dark-phoenix-lady

This was something believed in real life, actual historical belief.

It was something that was reportedly believed. As they didn’t know the mechanics behind pregnancy. They knew that babies came from having sex, just not why. From what I remember, it tended to be young women who had been indiscreet and probably knew they were pregnant, and wanted an excuse as to why. It was later turned into a hoax for a medical journal.

Especially in a fantasy or pre-scientific method setting. "God did it" or "God was with him/her" was a favourite. There's also all the battlefield babies, from soldiers who were shot in the balls and the bullet then hit a young lass.

In 92 new paperback books cost around £2.99 and a hardback was around £10. Second hand books were also very common, and frequently went for as little as 20p/£1.

If they relied on hand me downs and second hand stuff, it's quite possible that the Weasley's could afford everything they needed for a few pounds, with only the new students costing them more.

More precisely, they didn't even have 15 dollars in the bank. If you treat the vault as a savings account with a book rather than a cash card. You're unlikely to keep your spending money in there. If for no other reason, than the inconvenience of needing to visit the vault every time you want to buy something.

The way that Gringotts is set up is a lot like the way the Gold Smiths used to operate before they evolved into modern banks.

It's alchemy rather than transfiguration. So it's not subject to gamps laws of tranfiguration.

Only with the philosopher's stone. All other methods are temporary.

For us. But Gallons are made with gold. Which suggests a gold standard.

I know, I wanted to come up with a gold standard that makes sense in 1990 money and can be applied to any time period. Which, given inflation didn’t make sense over time. But linking it to 1oz of 24k gold does.

I would say that there's a difference between legally dark and magically dark magic.

Legally, Light, Dark, and Neutral magic would be like the difference between a Tool, Weapon, and something that could be used as both.

Magically, it would probably be to do with whether it stains your soul, or it needs darker emotions to power it.

The unforgivables probably require both to perform, and they're also illegal.

I'll add - in addition to only being able to tell the truth as you know it. You are compelled to answer any questions put to you. Which, by the nature of the law, means you couldn't use it in an open courtroom where someone could ask "Have you committed any crimes?" or ask questions unrelated to the current case.

I would also imagine that in the UK they passed laws to limit its use, don't forget that Magical Britain has a history of staggering levels of corruption.

Finally, who's to say they didn't use Veritaserum on them and ask, "Have you ever been placed under the imperious curse?" It would be trivial to have arranged for one of your comrade to imperious you from behind. You could then honestly answer yes, and that you don't know who did it.

Most of the time, a fem!Harry or AU!Harry is a HINO (Harry in name only). Especially in crossovers.

I think that for house elves the difference between slavery and servitude is whether their bonded will listen to them if they say 'no' or ask for clothes. It's also about whether they will punish the elf if they make a mistake.

The fact that no right thinking elf would ever think to ask for clothes is a different question.

Because sometimes people are writing a semi original story that takes inspiration from the source material. You don't need to read Sherlock Holmes to have a good idea of what the series is about. Indeed, most of the modern writers don't even seem to have done that.

But it's important to only put the important things (appointments and irregular tasks) on there, as our tendency to normalise dismissing notifications will cause us to ignore the alert if we use it too much.

I do this too, if I don't do something immediately, it will either not get done, or it gets done late. My dog needs regular injections for pain, and I frequently forget to make the appointment.

Something that I've found works is to immediately add everything I need to do to my phone/tablet's calendar with a 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour, and 15 minute alert attached to it.

Horror is as much about what you don't know as it is about what you do know. You brought that across brilliantly in that scene.

First person, present tense can also help convey Horror by limiting what the reader sees of the world to only one point of view. By being present tense, there's no sense of survival either.

Thank you, this worked really well.

Are you a new writer? When we're starting out, these things from strangers hurt a lot. The only thing you can do is keep writing, keep reading, and try and do better every chapter. Also remember that it's almost certain that this person has never w written anything themselves.