I'm So Grateful To You For Creating All These Truly Marvellous Characters. Especially The Parlour Girls

I'm so grateful to you for creating all these truly marvellous characters. Especially the parlour girls who own my heart. I adore Theodora and Antonia, the temper and fierceness beneath all that iron control. And I would read all seven books from their perspective and more. Thank you for giving us these stories.

Thank you so much!

What an interesting series of books those would be. They would be so far removed from Harry’s adventures and experiences as to be hardly recognizable, I think. It was fun enough to imagine what all the trio’s shenanigans would look like to Ginny who is only peripherally involved, but still is. Imagine what all of that looked like from older students who are wholly unconnected to the Weasleys and not privy to the actions of the Order. I’m sure someone has to have written that fic–the war through the eyes of a background character.

Of course with Theodora and Antonia, we would get a glimpse into two very different family dynamics–Theodora from an elite, upper class Pureblood family, trying to work within the constraints of tradition and yet achieve every single one of her ambitions without apology or compromise, and Antonia from her rather unique family of heterodox women who society is often too scared to look down on (hags, some might call them with a sneer, but only once).

I would quite like to read that myself. Someone else please magically remove this vague image I have of them from my head and flesh it out. Thanks, I appreciate it. 

Maybe this is dumb, sorry, but I just wasn't sure. Ginny became member of the Parlor the second she was invited, right? And she could go back any time she wanted? So when Antonia 'asked her again' when she was going do a reading, it wasn't actually Ginny's second chance?

Yes. Though Antonia is the queen of second chances, this was more about Ginny thinking she deserved a second chance. Also a way to highlight that for Ginny, she is in foreign territory with rules and rituals and practices that she does not understand (and for a while doesn’t want to understand). All of which contributes to her feeling of not belonging. But it is not that the others don’t think she belongs, or even that she doesn’t, rather that Ginny’s perspective and understanding is the thing that needs to grow. Both of herself and of the space she inhabits.

What does Slytherin Ginny think about Albus Severus as a name for her baby? After two dead men with controversial histories? One who didn't care enough for the individual losses in face of greater good and another,a petty bully who was once her close friend's boggart? Perhaps if she got creative enough she could name him after a couple of parlor sisters instead?

1) Don’t assume Slytherin Ginny is going to have James, Albus, and Lily. Sorry next gen kids, nothing against you, but The Changeling universe is not epilogue compliant. I can say for certain that she is not going to have kids at 22.

2) I have a wonky personal headcanon that first-girl-in-seven-generations Ginny Weasley is going to have all girls. I just like that. You know, MAGIC.

3) I’m not on board with naming kids after dead people. I mean, you want to give them a name that’s been in your family for a long while and it’s your long dead great-great-great aunt’s name? Sure. Want to honor your grandmother who was your rock and your guiding light? Sure. Maybe a middle name though. But to give children a name tied to someone who died tragically or who is some larger than life hero? No. I think any kid of Harry Potter’s is going to have enough to deal with. Adding to that is just cruel. There are other ways to honor the dead. (I think I can understand why Harry might want to do that though. Particularly only four years after the end of the war when he probably hadn’t even really begun to heal, and he doesn’t have the healthiest ways to deal with things, so yeah, name your kid after dead people. Okay. But, Harry, WHY? Sometimes it just reads too much as a narrative trick to reinforce the ALL WAS WELL, without actually showing the ‘how’ of any of it. It’s a nice neat bow at the end of what was always a gloriously real and messy story. It’s the happily ever after.)

Hinny Alt files? Im going through withdrawals until you post the next chapter and will take any Hinny you can give

Ah ha! Oh, this file. Honestly, you know that this one is? This is the indulgent file where I wrote a ton of alternate scenes for The Changeling and Armistice. Like a bunch of, ‘well, what if Harry and Ginny had gotten together at this point in the story? what would that have looked like?’ What if in the middle of their huge row in the cloister, Harry had given into that urge to just lean over and kiss her? Or, what if in that final scene the night before the trio left for Australia, Harry had just leaned in a little closer and Ginny had thrown all fear aside and kissed him? You know, those kind of things. Here, have one in all it’s half-completed glory. I doubt I’ll ever do anything with these anyway.

To be honest, Ginny still isn’t sure herself why Harry agreed to do this. But watching him with Reiko, the way he looks so comfortable talking about something he clearly loves, it reminds her of the DA. She wonders if maybe Harry is missing it too.

He really is a great teacher. He’s patient and never condescending, and even Reiko seems grudgingly willing to admit that she learned a lot in the short half hour they spend together.

“Thanks, Harry,” Reiko says when they’re done, shaking his hand.

“Sure,” Harry says, smiling at her.

Reiko heads up towards the castle, pausing when Ginny doesn’t immediately follow.

“I’ll catch up with you,” Ginny says, waving her on.

“Sure,” Reiko says, looking between the two of them. “See you later.”

Once Reiko is gone, Ginny turns and smiles at Harry. “That was…really great. Thanks so much for doing this.”

Harry’s staring down at his feet, suddenly looking awkward. “No problem,” he says.

She touches his arm. “Seriously. It means a lot.” On impulse, she leans in and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. She pulls back, giving him an embarrassed smile. “See you later.”

She moves as if to go back up the castle, but his hand on her arm stops her. “Ginny.”

“Yeah?” she asks, turning back to look at him. There’s an expression on his face that inexplicably makes her want to squirm. She forces herself to stand still and wait.

“Hogsmeade,” he blurts.

“What about it?” The first trip is coming up in a few days.

“I thought maybe…”

Ginny leans forward, completely thrown to see Harry quite this flustered. “You thought?”

“You would like to go there. With me.” The words are kind of tumbled together, but she hears them distinctly all the same.

“With you,” she repeats.

He rubs at the back of his head. “Well, uh, yeah.”

“Like…a date?” she asks, just needing to be really clear on exactly what is happening, because her body feels a little funny.

His chin comes up, his shoulders squaring like he’s committing the idea. “Yeah.”

Ginny is so completely thrown by this that she does nothing more than stare at him for a long moment. She can feel her brain stuttering helplessly under the basic thought Harry wants to date me? Harry…likes me?

How has she missed this? How could she possibly have not noticed?

She doesn’t even get to consider her own feelings, because Harry pulls back away from her.

“It’s fine,” he says, giving her a brittle smile. “Forget I asked.”

And then he’s walking away from her.

She considers calling out after him, but honestly has no idea what she would say.

*     *    *

She doesn’t see Harry anywhere the next few days, like he has some secret way of knowing where she is at all times so he can avoid her. It’s disconcerting.

She uses the time to think it all through though, to consider the offer from all angles. To figure out what she would have said if he hadn’t walked off so quickly. It doesn’t take her that long, considering.

And Harry is still nowhere to be found.

Still, strategy has always been one of her strengths, so she settles in to wait.

On Saturday morning, she waits by the gates, stepping out on the path next to Harry as he passes. He nearly stumbles over his feet as he shoots her a comical look of surprise, and she really shouldn’t find that attractive, yet here she is.

“You never let me answer,” she says, as if their conversation has just been picked up after moments rather than days.

“I, uh,” he mumbles, giving Ron and Hermione panicked looks.

Ginny looks at her brother. “Do you think we could have a minute?”

They look at Harry and after a moment, he nods.

They walk off, Ron looking back at the multiple times. Ginny waits until they disappear around the corner.

“Like I said, you never let me answer.”

Harry has recovered himself, looking straight ahead with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. “I think your expression spoke for itself,” he says.

“Did it? What exactly did I look like?”

“Appalled.”

“Probably more like…shocked.”

He glances over at her. “Is that better?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t do well with surprises. It takes me a while to,” she gestures at her head, “work things out.”

He frowns.

“I honestly had no idea you thought about me…that way. I’m just Ron’s annoying little sister.”

“You aren’t annoying,” he says. 

She looks at him, amused by his automatic defense of her. “Really?”

He sighs, starting back down the path. “Well, I’m finding you annoying right now, that’s for sure.”

She jogs to catch up, stepping across him, and he has to stumble to a stop to narrowly avoid running into her.

She smiles at him. “You really are just…” She shakes her head, not really able to put this feeling in her chest into words. She thinks she may want to say adorable, but isn’t sure how he’d take that in his current mood.

He blows out a breath. “I guess it’s too much to hope you’d be kind enough to just forget I ever asked.”

“Don’t be stupid, Harry,” she says. “I’m rarely kind.”

With that, she starts down the path, looking back at him and waiting for him to follow.

They walk the rest of the way to the village in silence.

 …

She basically spends the rest of the day near him, talking with Neville and Luna, submitting herself to confused glances from Ron and something almost a little smug from Hermione.

At the end of the day, he walks her back up to the castle. When they near the gates, she turns to him. “This was fun.”

He still looks like has no idea what the hell just happened.

She thinks Harry is maybe one of those people who only gets it when he’s hit over the head with something. So she decides to kiss him. It’s little more than a brush of her lips against the corner of his mouth because he’s kind of tall and hard to reach.

He lets out a small sound of surprise, but she’s pulling back before he can react. He looks stunned, but also pleased, his hand lifting to touch where she kissed him.

“Yes, by the way,” she says back over her shoulder as she walks away.

“What?” he calls after her.

“My answer. It was yes.”

Smiling to herself, she heads back into the castle.

TW: ABUSE/TRAUMA/STARVATION/FOOD TALK

When I talk about showing realistic consequences of the trauma harry endured in fanfiction I'm not talking about infantilizing him to an extreme degree. I'm tired of seeing that. I want to harry saying fuck you to the dursleys and "if they want to call me a delinquent I'll show them delinquent" I want to see flinching at too fast movements. I want to see food hoarding because of starvation over summer. I want to see fast eating and the covering of plates with arms because harry doesn't know of his foods gonna be taken away. I want to see nightmares. I want to see problem with authority figures. I want to see the distrust of large men because of Vernon. I want to see Harry be abnormally good at things like cooking and gardening for a kid his age. I want to see him obsessively cleaning because dirty equals a beating. I want to see harry being really fast because he was always running away from dudley. I want to see harry resorting to muggle fighting because of fights with dudes and because that's what he grew up with and his first response wouldn't be to whip out his wand. I want to see panic attacks when people raise their voice. I want to see panic attacks in general.

REALISTIC TRAUMA RSSPONSES ARE NEEDED!!

(this is not to say that people don't revert to infantal behaviors in response to trauma. However the degree fanfic authors crank it up to is entirely unrealistic in my opinion. All people with this type of trauma response are valid in my mind ❤️)

This was idly bouncing around my head after finishing your armistice series (love it, LOVE your women). A lot of the conflict revolves around Ginny's and the extent that other characters know about it. For clarity, I was curious about what Ginny knows of Harry, seeing as she interacted less with him in her Hogwarts years than in canon and you've alluded to some offscreen convos between the two (like Snape and the contents of the prophecy) and Harry's life has always been more public than others

If I am reading this right, you’re wondering how much Ginny knows about Harry’s experiences and conflicts during the war, since Harry’s lack of knowledge about Ginny’s often drove the conflict in the stories? His life has always been more public in some ways, yes, but he’s also been talking to Ginny about stuff pretty much since his fifth year (his fear of being possessed by Voldemort). And the conversations about the prophecy and Snape weren’t off-screen. (He tells her about the prophecy at the beginning of chapter 6 in The Changeling, and he tells her about Snape at the very end of chapter 10 of The Changeling.) Just in general he’s told her more about his experiences--she knows about him going into the forest, she knows about him being a horcrux, the prophecy, the role Snape played, Harry’s fears of having to be a killer, how horrid being on the run was, his fight with Ron and Ron leaving, etc, etc. I think the only big things Ginny doesn’t know about by the end of in my head we do everything right is the Deathly Hallows and his investigation into Rowle and the lantern.