The Rec Center #31
Hello! Perhaps you have some feelings about a certain new play set in a beloved (wizarding) universe? If you don’t want to hear about Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, we have...a few other things this week. But if you want to dig in deep, we’ve got CC pieces on racism, queerbaiting, fanfiction (/THE PATRIARCHY), and more. And if you’re looking for an antidote to The Cursed Child (or, more generously, if the play sparked an interest in spending more time with the characters), I’ve pressed Dicta Contrion, the person whose beautifully-catalogued Harry/Draco rec lists are like 85% responsible for me falling so deeply into the pairing, into doing an H/D list this week. ENJOY. — Elizabeth
new stuff (harry potter edition)
“‘What The Hell Is A Panju?’ And Other Questions I, A Brown Potterhead, Have For J.K. Rowling” by Krupa Gohil at Buzzfeed
“India loved and loves J.K. Rowling. That’s what makes it so devastating to find out as an adult that, despite profiting from our adoration, she couldn’t actually care less about us.”
“‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ includes plenty of fanfic tropes, but ignores queer representation” by Gav at The Daily Dot
Like many fans, Gav recognized A LOT of familiar fanfic tropes in The Cursed Child. This article explores the play’s overlap with fandom, and how it falls short.
“Harry Potter and the Sanctioned Follow-On Work (or, Fanfiction vs. the Patriarchy)” by Elizabeth at Fansplaining
Note that some of this is in direct opposition to Gav’s article! :-D The very first piece in the Fansplaining podcast’s new publication (more on that next week), an exploration of all the problems inherent in calling The Cursed Child “fanfiction.”
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’s Strangest Twist May Have Roots in History” by Lindsay Romain at Vulture
Exploring Rowling’s interest in the Mitford sisters, and how this may tie into one character’s role in The Cursed Child.
old(er) stuff
“Rereading Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male” by Robert Macfarlane in The Guardian
“In Geoffrey Household’s cult thriller Rogue Male the assassin hero flees his torturers to Dorset. Novel in hand, Robert Macfarlane sets out to find his elusive hideout.”
Gav found this after the announcement that Benedict Cumberbatch will star in a movie adaptation of Rogue Male, and we were both in agreement that the guys in this article are archetypal fannish nerds, even if the Guardian doesn’t quite frame them that way.
tumblr and beyond
An essential thread on what Parks & Rec would have done with a Pokemon Go episode.
Luv this Star Trek-themed performance of Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio.”
This Regency-era putdown to a random anonymous comment about Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift.
fanfiction
You can find Dicta on AO3 and tumblr, where she alternately fangirls and gets salty about Harry Potter, recs lots of Harry/Draco fic, and is happy to talk about any of these stories!
As you may have heard, Cursed Child: The Book came out this week! And JK Rowling says it’s canon! Happily, HP fans have some pretty long experience working with and around canon. Or ignoring it! These recs are (almost) all Harry/Draco, and they all address canon, one way or another. First, a few epilogue-compliant fics that stay within the letter of JKR’s law while telling the Harry/Draco story she never intended. Then some fics that disregard the epilogue and go on to tell brilliant stories that the canon alone wouldn’t have room for. Lastly, for the H/D averse and/or Ginny Weasley appreciators of all stripes, a Gen rec that gives a great, quick look into the possibilities that open up when you tell canon to go jump in a lake. — Dicta
Epilogue Compliant
“On One’s Knees” by pir8fancier. 34K words, rated Explicit.
This takes us up to and beyond Nineteen Years Later, but starts six years post-war when Draco’s health is suffering after his time in Azkaban and Harry’s the only healer who will help him. But Draco’s not any sort of sad sack - he’s full of biting wit, Slytherin to the core, and sees right through Harry’s heroic image. It’s a great ride, and as it gets into their characters, histories, and choices it makes a better argument for canon compliance than actual canon.
“A Single Soul” by noeon. 6K words, rated Explicit.
This story epitomizes the lovely, mellow melancholy that comes with a certain kind of epilogue-compliant infidelity fic. Harry and Draco are mature, thoughtful adults who respect Ginny and Astoria and love their children. Set at Hogwarts Visiting Weekend, Draco, a professor, and Harry, a visiting parent, have to hide their long-running affair. The hiding doesn’t mean they don’t love each other, but does bring on the feels as they try to reconcile what they want with what they think they should want.
“Breaking All the Rules” by Frayach, 23k words, rated Explicit.
Harry and Ginny are happily married! Draco and Astoria are happily married! They are all members of the Southwark Swingers Club! This story is hilarious and zany and a great counterpoint to the idea that epilogue compliant fics need to be angsty, which this most certainly is not.
Epilogue, What Epilogue?
“As Souls From Bodies Steal” by femmequixotic. 41K words, rated Explicit.
If your heart needs an actual eighth Harry Potter story, consider letting this be it. Harry and Draco are both still living with the legacy of the war, and not just in the lingering traces of dark magic that Harry’s been hired to clear from Malfoy Manor. They’re both coping with post-war trauma and looking for ways to heal, and in this fic they’re doing it with a level of complexity, stubbornness, resilience, and depth that goes way beyond what we get in the epilogue. It’s also one of those stories that’s pretty likely to make you forget where you actually are, so absorbing is the world-building and story-telling.
“Fear and Loathing at the Phoenix” by curiouslyfic. 20K words, rated R.
So not epilogue compliant it’s almost an AU, except if we really ignore the epilogue and leave off with a tired Harry James Potter just wanting a sandwich, who’s to say which universe is or isn’t alternate? It’s the tenth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and instead of covering the official proceedings, gonzo journalist Harry (nom de plume: Regulus Black) decides to cover Phoenix Con, a fan celebration of his story complete with cosplay, panels, and an appearance by a very special guest author. Harry’s attorney, Draco Malfoy (a.k.a.: Malfuck) is in tow to keep him from crossing the line as they go off to cover fandom in the wizarding world. It’s a wild ride, guaranteed to do something for any feels you might be having about authorial jurisdiction, the fourth wall, fandom, characterization, and who gets to decide what really happened.
“tissue of silver” by fearless diva. 76K words, rated Mature.
Some fics aren’t epilogue compliant by choice. Others aren’t epilogue compliant because they were written way before the epilogue was available—or, in this case, the last couple of books. This fic re-imagines an end to the war where Draco used his skills as a seer to turn spy for the Order - not that it turns out to have done much for his post-war image. Someone is trying to kill him, Harry is the Auror tasked with protecting him, and it’s not that dodging attempts on his life is a new experience for Draco, but having Harry around is. Funny, light, with great voice, and lays out a whole, wholly believable alternate vision of how the Harry Potter ‘verse could have unfolded.
(see also “A Thousand Beautiful Things” by geoviki for another superb, feels-inducing Draco-as-spy, pre-Deathly Hallows fic,)
“Tea and No Sympathy” by who_la_hoop. 70K words, rated Explicit.
Let’s say that a person wanted to read a Harry Potter story involving one last experimentally reconstructed time-turner that has been hidden from the Ministry and which, in the hands of a Malfoy heir, might be used to repair the family’s reputation. Then let’s say that that person wanted to read a story like that where the characterizations were consistent and moving, where the Malfoy heir in question evolved slowly and as motivated by his history, where the growing intimacy between a Malfoy and a Potter was not attached to a giant ‘no homo,’ and where the logic of time travel, like, made sense. This would be that story!!!
(see also “At the Crossroads There We’ll Meet” by firethesound (25K words, rated Explicit) and “The Eighth Tale” by lettered (12K words, rated Explicit) for more really excellent, IC fic ft. those things (including time travel logic that stands up to scrutiny!))
Bonus ‘Epilogue? What Epilogue?’ Gen Rec!
“Ginny Weasley: Dragon Slayer” by lettered. 3K words, rated Teen.
Ginny Weasley is not just a love interest or a minor character, and she knows it. Instead of becoming Harry Potter’s wife, she goes right the heck out and slays some damn dragons. It’s also a great story that integrates Ginny’s history and present beautifully and offers a pretty kick-ass feminist retelling of canon and fanon alike. But also, like, Ginny Weasley. Slaying Dragons. It’s awesome.
Unrelated extra rec from Gav
Untitled Tumblr fic about Bruce Wayne visiting Walmart by unpretty
I only have a vague idea about Tim “Robin” Drake’s personality in the Batman comics, but I still LOVED this hilarious and very charming story about Tim and Bruce going to walmart, told via Tim’s snapchat account.
FINAL THOUGHT
One last Harry Potter thing! Morgan & I recorded a special midweek episode of our podcast, Overinvested, to discuss The Cursed Child—which Morgan elected not to read beforehand. I gave her a spoilery recap of the plot (N.B. it was pretty hilarious to hear her reactions to some of the more WTF moments), which we followed with a conversation about HP fandom and how the play compares to the rest of the series. — Gav
Have a great fic to rec? Please share it with us! We’ll be using your one-off recs to build multi-fandom lists around themes, tropes, etc in the future.
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