Tackytiger - Blog Posts

I found it difficult to maintain my breath as I read your response, scanning through the tags and summaries of the linked fics. Will I dive in? Absolutely. Will I come back normal? Debatable.

Harry with a hint of darkness always captivates me. To witness him acting in ways contrary to canon or his usual portrayal in fics, to contemplate how his moral compass might fluctuate in different circumstances, whether influenced by external factors or his own internal conflicts.

Oh, Frayach! *drops to my knees* Their work, Bound Skerry (if you haven’t read it yet), in my opinion, perfectly embodies this theme too. That Harry, and the way we only glimpsed him through Draco still haunts me to this day.

I’ll definitely read The Offering, too! Thank you!

PS. The day you ever decide to write a dark or morally grey Harry Potter, in terms of magical prowess or political power, or the idea you mentioned (Master of Death Harry with a close unreliable narration) well, hello to my end.

Never have I ever: Dark, or morally grey Harry Potter? 🙈

ohhh hello, pal!! thank you for this ask which is a really interesting one and a trope i was just thinking about the other day.

I have never written dark/morally grey Harry in terms of politics or magical power. However if you're talking personally/emotionally then I have written him as a bit (or a lot) of a shit quite a few times. I've chosen these because in them, he deliberately goes out to cause harm, which imo is a different thing to an ordinary, nice person being a bit selfish or acting the dick (yes i'm looking at you, the commenters on modern love who think harry should be pilloried for how badly he treats poor sweet little angel draco lmao)

Call Me Friend - baby's tacky's first fic 😅It's a Neville POV where he's in a relationship with Harry... or so he thinks.

Buttercup - this is a crossgen Harry x Scorpius fic and i think everyone (except Draco, bless him) is a bit terrible in this

Aaaand The Quiver of a Heartstring which I wrote for Unhappily Ever After fest and just has Draco treating Harry badly and then Harry treating someone else badly and no one comes out of it looking well.

I don't actually think I have ever read a dark Harry fic?! The only one I can think of is The Offering by Frayach which I remember really liking back in the day.

If I were to write this trope now, btw, I think I'd go for a Harry whose power grows too large (something to do with his mastery of death perhaps?) and who ends up having to work against his very nature in terms of how he navigates the world... maybe a really close unreliable narration where you think at first that he's lovely and then as the fic unfolds you start seeing these unsettling glimpses of the world around him where his actions have really significant consequences. i do think Harry is good and kind at heart though, so that would be interesting to work through.

“He’s getting distracted, he realises. It’s Malfoy, he thinks—the smell of him, so near—and he inches even closer and lets his head drop onto Malfoy’s shoulder. It’s good here—the curling ends of Malfoy’s hair are close enough that they stir every time Harry breathes out, and he watches the slide and quiver of the glossy strands with fascination. And better yet, when he blows gently, the hair moves off Malfoy’s neck, and then Harry can see the whole creamy stretch of it and more: the sharp tensing line of Malfoy’s jaw; the three beauty spots like a constellation on Malfoy’s cheek; the silvered line of a scar that runs from below Malfoy’s collar to just behind his ear. He’s noticed all these things before, of course, but he can’t remember why he hasn’t ever really looked at them before, or told Malfoy how lovely they are.” — If It Takes All Night by tackytiger | Read here

This is for @tackytigerfic whose fic didn’t stop running in my mind after reading it, mostly this scene, or, scratch it—all of it hunts me, especially tacky’s approach and style of writing.

This is easily my favorite portrayal of Harry who finds his friendship with Draco after the war conflicting. His yearning, his hesitation, and good lord his undeniable attraction were conveyed with raw intensity that was both sensual and captivating. I enjoyed how there’s not much dialogue and instead it took me inside Harry’s mind. It was so sensory that it made my skin tingle.

Tacky, the writer that you are. I’m in awe of your ability to craft such compelling stories. Please marry me.

PS. I just need to mention again that the scene with Draco’s beauty spots and scar killed me. I am forever including that every time I draw him.