Hey there listener Fancy seeing you here. Look, sometimes due to the things we discuss on the pod, it might contain potentially triggering content. But the good news is you can always review the episode description for a full list of the warnings applicable to this episode. Oh, and just so you know, this episode is rated are really filthy. It includes adult themes and explicit content. So if you're an adult, buckle up, Gird your loins and prepare to flood the basement because we are going down with these chips ship space, let's go to ship don't care if I get my bearings. Well, then you can get those bricks. This is my own TV
Welcome back to Care of Magical shippers podcast Harry Potter ship culture podcast. I am Meg's. And unfortunately our dear Nathan is sick at the moment with no voice so he wasn't about to put you through a you know voice where it's very difficult to hear him talk and very difficult for him to talk. So it was a fun time for us to reach out to a couple of people, like in our Discord that loved obviously have their own chips that they love to talk about. And I knew we wanted to do a femslash. And because Nathan and I in particular aren't really in the like marauders fandom outside of like, obviously I'm like, oh, yeah, Snape centric stuff for me. And then Wolfstar for Nathan, we knew that there's other fun characters in the marauders fandom that we haven't touched on. And so I wanted to get some quote unquote, experts, or at least people that hang out. Marauders Phantom, more so than we do, which is not hard. So I'm excited to have two guests with me today. First, we have Tessa.
Hi. Sorry, I have no idea how this works. This fun,
or it's time for everybody. So it's my God.
Yes. Hi. I mean, honestly, the majority of what I do in fandom is just marauders and specifically routers, femslash a very little amount that's out there. It's I love it. So this is gonna be very exciting. Yay.
It's gonna be great. And then we have tam also with us.
Hello. Thanks for having me. Yeah, yeah. So I really got into the more fandom during the 2020 blockchain and I started writing a lot of fanfiction and that's kind of Wolfstar but then I also got into Jolene. And yeah, am I okay to plug my podcast is? Yes, absolutely. So I also have a podcast you probably won't be able to tell from how rubbish I'm going to be on this one. It's called Pop gaze, the tam tam. Sadly, it's not Harry Potter, but we do all sorts of pop culture. The most recent one we did was I flag it means death, which I watched with my Boomer mom. And she absolutely well, I won't spoil it. Just listen.
Yeah, that's great. It's always fun to to get into. I mean, plenty of us are into other phantoms too. I mean, obviously, Harry Potter is a big one for us. But it's always fun to explore the other other guys too. And yeah, our flag means death is is a popular one for sure. Absolutely. And has been for since it came out. So it's that's that that should be a fun one to check out. For sure. So as you said, and obviously you'll know from the episode title, we're going to be doing dark, dark, dark, Darlene. Oh, no, I'm like I'm like dark, dark. No. Now I can't say okay, tell us what we're doing. Well, I
don't know about you guys. But you know that Dolly Parton song Jolene? Whenever I hear Tourmaline I always think you know, don't lean. Oh
my gosh, I love that. That's great. Okay, so maybe that'll help or it won't at all because it reminds me of what when we were reading I think it was the Valentine's episode where we did a bunch of different like little fics and one of them was the Gilderoy Lockhart and toolani and instead of me doing what is like I like I don't even remember what we decided the ship name was but I was doing Grendel Lonnie like Grendel vault instead of like Gilderoy and I did that the whole time and like, that's the wrong ship name completely. And I didn't catch it until like editing and I'm like, What are you doing? Oh, all right. So door lean. So lean. Yes, so that's Dorcas meadows, and then Marlene MacKinnon, which tam has said that you're a big fan of the McKinnon's, right?
Yeah, I am a huge fan of the MacKinnon family. I've gotten to your show at night to one of my, my co writer, the co founder of my alternative version of the McKinnon family, her name is Mei. And we gave birth to this family together. So I don't know if you want me to go into too much detail about them. But we are hardcore obsessed with them. And the most important thing for for us is that I've read a lot of sort of MacKinnon centric fics, but most of them seem to be with Marlene as the main character, whereas I view them all as the main characters. So it's a proper family, they've all got different things, and they're all on they've all got different sexualities as well. So the dad is bisexual, the mom is heterosexual, then you've got the oldest brother, he's a Quidditch champion, he's heterosexual, then you've got the pansexual hustle path, second brother, then you've got the next brother, who's in this storage relationship with a Death Eater. They've been dating since they were 12. And they can't get out of this. And then obviously, you have Marlene, who is the lesbian of the family. So we've got lesbians, gays, pansexual as bisexuals straight people as well, they're in close.
And that's kind of like what goes into this, especially with marauders fandom, and some of the people that are just names to us. Like we literally had a named dropped in very small situations or even weren't even in necessarily the texts themselves, but random Pottermore posts and things like that, like, Oh, who's this random person that apparently was either part of the order or was a Death Eater or things like that. So it's, but it gives more opportunity to play around with these characters, because we have very little or nothing to go on, besides literally the the name. So that's where it's really fun. Like you're building an entire family. Like there's nothing else out there that could tell you that you're wrong, as far as I'm concerned. Hey, you just met. So then Tessa, what, whether Marlene or Dorcas like what got you into investigating them as characters and got you interested in them?
I think both separately, I used to do a lot of Tumblr in the roleplay where people would just like pick up one or two characters as an account to roleplay with and then just they had this whole very extensive backstories for them because it was only the one character they were writing and then you just played around with all of it. So it's a lot of things that I remember existing from accounts that have very long ago been deleted. I can't find a back. It's just this that collects in your head after a while, but I'm specifically I love Dorcas most like I write her a lot with like different characters to Marlene. I really only write in relation to either Dorcas or Narcissa I do everything about nurses.
I know I know. Yeah. Tessa. Tessa Tessa is there.
I love her. But also Dorcas specifically, because I for Dorcas again, she like she is one of those characters you know nothing about except for she was in the order and then she died. And she died specifically because Voldemort killed her personally. Like, that's the one little thing that you know.
So see you did something really badass obvious. Yeah,
that just gets you wondering why was she special enough to be killed personally, as opposed to everyone else who just kind of died in the ranks happily
that yeah, you know.
And I think the main things I write with her are very specifically like she's a pureblood. She's She just slid around with like, the kind of pure blood that like James Potter would be. You know, that's kind of like their pure Bloods. But they're not Death Eaters, and they don't stand for all of that. Right purity bullshit. That's not their style.
They just happen to like accidental pure Bloods, though not really accidental, but just happen to be it's not what they lead with. It's just a fact sort of thing. Yeah.
But then, like, she's a slitter in. And so then it's just this like, complicated thing. Where all of your friends in high school turn out to be horrible people that you end up fighting in a war. Yeah. And just this very complicated time in school when you're kind of growing up realizing how the world is going to work when you get out and trying to make good choices in that while everything feels like it's kind of going to hell
Yeah. Oh, that's
pretty interesting to explore with her.
Yeah. So then what about Dorcas then? Specifically, I guess, in school or anything like that, um,
I tend to write her with. I mean, for for convenience sake, I just put her in our in Narcissus year because I like shipping her which Narcissa. Obviously, that's just, but then I give her Emmeline fans and Kingsley's checkerboard for like a small little group of friends. Oh, that's fine.
Okay, I love the idea of Kingsley and
Emmeline fans is also one of those very small characters, I think we see her in this book for a very brief time. And then in the next book, we hear that she died in the meantime, it's very sad. But she felt in both orders, and I tend to then headcanon her as like this helpless litterin. Again, it's just easy to get characters together in the same house. It's, it makes for a fun story. Yeah, who kind of while Dorcas is trying to figure out how the world's going to work and like what she's supposed to do, because she is in a position where theoretically, after her awkward, she could just kind of settle down and ignore that the war is happening. Because she is pureblood, she can do that. And I think for a little while, she does consider that because it's the safest thing to do. She has to throw herself in the frontlines of war. And obviously, she does end up doing that. And I think Emily is kind of the person who not really gets her to do that, but gets her to really think about the consequences of trying to set up the war. Like what it means to have some of her friends and the people that her friends really care about fighting and risking their lives constantly, where she just sits back and lets it happen. And that kind of choice. And then I mean, then she dies and I like to see Emily dealing with the guilt inspires her to do that. Pain in this
pain in the past and everything you sound like me it's like the nape and you'd be like, Okay, now tell me something fluffy. Bring me out of the depths. Yeah, that's the joy
of the marauders era. Everything hurts because the only thing you know about most of these characters is how they die. Yes, absolutely. Like everything you come up with for them is just, okay, this happens. And eventually she's going to die in war. No matter what you do, that's gonna happen. I just love the pain about that.
Oh, I was just gonna say I actually think that's where for me the pleasure is because you can get dark comedy from it. I mean, the scene that actually introduced us to Miley and Dorcas in the books, I think is one of the best dark comments, things that I've ever read. Which is you've got obviously, oh, who is it? No. It's Oh, I forgotten his name. The aura who got replaced? Helped me. Oh, yeah, he showed him the feature. Yeah, yeah. So Alastair moody shows Harry, the photograph, basically goes through each person. And it's like, wow, that one they only they only ever find enough of him to put in a matchbox and sent home and it gets darker, and darker. And more, like hilarious. It goes on. And I think me personally, I don't know about you, tassa. But that's what I enjoy about this particular era. Because you can see it in as you write, you can see it in this sort of dark jokes, that eventually the reader knows that they will pay off later down the line. But the characters are kind of live in their lives like us with no expectation of what's going to happen to them. So I think that's where you can have a lot of fun with this. And it can be quite funny. It can be very sad at the same time, but it can be really black comic. Yeah, hilarious. Yes.
Because you really like even if you just write like a fluffy one shot, everyone is going to read it in the context of you know that in a few months, both of them are going to be dead. Yeah. Very sweet. Otherwise, that can context Yeah, always gonna be there. So much fun to play with.
And it gives it more meaning. Yeah, it gives it so much more meaning. Yeah.
So then as far as like, I mean, I, as I've looked into things, and I think like you guys said, and some other people have said, a lot of times there isn't too much content that's like, d'Orleans centric. It's usually kind of like in it like with Wolfstar Like Wolfstar is obviously super popular. And then with Wolfstar, they have to write in all the other characters, you know, in the background and things like that. But as far as like Dorlin count content goes, is it like, I'm an obviously it's marauders era, but it's is it primarily like in school settings or during the war settings are what sorts of like what's the most common theme as far as like place in time that their, you know, relationships or stories happen?
I would say it's just the same sort of mix that you get with Wolfstar. So you get a lot of a you get some a US not as many a US as you would expect. But the bulk is really set within the Maharajah theory in the 1970s. Myself, I wrote both marauders here and then I also got a Dorian centric AU, where I Dorcas is asexual and Marlene is a lesbian. So yeah. But yeah, sadly, like you highlighted there isn't as much femslash. And there's Yeah, I think Jordan is probably representing the femslash outside of I mean, the big ones, like Hermione and things like that. But yeah, from overall just it's kind of only really Darlene.
Yeah, Hermione definitely carries the marauders like somehow she ends up there, and she dates all the women in the
play. Hermione can be paired with anyone, and you can make it.
To be fair, it's like we're given so few female characters, which is the travesty. So it's like, even as we were building our femslash list of like, we need to ask other people because right now we're like Hermione with a Hermione would be like, a different one. And now we're back to Hermione again, especially when we ask people who their favorites are. It's like, I love Hermione and lavender, like cool, that's fair, but it's still Hermione. Or like, yes. We've accepted that, you know, just like we come back to other characters that we're shipping with, you know, other people. It's, it is what it is, it's what's out there. It's what people like, so we're happy to provide that. So, but yeah, so that's what's interesting, where, because I think there's plenty of things especially with some like fandom stuff. We don't necessarily get it from fanfiction, kind of like Tessa said, like you experienced obviously, through blogs and role plays and you know, random stuff to like build characters. There's meta backgrounds and things like that, like, even if you haven't, it doesn't exist yet, which of course, we can talk about it here. And then hey, listeners go right that fanfic? Or if it exists, hey, let us know because we didn't know. But yeah, so this is this. It's it. Like, once again, like circling back to when you have nothing to go on. It's so fun. I'm glad I have both of you here. Because then it's like, this is what I did with my mind or the people that I interacted with, and how we built these stories and, and meta behind these characters. And that's, that's so interesting, because even still, to me, like looking into stuff, I'm like, I still have no idea who these characters are behind, you know, besides names and like you said, like that they you know, die. And I'm definitely super curious as far as well, Tam, like you brought up the whole like Marlene being killed personally, like, what what's your headcanon? About why that happened? Yeah. Oh, what's it? Darkest was that was?
That was okay. Okay, so I've got my head turning around your cars. But then I really like test this. So I'm going to do my head turn around. Because I see love testers. And like you said, that's what's so cool about this, we can all have our own heads, because they are so they're just today when a paid exam. So my drawer class I primarily write in the 1970s era. And for her, I made her a person of color. So she is black. And she's also Muggle born. And part of the thing that I wanted to look at was actually immigration to the United Kingdom, with things like the Wind Rush. And so for Dorcas, there's not only racism that she faces in the Muggle world, but then she goes into the, you know, magical world. And what she faces there is nobody really cares about her skin color or sexuality, because in my version, skin color, sexuality, things that they don't care about, all they care about is how long have you been a witch? And how long is your family, which always looks? It's all about because I thought when you were creating it, for me, it kind of didn't make sense if they followed the same lines that we have as, as non magical people if they had the same prejudices So I thought, Well, what about if you tip it on the other way, and you say, you know, everybody is free to be whatever they want, as long as they have a long line of which is stretching before them. So I thought was interesting because obviously Lily is Michael born and Dorcas and Lillian my version of her. And so Lily understands what it's like to be discriminated against in the magical world. But Dorcas understands what it's like to be discriminated against in both worlds wherever she goes, somebody's telling her to go back to where she came from. So I thought that was quite interesting. And the reason why I think sold on what killed her was obviously we know that Voldemort can fly. And I wrote this whole story where the move orders went to Mary McDonald's pace, and they went on holiday. And they discovered that Dorcas Meadows can fly. And I thought that was why he killed her because he took he took that ability for himself. And then he killed her because he's the only one who wants to be able to fly. So I thought maybe that's how her magic came out of her that she was kind of flying one day around at school. And so yeah.
Especially it's like, oh, how could a Muggle born have a power more than and that's a that's an interesting concept to
just infuriate him so much. Yeah.
The idea of being able to siphon magic from you know, from a swan Yeah, really interesting. Terrifying.
I love it.
Yeah, absolutely. So we look at obviously, in the movies, they, you know, they put them in Muggle clothes, they, they pretty much assume that the wizarding world does a really good job of like acclimating and fitting into the Muggle world however, we have someone like Arthur Weasley who is quote unquote the expert of muggles and he knows very little they don't know how to dress like getting ready to go to the World Cup and all that stuff. Like it's easy to assume kind of like you said, like the prejudices are different like they could be completely unaware of what muggles think because especially like they even say like, not people who are necessarily blood, you know, or like anti Muggle they just still see muggles as lesser to an extent because they don't have magic, like it's almost kind of a pitying thing of like, oh, they have to figure things out the hard way sort of thing. So they don't really pay much mind to how they live their lives sort of thing. And so I can definitely see how the world even if they are like living amongst muggles, there's still plenty of areas that are exclusively Muggle like even the Weasleys and the love goods, like they're in the middle of nowhere away from everything, like they're just in their own little world or they probably do homeschooling and then go off to Hogwarts and things like that. And so it's, that's, that's always a fun way to like, how do we build the wizarding world to be different from the Muggle world because they really aren't as intermingled and is especially why it's a such a shocker. And an initially like not accepted that muggles all of a sudden have magic. And so what I like to think which I'm sure exists out there, but you know, but I'm just gonna say I came to this with my own my own thought process, but I'm sure it I think it's makes sense. So I think that other people might think so to my thought process when it comes to Muggle borns is where, because obviously, like squibs are seen as, you know, a lesser in the wizarding community because, and you could, that you could look back, especially in older times of if you're in a pureblood family, and you give birth to a squib that obviously shows no magical ability, the chance that they could abandon said child to live amongst muggles, or something like that, like they still carry the genes that have like, you know, magic in them. So it's like the Muggle borns come from the lines of all the squibs that actually live amongst the Mughals. So I think that that's, you know, that's one two and then it gives power to the squibs that it's like, they're not just magic lists, like they still are part of that world. It just, yeah, that's how things go. So I think that that's, you know, but the bay for you forget, like, especially if someone like hat and they just, they're sending them off or whatever, then all of a sudden, like it's actually a product of the choices that you made that so that's so that's Oh, it could be I mean, I don't know how new of a concept it like discovering Muggle borns could be until like you're in in like a you know, in a school setting like you think of like probably an older generations, a lot of homeschooling or really limited exposure to other wizarding families or cultures was a thing like you just you grew up with with who you knew and things like that. So when kids start actually going and meeting other kids from all over the place, is that that obviously changes things. And that's a reason why progression and all the things that we fight as far as prejudices and things like that once you start seeing how other people live, and you can empathize and sympathize and understand other people, that's when mines change, and we grow and things like that. So that's what's always fun, especially getting into the also what I love about marauders era that I don't personally obviously get into with fanfiction and stuff like that, but it's just the time period in the UK, as far as like the seven days and everything even, like, how much did the wizarding world like know, like a bit of like, Muggle politics, or was it just like, I didn't even didn't even know. And, but, but yeah, so that's what I got to give. Well, I
was lucky enough to snap a mum, who was roughly around the same age as the marauders in the 1970s so I picked her brain for a lot of things.
That's awesome.
Yeah, lucky that
I need help with my fanfiction mod.
So useful though.
Well, I wouldn't say it like that. I just say like, Would you wear this?
Right, exactly. I just like Oh, I'm just, I've just I've really genuinely interested in meanwhile, your mother's like, oh my gosh, I just love that my daughter is so invested in my past and this is just wonderful. Meanwhile, it's like and then this character died. And oh, man,
because she's a fashion textile designer. She's a fashion textile designer, so I knew all the clothes so I was able to get all those. I think you raise a really interesting point when you mentioned the squibs which is higher the squib secretly not the most powerful people in the world because that's break it down like this. Say you're scrubbing you decide to become a psychic because you'll be able to see ghosts and you'll be able to see like dementia muggles and you can play it all the ways so instead of feeling sorry for the squibs I think Miss squibs are the ones who are coming out on top because they don't have to fight these wars. And yeah, they can constantly exploit Muggles.
Yeah, cuz I never really like considered or know whether it was like, like validated or things like that. Like when Mrs. Figg said like, oh, yeah, I saw the Dementors and of course, like, I saw them running and they're like, they don't like loading so it's like I wasn't convinced that she wasn't like, told what to say by double door or something like that, like oh kids good to actually see so I'm like, I don't know if they can not that we can't write them that they can interact with all these things, but then you talk about you know, like, filters technically a squib and get Peeves you could see peeves and is interacting with and probably sees the ghosts although we never I don't I don't know of a you know instance where he may be like mentioned something or you know things like that but yeah,
I don't think we like see him interact with them but it can be assumed he probably sees that Yeah,
yeah. And to be exposed to so much magic like he may be it's it may be just comes down to like you're missing the ability to like funnel magic through you not that you're non magical. Yeah, so that's probably why you know, I mean, not to say quick spell couldn't help squibs but a lot of you know it was assumed like quick spell was to help the magically on gifted you know, sort of thing like I can do magic, but not well, like the Gilderoy Lockhart like, like he can do a really good memory charm, and everything else is not good. It's very dangerous to society.
It's a bit like being I neurodivergent. I'm dyslexic. So it's a bit like being dyslexic in a world that's basically made for people who can read and write good. So I think that's kind of maybe what you could equate a squib to. So somebody who is like neurodivergent, living in a world that set up around people who aren't made for them.
Now, I was thinking of Squibb as like a spectrum, kind of like neuro divergence and autism and things like that are a spectrum. Like it's easy to be like, Oh, that person is a certain thing. Like, maybe there are different shades of squib, but it's we just know this term squib. So it's just now I'm just that's another you know, wizarding world thing with Think about blood being important than it's like, oh, magical limitations or abilities or things like that. That's a really good point. I that's really fascinating. So now I'll get into, okay, so what are they having as far as adding education in future years to accommodate the, you know, the squib spectrum of you know, that need a little bit alternative teaching and things like that. And wow, that's so Marlena dark
bring it back.
Welcome to Care of Magical shippers.
Podcast bound to happen. Yeah.
Always the number of times we're like, Oh, yeah. So dreary. Oh, yes. Yeah. So Ron and pansy. Let's get let's, let's circle back to the reason why for. It's all relevant, though.
Give us some good ideas, though. For anyone who wants to write anything?
Yes. And I think that's especially what happened with our Wolfstar Episode is even though there was plenty of stuff to do with Wolfstar, we hadn't explored much marauders stuff. So it was easy for us to fall into it being like a generic moderate marauders era discussion, which is fun, because then it's like, oh, we need to explore and build the world that they fit into. When it's not when it's especially not a story of like, okay, it's lightning era. And it's like, older marauders and they're living their cute adorable, like, life together, raising Perry sort of. So, yeah, so this is always fun to really explore. And then they die.
And then they die.
And then there's always everyone lives a you, but obviously this.
We're here for the pain.
Yeah, exactly. Oh, man.
That's all that's
even if they survived first war, and it's an AU where they live for the first one. You can kill them off. And the second one, it's fine. Oh, completely die.
Yes, that is fair. It's like, oh, it's like you made it through one be lucky to make it through to horse. Oh, man. And I always think about, like, now we're getting away from them again. But when it's mentioned that, like Molly wasn't a member of the Order back then. But is 10 years older than the marauders? Were? So you think of how young Yeah, these kids just coming out of Hogwarts were to be so passionate about fighting, you know, versus like, what you think of like Molly and Arthur obviously had just had, you know, like having their kids and things like that, too. So it's like, even though they want to protect their children, they're dealing with really young children versus Now obviously, their children are fully capable, you know, moving into adulthood, and they want to protect that them in their future. So it's always interesting to see like, even though you you weren't a part of it before, it's coming back to it. Like it's still really important in a different way. Not that it wasn't important before. It's just the time in your life may not have been right to like, go off and join the order when your three year old or put out, you know what? Sort of
raising a lot of small kids. Yeah. Molly's brothers were fighting. Yes, that
is true.
She was also still very much aware of what it would be. Yeah, that must be such a difficult situation to be in with how young the marauders are. And this does actually remind me of the orcas. And Marlene, we can do this.
Yes, we're back.
We guess we guess we don't actually know how old they were. Yeah, like, obviously, like, I also just write them to be around the Marauder era, because that's just I think that's just the most convenient way to place them and have them interact with Canon characters we know. Yeah. But one of my favorites fics that I read like a little while ago, but Dorcas had her be the same age as Tom Riddle. Like, going with him. But I think she was like a head girl when he was a head boy. And like they knew each other. And with fighting him, and that's why he killed her personally. Because they had all this history together. And he was he wanted to give her like one less chance of joining him and she refused. And so
oh my god,
I think just being able to do that with the same character that we're using for completely different stories. It's just so interesting.
Oh, wow. I love that so much. Because yeah, that's another thing too, going back to like Tom Riddle era. A lot of the characters were only given our last names of the random knights that were in his rope and you know that Myrtle was there, and that you know, so it was it that's all we really have but then we figure out that oh McGonagall was back during that time and it's like McGonagall is a teacher and is still very much involved in order and war stuff and things like that. And if Dorcas was, would have been of that age, you know, and survived the previous war, like, that's still not very old during no war. It's like, you can't assume that everyone who's in the order is like, 19 years old. Yeah.
It definitely makes it more painful when you assume yes. Oh, no, I shed like it. Almost like some of them just have to be older. You're not fighting a war. We're just teenagers. Yeah. You're not gonna win that war.
Yeah, yeah.
Yep, absolutely. Oh, I love that. I really love that. That's so great. That's just the idea of him feeling that sense of giving, like giving Voldemort the opportunity to be confronted by feelings that he doesn't want to deal with or sees as a weakness, like the fact that he might have accidentally hesitated or, you know, something that that tweaked in him that made him go I need to remove this like relationship and, like, thing that affects me and my goal out of the picture, like especially if What if What if she was actually a like, was a Death Eater, like was like the Severus Snape of the time, going back into the was going into everything and was really close to him, like so and then finally was discovered that, you know, like, we talked about Regulus, and how he figured things out later on. But it wasn't until like later, but she was actively involved in the order. And like they were the only ones that knew that she was doing this because she had that history with Tom Riddle. And so then when she was actually found out like,
yeah, so good for me for such a good story. Oh, I love that.
See, now I have something to give to this conversation. I'm like, Yeah, I know nothing about them. Now I know everything.
That's the beauty of this era. You just make it up as you go. And as long as you make it. Like you put some thought into it.
Yes. I absolutely spend a lot of time thinking about this. I wrote essays. I mean, I can tell ya. Oh, I love that so much. So then, of course now I'm starting to think of like, oh, how would Marlene then, like fit into, you know, that era to or like being someone who is technically still younger than Dorcas, but maybe not as young as you know, the more marauders that's fine. I know. I was gonna come there, too. I was like, and then we got age gap. So yeah, I yeah, I absolutely. I love that,
to consider like this. Like if Dorcas is older, and she has all of these experiences, like I guess he would have been fighting the war for like, a few years longer, like, because the war was already going on for quite a while when the marauders would have graduated Hogwarts. So if Marlene is is a fair bit younger than I, because I tend to imagine it like the older members of the Order, which is look at all these young people coming in to fight like, oh my god, you you don't know what you're signing up for yet? Yeah, they are so hopeful and spirited to fight, but you don't know how it's going to fuck you up in the long run.
Yeah, it's like Mali with the twins and all the other kids that it's like, on a fight. We want to fight. It's like, No, you have no idea. The rest of this. So yeah, then I definitely see like, what if Dorcas was like how many other women have like that age or older that would have been involved in order to so as far as like any of the you know, Lily or Marlene or anyone that was younger, like them to look up to, and either like work and train with someone to so then it's like mentor mentee. Teachers
just this older Dorka is having to take more lean on order missions together.
The professor Dorcas
Yes.
Fantastic. Oh, this is so great. I love it. So I you know, then now I'm like, Was Was she and McGonigal besties did she and McGonagall have a past
was this like he's so much fun? Awkward too. Because like I specifically really like Dorcas and Marlene as like, already having this past relationship that like ended maybe pretty painfully and then finding this comfort and healing in each other. Huh just before they die, yeah,
I continued I kind of do the same thing with the long buttons. So I'm not really a fan that they went to school together at the same time so always make Alice about three years older than Frank and that she was had girl and never took any notice of him when they were at school. And it's only when they become or as well cuz when you're at school, you don't take notice of people. They're like, just love. Exactly. Yeah. Get into a relationship once their auras because I'm not a big fan of all the sort of first loves that you get in Harry Potter. So it's nice to have, like, you can have other loves, like specifically with Jolene, they can have had other relationships, which is what makes it so fresh. You know?
Yeah, that would make sense that they would meet through work. And yeah, cuz I mean, goes into the or partners trope of you might have known someone a long time, but it wasn't until you're actually getting into like, really intense dangerous, you know, situations or what if they both were orders, but they didn't necessarily, like fall into the same like department or interacted with one another much. And then it wasn't until they both discovered that they were in the order that they you know, sort of thing too. So then there's that as well as like, was it? Oh, because another thing coming back to Molly about how like she's making a big deal about Bill and Fleur rushing into a relationship. And they're like, You and dad immediately got married after it's like we were in the middle of a war and thinking about all those like, like, just like kind of flash romance that maybe maybe weren't meant to be forever. But we're just like, the pressures of this could be my last day on earth thing. So there's that tragic aspect, but also really, like raw and beautiful and still a meaningful relationship. Even it's something that you knew, you just like you were living in the moment sort of thing. So I love that for
you can also explore that when it goes wrong as well. Because what happens when you survive all this stuff, and then you realize that you've kind of drifted apart and you really like any
sudden you've gone through all of that trauma together. Yeah, like you've really depended on each other for the whole war, and you have that connection. But you have to admit, at some point that the relationship just isn't working anymore.
Or that was literally what held the relationship together. And without it, then it's like, Do we really have nothing anymore? Was our purpose and support of one another no longer there?
We you don't have anything in common besides fighting the war. And now that kind of trauma that you've gotten from it?
Mm hmm. Oh, it is a mercy that all of these people.
But that would be also just so painful if you if you're already kind of having that realization during the war, that like that's not the time you're going to have that kind of conversation. And then they die. Yeah. You have to live with all these painful memories of just like this relationship that you really want it to work, but that wasn't working. But now they're dead and you don't have any closure you don't have. It's just all these really fucked up memories that you now have to carry.
When people die, we tend to eulogize them, we tend to make them seem better than they actually were when they were alive. So you can totally say oh, they were so good. And I would think bad and I never gave them enough time. And they were out there fighting for us and I was never there for them. So you can take the crucify yourself. Your own guilt, your survivor's guilt because you lived and they died.
Oh, yeah, cuz you see that you see that with Remus you see that with serious Yeah, yeah. So that definitely, you know, is it's a huge thing. So, oh, gosh, I love that so painful and hurt so much.
I also ship Marlene with Emily and finance as well. So you can do that with them too. Because obviously Marlene does not survive, but Emily and does. So you can have that with her and then going into the second war and also, it would feel so hopeless. The fact that you fought this first war, and that all the people all of your friends are now dead. What was the point in any of that?
Yes. Because then you won the war and you've lost just everything in the process of winning it. Because then like the time in between the warrior says it's just enough to like get your life back up. and running, meeting new people trying to move on from what happened to you. And then if it happens again? Yeah, I think for that, like, I love that. If you have Marley and Emily, that would be so painful because they would both be fighting this war, and then maybe just distress of everything would read put this kind of pressure on that relationship. And then she dies. And she, Emmeline just kind of has to try and live with that. And then she dies in the Second War.
Oh, I mean, for anyone who's interested in a use, you could do a really nice First World War, Second World War AU, because it's the same sort of gap in time, it's ranked 20 years. So if you were in the First World War, you'd be in your 40s that you'd be like, when we see remissed and serious in the next one. So you'd have all that. Yeah, that you had done. So if there are any people who want a US that's, that's a good one to do. You know, we just got because we've discussed Dorcas quite a bit, but have we discussed headcanon. From Eileen,
we started there loosely, but we haven't kind of circled back.
Yeah, but I think we've mainly talked about like the general family, not her as a character specifically. Yeah,
so you're more than welcome to dive right back in tomorrow. Okay,
so within Marlene and the McKinnon's. I write Marlene, as she's a contemporary of the marauders like I wrote Dorcas Marlene I wrote, she's the Half Blood, both her grandparents on both sides, I think a grandfather there on her dad's side and her grandmother on her mom's side, they were Muggle born. So they they're not that far enough away from being Muggle born, if that makes sense, but they are half Bloods. So she's got a toe in both camps. And all of her siblings are in the different houses. So you've got Ravenclaw Hufflepuff, and then the brother that she's actually at Hogwarts with at the same time as then slid around. So I kind of wanted to show the dichotomy of all of her friends are really down on Griffin doors, but it's not that easy for her because her dad was a slipper in and her brother's leather. And so for her, it's she knows that there can be good slithering, yeah, because she's got a good dad who she loves. And so it's not that black and white for her. I love the line to talk to each other, her and her brother, because they're very close. And the fact that he's the further in, he's still her brother, she's the girlfriend draw. He's, you know, that's sister, it complicates things, because obviously, he's data in a Death Eater. But so for me, and I kind of like the idea that everybody's got this in their head, that she's attracted to serious, but in fact, serious and Marlene hate each other. But the kind of urban legend carries on after they've died, that they've had this relationship. So Black tenon becomes a thing, even though in reality, they never liked each other.
Oh, I love that. And
yeah, so she's a griffin door. And I always write her as a very butch lesbian, because he doesn't love those. Absolutely.
Yes, please, we need more.
We need more but says pm representations, but I really love her as this but lesbian sort of psyche as the day is long. Griffin door. Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. I love that specifically, like, with her and his big family from like, all these different houses. And how does that complicate this? Other, like fairly black and white that most characters seem to have? That's so interesting.
Yeah. Cuz it's not you've got a lot of gray. So it really gray and the Death Eater boyfriend interacts like he comes to the house to see and so they all know him. And so it's very complicated. Yeah. And I also like the idea that people like Narcissa. And so the character that he's dating is Amicus Cairo, who's mentioned in the books. I like the idea that they're kind of a bit Hitler, you see, but like someone like Narcissa only pays lip service, that she's not really that interested in it. And it's just to keep our family off our back. Yes, you know, so. Yeah. And so even within that, even within the Death Eaters, you've got the shades of array where people can compartmentalize their relationships with other peers. And, and that's why I think it's really interesting. You know,
I mean, specifically with nurses that I just love that, obviously, nurses I just because I have shipped her with both Marlene and Dorcas. And it's just a very interesting dynamic in that way. Because she very much does believe like, okay, I can like be very supportive of these Death Eaters and what they're doing and marry one and that's all fine. That does not have to affect my relationship with this person who's fighting them. Well, Marlene and Dorcas at different rates kind of realized, like, that's not how this is gonna work. That's not that's not going to last. Eventually, you're gonna have to make a choice, and you're going to make the wrong one probably.
Oh, yeah. And it's such a massive hypocrites, and that's probably true, right. But now Cisco is such a fantastic character to write. Because, I mean, you can put a lot into her, but there's a lot in the books as well. And obviously, you can see where Draco gets a lot of his hesitation, and his humanity from Yeah, so yeah.
Oh, definitely. Oh, we'll definitely do a Narcissa episode and Tessa will spearhead
Well, I can't wait. That one. Yeah.
That'll be so much fun
in our session, if you want to talk about
Yeah, I love Narcissa. That's really I mean, I love how you said with the where, where Draco kind of gets that humility and like actually thinking about other people like I could whole lip service thing makes makes a lot of sense for her character and just putting on the front that she needs to to survive in her position. You know, amongst the people she mingles with, but then also like her art, her heart is, you know, elsewhere. So that's a Yeah, that's really powerful, too.
And it's just more torture. Just more torture for these characters. That's the real murder so
much more.
Oh, gosh, yeah, that's yeah,
abs just versus reacting to either darknesses or Merlin's death. Or she's on the other side, hearing people celebrate about that moment. Like the deaf ears who just killed Merlin's whole family, coming back to my manor to celebrate, like, hey, look what we did.
And you can also add an extra stream of like a theme of get in that when what eventually happens to Draco happens. She could feel like this is her punishment. Yes. It's happening to her son. For how she how she behaved during the first war?
Yes. Like she is, I think she makes a lot of decisions, just like she's a very selfish hypocrite. Very scared of what would happen to her and her family, if she doesn't do what's expected of her. And then she kind of does everything it's supposed to be correct in her family's eyes. And as a direct result of that decision, her family falls apart in second war, I love it. It's karma.
So circling back to the McKinnon's death, when you're going through a tam, you're like headcanon of the whole family, things like that. So of course, I immediately go to Okay, the boyfriend was singled out as being one of or the person that had to murder the McKinnon's. Yes.
In the in the version that I have in my head, he knew that they were going to go and kill them the tendons because there's a whole side plot, Queenie shaft, football, things the sack about sister who I invented anyway. So So basically, in my in my head, the boyfriend tries to stop worrying McKinnon, who is his lover from going but worry stuns him. And he goes at the house just at the right time for him and his family to be completely murdered by all of the Death Eaters that he went to school.
Really trying to distract him to not Yeah, there. Yeah. Oh, buddy. Yeah.
It's so painful.
I know. It's so good. And I love the idea that that Marlene dies in the arms of her slithering brother, and also, he's killed by his school friends.
My chest hurts. I can feel tears let me print let me, let me interject and say that these are the two people that came to me after I had asked about who is interested and either writes or reads MCD. And why do you enjoy it? And are you surprised that people came back and was like, well actually, like, here's all these reasons why I actually really like it and all these things, and I just thought it was really funny. So I knew going in, I was like, we're gonna, there's gonna be that talk. Hurt with very little comfort.
That's the best type of hurt. And so then they can go through all of this pain, and then another character can come by and help them get over it and heal. And then they can guide to
Exactly, exactly, yeah. And it can just be a never ending cycle. Because if it's not really about the futility of war
Yeah, it wouldn't be war without it. You know, that's
likely. Yeah, I
think we get off pretty like, I mean, obviously, important people die significant to the series at the end, when we lose talks, and Lupin and Fred and all those, but I feel like we still get out of it with less than we could have asked. So I think that, you know, like you said, like, going back into the original, like the order 1.0. And, and that first era of war. That's where all the, you know, the tragedies and stuff, even what what was it? Like serious had said at one of the meetings, like, we weren't prepared like we are this time around, it was like, yeah, they were going in blind in a lot of things, which is what happens when you're jumping into something new or is growing and building behind the scenes until it's already there. And you have to confront it versus now something new, it's like, the goal is still there. They know the goal. And it's like, okay, so how is he going about it this time? And they have, they can be more strategic and things like that. So I Yeah, so that's like just just being unaware and ignorant to all these other things, and factors and choices that are made, and the consequences that will come is just, oh, wow, because if
you think about it, they didn't have Harry back there, did they they didn't have, they didn't have a focus was interested in, Voldemort was attacking on on all fronts. And he wasn't vulnerable. He didn't have any one focus. He had a goal. But his focus was sort of divided. Whereas if you think in the second war, his focus is really on Harry, destroying Harry, getting rid of Harry and destroying the myth of Henry as well, because so much of it is about he wants to be able to parade a dead hairier wedding, make sure that this never happens again, his power will never be checked, they will know they won't be a boy that live there'll be your boy that died, that I killed, you know, so but they don't have that in the first was to do more. Because obviously he doesn't exist.
Yeah. And because I think when it comes to Voldemort's character, and that before he even knows about the prophecy that kind of sort of tells him about who Harry is, and that there's someone who had come after him. His his choices and and things that he did was there was no ounce of questioning or fear or worry that anything was going to stop him. Yeah. And even as like all powerful or confident or anything Oh, after like decades of preparing to find out that some child could be the reason why, you know, he could be all cocky and an experience like I'm greater than, like, nothing will take me down. There's got to be that ember of fear like that, like all of his choices over like, making Harry a priority is like a huge thing that it's like, obviously, he sees him as a threat, and he wants to take care of that threat. You know, regardless, so when that's something that I'm sure like, even like the Death Eaters see is his behavior has to be you know, different in that too. So
let's be honest, when he goes out for drinks or Bellatrix and his Death Eater mates, you know, someone's going to be in the bar and Satan didn't a baby kill you want.
least it's better than like, when they're searching for Horcruxes. And they're like, how do we destroy a Horcrux? And then you go, well, we just need to find a baby and a mother that was willing to sacrifice yourself.
Oh, really gets me every time you were telling me nobody else ever jumped in front of somebody? Yes.
I think we're in debt. It's not specifically that she died to protect, like, it's specifically that she was given the choice not to. Yeah. Because I've like, I'm sure it's happened plenty of times before it's someone just jumps in front of a killing curse to save someone else. Right? But it's, it doesn't happen that often that someone goes, Okay, I'm not going to kill you step aside, you don't have to die,
right? Because that gives you that opportunity to be selfish and be make that choice like me over them versus just reacting to something like she made that choice of, I don't care what happens to me, like, you know, and just does it anyway. So that's really interesting.
That also feels very Voldemort that he thinks that a mother or a parent would not sacrifice themselves for their child. Yeah, that feels very Voldemort and also to speak to WAV coming from. But then his whole choice of Harry kind of speaks to where he's coming from, because obviously, I've always believed that Neville Longbottom is the chosen one. You know, because they were born at the same time, because he wasn't clear. And obviously at the end, it's never with the sword that decapitated the snake he chose then. So I think it speaks to him. Because he is a half blood. Harry's the Half Blood never leaves a full blood, you know? So I think even within that, and he honestly think that she would cast away
Oh, for sure. Oh, well, dang we I mean, this was awesome. I mean, we dive dove into more than just this is definitely another one. This is just the story of Marauder ships is we're just gonna keep diving into everything else that Oh, yes. So but I love that for us. This was super fun. I'm sure Nathan is going to be fascinated with and but yeah, this has been super great. I'm so glad you guys came on. This is this was a lot of fun, because I definitely needed that insight. And now that now I feel like I have a really good, like understand like a better understanding of that time and the different directions that that world can be taken and the characters and things like that and building all these head cannons in my own head cannons. So much fun. I love that.
Well now you've got a challenge. Yeah, right. Some of this, you've got some of the
added to my list. Oh, man. So was there anything else that you guys wanted to touch on before we wrap things up?
I mean, I don't know if we want to do any recommendations. Yeah, no,
absolutely. Yeah. So definitely. Yeah.
So I don't have many recommendations to put on the list. Because obviously joining tends to only have one shop and it doesn't seem to be like you say it's kind of put in with Wolfstar So it's the secondary part. This is the secondary plot. It's an AU as well but it's then the now I'm gonna butcher this name so it's PB two j by aqua and I think it's apt one mice my Soto says I don't know how to pronounce that. But I'm definitely say she's written three of these texts a US that are just absolutely amazing. And Darlene becomes a thing they like it's a slow burn in the background of this Wolfstar text in a year but it really draws you in and it becomes sort of like the Chandler and Monica or you know, because I always think of joining as the Chandler and Monica of the sort of if you say Wolfstar is Ross and Rachel then they're kind of more like the town or moniker like a PC and yeah, lots of respect. Love that.
Oh, so good. All right. Well, yeah, you had said that you didn't read too much fanfiction. But Tessa Do you have any recommendations otherwise or even like any blogs or
like specifically like I don't read that much I have a huge list of fanfiction I want to read and then every time I sit down to read I end up writing stuff instead. mood so I'm never going to get through that list that's never gonna happen. But like I specifically the one that's not Darlene but the dork is one where she's some riddles. Ah. It's so good. It's it's just a one shot. It's It's pretty. I think it's just a few 1000 words. It's so good.
And you send that to me? Yeah.
I can barely read my own handwriting handwriting. But as much as she had left by, I also don't know how to pronounce it name. It snippets Ignite.
It'll be in the description. You can like the link
and you'll get there. But it's from like, it's from like back in 2005. So it's like almost 20 years old at this point. And I just, I love it. It's so good.
Oh, that's awesome.
I and then I had like, just one one shot that's written by a friend of mine. Like that, like, two friends of mine. They have this whole Wolfstar A you like this modern day? BDSM it's why I love it. Ooh, but a girly one shot that sat in that AU. It's called got to taste like candy by five pips and Jen and Blitz. It's so good. Ooh, how they met and a lot of kink. It's nice. I love it.
So good. Oh, well, thank you guys so much for doing this. Like, you know, like anything. This is kind of a last minute thing thrown together because Nathan was sick. But this was great. I had so much fun. Thank you so much. It's so
so much fun for me.
I can't wait to your episode with Tessa. About Narcissa I'm gonna tune in for that.
It'll be so good. I'm so excited.
Yeah, we'll make sure Nathan could do that one too, because that would be a lot of fun. Do you guys have any socials that you want to plug or anything like that?
I mean, I'm seriously sapphic on just about everything. And I mainly write femslash Narcissa stuff. And a lot of serious nurses. It's almost exclusively nurses are like a million different ships. It's
yeah, I'm surprised it's not nurse, nurse, nurses, oily staff, or something like that. And you got to see
that pump just doesn't work as well. Fit. Well.
I know it was difficult for me to say it's a shame. Seriously, sapphic? No, love you ruined thing. And I mean,
since we talked about all the MCD I, I do run the HP MTD fest, which is still accepting claims. And everyone. Yes, it's one roll and one of the characters has to die. Other than that, you can do anything. A lot of fun reading people's ideas.
Nice went so when do claims close? Um, end of August,
I think. Okay. Like just before the submissions are due, which is likely which is September 1, so,
okay, so yeah, so you can pretty much claim up until, yeah, you can have a day to get something together. Yeah.
As long as you get it done, you can claim you can claim on the same day, just get it to us.
Perfect. And you guys can self prompts any of these things that we talked about? Absolutely.
Please do. I don't have time to write them all. But I want to read this.
I know I know. Now I'm actually thinking I was like, Oh, am I actually getting inspired and can get pulled out of this writer's block to actually make some please. Oh, that'd be so much fun.
Oh crates.
Well, thanks again for you guys coming on. Yeah, Tam will definitely put your podcast information in the description as well. Definitely looking forward to checking that out.
So I'm really Wallace 25 over on a three I have completed my Wolfstar series which contains Peter and Mary but not Jolene sadly so if you ever have any Peter and Mary stuff I would love to come on and talk about that right about all day.
Anything yeah, getting Peter on is gonna be a fun thing to like, what is it and I think they just launched? Isn't there a Peter Pettigrew fact that they're doing till week Katie did that. And so it's fun to actually see because they made like a server for coder because he's like, definitely the like, you know, shoved in the corner. Marauder when it's to say
a lot of people write him as asexual I write him as an awful heterosexual evil true like we know they all
know Peter was a bigger fuck boy than serious or Jane.
Beautiful. Love that for
wasting is Mrs. Padfoot and meany are proud to present a series of romantic disasters, and it's 117,500 words but it's finished. Wow. and play
amazing. Oh, it's so great. Well, once again, thank you for the 15 but this was so much fun. Thank you so much both of you and you know, obviously nurses episode tam if you ever want to come back for I know you have a list of other chips that you enjoy too, but happy to have you back. So this was this was so much fun and so to everyone you had to if you have any head cannons have you know Darlene or Marlene or even just marauders stuff, anything focused on I mean, obviously the bajillion million directions that we went in this episode, definitely get in touch you know, with us via email or Twitter or anything like that. We'd we'd love to hear any of that stuff and give some love to be smaller especially fam femslash chips and things that are more rare that we need to kind of bring to the forefront. So definitely, yeah, so until next time, we'll, you know, see whatever the heck we do next, because we never know. Oh, thanks. And we'll see you later. Bye.
