#obscurial

With a Slytherin Obscurial Harry

I suggest you her fanfiction if you like hurt/ comfort !

The fanfic is on AO3 ,Still wip but updating each Friday 👀!!

Like, let's unpack this: these things form because magical people are forced to repress their magic. Nevermind that it's a small miracle that the protagonist of a series that outsold the Bible didn't become one of these with the constant abuse piled upon him, but it is, unironically, one of the best metaphors for being trapped in the closet that's ever been in a mainstream fantasy series. Being your true self will cause other people to hate and fear you, but repressing what you are will literally fucking poison your soul and cause problems throughout your life, and people will encourage you to repress it. The only way to cure it is to have a sense of belonging and acceptance in your life.

Rowling somehow being anti-trans after writing that is like if the if the author of "Don't Build the Torment Nexus" was an angel investor in Torment Nexus, Inc.

Okay real talk guys why was Harry Potter not an Obscurial? He fits all of the boxes, he’s

Forced to repress his magic through physical AND psychological abuse (The Dursleys hated magic and wouldn’t talk about it, “THERES NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC”, they punished him by starving, isolating, and/or hurting him when he did any magic

He hurts other people with his accidental magic (setting a boa constrictor on the zoo, blowing up his Aunt). I can’t think of any other magic kid who did that, EXCEPT for Credence Barebone and Ariana Dumbledore, the most well documented Obscurials in the series, and Snape, whose a accidental magic seems like it wasn’t meant to actually kill anyone (he dropped a branch to hit Petunias shoulder), but idk. You really could kill someone by making them blow up or get but by a snake.

A key feature of the development of an Obscurus in a kid is feeling helpless against cruelty. Ariana was helpless when she was attacked by those Muggle boys, which led to the development of her obscurus, and Credence was helpless against his mother and the world to stop hurting him. Harry is helpless in almost every situation he’s in before the age of eleven, with the only exception I can think of being in outsmarting or running Dudley. But still, hes chased by Dudley’s gang so they can beat him up all the time, and that helplessness manifests in him accidentally apparating (seriously difficult magic) onto the roof! The Dursleys are cruel, and by the nature of being a child he’s with them, like, all the time, so he’s constantly helpless against cruelty.

His situation does not involve a kind/sympathetic person to help, not until Hogwarts. Not even Mrs. Figg, who doesn’t appear to talk to him or comfort him in any way even if she is watching over him. Credence and Ariana, on the other hand, both had a kind person. Credence’s was Tina, when she stepped in to help (I don’t know if he developed his Obscurus before or after that, though, so maybe he didn’t have anyone), and Ariana’s was Aberforth and Kendra. Harry doesn’t have anyone, not one person. In that way, he’s even more dangerous than the canon Obscurials.

He isn’t given any sign of what’s going on with him. Credence knows about magic a bit because of him being part of his mother’s witch hunting group— I’m not saying it’s healthy, but he does know about magic. Ariana knows plenty about magic, coming from a magical family in a magical town (Godric’s Hollow) with two older brothers at Hogwarts. Harry’s family won’t even discuss magic in jest, in the little ways that most Muggles do (it was like magic, the ‘magic word’ thing). This adds onto the helplessness, and multiplies the repression thing by like tenfold.

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MASTERLIST:

Never Be The Cure: A Harry Potter Fanfic

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Thank you everyone that has taken an interest in my first fanfiction, "Never Be the Cure: A Harry Potter Fanfiction"! Here's a masterlist with all chapters and more information on the story for those interested :)

Summary:

The rest of Hogwarts sees Liesel Ollivander as a prodigy. A girl with perfect posture and steady hands. But beneath the neat wool of her uniform, she is quietly dissolving, her mind slipping through the damp cracks in the floorboards, her blood strangling her from the inside.

Cedric’s death mutates from unresolved grief into irrepressible rage. Her parents escape Azkaban to serve Voldemort once again, the Ollivander name back into a target for the Ministry. To survive the whispers, Liesel stands beside Harry Potter in the light, but when the corridors go quiet, she is digging into the rotting roots of the castle, searching for an answer to the strange ancient magic in her blood. A magic she must repress before it ruins her, becoming a home for an Obscurus.

Draco Malfoy is collapsing from the inside out, his ruin dragging her down. As she splits her own seams trying to keep him human, Harry drifts further out of reach, and the edges of her reality begin to crumble. Suffocating under her family’s legacy and a grief she refuses to look at, Liesel is forced toward a seemingly irreversible spell to save herself from the parasite inside her.

The only way to endure the dark is to forget the sun ever existed. ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

The Wizarding World has been exposed and forced to reunite with the Muggles. The UK is on the brink of civil war as neither Minister for Magic Hermione Granger-Weasley nor the Prime Minister is capable of stopping the violence between purebloods and xenophobic muggles.

A vengeful squib becomes the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom with the intention of eradicating wizardkind for good.

Full story: "Harry Potter and the Two Worlds, " by Birger, ao3

The storm outside Westminster matched the mood within. A cacophony of outrage, betrayal, and fear devoured the House of Commons, as confused and terrified politicians from all parties struggled to accept the reunion with the once hidden world.

For days, the headlines had been merciless:

“Witchgate: The Hidden World Among Us.” “Prime Minister Lied About Magic.” “Britain Betrayed.”

Now, under the vaulted ceiling of the chamber, Prime Minister Theresa May stood exhausted at the despatch box, facing her accusers.

“You concealed this from the British people!” roared Nigel Farage. “You let sorcerers and monsters walk among us, endangering ordinary citizens!”

Behind him, Boris Johnson bellowed something about “the wizarding elite undermining national sovereignty,” while Liz Truss declared that May had “sold out her own nation to dark powers.”

The words "traitor" and "liar" were repeated over and over again.

May’s voice trembled, though she tried to remain calm.

“We acted to prevent mass hysteria. We sought stability. I never—”

“Stability?” interrupted Farage with a sneer. “You’ve unleashed chaos on every street in this country! You’ve betrayed the people who trusted you!”

Cheers and jeers erupted from the chamber. The Speaker’s gavel did little to restore order. In that moment, May knew it was over. By nightfall, the vote of no confidence passed, crushingly. She was finished.

The following day, Number 10 Downing Street was draped in silence. May’s aides were gone; her photographs already removed from the mantelpiece. Only the rain tapping against the windows remained.

Across the polished table sat the Home Secretary, a stunningly beautiful lady of South Asian descent, soon to be Britain’s new Prime Minister.

May studied her for a long moment. There was something unsettlingly composed about her, a stillness that hinted at buried storms.

“You’re inheriting a fractured country,” May began quietly. “People are terrified. They don’t know what to believe anymore. You’ll need to act with restraint, Kavita, not vengeance.”

The Home Secretary smiled faintly, but the expression didn’t reach her eyes.

“Of course, Prime Minister.”

May hesitated.

“You’re part of their world too, aren’t you? You’ve seen both sides.”

The Home Secretary’s expression hardened.

“I’ve survived both sides.”

There was a pause. The fire crackled in the grate. May said nothing more, only nodded once and rose, her shoes echoing across the hallway as she left her office for the last time. Outside, flashbulbs burst like lightning as the rain poured down.

When the new Prime Minister stepped up to the podium later that night, her speech was short, precise, and chillingly controlled.

“The revelation of the magical world has brought both wonder and terror. My government will restore order. No citizen, magical or otherwise, is above the law.”

-

Hermione stepped out of the car provided by the Ministry and looked up at the seat of Muggle power.

The street was crawling with security, both Muggle and magical. Ever since the revelation, Downing Street felt more like a fortress.

A suited aide ushered Hermione inside.

“The Prime Minister will see you now, Mrs. Granger.”

The Prime Minister turned from the window when Hermione entered.

“Mrs. Granger-Weasley,” her non-magical counterpart said smoothly. “It’s good of you to come. I wasn’t sure if I’d be receiving congratulations… or condemnation.”

Hermione smiled back, cautious but genuine. “Congratulations, Prime Minister. The magical community looks forward to working with you.”

Kavita gestured for her to sit.

“Please, Kavita is fine. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that. I’ve inherited a government on the brink of chaos… and a public that barely believes what it’s seen.”

Hermione nodded sympathetically. “It’s the same with us. Fear spreads faster than reason.”

They spoke for a few minutes. It was only when Hermione leaned back, studying her new counterpart more closely, that something in her expression shifted.

“Forgive me,” Hermione said slowly, “but… your surname. Patel. You wouldn’t happen to be related to Parvati and Padma, would you? We were at Hogwarts together. We all fought in Dumbledore's Army.”

For a moment, Kavita hesitated, the briefest flicker behind her eyes before answering.

“Yes,” she said lightly. “They’re my cousins. Though I doubt they’d mention me much. I’m what you might call… a family embarrassment.”

Hermione frowned, uncertain. “You mean...?”

“A Squib, Minister Granger,” Kavita said, her smile thinning but her voice perfectly steady. “The word people use when someone is born to magic and receives none of it. You, of course, wouldn’t know what that’s like. Muggleborn witches are celebrated now. Squibs… we’re the family secret no one writes about.”

Hermione looked down, uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean to offend. I can only imagine how difficult that must’ve been.”

Kavita’s tone softened, though her eyes remained watchful.

“I learned early on that the world prefers its stories simple heroes with wands, villains with dark marks, and the rest of us forgotten between the lines.”

Hermione, trying to steer the conversation back to gentler ground, asked, “And Parvati and Padma? How are they?”

Kavita sighed.

“They moved back to India years ago. Reconnected with our extended family. We don’t speak much anymore. I do worry about them, though. I've spoken with Narendra Modi over the phone. India’s conflict between magical and non-magical people is worsening by the day to the point of civil war. Religious reasons, I assume. ”

Hermione smiled sadly. “Together, we’ll bring it under control. It might not be easy, but I still believe peaceful coexistence is possible.”

Kavita inclined her head, her expression the very picture of reassurance.

“And I believe in your determination, Mrs. Granger. I always admired what you and your friends accomplished. You defeated Voldemort when the Ministry of Magic and the great Albus Dumbledore himself couldn’t.”

“That was a long time ago. We were just children.”

“Children who did what adults could not,” Kavita said softly. “It’s remarkable… and tragic, in its own way.”

Hermione blinked, unsure how to respond.

“For what it’s worth,” Kavita added, “I hold no resentment toward wizards in general. My daughter was a witch. She travels the world now. Writes to me when she can. I only hope she finds a better future than the one I was given.”

Hermione smiled warmly, touched by her words. “I’m glad to hear that. Perhaps I’ll meet her one day.”

“Perhaps,” Kavita said, and sipped her tea.

The moment Hermione left the room, Kavita’s expression dropped into something cold, precise, and grief-stricken.

“Peace,” she murmured to the empty room. “You still think peace is possible.” What a naive woman, she thought.

Her reflection stared back at her from the rain-streaked window, and for the first time in years, Kavita allowed herself to whisper her daughter’s name, a name few remembered.

Then she picked up the secure red phone on her desk.

“Hayes,” she said quietly. “It’s time. Begin expanding Division M. I want full containment protocols by the end of this week.”

-

Deep beneath the concrete heart of London, far below the official offices of MI5, an unmarked sublevel hummed with quiet activity. The old Cold War bunkers, long sealed and long forgotten, had been reopened since the Revelation.

Rows of reinforced steel doors lined the corridor. Inside the central operations room, Muggle technology and enchanted parchment lay side by side. A map of Britain glowed across the wall, pulsing with hundreds of dots that marked Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic, Azkaban, and countless wizarding households.

Director General Dominic Hayes stood at the center of it all. He had built his career on precision and control, and the revelation of the Wizarding World had shattered both.

Now, he was rebuilding order in his own image.

Behind him, the door opened. The new prime minister entered, flanked by two plainclothes agents. Her black coat trailed behind her like a shadow. She looked calm, collected, but her eyes burned with something colder than ambition.

"Good evening, Prime Minister, " the Director General greeted her.

“Good evening, Mr. Hayes, ” she responded. "Are you achieving any progress?"

Hayes turned to face her. “We’ve recruited 20 so far. All Normalborn Aurors, low-ranking Ministry clerks, and a few Obliviators. They’re nervous but compliant. Threatening their families worked better than I’d like to admit.”

Kavita nodded slightly. “Good. Keep them close. Use them to our advantage. They know the layout of the Ministry, the magical infrastructure, the security flaws.”

He gestured toward the glowing map.

“We’ve begun casting protective charms around major government sites such as the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, Buckingham Palace, and the military command centers to ensure no wizard can teleport into unwanted places.”

“We need to go further than that. Make them share their magic with the army. When the war comes, every wizard in the country will fall like domino bricks, ” the prime minister said with a devious smile.

Hayes hesitated. “They’re not soldiers, Kavita. They’re terrified.”

The prime minister's tone didn’t change.

“Fear makes people obedient. Obedience makes them useful.”

Hours later, the two stood alone in the strategy room. The screens cast pale light across their faces as they reviewed reports of magical unrest, spontaneous fires, apparitions in public, and disappearances in the North.

Hayes finally broke the silence.

“Kavita, may I ask something... personal?”

The prime minister didn’t look up. “You may.”

“What’s your end goal? Truly? I need to know the scale before I can contain it.”

“Containment isn’t enough, Mr. Hayes.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Magic is not a weapon we can regulate. It’s a disease. A hereditary affliction that breeds chaos wherever it appears. You can’t control it. You can’t limit it. You can only remove it.”

He stared at her. “Remove it?”

Kavita nodded slowly.

“You’ve seen the records. Even children can destroy entire homes before they learn how to control their powers. In many countries, such as my parents' native India, they don’t need wands at all. You can strip every witch and wizard of their wand, and it won’t matter. They’ll still be dangerous.”

Hayes’s voice hardened.

“That’s not what we agreed to. I believe in oversight, not genocide. We can regulate who carries wands, monitor magical activity—”

“And then what?” she cut in sharply. “Hope they behave? Hope they don’t decide one day to cast a curse in the middle of London?”

She stepped closer, lowering her voice.

“My parents were wizards, Dominic. Proud, foolish wizards. They were murdered by Death Eaters when the Ministry was still in denial of the return of Voldemort. They killed my husband when he was trying to protect my daughter. Do you think those people deserve freedom? Power? Pity?”

Hayes said nothing. The silence stretched, broken only by the hum of machines.

The prime minister turned back to the glowing map. Her shadow stretched long across the wall.

“No. The only solution is to lock them away. All of them, until science gives us a cure for magic itself. Until the human race is safe again.”

Hayes exhaled slowly.

“You’re talking about imprisoning tens of thousands.”

He wasn't ignorant, he knew that Harry would be unhappy with the Dursleys. Random Hufflepuffs in second year knew that Harry hated his muggle family, so he must have too. He knew about the cupboard under the stairs.

TW: Child abuse, trauma We are not making Hari an obscurus as a result of the Dursley's, we are using the argument that Hari is not completely sure what the Dursley's hate him for other than just existing in general. He passes off most of these acts of unexplained mystery in general, and although the Dursley's hate magic and it is explicitly banned in the household, he never makes the connection to himself. It is the trauma from the Dursleys that are behind Hari being a system, and another part of the explanation as to why Hari never became an obscurial.

In general, obscurials are caused by children fearing or hating their magic to such a degree that causes a parasitic force to begin eating away at their magic, eventually creating an entity that lashes out and destroys the host. In our rewrite, part of this process is loosing control of their own magic and having that magic spiral, only worsening their own condition and mental state.

To me, this is a representation of how innate magic is to wix, how essential it is to who they are, and the living aspect of magic that can be taken away from them. It is something that, in a sense, is turning against them as they are forced to repress it in dire situations, typically as a result of physical, mental, or general wartime. The one canon example of an obscurial from Harry Potter is Credence, who was raised in an orphanage by a woman who had outright attacked, hated magic, and abused the children in the orphanage for signs of "witchcraft".

I added the part about obscurus and magic turning against them as a way to help build into what they are, and making a bit more sense as to part of the reason why we saw magic as sentient in the first place.

Thank you so much for the ask, and send any more questions you may have! We are having so much fun explaining our lore lol.

HELP NEEDED!!

(We know this isn't going to be the shortest post, but we would greatly appreciate it if you stuck around and shared your thoughts! We'll try and make it as engaging as we can 😁🫶💝)

Firstly, The Context:

My friend and I got sick and tired of the absolute nonsense that went on in the movies. We have decided to scrap most aspects of the original story past the first film, remove as many of the plot holes as humanly possible, and rewrite it so it actually makes sense! However, in order to do so, we are going to need some outside opinions from Potterheads and Fantastic Fans alike.

The Problem:

The issue we are currently discussing is Credence Barebone - Or, more specifically, his Obscurus.

We find ourselves at a crossroads. There are two ways this story can go, each with their own specific pros and cons.

In the first installment, we are told that an Obscurus is a dark, parasitic force that feeds on a child's internalized magic, and then their body, until there is nothing left and they eventually die. We are also shown that it is possible for an Obscurus to be removed from the host. Granted, that girl died very shortly thereafter... but it's not confirmed whether the removal is what killed her.

However, in The Crimes of Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore claims that an Obscurus is a creature that grows in the absence of love, "... As a kind of dark twin." [The two stories are already contradicting, but that's a whole separate problem we are dealing with.] Basically, he implies that if the Obscurus were to be replaced with positive emotion and kinship (rather than the repression and fear that it feeds on), there is a chance that the host could be saved.

The Basics:

As stated before, we are now faced with two options. Option 1 is to stick with the canon of the first movie and employ the magical separation of host and parasite. Option 2 is to starve the Obscurus of it's primary strength by flooding the host with enough positive emotions that, in theory, they will save themselves.

But, each of these ideas comes with their own advantages and disadvantages... And they raise new questions.

And now, The Theories:

OPTION 1

We are trying to stick as close as we can to the canon of the first movie, so it would make sense for us to go with the option of a medical/magical (Medi-magical) separation of host and parasite. However, as clinical and succinct as that sounds, it also raises a few pressing questions.

If an Obscurus is a parasite that feeds on the host child's magic (then graduating to their body before their ultimate demise), and if Credence is already physically declining (illustrating that the parasite has run out of magical fuel) does that mean that removing the creature will also remove the potential for magic?

Furthermore, if we're operating under the assumption that Wizards and their magic are inextricable, what would happen if a creature that has fully consumed one's magic was eliminated? Can someone formed with an internal well of power survive if that power were devoured by a malignant parasite? Could that be what actually kills the host? The Obscurus ingesting the internal magic that the child literally lives on?

We know from canon that Wizard and Muggle physiologies are subtly different - So, could it be the ability to hold and conduct magic that is the difference? If so, could it be possible to separate the magic from a Wizard's blood, or would that still wind up killing them?

However... Intrinsic physiology can change. If you were to remove an Obscurus that had already consumed the host's magic, would they die, or would it be temporary - Like a blood transfusion? If the host keeps living after being separated from the parasite, even for a little while, would it be possible for their magic to restore itself? Or will the Obscurus take with it their ability to access their power?

OPTION 2

I think that the idea of Love being the thing that heals an Obscurial is very poetic from a storytelling perspective, as it ties back in with the moral of the original series. There's also something about the idea of healing from trauma, learning how to express positive emotions, and accepting that one is indeed worthy of being loved that appeals to me (an individual with a degree in psychology) very personally.

Beyond the real-world implications of storytelling, this theory posits that the more positive emotions a host is exposed to, the less of a hold the Obscurus will have over them. Essentially, the new emotions will destabilize the parasite and allow the host to emerge as the dominant persona.

However, this theory does not *remove* the parasite - It mearly destabilizes its centralized control over the host. While positive emotions may weaken it, the question raised becomes this: Is it wise to destabilize an immensely powerful, already dangerously unstable, and unpredictable destructive magical force? Even weakened, an Obscurus is nothing to joke about.

If the parasite becomes unstable, what kind of effect will that have on the host? Will the triggers change? Will previously successful self-soothing gestures stop keeping it at bay? Will it be easier for them to control because it's lost some of its power, or harder to control because it has now become completely unpredictable?

So, now that you have all the information...

The Verdict: