#Harry Potter meta commentary

[coffeefrenchandhistory]

The love potions headcanon and why Ginny used them

So. We all know what love potions are, in the HP universe. They are potions which can cause obsession, or infatuation, in the drinker with the person who gave it to them. And of all the love potions out there, none are more powerful than Amortentia.

This is important for us to know, since Amortentia is the strongest of the love potions, it implies there are weaker or less powerful forms of the potion as well. What would very likely be aphrodisiacs.

Before Half-Blood Prince, here's what we know about love potions (bolded for emphasis):

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!” beamed Lockhart. “They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn’t stop here! I’m sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you’re at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I’ve ever met, the sly old dog!" — Chamber of Secrets

They [Ron and Harry] headed down to breakfast, where Mr. Weasley was reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow and Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she’d made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly. — Prisoner of Azkaban

"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that’s how she’s doing it."  Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter’s well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate. — Goblet of Fire

And then we get to Half-Blood Prince. Where potions, but specifically love potions, take center-stage. In the course of the book, we see:

Merope Gaunt use a love potion on Tom Riddle Sr to steal him away from Cecelia, his fiancée;

Romilda Vane attempt to dose Harry with love potions in chocolate (and that love potions grow in strength the longer they sit, as what happens when Ron eats the chocolate instead of Harry)

The Weasley twins sell love potions in their shop in Diagon Alley.

And most importantly, Horace Slughorn introduces not just love potions to the class, but as well introduces the class — and us by extension — to Amortentia. The strongest love potion there is in the Wizarding world.

I'm not alone in saying that the Harry/Ginny relationship came out of nowhere. There was no real build-up to it from a Doylist perspective. Harry interacts with Ginny in Chamber of Secrets, barely at all in Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire, and only really starts to have any kind of interaction in Order of the Phoenix. She's in one book, all but disappears for two more, and then only starts having any kind of interaction with Harry in the fifth book.

It's a very sudden thing, Harry falling for Ginny.

Then there's the "monster in his chest" nonsense.

Yeah. Unfortunately we have to talk about it. I don't like it, but we do.

Compare and contrast Harry's crush on Cho, which we see in Prisoner of Azkaban, versus what we see for Harry regarding Ginny in Half Blood Prince.

Prisoner of Azkaban (emphasis bolded):

They walked out on​to the pitch to tu​mul​tuous ap​plause. The Raven​claw team, dressed in blue, were al​ready stand​ing in the mid​dle of the pitch. Their Seek​er, Cho Chang, was the on​ly girl in their team. She was short​er than Har​ry by about a head, and Harry couldn’t help notic​ing, ner​vous as he was, that she was extreme​ly pret​ty. She smiled at Har​ry as the teams faced each other be​hind their cap​tains, and he felt a slight jolt in the re​gion of his stom​ach that he didn’t think had any​thing to do with nerves.

Half-Blood Prince (emphasis bolded):

Harry hardly noticed the sound of shattering glass; he felt dis- oriented, dizzy; being struck by a lightning bolt must be something like this. It’s just because she’s Ron’s sister, he told himself. You just didn’t like seeing her kissing Dean because she’s Ron’s sister.... But unbidden into his mind came an image of that same deserted corridor with himself kissing Ginny instead... The monster in his chest purred... but then he saw Ron ripping open the tapestry curtain and drawing his wand on Harry, shouting things like “betrayal of trust”... “supposed to be my friend”... “D’you think Hermione did snog Krum?” Ron asked abruptly, as they approached the Fat Lady. Harry gave a guilty start and wrenched his imagination away from a corridor in which no Ron intruded, in which he and Ginny were quite alone —

It's night and day. Cho is butterflies in his stomach, nervousness, apprehension even. Noticing that she was "extremely pretty". With Ginny? It's quite different. And sure, you could make the excuse of it just being age, but throughout HBP we see repeated and repeated reference to the "monster in his chest", of wanting to take Ginny in a very intimate manner. It's a very specific reference. Later on that page, how Harry wants to rip Dean limb from limb.

Now, I've been a teenage boy. And in all of the crushes I've had, I've never wanted to rip the boyfriend of the girl I might be interested in "limb from limb". I might be jealous, sure, or even a bit put out that he's getting to experience what I would want to — but what Harry is going through reads far more like obsession. Harry is infatuated with being with Ginny. Having her with him. Imagining all the intimate moments between them, with no one interrupting. And it comes all out of a sudden. Even Harry is surprised by the feeling.

But Josh, you might be saying! Love potions cause the person to act like an idiot! We see this with Ron!

Incorrect, but points for attention! The experience you're referring to is when Ron Weasley ate the chocolates that Romilda gave to Harry which were laced in love potion. Which had been sitting in Harry's trunk for months, stewing and growing in strength (but also, gross, Harry). Which implies, or outright states, that love potions have a more subtle approach to how they interact with the consumer. Like a boiling the frog approach.

But Josh, you might be saying again! Why would Ginny use a love potion? She was pretty, she was popular, all the boys wanted her!

Yes, she is. Even Blaise Zabini, a noted blood purist in Slytherin, notes that Ginny is attractive.

"I never really gave up on you," she [Ginny] said. "Not really. I always hoped... Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more - myself."​ "Smart girl, that Hermione," said Harry, trying to smile. "I just wish I'd asked you sooner. We could've had ages... months... years maybe..."​ ​"But you've been too busy saving the Wizarding world," said Ginny half laughing. "Well... I can't say I'm surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that's why I like you so much."​ — Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 30 (pp 647, US edition)

It's a very weird thing to say. "You wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort". Either Ginny meant that she knows Harry has something hanging over his head that he has to deal with or it'll ruin his life, or she knows the Boy-Who-Lived is a Dark Lord Vanquisher™ from the stories she read about as a child.

But it's the first line she says that solidifies it for me.

"I never really gave up on you".

Even after dating Michael Corner and Dean Thomas, even after being involved with these boys for months, she never gave up on Harry. She effectively strung Michael and Dean along in the hopes Harry would realize his feelings for her. Hermione most likely wanted Ginny to date someone, and realize that her crush on Harry was a silly childhood crush. She strung those two boys along in the hopes that Harry felt something for her too. And when he didn't appear to, when he didn't seem to reciprocate, well... her brothers sell love potions in Diagon Alley.

And remember that Ginny Weasley was browsing the love potions section of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in HBP and asked Fred if they worked.

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermi- one and Ginny both hung back, looking wary. “There you go,” said Fred proudly. “Best range of love potions you’ll find anywhere.” Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Do they work?” she asked. “Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time de- pending on the weight of the boy in question —” “— and the attractiveness of the girl,” said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. “But we’re not selling them to our sister,” he added, becoming suddenly stern, “not when she’s already got about five boys on the go from what we’ve —”

Ginny had basically set her sights on the Boy-Who-Lived since before she even met him. The moment she found out that Harry was going to Hogwarts, and was on the train, she wanted to see him like he was a thing at a zoo. And yes, sure, we can excuse that as her being 10 years old. But it's still not a great start for the relationship.

Harry is great when it comes to dealing with something in front of him. A villainous professor, a basilisk, dementors, dragons, Death Eaters in the Ministry. But someone surreptitiously dripping something into his pumpkin juice? Harry's not Mad-Eye Moody, he's not paranoia made flesh. He wouldn't think someone would be so bold as to try that.

And Ginny Weasley was plenty bold.

[pangaeaseas]

one interesting thing i've noticed is that JKR's terminology changes a LOT over the course of the series as she does worldbuilding between the books. rn i'm thinking of the phrase 'Dark Side' which is in common parlance for the first four books to describe Voldemort's followers, from characters as diverse as Ron and Hagrid. It's also a phrase that launched a thousand 'Dark/Light magic is a real thing and Dark Magic is oppressed' fics despite being pretty clearly jettisoned after book 4. And why is it jettisoned? Well, the term 'Death Eaters' is introduced in book 4, as is the Dark Mark. There's even a helpful conversation where Harry gets the term Death Eater explained to him by Bill Weasley. So it seems like when JKR needed to develop Voldemort's followers more after having left them as vague background except for when plot-relevant for the first few books due to Voldemort's return, she also introduced a new term for them. Death Eaters takes over from Dark Side--it's also a much more specific term that refers to people who have the Dark Mark as opposed to just 'followers and sympathizers of Voldemort'. But it means that stuff like Ron talking about Lucius Malfoy having been on the Dark Side rather than being a Death Eater sounds strange on reread.

[pangaeaseas]

this is a really excellent essay that everyone who ever says anything about lily Evans on the internet should be required to read.

lily evans potter: womanhood, motherhood & morality

lily as the dream girl in canon and fan spaces

i want to talk about this while there isn't a current upsurge in the discourse

Lily Evans Potter is introduced to us as Lily Potter, the dead mother of Harry Potter. Lily and James potter, dead, leaving their poor, miraculous son to live with the dull, horrible Durselys. We only ever see her through, with the exception of her sister, the memory of men.

I've said before that I believe James and Lily are the ideal masculine and ideal feminine, both to Harry and in a metatextual way. parents are our introduction into gender roles, the "correct" way to be a man and woman. since Lily is dead she cannot disappoint Harry. she can be imagined as the perfect woman, which is, of course, a wife and mother. the dream girl!

Lily's death makes her a silent, ever-loving, beautiful young mother, for both Harry and the reader. James is slightly deconstructed in SWM, but Lily is not. She is a fierce protector, brave, clever, and only emotional (angry) once James, her future husband, provokes her enough.

in the text Lily is not truly presented as flawed in a meaningful way. the moral choices she makes: to build a relationship with Severus, to defend Severus, to break their relationship when he refuses to reject bigotry, to join the Order, to die for her child, are all the correct moral choices. these are the choices the narrative is telling us to respect.

women have, for the past 200 years or so, been conceived of as the moral center of the family.* Lily Evans Potter is the moral center of the series. her choice to die is mirrored by the main character, Harry, and sparks the beginning of victory. Harry's sacrifice is enabled by another mother, Narcissa, making the correct moral choice because the power of her maternal love urges her to this choice. finally, Voldemort's most powerful follower, Bellatrix, is killed by a housewife and mother, Molly, in a maternal rage at the idea of her daughter being murdered.

Lily's sacrifice and the emotions behind it are mirrored multiple times in the final battle because it and she are the moral center of the series.

that Harry is frequently told he has his mother's eyes, and that Dumbledore points out how his essential nature mirrors his mother's, further highlights Lily's character and her choices as implicitly good.

women, especially mothers, as our moral authorities, is an unconscious cultural belief we can see play out in the fandom and subfandoms that Lily is discussed in. we can all recall the characterization of Lily as the goody-two shoes that James has to change for, the characterization of Lily as "not like other girls", the BAMF characterization, the current near mommy dom to James characterization.

the characterization of Lily changes with our view of the best kind of woman. but she is, always, demonstrating a most "correct" way to be. maybe it's 2007 and she's telling James off—not fun, but right. or it's 2012 and she's not preoccupied with boys like her classmates. or it's 2019 and she always knows the right thing to say to Remus when he's down on himself. or it's 2025 and James is trailing after her like a puppy while she contemplates what size strap to use on him after she beats up a bigot.

We don't see a lot of moderate views on Lily. Above, I've discussed how Lily lovers tend to portray her. Lily haters, a smaller group from what I can tell, do not utilize these common fanon characterizations. They disparage her as an immoral, selfish, bad woman. The wholesale rejection of Lily as the moral center based on her perceived immorality is the other side of the coin.

I'll refer to people with this perspective as "Lily haters" though I am aware there are people who dislike her outside of the topics I'm discussing.

I rarely engage with Lily haters, though I am aware of their arguments that Lily was a bad friend to Severus, a social climber, a gold digger, or boring. All grave sins for the woman who's supposed to save everyone.

This perspective doesn't reject Lily as the moral center or the perfect woman, it is an argument that she's not fulfilling her role correctly. Her unwillingness to give Severus more chances is selfish, stuck-up, classist. Her desire for James is an further betrayal of Severus.

She's supposed to be the Madonna, why is she being a whore?

I believe Lily hate comes from a belief she failed at being the perfect woman/mother, and therefore she is worthless. A bitch. Weak willed. Oversexed. even by haters her role as the moral center is not questioned.

in both the og text and in the fandom supertext Lily is the moral center because of her role as mother. her status as the moral center is inextricably tied to her motherhood. since Lily being a mother is the point of her character, divorcing her from her motherhood often changes the foundation of her character.**

when her literal motherhood is removed from a depiction of her character, her metaphorical status as the perfect woman/mother is often still intact. this is seen in the characterizations I described earlier, and, I argue, in the belief that she's too good for James when it is used as a "justification" for shipping James with someone else.*** thereby, she is further purified, not even having been touched by a man. she's put on a pedestal, where she can't be touched, and is rarely noticed.

it is also frequently seen when she is written as a side character in a relationship with James, and the pair become the dual moral guides for the main couple.

this reflects James and Lily as the ideal masculine and feminine, as they are a perfectly harmonious couple when a side pairing. their implicit canonical roles are subconsciously reflected in fanon with little critique or commentary on the canon text.

Lily's entire character is crafted to be The Perfect Mother™️. whether she is literally a mother in her fanon depiction or not, she is still The Perfect Woman™️—and is still affected by the biases our culture has towards women and mothers.

thus, Lily is the dream girl in the text, the moral center only seen through a nostalgic veil, and a dream girl in fan spaces, as the moral guide for the men in her life who pegs her husband or is too pure for the touch of a man.

for more on gender in the wizarding world, based on gender in early modern england (pre the cult of domesticity) see this post

*see the cult of domesticity if you'd rather not read the article

**please like fucking do not fucking act like I'm saying you cannot do this. I swear to fucking god

***you don't need to justify your ships

[aethon-recs]

This Week (x3) in Tomarrymort (22 April – 17 May 2025)

Some lovely fics completed over the last few weeks. Added some thoughts below on why I highly recommend checking them out! 

Splitting this post up into 2 parts because it got so long. Sorry, I know I said I would not let this get to 4 weeks again between posts (or 3.5 weeks in this case...), but I lagged for a bit, and the updates burning a hole in my inbox piled up 😭 So on the the one hand, I apologize that it's in 2 parts, but on the other hand, isn't it so amazing what our ship produced in just over 3 weeks? 🤗🥰🤍

*

Tomarrymort Completed Must Reads 

⭐ you speak of the devil (like he's not your friend) by @amuria (M, 137k, complete)

Harry finds a Horcrux the summer before his sixth year. A deal is struck. (Or, when Harry wakes a seventeen-year-old Tom Riddle from the Gaunt's Ring, it is to a world where his future self has achieved none of their goals except one. Harry is proof that he's a great wizard after all.)

Why you should read it: This is a snappy, fast-paced, and super fun longfic featuring Harry and one of the horcruxes (the Ring horcrux in this case) teaming up to hunt down the other horcruxes. Harry’s snark had me laughing out loud in literally every chapter, and I love fics featuring Tom in Harry’s time. I can definitely see this fic becoming one of the classics of the ship. 

⭐ paint your eyes with sunsets by @boyneptunee (T, 7k, complete)

Tom Riddle moves to a new building. Harry Potter is his new neighbour. That's it, that's the story. Or: Modern!Au where Tom moves to a new apartment building where he more or less gets himself a boyfriend and a family. Oh, and there's also a cat. OR: A stray cat gets adopted by an entire building. Chaos ensues.

Why you should read it: Humorous modern AU with adorable slice-of-life scenes between Harry and Tom and their adopted cat. 

⭐ Hogwarts Valley by @aitafrog @chaos-bear @cindle-writes @curioushabitforarivergod @known-concepts Lytri @take-the-unknow-road-now @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger @tommarvoloriddlesdiary @valkyrie-chemist (M, 17k, complete)

Hogwarts Valley— a cozy life-sim where players rebuild a magical village, befriend quirky townsfolk, and maybe even find true love. You’ve just started getting into the game, and like all hyper fixations, it’s taken you to tumblr dot com—but what’s this? A post catches your eye; you don’t remember a “forest beast” in your play-through… but now that they mention it, one of your favorite characters, Harry Potter, has been acting a little odd. Maybe you can figure out why?

Why you should read it: This is one of the most creative pieces of meta I’ve ever seen in the Tomarry ship. It’s less a traditional fic, per se, and more a social media commentary/collage, comprised of creatively formatted posts about a Hogwarts-meets-Stardew-Valley style game, with a Harrymort love story at its center 🤍 If you’ve ever played Stardew Valley or dreamed about romancing a farmer like Harry, you need to run to read this!

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Tomarrymort One-Shot Must Reads 

One Shot | growing pains by @curioushabitforarivergod

One Shot | An Alley & Anal by @known-concepts

One Shot | The Thing Is by @chaos-bear

One Shot | A wild ride by @sri-verse

One Shot | boys will be boys by @cindle-writes

One Shot | anchor by @1300marshall

One Shot | ... I can explain by @l-archiduchesse

One Shot | Small white flowers by @chaos-bear

One Shot | with a slip of the moon in his hair (nerves) by @curioushabitforarivergod

One Shot | Die Alive by @katsitting

One Shot | wrong cauldron by @cindle-writes

One Shot | Love You to Death (Just Like a Fool) by @allthesmilesxo

*

(continued in Part 2...)

[yearofthesnape]

It's finally gotten to the point where I have enough posts to want to give some sort of intro to the blog. Not to mention, I've now linked to this blog from AO3 — if you're coming from there, welcome! If you found me from Tumblr, also welcome!

About me: I don't really do "about me" sections; the closest I will get is this post about what often inspires my fanfic writing. It’s unusually overtly spiritual/religious for this blog. The things I talk about in it are very important to me, but I know they’re likely not why you found the blog, so I want to be mindful of that. Please feel free to send an ask if you want to hear more! (There will probably be Themes in my writing, because that tends to happen when something is foundational to you. I’ll try to be respectful and non-pushy.)

Fanfic writing: All of the below are suitable for all audiences who have read and enjoyed the Harry Potter books. (I.e. expect HP levels of violence or less, same with sexual content and language)

My main work is Lavender Brown, Severus Snape, and the Fangs of Fate, a platonic Lavender & Snape adventure where Lavender works to save Snape from Nagini (you can call it Fangs of Fate if you want, I just wanted to differentiate it from the silent movie that I discovered exists when I googled that title). It is also on AO3 and FF.net.

An Antidote to Amortentia is a platonic Valentine's oneshot with Snape & Lavender.

Cooking for New Year is a platonic Lunar New Year oneshot with Snape & Cho Chang.

Metas I've written:

The Sorting Hat, Severus Snape, and Slytherin Ideals

Severus Snape and Nettle Wine

The Silencing of Lavender Brown

Hogwarts Ghosts as Anti-House Symbols (feat. the Bloody Baron vs. Severus Snape)

"DON'T CALL ME COWARD!" as Grief Response

Textual analysis of "bottle fame, brew glory, stopper death"

Snape and Forms of Address

Is Snape a Good Teacher?

Lavender Brown's Family Background

Lavender Brown, the Invisible Girl

What to expect from other posts:

Shorter thoughts on Snape and some on other HP characters. (Sometimes "shorter" turns into article length; I'm trying to list original posts like that under "metas.")

Reblogs of other Snape fans' and other HP fans' excellent content, usually including some sort of commentary. (Sometimes this turns into article length as well. You have been warned.)

Author's notes/asks as applicable.

I'm delighted you're here!

[dhr-ao3]

I got reincarnated as Luna Lovegood so I made dramione canon and seduced Harry Potter

I got reincarnated as Luna Lovegood, so I made dramione canon and seduced Harry Potter https://ift.tt/Mh54HtV by Random_Fangurl021 I died screaming at a fanfic and woke up as Luna Lovegood. Now I’m eleven, I have radish earrings, and I’m fully aware that Ron Weasley ruins everything. So here’s the plan: 1. Make Dramione canon. 2. Seduce Harry Potter. 3. Fix the wizarding world using fourth-wall knowledge, glitter pens (if I can get Hermione to get them over break), and passive-aggressive commentary. Canon doesn’t stand a chance. Words: 346, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, Gen Characters: Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Tom Riddle, The Sorting Hat - Character, Original Female Character, Narcissa Malfoy, Sirius Black, Dobby, The Golden Trio - Character, The Founders, The Entire Wizarding World, Lucius Malfoy Relationships: Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s), Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy Additional Tags: Reincarnation, Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence, meta-awareness, Crack Treated Seriously, Fix-It Fic But Also Chaos, Canon Rewrite, POV Luna Lovegood, Luna Lovegood is a Fangirl, Dramione endgame, Luna x Harry Potter, Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss Luna, Unapologetic Ron Slander, Harry Potter Needs a Hug, Dramione slow burn, Fanfiction within fanfiction, fourth wall? Never heard of her, Chaos with a Side of Romance, Smarter Than She Looks Luna Lovegood, Hogwarts but Everyone Has More Trauma and Better Outfits, Found Family via Scheming, Crack with Plot, Emotional Damage (But Make It Magical), Luna Lovegood - Freeform, but make her a chaotic reincarnated fangirl with a Dramione agend via AO3 works tagged 'Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy' https://ift.tt/FJKSL82 May 19, 2025 at 09:50PM

[honeydukesheroine]

🙏 18 and 25 for The In Betweens?

Hey Greenie!! 🌿 Thanks for the ask, I can't wait for the next chapter of Chasing 💙

18: What is a line/scene you're really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Most definitely the last scene in The Antechamber (Harry POV). This is the most Meta I've gotten so far in TIB's 😂 Allow me to go off with this one!

My idea for this chapter was "a day in the life of Harry Potter" as he's reckoning with these two sides of himself: the "Just Harry" versus "The Chosen One". Which is a major theme throughout Half Blood Prince, and I wanted to include that in TIBs as much as possible. Harry is gradually choosing his role as "the Chosen One" more and more throughout the year (some by choice, some by circumstance). For instance: chasing Malfoy around becomes more important than Quidditch, identifying certain personal similarities with Tom Riddle, sacrificing his relationship with Ginny at Dumbledore's funeral.

I picked the title based off the idea that Harry is positioned in the "antechamber" of his destiny. This is the last term of Hogwarts as he knows it before Dumbledore dies and he must fully assume the responsibilities of the prophecy.

So, there are hints to elements of each of the seven books in order throughout the chapter (opens with Dursleys, the mention of Lockhart, etc,etc there's mention of a dragon midway through) and finishes with Harry and Ginny walking away together at sunset! Because, of course.

The title is also pointing to the last scene where he and Ginny are in Myrtle's bathroom ♥️

I would never expect anyone to identify any of this next part... The last scene was meant to allude to Harry's death, return and finding healing comfort with Ginny.

“Last year when he possessed me at the Ministry, I thought I was dead,” Harry said. The cold from the stone wall at his back reached through his clothes, making him shiver. They were both quiet for a long time. Harry felt his chest contract, making it only possible to take slow, shallow breaths.  “Thank you,” said Ginny, barely above a whisper. He was about to ask what for when they heard the hollow, solemn tones of a funeral hymn. A moment later, Moaning Myrtle materialized over her toilet.

OHHH and I forgot about this part!!

Ginny sprung up. Harry tried to follow, but was momentarily paralyzed as blood rushed painfully back into his leg. Ginny laughed, “C’mon old man,” holding out her hand to pull him to stand.  She held open the door for him as he limped over the threshold to exit Myrtle’s bathroom. It was completely dark now, even the wind had died down.

When Harry saves Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets, he helps her up by the hand to stand. So as they're joking and flirting and building a relationship in this scene, I wanted to feel that he and Ginny were nearing a more even, reciprocal relationship. I was obsessed with this idea of having her help HIM up by the hand. Particularly after being momentarily "paralyzed" and then they walk over the "threshold" of the antechamber TOGETHER to go off and live happily ever.

I could go on! But that's the gist.

25. Which idea came to you first in TIBs (The In Betweens?)

This is tough, I've been writing snippets throughout the years whenever I picked up the books. But the specifics of those snippets have mostly been tossed out or improved upon. When I finally decided to commit to this story, all I knew was I wanted them to have a break at the Burrow midway through so that shenanigans could ensue without too much Dean around... LOL!

Mission accomplished, I think 😂

[pangaeaseas]

the thing about HP that makes it so endlessly compelling and the heart of such a big immense fandom is that there's things in it that are good and there's things that are good without the author realizing it and there's her horrible views in it too and there's things that could be good but aren't actually done and there's things that are just bad but the skin is compelling is has the proverbial good bones--and that leads to the impulse to fix it by actually exploring what jkr doesn't. like out of all the fandoms ive been in hp is probably the most striking where its fic is truly amazing and incredibly creative and yet the series itself is like fine. it is a great spur of ideas, not so much great in itself....it contains multitudes in its fic because it has enough jumping off points where you can go anywhere in fic, but the series is pretty standard hero's journey with a basic urban fantasy backdrop that isn't heavy on the 'real world' part at all but fic writers occasionally go in the real world direction really well and more often go into the fantasy part in a more worked out way than JKR, which can often work very well.

[falling-violet-petals]

Thoughts on Star Wars after watching the movies for the first time (contains spoilers)

So I just binged watched all the star wars movies for the first time (I had watched the original trilogy before but never really paying much attention) and I don't know if I like them or not. I have a similar problem as I do with harry potter where there's a million tiny moments where I just see so much potential and it would've been so good if only they would have done some things differently but at the end there are so many things I would change that it would end up being a completely different thing and not star wars anymore. Which I think just means they're not really for me, and that's ok, but I did still like them, I thought they were fun. I don't know, maybe it's too soon to tell and I need to give myself more time to really process it.

I think one of the things that made me feel like this is that the movies themselves really confused me as to what they were trying to be. It is clearly not a science fiction story because all the cool technology is more of a background prop than a theme, but despite what a lot of people say I don't think it is a space opera either. The interpersonal relationships of the characters only really matter and affect the plot in the final act of each trilogy where the bad guy and the good guy face each other and are forced to acknowledge the connection that they have, and in the original trilogy it isn't even that big of a connection. To be honest I felt like the movies were just trying to be both a space opera and a war story in a way that just felt like it didn't accomplish either of the two, I couldn't tell if the characters were an attempt at justifying the need for a final battle for every single movie or if the battles were an attempt at making character arcs end in a more epic or meaningful way (is George Lucas even aware that there are other ways to end a film?). Maybe I should have taken a hint from the title and known that I wouldn't like this because of how I don't like most war metaphors because of how poorly constructed they usually are.

Speaking of poorly constructed war metaphors, I really don't get the whole dark side vs light side thing. It seems extremely reductive to me. I know that you could argue that the Jedi are shown to have flaws in how they handle emotions and that there could be a Sith that was good and just used their feelings in order to use the force, and I would actually agree with it, but my problem with how it's depicted is that all of that is just meta commentary and it is not at all what the actual movies show. No movie actually delves into those topics, there are some hints towards that being the case, yes, but if your fictional world has a group of people that is evil and a group of people that is good, and you spend no actual time dealing with the question of what the words evil and good even mean in the first place or engage in the conversation of how evil and good can coexist or even be the same thing because they are subjective, then you're not doing that topic justice. And Anakin and Kylo Ren aren't enough of an answer when both of their storylines end with them just choosing one over the other. The truth is, every single Sith that is in the movies is a bad guy and every single Jedi is a good guy, even if they are shown to have flaws or they sometimes change sides, and to me that still feels reductive. I just wish there was more of an exploration of the possibility of being both dark and light simultaneously, Kylo Ren seems such a lost opportunity for that, he was so close to it until they just decided to revive Palpatine instead. And the whole good/evil thing isn't even the only moment that is like this where it could be great if only they had just decided to expand on it a bit more, there are slaves and sentient droids and genetically modified clones being used and killed left and right with no more than a few minutes in 9 whole movies that actually acknowledge the morality of it, and I understand that they didn't intend for it to be science fiction and that is what science fiction is, but the lack of interest of engaging in deep topics just frustrated me. But once again, I get it, I am expecting too much of these films, I get that most people that watch them do it for the cool futuristic sword fights and for the blowing things up and for the dopamine of watching the good guys win another battle at the end, whatever that means. Maybe Ursula K Le Guin has just given me so much that now I have too high of a standard for blockbuster movies that are just meant to be marketable and fun. And they are fun, so I don't see why I can't fully bring myself to say I like them.

Another thing that just irked me was how incredibly male these movies are. It is obvious in the lack of lead women characters but it is not just that. There are many many moments that are directly influenced by a more masculine world view. Both the Jedi and the Sith seem to be based on ideals of masculinity, one being the stoic rational emotionless men and the other being anger-driven oppressive men (I could write a whole essay about this). I laughed at Luke's reaction to his uncle and aunt dying because of how emotionless it felt, he only seems sad for a minute and immediately gets over it and doesn't think about them ever again in any of the movies. I also dislike that star wars is so explicitly about families and love that it is the beginning of the entire plot but it has a very narrow view of families where it gives so much importance to blood ties and legacy and such and it really seems like it all revolves around the patriarch of the family. Luke's insistence on calling Darth Vader his father and insisting on him still having a good side is quite weird to me considering he really doesn't know him at all. And although I do get Vader's hesitation in killing Luke because he knows it is the last thing of Padmé that is left, I think that it was such a wasted opportunity that he never gets to know that Leia is his daughter. He could have had an even more justified emotional reaction if he realized that the girl he had literally tortured before was his daughter and that he could have killed her without even knowing it just like he had killed Padmé without knowing it. But it is all wasted because the writers could just not conceive a movie where the climax is between a daughter and her father instead of between a son and his father because in their patriarchal view of family that is the only relation that matters, because sons are the ones that inherit a father's power because women have no power, and so Luke gets everything while Leia just sits back and looks pretty. Leia is the one with knowledge in politics and who grew up being a part of this fight but Luke is the one that is chosen to be trained as a Jedi despite both having the potential for it, he is the one that is told about his father and trusted with the information and he is the only one allowed to face him at the end and he is the only one who turns him and he is the protagonist. Again, lost potential. And at least the sequels seem to fix this issue somewhat and they give Rey power and authority and they give us characters with no blood relations until they then fuck it up and make Rey a Palatine and make her power come from her grandfather's power, a man's power. But even then they do show more moments of genuine care and love that escape these two options of being either stoic or angry, I think one of my favorite moments of all the movies is in the last film when they all hold each other's hands, it is such a sweet moment that I think would be impossible in the other two trilogies.

And I think against most people's opinions that the sequels are probably my favorite for this reason, it fixed some of the things that had to be fixed. And I think having a sequel in order to fix it was so necessary, but honestly I would have liked it to take a completely different direction. I both like and dislike them. I like Rey and I like Finn and Poe, they are my favorite trio in all the trilogies, and I like Kylo Ren because until then all of the talk of turning darksiders to the light side didn't feel that well thought out, but I truly don't like how they just go back to the exact same thing that the original trilogy was, movie 7 is the same as movie 4 and there is still too much time spent on battles and too little on actually engaging with the themes the movies are supposedly about, and the first order being so powerful honestly makes me feel like the ending of movie 6 was worth nothing. I would have liked it much more if the trilogy dealt instead with the aftermath to what happened in the originals and the lives of ordinary people like Rey and Finn. And even with how they are I didn't like the last movie, Palatine just came out of nowhere and it seemed to me just a cheap way to give Kylo Ren plausible deniability by having a superior to respond to so that people wouldn't get mad at his redemption and I also hated how they killed him immediately after redeeming him when in my opinion one of the most interesting parts of a redemption is the following arc of a character learning to accept what they've done and making amends and learning that not everyone is going to accept it. Him dying is just a way to be able to immediately make him a hero and not deal with the consequences of his redemption, and I feel that is quite cowardly for a movie to do. Every step of these movies I just keep seeing ways to evade delving deeper into the topics that they themselves bring up.

The original trilogy I don't know how I feel about. Maybe it is because they are the star wars movies that are the most praised for their originality which as someone who is an avid fiction reader is something I don't see in them, or because most of the people praising them do so from a deeply nostalgic feeling which I do not have having watched them only just now, or maybe it is because I see in them that weird outdated world view that old movies that talk about the future have. I do have to say they are better written than the prequels, and I like their pacing a lot more, though I don't feel any emotional connection with the characters even after 3 movies with them. I do like Han and Leia's romance, and I think it is an interesting set up for a fantasy world (because it is fantasy), but it is not much more than that.

The prequels I didn't like much either, but they did succeed at something that I really needed after watching the originals first (I watched them in release order) and that is giving context. I don't think they do a great job at world building, but however cool the mysterious aura of the originals was, they left so many unanswered questions like Leia somehow being a princess and a senator (for what senate we don't know) or who their mother is, and I finally got my answers here. I did also get more questions like what even happens during the clone wars but I think I'll only get answers for that in other adjacent star wars shows which I don't know if I want to watch yet. And I felt that the prequels were so strongly trying to give context and backstory and depth to the originals that they were often dealing with too many things at the same time and expanding on them too little. I also felt Anakin's switch to the dark side was too abrupt and didn't happen at the right moment, there are indicatives of him having been tempted by the dark side way before, yes, but they were too distant in time to make them feel relevant then and his scene when he switches sides is too sudden. It feels completely in character for him to kill Windu, but I would have expected for him to show at least the smallest bit of resistance afterwards, I think I would have been happy with even half a minute of hesitation or guilt before he surrenders, but that never happens. I do have to say the fight between Anakin and Obi wan was quite good, it was properly paced, it felt real to the characters and made sense, so even if I don't like ending a conflict with a battle just this once George Lucas can have it, I did like that fight scene, which honestly quite surprised me.

So, those are my thoughts for now, I might watch some of the other movies and shows that are out there because I did feel like I was missing a lot of context and lore, or I might wait a while and then rewatch the movies and maybe by then my opinion might have changed, I don't know. Also for clarity I have to say that I did not watch these movies in a good moment at all, I read Earthsea just a month ago which is a series that is not afraid of delving into deep philosophical questions and I think it made my expectations for other media way too high, and I also watched these movies right after I finished reading The Bell Jar, which in my opinion probably made all of the emotional moments seem milder in comparison, watching a boy consider the possibility of having to kill his own father (that he's known for 5 minutes, mind you) doesn't really seem that extreme after reading 200 pages of a woman in an asylum describing how she wants to kill herself.

[coffeefrenchandhistory]

The Little King Dreams

Regulus Arcturus Black. Younger brother of Sirius, Slytherin, Death Eater, and the man who stole the Locket of Salazar Slytherin from Lord Voldemort himself. We all know his story. He died stealing the locket, saving Kreacher’s life, and his brother never knew that Regulus died fighting the Dark Lord. 

But is Regulus really dead? 

In the cave, where Voldemort hid the locket, we know there are protections. In additions to Inferi (corpses reanimated through Dark magic), the fountain in which the locket is stored is filled with water cursed to cause excruciating pain. But it’s curious. The water doesn’t kill. 

The water causes unbearable thirst. It causes excruciating pain. But it doesn’t kill. Why on earth would Voldemort have a protection that does not kill, when he’s trying to protect something like a fragment of his soul? 

"Lord Voldemort would not want to kill the person who reached this island."​

​Harry couldn't believe it. Was this more of Dumbledore's insane determination to see good in everyone?​

​"Sir," said Harry, trying to keep his voice reasonable, "sir, this is Voldemort we're —"​

​"I'm sorry, Harry; I should have said, he would not want to immediately kill the person who reached this island," Dumbledore corrected himself. "He would want to keep them alive long enough to find out how they managed to penetrate so far through his defenses and, most importantly of all, why they were so intent upon emptying the basin. Do not forget that Lord Voldemort believes that he alone knows about his Horcruxes."​

​Harry made to speak again, but this time Dumbledore raised his hand for silence, frowning slightly at the emerald liquid, evidently thinking hard.​

​"Undoubtedly," he said, finally, "this potion must act in a way that will prevent me taking the Horcrux. It might paralyze me, cause me to forget what I am here for, create so much pain I am distracted, or render me incapable in some other way."​ --- (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 26 "The Cave", pg. 569; US edition)​

So why does Voldemort have water, a potion, that does not kill? And if, like what Dumbledore suggest, he would want to keep the person alive long enough to find out why they were trying to steal his Horcrux... how would he do it? Why would he make a potion which causes unbearable thirst — when the only source of water is Inferi-infested waters? 

Simple. It was mentioned in Philosopher’s Stone. 

The Draught of Living Death. A potion that causes very powerful sleep which, according to the Advanced Potion-Making textbook in HBP, “can last forever”. 

“But Josh!” you might be saying, “What about the Inferi!” 

Yes. There are Inferi. But they are not there to kill the person. No. They are there to drag the person underwater. The person who drank a variant of the Draught of Living Death, and pull them into enchanted waters to bring about a state of suspended animation. At least, of course, until Lord Voldemort can interrogate the person. To find out how they penetrated so far past his defenses. Why they were so intent on draining the fountain. The Inferi aren’t there to kill the intruder. 

The Inferi are there to hold the intruder until Lord Voldemort arrives. And since Voldemort did not realize that his Horcrux had been stolen — since the fake locket was still there in the fountain nearly 20 years after, the Inferi are still holding the intruder. 

And they are still holding him... 

But Harry had his answer before Dumbledore could reply; the wandlight had slid over a fresh patch of water and showed him, this time, a dead man lying faceup inches beneath the surface, his open eyes misted as though with cobwebs, his hair and his robes swirling around him like smoke. 

“There are bodies in here!” said Harry, and his voice sounded much higher than usual and most unlike his own. --- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 26 “The Cave”, pg 565-566; US edition

And meanwhile... Regulus Arcturus Black floats in the water, dreaming... 

[zsweber-studios]

No one, literally no one ever:

Me, snapping awake to a galaxy brain at two in the morning: The hatred for the Bleach epilogue and the Harry Potter epilogue are one and the same. In both Harry Potter and Bleach, we have outsiders stepping into a different world, one that is supposedly better than the mundane world they come from. However, throughout the course of their adventures, they are repeatedly shown that this other world is terribly flawed, steeped in corruption and outdated traditions. Throughout their stories, the protagonists take a firm stance of not simply going along with the flow, but instead flying boldly in the face of tradition or what the government claims to be legal. They simply assert to do what was right and good and hard rather than what was easy. As such, we expect our protagonists to carry that same rebellious nature—that desire for change—on into their adulthood, and be actively working to change and improve the worlds that they love as much as they despise. This, then, makes the epilogues so frustrating for us, as we see that nothing has changed. The Ministry of Magic runs the same as ever, and the Gotei 13 is the exact same system as before. Even worse, our protagonists seem fine with everything being the same as before, and in some cases lean into the same views of the generation before them. Harry laughs with his friends over how dumb the muggle driving instructor was to fall to Ron’s compulsion charm and later ostracizes his son for becoming a Slytherin despite his words of how he’d love him either way. Ichigo is fine having little to no contact with the Soul Society, despite having a year and a half of wanting nothing more than to get his powers back, and is fine leaving the Soul Society as is. The true hatred of these epilogues, then, is not simply poor writing, or how much things stay the same, but the assumption that these strong-willed, heart-on-their-sleeve protagonist types are just a teenage phase, and that once they grow up they’ll grow out of it and be as complacent with the state of the world as the previous generation was. It is a depressing and saddening image that after facing down the darkest of foes and literal gods, it is society that finally breaks the resolve of the young, the ambitious, and the hopeful, and simply slots the broken pieces into the molds society has build for them.

[dhr-ao3]

I got reincarnated as Luna Lovegood so I made dramione canon and seduced Harry Potter

I got reincarnated as Luna Lovegood, so I made dramione canon and seduced Harry Potter https://ift.tt/Mh54HtV by Random_Fangurl021 I died screaming at a fanfic and woke up as Luna Lovegood. Now I’m eleven, I have radish earrings, and I’m fully aware that Ron Weasley ruins everything. So here’s the plan: 1. Make Dramione canon. 2. Seduce Harry Potter. 3. Fix the wizarding world using fourth-wall knowledge, glitter pens (if I can get Hermione to get them over break), and passive-aggressive commentary. Canon doesn’t stand a chance. Words: 346, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, Gen Characters: Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Tom Riddle, The Sorting Hat - Character, Original Female Character, Narcissa Malfoy, Sirius Black, Dobby, The Golden Trio - Character, The Founders, The Entire Wizarding World, Lucius Malfoy Relationships: Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s), Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy Additional Tags: Reincarnation, Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence, meta-awareness, Crack Treated Seriously, Fix-It Fic But Also Chaos, Canon Rewrite, POV Luna Lovegood, Luna Lovegood is a Fangirl, Dramione endgame, Luna x Harry Potter, Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss Luna, Unapologetic Ron Slander, Harry Potter Needs a Hug, Dramione slow burn, Fanfiction within fanfiction, fourth wall? Never heard of her, Chaos with a Side of Romance, Smarter Than She Looks Luna Lovegood, Hogwarts but Everyone Has More Trauma and Better Outfits, Found Family via Scheming, Crack with Plot, Emotional Damage (But Make It Magical), Luna Lovegood - Freeform, but make her a chaotic reincarnated fangirl with a Dramione agend via AO3 works tagged 'Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy' https://ift.tt/FJKSL82 May 19, 2025 at 09:50PM

[flyatahighergame-arch]

They say, "All good boys go to heaven" But bad boys bring heaven to you It's automatic, It's just what they do They say, "All good boys go to heaven" But bad boys bring heaven to you ---

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (in character)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (headcanons)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (musings)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (aesthetics)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (verses)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (desires / wishes)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (visage)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (open starter)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (starter call)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (dash commentary)

➢ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʟᴇᴇᴠᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ (metas)

[guess-that-ship]

Guess That Ship Tournament 2: Submission Open! Closed

The concept: You describe your ship* to me, I pick ~32 pairs which I find compelling and pit them against each other without revealing who they are, people vote on them, and their identities gets revealed once they're eliminated.

Submission Guidelines

*For the purpose of this tournament, relationships do not have to be romantic in nature. I'm sometimes going to use "ship" as a shorthand, just know I mean "relationships" in general.

Relationship can be between any number of characters.

Real people are accepted if they've been dead for more than 150 years.

Roleplay characters are accepted as long as the description only pertains to the characters and not the players.

OCs are accepted.

One submission per person. (I cannot enforce this on google form without forcing you to log in. So just be champs and respect this rule.)

Summary Guidelines

Here's the selection process: I'm going to read through the list of descriptions submitted without looking at their names, I'm gonna pick the most compelling submissions, then I check the name to make sure there's no repeats.

Keep your description canon compliant. You don't have to clarify if the ship is canon, just don't say they're married if they only act married.

Avoid identifying information or setting specific giveaways. (ie. Ninja village, space necromancers.)

Keep it concise but bring something unique to the table.

No need to mention any meta commentaries or words of god, like whether the ship is canon. Just tell me their story.

Here are some previous submissions for reference.

Exclusions

Ships from the previous season will not be accepted this month. This includes:

Charles/Erik

Vriska/Terezi

Akechi/Joker

Dazai/Chuuya

I will also not be including any submission from Harry Potter, sorry.

Notes

I will not vet the ships/pairings for problematic content.

If you participate in this tournament, know that you run the risk of unintentionally voting for your nOTP. The mod does not take any responsibility for any distress that may cause you.

Submission will open until May 2nd, 7AM EDT.

Submit your ship here:

[pangaeaseas]

the fandom around barty crouch jr is so interesting because it essentially replicates sirius's (incorrect) view of him as the tragic victim--it buys his own excuses, accepts the image he presents to the world without questioning it. (he IS tragic, yeah, but also fully culpable) which makes me think about why he gets so much fanon despite being a prominent character, and then i remembered that most of his textual presence is not as himself but as the mask of fake moody: fanon never peers beneath the mask, and also doesn't really engage with his actions AS fake moody because that was someone else, with a different face and a different name. barty crouch jr is a reveal character and we haven't processed the reveal.

[coffeefrenchandhistory]

The Veil of Death

So @artemisia-black​ asked me to write up a meta commentary, and I’m absolutely going to do so. 

The Veil of Death in the Ministry for Magic. A giant stone archway in the Death Chamber of the Department of Mysteries. When Harry and co. arrive to rescue Sirius from the Death Eaters, they encounter it. 

But more importantly, this stone archway had whispers emanate from it. Hermione couldn’t hear it. Harry could, whispering that he couldn’t quite make out, and Luna could as well. Luna says “there are people in there!” It’s curious that it’s Harry and Luna who hear the whispering — two individuals who had seen and understood death. Harry, who saw Cedric be murdered; and Luna, who saw her mother die. 

In the book, Harry "had the strangest feeling that there was someone standing right behind the veil on the other side of the archway... all that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil." (OoTP, Ch. 34). Harry’s instincts and deduction skills are usually very good. Look at his deduction in Chamber of Secrets when he works out how the students had gotten petrified. If he thinks there’s someone right behind the veil, there probably is. 

But where does the Archway come from? It’s said to predate the Ministry, that they built the Department of Mysteries around the Veil of Death. How could that be? Where would the Veil come from? 

Because it’s not just a veil. 

It’s a bridge. The bridge. 

In the story of the Three Brothers — Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus — the three of them were: 

“travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river, too deep to wade through, and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands, and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it, when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure, and it was Death. He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river.” (The Tale of the Three Brothers)

Death was furious at the brothers and pretended to congratulate them. So why would he give them gifts, angry and frustrated as he was, and not ask for anything in return? 

I think he did. But first he gave them gifts that were from the river. The river that separated life from death. 

To Antioch, Death “crossed to an Elder Tree on the banks of the river” for the man who wanted an unbeatable wand. Elder trees in Celtic mythology, after all, symbolized regeneration; the end and the beginning. To Cadmus, he “picked up a stone from the riverbank” for the man who wanted to bring back those who died. A stone which had touched the waters that always killed. And for Ignotus, who wanted to be crafty and slip away from Death... he received a cloak. 

Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped. 

“I’ve heard of those,” he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he’d gotten from Hermione. “If that’s what I think it is -- they’re really rare, and really valuable.” 

“What is it?” 

Harry picked up the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into the material.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Ch. 12)

The water of the river, which always killed the traveler, woven into the cloak. And that brings me back to the cloak and the veil. Death was angry at the brothers. They had cheated him of his due. The river always killed the traveler — and the brothers had cheated him. And Death is not the kind of entity who would let these three get the better of him: the braggart with the unbeatable wand, the obsessive who craved his loved ones beyond the veil, and the brother who wanted to hide away. 

So Death gave the brothers their gifts, their prize, in exchange for something. 

Antioch was killed by his own bravado. Cadmus died for his obsession. But Ignotus? How do you catch a man who can hide invisibly? 

You lure him, of course. You get him to cross a bridge. 

Death gave the brothers their gifts, yes, but he took something in return. The bridge that forded the chasm between life and death. The bridge the brothers had created out of stone. Death created an archway and placed as a veil the remains of the cloak he wore as a curtain. 

He would tempt them. Luna and Harry, after all, and seen and comprehended death. Luna saw her mother die. Harry saw Cedric murdered. They saw and understood death. And when they were near the veil, they heard the whispers of their loved ones. “There are people in there!” said Luna. 

Death would give the brothers Peverell a gift, yes — but he would never again be cheated his due. He would ensure he would never be cheated again. He would lure them to the bridge, to ensure he would never have to hunt for who he wanted for years. 

The bridge would lead always and forever lead to Death…