WELCOME to my ,,about me”-page. I suppose I should just start with introducing myself so we can get that out of the way. In light of that: Online I go by DutchSlytherpuff, a name that tells you several things about me. Firstly, and most obviously, I am Dutch. And as you’ve noticed by now, I do know English (and I post almost exclusively in English), but as it is not my native language, I can, do, and will make mistakes in grammar and syntax and spelling. The occasional Dutchism may also sneak into my writing. If you happen to see one of these things, I would be very happy if you pointed it out to me. I do try my best, but I can’t promise to catch everything by myself.
The second part of my username is about my longstanding (and, frankly, all-consuming) love for the world of Harry Potter. My two favourite Houses are Hufflepuff and Slytherin, but that wasn’t always the case – when I was younger, and Pottermore was new and still exciting and fun, I took the original Sorting Hat Quiz. Back then you could be a Hatstall and then you had to choose between the Houses it thought would fit you best. It gave me the choice between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. At the time, I was pretty firmly anti-Slytherin. I was young so I had this idea that Slytherins were just... well, evil. So I chose Hufflepuff. In my mind back then, it seemed better to be ,,dumb” than to be evil.
That was over a decade ago, and a lot has changed since then, not least of all my understanding of the Houses, but the name has stuck. As has the fandom. I remain obsessed with Harry Potter and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Harry Potter will always be an important part of me, and always has been, though it’s hard to say exactly when or how it started. I didn’t grow up as the books were being published, but my mother did read them to me and my brother when we were quite young, and I do know I liked them from the start, though my obsession didn’t start until a few years later, after I’d heard, watched, and read them all in my native language.
Since then, I have read the entire series in English more times than I can count. I’ve also read them a fair number of times in my own language, as well as once in French and once in German (I had to learn these languages for school; what better way to practise than by reading Harry Potter?) and I still want to reread them in those languages sometime. I find that reading it in another language adds something to the whole experience.
So, to come back to the topic of me being obsessed with Harry Potter. My obsession tends to manifest itself in a way some might find rather obnoxious: an incessant stream of facts, corrections, and the occasional ,,erm, actually” (especially when it comes to the films). This all in a way that is heavily aided by my autism, which gives me the somewhat useless ability to become something of a walking encyclopaedia of Harry Potter facts. My knowledge spans primarily the original books and officially sanctioned material released up to about 2015 or 2016. I do not, as a rule, include The Cursed Child or the Fantastic Beasts films in my personally accepted Canon, though I might steal some things I like from either.
But, fear not, I do, in fact, have a lighter side and can occasionally even be fun to be around, or so I’ve been told. I enjoy coming up with headcanons, worldbuilding, creating Original Characters, fleshing out background characters... I spend far too much time thinking about magical infrastructure, family trees, what exactly Walburga Black’s handwriting looks like, that sort of thing. This site is kind of the result of both my creative ideas and my excessive Harry Potter knowledge and I plan to host my fanfictions here, so that I can style them the way I want them to be styled, and can preserve them the way I want them to be preserved. I also intend to post some of my headcanons and character studies on here, and, perhaps, if I get particularly ambitious (and organised, which is probably not happening anytime soon), I might even create a sort of encyclopaedia of Canon information (based on my own interpretations and definitions of what Canon entails, of course). We’ll see how far I get with that.
Moving on, I have a slightly unorthodox list of favourite characters. Among those I hold in particularly high regard are Voldemort (yes, truly), Albus Dumbledore, Gilderoy Lockhart, Arabella Figg, Argus Filch, Dolores Umbridge, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy (and by extension, Draco), Lily and James Potter, Regulus and Sirius Black, Andromeda and Ted, and Bellatrix Lestrange. In fact, I have a great fondness for the entire Black family, including those whose names appear only once – if at all – in canon. Even the likes of Orion and Walburga fascinate me deeply. Other favourites include the Dursleys, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin (as a flawed man), Severus Snape, ... If a character is morally grey (or just outright villainous), tragic, misunderstood, or otherwise terribly flawed, there’s a good chance I’m interested.
As for ships, I’m not much of a multishipper. Truth be told, I don’t ship very much at all. I mostly read genfic or stories where relationships exist but aren’t the focal point, and I don’t really write romance either (though that might change in the future, I don’t know). That said, I do have some favourite ships, those being Bellamort (Bellatrix/Voldemort) and Lucissa (Lucius/Narcissa). I also quite like unrequited Peter Pettigrew/James Potter and Severus Snape/Lily Evans.
(As a sidemote, I find the so-called ,,shipping wars” to be terribly silly. These are fictional characters, after all. No one is getting hurt. I’m very much of the opinion that people should write whatever they want.)
I spend most of my time in the canon-compliant corner of the Marauders or MWPP era, or, you know, roughly the 60s and 70s, and I have a great fondness for nearly every character from that period (or even earlier), as I’ve already mentioned. The Golden Trio/Lightning Era also holds a special place in my heart, particularly when seen through the eyes of the villains; I find the Death Eaters’ perspectives especially fascinating. I also occasionally dip into Next Gen stories, and I’m also incredibly intrigued by the pre-First War era, especially the years marking Voldemort’s rise to power, his childhood, etcetera. Or anything Voldemort, really. But the Marauders Era is what I love most/best, and I’ve loved that era for about as long as I’ve loved Harry Potter itself. I distinctly remember watching loads of Marauders cosplayers on YouTube when I got a phone around 2014 ish and I actually met fanfiction through one of those groups portrayal of scenes from Casting Moonshadows. I started reading that fic around 2015/2016-ish and I haven’t looked back since.
I began dabbling in writing not long after, though in those early days, my works mostly took the form of unpublished drafts and an alarming, ever-growing stack of half-formed ideas. I’ve come a long way; now I have a ton of published drafts as well!
I jest. Or actually, I don’t, but it’s all in good fun. I have actually come a long way. Around 2018, I began writing fanfiction in a more serious and intentional way. That was the year I started my first real project, and it was a massive one: Severus Snape’s life story. I had long considered writing either his, Peter’s, or Remus’ story, but Severus won out in the end. He always does. In 2019, I finally found the courage to post it publicly. I won’t pretend it was a masterpiece; in fact, I can confidently say that much of it was rather dreadful. My English has improved immensely since then, and reading those early chapters now makes me cringe just a little. I’m planning on rewriting it sometime in the near-ish future and reposting it so I have something I can truly be proud of.
But first I must finish my current project: my longfic on Regulus Black. That is why I made this site: to host it, to style it, to cherish it. It has become my baby in the last two years I’ve been working on it. I love it dearly and I hope you will, too.
Other things I like, aside from Harry Potter (because I do have other interests, believe it or not), include Lord of the Rings and most of Tolkien’s Arda-verse. His writing is just about the only non-children’s, non-YA stuff I actually read outside of the classics and the occasional book I’ve been recommended. I’ve also been a fan of StarKid since somewhere around 2016, I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and Doctor Who (I’m slowly making my way through the Classics as well now), and I like playing The Sims. Especially TS2. I love everything about it and the lore. The lore!
That’s most of it, really. If I’m not rambling about one of the above, chances are I’m talking about fountain pens, quills and parchment, dip pens, and other stationery things, or I’m busy with my snails or raising caterpillars into butterflies. And yes, before you ask (though I know you won’t): I still listen to wizard rock. Unironically. Shut up.
PS: I'm not the most social person and struggle a lot due to my autism so I hope this makes sense. I'm also very new to this whole ,,making a website” thing so bear with me, please. My main focus at the moment is learning how to do what I want to do, and how to do that right. Basically, see this as a permanent Work In Process. Now I think that’s enough talk from me now, haha.