in BOTL I mention a lot about Harry's backpack, and how John sits on top of it sometimes (instead of wrapping around his shoulders like a boneless mink fur, as he does sometimes) and today I actually did some looking at leather bags designed in a way that fit what i was imagining
and what do you know, i found a $700 pack that is exactly what I was picturing.
Harry's bag needs to be stiff enough to support John's weight without him crushing/bending the leather top and falling off, but it can't be ginormous. I mean, it is a magically expanded bag, so it doesn't need to be very wide in the first place, but I like the defensive design side of having a thick pack like this. Also, the magic needs enough study material to be anchored in, so it just makes sense (to me) that it would look something like this
Hey, it's been awhile, but I'm back with some music stuff! @wixenforever I hope you enjoy, cause it's a mix of angst and fluff lol!
*
Juliet - Cavetown
I feel like this would really fit both Harry and Theo at different points. Especially the short time after Theo woke up from the title events, where he's kinda stuck there but also can't really grieve that much? Same with Harry after the graveyard.
Treehouse - Alex G, Emily Yacina
This just feels like Theo, just in general. Like, he's a super private person in general except for those lucky few he cares about. And why do I feel, especially, that this would be Theo when he, Blaise, and Draco are reconnecting at Hogwarts after everything that happens in 3rd year? Like, we've already seen from Theo's Storytime™ that he ran for a good while, kept avoiding everyone, but I know when we get to see more of it we'll get to see him have these moments with them:
"Do not enter" is written on the doorway
Why can't everyone just go away?
Except you, you can stay
Reckless Driving - Lizzy McAlpine, Ben Kessler
Okay, so, did someone say Theo and Harry not wanting to be a burden to the other while the other is just *fully* invested and has jumped? Like, this entire song is that "Shark, that's a shark/ don't jump to conclusions/ I'm jumpin', I've jumped, I've landed. It's a shark" meme lol. And I love this entire dynamic so much lol.
I Wouldn't Mind - He Is We
Theo and Harry aren't quite there yet, I don't think. At least not to the point of thinking about forever, but this is them. This is them into whatever quiet aftermath they craft for themselves when it's all said and done. Or, as quiet as life can be when their names are Harry Potter and Theodore Nott.
The Kid - Adam Jensen
This is Harry's life in a song 100%. Like, this is entirely his life in a song and it's so sad. A few lines that i love that show this off really well:
Growin' up, black and blue, that shit eats away at you/
Livin' life in a haze, dug myself a shallow grave
Probation on Saturday's, can't look in my mother's face/
'Cause I am what the universe made me
Spendin' nights in a cell, built my own version of hell
No one comes to bail me out, better shut your fuckin' mouth/
Fallin' 'part at the seams, feel my ugly veins bleed
I am what this crooked world made me
And the worst part is that no one really sees any of this in Harry, because he's so good at wearing that mask and keeping everything bottled up. But he really is just dealt the shittiest hand and keeps getting shit card after shit card when he draws, and this song is just that encapsulated.
I'm With You - Avril Lavigne
I am a heathen, who hasn't really listened to her, but jfc this is entirely Harry James Potter and I can't think of anyone else lol.
Like, the first verse into the pre-chorus section here:
I'm standin' on the bridge
I'm waitin' in the dark
I thought that you'd be here by now
There's nothing but rain
No footsteps on the ground
I'm listening, but there's no sound
Isn't anyone tryin' to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home?
This is 100% Harry through so many years. All the years at the Dursleys (until he gave up thinking anyone would save him, and kinda started believing they were right about his parents), it's him the summer before 2nd year when he thinks Ron and Hermione might not actually be his friends anymore. It's him before 5th year when they're not writing to him again because of what Dumbledore tells them.
Then, we get to the chorus, and it's just Harry in 3rd year after the Shrieking Shack.
It's a damn cold night
Tryin' to figure out this life
Won't you take me by the hand
Take me somewhere new?
I don't know who you are, but I
I'm with you
I'm with you, hm
Like all of that is just his entire reaction to Sirius. "Oh, you can take me away from the Dursleys? You knew my parents, to the point they trusted you to take care of me if something happened? You want me to live with you? There is more than even the slightest hint that you might legitimately love me as I am? Sweet, deal, where do I sign, when do we go?"
The second chorus is especially Harry before 5th year, I think, after everything happened and he is expecting someone to talk to him, but it never happens. And then, as he meets John and Theo, I feel like it encapsulates it even more:
Is anybody here I know?
'Cause nothing's going right
And everything's a mess
And no one likes to be alone
Like, that's prime beginning of the school year and middle of summer I think. Just the isolation he feels, especially between him and his friends, when it never used to be this way.
And then, I think the best part for current BotL Harry, is these lines here:
Oh, why is everything so confusing?
Maybe I'm just out of my mind
This is exactly where Harry's at right now, going back into the chorus, begging for some safe solid place to land while trying to figure himself out. I wonder if he just wants to get away, to some degree. Just run from it all, especially after last chapter, but I also know that he wouldn't entertain the idea for long even if he does have it.
Hello @wixenforever I have even moar songs haha.
It's Not My Time - 3 Doors Down
So, to me, this is a 6th year kinda song. When the war is fully on them, and the pressure of Harry dealing with the Horcrux's (finding out he is one cause I have no reason to think with Theo in the picture that they wouldn't be discovered sooner. And, hell, with John there) and all of that. And the "There might be more than you believe (there might be more than you believe) there might be more than you can see" part to me just seems like it'd fit them finding a way to get the Horcrux out without killing Harry or having him be a sacrificial lamb (and probably tons of other stuff that Dumbles misses cause he's too much of a general).
Bruises - Lewis Capaldi
It doesn't fully fit, cause Theo doesn't seem to think/react/rely on Magnus' care to this extent, but this feels like Theo to Magnus. Especially after Chapter 13. Like, I can't fully explain it, but that kind of anguished love for someone who was cruel to you, but you love anyway. Kinda Harry to the Dursleys (probably most especially to Petunia at this point) as well.
Angel - Theory Of A Deadman
Harry singing to Dumbledore about Theo. 100% this, if you change the lyrics slightly.
"You [Dumbledore] wanted a soldier, but it wasn't me. Cause you could never set me free. So fly on your own; it's time I let you go." Like, to me, this is Harry becoming fully disillusioned with Dumbledore and just peacing out. He's learning more and more about all the ways he has kept things from him, everything he's manipulated and allowed to happen to 'train' Harry despite him "Wanting Harry to have a normal childhood" (biggest sack of bullshit I've ever read, gods I hate that scene from OotP so much).
And the "I'm in love with an angel" parts are Harry being in love with Theo of course, and Dumbledore seeing mirrors to him and Gellert but harry telling him he's full of shit and just seeing ghosts. Cause that's the only way I can see that going when Harry starts being "corrupted to the dark" and whatever other bullshit that man crooks up.
Other Worlds Than These - STARSET
Another one of people talking to Dumbledore (and maybe Ron in this specific case) about their bigotedness. "The truth you hide is the truth you seek" just screams the Horcrux debacle. Cause, honestly, I can believe that Dumbledore doesn't want to sacrifice children, to pull them into these wars, but he's so blinded by his ego and over-inflated sense of self-importance that he sees it as the only open when it isn't.
Breathing Underwater - Hot Milk
Firstly, as a side note, what a fuckin band name lmfao.
I see this, most honestly, as harry to Ron in 4th year (and over this summer and starting of 5th year for the fic). Like, "Am I an imposter or, just a good liar for no good reason? Think we got a problem now, symptom of a bad fallout, glitter's fading" is 1000% them trying to get this relationship to work again because atm they still need each other as their best friends.
The chorus is 100% Harry confronting Ron about everything that he (Harry) has been pushing down to make Ron more comfortable, and how Ron isn't there like he said he'd be, like Harry needs him to be to an extent "I cracked under the pressure and nearly bled out. You said you'd always save me, so where are you now?"
Okay, and this second verse? To me, 100% is Ron to Harry in a kind of back and forth way. "Feeling self-conscious now, overthinking but out loud screams in silence. Always overcompensate [...] I open my mouth, but the words don't come out [...] Can't control my self-doubt that I hold, its touch is so cold."
Then that second run of the chorus is Harry and Ron yelling at each other about not being there for each other in the way they need at the time (kinda like what happened in chapter 22 tbh).
Be My Escape - Reslient K
Harry and Theo with the whole something Theo is working on that you mentioned. I rest my case, lol. And a bit of Harry to Theo with more of the Horcrux and "saving people thing" that he has/will have going on, haha.
I'm Just a Kid - Simple Plan
Harry at the beginning of summer for 5th year. Like, it's a bit too light for it, but the whole "I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare. I'm just a kid, I know that it's not fair. Nobody cares cause I'm alone, and the world is having more fun than me." if you just switch it around a bit for how he's being kept in the dark all summer (before Sirius gets him) even after gestures broadly at the end of 4th year aaaaaaall of that. Like it fits.
Anyway, that's enough for one post, I hope you have a wonder timezone
Just a place to chronical the evolution of the song associations, hahaha.
So, it started with @wixenforever's post here about Speyside.
Then I did my ask here because I'm obsessed with music and needed more lmfao. Got us a few more, and then I made a repost which got us two more (via a comment on the posts by Wixen)
And now we have my first proper post on the subject of music for BotL here with my first 4 full associations. Which got an extra song here from Wixen as well
Full post 2 with some more songs
Post 3 of the series haha
Post 4 which has some more out there stuff like the first one but meh, it seems like it could fit maybe. But it also had three more added in this one from Wixen's reblog here
Post 5
Post 6 featuring some Harry&Tom stuff cause boy do they have parallels
Post 7 ....... tf do you mean I've made 7 full/proper posts for this? Come again? Looks at the 48 (soon to be more) song playlist ...... okay it makes slightly more sense now.
Post 8! And we're now up to 53 songs, woot!
Post 9, up top 57 songs.
Post 10
Post 11
I think that that's all that I've done so far. I'll update this later when I get more songs posted hahaha.
So, you want to ask for more songs to go with Burning of the Library by the amazing @wixenforever? Ones that (mostly) fit Harry and Theo's relationship? If not, too bad, here they are anyway. (Totally not casually ripping off Marcus' intro in Borderlands 2. Definitely not....)
Burn It All Down - League of Legends and PVRIS
Might be more for an epilogue type thing (maybe, not sure) but definitely Hermione at the wizarding world in general. Harry at the government more specifically (cause fuck the Ministry), and Harry with Theo glaring at Dumbledore and all his bullshit behind Hermione's back because of delicate sensibilities and all that haha.
Save Yourself - My Darkest Days
Want angst, I gotchu, cause here we go haha.
Like, this is the normal self-conscious Harry who doesn't think he deserves anything good. And, with what you've said, it could be Theo with his mum's lesson that he might take a bit further than what she meant haha. But to me, it's more Harry, with the "And you can never understand my sickness (I'll never understand my sickness)" thinking he just isn't worth or able to be loved for long cause of the Dursleys.
Yes, you have brought me more pain about how they treated my boy, thank you hahaha.
Beautiful Things - Benson Boone
This is Harry once he's finally figured/figuring things out. Not just with Theo, though the lyrics are a love song that'd fit imo, but also just the in general stuff of Harry learning and finding what he wants to fight for and all that. And, if we want super potential angst here imagine the following:
The song mentions December, so let's say it's the term post-Arthur attack, Dumbledore has been ran out of the castle and Umbridge is now in charge. Harry and Theo now face that they have to hide everything again just when they're finding everything out, where if they're in the view of everyone it could lead to them losing everything.
But, fun thing, this could also totally be Theo once against just like Save Yourself and so many others hahaha. I honestly love how similar but unique they are with this specific challenge they both share.
I cry lmfao
All Of Me - John Legend
Honestly, this would more fit to canon 5th year Harry (with how angry he was for justifiable reasons) compared to BOTL!Harry given his extra support network and everything going on that lets him (to an extent) keep more control on his emotions. But like, this is fully the boys talking to each other about everything they kinda keep bottled up, and hidden, what they feel like they can't or shouldn't show people cause it'll make them leave, or it'll just break things, so they keep it all hidden so that they can enjoy the good times as long as possible.
And then the other is in front of them lightly shaking their shoulders like "Let me love you, you dense prick. I don't care about all of this, it won't change anything" lmfao.
What To Know - Two Door Cinema Club
More of Harry and Theo in Hogwarts keeping each other company, similar to Be My Escape to be honest. Maybe it's the inverse of it? So they play at the same time with it kinda bouncing between who gets what song based on the POV haha.
Though, I will say, that second verse:
"Maybe next year, I'll have no time. To think about the questions to address. Am I the one to try and stop the fire? I wouldn't test you, I'm not the best you could have attained. Why try anything? I will get there, just remember I know..."
To me this is mostly Theo, after you mentioned how much of a planner and the balancing act he has for a life haha.
The Jester - Badflower
Harry, with (almost) everyone expecting everything from him but then discarding him each summer once his job is 'done'. With him begging for just one person to care for him rather than just the Boy-Who-Lived, someone to look out for him.
7 Minutes - Dean Lewis
Okay, hear me out first: Ron and Harry's relationship. Just in general as of chapter 22 hahaha. Like, this feels like Ron specifically of just the "I miss what we had, is it too late to fix this?" variety. Harry wants to fix it too, of course, but he knows (or at least seems to know) that it won't be the same as it was, and their relationship has irrevocably changed at this point, and is (mostly?) fine with that but still wants what they had back in 1st-3rd year.
Like, this is prime material for an AMV of Ron walking around Hogwarts (if this situation extends that far, which I honestly would be surprised if it didn't).
Surface Pressure - Jessica Darrow from Encanto
Hi Theo, how are you? Putting too much on your shoulders? Don't worry, Harry is too, you're in good company lmfao. Like, this is just such a good song for gestures broadly all of that.
Okay, so, the amazing @wixenforever was talking with @that1notetaker about some stuff, and I saw it, and my brain went braining. So they were mentioning stuff with the Nott family tree, it burning/being cut away, so now I had this idea with the song Burn by Tom Walker and that made me see and picture things. Behold my continued obsession and bullshit lmfao.
P.S. I'll try to keep it vague for spoilers haha
-
-
So, this is set during chapter 13 of the fic and the attack itself. And, I had this idea and Lee mentioned that it would work as a cool anime opening and such, so kinda have that as the frame I guess.
I watch as my world's going up in flames
Through the black smoke I can see your face
Embers they rain as the walls come down
Where do we go when the lights go out?
So, this first section of the lyrics. Honestly, I like the idea that it starts with Magnus trapped by the attackers for the first line or two. Within the circle, being taunted, maybe with flashes of past enemies that he has and hasn't dealt with yet. He's a paranoid man, after all.
Then it goes to the next two sets of lyrics, and that's flashing to the Nott Family Tapestry (I like to think it's something more solid than the Black Family's, not necessarily stone but maybe carved into tablets and such? idk). And Magnus' picture/name gets melted/burned/chipped off by the Fiend Fire. We see scorch marks, remnants of names that flash whole before returning to ruin.
I gave you my blood, my sweat, my tears
And all you ever did was leave me here
Set me on fire 'cause you love the hurt
Set me on fire just to watch me
Again, going in pairs within sections, I like these first two as Theo coming down to see Magnus trapped. Seeing this man, who's so strong and powerful yet is helpless at this point. Honestly, kind of seeming resigned and welcoming of his fate to an extent. And there's flashes of the 'Dark Years' and all the hurt.
But Theo's strong, all those things have made him strong. So he squares his shoulders, he pulls out his wand. He tries to fight.
On my knees, my heart, it bleeds
While you pour gasoline all over me (oh)
Set me on fire 'cause you love the hurt
Set me on fire just to watch me
Burn
Burn
And this is that classic anime fight scene in openings. It's Theo in the Tower, trying to fight, being beaten back as the fire spreads and is created. He's running, ducking and dodging, trying to get through.
But as that second 'Burn' hits, it's him falling into blackness as the Fiend Fire snaps towards him, cutting to black for a moment.
The camera flashes to the tapestry, Theo's name becoming singed and starting to burn as flames lick around it.
What would you do if you lost control?
How would you feel if your dreams were sold?
With both your hands tied and your taped up mouth
You've gotta even feel how I'm feeling now
Honestly? Give me Graham and Magnus wiping out his family. And this is from Graham's perspective as he watches the modern events, his brother trapped and killed, his nephew fighting and losing. The house and Tower burning. And it's him, for those first two lines, talking to Magnus.
Maybe too spiteful for the situation, but I think it'd be fitting.
But then, the flames claim him too. And it flashes, again, to the tapestry where his name is fully snuffed out.
We can't really do it this way, but I think the 2nd and 4th lines as showing Ophelia. The mementoes that were left behind, the keepsakes and memories within Theo's room, Magnus', and anywhere else that had been left behind. All of them burning and turning ot cinders, ash blowing in the wind. Her name, face, memory is eaten by the flames.
I gave you my blood, my sweat, my tears
And all you ever did was leave me here (oh)
Set me on fire 'cause you love the hurt
Set me on fire just to watch me
So, these first two lines. Theo is floating, in a bubble, within blackness and no seeing or hearing anything. The ruins, reduced to the bedrock, are the only thing that seems to remain. But the rocks shift, the earth tensing and protecting the bubble that Theo is within, deep deep underground. And on top, the Prophet's report flutters by. It holds for a second, to see the headline and a picture of the flames, before it settles on a ruined rock.
Then the wind blows it just so, and underneath is Theo's name and portrait, singed and marked, changed and not quite whole anymore, but still there. Undeniably there still.
And then we go to the chorus again, and it's Theo waking up within the hideout. He doesn't remember much, doesn't know who attacked, just has information given to him and incomplete memories that seem to point in that direction. But his house is gone, his family in brimstone, and it hurts. He's recovering, slowly, far too slow for his liking.
On my knees, my heart, it bleeds
While you pour gasoline all over me
Set me on fire 'cause you love the hurt
Set me on first just to watch me
Burn
Burn
And then, the final bits... I'm not quite sure where to go with it. I like the idea of it flashing through Theo with the Library in future events, him with the gang (both green and red), flashes of Dumbledore/Voldemort/Snape/The Attackers. Flashes of him training, learning, preparing.
Until the title card flashes with the final "Burn"'s that are screamed. Where it's the poster, with Theo and the Enemy as the centerpiece, with everyone else arrayed ever into the background. Harry and John are close by, Draco and Blaise, Dumbledore and Voldemort and over it all, watching the proceedings like the chessmasters observing their board that they are.
-
And there we have it, the idea that a simple idea and family tree spawned. Hopefully you enjoyed lmfao.
I cannot draw, nor animate, or anything required of this except having ideas that maybe might possible potentially make sense to someone somewhere hahaha. But I just spent the past like thirty minutes ranting to myself about this so here we go!
This is once again to Breathing Underwater by Hot Milk so angst aho! Brought to us by Chapter 22 of Burning of the Library by the wonderfully skilled and talented @wixenforever.
For the first (roughly) 7 seconds where it's just the musical intro type thing, I'd have it as looking over Harry's shoulder into Ron's borrowed room at Grimmauld, with Ron just looking pissed and crying and starting to fall apart with guild and regret and just everything that he's feeling. Harry, will also be looking quite pissed but also exhausted and remorseful for so many reasons. But it'll pan to Hermione reeling in the Extendable Ear on the other side of the landing/on the stairs or smth similar.
For the first verse, it's Harry, his POV and ideas/words/etc as he talks to Hermione. Just how he's been shoving everything down like I said over in this post when I first made the connection with it haha, and having the whole "Then you be someone." line (which is so savage btw? Like, I love my boy Harry so much for that line hahaha). But then, as it ramps up to the chorus, it kinda of rewinds or jumps to when Harry is first entering the room that night.
Then, with that first chorus, it's Harry and Ron's fight with what Harry hears and interprets from what Ron's saying and implying and so on. Bit of text bubbles and such in there but it'd be worth it later.
Then we have the start of the second verse (the part leading up to it really) which has a flash of lighting or smth as we watch Harry leave the bedroom (maybe seeing Hermione in the far background) as we watch from outside Grimmauld as rain his the glass of the window Ron is sitting against as he just crumbles into himself.
And we have Ron for the second verse, with flashes of Fourth year and the summer here with Theo, and maybe flashes of his talk with Hermione that she mentioned, and things that he imagines (Maybe even him imagining what it'd be like if he had been friends with Theo/Draco from the start) like him just hanging around with the Slytherin's a lot, maybe sneering and jeering at Muggleborns and Blood Traitors and such all the while. Maybe a flash of Harry in Slytherin robes and maybe even with a Dark Mark, just every single insecurity he has about Harry not paying attention to him all the time.
Then, with the second Chorus, we have Ron's POV of that fight and the words/images are different than what was in Harry's POV and we see what Ron hears/interprets/etc and it's just be so juicy with the angst hahaha.
Then, with the rest, we have Hermione outside the door hearing what's actually meant by both of them. Not necessarily what they're saying, but what they mean, hooking back into my original write-up for the song haha. And it just kind of ends with Hermione going into the bedroom to comfort Ron while Harry sits in the reading nook with John.
Like, ah, it'd be so angsty but I wish I had the skill to do it hahaha.
