Tomarrymort Time Travel Fix It / Redo

me reading straight up pornography: hmm… this one just doesn’t have enough accurate character psychoanalysis to get me off

My submission for the @tomarrybigbang of 2024. Thank you to all the mods that helped organize this fest 💕

Explicit, 4.4k, Chapter 1

Summary:

Harry Potter is done.

He's been in the past for months now, working undercover as a poorly paid waiter in The Lounge: Britain's magical elite's favorite restaurant. He's more than ready to wrap things up, get the fuck out of 1953 and hug his godson again.

Enter, Tom Riddle: Dark Lord in The Making and Arsehole Extraordinaire. (And owner of The Most Fuckable Mouth Harry's seen since his days of shameless debauchery he was young.)

Impulse control has never been a strong suit of his, and this mission is proving to be the most difficult one yet.

My parter for this fest was the talented @00queasy00, who did this beautiful art!

A Deep Dive into JKR's Terrible, Amateur Writing - Part Two

Welcome to my ballsy series where I will prove to you, dear reader, that J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series and resident Twitter TERF, is actually a very, very poor writer.

And when I say ‘poor writer,’ I’m talking about her prose, her sentence structure, and her scenes. I am not going to discuss anything about the HP world nor the overall plot of the books. 

This is all about the nitty gritty in the craft of writing itself.

Part One Link.

Disclaimer for all readers of this series: 

I’m going to sound very confident in my posts where I work under the assumption I’m a better writer than JKR; because I am. My apologies if this rubs you the wrong way. You’re simply witnessing the culmination of over two and half decades of experience with the intensity from a neurodivergent who is hyperfocused on her special interest. I didn’t just learn how to create stories; I learned the craft of writing to a minutia of details.

I’m not a perfect writer. No one is. I’m not a talented writer either. I’m experienced and skilled through years of study and practice.

I don’t care about J.K. Rowling. At all.

If you’re triggered by the concept and fact that JKR is a terrible crafter of writing, then you might want to take a step back and self reflect on that personal issue.

I still very much love and adore Harry Potter; you’re still allowed to love Harry Potter.

This is not a series to bitch or bash. This isn’t a shitpost. This isn’t an attack on JKR, no matter the disgusting bullshit she spews forth on Twitter. However, my hope is people awaken to the fact that JKR isn’t the goddess of writing we’ve all been led to believe.

This is a place of study and learning, where the purpose is to help students gain critical thinking skills and writing analysis tools to become better in their craft.

And, sorry, one more disclaimer for this specific post: 

Fanfiction is written for fun and is posted for free. I put most of my effort into my main fanfic, Terrible, But Great. (Yes, I intend to update Moon Rite soon, too) However, I also have two fanfics that are cowritten with another author; thus, the style of Shall I Stay and Badger Prey are understandably different. I spend three to four times the hours to edit a chapter versus drafting it. My process for fanfiction: I draft. I do one expansion edit. I do one proofread edit. I post.

However, if I were to publish a novel where people are expected to drop money on said book, my work flow would be vastly more extensive. To be clear, I’d do all of the following myself. I would not outsource. My process for published novels: I would draft. I would do three to four expansion edits. I would do two to three cutting edits. I would do three proofread edits. 

See the difference?

Because I don’t go through a cutting edit for my fanfiction, I’ll often come back later and see things I think are weak. I’m constantly seeing where I can tighten my work. There’s always room for improvement.

Remember: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a paperback book that costs $10. My fanfics are free. If I, someone who writes for free and puts what she considers the bare minimum of effort into them, have a higher standard in the quality of my writing than a paid traditionally published novelist, there’s a problem here. 

All right, with that nonsense out of the way, buckle up, my writing friends. Grab a snack. Hydrate. Remember to take what resonates and leave what doesn’t. Let’s begin.

Class is in session.

In this post, we’re going to discuss these five pages from HP5 and dissect one paragraph and a line from page 731. All dialogue is highlighted in blue.

(My favorite book in the series, btw. I fucking love fifth year the most. JKR did a damn good job with Umbridge.)

Since a certain anon lacked the skill to comprehend the difference between too much dialogue and stories driven by a high saturation of dialogue, let's go into further depth about dialogue.

What did I mean last week when I said: "Too much fucking dialogue!"

Today’s lesson will focus on the overall issue in JKR’s dialogue and in the prose surrounding those dialogue lines.

And since, apparently, I “lack the self awareness” to know most of my fics are “oversaturated with dialogue,” I’m going to use weaker examples of my own writing. Chapter 24 of TBG is heavily driven by dialogue with twenty-one named characters to juggle, something that's very difficult for me to manage. Though the chapter is lovely, I do feel it's some of my weaker work. In the end, I just didn’t have the energy to edit it a second time nor go through cutting edit.

Here are three different pages (some connected, some not) from Chapter 24 of Terrible, But Great. All dialogue is highlighted in blue.

You can already see the difference, I'm sure.

So, what’s the difference between a scene that has 'too much fucking dialogue' versus a scene that is highly saturated with dialogue?

Because there is one.

Let's set the scene for HP5. In the middle of an OWL exam, Harry received a vision from Voldemort, showing him that Sirius has been captured. He's being tortured to get something from a shelf, but Sirius refuses. Harry believes the vision is real. He tells Ron and Hermione, then asks for their advice on how to rescue Sirius. Ron and Hermione are both like, pardon, wtf, sir? (As they should be.)

We have five pages of this fight between them. These five pages are mostly dialogue with very little else surrounding it.

Also, note the final page where it has the worst sins of adverb usage. That page is what triggered me to begin writing this series in the first place, btw.

There's too much dialogue here. There's no description. I'm being told stuff, but I'm not being shown anything. There are no emotional anchors to Harry either. The more I reread this scene, the more I realized what was wrong.

There’s an emotional disconnect from Harry in the prose.

Do not misunderstand me: it is NOT to say that Harry isn’t emotional here. It's that the prose doesn’t grip me, the reader, by the chest and twist my heart with his overwhelming emotions. The prose doesn't prove anything, doesn't show me anything. This is an intense, terrifying moment for Harry. It should feel visceral. It should feel tangible. I should be able to taste his fear.

We also don’t get too much information about the emotional states of Ron and Hermione. We have hints, of course. But we can’t feel them. The emotions of the scene are dampened, muffled, dull even.

With an untrained eye, you might disagree. It's okay. You'll see what I mean soon.

Page 731 exact quote:

"I dunno how," said Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety-seven...He's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there....He's torturing him....Says he'll end by killing him..." Harry found his voice shaking, as were his knees. He moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to master himself.

(Btw, punctuation issue: you do not use an ellipsis and a period together and there should be a space after the ellipsis.)

This is the only instance in the five pages where we get any information about Harry's physical state.

And it's written in such a weak 'telling' instead of 'showing' way, too.

How and where was his voice shaking? How are his knees shaking? Are they knocking together in a weird way that's kind of physically improbable? Or was it actually his legs were shaking? Isn't he leaning against the door? If his weight was resting against the door, then there'd be less shaking in his knees or legs because his knees would be locked to brace his body against the door. His arms and hands would be shaking, though.

How does Harry master himself? What does that look like? Slow breaths? Running a hand through his hair? Rubbing his face and eyes? How is Harry mastering himself? Is it mentally? Then, where are those mastering thoughts? What are they and why do those thoughts in particular help Harry 'master' himself?

What's Harry's tone as he talking about Voldemort threatening to kill Sirius? How is Harry feeling about this? Give me MORE!

The dialogue is presented to the reader in a bland, empty fashion. Harry is relating something to Ron and Hermione. I could switch the dialogue out with anything and it'd still make sense.

There is little surrounding the dialogue to anchor it.

So, let's rewrite this, shall we?

"I dunno how," said Harry, letting out a shaky breath. His hands clenched into fists against the door of the classroom. "But I know where—they're in a room in the Department of Mysteries that's filled with rows of shelves holding these... weird little glass balls. They're in row ninety-seven. Voldemort, he's—" Harry's voice broke. His breath caught in his throat. The memory of the vision returned full force into his mind, the image of Sirius on the floor at Voldemort's feet stark in his mind. He ducked his chin; his chest inhaled in a desperate breath and the edges of his eyes burned. He's torturing Sirius—I can't just wait around. I can't lose him. Harry looked up at Ron, whose face had grown pale, while Hermione stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. The strength in Harry's legs weakened. "He needs Sirius to get whatever it is he wants and he's—" Harry sucked in a gasp, his voice trembling like an autumn leaf in a thunderstorm. "—he's torturing Sirius... says he'll kill him in the end." His knees buckled. Harry stumbled to the nearest desk; Ron reached out with a steadying hand on Harry's upper arm and silent gratitude filled Harry's heart. With shaky arms, Harry lifted himself onto the desk to sit and twisted around to face Ron and Hermione. He licked his dry lips, rubbed his eyes with a hand, and took slow, deep breaths to master his fraying emotions.

The original canon text has 57 words of dialogue with a total of 83 words.

My rewritten version uses 56 words of dialogue with a total of 247 words.

I'm going to drill this concept into your heads, my lovely students: this is what I mean when I keep saying JKR's writing is both bloated and underwritten.

I only rewrote a single paragraph and its following line. The five pages I've provided are filled with this kind of empty dialogue.

So, what have I done here? Can you see the difference? Can you feel the difference?

Let's analyze what I focused on in this scene to show Harry's body language and his thoughts. I upped the physical effects on Harry's body. His fear causes his voice to break in the middle of explaining what's going on. He's terrified of losing Sirius, the only father figure he's ever known. Voldemort might take another parental figure from him. 

And now the prose reflects these feelings, not just in his thoughts, but also in how he speaks and reacts to what is around him. He is not just speaking at the reader.

Harry exists in his world. 

And you can feel it.

When he stumbles to the desk, Ron is there for him. Hermione reacting could also be added here. There is a lot that can be added to this scene, if one wanted to expand this further. 

Yes, what I've done has increased the word count, yet it strengthens this short moment—and I'd do this for the entire scene.

What I did to the scene is merely one version of its potential. It could be rewritten in a multitude of ways and go in various directions. I spent 10mins to 20mins on it. I haven't edited it or refined it.

Can you finally see what I mean now?

If you compare the highlighted pages of HP5 to the highlighted pages of Chp 24 of TBG, you can visually see the difference in the density of the dialogue. JKR is the one whose writing is oversaturated with dialogue. My writing will always be highly saturated with dialogue because my stories are character driven. I prefer stories like that. But I also need the dialogue to be interesting and engaging, where the character feels alive in their world.

When I say there's too much dialogue, this scene is such a good example of this because Harry, Ron, and Hermione are all over the place in their interactions with each other. Yes, you want your characters to sound realistic, but you're also the author curating an experience for the reader.

There's a balancing tightrope act between having realistic dialogue and unnecessary dialogue.

There's a thin line between showing too much and telling too little.

Lastly, if I were to improve the overall scene, I would center the focus on Harry's desperation to rescue Sirius. As Ron and Hermione try to talk him out of it, where Hermione delivers that iconic line of 'you have a people saving thing,' I'd have Harry explode with something like this:

"You don't know what's it like! You both have your parents—I-I don't... You'd feel the same as me if it were either of your parents being tortured by Voldemort, yeah? I can't lose him—I can't lose Sirius."

I'm not bothering with description around it right now. I just wanted to give the baseline dialogue to show you the theme I'd carry through this scene. It's all about Sirius. It's all about the fear of losing him. It's about showing the emotion of the character and making the reader feel that deeply.

And that's what matters the most.

All right then.

We have come to an end of Part Two in this series. We have discussed fives pages in JKR's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The pages in question are 731 - 735 should you wish to look it up and study the scene yourself.

And so, please do the world the greatest of favors and write better than J.K. Rowling. I promise, it's not that hard once you see the differences.

Until next time.

Isa

Thank you, I had a great time!

🐍 Slither In Fest Masterlist

Huge thank you to all of our talented participants! We love and appreciate all your enthusiasm for bottom Tom | Voldemort content in this fandom. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Here is a list of all our fantastic entries this year! (Please comment here if you don't see your Tumblr @'ed, so we can add it!)

💚 Karma’s a bitch by @albondiguilla007 4,130 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Tom betrays Harry. Harry’s not happy about it.

💚 Resonating Souls by @endlessburningdarkness 4,063 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

Minister Riddle has an unusually dream filled night.

💚 To Corrupt a Unicorn by beanclip 4,766 | Completed | E | Ship: Tom Riddle/Hepzibah Smith, Tom Riddle/Original Male Character(s)

Blood, fear, and ancient, untouched books. Amortentia.

💚 To be Entwined by @cyandenial 5,055 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Harry and Tom grew up together, and it's more than just a brotherly bond that connected them.

💚 as sweet as blood red jam by @cindle-writes 4,974 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Tom meets Harry for the first time at a Ministry function that Tom’s attending as Minister Diggory’s plus-one.

💚 delicatus by @cindle-writes 4,974 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Lord Voldemort is an instructive Lord-Father-God-Master-Papa.

💚 forgive me father by @cindle-writes 2,396 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Tom sneaks into his father’s bed and touches himself while Harry lies sleeping next to him, unawares.

💚 Pink Shorts by @crowcrowcrowthing 5,574 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

Tom was very good at pilates. Harry had a problem with that.

💚 Aliquot (sequel to Pink Shorts) by @crowcrowcrowthing, @cindle-writes 4,644 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

Harry and Tom continue fucking on every available surface.

💚 synoptic by @duplicitywrites 1,380 | WIP | E | Ship: Tom Riddle/Tom Riddle

Fifty years in isolation is enough to drive anyone a bit mad.

💚 Is It Baby Trapping if I Didn’t Actually Want to Trap You? by @dearestdo3 12,398 | WIP | M | Ship: Orion Black/Tom Riddle, Walburga Black/Orion Black, Walburga Black/Tom Riddle

Tom Riddle just wanted to scam Lord Black so he'll have enough money to run away from Wizarding Britain for good.

💚 french affair by @heyob 2,693 | Completed | E | Ship: Rodolphus Lestrange/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

Rodolphus Lestrange was willing to do anything to avoid getting married, even if he has to get caught fucking the Dark Lord.

💚 Premium Pussy by @hopeforthewitch 3,200 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Tom shouldn't, but he has favourites, case in point: James Black.

💚 Fake Boyfriend by J0305 2,432 | WIP | M | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Tom needs a boyfriend, and Harry is the perfect one for him.

💚 Taking Feet Pics Is Serious Business by Just_praises 2,151 | WIP | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Tom didn't think selling feet pics would end up sustaining his entire livelihood.

💚 Slow Soak by @lyceana 1,431 | WIP | E | Ship: Rubeus Hagrid/Tom Riddle, Whomping Willow/Tom Riddle

These tender roots need to soak in water. They'll slowly grow, but it will be worth the wait, or this it what he's praying for.

💚 Your Wish, My Command by @moontearpensfic 3,987 | WIP | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Tom wants to deepen his relationship with his father. If only his "mother" wasn't in the way…

💚 throne sex by @zolpidem105 Art | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Voldemort

harry potter is an undercover auror. voldemort is lord voldemort.

💚 family friends by @reggieblk 12,279 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Harry had always considered Tom to be a little brother of sorts.

💚 Make a wish by @sri-verse 2,664 | WIP | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Horcrux/Harry Potter

An attempt to fulfill an innocent childhood wish of a gold cauldron has some unforeseen consequences for Harry James Potter.

💚 i wanna have sex with you (your sweet caress won't do) by @ujiin 8,061 | Completed | E | Ship: Tom Riddle/Tom Riddle Sr.

Tom Sr is horrified to find out that his son is the lowest of the low in society.

💚 compromising positions by @virgil-anon 2,294 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

He was Tom Riddle! (He was Tom Potter) ((He was Lord Voldemort))

💚 An Abundance of Riddles by Anonymous 1,223 | WIP | E | Ship: Tom Riddle | Voldemort/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

November 1st, 1981, Tom Riddle wakes up in the cave and learns that he used to be the Locket Horcrux.

💚 Time in a Whiskey Bottle by Anonymous 5,401 | Completed | E | Ship: Rubeus Hagrid/Tom Riddle

Stripper Tom & Rubeus Hagrid fall in love at the club.

💚 Ride it Like It's Quidditch by Anonymous 2,163 | Completed | E | Ship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

Tom hates Harry and plans on making him kneel.

Bottom Tom Riddle

✨ Tom Riddle and the Quest for Vulnerability / 15k /

They found him in an old house, under the stairs. His face was pale and instantly recognisable.

aka

Auror Harry Potter has eighteen-year-old Tom Riddle bent over the table barely a day after he becomes his ward.

THE bottom Tom Riddle fic. SO SO HOT

✨ In Your Soul is Sealed a Pleasure / 22k / “So confident,” Voldemort murmured, “to be waiting here alone, this late at night.” He let a little menace seep into his tone.

The man merely smiled in return, cocky. “Oh, is this a bad area?” he said. “I hadn’t realised, what with the lack of streetlights and the not-so-distant screams. Silly me.”

***

Harry’s been sent back in time, but he’s still not worked out what it is about this specific moment that gives him the best chance to change things for the better. All he’s managed to do so far is talk to an oddly intense man in an alley and try not to get mugged.

The characterization is amazing, both Harry and Voldemort. They’re ridiculously hot and powerful, and it shows. Loved how obsessed Voldemort was with Harry.

✨A moment of your time / 10k / “I think... it’s best if you go home,” Minister Potter says softly. Tom hears the threat underneath, gentled by the man’s compassion and empathy. Go home, it says. Leave this be.

Tom feels sixteen again, discontent and disregarded. He hates it. He won’t stand for it. “And if I refuse to?” Refuses this refusal of his person. This denial of what lies between them, the mystery of those unreadable eyes, the hum of danger that dances over Tom’s skin like pinpricks of static. He has waited too long for this opportunity to slip away from him.

Hooooot

✨ A matter of Perspective / 6k / Potter shakes his head before Tom is even done talking. “I... Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with this. I can’t have sex with you. It’s... physically impossible.”

Tom frowns. “Physically impossible? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means exactly what I said. I can’t have sex with you. Or anyone, really. It just doesn’t work. Don’t look at me like that, it’s the truth!”

Tom curls his lips. “Fine, if you don’t want to help me through my heat, then I suppose I’ll be gone for a while. We’ll just have to hope that the ministry won’t fall apart in the meantime.”

✨ Prizefighter / 11k / Dolohov can predict his tastes now.

Marvolo eyes up the caged, muzzled street-mongrel in his basement. Dolohov's men have done a number on him, sure, and he looks battered. But Marvolo can spot a fighter when he sees one.

And those green eyes.

"Twelve Galleons." He makes his bid. "Put him in the rings."

✨ as long as you come home to me / 5k /

What Tom Riddle and Harry Potter have is not a relationship. It is an arrangement, one where Tom comes and goes as he pleases and takes whatever he wants. Harry seems to understand without being told what to do. He sends expensive gifts to Tom’s flat: endless sweets, luxurious clothes, and rare magical baubles.

Tom provides in return. He provides a shoulder to cry on and a hole to fuck.

✨ Karma’s a bitch / 4k / Tom betrays Harry. Harry’s not happy about it.

✨ Cane Sugar / 14k

Euphoria, invincibility, power — there’s nothing quite like the rush Tom gets when he’s high on cocaine. Nothing, perhaps, except for being with Harry, who also happens to be his dealer.

“Have you ever had one of your clients suck you off, Harry?”

Breath came in shallow bursts as Tom pulled Harry's pants down to mid-thigh. Harry shook his head, his cock springing free just as Tom ran his fingers down the length. When he opened his eyes, he was looking up at the ceiling. “No one’s had the nerve to offer.”

“They mustn’t have wanted it enough.” Tom’s hand was wrapped around his cock, and Harry could feel his breath against the tip, fanning over in soft, quick huffs. Harry’s hand tightened in his hair.

✨ Hit ‘N Run / 17k / His eyes skated over the crisp lines of the stranger's bespoke robes- decidedly fancy evening wear to be clubbing in- and the large black stone set into an ugly gold ring on his middle finger. No other bands- perhaps he was unmarried, or looking to hide it.

Completely sugar-daddy material. Rich, hot and interested.

Harry threw back his drink and leaned towards the other man.

Seventeen was a ripe age for mistakes.

✨ Quid Pro Quo / 3k / Tom is a billionaire financier and buys an entire football club for the sole purpose of signing Harry Potter—the best up-and-coming striker in the British Premier League—to his team. After all, Harry has been the singular focus of Tom’s obsession for the past 20 years.

Creepy stalker Tom, we love to see it

I’m the personification of the “happy happy happy” meme

my tomarry gift exchange fic for @albondiguilla007 is up on AO3 :) featuring a lot of belligerent sexual tension, loving descriptions of harry’s thick quidditch thighs, and tom (the hot nerd) falling headlong into an enormous crush and very nearly chairing the harry potter fan club himself.

wishing everyone the best of holiday seasons, a merry harrymas, and a happy tomukkah!

Tomarry recs Part II

(go here for part l)

So, these fanfics are not all time travel, but they still are Tomarry, meaning Tom Riddle x Harry. If you’re interested in the time travel trope go ahead and check those out, they’re all amazing and really well written. Some of these have a different dynamic, but they’re still pretty good. Enjoy!

- [ ] A Dangerous Game: Incomplete, 283k. The whole Chamber’s mess happens in Harry’s fith year (I think) and Diary’s Horrocrux realizes Harry is one too, so he kidnaps him. Hilarious, smutty and vulnerable Tom, really good. https://archiveofourown.org/works/13059681/chapters/29871909

- [ ] What He Grows to Be: Incomplete, 266k. So, Harry goes back in time to change the future and adopt Tom to hopefully influence positively on him. He does, kind of? Tom’s still a manipulative homicidal asshole, but he is obsessed with Harry so he is willing to make concessions. The whole adoptive father/son is not everyone’s cup of tea, but nothing happens while Tom’s a minor. (From what I remember sorry 😭) https://archiveofourown.org/works/19042240/chapters/45228508

- [ ] Death and the Devil Child: Incomplete, 93k. Sassy, powerful Harry and whipped Tom. The dynamic between them? The sexual tension? The way Harry completely wipes Tom’s ass from day one? He travels back in time as Master of Death with Death at his side cosplaying as a teenage girl. Really good, give it a try. https://archiveofourown.org/works/51578491/chapters/138645514?selected_id=130367584&commit=Go

- [ ] if we were lovers: Complete, 266k. Muggle au, dark academy, inspired on If We Were Villains. So completely different from anything I’ve read before, an amazing spin on the trope. https://archiveofourown.org/works/51875998

- [ ] Everything We Dream Can Be Real: Muggle au, dead dove, do not eat. Complete, 51k. Harry wakes up in a world with no magic where he doesn’t know his friends and goes batshit crazy. Serial killer Harry and detective Tom. (They’re both crazy honestly). Be aware of the tags. https://archiveofourown.org/works/33828601/chapters/84101440

- [ ] And the Living will Envy the Death: Incomplete, 80k. From the writer of What He Grow to Be. Time travel to Hogwarts 1942, they are both the same age. We need the author to update 🙏🏻 https://archiveofourown.org/works/43500502/chapters/109361971?view_adult=true

Reblogging cause it’s on theme

Wanted to share this Golden trio fluff:

Who was Harry Potter anyways? The Chosen One? The Boy-who-lived? The Saviour and Golden Boy of the Wizarding World?

Did the press actually got it right when they wrote pieces about him? Could they know what kind of person he was just by the major events of his life? Coul he?

Did Hermione and Ron knew who his best friend was? During those nights filled with dread when the dead became living and the living bled to death in the most excruciating ways. When they were there for him, did they know?

When they took his hand and slept right there besides him, whispering sweet nothings until he fell asleep again. Could they describe who he was with the same certainty one would talk about the lush and green hills in Scotland?

Mione watched him with that look of hers, one of unwavering faith. Her eyes softening as she lulled him to sleep.

The moonlight filtered through the tiny gap between the curtains back in his room in Grimmauld Place, illuminating the seven freckles scattered in her nose and cheeks. A hundred years could pass and he’d still be able to trace those freckles to memory, like one traces the starts and constellations in the nightsky. She’d stay there for hours, stroking his hair and drawing silly patterns in his skin. Like a mother would. Soft fingertips and soothing lullabies.

With the tenderness of a mother, the devotion of a lover and the undying loyalty of a friend.

In those moments he could be sure of one thing: Hermione Granger knew exactly who Harry Potter was: His best friend, the person looking back at her with grief and open adoration.

And Ron. Ron held him while Mione grounded him and brought him back to Earth with them. Soft breath tickling his neck. He was too tall for the bed, so his feet stayed dangling from the edge most of the times.

Ron was home, Ron was family.

Ron was the first person to ever say I love you, his chubby cheeks bouncing as he smiled, honest in his love like only kids are.

There wasn’t much of that Ron in the 6’2 ft tall man that layed besides him. Except maybe his eyes. They were blue, blueblueblue, round and big and completely sincere. Every emotion he felt reflecting back on them.

Violent but oh so soft. Harry had never seen the ocean, but he reckoned that’s how it looked like.

His presence was enough to make the world stop spinning, so he stayed with them: A hand in his arm or a leg tangled between Mione’s.

Always touching.

His silence saying more than a million words could.

I’m not going anywhere Harry. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever again.

But so they knew? Did they even care?

You’re every Harry love, the ones you like and the ones you don’t

Harry Potter was the guy that passed the Auror official test in record time. The one that later on had a flashback in the middle of a raid and almost got everyone killed.

Harry Potter was the man who stayed alone in New Year’s Eve changing napies and falling asleep besides his godson as he burnt in fever.

It was the five year old boy that one day came home from school with a carefully written card he’d dedicated to his aunt on Mother’s Day.

It was the boy who loved to fly. That felt more free in the air than any place on Earth. That enjoyed the breeze against his hair and the feeling of wood under his fingers.

It was the man that spent half a year in muggle parties with his best friend’s sister fucking his way through London. High with the thrill of anonymity and pissed out of his mind.

The person that loved to control, to humiliate and to hurt: The man more scared of his own shadows than he was of any threat out there.

The one that stood in front of Voldemort when he was 17 and killed him like he was born to do so.

Harry Potter was the man scared of dark and cramped spaces. The man that fell apart in his best friends’ arms and sobbed for hours like he couldn’t do anywhere else.

It was the little boy who looked just like his father, that had his mother’s eyes.

It was the man who loved with every fiber of his being, that loved and loved like it was a race, that burned and consumed and desperately wanted to be loved back. It was the man that remembered Molly’s favorite way of taking tea, that visited Goerge on the weekends at the shop. The one that discussed muggle phones with Arthur. It was the man Andy could always remember his daughter with

Harry Potter was the boy that walked to his death on a cool May evening because he loved, and wanted his friends to live and to be happy more than he wanted it for himself.

And so Hermione stroked his hair, and Ron hid his face in the crook of his neck, and so they’d remind him.

I love all of them Harry, each and one of them

You’ve carried enough burdens mate, leave some of them to us alright? We’ll carry them too

Harry Potter was Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley’s best friend. And sometimes, that was enough.

he's ooc to YOU. to me he's rightfully and delightfully railed by harry on the daily 😌

Stop this is so them in Never Mind the Bollocks

Please please give it a chance, it’s one of my favorite Drarry fanfics, and The_Sinking_Ship @the-sinking-ship is ✨amazing✨ Easily one of my fav Drarry authors, she’s written the most beautiful, spicy and fleshed out fanfics I’ve read.

(also @ijlii what the hell those drawings are breathtaking)