Yes, those are all different things. No, I can't explain them here. Go ask a Muggleborn. Preferably one born after 1980.) The divide between magical and non-magical isn't a wall. Information leaks. People talk. Wizards fall in love with Muggles. Some Muggles are smart. Some Muggles are very smart. The idea that a globe full of Muggles paying attention could remain unaware of an entire parallel society is, frankly, the kind of fantasy that even Disney would consider too childish to commit screentime to. (And if you don't know what Disney is, please for the love of Merlin go make friends with a Muggleborn.) Look: I'm not advocating we dismantle the Statute overnight. I'm not naive. (Okay. I'm probably naive. But I'm not wrong.) The question isn't whether the world will notice us. It's whether we'll still be pretending not to notice them when it happens.

For more like this, see Widdershins Weekly on AO3

For the broader story, check out Widdershins & the Eyes of Caduceus on AO3

[empatheticwizard]

Widdershins & the Eyes of Caduceus Chapter 24/28 Update

The Statute was built for doors. Time, as my Muggleborn friends keep trying to explain, is increasingly fond of Windows.

A "lost generation" cohort of Hogwarts students in 2006 try to navigate the beginning of the end of the Statute of Secrecy in the face of the digital age.

Despite the serious descript, it's also a fair bit about friendship/found-family, humor, banter, coming of age, and anti-nihilistic quiet drama. Light bit of romance too.

expect the likes of:

⁠introverts

teenagers overthinking things

teenagers underthinking things

people who are definitely reading

wingmanning with nuclear subtlety

⁠snakes as metaphors

snakes as non-metaphors

⁠toast

umbrellas

magical history building

⁠kids looking after first year babs

⁠oh and the Statute issue nbd

Chapter 24 Excerpt

Kai studied the stars a moment longer before turning and glancing through the trees. A shadow moved, somewhere in the dim, angular and subtly deerlike. While tracking it with her gaze, Kai said, "Do you think the Statute is going to fail?" It was hesitantly asked, for she knew not if the stars or anything else could inform him even if he were inclined to share an opinion. What would a centaur know of the internet? Of satellites and global communication networks that made secrets harder to keep with each passing year? Firenze turned to eye the path back to Hogwarts, his hooves marking the soft dirt. "Few things are meant to hide forever. A fox with no escape tunnel will either starve or make simple prey." His next words came softer, slow and considered. "What then, of a burrow with sole egress held in shadow?" "So we're trapped," Kai said, following the metaphor. "Either we come out, or…" "Or the burrow becomes a tomb," Firenze finished quietly. His tail flicked once. "A fox that has lived too long in darkness begins to mistake its own shadow for enemies. It snaps at movement that might be friend or foe, for it has forgotten how to tell the difference." Kai felt something cold settle in her chest. "You mean we've been hiding so long…" He moved a few steps closer to the forest path. "When creatures are kept too long from their natural range, they develop… peculiar behaviors."

[empatheticwizard]

HP: Hogwarts: The Lost Generation - An Under-Explored Post-War Playground

TL;DR: coin ‘Lost Generation’ for Hogwarts ’98–’08; invite original-character-centric stories about rebuilding, reconciliation, and non-main-cast lives.

In we go:

I would like to propose what may be a gap in both fandom terminology - and fandom exploration.

One that I think there would be both writers and readers for, if given the chance.

I'm naturally referring to the state of Hogwarts and the lives and issues of its students from 1998-2008 (give or take a few years). The rebuilding era. The generation in the immediate wake of the war. The kids who lived through the consequences rather than the plot.

Come on, guys, we already throw out the epilogue often enough. May as well consider exploring some of why 'all was well' is a little... under-considered.

For angst writers: Students who experienced a year under the Carrows. Students who lost people in the war.

For drama writers: Muggle-borns who lived through the war. Muggle-borns coming in later and learning about the war. Young Slytherins trying to navigate whatever post-war state of things you envision. The experiences of new professors brought in, and the on-the-ground rebuilding of Hogwarts as feeling safe... likely in all of the wizarding world's clumsiness.

For the friendship/fluff/humor writers: Probably some awkward attempts at post-war reconciliation. "Cross-House Unity Parties" or the like. Kids trying to be normal and have their own issues while the adults deploy various politicking post-war band-aids. Kids making those cross-house friendships through the awkwardness. Quidditch 'mixed squads' week. A disastrously earnest professor's pairing of students for group projects.

For romance writers: overlap with any or all of the above depending on your taste. Enemies-to-tentative-allies. Awkward-side-eye-to-slow-burn. Idk, I don't write romance genre, you probably have better ideas than I here.

I'm sure there's more.

There's a lot of places one could go with it. The Lost Generation takes place in a time period usually reserved for eighth year or postwar main cast recovery. I'm not saying anything against those. I'm saying there might be space for something new. Room to explore the people who weren't at the heart of the war, yet live in its consequences - the fallout, policy changes, and haunted corridors.

Elephant in the room time.

Yes, this effectively requires original characters. And to that I say... so? The premise is real. Just because we got traumatized by a handful of thirteen-year-old writers in 2005 doesn't mean original characters cannot stand on their own. We were all thirteen once. I wouldn't want my thirteen-year-old writing to cause a two-decade creative ghetto either.

Star Wars EU (among other worlds) was expanding its universe's corners with new faces decades before My Immortal or anything similarly silly existed. Surely it's not only okay when corporate does it. Since when has fandom abided by that?

Original characters are workable. And so is, I think, the lost generation.

Hope someone else loves the idea as I do.

If someone has written this... I'd love to see it! Still in Fine, I'll do it myself territory. I'm practicing what I preach. But I'd be gladdened to know I'm not alone.

[empatheticwizard]

Regarding Fandom & the OC Ghetto: A Hot Take

ngl I dream of the day when fanfic communities realize that they cut off an arm because of a few fics written by some 13-year-olds in 2005

Original Characters are not only legitimate and reasonable to use, but in some cases optimal.

But instead they're relegated to this weird pigeonhole where they're only slightly valid if

dating canon characters

sibling/child/goldfish to canon characters

following canon characters around

And if they're not any of the above...

....apparently they're somehow less valid than 'Harry Potter got raised by scientists and is basically in Ravenclaw but I swear it's still Harry Potter guys'.

Some fandom worlds are big and have corners that could be explored. Sometimes even better by original faces than retrofitted canon ones. Perhaps.

Star Wars EU predates fanfiction.net. So I guess original characters to expand canon are fine when corporate does it?

Expanding universes with OCs could be a whole subgenre.

I digress. And I dream of the day when we call 2005-202? the OC Ghetto