James: 2 Years Ago Today, I Married My Best Friend

Harry hadn’t actually meant it when he told Draco that “he should try not getting arrested every few weeks.” At the time maybe he had, but Harry had grown antsy over the past few weeks.

Things had been quiet. Too quiet.

“You’d like to what?” the Head of the Aurours department asked.

“I’d like to conduct a search for Draco Malfoy,” Harry replied. Ron stood at his side looking unimpressed. Search missions required back up by law, and Harry had managed to convince a reluctant Ron to be his.

“He’s not going to give this up,” Ron pointed out.

“You know what, fine. Fine. But make it quick.”

____

Harry found Draco in the basement of Fangtasia brooding at 11am on a Thursday.

“You’re not wearing the necklace,” Draco pouted.

“That thing was bloody hideous Malfoy,” Ron said defending his friend. Draco actually looked almost offended.

“Come on Draco we both know that you usually have much better taste,” Harry said as gently as he could. Draco had clearly been struggling ever since he’d become a vampire, and as amusing as it was to watch, Harry wanted Draco to accept himself and find happiness...preferably with Harry.

“I knew you liked the leather,” Draco said proudly gesturing to his current outfit. Harry just shook his head and decided not to start this arguement.

“Draco are you okay?” Harry asked. The basement was windowless, but well lit. Draco sat at the head of a long table filled with unoccupied seats.

“None of them came,” Draco said looking at the empty seats around him with dismay.

“None of who came?” Harry asked.

“I tried to construct a founders council, and invited all the prominent Vampire families, but no one showed up,” Draco sulked. Harry nudged Ron before the boy could start laughing.

Harry was prepared for this. Harry had researched the Vampire Diaries when he’d realized Draco’s habit of picking up the identies of famous fictional vampires.

Harry spent the rest of the day making calls with Draco. They ended up enlisting Luna’s help and instead created a council of influential magical minorities.

Harry hopes that this was a good substitute for the support groups Draco had opted out of having. But wasn’t surprised when Draco ended up back in his office a week later.

Vampire Draco XD

LISTEN YOU… I WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE WRITING THIS GOD DAMMIT! Tagging @violetclarity for inciting shit too. :D

Word count: 200

Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose for what felt like the 20th time this month. Today was supposed to be a normal day, his day for paperwork and non-magical nonsense. So when his eyes fell on Draco, sitting as casually as possible in Harry’s office chair, Harry knew his day was done.

“What did you do this time?” Harry sighed, waving his hands in a way that indicated Draco should get the fuck out of his chair.

“I asked a wizard if he knew what I was….”

Harry looked at Draco quizzically. “What’s wrong with that?”

Draco sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of glitter. Harry stared, already knowing where this was going but really hoping it wasn’t.

“Draco… Please tell me you didn’t.”

“….I did.”

Harry let his head fall to his desk, hands pulling out his hair in hard tugs.

“But- But, just listen! It was going great, I was broody and reciting poetry. He was totally hooked.”

“And then…?”

“And then I threw glitter in his face.”

“Draco, what the actual fuck? That’s not even… The vampire in that book fucking actually sparkles. Like “diamonds”… He doesn’t throw sparkles.“

“Oooooh….”

a harry potter au where potions is taught by gordon ramsay

Writing Tropes Well: Chronic Hero Syndrome

A good hero helps those in need, right? So the best heroes help everyone in need!

….Is probably what these kind of characters are thinking, but the reality is a little different. The Chronic Hero Syndrome mainly affects the good and (at least partially) naive protagonist who thinks that every problem around them needs to be solved, usually by them. Some stories like to portray this kind of character in a purely positive light since “always ready to help others” is thought of as a positive trait. Sometimes it works, often because it’s a simplistic story, deals with black-and-white morality, it’s a video game with fetch quests, etc. However, when you look beyond the surface level this “affliction” has some interesting consequences for the character.

(NOTE: This trope shares a similar name with a real-life affliction “Hero Syndrome” where someone intentionally creates bad situations in order to save everyone and appear as the hero. The real syndrome is not the same as the trope!!)

To start, let’s take a look at the trait itself. Mentioned before, the desire to help everyone sounds like a great trait, however by thinking that way you’re boxing in how you’re defining characters. Traits shouldn’t be sorted into “good” and “bad”; they should be lumped together and thought of as “strengths” or “weaknesses” relative to each situation (link embedded). Strengths can become weakness and weakness can become strengths depending on what’s happening. Flaws are circumstantial.

All aspects of a character should have consequences, “consequences” being positive, negative, and even neutral effects from who they are. Most often, those consequences are found in the choices that the character makes. Even a choice made with the best of intentions can have a negative impact, and any character with Chronic Hero Syndrome can’t be making perfect choices 24/7 because nobody can realistically do that.

A protagonist, or any other character, with Chronic Hero Syndrome may see negative consequences like (but not limited to):

Manipulation. It’s easy to take advantage of someone who’s wholly predictable in their choices. The antagonist can easily set up a trap for this type of character.

Sticky situations due to naivete. Though it’s possible for a character to be less naive by critically examining the situations they end up in, just blindly believing and helping anyone who asks for it can land them in troublesome situations.

Consequences of the Law. Sometimes helping others isn’t always legal, though legality does not have a direct correlation to morality. If this character breaks laws then it should be addressed realistically for the story.

Burnout (especially of friends). It takes a lot of time and energy to commit to the level of help they offer and it’s not easy to sustain. A friend or partner may also not be as enthusiastic about that character’s choices as it bites into their time together.

Blunders. Helping doesn’t always mean succeeding. This character can (and should) fail once in a while. Sometimes, even succeeding at a task can have negative effects, especially if the character was tricked or failed to see the big picture.

Potentially incorrect self-image. Let’s be honest, this character thinks that they can help everyone. To reach that conclusion you need to think you’re really the best choice to get something done, which anyone with a healthy sense of self-esteem knows isn’t always the case. The character may point the person in need to better help, but a good chunk of having CHS means the character personally provides aid. In some stories, the “I’m the best option” thought can be justified, especially if the character has an ability that the average person does not, but it takes a level of arrogance, tunnel vision, and/or obsession to genuinely believe you’re the best option to personally help. Even if the character is just “too nice” so they feel like they always have to offer, someone genuinely interested in helping the best way possible would be willing to admit that they aren’t the best choice, and would be willing to pass off the task to someone who is. There’s a reason that Chronic Hero Syndrome isn’t called “person who likes to help others”; the afflicted character crosses the line between reasonable help to an almost weird sense of duty.

All that said– it’s okay if you want to write a character with Chronic Hero Syndrome! This post is meant to get you critically thinking about the character trait, not say that it’s bad to have someone with it in a story. Tropes are not bad, but they need to be understood or else the writer runs the risk of writing a poor story.

When writing a character with CHS, make sure you can address these things about them to make sure they’re well-rounded and interesting (especially if they’re a main character!):

What’s the source of the CHS? It’s one thing to want to help your friends when you can, but a hero with CHS is over-willing to help strangers and maybe even those they don’t get along with. This isn’t a common trait in reality, so it’s best to have an explanation or source of why they are who they are.

Do they genuinely think they’re the best option to help or is the constant desire to help a sign of something else? One character may punish themselves by helping everyone around them, depriving themselves of personal time and fully knowing that it could have been done better by someone else. Another character might be harboring guilt and tries to take care of it by being aggressively helpful to everyone else. Someone else might be obsessed with a certain image of being useful (but they don’t create the situations and then save people from them, that’s the real-life Hero Syndrome).

How does the CHS integrate with the rest of the personality? “I want to help everyone” is not a personality, it’s a choice of values. This character still needs to have thoughts and traits outside of their Syndrome.

How could the CHS cause problems? All choices have consequences, and a character who truly has CHS is probably sacrificing a lot from other aspects of their life. Maybe their partner starts feeling abandoned, maybe the hero tries to help and makes something 10x worse! Every single trait should be free game for causing issues in a story.

Tropes can be a useful part of storytelling, particularly when done well. Because Chronic Hero Syndrome most often affects protagonists or other main characters, writing it well means understanding the reach of the “affliction”. It’s fine to write a simplistic story (a lot of children’s novels do this) where the protag wanting to help everyone is just a sign of a good, helpful person. But if you’re looking to write a realistic story, particularly with character realism, then you’ll need to address the consequences that this kind of character can bring to a story.

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muggle 1: hey, do you ever hear from that kid in primary school with the weird name…hermione, that was it.

muggle 2: nah she kinda dropped off the radar a while back

muggle 2: weird thing though, her parents moved to australia for a bit and stopped talking about her

muggle 1: what?

muggle 2: yeah, like, my mum’s friends with her mum, and they just moved one day? hermione wasn’t with them, though, and they stopped mentioning her at all

muggle 1: didn’t she go to some fancy boarding school? i bet she’s, like, training to be a spy

muggle 2: dude, you’re so full of shit

i wonder when harry told ron and hermione that the dursleys used to make him live under the stairs

“I didn’t even say anything?!?!?..”

tfw u gotta work with ur childhood rival lmao. Auror Harry and Unspeakable Draco~

Please ask before using.

Harry: Draaaa-cooo?... Have you got any spare pain potions?

Draco: *Squinting suspiciously* ... Why?

Harry: My leg hurts...

Draco:

Draco: So what you're telling me-

Harry: Here we go-

Draco: -Is that when I said that trying to skateboard like a muggle, with no practice, on concrete-

Harry: It was asphalt-

Draco: Was a bad idea...

Harry: It was something I'd always wanted to do as a child!

Draco: And then not take anything after you inevitably crashed and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor-

Harry: It wasn't that bad!

Draco: And that it would hurt later-

Harry: It didn't feel too bad at the time!

Draco: I was right!

Harry:

Harry: Look, I'm sorry, alright? What do you want from me?!

Draco: *Grinning smugly* Nothing, darling. Nothing at all!

draco malfoy: i’ll take my secret love of potter to the grave

the grave: *beckons*

draco: POTTER

thank you to @dddraconis for the idea to do ‘dark twist on the little mermaid’ w/malfoy losing his gay ass voice <3

More about long COVID by a young person with long COVID. Inspired by the stories of hundreds of COVID long-haulers.

A sequel to this comic on my long COVID symptoms.

Ko-Fi

(ID under the cut)

Keep reading

Draco Malfoy, a summary

What Harry thinks he’s like:

What his friends think he’s like:

What the Gryffindors think he’s like:

What his parents think he’s like:

What the fandom think he’s like:

What he thinks he’s like:

What he’s really like: