u/PomPomMom93

Every time I try to read a “new adult” book, it’s like the main character always hates at least one of their parents. If they don’t, someone close to them definitely does. I know WHY the authors do it; it’s because a lot of their reader base is probably like this and they want to be “relatable.” But as someone who doesn’t have a great relationship with a lot of her family, I just find it depressing. Sure, if I watch shows like Full House, sometimes I can feel a kind of longing or wistfulness, but at least SOMEONE gets to have a good family. When I read about people who have situations like mine, or often way worse, it just makes me feel worse. I wouldn’t mind if this was in some books but does it have to be in almost every single one? Why can’t I read a book about someone who will go home to her loving and supportive parents, maybe a sibling or two, when she gets hurt by her love interest? Or maybe she’s estranged from her family at the beginning, but by the end of the book they patch things up? I see enough broken families IRL, including my own, and I don’t need to see it over and over again when I try to read these so-called “feel good” books.

So if you’re a vet you might say the Magical Menagerie, if you’re a detective you might say Auror, if you’re a doctor you might say Healer, etc.

I’ll start: Hermione Granger, Lucius Malfoy, Rubeus Hagrid, Minerva McGonagall, first Albus Dumbledore, Bellatrix Lestrange, Molly Weasley, Gilderoy Lockhart.

Edit: Somebody pointed out Luna, I’ll agree with that!

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite OCs, and that gave me the idea for this exchange! This time, the theme is Birthdays! This can be all manner of things: planning a birthday party, a birthday gift, even the birth of a baby. As long as your entries are on and/or about someone's birthday (canon or OC), they fit! Feel free to mention whose birthday it is as well!

Rules: You can submit up to three (3) entries. Entries can be either a one-shot or a chapter of a longer fic. In return, please review at least three (3) different stories by three (3) different authors, one from each.

Please submit your entries by 11:59 pm on July 19, 2026 Central Time.

Reviews are due by 11:59 pm on July 21, 2026 Central Time.

All reviews should be at least 50+ words and show that you read the fic! As per the rules, concrit, “from Reddit,” and fandom-blind are opt-in.

Please make sure you list the fandom, rating, word count, title + link, genre, warnings (in spoilers if needed), and anything else you think we should know, like a summary. Have fun!!!

Like I could have slept for only four hours but be wide awake, or slept for 12+ hours yet still tired when I wake up. Or sometimes I stay up all night and I’m not tired during the day. There’s no rhyme or reason to it! Do you know why this is?

So in my CoS AU, Harry is actually learning to master Parseltongue by way of a sort-of alive snake cane belonging to one of Sirius’s relatives, a wedding gift from the Gaunts. (It was partially inspired by Jafar’s cane in Aladdin.) He has a book called “Parseltongue for Beginners” that he finds in the Black family library, and with this book and the snake cane, he learns to speak Parseltongue on demand and without any snake around, like Voldemort does. So, supposedly the Basilisk can only be controlled by the Heir of Slytherin. Does this mean that they literally have to be the Heir of Slytherin? Or do they just have to be able to speak Parseltongue? One of my ideas was for Harry to get the Basilisk to listen to him and turn the battle in his favor that way. He will have his wand and has killed snakes before. At this point in the story he doesn’t know that he can speak Parseltongue because he has some of Voldemort’s powers, and the adults’ theory is that someone from the Gaunt family reproduced with a Potter at some point and Harry has Slytherin blood. So if he is able to embrace his Parseltongue ability, can he control the Basilisk? Or does he actually have to have Slytherin blood?

I’m not sure how to put this, but it’s like, if I go to a café or the library and take out my laptop, my brain is like, “Okay, got it. Time to work.” And I end up getting a lot done. But if I’m at home, it’s like, “No, you can’t write, you have to eat/doomscroll/read/watch TV/watch YT videos/ANYTHING BUT THE THING YOU DESPERATELY WANT TO DO.”

Does anyone else have this issue? How can I fix it?

I’m not sure how to put this, but it’s like, if I go to a café or the library and take out my laptop, my brain is like, “Okay, got it. Time to work.” And I end up getting a lot done. But if I’m at home, it’s like, “No, you can’t write, you have to eat/doomscroll/read/watch TV/watch YT videos/ANYTHING BUT THE THING YOU DESPERATELY WANT TO DO.”

Does anyone else have this issue? How can I fix it?

I think he was a Newfoundland. I know that in some illustrations of the book he has pointy ears but on the cover of GoF he has floppy ears so I feel like it could go either way. If he does have pointy ears I guess he could be some sort of Spitz breed.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/82786021/chapters/226410666

Hermione shrugged. “I’ve never had a female friend before. It can get kind of lonely.”

“So all your friends are boys?”

“No, all my friends are nonexistent,” Hermione said sardonically. “I think the kids at my primary school thought I was a little strange…a know-it-all…”

“But you’re really nice, too,” Harry told her. “And smart. I can already tell you’ll make a great witch.”

“Thank you, Harry.” Hermione looked a little embarrassed, but flattered all the same. “I hope I do well at Hogwarts.”

“I do, too,” Harry admitted. “I don’t really have any friends, either.”

“We could be friends,” said Hermione shyly.

“Oh…sure,” said Harry, and he felt himself smiling.

There was silence for a few moments. Hermione smiled, too, and Harry felt the same feeling he had earlier in the dentist’s office—that she was more than someone he had just met. And while he had worked with kids his age on school projects and things in the past, he had never enjoyed it before now. Here was someone who encouraged him, who listened to him, who just happened to have very pretty eyes…

It was a strange feeling, but not a bad one; nothing like Harry had ever felt before, but he had never felt so happy. He didn’t really know what it was, but he wanted to feel it again. He jumped a little when he heard a knock at the door.

So my fic is supposed to be all seven years. Harry has a crush on Hermione in first year, and doesn’t realize it until November. After she gets a valentine he never meant to send in February, they decide to be “going steady.” I’m now on March of second year and they’re still together (though Hermione is Petrified). So what I wanted to ask is, is it unrealistic for them to just be a couple until they graduate? In another book series I like, the MC does end up with her sixth-grade boyfriend, but they break up in ninth grade and date other people before they get together again. Should I have them break up in year 4/5, maybe Harry dates Cho and Hermione dates Viktor Krum or something, and they get back together later? Or should I just keep them together? I don’t want to feel like I’m splitting them up for the sake of drama, but at the same time, I don’t know if they’d just start being BF/GF in first year and then not date ANYONE else ever. And yet, maybe people who read my fic for the Harmony content won’t mind if they stay a steady couple.

So if you were reading a series like this, would you want them to split up and date other people for a spell? Or would you just want them to stay together?