An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Theodore's dorm in Slytherin House consists of two Necromantic disasters, three idiots, and one Theo. Surprisingly, they haven't burnt down the castle yet.
(Or maybe not surprisingly, since the pyromaniacs are mostly in Gryffindor Tower. Still, they haven't managed to reduce the school to rubble, so that's good.)
This post is about my favourite HP fanfic, The Sacrifices Arc by Lightning on the Wave.
I will re-post the prophecies that appear during the series.
Hope you enjoy it!
Warning!: if you haven't finished the Sacrifices Arc, be aware that there are spoilers in this post.
The picture is NOT mine
1 2 3 4
IF YOU WANT TO READ ALL THE PROPHECIES, PLEASE GO TO https://lightningwave.livejournal.com/189262.html
The second prophecy (given in Chapter 39 of Comes Out of Darkness Morn)
“Five weeks before the time of longest light
There comes one who puts lesser foes to flight,
Who has a soul and magic cold as ice.
Now comes the hour
Of the black one's power,
And he shall die by the wand of the sacrifice.
·
Now comes the hour all truth is revealed,
Now comes the hour the gray one takes the field,
And first decision sets the path for all.
Now kindness is tested,
Now soft heart must be bested,
And on that test he will stand or fall.”
There are also some interpretations that are worth to point out:
Connor believed that the “black one” was Sirius Black, who would die by Harry's wand (the “sacrifice”). In other words, Harry would kill Sirius five weeks before Midsummer; the second part of the prophecy is not as important to him.
Others believe that only the timeline was correct. Voldemort and Sirius are “black one”, both sharing a body. Sirius kill himself using Peter Pettigrew's wand, who was a sacrifice too; the other half of the prophecy is related to the Dementors.
I would like to point out some things that can be interesting.
“Now comes the hour all truth is revealed”
In this book, the most intrigant thing is the true about the night of October 31st, 1981.
“Now comes the hour the gray one takes the field,
And first decision sets the path for all.
Now kindness is tested,
Now soft heart must be bested,
And on that test he will stand or fall.”
We see a new path in Harry's life, a path of freedom and magic: the path of a Vates, a liberator. And is that night in which the path will rise or fall.
However, that's just my opinion.
I would love to know your thoughts about this topic!
And before living, I am going to quote Draco Bloody Malfoy, just 'cause I want to.
“You have the strangest friends, Harry,” said Draco, a little too calmly. “Not including me, of course…”
Chapter fourteen of Comes Out of Darkness Morn, by Lightning on the Wave.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has educated more than seventy percent of the last three centuries’ historical figures. Foster siblings Harry Potter and Fay Dunbar-Black are beginning their first year there this fall, and they have plans. They’re not the only ones, though, and it seems like all plans have one kink in common - Harry’s twin brother, Connor; known for not dying when he should’ve.
[or at least, known for being caught not dying.]
Connor would like to go on record saying he’d love to stay out of this too.
Between suspicious teachers, learning magic, the castle trying to murder their Ravenclaws, and Harry’s biological family trying to reconnect after ten years, everyone is busy. At least one thing hasn’t changed: the Wizarding World won’t know what hit them.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has educated more than seventy percent of the last three centuries’ historical figures. Foster siblings Harry Potter and Fay Dunbar-Black are beginning their first year there this fall, and they have plans. They’re not the only ones, though, and it seems like all plans have one kink in common - Harry’s twin brother, Connor; known for not dying when he should’ve.
[or at least, known for being caught not dying.]
Connor would like to go on record saying he’d love to stay out of this too. Between suspicious teachers, learning magic, the castle trying to murder their Ravenclaws, and Harry’s biological family trying to reconnect after ten years, everyone is busy. At least one thing hasn’t changed: the Wizarding World won’t know what hit them.
tell me about incubus or cling for your twins AUs owo
owo you picked two VERY good aus
Okay so first is Incubus; it's being written as a Very Long Oneshot, and it's exploring Horcrux implications; specifically, what if Human Horcruxes drained energy by touch and connection, like Object Horcruxes do. So Connor can't touch people because his touch is inherently harmful and drains their magic; but then remember, he's not the only one who's magical core was effed up
Harry's magical core is like a beetrap, he absorbs ambient magic, the more magical an area, the more powerful he is.
Now make them hug.
Connor can touch Harry without hurting him because Harry will accumulate more magic than he can use. It helps Harry for Connor to hold his hand and siphon off some of the extra, and it helps Connor to have access to basic human touch.
In the end they can't get rid of the horcrux and when Connor realizes that makes him immortal he tricks Harry into obtaining the Hallows so they can be immortal together. Very tragic, very open ended, they win a war and it's on the coattails that Connor betrays him.
(Because Harry, Just Harry, even a Harry who lives by ambition, doesn't want to be immortal, doesn't want to be other. he just wants to be loved, to be respected)
*
And then Cling.
It is. A very late fest fic, fulfilling the prompts (au where Theo and Harry are twins) and (due to unforeseen circumstances, Sirius' trial is postponed, so Harry spends the rest of the summer with the Notts. This Changes Things). Sarcasm & Slytherin 'verse, again.
Theo and Nott Sr. are sure that Theo's twin brother is dead, so they don't even look; and maybe, perhaps, sometimes, Theo gets an extra sadistic kick out of knowing that Perfect Potter's twin is closer to Theo than Jules.
When the trial goes to the dogs and Lord Nott takes Harry home, it's honestly a really great summer, Harry is having the time of his life, although there was that time Theo seemed oddly surprised to see him in a certain hallway and refuses to explain why.
(It was locked behind an actual blood ward. Hadrian Potter shouldn't have enough Nott Blood to get past the ward, and down that hallway. Theo is losing his everloving mind.)
Eventually Nott Sr. and Theo figure it out, then sit Harry down and explain, and they decide... to not do anything about it. Sirius is about to be cleared, Harry is welcome whenever, and as much as they'd love to rip James Potter down more, Harry has been very exposed to the media this year. He can go a bit without another scandal, and this way he can still live with Sirius like he kind of wants to. If, for any reason, Sirius also proves an incompetent Guardian... well, Harry's had the portkey ring for a year or two. Not like he's taking it off.
(They don't know yet that it's going to get worse)
It'll be mostly summer-focused, although I think I'll write to or just beyond the Graveyard scene, (Imagine it. But this time it's not just Theo's Dad, it's Harry-And-Theo's Dad telling Harry to stay down, please) where they collectively-separately decide Voldemort CANNOT know. either that or just after the Graveyard scene I'll write Nott Sr. looking Voldemort dead in the eye and telling him not to try to kill or kidnap his kid ever again, but I'm not sure that would be a go over well with S&S Voldemort.
Harry Potter | 2021 | 8,106 | Ao3 | Previous | Masterlist | Next
I sincerely hope you’re happy now, because I’m going to take you North and back to the Department of Mysteries. I quite like it there, see, and the adults do matter in this story, so they have to get some screen time else I leave you terribly confused.
So. Adrian Dunbar, Itzcalli Medina, and Isaac Devon spend three hours performing autopsies using both muggle and magical means, cross referencing with historic records and old case files, before Adrian and Itzcalli’s friend from the Veil pops her head in the room and glares at Isaac.
He glares back. You’d never guess she terrifies him.
“Calli.”
“Hey Lyn,” Itzcalli says, looking up. She has ash smeared over one eyebrow and a spot of blood on her hair ribbon, but has otherwise managed to make it through without making a mess of herself. Her robes are a different story, but that can’t really be seen around their enchantments and color. Who knew grey hid stains so well? “Time to go?”
“Yeah,” Lyn replies. “I figured we’d be late if I didn’t give you time to clean up.”
Itzcalli snorts, but doesn’t deny it. Her response is the opposite. “Yeah, thanks.” Adrian looks at her sharply. Itzcalli catches the look and shrugs. She and Lyn have been friends since they were eleven, and they broke into two of the most secret rooms in Hogwarts together. If Itzcalli trusts anyone, it’s Lyn. There’s also the fact that Lyn has done many things throughout her life, and visit the faerie realm isn’t one of them, so though she has that mindset, she has nothing to back it up.
“Shift isn’t over yet,” Isaac growls.
The girls send him matching unimpressed looks. Adrian’s impressed by their sudden synchronization.
Isaac rolls his eyes, but grudgingly allows it. “You’re dismissed too, Dunbar. I want you both back here at one-thirty.”
Adrian doesn’t protest because it’s nearly an hour break, even taking out half an hour for travel, but he wants to just based on Isaac’s tone. Isaac may be good at his job - a whiz at chemical residues and potions, with steady hands and no squeamishness to be found - but Adrian grudgingly understands why Itzcalli and Lyn don’t like him.
“Wanna walk with us?” Itzcalli offers before Adrian can shoot off a response.
Adrian sends her a smile. “I’d love to.”
They go back through the Death Chamber as Isaac vanishes into the Time Room. This time through, Adrian notices that the stone stadium isn’t as bare as he thought. “Is it safe to leave your research out like this?” he asks, stepping onto a bench to avoid a runic circle drawn in a mixture of dark red blood and glowing blue ink. Inside the circle is… something. It’s either a family tree or a map. Probably.
Lyn shrugs, the motion hidden by her pulling the grey robe over her head. “I've been here for five years, and I'm the only one willing to spend extended amounts of time near the veil anymore." Her head comes back up, and her hair is even more of a mess. It writhes for a moment, before settling into staticy curls."Plus I've cursed most of the area. The last person who tried to steal my work is still a slug."
“How long ago was that?” Adrian asks.
Lyn hums, some high-pitched noise that manages to convey confusion without looking at him, as she’s dropping her robe on another bench. “I’m not sure? Before Pandora died, but not by much. Most of the curses were after Pan, cause no one was brave enough to try to kill me before that, but they did try to steal our work. So… a year and a half, give or take?” Lyn grimaces in Adrian’s general direction as she opens the door to the entryway. “Pan was my mentor, by the way.”
Adrian follows her out of the Death Chamber, breathing deeply as the air is light again. “And it’s legal to leave them a slug that long?”
Calli snorts. “Who’s gonna stop her? As far as most people are concerned, he probably did an experiment wrong and died in the middle. After all-” she opens another door, and steps out of the DoM for the first time in seven hours. She should sleep more. “-what happens in the Department of Mysteries stays in the Department of Mysteries.”
“That doesn’t tell me if it’s legal,” Adrian says drily, following her out.
Lyn stops just inside the door. “Yes, because we’re working on a counterspell and can’t turn him back until we make it. If we already had one we would need to turn him back within a month.”
“Interesting.”
Lyn steps over the threshold. “Yep. What about you? Any crazy things happening in the Muggle Departments?”
“Generally, yeah.” Adrian admits. “But what was with the bodies older than all of us in there? Do they just- not get studied?”
Itzcalli gasps, eyes glittering with excitement. “Oh my gosh! Say something specific!”
“The spell we found dates back to the days of the Dark Lady Embla, who would steal biological components from her victims to commit identity, line, and general theft, along with trying to clone them after being inspired by the work of her cousin, Mary Shelley Nee Peverell?”
Itzcalli’s eyes blew wide, and she cackled gleefully. “Whoa! You can talk about it!”
“That is such a security breach,” Lyn says, wryly amused. She hits the button to call the lift.
Adrian grins teasingly at her, leaning against the lift doors. “Imagine, having to keep classified information secret through self control.”
“Such a challenge,” Lyn agrees delightedly, stepping back. “However do you do it?”
He flicks his ponytail. “You know what they say- some people are just… magic.” They all break out laughing as the door opens, Adrian’s wonderful delivery overshadowed as he tips over and falls into the lift.
Lyn offers a hand to help him up, still stifling laughter. “You okay?”
Adrian grins, taking it. “I’ve taken worse tumbles down the stairs at home.” The group steps into the elevator. “So, you mentioned a mentor,” he points at Lyn, and then points to Calli instead. “Did you have a mentor?”
“Yeah,” Itzcalli agrees. “Haven Rosier. He was head of my department for five years, two of which I was there for. He retired before my third year.”
“Cool.”
“Do muggles get cool mentors in their careers too?” Lyn asks.
Adrian raises an eyebrow. “You’ve never been?” Black Family Eyes aside, she doesn't have the vibe of a pureblood, especially not the kind who treats everything nonmagical like the plague.
“Not really. The muggle side of my family was dead before I was born, and Calli and I started here pretty much right out of school. There was no time." Lyn shrugs.
"We don't even have a nonmagical liaison," Calli complains. "I sneak out and get supplies anyways, but keeping track of scientific developments is a chore.” She’s considering going to university, but seven years of magical-only schooling plus six just in the Department of Mysteries means she’s rather behind on most everything that would be on the college board test. Of course, once she starts studying again it won’t be so scary, but that’ll take a bit.
“We do move rather fast.”
Calli snorts. “Yeah, well, someone has to. You never answered, who was your mentor?”
“I got to work with Kayla Mallard, during the last year of college, but I haven’t seen her since. She’s one of the best morticians in the world, it was wonderful.”
“Mine was a blessing,” Lyn says with feeling. The lift door opens again and a redhead walks in. “Pandora Lovegood. She practically adopted me, probably saved my life. I started right out of Hogwarts, threw myself into work and forgot to go home a lot.”
“Forgot. You just didn’t want to listen to Isiah talk.” Calli snorts, finger-quotes visible from her place leaning against the lift wall. There’s so much there to unpack, but we should have time later. “Hello, Weasley.”
“Hello, Medina,” The newcomer says. "And who is this?"
"Dunbar, Weasley, Weasley, Dunbar."
“Yeah yeah,” Lyn rolls her eyes. “Morning, Weasley. Anyway, Pan guilted me into going home by staying until I left, taught me how to cook, and generally showed me what was what in the Department.”
Adrian waved at Weasley, but kept talking to Lyn. “She sounds like my wife,” he said, amused. “A bit manipulative, but generally uses it to help our kids.”
Lyn grins. “Yeah, they’d’ve gotten along.” Her eyes cut to something behind Adrian and she relaxes a bit more. “A lot, I’d say.”
“Maybe in the next life,” Adrian offers.
Lyn turns, her smile soft and knowing. “Yeah, probably.” She glances behind him again, to where Pandora is hanging out. Lyn is one of the few blessed to see… not the other side, per se, but the dead. Eventually she’ll learn how to show others, but that’s a little ways out.
“Make sure he catches my full name,” Pandora says. She’s perched on the inner railing of the lift, and unlike ghosts (who also exist; has it been mentioned Death is really not all that much of an issue here? Well, I suppose it is, but not to anyone who matters) Pandora is not washed out into monochrome blue or white. No, her skin is the pale white over pink that comes from a caucasian without enough sunlight, her eyes are wide, blue, and uncommonly sharp, and her hair is a dirty blonde in some places and sun bleached in others. She stopped going outside as her end drew near.
Lyn acknowledges her with a flicker of her eyes. “I still check in on her daughter sometimes.”
“Is she Hogwarts age, yet?”
“Not until next year,” Lyn says. “She’s a lot like her mum though, so I’m sure she’ll take them by storm.”
“Little Luna Lovegood?” Weasley asks.
“Yeah,” Lyn says, seeing her chance. “We’re talking about her mum, Pandora Peverell.”
Adrian glances at her sharply, eyes wide. “Peverell?” He blinks, segwaying into another topic quickly. “Like the writer?”
Pandora grins and winks. “And the Dark Lady. And- honestly, there’s been a lot of them,” Lyn agrees. “Generally end up doing something cool.”
“Why did she keep her maiden name?”
“It’s an inheritance thing,” Lyn shrugs. “Some families have magical gifts and only give their names to those who carry them. It’s a leftover from us nearly going extinct a couple centuries back; if two heirs marry and have seven kids, the children get the name of whichever parent’s gifts they carry.”
“And if they don’t carry any?”
Lyn shrugs. “I think back then they could pick, but nowadays so few families even have gifts, that they just keep whatever name they’d have without considering it.”
“Interesting.” Adrian hums.
“That’s all pureblood propaganda,” Weasley says huffily. “They use it as an excuse to marry off their kids to other purebloods. Look at the Gaunts! That family was so obsessed with keeping their talents of Parselspeak and seeing the dead that they inter-married cousins, and then siblings. The line died out a bit before I was born.”
Lyn rolls her eyes. Behind them, Pandora does too.
“If someone resurfaced from a squib line and had either of those talents, they could claim the name,” Itzcalli says, drawing the topic sideways a bit.
“Oh? How do they prove it?”
“Rituals,” Weasley says, looking sharply at the girls. “Which are illegal, may I remind you.”
“Illegal outside of a controlled setting,” Lyn replies, not quite as sharp but close. “Which is generally either Gringotts or us.”
“Lyn could claim the Black name, if she went through initiations and petitioned the Lord of the House.”
“And that’s different ‘cause the house is alive?” The lift hits the Atrium.
“Yes,” Calli answers Adrian. “Although it might be more complicated because the Lord of the House is in Azkaban. Uh, wizard prison.”
“It’s a bad tradition,” Weasley says, shaking his head as the doors begin to open. “Be glad you don’t carry that name, Unspeakable.”
Lyn rolls her eyes. Adrian feels offended as well. “I find the Black family to be rather good company,” he says cooly.
“And your mum’s a Black, same as mine,” Lyn mutters as he walks away, glaring.
“Sorry,” Calli says awkwardly. “Didn’t mean to get political.”
Adrian shrugs, “It happens sometimes. We can talk more later?”
“Sure.”
Lyn hums amusedly. “I’m not claiming any magical bloodlines, but I do know a lot on the topic if you want to stop by after hours.”
“I’d love that,” Adrian says honestly. “See you guys later.”
“Bye,” Calli waves, pulling Lyn towards the floos. “I swear on your brother’s grave, if you stay any later than dinnertime I am going to riot.”
“I’m not that bad,” Lyn whines, letting herself be dragged around.
“Delphi Tamlyn,” Itzcalli drawls. “We both know you are.”
Lyn sticks out her tongue.
“How long are you here for?” Harry asks when he realizes the time. He needs to be getting home soon, but the idea of leaving Connor alone rankles.
Connor turns, sand in his black hair and sticking to his clothes. He gets the feeling that this isn’t a question he wants to answer. “I- don’t know.” He can’t leave without Lily, and he doesn’t know how much longer she’s going to spend fighting Petunia.
Harry makes a face. “I need to get Ian home,” he says softly.
“Oh,” Connor says, getting what he means with a sharp ache.
“Will you be okay?” Harry is concerned and he sounds it, reluctant to leave even as he murmurs to Ian to go find his shoes.
“Yes,” Connor lies. This is more than he expected, and it hurts, this idea that it’ll end and tomorrow he could wake up to it having been a dream. “Mum has locator spells on everything.” Surprisingly, that’s something that makes Harry light up.
“Lily came with you?” he asks with a lopsided little grin.
“Yeah,” Connor agrees, brain happily catching on part of that sentence instead of the possibility of this not being real. Of course Harry knows their mother’s name, but it makes Connor’s stomach do something funny when he hears Harry call her by it. As a kid, that’s one of the oddest things a fellow child can do.
“Oh.” Harry bends down when Ian returns, helping the kid put his shoes on. “..tell her hi, for me?” he asks, looking up at Connor unsurely.
Connor nods quickly. “Absolutely. And-” he blinks, the thought returning again, despite hating it. He’s touched Harry a few times, and his skin wasn’t very warm. “You’re not dead, right?”
“I’m not a ghost,” Harry says, as reassuring as he can be. Ian’s shoes are properly on, so he stands up again, holding Ian’s hand.
Connor smiles. “Okay. Thank you.” For hanging out, for being alive, for being healthy. For talking with Connor. For coming over when he was crying.
“Can I write you?” Harry asks, quick and impulsive. He needs to go home, Ian needs food and a nap but Harry doesn’t want to leave Connor, especially not when it’ll be a month until they see each other again. If it were just him, he’d text the adults and stay later, but Ian’s already worn himself out and Harry feels bad.
Connor blinks at him. “Sure- yes! I’d love that,” He grins, a little sheepish but Harry thinks it mostly looks pleased.
Harry smiles back. “And… I’ll see you at Hogwarts?”
“Yes,” Connor agrees. “Absolutely. And maybe earlier? I could see about setting up a playdate?”
“That would be great,” Harry says fervently.
Harry still hasn’t left. “You need to go,” Connor reminds him.
“I know,” Harry says. Ian whines, and Harry looks from one brother to the other. “Right.” He bends down and scoops Ian up, settling the toddler on his hip. “Er- happy early birthday?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Connor nods. It hits him a second later- “You too! Happy eleventh!”
Harry laughs, waving as he walks backwards. “Thank you.” He turns around, still laughing into Ian’s neck.
The boys return home to domestic chaos. The living room is peaceful, Adrian and Caspian debating something to do with clothes around a game of inanimate chess; Adrian hugs Harry and transfers Ian into his own arms at the same time. After knocking into Cas affectionately, Harry moves down the short hallway into the kitchen and living room - that’s where the chaos is.
Fay has tomato goop in her hair near her ear, today’s no-longer-curled bangs pinned up, and an orange-stained cutting board on the nearest counter, herbs piled overtop the tomato remains.
Vivian and Regulus are at the bar counter, flour smattered up their three forearms and Vivian leading the process of kneading bread dough.
“What’re you making?” Harry asks, ducking through to get to the pantry. Technically the cupboard under the stairs is also a pantry, but there are snacks in the one on the wall furthest inside the kitchen, and Harry avoids the cupboard whenever he can. He grabs a packet of fruit snacks and another of crackers.
“Tomato soup and cheese rolls,” Vivian says. “How was the park?”
“It was good,” Harry says, not wrong but purposefully not clear either. Vivian catches him on his way out of the kitchen, dragging him into a hug that rubs flour on his clothes. She’d been sad, if understanding, when he ducked out earlier. He leans in.
“Bug him to pieces, Burbujita,” she hums into his hair.
“I know,” Harry murmurs back. Vivian lets him go. “Do you want any help?” He asks, ducking out to give Ian a packet of crackers.
Since you’ve obviously missed a little bit, let me give you a brief catchup. This morning Regulus returned, and Harry took Ian to the park because this poor child has too large a heart and a bit more imposter syndrome than he should; he left Cas and Fay with time and most of their parents to work through some stuff. That was… hours ago?
I’m not paid to count seconds, moving on.
“Wanna run the blender with me?” Fay asks brightly. “Mama and Dad are on roll duty.”
“Sure,” He agrees.
“So, anything interesting happen at the park?”
Harry studiously did not look up, instead focusing on pushing the right buttons on the blender. “There were a few things. Met someone new. Who was the villain?”
“They reaired Night Of The Boogey Biker,” Fay said. She leaned into his shoulder, watching the veggies splatter. “So it was Red Herring. You okay?”
“Yeah. Just stuff for later.”
Fay hums. “Mkay.”
At the counter behind them, Regulus and Vivian have moved on to shaping the rolls. “This is violence against breadkind,” Regulus says, voice raising with mock-offense.
“The yeast shall die,” is Vivian’s succinct response, ripping the raw rolls open with vigor.
Regulus laughs at her, murmuring something about ‘should we have not put it in, then?’ as he balls up grated cheese against the counter. He’s not wearing his prosthetic, since he’s home and it’s been a week of wearing it near-nonstop.
Fay waits until they’re eating, Vivian on Ian duty, to question Harry again. If it’s something for the whole family, he’ll answer now, and if not, it alerts her parents and ensures that someone will talk to Harry. “Anything fun happen at the park?”
Harry looks up and scans the table. “Something interesting did.”
Caspian and Regulus narrow in on him in moments. He hides his jump in nervousness by changing his focus to his bowl.
“Interesting how?”
“Connor and Lily Potter are in the area.”
Fay’s spoon hits the side of her bowl.
“Huh,” Regulus says, as if he didn’t notice half of his family jumping. “Do you know why?”
Harry rolls the words around his mouth for a moment. “Apparently to pick me up.”
That gets more reactions. Harry half-expects Cas to discorporate, but the older boy is having a better day than that. Regulus goes blank in a way that still terrifies Harry for reasons he knows don’t apply. Fay goes still in a way she likes to pretend isn’t natural. Adrian raises his eyebrows, looking over the rest of the family.
Vivian groans. “That’s illegal,” she says petulantly.
Adrian snorts. “Did you run into them?” he asks, trying to make it clear he’s laughing at his wife and not his kid.
“Yeah,” Harry says, peeking up through his glasses.
Regulus finishes processing and comes back into action with a blink. “Thanks for letting us know, Harry. Did they try to remove you forcefully?”
“No. I didn’t see Lily this time either.” He looks back at his plate. “Connor was nice though.”
“Okay. What are you thinking?”
Harry shrugs. “I don’t think you need to do anything, it was just weird. Nice, but weird. Petunia told them I was dead.”
Everyone but Ian flinches. Ian is playing with his soup and the ruins of a roll.
“We might have to deal with that,” Regulus says. “I’ll keep an eye out. Did I miss anything else?”
“Harry’s reading ninth-grade books again,” Cas reports like a tattletale.
Harry rolls his eyes, and the entire group takes the subject change with ease. “They’re not hard. Just grab a dictionary and a blanket.”
Regulus grins. “So I need a copy and we can start bookclub up again?”
“Yes!”
“What book did you find?”
“To Kill A Mockingbird,” Harry says proudly. “I’m at chapter seven.”
I’m sure you can guess most of what else happens. Adrian goes back to the Department Of Mysteries, Vivian chews on paperwork, Regulus spends the day with his kids.
On the other side, however?
Well, Lily Potter is having a spectacularly bad day. By now she’s finished with Petunia and is instead in the park where Connor was supposed to be, which is conspicuously free of children. She pulls her wand out, trying not to let herself catastrophize. It’s harder than she would like. “Guide me hatchling,” she snarls in parseltongue. You’ll notice later, once you’re seeing more magic in action, that spells are often cast in Latin or derivatives thereof. This isn’t a requirement, so you’ll find clever and desperate wixen often use their own; we’ll leave it at that so we don’t get knee-deep in magical theory again. There’ll be time later.
A light glows at the top of her wand, not quite as big as her fingertip, and breaks off to float west. Lily sheaths her wand and follows it. The artificial will-o-wisp keeps pace with her instead of the other way around.
She’s shaking. It’s been too long. She should’ve taken Connor home and come back to Privet Drive, not sent him outside. Muggle area or not, she had no proof this neighborhood was safe. And after that horrifying conversation, Lily needs her son to be safe. One of them, please.
She already made the mistake of thinking this town was safe for her child once, she can’t believe she did so again. Who’s to say this isn’t another conspiracy?
The wisp leads her to Wisteria Way, and much like Harry and Fay yesterday, Lily crosses down the middle. Unlike those two, she doesn’t walk straight to Number Ten. Her chest twinges as she passes it, but she doesn’t stop to think about what that means.
Two turns further into Magnolia Crescent, Lily finally finds a park. Connor’s there, racing another kid up and down the stairs and slides. Another is swinging, and two more are throwing sand at each other. Something in Lily’s chest unblocks, and she sits down on the edge of the sandpit and watches quietly.
She has to think. Petunia said- well, Petunia said a lot of things, most of which were about as useful as a fly’s thigh. Gosh, Lily is such an idiot. She and James talked about it, discussed it for weeks, but the facts were that Harry’s magical core was damaged, and if a Fideleus Charm - and a Secret Keeper who wasn’t even in the country - wasn’t enough to keep them safe, how could she ensure Harry wouldn’t get injured again? Worse? What if the next time he doesn’t wake up?
She puts her head on her knees and breathes.
He woke up.
Petunia said some wizard came and took him years ago. Years ago. Lily has been at Petunia’s house to check on a boy who wasn’t there. Lily has stood in that house, believing Harry was upstairs asleep, and he wasn’t even in the house.
Checking Hadrian’s core had been a rare occurrence on its own, since the spell was new and classified. It still is, taught only to Unspeakables and select wixen in the medical field. Charlus had suggested it, and confirmed that both boys’ cores were damaged. They said Connor looked to be recovering, but Harry’s was… Lily hadn’t used the spell herself, but Charlus looked horrified.
Honestly, if that spell weren’t restricted it would either end with a lot of children being safely rehomed, or a jump in infantcide statistics. Humankind, you know?
There’s a reason for the section of magical laws concerning manslaughter in search of accidental magic. It turns out babies enjoy being in the air. And often don’t realize they won’t be caught until too late, magic or not.
Maybe they should’ve kept Harry anyway. So many things during and after the attack were unprecedented, she must’ve missed something.
A lot of things, considering the many times she’d visited her sister.
“Mum?”
Lily looks up. “Hey, Connor. How are you?”
“I’m okay,” Connor says, leaning over the playground railing. “How was the talk?”
“Terrible.”
“Um,” Connor says, tapping his fingers against each other. “Harry’s not dead, by the way.”
Lily laughs desperately. Of course, he knew too. “Yeah, I know. What tipped you off?”
“Well he lives here,” says a new, caustic voice. A blonde girl leans over the rail beside Connor. “That’s generally an indication of not being dead.”
“Freya,” Connor hisses, eyes wide. “Be nice.”
“He lives here?” Lily’s voice is faint, but her mind is too far away to care. Petunia had said- but Lily hadn’t- how did- Huh.
“He also says hello.”
Oh. Oh. Lily would like to get off this emotional rollercoaster right now. “He knows me?”
“I didn’t ask how.”
Freya sucks on her lips, suddenly feeling much more awkward. This is absolutely the sort of thing that happens with the Dunbar-Black house, and the reason she learned to excuse herself from uncomfortable situations. Mr. Black sat down and taught her when she was eight. Nineteen-Eighty-Seven was a bad year.
She stands up, stepping back to let the others talk. Well, it’s time to think very, very loudly.
“You met him?”
“Yeah. He looked… pretty good.”
“What was he like?”
“A kid,” Connor says softly. “He’s nice. Smart.”
Lily covers her mouth, starting to cry. She doesn’t know what Harry knows about her, (if he’s basing it off Petunia’s information, it can’t be anything good) but he’s okay. She has an eyewitness account at last. Two, apparently.
He knows about her.
Lily hopes he doesn’t hate her, but if he does she can’t blame him.
She’s been in that house. And she missed him.
How did she miss him?
“When are we going home?” Connor asks, the exhaustion appearing again. The best thing about kids is how easily distractable they are. Freya showed up not long after Harry left, trailing three siblings, and pulled Connor away from dark thoughts. Now that Lily’s back and Freya has let them talk, all the dark thoughts are returning and Connor really, really wants a nap.
Lily wipes her eyes. “As soon as you’re done here, sweetheart.”
Connor turns to Freya. “It was nice meeting you.”
“You too,” Freya says with a smile. She offers her hand to shake, and Connor accepts it. “She is actually your guardian, right?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t she be?”
“We’ve had… incidents. Never hurts to check.”
“If she were untrustworthy, what would you do?”
“I’d get one of my siblings to get my dad and then we’d take you home and call the police.”
Connor pauses. That sounds practiced; a lot like the abduction and raid drills he’d grown up using. “Smart. She’s my mum though, so I’m fine.”
“Alright,” Freya shrugs. “Be safe. If you ever visit again, we have a kiddie pool.”
Connor snorts. “Thanks. See you later.” He takes a slide to the ground, and walks over to his mum. It’s been long enough he’s gotten most of the sand out of his clothes, but not all. It’s still itchy. “I’m ready.”
Lily takes his hand and stands up. “Alright. C’mon, the apparition point is this way.”
“Mum,” Connor begins, brow furrowing. “We’re in a muggle neighborhood. Why is there an apparition point?”
Lily opens her mouth as they leave the park grounds. She closes it. “I… don’t know. I guess I’ve always just gone to the spot I know best. I guess I’ll apparate us once we’re in the clear.” She laughs again, but this time it’s genuine. Of course there wouldn’t be an actual apparition point in a muggle town.
Well, as far as she knows, anyway.
They turn onto a road with no one visible, and Lily apparates before checking any closer.
It’s been a long day, Readers, and we still have hours to go.
They reappear in the middle of the kitchen, breakfast still half-eaten on the table. “What time is it?” Lily asks, looking around the empty room. She waves her hand, casting a wandless and wordless time charm. One o’clock in the afternoon.
Lily rubs a hand over her face and sighs. “What do you want for lunch, sweetheart?”
“Caprese?”
“And chicken, sure,” Lily hums. Thankfully, it’s easy to make. Lily ties her hair up while she cooks, letting Connor run up to his room.
The first thing he does is, adorably enough, find his library card. Then he anxiously packs a bag full of mostly sealed ink bottles, an old roll of parchment, and partially crumpled quills. Quills, because Connor lives in a magical household and pens are rarely used. Then he lays on his bed and stares at the ceiling.
Archimedes, another owl whom you have not met yet, (I sincerely hope you’re good with names, because otherwise this may turn into a headache), lands on his chest. There’s no law specifically against the harming of owls, but there should be. Emotional Support Animals are incredibly important.
Archimedes coos.
“Hi Archimedes,” Connor says, staring at his ceiling. He reaches up to pet him, enjoying the feel of feathers. Archimedes is new, they brought him home yesterday alongside Connor’s school supplies. Archimedes hops a little bit, before sitting down on Connor’s chest like a roosting mother. Connor keeps petting him, gnawing on chaotic thoughts.
He’s really happy his parents agreed to get him an owl. Walnut is his father’s owl, and spends a lot of time roosting around James Potter. Archimedes is still getting used to his new owlet, but he’s noticed Connor’s unusually high heartbeat.
In humans, that either means something very good, or very bad.
Archimedes stays there until Lily calls Connor down for food, when he hops onto Connor’s shoulder. Con swings his bag onto his shoulder and hops down the stairs, getting a wing in the eye for his troubles. Archimedes is not ready for an owlet. He’s going to take care of this one anyway.
Lily ignores the owl on Connor’s shoulder as she hands him a plate. “I need to check with Mrs. Weasley about you coming over, will you be okay?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Connor is a much better liar than an eleven-year-old should be. Ugh, he needs a hug. The good news is, he’s on his way to get one.
“Okay. Weasleys?”
“Yeah.”
Another time, Connor may push to be left home alone. He’s eleven, not a baby! But right now he wants comfort, and it’s not like Lily would agree anyway. Connor can’t fight, and he’s a person of interest to a lot of unsavory characters.
Have I mentioned that yet? …oh, I don’t think I have. Whoops. Connor’s famous, by the way; he survived an assassination attempt when he was one, and now a decent amount of people want to finish the job.
Are you beginning to see why James and Lily thought leaving Harry with Petunia was a good idea?
Once they’re done eating, Lily sits down and sticks her head in the kitchen fireplace. Her fireplace is also a floo fireplace, so this isn’t something unsafe. She activates it with floo powder, a secondary compound that activates the enchantments on domestic floos. It would be rather annoying if every wizarding household had to invest in two fireplaces - one for proper fires, and one for transportation.
The connection lets her poke her head out of the other side, into a warmly colored kitchen. Welcome to the Burrow, readers. You’ll become familiar with the place quickly.
The downside of Floo calls (aside from how uncomfortable it is to kneel with your head in a magic fire) is that they rarely come with ringtones. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for a redheaded child to run through the kitchen. He stops a little past the door, and comes back. “Hi Mrs. Potter!” He calls brightly.
Lily forces a smile. “Hello George.”
“I’m Fred,” he says, sending her a very serious pout. In the two years since you saw him last, he’s gotten a buzzcut and a load of new bracelets, courtesy of his friends.
That’s enough to make her laugh; it is such a relief to be doing something other than panic. “No you’re not,” she says, shaking her head as she looks up at the thirteen-year old. “Fred never wears the green bracelet.”
George grins, crouching in front of the floo. “Sharp as ever, Mrs. Potter. How can I help you?”
“I need to go into the Ministry for a while, would your mother mind watching Connor?”
“Mum! Can Connor come over?”
Lily can’t hear the response, but George keeps grinning so she knows it’s good. “She says yes.” He looks a little closer, brow furrowing. “Is everything okay?”
“It will be,” Lily says. “I’ll send him through.”
Normally, George would go back to what he was doing, maybe shout at Ron that Connor would be here soon, but there’s a prickling in his gut that says this isn’t something he can brush off. George taps his bracelet, wishing his brother was down here. They work better as a team, and this seems like the sort of thing they’ll need all hands on deck for.
The floo flares, a green fire shooting up from nothing. George prepares himself to ignore his instincts and just chivvy the younger boy to Ron.
Connor comes through looking like he’s had a meltdown and a half.
Yeah, no.
“What happened?” George asks, moving closer.
“Is it really that obvious?” Connor asks mulishly, holding his bag close to his chest. “You’re the fourth person to ask me that.”
George raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, apparently. Hot cocoa?”
Connor takes a breath, ready to say no, but that sounds wonderful, actually. “Can you make enough for Ron too?”
“Yeah.” George heads to the stove, letting Connor sit at the kitchen table. He’s not allowed to use magic over the summers, (unsupervised, but neither of his parents want to supervise) so it takes the usual amount of time. Which is to say, a while. “Can I run something up to Fred?”
“I don’t need babysitting.”
George rolls his eyes with the patience that grows from having two younger siblings. “I know.” He vanishes upstairs, worried.
Connor sits there, tapping on the table. He likes the Weasleys' house - it’s bright, mostly gold and red, with fifty percent of the place warmly patchworked. There’s always something to look at, something to think about. Connor takes the distraction, watching the enchanted Kitchen Clock. Instead of telling time, it has a hand for each member of this family branch, and a circle of statuses. Fredric, George, Ronald, Ginevra, and Molly are all at Home, William, Charles, and Aurthur are at Work. Other places include School, Mortal Peril, Prison, Lost, Hospital, Travelling, and Friend’s. Connor likes the clock. Growing up, he and Ron would spend hours making up adventures for the other members of his family.
Charlie’s hand flicks to Mortal Peril. Connor’s mood drops again.
Would having a clock like this helped Harry? Mortal Peril came before death.
Ugh.
Connor needs to stop thinking about this. He lays his head on the table, wishing he could regulate his thoughts.
Something in the room flutters. Connor assumes it’s George back to mess with the Hot Cocoa, so he doesn’t move. His chest feels watery, like pneumonia and sadness.
“Hey Connor.”
He shrieks, sitting up so sharply he nearly falls off the chair.
Ah, it’s finally time to introduce you to another of my beloved cast. Meet Ginevra Weasley, Readers, a nine-year-old menace who brings me great joy.
[She’s the type I’d proudly adopt.]
I can’t believe I’m agreeing with you, Timothy.
[Aw, I guess great minds really do think alike.]
Moving on. Ginny has armpit-length red hair, not quite as many freckles as Susan Bones, and brown eyes that match the broomsticks she loves to ride. She enjoys sneaking up on people and trying to steal… whatever she can get her hands on, really. Sometimes she manages to get Connor’s glasses, occasionally she manages a bracelet from her brothers, or a book, sometimes Percy’s pens, and, naturally, wands.
She holds Connor’s wand out to him. “It looks awesome,” she says with a touch of envy. “What’s the specs?”
“Do you even know what that word means?”
“Nope but it’s said when they wanna know what something is made of, so I figure I’m using it right,” she collapses into the chair beside Connor. “Why do you look like Achilles got hit by a flying carpet?”
Connor snorts. “I love your metaphors.”
“I get bored a lot,” Ginny says. “I cannot wait to go to Hogwarts next year. Think you and Ron can smuggle me spells?”
“Haven’t you had every one of your brothers smuggle you spells?”
“DADA teacher changes every year. That means new spells.”
“You are so lucky that you’re the youngest.”
Ginny grins, ducking her head a little as Connor finally takes the wand.
Connor sticks it in his hair for lack of having a better place to put it. “Your brothers are good brothers, right?”
Ginny squints at him. “Now you’re acting suspicious. Is your mom pregnant?” That startles a laugh out of Connor. Ginny grins back proudly. “But seriously, having a sorting crisis?”
“I wasn’t until you said something!” Connor shrieks. He takes a breath, and shakes his head. “Anyway. Um. How have things been on your end?”
“Fred and George have been blowing things up and trying to convince mum to adopt their friends, Percy’s plotting to be Prefect this year, and Mum’s still on withdrawl without Charlie. Really though, what’s going on?”
“I think Mum’s trying to overthrow the government. Or kill her sister. Or possibly kidnap someone? Can you kidnap your own kid?”
Ginny blinks once. Twice. “We’re going upstairs.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him up. Connor lets her drag him out of the kitchen and up the Burrow’s rickety staircase, where they pass George.
“What’re you doing?”
“Emotional support!” Ginny calls back. She stops at the seventh landing. “Ron!”
A head with red hair appears at the top of the staircase. “Ginny?” Ronald Weasley’s room is at the top of the Weasley’s tower-like house, just under the haunted attic. “What’s up?”
“Your friend’s having a crisis.” Ginny says. It’s her room too, actually.
Ron crawls down his ladder, twisting. “Connor?” Connor groans and moves to flop on his friend. Ron holds him up easily. “Are your parents okay?”
Connor hums a yes.
George hits the landing next, followed by Fred. “Can we help?”
Connor groans. “Do you want to spend two hours watching me have a heart attack?”
Ron pats his head. “C’mon. I got him.”
“I’ll bring up your cocoa,” George says, chivving the other kids back downstairs.
“Thanks,” Ron says. Connor straightens up to climb the ladder, and Ron follows him. “So, what’s the deal?”
Connor faceplants on Ron’s bed and doesn’t move. Ron goes back to the maze he’s building for Percy’s pet rat, Scabbers. The rat is old and missing a toe, but he’s sprightly and keeps getting lost at Hogwarts. So far he’s always come back, but Percy wants a better solution than switching between a pocket charmed to not let Scabbers out and a rat cage the size of a cat carrier. Ron heard him bemoan it at the start of the summer and has been trying to find a solution. This maze is going to be two levels, and about the length of Percy’s school trunk. Ron’s a little less than a quarter way done with building it.
The boys don’t talk for a little while, sitting and listening to the rhythmic tapping of Connor’s legs as he kicks the bright orange bedspread. Ron’s side of the room is covered in as much Quidditch memorabilia as he could get his hands on, specifically for a team known as the Chudley Cannons, whose colors are red and an orange more violent than the Weasley’s carrot top heads. Ginny’s is more varied, but still has a majority of green and gold, for the Holyhead Harpies. It’s an… interesting dichotomy.
Eventually, Connor rolls over and stares at the enchanted posters on the ceiling. The poster shows the team playing an actual game, so Connor watches it until he settles.
That’s when Ron finally puts the glue (muggle glue, brought home by his father who adores muggle technology) and wood scraps down. "Alright," he announces, flopping down beside Connor on his bed. "You're being way too quiet.” He crosses his legs and leans over Connor’s head. “Spill."
Connor looks at him, and ridiculously feels like crying. He's already cried so much today.
"Wait, don't cry!" Ron says, sounding panicked, which is how Connor knows he still has tears left. "Breathe?" Ron is not the best at this. He's eleven, since his birthday was in March. Adults can be terrible at comforting people, so of course children will have their moments too. "What happened?" Ron leans back and watches one of his own posters.
"Did you know I have a little brother?"
Ron sort of... stops. "Since when?" He’s trying to remember, because that seems like something he’d be told, but he doesn’t remember anything recently, and he’d have met them by now if they aren’t a newborn. Right?
The comment spurs Connor into laughter, which is enough, Ron thinks. Laughter's supposed to be healing. He's heard that from his big brothers, of which he has five. "Forever, I guess."
Ron sighs and lays down too. "You are terrible at explaining."
Connor snorts. That's their running joke- they're not sure what it is, whether curse side effects or just bad blood, but Connor has trouble with focusing and letters move for Ron. It's really mental disorders, but despite the changes in the wizarding world, they're still very behind on Mental Health, and as such no one has recognized it yet. "He's my twin," Connor says. "He's my twin and I met him for the first time today and he's great, but he's so different. I don't know anything about him! And I want to!" Connor throws his hands out. "I want to, so badly. I want to know him as well as Fred knows George."
Ron watches as Connor's words go soft and wistful. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"So, when am I meeting him?"
Connor laughs again, short and loud, and rolls over to hug Ron. "As soon as possible, obviously."
"Good," Ron says lightly, patting Connor’s head. "Because someone has to warn him about Ginny. Does he know much about the Chudley Cannons?"
Connor slowly pulls away to give Ron a look that's not quite guilty. "I forgot to talk about Quidditch."
"Connor!" Ron shrieks with a laugh. "The betrayal- what if he doesn't? Oh the tragedy!"
"How much time have you spent with the twins?" Connor asks then, laughing. Ron's amped up the drama to three.
"Plenty," Ron says. "We finally went to Diagon last week, actually, and met up with those friends of theirs." He leans in, as if sharing a secret. "Lestrange is nice!"
Connor hums. "Haven't they been saying that?"
"Well yeah." Ron rolls his eyes. "But it's different to see her in person. No wonder Mum makes her a sweater."
Connor grins. "Of course she does. Your mum would add in a thousand bedrooms and raise every kid out there if given the chance."
Ron laughs. "She'd try," it's a little bitter, but not too bad. His brothers were there too, whenever she wasn’t. And then he looks at Connor and puts on his game face. "Brother. Details. C'mon Connor I'm dying here!"
"Okay, okay," Connor waves away Ron's focus. "Brother. His name is Hadrian. They call him Harry. He wants to write, and he looks like me."
"That's it?" Ron asks.
"He's a parselmouth too?" Connor offers nervously. His shoulders slump. "We really didn't have that much time to talk. I mean we did, but we weren't exchanging life stories." He looks over at Ron, brown on blue, and feels the joy slip away like rainwater. "I don't know anything, Ron. And what I do know is bad. He was nice enough to talk to today, but what if I mess up and he hates me?"
"He's your brother," Ron says mock sagely. "Even after Charlie and Percy had that big fight, they still worked together to make sure us younger kids were safe and warm."
"But you guys were raised together! We weren't. What if it's too different? What if he thinks magic is dumb? Or maybe he'll be a muggle-baiter! Or if he's- I don't know! What if he's hurt? What if he's missing limbs?"
"Did he look like he was missing limbs?" Ron asks bemusedly.
"No," Connor admits. "And he didn't limp or anything while we were playing tag, so I guess there's a point there." He's still not reassured though. "What if he doesn't know enough about the magical world and he falls into a trap set by a Death Eater? What if someone tries to attack him to get to me?"
"That won't happen." Ron waves his hand dismissively. "Probably. Besides, actual muggleborns do it all the time, and they catch up easily enough. He'll be fine."
"What if-"
Ron sighs and shuts Connor up by laying on top of him. It's a tried and true technique. "Am I this bad about Ginny?"
"You're worse," Connor says lightly. Ron laughs.
Someone knocks on the trapdoor. Connor and Ron both look over. “You know,” Connor says suddenly, not even moving. “Harry and I had a talk about nicknames, and he offered Con as one.”
“Yeah?”
“It rhymes with Ron.”
Ron laughed. “Hope he doesn’t mind being triplets then. Come in!”
Fred pops his head through the trapdoor, wearing a blue sweater with only one sleeve properly on. The rest is bunched around his neck. “We have hot cocoa and optional emotional support.”
Connor waves, but doesn’t push Ron off. He likes the weight.
Ron waves in the familiar configuration. Bill - William Weasley - taught it to them the first time the younger kids were caught in a Death Eater attack. He learned it from Dorcas Meadows during the height of the First Blood War, and the Weasleys never gave it up. “Welcome to my office, I’d offer you chocolate frogs but I think the gnomes stole them,” he says magnanimously.
George bows. “Ah, yes, why thank you for your time, Mr. Weasley. Do remind me, are you a famous teacher, auror, or Quidditch player?”
“Obviously he tames Hippogriffs,” Ginny snarks, taking over Ron’s desk chair. “Look at those muscles.”
“I don’t know,” Fred says. “He kinda looks like a human wrangler to me.”
“Excuse you, I am obviously a statue brought to life,” Connor says, pointing at Fred. “You’re in the presence of the greatest museum curator in seven centuries.”
“Ah.”
Ron laughs, rolling off Connor and sitting up. Connor follows suit, missing the weight. “Oh, no autographs today I’m afraid, the mummies stole all my pens.”
The Road To Ruin(?): you mentioned twenty three hours of slideshow. What else is there?
Okay okay SO! It's not a 23 hour long slideshow, as much as that would definitely be my magnum opus, it just took me 23 hours to make. Although I did sleep, so more like 17. BUT I've added a slide or two since then so technically it's a 24h slideshow ;0
There are. So many people on this slideshow. I didn't REALIZE how many OCs I was making until I put them all in one place. There are TWENTY SEVEN character slides, plus an extra slide for "I need to remember their name but they are NOT going to end up Important"(tm). Sadly, Cole from Into The Mixing Bowl is not on it yet, and they will likely garner an entire slide. As soon as I learn their birthday XD
Anyway I try to make a slide for every important person I build myself, plus NOPC Fay Dunbar because at this point she's so divorced from canon that she requires an explanation xD I love her immensely.
So! Not everyone but here's the two Delphis I sometimes mention, Calli, Fay, and the various Potter Twins that have been mentioned so far.
Starting with The Boys!
I hope the slides explain them well enough but I will answer any and all questions I love them so much. Charlie's from the first twin au I ever made - don't think it counts as a wbwl because at that time I didn't know the trope and the "Chosen One" shenanigans focus on both of them.
I'm like 98% sure I wrote Sorrel having glasses in TRTR but it's fine he looks 16 here, sometimes you grow out of them.
FUN FACT when I was building NOPC, I got to the point where you Have To Have A Name but I couldn't pick one, so I handed the phone to my little sister and told her to. That's why there's no theme to the name Connor, unlike the other twins.
We're going to ignore the fact that his name is spelled two different ways, I spell it one, autocorrect spells it the other. The fact that Tristan is somehow a week older than William seems extremely fake to me, but google docs dates my documents and that's what they say.
WILLIAM! He's such a Person. I love him so. Both Will and NOPC get to feature copious Encyclopedia Brown references and it makes me so happy.
Fay! She's my blorbo! Fay Malfoy was an errant thought in War Crimes and spawned her own au. Long before that, THIS Fay was born! I think she's from 2020? I didn't date NOPC's conception, partially bc the twins are only dated so the Ordered By Birthday Slideshow can have them ordered too, and partially because it's the result of multiple aus breeding plot bunnies over three years.
I have so many picrews of her because Metamorphmagery makes her that much more fun to do. I love her so much. Alongside becoming the Astronomy teacher, she contracts with Gringotts to break in and then point out flaws in their security.
Calli! She's Delphi Lyn's soulmate and she's such a person. I can't wait to get NOPC out and get reactions.
I saved the best for last; it's Delphi Lyn, mwah. Gosh this woman does. so much. I love her. It's SO MUCH FUN to run plotlines with her. Delphi Is Not Paid Enough For This is going to be a series of aus spawning from DoM/Horcrux shenanigans and it's lovely.
Road To Ruin Anon again. You said there were themes to your Potter Twins' names - what themes?
Hi, yes! Sorry this took me forever to get to, but here we go!
The Post Anon Is Referring To // The First Slideshow Post
Okay so, in chronological order - I'm not putting the slides on again bc they make everything so long;
CHARLIE! Charlie/Charles/Charlus is... not that deep. We can give it all the in-story explanations we want, but the fact of the matter is that I was writing a Farland Files fanfic love letter and I just reused the name. I assume that Purplemango picked it either because they liked it, there's canonically a Charlus Potter he can be named after, and/or as Charles it follows the convention of Potter-Names-Mirror-English-Royalty, but I haven't ever worked up the courage to ask them. Probably never will.
SORREL! Okay so I'm mostly sure that Sorrel showed up in a googled list of Indian names, and it won my personal aesthetic contest - I know his middle name did, I don't remember WHAT his middle name WAS, but it means blue; Sorrel means red, and the Potter could refer to brown and I personally found that clever.
Having said all of this, when I just googled the name to double check, I found out that Sorrel is ALSO term for a plant, spinach dock is also known as common or garden Sorrel. I'm very sure that part isn't on purpose, but the Cobra Lily (Charlie) and Hyacinth/Hydrangea (Sorrel) aus are largely built on me hoarding as many plant names as I feel comfortable with and making them plot points so- *fingerguns* -it works out!
Moving on, I already mentioned the story behind CONNOR! The au was getting to the point I needed names to visualize, I couldn't choose, so I handed my phone and the googled list (no clue what I googled, that was three years and like 9 this-au-has-developed-into-a-whole-new-au-s ago) to my little sister. She said Connor. I said okay.
Honestly, either Sorrel or Connor is my favorite twin. They've just got shiny personalities. It's a close competition tho
TRISTAN! yeah yeah, his spelling is still being decided, chill, it doesn't matter until I start posting the au. I wish I could say something clever but I haven't even checked what Tristain means, unlike the others. I think. Actually, have I ever looked up what Connor means?
moment of silence while I do that brb
Back! Connor means Lover Of Hounds and I- wheezes I cannot. This is Hilarious. Unreasonably so. Little Ruler and his baby brother, Lover Of Hounds.
This tangent added like five minutes to this post and I have NO REGRETS
It also looks like a Gaelic name, which means there's a chance the list I gave to my sis was those, bc I do and will advocate for Irish Lily Potter at any and all given opportunities. If that wasn't what I was thinking it SURE IS NOW
Anyway, back to Tristan; I looked him up after I finished my Connor tangent, and I have once again been blessed in writing because the name could not be more perfect for the au if I tried.
"In Arthurian legend, Tristan (sometimes called Tristram) was a Knight of the Round Table and the tragic hero of the medieval tale "Tristan and Isolde". The tale has been retold in many poems and operas. This ancient name may derive from a Pictish original, Drostan, but the form was probably influenced by the French term "triste", meaning "sad". The name is popular in Spain." (source linked)
Gosh I WISH that was why I picked the name, the actual story is so much less cool; I wrote the outline leaving a T in place of the name the whole time (bc I kept trying to use Sorrel but NO I wanted it to be a NEW AU) and I know a guy named Tristan so it made sense to just. expand on the T.
WILLIAM: Will's name was given to me by the same person who helped make the Obscurial Au (Will's au) playlist, and I have no clue what their tumblr handle is but their Ao3 is Lonelyroads. I complained about how I couldn't find twin names that weren't either taken or have Negatory Vibes, and Lonely offered up Will, which follows the aforementioned Potter's-Named-After-English-Royalty tend/convention and looks good with Harry and has good nickname opportunities.
So yeah! That's all of them - there's no overarching trend but they each have their stories.
