Hello! Im Rereading The Changeling And I Cant Remember For The Life Of Me What Ginny Meant By More Like

Hello! I’m rereading The Changeling and I can’t remember for the life of me what Ginny meant by ‘more like power is the weakling’s ambition’, Antonia’s pride and her own conclusions after that. Could you elaborate please?

She forces herself to tune back in to what Antonia is saying about a letter she just received from her parents. Apparently some wizards came by their bookshop to get her family to pay a “protection fee” in these unsettled times. Common enough in Diagon and Knockturn Alleys these days apparently.

Antonia scoffs. “They didn’t count on my Auntie Victoria.”

Ginny huffs. “Probably were just hoping your family would be too scared to do anything,” she says scathingly.

“Fear is the weakling’s power,” Antonia says, sash drawn dramatically across her chest.

“More like power is the weakling’s ambition,” she counters.

Antonia looks at her in surprise, delicately penciled eyebrow crawling up under her fringe.

“What?” Ginny demands, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze.

Antonia smiles then, a dazzling spread of red lips over perfectly white teeth. “So you’re learning at last.”

Ginny scowls at her, not liking to be spoken to as if an unruly child, even as she knows Antonia has a valid point. Ginny hadn’t understood when she first met Antonia, mistaking ambition for maliciousness, unconventional thought for something as simple as evil. There is no easy corollary to be found between ordinary –normal?—and good. An entire world of nuance and subtlety and extraordinary exists in the spaces between.

She can see that. She just wishes other people could too.

I assume this scene from chapter five is what you are referencing.

Ah, the great foible of Slytherin. Assuming that to be ambitious means to lusting after power. Ginny is at once acknowledging that ambition is much more complex than merely wanting to have power over other people, and also beginning to see how that thirst for power more than anything else is perhaps a sign, ultimately, of weakness. The weak hoping to not be weak, but also a weakness of ambition to see so narrowly.

Remember, this conversation around power started in the previous year in the context of Umbridge and her actions, as ultimately being about trying to have power over all decisions, over Dumbledore and his supposed 'army', and over the whole school--and what that mean and how it landed on the students in really disturbing ways. And in the scene you are talking about above, it's in the context of Harry and his narrow of view of Slytherin and her, and her anger over it. They've just had their big fight over Draco Malfoy that is really more about Ginny thinking Harry isn't capable of seeing nuance when it comes to Slytherin. That maybe all he can see is that they are all after power and therefore are all evil. That there is no difference between ambition and evil. When she knows very well that there is far more grey than that, that the grey is the entire point. Ginny, at this point, does not crave power over people. She never really does. When she does wield power over people, it is merely as a tool, not an end in and of itself. Controlling people itself is never the point. Her ambition is ultimately about being true to herself, to the knowing and accepting of her own strengths and weaknesses both. She just wishes she could be seen for them by others (Harry) too.

Craving power as an end in and of itself is both a weakness in understanding and in a weakness in ambition. True ambition would reach far beyond it.

TW: ABUSE/TRAUMA/STARVATION/FOOD TALK

When I talk about showing realistic consequences of the trauma harry endured in fanfiction I'm not talking about infantilizing him to an extreme degree. I'm tired of seeing that. I want to harry saying fuck you to the dursleys and "if they want to call me a delinquent I'll show them delinquent" I want to see flinching at too fast movements. I want to see food hoarding because of starvation over summer. I want to see fast eating and the covering of plates with arms because harry doesn't know of his foods gonna be taken away. I want to see nightmares. I want to see problem with authority figures. I want to see the distrust of large men because of Vernon. I want to see Harry be abnormally good at things like cooking and gardening for a kid his age. I want to see him obsessively cleaning because dirty equals a beating. I want to see harry being really fast because he was always running away from dudley. I want to see harry resorting to muggle fighting because of fights with dudes and because that's what he grew up with and his first response wouldn't be to whip out his wand. I want to see panic attacks when people raise their voice. I want to see panic attacks in general.

REALISTIC TRAUMA RSSPONSES ARE NEEDED!!

(this is not to say that people don't revert to infantal behaviors in response to trauma. However the degree fanfic authors crank it up to is entirely unrealistic in my opinion. All people with this type of trauma response are valid in my mind ❤️)

Why was Antonia selected to join the Parler? Was she chosen by Theodora?

Antonia was chosen to be Mistress by Theodora, but Theodora wasn’t the one to select her for The Parlor. That was the previous Mistress before her. If that makes sense.

As for why Antonia was selected…she dabbles in many things that are, shall we say, not mainstream in wizarding society. She adheres much closer to the old ways–what some might call pagan–and while she has great respect for the past and comes from a very long family tradition of Parlor women, that doesn’t mean she never struggled against it. Even coming from a family of badass women doesn’t keep someone from struggling with finding their own path, with not always feeling understood. The Parlor gave her space to figure out what she wanted and what she was supposed to want. That even the expected path can still be one that is authentically her own.

We will see more of what Antonia is up to. You know, eventually. Though both of them do show up in the latest chapter.…that I just posted now.

Actual question now. I saw on some answer post, you seemed to be implying that The Parlor was the Room of Requirement the entire time? Am I wrong on this? I think my impression, I guess, in both canon and in the fic, is that the Room of Requirement is solidly located in a specific area of the school, on the seventh floor in Rowling-canon iirc. And I kept imagining The Parlor as being part of the dungeons. Have I missed or misinterpreted something?

Nope. These are two completely different spaces and entities. The seventh floor sounds about right. And The Parlor is pretty much deep down almost under the Black Lake. Are you maybe thinking about the fact that when needed, the two of them created a passageway between them, despite how distant they are from each other? (Also, The Parlor still exists in perfect working order, where I headcanon that the fiendfyre attack in Deathly Hallows pretty much did in the Room of Requirement. And yes, I think of these spaces as somewhat sentient, like Hogwarts itself, and The Parlor absolutely would have cut and run on the Room of Requirement to save itself.)

How did the parlor come to exist? Who would Ginny be by the end of the changeling if it didn’t??

I imagine The Parlor was born out of information, practices, and people being slowly marginalized, maligned, and outlawed. In ancient cultures women’s knowledge might have been valued, but it was also probably also always secret or protected or at least ‘kept to the women’s quarters’ so to speak. But as male knowledge, power, and systems evolved and grew more powerful, women’s knowledge had to go underground--back to the earth from which it came, one might say. Both to protect itself, but also to ensure that it was never lost.

The Parlor is an extension of this vast network, this vestige of beliefs, practices, and knowledges patriarchy says is all better forgotten. And it far predates Hogwarts.

It’s hard to say who Ginny would be by the end of The Changeling without it. She would still be Ginny, she would still be tested, still find strength. I keep thinking of what Antonia said to her in in my head we do everything right when Ginny say she didn’t know who she would be without Antonia and she answers, “You’d be you. Only less interesting.” But something else Ginny might have been, was far more like Snape. Though what kept Ginny from that fate was a combination of The Parlor and the DA. So it’s hard to know. It’s all so thoroughly entwined.

Hinny Alt files? Im going through withdrawals until you post the next chapter and will take any Hinny you can give

Ah ha! Oh, this file. Honestly, you know that this one is? This is the indulgent file where I wrote a ton of alternate scenes for The Changeling and Armistice. Like a bunch of, ‘well, what if Harry and Ginny had gotten together at this point in the story? what would that have looked like?’ What if in the middle of their huge row in the cloister, Harry had given into that urge to just lean over and kiss her? Or, what if in that final scene the night before the trio left for Australia, Harry had just leaned in a little closer and Ginny had thrown all fear aside and kissed him? You know, those kind of things. Here, have one in all it’s half-completed glory. I doubt I’ll ever do anything with these anyway.

To be honest, Ginny still isn’t sure herself why Harry agreed to do this. But watching him with Reiko, the way he looks so comfortable talking about something he clearly loves, it reminds her of the DA. She wonders if maybe Harry is missing it too.

He really is a great teacher. He’s patient and never condescending, and even Reiko seems grudgingly willing to admit that she learned a lot in the short half hour they spend together.

“Thanks, Harry,” Reiko says when they’re done, shaking his hand.

“Sure,” Harry says, smiling at her.

Reiko heads up towards the castle, pausing when Ginny doesn’t immediately follow.

“I’ll catch up with you,” Ginny says, waving her on.

“Sure,” Reiko says, looking between the two of them. “See you later.”

Once Reiko is gone, Ginny turns and smiles at Harry. “That was…really great. Thanks so much for doing this.”

Harry’s staring down at his feet, suddenly looking awkward. “No problem,” he says.

She touches his arm. “Seriously. It means a lot.” On impulse, she leans in and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. She pulls back, giving him an embarrassed smile. “See you later.”

She moves as if to go back up the castle, but his hand on her arm stops her. “Ginny.”

“Yeah?” she asks, turning back to look at him. There’s an expression on his face that inexplicably makes her want to squirm. She forces herself to stand still and wait.

“Hogsmeade,” he blurts.

“What about it?” The first trip is coming up in a few days.

“I thought maybe…”

Ginny leans forward, completely thrown to see Harry quite this flustered. “You thought?”

“You would like to go there. With me.” The words are kind of tumbled together, but she hears them distinctly all the same.

“With you,” she repeats.

He rubs at the back of his head. “Well, uh, yeah.”

“Like…a date?” she asks, just needing to be really clear on exactly what is happening, because her body feels a little funny.

His chin comes up, his shoulders squaring like he’s committing the idea. “Yeah.”

Ginny is so completely thrown by this that she does nothing more than stare at him for a long moment. She can feel her brain stuttering helplessly under the basic thought Harry wants to date me? Harry…likes me?

How has she missed this? How could she possibly have not noticed?

She doesn’t even get to consider her own feelings, because Harry pulls back away from her.

“It’s fine,” he says, giving her a brittle smile. “Forget I asked.”

And then he’s walking away from her.

She considers calling out after him, but honestly has no idea what she would say.

*     *    *

She doesn’t see Harry anywhere the next few days, like he has some secret way of knowing where she is at all times so he can avoid her. It’s disconcerting.

She uses the time to think it all through though, to consider the offer from all angles. To figure out what she would have said if he hadn’t walked off so quickly. It doesn’t take her that long, considering.

And Harry is still nowhere to be found.

Still, strategy has always been one of her strengths, so she settles in to wait.

On Saturday morning, she waits by the gates, stepping out on the path next to Harry as he passes. He nearly stumbles over his feet as he shoots her a comical look of surprise, and she really shouldn’t find that attractive, yet here she is.

“You never let me answer,” she says, as if their conversation has just been picked up after moments rather than days.

“I, uh,” he mumbles, giving Ron and Hermione panicked looks.

Ginny looks at her brother. “Do you think we could have a minute?”

They look at Harry and after a moment, he nods.

They walk off, Ron looking back at the multiple times. Ginny waits until they disappear around the corner.

“Like I said, you never let me answer.”

Harry has recovered himself, looking straight ahead with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. “I think your expression spoke for itself,” he says.

“Did it? What exactly did I look like?”

“Appalled.”

“Probably more like…shocked.”

He glances over at her. “Is that better?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t do well with surprises. It takes me a while to,” she gestures at her head, “work things out.”

He frowns.

“I honestly had no idea you thought about me…that way. I’m just Ron’s annoying little sister.”

“You aren’t annoying,” he says. 

She looks at him, amused by his automatic defense of her. “Really?”

He sighs, starting back down the path. “Well, I’m finding you annoying right now, that’s for sure.”

She jogs to catch up, stepping across him, and he has to stumble to a stop to narrowly avoid running into her.

She smiles at him. “You really are just…” She shakes her head, not really able to put this feeling in her chest into words. She thinks she may want to say adorable, but isn’t sure how he’d take that in his current mood.

He blows out a breath. “I guess it’s too much to hope you’d be kind enough to just forget I ever asked.”

“Don’t be stupid, Harry,” she says. “I’m rarely kind.”

With that, she starts down the path, looking back at him and waiting for him to follow.

They walk the rest of the way to the village in silence.

 …

She basically spends the rest of the day near him, talking with Neville and Luna, submitting herself to confused glances from Ron and something almost a little smug from Hermione.

At the end of the day, he walks her back up to the castle. When they near the gates, she turns to him. “This was fun.”

He still looks like has no idea what the hell just happened.

She thinks Harry is maybe one of those people who only gets it when he’s hit over the head with something. So she decides to kiss him. It’s little more than a brush of her lips against the corner of his mouth because he’s kind of tall and hard to reach.

He lets out a small sound of surprise, but she’s pulling back before he can react. He looks stunned, but also pleased, his hand lifting to touch where she kissed him.

“Yes, by the way,” she says back over her shoulder as she walks away.

“What?” he calls after her.

“My answer. It was yes.”

Smiling to herself, she heads back into the castle.