Not a fan of the firearm mention. Feels weird to me that magical creatures are worried about firearms even a bit.

 

Why?

 

Not really. Magic is still magic, but there's no reason being magical would automatically make something bulletproof.

I already killed a wizard with a bullet in the first book (though in fairness, that was kind of the result of a curse).

 

I agree with your point that magical creatures shouldn't necessarily be bulletproof (though many should not be affected at all-- Dementors, Dragons, Boggarts, for instance] but I don't think guns should be threats to most adult wizards. Or Muggle weapons in general. Magic should be threatening to wizards, not Muggles. I like how Journey died because the Muggle weapon was just the means to a magical end of a curse killing him. If Alex had shot him with a gun, I would have hated that, though, because that would a Muggle weapon killing an adult wizard.

I just much prefer the Taure approach of [magic generally wins] in HP fiction. If you let firearms be a threat, you start having wizards use guns, which is an instant [close the story] moment for me.

Guns as a serious threat or weapon in HP stories are just Meh to me.

 

To paraphrase a former Governor of California: "If it bleeds, you can kill it." Which probably excludes Dementors and Boggarts, but not dragons, or wizards.

A wizard wouldn't normally use a gun because a wand is a much better weapon.

The problem with saying guns are categorically not a threat is that you need a better explanation than "Because magic." Because wizards walk around casting Shield Charms 24/7? Because wizard robes all have permanent Bulletproof Charms? Because being a wizard means your "innate magic" will automatically deflect non-magical attacks? Because wizards all have anti-Muggle plot armor because Wizards Must p0wn?

Without spoiling too much, I'll say that I generally like to preserve the "feel" of Rowling's universe, even as AQ becomes increasingly AU, but I will not promise you'll never see a gun again.

 

Disclaimer: not trying to tell you how to write, but expounding my view of guns/magic, feel free to ignore:

Wizards on brooms get hit by bludgers all the time and occasionally need healing magic, but are not dying everytime what amounts to a medium-size cannonball hits them, so I'm not sure a bullet would kill them. They also don't seem to suffer from the cumulative effects of concussions. They also just generally do dangerous shit (staircases that move, guarding a kid's dorm room with a troll) all the time, which implies those things aren't actually all that dangerous for them.

Overall, I think wizards are tougher than Muggles. I think if you caught a wizard off guard, you could shoot and maybe kill them. But then skilled wizards, which are, admittedly, not all that common (because the average wizard, in HP, is probably barely capable of casting a shield charm), would wear things like Shield hats (like Fred and George mass produce) or just cast a shield charm and be immune to bullets.

My bias: I fall in the Taure camp of magic supremacy and just don't like when Muggle weapons become important factors in magical stories. The whimsical nature of HP magic just doesn't fit with guns. You've preserved this whimsical feel with the curses and charms you have AQ using-- the featherweight charm, the deadweight charm, etc. You've preserved this whimsical feel with delightful bits of mythology and worldbuilding, the 7-league boots, the weird wizarding traditions, the little bits and pieces you sprinkle throughout of off-hand lore.

 

Well, I am not going to turn AQ into John Wick. Guns don't fit the tone of HP stories, for the most part, and I've likewise mostly kept Alex off the Internet. But I'm not Taure, and I definitely don't think wizards are inherently tougher than Muggles. I've implied they tend to be "luckier" in that their magic protects them from a lot of things, but that's unconscious spellcasting, not because they are a physically distinct race.

My own view is that bludgers don't actually reach lethal velocities (I don't think Rowling meant to imply wizards survive blows that would kill Muggles), and the trolls and moving staircases and other dangerous phenomena are mostly because JK Rowling is not Brandon Sanderson and was writing children's books.

 

While it is true that guns don't mesh well with HP magic setting, neither does boxing, but it is mentioned in canon as background info on the Dursleys. So I guess it stands to reason that guns may come to mind to an American muggle-raised girl, more so if we recall that Alex's cop stepfather has taken her to a shooting range as a stereotypical attempt of American father-daughter bonding.

Incidentally, Inverarity just dropped a meta Chekhov gun. Jimplicutes beware, Alex can be a vindictive bitch and you don't mess with her pretty bird.

Regarding the chapter, Alex just stashed some of Geegowl's hair. A wand with bugbear hair core has to produce some mean Accios and Incarcerouses.

 

I’ve always thought that the (occasional) inclusion of guns in AQ helped to make the American wizarding world feel more authentically American, along with the highways and shopping malls and school buses and other things. Not that America is the only country with these things, but they give the world a distinct feel from the traditional English vibe of the original books and I think that’s good.

 

Mmm, ok.

Spoiler

Awfully convenient, isn't it? More and more this feels like an ellaborate hoax, a bogus quest staged by the grannies to either have a laugh at the expense of the city girl or to test the mettle of budding Ozarkerlings. Elves and dwarves are in cahoots with the grannies, or are the very same grannies glamoured.

Also, ok, jumping off a cliff trusting a crappy wand in the hands of a half-trained witch. Either Alex is brilliant, has figured the hoax up and trusts the grannies to pull some Deus Ex to catch her if she botches it, or she is the same moronic Alex we learned not to really care about, so she can go splat herself on a rock and finally let the story become Anna Chu, Charlie and the World Away, which is what we all are secretly hoping for.



Don't really mind me if you read this, Inverarity, half the fun of reading a serial is making up wild theories and offbeat comments between instalments.

 

Liked this update. Alex's character shines through as does budding self awareness..her compassion for the Thenn is well done

 

Interesting chapter. What a cliffhanger though

 

Is thren song a threnody?

We have to give it to him, Sees-From-Laurel has balls of steel.

Lots of ingredients as wand cores but, once again, Sonja's Inner Eye is right on the ball: no phoenix feather.
--- Post automerged ---
One thing that puzzles me is how wildly Alex's focus shifts. Well, yeah, we know she is a big fat jerk, as many of the quickversers seem to be. And, if Inverarity's Inner Eye is to be believed, she is going to egregiously fatten that jerkiness of hers. But still...

Ok, she is Troublesome. She vexes, she woes, and sometimes she helps. Or tries to, in her own misguided, catastrophic way.

But a few months ago (books time) she was throwing herself into learning alchemy to restore her mother's memories. These days, the grannies hint at knowing of her mother and she doesn't press the point, or she gets a shit-ton of Ozarker mending powers and she pursues a petty vendetta with them, instead of sparing a thought about whether that power could be used for healing.

Spoiler

I guess it is still mice diet for Galen, for the forseeable future.