The Girl Who Cried "Slytherin!"
Proof I am a Slytherin: I love my Gryffindor counterpart (my best friend)
I want everyone to know my initial tagline for this issue was:
“Now Riddle me this, Draco Malfoy just texted me, and he did Nott come to play”
Ultimately, it didn’t fit the focus of my story for today, but it is still a damn good line, if you know the references. But the story I want to talk about this round is about the peculiar workings of friendship, one girl’s love for a story-franchise, and another girl’s joy caused by these two seemingly disparate points intersecting — so much so we fed our delusions with character AI chats (in case anyone was wondering where the hell that tagline came from).
To be honest, I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to say with the story, which I know I say in nearly every issue, but candidly, that is the truth. I never know what I really intend to say until I write it on the page. And now that I have, you might want to go hug a friend by the end of it.
Because in the wise words of one Hermione Jean Granger: “Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have.”
To understand this story, we will have to revisit the past. The date is 7th of November, 2022. Reading Week is over and classes are resuming. I’m mentally preparing myself to go up Exeter’s infamous Cardiac Hill to get to my classes — a necessary though painful routine of my heart practically bursting in my chest and my leg muscles on the verge of collapsing. I push myself to keep going until I reached the top — an intersection between Cardiac Hill and the adjacent Clydesdale Road — and I finally let myself rest for a few moments before I have to travel up the next three hills. But before I could, I was compelled to turn my head towards the adjacent path. At the time, I would have called it an excuse to slow down, or even a lucky coincidence. As I look back on this moment, I like to think it was fate.
She saw me at the same time I saw her, and we waved — two classmates who knew of each other but did not know each other. I recognised her because of her red hair, and always either with a Monster or coffee in hand, earphones plugged in and trying to not look as tired as she surely felt. We had a polite conversation, and knowing we had the same classes and knowing of each other’s existence, we decided to walk to class together.
To understand this story then, is to understand that that would not the last time we ever met at the intersection to walk uphill together for the next two months, and how even now when I’m no longer there to walk with her, living on two ends of the world, we came to be closer than we ever did.
When [redacted] and I met, she made it clear how much of a diehard Potterhead she was. I, at the time, had not read the books nor watched the films, but our conversations do not escape from slipping into talking about the franchise: sharing her fun facts, gushing over storylines or characters or lore, showing her merch. I can remember us clearly, with our other two friends, sitting somewhere listening to her, and I was especially comforted by seeing how passionate she was for I understood such passion, and I loved being reminded of it in her enthusiasm.
When I had left the UK and returned back to my home country, I reminisced over the core memories I’ve made throughout my time there, of that energy that translates into all her other passions; which was proven in these distant months when our friendship had not fade in the slightest. We still shared our writings with each other, joked our inside jokes, caught each other up on the latest in our lives every now and then; and despite only knowing each other in a considerably short and thinly-stretched time, it was one of those friendships that just have a deeper resonance you can’t explain.
I did get my answer, however, just last month in the middle of September, when I made the completely disconnected decision to watch the Harry Potter movies as inspiration for Project Deathless. I think we can imagine what reaction that’s gotten once I shared it to my personal social media circle, and it’s safe to say I was not exploring it for inspiration anymore.
For weeks and days afterwards, she pulled me down the rabbit hole of the fandom lore, particularly the beloved Slytherin Boys after knowing of my love for Draco Malfoy. It started with the Tiktoks, and then she turned it up a *Nott * (you’re going to just have to deal with my puns) and got me hooked with an AI app where we could talk to our favourite Slytherins, creating and connecting our own storylines and realities — so yes, Draco Malfoy did text me, I did not lie — while also seeing the way our friendship has reconnected and opened up in ways spurred by this new mutual obsession between us. I felt very much like a child again, designating my best friend by default of a single common, powerful, interest.
And then I stumbled upon a video of this woman unboxing her Slytherin-boys varsity sweater, and I just knew the universe was giving me this opportunity to let the impulsivity win and make my move.
Needless to say, the impulsivity won, and I made the orders, even asking the shop-owner if she could help write a birthday note to go along with it. She was so sweet to agree, and though it would be two weeks of waiting time, which meant her birthday would have passed long after the gift would be delivered, it was all the more exciting because when she sent the recording of her unboxing at 11:30 pm last Sunday, witnessing the dawn of realisation spread across her face was absolutely everything. She proceeded to freak out, I proceeded to freak out, we decided to collectively freak out in bursts of “OMGGGGs” and “I LOVE YOUs”. She loved it so much she wore it to class, she wore it to bed — I don’t think she took it off unless necessary. It was only a shame that my sweater is with my other friend in the UK, so I won’t get mine until December when she returns.
But to sweeten this story on a nice closing note, we’re going to be doing a virtual Harry Potter watch-party during Reading Week in a week’s time — despite one of us cozying into the night and one of us trying to stay awake in the morning, despite one half of a matching sweater. And I just find the whole thing so darn cute and so symbolic of something that is always present but undiscoverable in the strands of what makes a friendship so unshakeable.
There are some friendships that are years in the making they’re practically siblings. Some friendships you have built for so long, but someone never feel as strong. Some friendships are spontaneous and die just as fast, and there are some friendships that only take a moment and it feels as if you’ve known them in a way that you could only imagine would have taken years for others to understand.
For me, most of my friendships fall in the last category, and that’s what makes me appreciate them even more. I wanted to give that recognition to my friendship with [redacted], who on the surface would appear far from being anywhere similar to me or me to her, and yet with one chance of a look, one choice to watch a movie, one click of a purchase, and you can feel as if history must have written your story for years in the making, time and again, to feel something so warm and easy.
And there is a lot I’ve left unwritten and unsaid about our more emotional moments, so I just want to also make it clear that this is not a friendship built because of a Harry-Potter obsession, it’s a friendship built because she chose to be in my life this year when I’ve gone through a lot of personal hardships and complications, one that had me silencing everyone in my life and staying away. She invested in me still when she didn’t have to, when our friendship wasn’t so clear or defined. But she did, and I appreciate her for it, and it is through this medium of fanatic obsession that we come to appreciate each other’s company and presence so much more.
To understand this story now, is to understand that there is still happiness to be found in what you’ve lost or missed, and how despite every evident odd and obstacle ahead, we’ll always be looking over our shoulders, glad to see that we’re still waiting at the crossroads and choosing to walk uphill together, no matter where life decides to take us. Mischief managed.
On a scale of 1-10, how surprise are we that this week I actually have something WIP-related to share? The earth must be healing indeed.
I think I’ve touched on this slightly in a previous newsletter on how I’ve decided to just go “to Hell with it” and throw myself into my WIP (in this case, Project Symphony) and hope that the shock of it will kick my muscles into overtime. And blessedly, that gamble did pay off as I’ve read through every page, card and folder of notes I’ve made for the structure and planning of the story thus far, and the comeback resulted in a list of new questions and developments that could just be the key to getting me back into the working mode I’ve adopted for the last 8 months.
And from that pile of new discoveries, I figured to start somewhere a little more fun in exploration. And so, I rolled the dice (put the options into WheelDecide, as one does when making decisions), and by the decree of fate, the first stop in the Project Symphony Revival Tour brings us to the heart of the Land of Music, to Lyra’s childhood best friend and eventual love interest, the crown prince of Gravikis, Erik Iraklidis.
He would carry upon himself the just of his father, he would possess his sister’s wile, he would dole his mother’s patience and kindness from his heart, he would push against his obstacles with the strength and resilience of his brother, and he would dedicate himself to being the many respected faces on the palace walls.
— From The Origins of Erik Iraklidis (Project Symphony)
I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed working on Erik’s character this week, so much that I ended up making some new developments that gave him a better depth and complexity to what was before quite the caricature. He’s someone who strives to be the picture of morality and greatness, and that means his crippling need of perfection tends to cut him hard when it comes to his flaws, and that can mess with someone’s mind so much that when your reality is skewed, the lines for your morality may just be a little further away than the initial sketch.
That’s who Erik is on the personal, but I decided to share five fun facts here that give a more fun sort of lens into his character, which I like to call as the “Tinder-profile” info. Probably not exactly Tinder-profile, but hey, you actually get a lot about what kind of character this person has compared to a LOT of dating profiles, soo…
If you haven’t had the grace before to know a bit about Erik, here’s your insider scoop on the picture-perfect, troubled young prince desperate to become the greatest king to ever rule his kingdom (I would put this in a nice picture template but they’re telling me that the email size is too large so we’re going to have to deal with the ugly version):
His dominant enneagram type is The Perfectionist (Type 1)
He’s 6'0" (183 cm) and weighs 167.3 pounds (76 kg)
Some of his character comps include: Nikolai Lantsov from the Grishaverse and Alicent Hightower from House of the Dragon
His greatest fear is to be a failure to his family and his kingdom
When it comes to his wardrobe, he’s a fan of vests, statement jackets, satin and bold pieces in accessories
If the Project Deathless Halloween Art is giving masquerade fantasy , the Checkmate Halloween Art is giving, with lack of a a better equivalent, sexual fantasy.
I mean, there might be a more adequate substitution there, but honestly, has any picture of Camila and the Ryders given anything else but that? I rest my case.
So yes, our other Halloween art will be of my most beloved Episode story, Checkmate, beloved for it’s dramatics and high stakes, and known for being susceptible to the Revamping disease every few months — my fault as an amateur writer then, to be fair, as well as my lack of proper structuring and documenting. But as I’ve reassured now and then, the story is being worked on bit by bit all this time. I have not abandoned it, nor do I have plans to.
But if we’ve learned one thing from our mysterious blondie Jason Ryder, it’s that he knows how to make up for that absence by dropping the crumbs for the geese to follow, and in following that fashion, I am so excited to be showing you guys the sketch sneaks for the Checkmate art! I can feel the juiciness through these pieces alone, and I can attest that the actual art is absolutely delicious in every way ;)
And for those of you who love the chase, I can tell you their costumes are inspired by the late 90’s Western Adventure film of a vigilante protegé, a lost daughter, and the schemes of a corrupt governor intending to loot the gold out of 18th century California; whose well-recognised cast, sizzling sex appeal and THAT one sword scene has further popularised it into a classic.
If you got it, you got it ;) and if you haven’t, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see Camila, Jason, and Blayze absolutely slay this… only on Halloween.
I just want to apologise if some parts of the newsletter didn’t read as smoothly as usual; I did struggle a lot writing this one due to time constraints and the complexity of especially my personal life entry. I try to be as candid and honest as possible with these recollections, which means it will always get uncomfortable for each end, but I felt it was also a story to tell just for the sake of appreciating. And it can be easy to forget to appreciate the people and little moments we have by getting lost in the narrative of needing to tell a conclusive tale of reasoning.
I mean, it was between this and a religious debunking of how I did not believe I actually talked to God as a result of my religious mother’s craze for us to be read for bad spirits. Imagine how awkward this would have gone if I had chosen the latter.
Swiftly moving on, Halloween is nearly a week away!! And with the sketch sneaks for the second art posted, the Halloween Goodie form is open, so if you want to get the goodies on top of getting to see the new art on Halloween, do go click the link below and let me know if you want a Trick or Treat! I can promise both are equally good ;) *commence evil giggling*
Click here to sign up for the Halloween Goodies!
With that said, I do hope you guys are excited for it, and am cooking up some devilishly-sneaky-spooky plans for the Big 31st ;) Have a great weekend, and see you in the next one!
