in a faith-forgotten land

UNDERTOW

isabel conklin/conrad fisher belly wakes up on her wedding day. then she wakes up on her wedding day again. > read latest chapter here > read chapter one here

chapter four: drift

“Belly.” His voice is gentle, eyes concerned. “You’re kinda freaking me out.” She takes a deep breath. She’s studied this in sports psychology: breathe in for four, hold for four, out for four. He’s alive. He’s alive. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m fine. I just—I had a weird dream.” Conrad nods, like this is an acceptable explanation for acting like a lunatic.

BOLD WORLD

HARRY POTTER/ASTORIA GREENGRASS after the murder of marcus flint and the implication of her werewolf best friend in the crime, astoria greengrass sets out to solve the mystery. unfortunately, it’s hard to do so with the aurors on your case. > read latest chapter here > read chapter one here

chapter twenty-nine: past, present, future

“You took ballet?” Harry asked. “More or less required,” Astoria sighed. “I tried to convince Dad I needed fencing instead, but Mother said it ‘wasn’t suitable for a young lady.’” “Can I do fencing?” asked Teddy immediately. “Wait, I wanna do fencing too!” Anaïs yelled down. “Do you two even know what fencing is?” asked Harry in amusement.

BOLD WORLD

HARRY POTTER/ASTORIA GREENGRASS after the murder of marcus flint and the implication of her werewolf best friend in the crime, astoria greengrass sets out to solve the mystery. unfortunately, it’s hard to do so with the aurors on your case. > read latest chapter here > read chapter one here

chapter twenty-eight: slytherin's honor

Dean looked nervous when she turned back to him. “So—” “What are you doing with my sister?” Astoria asked, cutting over him. He fell silent, gazing at her in horrified surprise. “I don’t—” “You do know,” she said. “Daphne. What are you doing with her?”

Really good questions, thank you!

What was the key choice or decision you had to make for this story? If you had chosen differently, what would the story have turned into?

Oh man, where do I even begin? So Bold World has been in the planning process for about six years before I actually started writing/posting it. The MAIN decision I think was whether or not it should be a murder mystery. It started as a murder mystery but then I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to write something so complicated and plotty and twisty and would never finish it, so for a year there it was actually... a magic treasure hunt story lol.

The basic concept was that Astoria had to investigate deep ancient pureblood history in the search for a (fairly wacky at first) quest to cure lycanthropy, courtesy of one of Luna's crazy ideas, which slowly becomes more and more real, and also in the process of investigating ancient magical history, she discovers all the modern day skeletons in the closets of families close to her, including her own. So if I'd gone that way, the whole story would be a macguffin hunt and would be way less dark and probably a bit more kooky. Which would have been fun!

Ultimately though, I did really want to write a murder mystery, and I'm happy I tried because it's been so much fun. Although I did go through several iterations of the victim and the murderer before I settled on both of them. For a while there the victim was Theodore Nott...

Was there anything your character(s) really really really wanted to do? Did you let them?

Yes, Anubis wanted to be more involved in the plot and against my better judgment, I let him.

(In all seriousness, I think the first major subplot I added onto my original outline sketch was the whole "Anubis blackmails Astoria into fight club" and it only came up while I was writing his very first scene (chapter two) and I really hesitated because I was like, this is going to complicate things for her... but that's the point, right?

And I'm glad, because it added several new twists into the plot, some of which have happened already and some of which are still to come.)

🧭 What was the key choice or decision you had to make for this story? If you had chosen differently, what would the story have turned into?

Oh this is a fun one, so I basically knew I wanted to write Harry/Ginny Christmas-y fake dating but the entire AU was very up in the air when I started planning. Options included:

Canon verse but they just never got back together after the war

AU where James and Lily died but so did Voldemort and Harry was raised by Sirius

AU where Harry was jointly raised by Sirius, Remus, and later Tonks and Teddy joined the family

And also once I decided to keep all the Marauders alive, I heavily debated making it a Marauders-themed fic instead of a Weasley themed fic. But the tipping point for me was that the Marauders simply would not care that much that Harry would have to fake a relationship for them, so Weasleys it was. And I'm glad because it meant I got to write Cedrella Weasley, icon, legend, and diva that she is.

If I had chosen differently I think Harry would've been a lot rougher around the edges and therefore harder for Ginny to figure out, so possibly the will-they-won't-they would've been much worse! And he wouldn't have had a little sister to kick him into gear so who knows how long till he and Ginny actually got it together.

Fantastic story, truly one of my favorites to go back and reread again!

Haha, no sequel to Fruitcake - Professor Riddle is a nice guy! It's meant to be just a soft cozy happily ever after AU for everybody, which includes all the bitches. Maybe not Umbridge.

I'm so sorry this is such a late response - autumn is just a really busy month for me - but thank you SO much for your kind words!!

I also love Undertow and I hope to finish it before the movie! I have chapter four done (oops) and the basics of the rest of the loops it's just...a matter of writing them...

Thank you so much for comments and for reading Undertow! I’m so happy you like it

The concept came directly from a discussion with @dinahdlance because she loves time travel/time loop stuff and I love Palm Springs (the movie) and it just felt so fitting for Belly/Conrad!

The whole show revolves around memory and cycles of behavior, both parent-child and romantic cycles, so it was really just a matter of drawing those themes out and making it more mystical rather than realistic. I looove the show as is so it’s really just a kind of whimsical magical alternate take on the entire final season.

Pasting my comment from there for convenience -

Can I trouble you for some recommendations? I've been looking for good post war romance fics, but honestly anything you think is of comparable quality to this work I'd be willing to read. Thanks again!

So yeah. Thanks for the story and let me know if you want me to link some other fics that I really really loved.

Hey, welcome! And thank you again for your lovely comment <3

Anyway I LOVE post-war it's my favorite time period to read and write so I do have some recs for you! Mostly I love character work so these are centered on that:

Scars by @aebbeswriting: post-war, canon-compliant, Harry/Ginny slow burn, multichapter, dual POV, amazing werewolf worldbuilding you won't find anywhere else plus trauma exploration (and therapy!)

a little like gold in the light by @goldcranes: post-war AU, Draco/Luna, oneshot, beautiful setting (Wizarding Russia!) and introspective Draco character work

Beasts by @whinlatter: post-war, canon-compliant, Harry/Ginny established relationship, multichapter, all Ginny POV and true deep dive into her character, probably one of the greatest fics I've ever read

There I Will Stay With You, Whirling by @saintsenara: post-war, canon-compliant, George/Angelina falling in love, oneshot, all George POV and dealing with the aftermath of Fred's death alongside falling in love through the grief, really beautiful

warm front by flagpoles: post-war, canon-compliant, Harry/Ginny established relationship, oneshot, Harry moves to Australia with Teddy and he and Ginny talk on the phone and it's very funny and romantic

BOLD WORLD

HARRY POTTER/ASTORIA GREENGRASS after the murder of marcus flint and the implication of her werewolf best friend in the crime, astoria greengrass sets out to solve the mystery. unfortunately, it’s hard to do so with the aurors on your case. > read latest chapter here > read chapter one here

chapter twenty-seven: painting secrets

“Astoria!” Daphne looked startled—and guilty. “Why aren’t you in your room?” “I fell asleep on the couch,” said Astoria, which was at least true. She sent her sister a pointed look. “It’s past midnight. Where were you?” “I was out,” said Daphne stiffly, pulling off her high-heeled boots and shoving them in her shoe cupboard. “Out where?” “None of your business.” Daphne ran a hand through her hair, pulling it all down over one shoulder, and took a deep breath. “It’s late. We should both sleep. It’s a busy day tomorrow.” “Busy day today,” said Astoria. “At least for you. What were you doing wandering around Knockturn?”

Oh no, that's so sweet of you to say, I'm so sorry it's been a while! If it makes you feel better it's not because I'm stuck but in fact for the opposite reason: I've been writing monstrously huge chapters and my goal is always to finish a new chapter before I post the next one.

Unfortunately I'm on chapter 35 and it's 10k and i still have like... three more major things to pack into it so it may or may not end up at 20k who knows. But that's why I haven't updated, I've been writing furiously to get everything I want in it first lol.

Just for you I will update later tonight (I'm in PKT)!! Chapter 27 incoming and maybe a new picspam too if I can get myself together on Photoshop.

UNDERTOW

isabel conklin/conrad fisher belly wakes up on her wedding day. then she wakes up on her wedding day again. > read latest chapter here > read chapter one here

chapter two: surge

Belly wakes up. Outside, the morning sprinklers hiss, showering the hydrangeas in the front garden. She palms her phone off the nightstand and pads over to the windows, looking out at Cousins through the glass. It’s cool to her touch. The sky is gathering grey. She pauses. Looks down at her phone. One notification from last night. 2:14a.m.: can’t wait, love youuuu. An orangutan emoji. “No,” she whispers. Turns her phone over like it might have secrets hidden inside. Her engagement ring blinks up at her. “No.” She opens the home screen. It’s yesterday’s date. It’s her wedding day.