u/technoRomancer

I recently read Nemesis - if you're not familiar, Taylor can biotinker her bugs. But she presents herself as a joke villain, so she designs them to look cute and harmless, and makes them essentially act like the pop culture plague Minions. Bumbling and silly and trying very hard to be cartoonishly evil.

Are there any stories where her powers *actually* work that way? As in, she doesn't directly control her bugs (or projections, or some other kind of minion), she has to order them around, and they're loyal and enthusiastic but kind of share a single braincell?

Looking for recommendations for your favorite stories focused on a character's relationship instead of plot progression - for example The Speed of Light has an alt-power Taylor as a Ward in New York, but it's mostly about her relearning how to trust someone and let herself be vulnerable with them, and what she's willing to do for someone who has earned that trust.

Dumbledore is devastated that Harry has been relying on the power of capitalism, not love. After his childhood, he's completely incapable of trusting anyone fully and believes no one will ever be his real friend. And he's just discovered he's rich. Ron and Hermione are the first people in Gryffindor his age he halfway gets along with, so he offers them a magical contract - oaths of loyalty and public friendship in exchange for access to Potter heirlooms and artifacts, regular deposits to private accounts, and allowing them to use his name to help establish careers after Hogwarts.

They get a little more than they bargained for with their yearly adventures, but the contracts are ironclad, and Harry makes it worth their while.