Why Was Antonia Selected To Join The Parler? Was She Chosen By Theodora?

Why was Antonia selected to join the Parler? Was she chosen by Theodora?

Antonia was chosen to be Mistress by Theodora, but Theodora wasn’t the one to select her for The Parlor. That was the previous Mistress before her. If that makes sense.

As for why Antonia was selected…she dabbles in many things that are, shall we say, not mainstream in wizarding society. She adheres much closer to the old ways–what some might call pagan–and while she has great respect for the past and comes from a very long family tradition of Parlor women, that doesn’t mean she never struggled against it. Even coming from a family of badass women doesn’t keep someone from struggling with finding their own path, with not always feeling understood. The Parlor gave her space to figure out what she wanted and what she was supposed to want. That even the expected path can still be one that is authentically her own.

We will see more of what Antonia is up to. You know, eventually. Though both of them do show up in the latest chapter.…that I just posted now.

Hi Annerb! Thanks for the Lucky series, and all your other Slytherin!Ginny work, which has been a delight and also helped me understand some things about myself. You mentioned using D/D alignment charts for Hogwarts houses. Could you please expand a bit on that, if that's alright?

Okay, so the D&D alignment charts have two main axes: lawful/neutral/chaotic and good/neutral/evil. (And full disclosure up front that I am not an expert at this at all. I just used it as guidelines and a starting point to help me think about the houses and formulate my general approach for writing The Changeling.)

Let’s look at the first. We can break it down very simplistically to these two ideas:

Lawful – creatures of habit Chaotic – unpredictable

Hufflepuffs and Slytherin are both creatures of habit, more tied to convention, tradition, and law. Gryffindors and Ravenclaw are not bound by tradition, and can be unpredictable, they are more likely to follow their whims.

Now, the second set is where things got a bit more sticky: good versus evil. Which I will admit, I refused to put any house in evil. That was kind of the whole point of The Changeling. I guess for me, individual action will be what puts someone in the evil category. But I still looked at Good versus Neutral.

Good – altruism, respect for all life, personal sacrifice for greater good Neutral – “have compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral people are committed to others by personal relationships.” (from this wiki)

To me, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindor both fall into ‘good.’ They put altruism above all things and support of ‘the good’ as a broad concept. Ravenclaw and Slytherin, while not being evil or against ‘good,’ do not necessarily see the same ‘greater good’ that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff might. Their commitment is shaped by something else, in this case, personal relationships or webs of exchange. (Though I might argue that Ravenclaw are shaped by pursuit of knowledge/understanding above all else.) They are both more driven by ambition than altruism.

So we end up with:

Hufflepuff – lawful good (though you might be able to argue neutral good, altruism above law)

Gryffindor – chaotic good

Ravenclaw – chaotic neutral

Slytherin – lawful neutral

What I love with this, ultimately, is that some of the houses share an element in common, they are just shaped slightly different by their other alignment. Such as, Hufflepuff and Gryffindors both focus on the greater good, but Hufflepuffs do it through the lens of law and tradition and stability, while Gryffindors approach it through chaotic disregard for any tradition or law that gets in their way. Similarly, Hufflepuff and Slytherin are both bound by tradition and law, but Hufflepuff focuses on the greater good, while Slytherin focuses on the relationships that bind people together (whether blood or other connection).

But then you have the houses aligned to opposite corners from each other. Like with Slytherin and Gryffindor, and you can almost see how they speak a different language entirely. To the Slytherin, the Gryffindor are chaotic and have no respect for tradition and convention and are completely out of control, and to the Gryffindor, Slytherin are staid and boring and have giant sticks up their arses. To a Gryffindor, they only see Slytherin not supporting their vision of the greater good, and miss the web of relationships that ground their morality, which might lend itself towards a view of them as ‘evil’. And for a Slytherin, this Gryffindor ‘friend to all’ might seem like a lack of conviction, a caprice that shows no true deep forging of any kind of true relationship ties. They seem like giant faking hypocrites.

You also have Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw similarly oriented. To a Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff seems to lack imagination, interests, or deep commitments. To Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw are unpredictable and cold, and frankly frightening.

Ultimately when writing these houses, it’s realizing that none of them are wrong, they just view the world through different lenses. But also understanding how much perception plays into the ways these houses interact. How much they are all primed to misunderstand each other. But also how much they are set up to help each other. This really is where my understanding of what a unified DA could be in the final year of the war. And helped guide me for all the interactions between the houses.

(As a side note for the Armistice Series, I think a great example of perceptions being shaped by alignments is from in my head we do everything right, specifically how Harry perceived Ginny’s actions during her inquiry. He saw them as self-sacrifice for the greater good (his own alignment), whereas having been in Ginny’s head during the events, we know she wasn’t thinking about the greater good or noble self-sacrifice. She wasn’t thinking about what was right and good, she was thinking about the DA/her friends (her in-group), and what she was not willing to let them be subjected to. How she would use law and convention to protect herself and them as well. She never once was like “Oh, I’ll just let myself get chucked in jail to prove a point.” But that is exactly what Harry sees (and what he would probably do). It’s a fun little look into the different ways they approach things, and how it can lead to misunderstandings sometimes, but also most importantly that their outcomes are aligned, even if their approaches are not.)

Woah, Ginny used magic to split herself? Is there something that I missed that suggested that? Can you expand on that?

“What troubles you, Mistress?”

Ginny looks up at Nymue, shaking her head. “It’s nothing, I just…” She glances helplessly around at the stacks and stacks of books. “Are there any texts on Occlumency in here?”

“No,” she says. “You won’t find any conventional magics in these books.”

“Conventional?” Ginny echoes.

“Wand magic,” Nymue clarifies.

Ginny frowns. “What other kind of magic is there?”

Nymue gives her a slow smile. “My dear, there are limitless other kinds.”

Ginny’s cheeks flush, Nadira’s scathing voice echoing in her mind. It’s never even occurred to you that it could be your world that is limited, not mine.

Nymue flicks a finger and a text slides out of one of the shelves. “If you have interest in the keeping of secrets, of mind protections, perhaps this book could be of use.”

The book floats over and lands on the pedestal.

Ginny crosses over to look down at the rich blood red leather cover of the text, the title embossed in gold in a language she is unfamiliar with. She reaches for it.

“Fair warning that the magics contained in these texts have been banned by many of the modern governments.”

Ginny pulls her hand back. “Why? Are they dangerous?”

“Dangerous to whom?” Nymue counters with. “To the casters? Or to the wand masters?”

“Wand masters,” Ginny repeats, brow furrowed. It’s a strange phrase.

Nymue gives her a smile that is a little hard, a little predatory. “Is anything truly without risk?”

Ginny picks up the book.

and a bit later after she reads the book:

She feels like that a lot these days, like two people existing inside the same body.

She stills as it occurs to her that being two people could be useful. One of her would never think of the dangerous things at all.

Snape watches her calmly, as if waiting to see which side will win.

But maybe neither side has to win, Ginny thinks.

“I believe I understand, sir,” she says.

Ginny uses the book from Nymue, and the forbidden magics within, to make herself into a perfect, compartmentalized Occlumens. Even as she worries what that makes of her, and knows she won’t really probably be ‘whole’ again.

She lets herself be an open book, or at least one of her selves. The least dangerous but no less authentic one, the Slytherin with Muggle-loving parents and ruthlessness in her heart. The one who understands the importance of lowering her head and going along with whatever will keep her life preserved. Who misses Quidditch and hates History of Magic and is scared of what happens down in the dungeons. The girl who misses her best friends and is swamped by loneliness sometimes.

This Ginny has no doubts except about herself, no reservations about the lies she is being fed, no training in Occlumency. She’s never kissed Harry or mourned Burbage.

There are no edges to be found, no trap doors or defenses. Just endless depths for him to probe and dig through and feel he knows her, all of her.

She is an ocean—fathomless and swelling.

It’s what Snape suspects later, but has no way to know for certain.

Snape remains sitting. “Your progress as an Occlumens has…exceeded my expectations. You show a rare gift.”

She knows this is meant to be a compliment, but instead it seems to settle deep in her stomach like a stone. We aren’t monsters.

“Some of that is talent,” he says, “and some work ethic. But also, I suspect, something more.”

Her chin lifts. She reminds herself that there is no way for him to know.

“Perhaps something a bit more unorthodox?” he presses, like she might be pushed into bragging.

She has learned far too well not to let her surprise show, simply mirroring back his own calm expression.

His lips twitch. “I could ask you about that, but I realize far too well I am doubtful to get an answer, even if I tried to take it.”

He definitely suspects she’s been dabbling in something beyond curriculum, but then he’s never been bothered by stepping outside the rules when required. He’s also the only one to suspect that she does this again with Crabbe and Goyle in later chapters.

Hi love your story but magic is forbidden in islam could give some insight on how Muslim wizards and witches deal with that. I'm Muslim and I really enjoyed how you wrote nadra.

Thanks so much for this question! The first thing to be said it that I am not Muslim. Anything I say is obviously an outsider’s interpretation. So I apologize if I inadvertently say something that lands on anyone in a harmful way. (If you feel comfortable enough to tell me that something has landed on you with harm, I am honored to hear it and will listen and reflect to do better in the future.) I have studied Islam, though I am no where near an expert, let alone even someone who is properly knowledgeable. Okay. So all of that said, I think there are a couple ways I could go with this.

1. Magic is also technically forbidden in Christianity. (Behold all the people who banned the HP books and still forbid their children from reading it today.) And yet, Harry Potter clearly lives in a Christian world. (Easter, Christmas, etc). So there is precedent for something being forbidden, but still being practiced within the confines of that culture/religion. Is it even possible to make a (fictional) inference that perhaps the splitting of wizards from muggles lead to a demonization of magic in response? An interesting thought.

2. It is my (very limited) understanding that the Qur’an forbids the use of magic to impersonate a prophet. That no one may use magic or illusions to claim to be speaking for God. While this could be extrapolated to ban all use of magic, it could also be interpreted that the use to which the magic is put is the forbidden element. The hadith may have more specific things to say against magic, I am sure. Though, the prohibitions also seem to build from an understanding that magic comes from djinn and other beings considered demonic. Which does not deny that magics exist, only that they are evil.

In the context of all of this, if one were comfortable with the idea, it would be extremely interesting to explore what it means to be a Muslim and to be born magical. How would one deal with that? I tried to show that Shafiqs clearly chose to isolate themselves from Hogwarts and have their own approaches and understandings of magic. I think it would be really interesting to explore that. Obviously this is not my story to write, as I would be trying to speak to an experience that is not my own and undoubtedly failing and causing harm as I did. But I would LOVE to read it.

I reached out to my friend @ekjohnston, author extraordinaire and generally super supportive YA queen, and she sent me a list of Muslim YA authors who write in the fantasy/magic genre of books. So maybe you could check out their work!  Somaiya Daud, Sabaa Tahir, Karuna Riazi, London Shah, Nafiza Azad, Taherah Mafi, Hafsah Faizel, Hanna Alkaf, Melissa Bashardoust, and I am sure many others.

Personally, I chose to include the Shafiqs as characters, both because it is canon that the Shafiqs are part of the Noble 28, and it helped answer the question I had about what kind of wizards might chose not to go to Hogwarts but might get forced back due to the new laws that last year. I also wanted to make sure it was acknowledged openly in the text that there is far more diversity in the wizarding world than Harry or even Ginny’s POV might have led us to believe. And Ginny as a Christian-coded, white person making mistakes and miss-stepping and realizing some of the prejudices she carries around and not demanding others explain things to her or do the work for her, but learning herself, and realizing she will never know everything but that listening to people tell their own stories is the most important…that is my experience and story to tell.

Why did Ginny kiss Harry back in her sixth year in The Changeling? Did she finally realize she liked him ? Or she did it because it felt good?

Ginny kissed Thompson back because it felt nice and she figured ‘why not, he’s a nice guy’ and she was kind of curious to see what it would be like.

Ginny kissed Harry back despite their fights and misunderstandings and being in different houses and everything in her brain telling her it’s a terrible idea. Not because it felt good or she was curious, but because she wanted to do that for a very long time, because of how she feels around him, and because, in that moment, she realized she wasn’t going to be able to get away with pretending otherwise anymore. But maybe that’s okay. Harry, as always, somehow makes everything feel a little less scary. 

Remus Lupin: Sirius you did what.

Inspired by this post and others by lotstradamus