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if she's from a culture where Quenya names are used (coughcoughlauracoughcough)

In her case, that was just a casting name - the character is actually named Earien, which is perfectly good Quenya (Sea-daughter).

hS

A future character is revealed to be named Corina or something. Even bigger whut.

I'm getting a double dose of Wizarding World alternate timelines right now, because I happen to be in the middle of Cursed Child right now. (Which gave me Unpleasant Feelings when the sweets trolley witch appeared in your story; I'm never going to feel normal reading scenes with her appearing ever again. Thanks, playwrights!)

There's something inherently unpleasant about reading these sorts of genetics-based supremacy cultures in fiction, partly because it's such an alien concept for real life, and because it's . . . not quite alien enough in real life. But I can still respect all the world-building that's gone into this, and all the choices that had to be made about what, and who, would be different. You've put the classism on excellent display, and all the rich Pureblood cretins and their attitudes are appropriately cringey and insulting. I see that Draco is still very Draco, but uh. Uh. Hermione though. Like . . . I understand the logic, Hermione was very rules-oriented in book one, and quick to absorb new concepts, but to read her slipping straight into and accepting this culture that inherently devalues her as a human being was painful to read. (Or, to quote my hastily typed out notes while I was reading, "Hermione no no hormone what did they do why would they doo this ") I hope she still makes, uh, "the right friends" before all is said and done. I am curious about the substitution of Zabini and Nott for Crabbe and Goyle. I know the latter two are Pureblood, so I'm not sure why they've been swapped out? Unless this Draco just has better taste, like, it's objectively an improvement. Oh, and just to tack this onto the paragraph about classism: the line "I’m sure you’ll be able to separate the people who want to be friends with Lord Potter from the people who want to be friends with Harry," is just a great, great line. Very OG Dumbledore!

Severina seems to be Snape. Is this a case of "alternate timeline, therefore a chromosome went different," or is she just trans for some pre-emptive grave spinning? : ) With Sevvy taking over Hagrid's role of delivering the Hogwarts letter, I love the contrast between Hagrid's iconic and uplifting "Yer a wizard, Harry," and Sevvy's short and impatient variation. It makes it all the better that Harry himself still delivers his own self-disparaging "but I'm just Harry." Didn't expect Crookshanks, of all characters, to have such an altered timeline, but hey, more cat is always good, because cats are good! (Also, side note about Hagrid: I love that you're just Not Bothering with his accent. As . . . one of the voice actors on a Lindsay Ellis video, I don't know who, said, "You don't have to write the accent in, Joanne, we get that you hate poor people.")

Hell yeah, Jenny says "women's rights," even in a weird classist AU. J-Ro is the only chocolate frog card worth collecting. "Allegoric Alley" is such a perfect and wonderful name construction! It was a bit disappointing we didn't get more of those alley names in canon; perhaps I will headcanon that Allegoric exists! "The Book Wyrm" is also a great one, and also I wish to shop there, take me there right now.

One maybe typo?
Aunt Sevvy surveyed her through narrowed, dark eyes.
She's looking at Harry here, so it should be "him." Or maybe it was meant to be "through her narrowed, dark eyes"?

So yeah, I'm filled with anticipation and dread to see what further horrors this story will unfold. Neat!

—doctorlit does not apologize for calling Nurse Robinson "J-Ro"

Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot is something of a masterclass in how not to do names.

• Her first name is a flower, which is appropriate for a proto-Hobbit; but it's a very special flower which only grows hundreds of miles west of where she lives. None of her people can ever have encountered the elanor flower of Lothlorien; when Sam Gamgee uses it for his daughter thousands of years later, he is the first Hobbit ever to do so.

• Her nickname is a canonical dwarven name. Dori and Nori are two of the dwarves in The Hobbit. I don't get why you'd do this.

• Brandy-, in Hobbit names, comes from the Brandywine river, which is itself a corruption of the elvish Baranduin. We literally know which Hobbit first used it - Gorhendad Oldbuck, who changed his name to Brandybuck after moving over the Brandywine. This river is even further from Nori's people than Lothlorien is.

• -foot appears in a number of canonical Hobbit surnames (Proudfoot, Puddifoot, Lightfoot, Twofoot, Whitfoot, and the racial name Harfoot), but always with a literal meaning - Puddifoot, for example, means puddle-foot, because the family lives in a marsh. What does Brandyfoot mean? Do they bathe their feet in expensive alcohol?

• Besides which, Tolkien strongly implies that Hobbits didn't even have surnames until fairly late. The Shire was founded by Marcho and Blanco, no surnames. The great families acquired them a while before LotR, but for example Sam's wife Rose Cotton? Her grandfather was the first to use that surname, adapting it from his father's given name Cotman.

(Her friends and relatives have much more sensible forenames, and their surnames are more acceptable too - Proudfellow, for example. It's still a bit mix-and-match from the family trees, but in a more sensible way.)

The other names that really stand out are Bronwyn and Theo, a mother and son in future Gondor/Mordor (it's a bit vague). Bronwyn is a very distinctively Welsh name, while Theo is a Germanic nickname. They don't fit together, and they give off a vibe of 'these sound vaguely like Eowyn and Theoden, they'll do'.

hS

...what’re the worse ones, and why?

—Ls has not seen Rings of Power, or any Tolkien adaptations at all, for that matter

Have a feel-better cookie.

—Ls

... -a appears to be one way Old Norse (on which Tolkien based most of his dwarf names) forms feminine names. In this case Dis might be taken from a suffix meaning 'sister', so Disa would be Mrs. Sister. Still not a great name, I admit.

(This makes it one of the better newly-coined names in Rings of Power. "Elanor 'Nori' Brandyfoot" is probably the worst, for all I like the character.)

hS, always here for Tolkien nomenclature

I actually talked about it on the Board a couple times: here and here. Nesh's reply in the thread leading from the 2nd one has the link to the worldbuilding being spoofed used for this AU.

I'm also glad to be taking the time to explore Lily as a parent, and all the little changes that occur because of that! I reckoned that, given what a nightmare regency dystopia this Wizarding world is, Harry deserves a safe space with his mum.

Tried to leave a comment on Ao3 too, but not sure if it worked. Gonna try again later. XD

I will definitely be reading more! It's not a genre of AUs I'm that familiar with, but I still can't wait to read a glorious deconstruction of it. It's a very nice blend of familiar and something new and fresh, so it really works to keep me invested. The mystery is established well.

So nice to see Lily in a parenting role instead of Harry being with the Dursleys. And I smiled when Jenni made an appearance!

i.e. that dwarf lady in the Amazon series whose name is basically Thorin's sister's with an -a tacked on. Whut.

Though I do recall a certain “Legolina” from one of Yuki’s missions. shudder Probably why Severina rubbed me the wrong way.

—Ls, Not Angry

I have no plans to kill Crookshanks.

I mean, well, some people might be more interested in Jenni, Jacques, and LSY mucking with the Potterverse in that way!

Severine is an actual name, so it's more of an Anglicisation of that? But honestly, it's riffing off of the horrible names for Fem!Harry that the Purityworld Author has done: Hathiel, Heloise, Hortensia, etc...

Don't worry, Malfoy gets punched later. He's set to undergo a pretty complicated emotional arc (from his perspective, anyway).

It’s very interesting (also, kill off Crookshanks and I will fill your house with sand. XD)

I don’t know why you’d need to say that it’s undercover mission or anything, I’m perfectly happy to read a well-written-but-irrelevant-to-the-PPC plug!

Anyways...I really liked the way you’ve written Harry. He seems huggable. Did you know that there’s a scientific measure of huggability Though for some reason, the name “Severina” really bothers me. It just seems like one of those general fanfic “adding -ina makes a name feminine!” ideas. Oh well.

—Ls

(because, imo, it’s not Department-worthy) is like today.

Adds to Official List of Linstar’s Plotbunnies

—Ls

You know what, when I was little, I used to want to be a princess and all that. But now I just think it would be a lot of work and too much etiquette.

Also, Malfoy is still the same old annoying Malfoy who would probably be done some good by getting whacked with a Beater's bat.

“Is being raised in the old ways shorthand for looking like a prat?” applauds

It's October 2002. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is coming out this Christmas. The PPC is only nine months old. Jay and Acacia are still writing. Any supposed "next twenty years" you may think you have experienced have been an illusion woven by their mastery of the written word.

hS

Everything got dumped in Floaters, the Flowers really hated departments for a while there. ^_~

(The joke being, a lot of that happened when the PPC Manual was being worked on, and is therefore partly my own fault. Sorry!)

There's not quite a rule that all department names should be the bad thing they deal with. Floaters and All Purpose, obviously, but also Angst and Despatch (because transdimensional hopping/snatching can still make good stories). So a Genderbending Department or Division would still only deal with Bad Genderbending.

Which does amplify your point about it being split up: it's not just characterisation issues. You can also run into plot problems, and the nebulous "but why tho" problem: if you start changing genders but everything else stays the same as in canon... why does it exist? I tagged something similar as "in which feminism could do with better planning".

Which, yes, comes round to what you said: the genderbending isn't the core issue in any of those cases. You might want a specialist around, either to unbend the characters or deal with any psychological effects when they realise what's going on, but you don't need a full department.

(& also, I think we're all hitting the point where "haha it's funny that character is a girl now" is not... all that funny any more.)

hS

Back in September, Nesh, Zing, and I posted bits of Jacques, Jenni, and Liu Siyuan in a Pureblood Culture AU setting.

Since then, I got carried away with figuring out how the AU would impact Harry's time at Hogwarts, and am now writing it out. Jenni, Jacques, and Liu Siyuan will also still factor into it as fairly major players, so I'm plugging it here since it could be read as a deep undercover mission to destabilise the Pureblood Culture AU genre.

Heirs of Avalon

It's on anonymous, since I've been posting instalments on an anon forum. Once the thing is complete, I'll probably de-anon then.

Gender changes aren't inherently badfic; it's mischaracterisation of genderbent characters that's the issue. If your fem!Harry Potter is a doe-eyed little waif who pulls out of the Triwizard Tournament because Voldemort knocked her up, she could fall under the purview of either Bad Het or Mary Sues.

(I've wondered about the exact fate of this department/division myself to either Nesh or hS and that's what we figured. Someone's free to contradict us, ofc)