Chapter Text
It's been a long time coming, but
It's you and me, that's my whole world
They whisper in the hallway, "She's a bad, bad girl" (Okay)
The whole school is rolling fake dice
You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes
It's you and me, there's nothing like this
- Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince by Taylor Swift
Hiya! I’m excited you think my story might be worth reading. It’s a whopper: a novel-sized fic about Newt, the 1990s and second war with Voldemort, and an OC who falls in love with our favourite freckled, blue-coated magizoologist. (Because who wouldn’t fall in love with Newt? Seriously?)
Before we start…
It’s never been entirely clear about the FB timeline. What year was SOD supposed to be set in? But I didn’t want Newt to be too old, so here is my interpretation of the FB timeline.
December 1927: FBAWTFT, the events in New York.
1928/9, COG, Paris, Grindelwald’s rally and Leta’s death
1930, SOD, Grindelwald’s political manoeuvring and the whole Qilin saga.
December 1930 (SOD), Queenie’s marriage to Jacob.
May 1931, Newt vanishes during a confrontation with Grindelwald. He reappears in December 1993 at Hogwarts, which, canonically, is Harry Potter’s third year in POA. Thus explaining his appearance on the Map in the POA film.
I have nothing against Tina, in fact I respect her, but I just think that she and Newt aren’t compatible. In this story, they agree with me. After an extremely short-lived relationship that starts at Queenie’s wedding, they mutually decide that it won’t work. Newt is too shy of authorities and too much of a natural rulebreaker, too dreamy, living in his own world…whereas Tina wants to change the world, one step at a time, following the rules as she goes.
There won’t be much of a presence of the original FB characters, though there will be occasional flashbacks or mentions of them. Again, if you’re hoping for lots of HP characters to have huge roles…sorry to disappoint, but I’m going to mainly be delving into the personalities of more background characters, such as Charlie Weasley, and the relationship between Newt and my OC. Said OC is not a Mary-Sue. She will have a fleshed-out backstory (though it’ll take time to reveal it), and make some morally dubious decisions throughout the course of the war, but generally she’s a pretty bog-standard person - hence the ‘reader’ tags, just in case it appeals to anyone searching that fandom.
It’s a true slow-burn; there won’t be loads of angst, or a toxic relationship. This is a romantic story with missing scenes of canon filled in, and a plot that will eventually become clear. I’ve tried hard to capture Newt’s personality without excess use of letters that show he’s stuttering. I firmly believe that he is more competent and less shy than most fics portray him. By SOD he seems a lot more comfortable in his own skin, which I’ve tried hard to reflect.
Certain chapters were written at different times from the main bulk, so style and tenses might vary. It was written as a stress-reliever during a hard time, and I wrote it for enjoyment rather than aiming for upstanding quality. There’s a song for every chapter, mostly Taylor Swift music, and the title itself comes from Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince - an anthem for the entire fic if ever there was one.
I do not endorse JK Rowling’s views, and there will be sexually diverse characters in this fic. I’m also not aiming to offend anyone with my lack of understanding/knowledge. Let me know if anything’s wrong or offensive and I’ll remove it.
Some info about the humble author - you can skip this if you want:
*I’m a compulsively addictive writer/reader. I’ve been dictating, telling, and writing stories since before I was six - not that those were much good. I like to think I’ve got better.
I read the HP stories waaay too young (and got scared shitless), but also made the mistake of not reading them in order - a mistake I’ve made sure never to repeat with other book series. Most of my stories are my own, but fanfic has always filled a gap - you know when you get frustrated by canon, and you want a in-character, in-style retelling? Well, then there’s fanfic, to write and read.
My favourite books and series of all time are Skulduggery Pleasant, Lockwood & Co, Harry Potter, Mary Russell; anything by the Brontes - Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Jane Eyre and Villette are my favourites; Sherlock Holmes (and the Professor Challenger stories by ACD, especially The Lost World and The Poison Belt), a handful of Victorian books - The Moonstone, Cranford, A Little Princess, to name a few; all the P.G Wodehouse stories, and a special shoutout to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five because it pretty much shaped who I am today. (I’m George, of course.)
I’m also dedicated Swiftie, a strong Roxette fan (what do you mean, you’ve never heard of them? Go listen to Joyride immediately-); I like traditional Irish music, bits and pieces of Adele, Whitney, and random songs (Read All About It by Emeli Sande is my personal anthem).
Other random facts: I love animals, nature, and Christmas decorations. I’m a socially adjusted hermit with a very, very weird sense of humour. And when I was two, I wanted to be a farmer.*
Things readers should understand: this is a slow-burn. As in, I’ll spend a hundred-thousand-+ words building a believable relationship between two people who appear to be friendly and open on the surface, but are wounded, vulnerable, and messy underneath. So there’ll be humour, and echoes of plot, but c’mon, I’m doing five out of a seven-book series and we don’t really get anywhere, plot-wise, till the beginning of 1996, so this will be a slow-burn…Got it?
Readers: Got it.
Brilliant. Onwards and upwards with Nothing Like This!
The story is almost completed and will be uploaded weekly, on A03, ff.net, and Quotev.
And without further ado…
“Why does everyone try so hard to make stories into something real?”
A soft voice pierces the black of the darkest corner. “Because everything is a story - whether it’s real or not.”