All art courtesy of the amazing @arcturus-night-star <3
Welcome to WBWL week! If you know, you know, and if you don’t, you’re welcome to hang around or see yourself to the door!
Wrong Boy Who Lived Week is a week about this beloved, self-explanatory little trope - the Boy Who Lived / The Prophecy Child being incorrect!
Whether Harry is the BWL and no one knows, or he’s the Prophecy Child but the BWL is genuinely someone else, or maybe they think it’s Harry and it’s not; this week is all about secrets and subverting expectations!
If you want to read some cool stories in the trope, might I suggest a starter pack of Sarcasm & Slytherin by AnonymousMagpie, Yo Dawg by RelenaDuo, the Harrison Gaunt Series by Sandra_Taylor, A King of Sinners and a Queen of Saints by Purplemango and RyuukTheHatter, For The Greater Good Verse by lucky_katebishop, A Rose By Any Other Name (Will Still Prick Your Finger) by InTheShadows, Sybillance by Aspionage, Dumbledore’s great mistake by shineyma, and Carve a Smile Upon My Face by Satine_Ainsel? These are not all of them, not even all of the big names, but they are my favorites. There’s one missing because I can’t find it, just know they’re amazing.
The “basic tropes” included in a WBWL recipe are a Gryffindor Twin (who might be a prat), a Slytherin Harry, bad dumbldore, living-but-bad-parent-potters, and a family having trouble reconnecting. But! That’s not the only way to do it! There are THOUSANDS of ways to do it, whether following the recipe or making your own.
While many WBWL stories double as twin aus, there are some other fun examples, like Tony Stark - The Boy Who Was Not Attacked as a Child by WombatRat, Seven Months Away by Disorganizedkitten, Switched by PseudoLeigha, Sohpie Roper by Glacilumi, the kids who chose themselves by dirgewithoutmusic; the core of the Wrong-Boy-Who-Lived trope is that Voldemort’s Vanquisher is not who the world expects, and that leads to misconduct that may or may not doom the world. Sometimes Voldemort’s Defeat comes out of left field. Sometimes it’s avoided.
Always, it’s very interesting.
So, I've given you much ado, but let's get to the meat of it!
The event runs from July 25th-31st. We have seven prompts, for seven horcruxes, seven books, seven friends, and even seven chosen ones!
Decoy
Self-fulfilling
Reunion
Betrayal
Benevolent | Malevolent
(The road to Hell is paved with) Good Intentions
Conspiracy
What can you submit? Just about anything!
Art
Drabbles
Cosplay
Edits
New fics
Updates to existing fics
I know that most people hanging around already have an au or two running, and may not want to start something new- so don't! Give us little updates as part of the event, matching the prompts or not! Do an expansion pack of drabbles for your au, add chapters, make fanart! It can match a prompt or it can just be in the trope. We're here to celebrate it! To motivate everyone!
Have an au you haven't published yet but want to? Let's see it!
Maybe you DO want to start something entirely new! Do that too!
The only rules we really have here are A) use your own work, no plagiarism and no ai, but properly credited recursive is fine, B) tag appropriately, because I'll be reblogging with your tags attached, and C) tag the blog specifically, tumblr is a meanie sometimes and there's a chance not every post will show up in #wbwl week 2025. Tag with that too, though ;)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Harry Potter & Jacob Potter (OC), Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley
Characters: Jacob Potter (OC), Harry Potter, Horace Slughorn, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Flora Carrow, Background & Cameo Characters
Additional Tags: Post-Second Wizarding War with Voldemort (Harry Potter), Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), Conspiracy, Sort Of - Freeform, Social Networking, Wizarding Politics (Harry Potter), Dark Lord Harry Potter, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Harry Potter is Lord Black, Sirius Black Adopts Harry Potter, Past Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Not Beta Read
Series: Part 6 of All The Bitter Mistakes
Summary:
After Harry and his friends fought to protect Hogwarts and its student for almost a year, Harry decided he didn’t want to return there to repeat his last year. He took his NEWTs and dove head first into Wizarding Politics and restoration of their world.
When Harry’s twin, Jacob, came home for spring holidays he found Harry repeatedly sneaking out and decided to confront him.
Chapters: ½
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Fred Weasley & George Weasley, Theodore Nott & Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Characters: Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Theodore Nott, George Weasley, Fred Weasley, Barty Crouch Jr., Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Hogwarts Students, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), Dark Harry Potter, Dark Neville Longbottom, Morally Grey Fred Weasley, Morally Grey George Weasley, Role Reversal, Dark Lord Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Magical Theory (Harry Potter), Wizarding Politics (Harry Potter), WBWL Week 2025, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Series: Part 5 of All The Bitter Mistakes
Summary:
The Chosen one, the Hero, the Good Guy. They are basically synonymous. The benevolent saviour that sweeps in to take away the evil monster plaguing the lands. It’s odd, how “good” becomes subjective when your villains are keeping your safe.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
@wbwlweekofficial Day 1 - Decoy
(Specifically - newly posted chapter 8 is for Day 1 - Decoy. The next few chapters should be for each of the weekly prompts.)
Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category: M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Original Female Character(s) (past), Ginny Weasley/Original Male Character(s), Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s) (briefly)
Additional Tags: Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), Harry Potter Has a Sibling, Harry Potter Has a Different Name, (for just a little while), Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Blood Purity Prejudice & Pureblood Supremacy (Harry Potter), Oppressive Government, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Dark Magic, Dysfunctional Family, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, Alchemy, Teenage Parents, Age Difference, Grooming, (not between the main pairing), Child Abuse, WBWL Week 2025
Summary:
Three monumental things happened in 1990:
Firstly, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter put their foot down and forced their son James to marry a witch they approved of.
Secondly, Albus Dumbledore decided to try one last time to hire a Divination Professor.
Thirdly, a witch called Lily Evans developed a counter for the Imperius Curse.
But as far as Harry Evans was concerned, nearly two decades later and half a world away, none of these events had anything to do with his life. He was just trying to get by as an Ilvermorny graduate and single teen father in a dangerous world. He’s got bigger problems than magical civil wars on the other side of the planet.
Albus Dumbledore, however, would disagree. With the resurrection of the Dark Lord Voldemort, all eyes have turned to a prophecy predicting a wizard who would be the Dark Lord’s downfall. The nation’s hopes rested on James Potter’s son Nate, famous for surviving the unsurvivable and killing the Dark Lord as a baby seventeen years previously. But as the only person to have heard the full prophecy, Dumbledore was uncertain. And his search for the real savior keeps drawing him back to a little boy everyone assumed was a squib.
ooooh @wbwlweekofficial day three, reunion, oooooohhh Mathverse finally dropped five years later, ooooh
https://archiveofourown.org/works/68271091
Wherein Harry is traumatized but pretending he's not, Connor definitely does not have possession problems, and Bryony has decided that becoming a Dark Lady is a wonderful career choice.
Once upon a time, children chose kindness, but war chose children.
Or-
The adventures of a horcrux and his necromancer, set to the background of proper wbwl tropes.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Relationships: Theodore Nott/Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Original Male Character, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Characters: Theodore Nott, Harry Potter, Lily Evans Potter, James Potter, Maxmillian Potter (OC)
Additional Tags: Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), Death Eater Harry Potter, Death Eater Theodore Nott, Post-Second Wizarding War with Voldemort (Harry Potter), James Potter & Lily Evans Potter Live, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Dark Harry Potter, Murder, WBWL Week 2025
Series: Part 3 of All The Bitter Mistakes
Summary:
Mistakes were made. Harry Potter is not one of them, despite how many acted. Theo isn’t a mistake either, even if Harry’s twin doubts it at first.
Mistake are the eyes turned elsewhere, the child set free on his own accord, even if it’s to make his own mistakes.
(all of them have consequences)
Voldemort is dead; that’s the least of their problems.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
@wbwlweekofficial Day 1 - Decoy
(Specifically - newly posted chapter 8 is for Day 1 - Decoy. The next few chapters should be for each of the weekly prompts.)
Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category: M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Original Female Character(s) (past), Ginny Weasley/Original Male Character(s), Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s) (briefly)
Additional Tags: Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), Harry Potter Has a Sibling, Harry Potter Has a Different Name, (for just a little while), Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Blood Purity Prejudice & Pureblood Supremacy (Harry Potter), Oppressive Government, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Dark Magic, Dysfunctional Family, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, Alchemy, Teenage Parents, Age Difference, Grooming, (not between the main pairing), Child Abuse, WBWL Week 2025
Summary:
Three monumental things happened in 1990:
Firstly, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter put their foot down and forced their son James to marry a witch they approved of.
Secondly, Albus Dumbledore decided to try one last time to hire a Divination Professor.
Thirdly, a witch called Lily Evans developed a counter for the Imperius Curse.
But as far as Harry Evans was concerned, nearly two decades later and half a world away, none of these events had anything to do with his life. He was just trying to get by as an Ilvermorny graduate and single teen father in a dangerous world. He’s got bigger problems than magical civil wars on the other side of the planet.
Albus Dumbledore, however, would disagree. With the resurrection of the Dark Lord Voldemort, all eyes have turned to a prophecy predicting a wizard who would be the Dark Lord’s downfall. The nation’s hopes rested on James Potter’s son Nate, famous for surviving the unsurvivable and killing the Dark Lord as a baby seventeen years previously. But as the only person to have heard the full prophecy, Dumbledore was uncertain. And his search for the real savior keeps drawing him back to a little boy everyone assumed was a squib.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Harry Potter & James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, Harry Potter & Original Male Character(s), Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Characters: Harry Potter, James Potter, Lily Evans Potter, Dylan Potter (OC), Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Quirinus Quirrell
Additional Tags: Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), Pre-Slash, Dark Harry Potter, Ruthless Harry Potter, Time Loop, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Horcruxes, Horcrux Hunting, Harry Potter is a Horcrux, Possessive Voldemort (Harry Potter), Sort Of, Slytherin Harry Potter, Murder, Not Beta Read
Series: Part 2 of All The Bitter Mistakes
Summary:
In Harry’s first life his brother Edward died at Voldemort’s hand. Harry struck Voldemort down in retaliation, but felt the prophecy wasn’t fulfilled and won’t be until the true Chosen One kills Voldemort.
And so Harry set up a time loop that can only be broken by his will or when his sibling does as foretold. Or when he exhausts or opportunities.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
In this chapter, Harry has a really shit year and he and Theo have a sleepover. I think more happens but it's 1am and the lines between realities is blurring for me.
