My Stupid Story

^{_{Part One}}

Kind of Canon but Also Not: The Harry Potter parents. 

We all know that the Harry Potter characters have parents. Even in the Wizarding World there's only so long that children can believe the, "The stork dropped you on our doorstep" tale. Prominently, there are the Weasleys, the Malfoys, the Potters, the Longbottoms, the Lovegoods, and the Blacks among (probably not many) others. But what about characters like Seamus, Cedric (in this case we're excluding Amos), and Cho? They have parents. We know of them. But we know little.

Take Seamus, for example; we know that his mother is of Irish descent, that she didn't tell her husband she was a witch until after their wedding, that she disagreed with Harry's statements that You-Know-Who had returned, and that Seamus sent her a copy of the Quibbler. But that's not a lot. She doesn't have a first name or any identifiable traits besides the fact that she didn't believe Harry about Voldemort at first.

There is also virtually no information about other parents, like Mrs. Diggory, or Mr. and Mrs. Chang. 

The question of what to do with these characters came to me after finishing Whose Are These? (Shameless self-promo, but I'm super proud of it and I'd love for anyone who wants to, to give it a read here+) The story, told from the perspective of Cedric's mum, is mostly about watching her boy fall in love without the acute realization of what is happening. She certainly doesn't know who he's falling in love with. She loves Cedric, he's getting older, it's sweet and sorrowful all in one. Anyways, blah blah blah, it's not about the story. It's about the character. I created Catherine, Cath, as I would any OC. I thought of her description, what kind of personality I wanted her to have, etc. It's not like I had any details to adhere to besides the fact that she's Cedric's mum. I grew attached to her and she felt like my own. But, to me, she also seemed just, canon. Just regular old Mrs. Diggory, but with a first name. 

At first, it wasn't a problem. But then, I started writing the second chapter of Their Little Brother+ (M), which, let's be real, is the story least likely to be taken seriously by anyone. I don't even take it seriously! [James literally pretends to drop his child in the garbage disposal to prove to Lily that he shouldn't be left alone with a child, not because he isn't capable, but just because he already raised Harry, he ain't being forced to burp another kid... But I digress. That's a story for a different time] So, to the problem. I'm tapping along. And Cedric's in the middle of explaining his frustration with dad to Harry, when Harry asks, "Can't you talk to your mom?"

(I swear I need to plan my stories to avoid impulsively writing shit like this.) Cedric responds, “Haven’t seen her since Easter. She’s in Greece or Cyprus with her newest lover, I suppose.”

Harry asks, shocked, "Your parents are divorced?"

To which Cedric continues, “No,” Cedric laughed as if it were all a big joke to him. “But that’s ______ for you,"

That's where I got stuck. The mother that I'm describing for Cedric is nothing like my beautiful Cath, who cares so deeply for her son and her husband, and fondly remembers bedtime stories and waving the Hogwarts train off. No, this woman leaves her family for lovers in Mediterranean getaway countries. Cath feels like a canon character to me, the way I've created her, but she doesn't resemble this woman at all. And yes this is an insanely AU story (Cedric lives, Lily and James are alive, Neville is dead, Remus isn't a werewolf, George's twin is a girl named Tessa, etc. WACK), so does it really matter? But, it did to me. So, I renamed Cedric's mother Alicia for the purposes of a completely different universe and moved on with my life.

Or, so I thought. The feeling kept tugging at me. What do we do with canon characters who are very much real and proven, but who we have to build nearly from the ground up? There's little to work with in terms of keeping stories separate and consistent all at the same time. I find that there are two commonly accepted truths when it comes to characters in fanfiction, at least good fanfiction. 1, while major canon characters may change ships or have different lifestyles and make different choices in different story verses, they are still pretty much required to have rather similar personalities (ex. Harry, saviour but still awkward and relatable. Hermione, intelligent. Molly, nurturing and caring, but could boil your kidneys if she wanted to. Lucius, harsh and bigoted.) Yes, we have different headcanons etc. but they all seem to maintain the same foundational base of what makes them, them. And 2, original characters belong to one story verse and one only, or else readers of multiple stories get confused. So, my OCs Iris Skeeter and Lyra Malfoy can't be in a new work same story together, because in Iris's world Oliver marries ***** **** and is happy with her. He's also not straight, blah blah blah. Whereas in Lyra's world, yes the story takes place years and years after The Many Secrets and Lies, but the Oliver in that story has an OC wife and sleeps with Astoria Malfoy after his marriage ends to, y'know, produce Lyra. It's just fundamentally impossible to have both without time travel or some intense mind messing.

But, where does that leave us with minor minor minor characters? Those who don't even have a first name. Maybe everyone has already figured this out and I'm just behind, but I'm confused. It's problematic. If I use my version of a canon character in every story I write, but there was no foundational basis for that character to begin with, then shuffling them from verse to verse can't possibly make sense because THEY'RE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS.

But changing their character every time to suit the narratives of the story doesn't work either because THEY'RE CANON CHARACTERS. 

I'm sorry for the long ramble (that probably didn't make any sense, sorry) but what do you guys think? Have you struggled with this before? Do you think that the same OC minor should be kept throughout all stories despite changing verse, or that a new version of the character should be created for each verse they're involved in.

Cath will stay Cath and Alicia will stay Alicia, because that's the way I want it since it's already done and I plan to continue writing them, but going forward how would we all feel about just one Mrs. Diggory?

Have an amazing day, wherever you are! And stay safe out there.