The Inner Circle (Harry Potter fans)

Also see Inner Circle.

Collaboration
Name:	Inner Circle
Members:
Date(s):	~2002-2003
Focus:
Fandoms:	Harry Potter
External Links:
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The Inner Circle was a group of supposed BNF fans in the Harry Potter fandom who attracted scrutiny and controversy.

While the Inner Circle's membership was fluid, most fans agreed that it included Cassandra Claire, Ivy Blossom, Stacey, Heidi8, and Aja. Sometimes it was alleged to include all the Fiction Alley mods. Other possible members were: Lori, Flourish Klink, Penny, Carole and Ebony.

Supposedly, Msscribe wanted to be a member.

The term was one bestowed upon them by others, namely at the Fandom Wank Wiki and was mentioned in The MsScribe Story, which describes:

[E]very little fandom newbie who joined FictionAlley wanted to be part of the "Inner Circle" -- the legendary group of friends and FictionAlley mods who supposedly ran everything, decided what was in and what was out, and got to be PERSONAL FRIENDS with the coolest of the cool, the famousest of the famous, the bestest of the best -- Cassandra Claire. It's hard for you kids today to realize how big Cassandra Claire was back then. I'm telling you, she was BIG. Way, way bigger than any BNF could possibly be now. Colossal.

Quotes

Aja said in 2004: "Just for the record, Ivy and I never 'fought over' Cassie. I resented their friendship because I disliked Ivy, and because I was an insecure twit. :D But it wasn't a two-way thing."

Aja said in 2012: " Eventually, because —I don't know, people were reading my fic—it caught the attention of Cassandra Claire, and we started talking and became friends. But there was such an air of cult worship about being in that circle. People called it "The Inner Circle," and it consisted of Cassandra Claire and whoever she was friends with. I was actually—. I came under a lot of criticism at the time—back in 2002, 2003 because I was very vocal about wanting her to slash the Draco Trilogy—which, obviously, she was paired up on a mailing list with Rhysenn, she liked the idea of having H/D slashers read her fic, and she would throw in little taunting, teasing things, but we were friends. We were close friends. But there were also a lot of other things happening at the time in terms of fandom drama—in terms of the way that people just sort of desperately wanted to be friends with her—that made people do very crazy things. For example, one of her friends, Stacey, was so adamant that Cassie not be my friend that she essentially would hurl abuse at her. She broke into her e-mail account and—in an attempt to see whether Cassie was actually friends with me. Oh, and Cassie had actually made me be her secret friend at the time. Like, actually used a nom de plume name, "Darcy," to thank me with in one of the chapters of her fic so that Stacey wouldn't know that we were actually friends. It was very humiliating for me to be someone's secret friend. (laughs) But I just put up with it, because that's kind of what you were expected to do."

Further Reading

• The Very Secret Diaries of Aja (2003)
• Now we are 10, almost, ^{Archived version} (2006)
• Which Inner Circle are YOU? is one of two quizzes posted to Fandom Bitches, and was a commentary on Harry Potter BNFs, and wank (August 8, 2002). For some context, see Me & CC; or, BNFs do not have more fun.