hphmmatthewluther

[hphmmatthewluther]

yeah

[hphmmatthewluther]

Thanks for the ask, O wonderful soup fairy!

For Matthew, there is only really one person it could be.

"There's a reason I keep calling Helena Ravenclaw "mum", you know. And maybe a few other people too. It's because, quite frankly, I'd have been so much better off if that was the case. If anyone's ever wondered why I'm..."Like This"..." he says, gesturing to himself, "It's because of her. Not wanting anything to do with me wasn't too bad, considering I still had Dad and JJ, but then she couldn't even allow that...let's just say this is why I don't like the spell Obliviate. I dunno, maybe I'm being oversensitive...or maybe all that stuff, not seeming to care when JJ went missing, letting us struggle in that small flat in London whilst she lived in a mansion...well, maybe that's it in a nutshell. Lucia Doherty doesn't want to even try to be my mother, and now...now I've realised I don't need to try to be her son. I've got Helena now, and I can be happy. I'd like for her to be happy too, but it's not my responsibility. She made that clear a long time ago."

#worldbuilding wednesday #wbw #matthew luther

[hphmmatthewluther]

An absolutely amazing essay on these wonderful creatures!! No wonder Charlie's obsessed with them. Frankly, anyone living in a world with dragons in them would probably be at least a teeny bit obsessed. I probably wouldn't be able to shut up about dragons either.

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! As you've written a fair bit about Charlie, I'm sure you've thought a lot about dragons by proxy. Are there any headcanons/ideas you have about dragons in your world (that Charlie is likely to talk about at length to people)? - @hphmmatthewluther

Well, look who is here asking me about things that I love to talk about. Dragons? Yes please. Charlie Weasley? Even more yes please.

So, I had a good think about dragons when it came to Learning to Fly. I’m a stickler to canon, so I knew I wanted them to be completely wild animals, but I needed to have Norbert(a) able to interact with Charlie. So, I based my “characterisation” of dragons on a few things, some of which made it into the story, some of which remained unpublished.

Until now.

I’m so sorry, you hit my nerdy/hyperfocus spot. This is such an essay of a response. I’m leaning into it with picture examples and everything…

Anatomy/Physiology

Firstly, I used birds as an inspiration. This is an obvious one, sort of. Generally, you have two different dragon appearances in recent western fantasy: either they have four legs plus a pair of wings or their wings are their front limbs. In the Harry Potter films, they use the latter. It’s less cute, but makes more sense in terms of them actually being able to fly.

All the terms I used to describe Norbert(a)’s body parts were anatomical terms for these body parts in birds, e.g. the keel. The keel is the breastbone, and in birds the muscles used for flight all attach here in order to keep the centre of gravity low on the body for flight. There are tendons that then extend up through a loop of bone and act as pulleys for their wings, the bones of which are actually very similar to our own arms, if you look closely.

As well as their flight mechanisms, birds have a bellows system of air sacs that I wanted to borrow for my dragons. Birds use these for respiration (think about oxygen at high altitudes during flight), but for my dragons, they have another purpose. Because, what else needs oxygen? What is it that dragons are most famous for? What is responsible for those burns on Charlie’s arms?

Fire.

I am not much of a reptile expert, so I didn’t take much in the way of inspiration from reptiles when writing about my dragons. I do, however, have the headcanon that, like all reptiles, dragons are cold-blooded. Most physiological adaptations have more than one purpose, and so, my dragons don’t just use fire for hunting and defence purposes — they use it to keep themselves warm. They produce the flames in their thorax, where there is a good oxygen supply and the blood can be warmed easily due the proximity to the heart, and the muscles and thick bone of the keel are able to protect it.

Behaviour

I used more elements of dog behaviour when writing Learning to Fly than anything else, for the simple reason that it is the animal body language I understand best and that I thought most readers would understand best. However, I would argue that dragons are far more like cat species than dogs in regard to their behaviour, so I included some cat-like tendencies as well.

Dogs are social creatures, and most of their behaviours have evolved in order to maintain order within a pack. They hunt in packs, roam in packs, raise offspring in packs. Other than lions, cats are usually solitary creatures, only joining together as adults to mate. There are exceptions, of course, but this is usually the rule. The same goes for dragons, from what we see in canon. Therefore, their behaviour will largely be based on avoiding conflict in order to avoid injury to themselves, and on solitary hunting. I did put this in with Norbert(a) — in one of the final chapters, she engages in play behaviour by mimicking hunting, like a cat.

I also took a lot of inspiration from orcas, mainly in respect to the ethical arguments surrounding their captivity. If you haven’t seen Blackfish, you should definitely do so. I headcanon dragons to be immensely powerful and intelligent beings with wide roaming ranges, who do not cope well in captivity. In canon, it is known that dragons are too dangerous to keep as pets, and judging by the treatment of the Gringotts dragon, the ones that are kept in captivity do not lead happy and fulfilled lives.

I have written several times that dragons kept in captivity suffer from severe impairments to their physical and emotional health, to the point that they have reduced length of life as well as quality of life compared to their wild counterparts. Most of that has been in the form of dialogue from Charlie.

Three guesses what is the thing he really won’t shut up about…

#charlie weasley #dragonology

[hphmmatthewluther]

Not Alone At Last

A/N: I’ll admit, I’ve gone a little off the rails from the original prompt @drinkyoursoupbitch gave me.

However, the idea it sparked was too much fun to not run with it. So, here we are again. Also, I’ve missed Rowan. Haven’t we all?

Warnings: potentially triggering for mothers of toddlers prone to tantrums…

The Khanna family tended to keep themselves to themselves. It wasn’t often that they ventured far from their farm, let alone as far as London. Every time that they did, Rowan Khanna was struck by how different the city felt from the countryside. She was used to peace and quiet, to rolling green fields, acres of trees, to birdsong echoing in the otherwise silent air.

Diagon Alley was not quiet or peaceful at all. It was always busy and bustling, filled with noise and colour and people. Today, it was busier than Rowan had ever seen it; it was not just bustling, it was heaving. To think, she had been looking forward to coming and buying all her school supplies. Now, several hours into shopping, she couldn’t wait to go home, back to her solitary comfort zone.

It seemed like she wasn’t the only one. Her two younger siblings had also grown tired of the whole experience. Baby Ela had been grizzling for the past hour, and little Ashok was well past the point of being bribed with the prospect of an ice cream from Florian Fortescue’s. When they both started to cry simultaneously in Potage’s Cauldron Shop, even Rowan’s mother looked like she might join in with their collective chorus of tears.

“How much do we have left to do?” she asked Rowan, balancing Ela on her hip and bouncing her gently in one arm, whilst running the fingers of her other hand through Ashok’s hair. Neither of them was soothed by these gestures.

Rowan pulled out the list of school supplies. “There isn’t much more we need. Just my uniform and the books.” She tried not to look disappointed as she realised that they would have to rush their visit to the bookshop, the thing she had most been looking forward to. “It shouldn’t take too long.”

“No, you’re right. Right.”

Mrs Khanna nodded decisively, and put baby Ela back into her pram. Ela immediately redoubled her efforts at screaming, and Ashok, apparently encouraged by his younger sister, threw himself down onto the ground and started to thrash with all four of his limbs. Rowan’s mother closed her eyes and sighed loudly, deeply.

More than ever, Rowan wished that she was in her bedroom with Fuzzclaw the cat and her books. She could hardly bear to look at her mother and two siblings, and yet, she felt as if everyone else in the shop was looking at them. She took a moment to glance over her shoulder at the other customers, hoping that none of them were too annoyed by the scene her family was making.

Her eye was caught by a girl waiting in the queue to buy a school-regulation pewter cauldron. The girl must have been around the same age as Rowan, to have been buying school equipment, but she looked younger. She was tiny, far shorter than Rowan, and skinny, too, but she did not look at all intimidated by the size of the crowd around her. She was wearing Muggle trousers that were too big for her and a t-shirt that was too small for her, and she fidgeted incessantly as she waited for her turn to approach the shopkeeper. With her scrawny frame, her tangled hair, and her wide eyes, she had a wild, rangey sort of look that reminded Rowan of one of J.M. Barrie’s Lost Boys, or Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli.

But, it wasn’t the girl’s scruffy appearance or her similarity to any beloved book character that had drawn Rowan’s attention. The reason she had noticed this particular girl in the crowd was due to one thing, and one thing only: the girl was alone.

Rowan was used to being alone, she spent most of her time alone, and yet she had never considered that she might be able to go to Diagon Alley without anyone else. But, if the girl in the queue could do it, why couldn’t she?

“Maybe you should take Ashok and Ela home, Mum,” she said. “I can get the rest and Floo back after.”

Her mother blinked. “And leave you here all by yourself?” She did not look convinced.

“I’ll be going to school all by myself in a few weeks,” Rowan reasoned. “I’m sure that I’ll be able to manage getting some uniform and going into a bookshop without any help.”

“It’s not help you need in a bookshop, sweetpea, it’s supervision. Especially with my Galleons.”

Even Rowan had to admit that her mother had a point. She felt her cheeks grow slightly warm at the truth in her words. Mrs Khanna still looked dubious, but more of the other customers were now looking at the still-screaming Ashok and Ela, and that was probably why she agreed to Rowan’s idea. With Rowan’s shopping bags loaded on the back of Ela’s pram, and the rest of the shopping money safely hidden in Rowan’s pocket, Mrs Khanna left with her two youngest children.

And, just like that, Rowan was alone.

Rowan had always enjoyed her own company. She had spent most of her childhood as an only child, living in the countryside with only her parents and her cat. She had never had any real friends of her own, only the characters from her books. And she hadn’t minded that one bit.

Still, it was different to be alone and friendless in one’s own room than it was to be alone and friendless in the real world. It was for that reason that Rowan went to Flourish and Blotts before anywhere else. Nothing that bad could result from spending time surrounded by books.

Flourish and Blotts was the biggest bookshop that Rowan had ever seen, far bigger than the largest bookshop in Bales-On-Wye. There were several levels, with balconies overlooking the main shop floor and bookshelves that extended all the way up into the rafters. It would have been heavenly, were it not for the crowds. Unfortunately, the sheer number of people filling the space with their bodies and their noise made it more stressful than any bookshop should have been.

But, of course, Rowan was alone. That meant that she could do whatever she wanted. So, she slipped into a corner of the bookshop that was empty, tucked away behind a stack of acid green books bearing the title: Cursed By Name, Cursed By Nature. Hidden amongst the shelves, she sat down on the floor, reached into her pocket and took out her own book, the one she had been reading for the past few days, and was already over halfway through.

She didn’t know how long she had been reading for, but by the time she was nearly at the end of her chapter, she became aware that she was no longer alone. Someone else had joined her in her not-so-secret hiding place. Rowan recognised the newcomer almost immediately; it was the fidgety, feral-looking girl who had been standing in the queue at the cauldron shop. However, the girl no longer looked so indomitably independent as she had when Rowan had spotted her earlier.

The girl was flicking through one of the lurid green books, her lips silently mouthing words as she read, and her eyebrows furrowing deeper with each page. After a few minutes, she slammed the book closed with such force that dust billowed into the air above it, and screwed her eyes closed as if she were in pain.

Rowan eyed her cautiously. She had always been shy - or she had presumed herself to be shy, as she had never had much opportunity to tell if she was shy or not - but the girl was clearly distressed. And, she was alone. If Rowan didn’t offer her some help, who would?

“Are you okay?” Rowan asked. Her voice came out quieter than she had thought it would, but the girl must have heard her, because she opened her eyes. She looked surprised at the sight of Rowan looking at her, as if she wouldn’t have thought anyone would notice her being there.

“I’m…” The girl paused. “I think I am. Yeah.”

She may have thought that she was okay, but she did not look okay. She was still frowning, and her hands trembled slightly. Rowan tilted her head to one side.

“It’s so busy and noisy, isn’t it? I had to come and get some quiet, too. Are you here by yourself?”

Rowan knew that the girl was there by herself, but she hadn’t answered any of her other questions, and she didn’t know what else to ask. At least this got a response. The girl nodded, so quickly it was almost like she was twitching.

“Yeah, my mum hates crowds. I thought I’d be fine buying everything by myself, but…”

The girl’s voice tailed off, and she looked down at her feet, the toes of which could be seen wriggling against the ends of her trainers. Even with her eyes cast downwards, Rowan could see the colours in them. They were hazel, with mingled shades of olive and brown, like the bark and moss of the trees at home, and a distinct ring of green around the pupil, like a cat. Rowan had always felt at ease in her family’s orchards, and she had always adored cats. She couldn’t help but like this girl, as unforthcoming as she was. She couldn’t help but feel that this girl might just be the friend she had never had, the friend that she hadn’t even known that she wanted until this very moment.

“I’ve just finished this chapter,” Rowan told the girl. “I could help you pick out your books, if you like. And I’ve still got my robes to buy, if you wanted to do that together, too? I’m guessing your a first year like me.”

It was nerve-wracking, trying to get someone to be your friend. Rowan wasn’t sure she was doing it right. But then, the girl smiled. She had a nice smile, friendly and somehow full of mischief.

“I am. And I would,” she said. “Thanks.”

Rowan smiled back at her, before realising that she hadn’t even told the girl her name yet.

“I’m Rowan, by the way. Rowan Khanna.”

“I’m Artemis. Artemis Hexley.”

Should Rowan shake her hand? Probably not. She rose to her feet, and Artemis rose to meet her. They stood facing one another, each matching the other’s postures as if they were in a mirror, as if they were friends already.

And, just like that, Rowan was no longer alone.

#awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[hphmmatthewluther]

Yay soup day!

OH SHIT

Is it World Building Wednesday already??

#worldbuilding wednesday #wbw

[hphmmatthewluther]

times during last night's Game Changer that Siobhan Thompson changed the game and my brain chemistry

[hphmmatthewluther]

its rude to reblog things from people you arent mutuals with fyi. :/

💀 my brother in christopher

[hphmmatthewluther]

Tears of the something or other idfk

[hphmmatthewluther]

i’m going to kdxjdhdjhddjjdhs

[hphmmatthewluther]

[hphmmatthewluther]

Hello, lovelies!

I am aware that I haven't done an AW in January as usual, but due to some personal stuff, I have postponed doing it till now. But fear not, your yearly AW is back!

And this time, our youngest generation will take the lead! As usual, you don't have to participate every day, and anyone with a next gen OC (1999-2010) is welcome!

Prompts:

Day One: Favourite OC of mine – Tell me about your fave (or faves!) and why they're your fave!

Day Two: Favourite OC that isn't mine – Tell me about the OC or OCs that you don't own that you love and why!

Day Three: Favourite ship of mine – A ship or ships that you love and why!

Day Four: Favourite ship that isn't mine – Ship or ships that you love that aren't yours and why!

Day Five: Beach Day AU- Make up a mini AU of your characters on the beach! What kind of person are they? Do they go early, or late? Are they a sea lover? Are they afraid of any kind of algae...or seagulls? Tell me all about it!

Reminder to tag me in all of your creations and tag them with the #hpnextgenaw tag!!

See you in May! Don't forget to schedule your posts if you want to take part but can't due to irl stuff!

Tagging: @gaygryffindorgal @cursebreakerfarrier @legilimenace @cursedvaultss @hphmmatthewluther @camillejeaneshphm @that-scouse-wizard @potionboy3 @lifeofkaze @the-al-chemist @whatwouldvalerydo @cursed-herbalist @nicos-oc-hell

#ooo very cool! #hp next gen

[hphmmatthewluther]

being a fan of a friend's ocs is actually so humiliating....... like yes my favourite character rn is tragically doomed and a pillar of humanity who i think is relevant to the current world. you can find information about them on discord dot com and sometimes in late-night conversations with this guy i know. what the fuck

[hphmmatthewluther]

[hphmmatthewluther]

❄️Fluer, Ice Princess, Seed of Grief❄️

[hphmmatthewluther]

Indeed, it IS soup day

Thanks for the ask, O wonderful soup fairy!

With Matthew, his physicality is very much part of who he is, and often expresses more of what he's feeling than what he says (being a generally anxious person, he often struggles to voice his innermost thoughts). Being quite tall at 6'1, Matthew is incredibly aware of his body and how clumsily his limbs can be. As a result, he tends to keep his arms held close to his body and hands together as he moves, which has the side effect of making him very quiet (he has made people jump by announcing his presence more times than he can count)

Despite all of these quirks and his generally lanky body structure, Matthew is in fact still quite athletic. His long legs help him run fairly quickly, and is also fairly agile too. His most impressive quality, however, is his stamina, which is very high. This can be seen in his dueling, where he is incredibly good at simply outlasting his opponent (a very famous incident was where he took a Flipendo to the chest and stayed standing.)

In his later years post-hogwarts, Matt does end up gaining some muscle mass, but is still always quite slim, and continues to seemingly appear out of nowhere in front of people, though perhaps now he's confident enough to do it on purpose from time to time.

#worldbuilding wednesday #wbwb #matthew luther #hphm

[hphmmatthewluther]

soup day!!!! 🍲🍲🍲🍲

WORLDBUILDING TIME!

#wbw #Worldbuilding Wednesday

[hphmmatthewluther]

i have midterms tomorrow and here i am