#hp!verse

Today's thought is about how the Potter family became "Potter" considering that the JoKe's world building is stupid and I've elected to ignore a lot of it. I think there could be a mixture of options.

What if, although muggle England hadn't established relations with muggle India until the 1600's, magical populations began to travel and trade much more quickly and freely? What if witches and wizards moved more easily due to the similarities in muggle education standards of the time: that a teacher would be willing to travel great distances to live with and teach a child of noble birth.

Perhaps, through the advanced travel methods created and popularized in the Delhi Sultanate and the southeastern territories of the Byzantine Empire, jadū (jaadoo), or jadd (Arabic load word meaning heritage/ancestors/lineage) began to push the edges of their maps, exploring further and wider, resulting in renewed relations with the central Byzantine and Mongol Empires.

As magical trade increased, so did travel, and Hindi jadd began to emigrate in search of new magic, including someone who became an ancestor of the modern Potter lineage. Perhaps, they became intertwined with the Peverell family of Nottingham and Derbyshire who ruled through their Norman ancestry, through the tutelage of a small group of young English witches and wizards before their Hogwarts letter or some other teaching opportunity.

Perhaps, through typical English/European casual racism & inexperience with other languages, Harry's ancestor's name was misheard or deliberately miswritten in those "oh, Juan is too hard, I'll call you John" types of moments and the ancestor was originally named something else but by the time they arrived in England, they had been renamed Potter as a bastardization of one of the following:

Pawar: meaning slayer of enemies & only on the list due to it fitting with the JoKe's stereotypical lazy naming practices

Panda: surname meaning wisdom, knowledge, learning - a surname I think could have been popular if the family was particularly Ravenclawish

Pandey: surname meaning scholar, from the Sanskrit word 'pandita' - similar reasoning as Panda

and my tied for favorites for the moment

pandita: Sanskrit word meaning scholar where someone (or their translation charm) in the varied immigration offices miswrote the ancestor's occupation in the surname section or deliberately wrote it, leading to the common English surname practice = surname as occupation.

Thakur: meaning deity or lord in the Kshatriya or warrior caste & which would have meant the ancestor could have been a noble/pureblood jadd who specialized in magical fighting & what an easy way to incorporate Harry having parseltongue heritage outside of Voldy's horcrux than to have is in his lineage from a jadd who had specialized in parseltongue fighting techniques

TL;DR: it would have been easy for a poor translation charm or careless intake officer in the 1200s to mix up the Thakur surname, pandita/scholar/teaching reason for traveling, and a dash of casual ethnocentrism to result in Potter.

Moi j'veux la vie de rêve

The common room is suddenly bustling with people and while Matt understands the excitement behind the upcoming Quidditch match  it doesn't make him any less frustrated.

After trying his best not to lose his concentration while the rest of his house plans for the inevitable after party (Slytherin vs Hufflepuff? It only counts as a warm up for the rest of the season) Matt sighs and abandons his half finished solo game of chess, ignoring the threats and screams the chess pieces give him for it. He turns to glance at Mello who seems just as annoyed about the sudden appearance of distraction - the schoolbook the other is likely only pretending to read doesn't fool Matt for a second. He shuffles closer and slumps down next to Mello, gives his friend an almost gentle punch on the shoulder.

Dane opened the door to his current residence. It wasn’t much really but it was the most at home he had felt in a very long time. Funny how a small place like this with its wooden and creaking floor boards felt better to him than the opulence of LaCounte Manor back at home. That had been nice for its size but because of his mother and grandfather it had felt more like standing on thin ice.

They weren’t here though and while his life was far from perfect he was learning that sometimes breathing the wrong way wasn’t going to be end up… badly. As long as he continued to not stand out he knew that his mother wouldn’t care, much less his grandfather.

He was safe here, he was safe.

“Hello?” he called out a little as he closed the door behind him and going to remove his coat. He took out his wand and left it by the door planning on not using magic for the rest of the day if he could avoid it. It wasn’t that he didn’t use magic but more that he… didn’t want to.

[ @madamepicquery-motherofmacusa ]

The entire room is silent, the Council with grim expressions displayed upon their visage’

Today is the day to become blooded & soul bound to a dæmon. A highly important event that happened once in a wizard’s lifetime. The artifacts upon the different pedestald were lined in a row. Each one from a different family attending the Binding of Souls ceremony. The artifacts didn’t contain the dæmons but attracted them, especially ones with stronger ties to the object. Each one begins to glow, a low droning noise filling the air from their humming noises, signalling to begin.

The artifacts went silent as one on the far left began to shake & glow brighter than the rest, it’s noise loudest of all. To many it sounded like raucous humming, but to the person it responds to, it’s very different.

“Madame Picquery. Step forward.”

Dæmons are a rarity, few families have them, passed down to bond to the next generation. However this is an old practice. The few families are of old magicks, only one family is an elder muggle line that extends back farther than anyone can remember.

Upon the podium, sand begins to gather & swirl.

One last round around the halls and he would retire for the night. Most of the smart Slytherins were in bed and if anyoe was still out they would be smart enough not to get caught. The rest... well they’d have to learn. 

He was turning a corner when he heard it, someone was hiding in the shadows. There was a pause and a sigh. He’d have to write them up and take points away and it would suck but hopefully they’d learn the lesson: if you’re going to be dumb e smart about it. 

“Okay I can hear you there, let’s go before anyone else catches you” he waited for a moment before moving closer “No use in hiding, I can see--” he stopped. He knew the sound of this: labored breathing you’re trying to control, the shakes that won’t let you sit still. He had heard this too many times to remember and he was honestly not sure he wanted to be reminded of it ever again. Not after what happened, not after his brother... 

“Hey” he whispered in a gentle voice as he went to bend down to come face to face with a terrified slytherin girl. He had met her before, well as much as you can ‘meet’ someone at the kind of parties his parents (and hers) were used to hosting. 

“What’s wrong?” 

A lot of people knew the Lacontes but Pollux was definitely the most known what at school. Most knew him as Prince Lacounte because he was so well behaved, so perfectly capable of being everything a Slytherin pureblood with money coming out of his ears should be. But right now he was actually concerned, not something you saw out of him every day. 

“What happened? Do you need some water? Did- did someone do something to you?” He tried to move in closer as he took off his cloak to offer it to her. 

“Here, just” he reached for her hands and noticed they were shaking “shh, it’s alright” 

“Well if it isn’t Miss Tanaka out after lights out” he said with a smile. The Slythering Prefect said as he moved toward the lake. He looked around and noticed a couple of other kids and then just turned back to the brunette just in front of him. He stretched out his shoulders and then cracked his neck before sitting down near the water himself.

“If you get caught then you deserve detention and if you say I saw you and didn’t tell…” he shrugged as he took out a cigarette and went to light it with a wave of his hand “no one is going to believe you.” his smile was so feline one would almost swear he was an animagus… “Want one?” he offered with his still in his mouth.