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Reveal the Wizarding World to the Muggles! Actually, why isn’t that a commoner fanfic trope?

—Ls, just reading the reviews

You don't need to read them, honestly; it's more of an easter egg for people who have suffered through Purityworld fics :P

Ahh, yeah, I can see how that'd come about! But for what it's worth, Sirius is in Azkaban for things completely unrelated to James Potter's death--in fact, in this timeline, he was in Azkaban before James died. But you'll have to wait for year 3 for the full story!

Citizen Granger is hitting the barricades! Volumnia Greengrass, first up against the wall!

I don't blame you for buying Narcissa's words! I mean, JKR really did fumble that house-elf plot there by suggesting they ~like~ being enslaved. I am definitely planning to toss that entire thing out the window. Can you tell this rewrite is one part lampooning Pureblood Culture and one part fixing things I found problematic in the canon itself? :P

I see I'm missing some context by not reading some of these actual purityworld fics . . . but I'm not going to! : )

Following from my assumption that Pettigrew was in Azkaban, I figured Scabbers really was just a rat this time. There's no reason they wouldn't have picked out the same pet and the same name . . . Just so you don't think I'm completely dense!

Yes, Hermione will unite the Wizarding World Women and rise up! Instead of a Senator Gaunt, you will have a Minister Granger! One both bookish and terrible! All shall release their house-elves and despair!

Ew. I feel gross for taking Narcissa's assumption about house-elves at face value . . . It's kind of horrifying how Rowling describing a race of people in terms of slavery apologia can taint my reading of them all these years later . . .

—doctorlit, proud member of S.P.E.W

Yes, I thought having the POV swapping was necessary to highlight the "panopticon" element of year two! It's going to go back to Harry for pretty much the rest of the year (with one detour into Hermione's POV), but basically all of the elements needed for the year two mystery have been established in this chapter. :)

This Narcissa is actually heavily inspired by this Narcissa in this actual Purityworld fic. She just read as so horribly full of herself and yet was tagged "good Narcissa", so I had a lot of fun mimicking that character voice but showing her doing terrible things like bullying Dobby and planning to make Lady Parkinson stop Pansy from trying out for the Quidditch team.

Yes, the grown-ups didn't really notice Neville there! But Draco did indeed invite him as an "acceptable Pureblood" who also happens to be friendly with Harry. There's a little bit more equitability and inter-house unity in Purityworld--but mostly because all the Purebloods are supposed to band together against the noncompliant Muggleborns and blood traitors. Also, I wanted to show the Slytherins as more personable than in canon, but not veering fully into the uwu woobie misunderstood characterisations that is very common in the Pureblood culture neck of fandom. Similarly, I didn't want to make Lucius and Narcissa completely unsympathetic, and that's why their little moment before the ball is so goopily funny. They're capable of being horribly in love with one another while also being horrible to everyone else!

Politician!Voldemort still has blood on his hands! It's just that he doesn't do the killing himself, for more deniability. ;P As for the bonds... you'll see in year two what sort of bond the Knights of Camelot have. I'm super excited about Regulus! Having him here means Harry (and Draco) gets to have someone more rooted in the Pureblood customs but is still a decent person as another mentor figure. And as for Sirius... he is indeed still the focus of year three. I mean... Ron still has Scabbers!

Unfortunately, in Purityworld fics there really isn't a lot of solidarity between the female characters. The heroines invariably view other women as competition for their love interests and portray them as screeching harridans or sluts. Pureblood ladies don't need no stinkin' feminism! They've got Twoo Wuv! But that's probably why they haven't figured out yet that their extra magic power in their hair means they could hypothetically have more power than their husbands. They don't want to be anything but sweet and submissive to their love interest. It's in their ~nature~. /s

-I really like the house-elf band, too! I feel like it muddles with the idea of them only being there to serve--if they're able to play music, couldn't they be capable of other forms of self-expression? But of course Narcissa thinks they only know how to play because of sheet music and not any sort of human-esque ability to do art.
-Yeah. She's got parents and a great-uncle! I think they're from a previous Hogwarts AU that Nesh did...
-That's actually more accidental magic, since he lost control.
-You'll see exactly what he's doing as the year unfolds, but I can say right now that most of his books' plots are riffing off of actual Purityworld fics. For example: Banshees and Ballgowns, Gemstones and Gillyweed, Snitches and Sensibilities, Veela and Valentines, Honour and Hairbrushes, etc.
-Thanks for catching that! I think I caught it myself too but missed fixing it somehow...

Thank you for reading! Good night!

Aaaaah. Aaaaaaaaah. And you had to drop Dobby on us right away! I don't know if I'm emotionally ready to read through Dobby's character arc again . . .

I feel like I learned a lot about all these characters through this POV-swapping perspective, most especially Narcissa and Malfoy. It's nice to see that Malfoy really hasn't swallowed the full Koolaid yet, and is still a kiddo wanting to have fun with others kiddos. It was especially eye-opening to realize that a lot of the mean stuff he had been saying was spoken less from a place of actual haughtiness, and more out of (what Draco feels is) necessity. The canon version of Narcissa felt so much like a copy of Draco when she was introduced—bullying the Weasley family, like that's such a normal thing for an adult to do—that dropping into the inner narration of this version was quite jarring. She seems so controlled and calm compared to her canon self! And she doesn't seem to bear any particular ill will towards the Potters. Putting the Pureblood stuff aside, she's a rather ordinary and straightforward person! . . . is what I might have said if she didn't open on threatening poor Dobby over one 64th of the color pie. I hope she chokes on a garden rake! I loved Harry during his interactions with Narcissa. In year one, I pictured his voice being the same as little, tiny Daniel Radcliffe's, but during this chapter, he kept slipping into disaffected U.S. suburban teen, and it's glorious to picture him deadpanning some of those responses to Narcissa's proselytizing. Lastly (and I don't even know if this was intentional on your part), I find it very interesting that Neville's presence at the party isn't mentioned until Harry's POV section, with both Lily and Narcissa overlooking his presence entirely. A bias on the part of the grownups to overlook the sad, wimpy kid, while his fellow students at least recognize him as a peer? Also, it's easy to overlook next to the revelation that Draco wouldn't have been allowed to invite Hermione and Ron, but it really is a big deal that Draco insisted on inviting Neville to make sure Harry would have someone he knows at the party!

Aha. I see was wrong to think Gaunt-as-politician wouldn't have a body count in this timeline. But now I see a lot more people than James went down to him. I should have known better that someone like Voldemort couldn't be that different, no matter the timeline or culture . . . and it seems he's Bonding multiple women? That's why no one realized Professor Greengrass was Bonded to him: he's already made multiple Bonds? And the Tome of Avalon is a Bible analog . . . I thought most of the yikes was over with in year one, but it seems the pureblood panopticon is filled with yikes, and they are all starting to pour out! (Excellent title, by the way, big intimidating energy!)

Although speaking of Voldemorts and kill counts, I had to stare at Regulus's name for several seconds before going, "of course!" It makes sense he would still be alive, and I like the characterization you've given him. Much more even-keeled than Sirius, but with an intense emotionality that can lash out when provoked. When "Pettigrew's betrayal" was alluded to during year one, I naively assumed the betrayal was publicly known, and that Pettigrew would be the one in Azkaban, and Sirius still free; it's disappointing to learn Sirius is still publicly blamed, but I suppose that needs to wait until next year . . .

Man, I could not get through that scene between Narcissa and Lucius without laughing out loud. I can't take "Be dreadful with me" seriously, on any level! But it did make me wonder why, if witches have greater magic power because of their head batteries, why this society still seems so masculine-dominated. (Sounds like mostly men in the Wizengamot, and Pureblood women are dissuaded from playing Quidditch, etc.) Why not just? Take over? Go full Lysistrata and withhold magic from the boys? Also, nobody better tell Pureblood society about Samson from the real Bible, oh boy . . .

I really liked the dynamics you wrote between all the Slytherin students during the Quidditch game. We're so used to seeing Slytherin characters being aggressive towards others, I enjoyed seeing them being able to play a game ruthlessly, and still be civil to each other afterwards. It feels like a great interpretation of the Slytherin ambition being curbed by these students seeing each other as equals, at least roughly.

Some random thoughts/observations/questions:
-I expected the house-elf band to be a joke, but I like the idea of them actually playing well, and the observation that sheet music is a form of instruction, which house-elves would naturally excel at!
-Gosh, it feels weird for Jennifer Robinson to have biological family members, but it makes sense; she isn't a magical avatar in this world!
-I am learning all kinds of new French words today! Parure, croquembouche, choux . . . and I will probably never use them again!
-Harry is producing wandless, nonverbal magic when he gets angry in this chapter. Still bleeding off his mom's energy from the fight with Professor Greengrass?
-So . . . the Lockhart in this timeline . . . is a . . . romance novelist? A romance novelist who self-inserts in every one of his books? Or is he . . . like a. . . love guru? Helping people in their relationships and then . . . publishing the accounts of them? That's somehow so much worse than what his canon self was doing!
-One typo: "At the gate, Lily turned to her son, fixing her with her sternest stare."

And now I am sleepy! Good night!

—doctorlit waits for the inevitable moment when a Muggleborn witch shows up the Wizarding World in Marge Simpson hair

I’m not sure if we’ve seen anything of Meg before, (though I do recall her getting a wiki page) but this was delightful. “Christmas from the perspective of a demon” is an inherently funny and original idea, and you pulled it very well.

—Ls, practicing Christian

Read the disclaimer!

Link text

BL11

BL11

I'm really glad you like the multiple POVs for the opener! I did worry that it's going to be too long and repetitive, but I felt it was necessary to establish the, haha, pureblood panopticon. We'll be back to Harry's POV from here on out (with another detour to Hermione at one point ;) ) so I'm glad you really like my take on Harry! I think him being raised by Lily does make him a little better-adjusted and idealistic, even if he's still the same amount of bullheaded as he is in canon.

Yes, you're correct! The bonds are more equitable than the people in charge want you to think ;)

Thank you for reading and for this in-depth analysis!

Crumbs and Saltine... that's adorable. ^_^

That story actually sounds pretty close to something that could happen, too. Apart from the whole "threat to all fiction" thing, and Saltine's text-editing device. I do believe some agent would try to invent a device like that, but I don't think it would work. It'd make missions too easy, for one thing; it just doesn't make sense for an agent to have the power to alter the Words of a fic they didn't write, for another.

Hmm, maybe you have to have an account to get multiple responses to swipe through?

Meanwhile, I've been role-playing as Agent Trainer Ilraen and learning the limits of the chatbot's memory, which only goes back so far in a given conversation. In the "lesson review," it did pretty well with the two CADs, but struggled with the portal generator, RA, and disguise generator. Still, managed to get some pretty accurate responses in the end! The whole transcript should be readable here. (I guess angle brackets disable any enclosed Markdown, but it doesn't seem to have caused any actual problems, so I'll probably keep doing it.)

After all this, I'm actually tempted to write something with Ilraen and trainees Crumbs and Saltine, but I will resist. {X D

~Neshomeh

I'd treat "Neopets where humans exist" and "Neopets where humans don't exist" as two distinct but valid versions of canon, like the bookverse and the movieverse are two distinct but valid versions of Lord of the Rings canon.

If a fic blends the two versions somehow, I guess it's a judgement call on which has more weight in that particular fic.

Also, I love their explanation for the "fantasy world" version of Neopets:

We don't think Jeran or Lord Darigan would take it well if we told them that they were Flash images owned by sillyusername123_20.

Haha, yeah, nobody really likes getting that meta about their own existence. {X D

~Neshomeh used to run Pern role-plays on Neopets way, way back in the day. Ah, nostalgia.

...we haaaaaave BL11 The Malfoy parents are dastardly, I tell ya. You did a very good job selling us on the "evil couple of evil who genuinely love each other and complement each other well" in Narcissa's section. Not that you were very hamfisted with the evil part, but come on, that's what they are. Seeing the ball from four different perspectives gave us a lot of character insight as well as information we wouldn't have gotten otherwise -- you could almost call it a... panopticon? Getting Draco's perspective was pretty cool, and crucial since we need to understand what it's like to be a kid growing up on this dreck to truly understand the setting -- and to understand what obstacles Draco will face on his path to being a better-redeemed character than he was in the books.

I like this Harry! I have a brain now, so I can appreciate him more than I ever could with canon Harry: An idealistic, justice-driven hero who gets a little too emotional sometimes and blasts people into pudding. Typical Lion behavior, tbh, and behavior I find... resonant. I can't wait to see where his character goes; I think it'll do me some good. Him suffering consequences for his misbehavior was also a much-needed jolt, and parents doing actual parenting isn't something you see often so it's nice to see. Although he still got off lighter than Malfoy! At least Harry actually did something wrong. And it seems like it's not only possible for a man to drain a woman's magic through a familial bond -- it works both ways, but Societal Standards make it impossible to imagine other paths. Power relations, am I right?

Second year will delve into older variants of bonding and other ways of accessing magic, so...perhaps something of that sort is on the horizon? But I do absolutely intend on emphasising the necessity of choosing to give someone your magic rather than having it be taken from you as their birthright/marriage right.

Thank you once again for reading! Hope you like the second year, too!

Great work! I really love how you reoriented an institution of oppression into something through which genuine love can be expressed. I wonder if Harry will let his friends borrow his magic somehow?

I maybe got too straightforward conversationally, and didn't wind up teaching the thing any new info. Also, I didn't seem to get the multiple response options? Just one reply per input. Perhaps I am simply too boring to warrant too much processing power? (edited for typo)

Anyway, here comes the scary part, where I attempt to embed a picture . . .

Oh man, now I have to click preview and see how badly I screwed that up . . .

! It . . . it worked!

—doctorlit, it worked!

I would call the "1:1 interpretation" setting an ancillary canon of Neopets proper - it's not the (or a) main canon, but it has enough of an existence that people can justifiably write stories in it.

An actual example: this mission takes place in John Boorman's script for a Lord of the Rings movie. It's not a primary version of the canon - it was never filmed, and the complete script only came to light in 2022 (it is wild). But there's enough there that you can write a story where the characters are "in character" to the script - and so the fic snapped back to the script when the agents did their job.

Other examples would include early drafts of canons - Tolkien has these in spades, but there's also things like the original The Star Wars script (which I think was actually made into a comic!).

Ultimately, if the fic is written in a version of the canon which can in good faith be assumed to exist, it should probably snap back to that.

Unless it's funnier not to.

hS

Apologies if this is confusing: I'm hoping to someday write a mission in a Neopets fic and realized there are certain aspects of the continuum that make doing so more complicated than expected.

For context, Neopets is an early example of a virtual pet website that has somehow survived to the present day. Its canon is interesting in that it's a bit of a hot mess.

When the site initially started, the canon was that Neopia (the game's setting) was a land inhabited by humans and Neopets. There was no real distinction between things that happened on the user level and things that happened in-universe. Feasibly, you could write a fic about a person living with a quartet of Neopets in Neopia and not have it be terribly contradictory to canon.

After a few years, however, the site moved away from depicting any in-universe humans and retconned the ones that were already there into Neopets. The official stance on the matter is that the version of Neopets that closely reflects its nature as a pet site is different than the version of Neopets portrayed in various site events

In other words, Neopets is both of the following:

• A pet site with several items and terminology referring to humans owning the creatures.
• A world inhabited solely by anthropomorphic versions of the above creatures, with humans being completely nonexistent.

What I'm curious about is how the official stance on what constitutes Neopets canon would affect the "snap-back" that occurs at the end of a mission. If a pair of agents were to assassinate a Suvian in a fic where Neopia is a world that attempts to translate all the aspects of the pet site 1:1, would the setting revert to the "world of funny animals" version of Neopets or remain an interpretation of the pet site version?

and just as disgusting. I present Hailey Potter the (censored) Slut, in which a Sueified Harry is raised by a deeply OOC Petunia and taught to do all sorts of… funny stuff since the former was 13. Now if you excuse me, I need a lethal dose of brain bleach. Due to the repulsive content, no excerpts shall be reprinted.

you should defintely give them hot chocolate! or little mittens! or play snoeball fights with them! because that would make them really really sad and they'd go away right away, definitely!!!!!!!!

It seems J & A were much more cavalier about letting others write their characters than we tend to be today.

One note, though: Why did they refer to “Sean and Lux”? I’d think that by this point, Lux was solo?

Anyway, good chapter as ever.

—Ls

Nice to meet you. Here, have a Thingie®️. It is great for Things.

And, uh, that badfic definitely sounds too squicky for me to beta for. Sorry. I...might be able to help with the interlude? If you want, try clicking on my name for the email.

—Ls

Once again, I forgot about these until halfway through December, but I have a couple of advent calendars for you to open day by day:

PPC Advent Calendar, 2008 - spinning off from the Generic Surface webcomic; looking a bit dated but still intact.

Library Advent Calendar, 2021 - not directly PPC, but very PPC-adjacent.

(If you don't come from a culture that does advent calendars: every December day up to Christmas, you open one numbered door corresponding to the date. Depending on where in the world you are, you might get pictures, gifts, or chocolates each day - in this case, you get a picture and a bit of story. It's fun!)

hS