Fanfic / Holly Potter and the Witching World

All Holly Potter wanted was to know was what strange and mysterious secret was hidden in that cupboard under the stairs, which her aunt and uncle never let her go near... and what did it have to do with “those lesbian freaks” Aunt Petunia would complain about?

Holly Potter and the Witching World (also found on AO3, and FFN) is an Alternate Universe Harry Potter Fan Fiction written by Dina M Nealey.

Its a Fem!Harry story, but not quite as you know them — instead of turning just Harry into a girl, this fic goes a few steps further and turns around 90% of the magical world female (hence the name "witching world") and polygamy is the norm. Wizards and witches usually live in "covens," which are polygynous families with one husband and several wives.

The story focuses mostly on Holly Potter, or "Holly Potter of the Evans line" as the witches call her, as she goes from a normal orphaned girl living with her horrible aunt and uncle to a young witch in training navigating this fascinating new world, making new friends, attending magic school. trying to figure out this entire "coven" business... and tries to survive the plots of Tom Riddle, the wizard terrorist who killed her parents when she was a baby.

To a lesser extent, it also focuses on Albus Dumbledore, wizard extraordinaire, who together with his housemate and (possibly romantic) partner, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, works as a discreet private investigator who helps out Muggles and witches alike. Ostracized by the majority of the witching world because he's gay and refuses to take six or seven wives like proper wizard should, he now lives in Holly's neighborhood to keep an eye on her — just as he promised her mother he would — and he's determined that Tom Riddle and his followers should not get their hands on Holly, or on the very special magic wand she carries.

Holly Potter and the Witching World started out as a setting for an adult-rated Harry Potter themed online roleplay, but it eventually developed into a fanfic because the author, in her own words, got carried away with the worldbuilding and realized none of the other players would want to read 20+ pages of backstory.

Not to be confused with Firebird's Son, a fanfic that also features polygynous "covens" and a skewed witch-to-wizard ratio, but is much Darker and Edgier than this fic (and features a male Harry).

This fic contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon do treat Holly slightly better than their canon counterparts treated Harry, in that she has a proper bedroom and it's made clear they have never lifted a hand to her (the one time Aunt Petunia tries to spank Holly, she's interrupted by Albus Dumbledore, who just "happens" to stop by). That's not to say they're not abusive, though — she's always treated as The Un-Favourite who gets yelled at and punished for crimes she didn't commit, she's made to do impossible chores like mowing the lawn while the rain is pouring down, and she's constantly told what an ungrateful brat she is for not appreciating everything they do for her.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Canon Voldemort was no slouch in the power department, but the Tom Riddle of this world took it to the next level — at least if we believe Hagrid's story of what Riddle's reaction was to having his head cut off with the Sword of Gryffindor:
    "He didn' even fall down! His headless body calmly walked over to his head, picked it up, an' then put it back on! Like it was a hat or somethin'! An' then he went straight back ter hurlin' curses!"
  • Lily, who in canon didn't have a chance against Voldemort, here fought Tom Riddle to a standstill before sacrificing herself to save her daughter.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: In addition to all the Gender Flipping going on, Fred Weasley who was a cisgender boy in canon is a transgender girl in this universe.
• Adaptation Personality Change: While the characters are a lot like their canon counterparts, different circumstances and a vastly different magical society means that even the ones who haven't been Gender Flipped sometimes have slightly different personalities.
  • Albus Dumbledore is an private investigator who's ostracized for his "unorthodox" attitudes rather than the respected and respectable Headmaster of a prestigious school, which means his priorities and general attitude are somewhat different in this universe. He's not only Younger and Hipper than his canon counterpart, he's notably less secretive and more hands-on — and while no stranger to the Batman Gambit, he's not quite The Chessmaster we know from canon. He's still a supremely powerful wizard with a big eccentric streak, though; he's as eloquent and polite as ever, and judging by the near-lyrical way he talks about hot chocolate he still has a serious love for sweets.
  • Hagrid, as Albus's partner and housemate in the Muggle world, is pretty close to his canon counterpart, but he's a little less wild, he's more responsible and nowhere near as reckless. He's also far more at home among Muggles, even though his size still makes him stand out — and, given how Albus praises his hot chocolate, he is clearly not the Lethal Chef he was in canon.
  • Bellatrix is still devoted to Tom Riddle, still a sadist and a psychopath who likes mocking and toying with those weaker than her, and she's clearly not completely sane... but since she hasn't been subjected to a decade of mental torture in a soul-sucking prison, she's far less unhinged and more together. This Bellatrix is more a Cold Ham than anything; she can be just as dramatic and childish as her canon counterpart but displays it in a much more controlled, calculating way. She's also more independent and prone to Pragmatic Villainy.
  • Speaking of, Tom Riddle has yet to actually appear in the story, but from how other people have talked about him, he seems to have been quite different from his canon counterpart. In canon he styled himself as a "Dark Lord" and focused on blood purity and hatred of Muggles and Muggle-borns, while hiding his own Muggle inheritance behind the name "Lord Voldemort." Here, while every bit the dangerous mass murderer, he called himself a "revolutionary" and was more than willing to embrace his Muggle name and inheritance.
• Adaptational Sexuality: In a setting where nearly Everyone Is Bi, this is a given. Dumbledore is one of the few characters who averts the trope; he's still fully gay in this universe.
  • An ambiguous version with Hagrid. He and Dumbledore live together, and everyone in their neighborhood takes it for granted that they're a gay couple — but this is never really confirmed or denied. The author claims that she didn't imagine them as a couple when she started the story, but acknowledges that they can come across as being one. Since she couldn't decide on whether she actually wanted them to be a couple or not, she ended up making it ambiguous.
    I suppose it all comes down to what you as a reader think. If you want them to be a couple, they are. If you don’t, they aren’t. And I know it feels a little wishy-washy to be vague about this one pairing. It’s not intentional queerbaiting, I promise. (I’ll take heart in the fact that there’s plenty of queer content elsewhere in the fic.)
• Alternate Universe Fic: Of the Contextual Reassignment type. The Witching World is still a hidden magical world separate from the Muggles, there's still a Hogwarts and a Ministry of Magic, and there are many familiar concepts and characters (even though a number of them have been Gender Flipped). But the story is different, the world's history and the way society is built up is different, the way magic works is different, and the general tone and philosophy is different.
• Always Identical Twins: Averted with the female Fred and George, who are fraternal twins and while they resemble each other greatly they aren't identical. Of course, Fred was assigned male at birth but identifies as a girl, and when we first meet her in the fic she's already transitioned socially and is ready to take the Easy Sex Change potion. The trope is alluded to when Fred asks if the potion will make her identical to George so that they can pretend to be one another and confuse everyone.
• Ambiguously Gay: Hagrid. Where Dumbledore is openly gay, it's a little more vague with Hagrid, and the fic never says if he and Dumbledore are a couple or not.
• Ambiguous Time Period: It's kept deliberately unclear just when the fic takes place, though since Hermione at one point mentions computer labs and going online to search for answers, it probably takes place somewhat later than the canon books — probably sometime around the Turn of the Millennium.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Dean Thomas, a secondary character in canon, is among the core characters here. He also gets a lot more attention in-universe than his canon counterpart ever did, thanks to being something so rare as a Muggle-born (or at least Muggle-raised) boy.
  • Dumbledore was in no way an insignificant character in canon, but in this fic he's a lot more involved and gets more attention by the narrative.
  • Lily, whose spirit now inhabits Holly's wand, and who can talk to Holly in her dreams.
  • Dwarfs and nymphs. Both species have only been given very brief mentions in canon (and only the dwarfs made brief on-screen appearances), but in this universe they play much more important roles; the nymphs are protectors and the dwarfs are now the bankers instead of the goblins.
• Bespectacled Cutie: Since her canon counterpart wears glasses, Holly ends up flirting with this trope quite a bit. She doesn't really have the bookishness that's common for the stereotype, but the glasses definitely add to her adorableness.
• Blind Without 'Em: Downplayed with Holly. Her eyesight is definitely bad, but she can still get around just fine without her glasses. In chapter two she even takes her glasses off because they're fogging up in the rain, and thinks to herself that she'll be fine because she's not blind or anything.
• Canon Foreigner: Thanks to the tendency for covens to have a lot of children, there are quite a few of them... though a number of them are mainly there to fill out the crowds and don't get a lot of attention. The Weasley coven has 13 daughters, of which 5 are OCs.
• Cold Ham: Bellatrix certainly has this vibe; she loves big and dramatic gestures but is fairly calm and collected about it. Even when she gets annoyed her flares of temper are brief.
• Composite Character: "Ulva Greyback," the Queen of the Werewolves, is also known by the name Bellatrix. It's hinted that Bellatrix isn't the original Ulva Greyback and that she took the name after becoming Queen of the Werewolves, but what exactly happened to the original Ulva Greyback has not been revealed.
• Easy Sex Change: Justified since we are talking about a magical society here. The Weasleys discuss some of the temporary versions they've let Fred try out before taking the full step and making the transition permanent with the Mulierarius Potion. (They also note that consenting adults can have a lot of fun with a Temporary Sex Change Charm).
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: More hinted at than explicitly shown in the early parts of the story because of the young age of the titular character, but the witching world is overall a very sex-positive society due to the shortage of men.
• Everyone Is Bi: Maybe not everyone everyone, but supplemental material confirms that bisexuality is more or less the norm in the witching world. People who are purely straight or purely gay do exist, but are considered rare.
• Fantastic Slurs: Muggle-borns, who come from a world where men are plentiful and monogamy is the norm, are often called "Prudes" by the less tolerant witches. The word is milder and less of a Berserk Button than "Mudblood" is in canon, but if Flora's reaction is anything to go by it's still considered a fairly offensive word.
• Friend to All Children: Hagrid. Children who don't know him might find him intimidating because of his enormous size and wild appearance, but the children who do know him all adore him.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: A variant with Lily appearing in Holly's dreams. She always appears to be Holly's exact age, and though the exact reason isn't spelled out, it's implied that it's because Holly is more comfortable talking to someone her own age.
• Gender-Bent Alternate Universe: In a way, but not played completely straight. Most characters who were male in canon are female here — but not all of them, as characters like Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, Dean Thomas, Arthur Weasley, James Potter and Gilderoy Lockhart are still male. Characters who were female in canon are all still female here.
• Gender Flip: If the character was male and magical in canon, chances are they're female here. Exceptions are Dean Thomas, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Arthur Weasley, Lucius Malfoy, Tom Riddle, and of course the legendary Merlin.
• Girlish Pigtails: Holly's favored hairstyle.
• Heel Realization: Holly has a minor one early on, after she finds out about her magical power. She has a brief moment where starts heading down a road of thinking that Muggles are inferior, but later on, during a talk with Dumbledore, she regrets thinking like this.
  "To be frank," Mr Dumbledore continued, "I sometimes worry that witches — and wizards, for that matter — get so caught up in their own magic that they forget Muggles are people too. They have been given a special gift… an amazing gift… and end up looking down on others who don't share that gift. That sort of thinking leads to some nasty places."
  His tone was light, but all of a sudden Holly felt ashamed. That was exactly what she'd done, wasn't it? She remembered all too well her own words of 'I'm a witch and you're just a stupid Muggle.' Words that had been immensely satisfying at the time, but now seemed stupid and nasty, even if they were said to someone like Dudley.
• In Which a Trope Is Described: Originally done as small, humorous, largely non-spoilery chapter summaries on the Witching World website, but later imported to the chapters themselves, as a sort of byline.
  In which Holly finds a new way to mow the lawn, and Aunt Petunia makes good on an old threat.
• Lady Land: The Witching World is this by necessity, since only about 10% of magical births are male.
• Little Miss Snarker: Both Holly and Ronnie mastered the sarcastic quip at an early age — Ronnie especially.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Holly's reaction after she loses her temper with Dudley and accidentally turns him into a babbling baby girl — though at first her main concern is that Aunt Petunia's going to kill her.
• Mythology Gag: Hermione at one point mentions that her mother's maiden name was "Puckle," which was the surname Hermione was originally going to have in canon.
• Polyamory: The witching world is more or less built up around it, though due to the young age of the protagonist in the early parts of the fic, she isn't told a lot of the details. This is justified, since the shortage of men forces wizards and witches to tolerate alternate lifestyles.
• Private Detective: Albus Dumbledore works as a private investigator who helps out Muggles and magicals alike. Probably crosses over with Occult Detective, since the one case we see him investigate so far is a murder in a dwarf mine, but if his words to Ariana are to be believed, a large number of his cases simply involve finding lost pets.
• Race Lift: Hermione's black in this universe — or rather, she's mixed-race. The author explains:
  Both Hermione's grandfathers were black — her paternal grandfather was a black American soldier stationed in Britain during World War 2, who had a tryst with one of the many white British girls who didn't care about the racial segregation laws, and her maternal grandfather was a worker who came to Britain from Jamaica as part of the "Windrush" immigration (post-WW2, workers were sorely needed in Britain, and many people came in from the colonies) and fell for one of the local girls.
  Both Hermione's parents independently got educated as dentists. When they met, they bonded over being mixed-race dentists, found that they had a lot in common including a love of Shakespeare and other classic literature, eventually fell in love and got married, after which they had a daughter they named Hermione.
  None of this actually has anything to do with this story, but admit it... I did just make Hermione's family a little more interesting.
• Secret-Keeper: As of now, Albus and Hagrid are the only ones who know that Lily's spirit is inhabiting Holly's wand and that Holly talks to her in her dreams. Lily warns Holly not to tell people about her because "even in the witching world, people usually aren't prepared for casual messages from the dead," but specifically names Albus as an exception.
• Scars Are Forever: Though in Holly's case they're not as easily noticeable since in this case the famous lightning-bolt scar is on her stomach, right above her bellybutton, which means that most of the time it's hidden by her clothes.
• Soul Jar: Though Lily's body is long dead, Holly's wand contains her soul, which keeps her tethered to the mortal plane.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Ariana Dumbledore. Rather than losing her mind and dying young as in canon, in this world she grew up to become the Headmistress of Hogwarts.
  • In some ways, Lily. She still died sacrificing herself for her daughter, but her spirit now inhabits Holly's wand and as long as Holly is near the wand Lily can to some extent act independently, using the wand's magic to help and protect her daughter and can even communicate with her in her dreams.
• Talking in Your Dreams: This is the main way Lily communicates with Holly. Holly can sometimes get a vague idea of what her mother wants or thinks just by holding her wand, but it's only when Holly is asleep and dreaming that Lily can actually talk to her.
• Tomboyish Name: Several of the Weasley sisters have male-sounding nicknames — Wilhelmina, Charlotte, Frederica and Georgina are commonly known as "Will," "Charlie," "Fred" and "George." Veronica is a borderline case; her nickname is "Ronnie," which is somewhat more feminine but not hugely so. Averted with Persephone, who does not like to be called "Percy."
• Took a Level in Kindness: Dudley starts out as a bully towards Holly, but thanks to a very different first encounter with magic, as well as a bargain he strikes with Dumbledore, begins treating her a lot more civilly around the age of eight. Though both he and Holly find this new "we're supposed to get along now" thing rather awkward, he does seem to be going through some genuine Character Development.
• Trans Tribulations: It's revealed that trans people have some unique problems in the witching world. While magic makes transitioning a lot easier, the rarity of men means that trans women struggle heavily with finding acceptance (trans men have a somewhat easier time of it). Fred Weasley is a trans girl who, as the story begins, is about to start magically transitioning. Her family is fully supportive, but people like the Malfoys can get quite nasty.
• World of Snark: It's a Dina M Nealey story; this is pretty much a given. While some characters are definitely snarkier than others, pretty much all of them get in the occasional quip. Even Dudley, once Character Development kicks in, tries to get in on the act... though Holly doesn't really find his penchant for puns very funny.
• Younger and Hipper: Albus Dumbledore at least looks a lot younger than his canon counterpart; he's still got his auburn hair and beard.

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