Where Did The Nott Harry Potter Cosplay Trend Originally Start?

Whenever people ask about 'Nott' in conversations about 'Fantastic Beasts', I get a little excited because it’s such a neat piece of the wider wizarding world that tends to get muddled. Theodore Nott is a character from the 'Harry Potter' era — a Slytherin in Harry’s year whose father was a Death Eater. He’s very much part of the later-generation cast, not the 1920s setting of 'Fantastic Beasts'. Timeline-wise they’re decades apart, so you won’t find Theodore having coffee with Newt Scamander in the films. That said, the surname Nott belongs to an old pure-blood family in the books, and families like that have members scattered across generations. Fans sometimes speculate about Nott ancestors or descendants showing up in other stories, which is why you might see the name crop up in extended lore or fanworks. I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time on fan wikis and fan art, and it’s always fun to imagine how a Nott from the 1920s might behave — more conservative, probably with ties to traditionalist circles, maybe rubbing shoulders with certain Ministry figures. So the short, clean distinction I use when explaining it to friends: Nott is not Harry Potter, and he’s not part of 'Fantastic Beasts'' main cast. He’s a later-era Slytherin with a quiet but intriguing presence in the original series, and any connection to the earlier era is mostly left to speculation unless future works officially bridge that gap.

I'm always hunting for playlists that feel like magic but aren't just echoes of 'Harry Potter'. A few months ago I was curled up on the couch with a mug of something steaming and scrolled through Spotify for anything tagged 'arcane', 'old library', or 'witchy orchestral' — and hit gold. Playlists titled things like "Old Library: Arcane Study", "Moonlit Coven", or "Fae Court & Mist" tend to blend orchestral swells, folky acoustic bits, and ambient chimes that evoke spells and candlelit rooms without referencing any specific franchise. If you want concrete places to look, search on Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud for keywords: 'mystical soundtrack', 'dark folk', 'fantasy ambience', 'neo-classical fantasy'. Composers and sources that frequently show up in these mixes include Joe Hisaishi vibes from 'Howl's Moving Castle', Jeremy Soule-esque game soundtrack moods, and more modern ambient artists who throw in harps, choirs, and field recordings. I keep a few of these playlists for late-night writing sessions; they make the characters feel like they live in a room next to mine.

I've been poking through my old bookmarks and threads for this one, and honestly it feels like archaeology for fandom. The idea of 'Nott/Harry' — pairing Theodore Nott with Harry Potter — didn’t explode overnight; it quietly showed up in the early-to-mid 2000s on places where HP fans hung out, especially on LiveJournal and FanFiction.net. Because Nott is such a background Slytherin in the books, writers loved using him as a low-profile love interest or rival, so you’d see one-off drabbles and short stories pop up around 2004–2007. I stumbled on my first Nott/Harry fic on LiveJournal in 2006 while following a Slytherin fan community, and it was tiny but sharp — the kind of piece that makes you rethink canon chemistry. As fandom matured, the pairing got more traction after 2007 when people started writing post-series and exploring underused characters. When 'Archive of Our Own' became popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s, those isolated LJ and FFN fics formed a catalog you could actually search, so Nott/Harry showed up in more visible numbers. If you want to track the absolute earliest threads, the Wayback Machine and old LJ communities are gold mines; otherwise, sort by publish date on FanFiction.net and AO3 and you’ll see the slow build from single-shot experiments to full-length ships. For me, finding those first tiny fics felt like uncovering a secret basement of the 'Harry Potter' fandom — cozy, a little weird, and full of possibility.

I've always loved spotting the tiny cracks in canon and sliding a lamp of my own into them — that's exactly what writers do with Theodore Nott in fan novels. Instead of the one-line Slytherin we get in 'Harry Potter', authors often expand him into a person with motives, scars, and secrets. I see three big moves: give him a backstory (bad home life, pressure from a Death Eater parent), flip the perspective (make him narrator so we sympathize), or drop him into an AU where the rules around Slytherin and Death Eaters don't apply. Those choices let writers explore guilt, inheritance, and identity in ways the main series only hints at. Technically, the reinterpretations are fun because they're so varied. Some stories lean on slow-burn redemption arcs — Nott who quietly helps a protagonist because he’s done with his family’s politics. Others go darker, playing up trauma and moral ambiguity: he can be a cunning strategist shaped by survival, or a frozen kid learning to trust. Writers also use format tricks — epistolary entries from his point of view, diary fragments, or unreliable narration that makes you question what really happened at the Malfoys' dinners. Romance fics often turn him into a surprise love interest (enemies-to-lovers or found-family vibes), while AU authors pluck him into modern settings or Hogwarts-with-different-politics to test how malleable his character is. Personally, I enjoy the small, tender rewrites: a quiet scene where Nott refuses to join a cruel plan, or a flashback to a whispered apology. Those moments feel like reclaiming a marginal voice. If you want to try writing him, pick one tiny canon detail and spin it outward — that’s where the best fan reworkings start for me.

I get why this question pops up all the time — the Slytherin clique in 'Harry Potter' feels so tight-knit that it’s easy to assume family ties. From everything in the books and the official extras J.K. Rowling released, Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy are not canonically related. Theodore Nott is presented as another pure-blood Slytherin, and his background is tied to a family that sided with Voldemort (his father is described as a Death Eater in supplemental material), but there’s no line in the text or in the author’s notes that ever says the Notts and Malfoys are cousins or otherwise kin. I’ve read the relevant scenes a bunch of times — little moments in 'Order of the Phoenix' and 'Half-Blood Prince' where Nott turns up in the same social circle as Draco, sitting nearby in class, or being one of the Slytherins who leans the same way politically. That proximity fuels fan theories and fanfic: I’ve even written a short piece where they’re distant cousins to explore their rivalry-turned-awkward-allies vibe. But that’s purely fandom play. If you want the canonical source, check the books themselves and the character blurbs that used to be on the official site (now Wizarding World); they make a distinction between social alignment and blood relation. If you enjoy headcanons, go wild — there’s plenty of room for reinterpretation. Personally, I love reading both the canon interactions and the wildly different fan takes, because the ambiguity gives folks space to imagine alternate family trees or rivalries. Either way, canon says no explicit familial tie, but fandom creativity says anything goes.

I get this question a lot when scrolling through fan forums: people asking if studios ever name-drop 'Nott' or other tiny corners of the 'Harry Potter' tapestry in interviews. From what I've seen and heard in watch parties and press junkets, studios usually keep it broad during promos — they talk about leads, themes, and visuals. That said, actors and smaller crew members will sometimes wink at lesser-known lore in side interviews or at conventions, and those moments are gold if you love digging up obscure names like Theodore Nott. Personally I’ve caught a few offhand mentions in Q&As where cast members joked about background characters or house rivalries, but those are informal and not studio-level publicity strategy. If you want canonical, detailed mentions, the author’s platforms and official companion sites tend to be where minor characters get fleshed out more than mainstream studio interviews do.

I still get a little giddy when I think about how weirdly creative fandoms are with names. For me, 'nott harry potter' is mostly a shorthand that sprang up around the minor Slytherin, Theodore Nott, and the way people tag or ship him with Harry. On sites like Tumblr, LiveJournal back in the day, and AO3 now, fans often mash characters' names together or just drop surname/forename combos to label a pairing or a particular storyline. So 'Nott Harry Potter' becomes an easy, searchable tag for any fanfic or fanart focusing on that pairing or their interactions — it's brief, recognizable, and slightly provocative because it flips the expected Harry-centric tag around. There's also a playful layer: people like to tease the contradiction — Nott, a quiet, maybe morally grey Slytherin, vs. Harry, the canonical hero. That contrast fuels a lot of headcanons (redemption arcs, secret alliances, unlikely friendships, or romance), and once a few popular works get reblogged a lot, the tag just spreads. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve found a little gem of fanfiction by searching that exact phrase late at night; it’s a tiny breadcrumb trail that leads into whole universes of quiet, salty, or angsty Nott-centric pieces. If you’re curious, sift through AO3 or a Tumblr tag and you’ll see what I mean — there’s real affection behind the nickname, even if it started as a practical labeling trick.

I get oddly giddy thinking about this—picturing a quiet, watchful kid in a Slytherin robe with that pinpoint stare. For the younger Theodore Nott (the moody, privately smart schoolboy in 'Harry Potter'), I'd cast Alex Lawther or Asa Butterfield. I've seen Alex do that simmering intensity in 'The End of the F***ing World' and in small British dramas where he barely moves and still says everything; that's perfect for someone who speaks with his eyes more than his mouth. Asa brings a softer, slightly awkward intelligence that could make Nott sympathetic while still chilling when provoked. Both have that thin, clever look I associate with the character. For an older, post-war look—someone who's learned caution and maybe a little bitterness—Ben Whishaw or Freddie Fox would be dreamy. Ben has that whispery, corrosive intellect (think 'A Very English Scandal' vibes), and Freddie can play the polished, entitled aristocrat who hides venom in a smile. I also like Fionn Whitehead for a grittier take; he could make Nott less polished and more haunted by his family's choices. If a director wanted someone a touch more unpredictable, Barry Keoghan could bring a dangerous, enigmatic edge. Casting Nott is about balance: you need a face that suggests breeding and reserve, but an actor who can flash complexity in a breath. I also love the idea of pulling from stage actors—there's a wealth of British theatre talent who can deliver that controlled, simmering performance. Watching fan edits and imagining these actors swap lines with a young Draco Malfoy is basically my weekend hobby now.