A Conspiracy Of Ravens - Tumblr Posts
A Conspiracy of Ravens
QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE.
Just five months after his mother Lily's mysterious death, Harry Potter's father remarries.
Harry does not like Bellatrix Black, or her son from a previous affair, Tom Riddle.
When Harry discovers Bellatrix's secrets and incites her jealousy, there will be consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind.
And everyone wants vengeance.
'Bella' is a woman in expensive black robes that hug her body like a pair of too-tight gloves, vintage or perhaps even ancient jewelry, who stands nearly as tall as James with thick, shiny black hair, cheekbones that could cut glass, hooded eyes like some kind of predatory bird, long eyelashes that remind Harry of spiders, and a thin mouth.
Also known as Bellatrix Black, Sirius's least favorite cousin — desperately rich, devastatingly beautiful, and dazzlingly short-tempered. Her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, lasted about two years of unhappy arranged marriage until he died in a sporting accident on Halloween 1978. After a lengthy autopsy, it was ruled that there had been no foul play. Bellatrix famously turned up to his funeral late, two months pregnant and dressed to the nines, with a handsome man who looked completely out of it (no one's seen him since).
Rodolphus's brother, Rabastan, offered to marry her to 'save her shame,' but she refused, and left the country. Gossip says she's been in Northern Europe lately; she's been seen with the headmaster of Durmstrang.
So what is she doing here?
Harry counts. Seven months after the funeral puts her due date sometime in January 1979; which means the kid, if she kept it, is Harry's age now. Hogwarts age.
He looks at Bellatrix, and Bellatrix, impassive, looks back at him.
Sirius says he used to call her 'Smelly Belly' when they were kids, but that seems ludicrous now.
She's scary. It's a rotten surprise — more like a jump scare.
A black widow spider, that's what she reminds Harry of. Spinning, spinning her web and ensnaring her prey, until she decides to eat them.
Gross.
She makes Aunt Petunia look like a saint.
People often dismiss Bellatrix as 'crazy,' but Harry knows better than that.
There is a kid behind her, too. Probably spoiled and mean, like Dudley. Harry catches a flash of slicked-back hair the same raven-wing colour as Bellatrix's.
Still, he can't help but be curious. No one's ever seen Bellatrix's child before.
He glances back at the smaller pair of shoes: maybe a bit larger than his, high quality dragonhide and painted lustrous black.
"Harry," says James, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Bella is going to be your stepmother."
His what?
I posted it? I can’t believe I posted it?
Well, I was in that kind of mood. Happy early spooky season.
A Conspiracy of Ravens
QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE.
Just five months after his mother Lily's mysterious death, Harry Potter's father remarries.
Harry does not like Bellatrix Black, or her son from a previous affair, Tom Riddle.
When Harry discovers Bellatrix's secrets and incites her jealousy, there will be consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind.
And everyone wants vengeance.
[excerpt] a conspiracy of ravens, chapter 2
Harry cranes his neck to see around them as he slowly and deliberately shreds his copy of the wedding program into uneven bits of card paper.
No Nagini. There is only room for one viper in the wedding, after all. And even Bellatrix has sense to know pets are strictly uninvited to society functions.
He'll be grateful for small mercies.
Sirius's lip curls as he follows Harry's gaze, from his younger brother to his... nephew? Intriguingly, the similarity of their colouring (black hair, pale skin) makes Tom look even less like a Black and more, Harry assumes, like the Muggle father he's named for. Bellatrix must hate that... in fact, Harry's surprised that she would sully her pureblood line with a half-blood child (much less not stifle it with a pillow the moment its lungs meet air).
So Tom Riddle must not be a mistake. He must be a weapon.
"Hello, Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus, Uncle Peter... Harry," says Tom, all poison and sugar, just like his mother.
"Hello, Tom," they all mutter.
Regulus turns to Remus, his favourite accessory (a sardonic smirk) plastered to his face as he asks the other man to pass him a small glass of firewhiskey, emphasizing the fact that he doesn't usually drink. Peter shoots him a glare in solidarity, and Harry does, too.
"So pleased James is getting married again," says Regulus, just as slimy and oily and utterly greasy as Harry remembers him as he tucks a stray hair into his jaunty, curly ponytail. "It's not good for a boy to grow up without a mother. You see, you didn't listen to yours, Sirius, and that's why—"
"—Stuff it, Reg," Remus interrupts tiredly, massaging his scarred temples. "No one's interested in your quasi-intellectual philosophizing, and I'm too sober to put up with your whingeing."
Regulus turns pink from his chin to his hairline, and Harry stifles his laugh.
Chapter 2 now at AO3!
The prefects make the first years do a round of introductions after Dumbledore's speech. Most of them are from the noxious end of the pureblood crowd that Harry already knows and loathes — Draco, Pansy, Daphne, Millicent, Blaise, and Theodore — with a few other half-bloods sprinkled in.
"What's a Riddle?" sneers Pansy when they get to Tom, and Harry says nothing, instead watching gleefully for the ensuing meltdown.
"I am a Black on my mother's side," says Tom imperiously in the most grown-up tone he can manage — clearly, Harry thinks, he's doing much too much. "I suggest you refrain from making such absurd comments."
A Conspiracy of Ravens
QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE.
Just five months after his mother Lily's mysterious death, Harry Potter's father remarries.
Harry does not like Bellatrix Black, or her son from a previous affair, Tom Riddle.
When Harry discovers Bellatrix's secrets and incites her jealousy, there will be consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind.
And everyone wants vengeance.
I finished the chapter outline for A Common Adversary (of course with the full knowledge that I will then proceed to diverge wildly from it). At least, now the actual writing of a new chapter backlog can begin.
So far, here is the tentative chapter list (also of course highly subject to change):
1. The Broken Seal (????-??-??)
2. All Quiet On The Front (????-??-??)
3. Blood In The Water (????-??-??)
4. Training Day (????-??-??)
5. Skyfall (????-??-??)
6. No Dark Mark, No Crime (????-??-??)
7. The Wicked Knife (????-??-??)
8. En Passant (????-??-??)
9. The Pen is Mightier (????-??-??)
10. Parry, Feint, Castle (????-??-??)
11. Synthesis (????-??-??)
12. Darkest Depths (????-??-??)
13. A Matter of Gravity (????-??-??)
14. Puzzle Pieces (????-??-???)
15. Fractured Fantasy (????-??-??)
16. Shadow Play (????-??-??)
17. In It For the Long Haul (????-??-??)
I've started outlining the Sorting Swap AU (currently titled The Butterfly Flaps). So far I've got the timeline of up to 1947, but not 100% how to choreograph the actual war. Dumbledore has much fewer strategic flaws than Voldemort, so it's hard to figure out what weakness resistance cells could exploit if he became a Dark Lord. Overplanning/over strategizing himself into a metaphorical hole or Gellert Grindelwald are the only obvious ones I can think of.
And of course I need to finish A Conspiracy of Ravens at some point.
so many planned/unfinished fandom projects not enough time