Hellsite ruined the ask, but this fic is in response to the following from @callonpeevesie: Hi! This demi loves your blog. Do you have any headcanons about aroace Charlie convincing Molly he doesn't want to get married and have kids?
CW: amatonormativity
“Mum, you have plenty of kids who not only will but want to give you grandchildren!”
You’re being completely ridiculous, the renowned dragonologist added silently.
“And?” Molly Weasley’s cheeks were flushed from her third Paulopabita’s Fishy Green Ale. Charlie Weasley, the renowned dragonologist in question, rubbed the tips of his fingers along the rough paper label of his own bottle. He looked around the Burrow at his siblings and friends, but no one was paying enough attention to this unremarkable corner of the room to see that he needed an assist..
“You already have two lovely granddaughters,” he hedged. “One is literally named after you!”
“So?” She said. Charlie’s brow furrowed. When he didn’t answer his mother, she repeated herself. Louder. As if he wasn’t answering because the radio tunes and surrounding chatter were just too loud.
“So!?”
Are you fucking kidding me!? Charlie replied in his head (and unfortunately in his eyes, which he knew because he recognized the microscopic downturn of his mother’s mouth). He took a breath to steady himself.
“So,” Charlie said, meeting her eye. “You don’t need me for grandchildren.”
“That is not the point. That has never been the point, Charles Fabian Weasley,” Molly said. Then she downed the last of her Fishy Green Ale. Her second eldest gaped, but he quickly found his voice.
“If not that, then... Then what is??!” He said, as exasperated as he had ever been at every family dinner, every wedding, every holiday, every surprise visit to Romania since his graduation. He wanted to scream but swallowed it until his words came out at indoor volume. They came out no less angry though.
“What do you want from me, Mum? What do you want??”
“From you?”
“Yes! From me! Please,” now he threw back the last of his own drink. Molly’s eyes widened, but he wasn’t about to stop. This was it. It was finally happening. “Just tell me,” he spat, bitter words mingling with the taste of his ale. “Because I’m tired, Mum. Tired of the passing comments at Christmas about how you can’t wait to knit jumpers for new additions to the family. Tired of being questioned incessantly in the weeks leading up to Christmas about having a plus one. Tired of the outright jabs every time you’ve had a few about how my younger siblings are married with kids and I’m single. You need to understand that you are getting none that from me. None of it. Just...” he took an unexpectedly shaky breath. “Stop. Please.”
Long before he finished talking, Charlie had looked away from his mother. It was easier to be brutally honest when she wasn’t staring him down, and he needed to say this. He had needed it for a long time. He steeled himself to look her in the eye again, but before he could she spoke.
“Is that what you think?”
Charlie’s attention snapped back into place when she breathed those words. He had expected her to be angry or disappointed, passive aggressive or dismissive. Maybe shocked. Absolute devastation had not been on the list, and to see it on her face completely disarmed him. He watched her reach for his hand and cradle it in both of hers, so gently that he wasn’t sure if she thought he might break or if it was the other way around.
“Do you really believe I just want what you can give me? Charlie, I... I’m sorry. That isn’t--I never--” She began to tear up, and Charlie’s stunned silence turned to panic.
“Mum, no. I know, it’s alright!”
“No, no. No. Please listen,” her grip tightened, and he saw that fire he had known for his entire thirty years of life in her eyes.
“All I wanted, all I ever wanted was for you to be happy. I just want you happy,” she said. “And if that isn’t with a partner or with children that’s okay, it’s just. Just something I’ve never considered.”
Molly had been staring at their clasped hands but looked up when her son started laughing.
“Mum... I'm already happy. So happy. Are you really surprised?” He asked. “I’ve loved dragons all my life. I’d read every book on them in the school library before my third year. I studied hardest for the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s I needed to become a dragonologist. And when I got that owl from Romania two months before graduation, it was the best day of my life! Now I’m working with some of the most brilliant dragonologists alive, living at a dragon sanctuary, bringing species back from the brink of extinction, and learning more about them and myself every single day! This life I’ve built, it’s fantastic! Truly, it’s...”
"It’s everything you’ve ever dreamed of,” his mother finished the thought.
“Yes!" Charlie beamed. Molly pulled him into a tight hug.
“Then it’s everything I’ve dreamed of too,” she said.
The fandom is split on Sirius' orientation– straight, gay, aro, ace– but in my interpretation, he's on the demi/grey aro/ace end of the spectrum. But before you say "Sirius couldn't be ace because he was attractive" or "Sirius is a player" or "he's not straight so he must be gay" or "you can't be gay/straight while being aro/ace" just hear me out...
Sirius never dated anyone, actually showed disinterest in others' attention, would much rather be hanging with his mates or planning pranks. At an age when others were slaves to their hormones, Sirius spent his precious time and attention planning pranks and didn't give a second thought to any of the girls staring and giggling.
Imagine a young Sirius Black, whose friendliness was mistaken for flirting. Whose good looks made him a natural focus for the witches in his class (and a few wizards). By his fourth year, the young prankster had wishful rumors and a reputation for it. He and his mates knew very well where he went and who he was with (or not with, rather) but Sirius decided to roll with it. It became a sort of running joke with the Marauders, Sirius being the school heartbreaker. Sirius took things a step further, adopting a sort of strut, swishing his hips, and throwing winks that caused all sorts of conflicts and grudges amongst his admirers. Meanwhile, James, Remus, and Peter tried not to die of laughter and wondered how he could keep a straight face through it all. An asexual Sirius Black, who'd never dated anyone, giving relationship advice to anyone foolish enough to fall for the facade.
After all, he had to find something to keep occupied between full moons, right?
Coming home (to Hogwarts) after a summer holiday at #12, telling his mates all about how he'd managed to piss off his parents. James roaring with laughter as Sirius says he pasted posters of muggle girls to his walls.
"Merlin, Padfoot! When did you have time to think up all of these elaborate pranks?" James exclaimed appreciatively.
"Imagine how productive you'd be if your head wasn't so preoccupied with Evans," Sirius said, thinking him wasting his talent.
"Or pranks," Remus muttered as he flipped a page in his textbook.
"Or studying," Peter chimed in, resulting in snickers all around.
Reread the Harry Potter books now and tell me you don’t see it.
The first time Neville talked talked about the concept of asexuality and aromanticism was when he was 17 years old.
He was in the Greenhouse with Luna and Ginny, just taking care of some plants for Professor Sprout. Luna and Ginny didn't have special interest in plants, but they knew it relaxed him and decreased his level of anxiety, so they came with him to help him work.
"Have you ever thought about relationships?" he ventured. When he saw their surprised expressions, he felt a blush appear on his cheeks, and rapidly corrected himself. "I know it's not really the time for these conversations, but you know... I guess I can't help feeling.... different."
He went back to cutting a leaf from the dittany, trying to focus back on his work.
After what felt to him a lifetime, Luna's soft and ethereal voice started him away from his reverie. "I don't think its a bad moment to talk about these things. It's when death and loneliness come closer that we tend to think about companionship," Neville's eyes widened at Luna's statement, finding a strange comfort and sadness in her words. "However, I think I prefer this kind of non romantic relationship that we have, to that between Lavender and Parvati. It makes more sense to me."
This relationship we have? What they had wasn't a relationship was it? Could it be? It was true it felt much stronger than any kind of friendship he had until now. The love he felt for Ginny and Luna made his heart swell, and yet... He didnt want to hold their hands in the hallway, kiss them or... more. He just wanted to be with them... hug them, talk to them. And maybe Luna had understood that better than he had until now.
"For me... This feels different than other relationships I've had before," Ginny started talking. There was a faint blush staining her freckled cheeks, but there was the charactersistic fierceness in her eyes to which he was used to. "With Dean I was only interested in the sexual part of it, but there wasnt any romance there from either one of us. I've never been interested in that, and Dean has always been in love with Seamus anyway. With you it feels... natural, uncomplicated. Though I would be lying if I hadnt thought about doing... more with you."
Neville blushed furiously at her statement. Was she talking about... sex? He hadnt thought about doing it ever. Did people actually think those things?
"I dont think i can... want s-sex. I don't think I've ever wanted any of that. Though I have thought about romance. I used to have a massive crush on Harry. But I never thought about anything... more. Is that weird?" Maybe he was stranger than he had thought. Was he broken? Damaged in some way? Was it his anxiety? His low self-esteem?
Before his thoughts could start spiraling, he felt Ginny's hand on his shoulder, as if she had somehow seen how his thoughts were consuming him. She probably had. "If that's weird, then I am too. I feel the same but about romance," she shrugged her shoulders as if that was it, and didnt make a difference. Her nonchalance somehow made him feel that it probably didn't.
"I never wanted either. I would say we found exactly what we needed in each other. I don't want anything more, anything less, anything different" Luna said, resting her head on Ginny's shoulder.
They all smiled at each other, knowing that what Luna had said was exactly what they were feeling. What they had was exactly right.
What do you think would happen if an acearo smelled the Aromatentia potion? I figure it wouldn't WORK, but since it smells like whatever attracts the person the most do you think ace/aros would smell nothing, whatever comforts them/makes them happy, etc.?
We’ve made or reblogged some great posts on this subject over the years! Just check our #amortentia tag. People have said they wouldn’t smell anything, or they would smell what comforts them/makes them happy, or they would smell scents reminding them of family/friends/QPPs. Personally, I think it could be any of those options and more for aroaces. I don’t think there’s one definitive answer. I also don’t think there’s one definitive answer for people who aren’t aro and/or ace, regardless of simplistic descriptions by potion professors and textbooks. That’s a different post though.
