A while ago, someone came up with the theory that Dumbledore had a horcrux – Fawkes. The SuperCarlinBrothers talked about this theory before being bluntly shot down by J.K. Rowling.
But the joke’s on you, Jo. I was already torn apart by you when you said that all disabilities in your world would be “fixed” or “overridden.” You can’t hurt me anymore! Haha! I’m as immortal as Harry!
“Wait, as immortal as Harry?”
What do I mean?
Well, I’ll tell you!
I think that the original theory was onto something. I think that Fawkes was a horcrux. But I don’t think he was Dumbledore’s horcrux. No, no…
I think that Fawkes was Harry’s horcrux.
Now, before I begin, note that this is just a theory and that it’s midnight, I’m tired, and there’s a good chance that I might not get everything right. But I’m going to try. I await your many many many messages in my inbox to explain why certain things I bring up can or cannot work.
First of all, let’s get the shakiest part of this theory out of the way. The prophecy. The prophecy has always confused me but I’m pretty sure it can still fit into this theory. I’m just not exactly sure how. Again, I’m tired. So let’s just assume that the prophecy fits perfectly.
And here we go…
To repeat: I think that Fawkes was Harry’s horcrux.
A horcrux, of course, being an object in which a person stores a minuscule piece of their soul which keeps them alive.
And I believe that Harry has unknowingly stored a piece of his soul in Fawkes.
And I know what you’re thinking.
“Ah, marauders4evr, you truly are tired. Don’t you know that you have to kill someone in order to create a horcrux?”
I do know that.
“Little tiny innocent Harry Potter is a pure cinnamon roll too good for this world. Surely he has never-”
Ahahahahahahaha.
Remember that time little tiny innocent Harry Potter stabbed a gigantic snake?
I do!
And I think that after he does this, a little piece of his soul jumped ship, merging with Fawkes’ soul. After all, Fawkes had landed on his arm in order to cry Harry back to life.
“No, wait, no. J.K. Rowling said it herself – in order to create a horcrux, you have to perform a ritual so disgusting that her editor nearly vomited when hearing about it.”
Clearly her editor has never read fanfiction but I digress.
It is true that usually some big dark ritual is performed in order to create a horcrux.
Except for one occasion.
It’s widely accepted that the reason why Harry became a horcrux is because Voldemort’s soul was so splintered (from the amount of horcruxes that he created) that a piece of it just broke off and went into this child.
“So, wait, Harry’s soul was splintered?”
Well it certainly wasn’t stable. You’ve got two souls that have been suddenly fused together faster than Ruby and Sapphire. And we know that Harry’s soul has always been unstable. That’s why the Dementors affected him more. That’s why he kept having weird dreams wherein he saw into Voldemort’s mind. That’s why his scar hurt whenever Voldemort was nearby or angry or existing or…you know that part was never clear. But the point is that we know that Harry’s soul is corrupted. So much so that I think it’s safe to say that it’s splintered, splintered enough that after murdering a snake in cold-blood, a part of it flies off and attaches to Fawkes.
“Okay, marauders4evr, take it easy. If Harry’s soul was so splintered that a piece of it could break off after he murdered someone without the need for the dark ritual, then why wasn’t a horcrux created when he burned Quirrell to death hmmm?”
Okay first of all…why doesn’t anyone ever talk about the fact that Harry straight up killed his professor? I mean it was in self-defense but still…you think anyone would talk about that but they don’t, not in canon or in the fandom. But I digress.
Who’s to say that Harry didn’t accidentally create a horcrux after killing Quirrell?
“Okay, now you’re full of it.”
Probably but hear me out.
What if a little tiny piece of Harry’s splintered soul did break off and go into an object in the room? Maybe an object he was holding like…
…oh snap.
Yep. If you want, you could also argue that the Philosopher’s Stone was briefly a horcrux. I say briefly because Albus Dumbledore states outright that Nicolas and Perenelle destroyed it. (Note: Not the Nicolas and Perenelle from my books, although wouldn’t that be an interesting twist?)
So the Philosopher’s Stone is gone. Kaput. Which means so is that little tiny piece of Harry’s soul. Which stinks. But it’s not really relevant to this theory, it just provides a safety net for lingering questions.
But I digress…
I think that Fawkes is Harry’s horcrux. Which explains why Harry seems to be drawn to him so many times in future books. The others seem comforted by his songs but Harry has always had a genuine connection with him which isn’t really explained. What if this is that connection? Two souls reaching out to one another, causing a subconscious connection?
“Okay so Fawkes is Harry’s horcrux. What does that mean?”
That means that if Harry were to say, walk into the Forbidden Forest to stare Voldemort straight in the eye and accept his fate…
He would come back.
Because really, it’s never explained how Harry comes back. There have been a few feeble guesses. This is mine.
The reason why Harry came back is because he couldn’t die because a piece of his soul was in Fawkes.
As long as Fawkes is alive, Harry cannot ever truly die.
“Wait a minute…Fawkes is always alive.”
And now you see the best part of the theory!
No matter how much Fawkes dies, he always comes back. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes.
Fawkes can never die. Which means, if you believe in this theory, that neither can Harry.
Which means that Harry can never die.
Which means that Harry Potter will always be The Boy Who Lived.
And really, what better way to symbolize his eternal life than a phoenix? It’s literally the representation of Harry – someone who ‘dies’ multiple times but always comes back. Harry and Fawkes. The Ones Who Lived.
if you ever feel left out just remember that you weren’t the fifth gryffindor guy in the marauders’ dormitory
I don’t know if the timeline works even a little bit but my headcanon was always that that fifth dude was Kingsley Shacklebolt and that he immediately made a conscious decision to stay the hell away from whatever those four idiots were up to and everyone was like “Yeah, good kid, studies hard, probably gonna be Minister one day if he manages to last his entire school career without committing four murders”.
Kingley Shacklebolt is probably the best roommate ever. The reason he never gets mentioned as the fifth is because he doesn’t ask questions. The other five start disappearing all night every full moon during fifth year? He doesn’t care and doesn’t want to know. Walked in to find Sirius talking to a fucking deer in the dorm like it was James? Just keep moving and don’t make eye contact. James, Sirius and Peter leaving shit all over the floor? Combine forces with Remus to politely yet firmly remind them that we’re not living in a goddamn barn and your dirty underwear shouldn’t spend three weeks straight on the floor James.
Kingsley was, naturally, invited to the Potter-Evans wedding. The invitation was accompanied with a formal apology for the Everything, signed by the Marauders. Enclosed was a little trophy, with the plaque reading ‘best roomie ever’
It may or may not permanently live on his mantle. Kingsley Shacklebolt does not inform Harry Potter of any of this. He has enough people that knew his parents, Kingsley’s not going to make it weird. Keep moving and don’t make eye contact. Besides, he already gave copies of all his pictures of them to Hagrid to go into a photo album for Harry back in first year.
commissioned by my husband who has started reading Goblet of Fire
As for informing the headmaster, Harry had no idea where Dumbledore went during the summer holidays. He amused himself for a moment, picturing Dumbledore, with his long silver beard, fulllength wizard’s robes, and pointed hat, stretched out on a beach somewhere, rubbing suntan lotion onto his long crooked nose. (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Chapter 2 The Scar)
“A clever plan..because if Harry here and his friend Ron hadn’t discovered this book, why–Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn’t acted of her own free will…and imagine…what might have happened then…The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pure-blood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing Muggle-borns…”
It brings me SO MUCH joy that the plot of Chamber of Secrets basically happens because Lucius is terrified out of his mind of Arthur and Molly Weasley and their SEVeN kids who were all raised to hold the line in case anyone tried to start a genocidal regime again. They are so powerful and so dangerous to any attempted rise to power from the Death Eaters, and Lucius feels the need to try and marginalize and demonize them in order to decrease the threat they pose.
And boy was he right to be concerned, they are…unstoppable. Each and every one of them. You thought it was impressive that it took five Death Eaters to kill their uncles? Try having a couple Weasleys illegally on the airwaves, one destroying Voldemort’s Horcruxes, one protesting at Hogwarts, one running loose in the government, one housing escaped prisoners, and one getting foreign support!! More children than they can afford? Try more children than you can effectively stop!!
And then when they ALL show up to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts? What a trip for Lucius Malfoy! Hey bigots! Would you like to pick an opponent based on which Quidditch position they excel at, or do you wanna roll the dice and go with one of the brothers who got 12 OWLs? Those are your only two options because Weasleys are EVERYWHERE and the weak link is NO ONE. The fear that must have been in his heart when one or two of them was around every corner of the school taking down his DE pals…is so amazing to think about. Glorious. Iconic. Every Weasley has red hair, freckles, and a drive to destroy the concept of blood purity at all cost!!
The Weasleys are not always nice or right, but they are GOOD and they believe in standing up for what is good, and when evil is around they SHOW UP to fight it. No questions asked. And evil is so scared of them, so worried about what they can do, that it resorts to desperately weaponizing a little girl to try and stop them.
THIS IS AMAZING!!!! GO, WEASLEYS!!!
The thing I love about Arthur Weasley is his function as a foil to Lucius. The Weasleys are dirt poor and Arthur’s job is a joke, but he’s widely respected to the point that the governers mention that finding his daughter in the chamber is the last straw. Not a pureblood student.One that’s related to Arthur. He’s well connected enough to get them into the Minister’s box at the Quidditch world cup. I forget which book it is, but at one point he gets an entire fleet of enchanted cars to take the kids to King Cross station to catch the train. This is all through sheer personal influence; everything the Malfoys achieve is through bribery. Lucius should fear the Weasleys.
Arthur Weasley runs on fairy tale power; he does favors for people, because he’s kind, and they do favors for him in turn.
I know no one pays attention to Charlie Weasley’s date of birth and this is an incredibly nitpicky timeline complaint, but according to the wiki, Charlie graduated Hogwarts in June of 1991. (Harry and Ron show up for their first year of Hogwarts in September of 1991.)
I thought it was implied (or perhaps outright stated) that the Gryffindor Quidditch team was dismal the year before Harry became Seeker? McGonagall says outright to Wood that they were flattened in their last match with Slytherin and that she couldn’t look Snape in the eye for weeks.
So… did Charlie not play Quidditch in his last year? Did he get injured in Care of Magical Creatures class or something? McGonagall and Wood are absolutely the sort to get overly dramatic about the state of the Gryffindor Quidditch team due to one match where Charlie Weasley couldn’t make it (maybe he had a job interview that weekend), but it really makes more sense to me if Charlie was just one year older and Gryffindor went through a “Great Year of Shame”.
I think for my upcoming fic, it’s either going to be “universe alteration: Charlie Weasley is one year older” or I’m going to have to make sure that Minerva McGonagall and Oliver Wood take every opportunity to passive-aggressively complain about Charlie Weasley’s “Betrayal” of the Gryffindor Team to Ron.
(Ron: “???He was in the hospital???”)
Oliver Wood, when Harry starts ending up in the Hospital Wing due to his adventures, wide-eyed with horror: “Oh, no. It’s happening again.”
I just assumed that Charlie pulled a F&G and left after getting his OWLs. Maybe he had a six year, maybe not, but that he didn’t do seventh or bother with NEWTs at all. It’s not like we know what the required qualifications are at the dragon reserve.
Oliver Wood and Professor McGonagall being Gryffindover Dramatic about missing one match is amazing and perfect, though.
Oh, I like that idea. I could totally see Charlie speedrunning his last couple years at Hogwarts, taking his NEWTs at the end of his sixth, then running away to Romania now that he’s seventeen and officially An Adult.
I figure Molly would be out for blood if Charlie just ditched his NEWTs altogether, but Charlie countered that by getting the absolute minimum number of NEWTs (he did well, though) needed for his job (or to later get promoted at the reserve into a job that did require qualifications) and to graduate Hogwarts. (I don’t know how wizards do post-secondary education and the field of magizoology is obvious a hot mess, but Charlie is the Weasley I can most see doing an apprenticeship or some magical university / college program.)
So, Molly is… proud… of him, but I imagine Charlie also countered that by just straight-up not telling anyone he was going to pull this. Like, he studied himself (using Bill’s books), he signed up for the exams himself (maybe Bill also took a NEWT early), and then he went out and got the job himself. (Initially failing to get his Apparition License was a bit of a setback, but it was a good diversion for his family while he was stressing out over his NEWTs.)
Like, no one really had time to be proud of Charlie? Because, like, he just dropped it all on them and then left for his New Adult Job a week later (max).
(Charlie, I imagine, is a very steady dude, which lulls people into a sense of complacency, but he’s interspersed with Big Exciting Moments. Like when he was eight, he went out and caught a toad, put the toad on a chicken’s egg, took careful notes, and almost succeeded in making a basilisk. Every once a while the older Weasleys are still overcome with the urge to “Check On What Charlie Is Doing Now”, but when they checked on him over the past year, they mistakenly passed it off as “oh, just school stress” and didn’t look closer.)
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Charlie says, reassuring, in the same not-actually-reassuring way he talks about Quidditch accidents or COMC projects. “What if I’d failed? That would have been embarrassing. Don’t worry, Mum, I know this guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who works at the reserve, and he says he’s got a spare couch for me to live on. Everything’s taken care of.”
Fred and George were very impressed. Ron and Ginny were too young to really understand or care, save that they were losing their big brother. Percy was also vaguely impressed (Percy is the guy who would go on to take 12 OWLs, he thinks Charlie could have done better) but mostly distraught, because Charlie ditching 7th year leaves Percy alone with Fred and George at Hogwarts. (So, when it comes down to who feels more Betrayed by Charlie Weasley, between Percy and Oliver, it honestly just depends on what happened that day (what F&G did that day, actually, since Percy and Oliver both deal with them).)
Molly wrote Bill like, “DID YOU KNOW?!” To which Bill was like, “No??? But good for him. It sounds like he’s got everything taken care of.” (Bill doesn’t touch on how that Charlie doesn’t speak Romanian or is moving out to live on some random person’s couch, because he’s not going to bat that hard for his little brother.) “Honestly, Mum, it could have been way worse.”
Writing longer canon-era HP fic is always bizarre for me because at some point, if I want a coherent universe, I’m basically just going, “Hey… hey… what if Hogwarts was, like, a mildly functional school. With, like, policies on pets and teachers supervising death-on-brooms practice and more than one professor per core class.”
As always, everything dogfather-related is tagged with the dogfather and story updates are tagged with dogfather story post. If you get antsy waiting for the next update, check out my AO3 or the zines and comics on my Gumroad. I’ll have a longer update in the next couple of days, I promise!
THE BOY WHO LIVES!
Eight years ago, it was discovered that Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, only known survivor of the Killing Curse, had vanished. Though the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has remained tight-lipped about the circumstances of his disappearance, it was widely believed that rogue Death Eaters were the likely culprits. The case has gone unsolved, drawing harsh criticism of the Aurors from numerous Ministry officials– until now.
Following a lead from an anonymous source, the Daily Prophet has learned that in fact Harry Potter has been living under an assumed name, among Muggles, and is currently a first-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While no Hogwarts staff could be reached for comment–
The phone rings, and Harry jumps, looking up from the newspaper. Everyone else is nervy, too: Ron looks around wildly for the source of the noise, and Moony and Padfoot are trying to hide the fact that they both went for their wands.
“Hello?” Harry’s mum says. “Oh. No, dear, it’s fine, it’s not too early. Harry’s just here.”
She waves him over, and hands him the phone.
“Harry, have you seen the newspaper this morning?” Hermione asks.
He has– and yes, he’s all right– and no, of course he knows she didn’t tell anyone– and really, it could have been anyone– and hang on, what did Hermione mean about London?
“Well, we can’t go now, can we?” says Hermione.
“Of course we can,” says Harry.
He realizes, suddenly, that the kitchen has gone very quiet.
“Hermione? I’ll call you back,” says Harry.
What follows is not technically a row, because everyone involved is trying very hard not to shout.
“You can’t go wandering London with a target on your back,” Padfoot insists.
“You and Moony will be with us,” Harry says.
“Hate to say it, but Diagon Alley will be a madhouse,” says Ron.
“Then we won’t go to Diagon,” Harry says.
“We ought to wait until things calm down,” says Harry’s mum.
“But then Ron and Hermione won’t be able to come with us,” says Harry. “And that’s not fair.”
“We ought to talk to Dumbledore,” says Remus. “And Molly and Arthur.”
Harry sets his jaw in a way that is breathtakingly familiar to half the adults in the room. “We should ask Ron’s mum and dad if it’s okay. But I don’t care if a bunch of people want to make a fuss about Harry Potter. I’m not doing anything differently.”
“Quite right,” says Harry’s dad.
(Tim and Caro have rarely given their sweet-natured son much cause to really dig his heels in, but they know he’s only stubborn about the things that truly matter.)
(later, Remus says “He could have been Lily, just then,” and Sirius nods.)
So Harry calls Hermione back, and Ron owls his parents, and Sirius re-casts half the house’s wards in a fit of paranoia.
But once they winnow down the itinerary to only the places they’re least likely to meet any wizards, and Ron’s parents owl their rather bewildered approval, and Dumbledore benignly stonewalls the Aurors into submission—
As always, everything dogfather-related is tagged with the dogfather and story updates are tagged with dogfather story post. If you’re getting antsy waiting for the next update, check out my AO3 or the zines and comics on my Gumroad.
(also, I am giving up on the bullet points, surprise!)
Over the course of the fall, despite his best intentions, Remus finds himself being kindly, thoughtfully, relentlessly parented.
He had planned to take a flat near Harry’s parents, and keep watch without interfering in their lives. Instead, he’s living in their spare room, and every time he isn’t home for dinner they look disappointed.
He spends a weekend up a ladder, pruning trees with Tim shouting encouragingly at him from the ground. Caro keeps giving him books and asking him thoughtful questions about them. They fuss over him when he come home from the full moon. He can’t quite bring himself to complain.
It’s strange, is all. Remus has been living on his own since he left school; he hasn’t spoken to his father in years. There had been a little while, in the brief golden years after Hogwarts, when he and his friends had lived out of each other’s pockets, when the contents of their various kitchen cupboards had been communal property and they’d slept on each others’ sofas as often as their own beds. It was even odds, back then, whether on any given morning he’d wake up in his own flat with his face mashed into the back of Sirius’s neck, or on the lumpy hide-a-bed at Peter’s, or in James’ spare room to the sound of Lily whistling while she brewed a hangover cure and James made breakfast.
(Remus knew, at the time, that there had been a quiet conspiracy amongst his friends to look after him. He always seemed to have more groceries on hand than he could remember paying for, and they kept giving him unwanted sweaters and robes, supposedly gifted from from their least favorite relatives, that fit him suspiciously well.)
But he learned, in the two awful years when Sirius was in Azkaban, to look after himself, and Remus has never liked to be coddled. After Sirius came back, he was the one who needed looking after, for a long time, and that suited Remus better than the other way around.
So: it’s strange. He’s an adult. He gets on very well without anyone but Sirius to care for him, on the rare occasions he really needs it. But Harry’s parents miss Harry, and Sirius, dreadfully, and having someone to care for seems to help.
And he owes them, anyway.
They’ve raised James and Lily’s son. They love Harry as much as James and Lily did, and kept him safe while Remus and Sirius looked for him. They don’t seem to hold a grudge about the year and change that Sirius pretended to be their dog. No, they treat Sirius like family, and Remus too. And he’s just about sure they know what he and Sirius are to each other, without forcing anyone to have a hideously awkward conversation about it.
Having said that, they’re not by any means perfect.
Caro rarely outright disapproves of anything, but by the third or fourth time she asks if he’s really sure about that, dear, Remus generally just gives in. When Remus is working on anything non-magical, Tim has a habit of hovering nearby and offering not-actually-helpful advice until he makes Remus snappish. If he comes downstairs one more time to find the Muggle newspaper lying open on the table, with the employment section face-up and listings helpfully circled, he might be forced to Incendio the stupid thing right there in the kitchen.
So it’s with some relief that Remus decamps to Hogwarts for Harry’s first Quidditch game. He even takes the packed lunch from Harry’s dad.
He and Sirius had agreed to watch from a distance with Hagrid, but they agree it’s just not the same after about three minutes of play. So Sirius turns into Padfoot and they go up into the stands together, finding seats with the rest of the Gryffindor first years.
Ron Weasley frowns at him, trying to work out why Remus looks familiar.
“Hello again,” Remus says. “I think we met at Hagrid’s a few weeks ago? I’m an old friend of Harry’s godfather.”
The girl sitting next to him looks up sharply at that, and then sharper still at Padfoot. Hagrid introduces her as Hermione Granger.
“Ah, then I suppose we have a mutual friend,” says Remus.
Because Padfoot is considerably more soppy than Sirius ever is in human form, Padfoot wags his tail at Hermione, and puts his head on Remus’ knee.
“So you, er, know Padfoot too, then?” Ron asks.
“Oh yes,” says Remus. “Even longer than I’ve known Harry.”
But the game distracts the children from what might otherwise have been a long list of questions. It distracts Remus too, for that matter. He hasn’t been to a Quidditch game in years, and for a little while he’s simply having too nice a time to think of anything else. The thermos Tim packed even turns out to be heavily spiked with whisky.
But then Harry’s broom makes a spirited attempt to throw him off it.
Remus leaps to his feet. Beside him Padfoot does the same, about to change shape, but there are too many people here. Even for Harry, it’s not worth it, not when Remus can do something instead.
Remus grabs Padfoot by the scruff and hisses “Not here!” before starting up a litany of every countercurse he knows. He’s vaguely aware of his surroundings. The children whisper urgently to each other. Hermione goes hurtling down the stands, knocking people over in her wake. But Remus doesn’t pay attention to much of anything else until Harry gets his broom back under control, and then, quite unexpectedly, produces the Snitch.
Harry and his friends are herded off to the safety of Hagrid’s, with Padfoot playing sheepdog, but Remus doesn’t follow. “I’ll be along,” he tells Padfoot, and goes to find Severus Snape.
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