Today Harry James Potter is sitting at his desk, avoiding the date on the calendar as much as he can, each quill he holds breaks because he’s gripping it too tightly.
Today Ginny Potter runs into work out of breathe because Harry forgot to wake her up and she is so late. She takes a second to situate herself and catch her breathe when the daily prophet lands with a thud on her desk and the date on the page nearly burns into her skin.
Today Ron Weasley refuses to come into work. He spends the day kissing Rose and Hugo as often as they let him. He visits his Mum and his brother, because even if they say otherwise, he knows they need him.
Today Hermione Weasley-Granger keeps stoic as tiny disputes over land enter the court, it’s only during her lunch break does she go into a stall and sob for those who didn’t get to live to see what constitutes a “real issue” these days.
Today Neville Longbottom visits his parents with Hannah by his side; he retells the story of what happened 18 years ago to them like he does every year. Alice squeezes his hand through every moment of it.
Today Draco Malfoy watches Scorpius play outside with one of his dozens of brooms. He watches his child’s face light up as he smiles, racing to catch the snitch that is always just a bit out of reach. The scars on his chest twinge as he swears that he will never allow his son to make the same mistakes he did.
Today Luna Scamander is in the jungles of Brazil accompanied by her husband and two young sons. She watches as pixies jump from branch to branch, and her eyes sparkle with amusement as one of them lands on Lysander who giggles at her touch and tries to grab at the creature with his chubby fists.
Today Dennis Creevey closes his shop for the day. He apparates to his home and looks at the picture of his brother laughing. Why he grew old and Colin didn’t he will never truly understand.
Hot damn, I just thought of something really cool. So, like, I headcanon that Harry kept Parseltongue after he lost the horcrux, because it’s just really fun to imagine stuff like Harry talking to Albus Severus’ pet snake or finding a little snake in the garden and hissing a hello. Parseltongue is really neat and snakes are awesome, so it’s so feel-good to imagine that instead of being used for Dark Arts, Harry’s just using it to make convo to little scaly cuties.
Like, Parseltongue apparently transfers with the soul or whatever? So you could totally claim that Harry’s soul/magic kept/learned the skill. A skill passed down through the soul/magic could totally transfer that way.
But… do you know who also had a piece of Voldemort’s soul inside them and was speaking Parseltongue pretty regularly for a long period of time? Ginny. Ginny Weasley.
So imagine twelve-year-old Ginny Weasley going home to heal after the whole Chamber of Secrets business, and finding a snake in the garden, muttering about sunny rocks and sleep. And it scares her so badly at first, because what if Tom isn’t really gone? What if Tom’s still lurking in some dark place in her head? She freaks out and nearly doesn’t come home for dinner that day… except… then she remembers that Harry can speak Parseltongue too.
Harry had an horrible encounter with Voldemort where Voldemort tried to take his life and somehow a piece of his power transferred to Harry, so now Harry can speak Parseltongue. Maybe she just got a piece of power too when Tom tried to steal her life?
It’d be really cool to have an AU where Ginny kept Parseltongue and decided that no, I’m not going to let Tom run my life and was treated Parseltongue like the cool trick it is. And Harry is the only one who full gets it and doesn’t get a little bit uncomfortable when she drops into hissing, and maybe Harry shyly gets encouraged to start hissing back. Voldemort tried to ruin our lives so let’s stick it to him and his Slytherin ancestors, right? Yeah!
Anyway, twelve year old Ginny and thirteen year old Harry having hissing conversations at the Gryffindor table, using it to talk smack and have inside jokes, and using it to scare the heck of out any pureblood supremacists. (Who are all absolutely scandalized because Parseltongue is something Salazar Slytherin is famous for and here it’s being using for casual conversation and Quidditch commentary by a Potter and a Weasley.)
Just picture these two adorable children hissing jokes at each other in the hallways and helping each other recover from their fear and trauma.
Ginny (in Parseltongue), “<Hey Harry, let’s both stare at Malfoy breaking into laughter and hissing at each other in Parseltongue.>”
Harry, “<…That would totally freak him out. …I’m in.>”
Ginny, “<Okay, he’s noticed we’re staring now.>”
Draco, “Do you have something to say Potter?!”
Ginny, “<Laugh now.>”
Harry and Ginny burst out into enormous laughter and Draco Malfoy is furious and gets increasingly mad as Harry and Ginny crack up and hiss things like, “<Great weather we’re having today!>” and “<How about them Harpies?>”
And Draco can’t call a Professor on them because he can’t prove they’re saying anything bad (and it’s just icing on the top that they actually aren’t and he’s getting worked up over nothing).This continues well into their relationship and into adulthood. All of the Potter-Weasley children can speak Parseltongue and have a foolproof way of having secret conversation in public. Sometimes they have to smack Jamie Sirius on the head to use English in public and tell Lily Luna to stop trying to scare people and convince them you’re the next Dark Lady. Harry and Ginny hiss at each other all throughout Ministry Events and Quidditch Events (Rita Skeeter cannot eavesdrop on them and she is furious) and to their children, lovingly telling them in this “language of the Dark Arts” to “<Behave yourselves>“ and ”<Remember to wear your jumper when it’s cold out.>“
Somewhere out there Tom Riddle and scores of Gaunts are rolling in their graves. Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley do not care.
talk to me about molly wrapping harry gently in her arms after the battle and kissing his temple and telling him ‘you will always have a home with us’
talk to me about arthur noticing when harry gets too quiet and distracting him by asking him if he’d like to help rebuild sirius’s motorbike
talk to me about bill seeing the warning signs that harry’s been triggered into an anxiety attack and grasping his arm and telling him to ‘breathe, harry, it’s okay, you’re safe’ and sitting with him until he’s calm
talk to me about george growing even closer to harry because suddenly he understands so much better and he realizes that this kid knows, too, what it’s like to feel so fucking alone
about ron keeping track of how much harry’s eating so on the days when harry can only manage to push food around his plate ron makes sure to ply him with tea all day and asks his mum to make one of harry’s favorites for supper
about charlie getting fed up with the reporters who mob harry everywhere he goes and grabbing a camera from a bloke who will not stop snapping pictures and chucking it in a fountain
percy fidgeting awkwardly, not quite able to meet harry’s eyes, and apologising for that letter he knows ron told him about
hermione making harry look her straight in the eye and telling him it’s okay not to be okay, and harry not knowing whether to be grateful or annoyed because he suspects that she’s actually been researching whatever the hell’s happening to him
ginny letting harry have his space but also knowing when to insert herself right into that space so he can’t shut down and push everyone away because she’ll be damned if he thinks she’s going to put up with that
luna finding him at one of the many parties he’s expected to attend and asking him ‘do you suppose you’d rather be here or stuck on the bottom of the hogwarts lake surrounded by extraordinarily aggressive plimpies?’ in such a solemn voice that harry can’t help but laugh
mcgonagall taking note of the circles under harry’s eyes when he stops by the school and suggesting a visit to the hospital wing before he leaves so madame pomfrey can give him something to help him sleep
hagrid inviting harry over for tea and just letting his boy sit outside in silence, fang’s head on his knee, as hagrid works in his vegetable garden
neville asking harry if it would maybe be okay if he comes along with him to see teddy some time so during the next visit they end up sitting on the floor in andromeda’s lounge on a cloudy afternoon, these three orphans, playing pretend with stuffed animals shaped like wolves and dogs and lions
kingsley kicking harry out of the ministry for the night because ‘for christ’s sake, harry, you’ve been here for twenty-two hours and molly’s owled me TWICE now GO HOME and get some rest or i will personally throw your “chosen” arse over my shoulder and toss you into the floo’
talk to me about people taking care of harry and helping him manage his ptsd
I’m not crying. you’re crying.
But where are the fics, though?
Drawing this was emotionally taxing.
(Thanks you talking-bird-jessie for suggesting this scene from Order of the Phoenix!)
Reblogging because this is beautiful and totally should’ve been in the movie
Why are moments like this not in the movies? :’(
I have this headcanon that after Neville proposed to Hannah Abbott, he went to his parents at St. Mungo’s and sat with them. Even though he was sure she wouldn’t understand or remember, he held his mother’s hands and told her, “I’m getting married, Mum. She’s great. You’ll really like her.” Alice just hummed and stared off into the distance. No reaction. Neville still stayed, telling his parents all about Hannah and their plans, and how she wanted so badly to come meet them and he would bring her next time.
Then, as he put his hand on the door handle to leave, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Alice. She held out her hand as she had done so many times before. Expecting a candy wrapper, Neville held out his hand but felt something heavier drop into it.
When he looked down, there were two rings. And when he glanced to his mother’s hand, there was an indent where her wedding ring had once rested but was no longer there.
OH MY GOD, MY HEARTA