Harry Potter and the Skittering Spouse

[kaosisreality]

get drunk and ending up married is her own damn fault

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Getting drunk is her fault. She made the choice, while sober and of clear mind, to drink. Upon becoming drunk (blackout or otherwise), she is no longer of clear mind and cannot be considered able to give consent to much of anything, let alone a lifelong, binding commitment. It's why annulments in Nevada are so easy to get.

 

[Avernus]

I consider such binding magic to be extremely morally questionable to use under any circumstances. Using it on a drunken young woman who doesn't even know magic exists? Completely beyond the pale.

 

[Lycanthromancer]

I consider such binding magic to be extremely morally questionable to use under any circumstances. Using it on a drunken young woman who doesn't even know magic exists? Completely beyond the pale.

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Agreed.

Normally, Taylor's getting married while drunk would be on her, but a bunch of stuff here does counteract that fact, such as her complete ignorance of the situation, and others being willing to take advantage of her and her situation.

So the marriage? Totally on her (and Harry). The binding? No. That's on Tonks and the slimeball, who forced her into a binding magical contract without her knowledge or consent. And no, I don't care if Tonks was drunk. She chose to do that, so anything she does under the influence is on her head.

 

[Fencer]

True enough, though I kind of hope @Fencer doesn't do this. It'd be a really predictable outcome where they end up having it annulled and then redoing it afterwards. It's too much Rom-Com nonsense for me to enjoy. And again it'd be really fucking predictable. Besides, Harry and Taylor aren't lucky enough for that to occur. Potter Luck is a thing, and Taylor is a Potter now too.

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I do not appreciate people trying to push me to write a certain story or conclusion. Please by all means feed me ideas and play devils advocate with me or each other for how characters will react to one another but that was pushing you luck more than a little. I've considered that as a possible ending. I have made no decisions on anything that late game at all. This is still mostly off the cuff here and I'm just going to let Taylor slam into the cast and see how things start to shake out.

Probably. I can't wait to read it! Seriously I'm really looking forward to seeing more of this story, hopefully it's sooner rather than later. If we're lucky @Fencer just needs to read parts of Book 6 that you can access in the sample you can read on the Amazon page.

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Might have too. Honestly what kind of used book store doesn't have a dozen copies of the entire series?

The problem with that argument is that "Taylor suffers and Potter has bad luck" is also very predictable, if being predictable is what bothers you.

Also, "predictable Rom-Com nonsense" would be that the girl who has been forcibly bound to a boy conveniently falls in love with him, which somehow makes being bound by slave magic to him just fine. That's literal cliche isekei harem stuff.

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Dude what are you doing here? Like don't misunderstand I'm not trying to chase anyone off but given your initial and continuing reaction I would have sworn you'd want nothing to do with this fic.

 

[Avernus]

Agreed.

Normally, Taylor's getting married while drunk would be on her, but a bunch of stuff here does counteract that fact, such as her complete ignorance of the situation, and others being willing to take advantage of her and her situation.

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Keep in mind that we don't even know if Taylor was conscious for the "marriage".

Given that the historical purpose of such a ritual would almost certainly be to bind women unwillingly to men, it's very unlikely if it cares if the woman consents or is conscious.

Dude what are you doing here? Like don't misunderstand I'm not trying to chase anyone off but given your initial and continuing reaction I would have sworn you'd want nothing to do with this fic.

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I like your writing and I like wormfics. And it's not like you're saying "look how awesome and romantic this is".

I don't find the story offensive; I find the society & magic that would create such a situation offensive. But it's not like the wizarding world of HP isn't full of very offensive people with very offensive beliefs already. Just look at house elves; not a whole lot of concern for personal freedom there. Having a magic like this that can be applied like this is perfectly in character for them.

 

[Lycanthromancer]

Keep in mind that we don't even know if Taylor was conscious for the "marriage".

Given that the historical purpose of such a ritual would almost certainly be to bind women unwillingly to men, it's very unlikely if it cares if the woman consents or is conscious.

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Fair -- right up until we learn one way or the other.

Harry might not have been conscious, either.

And other than maybe agreeing to getting married, Harry's only slightly more culpable than Taylor is, given he, y'know, actually knows about magic and binding contracts and actually had a small chance (no matter how small) of questioning it. Assuming he was conscious, of course.

 

[Windborne]

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Ah I truly don't mean to force a view on you, or force you to write a certain story. Sorry, I'm on the spectrum so I do fuck up at social interaction.

Keep in mind that we don't even know if Taylor was conscious for the "marriage".

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She was, she just doesn't remember it. That was stated in story. She pretty much said "Fuck it! I'm a ghost to the government, why the hell not, let's do this thing."

 

[Avernus]

And other than maybe agreeing to getting married, Harry's only slightly more culpable than Taylor is, given he, y'know, actually knows about magic and binding contracts and actually had a small chance (no matter how small) of questioning it. Assuming he was conscious, of course.

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Eh, I don't blame Harry for it, he was just as surprised and almost as confused as she was. Heck, he didn't blame her for trying to leverage the magic to do something nasty to him if he did know.

 

[Fencer]

Ah I truly don't mean to force a view on you, or force you to write a certain story. Sorry, I'm on the spectrum so I do fuck up at social interaction.

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It's fine believe me if I was mad you would know. But the longer I'm at this and the more incidents I run into the more proactive I get about nipping certain things in the bud. That cluster fuck in the Archer thread? That left a mark. I coined my own term for that shit show, and I don't use it because I don't want to give some bigot another catchphrase they can use to dismiss legitimate anger and problems.

Given the discussion I am no shit watching this thread ready to call in the mods if the discussion doesn't stay polite. Well at least until my shift starts. I'm not interested in trying to contain or control flame wars over the exact definitions of slavery rape and consent. If everyone stays polite than more power to you all and have at it but keep it within the rules.

 

[Neo-Devil]

Hope the author does Dumbledore justice, the man is best described as a pacifist who knows when to pick up a gun. He is a nurturer at heart, he is the sort of man who never wants to fight nor make any decisions involving fighting. He's a born teacher who fears his own power after the Grindelwald war. And at the current juncture is an old, tired man who just wants to do what he loves most...teach the next generation.

Hearing Taylor's story would make him feel outraged at the injustices done to her throughout her life, and then in private break down crying at the sheer tragedy of it all. Canon Dumbledore, surprise surprise, isn't actually a manipulator, no, he's simply a teacher who doesn't want to fight. His hiding info from Harry concerning the prophecy was just him trying to give Harry a good childhood(while not knowing what was occurring concerning Harry's relatives due to a combination of disbelief that anyone would treat their relatives that way, and Harry's unwillingness to speak of it).

The Snitch puzzle and the search for the Horcruxes...Dumbledore's way of giving Harry one last lesson after death, namely in training the Golden Trio's investigative skills. Albus Dumbledore isn't actually a manipulator, he's a pacifist teacher at heart and that is something I hope is done justice throughout this fic.

 

[Windborne]

It's fine believe me if I was mad you would know. But the longer I'm at this and the more incidents I run into the more proactive I get about nipping certain things in the bud. That cluster fuck in the Archer thread? That left a mark. I coined my own term for that shit show, and I don't use it because I don't want to give some bigot another catchphrase they can use to dismiss legitimate anger and problems.

Given the discussion I am no shit watching this thread ready to call in the mods if the discussion doesn't stay polite. Well at least until my shift starts. I'm not interested in trying to contain or control flame wars over the exact definitions of slavery rape and consent. If everyone stays polite than more power to you all and have at it but keep it within the rules.

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That's absolutely more than fair. Thanks for letting me know I was straying too far.

Snip

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Fencer said in the Snippets thread that he was going to try to do Dumbledore without going into caricature. I'm hoping the discussion in that thread and here will showcase enough to help Fencer portray him as a person.

 

[Fencer]

Hope the author does Dumbledore justice, the man is best described as a pacifist who knows when to pick up a gun. He is a nurturer at heart, he is the sort of man who never wants to fight nor make any decisions involving fighting. He's a born teacher who fears his own power after the Grindelwald war. And at the current juncture is an old, tired man who just wants to do what he loves most...teach the next generation.

Hearing Taylor's story would make him feel outraged at the injustices done to her throughout her life, and then in private break down crying at the sheer tragedy of it all. Canon Dumbledore, surprise surprise, isn't actually a manipulator, no, he's simply a teacher who doesn't want to fight. His hiding info from Harry concerning the prophecy was just him trying to give Harry a good childhood(while not knowing what was occurring concerning Harry's relatives due to a combination of disbelief that anyone would treat their relatives that way, and Harry's unwillingness to speak of it).

The Snitch puzzle and the search for the Horcruxes...Dumbledore's way of giving Harry one last lesson after death, namely in training the Golden Trio's investigative skills. Albus Dumbledore isn't actually a manipulator, he's a pacifist teacher at heart and that is something I hope is done justice throughout this fic.

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… I'm going to disagree with some of this. Dumbledore knowingly allowed Harry to be abused, sent him back yearly, admitted to it in canon. did nothing to stem the bullying and discrimination in the school, never pushed to get Sirius a trial and allowed students to be tortured.

My mom's a teacher and a pacifist and I grew up knowing a bunch of other teachers. The ones worth a damn would have stepped between Umbridge and the students and to hell with their jobs. Not a single member of the hogwarts staff did so in spite of multiple students wandering around with bandaged hands.

I am not trying to write the man as a caricature but the idea that he knows when to fight is patently false as the only time he seems to be willing to enter even verbal conflict is with Voldemort.

 

[Windborne]

Just as a curiosity @Fencer what parts of Book 6 (or the others) are you wanting to look up for reference? I certainly don't have the firmest grip on what occurs in Year 6, but I'm sure others have a firm grasp as to what happens when. I can remember some things like Slughorns party on the train to Hogwarts, the contest for the Felix Felicis (or whatever the luck potion is called), Quidditch tryouts, Ron getting poisoned because he was a gluttonous ass, Malfoy and Harry getting into a fight where Harry nearly eviscerates him with Sectumsempra (Snape's spell), the random discussions with Dumbledore about Voldemort, Hermione being extremely and weirdly upset about Harry using the knowledge in the HBP book. I couldn't say when most of those things occurred in Year 6, just that they did.

 

[Fencer]

Just as a curiosity @Fencer what parts of Book 6 (or the others) are you wanting to look up for reference? I certainly don't have the firmest grip on what occurs in Year 6, but I'm sure others have a firm grasp as to what happens when. I can remember some things like Slughorns party on the train to Hogwarts, the contest for the Felix Felicis (or whatever the luck potion is called), Quidditch tryouts, Ron getting poisoned because he was a gluttonous ass, Malfoy and Harry getting into a fight where Harry nearly eviscerates him with Sectumsempra (Snape's spell), the random discussions with Dumbledore about Voldemort, Hermione being extremely and weirdly upset about Harry using the knowledge in the HBP book. I couldn't say when most of those things occurred in Year 6, just that they did.

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When did Amelia bones get murdered, I want to go over the full scene with the Dursley's and I'm sorta putting that off because rewrites with minor tweaks are both annoying and dull. Chapter 5 should be a lot more fun possibly 6 as well depending on how things shake out. I want to double check that Harry actually spent the full summer at the burrow unwinding rather than doing anything productive because Taylor just is not going to stand for that, and between that and a few other things Harry and Taylor are barreling towards their first fight. I am seriously considering Taylor demanding to consummate the marriage because she's decided that she needs to get away from Harry and start being proactive. Only for harry to point out that forcing him would be rape and leave Taylor ashamed and utterly impotent in her ability to effect change on anything which… will not go over well…. Seriously my mind keeps playing out all the dramatic twists this can take as personalities clash. Is that likely to happen? Probably not because Harry is more likely to meet her half way so things never get to that point. But I'm very much not in control of the story right now. It's literally in the hands of the cast.

 

[Ravenwood240]

Dumbledore is not a saint. He is the man who knew, knew and told Harry that he was sentencing Harry to ten hard years, when he left him at the Dursley's house. In those ten years,arge set a dog on him, they kept him in a closet, Petunia swing a frying pan at his head, Dudley and his cronies created Harry hunting, at on short rations, without even clothes of his own.

Those are just the things mentioned in Canon; how many other events were not written of?

No, Dumbledore is directly responsible for the abuse Harry suffered; if he hadn't left him there, Harry wouldn't have gone through that.

No, Dumbledore is just a man, one with too many responsibilities, who doesn't or didn't understand that setting an orphan's possessions on fire, or even pretending to, isn't going to teach them anything but might makes right.

Riddle had issues before Dumbledore's visit; that display didn't help any.

Dumbledore made mistakes, and his insistence on trying to save people led to the worst Dark Lord ever. Anytime before the prophecy he could have killed Riddle, after he came out as Voldemort; but he chose to not do so. He bears some measure of responsibility for every death of the Voldemort wars.

And the worst bit? Forty years of wars, and nothing changed. Malfoy got off, just as his daddy did, the purebloods still treat muggles like shit, (witnessed by Ron confounding the license person to get his pass, on a driving test, something far too many idiots can do, judging by the number of autopsies I have done on people driving stupid.)

All the fear, the horrors, the deaths, and nothing changed.

 

[Windborne]

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Gotcha, yeah I can't help with those specifics, but if I remember correctly by the time Harry reached the Burrow Amelia was dead, possibly just the night before. I think Hermione was reading the Prophet and it was on the front page, but again it's been years since I listened to Book 6. I don't think it specifies the day, but I could be wrong.

 

[Ravenwood240]

Gotcha, yeah I can't help with those specifics, but if I remember correctly by the time Harry reached the Burrow Amelia was dead, possibly just the night before. I think Hermione was reading the Prophet and it was on the front page, but again it's been years since I listened to Book 6. I don't think it specifies the day, but I could be wrong.

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Amelia was murdered during the second week of July in the 1996 summer holiday,[2]​ presumably for her anti-Voldemort activities, in her own home.

So, sometime between the 8th and the 24th of July.

 

[Windborne]

Amelia was murdered during the second week of July in the 1996 summer holiday,[2]​ presumably for her anti-Voldemort activities, in her own home.

So, sometime between the 8th and the 24th of July.

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Thanks for specifying it. So she's still alive, Fencer references her dressing down Tonks at the end of chapter 3, and maybe dealing with this clusterfuck might be enough to butterfly it away. Here's hoping! I imagine Amelia might want to ask Taylor personally if she wants to press charges considering the high profile nature of this situation. But that might just be me projecting.

 

[novorek]

When did Amelia bones get murdered

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From what I can tell from googling, the battle where Sirius dies is June 20/21st. It is a little bit unclear how long before Harry returns to the Dursleys, but probably something like a week. He then spends 2 weeks at the Dursleys, where Dumbledore comes to pick him up. During his conversation with Dumbledore, Harry mentions he read about Bones dying. So she would almost certainly have been dead by July 15th, and maybe earlier. During the 1st chapter interlude with the Muggle Prime Minister, her death is also brought up, but I am unclear on when that happened (Also, I really dislike that interlude, because it makes the Prime Minister look as absurdly incompetent as the Minister of Magic. It very badly strains my suspension of disbelief that the instant a PM found out about the magical world that they didn't task a sizable chunk of the British intelligence service into monitoring magical Britain. But I am probably getting off topic here).

I want to double check that Harry actually spent the full summer at the burrow unwinding rather than doing anything productive because Taylor just is not going to stand for that

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After leaving the Dursleys, Harry and Dumbledore do the trip to recruit Slughorn to teach potions, before heading to the Burrow. He shows up, and there is the discussion of the increased security, and then the revelation that Fleur is marrying Bill, and Molly/Ginny/Hermione being catty about it (Might be an interesting thing to address. Fleur would definitely mess with Taylor's self esteem, but Taylor would also not like how Molly/Ginny/Hermione are treating her). The other major event is they get their OWL scores.

Then he relaxes for a couple weeks.

Harry remained within the confines of The Burrow's garden over the next few weeks. He spent most of his days playing two-a-side Quidditch in the Weasleys' orchard (he and Hermione against Ron and Ginny; Hermione was dreadful and Ginny good, so they were reasonably well-matched) and his evenings eating triple helpings of everything Mrs Weasley put in front of him.

It would have been a happy, peaceful holiday had it not been for the stories of disappearances, odd accidents, even of deaths now appearing almost daily in the Prophet.

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After his birthday, they do the Diagon Alley shopping trip that is most notable for visiting Fred and George's shop, and then stalking Malfoy and learning he is buying shady stuff (the vanishing cabinet, but the trio don't hear what it is) from Knockturn. Harry then spends the last week of the vacation doing nothing at the Burrow again.

I am seriously considering Taylor demanding to consummate the marriage because she's decided that she needs to get away from Harry and start being proactive

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I don't know if Taylor demanding it would be in character (she did break up with Grue just before she surrendered (Imago 21.4), but I could definitely see her proposing it as a solution. I'm not sure if the drama of Taylor demanding it would work well.

 

[Vortrex]

I already love it. I just hope it actually gets some traction and keeps going. Every other story I've found with this prompt hasn't gotten past chapter five.

 

[Windborne]

I don't know if Taylor demanding it would be in character (she did break up with Grue just before she surrendered (Imago 21.4), but I could definitely see her proposing it as a solution. I'm not sure if the drama of Taylor demanding it would work well.

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I don't think it would. Especially as she specifically mentions she's not interested in doing so in chapter 2, not to get rid of the 600 foot restriction. Plus really, Taylor wanting to be proactive would likely be a very welcome change for Harry. It'd give him an outlet for his grief a bit while helping prepare against Voldemort. He might ask for it to not be full blown hardcore hell week equivalent training because he's still grieving and I think Taylor would respect that request. After all she's familiar with loss and would understand that.

That and they can't do magic very likely, well definitely not at the Burrow because Molly is stickler for some pretty stupid things. Not that I see Taylor putting up with being at the Burrow at all. Molly is way too overbearing. Maybe at Grimmauld since it's under the Fidelius, Harry could practice magic. I bet Bill and Fleur would jump at the chance to be away from Molly. Hermione might as well, if she can browse the Black Library, and Taylor could probably assist in that with bugs to make sure certain books aren't deadly to touch. Ron wouldn't care too much either way. Of course that's just my interpretation of the characters, @Fencer might decide to go a different way.

 

[Kaernetron]

Taylor could probably assist in that with bugs to make sure certain books aren't deadly to touch.

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Hard nope on that idea.
We know as long as the edge of her bug control range is within 60 feet of Harry, the marriage contract doesn't invoke the punishment clause.
This implies to me that other magics (like nasty curses on books darker than black) can interact with Taylor's insect control field and follow it back to her under the right circumstances (like treating being touched by a controlled bug as being touched by the controller).

 

[Windborne]

Hard nope on that idea.
We know as long as the edge of her bug control range is within 60 feet of Harry, the marriage contract doesn't invoke the punishment clause.
This implies to me that other magics (like nasty curses on books darker than black) can interact with Taylor's insect control field and follow it back to her under the right circumstances (like treating being touched by a controlled bug as being touched by the controller).

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I didn't think about it quite like that. That's a fair point. Though Hermione would probably not care regardless if she can perform magic to do the checking. Knowledge is power and Hermione is well aware of that truth. Though thinking about it further I definitely see Taylor getting Bill's assistance in clearing out the Black Library since he was a Curse Breaker with Gringotts. Having a well stocked library created and owned by a predominantly Dark family like the Blacks would be an information treasure trove for Taylor.

 

[Brewmoose]

I'm really enjoying reading this. I dislike how nearly every Harry Potter Vegas marriage fic involves the female instantly accepting being bound magically to Harry.

I actually started to draft roughly a year ago a Harry/Victoria Vegas marriage story, where drunken marriage did not result in instant happiness, but let it lay fallow after I realized I would have to re-read Ward to make sure I got Vicky's character down pat. I've had a blast reading this version with Taylor.

I hope you enjoy writing more of this!

 

[Lycanthromancer]

Taylor: "Harry, I think we should head out to Diagon Alley."

Harry: "Why?"

Taylor: "First, we're going to visit Weasley Wizarding Wheezes."

Harry: "And then?"

Taylor: "And then I'm going to see about getting a wand."

Ron: "Okay, that grin is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen, which includes You Know Who. If it weren't illegal, I'd be apparating out of here so fast, this building would implode from the displaced air."

Hermione: "Where did you learn words like 'implode' and 'displaced'?"

Ron: "I read!"

Hermione: "No you don't."

Ron: "I saw them on the cover of a book! That counts!"

Hermione: "No it doesn't."