He hanged a bunny from the wrafters. I hate tom for that

And a Dunnett fan, too...

Excellent story! Thank you for sharing it!

A delightfully clever story!

I've read so much Harry Potter fanfiction. However, it's the first fanfic that addresses so well the muggleborn plight to fit in and general state of the first years' social life in different house. I really like this slow deep dive in establishing friendships and settling in. it's much preferred over a bland retelling of the first year with some insignificant changes.

You wrote, "simply not saying certain things—understanding that they are not acceptable in certain situations is a step toward not saying them in any situation."

I have thought about that dialogue many times over the years. Especially in the last 7-8 years when we seemed to experience a surge of worsening racism and violence — especially against people of color. It felt to me like, in previous decades, society had made a little progress in narrowing the racial divide in the states. Societal pressure had therefore caused people to not say certain words anymore, not denigrate and openly be hateful to someone of a different race.

And then, suddenly, when powerful, popular, famous people started embracing bigotry, celebrating oppression, it took away that former restraint to NOT say these things. It felt like a large percentage of the population said, "Oh, are we allowed to say those things again?" And now racism and bigotry are worse than I've ever seen in my 49 years.

It's like the reverse of your quotation, above, came true. Telling people it was okay to be vocally, actively bigots in one situation, was apparently the same as telling they could be vocally, actively bigotted in any situation.

These thoughts have been challenging me to keep working, keep trying to make my father understand not to say certain things in certain settings. And then maybe one day, if others are fighting those same battles in their homes, maybe the masses will eventually comprehend that they should never say such things in Any situation.

Or, maybe were going to have to lock our elders in heavily warded rooms, as with Abraxas Malfoy. ;-)

Thank you for continuing to inspire me so many years later. *Hugs*

Yay, Hufflepuff Harry! I love it!

I'm loving the counter perspective here.

I really love how each character feels like a separate individual character here. Mwah!

helluva fic really enjoyed reading it. cheers!

Poor fic. Contains occult

Yea and no one noticed he suddenly stopped stuttering. Makes sense

Winged horses are called abraxans

Oh, this is brilliant! I love it! I love when writers take a slightly different approach to canon events, and your story is so clever! You've also really done your research. Are you native to Britain? You seem to have a familiarity with places and institutions and government... or did you just research that well? (Asking as a fellow writer with strong Ravenclaw/Hermione tendencies.)

Anyway... onward!

Arsinoe,
I write in the hopes that you're still getting your "fan mail". I just wanted to take a moment to say I love your writing and your storytelling. There is something soothing and peaceful in the way you write Severus, in particular, and that means a lot to me. My best friend, who died of cancer two years ago, was a Snape/Rickman impersonator/enactor, and brilliant at it. He was a gentle and soothing person, who nevertheless could be hysterically funny and sarcastic.

When you wrote about Harry watching Snape's hands, it brought to mind forcefully my friend's hands. Like Snape, he was tall and dark, and his fingers were exactly as you described Snape's...

Anyway - beautiful storytelling so far. I'm so glad this is a loooonnnng tale. Back to it, and thank you for such a delight.